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Mr. Fort. He spoke for one hour and a half, and no one could fail to observe that from the commencement to the close of his effort he had the hearty sympathy of his hearers in ev ery word he uttered. Colonel Fort said in part: Ladies and Gentlemen: The great, and all absorbing question which confronts the people of today is the rules and regulations which must govern the persons transacting the business of this country. It is a question which calls for a counsel of painstaking, conservative men; it is a question that calls for the patriot, and the statesman; it is a question that calls for the humblest citizen, the man at the plow, the man at the anvil, and every man who by his brawn and muscle gpntributes to the material development of the coun try. Free from strife, at peace with the whole world and enjoying the commendation of all the earth for the mighty strokes we have made for the upbuilding of a new and novel Na tion, we must need pause to reflect on the glorious achievements of the past, and with the “lamp of expe rience” look as far as possible into the unexplored future. Throw aside our failures and re member them no more forever. Take up our load and with brotherly love bear it to the goal of human happi ness and human greatness. It can be done without injury or loss to any one, and must be done, or the genera tions who must follow will read the flaming history of impotency and incompetency written in fadeless let ters against us. There are two persons transacting the business affairs of this country, and of them I will speak to you to day. The one the individual citizen, the other the corporation. As put by our president in his speech at Provi dencetown, Mass., the great question is, “Who shall rule this Government —the people through the governmen tal agents, or a few ruthless and determined men, whose wealth makes them particularly formidable, because they hide behind the breastworks oi corporate organizations V* Behind and underlying every evil there is a moving power, and a disease germ, and it behooves us as impartial, pa triotic people to uproot and destroy the germ. I said that the business affairs were conducted by two persons. An all-wise and beneficent God made the individual citizen, and the law made the corporation. God made man for a dual purpose, to worship and glorify Him, and “to love his neighbor as himself.” The Apostle Paul said that ‘‘the love of money is the root of all evil,” and the history of mankind without ex ception demonstrates that the man who alows the golden chain to drag through the garden of his heart, withering all of the beautiful flow ers of human love and human affec tion, is worthless as a citizen: worth less as a friend; worthless as a neigh bor, and an “undesirable citizeh.” The good citizen obeys the law. He makes the law to protect society against the lower element. He does not steal, rob or murder. Why not! For fear of the law! No! But be cause in his heart of hearts is im bedded the “golden rule” and he would not do that to his fellow-man that he would not that his fellow- WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. man should do to him. He lives above the law, and would elevate every one .to that higher plane of correct and right living. He would go out and take up his less fortu nate brother, bind up his wounds, take him to the inn, and have him restored to health. He would go down into the very gutter and take the waif, wash his face and put him on the highway to fame and fortune. He would seek out the home of the widow, and with the sweet oil of hu man sympathy wipe away the tear of grief, and plant the flower of hope in her heart. He would hunt for the orphan, educate, feed and clothe, and give to the land the statesman and hero from the poor, the ranks of the unfortunate. How about the other person en gaged in business in our land! Obey the law! Never. Only the power of the law does command obedience. Obey the law! It would precipitate a conflict between the State and Na tion as was the case in Alabama and North Carolina, and sit in ghoulish glee and make merry while the fight was waged. Obey the law! With up lifted hand holding the golden key to the holy of holies, it proclaims open defiance to the law; open proc lamation to the world that any man who .would eat grass on its green is an anarchist; any man who would stand for law and the people is a socialist, any man who would stand for a moment in its mad rush for pil lage and pelf, is to it an undesirable member of society. Obey the law Let the records of the Bureau of Corporations with its immense vol umes speak; let the records of the courts speak, but louder and more effective let the great common peo ple who of late are awaking to the real issue speak, and the god of mam mon will know his master and obey his master. Who shall rule this country! The Man, or the ruthless, heartless Cor poration ? From out the heart of the great and patriotic President of these United States comes the clarion call to every citizen, to even/ father, to every mother, and I but echo your answer when I say in the lan guage of ‘Old Hickory” of dear old Tennessee, “by the eternal we will rule this land.” Rule it so that the poorest and hum blest will be as safe and secure as the proudest and haughtiest; rule it so that when the peasant on the poon est farm labors he will be as sure of a full return for his labors as the Standard Oil Co., or the American Tobacco Co., of a dividend on com mon stock, watered and fictitious stock. We would educate the farmer and the merchant so that they will know that in this age of civilization it is not every man who makes a fortune that demands respect and protection, but alone the man who honestly earns, who justly earns, who in the accumulation injures and hurts no man; but works out his fortune in obedience to the law and fills the place of a contributor to the general good of the common country. We would educate the ordinary in dividual to feel and know that if a corporation, or corporations, in vio lation of law conspire to fix the price of the staple product, fix the price of the staple in accord with their own ideas of money making, they are nothing more or less than robbers. We would educate our people so that they will leave the familiar rut and know that when corporations, or individuals combine as did the Beef Trust, and sell rotten meat to our soldiers, they stand on the same plane and should be looked upon as an ordinary chicken and hog and cattle thief. We would educate our people to know that when the Tobacco Trust comes down into Virginia and takes the tobacco of the poorest tenant at a price fixed by its own methods, and at a figure far below the cost of production, it stands in the eyes of the law and in the estimation of" good citizens on the same footing as the common kinky headed nigger who slips in your barn at night and steals your tobacco. Obey the law! They would precip itate a conflict between the State and Nation in order that they may trample on the law as was the case in North Carolina and Alabama. But, my countrymen, I am here to to you on the one Trust, the monster of greed and graft, the one Trust which above all others was so corrupt, so foul that its money was not accepted by the Republican Cam paign Committee in the last Presi dential election. Well, when a cor poration or individual gets so low down that a political party of any kind will refuse a contribution it is about time its methods were opened up, and its robbery exposed. We would not tear down but build up; we would not interfere with the legal and just business affairs of any man, but when a robber comes on the sa cred soil of the Old Dominion State and steals away the shoes and clothes from the poor tobacco raider, and sends his family ragged and hare footed into the icy grasp of winter it is time for the blood of patriots - to boil in your veins. Listen, while I tell you the story of our thraldom, listen, while I re late the story of your enslavement. See what the United States Govern ment says of this golden angel which flies in the financial skies and cries persecution, this wonderful thing with golden wings and silver hangings, with rings on its fingers and bells on its toes, this monster which was too cor rupt for the Republican party to take its money for campaign pur poses. Just think of it, on page 18 of the bill filed in the U. S. Court of New York against the American To bacco Co. and its branches, will be found this language: “Defendants have entered into unlawful contracts, combinations and conspiracies to drive out opponents, exclude all oth ers and apportion amongst them selves the trade and commerce in to bacco throughout the world, and to define the regions in which undis turbed each might operate.” Just think, my countrymen, of the cheek and gall of this Robber Bar on—not satisfied with Virginia, not satisfied with Tennessee, not satis fied with Kentucky, it must have the whole world and the fullness there of as its own. Listen—this greedy monster came down into Tennessee and Kentucky and laid off our lands into territo ries and districts and appointed lit tle agents—a little lord of the ma nor to rule over us—to buy! No. To take our money crop at his own sweet will. Within the charmed circle of his dominion no other man dare tread, no other man dare offer to buy to bacco, and all of the tobacco of ev ery description, was parceled out among the agents of the American Tobacco Co., the Imperial and the Regie Contractors. The price was fixed before the seed was sown and without any idea of supply and de mand. We had these “Day Riders” with us ever and they watched our crops, told lies of its amount and acreage, and continually sang the song of “over production” till our people as did your people believed we did produce too much tobacco, un til this organization made an inves tigation and found tnat instead of a surplus there was a big deficit. What robbery and thievery under guise of fair trade! Our land was in debt, our tenants were hard pressed, our money crop was produced at a loss and bankruptcy and ruin stared us in the face. Our daily work was to fight the wolf of poverty from the door. I saw the poor man come from his humble cabin of logs, and heard the plank rattle on ‘the floor; I saw his lit tle children follow him in the heat and cold, toiling all day to make to bacco to be taken at a ruinously low price by the Trust, and I heard the father as he called to little Mary, “Come on, little one, just one more row, just a Uttle longer and papa will buy you a new dress with the tobac co money, so you can go to Sunday school like other children.” I saw the greedy monster take all and leave no dress for little Mary. Little tired backs and little aching hearts. Do you wonder, fellow citizens of Virginia, that your blood transplant ed in Tennessee and Kentucky, boiled with indignation? Do you wonder that the memory’ of the old Mother State and all her glorious achieve ments crowded on our people! We stood all that a generous and brave people could stand, we appealed to the law, but the law was slow, and we were suffering, then we appealed to that which is higher and stronger than the law, that which makes and unmakes laws and constitutions. We appealed to the manhood of the old Volunteer State, to the patriotism of the gallant Kentuckians, and I said: “Let the blood of our ances tors kindle anew the love for home and country, fall in line and drive the Robber Baron from our land.” In less than six months we had the Baron on his knees, in twelve months he was the beggar, we the “lord of the Manor.” It is no idle dream, it is no theory, but an actual dem onstrated proposition that the to bacco grower in Kentucky, and Ten nessee knows how to sell his tobacco at a smaller cost than was ever known before, and even at about half the former cost of sale. We are running our own business where the Trust formerly ran it to their own good and welfare. We have put shoes on a thousand feet where the Tobacco Trust sent them barefooted in the ice and snow. We have taken the burden from the heart of the widow, and planted the flower of hope in her heart. We have put paint on the old home, thank God, and hope in the hear of the dispirited fanner. (Continued on Page Thirteen.) PAGE THREE