Newspaper Page Text
. delegates from all sections of the union could return
\to their homes and give Livingston the honor. But
1 Mr. Lindsay, Mr. Livingston and Mr. Howell, with
I all their lies and schemes, can never rob Tom Wat
i son of the honor of being the author of the bill
making the first appropriation for rural mail service.
Batson’s name will go down in history as the great
est Georgian since the days of Crawford, and the
gentleman who mortgaged his ‘little home,’ for which
he pays $9 per month rent, can never change' the
facts of history. J. C. FLANIGAN.”
•? * H
Holv About That Conspiracy
Mr. J. C. Flanigan, writing from Lawrence
ville, Ga., sends to the Atlanta Journal a most
interesting letter.
Mr. Flanigan states the snub administered
to Mr. Watson by the R. F. D. Convention
> was the result of a conspiracy between Lon
' Livingston, President Lindsay, and Clark
Howell.
What?
How is it possible that this can be true?
It is not possible. w
Lon Livingston would, of course, dp any
thing and everything to gain votes just at this
time, for his job as Congressman is about to
slip out of his paws. He is now posing as
a Farmers’ Friend, a Laboring Man’s Friend*
add Everybody’s Friend —for an election is
ahead of him. Once the day of election is
passed, Lon Livingston will be the same old
thing that he has been during the seventeen
years of his disreputable career in Congress—
the Office-jobber’s Friend, the Appropriation
hunter’s Friend, the Subsidy-hunter’s Friend
and, above all, the Southern Railroad’s Friend.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Lon Liv
ingston should be eager to conspife with any
body and everybody if, by so doing, he can ap
pear before a respectable body of men, in the
creditable attitude of having originated so ben
eficent a measure as the R. F. D. service.
It not being possible for him to appear re
spectably, save when appearing in false col
ors, he resorts to conspiracy, from the neces
sity of the case. Not a single line has he ever
placed upon the statute book in favor of the
R. F. D. system; and not a single one of the
great reforms which he used to preach, with
tearfulness and hypocritical whines, as Farm
ers’ Alliance President, has he ever made the
slightest effort to secure for the honest but
deluded men whose votes put him into Con
gress.
Among all the “accidents” that were lifted
into power by the Farmers’ Alliance, none was
lifted from a lower depth and boosted into
greater elevation than this same Lon Living
ston.
His name reeked of Marble Lobby and Ma- 1
con Fair Scandals. He had to beg and cry and
whine, in the Agricultural Society, to keep
down,open exposure and disgrace. The Atlanta
Constitution contemptuously classed him as
the Thirty Dollar Man—the reference being
to his taking service under the Marble Lobby
which was scheming to exploit the state in the
building of our new capitol.
But he wormed himself into the upper cir
cles of the Farmers’ Alliance, identified him
j self with the Farmers as their most devoted
I champion, won the confidence of men who
were too honest to suspect the true charac
ter of such a man as Lon Livingstoh, and thus
got himself into Congress. ’/
Once in office, he stopped his championship
of the “down-trodden” laboring classes, and
a smooth, artful, selfish and thoroughly
unscrupulous placeman.
The man being absolutely devoid of convic
tion or principle, the Congressman has been
utterly null, so far as rendering service to
’ his country is concerned, and notoriously evil
in his manner of life, and in his support of
vicious measures. •
Consequently, to pose before a respectable
body of men as the author of a respectable
piece of legislation, was worth a great deal to
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
a man of the Livingston variety—worth a
conspiracy, even.
And it would seem that President Lindsay
entered into Livingston’s little game. It would
seem that it was through Lindsay that Living
ston administered his snub and borrowed his
false plumage.
The Georgia Convention of the R. F. D. men
expressly instructed Lindsay to invite Mr.
Watson to the Convention. Mr. Lindsay posi
tively promised to do so.
Let Mr. Lindsay deny this and we will con
front him with witnesses from among the R.
F. D. men.
Mr. Lindsay then said that he was not only
willing to extend the invitation, but would be
delighted to do so.
Thus lulled the R. F. D. men into a state
of confidence. They had no suspicion that their
President was playing them false.
At that time, it is probable that Lindsay
meant to do what he promised. It is probable
that Lon Livingston got inffiis work later.
Being a Congressman* and a member of the
Appropriations Committee, it was in Living
ston’s power to do certain things for Lindsay.
And, previous to an election, *Livingston can
be lavish in promises.
Therefore, it is easy to understand how a
“working basis” may have been reached by
Lindsay and Livingston. What the trade was,
we will perhaps learn hereafter.
By the time the' indignant R. F. D. men get
done with their deceptive President, he will
doubtless realize that nothing which Living
ston can do for him will compensate him for
what he has lost.
But why should anybody suspect that Clark
Howell was a party to the conspiracy?
We do not believe that he was. There is no
conceivable motive. Mr. Howell’s speech, it
is true, did not give credit to Mr. Watson for
the R. F. D., but neither did it give credit tp
Livingston. Clark said, in effect, that it was
either Watson or Livingston that started the
ball, but that he had been so busy, or some
thing, that he had not investigated the
case e and did not know, with precision and
finality, just who ought to wear the honors.
When it is borne in mind that old Lon was
sitting there, sanctimoniously wearing said
honors, Clark’s speech was a fairlv bold speech.
It isn’t every person present at court who
will mar the amenities of the occasion by chal
lenging the right of the sovereign to wear the
crown.
So, all things considered, I think Clark did
mighty well.
His speech, laid side by side with that edito
rial in Hie Journal, came near enough to being
one more pea of the same sort in the same
pod.
The fact of the business is, Democratic
editors find themselves greatly harassed and
harried these days; and the amused public
must not be too exacting.
True, Clark Howell has editorially declared
that Watson was the author of the R. F. D.
system ; but that was several years ago.
is no use for us to be unreasonable in dealing
with these Democratic editors. It’s as much
as they ’ can do to remember the editorials
they wrote last month. If they were required
to live by what they wrote years ago the situ
ation would simply be scandalous.
H H
• Hon. John W. Akin.
The state of Georgia loses one ofats purest
and most able servants and citizens in the
death of the Hon. John W. Akin, of Carters
ville.
Possessed of natural mental endowments of
a high ordfcr and a personality of unusual
charm and sincerity, he cultivated both with
a conscientiousness that made him one of the
most popular men in Georgia, and a potent
factor for good in the public life of the state.
As lawyer and author on legal topics he won
~a reputation for clearness of reasoning and suc-
cinctness £>f expression extending beyond the
borders of his native state. able and
impartial parliamentarian, he displayed decided
gifts and vigor of decision in discharging the
functions of presiding officer of the Georgia
Senate. As a friend he was staunch and loyal;
as husband and father, affectionate, wise and
considerate.
His achievements and his abilities had led
his friends to hope that from the vantage
ground of a fruitful middle age he would
mount yet higher on the ladder of accomplish
ment and distinction. His untimely taking off
is a loss to all Georgia.—The Constitution.
•e te *
Where Was Jim?
Our Tariff laws compel the American mer
chant to buy his ship in the monopolized
“Home Market.”
European merchants, such as* Englishmen
and Germans, are allowed to buy their ships
wherever they can buy them cheapest.
The result is that the European merchant
gets a cheaper vessel than the American mer
chant. Therefore, the European can afford a
lower freight rate than the American mer
chant.
Result : the American merchant cannot com
pete for the business and the European gets
it.
What is the remedy which common sense
would suggest? *
Allow the American merchant the same priv
ilege enjoyed by the German and the English
man. Let him buy his ship wherever he can
get it on the best terms.
But the Tariff-spawned Trusts and confed
erated “Interests” will not hear to this. They
want the common people taxed to make up to
the American merchant, the difference in cost
between the home-built ship and the cheaper
foreign ship.
The measure which proposed to tax the com
mon people for the benefit of a few merchants
was known as the “Ship Subsidy bill.”
The Shjp-Subsidy thieves wanted Congress
to let them take out the tax-money of the peo
ple a huge sum of money, as a bounty, as a
donation, as a free gift to the American mer
chants who carry ocean freights.
Owing to the poor leadership of John Sharp
Williams, this villainous Ship Subsidy bill
passed the House.
At the-critical moment in the fight, there was
much dodging on the part of certain members.
One of the Congressmen who failed to show
up when most needed was Jim Griggs of
Georgia.
Where were you, Jim?
* H *
On a Tare. •
Has the Jeffersonian gone crazy?
In a round-about, pacific and tentative man
ner, that’s the question which a puzzled Texan
puts up to us.
And it’s all about Tare.
This Texas friend thinks the Jeffersonian
is wildly wrong on that question of Tare-on-
Cotton. He is a keen hand at figures, and he
has almost convinced the Jeffersonian that two
and two make three.
Now leFs see:
Liverpool knocks off 6 per cent from the
bale of cotton weighing, say, 500 pounds. Six
per cent on 500 is 30. At least, we think it is.
'These Democratic editors have got us so
befuddled, trying to keep up with their magic
lantern changes, that we are not dead-certain
of anything, these days.
But we think that 6 per cent off a bale of
cotton, weighing 500 lbs., means a loss of 30
pounds.
Be keerful now, and watch the little ball.
The farmer puts on to the bale about 6 yards
of bagging and 6 ties. We had these actually
weighed this morning, in the town which Mr.
Bryan cruelly calls Tombkins.
(Continued on Page 12.)
PAGE NINE