The life and speeches of Thos. E. Watson

XHE LIFE AND SPEECHES
THOS. E. WATSON
SECOND EDITION
THE GENERAL U3RARY THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
ATHENS, GEORGIA
THE JEFFERSONIAN PUB. CO. 1911

Copyright by THQS. E, WATSON
1911

DEDICATION To the Memory of My School-Teachers:
Mrs. Edith Ellington Miss Jennie Embree Miss Jennie Binion John R. Wilson Thos. J. Steed E. A. Steed And to the Two Who Are Yet Living: Miss Belle Hanson Robert H. Pearce
GENERAL 1JK;?AK.

i
J
Life- >*;>^-. :-. y

CONTENTS.
The Story of My Lite ______. _______________ _____ _ ___ 9 Tributes [Supplemental] ____ __ _._ __ _____________ _ - __ 23 Memorial Service in Honor of Alex. H. Stephens.,. ___ _ _ __ 31 Commencement Address at Mercer 1.886 j _ ____ _ _ _______ 33 Commencement Address at G. M. I., Milledgeville [1886] ___ 47 Labor Day Address, Augusta, Ga., 1891__- ______________.__ 59
Speech in Congress, 1889 ______________ __. ___________. _ 71 Oebate at Sandersville, 1892 _____________ _____________ 84 The Creed of Jefferson" Douglasville, Ga., 1893 ______ _ 99 Speech in Atlanta, 1894 _______________________________ 131 Speech in Atlanta, 1896 ___ _ ________________________ _ 143 Speech at Lincoln, Nebraska, 1896 _______________ ______ 159 Summary of Speech at Thomson, Ga., 1898_ ____________ _ 171 On Child Labor, Atlanta Legislature, 1903 ________________ 182 Speech of Acceptance, New York, 1904 __ -________. ___ _ __ 188 Speech at Nashville, Teftn., 1904 _________________________ 202 "The True Brotherhood of Man", N. Y-, 1904 _____________ 216 Speech in Chicago, 1904- ______________________________. 225 Speech at Newton, -N. C-, 1904 ___. ______________________ 236 Speech at Cotton Convention, New Orleans, 1905 ___________ 241 Banquet Speech, New York, 1905 _______________________ 251 Speech at Farmers Union Convention, Atlanta, 1907_ ____ __ 265 Speech at "White Oak Camp Grounds (Ga.) 1907 ________ - __ 276 Speech on Tariff, at Beall Springs, Ga., 1907 _______________ 284

THOS. E. WATSON

THE STORY OF MY LIFE

BOUT the year 1750 a Quaker colony from North Carolina came into Georgia and purchased a large tract of land between the Savannah and the Ogeechee rivers. They divided this land among themselves, established the old
town of Wrightsboro, and began to cultivate tobacco and other agricultural products. Among these Quaker colonists were my an cestors on both sides of the house the Watsons and the Maddoxes.
The family were landowners and slaveholders from the beginning of the settlement until the Civil "War put an end to the old regime in the South. They held from time to time, local positions; took part in political and military affairs as occasion demanded, and in all respects were Indentified with the local gentry of the middle class.
In 1833, when the Georgia convention was held to decide the ques tion of nullification, John Forsyth led fifty-four bolters from the convention when it voted to indorse the position of South Carolina. My grandfather was one of those fifty-four. This indicates that he was an "Andrew Jackson man."
My uncles and my father served in the Confederate army. One of my uncles lost his life in it, and another was rendered a lifelong invalid by it, and my father was twice wounded. One of my earliest recollections is that of going with my mother through all the oonfusiion and dangers of that time to find my father and bring him home.
I was bom on the old plantation home, on September 5, 1856; was given a common school education, such as the other boys of the community received, was sent to the High School at Thomson, and from that to Mercer University at Macon, Ga,, in 1872.
At a very early age, I developed a fondness for books especially for historical works. At the a.ge of fifteen, I practiced original composition, both in prose and poetry. When the other students spoke selections from the "Boys Speaker," I wrote my own speeches. Many and many a time I contended eagerly for the prizes offered to the best deelaimer, but I never gained one. I used to take it to heart that I never could win the prize and, perhaps, suffered more keenly from these boyish disappointments than I have since done at losing rewards for which strong men compete,
So far as I can remember, I never asked others to help me in preparing for debates, writing speeches and composing essays. This work I did for myself.
I think I was an unusually affectionate, trustful child, ready to believe everything that was told me, and ready to confide in anyone

21s

(9)

X

10 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
who pretended to be my friend, I never went to school to anyone, , man or -woman, who did not love me. Without a single exception, my teachers remained my devoted friends, and two of these were most helpful to me. Rev. E. A. Steed, principal of the Thomson High School, was tlie first who ever told me ^what I migUt do, if I tried; and he it was that got my father to send me to college. He lives in my book "Bethany," as the young preacher, Ruel Wade, The other was Robert H. Pearce, who gave me credit for a years board in 1876-7. He still lives, one of the noblest, sweetest spirits that God ever sent into the world.
I inherited a thin sikin in all senses of the word and my face was soon a mass of freckles. To this day I recall hoiw it hurt when the girls called me "a freckled-faced turkey-egg." When the boys did it there was usually a scrimmage. Just how many times I got "licked" by other boys, it would be impossible to state, but I can not remember that I found more than one boy that I could whip. He happened to be slow, and I got into his hair, and bumped his head against the wall of the depot, before he knew what was happen ing to him. With that single exception, the other fellows were always too much for me.
At school I had many warm friendships, and I was generally a "captain" of some one of the little squads which banded for sport. This was true, also, at college where I was "captain" of a baseball team though not much of a player.
Knowing that my fathers financial condition was becoming very distressing, I did not go home during the vacation of 1873, but ap plied for the position of teacher of one of the public schools of Bibb County the county in which Mercer University is located. After the regular examination, by Prof. B. M. Zettler, the County School Com missioner, I secured tne necessary license and went out seeking a school. In the Big Warrior District, I made a contract with the local trustees and opened up with a large number of scholars.
This three months school earned me one hundred and flty dollars, and with one-third of that I paid what my father owed on my tuition at the High School. The remainder helped to keep me at college.
At the close of the sophomore term, June, 1874, I had to leave Mercer. At first I hoped to go back and finisb. the course. For several years I dreamed about it, by day as well as by night, but I could never get money enough ahead. Somehow it never octfured to me to ask Mr. Alexander H. Stephens to lend me the money and this was a great mistake, for he would have sent me back to school. But I asked nobody, and so the opportunity passed.
Our family was living in Augusta, Ga., at the time, and I went home and sought work in that city. I applied for clerkships and for schools, but could get no job. Then I auctioned off some dear old books which had been given me by my father in more prosperous times and the sale of these netted me six dollars and a half. Witli

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E: WATSON. 11
this sum I started out to make my own way in life. Leaving Augusta on September 24, 1874, I went down to Lawtonville, where the Baptists were holding an association meeting. Finding no opening in any other direction, 1 went down into Scriven County, where I succeeded in making up a small school, at Little Horse Creek Church.
For two years I continued to teach in Scriven, and became quite a favorite with the county school commissioner, Dr. Matthews, who spoke of me generously as the best teacher he had. \ The people among whom I lived and taught were as good to me jas they could be, but they were poor, and the schools barely paid pmy living expenses. On one occasion I was so hard up that I had to trade a silver cup that had belonged to my grandfather for a necessary article of clothing. The cup was worth about ten times more than the cheap cotton garment which I got in exchange.
While teaching school I read law at night. The blaze of the "fat" pine knots lit the pagea of the Blackstone which my good old farmer friend James Thompson bought for me in Savannah. I think that my earnest sympathy for the poor dates from this period of my life. Every day I saw the hardships of their lot and tjfae patient courage with which they labored to overcome the dis advantages of their condition. I know how hard the parents tried to raise their children right to be pure, good women and honest, sober, industrious men. Eating at their tables, sitting at their firesides, sleeping in their beds, I gained a knowledge of these people wihich no books could have given me. They have always been good to me these plain, country people and I love them. They gave me a home and work when I could find none elsewhere. Later on, they gave me the first verdicts that made the foundation of my ^access at the bar. Then when 1 became a candidate for office it Vas the country vote that elected me. } \ I am proud to be able to say that I have always fought their feattles, and have never failed to do my utmost to improve their hard lot. I know that I have a warm place in the hearts of thousa|nds of these people, and I derive more satisfaction from that fact than any office under the sun would give me. (_\ While teaching school in Scriven County, I made my first public speech. The subject was Temperance. Throughout my life, I have niever.losit an opportunity to strike at the evils of Intemperance and tiie system of legislation which allows the existence of barrooms. While no fanatic upon the subject, I consider it a queer thing that our people should pretend to favor churches and schools and at the same time tolerate the saloon, which destroys s<o much of the good work of the pulpit and the academy. ^
In one of my vacations I went to Augusta, Ga., where my father was then living and through the kindness of Judge W. R. MfcLaws was allowed to read under him for a couple of weeks. I was

12 LiFE AND 8PKECHR8 OF TTIOS. E. WATSON.

admitted to the bar in the city of Augusta in 1875. The clerk was good enough to credit me for my license, for which. I was not able to pay at that time.

I resumed school teaching in Scriyen County for awhile, and tried

to practice law in connection "with that, but soon found that it could

not be done. I then returned to my old home at Thomson to make

a final effort to get on my feet. This was in November, 1876.

While waiting- for clients to come with cases and fees, I earned what ,;

was possible by assisting the clerk in recording the deeds, mortgages

and other papers of the county records.

!

The first year o my practice yielded me $212 gross; in the second y-ear I bought back, on credit, one of the old home places that had * belonged to our family, and removed my father and mother and

younger brothers and sisters back to it. I lived with the family, walking three miles to my office every morning, carrying my dinner

in a tin bucket, returning to the farm at night. In that second year I made $474. Of course, the money "which I owed for board during the first year was returned out of the first surplus that I was able to make, and by the help of some friends of the family I was enable! to meet the first payment on the farm I had purchased as a home for our family.

I worked very hard. At first my fees were small. Many a day r rode all day, sometimes in the rain, to attend justices courts, well pleased if the days work earned a fee of two dollars and a half, A fee of $25 was an exception. My income grew because of the amount of labor involved, not because the fees grew so much larger.

The third year I again doubled my income, and from that time

my practice rapidly increased until my annual income reached $12,00|0. Along toward the last, I was able to command large fees. In this way I gradually worked my way to comfort and independence, investing the surplus from year to year in farm landsi, which I now own. It was in 1878, when iny future was extremely doubtful,

that I married Miss Georgia Durham, daughter or Dr. George W..1 Durham, of Thomson, Ga. Neither of us had any property.

fin 1882 I was elected to the Georgia legislature, where I served one term, declining re-election. During this one term in the legis

lature, I aided in the passage of an act to tax railroad corporations in each county where they owned property, and was chosen by thecommittee on Temperance to close the debate on the Local Option Bill, which became a law. Under this act, whiskey was driven out; of more than four-fifths of the counties of the State. )

: In 1888 I was elector for the State at large on the Democratic

ticket, and stumped the State for Cleveland and tariff reform. I had no further connection with politics until 1889, when I led the fight in Georgia against the jute bagging trust. The success of this movement so gratified the farmers that it created a demand that I should run for Congress, which I did, and I carried every county in

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON. 13
the district excepting that of my opponents residence, in which no contest was ma.de.
While not a member of the Farmers Alliance, tlieir demands seemed to me to be just and it was the strength of this platform of theirs which put me in Congress.1
After the election, and during the off year of 1891, the Farmers llianca movement adopted instructons at Indianapolis binding every
ngressman who had espoused their principles to be loyal to them, egardless of the caucus dicateH of either of the old parties. Inas.uch as my election was due to the Farmers Alliance platform, I felt onor-bound to adhere to those principles rather than to the mere name <~r D-emocrat, my distiict being overwhelmingly an agricultu"j,i district and the Farmers Alliance of the district being really
e bulk of the Democratic party. My position, however, was savagely denounced by the organized Democratic leaders, and a most bitter and determined warfare upon 3 was declared. "When I returned to Georgia in August, 1892, I was met at Thomon by a wildly enthusiastic crowd of four or five thousand men, I as borne upon their shoulders to a carriage decorated with fesoons of flowers, and "was driven to a stand which had been erected in a pine grove where Alexander H. Stephens made his last speech in this county. There 1 addressed the crowd for two hours arraign ing the Democratic party for its violations of platform pledges and ts departure from the Jeffersonian principles. After resting a few days at home, I entered, into the most heated campaign ever known in Georgia., It is hard to convey in words an idea of the bitterness with which I was attacked, and the deathless devotion with which I was defended. After a brief preliminary can vass of the District I arranged a series of joint debates with my opponent Hon. J. C. C_ Black. He met me five times and refused (through his managers) to meet me further. During the canvass I was "howled down" in Augusta, and in Atlanta. The wildest passions were raging, fired by the city and town politicians, and at no place did I escape incivilities, or insults. My district having been "gerrymandered" by the Democrats, after my election, I was at a disadvantage in Hancock and Wilkinson Bounties. They had not belonged to my district when I was elected, and therefore did not understand the issues upon which I had de flated Hon. Geo. T. Barnes. I* Having refused to leave my place in Congress to come home and -open the campaign, I found that my opponents had largely forestalled me in those counties. 1 carried all my old counties by large ma jorities excepting Richmond, the home county of Hon. J. C. C. Black. In Richmond County the most unprecedented frauds were commit ted. Not only were hundreds of voters imported from South Caro-

14 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TI1OS. E. WATSON.

lina, but intimidation, bribery and repeating- were practiced to such j3

an extent that a county which had fay the United States Census only j

forty-five thousand inhabitants, cast nearly thirteen thousand votes

By the report of the Comptroller-General of the state for lS93,ied

Richmond County had eleven thousand, four hundred and sixty-six113

votes, and cast twelve thousand, five hundred and fifty-eight votes. e

In other words, if every man in the county had voted they would76

have had only eleven thousand, four hundred and sixty-six votes,0 i

whereas they actually got twelve thousand, five hundred and fifty-es

eight. Leaving out Richmond, I won. But they kept all the votes, t

legal and illegal, and gave Mr. Black the certificate. )

nd

I may add that it is almost a miracle that I was not killed in the i *

Campaign of 1892. Threats against my life were frequent and tnere l

were scores of men who would have done the deed, and thousands- *

who would have sanctioned it. Fear of the retaliation which m^16 *"

friends would inflict prevented my assassination nothing else.

ear

A negro preacher who was making speeches for me was shot at n^>

and the shot was fatal to a bystander, Mr. Hall, of Jefferson County. le

A mob threatened this preacher in Thomson, and it became neces- 5"*

sary for me to place him in my backyard for protection. My prem- or

ises being threatened on that account, my friends had to assemble

and remain under arms, day and sight. About sixty men with Win- *

Chester rifles convinced the Democratic leaders that the dangers ofel*

collision with us were too serious to be risked. Cc intrymen, farm--lf-

ers mainly, rushed to Thomson to defend me, some of them from*10

a distance of twenty miles. I used my utmost exertions to avert T-

a conflict, and happily succeeded.

e

On the day of the election in November, 1892, the governor liad I

troops ready in Atlanta and Augusta to"move on" Thomson. Spec-

ial engines were fired up and ready, in the roundhouse.

,!

The governor, himself, publicly said that I ought to be killed, "

and t(? a very considerable extent he represented Democratic senti-

ment. , After repeated efforts, the inability of making a successful

fight against those who controlled the vote-counting machines became

too apparent, and 1 gave up the contest, after vainly endeavoring I

to get Congress tc do me the justice which the local managers had

denied. That contested election case which I carried to Congress was

voted on when the record shows there was not a quorum in the

House, and they refused me the privilege of being heard In my ow a

defense. (~ Whatever else the Democrats and the Republicans differet?

about, they were in a state of absolute harmony about the desirability

of keeping me out of Congress. \

With a cry of exultation my political enemies said: "Hes ruined! Hes ruined ruined politically, financially, mentally."
It was almost true. Politically, I was ruined. Financially I was fiat on my bacfe. How near 1 came to loss of mind only the God

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. K. WATSON. 15

Nwho made me knows but I was as near distraction, perhaps as any mortal could safely be. If ever a poor devil had been outlawed and

villified and persecuted and misrepresented and howled down and .mobbed and hooted and threatened until he was well-nigh driven

mad, I was lie. How I ever passed through all these years and came

out alive and sane, is a marvel to a.nyone who knows how I drained

the cup of bitterness and humiliation to the very dregs.

In 1893 I left my private businessto >take care of itself, and went

jail over Georgia conducting an educational campaign, proclaiming

jand expounding Jeffersonian Democracy on every hustings from the

^Tennessee to the seashore, from the Savannah to the Chattahoochee.

"1 Lecture engagements, at two hundred and fifty dollars each, were

(loifered me, and were refused. The speeches were a work of love,

not costing any man a cent. The Newsome murder case in Washing ton County was offered to me at a $5,000 fee; it also was refused.

,1 had determined to devote that summer to free propaganda work, land no amount of money could have turned me away from my pur-

jpose. All through that splendid summer of the hardest worlc I ever ^did, I felt as the sower feels who sows for the future in the spirit
of consecration and faith. Some of the golden-hearted men who

were with

then I shall see no more. They fought their own

share in the fight, and passed away. My heart melts and my eyas

are dim as I recall their loyal co-operation, their enthusiastic zeal. But the men who cheered me on in 1893 are not all dead, nor all

estranged. No, by the tens of thousands they are alive, are just as

true as they ever were, just as devoted to the principles which we

loved so well. Those principles are now ascendant in the State of

Georgia, and many other States throughout the Union. -*

Tims the sower who went forth to scatter the seed of the spirit of consecration and faith looks out upon the broad field where the har

vest is an hundred-fold and he devoutly renders thanks to the God

Who spared his life to see this day! ,,

During the one term which I was allowed to serve, I did all that was possible for the principles to which I was pledged and to which

1 owed my election. I worked and voted for the jiight-hpur law,. I led the debate, as the records will show, on the bilPwhich required

the railroads to put automatic couplers upon their freight cars I within a period of five years, and we won that fight in spite of the

i powerful railroad lobby that was there and tried- to divide the ma jority. They finally succeeded in getting a postponement of the

enforcement of the law from the National Railway Commission, and

many a poor brakeman was maimed and many were killed because

the law was not carried out as soon as the bill which, we passed in

Congress said it should be.

i On February 17, 1893, I introduced into the House and secured tfie passage of the first resolution which was ever passed in this coun

try providing for the free delivery of mail to the country people out-

16 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON.
side the limits of cities, towns and villages. This resolution, carryin^J: an appropriation for experimental free delivery, is the foundation ol| the present system, which both the Republican and Democratic par- ties at this time take so much pride in claiming the credit for, and which the Postmaster-General has said is, one of the greatest civiliz ing: agencies of this century, as indeed it is. Of course the same eys-i tern had been in use in Europe, just as th-e postal telegraph and the* postal express system is a part of the post office system in Europe, but our government had been just as slow in copying the good ex ample of European governments in delivering mail free in rural communities as it has been slow in making the railroadst and the; telegraphs and the telephones and the express companies a part o the public service.
The barroom which was at that time kept open, night and. day,, immediately underneath the Hall of Representatives was liberallyr patronized by the members. The natural consequence was that much drunkenness was in evidence, even on the floor of the House. Thisi shocking state of affairs was denounced by me in a "campaign book" which was published in tlie summer of 1892.
Gen. Joe. Wheeler attacked me, in debate, on account of these exposures, and I repeated them, defiantly, from my place on the floor. A violent uproar ensued, and an effort was made to have me^ expelled. It failed in gloriously. Alfred Henry Lewis, the famousjournalist- author, was then in Washington, acting as correspondent, for one of the great New York Dailies. His account is as follows:
"Prompt as a hornet to resent affront, Watson is on his part a man of singular gentleness and care for what others feel. He will never insult others any more that hell brook outrage from them,
"Even when Watson stirred up Cobb of Alabama in his book, and made that slow statesman famous for his unsteady inquiry offered on the floor of the House, Mr. Speaker where am I at? Cobb and Wheeler and others of Alabama had cast the first stone. Cobb was not at all graceful on the occasion adverted to. It was during the cle-bate on the report to unseat Rockwell of JElmira Hills man and put a Republican Noyes in his place. This last, by the way, was a secret demand of Cleveland as a move against Hill at a time whe-n both were candidates for the Presidency. Cobb was on the Hill side of the case, and, becoming a bit vague, not to say vacuous, in debate, he suddenly rolled his eye on the Speaker, and after a. deep pause put the plaintive question quoted, Mir. Speaker, where am I at?
"Watson had it in his book two weeks later, and it created a good deal of heat in a house strongly Democratic. The Democrats at tempted censure or some other form of House torture, and in the debate which ensued Watson left his clawmarks all over them. He fought the majority to a standstill, and evinced such a thristy

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THO8. E. WATSON. 17

ferocity for it all that his assailants were only too happy to quit, as

becomes men of sense who inadvertently have caught a Tartar.

"Watson is not a poor man for his region he is rich. He has

farms vfhicJi pay, a law practice which pays, and a paper Populistic

which does- not lose much.

-^

"Watson is self-made every splinter of him. Born and reared |

in Georgia, child as he was at the time, the war wrecked Watsons /

early prospects, and all there is to Mm to-day he built himself, I j

Altogether he is a better American and a better man than either /

Hobart or McKinley, thinks less of himself and more of the people, /

and a syndicate could no more buy Watson or own Watson than it \

qould buy or own a continent."

--

, i Inasmuch as quite a number of "Fathers of the Rural Free Deliv

ery System" have sprung up during recent years, T will insert here

the proofs that the first appropriation was. obtained by me.

\ On March 15, 1904, Hon. T. W. Hardwick, representing the Tenth

Greorgia District, addressed the House, it being in Committee of the

wjhole, as follows: "Mr. Chairman, 1 do not rise for the purpose

off making a speech, but merely to make a statement in justice to a

Y>ry distinguished constituent of mine who was wronged, uninten

tionally, I hope, yesterday on this floor. We have all, Mr. Chairman,

aririved at the point where we fully recognize and universally con-

oelde the great benefits that have come to the people of this country

frsJm rural free deJivery, Consequently, Mr. Chairman, a number of

gejntlemen have sprung up who are not quite so frank as wasi my

coljleague from Georgia (Mr. Griggs), who addressed the committee

before me this afternoon, and who claim more than he did, namely,

tha\t he is the stepfather of this great system.

"INow, Mr, Chairman it is a matter of record I have the proof

in iny hand and will put it in the Record in connection with my re

marks, again repeating it, so that the gentlemen who are disposed

to forgetit will have no further excuse for doing so that the first

law ever passed by this body authorizing rural free delivery was

introduced and urged on-this floor by my distinguished constituent,

Hon. Thos1. E. Watson, of Georgia, who then represented the district

In Congress I now represent. During the second session of the Fifty-

second Congress, while the post-office appropriation bill was before

the House,,on February 17, 1893, Mr. Watson offered the following

amendment:

Amend the paragraph so as to read, as follows: For free-delivery service, including existing experimental freedelivery offices, $11,254,900, of which the sum of $10,000 shall be applied, under the direction of the Postmaster-General, to expertmental free delivery in rural communities other than towns and villages.

"Mr. Watson offered this amendment, and it was conceded on this floor by the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Henderson of Nortk

18 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Carolina, and by Mlr. Holman of Indiana, that there was then no existing law for this appropriation, and the point of order was reserved against it. In fact it is undoubtedly true that the distin guished gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Watson, is unquestionably the author of the first law authorizing rural free delivery in this country. I therefore make these remarks, Mr. Chairman, as a mere matter of justice to a distinguished citizen of my own state, who is justly entitled to this credit, about which there seems to be some con-; fusion."
1n 1896 the Peoples party, which had been built up with enormous labor, numbered two million voters and had one thoustanJ, j| five hundred newspapers. The Democratic party was in an extremely! bad way. Mr. Clevelands second administration had disrupted ill and discredited it before the country. In their desperation, the lead-l ers hit upon that shrewd scheme of adopting the Peoples, party! platform and nominating Mr. Bryan as a pledged representative o Populistic principles). The strategy was fine. The purpose was t< cut the ground from under the independent movement, whici threatened to disrupt old party ties. The Democratic leaders that if they could capture our organization of two million vote they would be rehabilitated as a party. Unfortunately for Peoples party movement, the scheme succeeded. Fusion carrie our national convention, but not entirely, for the Peoples partly National Convention refused to nominate Mr. Bryan for Presidei until they had first unanimously nominated me for Vice Presiden The telegramsi which came pouring into my house at Thomson sured me that the Democratic leaders would accept as a compromis the ticket of Bryan and "Watson, and thus a grand combination/of all the reform parties would be accomplished and the reforms whficfa we had advocated and which we were pledged to bring about to be made possible. In a most urgent manner I was asked to consqnt to this arrangement, so that a new front might be presented to t(he Republican party.
To this I agreed, but the subsequent results showed that there was one of the most complete and deliberate deceptions that ever was practiced by one lot of politicians upon another. Within less than thirty days after the adjournment of the Populist National Conven tion, it became apparent that nothing would suit Mr. Bryans mana gers except the complete absorption of the Populist movement. To this attitude upon the part of the three managers must be attributed the defeat of the Democratic ticket of 1896. Had there been com plete co-operation between the Democratic and Populist parties, Mr. Bryan would have been elected President, for anyone who stud:ed the returns, will see that in the doubtful states a change of twentyseven thousand votes would have given him the electoral majori:y. For instance, in the State of Kentucky a change of one hundred and forty-two votes would have given Kentucky to Bryan, and there ire

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 19
few men who will not believe that a joint canvass of Kentucky by Mr. Bryan and myself would nave resulted in a change so slight as that.
; However, the result of the campaign gratified the Southern Dem ocratic leaders.. It scattered and disbanded the Peoples party move ment, and for eight years the Populists of the South made no con certed efforts to do anything.
My position during the campaign was most humiliating. Because I would not support Sewall as well as Bryan, my own Executive Com mittee denounced me, and Mr. Bryan ignored my existance. Yet I went into his own State, urged the populists to vote for him and helped him carry Nebraska, which he has never carried since.
With my own party put out of business, there was nothing for me to do in tlie way of political work, and I turned to literature and advocated the same eternal princinples of human liberty and justice and good government in historical works, such as "The Story of .Prance," "The Life of Napoleon" the "The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson," and "Bethany."
"The Story of Prance" grew out of some sketches which were written for my paper in Atlanta, Ga. The purpose was to show how class legislation, and the greed1 of the few, had wrecked the French monarchy and caused the revolution, just as I believe they will wreck our own Republic unless checked by measures of peaceful reform.
In the Jefferson book the purpose was to show upon what prin ciples a. genuine government of the people, as contrasted to a govern ment of the privileged few, must be founded. All the lovers of class rule go back to Hamilton; all the upholders of a government of the people, by and for the people, get their creed, so far as tb-ls Republic is Concerned, from Jefferson.
As to Napoleon,, he is beyond all comparison the moat fascinating figure In history, and the study of the career of the charity school boy, who fought his way In modern Europe to a pinnacle from wLih he made thrones his footstools, carried its own reward. Besides his career affords the most striking illustration of what can be done under modern conditions, by giving intelligent direction to the dem ocratic impulse of a nation. As long aa Napoleon was content t represent the aspirations which the French Revolution had awakeuec he was irreslstable. But when he again united the Church with tht State, and divorced Josephine to marry the stupid daughter of an imbecile Austrian emperor, his strength began to wane. In the eJTorf to found a dynasty leagued with European monarchies and aristoc racies, he lost the support of democracy without gaining that OL
aristocracy. During these years, 1 prepared a lecture on the South which I
delivered in many cities and towns; but though the work paid well I found it too exhausting, and soon abandoned the platform.
I had no idea whatever of ever taking any further part in active

20 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
politics, but when the Democrats at St. Louis, in their convention of 1904, suddenly confessed to the nation that for eight years they had been wrong, and that, after all, the Republicans had been right; in other words, when the Democratic party went back to the old Wall Street influences which had dictated Clevelands second election then it did seem that there was a time to resurrect the Peoples partyBoth the old parties being controlled, by practically the same men, intent upon holding practically the same system, it seemed that there was a time to call into existence a party to represent the principles of Jefferson. Both the old parties now being Hamiltonian, both of them, being devotees of Wall Street, it seemed that two of that char acter were more than the country need-ed, and that somebody ought to make an effort to organize a party whose creed and whose purpose should be to check the tendency which, is inevitably leading to that class rule, that creed domination of the few, which has been the ruin of every republic of which, history makes mention. For it is a fact which no student can or will deny, that every nation which has gone to its death in all the ages of the past, has gone through those suc cessive stages of class legislation the monopoly of power and privilege and wealth by the few.
Without any effort on my part, the Peoples party National Con vention chose me to head the national ticket.
I accepted the nomination from a sense of duty. Throughout the North and North-west, I made speeches to immense crowls, and there is no doubt that the Bryan Democrats were at one time wavering. Left alone they would have come to my support. Why not? I was continuing the fight which Bryan had been making for eight years the fight which the Populists had been making from year to year prior to the fusion movement of 1896. Bryan owed his strength in the West lo the Populist movement, and it was he who cut the ground under our feet by compelling the Democratic party to adopt GlT priciples. j,nd While Bryan Democrats controlled the Democratic party, the Popwas uliets could do nothing. We could only wait and see the result of the whe Bryan experiment. If he succeeded in bringing about the desired Hill *eforms, by means of the Democratic party, all well and good. If in d ie failed, as I believed he would, it might be possible to revive the deep Populist movement. am I """When the Wall Street element captured the St. Louis Convention, ..^nominated Judge Parker, and planted the campaign, on the Gold deal Standard telegram, Mr. Bryan had one of those great opportunities temn wn ich come only at rare intervals. deba"~ Had he refused to be a party to the surrender, and had he boldly jje f defied the Wall Street money power, he would have created such an enthusiasm as Would have elected him President that very year. But he shrank into the tame proportions of a mere party man, and after Bulking a few weeks, began to make impassioned speeches in favor of the Wall Street nominee.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS.E. WATSON. 21
I Had it not been for this, the Bryan Democrats would have voted in 1904, just as they had heen voting for eight years. They would have voted on principle, and had they done so they would have voted the Populist ticket for that, and none other, represented their prin ciples in that campaign.
f After the presidential election of 1904, I was approached by Col. W.1 D. Mann, of New York, who proposed that he would finance a ma.gazine which should bear my name and be editorially controlled by/me. After consulting with John H. Girdner and other New York frifends, I consented to the arrangement, and the magazine was launched March, 1905,
o represent me personally in the office, I selected C. Q. DeFrance, retary of the Populist National Committee. My residence being Georgia, it seemed advisable to have in the New York office some sted employee who would know how to advise the managing
in the selection of political articles), and who would keep me irmed, generally, of what was going on. Mr. DeFrance, was this
id employee. After the first three months, payment of my - was stopped, and when I was finally forced out by Colonel ,nn and DeFrance, the concern owed me $9,000. | It was not till the summer of 1906 that Colonel Mann was shown upjjin his true colors in the famous trial of Norman Hapgood and - rTf thej two Colliers. As it cost the Colliers $75,000 to secure the evitdence which proved that Colonel Mann is a blackmailer and se-v$ era|l other things, it is not surprising that the New York friends f whjjom I consulted did not warn me against this terrible old man. As f forj? me, I had never heard of him before he called at my hotel and e his offer, ylonel Mann and DeFrance formed a new company on the half {and half plan, and the Watson Maga-zine was put through a sheriffs "-- s ile.# The two bought it in, "aiaoTThen essayed to run it. Only two 1 mor^e numbers came out, and taen they sold it to the Business Magazin,e for two thousand dollars. They even took my mailing list; ^and ioeFrance after selling it, carried off a copy to Kalamazoo, Mich. ^Whtjsre he used it in circulation for the Duplex Phonograph people. i 1 Ueft in the lurch in this manner, I established the Weekly Jeffer- tWnJjfan in October, 1906, and in December of the same-year was : ii^Wought out the first number of my Jeffersonian Magazine. " Ojn account of the failure of the New York publication, it was an , butap-Hiiii task to push the two Jeffersonians into public confidence, and i cootoel financial strain was very great; but I worked harder than ever s, before, giving my personal attention to everything and, at length, "udin October, 1907, both the Jeffersonians reached a self-sustaining
ijori During the year 1907, 1 was writing from month to month, "The >:d a^fe and Times of Andrew Jackson." In December, 1907 and Jan- ,re iary, 1908, I finished a monograph on Waterloo. Thie is in press,
\

23 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. ^,^

as are also, a book of "Prose Miscellanies," a volume of "Sketch! JOB

from Roman History," and a "Handbook of Politics and Economics* t,"

besides this collection of speeches.

I am now fifty two years of age, am in perfect health, have lie^st

all political ambition, am in love with, my editorial and literary war. ?k,

am not as good as my friends suppose, nor as bad as my enen?jies

would have you. believe, and am content to put in about twelve hcl>urs

of bard work at my desk every day never so happy as when .n the

outside world lets me alone, leaving me to the enjoyment of my < ^wn

Srestide, and the companionship of my old sweetheart, whom I w<Xj.oed

and won when a poor and almost friendless boy.

^

In that part of the story lies a tragedy, a secret and a roma^nce

which cannot be related here, but which may hereafter be told.j. in

some book: like "Bethany," a romance which is full of sadness

and suffering and noble pride and patient heroism, not mt^ne,

but anothers, and it has been to me a life-long inspiration, develjop-

ing that which, "was best within me, consecrating my best efforts

to lofty ideals, and giving to my entire career a consistent, unsw^rv-

ing loyalty to what I thought was right

,,

Believing that a volume of my speeches, carefully selected, mi ght

be of service to young men who are interested in great public q.jiies-

tions, and that in. the simple story of my own life-struggle there ynay

be some encouragement to poor boya who have the same disadvan

tages to overcome, I am putting forth this volume now, when I any-

self can make the selections and tell the story.

,

January 18, 1908.

THOMAS B. WATSONT.

Supplemental

"SAM JONES ANI> TOM WATSON."
John Temple Graves in the "Atlanta Georgian."
FEW years ago and just after the failure of the vice presi dential candidacy of Thomas E. Watson in 1896, that famous Georgian wrote of Sam Jones one of the most ef fective and eloquent sketches of his lifespoke of himself as a failure, saluting Sam Jones as a conBpici l us winner, and from the depths and shadows of defeat he sent upward and outward his glowing and ungrudging panegyric to the i&reat evangelist who, riding1 the crest of the wave, had realized in fat 016 and usefulness that glittering as/piration which men and the worljd have called success.
Wie would be glad to-day if we could produce that tribute of the brilliant publicist to the famous preacher, and to lay it lovingly as an differing among the flowers of song and speech that garland the
st grave in Georgia. We are wondering now what Tom a thinks of Sam Jones to-day. |*n years charged with large events have passed since that earlier te compiled amid the chastened reflections of defeat. The list lies dead amid the tears and plaudits of his world,
of praise are sung above him; tributes of speech fall soft and| tender from a hundred tongues; prayers of gratitude rise above himj from thousands whose hearts were touched and turned by his ministry to behold the Cross; and the casket that held his mortal parti> resting a full day of honor in the marble corridors of the Capitol, bas been crowned and covered with every flower left to the lingering summer by autumns generous grace, / T/ke publicist remains, leader of lost causes, focal of faction, and center of economic storms. He has fought his brave battle, with unbroken courage and with unfailing eloquence, to their armed arn^istice or to the predestined end. He has rebuked temptation, refused every compromise of principle, turned his back upon the glittering promises of office which were set for his return to the ranjk of the dominant faction, and with, a consistency, pledged in sac/rifi ce and maintained in fceroie isolation, he has kept the faith of his advocacies and followed his convictions to successive stakes of

ifhrough loneliness, misunderstanding and misrepresentation Tom Wa(tson has not faltered in fidelity to the cause and the people adopted as his own twelve years ago.

i

(23)

24 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TI2OS. E. WA.TSON.

And he has rarely -won. Never but once in his battle-scarred

career has-victory perched upon his banners, or the flags of his faith

floated over a triumphant field. His eloquence has been praised, his

logic has been lauded, his consistency has been conceded and his

splendid courage has wrung tribute from his sternest foes. But by

the worlds standard, which are selfish and material, he must be

measured as a ^defeated man a baffled warrtor> who has ntearly

always failed. 7

:~ -

i

There they are, in sharp and signal contrast two famous uJeor-

gians of to-day. Rarely have life lines been set more separate) and

apart. This one for the Church, the other for the State. Lafurels

and laudation for the i>reacher, cypress and sorrow for the statesVnan.

The soldier of the Cross on flowery beds of ease, the Populist;, and

patriot in perpetual and unequal strife.

\.

Vast congregations for the evangel multitudes that heard " him

gladly laughter and life, and loving and tears with the visSible

joy of the redeemed making green the paths of his labor witiri the

songs of the saved swelling like music to his living ears, andt the

rejoicing host of his converts almost the last sight that lit his drying

but triumphant eyes.

; (

/The defeated publicist sitting for ten years desolate byf h

hearthstone working out in solitude and patient Ihonestfr ^ the

strong convictions of his faith, goes forth with high courage jx and

heroic zeal to fight. Great odds are piled against him. Slajjider

stabs his name; scornful ridicule assails; money mocks his elo

quence; friends fall away; comrades turn traitors in a night; bit

terness blurs his battles; the ranks are hostile that were once, bi

friends, and on the final field where he has staked and las*,; in

dauntless sincerity, his patriot sympathies and "his brave bel^ letfs,

night falls in failure and darkens in defeat. \

Patriot and Preacher Priest and Propagandist they are G eor-

gias own. In brain and pulse, in heart and hope, they love and

honor they save and serve her as their separate faiths have f jent

them to her needs,

1s the servant of the State less worthy than the servant off the

Church? Is the priest all perfect, and the patriot altogether wro! ng?

Is success the measure of a true mans service? Is victory the vst -liie

of a, civic faith?

j

Benedictions have blessed the preacher all his radian days, i He

has sown in the wealth of his substance and has gathered ais harv^ wts

in a-thousand sheaves. The work of his hands has beeu establish ted

upon him. Yea, the work of his hands God has established it. !

But the patient publicist, struggling in darkness and defeat, naa

wrought like the tapestry weavers that work across the sea wor ked

on the wrong side, maybe, but working for the right side aye. Parl ties

that scorned Mm once are absorbing now his creed; platforms t hat

mocked him are making his principles in planks that plead; and the

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON. 25
people persuaded so often to defeat Mm and deny, are awaking1 -at last to see that his warning was wisdom, and that his signal was the safety of the State.
Side by side we place them Preacher and Populist the living and the dead. They have filled large places in their sphere and time of work. They have worked and won. They have fought and failed.
But before we close the volume and write the final estimate of success and failure upon these great Georgia lives, let us pause and reflect upon, the wide variance which our human standards make with that serene and judicial verdict which tranquil history renders and which high heaven approves.
TOM WATSON.
JBy Walter Wellman in "The Review of Reviews," in 19O4
Who can withhold admiration from a man who has fought his way through all kinds of obstacles to success who has run the race heavily handicapped from the first, and won? That is what Tom Watson has done. Let us have a rapid glance at the story of his/ life- Perhaps at the very outset we hit upon the secret of his suc cess it was in the blood, good Quaker blood, from his ancestors who migrated from North Carolina and established a. colony on forty thousand acres of land between the Savannah and the Ogee~ ctt.ee rivers, in Georgia, a century and a half ago. y- The Civil War ruined the Watsons, as it did pretty nearly everyJane in the South. " They lost all of their slaves and moat of their I land. The remnant of the latter which they saved out of the wreck i went by sheriffs sale in the panic of 1873, and the family were / driven from their old plantation home, where they had lived for many generations. Tom Watson was then in a Baptist school where no tuition was charged. He had been admited as "poor and deserv ing," under the Jesse Mercer endowment, a frail, freckled, reflhaired, dreamy-eyed lad of sixteen. But he had to pay board, and when his people could no longer even do that much for the wolf was at their door he left the college and went out into the field to work. In a few months he got a chance to teach, school a rural I school, rejoicing in the title of "Academy." I shall here quote from \ tae contract which young Watson signed with the trustees a Quaint I. document, written, as we may be sure, by one of the custodians of the districts educational interests:
; Rules adopted by the trustees of the Central Warrior District i Accadamy to be enforced by Thos. E. Watson as teacher.
Rule 1. There shall be no student admitted into this school that I does not come under theas obligations.

26 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TI1OS. E. WATSON.
Rule 2. All abusive language such as cursing and swearing isattually forbiden.
Rule 3. There shall no studeant be allowed to carry concealed weppons.
Rule 4. There shall be no climbing of fences, ressling or throwing, rocks at each other alowed.
Rule 5. No studant is alowed to fight in school or on there way too or from school, nor no news to be carried too or from school.
Rules ior the government of Teacher Watson were set down as follows:
To keep a good and noisome disciplin at all times. To take in school at least by one Vz hours by sun in the morning, to alow as re-cess in the forenoon at least 15 minuts, at noon one hour, and 15 minuts recess in the afternoon, and to turn out in the afternoon at least on hour by the sun. The said Teacher will not be alowed to correct no studant in any way only by a switch the skin not to be cut and not to be abused otherwise.
To think that "the said teacher" of this "Gen.trial Accadamy" should afterward win fame as the writer of "The Story of France"!
( For two years young Watson taught school. But the school was not enough to engross his. energies. He wanted to read law; the trouble was, he had no law boot, and not enough money to buy one. He was boarding with a farmer, James Thompson, and Thompson lent him money to buy Blacksitone. Evenings, young Watson stud ied his Blackstone by the light of Thompsons pine-knot bla^e. Determined to be a lawyer, he became a lawyer; was admitted tothe bar at nineteen; and. in 1876, when twenty years old, r^tam^d to his old home, the village of Thomson, and hung out his sign. Mr.^ Watson, once confessed to me that at that time he had scarcely a decent change of clothing. He had been working as a farm-hand ; torture for one of such slight physique between school terms. At \ this juncture came a lift from a friend "the kindness which really . gave me a chance for life," as Mr. Watson says. One of his former school-teachers, Robert H. Pearce, agreed to trust him for a years , board while the stripling lawyer was "getting on his feet."
Somehow or other he obtained business. The first twenty dollars he earned he exchanged for a gold piece and sent it to his mother. ; The first year, his earnings were $212 gross, and he paid his board j bill out of that. The second year, he did better, and bought back, largely on credit, one of the old homes of his family and installed ; therein his father and mother and younger sisters and brothers. / The young lawyer lived with them; and every morning he took his dinner in a bucket and walked three miles to hi-s law office, and walked back again to the farm in the evening. This year, his income, was $474, The third year, he again doubled Ms income, and from now on his business increased till he was soon earning $12,000 a

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 27
year, and was able to buy back several thousand acres of the lands, which had formerly belonged to his family. Is not this a sweet story this story of struggle, sacrifice and success?
In 1880>, there was a hot fight in a Democratic State convention in Georgia. At the climax, a little pale-faced, red-haired chap made a speech on the losing side. First, the audience was hostile; then it went wild "with delight over the little fellows nerve and eloquence. Every one asked, "who is he?" "Tom Watson, of McDuffie County," was the answer. Such was the debut on the political stage of this poet, lawyer, orator, historian, novelist, nominee for President. Strange that a Georgia "country lawyer should send to the press a history of Prance and a life of Napoleon that astonished and cap tivated the world. But if its in the man, It will come out; and you. never can tell what sort of a man the divine fire burns within. Wallace Putnam Reed knew Watson in those days and had been drawn to him by the future historians poems on "Josephine"and "Na poleon," and has written of him: "Twenty-five years ago, the poets slight figure, flashing eyes, and feverish enthusiasm- suggested a soul of flame and a body of gauze. He looked like a man who would "live in a blaze and in a blaze expire. But it is easy to see genius in a man after he himself has convinced the world that it is there.""" : We need not dwell long on Mr. Watson political career. In 1882, Democratic member of the legislature; in 1888, a Cleveland elector and a Cleveland stumper; in 1889, leader of a fight against the jute bagging trnst. which so pleased the farmers that they insisted, the next year, on electing him to Congress, and after election espousing the principles adopted by the Farmers Alliance at Indianapolis, greatly to the disgust of his Democratic friends; defeated "count ed out by the Democrats," he claimed for reelection in 1892 and 1894, and denied his seat by the House on contest; in 1896, reluc tantly accepting the vice presidential nomination on -the Bryan ticket, and afterwards claiming that the Democratic managers did not deal fairly with their Populist allies; and in 1904, accepting an unsought nomination as the Populist candidate for President, reluctantly yielding, he says, because the Democracy had completely turned its back upon its former friends and surrendered to Wall Street, and with both of the old parties standing substantially for the Bame thing, it was high time to resurrect the Populist party and make an effort to save the country. / It will not do to omit mention of the fact that this many-sided man ^belongs also to the noble profession of journaiisHL For years he published, at Atlanta, The Peoples Party Pamper, and this journal had a tremendous circulation among the men and women of the Populist faith. In its columns, week after week, Watson poured out his soul, championed the cause of the masses against the classes, wrote with the power and earnestness which marks all his "work, and soon became a toree at hundreds of tnousands of humble firesides.

28 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
This paper, doubtless did more than his service in Congress or his activities in the political field to make him the chosen leader of the Populist host. ^
Of two of his achievements during his one term in Congress Mr. "Watson is justly proud. He led the debate on. the bill requiringrailroads to put automatic couplers on their frieght cars within five years, and the bill was passed.
On February 17, 1893, he introduced in the House and secured the passage of an amendment providing ten thousand dollars for an experiment in the delivery of mails outside the cities, towns, and villages. The members of the farmer party naturally lay great stress upon their claim that their candidate is the father of rural free delivery in the United States.
In those days there was a prevalent impression that Mr. Watson belonged to the "poor white trash" class of the South that he was a "Georgia Cracker" an impression which the Southern Democrats were not unwilling to spread after Watson left their party. Inci dentally, this belief brought on a most interesting discussion between. Theodore Roosevelt and Mr. Watson. In an article on the Vice Presidency published in the Review of Reviews in September, 1896, Mr. Roosevelt spoke of Mr. Watson as one "whose enemies call him a Georgia Cracker," and characterized him as a typical Populist of the period.
As a result of the publication of this article, the Georgian ad dressed a letter to Mr. Roosevelt which the latter printed in the Review of Reviews of the following; January, and characterized it as "a very manly and very courteous letter." Some of Mr. Watsons paragraphs are worthy of quotation here:
"You merely obey a law of your nature which puts you into mortal combat with what you think is wrong. You fight because your own sense of self-respect and self-loyalty compels you to fight. Is not this so? It in Georgia and throughout the South we have conditions as intolerable as those which surround you in New York, can you not realize why I make war upon them.?
"If you could spend an evening with me among my books and amid my family, I feel quite sure you would not again class me with those who make war upon the decencies and. elegancies of civilized life. And if you could attend one of my great political meetings in Georgia, and &ee the good men and gooa women who believe In Populism, you would not continue to class them1 with those who vote for the candi dates upon the no undershirt platform.
"The Cracker of the South is simply the man who did not buy slaves to do his work. He did it himself like a man. Some of our best generals in war, and magistrates in peace, have come from the Cracker class. As a matter of fact, however, my own people, from my father back to Revolutionary times, were slave-owners and land owners."
Mr. Roosevelt disclaimed any intention to characterize Mr. Watson
offensively, and added;

LIFE AND SPEECHES OFTHOS, E. WATSON. 29
"I was in Washington when Mr. "Watson was in Congress, and I know how highly he was esteemed personally by his colleagues. Moreover, I sympathize as little as Mr. Watson with denunciation of the Cracker, and I mention that one of my forefathers was the first Revolutionary governor of Georgia at the time that Mr. Watsons ancestors sat in the first Revolutionary legislature of the State. Mr. Watson himself embodies not a few of the very attributes the lack of which we feel so keenly in many of our public men. He is honest, be is earnest, he is brave, he is disinterested. por many of ?He"wrongs ^wTTrdii: he wfSEe"s~to remedy, if too, believe that a remedy can be found, and for this purpose I would gladly strike hands with him. All this makes it a matter of the keenest regret that he should advocate certain remedies that we deem even worse than the wrongs complained of."
Surely this is a most interesting correspondence between two literary politicians.
After the campaign of 1896, Mr. Watson abandoned politics and turned his attention to the work of his life, to the dream of his youth the writing of hiEtory. His "Story of Prance" astonished the world. Foreign critics praised it, and marveled that such a work could come from the brain of a backwoods lawyer in an, American State of which few of them had~~ever fieard. But Watsion was a genius for history; and genius will have its way. His college pro fessor says that he was "a history hog," literally devouring every book in the library, reading night and day. Mr. Watson himself, says that his "Story of Prance" grew out of some sketches which he wrote for his newspaper, the purpose being to show how class leg islation, or the greed of the few, had wrecked the French monarchy and caused the revolution, " just as I believe they will wreck our own republic unless checked by measures of peaceful reform." Foreign critics found Mr. Watsons style "not the most brilliant or polished," but they gladly recognized his power, his vividness. He is ever the champion of the under dog; he sees through the eyes and feels through the heart of the proletariat. To write history he does not go into the palace and the castle and chronicle the dynastic and
military changes of those wno make pawns and victims of the people in the valleys round about. Instead he goes down among the tillers of the soil, and, standing beside them looks up at the palace and castle, and searchingly inquires what they in the seats of the mighty have done for humanity. To him, "Louis the Grand," with his fifteen thousand bedizened idlers, eating up one-tenth of the national revenues, laying all the burden upon the bent back of the peasant, was the precursor of the revolution. Napoleon was jncojflparable and irresistable as long aa he battled for democracy, for the modern idea of the people against feudalism (Napoleon himself said, at St. Helena, in his melancholy retrospection and self-justification, "Friends and foes must confess that of these principles I am the chief solJier, the grand representative"), but defeat and ruin came when he attempted to found a dynasty leagued

30 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
with. European monarchies and aristocracies. According to Mr. "Watson, had I. jnaparte remained true to the Populist faith, there would have been no St. Helena.
Mr. Watson never lifts his feet from his rock of principles. In "The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson," his underlying text is a desire to show how a government of the whole people, instead of a government of the privileged few, must be formed- He does more in his "Jefferson," he brings out vividly that the American Revo lution was of the South as "well as of the North., that it was not simply a New England affair. He does this justly to both sections. And, speaking of the North and South, it may be ne-w& to the readers of the Review of Reviews that the jpoet, orator, the lawyer, tbe politician, the lecturer, the historian, the presidential candidate, has now turned novelist. Just coming from the press is his "Bethany: A, Story o the Old South." It is a story of the Civil War, and it will be found most fascinating. Many of its incidents and tales are from real life, for the authors; people were in the war, and were by the war ruined. Here again is an underlying purpose, justice to both JNorth and S*uth, abatement of sectionalism.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES
Memorial Services
In The Georgia legislature, in 1883, in Honor Of Hon. Alexander^ If. Stephens.
| R. SPEAKER; Some time since at Savannah, we were shown the monument which the noble women of the South had erected in memory of its noble men. Upon, its summit,
I typical of the sorrow of his people, stands the figure of a Confederate soldier, hie head bowed and his finger upon his lips.
Sir, we have listened to eulogies by members from every section of the State. I came almost from Mr. Stephens own fireside, and reverent, indeed, should be the hands that bring the tribute from his home, for I know that the feelings of his people were best shown, after the manner of the soldier upon the monument, by the finger upon the lips and the teardrop in the eyes.
I shall not attempt any labored eulog-y upon him. The one fitness
the years but deepened my respect and intimacy, my affection. Dur ing these ceremonies to-day I have felt like that friend of the great Webster who followed him to the grave and who, -when the soil had covered the form that was so grand to him, turned away and said, "The whole world seems lonesome to-day."
"The morning yet has it birth. The rainbow comes and goes. And lovely is the rose; But yet I know Whereer I go Theres a glory passed away from earth."
In Southern history there has been no completer character than his. Do we look for truth and honor? No falsehood ever soiled the purity of those proud lips, and through the vices of life he had walked with robes that gathered no stain. Do we look for heroism? It is brave to combat the prejudices of our own people. He had done so. It is brave to side with the weak, the oppressed, the friendless. He had done so.
With body frail by nature, and racked by disease, with spirit tortured by poverty, he had dared the frown of Pate, and had dashed down the difficulties in his path with as true a heroism as ever
(si)

32 LIFE AND SPEECHES OFJTHOS. K. WATSON.
forced a bayonet. Some of the sweetest flowers blossom at night. In the night-time of pain and disease no fairer flowers ever bloomed than the patient heroism that bore his own ills and the tender pity that shared the ills of others.
Do we look for charity? When he shall meet his fellow man be fore the great White Throne, out of all earths hosts there will come no accuser to say: "I ,was an hungered and ye gave me no meat; thirsty and ye gave me no drink; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, aBd ye visited me not."
He was happy in that time was given him to complete his -work. I am sorry for the man who must leave the course ere the race is run. With Mr. Stephens the contest was over. He had gone out in the serried ranks of life; he had borne him like a true knight, with out fear and without reproach. But the struggle has been finished. The great Commander has sounded the recall, and this veteran was on his return, with the laurel upon his brow, the olive leaf in his hand, victory upon his head, and peace in his heart. He had gone out into the grain fields of life. He had reaped in the freshness of morning, in the heat of midday, and amid the slanting rays of the afternoon; but as evening came on, the old mans hand had grown feeble and tired, and he was coming borne, his arms full of golden sheaves. The Master, coining, found him ready, his house in order. Never was the silver cord more gently loosened. Never was the golden bowl more softly broken. He fell on sleep like a child weary and worn. Great Nature, the common mother, holds him tenderly to her bosom. When he shall awaken, it ia inspiring to believe that he shall greet the morning in a land where there Is no night, where the skies are undim-med by a cloud, where the feet bleed upon no pathway of stones and the head wears no crown of thorns.

Commencement Address

At Mercer tJniversity, 1886.

| HERE is a spirit abroad which is .born of suspicion, and

nurtured by levity and cynicism. Its watch."word is, In-

I credulity; its process, prejudiced inquiry; its results, skep

ticism. It sneers at devotion to duty, mocks at pretensions

to the virtues, scouts the existence of any motives of action save the

maxims of a narrow unsympathizing selfishness. Its pleasure is to

cast ridicule upon old accepted creeds; its pride of opinion flatters

itself by the rejection of current beliefs; its levity harbors no re

spect for character, however exalted for motive, be it never so

pure; and no reverence for anything past or present, human or

divine. Its disposition is unscrupulous and aggressive and malig

nant. Like the vulture, its circling search is for corruption; like

the hyena, it digs up and devours what decency would hide and

forget.

Ask of these thoughtful instructors what it is that disturbs

them most in the contemplation of our future and I doubt not the

answer will be that it is the spread of the empire of disbelief an

empire which preserves no temples sacred from attack which has

no Pillars of Hercules to mark the limit beyond which its. vessels

dare not sail.

I am not speaking of that skepticism which merely says, "I wish

to fairly investigate and intelligently decide" that skepticism which

stops the approach of every creed or dogma, however ancient and

revered, and claims the right to examine its passports ere it be per

mitted to cross the frontiers of belief. Such skepticism is worthy

of all praise and the world is in its debt. Such skepticism broke

the spell of old barbaric creeds and gave us intellectual growth,

political freedom shattered the chains of superstition and gave

to a higher civilization the blessings of religious liberty. All honor

to such skeptics. Philosophy claims them in Galileo and Newton;

statesmanship in Mirabeau and Burke and Jefferson religion in

Luther and Calvin and Knox.

^

The skeptic I do mean is he who has run this habit of candid

research into the abuse of indiscriminate disbelief. Who doubts

because he thinks it displays great knowledge of the world and

great mental superiority to doubt. Who doubts because he hears

others doubt, because it is the fashion to doubt. Those who believe

everything he considers to be fools and he drifts among those who

believe nothing forgetting that they may be still bigger fools.

Green being the color of the glasses-he wears all that he sees is

green. He detects the mote in the eye without ever beholding th!e

34 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
eye. The sun to Mm is all spots and eclipse not a blazing light that leads the march of the universe. Youll hear his voice wbereever you go. The history of the country is rife with his slanders and suspicions; its literature spoiled by Iizs satires and his ribaldry, his immoralities; the very music of the land, white-winged bird of Paradise that it is :deseerated and debased by the burden of Tiis obscenities his endless and shameless unbelief.
In history this man pulls down the idols we were used to worship and says "JLo they are of clay." In theology he strips from the altar the creed of a thousand years and says, "You have no God." in the life around you he says of your courts, "They sell justice": of your laws, "They oppress the weak": of your rulers, "They are a defilement of their high places"; of your press, "It prostitutes its power."
He appeals to the records of the race, to current affairs, finds instances of baseness, finds currents of crime and proclaims that all men have their price and the world is saturated with depravity.
Let us examine the accusation. Let us call for a copy of the indictment and a list of the witnesses. What does the skeptic charge and what can he prove?
He says human nature is pitilessly cruel and unjust. He proves by the record that children murder parents that parents strangle children; that wives betray and poison husbands, that husbands beat and desert and assassinate wives. They prove that heirs-at-law fight like jackals around the deathbed of wealth, frantic for the spoils: that unrewarded honesty trudges dusty highways with bleed ing footsteps while thrifty rascality speeds by in parlor cars; that opulence moves luxuriously in the trappings of silk and purple and fares sumptuously in palace hall&; while beggary creeps with unavail ing cry under the hedgerow and starvation stiffens the gaunt limbs to quietude and sleep.
He says it is shamelessly treacherous and he asks you to name a cause that had no traitor. He says that it sold the secret of th pass at Thermopylae and gave to its enemies the attempt to band together the tribes in one great effort for home and country: trit struck down Wallace on the Scottish hills; Pompey on ' Egyptian beach, Darius in his Persian camp ; King Philip grandest of Indians in his forest retreat; that it bore a hand in i spoliation of Poland and Hungary; betrayed for British bribes Home Rule of Ireland; made barter upon the liberties for wn America was struggling, and feasted upon the necessities and him iation of our own South.
He says it is venal and will sell for a price anything it ei possessed. That men have sold their convictions their country their kings their God. That the Circassian will sell his son < the army his daughter for the harem, that tQe soldier will g ni& valor and his blood the priest his prayers and absolution the pati-xf. th cause for which he bleeds.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON. 35
Fearful indictments horrible details. No wonder the weak bend to the tide and make up their beliefs from exceptions rather than rules from instances of bad rather than from generalities of good.
For tne sake of argument let us admit the whole thing, L*et us admitjtJtat _all men are vicious and corrupt blot virtue from "the earth, Jehovah from the sky, and where are we? What do we believe? That around the sacred hearth of home is no chaste affection no devout joy; no innocence love and peace: that around the circle of those we call friends is no real kindness, no true honor, no stanch loyalty; that beyond the evening and the stars is no Blysian field of light, "but at the eve of this three-score and ten with all its struggles! and sufferings, its hopes and fears, is simply and solely the nothingness and horror of the tomb. Great God! What a creed! How can it make us better or nobler to believe it? What can it do but chill the fervor, bliglit the hopes and darken the landscape of life?
Accept the logic of the position. Admit that honors a myth, truth a dream, friendship a deception, love a sensuality and it does seem to me that the Evil Spirit of the world could but whisper in your ear his old-time advice "Curse God and die." And the sooner a believer in such a creed accepted tlie latter part of the advice, tht setter it would be for the rest of us. The belief is a faithful mir ror to those who embrace it to the men who believe evilly because too often they seek an evil creed to fit an evil life. They get an idea that the world is a sea where the big fish eat the little fish and that the only way to escape being devoured is to devour all others, and grasping, therefore, they must snatch. All others cheat, therefore they must swindle. And thus you see how scoundrels may be manufactured out of the plain principles of self-defense. Their motto is the phrase which Dickens puts into the mouth of Jonas Chuzzlewit: "Do others for they would do you." Appropriate motto from an appropriate source a wretch who poisoned his father, broke the heart of his wife, lived in rascality, died in suicide, Give us the man who denies integrity and proclaims all men dis~ -^tgpest, and we have a knave who, if you give him, half a chance, will p^al the gold plugs out of your teeth. Give us the man who says ^men are liars and we have a Muncliausen who never tells the
th except when it is necessary to give his tongue a rest from the repotony of lying. be,Vhat right have such creatures to infect the air we breathe and ~r judgement upon better men? listen to the evidence of the
^mkard and all men are tipsy to the libertine putrid and foul vj false, who never made a vow he didnt break, never received a. jgjst he didnt betray listen to him and the spotless robe of purity Jeh womanhood wears and the angels might envy, lives only in
dream of youth, colors only the page of romance. Wch is the skeptics ereed. It has its followers everywhere who
GENERAL LIBRARY

3fi LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON.
talk it, write it, live it. I liave met them you have met them, listening to tliem we doubt friends, distrust the family circle lose faith in the possibilities of life. This creed I deny this creed I scorn. This creed, had I the power, I would stamp out from the face of the earth as I would the reptile that endangers our path.
"What shall we believe? Weightier question will never strike your ear. Beliefs are the germs of principles; principles are the elements of manhood; and manhood, true, exalted manhood, is the summit of praiseworthy ambition. To constitute the hightest type of manhood, we all agree that certain qualities are requisite; among them kindness, truth, honor, loyality.
But do they exist? The skeptic says no, and listening to him we doubt where he doubts, reject what he rejects and turn deaf ear to the call of our better nature.
Come! its a grave matter. Comrades, let us examine it. Not in a spirit of levity. God forbid! The Caesar whom history shows you standing yonder at the Rubicon march halted, legions silent, ponders upon a question no more serious to him than is this to you.
Is there no kindness? Look over all this globe and count if you can its aids to distress, its institutions of charity. Count the hos pitals, the asylums, the orphanages, the homes for aged, infirm and needy. Trace them in city and town and country, on mountain and plain and desert; in zones frigid and temperate and torrid. Note the missions and the free schools. See every government with its poor laws; every country with its pauper fund. See the very criminals jealously guarded from, cruelty and want. How many nooks will you find where benevolence has not brought the charm of her presence how many houses of mourning where she has not soothed aching heads and aching hearts how many desert wastes where she has not planted and tended and nourished till barrenness blossomed into fruitfulness and beauty.
Kindness? Why its spirit is all-prevading and masterful. It melts the barriers of sectional coldness, ignores difference of race and color and condition; it overleaps the obstacle of distance and spans oceans and seas with its magic bridges. We read of the Federal soldier pensioned by a bountiful Government and not need ing t,he pension, who seeks out some destitute and disabled Confed erate and gives it to him. God pity them that they are so easy to find all through the Southland!
We read that Senator Harris, of Tennessee, is providing place and means of livelihood to the family of Governor Brownlow, the man who denounced Harris, "drove him from this country and put a price upon his head. Let us not forget that Brownlow before he died let kindness overcome cruelty and provided safety and comfort to Harris and the family of Harris.
Ireland is stricken with famine Europe and America fill her empty homes with, provisions. The North stands aghast at; Chicago

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 37

burnt, and tlie flames leap down from the woods around the I^akes

and Wisconsin and Michigan are black with ruined homesteads.

The South forgets abuse and slander and oppression and from, out

her own poverty she has kindness to divide with the suffering-.

The South is home down by pestilence and her sick lie helpless in

every city. The North forgets rancorous dislike, and the kindness

of her aid and the reality of her sympathy did more to warm back

into the Southern heart the Stars and Stripes than everything- else

since Appomattox^

The fire hell startles the sleeping city and it awakes to terror

and danger and destruction. Let history make record of what is

done there: generous courage, daring kindness; property saved,

lives snatched from the very flames a record braver and grander

than ever blazoned a battlefield.

The storm comes thundering down the coast with bleakness of

cloud, terror of wind and fury of foaming wave and the trembling

vessels flee in horror. But the night was never yet so bleak or the

tempest so dread that heroism did not brave the peril and risk life

to save life.

The pestilence steals into your city, driving away peace and joy

- nd health. It drapes your house in black, fills your beds with the

Si t the hearses with the dead. It empties your streets and drives

traffic from your gates traffic no matter how lustful it is for gain;

but it never yet has driven away those gentle sisters of mercy,

Protestant as well as, Catholic, who search for the suffering, watch

at the bedside, soothe in the death agony and give health and time

and life in the ministration of a divine compassion.

Is there no truth? You know the Psalmist exclaimed "I said in

my haste that all men are liars;" and you remember the good

brother who added, "Yes, and if David had taken all his life to

think about it he "would have reached the same conclusion." In one

sense of the word I suppose we all do lie. For instance, you tell me

you are sorry to hear that I have been sick, when the truth is you

dont care any more about my health than you do about the fate of

a last years May pop.

I am sitting in my room on Sunday; have done a hard weeks

work and now Im going to have a quiet, restful day at home

stretched on a lounge "with a hook in my hand. All at once a buggy drives up and stops at my gate. Theres Jones and Jones wife, who

1

is as full of weak conversation as the church is of weak members;

and Jones baby, which is teething and giving its attention to the

development of a fine pair of lungs. The whole concern has come to

spend the day! Merciful heavens! Seeing them coming in I grow faint

and desperate and suicidal. I form wild notions of jumping over

the back fence and taking to the woods. Too late. The door bell

rings, and I sadly lay aside book and go to meet them. See me do it.

"Why, Jones, old fellow, how dye do; and the Madam and the baby.

38 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Come in; come in rejoiced to see you." And such a smile as I do get up. Well, now since I think of it, I am not so sure about, this smiling business. 1f I am not a -candidate for anything I am not so sure that I smile. If I am, I am quite sure that I do. For "when Im a candidate I am like the balance of them and I have a lovely, heart-searching, vote lifting smile that my friends say is enough to melt the horns off a, billy goat.
The reporter for the "Society column" alludes to his lady friend as the "beautiful and accomplished" when he knows that her face isa howling wilderness of bone and freckles and things and that her mind is as empty as a politicians promise.
We members of the bar have to examine applicants for admission. We ask them certain questions as to the law and they answer or dont answer, as the case may be, and we rise, address the Judge and say: "We are satisfied, your Honor." Sometimes we are called upon to examine one of these fellows who miss about four-thirds of all the questions we ask. Still we use the formula: "We ane satisfied," and thus we let in another lawyer to ornament and bless: mankind. And so we are satisfied satisfied that he dosent know the difference between a conditional Est and a gatling gun, satisfid that what he thinks he knows would stall a freight train on a down grade and what he does know wouldnt embarrass the retreat of a wounded mosquito.
The late Judge McLaws was one of the most courteous of men. Upon one occasion he was a member of the committee which ex amined an applicant at Waynesboro. The applicant belonged to the class of which I have been speaking: his brain was as sharp as a roll of butter and as strong as boarding house coffee, and as clear as the noonday mud. Judge McLaws asked him this question, that question and the other question. With a beautiful regularity he missed them all. Things were getting squally. Even Judge McLaws didnt feel that it would do to let him in without answering at least one. But a brilliant idea struck the Judge, flashed upon him like sunbeams out of a cloud. He said to the applicant: "Mr. Brown, I believe your mother was a Miss Hawkins, wasnt she?" Brown says, "Yes." And McLaws rises with a smile that is seraphic and says: "I am satisfied, your Honor."
But these things are trifles denominated "White Lies." They spring from motives which do us no discredit from a desire to add to the pleasantries, courtesies and amenities of social intercourse.
By the liar we mean he who falsifies knowingly, upon a matter material, with a motive as black as his words. You will find them in every community, but you will also find that they are few, isolated and held in contempt. The perjurer in all countries stands apart,, branded, pilloried, towering in the eminence of his infamy. The ostracism to which he is condemned shows that his crime is unusual and shocks the moral sense of humanity.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON. 39
I wish I had the time to enlarge upon this topic and show you what part truth plays in the drama of the world: to impress upon you that truth is the basis of the fame of painter and sculptor, orator and poet, statesman and philosopher: that institutions and laws, prin ciples a,nd creeds die, with the day or outlive the centuries just in proportion as they conform to or are opposed by the resistless power of truth. In the brief space allotted to me I can only give you the suggestions, follow them with candid reflection and you will reach the conclusion that I most conscientiously hold that so long as the divinity of good bears down and subjects the fiendishness of evil just so long will truth keep her foot upon the neck of falsehood.
Is the.re no honesty? What Is it that holds together the business and commerce of the world the vast web and woof of barter and -exchange, export and import? What is it that gives to verbal promise *he weight of gold; and brings paper into equality with coin and aouses and lands? Why do we entrust the savings of a lifetime to bonds not due for ten or twenty or forty years? Why insure, de posit in hank, invest in stocks? Why Create agents, trustees, execu tors or guardians? Why should the present redeem the pledges of the past as it does? Why should the present confide in the honor -of the future as it does? I see from the papers that the Government of France asked for a. loan on long time, at three per cent, of nine hundred million francs. The people in response have offered two billion seven hundred million. In other words, the citizen of France, .living in a troublous present, knowing that times may change and the Government change, is yet willing to put himself, his fortune and his family in the keeping of the honesty of the future. One bank cashier defaults and scoots for Canada and we cry out "Depravity! Depravity!" We forgret the ten thousand cashiers whose integrity is and will be as unshaken as a rock. A dozen politicians get smirched an some Broadway railroad swindle, some Yazoo fraud. Again our lamentations rise and we deplore the villainy which seems to stalk like a Leper, through public life crying, "Unclean! Unclean!" We forget the countless hundreds of those whose walk, even through the mire of politics, is so lofty that friends admire and enemies dare not assail.
But what Republican would be so blind in hatred as to deny honesty to Stephens and Toombs, Lamar and Davis,? On the other hand what Democrat would feel tnat he did justice to the candor of his nature if he did not bear testimony to the worth of Lincoln and Sumner, Conkling and Phelps? Their names are synonyms of integrity their records without stain. And when we see honesty so conspicuous that even among the politicians its presence is un questioned, we feel as we do when we see the lilies lifting white faces from puddles, or violets shrinking amid bramble we feel that the seeds of beauty have been so bountifully scattered by the hands -of a gracious Providence that they bloom in spite of obstacles.

1
40 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
You see the vast fortune of the Rothschilds: you trace it to its source as you -would the Mississippi the Monarch of Rivers. We Start from the magnificent outlet and move on up stream. We pass the Ohio bringing royal tribute, the Missouri with its muddy tide, the Illinois, the Wisconsin, the St. Croix the Swan. We follow along the lessening stream, growing slender amid Northern woods passing like a silver thread through a jeweled circlet of lakes, and our pleasure is but the deeper if we find the source of all the Mis sissippis grandeur, of all its length and breadth and power, to be some lucid spring in sylvan shade, some crystal surface of Itasca Lake.
With like interest we trace to its source the wealth of the Roths childs wealth colossal, overshadowing Europe. We pass its tribu taries here, its additions there its, loans for peace or war, its dis counts for the Old World or the New and away back in the dimness of the past it moves us with pleasure to see its slender beginning flow ing from a source as pure as the waters from the rocks. Go read the story the narrative of troublous times of treasure entrusted to a Rothschild of the Rothschild wrecked in the Revolution, property gone home desolate but his trust kept secure inviolate. Read it rtsmember it, and say with me that it gives to the name and the race a title of nobility higher and more enduring than the patent Vi<^ toria signed.
No honesty? Why, the veriest knave that ever wore a stripe , in his heart of hearts believes in its existence and so does the rankest skeptic that ever polluted the air he breathed. Let dis belief in honeety really take possession of the world for on e moment and the business of mankind halts! The great loom of traffic weaves no more. The great ocean of commerce checks its currents, calls in its tides and a Dead Sea is before you; and around us, in place of town and village and city, is the silence and emptiness of the desert. Your Black Fridays come your panics of 73 with the terror of the cyclone and the rumbling of the earthquake. The markets of the world tremble and smite their knees in abject dismay. Commercial houses topple, banks crash, values shrink, securities vanish, stocks melt and through the consternation and the gloom come the cries of distress from men and women and children.
Why? Because, for one brief moment skepticism snatched the helm; doubt became pilot: and no sooner did he touch the wheel than the vessel dashed straight for the breakers, for ruin and for death.
Let confidence return! Let it come as the Master came that time thei storm tossed the Sea of Galilee. And the tempest grows mute in the presence of its God, the sinking Peter rises to the surface and the rescued vessel, snatched from its peril, is safe on a tranquil sea.
Is there no loyalty? What is loyalty? To cling to those we love in shadow as in sunshine; to meet the duties of the hour ungrudg-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON, 41
ingly, unreservedly; to be as stanch to principle in defeat as well as in triumph: to follow the beck of duty, the demands of honor, the dictates of truth, the promptings of affection not only when to obey them may mean the gratefui sound of applause, the chaplet of re nown, the meed of pleasure or riches or office, but also when it may mean pain and censure and ridicule and dislike; when it means loss of favor, of friends, of riches, of the coveted boon of success. This is loyalty! Nay, it is more. It is the perfection of sublime manhood which the very heavens must respect and all eternity reward.
Does it exist? The skeptic says, "No most assuredly, no!" Tjet us see: let us challange the record! Let us call forth the heroes of the old time to confront and abash the pigmies of the new. Do we not read of Ellen Douglas who ran her bare arm through, the hasps of the door through which assassins would come upon her king did she not hold them all at bay till the tender flesh and bone was bruised and mangled and bleeding and the monarch had made his escape? Do we read of Sir Philip Sydney lying on battlefield wounded to the death, his lips parched with thirst and yet true to the chivalrous teaching, refusing the cup of water because an unknown comrade lying there had necessities greater than his? Didnot every man and woman in the Highlands know that kings ransom was the price offered for the secret of the hiding place of the young prince, Charles Edward Stuart? Did not all know where the hiding place was; were not they all destitute harassed by war hounded by rapine on account of this very prince and did not they all, from the nobleman down to the churl, hold themselves aloof in contemptuous scorn from the bribe that England had offered? The private soldiers capture Andre, and the wealthy young officer, horified at his impending doom, offers purse and watch and unlimited promise for his freedom. Catch and hold in thy chalice, O muse of history, the golden reply: "We are poor men and needy, but all the wealth of England cant buy us." No loyality ? No self-sacrifice for principle ? Turn, O carping skeptic, back to the r days of Christian persecution gaze into the arena of Rome and see the lustful greed of the thousands gathered there in the power and pomp and insolence of their empire to gloat upon the helpless agony of martyrs. See them throw to the famished lion and ravenous tiger the followers: of the Nazarene. "Renounce the God and live," shout the Romans, "No," answers strong man hood. "No," replies weak womanhood. "Rather will we cling to our God and die." And they cling to their God and die* torn limb from quivering limb amid the taunts and jeers of a heartless people. No loyalty? Ah, flippant scoffer, who from the molehill of your own nature denieth the existence of the mountains on whose summits the clouds may love to linger, go and search and ponder and be
41s

4:2 LIFE AND SPEKCIIES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
ashamed. Uncover thy head when thou standest upon the soil where frail humanity chose death rather than surrender of conviction, grow reverent for once in thy life when thou seest the stake at which it was burned, the rack on which it was tortured, the dungeons where the visionary horrors of hell were flung into the actualities of life,
Nay, go further. See all Holland ravaged by fire and sword for years and years and years when one word of. apostasy would have brought relief. See the fairest provinces of Italy blackened and blasted by remorseless Alva. See the Huguenot loyal to faith though it meant banishment from peace and plenty in sunny France to strife and privation in the forests of America; the Puritian, faithful to belief though it meant leaving of home and friends in quiet England to dangers of the sea, struggles with the savage and peril of starvation in the frozen -wilds of the North.
View all this and if loyalty be still denied loyalty sublime and complete it is because the blindest of the blind is the man who will not see.
Loyalty? Is it not the soul of domestic life, and is it not there what salt is to the sea, what the sun is to the flower? T>oes thlei skeptic deny its existence there? On the other hand, like the blue bells and the daisies is it not so common that we cease to repiark it? The Rosamond or Gabrielle or Magdalen goes into canvas, lives in poetry and song: a thousand vestals keep alight the sacred fires of purity, noted only by those among whom they live. A Poppaea or Borgia murders or betrays a husband and history makes a monument to her shame: all through this land and other lands, through these times and all other times, are found faithful companions who bear and forbear, who trust and keep trust and serve duty as faithfully as the rivers serve the sea.
"What is the narrative of our domestic life? So ancient, so univer sal we term it "The old old story," Pardon me for one touch of its time-worn but sacred leaves.
Heres the maiden in the glow of buoyant youth: queenly in the regalia gems of the graces; witching in the splendor of a loveliness -which canvas can never picture, marble never embalm; a loveliness that has its rainbow beauty in the varying hue of cheek, shifting radiance of eye, in the harmony of look and tone and motion. "She is a woman, therefore to be wooed," etc.
Shq is "wooed and is "won. Happy the youth! Wooed, let us say, under the mystic spell of night, made up of s-tarlight vague and dreamy, of fragrance faint from sleeping flowers, of melody pensive in some muffled murmur of brook, some distant note of bird.
Wooed and won! Lover and lady; groom and bride; husband and wife- Youth goes is gone. Ah, that its stay is so brief!
Moonlit nights are gone, stern days of reality have come. Hot sunshine, weary road, toilsome tasks, heavy burdens; wear and

r

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 43
tear and fret and strife. The bride no longer touches soft guitar or pens still softer verses. You may see her yonder in the back porch mending a hole in little Johnnies trousers, or washing the greens for the dinner pot: if you drop in to chat a while she has various remarks to offer relative to the cut worms which have taken
voracious fancy to her garden, and about her neighbors chickens which she fears will drive her raving distracted. The gallant groom no longer dreams of the Ideal and pants for the Unattainable. Youll see him younder at the lot counting the number of pigs the speckled sow has got. Step over to where he is and hell argue with emphasis and feeling the problem as to whether or not sandy land is the best for potatoes; and whether the "free nigger" is a success; and whether a religious man can plow a mule in a new ground without the whole team falling from grace.
Romance gone? Yes, every bit of it. Love gone? No a thous and times no. Beneath that shingle roof is the glory of manhood, womanhood, wife leaning on the strong arm found faithful, husband embalmed in affection unselfish, undouhting wifely devotion which gives its tenderness to its king without measure, without murmur, as the ocean gives its moisture to the sun. Perfect trust, thankful content and the music of the gods childhoods happy laughter. Clouds there have been in the domestic horizon. We cant deny it. The best of wives will sometimes forget to sew the buttons on, and put too much soda in the biscuit. But the very clouds have made the sunlight all the brighter. Discords there have been in the harp of home. We must frankly admit; it. The best of husbands will sometimes bring company home on washdays and express himself a little too strongly about his mother-in-law. But the very discords have made the harmonies all the sweeter harmonies, mark you, that are richer and softer and tenderer than the wreath of song- which the mocking birds weave around your midsummer nights dream.
Middle life passes is gone. The children have married off and left them. The aged couple are again alone.
The old lady is an authority all over the whole neighborhood. If the pip breaks out among the chickens in three miles, shes con sulted. All the mysteris of catnip tea are to her familiar as A B Cs. She can make a poultice which will cure anything from the sting of a spider to the kick of a mule. She is almost glad when you are taken sick, so that she can come over with her knitting and her snuff and her motherly kindness and doctor you on root tea till you are up again.
As for the old man, let us go up to his porch and hear liim talk. He doesnt like these toothpick shoes the boys wear on their feet, nor the ivory-headed canes they stuff in their mouths doesnt like this way of a young mans grabbing hold of a girls arm shoving her along as if she were a jackplane. He doesnt think they ought to raise hymns in a church with a cornet believes the old deacon can

44 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON.
raise any hymn thats worth raising. Doesnt think his church needs a chandelier. Doesnt believe theres a single member of the congreagation could play on it if they had one.
Dear old couple! Linked together by a thousand tender memories loving now without passion tout with an infinite peace and trust. Let us pause for a moment in the noisy hurlyburly of our lives and draw nearer to where they sit, for it seems to me I can hear some thing like this:
"John Anderson, my jo, John, when we were first acquent, Your locks were like the ravens, your bonny brow was brent. But now youre growing beld, John, your locks are like the snaw. Yet blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson, my jo.
"John Ander&on, my jo, John, we clam the hill thegither, And mony a canty day, John,, weve had wi an anither; Now -we maun totter down, John, but hand in hand well go, And sleep thegither at the foot, John Anderson, my jo."
Thus I have given you both sides of the question. "Which will you take, by which of the two creeds -will you live? Its a question you cant dodge, youve got to vote. Its a fence you cant straddle; youve got to light on one side or the other.
Upon the one hand are the men who have no faith who tear down, rather than build, slander rather than praise, injure rather than help, who deny to others the nobility of motive lacking in themselves, who make of this existence a cynics corner to snarl in, a.n epicureans paradise to repose in, or a sensualists mire to wallow in.
On the other hand are the men with a creed and a purpose men who see nc-t only the darkness but the light, not only the thorn but also the beauty and fragrance of the rose, not only the deformities of vice but also> the glories of virtue: men, earnest, straightforward, reverential men, who believe that this life of ours, throbbing with the passions and desires, thrilling with the knowledge of its power, infinite in the sweep of its aspirations, is not the plaything of a wantons smile or a debauchees lust, but is of all trusts the most sacred, of all opportunities the most sublime.
I address myself more particularly to the young gentlemen present. Comrades, this question is important to us beyond all other questions
lifes race course stretches before us and -we want to start right. And I say to you with all the earnestness of my nature, we cant afford to doubt. "We cant afford to nourish that noxious -weed called distrust. Have faith in your friend and you may lose him; doubt him and he is lost already. Have faith in the success of your undertakings and you may fail, doubt them and you had just as -well make up your mind to do your wifes churning all your days. Adopt the nobler creed for lofty beliefs are the seed beds of lofty achieve ments. Not only adopt it but live it. It can never lead us to shame

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 45
or remorse or degrade us in feeling or position. It will ennoble us, .lit us. It will lead us on to high aims and achievements. In success it will consecrate our glory in defeat it will cheer us with a solace sweeter than any note that ever softened the throat of night ingale. A creed like this gives to history the deeds it loves to embalm gave to the reverence of all ages the names of Hampden and Syd ney, of Grattan and Kossuth; made sacred such fields as Bannockburn and Bunker Hill; put the light of immortality to burn forever where Bozzaris and Winkelried and Stonewall Jackson fell.
Be a man fashioned on this creed and the world will have need of you. What these heroes did, you can do meet the duties of your position. Everywhere is felt the want of earnest, honest, independ ent men men with a purpose and firmness enough to pursue it; with principle and courage enough to retain them: men who belong to nobody, who are free from ring ownership and clique dictation: who scorn to be on a side simply because its the winning side: men who stand erect in the plentitude of royal manliness and think and believe and speak and act by the grand old principles of right!
Not that right merely which is synonymous with might, and success and temporary applause but that higher and grander and better meaning of the term right because conscience says the word, right because honor calls it so. What though such a course leads him to what the world calls defeat? To such a man theres a question of character involved which overrides all mere clamor of failure or triumph. Such a man will walk down into the valley of the shadow of defeat and come forth with the light of immorality on his face. Such a man becomes a Robert Emmet or a Robert Lee whose graves are Mecca shrines where the patriotism of all countries makes devout pilgrimages and stands with head uncovered.
In the olden time the Senate of this country voted to one of its generals the thanks of the commonwealth not that he had won vic tories, not that he had brought home trophies he had done neither; but because in an hour of peril and panic and disaster "he had not despaired of the Republic." Comrades, take the lesson home to your hearts. No matter what gloom spreads itself about you, keep the faith, be true to your creed. It will demand courage to do it courage the most resolute and invincible. You will see vice prosper and Increase; injustice prevail and spread. Friendship will meet you with betrayal; hope promise to delude; love itself smile on you to ensnare. Your heart will grow faint and droop and bleed, and when you see those on -whom you built your trust banded with the enemies who would slay your peace, you will feel as Caesar felt when the knife of Brutus gleamed before his eyes. You fain would draw your mantle oer your face and sink down to mute despair. But remember the brave example of the past and do not despond. Be loyal to the good old faith tbat makea heroes; be loyal to the friend whose hand you clasp; to tae words that pass your lips; to

46 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
the trust that binds your honor; to the duty which claims your devotion.
O comrade! Be earnest and brave and true! Leave trifling to those who have no aim levity to those who have no faith. Be deaf to those "who would wound you by their ridicule and jeers. Remember that the mockery was heard even while the sands drank the life blood of the martyr while Calvary grew black in the death hour of a God. Be a man \ Soiled by no bribe, daunted by no danger, cowed by no defeat and as sure as Jehovah lives and rules you will rank among those who give to this life of ours all of its sweetness, its glory and its joy!

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Commencement Address
At Milletlgeville, Ga., June 1888.
FEW years ago the novel-reading world was eagerly de vouring the pages of that very curious book to which its author, Rider Haggard, had given the still more peculiar name of "She." Those of you who may have read this story will remember the weird description of the landing of the English travelers on the savage coast on Africa; will remember how they found, imbedded in the mud, the ancient stone wharf; will remember how they toilfully made their way up the lonely river, labored through the longforgotten canal and across the morass, to the people whose queen was "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed." You will remember the description of the ruins of the City of Kor, but you will recall especially the pen picture of the deserted anJ. crumbling Temple of Truth. Within its inner court stood a statue of the goddess whose -worshipers had once filled that waste with their hurrying footsteps; whose voices had once filled that silence with sounds of devotion. Upon a pedestal stood a magnificent marble globe, and upon this globe stood a sculptors dream of female lovliness. Its hands were extended in supplication, for a veil was over the face. There it stood, divine amid the desolation, silvered in the moonilght which softened while it illuminated every outline; and thus it had stood for ages Truth beseeching the world to lift her veil. In this symbol, sole remnant of the glories of the ruined temple, there is a profound meaning. The desolate city may lie about her, and the very precincts once peopled by her votaries may give place to brambles, but truth herself is imperishable survives all wreck and change; and If her prayer be slighted and her veil never lifted, the people perish while she survives. During the hour alloted me to-day, I know of nothing better for me to do than to talk to these young men on the thoughts suggested by the veiled statue of Truth.
BE TRUE.
1f I were asked to sum up in one sentence the highest purpose which man can have in this life I would say it was "To seek the truth ana to live it."
Not only is this purpose a noble one, but it is one which is abso lutely necessary to the true and permanent success of the individual or the mass; the citizen or the government. Creeds have lived or died, laws have been dominant or trampled on in exact proportion
(47)

48 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON.
to the elements of truth which they contained. Apparent exceptions prevail, but they do so only in appearance, and the success of false hood is, in the nature of things, bound to be partial and temporary. The constant tendency of the universe and all it contains is to con form to the truth.
THE PHILOSOPHER.
The philosopher seeks the truth, and in proportion that he finds it, benefits mankind. Theories come and go, hypothesis chases specula tion, demonstration steps on the toes of surmise, but the constant effort is to find the truth. The church may stretch Galileo on the rack, the universities of Spain may solemnly denounce Sir Isaac Newton, but Truth marches on with serene power and extends her scepter over the bowed head of the world.
Boundless is the gratitude we owe to the philosophers. They brought reason to bear upon Nature, expounded her meaning and ex plained away her mysteries. They robbed the eclipse of the terror which once sent the nations to their knees; severed famine and pestilence and earthquake from any connection with the wrath of God; established the uniformity and permanency of natures laws and hurled superstition from its throne in the minds and hearts of men.
LAW AND GOVERNMENT.
From a time ages in advance of Moses it has been the task of statesmen to write the law in conformity with truth. "When they have done so their work has been immortal. A cardinal truth, once discovered, survived even the people who discovered it, and carried its precious freight, like another Goodspeetl, across unknown seas to bless unborn people.
The Hindoos are a decayed nation prostrate beneath British rule but in their code of laws there were some regulations so wise, so just, so beautiful that they have made a circuit of the globe and have imbedded themselves in every system which deserves honor able mention. The laws, like the nations, have come from the East, and the Hindoo laws will outlive the race which framed them.
The Goths and the Vandals could beat down the frontier guards of the Roman Empire, sack its cities and divide its provinces, but they could not conquer its laws. Upon the other hand, if there is any special system of jurisprudence which may be said to govern the affairs of men to-day it is that of ancient Rome.
You will hear much said about the English common law. You will hear it praised as if it were some divinely inspired oracle. Dont believe a word of it. The English common law was the brutal code of half-naked savages. The truth was not in it and it fell. It de served to fall. Under it a woman was a serf and a poor man a slave. Its land tenure was infamous; its methods of trial were heathenish and idiotic;its punishments were revolting in their devilish cruelty.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF.THOS. E\ WATSON. 49
Superstition nung like a pestilence on every principle of the "Un-itten " law of England. Some tyro, fresh from his Biackstone, will claim that the jury system is tlie pride of the common law.
The jury system had no existence until after the Norman conquest, and it was totally inefficient for general good until love of liberty, general intelligence and higher ideals left tlie old common law a stranded wreck.
Its principles, its purposes and its methods had to surrender be cause they were false false to the true relation between government and people; .between master and servant, between husband and wife; false to the true relation between innocence and guilt, between crime and punishment.
I do not mean to say that our code of to-day speaks the truth upon all subjects. It does not do so. But it is an immense improvement upon the code of one hundred years ago.
THE COURT.
When you go into one of those judicial mills called a court of jus tice, you may have these ideas weakened. Tou may find it difficult to remember that the law seeks the truth-
There is the judge, the fountainhead, the judicial guardian of the rights of the parties litigant. He is supposed to be an able man. He himself has no doubt upon that subject. He himself is suppossed to be impartial, and the fact that he tries a railroad case with a free pass in his pocket (while the jury have none), does not for one moment shake his conviction that the jury is "prejudiced."
If a member of that jury accepts a five-cent cigar or a glass of red lemonade from lawyers or litigants, the verdict must be set aside no matter how much, expense it involves, no matter how little the cigar .or the lemonade may have to do with, the verdict. It becomes at once a self-evident fact that the jury did not surrender to law or evidence, but capitulated to the red lemonade.
But the judge on the bench, with no eleven associates to hold him in cheek, can quietly utilize a free pass worth hundreds of dollars, can serenly warn the jury not to have any bias or prejudice against the issuer of that free pass, and never once have his conscience ruffled by tbe thought that he is virtually in the position of the bribe taker.
And his excuse is more shameful to the judiciary than his offense "They all do it."
Consider, now, the lawyers. Not one of them wants justice done simply because it is justice. If my client happens to be right I want him to win, not so much because he is right as because he is my client. It is necessary to my reputation that he should win.
If the other side indulges in any tricks against my client, I am indignant; not so much because they are wrong a,a because they are injurious.

50 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
On the contrary if my client is in the wrong, I cannot desert him. I dare not stand up in court and ask the judge to strike my name from the docket and thus retire from the case. The reproach of bench and bar and people would fall on me like an avalanche. 1 would never get another case. Once in, I must stay in. I must prop the falling- cause. I must bullrag the witnesses; I must abuse the other fellow; I must voraciously (if I can) eat up the lawyer on the other side; I must inflame the passion, prejudice or pity of the jury; I must Oonfound and confuse the judge; and if there is a particularly truthful witness on the other side and his testimony is specially in my way, I must go for that witness "with an appetite which will take no denial and no satisfaction. I must pound him and grind him. I must throw him up and fling him down. I must walk over him and then walk up and down him. I must give him " cat o nine tails" externally and aqua fortis internally. In other words I must deface, disfigure and demolish this honest witness to such an extent that his neighbors on the jury will forget that he is a reputable citizen who has sworn the truth. And all this is done that my miserable scoundrel of a client may gain where he should lose, and that 1 may have the credit of winning where I should be de feated.
Suppose the witness appeals to the judge for protection? He will not get it. He will be told that he must not interrupt counsel. If he persists in his objection to the style in which I am tearing- his rep utation to tatters, and becomes unruly and demonstrative, his honor, the judge, will fine him for conteanpt of court. When the trial is over the judge and bar will compliment me on my splendid invective and the magnificent style in which I destroyed that truthful witness. The jury itself will enjoy the gladiatorship, and for years afterwards will remember the witness, chiefly because of the cowardly attack which I made on him in a place where he could not defend himself.
Is not this a faithful picture of the court room which you may wit ness any day in this land?
Is it right? In Gods name, are we not drifting away from the truth when our lands, liberty and life may depend on the speech of the advocate?
REFORMS NEEDED.
F*or this state of affairs a remedy must be found. A trial in the court room must be made more of judicial examination by the judge and jury, and less of prize-fight between the lawyers.
The present system no longer serves its purpose. The public has lost confidence in it.
A system which sends a negro to the chain gang for betting a dime on "the first game of seven-up" and finds itself powerless to punish the stock gambler is weak unto rottenness, and there is no use de nying it.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON. 51
A system which tears a white tenant from his family and puts aim in chains and stripes because he sells cotton for something to eat and leaves his rent unpaid, and which at the same time cannot punish its railroad kings who shamelessly violate the penal statutes, is a system which no honest man can heartily respect.
NATIONAL LIFE.
The constant necessity of any government is to flnd the truth. Without it no real prosperity is possible.
I do not forget that error has frequently crystallized in the insti tutions of a country; but when it has done so ruin follows.
The unequal treatment of the classes, the unequal levying of tax es, the unequal distribution of wealth have been three of the main causes which, have peopled the cemeteries o tlie past with dead empires.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
In France we find one illustration which will serve for many. All the power, privilege and wealth were centered in one class. The nobles and the priests constituted this dominant caste. Only they could hold office. Only they could reach promotion. They alone possessed wealth.
The nobility and the church owned most of the land. Tliey drew enormous salaries and pensions and requisites, but they contributed almost nothing to the support of the State. A peasant they despised. They could beat him, imprison him, outrage him in person, property, family, and he had no redress. He must give his labor to them with out pay.
He must grind at the lords mill; and if he wished the privilege of mashing his wheat between two rocks at home he had to pay for it. He must carry his grapes to the lords press; his bread to the lords oven. Five-eights of his crop went to the tax-gatherer.
Only nobles could kill game. The peasant must allow wild boars to ravage his fields. He dare not kill them. That spot belonged to the noble.
He must allow troops of deer to trample down his crops. He could not kill one at the peril of his life! Tne spot was reserved for the noble.
Partridges must not be disturbed in their nests or in their feedings, nor must the peasant manure his crops while the young birds were growing up. It was thought to spoil their flavor, and this could not be endured by the noble.
Abuses so terrible, in some of the fairest provinces of France, crushed out cultivation entirely, and the country became a desert, while the cities were crowded with the starving peasants who had left them.
At the same time the church held property to the amount of four
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52 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON,
hundred million dollars, with a yearly revenue of fifteen million dollars, and did not pay one cent of tax.
This pitiless policy brought its natural result. The goose, being in a dying condition, yielded no more golden eggs. National bankruptcy came. The huge falsehood began to collapse.
The terrified king asked his minister "what he must do. The min ister said: "Compel the nobles and the priests to bear their equal share of taxation."
The monarch was delighted. He assembled the priests and the nobles. He said to them in effect: "Gentlemen, you have for ages monopolized the wealth and honors of this realm, and you have con tributed little to the expenses of the Government. All the revenues of the Government go to you. The people get none of them. The people are starving and can pay no more. Hence, I ask you to allow your property to be taxed for the public weal."
What was the response? A cry of indignation which drove the minister from power and the king from his purpose. What was the result?
Revolution, red-handed, leaped upon the false order of things and swept it from the face of the earth.
I am sorry for the poor king who was. beheaded, and for the poor queen also, but I am yet more sorry for the nameless poor who starved under misrule, and for those ragged wretches who were hanged at the palace gates because they had come there to ask for work and bread.
DANGERS AHEAD OF US.
We pride ourselves upon the equality guaranteed in the Declara tion of Independence. The theory that before the law all men are equal is the glory of JefEersonian Democracy. He believed with all his soul that classism, special privilege, concentrated power and corpor ate wealth were deadly enemies to this government. He was right. This government to-day has left the simple, majestic and true ideal of Jefferson, and has merged into the consolidated empire Hamilton desired.
The system is false and cannot live. It is glaringly untrue in theory and in practice, in outline and in detail. Judged by the Declaration of Independence it is false; judged by the Constitution it is false; judged by the republican spirit of this people it is false, and it will die just as certainly as there are enough brave men left to denounce the system and arouse the people to tear it to pieces.
If I were to go into detail to prove this I would be accused of making a political speech, where it is out of place. Therefore, I merely call your attention to these general facts: the tendency of the government to favor some industries at the expense of others; to favor some classes at the expense of others; to enforce general contributions from all the people when the benefit goes directly into

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 53
the pockets of a few; to grant special privileges to some which, it denies to others; to place tlie taxes almost entirely upon those ^ast able to bear them; to relieve entirely from taxation those who derive the greatest benefit from the government and who are most able to pay; aiding and encouraging the strong to oppress the weak sanctioning the large fortune when it swallows the small one, and the large company when it gobhles up the little one; and fostering the trust which destroys or absorbs the independent enterprises that would stand against it.
Shameful system! Shameful government which permits it. It is a burning lie before God and man, and Gods omnipotence is pledged to the proposition that it cannot live.
CHOICE OF- PROFESSION.
(No question can be more absorbing at a commencement than this: "What are these young people going to do?" Young gentlemen, there is in every walk of life tooth truth and falsehood. Learn to know the one and love it. Learn to know the other and hate it. Do you think of being a lawyer? Pew greater men have lived than really true lawyers. Few meaner men have ever lived than the false ones, and you cant shoot off a spatter gun in any given direction without crippling some of them.
THE TRUE LAWYER.
But the true lawyer, who is he? In ancient history he is the citi zen who would travel on foot from land to land, endure every privation, incur every danger in order that he might study the laws, customs and manners of other people, and carry the best of it all back to his own people to improve them with it. He gave Ms life for his country in the strictest and noblest sense.
What profounder remark was ever made than this by Solon: "I have given my people not the best laws, but the best they were fitted to receive."
What grander man ever lived than the great Roman lawyer whom Nero commanded to justify that tyrants murder of his mother? Lofty type of the loftiest ideal! "We can see him yet, the grand figure of pagan manhood, through the mist of the ages, as be draws his mantle about him and goes to his death, rather than stain his hands with the ghastly work!
Go into Prance and find me the heroes "who led her from feudalism to liberty; and when you crown each of them, it is a lawyer who wears your honors!
Cross the channel to England and seek among her illustrious deadL
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54 LIFE AND SPEEOIIES-QF THOS. K. WATSON.
those apostles of freedom, to whose memories you -will bare your heads, and it is to a band of noble lawyers that you have uncovered!
Ask me to whom popular rights and the knowledge of how to enforce them is most to be credited during this century, and I an swer without a moments hesitation, Daniel OGonnell, the great Irish lawyer!
To him we owe the science of agitation; the irresistible but peace able marshaling of public opinion to change customs, policies an.d laws; to him we owe the demonstration of the profound truth that reforms are not granted merely because they are right, but they are granted when it is no longer possible to refuse them.
Leaving the Old "World and coming to the New, the same fact meets us. The signal fires of the Revolution -were lit by lawyers; the Declaration of Independence was written by a lawyer so the Constitution; and the man to whose doctrines of equality the people are returning now as fast as they can march was Thomas Jefferson, the lawyer. So much for the ornaments of our profession. I glory in its opportunities for good.
1 never yet faced a jury where life, liberty and property were in volved and wrong was threatened tliat I did not feel my breast swell
proud of the splendid privilege of being the champion of the right. Never such a thrill enters my veins as when by some just verdict, I can send back to the old homestead, safe now for all time, the fam ily who love it most, and to whom every feature of the landscape is festooned with tender memories; or give back to some drooping wife weeping bitterly and fearfully amid her little ones shadowed by orphanage the missing light, without which home would he always dark.
But of all mean creatures,, deliver us from the lawyer who perverts truth, ferments discord, thinks only of his fee, tampers with witness es and bribes jurors.
The lawyer who knowingly uses false testimony, knowingly mis leads the judge, knowingly takes unjust advantage of the other side, has, in my humble judgment, done an unprofessional thing and made himself a party to a crime.
Young gentlemen, if you wish to be a lawyer, be one. It is a most honorable profession. But belong to the true and not to the false. If your client be guilty go no further than to hold the State to a strict proof of guilt. That far you may go in honor. Further you cannot go. Make yourself no accomplice in perjury or bribery. Remember that your client has not bought your character.
Aviod the narrowness which so often comes from regarding law as merely technical. Lift yourself to view it as the application of right to the relations bet-ween man and man.
Some of these days I pray that we may have in olir courts and in -our regulations less technicality and more of the spirit of justice.

LIFE AND SPEEOT1ES OF THOS. E. WATSON'. 55
THE POLITICIAN.
Do any of you think of being politicians? I tope so. If there is anything this country needs just now It is more politicians of the right sort. Henry Clay told his sons to "be dogs rather than politicians." He died a disappointed man; so did Webster; so did Calhoun. Why? Like children, they were eternally crying for the toys they couldnt get. They wanted, each of them,, to be President, and. it soured them when the "splendid misery" of that highest office passed them by. But it does seem to me that the politician of the higher type is absolutely essential in all countries. Who is he, and what is his mission?
He is the citizen who loves justice in the laws; who believes that the doctrine of right should be the creed of government as well as of individuals. His mission is to denounce abuse and propose reme dies; to oppose bad laws and to advocate good ones; to educate the masses of the people upon the true principles of government, to lead them in opposition of administrative wrongs; to embolden them to stand squarely for their guaranteed rights, to labor to the end that equity shall be preserved, that the avenues of promotion shall be kept open to all alike, and that the country shall be henceforth and forever a decent place for the people to live in free from the tyr anny of classes, free from the exactions of a moneyed aristocracy or an intolerant and corrupt priesthood; free from the legalized tyr anny of capital over labor of the rich over the poor.
Such is my conception of the true politician. Now as to the false. You feel the need of a disinfectant when you approach him, he looks bad, he smells bad and he is bad. He is abroad in the land. The impudence of Satan is in his face, and the mainspring of his existence is "boodle." Principles are, to him things to use, trade on and desert. His fellow-man is to him either the hunter or the game either
ernment is the machinery which collects the fleece from, the lambs; for that reason he loves the Government and goes after the fleece.
Truth, honor, patriotism are so many stage habits, which he may or may not assume, and put off as the occasion may require.
You will find him enthroned in every city. Generally he bosses the town. His co-partner is the saloon-keeper on the corner. Be tween them vice and fraud run rampant through the streets; taxes are high and thievery prevalent; jobbery of all sorts preys upon the city, and decent citizens get to the point where despair scarcely complains.
Do any of you wish to become politicians?

56 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E\ WATSON.
If so, avoid the false as you would a pestilence Stand for the true, and after a while the people will understand you and appreciate you.
The people need you! Justice and good government need you! If the appeal moves you, come quickly, for time presses. If this coun try is to be rescued from the dominion of a foul plutocracy there is not a day to lose. Every hour makes our chains heavier and stronger. If I could send this feeble voice like a trumpet through all this land, through every walk, into every condition, its alarm would be: "Rise up and strike your enemies! Your homes and your liberties are being lost!"
THE FARMER.
J>o you tliink of being a farmer? 1 hope some of you do, but I doubt it. There is no charm in agri culture now. The country mansions have gone to decay; the fields are worn to sand or seamed with gullies; the ditches in the low ground half filled, and the meadow, ah! the green, flower-scented meadow we children loved, has become a marsh. The negroes have moved into the "big house." They have propped the chimney with a pole. They have mended the windows with guano sacks. A bag or two of Western corn lies on the piazza floor. Three yellow dogs sleep around the steps and only at drowsy intervals rouse up and remonstrate with the fleas. The white picket fence is gone. It made good kindling wood. The flower yard is gone sac rificed to the old brindle cow. And yet, once upon a time, the humming bird would leave its cool nest in the woods to come hither and linger hour by hour, sipping the sweet of the pinks and feasting upon the bosom of the imperial rose. Once upon a time, little maidens, pure as the lilies they loved, would gather her dainty offerings of courtesy, or of tenderness, and every blossom that bloomed was, by sacred association, a for get-me-not. Gone is the orchard with its snow-drift of apple blossoms, its aroma of velvet peach; and the spring at the foot of the hill, where the melon used to cool, is choked with weeds; and the path whicli led to it has no footsteps upon it this many a year. Where are the "old familiar faces"? Gone. There was a mortage; there was a lawsuit; there was a sheriffs sale. This is the short and simple story of farm life in the South. Ousted from the country, the family "broke up" and "moved to town." Thats the epitaph for a thousand dead farms in Georgia and else where. What drove them to town? The fact that it was well-nigh impos sible to prosper in the country. The pitless burden of unequal tax ation, the impossibility of buying or selling except at other peoples

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 57
prices. A currency system which made the farmer and his lands an outlaw from its benefits; these and causes similar to these broke his fortune and broke his spirit took his home and took his hopes.
This system is false and it shall die! There shall be no peace and truce until this foul outrage upon human rights is obliterated from the face of the earth.
A PLEA FOR THE FARM.
Young gentlemen, there is no grander work for patriotism than the upbuilding of rural life to its true dignity and usefulness and prosperity. If you are inclined in that direction, go, but go with a determination that the present false order of things must end,, that you shall not be mad a political pariah merely because you are a farmer; that your industry shall not be taxed to death in order that great fortunes shall be built up for other people. Demand of your rulers that the law shall treat your industries just as it treats others, equally as to burdens and equally as to benefits. 1 would that I could see the glory come back to Southern farms. I would that I could see the gullied fields throw off the sedge and briar, and take once more to their brown bosoms golden grain. I wish I could see the red June apple of old times hang in every orchard and could catch the tinkle of the cow bell in every meadow.
I wish I could see the old folks come back from town, re-shingle the "big house" and reset the flower yard. I wish I could see every old parlor rehung with the family pictures, and the weeds and tha grass cleared away from the graves of those who sleep under the trees in th garden. Would that this country could be built up again, and built up by those who love it most.
Many a time have I walked from field to field on miy old farm, my ears filled with the "drowsy hum of bees," while cattle were browsing lazily on the green grass, the spring branch gurgling melody through the summer woods and I would say to myself: "There can be no better land than this. In earth and sky and water is life and light and fruitfulness. To redeem this heritage were a holy work to people these solitudes and bring back to darkened homes the con tentment and the plenty which by right is theirs."
A great pity swells within me for the toil-worn faces I see in these country lanes and ragged fields many of them poor old veterans who fought with Lee, and who never knew how cruel man could be to man till they came home and began their battle with poverty.
Legislators! Study the condition of this people, and out of your mercy grant them justice!
Editors! You who lead public opinion! Go among these people and count the wounded, the dying and the dead, on the field where they fell, and you will turn to your sanctum instructed and chas tened, and never again will you mete out to them or their cause your doubts, your scorn or your abuse.
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58 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
UNVEIL. THE TRUTH.
Some traveler of the future may strike this coast and find it a morass, as Rider Haggards traveler found Africa. He may wonder at mud covered wharves, make painful way along forgotten canals, penetrate to wasted interiors where our civilization exists in vague tradition, may muse around the ruins of our great cities and wander curiously into the deserted temples but if so, the cause will be easy to trace. The "worshipers of Truth will have left her sanctuaries, and the glorious statue which represents her will be yet standing in the midst of her silent court with hands yet "beseeching and the veil upon her face.

Labor-Day Address
At Augusta,, Geoifeia, May, 1891.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
T is with pleasure that I meet you to-day. To be chosen to address a representative body of workmen is an honor, for you are a portion of that class "without which the world were a stagnant pool, devoid of life or motion. Without
the help of the strong arms of your class not a wheel would roll along the iron highways which girdle the earth; not a vessel would leave her dock; not a spindie would hum in the factory; not an anvil would ring in the shops.
No set of men have a right to be prouder than you and those of your class. Every temple which covers the worshiping multitudes of this planet is, an evidence of your skill; every mansion which shelters the he/ads of this people is a testimonial to your zeal; every field which bears, to-day the coming harvest which must feed the hun gry to-morrow is a witness to your power.
Not a street in any city which does not speak of your toil; not a bridge, nor a tunnel, nor a canal, nor a railroad that does; not tell the story of your worth.
In every pulse-beat of commerce there is the presence of your vital ity; in every step of agriculture there is dependence upon your strength; in every triumph of manufacture your battalions were the main body of the army. The capitalist dreams of riches ever accumu lating, but the basis of his dream is your labor. The statesman dreams of a national development, which shall lift the marble from its quarry, and the coal, iron, silver and gold from the mines yet unknown to man; a development which shall thread the wilderess with new lines of commerce and bring forth the breath of new cities; a development which shall bring abundance and the possible blessing thereof peace, contentment and fraternity, happy homes, enlight ened people, just laws but the basis of the dreams is your labor.
There is one point, I wish to stress it; the cause of labor is, the same everywhere, whether in fields or factory, in railroads, mines, storehouses, or dock yards.
What is the labor question? in a nutshell it is this: Labor asks of capital, "Why is it you have so much and do so little work, while I have so little and do so much?"
That is about the size of it. You may use learned phrases, but after all, the sum and substance is that labor thinks it gets too lit tle pay for housing, clothing and feeding the world.
What is capital and what is labor? Originally they were the same, to the extent that cause and effect are the same. There was a time
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60 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
when there -was no capital. There never was a time ^vhen there was no labor. Capital is the child of lahor. Work done to-day produces wheat, corn, bricks., steam engines, parlor cars, houses, furniture.
The process of production is labor. The thing produced is capital. Labor creates wealth, but the very moment it is created it be comes capital.
Once upon a time every dollar of the Vanderbilts lay in the muscles of the arms of labor and had not been created1 .
The national wealth of this country is some sixty-five billion dol lars, yet when Capt. John Smith landed at Jamestown, none of that vast aggregate was. here save the muscle and land.
"Where was it then? It lay in the muscles of the laborers yet un born, in the brains of the thinkers yet to he. This is literally true. No man denies it. Yet there is this queer thing: Everybody "wantslabor protected when it becomes capital, while most people laugh you to scorn if you propose to protect it "while it is still labor.
Let me illustrate: Capital consists of money, lands, stock, provis ions, goods, chattels, etc. Protective legislation provides for these welfares.
What produces them? The lahor of yesterday. But when you pro pose to throw protective legislation around the labor of to-day (which has not yet become capital), clamor at once arises and you are denounced as a fanatic and a demagogue.
Tell me, Mr. Lawmaker, why it is that you so carefully shelter and feed capital, the child of labor, while you "turn out to graze, "~ as best it may, labor, the daddy of the child?
Take off your plug hat and study the question, for it is a vital one, and we are going to make you answer it. The natural reward of labor is that which it produces. If labor gathers rushes and makes a basket, the basket is the pay. If labor gathers palmetto and weaves a hat, that hat belongs to labor.
This is labor in its simple state, where it supplies itself with mater ial and furnishes all the work. 1t is only when we advance and get. to a stage where material may be furnished by one while labor is supplied by another that trouble begins. "When different capitals furnish different materials and many laborers and many kinds of labor enter into production the true wages of labor become a matter of doubt, of fraud, of deception, and of robbery-
How much ought labor to get? No man can be more definite than, this: "It should get all that it makes after due allowance for ma terial and the use of the capital."
But we can be perfectly definite on this point. It does not get a fair share now. Eight million bales of cotton flood the markets of the world, and have hammered the price down to zero. Yet millions of laborers havent decent clothes to wear!
Corn was made in the West so plentiful that people burned it for-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TH OS. E. WATSON. 61
winter fires because it -would only bring twelve cents per bushel. Yet millions of laborers hunger, and some of them starve.
The earth quivers every second with the falling of the majestic pines as the lumberman seeks rafter, and joist, and sill, and planking, and never before were hurrying cars so laden with lumber, yet thous ands of laborers shelter their families in wretched hovels, through whose sunken roof patters the rain, and through whose gaping cracks steal the bitter cold.
They tell us the country is suffering from overproduction of food! Then why do men go hungry through your streets? Overproduction of goods? Then why do shrinking women and feeble children go shivering down the icy sidewalks so scantily clad that suffering speaks in every line of pinched and haggard features? Overproduc tion? I will tell you where the overproduction is. It is in the coldhearted and hard-hearted men who will not see any good thing which does not belong to their class! It is, in the men who consider the mere getting of gold the gospel of life; it is in the men who have grown proud and cruel because they possess capital (the thing -which was labor yesterday), but utterly despise the labor of to-day.
In a world where all capital -was produced by labor and where all the increase of that capital and all the necessaries of daily life are being created by labor, I hold it to be a plain truth that labor is entitled to these things, viz:
A sufficiency of food, clothing and lodging for the needs of to-day; a sufficiency of leisure from daily toil to preserve the strength of the body and to cultivate the capacity of the mind; the shortening of the hours of labor so that a man or a woman may not, become a mere beast of burden, but will be a citizen, who, like other citizens, has a portion of the day for recreation, for social intercourse, and for self-improvement. But further still, I believe that he ehoul>d have his fair proportion of the profits made by his labor to con stitute a surplus for his time of sickness or old age and to transmit to his children, so that the condition of the producer may prosper in just proportion to the amount of his production.
This is a puzzling job for the legislator, but I firmly believe the law can be so framed if the government is to escape revolution.
There has always been a great reluctance to legislate in behalf of labor.
There has always been eager desire to legislate against it. If I were to give you a sketch of labor in the kingdoms of ancient times, you would be astonished at the infinite blackness of the tyranny with which capital crushed it and fattened on its sufferings.
The old caste system of India -was but the law which capital made to keep rich forever the rich and the poor forever poor; to guaran tee to him who enjoyed privilege that it should never be destroyed and to discourage him who did not have it from ever aspiring thereto killing the ambition by locking the road.

82 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
The Brahman was the legalized aristocrat of the Hindoos. He held the power, the privilege and the capital. The great hody of the In dian people were called Sudras. They were, as usual, the yellow dogs of: the social system. If one of the common people took a seat by the side of a Brahman it was a crime. 1f he spoke disrespectfully of one of these aristocrats his mouth was to be burned; if this com mon man insulted this Brahman the tongue of the offender -was slit. If he struck a Brahman, death was the penalty. The common people had no learning. The high-class had it all and kept it.
If one of the common people, yearning for knowledge, listened to the reading of the sacred books, burning oil was poured into his criminal ears. If he committed any of their contents to memory the punishment was death. Marriage between the upper and lower classes was prohibited under the awfulest penalties, and a law of the realm declared in plain terms, that the laborer should net acquire wealth and that his name, laborer, should be an expression of con tempt. Such were the hideous regulations by which those who had the advantage sought to keep it, and they kept it. I have been par ticular in specifying these things because the code of the Hindoos is perhaps the oldest of which we have any clear account, and be cause I wish to emphasize this fact: the code of every other nation has had substantially the same inhuman laws against labor.
Our scholars amuse themselves by curious study of the ancient caste system of the Hindoos. Let them look deeply and soberly into every social system and the same features, will be seen again and again. Many a code of laws which the common, people supported because they thought them wise and just were nothing in the. world but systems of rules by which those who held the power arranged to maintain it, and those who had the capital contrived to perpetuate its influence and accumulation.
But I have no time to go further into the subject. I will merely give some outline of the English system of labor legislation; not the ancient system, but the modern. Let us see how England treated her producing classes, not in times of feudal ignorance or of savage anarchy, but in modern times, when education spoke from her uni versities, and Christianity knelt in her temples.
They say the laws of Draco were "written in blood. Perhaps tney -were, and perhaps thats where the fashion started. All the suc ceeding codes have been written in the same ink, among them, that of England.
Possibly in no other modern code can you find such an infamous law as this.: "The laborer must serve the first who asks him, and be contented with the low wages which prevailed previous to the Great Plague of London." If he refused to do so he was a criminal and must go to jail.
The "sturdy beggar" who was hungry or cold and asked alms com mitted a crime for which he was publicly flogged. If he still re-

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF T.HOS, E. WATSON. 63
mained hungry and cold after the flogging, and again asked aid, his ears were cropped. If his distress happened to be of that unquestion able and obstreperous kind which- was not relieved by ear-cropping, and he again intruded his necessities upon the notice of the com munity, he was put to death.
During the entire reign of that savage wife-killer, Henry VIII, the annual average of citizens hung for the abominable crime of being hungry and saying so, was two thousand.
Can you believe it? Can you believe that, only a few years back, this English ruler of an English people hanged two thousand poor men every year for thirty-eight years, because they were out of work, had no food, had hunger and wretchedness and went forth among their fellow-men saying: "Brothers, our wives lie sick at home and our children cry for bread; out of your plenty help us, els we die"?
And yet this bloody monster was the official head of the English church, and called himself "Defender of the Faith." "What faith? The faith of Je&us Christ Who never in all His ministry had a cent in His pocket or laid up to-day thai which He was to eat to-morrow.
The shooting of a rabbit was punished by death. England stained her code with such a law, that the noblemans game might not be disturbed. The cutting- down of young trees was punished by death. Englands landowners made the justice of future times hang its head by enacting this shameful law to protect their land.
1n 1816 fifty-eight people in that small island were under sentence of death at one time and among them was a child ten years of age.
If the English capitalists combined to put up the profits of capital, the law encouraged them. If English labor combined to put up the price of labor or to shorten its hours, they were criminals and were punished as such. This outrageous law was not repealed till 1824.
The English laborer had no voice in legislation. He had no vote, could reach no office, could acquire no political or social influence. The land laws made it practically impossible for him to ever own the soil he tilled. Time and again the under classes got themselves in protest and petition protest against the wrong, petition for the right.
Generally the movement ended by the hanging of the leaders and the beating hack into sullen silence of the suffering petitioners. History has not been written by the laborer. It has usually been written by his enemy. Therefore we only catch glimpses of the truth from time to time.
The people who worked in the mines and salt-pits were most wretched and oppressed. They were held in bondage, and when the mines and pits were sold the laborers were sold with them as a part of the machinery. Little children toiled in the tunnels of the mines, never seeing the light of day, never breathing the sweet air nor press ing the brilliant carpet Nature spreads, along the ground. Women wearily climbed great ladders with huge baskets of coal on their

64 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON.
heads, or fastened a chain around their necks, and in a stooping, creeping posture, all day long drew the heavy coal ear up its track.
In IS 17 the colliers of the north of England were literally starving. Each one gathered a sorry blanket and started for London. It got into their ignorant heads that If they could only get to London and see the prince regent, their ruler, and tell him they were perishing for want of food, that he wonld have compassion, and that he, the good shepherd of his. people, would not allow his flock to starve.
Poor, ignorant wretches! Where did they get the crazy idea that the princes of England care for starving people?
Rumor brought tidings in advance of this queer pilgrimage. The audacity of it was offensive. The military were sent forth, the pitiable laborers were dispersed, driven back, and their leaders were thrown into prison. And the prince regent, what of him? Well, he continued to pursue his sensual, selfish pleasures. The best of life was his. Every dainty dish tickled his weary palate; every sparkling wine moistened his lips; every distinction the world could give circled his stupid head. Beauty knelt before him, eager for the honors of dishonor. Intellect crouched to him, thirsting for his smile of dull approval, and when his eighty years race was run and his putrid body had to be given to the earth, they buried it pompously in a case of gold. The starving miners whom he had driven back to their cheerless huts were buried in the ragged blankets in which they had slept when they journeyed to find their ruler and ask his help. When Gods resurrection trump shall sound and the scattered dust of the dead moulds itself into immortal life, I would rather cast my lot with those who were laid away in the blankets than with him who was wrapped in the gold. The picture is an old one, I know. Pardon me for dwelling on it. I suppose I get it from my mother to side with the weak. I may lift my hat to the victor, out more frequently my hand goes out to the vanquished. I think less about Nelson, dead in the arms of success, than of the English prisoner who laid in jail thirty-five years without trial, with out a known prosecutor, who was liberated at last by chance, and faced a world which had forgotten him his family lost, his hopes gone, his future a blank, his past a horror and who did not even have the poor satisfaction of knowing who had been his enemy or what had been his fault. 1 think much less, of "William Pitt dying at the summit of a glory he had bought by a base surrender of his better principles than I do of that poor bridegroom who was snatched away from his bride on their way home from the marriage, was kidnapped into the navy, was forced to serve during the entire war between England and France, was discharged a battered veteran, came home to meet again the bride he had left weeping at the church door, and found that she was

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 65
long since dead and he himself utterly forgotten in the home of his youth.
In the annals of crime there is no sadder incident than, this and it occurred under the sanction of law -a law which had existed in Eng land over four hundred years and was not repealed till 1835.
In order that dissatisfaction with this law and others like it might not take definite shape and assume formidable proportions*, public meetings were virtually prohibited, lectures and debates made penal, reading rooms were declared criminal and classed among "disorderly houses," while the press was so completely shackled it could strike no blow at abuses.
These were some of the laws of William Pitt, whom our boys have been taught to honor.
Studying such regulations and the cruelty with which they were enforced, we are lost in admiration of the courage which finally threw off the yoke.
In 1819 the people held a mass meeting at Manchester to con sider their grievances. The orator of the day arose to speak. The moment he did so he was arrested and sent to jail for no crime on the face of the earth. The military rode at the crowd and dispersed it trampling beneath the feet of their horses men, women and children.
Why? Because they had dared to peaceably assemble to complain against misrule!
In 1830 the lower classes determined to have some sihare in govern ment. They demanded redress of wrongs. They demanded repre sentation.
All men now concede that the demand was moderate, was just was indispensable. All men now concede that those who opposed It were selfish, narrow and unjust in their opposition. The nobility and the king put themselves against the people. The cause which is admitted to have been wrong, trampled down the cause which is admitted to have been right. Great excitement followed. Great riots broke out. They were crushed cruelly, relentlessly. Four apos tles of the right were hung at Bristol by the defenders of the wrong. Three men who were of those demanding the right thing were hung at Nottingham by those who were maintaining the wrong thing.
Then the martyrs, having been duly buried, the cause was allowed to (triumph f The very things which those dead men. had vainly asked for were conceded. Why? Because the nobility and the king grew pale before the frowning specter of civil war.
Yet they crushed the riots in blood giving no punishment what ever to those selfish nobles who liad caused the riots.
Thus it is that the cause of the common people progresses. Every step has been a struggle, every concession has been stained with blood. No chain has been struck from the limbs of fettered labor save at the cost of some brave mans life.

66 LIVE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. K. WATSON.
In ancient times no great thing was undertaken, till sacrifice was made. The altar must be erected, the victim chosen and garlanded, the sacred fire lit.
Then the blood of the offering having been shed, the waiting fleet unfurled its sails and stood out to sea, or the chieftain said to his halted columns, "Forward ,march!"
How strangely these old customs reappear, the ceremonial altered, but the substance preserved.
No vessel ever lifted anchor to bear the liberties of the people through stormy seas to sunlit havens, no army marshaled to redeem the lost provinces of freedom, ever yet made successful venture with out the altar and the victims without the splendid heroism which, offers the one and inexorable custom which exacts the other.
What is the condition of labor in this land to-day? Bad. Capital is protected by law from outside competition. Labor is not. The pauperism of the universe is at liberty to come and drive it from the home market. To competitive capital there is a tariff wall which is practically im passable and which says "Stay out." To competitive labor there is an open gate and a chronic invitation, "Come in." If the manufacturer orders a lockout labor is cut off from the help of foreign labor. If labor goes on a strike, capital brings in Chinamen, Hungarians, Italians and every other kind, and beats down home labor with foreign competition. If capital says to Congress, "England threatens us," that assembly of agents and attorneys promptly obeys its master by building a tariff wall which shuts English capital out. If labor says to the gov ernment, "Protect me from the inroads, of pauper competition," Congress merely crosses its esteemed legs and continuedly picks its false teeth. The gigantic trust is confessedly framed to limit and control the output of any industry. It is a highly fashionable affair. It has its managers in House and Senate. The railroads assist it and the courts get out of its way. It does its work by force and its success is a crime. Suppose labor combines to do substantially the same thing, to control labor and say when it shall "work and who for? It is a "conspiracy" and must be put down. Ah, me! how alarmed we all grow when frantic laborers, ruin scaring them in the face, derail some freight car or thump one of Pinkertons toughs with a stick. We hold up our delicate hands in feigned horror, and cry, "Put it down!" Yet we are the same people who exult in the piracy which our ancestors committed on the English tea ships. The same people -who acquired this land from its owners by a long series of fraud, murders, and violating treaties; -who made a president out of old Andrew Jackson, the executioner of prisoners.

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON. 67
We are the same people who made a heroine of Charlotte Corday, the murderess of Marat, and Who imagine we see patriotism in the cowardly manner in which the rich senators of Rome hemmed up the unarmed Caesar in the Senates house and cut him to pieces with, their knives.
We say in those cases that the end justifies the means. I do not commit myself to the doctrine, but I say this: it is a strange thing the mantle of charity is cut so long for some folks and so short for others.
In New Tork they have a hoard of arbitrators to settle such dis putes. It was framed by the sovereign State for the very purpose of deciding who was right and preventing bloodshed. A short while ago there was a great strike on the New York Central Railroad. Excited crowds filled the streets; the workmen said they had not been treated right; the railroad authorities denied the charge; the State board of arbitrators saw that strife was threatened; they wished to prevent it; they proposed to arbitrate and asked both sides to submit the question; the workmen consented; the railroad refused; riots followed, blood was shed.
In the eyes of all impartial men the fearful responsibility for that bloodshed must rest upon the railroad, for they refused a peaceful settlement before a legally constituted tribunal-
Let it be remembered that labor said, "I will submit to the law," while capital said, "I am a law unto myself."
If the earth is only a battle field in which the divine Creator intended that the strong battalion should always trample down the weak, then the success of the plan is gratifying.
Society, law and government are so framed that they almost inevitably carry out the scheme.
The great tendency of the present system is to keep at the top those who are above and keep at the bottom those who are below.
But if this earth was intended by a common Father as the home of His children and it was His Divine purpose that each of those children should find food and raiment and shelter in return, for his labor then this plan is at present a failure.
In Christendom are some three hundred fifty million people. Statistics show that one-third of the number never have enough to eat.
Read the account of destitute laborers in the New Tork tenement bouses; read of the squalor of the Pennsylvania mines; read of the hardships of New England factory operatives; and read of those bent and feeble sewing women of New York City, crouched in dreary garrets and plying their needles.
Stitch stitch stitch In poverty, hunger and dirt;
Sewing at once with a double thread A shroud as well as a shirt.

68 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TTIOS. E. WATSON.
It is said these wretched creatures get thirty-seven cents for making an entire suit of clothes!
How cheap! if flesh and blood, justice and mercy be worth a moments thought.
Dont understand me to be making war upon capital as such. I am but denouncing that capital which is used tyrannically. I rec ognize the fact that without capital there can be no progress. If labor consumed its products day by day, and there was no surplus collected anywhere, advance would be an impossibility.
There must first be a surplus somewhere (capital) before there can be a leisure class to devote themselves to science, to music, painting, bookmalting, law-making, school-teaching.
Without capital accumulated in the hands of some citizen there could be nothing but the simplest manual labor there could be no ^manufactories, no railroads, no steam boats, no foundries, no mer chants and no bankers.
The healthy, happy prosperous community is not that which con sists either of capitalists alone or of laborers alone. Neither can do witnout the other.
The truly prosperous community is that in which a just harmony is preserved between the two, and they become allies instead of enemies. Every class has its legitimate work and cannot be dis pensed with. The banker is as natural a part of the business system as the borrower. In fighting an abuse in the banking system I do no wage -war on banking itself for some poor man will always -want to use the surplus of the rich one, and if he can do so on equitable terms, both are benefited.
The manufacturer is a necessity to his countrymen working up into finished fabric the cruder material of a simple laborer. In making war upon an advantage which he unjustly holds as against others, I do not for a moment forget that his prosperity is absolutely essential to national welfare.
In this age of speed and progress, who can undervalue our rail roads? I never in my life watched a train of cars without some thrill of pleasure so instinctive and typical is it of mans power and skill and success! Yet when I see tne railroads so frequently used for illegitimate purposes; wben I see them become the mere "chips" in the great game of colossal gamblers; when 1see them used; to crush out this city and build up that; to bottle up this great harbor and develop that; to help the monopoly (like the Standard Oil Company) to beat down its competitor; when I see them bribing newspapers, and Senators, and Representatives to aid them in perpetrating wrongs upon the balance of the community, then it is that I find it impossible to refrain from denouncing the manner in which the magnificent blessing of the railroads is sometimes turned into a blasting curse!
I long to see public sentiment change on tbis labor question. I

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON._69

L

hope to see tlie problem studied and discussed more frequently among us. I hope to see all ranks meet the difficulty in a spirit of fairness and conciliation. Tou are a laborer. Remember that it is possible you may be a capitalist to-morrow.
You are a capitalist. Remember you may be a laborer to-morrow. This is the spirit in which serious issues should be adjusted. The man who despises the poor simply because they are poor, is too contemptible to be blamed for it. The man who hates the rich, simply because they are rich, haa sinned just as much. It is the injustice and wrong which ought to be combated, whether among rich or poor.
I believe the evils of our present system can be remedied. How? 1. By co-operation among the laborers. Tou must organize, agitate and educate. Organize yourselves to get the strength of unity; agitate the evils and the causes thereof to arrest public opinion; educate yourselves and the public upon the principles underlying the issue in order that there be a proper understanding of the abuses complained of and the remedies proposed. 2. By a radical change in our laws. I firmly believe that before co-operation among laborers can secure complete success, we must have legislation which either takes from the tyrannical power of capital or adds to the defensive strength of labor. We must make capital lay down its pistol, or we must give labor a pistol, too. "When each man knows that the other has a "gun" and will use it, they get exceedingly careful about fingering the trigger. 3. By a change of public opinion, which will bring the irresistible power of moral support to the side of labor as against the unreason able exactions of capital. Every pulpit, every newspaper, every leader of thought in every profession, should give to this question earnest attention and then speak out. I dwell on this because I regard public opinion as omnipotent. It cannot be seen, but its pressure is despotic. The bravest man quails before the silent aversion of hostile public opinion. The stoutest leader weakens "before the frowning face. It changes policies, customs, manners. It enforces an unwritten law, and the criminal who violated it swings from a limb! It nullifies a written law and bears home in triumph the man who broke it. Tou think you hold your life at the mercy of the law! You do nothing of the kind. You hold it at the mercy of public opinion. In a democracy or a republic it is" at once the strength and the weakness of the system. Hence I say you must get this enormous power on your side. Once you get it the way broadens and the light shines upon it. How can you get it? By showing the public that you are right. Spread before the people facts which call aloud for attention; arguments which challenge reply; principles which defy criticism.

70 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON.
Let the mistreated laborer show his wounds and ask sympathy; lift up his chains and ask freedom; hold on high, yes on high, the "white face of his little child, hungry and sick, wasted and wan, and strikea thrill of pity through the great heart of the world!
Minister of God! You are appalled at evils of intemperance. Well may you be. You denounce the effects of the evil in the severest terms.
"Well you may do so. But when you say intemperance causes poverty I respectfully beg you to consider whether you havent got your cart at the wrong end of the horse! In seventy-five cases out of a hundred it is poverty which causes intemperance!
How can men love their homes when these homes are leaky hovels lit up by no comforts, but filled with wretchedness, sickness and want?
How can men lift themselves, when they have no leisure to im prove the mind, to recuperate the body and to frame those moral and social relations which elevate men above the brutes?
Help us remove the cause the effects -will then disappear. Fellow-citizens, my heart goes ont to you in sympathy at your effort to better your condition. It has not been so long since I was as poor as the poorest man here. It has not been so long since I went weary up and down your streets asking for work and finding none. It has not been long since I knew what it was to have no place to lay my head when the night came upon me, and when to day lost some of its gloom in the great fear that to-morrow might be darker. The horror of that dreadful time I snail never forget. It has left its mark on my mind and on my heart. It has shaped my convict ions and controlled my feelings. "When the easy owner of in herited wealth or position sneers at the "warmth of my utterances upon this subject, I beg to remind him that it is the man who has been burned who can best describe the pain of the fire. Press on, workmen, in your "worthy efforts. Whenever I can help you, call me. Preach tu.e sublime doctrine of right. Demand it of others and practice it yourself. The time will surely come when the producers of wealth must share equally its benefits, when the bounteous results of your toll will not all turn in at the gates of the palace, but a portion thereof will pass on down to the cottageand lift that humble tenement into dignity, comfort and happinessof a home.

Speech of Hon. T. E. Watson

In Congress, April, 1889.

HE House being in Committee of the Whole and having under consideration the bill (H. R. 6007) to place wool on the free list and to reduce the duties on woolen goods.

Mr. Chairman: My only regret, I think, about this tariff

debate is that no master of satire has been here to describe it, I think thai Bill Nye and Mark Twain have lost the opportunity of their lives. The attraction has been so great that we have almost run

from the galleries by this protracted fight over a mythical issue the

gentlemen who daily take their afternoon naps in the gallery; and the peanut-eaters have forsaken us in a body. [Laughter.]
One of the amusing things about it, Mr. Chairman is this: The Republicans say they are in favor of protecting a principle, yet through reciprocity they are trying to escape it as a practice [Laughter]; while the Democrats say that "free trade" as a govern mental principle is thoroughly right, "but they do not dare to adopt

it as a rule of action. They stop at a tariff for revenue with incidental protection.
I was amused, Mr. Chairman, at the chosen champions who were put forth by both partiesi during the debate. They selected, it seema

to me, as the spokesman who most thoroughly voiced the sentiments of his party, a young man who was required to be handsome and brilliant*. To fight a very old battle young warriors were wanted. The old ones were tired. . On the side of the Republicans they chose Mr. Dolliver from the State of Iowa, young, handsome, and brilliant.
Mr. Hopkins of Illinoins: Better not let that be heard up in the galleries. [Laughter.]
Mr. Watson: Why, that is just the very place that if ought to be heard. That is the very place where it was first appreciated. [Laughter] And in all that brilliant display of rhetoric made by

him it was curious to note that the gentleman from Iowa made no defence of the protection system as a principle, and made no defence of protection as a thing to be persevered in by the Government indefinitely, and his entire speech might be labeled "Dollivers extract, or a new way of treating an old complaint." [Laughter.]
On the other hand was our handsome and brilliant friend from Nebraska [Mr. Bryan], who was put forward as the "darling" of the Democratic side of the House, the prettiest man in all the bunch, and his entire speech, which ranged from Tom Moores poetry to Joe Millers jest book, was the sum and substance of the old DemOcratic position on the tariff that we will practice "what is wrong

L

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72 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON.
while we know what is right. [Laughter and applause on the Re publican side.]
Mr. Chairman, I invoke at the hands of this Committee an earnest consideration of the tariff system from the standpoint from which It should be viewed: First, as a governmental way of raising revenue, second, as a governmental way of protecting a certain class of in dustries.
Before I go into that, however, I beg the House to permit me to give them one illustration of the practical working of the tariff system. It is recent. It does not belong to ancient history. There is no moss on it. It is fresh in the minds of every Southern gentle man on this floor.
In 1888, Mr. Chairman, we had a high tariff on jute bagging, an article of prime necessity in the preparing of cotton for the markets of the world. Before I consider the enormity of the injustice done to the farmers of the South in this instance, under the tariff system, I beg leave to call attention to the fact that in marketing his cotton the planter of the South labors under disadvantages which no other laborer is subjected to; that is, that he bears all the tare, and the tare forma a very large percentage of the value of his product.
When we buy a bottle of brandy I am told a quart is always short just enough to make up for the price of the bottle; that in buying your sack of coffee, in buying your sack of flour, in buying your can vas-covered ham, or a sack of corn, the wrapping is weighed to you as a part of the commodity, and the purchaser pays the tare. In selling cotton it is a notorious fact that the price in this country is set by the price in Liverpool, and every order -cabled over here bears this addition, "C. I. F., and 6 per cent."
Upon that basis cotton is bought C. for cost, I. for insurance, F. for freight, and 6 per cent for tare. Ton wrap your cotton ev-r so beautifully, yet the 6 per cent is deducted from its weight, and you have to sell the bale with a loss of thirty pounds on a bale of five hundred pounds. So, Mr. Chairman, I say that in marketing that Commodity our farmers have to labor under a burden which, no other producer on the face of the earth labors under. To be accurate about it, and to show the House how serious this matter is to our people, 1 beg leave to submit these figures:
On an 8,000,000-bale crop, weighing 500 pounds to the bale you have 4,000,000,000 pounds of cotton; 6 per cent of that is 240,000,000 pounds. Bale it and you have got 480,000 bales of cotton -worth ordinarily $20,000,000. This we lose as tare. It is a dead loss, brings usi no return, is dumped into the hands of the men who buy and taken from the men who produce, and to that must be added the losses of a system of sampling, which by itself sometimes makes a large buyer of cotton wealthy at the end of a season.
Now, Mr. Chairman, during the year 1888 you remember that the Mills bill was being aiscussed, and it was proposed to put a lower

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 73
duty on jute bagging. There -were certain mills in this country producing jute bagging. There was a combination formed at St. Louie. The manufacturers said: "We will make a combine and we will shut down six of our mills. We will discharge the laborers in those factories. We will thus limit the output, and we will run up the price every week upon our commodity, and divide the plunder among ourselves."
Now, mind you, cotton-bagging was selling, say at eight cents; per yard. It went up week by week until it reached twelve cents per yard. The tariff upon the cotton-bagging kept us from sending out into the markets of the world and bringing in a supply. The tariff system was erected in order that mills might run. The combination shut them down, in order that the purchaser might be outraged. The tariff system was built up, they say, to give laborers work. Yet the mills were shut down that the laborers might not have work. One million dollars was taken from the cotton growers of the South by an arbitrary sitroke of the pen raising the price of jute bagging by an arbitrary combination between these manufacturers, who had the advantage of the tariff wall which has been built up to keep out foreign competition.
Gentlemen iniay say, "you could not have bought that jute bagging elsewhere." Mr. Chairman, Calcutta would have sent it to us at the old price. Scotland would have sent it to us at the old price; England would have sent it to us at the old price; but there was the hand of the Government, with its back to the im porter, and through its tariff system saying, "You shall not come here and relieve the people from this combine."
In this instance we have an article which is protected; an article which is fostered. Here is your industry that has been built up at the expense of the people in order that labor might have employ ment. Here are your laborers, turned out into the streets, your mills shut down. Here is your consumer with the burden put upon him by the favorites of the Government. Now, let us consider another incident as a contrast. There was a corner made about the same time on cotton in New York. John H. Inmati was at the head of it. They had unlimited money. They made a corner upon a very large quantity of cotton. They began to force up the price so as to realize the profit of the "corner" and what was the. result?
Why, the cable bore the message to Liverpool to send back cotton to New York, to bring it in through the opportunity which free trade in cotton gave them to bring- it in. Thirteen thousand bales had actually arrive*! in New York Harbor, and other vessels were upon the ocean coming with cotton, when the men who had organized the trust saw how completely it could be destroyed, and they backed down from their position, and thus free trade broke the combine. In the one case free trade gave relief from gamblers and speculators, and in the other the farmers of the South -were utterly without remedy
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T4 LIFE AND SPEECHES OP TffOS. E. WATSON.
in the hands of a speculative combine, because the tariff wall kept out those who could have relieved them.
Now, Mr. Chairman, my friend from Nebraska [Mr. Bryan] in his brilliant speech formulated the Democratic platform in such attraetlve colors that he "was loudly applauded upon the Democratic side. What was that platform? After all the force of his logic, after all the splendor of his rhetoric, after all th e driving in the direction of free trade, the gentleman shirked the issue when he got to the actual enunciation of the results of his own logic. His argument is for free trade while his platform is not.
He announced his ideal Democratic platform, not a platform you would have, but a platform you should have, a platform you could have if a man was sitting quietly by his fire at night with his feet in his slippers, cigar in his mouth, a hot toddy by his side, nothing to disturb him, and ideal Democratic dreams in his head.
Now, what was the platform? It is very pretty; it has all the vague charms of the undefined; it has all the boundless beauty of a land scape that has no limit. He says this phrase, "tariff for protection," is the only thing of which he complains. He says, in effect: "I do not object to a tariff if its incident is to give protection." "I do not object to protection if it comes by way of a tariff which pretends to be for revenue." "I do not object to it if it does by indirection what the other fellow says it should do directly; but I object to a tariff which says in plain terms what it is meant to do." [Laughter on the Republican side.]
He.re are his words:
"! am not objecting to a tariff for revenue. If it were possible to arrange a system just as I believe if ought to be arranged, I should collect one part of our revenues for the support of the Federal Government from internal taxes on whiskey and tobacco. These are luxuries and may well be taxed. I should collect another part from a tariff levied upon imported articles, with raw materials on the free
list the lowest dutiesi upon the necessaries of life and the highest duties upon the luxuries of life. And then I should collect another part of the revenue from a graduated income tax upon the wealth of this country."
This is a beautiful proclamation. It is like the old fish-trap, with one mouth down the stream and the other up, and it "catches em a-comin and agwine." [Great laughter.] Mr. Chairman, if the tariff is right, it is right. Favoritism is a necessary incident to any general tariff system. Whatever tariff you impose, protection is necessarily incident to it, and if protection is wrong, then the inci dent is wrong. If you are to have a tariff at all protection is part of its nature; necessarily flows from it. If protection is wrong, then
the tariff is wrong, and a fifty per cent tariff is just five per cent less justifiable than a forty-five per cent tariff, and that is all there is of it. [Laughter.] Mr. Chairman, the gentleman says, "We will levy a tax upon the necessaries of life."

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 75
Why should the necessaries of life be taxed at all? Where is there a governmental principle on which it can be defended?
Mr. Chairman, in that Ocala platform, which possibly you have heard of somewhere or another, or dreamed about in that Ocala platform we say that the taxes ought not to be laid on the necessar ies of life at all, and the income tax should be established. An in come tax goes to a man squarely, like a government ought to go to its subject, and tells him directly just how much it wants; goes to the strong man and lays the burden upon him in accordance with his strength; goes to the wealthy man and takes no part of his wealth, but a part of the income of that wealth; goes to the planter and Wakes, not a part of the. land, hut a part of the income from the land.
Mr. Grady: Do not call us subjects. Mr. Watson: Well, as we are soverign and subject at the same time, it is not going to hurt us much. There are in the neighborhood of two hundred custom-houses in this country. Let us suppose that each of them cost only $150.000, then you have your $30,0:00,000 already spent iior houses, not in cluding a dollar for land. 1 am told that the custom-house of New York alone cost ten or fifteen or twenty million dollars, and the land upon which it is built is worth as much. Mr. Boutelle: I thought it cost only four million dollars. Mr. Watson: Now, I will take the system either way, fake it for the collection of taxes or for the protection of industries, and 1 will show you that your custom-house system is a wildly expensive system. Take the State of Georgia for illustration. We have a custom-house at Atlanta. In 1891 it collected $9,000, and it did so at a cost of $2,000. At Brunswick, in the same State, they collected $7,000 and it cost $5,000 to collect it. [Laughter.! At St. Marys, in my State, they did not collect any custom duties at all; but there is $69 put down for tonnage, and the cost of collect ing that $69 was $1,400. At Savannah, Ga., $58,000 was collected at a cost of $15,000. The aggregate for the State of Georgia was $75,000, collected at a cost of $25,000 say 33 1-3 per cent. But this thing gets prettier the more you look at it. I want to show you something more of this matter. In Virginia there was collected $22,000 at a cost of $30,000. A Member: What State? Mr. Watson: Virginia the good old State of Virginia the land of knigntly men and heauteous women. That is what the tariff system did down in Virginia. In West Virginia there was collected $294. How many men got exhausted during that arduous work I do not know; but the cost of collecting that amount was $1,159. That is almost enough to conduct a Congressional funeral. [Laughter.] Now take Florida. At Appalachicola there was collected $1,000, and $2,400 was spent in doing it; and they congratulated themselves

76 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON,
that they did not spend more. At Fernandina something over $3,000 was collected, and $2,500 was spent in doing it. At St. Augustine there is a man who excites my sympathy. He is the collector there and collected 15 cents for the year 1891, and it cost him $1,800 to do it. That is a literal fact, Mr. Chairman, as stated in the official reports. What on earth that lonely man does for company while he is not collecting that fifteen centst the Lord only knows. [Laugh ter.]
Mr. Chairman, I have seen with, many a sympathetic throb the ex pression of hopeless weariness on the face of some of our employees about this House. [Laughter.] I have seen them sitting at doors out here in the corridors with nothing but time hanging heavily on their hands. Their salaries are comparatively light I mean to receive; they are heavier to pay. The work is only heavy by reason of its laborious idleness. All the long day these men sit there and watch, those doors. They have no books to study on the subject.
There is no precedent about doorkeeping; there is no "line of argu ment" about doorkeeping; there are no statistics on doorkeeping; there are no rules of order, no calls for the "regular order," no fili bustering, on doorkeeping. It is a square-out case of idleness. [Laughter.] And I have sympathized with those men. But my sympathy in that direction is nothing like that which 1 feel for the man at St. Augustine who spends $1,800 a year of the peoples money in collecting fifteen cents. [Laughter.]
At St. Marks fhey collected $24 and they spent $3,500. Now, I am going to strike New England. Mr. Boutelle: Hit her easy. [Laughter.] Mr. Watson: Well, if there is any section that ought to be "hit easy" on this question, it is New England. But before going to New England let us take Annapolis, Md. There they spend $952 every year and do not collect a blessed cent. [Laughter.] The books are clean on one side at least, and that is a good deal cleaner than lots of our Government bookst are, no doubt. At Cherrystone, Va., they spent $1,950 a year, and they do not collect a cent. In southern Oregon they spend $2,085 and collect $4.12. Now, there is. another place in Oregon. If I could pronounce the name I would, but I cannot. I will print it in my remarks, I will "extend" it in the Record. [Laughter.] I am refering to a certain place in Oregon; you "will read the name in the Record, where they spend $1,100 in collecting $50. A Member: Can you not spell it? Mr. Watson: Oh, yes. [Spelling.] T-a-q-u-i-n-a. Now pronounce it. [No response.] I thought that would stump you. [Laughter.] At Alexandria, Va., down the river here, they spend $1,200 a year and collect $135. At Grand Egg Harbor, N. J. now I have reached New England they spend $831 and collect $17. At Little Egg Har bor there is no rivalry there of course it does not want to go

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON. 77
ahead of its "Great Egg" contemporary they spend only $340 in collecting nothing; they do not collect a cent, and at Sagg Harbor they spend $684 and collect nothing.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I might take up a great deal of time with a further analysis of that as. a tax system. I might go on and show a great many other points where the same condition prevails. In one-half of the custom-houses the expenses eat up the receipts. What I say is that this, tariff system is absolutely out of joint with any fair, economical way of collecting taxes. If you call it a collection of taxes, no man here can defend it.
"When you take the seven million dollars which it really costs to collect the $200,000,000 of customs duties, and you add to that t*he cost of the custom-houses, and add the cost of the lands, and add to that the cost to the consumer, which is suppsed to he on the average (by the most moderate estimates) $4 for every $1 collected at the custom-houses, and which therefore is $800,000,000, you have a stu pendously extravagant method of collecting your taxes. The world never saw its equal.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I come further to discuss the principle itself. What is the principle upon which a tariff system Is based ? I shall be very brief about that. But there is certainly some principle at war here with some other principle. I am arguing now, not against the system as a tax system, but as if you had come forward boldly and said that you devised this system to build up your manufacturing industries in this country. Allow me to say I do not believe this great question could ever be settled by mere denunciation.
I do not believe a system which lias been advocated by statesmen in all countries of the world, from time to time, can be denounced merely as a system of robbery. I do not believe that the statesmen who have advocated this protective principle were all pickpockets. Nor do 1 believe tnat a man who attacks iTaia system does it because of his knuckling down to foreign influence, or because he is lacking in love for his own people or for his own government. The system which a statesman like Sully inaugurated, which a statesman like Calhoun at one time advocated and a statesman like Webster favored, must be founded on some strong principle which cannot be destroyed by mere denunciation and abuse.
Mr. Hopkins of Illinois: Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman allow just one word further in the line of the questions put by the gentle man from Maine [M;r. Boutelle] ?
Mr. Watson: Yes, sir. Mr. Hopkins, of Illinois: Now, I want the gentleman to atate if it is a fact that these custom expenses that have been noted by him would exist precisely the same under the Democratic idea of a tariff for revenue only as under the Republican doctrine of protec tion? Mr. Watson: They most surely would. You may sale the tariff

78 LIFE AND 'SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
schedules until you get them down to a merely nominal point, but as long as you adhere to the principle of tariff taxation, either for tax or for protection, those evils are bound to remain; and that, is the reason -why I take issue with my Democratic friends and say you ought to stand by your logic and go where your logic carries you. Tou ought not to ride your horse in his magnificent steeplechase across the country, using free trade whips at every gallop you make, and the moment you reach the wall, instead of lifting your steed for the leap, turn him around and walk him hack to the stable door. [Applause and laughter.]
Mr. Chairman, I say, as a governmental principle there must be two sides to it, and great men, wise men, and honest men have sin cerely fought upon both sides. But I contend that no Democrat can base himself on the protective principle as a governmental principle. I contend that no man who claims that he follows tlie doctrines of Jefferson, instead of the doctrines of Hamilton, can for one moment stand by the tariff system as a permanent system, even if you reduce it to five per cent.
Now why? We of the Jeffersonian school and gentlemen, while my party affiliations are different from yours to-day, I say here what I have said everywhere, that there is no better Democrat upon this floor than I am, but I am a Democrat who believes that the principles of Democracy ought to be reasserted; that the principles of the Jeff ersonian school are more valuable to us than any mere name I say no Democrat can defend the principle of protection for this reason: It is the old protective idea which we fought when it laid its. hand upon the vocations of men.
"We said to the State, "You have got no right to decide what we shall write, or how we shall be rewarded for it, and you shall put no embargo upon our freedom of speech."
We say to the Nation. "You shall not choose our business for us. You shall not say that because 1 am a soldier I shall always he a sol dier, or that my children shall be soldiers; that because I am a mer chant and belong to that guild that I shall always belong to that guild."
We said that such a doctrine would lead us back to the old caste system of the ancient countries, where those principles have de stroyed the greatest nations of antiquity. The interference with the free action of the citizen always resulted in a centralized government, in a monopoly of riches, in the concentration of capital, of privilege and of power, which destroyed those countries.
"We say that it has got no place in religion, that the State has got no right to prescribe the religion or forms of worship. That every citizen s.hall be left without this interference of the protective prin ciple to worship God as he chooses.
And the same way, Mr. Chairman, as to trade. We say it is a nat ural right; without material restriction, to interchange with a

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 79

L

neighbor or a stranger, with a fellow patriot or a foreigner; that it is the natural right of the citizen to perfect his exchange of his com modity for another mans commodity without any unreasonable favoritism given to one man over another and without unreasonable interference with the natural right of interchange; and thus we say. Mr. Chairman, that the principle of protection, which has destroyed so many nations, which we founded this Government to escape when applied to trade is no less full of the old dangers; no less leads to the old dangers, and has already led to the old dangers. The only way to escape its perils is to retrace our steps, unfetter the hands of men, unshackle the exchanges of producers, and let every man exchange his commodities with his fellow-men upon the terms which his own good judgment dictates.
Mr. Johnson, of Ohio: Will the gentleman from Georgia yield for a question?
Mr, Watson: Certainly. Mr. Johnson, of Ohio: How would you raise your revenue? Mr. "Watson: I heard the gentlemans speech yesterday, and it was a good speech; and he presenfed his side of the case well; and I will say that I agree with him fully as to the question of an income tax, and I believe that the income tax, which the last year it was applied in this country produced $73,000,000, would to-day, with the enor mous aggregation of fortunes since that time, supply enough revenue to run this Government upon honest, economical principles. It would destroy the tariff tax. Mr. Chairman, we have an illustration of the working of these principles in France. There is where this modern system first came into full play. The church was under the protective principle; lit erature was under the protective principle; trade was under the protective principle; everywhere the Crown interfered with the ciCizen. Everywhere authority usurped that which should have been left to the individual, and Mr. Chairman, they had in Prance just the very state of affairs which is coming on very rapidly in this country. They had an impoverished agriculture; they had a depleted rural population; they had men gathered together in the towns; they had huge and greedy monopolies, and a concentration of wealth and po litical favor. Before the outbreak of the Revolution which shook the world, the great statesmen, Necker and Turgot, recommended to the King as remedies for their industrial trouble certain reforms. They went to the King and said, "abolish the monopolies; equalize this taxation; give the people representation; tell them how their money is spent, and give them a chance to have that liberty of action, political and commercial, which alone can make a people great." The moderate plea, Mr. Chairman, wag. thrust aside with scorn and contempt, and, as we all know, a bloody revolution settled ques tions which ought to have been settled by a peaceful removal of the causes of the trouble.

80 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
I -wish I had time to show how free trade ha acted in England; how it has sent her bounding up the highway of progress. Her trade in 1846 was $70,000,000. Now it is $2,613/000.000. No matter how any man talks, it is nevertheless true. Ton may point to labor troubles in England, but we can trace them to their land system and their financial system. According to Mr. Gladstone, wages have increased there fifty per cent since free trade was adopted.
I wish to be understood to-day as saying this tariff system is the very least of three evils in this country. I believe the transportation question is bigger, the financial question is bigger; but this tariff question is big enough for the most earnest discussion. I would not like, Mr. Chairman, to take up much time in talking about England,, for when a Georgia cracker from the country like myself talks about free trade, he is at once accused of knuckling down in some mysteri ous way to the power of John Bull. In a majority of cases the ac cusation comes with the greatest vehemence from a man who dresses in English goods, who parts his hair in the English method, and chops out his whiskers in the middle as an English lord would do. [Great laughter.]
Mr. Chairman, I would like to show how protection as a principle has destroyed every nation where it has been long in vogue. How it destroyed Spain, in spite of natural advantages, an industrious population, and great seaports. How it was destroying France until the revolution broke loose the shackles which a protective sys tem haJ bound around her, and how in Great Britian (historians say), had not the corn laws been abolished, a revolution would have occurred.
Mr. Chairman, I will say hurriedly, they claim that protection stimulates diversities of industries. I admit that to be the fact. The only question is, do you pay too much for your stimulant? We say that you do, and that you take other mens money to pay for your beverage. The second i&, it stimulates competition within the wall until the price is lowered to the foreign level. That is true in many cases; but, in the meantime the extra cost falls upon the consumer; it is enormously heavy and unjust; and you do not give him any guaranty that after the level is reached you will pull down the wall or that a combine of the protected will not be formed within the wall which will control the price. The third is, they say that it, guarantees good wages to the laborer, .which otherwise lie would not get.
I have never seen that plea made good anywhere, but on the con trary the highest paid labor on this earth is the laborer who works in those factories which are perfectly free and compete with free trade all around the world. I say here to-day that the lowest wages are paid in the most highly protected industries; the moderate wages are paid where a moderate protection pertains, and the highest wages are paid in the cotton fields of the South, where we give forty-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 81
eight per cent of the product to the laborer who produces it, and at the same time have to compete with the six-cent laborer of the Nile Valley, and the four-cent labor on the Hindoo plains. They say it provides home supply for home wants and that the grandest nation is the great family.
That is true, but some one member of the family absorbs too much, from the other and more numerous branches of the family and makes it topheavy. [Laughter.] This very evil is most apparent to-day. Now, Mr. Chairman, I hurry forward. I would like to show that as a governmental principle a tariff is felt to be wrong because, as pointed out by the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Grady] they never have dared to put protection as an avowed purpose in the law, knowing that it could not run the gauntlet of the courts.
It is wrong because unconstitutional, wrong because class legis lation, wrong because violative of the natural liberty and rights of the citizen, wrong because it takes private property for public pur poses, even admitting that it is taken for public purposes, and gives the citizen no direct, compensation, which the Constitution says he must have. Nowhere in law, nowhere in ethics, have you got a right to take a dollar directly out of my packet, appropriate it to public purposes, and say that I must take my reward as a mere incident to being a citizen of that commoinity.
I say, further, Mr. Chairman, it is wrong as a matter of taxation, because it taxes the necessaries, of life, because it is ruinously ex pensive Co the citizen, and because it is grossly unequal in its opera tion.
In Sweden and Holland they have virtual free trade. Those people have manufactures, agriculture, religion, education, and, Mr. Chair man, I find that in Sweden the people have in full operation the land-loan plank of the sub-treasury system, which is howled at as such a wild ebullition of crankism. They have general prosperity. They have nearly a million children at the public schools free of charge to the individual; they have a flourishing trade, both domes tic and foreign; they have a liberal amount of money in circulation compared to their wants; they have a production per capita that is creditable to any people; they have a standing army that is greater than ours; they have a navy which is greater than ours.
Since their virtual free trade went into operation in I860 they have steadily climbed up higher toward prosperity, and have more than quintupled their foreign trade and their domestic production. Em igration is light; property well distributed. That is true of Sweden, and the same is true of Holland. They have in Holland a million children at the free schools; and in both Sweden and Holland they have what a gentleman upon the other side of the aisle [Mr. Layton] called "socialism" yesterday, Government ownership of railroads.
The only debt which Sweden as a nationality owes to-day is repre sented by her railway system, and Sweden is a limited monarchy,

82 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
where one -would not suppose that socialism could have crept in. Holland nas very little coal or iron, yet her manufactures flourish under nominal duties. She competes sucessfully with high-tariff countries. She manufactures cottons, -woolens, linen, glass, crystal, earthenware, and many other commodities, and does so without pro tection. Her crops and her manufactures steadily increase, and her labor is "well rewarded.
They have a flourishing foreign trade. Their labor is satisfied. Nobody ever heard of Pinkerton detectives shooting down men, wo men, and children in Holland.
Nobody ever heard of that being done in Sweden; nobody ever heard of any great amount of emigration from those countries. In both the land is divided, up among a great number of people; property is distributed among a great number of people; money is accessible to any good security at low rates. All the citizens enjoy the equal advantages, and in a common prosperity they bless the flag that waves over each nationality. [Applause.]
Gentlemen upon both sides have adopted a high plane, a patriotic standpoint, in arguing this question. Let us carry that sentiment, Mr. Chairman, to its legitimate results. If thJs system is destroying the prosperity of a single section of the country, you gentlemen on the other side surely will not be attached to it in the future. If this system destroys the prosperity of the great body of agricultural producers
[Here the hammer fell.] Mr. Simpson: I ask unanimous consent that the gentlemans timebe extended to conclude his remarks. The Chairman: Is there objection to the request that the time of the gentleman from Georgia be extended? Mr. Burrows: Mr. Speaker Mr. Watson: I want only five minutes more. Mr. Burrows: I have no objection to an extention for five minutes. Mr. Watson: Mr. Chairman, I say that agriculture as compared with commerce and manufactures ought to have the fairest treatment of any of the three sisters on whose white arms are borne up the prosperty of this country. Agriculture cannot bring into her aid the principle of division of labor which you all know so greatly reduces the cost of producing commodities. So if you are to equalize the laws and give us a fair chance, you should bear in mind that phil osophical principle, the division of labor, which always fights on the side of commerce and on the side of manufactures, never can fight on the side of the farmer. Mr. Chairman, I do take pride in this country as a country. I love my home better than any other mans home, but it is because I love it that I love the county in which it is placed and the State in which the county is fixed, and the system of government in which my State IB a partner.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 83
And, Mr. Chairman, I think the manliest position to take, as a matter of national pride, is that the American producer, whether on the farm or in the shop, can knock the hind sights off the pro ducer anywhere else on the face of the earth. [Applause.] Let us say we are not afraid of this "pauper labor." Sir, a pauper never was a strong competitor in any branch of labor. The impoverished laborer, whether he be a slave or a beggar, never was worth his victuals and clothes in any industry. Every teacher of economics will tell you so. I have no fears of American pluck and American intelligence in any contest with any other people.
In the name of our common country all its sections, all its classes, all its colors I ask for free trade and a fair system of taxation, so that in the daya that are to come the alienated affection of our peo ple everywhere will come back to the Government as the wanderers ought to come back home;; and from every hearth and household in all this land will go up the cry, "Long live the Republic!" Let it rise to-day and to-morrow, this year and next year, ever deeper in its fervor, working for the welfare of all, and supported by the love of all." [Loud applause.]
L

Debate at Sandersville
Third Meeting Between "Watson and Black:----An Orderly Discussion, of tlie Issues Between the People and Organized Democracy.
B 1ST the absence of a stenographic report, the following is presented as the hest obtainable account of the Sandersville meeting, September 9, 1892. Mr. Watson said: The Augusta brass band is on had as usual followed by
the organized crowd who accompany Mr. Black to do the cheering. They carry with them the banner on which they have painted side by side the pictures of Mr. Stephens and Mr. Black. They do this to show what a modest man Black is. [Laughter and cheers.]
Augusta politicians should be very careful how they parade Stephens picture. He denounced them as "thimble-riggers and tricksters" to whom he bade defiance. [Cheers.] It is but another illustration of their stupidity to parade Mr. Stephens picture against me, when it is well known how he stood for principle against party and always stood ready to appeal from the politicians and news papers to the people. [Cheers.]
The Democrats had tried to prejudice the negroes against him hecause he voted in favor of Daniel Proctor, Democrat, against An thony Wilson, Republican, as sixty-one others had done in the Georgia Legislature, including some of the best lawyers in the body.
Wilson came into the district and made speeches for me. Previ ous to that time the Democrats called him a worthy and intelligent colored gentleman "who had been unjustly treated. After that time they suddenly discovered that he was an "ignorant, thickheaded, old nigger and as black as the ace of spades." [Great laughter.]
Governor Northern and Congressman Moses made speeches here the other day. Northen denounced Watson for defeating the claim of Bradwell in Congress. Northern sail all Vhe members from Geor gia wanted the claims paid. If so, they were in favor of robbing the taxpayers for the claim had already been paid in full. [Great cheering.]
Mr. Watson then alluded to the act of Congress approved by the President, September, 1888, providing for the payment in full of the Bradwell claim. This created quite a sensation.
Then Mr. Watson proceeded to explain that he was calling for the regular order to force the sub-treasury bill to the front a bill which would relieve the distress of millions of people. Northen and Livingston had framed the sub-treasury at St. Louis in 1889, and had promised its passage to the people, and had got high office by
(84)
------J

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON. 85
doing so. Now they were denouncing him because he would not allow a private bill to come up out of its order as a matter of special v privilege said private bill being in favor of a claim which had been paid off in full.
He (Watson) was calling for the regular order the millers rule of "first come, first served" in order that a general bill benefiting both white and black might have a chance. [Great ap plause. ]
, On calling for the regular order he had given offense to many individual claimants, but he could not help that. He had felt it his duty to insist on the business being done in the regular way, with out special favors to individual claimants. [Applause.] This had made him unpopular with many members of Congress, especially to the New York delegation, because he had objected to their looting the treasury to the extent of $2,500,000 for a new post office at Buffalo. They had already got $600,000 for that purpose. They wanted $2,500,000 more. Remembering that our beautiful State Capitol only cost $1,000,000, I thought it outrageous to give $3,100,000 for a post office in Buffalo, and I Imocked the bill out. [Ap plause.] It was a Democratic steal and the New York Democrats got very mad about it. Look at the record and you will see that the New York members specially tried to wreak their vengeance on me during the tangle I had with Gen. Joe Wheeler on the question of drunkenness in Congress. He would submit to the audience, both white and black, whether he had done not right in watching these jobs and in being careful how their money was spent. [Cheers.]
In this connection let me read you a proposition of Mr. Steven son, the vice presidential nominee of the Democratic party. He hated the South so badly he wished his malignity to appear in the fundamental law of the land. He proposed the to Rowing Con stitutional Amendment in 1879:
"That Congress shall have no power to appropriate money for the payment of any claims for using, taking or injuring the property of any perosn or corporation by the armies or officers of the United States while engaged in supressing the late rebellion against the same."
Had ttis amendment been adopted Bradwell would never have got a cent on his claim. Yet they want the people to elect Stevenson to the Vice Presidency. Had his views prevailed, no money would ever have been paid us for churches, convents, schools, colleges or private property taken or destroyed in violation of the rules of war. Yet the Democrats denounce Weaver as an "old wretch" and seek to exalt Stevenson, who wanted his inveterate hatred of the stricken
L South imbedded in the organic law of the land! [Great cheering.] Mr. Moses said here a few days ago that my Thomson speech was a tissue of falsehoods. If so, Black ought to be able to show it.

86 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
I am here now [cheers], and you are here, [Cheers; yes we are.] Mr. Black and I are standing foot to foot and face to face. [Cheers.] I deliberately reaffirm every statement in my Thomson -speech, and I respectifully defy Mr. Black to controvert them. [Cheers.]
Two years ago you elected me on your St. Louis platform, which is substantially identical with that adopted at Omaha. Last year I came among you to take your instructions. At Deepstep and at Moss Spring the people of "Washington county held up their right hands and voted that I should adhere to your platform, no matter where it carried me. [Cheers and cries of "Yes, we did!"] Is it possible that youll now go hack on me after I did just as you told me? [No! No! No!]
The same gang that was after me then is after me now. They hated your platform then and they hate it now. [Cheers.] If you want to sacrifice me to your enemies [Cries of "Never! Never! Never"] I kept my pledge to you. Single-handed, I have met your enemies at every point and fought for your demands with all the strength of my nature. [ Cheers. J Now, be fair "with me, men! [Cries of "Well do it! Hurrah for Watson!"] Deep down in your hearts you know they are bent on my destruction because I stood true to the people and would not bend the knee to the politicians. [Great cheering.]
Moses and Livingston could not stay in their seats in Congress. Every time a bush shook they cut out for Georgia to save the dear Democracy. [Laughter.] They both had money of the taxpayers in their pockets, which they had not earned, and which they took in open violation of the plain letter of the law. [Applause.] Yet these pure patriots who owe their brief notoriety to the Alliance principles are openly advocating the election of Mr. Black, who denounces those principles just as he, in his Austin letter, denounced the Alliance and its methods. [Cheers and cries of " Livings* onst dead!"]
Nearly every politician in Georgia has been down here to tell you how you should vote. [Laughter and cheers.] When November comes well endeavor to show them that We know how to attend to our own business, and well be ready to answer their wild and dis tressed inquiry, "Where was I at?" [Great laughter and cheering.]
Mr. Black, at Crawfordville, said the Indianapolis resolution was not binding, because I was instrumental in passing it. This is queer logic. But the facts are against him. As usual, they dont know what they are talking about. They know no more about the record on those questions than a speckled hen knows about astronomy, [Great laughter.]
The record shows that1 the same resolution, to the effect that tlie demands then formulated should be held superior to caucus dicta tion, was passed at St. Louis in 1889. [Applause.] The record

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 87
further shows that at Ocala the same resolution was expressly re affirmed, and that L. F. Livingston, Lnat sweet-shrub of organized Democracy [great laughter], was the author of the resolution. [Great cheering.]
Two years ago Major Barnes endorsed about all of your platform except the sub-treasury. Tou defeated him. Major Black now asks you to elect him, when he denounces about all of your platform, as well as your organization and its methods. Will you do it? [Cries of "No," and great cheering.] They are trying to drive the reform movement back, break it up and disband it. In the name of God and justice, let no Ocala man help them. [Cheers.] If the Ocala men cant help me, in the name of common fairness, dont let them help the bear. [Cheers.]
I am a Jeffersonian, and am trying to bring back the principles of Jefferson to bless the people with a reign of "equal and exact justice to all men." [Cheers.]
Jefferson favored the free and unlimited coinage of silver. The Democrats of today do not. We of the Peoples Party do.
Jefferson favored direct issue of treasury notes in volume suf ficient to do the business of the country. The Democrats of today oppose this, while we favor it.
Jefferson said our private banks should only be for discounts and deposits, not for the issuance of paper money. He denounced State bankers as sharpers and swindlers- The Democrats of today favor the State banks Jefferson denounced, and denounce the direct issue of United States notes, which he favored. The peoples party agree with Jefferson on both propositions.
At Crawfordville, Mr. Black said the distress of the people was exaggerated. I have no time to go into statistics on that today, but here where I am addressing people who bend over the cotton rows to pick out six-cent cotton which cost them eight cents, there is no need to dwell on the topic. They know that agricultural distress is not exaggerated. [Cheers.]
He (Black) said the tariff was the chief source of their trouble. I denounce the tariff as bitterly as they, but it is a smaller source of trouble than our infamous financial system. [Cheers.]
The Democrats have not formulated any tariff reduction bill. What do they mean by tariff reduction? What guarantee do we have that they could agree on a general bill? They might violate their pledge, just as they did on free silver. [Cheers.] They might violate this promise, just as they did on their promise to economize at the last session of Congress. I repeat my former assertion that instead of keeping that pledge, they spent more money than the billion dollar Congress. [Cheers.] And I challenge Mr. Black to dispute it.

88 LIFE AND SPKKGHKS OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
But suppose they can agree on a bill reducing the tariff by a few cents on the schedules, will it not remain a monstrous iniquity which gives four dollars to the manufacturer while it gives one to the Government? [Cries of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and cheers.]
In other words, the Democrats propose to perpetrate a system which they denounce as infamous robbery. They say that a rob bery of fifty-six per cent under the McKinley bill is a national curse, but that robbery of forty-eight per cent under the Mills bill would be a national blessing. [Great laughter and cheers.]
I say they never did intend to pass their free trade bills, of which they have talked so much. Why? Because, according to their own showing their bills could have reduced the revenues $158,000,000. The Government is now spending all its revenues. A shortage of $158,000,000 would cause national bankruptcy. Its place would have to be supplied. The Democrats provided no substitute to supply its place. Hence I say these free trade bills were never in tended to become laws, but were simply a part of the system of deception and fraud which the Democratic politicians were practic ing on the country. [Cheers.]
We of the Peoples Party fight the tariff in the true way. We propose another way of raising the necessary revenue the income tax. [Cheers.] The tariff will never die till some other method of raising the revenue is adopted, and we are the only party which proposes that substitute. Once adopt the income tax and the tariff is doomed. [Cheers.]
Mr. Blacks remedy for financial distress was State banks. In one breath he accuses us of the intention of flooding the country with paper money; in the next breath he says he wants to do the same thing. [Laughter and cheers.]
Under our plan the strength of the republic would be at the back of every dollar. Under your plan the strength of one State alone. Under ours the national Congress of all the States would decide how much should be issued. Under yours each State would say just what the bankers of that State desired. Under our plan the money would be uniform all over the United States, and would be legal tender, and would live as long as the nation lived. Under yours each State would have its different plant, tbe paper issued would not be legal tender and wouldnt have strength enough to cross the State line. [Cheers.]
In his letter to John W. Epps, June 24, 1813, Mr. Jefferson dis cussed national finances at length. Here is what he said:
"And so the Nation may continue to issue its bills as far as its wants require and tine limits of circulation admit."
This is exactly what we demand. [Cheers.] "Those limits are understood to extend with us at present to $200,000,000 a greater sum than would be necessary for any war.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF Til OS. E. WATSON. 89
But this, the only resource which the Government could command with certainty, the States have unfortunately fooled away, nay, com pletely alienated to swindlers and shavers under the cover of "private banks.**
In a subsequent letter to the same gentleman on the same subject. Mr. Jefferson says tbat the object of State banks was to "enrich. swindlers at the expense of the honest and industrious part of the nation."
Yet you dare to talk to us of leaving the principles of Democracy! Judged by your platform and your methods, the Democratic party of today knows less of Jeffersons doctrines than a Japanese hog knows about the Chinese religion. [Great laughter and cheering.]
In his Berzelia speech, Mr. Black denied that the Government let national banks have money at one per cent. I now hand him the law; I challenge him to repeat his statement; if he does so, I will attend to him in my conclusion. [Cheers.3
Mr. Black denied that Democrats were responsible for national banks. I propose to prove that they are. It is true the Republicans passed the bills to charter them. But the Democratic party has made no organized attack on the national bank system for thirty years. "Why ?
It means either that Democrats liked the system, or that they did. riot have the courage of their convictions. Either explanation damns them.
Again, they have voted to extend the charter privileges and the circulation. Among the Democrats who did this were Colquitt, Brown, Crisp and Candler.
Again, Clevelands administration wished to retire the $346,000,000 greenbacks and put national bank notes in their stead.
Again, Clevelands administration put $60,000,000 of your money into the national banks, free of charge, to lend to you on their own terms.
Again, national bankers are high in authority in the Democratic party.
Again, no declaration against them is in the Democratic platform. Now, if all of this proves that the Democratic party hates national banks, then how on earth would you prove that it loved them? [Cheers.] The Good Book says, "The Lord loveth," etc. Reversed Demo crats hate those to whom in legislation they extend the choicest gifts. They prove their opposition by the concessions they make. Their resistance by surrenders. Have you defended our citadel? Yes. See the white flag over its towers! See the enemy rejoicing within! [ Cheers. ]

90 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Why dont the Democrats make war on the millionaires and the national banks, taxing the one on their incomes and destroying the money monopoly of the other?
According to official report, during Clevelands administration the national banks had paid $67,000,000 as the aggregate of the one per cent tax on the circulation based on tlie bonds since 1863 up to 1888. "What amount of circulation must they have had to produce $67,000,000 at one per cent? "Why, $6,700,000,000. Thats the sum they got the use of by paying one per cent. Now, say they loaned it out at eight per cent; how much did it yield tnem ? $536,000,000. Deduct what it cost them ($67,000,000) from what It brought them ($536,000,000), and you have $469,000,000 as the net profit they made from this most infamous national rascality. [Great cheering.]
Remember that their bonds were drawing interest in gold all the time; that this interest -was paid in advance to the extent of $13,000,000 during a portion of the time; that the bonds paid no tax; that Cleveland gave them as high as $60,000,000 free of charge from the tax money of the people; that under Cleveland they reaped in the golden harvest-some $60,000,000 as premium on these bonds, and you have a picture of class favoritism sucn as modern timea have rarely seen. [Cheers.]
Yet the Democratic party not only proposes no war on this system, which Jefferson hated and Jackson destroyed, but wish to elect Cleveland, whose administration is on record as favoring the burn ing up of $346,000,000 greenbacks, which cost the people nothing, and putting in their place an equal sum of national bank notesr which cost them, at eight per cent, the neat sum of $27,680,000 per annum.
In the light of your present knowledge of our financial system, are you willing to vote for such a policy? [Cries of "No," and cheers-J
The millionaires, sustained by shameful class legislation, had marched to wealtli and power over the thousand desolate farms, abandoned homes and broken-hearted men and women. In the name of God, it was time to call a halt and restore the rule of just laws. [Great cheering.]
MR. BLACKS REPLY.
He was greeted with enthusiasm.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 91
He represented thousands of honest farmers all over the country.
[Cheers.]
Watson said he was sent to represent the Ocala demands. He con ceded it, for he would do him no injustice. The fact is he was in structed to stand by them within tfce Democratic party. Watson said he could not support Crisp, not because of silver or the subtreasury, but because he belonged to the Gorman-Randall wing of the Democratic party and was not square on the tariff.
(Here the disturbance became so great from the third partyitea that Mr. Watson asked them to give Major Black a respectful hear ing.)
Watson said that if the Democrats wanted his resignation they could get it thereby acknowledging his allegiance to the Democratic party.
Voice: What about barrooms in Augusta? Major Black: Well, I did vote the wet ticket, and what has that got to do with this? You cannot make me ashamed of any vote I ever cast unless" you can make me believe that I had done -wrong. If you did that I would not be ashamed to stand here in this pre sence and acknowledge it. [Cheers.] If you did not do that I would not be ashamed to stand here and avow it. When you come to this, although I do not care to speak of myself, and do not want to, but when you come to any moral question, I do not shirk comparison with any man. Continuing he said he had never denied that there was vicious legislation that should be repealed, and that the agricultural inter ests should have some relief, and when these were affected all in terests were affected. He said he had as much sympathy for them as any man. But they were after measures which could not be put through. You would never get this Government to loan you money at two per cent. [Cheers.] And the man who promised that "was impracticable. Watson said Jefferson was in favor of issuing treasury notes. He conceded it, but he stood there to defend Thomas Jefferson by say ing that he never remotely committed himself to anything like the subtreasury. Watson said, holding up the record, "Boys, weve got the record." Yes, boys, we have got the record. It was in a period of war and for the purpose of tiding over that he advocated treasury notes, but he said they were to be sustained by taxing them. He also warned against flooding the country with paper money. He would not bind himself to all Jefferson said under those conditions. He said that neither Jefferson, Jackson nor Monroe nor any statesman of modern times ever advocated the lending of money on land and agricultural products. The question was what remedy -would furnish genuine relief.

92 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TFIOS. E. WATSON.
Suppose the Government stamps one hundred millions,, how are you going to get it out of the treasury?
Voice: Subtreasury.
Thats the right answer. Now, do you know what the Subtreasury is? It is necessary to have $500,000 of products in the county to get a subtreasury; and if there was a county in the district that could do it and he doubted it how would the poor man, who has no corn or cotton unmortgaged, get it out? You dont want but $50 per capita; but if money was loaned on one-half of the land it would make It $116 per capita.
Voice: The farmer wont get it unless ho wants it. No; and you wont get it that way if you do want it. I thought you wanted it. Such a law would only plunge t*he country into deeper and darker ruin. It would put in the power of men who could get it at one per cent to put it out at seven per cent, eight per cent or ten per cent; whatever they choose. You claim that the Democrats are divided. The third party is divided even on the subtreasury scheme, and Mr. McKeighan, one of your own members, denounces it as having no warrant in law. I Cheers,] "Where was there a fair minded man who would say that he ex pected to get possession of both houses of Congress and the Presi dency? They would never do it. There was more hope in the Dem ocratic party. There were more Democrats in Congress who favored free silver and an income tax than there were third party repre sentatives. Now, in the name of reason and intelligence if you are for the highest weal, what is the sense of going out of this party and into a new party which does not promise you any hope of relief on these political lines? My friend says I did not say anything about an income fax. I didnt think it was necessary for me to announce that I stood upon the platform of my own party. That is a plank in the platform of my own party. That is a plank in the Democratic party platform of the State of Georgia. There is where I stood and expect to stand. I say I would go as far as he would in this direction. And I say to all you honest people looking me in the face that there is a great deal better chance for you to get an income tax law in the Democrat ic party. The tariff stands in the minds and hearts of the people as one of the greatest of issues, yet Mr. Watson is. a free trader and does not stand upon the platform of his party, which is committed to perpetuating the protective tariff. Major Black said that the people needed relief, but that the distress of the people was exaggerated. He instanced the recent visit of a United States officer to Augusta and Georgia, who made tae remark ably encouraging disclosure that there were fewer mortgages upon our farms than in any other part of the country. Ho believed in

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 93
admitting evils, but it was not wise to exaggerate them. He was a poor doctor who came into the room of his patient and excited the mind of the patient by telling Mm he would surely die. He advised the cultivation of less cotton. When it was raised at a cost of eisrht: cents and sold for six cents it did not need a farmer or a statesman to see and say that it was an unpaying business and that there should be leas, of it planted and something else planted in its place. You say you want a remedy?
Voice: Yes.
Major Black: Then you want a practical remedy. YOU do not1 want a chimerical one. You want one that will bring you relief. "Well, the people are impressed that the only plank in the Peoples party plat form is the subtreasury plank.
But there are others. You have got to take the -whole platform and all its candidates. "When you consider it over think about advo cating it. He took up the railroad plank in the third party platform. Let me show you, honest men, where this will carry you. From Poores railroad manual, which, I believe, is standard authority on railroads, I find the following: The liabilities of the railroads of the country are $10,000,000,000, Their actual cost has been $9,000000,000. Listen, you men who this morning were asked to give your reason and judgment to these questions. The Government is asked not only to control but to own the railroads. What will the. purchase of the railroads make the per capita? Think of it! I ask Mr. Watson if he introduced a bill in the last Congress to buy therailroads? I ask him if he is willing to buy the railroads? I ask him if he was wiling to buy the railroads of the country at a cost of $9,000,000,000?
Voice: Yes. Major Black: You are? Voice: Yes; but not for cash. [Laughter all around.] Major Black: I reckon you are! But suppose you bought them on credit. You would fill the country with money until it would reach $138 per capita. What would your cotton bring then? Voice: Oh, it would bring a dollar a pound. Major Black: Yes, in Confederate money. Major Black took up Confederate money and showed the worthlessness of it at the time on account of its quantity. Let me tell you that there is more in this platform than the subtreasury, which is bad enough. And let me tell you that that party is the friend of the people which tries to protect them from this condition of things. But not only does this plank cover railroads, but the telegraph, -which means more money, the telephone, the express. It was absurd. Hedid not know what the cost of these would be to the Government, but the purchase of the railroader would he $9,000,000,000 and increase the per capita to the astounding figure of $138. He took up Mr. Watsons book. I want to show you -where all

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON,
these impracticable schemes "would carry you. Here is a commu nication in Mr. "Watsons book. He read the communication and said that the third party platform might buy it now, but instead of buying relief it "would taring disaster and ruin. He said ne would strip the shackles from you. I say that \ would strike as hard blows to do this as he would.
I would save you from yourselves if I could. I would save you from the achemesi originated by the enemies of this people, the author of the Third Party, men who have nothing in common with you and who havent your interest at heart.
I "warn my countrymen, whatever my fate may be in this campaign, I warn you that if you do get info power, if you had every repre sentative in Congress, the Senate and the President of the United States, if you enacted these ideas into law, every man of you would thank first from your bleeding hearts after the passage of such law the man who had the courage to stand up and warn you against them.
The article in Mr. Watsons book showed the cost of running the railroad system of the country and the saving if the government should own and run it. But the article advised coal miners to vote for the third party and this plank, as it would then be but a step to, own the mines. "I tell you, you had better look to the end of a road before you get into it. You "want to devise means of relief. Think before you act whether the scheme will bring relief or over whelming disaster."
A voice asked about the railroads. Major Black explained the power of existing law "which stood over the railroads in the interest of the people.
Major Black read from the Peoples party platform the part which claims that the land of the country is the heritage of the people and should belong to them. "My friend (Mr. Watson) says that Jefferson took this position." Major Black took liberty to dissent from Mf. Watsons stand- Major Black read the letter from Jefferson.
He did not read it all, but a sufficient portion to show the drift, which he declared was not what Mr. Watson represented it to be. "The earth belongs to the living and not to the dead," Jefferson said. 1s that your land plank? (To Mr. Watson.) I say that the land belongs to the living, but to him who has bought the land with the usufruct of his labor. But that is not the way it is in the third party platform. They say that all men have a right to some of the land of the country. I say every man has the right, but I say not unless he has got it by gift, or inheritance or purchase. He con tinued to read from Jefferson. I say that there is nothing that says the land is the common inheritance of the people, as this platform of the third party says it is. What does your great leader say your Presidential candidate, Weaver, whom some of you seem so anxious to follow? Major Black read from an article by General Weaver in a recent number of The Arena about the land monopoly. Where is monopoly in land?

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 95
1 thought tlie trouble was you could not sell your land in Georgia when you wanted to, Major Black said.
Weaver said tliat all men had a right to the use of the soil. He said that the child that was being bora into the world as he (Weaver) penned those lines, had as much right; to land as breath and air. I denounce these tenets. [A voice interrupted.]
Major Black clinched the land question here by asking a question of this gentleman, a third partyite, who was a landlord and jealous of his holding.
Major Black: How is your brother going to get land if he has not got any? Are you going to give it to him?
Voice: Let him emigrate. _ Major Black: Ah! you say, I am mighty sorry for you, but you must go further! I say let him go further, too, and get1 it as you got it! You who say you believe in this land plank and the distribution of land will not part with a foot, that you have got, but you say: "Oh, yes you ought to have land, but go further." Major Black read further from General Weavers articles in The Arena, stating that every man had the right to till the soil in his own right. I say no man has the right to till the land unless he owns the land. Do you believe that? Voice: Yes. Major Black: Then you dont believe in holding the very land you own.
Voice: Yes I do; I dont believe in monopoly. Mr. Watson here arose and asked the man in the audience to be quiet and to ask no more questions, which caused merriment, as the questions and the answers, it had appeared, were discomfort ing to Mr. Watson. The third party demanded that the public domain be reclaimed for the ownership of the people. Every Democratic platform declares for this. Major Black asked a question and a lady nodded her head. Major Black said he was thankful for this, and though defeat might stare him in the face, the smile of that good woman would compensate him for his loss. He again .paid a beautiful tribute to Kentucky, his native State, but said he loved no less the red hills of Georgia, where his fate was now cast; where he intended to live until death should come, and among whose hills his bones, when he was dead, would crumble into dust. This was an exceedingly eloquent passage in Major Blacks speech, and won great applause, in which third party people joined pretty generally. "God only, in His wisdom," Major Black said "knows the dangers that division may bring upon us." He recalled the fact that Mr.

96 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THQS. E. WATSON.
Watson had once said, after election, that if the Democratic party demanded his resignation, he would yield it, thereby acknowledging his allegiance to the party. An interruption brought him to Mr. Watsons record. The speaker called attention to the fact that the honor which was about to be thrust upon himself in his election to Congress was unsought, "If I have been put forward by a ring, it is one that goes all over the Congressional District, among all classes. Letters came from every part of this district to me, from every part of this State, urging me to make the fight, from farmers, mechanics, etc., lawyers, ministers of the gospel and men and women, and it was not until after the earnest solicitation had come to me that I allowed my name to be used. And I think I will get there, and with the distinction of not being at the head of a column of Augusta politic ians, or any other politicians; but a column composed of the rank and file of farmers all over this district and mechanics and labor ers, and preachers and white and colored, all trades and professions, and shades of color in this Tenth Congressional District of Georgia, carrying that proud old banner of Democracy."
MR. WATSONS REJOINDER.
Mr. Black says people all over the State favor his election. Yes. Outsiders have had a wonderful interest in the Tenth this year. [Laughter.]
There was not a national banker or monopolist anywhere who was not willing to contribute to a boodle fund to accomplish my defeat. [Cheers.] Why? Because 1 am making a straight-out fight on monopoly, and boss rule- [Cheers.]
Mr. Black denounces our land plank. It is founded on Jeffersons doctrine that there should be no land monopoly, and that all the sons of men should have a fair chance to own a home. [Cheers.] We make no war on the private ownership of land. But we say land monopoly is as bad as money monopoly or trade monopoly. Our laws as a people have always been against monopoly. Jefferson waged war on the entailed estates of Virginia, broke down the monopoly and threw the lands on the markets so that each individual should have a fair chance to buy a home. Isnt that right? [Great cheering.] Hear what Jefferson says. In a letter from Paris in 1789 written to Mr. Madison he writes: The earth belongs in usufruct to the living. Analyze this sentence, and you will s.ee it means precisely what we say in our platform. "The land is the heritage of all the people." {Cheers.]
Further, he says in the same letter: The earth belongs always to the living generation. They may

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 97
manage it, and what proceeds from it, as they please during their usufruct.
Further in the same letter he says:
The principle that the earth belongs to the living and not to the dead, is of very extensive application and consequences in every country.
He proceeds to show that it is by the application of this principle that the fedual system was destroyed as well as the monopoly of lands in France, held by the State, and by the aristocratic families.
The trouble with the Democrats is they do not want Jeffersonian Democracy. [Cheers.]
Mr. Black said Jeffersons endorsement of government issue of paper money extended only to times of war. If the principles be sound, why cant the Government use this power to relieve distress, whether in peace or war? [Cheers.] He says there is no land monopoly in this country, yet in the very next breath he says that the Democrats recovered 100,000,000 acres from the railroads. [Cheers.] Why not go forward and claim the balance? [Cheers.]
He says youll never get money at two per cent. "Why not? The national banks get it at one per cent, and the whiskey men get it at five per cent. Why should he boldly tell the farmers their Govern ment should always discriminate against them? [Cheers.]
He says "Raise less cotton!" [Laughter.] What we "want is a currency system which will give us a fair price for what we do raise. [Cheers.]
He says trust to Providence and the rains. [Laughter.] We say we want to destroy this infernal system which robs us of all we make by the aid of Providence and the rains. [Great cheering.]
He said half a dozen times you had his sympathy. [Laughter.] My God! Are we never to get anything but sympathy? [Cheers.]
We want no mans sympathy. We want justice and equal rights under the law. [Great cheering.]
Mr. Black says there are more Democrats in Congress who favor free silver than the Peoples party has there. Then why dont they get out of a party where their voice is stifled and join us where they can be heard? Why should they continue to follow that wing of the party which was lead by Thomas B. Reed to the deafeat of free silver? [Great cheering.]
He has waved the bloody shirt here to-day and preached the doc trine of sectional hatred.
Let me read what that "old wretch," J. B. Weaver, said in 1880: "The war is over and the sweet voice of Peace long neglected calls us to worship at her altar. Let us crowd her temples with willing votaries. Let us have a fair count and equal rights for all; for the laboring men in Northern factories, mines and workshops, and for the struggling poor, both -white and black, of the cotton fields of the South."

98 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
No sentiment "worthier of the day and its issues can be uttered. Our enemies preached hatred. We reconciliation. They wave tlie bloody shirt and call upon you to hate your breth ren of the North and West. We wave the pure white banner of the Peoples party; we call upon you to forget the animosities of a bitter past and in fhe name of the Prince of Peace to move forward to a future bright with promise and dedicated to the triumphs of peace. [Enthusiastic cheering.]

The Creed of Jefferson, the Founder of Democracy
Delivered by Thomas E. Watson, Douglasvillc, Ga.., July 4, 1893.
EL.LOW CITIZENS: Th e Fourth of July, 1893, is a day upon which the American citizen can well afford to indulge in some reflection some review of the past, some examination of the present, some thought of the future.
No man doubts that we have reached a period when great changes are hastening upon us. Vital issues which have remained in the background issues which have stood for a generation like an armed force, resting in line of battle, awaiting the words: "Forward, march," are now moving steadily moving, irresistibly moving, to join battle with their opposing principles!
Every citizen owes it to himself to study tlie methods by which he is governed. Upon the laws of the land depend his property, his liherty, his life. If oppressed by vicious legislation there is no escape whatsoever which he can devise by personal industry, or frugality, or rectitude. He becomes the helpless subject Of national tendencies which no individual is strong enough to resist.
Let us come together in the spirit of those who seek to reason, to investigate and to know the truth. Citizens of a common country, we surely want good laws, good government. It surely must be the purpose of all of us, no matter to what political faith we adhere, to see honesty, equity and wisdom prevail, to the end that the people may be prosperous and happy.
Let us then upon this memorial day sink the bigot into the student, merge the partisan into the reasoner; banish the politician, and give place to the patriot.
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE A PROTEST AGAINST EUROPEAN
METHODS.
Who framed this government; and upon what priciples was it formed?
You may waste eve-r so many hours pouring over Stamp Acts; you may nod drearily through Websters assertions that the Revolution was fought upon a Preamble; you may believe, because you have heard it so often, that the American Colonies cut loose from England because the mother country insisted upon "taxation without repre sentation."
All of which ie true, but doesnt begin to touch the real point Jn the case,
<99)

100 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
The pith and marrow and vital spirit of the -whole business went vastly further.
Our ancestors came here protesting against the order of things in the Old "World. They were kickers: pioneers of a new creed, seeking a new country in which to plant it. They put the ocean between themselves and the things they hated.
"What were those things? 1. A religious tyranny which compelled them to support a faith and a priesthood which they abhorred. 2. A political tyranny which denied them the essential rights of manhood. Combating the savage and the wildnerness, the stout-hearted Anglo-Saxons gradually grew strong. And in exact proportion to their growth in strength, they showed their dislike to the European forms of government. Nearly every township in the Colonies was a small republic, teaching democracy, practicing democracy, and drifting steadily to the time "when the ideas of that democracy must meet in death grap ple with the ideas of the English monarchy. In 1774, those small republics, scattered along the coast from Maine to Georgia, thought the time had come to test the question as to who was the "best man" democracy or monarchy. The Stamp Act, and all conceiveable Preambles, were mere inci dents, or participants to the conflict. The issue at stake was the vital difference between the principles which prevailed on the different sides of the Atlantic. Such a difference "was certain to lead to a fight sooner or later. Preamble or no Preamble.
THE OBJECTS AIMED AT BY OUR CONSTITUTION.
Democracy fought, suffered and won. Casting off European forms, it fashioned a government which still endures. When our forefathers wrote down those articles of agreement and contract, which we call the Constitution of the United States, they prefaced it by stating that it was done in order to "form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." "We are the posterity. We are the legatees to whom they bequeathed "justice, domestic tranquillity, general welfare and the blessings of liberty." Magnificent bequest! Let us look into the treasure chest to-day; let us make inventory of our political goods and chattels, lands and tenements, and ascer tain how much of the estate we still possess. The executor was ever
_

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON. 101
a good man to "watcn; let us see liow much, of th.e trust aas been con verted to his own use rather than to ours.
Learned authors tells us that there have never been more than three kinds of government: The monarchy, the aristocracy, the democracy-
Monarchy is the government of a single ruler; and it may be absolute or limited.
Aristocracy is the government of a favored class, which exercises all the power and gets all the benefits, and absorbs all the privilege.
Democracy is the rule of all the people; it may be exercised by the people themselves or by their agents. In the latter case it is called a republic.
In theory our government is founded upon the principle that all the people rule no monarch, no aristocracy, no privileged class. The country being so large that it is impossible for the citizens to transact their governmental affairs in person, they adopt the plan of selecting agents, or representatives.
Thus ours is a republic based upon the idea tliat the people govern themselves.
ENEMIES TO DEMOCRACY.
From the very foundation of the Government, this democratic principle has had its mortal enemies. During the war of the Revo lution, they sought to neutralise the efforts of our armies, and to keep America in subjection to the king and the aristocracy of England.
After our independence was established, there were those who thought the English form of government "was best; and they exerted every energy to have our Constitution modeled after a limited mon archy, with its privileged class.
Although they failed, their failure was far from complete. Our Senate is really a House of Lords, almost entirely out of touch with the people; while our Federal Judges are completely independent of the theoretical soverign of the land the people.
As soon as the Constitution was adopted, over the strenuous objection of gome of the ablest and purest statesmen of the time, because they considered it too centralizing and undemocratic, the men. who had done so much to fetter its democratic priciples at once be gan to seek Congressional legislation which would utterly transform our Government; legislation which would infuse the spirit of mon archy, of aristocracy, of class rule, into the body politic of the re public.
The leader of these enemies of the democratic principles was Alexander Hamilton. He had lain down the law for them then, and his ideas control them now. "Wherever special privileges are asked for favored industries, Hamiltons Report on Manufactures is ran sacked for arguments. Whenever legislation intended for the build-

102 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
ing up of a moneyed aristocracy as a partner in the Government is desired by the capitalists, Hamiltons plea for the National Bank is trotted out. Whenever the speculator demands the turning of the paper money, which pays no interest, into bonds, which do pay interest, and which form the basis of bankers money (which also fetches interest), Hamiltons ideas on funding come to the front.
THE APOSTLE OF DEMOCRACY. ""
The leader oil the other side was, Thomas Jefferson. From the beginning to the end of his career he was the chief apostle of tlie common people. Though an aristocrat by birth, and a man of wealth, special privilege aroused his inveterate hatred. Class distinctions were his abomination. The equality of all men before the law; the right of every citizen to be secure from the spoliation of unjust taxes; the absolute freedom of speech, of thought and of ac tion; the integrity of individual rights as against centralization in government, or monopoly in business, were the fundamental articles of his creed. Entering the Virginia Legislature at an early age, his first assault was made upon the land monopoly which there existed in the form of "entailed estate." Against the bitterest opposition upon the part of the aristocracy of the Old Dominion, he unshackled the soil of Vir ginia from its feudal chains and threw it upon the market, where it would necessarily be divided up among smaller holders. Following this law he passed another destroying primogeniture the right of the eldest child to inherit the entire estate. This prin ciple has always been dear to the aristocracy, because it keeps the estate together; encourages accumulation and prevents distribution. The law of entail, coupled with the law of primogeniture, had already established in Virginia a landed gentry proud, ideal and arrogant fashioned upon the model of English nobility and seeking to imitate its style. Jefferson hated this system with implacable aversion, and de stroyed it. Another evil he remedied while in the legislature. He found the Episcopal Church in partnership with the State. The taxpayers, no matter what their religious faith, were taxed to main tain the Episcopal clergy. So naturally do principles go together, that the good old State of Virginia, after imitating England upon the land system, quite as a matter of course, copied her on the ecclesias tical question. The land monopoly and the church monopoly were having a gay time in co-partnership. Jefferson broke it up. The Episcopal Church was divorced from the State treasury, and made to earn its living just as the other churches had to do. He like-wise secured the adoption "of a thorough system of common

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF Til OS. E. WATSON. 103
schools. "Trust the people; teach the people," -were two of the strong pillars upon which he sought to rest the splendid fabric of popular government.
The aristocracy of Virginia, both lay and clerical, hated Jefferson with intense hatred the balance of his life. In the eyes of these nigh-born creatures who had been ousted from their special priv ileges and placed on a footing with common mortals, Mr. Jefferson was a demagogue, an incendiary, a stirrer up of strife arraying the poor against the rich for base political purpose.
Such was his magnificent work in the Virginia Legislature a monument to his "worth, loftier than sculptor could raise, and more enduring than marble or brass.
One other piece of work the great reformer attempted. He tried to abolish slavery. Would to God he had succeeded! The million men who butchered each other in battle would never have left their fields, their shops, their homes. The fearful legacy of sectional hate would never have been ours. The millions of treasure wasted in causing misery, -would have been a blessed offering in the temples ol peace. Shylocks opportunity never would have come, when the Govern ment found itself forced to borrow from its own selfish speculators and had to submit to the infamous exactions of the New York, Boston and Philadelphia bankers. The professional politician. North and South, never would nave been furnished, free of cost, with stock in trade which would last him thirty years; and upon which he could thrive, dominate and destroy-, upon the sole condition that if he lived North he should curse the South and if he lived South he should curse the North.
FEDERALISM AGAITMST DEMOCRACY.
"When Jefferson entered national politics, he found Hamilton de veloping his schemes and carefully laying his plans. Both of tnese :able men belonged to Washingtons cabinet. Jefferson was Secre tary of the State; Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. Almost immediately the irreconcilable differences of opinion appeared. The contest between them being one of vital principles, it raged dur ing all of Washingtons time, all of Hamiltons life, all of Jeffersons life; it has raged ever since; it rages now, and it will continue to -rage as long as this republic endures. For, state it as you will, it is the everlasting hostility which, in every wealthy community, arises between the masses and the classes; between the privileged and the unprivileged; between the rich, trying to establish aristoc racy, and the middle and lower classes, determined that democracy shall never die.

104 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON,
The creed of Hamilton was the basis upon which stood the political organization called the Federal Party.
What were its principles? They believed that the English monarchy was th e most perfect form of government known to man, and they wished ours to re semble it as far as possible. They wished the Federal Government to grow at the expense of the States. They sought to create a moneyed aristocracy by means of a bond system and national banks. They wished to specially foster manufactures by legislating protec tion. They wanted a strong consolidated nation, sustained by power ful military and naval forces. In short, the Federalists had no faith in the people, no belief in popular self-government. Hon. H, C. Lodge, in his work on Hamilton, says that his purpose in creating the Funding System and the National Bank, was not less political than financial. His plan was to "blind the wealthy men, being at that day the aristocracy bequeathed by provincial time, to the new system, and thus assure to the property of the country the control of the Govern ment." In other words, Hamilton wanted the dollar to rule this land not the people! Mr. Lodge is frank enough to say that Hamilton had endeavored to introduce a class influence into the Constitution at the time it was framed, by limiting the suffrage for the President and Senate with a property qualification. Failing in this direct attempt to establish class rule in the organic law, lie immediately went to work to devise other means of doing it. His Funding System and his National Bank were the result. The creed of Jefferson became the basis of political organization known during his life as the Republican Party. He gave it that name himself, and always spoke of it by that title. What were its articles of faith? I quote them from the illustrious founder. In each sentence, I will give you the words of Jefferson himself.
JEFFERSONS DOCTRINES.
In his first Inaugural Address he laid down this "Golden Rule" of government :
"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regu late their own pursuits of industry and improvement; and shall not take from labor the bread it lias earned. This is the sum of good government."
Further he said, in words which have become venerated wherever the principles of democracy are cherished:

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS* E. WATSON. 105

"Equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persua

sion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship

with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights as the most competent admin istration for our domestic concerns and the surest hulkwark against

anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general govern

ment in all its constitutional vigor as the sheet-anchor of peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by

the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided;

absolute acquiescence in the decision of the majority, the vital prin

ciples of the republic, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-dis

ciplined militia; economy in the public expenses, that labor may be lightly burde.ned; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preser

vation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of com

merce, its handmaid; the diffusion of information, arrangement* of all abuses at the bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of the person under protection of habeas cor

pus, and trials by juries impartially selected these principles form the high constellation which has gone before us, and guided our foot

steps through an age of revolution and reformation."

Listen to these further words:

"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided info two parties; those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all power from them into the hands of higher classes; those who identify

themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherisli and con

sider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise,

depositors of the public interest. In every country these two parties

exist."

r

Hon. W. L. Wilson, of West Virginia, one of the ablest and purest

Democrats now living, thus summarizes the principles, of the Repub

lican party, founded by Thomas Jefferson:

1. Opposition to the funding system.

2. Opposition to the national bank.

3. Opposition to the infernal revenue, or excise system.

4. Opposition to the protective tariff.

5. Opposition to centralization in the federal government at the

expense of State rights.

6. Opposition to Hamiltons plans to foster the moneyed class, and to build up an alliance between the capitalists and the government.
This is a fair statement from page 59, of Mr. Wilsons "History of

the Democratic Party."

These were Jeffersons remedies for Hamiltons poisons. These

were the breastworks he erected to check the Federalist aristocracy. These were the principles which were to preserve to the people the

106 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THO8. E. WATSON.

freedom their fathers had won, and these -were the principles which were always dear to the followers of Jefferson as long as d esire to be right "was stronger than the love for office.

TESTING THE PRESENT BY THE PAST.

On July 4, 1826, this great statesman died. Two generations have

come and gone, since he folded his hands in eternal rest-

The Government which he did so much to establish, still survives.

A political party which professes to follow his teachings, is in full

possession of every branch of the administration.

Its platform of principles, recently revised, repaired and replen

ished, is known to all the world. Its policies are being outlined by

its leaders, and being debated by all classes of citizens.

Let us to-day do ourselves the justice to firmly investigate our

political status.

Let us without the assistance of beef-tea, or other doubtful com

pound, imagine that we are all Cobhs of Alabama, and anxious to

know.

/

"WHERE ARE WE AT?"

What were the evils that Jefferson most feared? We have already seen how he dreaded slavery. Wisely did he foretell its consequences. In the year 1821, he said that "the public mind would not bear" his proposition made in 1776, for gradual emancipation. "Nor will it bear it, even at this day" (1821). "But the day is not distant," continued the prophet, "when the public mind must bear it, and adopt it, or "worse will follow! Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free." Knowing now terribly correct was his foresight upon this subject, his warnings upon other subjects increase in importance.

JEFFERSONS FEARS.
1. He forsaw the dangers of the funding and national banking systems. He saw that Hamilton encouraged the speculators to gather up all the paper money which they bought for a song, upon his inti mation that they might exchange it dollar for dollar for Government bonds bearing a high rate of interest. He denounced this funding scheme as a plot to get the money and the wealth of the country into the hands of a favored few. The national bank was even more pernicious. Listen to his words. In a letter to Mr. Gallatin in 1803, he writes:
"This institution (national bank) is one of the most deadly hostili ty existing against the principles and form of our government. . . . Now, while we are strong, it is the greatest duty we owe to tne

1

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON. 107
safety of our Constitution to bring tliis powerful enemy to a perfect subordination under its authorities. The first measure would be to reduce them to an equal footing with other banks, as to fhe favors of the government. But, in order to be a"ble to meet a com bination of the banks against us, in a critical emergency, could we not make a beginning towards an independent use of our own money through the governments subtreasuries?"
He predicted that the special favors granted by the government to the national bankers would result in creating an aristocracy of cap ital, which would dominate legislation, eorruptly influence elections and subsidize the press.
But while he thus denounced national banks he was still severer upon the State Banks.
In his famous letter to John W. Eppes, he entered into an elabo rate discussion of the dangers, the rascalities, the corrupting influ ences and the swindling rapacities of State Banks. I mean, of course, State Banks of issue.
Mr. Jefferson writes: "And so the nation may continue to issue its bills as far as its wants require and the limits of circulation will admit. Those are understood to extend with us at present Io two hundred million dollars.
"But this, the only resource -which the Government can command with certainty, the States have unfortunately fooled away, nay, corruptly alienated to swindlers and shavers under the cover of private banks.
"But although we have so improvidently suffered the field of circu lating medium to be filched from us by private individuals, yet I think we may recover it if the States will co-operate with us."
In another letter he sums up llie whole matter by saying that the object of these private banks of issue "is to enrich swindlers at the expense of the honest and industrious part of tne nation."
JEFFERSONS FINANCIAL, PLANS.
What, then, were Jeffersons financial doctrines? 1. He believed in the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold. His report to that effect was the law of the land from 1792 till 1873. The ratio was slightly altered, once, but the principle was never violated until John Sherman, the Republican, and Thos. Byard, the Democrat, demonetized silver in 1873. On page 1150 of the Congresssional Globe, part 2, second session, 42nd Congress (1872-73), you will find the proofs of what I say. Mr. Byards name is signed to the Conference Report which struck down silver, just as John Shermans is- signed. 2. He believed in a direct issue of treasury notes by the Govern ment, in a quantity as great as the needs of the hour demanded, and the channels of circulation could hold. In 1803, he said the limit

108 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
of the treasury notes the country could stand was two hundred million dollars.
Since that time the population and business have increased more than tenfold. Therefore, the country could now carry, without depreciation, two billions of dollars of treasury notes, according to Jeffersons own figures.
How much do they actually give us? Only three hundred and forty-six million dollars, not one-fifth of what Jefferson said we could safely carry. All the balance of our paper money is merely representative of coin which does not circulate. To bring conviction to any one who doubts Jeffersons position pn the most important matter, let me quote him further. In devising a means by which the Government might drive State bank money out of circulation, he says in the Eppes letter, alreadymentioned: "1f treasury bills are emitted, on a tax appropriation for their re demption in fifteen years, and (to insure their preference in the first moments of competition with the notes of the State bankers) bearing interest at six per cent, there is no one "who would not take them in preference to the bank paper now afloat. . . . This credit once established, others might be emitted, bottomed also on a tax, but not bearing interest; and even if their credit faltered, open public loans, on which these bills alone should be received as specie. These operating as a sinking fund would reduce the quantity in circulation, so as to maintain that in equilibrium with specie." This language is so plain, its meaning so clear, the financial plan outlined so undeniable, that I shall not take the trouble to quote other passages in other documents, to the same effect. Mr. Jefferson believed that money was a national agent; should be created by the National Government and for the use of the nation. He scouted the idea that this tremendous power should be farmed to our private individuals, for private purposes, in order that one class might fatten upon all the others. Nor did he see the logic of the position that if was wrong for the Government to create money "by getting a machine to work and stamping it," but entirely proper for the Government to allow thousands of bankers to "get their machines to work and stamp it" by the millions. It is only a non-partisan camp-follower of these latter days who can see the loveliness of such logic as that and flop down upon his supple knees and cry "Hosanna!"
BVIL.S FORETOLD.
But the main question is: Has Jeffersons warning proved to have been well founded? Was he right when he said the national banks were institutions of deadly, hostility to the spirit of our Government?

LIFE AND SPKECPIES OF THOS. E. WATSON. LOS
Was he right when he foretold that they would create an aristocracy of wealth, which would dictate the policies and the legislation of this country? The evidences which meet us upon every hand show that his statements were not only true, but appallingly true.
Obtaining their supply of money from the government at one per cent, lending it to the business men at from eight to ten per cent, clothed with enormous advantage of contracting and expanding the volume of currency at pleasure, the national banks have had, since the war, the most amazing opportunities of making money at the expense of the masses of the people that any government ever granted to a favored clasd.
CORRUPT LEGISLATION.
Their net gains from this especial privilege, granted them at the expense of the people at large, have equalled the enormous average of fifty million dollars per year for the last twenty-five years.
Who doubts that they have corruptly controlled legislation? How else can you explain the laws and policies which have been adopted in their favor? Who believes that it was right to pay them the interest on their bonds in advance? Who believes that it was right to change the contract with them so that they could demand payment in coin? Who believes that it was right to say that the treasury notes of the United States Government should be good enough for the mer chant, the farmer, the lawyer, the doctor, but should not be good enough for the holder of United States bonds? Who doubts that it required the use of boodle to secure the passage of laws which thus made one currency for bondholders, and another for the people at large; one currency for the favored, and another for the unfavored?
money it was? Who believes it was right to pay these bankers fifty odd millions
of dollars of the peoples money in order to get the privilege of paying bonds which were not due?
When did the world ever see such finance as that before? No wonder we have about us the rule of plutocracy.
CALFISM.
Money rules- insolently, defiantly, corruptly, ruinously! Money is the test of standing, social and political. Money passes laws, elects candidates, dictates policies. It controls the preae, which at its bidding must defend the most infamous laws.

1
110 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
It controls politics, for without campaign boodle the old party mare takes the studs and does not go a step.
It maintains its chosen band of agents and attorneys in every legislature in America; and the United States Senate, with a fewhonorable exceptions, is a mere group of corporation magnates or attorneys, whose chief duty it is to preserve the special privileges of the favored classes which sent them there.
OLD PARTY METHODS.
How do they maintain these privileges which no one defends? By wise, unscrupulous management. Some of the national bankers belong to one party, some to the other. Some of the huge corporations are Democratic, some Repub lican. Some of the bondholders are of one faith, some of the other. The campaign funds of the Democrats comes from their bankers, corporations, favored bondholders, etc. The campaign funds of the Republicans comes from similar sources. Hence, no mater how the election goes, the favored classes are on top. Campaign thunder may roll over their heads pending the canvass; the lightning of stump eloquence may blast many a tree in the back -woods as the rampant "snollygoster" denounces class legisla tion. But the boodle magnates care nothing for that. The storm is too far to hurt. They know perfectly -well that the law will continue to be -written just as they want it. This is precisely the state of things Mr. Jefferson warned us against. "Would to God, that the party which pretends to be Jeffersonian, did not have such a moral aversion to all of Jeffersons doctrines. Would to God that the Democratic masses would study for them selves the creed of the founder of their party, and thus be enabled to see how far the party bosses, for purely selfish purposes, have led them from the old landmarks! Yes, Jefferson foresaw all these things, but there is one view of the case which I trust was spared him. I hope t*hat his old age, made gloomy by loss of fortune, and by seeing the forces of vicious legis lation creeping steadily and treacherously towards the citadel of the Republic, was not made unspeakably wretched by the knowledge that Hamiltons legions would march to victory under Jeffersons flag! Let us trust that even his keen eye, scanning the future, caught no glimpse of the time when the money kings would bring practical politics to the perfection of a fine art; when they would apply with a success never dreamed of before, the adage of "Divide and conquer." When they would by a boldness and adroitness almost incredible, keep their chosen representatives in control of the machinery of
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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. Ill
both political parties, and thus have the people divided, while the bosses were united.
He had no data on which he could base the belief that the time would ever come when national bankers, monopolists, untaxed millionaires, and especially privileged classes, would not only seize possession of the party of Hamilton but also of the party of Jefferson.
He could not suspect that a statesman, calling liimself a Jeffersonian Democrat, would act as a partner of John Sherman in violat ing the principle of bi-metalism, which he established in 1792, and in thus striking down silver money which had served the people nearly one hundred years.
He could not think that a Democratic President, in 1893, would deliberately override the law of the land, in order to discriminate against silver and enhance the advantage of gold!
How could he dream that Democrats would aid in destroying the value of silver by law; and then, -while those unjust laws were still upon the statute books, complain that silver sank beneath such legislative attack?
What would he have thought of Democratic editors, who eomplain of the sixty-five-cent dollar, and who yet decline to help ua repeal the adverse and stealthy legislation which crippled its value?
It was left for later times, when Wall Street should produce a class of Democrats, the like of which the world never saw before; Democrats who believe that the Government does a wise thing when it issues one paper-promise-to-pay-a-thousand-dollars, calling it a bond, but does a most injurious and foolish thing when it issues one hundred paper-premises-to-pay-ten-dollars, calling them treasury notes.
Only a few capitalists get hold of the bonds and make them a basis for bank-paper-money; hence they are good things.
Every citizen can get hold of the treasury notes and they afford no more privileges to the rich man than to the poor one; hence they are bad things and must not, under any circumstances, be tolerated.
Both silver and gold are the fundamental money coins of tfce republic; so made by our organic law. The equality of each in busi ness, upon the ratio which experience demonstrated to be the true one, is the cardinal doctrine of Jeffersonian Democracy. We now find that all the influence of presidential position and patronage is being used to perpetuate the effect of "the crime of 1873," which, while out of power. Democratic politicians and newspapers so vigorously denounced.
In the platform of 1884 we find a demand for "the gold and silver coinage of the Constitnation."
In the platform of 1888 we find a distinct reafnrmance of the platform, of 1884.
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112 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
The "silver coinage of the Constitution" was the free and un limited turning into standard silver dollars at the ratio of one to fifteen of all silver brought to the mints just as was done with gold.
The Sherman law of 1890 was denounced in the last Democratic platform as a makeshift, hecause it evaded free coinage and limited the amount to be coined. Previous to the election the Sherman law was a guilty thing, because too unfriendly to "free silver."
Only a close student of American politics can realize the infinite impudence of such a position.
By the terms of the Sherman law the silver bullion purchased was, after July, 1891, to be coined into standard silver dollars and in sufficient quantity to redeem the treasury notes issued for the pur chase of the bullion.
Previous to July, 1891, it was optional with the Secretary of the Treasury to pay either silver or gold in redemption of these treasury notes. It was thought, of course, that he would at least use some of the silver, and discretion was given to him to coin two million ounces of it for that purpose. But on July 1, 1891, all discretion ceased.
The explicit words of the law are that the bullion must be coined and used to redeem these notes.
The statute has been shamefully violated. None of the silver bul lion is coined; none of it is used. It has been bulked up in the vaults, a useless commodity, while the Government has lent its help ing hand to the Wall Streeters in their raid for gold.
To prove my correctness on this important subject, I will quote the words of the act:
"Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall each month coin 2,000,000 ounces of the silver bullion, purchased under the provisions of this act, into standard silver dollars until the first of July, 1891. And after that time he shall coin, of the silver bullion purchased under fie provisions of this act, as much as may be neces sary to provide for the redemption of the treasury notes here provicled for."
I submit it to any legal mind in Georgia whether that statute does not mean this: Up to July 1, 1891, the secretary is compelled to coin the arbitrary amount of 2,000,000 ounces of that silver for the special purpose of taking up those treasury notes. After July 1, 1891, no arbitrary limit is fixed to the coinage. But the mandate is specific: "Coin enough to redeem those notes as they are pre sented."
Then I submit further, to any fair minded man, whether lawyer or not, whether the president and his secretary are not violating the laws of the land, both in letter and in spirit, when they refuse to coin any of that bullion at all, hut insist on pleasing the gold con spirators by paying .nothing but gold!

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 113
A more alarming state of affairs never faced a people. The chief magistrate overriding the law and marshaling under the flag of the administration the dread legions of bankruptcy and panic! Shrinking values appeal for support; trembling prices seek a point at which they may rally; agriculture, almost despairing over its own troubles, looks on with wonder to see commerce vainly trying to steady its wavering lines. Banks topple and stern disaster shakes its warning fingers at every industry in America; yet the President of the United States is chiefly concerned because the despotism of the single gold standard has not been completely established. He hungers for peace of the ^Warsaw kind "they make a desert and call it peace." He grudges the slender footing which its enemies have left to silver, and utterly forgetting the McKinley bill and its robbery of "the poor, down-trodden taxpayers," bends all his mighty energies to the absolute and final destruction of bi-metalism which John Sherman and Thomas F1. Bayard so grievously wounded in 1873. And all this time we are told that the administration is a friend to silver. We are asked to believe that tiiey honestly think they main tain the "parity of the two metals" by giving all the turkey to gold, and the buzzard to silver; all of the rose to gold, and all of the thorns to silver; all of the favors to gold, and all of the kicks to silver. This is no mere declamation. It is the literal fact. For both Mr. Carlisle and Mr. Cleveland announce that the true way to maintain silver on equality with gold is to pay out gold in preference to silver. The true way to prevent discrimination, is to discriminate; the orthodox way to keep silver up, is to fling it down and sit on it. The JUdas kiss never had a more elaborate ceremonial and more stupendous success than it is now showing in all the phases of this financial question. L.et us hope that these coming events threw none of their baleful shadows upon Jeffersons declining years. Let us believe that no such nightmare disturbed the night of his old age, and that he died in the conviction that whenever a citizen claimed to be a Jeffersonian Democrat, lie would have sortie slight regard for Jeffersons principles.
JEFFERSON OPPOSED TO THE TARIFF.
At the same time that Hamilton brought forward his plans of funding and national banks he formulated his protective system.
His report on manufactures is the foundation stone upon which our tariff rests.
Mr. Jefferson protested against it, contending that there was no warrant whatever in the Constitution for using the taxing power to foster any special branch of industry.
He opposed it at a time when its proportions, compared to its present colossal magnitude, were utterly insignificant.

114 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Hamilton only demanded that a few leading articles should be put upon, the dutiable list; nor did his wise conception take in the pos sibilities that custom-houses would be erected anywhere except upon, the coasts.
Surely he never imagined that his eight per cent rate of duty would swell until upon some articles of prime necessity it would reach the shameful extortion of more than one hundred per cent. Surely his dreams were never haunted by the thought that selfien manufacturers would walk insolently into the room of the committee on "ways and means at the capitol and absolutely dictate the amount of "protection" they demanded.
Bold as Hamilton was, much as he loved a wealthy class, strongly as he believed in favored industries, he was yet an honest man and patriot, and he would have shrunk with horror from the prostitution of his ideas of statesmanship to the sordid purpose of the privileged, who seek to plunder the unprotected.
CUSTOM-HOUSES RUN MAD.
Even Hamilton would have been shocked at the waste of public money in the erection of custom-houses at interior towns hundreds and even thousands of miles from the coasts, and filling them with useless employees, whose only duties consist in "drawing their salaries and their breath."
Scores of "ports of entry" have been established off the seacoast. They are run at a yearly expense of millions of dollars, to say nothing of the enormous sums of money which have been spent in building the custom-houses. Every dollar of this money is absolutely thrown, away. The duties "which are collected at the interior ports would have been collected on the coast at no additional cost to the Government. The establish ment of the interior stations accomplishes only two purposes: they give that particular city a handsome building at the public expense, and they furnish shady places for importunate office-seekers. This particular branch of the tariff question has been so com pletely overlooked, that perhaps you will allow me to give you a few samples of the ludicrous and preposterous and outrageous system. In the State of Virginia the customs duties amounted in 1890 to $22,000. How much do you suppose it cost to collect it? Thirty thousand dollars! At the town of Alexandria, a dried-up interior village, they have a custom-house outfit which costs the taxpayers $1,200 per year. How much do you suppose they collect? One hundred and twenty-five dollars! At Cherrystone, Virginia, the custom-houise outfit costs the people $1,950 per year. How much do they collect? Not one cent!

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 115
What on earth those office-holders do to keep up their self-esteem, <Jod, in His majestic wisdom, only knows!
In West Virginia, the entire custom-house collections were $240. This modest sum is gathered into the treasury painfully and con scientiously, at a moderate annual cost of $1,159.
In Florida, the farce grows even merrier. At Appalachicola they collected $1,000 and they spent $1,400 to do it! At Fernandina they spent some $2,500 in the frenzied toil of col lecting thirty odd hundred.
At St. Augustine, a tropical climax is reached; a climax of the warmest color and the richest foliage. They arduously toil all the year; they spend $1,800 of the peoples taxes, and they collect fifteen
cents! At St. Marks they collect $24. Twenty-four actual, bona fide,
robust, palpitating dollars! They spend $3,500 in doing so! At Annapolis, Maryland, they spent in 1890, the modest total of
$925. They collected absolutely nothing. In 1891, however, business was brisk and the collector un
doubtedly perspired; for he collected $43.50 at a cost to the tax payers of only $952.50.
In Saquino, Oregon, they spent $1,100 in salaries and collected $50 in duties.
At Great Egg Harbor, N. J., the office holders get $831, and the treasury gets $17.
At Sagg Harbor, the collector has a nice snug salary of $684, and he collects nothing at all.
In the State of Georgia $75.000 was collected in 1890 at a cost of
$25,000. At Savannah, $58,000 was collected at a cost of $15,060. At Brunswick, $7,000; at a cost of $5,000. At Atlanta, they collected $7,000, at a cost of $2,000. At St. Marys, fhey raked in $69, on tonnage duties, at the mod
erate expense of $1,400. In 1891 this booming seaport spread herself. She spent $1,800,
collecting $50. At Chattanooga (1891), they collected nothing, and drew a salary
of $500 for doing it. At Beaufort, North Carolina, they collected nothing, and drew
salaries of $1,134 for doing it. At Beauford, South Carolina, the office-holders determined to make
the North Carolina town ashamed of itself. So they collected $1,900, and charged the "poor, down-trodden
tax-payers" $5,000 for doing it! At Georgetown, S. C., they whirled in and harvested $30 as the

116 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
gross result of twelve months official toil. Their charges to the tax payer footed up $1,100.
At Vieksburg, Miss., the weary office-holder had to collect $2. The weary tax-payer paid him $533 for doing BO.
Comment upon such a state of things would only weaken the force of the facts.
It is safe to say that of the $7,000,000 now paid every year to collect the tariff taxes, at least $2,000,000 are absolutely thrown away in erecting custom-houses at places where the only demand for them comes from those who want to get within the genial atmos phere of a government appropriation,
THE INTERNAL, REVENUE SYSTEM DENOUNCED.
Mr. Jefferson also denounced Hamiltons "excise" the parent of our internal revenue system.
The great expounder of Democratic doctrine described it as an "Infernal" System.
He opposed it during the administration of "Washington and Adams.
"When he, himself, was elected President he swept the entire sys tem with its horde of spies, informers and pap-suckers, off the face of the earth!
It -was one of the achievements of his administration in which he most gloried, that he had utterly destroyed that much of Hamiltons bad work. He supposed he had uprooted it permanently.
Today it is fastened upon us more heavily than ever before con ceived of.
It supports an army of officials, fortifies the power of the whisky trust, and exerts a control over legislation which a stranger to our laws could not believe.
The fact that tne government has created the system, and de mands a tax of ninety cents per gallon upon distilled spirits, does no harm to the distiller, because his customer pays the tax. But he uses this ninety cents tax as a leverage to extort favors. He compels the lawmakers to establish for his benefit a sub-treasury, or ware house system, to the loss of the tax-payer, and the gain of the "Whisky Trust.
No legislative body ever passed a more indefensible act than that which allows the distillers to put their "fire-water" in a bonded warehouse, and obtain a certificate of deposit, and a loan of the tax for three years at four per cent interest.
From the official report of 1891, I find that the enormous quantity of 113,000,000 gallons were left on deposit for that year. At ninety cents per gallon the tax would have been $100,800,000. This amount was due, then and there.
But the Government steps in by special legislation and agrees to

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 117
lend them tliat sum of tlie peoples taxes at four per cent interest. Corn juice can get its warehouse, its sub-treasury, its certificate,
its loan, but the corn itself cannot!
SUB-TREASURY FOR WHISKY.
In the hands of the farmer it is the staff of life necessary to mankind. The rich must have it, the poor must have it. Destroy it and the cheek of the world pales at the fear of famine. Preserve it and the health and strength of all men and beasts are assured.
In the bands of the distiller, it is the weapon of death a pestil ence to the universe. It goes among the children of men hissing malice to the murderer, carrying rags to the wife and her children, filling the squalid home with vice and crime, staining the streets with bloody riot.
But when the farmer pleads, as an escape from the grievous wrongs which the Government has done him through class laws, that they allow him warehouse and a loan, he is scoffed at, abused, ridiculed, insulted and ignominiously driven away.
"Equal and exact justice to all men," said the great apostle of Democratic principle.
"Special favors to corn whisky, but none to corn itself," say the modern political bosses who wear the name of Democracy and trample upon its principles!
JEFFERSON ON TAXATION.
Mr. Jeffersons theory of taxation was altogether different. He knew that Hamiltons system would concentrate wealth in the hands of the favored class, thus making the rich richer and the poor poorer. His idea was that taxation was a public burden, and should be laid upon the shoulders of those who were able to bear it. It was no part of his Democracy to put the heaviest burden upon the weakest shoulders. It was no part of his dream of "equal and exact justice to all men" that a few thousand manufacturers should so frame the law that 60,000,000 of consumers would be compelled to buy from them, whether the price was reasonable or not, a result of which lovely system would be that the manufacturer would fleece the consumer $700,000,000, while the Government "was collecting $200,000,000 tax. No country can be far from despotism or revolution when the tax power is given over to a favored class in order that they may levy tribute upon the balance of the people! Mr. Jefferson saw this. He realized the dangers of concentrated wealth. He dreaded the advent of the millionaire.

118 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON.
His conception was that the earth was a common stock given to us all by the Creator, and from which we had the right to demand a living in return for labor. The right to work and to be paid a fair price for it he designated as "a fundamental right."
Therefore he was bound to see that in proportion as a few men seized upon the land and the products of the earth, there would be scarcity and suffering and oppression to the many.
According to his belief, the earth and all it contained were Gods provision for His children. That all had a right, by labor, to eat, to wear, and to live.
Hence, when a million dollars was accumulated in the hands of one fortunate individual, the common stock of all others to labor and to live was to that extent diminished.
Great fortunes accumulated in the hands of a few, meant great poverty to the many. Thus class distinction would arise, inequalities would become unjust and dangerous, manners would be corrupted, morals depraved, politics debauched, and money would become more important than man.
He had observed in France the evils attending such a system. He had seen the princes of the state and the princes of the Church in possession of almost the entire wealth of France. He had seen how arrogantly they overrode the common people of the State and the poorer priests of the Church. He had seen among the favored few, reckless extravagance, riotous living, shameless morals, godless lives. He had seen among the unprivileged, squalid misery, wretched huts, fields stripped to barrenness by exorbitant taxes, labor robbed of its right to reward, bent and starved by tiie rigorous cruelty of undeserved poverty.
The poor paid all the taxes and got none of the blessings of Gov ernment. The rich paid none of the taxes, and got all the benefits of Government.
Go read the letters of Jefferson, written from France previous to her bloody Revolution!
You young men into whose hands are speedily coming the des tinies of this republic go read those letters and ponder them well!
And then remember that suffering humanity, having appealed in vain for peaceful redress, rose up in mighty wrath and swept that foul tyranny of Church and State off the face of the earth, in the red fires of revolution.
THE DAY OF THE PLUTOCRAT.
Just as clearly as he foresaw the terrors of the slavery question. Jeffersons vision beheld the horrors of plutocracy.
Among the shadows of the uncertain future of his country he saw the tremendous inequalities of wealth, the rise of the untaxed mil lionaires, the colossal fortunes of the national banker and the pro tected manufacturer.

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 119
His prophetic eyes saw the vision of which, we have made a reality the real splendors of Fifth avenue and the abject misery of Five Points; the splendid hospital for pet dogs, and the pestilential tene ment rattle-traps for ragged, hungry, outcast humanity; the gorge ous yacht and parlor car for successful plunderers like Gould and Huntingdon and Stanford and Rockefeller, and the rock pile, the coal mine, the ball and the chain of horrible convict life for the awkward rascals who steal a loaf to eat, a coat to wear or a cup of milk to drink; the upper terrace of life, where vicious laws, like roving corsairs, have stored all the fruits of modern legalized piracy, and where the gilded rascals of high society enjoy all the spoils of special privilege; the lower plane, where the struggle of existence goes on like a terrific battle every day -with its thousands of killeJ, wounded and missing, and with, its dreadful choice between hunger and crime, between virtue and vice.
Upon the one hand, a charmed region where all is light and music, and festivities; where the banquet board rivals the splendid waste of a Roman emperor; where the gorgeous apparel, flashing with gems, represents the spoliation of a thousand homes, and where every note of joy rising as it does from the pride of ill-gotten gains, has its deep counterpart in the groans of the wretched, from whom their sub sistence was taken that it might be squandered in plutocratic debauchery.
On the other hand, what have we? Numberless unhappy mortals, brothers and sisters to us, crowded like brutes in stifling huts and cellars and garrets almost unclothed, well-night unfed; their gaunt fingers always outstretched in the mute plea of want; their bed a stone in the street, or a corner in the alley; knowing the law only as their enemy; knowing the Government only as the partner of vic torious robbers who despoiled them; knowing the church principally by its dignified ministry and magnificent temples a ministry which shuns the contamination of their touch, and a church whose velvet pews they are not expected to soil: these are the people and these are the human slums which are the legitimate offsprings of our infamous system; these are the quarters we make for crime; these are the citadels we furnish vice.
Crouched in these lairs are all the evils civilization abhors and creates!
It is here that the rum shop finds a stability that nothing can shake; immorality an impulse nothing can check; crime a seed bed nothing can sterilize; pestilence, a source nothing can exhaust; religion, a barrier nothing can level!
All honor to such men as Booth, and his Salvation Army; all honor to the Sisters of Mercy of the Catholic Church; all honor to the mission work of the Protestant; all honor to evangelists like. Sam Jones and Sam Small, and Moody and Parkhurst!

120 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
But I venture here, this deliberate prediction: Emanuels King dom will never float its standards, in complete triumph, over the lives of men until some of the glorious doctrines in behalf of com mon humanity, some of tiie warm-hearted democracy of Jesus Christ, finds a place in the laws of His professed disciples!
What was the remedy Jefferson proposed for the threatened evil? First. And most essential, to have no class legislation. Second. To have a system of taxation which -would exempt alto gether the small property, while it taxed the large fortune on a graduated scale, which was to make the tax increasingly heavy as the fortune grew increasingly large. These are his words: "Another means of silently lessening the inequalities of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise." The Atlanta Constitution quotes this paragraph approvingly in its editorial columns to support its demand for an income tax. The position is quite correct as far as it goes. It certainly does not go far enough. Mr. Jefferson was speaking of the excessive accumula tion of property and of taxing that excessive accumulation. His idea was that a man who had only a beggarly million should not pay as high a tax even in proportion as Jay Gould, but that as we went up the ladder the tax should be increasingly heavy for each million. The theory was to discourage excessive concentration a concen tration which can bring tio happiness to the individual who ac cumulates it, but which must do enormous harm to the mass of the people from which it is taken. In other words; he desired to create a means to prevent any one man from taking from the common stock so much more than his share so much more than his legitimate industry had earned or his legitimate needs required.
LISTEN TO THESE WOJU.DS.
"I am not one of those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom ; and,, to preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with a per petual debt. "We must make our selection between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If -we run into such debts as
our meat and in our drink, in our neces in our labors and amusements, for our th"e pe.o.p.l.e..o. f E.._n.g-lan-d a-r-e. . Our people,

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 121
JEFFERSON OPPOSES MONOPOLIES.
Writing from Paris to Mr. Madison, in 1787, Mr. Jefferson said that one of his chief objections to our present Constitution was that it did not more strongly provide for th restriction of monopolies.
The corporation is dangerous enough, heaven knows! But when you allow the resistless power of the corporation to unite itself to the evil spirit of monopoly, the issue of the foul cohabitation is tyranny of the most ruinous sort.
Take every one of these colossal estates which are today a menace to the republic, and you will see that monopoly created it. And. railroad monopoly has created more of them than all the other branches of business combined.
We have no farmer millionaires a fact that may be worth digesting at your leisure.
We have few merchant millionaires. We have scores of manufacturing millionaires. We have many among the national bankers. But it is in the corporate monopoly in its worst form, that we have individual fortunes climbing up into the hundreds of millions. Consider the half dozen men who have grown so fabulously rich from the Standard Oil monopoly a corporation which in its march to power has committed almost every crime known to the code! It has subsidized newspapers, corrupted the ballot box, bribed judges, used railroads as accomplices in felony, driven individual property owners to ueggary arid ruin. and today has its attorneys in the United States Senate to guard its interest. Go read the record of the methods by which Jay Gould, and Stanford and Huntingdon, and Vanderbilt, made their fortunes. This story is ever the same; monopoly. And in nine cases out of ten it is railroad monopoly. No nation ever allowed such magnificent robbery as we have per mitted to the railroad managers since the war. Of the public land which was paid for in the money of our tax payers and in the blood of our soldiers, corrupt legislators have given these corporations an empire of two hundred and twenty-four million acres, besides such aids in money as almost beggars surprise and stupefies indignation I Special privileges, worth millions of dollars, have been granted by servile legislatures at the insta.nce of well-paid lobbies. Exemp tions from taxation have been voted with cruel disregard of the rights of other property owners. Insolent in the strength of such wealth, such privileges and such consciousness of what it can do with our law makers, the railroad monopoly defies the Government, oppresses the laborer, plunders the shipper, destroys a market, ruins a city with discriminating

122 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
rates and utterly bankrupts the small business if paid to do so by the large one.
Not satisfied with their stupendous power as railroad monopolies, they are reaching out their octopus arms to take in other tributaries. They are partners now of the Standard Oil Trust; they are the controlling spirits in the Coal Combine; they are taking the mines and quarries and the timber supply. How on earth is the Government to deal witli corporations so much richer, so much stronger so much shrewder, so much greater than itself?
No law against them can pass the Senate for their tools have seats in the highest of legislative chambers. No Federal decision will ever be against them for they either keep the sons of the judges employed as their lawyers (as for instance the son of Judge Jackson, of Tennessee) or they secure the appointment of their attorneys to l"be bench as for instance Stanley Mathews, late of the Supreme Court. He was Jay Goulds lawyer.
But not only do they guard their interests in these directions, but they make terms with party managers, previous to elections, and it is upon these terms that the campaign boodle is supplied.
THE DREADFUL FUTURE. '"
Who does not shrink from a future dominated by such influences? What remedy shall we apply? The plain, simple treatment which was applied by our fathers to so many other agencies which were too dangerous, to be trusted to private individuals Nationalization! Let the government take charge of these highways of commerce and operate them for the benefit of all the people. In no other way under Gods skies will you do it! Either you must trust the Government to operate your railways, as it does your post office, or you must submit to the financial despotism of uncontrollable corporations. And what is true of the railroads is likewise true of those iniquit ous monopolies the express, telegraph and telephone service.
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.
To all reflective men, the railroads themselves are making our case for us.
C. P. Huntington and Jay Gould and all the other magnates have urged L"he benefits of consolidation. They say that all the vast railroad interests should be managed from one central point under one central authority.
Very well. We concede it. But the blindest citizen can see that if one corporation, controlled every one of the million men who serve the railroads, directed with the unity of consolidation every dollar

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of the nine billions at which they are capitalized, held every city, every town, every Individual industry at t"he mercy of their tremend ous power of discrimination, menaced every pound of cotton, every bale of hay, every bushel of grain, every barrel of pork, every foot of lumber, every piece of merchandise, with a centralized and inac cessible privilege to tax, through freight and passenger rates the blindest citizen, I say, would appreciate the startling truth that our Government would be a puny, helpless rival to such a colossal combination.
It would have a greater patronage than the Government, a greater income than the Government, and its mighty hand, unchecked by popular indignation, unsympathetic with the popular needs, would take its Wall Street greed for its impulse, its unlimited stretch of opportunity for its field, its Pinkerton mercenaries for its guards, and would loot this confluent, all its states, all its territories, all its trades, all its professions, all its cities, towns and hamlets, to the Vanderbilt motto of
"THE PEOPLE BE DAMNED!"
Not only have they made out our case for us on the point of consolidation, but also on the point of Government operation. They have fallen out among fhemselves, the gluttonous thieves, and scores of the roads have been thrown into the hands of the United States courts. The Government is running them.
They have asked the Federal couris to take the laborers by the neck and hold them to the engines. The courts have done so.
Very stupid is that citizen that will not conclude that* if consoli dation be a good thing, if Government management, when asked by the capitalists, be a good thing, if Government control of the trains, engines and laborers (when asked by the capitalists) be a good thing then Government management asked by the laborers, asked by the people, is equally as good a thing, and will forever settle this eternal strife between unscrupulous corporations and the subjects of their rapacity.

JEFFERSON OPPOSED STANDING ARMIES AND NAVIES IN
TIME OF PEACE.
One of those points upon which Mr, Jefferson most earnestly and constantly insisted was that a large military and naval establishment in time of peace would be subversive of our liberties. He never lost an opportunity to warn the people against it. He also opposed the creation of numerous offices and the extravagant expenditure of public moneys.
Let me ,quote from Thomas H. Bentons great work, "Thirty Years View:"

134 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
"The total number of men in the (naval) service in 1841 "was a little over eight thousand; the total cost about $6,000,000."
Mr. Benton protests against this naval establishment as altogether too large and too costly. He snows how it has been doubled since 1833, in direct opposition to Jeffersons views and the demand of the country.
The population of the country at the time Mr. Benton speaks of (1841) was fifteen million, five hundred thousand.
The naval establishment cost $8,000,000. To-day our population is sixty million; and tne navy costs us nearly $30,000,000, and they are building new battleships all the time. For twenty-five years we have had profound peace. The ocean. waters that we have around us and teeming millions of our popula tion make us absolutely secure against foreign attack. Especially as every European nation has its enemies at home, who would profit by such an opportunity as an invasion of this country would furnish? Then why this eternal building of battleships costing about $5,000000 each. ? Simply to get upon the same footing of class rule and class power which prevails in Europe, which our snobs, and codfish aristocrats are trying to copy and which they know can only be maintained by strong military equipment.
MODERN ECONOMY.
According to Mr. Benton, the current expenses of our Government during Jeffersons administration were about $3,500,000. The popu lation was then about six million. Tne cost of Government was, therefore, slightly less than sixty cents apiece.
"At" the end of Monroes administration," says Mr, Benton, "the expenses had risen to $7,000,000."
This was in 1825. The population was about eleven million. The cost of Government to the people was, therefore, less than seventy cents each.
"In the last year of Van Burens administration," says Mr. Benton, "they had risen to about $13,000,000."
This was in 1S41. The population was about seventeen million, five hundred thousand. The cost of the Government was, therefore, about seventy-five cents per head.
To-day, the regular annual expenses of carrying on the Govern mental machinery is $400,000,000!
The population being sixty million, the cost of Government is now nearly seven dollars apiece.
More than ten times in excess of the Jefferson standard, fixed by Jefferson himself.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 125
Eliminate pensions altogether, and our expenses are still five times, greater than the Jefferson standard, even after allowing for the? increase of population!
INTERNAL. IMPROVEMENTS NOT DEMOCRATIC.
Jefferson and all the early fathers of Democracy opposed InternalImprovements; and denied the constitutionality of the system.
I may remark, in passing, Senator Toombs, of Georgia, always, opposed river and harbor grabs, and I think Mr. Stephens did also.
In 1871, the River and Harbor Bill carried $3,445,900. By 1873 it had reached $5,688,000. By 1879 it had jumped to $8,000,500. In 1882 it snatched $11,451,300. In 1883 it climbed to $18,738,000. By 1886 it had reached the alarming size of $22,000,000. And in 1891 this publican sat in the House of Representatives and saw the enthusiastic disciples of Thomas Jefferson take nearly fifty million (directly and Indirectly) and dump it into the greedy maws of contractors and shipping companies to carry out the Internal, Improvement system which Jefferson abhorred and condemned!
THE LETTER TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.
At the beginning of this address I quoted Jeffersons inaugural,, which is usually referred to as embracing his theories of government.
Pardon me for saying that this letter to Elbridge Gerry seems to be even more clear, more explicit, and more admirable.
"I am for preserving to the States the powers not yielded by them to the Union. ... I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple; applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the public debt; and not for a multiplication of officers and salaries, merely to make partisans, and for increasing by every device the public debt. ... I am relying, for internal defense,, on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such naval forceonly, as may protect our coasts and harbors from such depredations as we have experienced; and not for a standing army in time of peace, which may overawe public sentiment; nor for a navy which by its expense and the eternal wars in which it will Implicate us, will grind us with public burdens, and sink us under them.
"I am for free commerce with all nations; political connections with none; and little or no diplomatic establishment. I am for free dom "of the press, . . . and I am for encouraging the progress or science in all its branches."
These were his matured views in 1799. "A Government rigorously frugal and simple," not one which would give nearly $5,000,000 to a greedy Chicago corporation; spend nearly

126 LIFE AND SPECBES OF TI1OS. E. WATSON.
$5,000,000 upon rivers and harbors; or donate $8,000,000 annually as a bounty to the millionaire sugar planters.
"I am for applying all possible savings to the payment of the public debt;" not for hunting new avenues of waste, so that the public debt may last forever, and be a perpetual blessing to the favored classes, while it curses the tax payers!
"I am not for the increase of officers, and salaries, that partisans may be made for the party," hence he would be lost in wonder if he could see the army of useless officials who now crowd every depart ment of the service.
"I am for relying solely upon the militia until actual invasion," hence he would have doubted his ears, had he been present in the last House, when a committee of enthusiastic Jefferson scholars brought in a bill to nationalize all the volunteer troops, put them under national direction, and thus raise, indirectly, an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, fashioned upon the model of the German Landwehr.
Who defeated that well laid scheme? A publican; a sinner; a Populist. "I am for such naval force only, as will guard our coasts and forts. Not for a navy which, by the expense and the eternal wars in which it will implicate us, will grind us with public burdens, and sink us under them." Oh, that the fervid apostles of Jeffersoniamsm who are now run ning this Government would ponder these precepts; would cease to build battleships and gunboats at enormous cost in order that our navy may compare proudly with Queen Victorias or the Emperor Williams!
And would never again spend $100,000 on a mere naval display, to show how fast we are drifting to imperialism.
"I am for free commerce with all nations!" Read that, ye ardent enemies of the McKinley Bill! Read it slowly and distinctly, and then tell us why a tariff passed under Harrison is a withering curse; while a tariff passed under Cleveland will be a sumptuous and overflowing blessing. Tell us why a tariff of forty-odd per cent is not as vicious in princi ple as one of fifty-odd per cent. "I am for little or no diplomatic establishment." So speaks the teacher. How do the scholars talk? "Give us Ambassadors; give us Ministers Plenipotentiary, give us Consulates give us all the fat places Queen Victoria gives her pets. It will be an eternal shame to the American taxpayer, if we dont spend as much of Ms money abroad, idling, feasting, and parading at foreign capitals, as is spent by the useless flunkys, titled deadbeats and aristocratic loafers, who wear the gaudy circus-ring uni form of the Diplomatic Corps of the kings and emperors."

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 127
For mark ye, my masters! When you once set the dollar mark, as the stamp of worth, you must obey the logic of the rule you make.
In an age where riches outweigh character, the dress and style of living will decide the status of the man. The uniform becomes more .important than the wearer; the hat more influential than the head It covers.
It is upon this line of reasoning, that the Scholars of Jefferson have adopted the diplomatic system of Europe, and with their ambassadors, royal receptions, and brilliant display of foreign courts, will prove their veneration for Jeffersons creed by trampling it under their feet.
GO BACK TO THE OLD LANDMARKS.
Thus, fellow citizens, I have endeavored to outline the principles of the great friend of popular government, Thomas Jefferson.
On this day it is always appropriate to do so. At this stage in the history of our Government, it seems peculiarly important to do so. For it does seem to me that the old landmarks of government of the people are being covered by new doctrines and newer practices. Surely no man wants a moneyed aristocracy established in the land no class tyranny, no corporation rule. "Resist the beginnings" is the precept of profound wisdom, and at no time did it ever deserve more attention. "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolved, and the people recovering their true eight, restoring their government to its true principles!" So wrote Jefferson in 1780 when he was gathering all his strength, to rally the people against the Federalist forces of Hamilton. " A little patience and the witches of the night shall pass away!" "We thank th.ee, O! spirit of the dead, for the prophecy and its fulfillment.
For Jefferson was patient, endured the storm of hatred and the tempest of passion, trod the fiery furnace of pitiless persecution, marshaled the hosts of the plain common people and led them in serried array against the would-be aristocrats, the pampered classes, the fatteners upon special privilege!
And when the morning of the nineteenth century approached, as the year 1800 came rolling up, the sunlight was upon it: the foul witches of the night had passed and victory lit with its golden splen dor the advancing spears of triumphant Democracy!
Then followed the sweeping away of parts of Hamiltons system: internal revenue abolished, army and navy cut down, officers dimin ished, expenditures retrenched, and the way blazed out by which stern old Andrew Jackson, who had taken the farmers and their squirrel rifles and destroyed the veterans at New Orleans, should

128 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
organize those same farmers and lead them to the utter route of a still deadlier foe the national banks.
They refused to hear Jefferson on the slavery question and another war came.
Then once more the classes laid their plans. Once more the old game was played of buying up paper money and funding it into bonds; of destroying the currency of the Government to make way for the money of the bankers; for establishing national banks to enjoy special favors, to exercise tyranny over business, to coin fortunes at the expense of the public, to corrupt elections and dictate politics.
Jefferson and his immediate followers destroyed the national banks once. Jackson destroyed them next.
Now they are here again vultures that have followed upon, the track of war, sweeping down upon the fields made desolate by con flict to feast and fatten upon the disasters of the fatherland!
"Who shall drive us from this body of death? Who shall drive away the trooping hordes of Federalism, of class legislation which once more have seized our citadel and are rioting upon our substance? The patriot citizen is bowed with grief, filled with alarm and doubtful of the future. "A little patience, and the witches of the night shall pass away .and the people will turn once more to the true principles of their government." God grant it! This publican yields to no man in his love for the republic; in his veneration for the creed of its founders; in his confidence that no class rule will blight forever the prospects of popular government. I believe in the Jefferson creed with all my heart and think that all the aims of good government can be covered by that one sentence
EQUAL AND EXACT JUSTICE TO ALL MEN.
To the rich and to the poor; to the farmer and the merchant; to the banker and the miner; to the scholar and the ditcher. And I emphasize here what I have been so misrepresented and blamed for saying before, that this republic will never reach its true grandeur as long as a dead line is drawn between one section and ^another, one color and another.
I yield to no man in my pride of race. I believe the Anglo-Saxon is stronger in the glorious strength of conception and achievement than any race of created men; but from my very pride of race springs my intense scorn of that phantasm manufactured by the political bosses and called "negro domination!"
Socially I want no mixing of races. It is best that both should preserve the race integrity by staying apart. But when it comes to

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 129
matters of law and justice, 1 despise the Anglo-Saxon .who is such an infernal coward as to deny legal rights .to any man on account. of his color for fear of "negro domination.*/
"Dominate" -what? "Dominate" how? "Dominate" whom? It takes intellect to dominate. Havent we got it? It takes majorities to dominate. Havent we got them? It takes wealth to dominate. Havent we got it? It takes social, financial, legislative, military, naval, ecclesiastical and educational establishments to dominate. Havent we got them? For a thousand years the whites, the Anglo-Saxons, have had all these advantages. Armed with the garnered wealth of ten centuries, equipped with all the mental advantages of school system, hoary with ages, holding all the land, all the avenues of commerce, all the sources of political power, outnumbering the blacks eight to one, and continually gaining on them, what words can paint the cow ardice of the Anglo-Saxon who "would deny "equal and exact justice" to the ignorant, helpless, poverty-cursed negro in whose ears the clank of chains have scarcely ceased to sound upon the ground that he feared? "Negro domination." Away with such contemptible timidity counsel. For twenty-five years the Eastern Democracy has whipped South ern and Western Democracy into repulsive positions by the threat of helping Republicans "put the negro over us!" In the name of common sense, let us throw off this yoke and be men. No power on earth will ever decree the power of God! For these convictions I have battled and have suffered. In their behalf I am ready to battle and suffer again. I have an abiding faith In the triumph of reason, of truth, and they will not fail to come when the people of Georgia will appreci ate my motives, and do justice to my work. My enemies have pursued me with a bitterness which made no allowance for honesty of conviction, and which has sought in every way to make life unendurable. They have given me many a bitter hour because of the diffiaulties they threw in my way, and of op ponents they arrayed aginst me even among those I was trying to serve. All this they have done, and they are proud of it! But one thing they have not done nor will they do it! They have not planted one doubt in my soul, one fear in my heart,. nor one recreant word upon my lips! With whatever strength it pleases God to give me, the future shall find me where the past has put me, in the vanguard of those who love Jeffersons creed, and who denounce those that surrender it. The T^ork that I did, somebody had to do. The abuse I took,.

130 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
somebody had to incur. The losses I have sustained, somebody had to dare.
I did the work, took the abuse, risked the loss; and I am proud of it!
Proud of my record, proud of my principles, proud of my friends! Four years ago the plain people took me up and bade me carry their cause to the front, and plant their banner where the fight was heaviest. As sacredly as man ever achieved a task, I tried to perform mine. At that time, the cause was ascendant and all men could see its merits. To-day it struggles for existence, and some of the very mea it pushed into power can see no good to come out of that Nazareth. Comrades! Here is one man who honors you to-day more highly than in the hours of your greater prosperity, and who will share to the last whatever fortune comes to you. Right is everlastingly right. "Wrong Is eternally wrong. No shifting of electoral success can alter a principle, and that man who flies the field and abandons the cause at the approach of danger and at the discouragement of defeat, is at heart a pitiful coward or an infamous rengade! To-day Jeffersons day let us pledge ourselves anew to the holy mission of bringing back the Government to the old landmarks. Lie us go hence with new fires of purpose blazing in our hearts! Let our hopes, our labors all be consecrated to the "work for better government and juster laws.
And the prayer of this publican is for a new era in the affairs of the Republic; a reign of the best men and the best laws to the end that the land may be blessed; that industry may prosper in all her fields, commerce in all her marts; that honesty may be cherished in all her rulers, justice in all her courts, equity in all her statutes, purity in all her temples and happiness dwell in all her homes.

Speech of Hon. Thos, E. Watson
Delivered at Degive's Opera House, Atlanta, g.f*., May 19, 1SO4.
S Mr, "Watson rose from Ms seat and advanced to the front of the stage, lie was greeted by loud and prolonged applause. When it had subsided, he spoke as follows: Fellow Citizens: I congratulate you upon the fact that an
gry passions of 1892 have subsided; the prejudice is dying away, and that throughout all the ranks of Georgia life, there is an inclination to exchange ideas; to listen to argument,- to hear facts to the grand end that we may have better Government. [Applause. J
I d not for one moment question your sincerity or your honesty. I sometimes find it very difficult to drum up much respect for young judgment. [Applause.] You ought not doubt our sincerity or our honesty, and the question as to whether you will admire our judgment, depends upon the candor with which you will listen, and the frankness with which you will enter into deliberation on the subject, [Applause and cries of "Thats so."]
I have an abiding faith that if you are right I am going to go down; but that if I am right you. are going to go down. [Ap plause.] And if you are right I want to go down- [Continued ap plause.] If I am right, you ought to want to know it. If I am wrong I want to know it; convince me of it, and I will shed these principles in a moment. [Applause and cries of "Thats the way to talk."] I yield to no man in my love for the commonwealth. I yield to no man in my admiration for our institutions. 1 yield to no man in my pride of race; but I believe that no question can be settled unless we take God into it. [Applause,] I believe that no question can be permanently settled until it is settled right. [Applause and cries of "Good, good."] Build your house upon the sands and it is at the mercy of the storm. Build it upon the eternal rocks and it will be there when Gabriel blows his liorn. [Great applause and cries of "Hurrah for Watson."]
The pathway of the reformer has never been a pathway of flowers. [Cries of "Right.] Ever and always it has been a rocky road; ever and always the crown of the reformer has been a crown of thorns; ever anJ always his feelings were outraged, his motives misconstrued! his life endangered, his peace disturbed; and nothing but the courage of right ever has maintained a reformer in making a battle against wrong. [Continued appause.]
I speak to-night in the capitoI city of my State; speaking to elegant, refined and educated ladies, speaking to elegant, cultivated gentlemen; speaking to representatives of the best blood, the best brain, the beat character that the State of Georgia affords, and I call
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132 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TffOS. E. WATSON.
them to witness that the rigat which they enjoy to-night civil liberty, religious liberty, political liberty, each of them has been sustained with the blood of the men -who died to give them to us. [Applause.]
It has not been 5o very long ago since it was a capital crime even to shoot "My Lords birds." It was not so long ago since it cost your life to shoot "the Dukes rabbits." It was not so long ago -since it was a crime to go about soliciting for the hungry stomach, by begging bread. It has not been so long ago since a man in prison might be tried by his peers and found not guilty and yet could not leave those prison walls until he had settled with the jailer for the food he had eaten and for the straw on which he slept and had moistened with his tears.
History tel!s us that many a poor prisoner lingered in the jails of England year after year held for the jail fees although they had been acquitted of the charges brought against inem.
How were those devils stricken from our social, political and legal system ? By the efforts of brave men who did just what you are gathered here to do to erect the standards of right and to battle under them until the -wrong goes down beneath your feet. fApplause loud and long.]
Seen through the stained glasses of party hate, we have appeared to you to be wild men, with horns on our heads and hoofs on our feet; enemies to prosperity, enemies to private property; people who paid no attention to principle and vested rights. To-night if my strength and your patience should permit I intend that the city of Atlanta, so far as this audience can testify shall hereafter hold us in higher respect because it understands us better. [Applause.]
What is our creed? What are our principles? We believe in the coinage of the Constitution the free and un limited coinage of gold; the free and unlimited coinage of silver, and the supplementing of that volume of currency by the issuance of treasury notes whenever the necessity of business requires. That is the theory of Thomas Jefferson, who never did dream that his entire doctrine should be stamped under the feet of those who de stroyed his ideas while they pretended to worship his memory. [Applause.] We believe that the malting of money is the national, sovereign right. No citizen can make it, no corporation can make it, but that the Government ought to mak e it and not farm out that privilege to any individual or any corporation. [Cries of "Right, right."] We believe that the faxes should be placed where accumulated wealth will bear them, and that they should not be put upon a mans oat, a mans coat, a mans shoes. In other words, that the taxes should be laid upon accumulated wealth and not upon aggravated necessities; that the burden should be placed according to the

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 133
ability of the citizen to pay; tliat a man ought to toe taxed on what he has and not upon what he needs. [Applause.]
We believe, with Thomas Jefferson, that the accumulation of prop erty beyond reasonable limit is a danger to the citizen and to the State. The possession of one hundred million dollars never made a man happier, never made him a better husband, never made him a better father; it never made him a better citizen, and never made him a better Christian; but it makes him a danger to society. Accu mulation of wealth should be discouraged by putting upon it what is called a graduated income tax, a progressive income tax which means what? Start at any arbitrary limit you like. Say start; at a net income of four thousand dollars per year and then as you go up make your tax heavier. Tax the man with the net income on one hund* ,d thousand dollars heavier than you would tax the man -with an income of ten thousand dollars; tax the man who has an income of a quarter of a million dollars more heavily than you would tax the man with an income of one hundred thousand dollars. When you get a man like Rockefeller, or Andrew Carnegie, or George Gould, or the Astors or the Vanderbilts when you get to these men, with net incomes of a million dollars a year, come down on them heavier, and try to save their souls as well as save the republic. [Loud and Continued applause.]
Before discussing the currency question, I wish briefly to discuss what is called the wildest plank in our platform. I would like to save the respect of every honorable citizen in the State of Georgia. 1 would lifee to have the good will of every man whose good will can be purchased upon honorable grounds. But I say here and now t*hat I sacrifice no principle to gain any votes or to gain any mans good will. [Applause and cheers.] They say that our railroad plank ia wila and visionary; that to buy up all the railroads "would bankrupt the country and the Government ought not take posession of all the corporate and railroad property.
Let us discuss this for a moment, and when we have put our minds to it fairly and squarely you may go away from here thinking I am still wrong, but you will doubt if a little more than you ever did before. Facts are facts. Arguments are arguments, and the man who brings the strongest facts and the best arguments will, in the end, prevail. You may put us down to-day by triggering with the ballot box. [Applause.] You may put us down to-morrow by keeping our views away from the people, but sooner or later the sunlight of truth is going to break through all these temporary obstructions, and the people are going to understand these questions, and when they do they are going to be Populists from the mountains to the sea. [Applause and cries of "Thats right."]
You tell me this is a new doctrine. I say to you, no. It is an old doctrine new to you because you have been Rip Van "Winkling a little too much. Was there ever a nation that didnt own its national
J

134 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
highways? Was there ever a civilization, ancient or modern, that was not dedicated to the proposition that the highways must belong, to the king; that the highways must belong to the people; that it was too dangerous to give them to any individual or any corporation? In the days when our ancestors established these institutions, thepublic highways belonged to the people. The iron highway had not then superseded the dirt highway, but to show you that the iron highway should belong to the Government, let me call your attention to the fact that they said that navigable rivers, lakes and bays, seas and gulfs should never belong to private citizens, to corporations or even to the State. Tell me, my friendly Democratic editor explain it to your people to-morrow Why did George Washington, Benjamine Franklin, and the balance of the great statesmen who framed the Constitution say that the Savannah River, the Chattahoochee River, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River should always belong to the people and never to the corporation? [Applause. ~\ Crack thatnut if you can, [Applause. J Put that in your editorial pipe and smoke it. [Great applause.]
Why did they say the Savannah River should never belong to anybody but the people? Because it was the peoples highway. And yet in the evolution of commerce the Central Railroad is manifestly more important as the peoples highway than the Savannah Rivercould be. There is not a Democrat or a Republican here who would vote to turn over the dirt roads of Fulton County to any corporation or any individual whomsoever. Why? It would interfere with the freedom of travel and commerce. Why wont the same argument" apply to the iron highway? YOU say there is no way to get the railroads. I answer you, we can get the railroads back just as the railroads got from us the lands and the money with which to build. By the law of eminent domain they have a right to pass through your fields, through your pastures, through your lots, through your cemeteries. They can condemn any piece of property whatsoever SO they take it for the public good. "What they take from the public the public can take back. The law for one is law for the other. [Prolonged applause.]
You ask me, how would I get them? Get them honestly. I would steal no mans property and I want no man to steal mine unless he will steal my debts with it. [Applause.] Le us take these railroads under a fair system of assessment under the law of eminent domain, and pay for them fairly and squarely either by the issuance of treasury notes in whole or in part. That is a matfer of detail. What I say is, I do not advocate injustice to the rich man nor the poor man. I would despise myself if I made war merely upon the man that is rich. In the race of life you have the right to accumulate property if you can. It is not only your right but your duty to do it. Your wife, your child is looking to you.

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON. 135
for protection and support, and I make no "war upon the man who is doing it. It is only the man -who by class laws, by special ex emptions, that has got some advantage at the expense of his neigh bor that I make war upon, and then it is more upon the system than upon the person that I make the attack. How -would it hurt the railroad companies for the Government to take their property and pay them for it?
You tell me that with the railroads once in politics you would never get hem out. Where are they now? [Laughter and applause.] Tell me the railroads are not in politics! "Where is the man that does not know they bribe legislatures? Where is the man that does not kp^.w that they bribe Congress? Where is the man that does not kno*. that they bribe judges? Jay Gould gave the whole thing away when he said before a New York Legislative Committee, that he did take an Interest in politics, that in a Republican District he was a Republican, and in a doubtful district, he was doubtful, but always and everywhere he was the Erie Railroad. Talk to me about the railroads not being in politics. How was it the Pacific Railroad got one hundred and twenty-five million acres of your land? One railroad, one hundred and twenty-five million acres. Enough to make two states like Georgia and to cram in around the edges two more like Rhode Island and Deleware. Yes, more than that. They gave them $60,000,000 in Government bonds. They have paid for the railroads a,s interest on these bonds $69,000,000. Now the debt is something like $130,000,000, and the question of settlement comes before this administration.
Mr. Richard Olney, a railroad attorney and a member of the cabinet of this Democratic administration [applause and cries of "Thats It"] proposes to lend that money again to those railroade -at two per cent interest for one hundred years. Would to God that we were all railroads and could settle our debts that way. [Laughter ^nd applause.]
You say the Government cant run the railways, yet the Gov ernment is running about three-fifths of them to-night. The Govern ment is running some of the Georgia railways. The Government is running the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe; the Government la running the Pacific railways. But you say the Government is not doing it well. I grant it, but the government could run them T>etter if the Federal judges and receivers who are running these railroads were not actually the paid agents of the corporations. {Applause and cries of "Give it to them."]
- Who ever heard of a strike among post office employees? [Laugh ter and applause.] Who ever heard of the post office in Atlanta being run with a view to discriminate against the post office in Macon? Who is it that does not see that if you put the railroad

136 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
service right -where the post office service is you will get the same re
sults?
No mans business will be destroyed in the interest of another
because the motive to do so will be gone.
Tou take out the motive for the strike and the strike ceases. Take out the motive for discrimination and discrimination ceases. Who ever heard of a trust or combine whether in oil or coal or sugar that didnt depend on the railroads to carry it out? [Cries of "Now you are getting there," and laughter.] Put the railroads in the hands of the Government and the bottom is knocked from under your trust. [Cries of "Thats right."] You say that is all talk; the talk of a -wild man. [Voice from the audience, "Wish we had some more such wild ones." Laughter, applause and amens.] If there is a statesman who has the respect of the entire English-speaking world I may go further, has the respect of the civilized world rthat man is William E. Gladstone, of England. Upon his gray head has been placed the wreath of the worlds praise and approval. Do you know he stood just where I stand upon this question? No, you dont because your newspapers wont tell it to you. [Applause.] Mr. Gladstone, when a member of Sir Robert Peels cabinet, introduced a bill that the Government should buy the English railways. That bill became a law and it is now the law, but it has never been acted upon because railroad influence has been enabled to do as much in England as it has been able to do in America keep back the hands on the clock of civilization. Let us compare them. I will take the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then I will take the Indian Empire. Why, gentlemen, the German Empire is to-day the mightiest civilized force, military, civil, educational, commercial, that this world ever saw. What have they got there?
The Government owns the railways, and what is the result? In the United States the average fare per mile is more than two cents; in Germany just a fraction above one cent per mile; in Austro-Hungary just a fraction above one cent per mile; in India just one-half cent per mile. In America they kill or wound one passenger out of every one hundred and eighty-one thousand carried. In Germany they carry fifteen hundred thousand before they kill or wound a single passenger. In Austro-Hungary they carry one million, two hundred thousand before they wound or kill a single one. In India they carry nearly three hundred thousand before they kill or wound a single one. In the United States, out of every thirty employees, one is killed or wounded every year; in Germany one out of one hundred and thirty-eight, in Austro-Hungary one out of every two hundred and twenty-seven; in India one out of every three hundred and twenty-three.
I remember when this unworthy citizen was a member of Con gress, and the bill was introduced to compel the railroads to pro-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 137
tect the lives of the brakemen and of other employees by putting on automatic car couplers.
I recollect that previous to the election, the House passed the bill without a dissenting voice; the Senate passed the bill with some amendments which maae it more favorable to the railroads- Then came the election and a trusting country threw itself into the arms of the Democracy, and the Senate bill came back to the House and it was almost impossible to find the Democrats who had voted for it. Stahlman was there. The lobby was there. The Louisville & Nashville with their paid agrents were there. They took up their quarters in one of the committee rooms; they worked night and day; they appeared to work the barroom for all it was worth. [Cries of "Shame."]
I remember a eold winter night when that question hung be tween life and death; when its enemies seemed to toe defiant and sure of victory and its friends faint hearted and discouraged, and I shall always be proud that whatever force of enthusiasm I have got In my nature I put on the side of arousing the friends of the bill, and we rallied our lines and whipped the railroads, lock, stock, and barrel. [Applause.]
In Germany they save lives because they take care of their em ployees; not only that, in this country the railroads fight the unions. The corporations fight the labor societies and there is war all along the line. In Germany, that motive being taken out, the Govern ment encourages the societies, and those societies annually pay $3,600,000 to the helpless men, -women and children engaged in the Government railway service- But enough of that. The subject grows a little, doesnt it? [Laughter and applause.] It doesnt look so wild after all, does it? [Laughter.] "Who is there that does not know that under our present system one town is built up at the expense of another? Who is there that does not know that one business is destroyed in the interest of another? Who does not know that the big shipper enjoys advantages which the little ship per cant get? Who does not know that the policy of railroad man agement is to favor the big men and put the burden on the little one; to compete in the big cities and to monopolize at the -way station ?
In Germany, when the Emperor travels he pays his way like a gentleman. The Government railroad permit? no deadheadism. In this State we recently had the shameful spectacle of a train held up while a United States Senator was begging for the tramps privil ege of a ride without pay. [Applause and cries of "Gordon."] I make no war upon railroad capital, or railroad president or railroad operators. I say this: the system is wrong, and commerce free and unrestricted demands that the proper solution should be applied; when that is done it will help every class, every section. All per-
10 1 s

138 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. K. WATSON.
sons, every man, woman and child, colored or white has a legal right to be protected. [Applause and cries of "Hurrah for Tom Watson."]
If you had Government ownership what -would you do? You would save millions of dollars spent in lobbying expenses; millions of dollars spent in fancy salaries of presidents and officials who do no work; you would stop the palace car extravagance; you would stop the free pass evil; you would stop the "watered stock" swind ling; and you would stop this eternal warfare bet-ween the corpora tions and its laborers. This Is what they say Is the wildest plank In the platform. I say It tallies -with the principle of the public highway; with the public river, with the belief and the principles and the system of the principal European statesmen, and I tonight beg you to remember what old Bob Toombs said in his last years: "The time has come," said he, "when the question has got to be settled whether the Government will own the railroads or the rail roads own the Government." I am glad to believe that the Gov ernment is the biggest man around the house, and that the result will be that he owns the roads.
Now let us talk a little about finance. I believe we are sub stantially agreed with the Democrats if yon turn back about one or two years. I do not pretend to say where tney are to-night because I have been busy all day and have not read the papers. [Great applause.]
The thing that bothers me now is, where to hit a Democrat. I would rather try to draw a rifle bead on a didapper [great applause] or to catch a humming bird with a Texas cowboys lasso.
What was our currency law; what had it been; what law had our forefathers placed upon the statute books? They said, let us have gold coin; let us have silver coin; and then let us have i^reasury notes whenever business requires it.
Money is made by the Government; it does not grow on trees; it does not grow in the ground and is not made by the Allwise Father. Many a man seems to think that God Almighty made money. With all due reverence, I say He no more made money than He made tenpenny nails, no more makes money than He makes four by six scantling; no more makes money than He makes brogan shoes. Nature supplies the materials, but the Government breathes into the materials the breath, of financial life and says: "This is a dollar," and she goes wherever the flag floats and as long as the Government lives. [Great applause and cries of "Thats right!"] You tell me the gold dollar is worth a dollar. How do you know? Take the stamp of the Government off of it, and what is it -worth? Take your gold -watch; how much money is it worth as a debt-pay ing commodity ? Take your gold cup, your gold breastpin who wants it as money? It may have the size and the weight of a gold

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THO8. E. WATSON. 139
dollar, but tlie man to whom, you owe a debt wants the dollar and does not want the breastpin. You take the gold dollar and put it under the wheel of an engine and let it be driven into the shape of a mere leaf of gold, and where Is the thing you call a dollar? Throw it into the pot and melt it; you take it out; the game weight of gold is there; the same amount is in it: the image on it is gone; the life which the Government breathed into it is gone, and you have got a commodity which you have got to bargain about as you would any other commodity, but you have not got a legal tender dollar which walks the royal highway of the law and kills every debt which it attacks. You tell me you despise a silver dollar be cause it has only got fifty-eight cents worth of silver in it. You may despise it, but do you despise it enough not to taKe it? Mr. Merchant, do you close your doors because you have got too many of them? Mr. Farmer, have you let the dog-fennel and black-jacks and old field pines take your farm because you have got too many silver dollars? Has a single factory closed and thrown its laborers into the streets because it had so many silver dollars that the fac tory hands wouldnt take them? Have the colored people left the farm because they got sick of getting so much silver money? [Cries of "No, not" from the audience.] Grover Cleveland says they did; virtually says so. He and Mr. Carlisle say you have got more money than you use, and Mr. Carlisle wants to make his bonds small enough for all these colored people to buy with the money they have no use for. Think of the sarcasm of it; think of the injustice of it! think of the cruelty of it! Think of the financial veins, shriveled and shrinking, because not filled with the life-giving thing we call money; o Ms telling these people that they have got too much money, and, therefore, they will close the mints to the coin age of money.
I say down with anarchists; down with the anarchists [applause], but down with the big one as well as the little one. [Great ap plause.] The anarchist who hates me because I live in a pleasant home, and would take a bomb and tear my roof-tree to pieces, throw my wife and children homeless on the mercies of the world, is a wicked man whom society must crush, but the ruler of sixty mil lions of people who violates the law he has sworn to carry out, and thus brings terror and dismay, wreckage and ruin through every city, town, village, hamlet and farm in all the broad confines of the republic, is an anarchist more deadly and dangerous than the wretched bomb-thrower who wrecks my house. [Loud and pro longed applause.]
I say that our President, our chief magistrate, has violated the law of the land: First, he violated the law by giving to Wall Street the option to take silver or gold when tbe law said that that option belonged to the Government and ought to be exercised in the inter-

140 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E, WATSON.
ests of the people. Second, he violated the law by stopping the pur chase of silver under the Sherman law before it was repealed, when the law said he should continue to purchase. Third, he violated the law by refusing to coin silver and put it in circulation, so that the people could get money to do business with, when the law said he should coin that silver. I say, fourth, he violated the law by issuing bonds when the only law which authorized bonds said the money derived from the issue of bonds should be used to retire greenbacks, and a subsequent law had said that the retirement of greenbacks should stop.
That is the accusation, that is the indictment. I prove it "by the public records, and I ask you, How can you defend this anarchist before God and man and before the people? [Great applause.]
I say this, the people need more money to transact business with, and tnat instead of increasing the volume of money as population increases and as business increases, Mr. Cleveland has aided those who wanted to establish a money trust and thus "bull" the price of money and "bear" the price of commodities. Now let me prove it. When the Democratic administration went into office, they said the prices would jump up, up, until we would hurt our necks in looking up to follow the rise of prices, but instead of going up as they said they would, they have gone down, until now we have got to break our backs looking down to see where they have gone to. Why? Because of the money trust. You are familiar with the jute bag ging trust, with the oil trust, with the sugar trust, with coffee trusts, witli flour trusts, and you know that when a trust is formed of all, or a controlling portion, of that particular commodity, the price goes up and it takes more money to buy more of that commo dity. How do you break that trust? It never is broken until the trust goes as far as it thinks it safely can, or a new crop of wheat comes on, breaking tlie flour trust; or a new crop of cotton breaking the cotton trust; or a new crop of coffee breaking the coffee trust; and thus new supplies break tlie corner and open the market. They have made a money trust. How? By shutting off the supply of gold, there being no material increase of gold money, after you allow for that used in the arts and sciences. They have shut off the in creased supply of silver money, and also the increased supply of paper money and now Wall Street lias made a money trust, and it will never be broken until the Government puts in new supplies of money! As long as that trust exists prices are bound, to go down; wreckage and misery are bound to come. Why? People are in creasing; commodities are increasing. Th^ amount of money being cornered, that in circulation getting relatively less, cotton has to take less because there is less to take; wheat has to take less be cause there is less to take; labor has to take less because there is less for it to get. The price of money goes up and up and the pros-

LIFE AND Sr&'&CflES OF Til OS. K. WATSON. 141
perity of the people goes down and down. [Cries of "True, true. Thats it."]
You tell me that is all right; that is true, but now what is your remedy? You say, I agree -with you about all that, but let us Democrats of the South and West get together. That is what the Democratic bosses tell us. Where are the Democrats of the West for you to get together with? What Western State can you Demo crats count on? Is it Kansas? No. Is it Nevada? No. Is it California? No. Is it Iowa? No. Is it Montana? No. Then where is it? Where is your Western State for Georgia to unite with? Give me the name. [A voice in the audience: "Alabama and Texas. "J
You tell me the interests of the East and the North are naturally the same and they will go together. I say so too. They are manu facturing sections; they are commercial sections; they are capitalis tic sections, pure and simple; therefore they stand for those ex treme ideas and they stand together. You used to think that a Northern Democrat "was 5ust like you, but that aint so. [Laughter.] You used to think that an Eastern Democrat was a Siamese twin linked to you, but you know now it aint so. You know now if you never did before that an Eastern Democrat is as much like an Eastern Republican as a buzzard is like a turkey buzzerd. [Loud and prolonged applause.] You were a little slow about finding it out but you got there at last. [Laughter.]
You know that the North and East are against you because theirs ia a commercial section and yours is agricultural.
Your prosperity is linked to ours; your store has its foundation on my farm. Our little homes in the country are the mountain streams that feed the rivers of Atlantas prosperity. [Applause and cries of "You are right,"]
Woe to that man who sows seeds of discord between you and us. I need your help for my farm, and you need the products of my farm to prosper your store. Tell me, Mr. Merchant, if you destroy the prosperity of my farm where will you get your customers? Therefore, the South, Toeing agricultural, its cities have the same interests as its farms, and the West, being agricultural, has the same interests as the South.
In your electoral college you have four hundred and forty-four votes; necessary to a choice for the election of President, two hun dred and twenty-three votes. Of that amount the South furnishes one hundred and fifty-six votes. Therefore, the South furnishes over sixty per cent of the majority that names your President. But what? Can you write a line in your platform? No. Why? In your National conventions, the South is in a hopeless minority. Does Maine go Democratic? No. Does Vermont? No. Does Con necticut? No- Does Massachusetts? No. But when it comes to

142 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON.
making your platform they nave their full vote just like Georiga, which is always Democratic, owing to circumstances which I need not pause to explain. [Laughter.] Therefore what? When it comes to making: the platform the South is powerless; the North and East dictate the platform, but after the platform is made and the nominees have been dictated to you, the South has to come up with her one hundred and fifty-six votes, and furnish more than half of the number which elects the President. You cultivate the crop with hard work and the North and East does all the reaping. That is the fact; just chew it up gradually. [Laughter.]
You tell me that the West and South ought to act together. 1 say so too. But the West is Republican and the South Democratic, upon old party lines. Would you ever join, the Republican party? No. Would they ever join the Democratic party? No. Why? The same reasons that keep you from ever being a Republican will Seep the Western Republican from ever being a Democrat. Therefore, what? You have got to found a new party which neither has been educated to hate; which neither does hate; a new party which, both helped to form and to dedicate to the grand old Jeffersonian doc trine of equal and exact justice to all men and special privileges to none. [Applause.]
Now, friends, being greatly exhausted with the fatigues of the day, and with this address delivered this hot evening, I shall thank you for your patient attention and conclude. I ask you to consider patriotically what I have unselfishly said, and with the best wishes for yourselves anv* for the Peoples party, I bid you good night. LApplause and cheers.]

Meeting at the Tabernacle Calls Out Thousands to Hear the Populist Candidate for Vice-president
GIVES HIS VIEWS ON TIMELY POLITICS.
August, 1896.
|HE delegates to the St. Louis Convention met the Demo crats half "way, and now we ask the Democrats of Georgia to meet us half way." "We must cut loose from Eastern and Northern connec
tions and allign ourselves with the great West." "After the Chicago Convention the great leaders winked at each
other and said to themselves: We have caught the bear. " "After the St. Louis Convention there wasnt one who dared to
wink and swear that the bear hadnt caught him." "We want to be fair. When you ask ws to give our support to
Sewall from the rigorous regions of Maine we must most respect fully decline. I say we cannot vote for him and you ought not to."
"My God, hasnt the South played second fiddle long enough?" "We are not going to put out any nominee against Mr. Bryan. We are going to vote for him whether you take Sewall down or not. - I am going to try to get every vote for Bryan whether Watson goes down in defeat or not." "Let Bryan have every vote youve got. Let Senator Jones in sult you at his pleasure. Think of your country, and what the re sult of McICinleyism means, and may God Almighty take care of you and your party." It was such expressions as these that drove five thousand people wild last night. It was the earnest voice of Tom Watson that fired them to white heat with enthusiasm. Nerved to a tension almost intolerable, chafing under the impatience of a forced delay, keyed to the keenest pitch by the long wait, yelling, surging, pushing, perspiring, the five thousand voices took up the name of Tom Wat son as he appeared, and the rough rafters of the Tabernacle rang with the mighty shout. Before sundown they had gathered. After the adjournment of the days session in the Capitol, some had found their way to the Tabernacle, and were waiting for hours. No seat was to be found. The people brought boxes with them and placed them at convenient distances. They hung to the rafters. They crowded the doors. They were everywhere.
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144 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
"Boys, I reckon wed better git off a little calico." It was a familiar cry with the "middle of the roadsters," who had attended St. Louis. Off went the coats of five thousand and shirt-sleeved populism waited.
After a few preliminaries Tom Watson came, wearing the yellow hat which the boys had put out as his mascot. Mr. Watson was looking well. He stepped to the platform from the sawdust floor with an agile step and bounded on the rostrum, already crowded with his friends, with a light leap. For five minutes the yelling had been continuous, punctuated at intervals with peculiar laudatory ex pressions from different parts of the huge hall.
Watsons speech was divided into four separate parts the ex planation of the St. Louis platform, the arraignment of the Demo cratic party for past errors, the plea for the support of Bryan, and the demand for the withdrawal of Sewall.
He began with a prayer for reconciliation. He wanted to speak to no partisan. The welfare of the South was paramount to party. The cause of the people was greater than all political creeds.
Mr. Watson took up the pianks in the St. Louis platform and dis cussed them with fervid eloquence. He waved his machete above the head of monopolies and shook his finger in the face of railroad kings. He defined Grover Clevelandism as the twin brother to John Shermanism. He gave a rhetorical naying to controlling political conditions. He hissed at the classes and kissed the masses. He spattered venom in the faces of Wall Street Plutocrats. He held out a right hand of fellowship to the West. He jeered at the present offer of the Democrats to fuse.
"They have taken our doctrine," he said, "but they dont like our doctor. They want our physic, but they dont like our physician. They like to ride on our train but they dont like our conductor. They say that they want fusion. It is the fusion that the earth quake has to the city that it swallows."
At the end of every sentence there was a storm of yells, a hur ricane of huzzas from his shirt-sleeved supporters. He spoke an hour and a half- The people called for more. They crowded about the platform. They scrambled over each other in their feverish eagerness to get hold of Watsons hand to say a word to him.
Wearied with exertion, fagged with the reaction and intense heat, he sank into a chair and smiled wearily.
Other speakers appeared, but the audience had an eye singled for Tom Watson, and it was only the buring words from Seaborn Wright that fanned up enthusiasm again. Atlanta Journal Keport.
MR. WATSONS SPEECH IN FULL.
Mr. Watteon spoke for over an hour and a half. Following is the stenographic report of the speech, revised by Mr. Watson;

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TffOS. E. WATSON. 145
My Fellow Countrymen: I thank you for this magnificent demon stration. Let us meet to-night in a spirit of mutual respect, I pray you. Let there he no partisanship to-night. Let no man consider the welfare of parties as parties of the Peoples party of the Dem ocratic party merely as party names. But let every man here to night he concerned for t*he welfare of the South and of the whole nation and of the great common people. Whom do we represent in this movement? What is it that has stirred the people from ocean to ocean and from the Lakes to the Gulf? There was never a greater unrest than that which stirs the masses to-day. Never since 1860 has political agitation run so high. And now it overlaps boundaries and recognizes no difference of section or race, but it is one movement of all the people, actuated by one mighty impulse. And what is that mighty impulse? We are told that it is free silver. That is the truth, but it is not the whole truth. Other things are repre sented in this movement than the free silver cause. I shall endeavor to voice to-night the sentiment of ninety-nine per cent of the Peoples party and I believe I shall voice the sentiment ot seventyfive per cent of those Democrats who are in revolt against the policy of Grover Cleveland, the twin brother of John Sherman. [Applause.]
There has never been a time in the political history of this country when things were so mixed. The political prophet is out of a job. No man can go to sleep to-night with any assurance that the situation will not be changed in the morning. The truth is, no man knows where he is now, and everybody is dead certain that he will not know where he is to-morrow. Party affiliations are broken as they have never been before. A cyclone has struck the political slate. The people have been moved, and are moving, and when the people begin to move, sooner or later, the whole country will have to follow. Who are the people? I speak first of all to-night of the Peoples party the men who make tbe anvils ring, who move the spindles, who swing the ax, who guide the plow and who clothe and feed the world. These men are in revolt, South, East, North and West.
FREE SILVER NOT THE ONLY NEED.
. States and indict it before God a d the American people of high
inst the people. We charge that they

146 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
ought to be the privilege of the government to make money. It is a power that belongs to the king, to the sovereign. It ought to be exercised by the sovereign, by the Government, and it ought to be exercised for the benefit of all. But what has been done? The right to make money has been taken from the people and has "been given to the national banks, until now more than three thousand of them exercise the power to create and issue money and to expand or contract the currency, to control prices and thereby to affect the prosperity of every citizen of the United States. We arraign tne Government for having delegated this power to a special class. We have no war to make on the national bankers as individuals. We make war on the system, and I say it is wrong. It is a power that the government alone should have, and which it should exercise for all alike.
ON THE MONEY QUESTION.
Furthermore, we say that the taxes of this country are not fairly levied. We claim that they do not tax the wealth of the republic. The bondholders, the great manufacturers and the great corpora tions of the country are untaxed for Federal purposes. The tariff is levied to a very great extent on the actual necessaries of life on clothing, shoes and innumerable other articles that are neces sary to the people.
What else do we complain of? It is our financial system. A great many people seem to think that money was always here, like trees and water and flowers and skies and stars, and that it happened so. A great many people believe that God made money. God no more made a ten-dollar bill than He dida tenpenny nail, or a nickle than He did a gingercake. The government made the money. It makes it to facilitate business exchange. Many people seem to think that the money question is a deep and terrible subject, and that it is beyond the understanding of the average mortal. They tuink that it should be left to the politicians and to the editors. God pity the country where any subject is left entirely to the editors and to the politicians. My friends, the money question is only difficult to the man who wont understand or listen.
If money is made to carry on business with, is it not true that the greater volume of business the greater amount of money that is needed? As population increases, business increases, and the supply of money ought to increase. If that is done the equilibrium will be sustained. But as the people increase and business increases, if the work which the money was intended to do is constantly on the increase, while the money itself is on the decrease, where is the man who cannot see that trouble is bound to follow?
What else do these people complain of about the Government? We say that they have closed the mints to the free and unlimited

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 147
coinage of silver, which -was the system our fathers adopted. Our fathers who framed the Constitution, opened the mints to the coin age of both gold and silver; the Republicans partly destroyed the freedom of silver coinage and the Democratic party in. 1893 did every thing that the Republican party had neglected to do. Therefore, we say this, when we claim that the mints ought to be open to the coin age of silver, we are not making a revolutionary demand; "we are simply claiming that the system our fathers established should be re established; put the Government back upon the old system; restore the old landmarks, and the people whose cause is in unison with mine say now, as we have said always, that better friends to the free coinage of silver than we do not exist, and they do claim that hand in hand silver ought to become the policy to stop this eternal burn ing up of our paper money. [Applause.]
OWNERSHIP OF RAILROADS.
What else do we claim? We say this, that your public highways ought to be unshackled from robbers and the pirates, the railroad kings, who now stand sentry at every crossroads of commerce and levy tribute upon every traveler who passes thereon. I know that upon that subject greater difference of opinion exists than upon those subjects I have already mentioned. Why? Because there has been less agitation, less argument upon it. I am simply stating the case to-night, having neither the time nor the inclination to argue it; but we say this, that when we see these great public highways of commerce shackeled and guarded and sentineled by remorseless corporations who tax the people in freight rates without allowing the people representation; when we see these great gigan tic combinations of capital say to every merchant: "You do business at our mercy;" saying to every small mill man: "We can put a rate of freight on you that will bank your fires;" saying to every manu facturer: "We can put tribute on you that will stop your wheels;* saying to every city: "We can put a discrimination against you that will make tae grass grow in. your streets;" when we see this done and legislatures corrupted and judges bought, laws bartered away across the counter in national legislation; when we see all this right here in the State of Georgia, and see a gigantic corporation that tramples the Constitution of your State under foot, we do ask you * as citizens, isnt it time to demand that the people should own the peoples highways and all public roads should belong to the public? The iron highways should be put where the water highway is. What Germany had to do to save herself, and what Holland had to do to save herself, and what Italy had to do to save herself, and what Australia had to do to save herself, wont America have to do it or submit to corporation tyranny? [Cries of "Let her roll."]

148 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON.
CALLS FOR FAIR BALLOTS.
What else do these people claim as a grievance before the grand jury of the American people? "We mate our appeal to honor and to conscience. "We have no other "weapons to fight this battle with. We make our appeal to the enlightened conscience of the American people, and we say, hear us for our cause, and do justice unto us. We say that this government is founded on the bed rock of popular approval the rule of the majority the right which twenty men have to make a law, even though fifteen object to it; the right twenty men have to choose their governor and their representatives though fifteen men j&ight vote the other way; the rule that the majority should control we say that that is the fundamental principle of self-government, the bed rock upon which this republic is founded, a fair ballot and an honest count, every man voting if he is legally entitled thereto, and managers honest enough to count their vote after he gets there. [Tremendous applause.] "We say, and we appeal to your conscience upon it we say that your Government is in peril of Its very life, if you can shake down that pillar which supports it. We say recent events in Georgia not to say anything about other states that recent events in Georgia, recent chapters in political history, emphasize our demand that all, irrespective of party, should come together with that interest for good Government that will make us patriotic, and we ought to pledge our honor one to the other that we will do everything we can as citizens and everything that we can as voters to put down stuffing of the ballot bos; to put down the making of false registration lists, to the end that we may hand down to our children the Government which our fathers handed down to us. [Prolonged applause.]
That is our case. Is there anything communistic in it? Is there anything in it that does not tally with the old time Jeffersonian Democracy? Are not those the essential principles of good Govern ment? Two million people to-day stand for these principles. We fought for them when the clouds hung low over our heads, but we have carried the banner through the storm of ridicule and abuse; and now when the sunlight breaks upon our pathway, showing us the victory, we wont be lacking in loyality to carry it straight on
rough will we boys? [Prolonged applause, mingled with, cries of "No!"]
I want you for one moment to give me your attention just along here.
What 1 have spoken to you about are the principles of old time Jeffersonian Democracy, as our fathers believed it, and lived it previous to the war. After the war what occured? The Hamiltonian doctrine of the East got into the Democratic party, and after it got in began it to grow and grow until it crowded out Jeffersonian Democ-

LIFK AND SPEECHES OF TfZOS. E. WATSON, 149
racy entirely, and we had this strange mixture between the Northern Democrat and the Northern Republican, between the Eastern Demo crat and the Eastern Republican; there was a wonderful difficulty In telling which was which. If one was a rabbit, the other was a hare; if one was a buzzard the other was a turkey buzzard; if one was a dove, the other was a turtle dove; if one was a coon, the other was a racoon. And, therefore, after you toiled and struggled to carry victory, and after the election was over and you happened to take a look at the statute boolt you would be lucky if you didnt faint. Why? Because on the statute books the Democrats put the very kind of laws which the Republicans had been enacting.
GLANCE! AT THE PAST.
In 1888 and 1889 the people began to see this thing. The alliance was organized, and education began. Right here now I will tafee up my personal political history. A friend of mine asked me the other day, coming up on the train, "Why did you leave the Democratic party? You controlled all the country counties in your district. You could have always captured the nomination and the nomination meant your election. Had you stayed in the Democratic party any honor within it was m your reach. Why, Mr. Watson, didnt you stay in the Democratic party and make your fight there?"
To-night if you will listen to me patiently, I will endeavor to an swer that question. My own people desire no answer to it. They understand rny position now as they have understood it all the time, but there are hundreds of people here who do not. There are hun dreds of people here who are misjudging and misconstruing my mo_ tive, and who have rendered harsh judgment against me, founded upon an honest mistake of the facts. My good name is as dear to me as any other possession I can claim. I beg at your hands tonight pa tient attention while I shall endeavor to demonstrate to you that my course was not only best for myself, not only best for my party, but best for the Democratic party; best for Jeffersonian Democracy, and best for the South, which I love with every drop of blood that pul sates in my veins. [Prolonged applause.]
It is true that I was elected to Congress as a Democrat, and by the machinery of the Democratic party, but that is not the whole truth. The whole truth is that my antagonist ran as a straight partisan Democrat, while I ran on the alliance platform, and that platform pledged me to stand by the platform, rather than tb.e party, and if there ever should come a conflict between the alliance platform and the Democratic party I was bound, in honor I was bound, by the written contract, to stand by the platform, to sink or swim with it, to live or die with it. [Applause.] Not only that, but it demanded more. The national convention of the Farmers 1

150 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Alliance directly and expressly instructed those Congressmen elected upon their alliance platform not to gro into the caucus with either one of the old political parties. When I declined to go into caucus or be bound toy its dictation, in Washington City, where is the hearer present to-night wlio does not remember the storm that broke upon my head? But I ask you to recall that I had been directly instructed by the very people who elected me, to stand by the princi ples which had carried me to success. Not only did I feel bound to stand oy principle rather than party name, not only did I think more of principle than of party, but there was another inducement, and I appeal to the record here to-night if I did not say it in 1892 just as I say it here to-night. The reporter is here who took down the speech 1 made in Augusta, Ga., when I came home exhausted, weak and almost fainting, from the hardship of my service in Congress. I stated fhere and then, before my constitu ents in the fair city of Augusta, 1 appealed to them to listen to my argument and to listen to my reasons, and to listen to the facts and do jusice to my conduct. I said to them: "You cannot carry success to the old time principles of Jeffersonian Democracy until you can find a way to unite the Southern farmer with the Western farmer." I said then, and I say now, tHat the Eastern States have always been against Jeffersonian principles; they have always been for Hamilton and Federal doctrine; they liave always been for money legislation as against manhood legislation; they have always been in favor of bonds and banks, and for special protection to capital; they nave always been in favor of legislation that increases the debt and mak s it harder to pay; which diminisb.es the money and thereby adds to its value. The East and Nortli have always been in favor of that policy, and they always will be. [Applause.]
WHAT HE STANDS FOR.
I stand for the statesmanship which seeks a new alliance for the South; which seeks to lift up and put the light of inspiration in her eyes; the statesmanship which endeavors to break her chains and to put new hope in her heart; the statesmanship which leads her to cut loose from Eastern and Northern connection and make an alliance with the great "West. [Applause.] The Western States are agricultural States, just as the Southern States are; their people take their living out of the ground, just as you do, and they are in debt, just as you are. Their people had to sell products to pay taxes, just as you did. They were largely settled by emigrants from the South. They are blood of your blood, flesh of your flesh, and they have the same antipathy- to the Federal doctrine or to the doctrine of Alexander Hamilton that your fathers had; and, therejfore, why could not the Southern Democrat strike hands with the

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON. 151
Western farmer and go forward in a battle for their common wel fares ? It was this; The Western farmer was a Republican; the Western laborer was a Republican, and there was no more chance to get the Western Republicans to vote the Democratic ticket than there was to get the Souther Democrat to vote the Republican ticket. Dont you see It? Then how would you have had it, with your statesmanship always looking to the East, with your statesman^hip always looking toward the North, with your eternal effort to make oil and water mix, with your eternal effort to make Jeffersonian and Harniltonian coincide? The Southern farmer would have been fighting the Western farmer, and the Western farmer the Southern farmer, and thus, by being divided, you would have been fleeced by the Hamiltonian laws upon you. Then what? In order to unite these two sections we had to have some policy that would create a common rallying point. There had to be a rallying point which did no injustice, which did not mortify the pride, which did not humiliate, which did not arouse prejudice on either side. Your Southern Democrat could not have gone into the Republican party; the Republican of the West could not have gone into the Democratic party, and, therefore, the very necessity of the situation demanded that we should have a new party; the Southern Democrats stepping out of the old party, and the Western Republican stepping out of theirs, and thus meeting in the middle of the road and forming a new party and building a new temple, fashioning a new tabernacle. Then patriots could meet around a common standard and thus go forward and unite in rescuing their country from misgovernment. [Applause.]
Now what? In the West the Republican who was about to leave his party was told that this third party movement was a trick of the Democrats to break up the Republican party; in the South, the Democrats were told by the old politicians that this was a trick of the Republicans to break up the Democratic party. Now what? In order to show to the West that the South meant business it was absolutely necessary that when we met together in Washington in 1891 and those Western alliance men stepped out of the Republican party there should be some Democrats to step outside of the Demo cratic party and thus show the West that the South meant to be loyal and true. [Great Applause.] Eleven Congressmen from the West stepped out of the Republican party. Thirty Congressmen from the South had been elected and pledged, as we understood, to step outside of the caucus and meet the men from the West. When the test came how many were there who met the men from the West? One man, thank God! I am proud to-night [The balance of this sentence was lost in a burst of tremendous applause.]

152 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
SUCCESS OF THE TICKET.
The same friend who asked me why I left the Democratic party asked me why I allowed myself to be run for Speaker; if it wasnt merely for distinction and notoriety? How could I get anything per sonally by running for an office which 1 knew I could not get? Why did I do it? May God so judge me to-night as this was my motive: There being eleven men from the "West who had stepped out of their party, I wanted to emphasize the fact that the South was not en tirely lacking; I wanted to emphasize the fact that the South was on hand; I wanted to emphasize the fact that the South did mean to go into the new movement, to stand by it, to work for it, to fight tor it, if necessary, to die for it. [Great applause.1 And ob, my friends, hagnt time vindicated my course?
What have we got to-night as the political situation in the United States? Southern Democracy is bidding defiance to Wall Street for the first time in thirty years. [Applause.] Southern. Democracy is bidding defiance to the Bast for the first time within the memory of man, and why has it done it? Because the Western Populists sta,nd shoulder to shoulder with the Western Democrats and pledge their faith, and pledge their honor that if the South will be true to the West, the West will be true to the South, and we will throw off the tyranny which the North and East have imposed upon your people. [Applause. ]
But, mark you, perhaps you dont catch the full significance of it yet? [Cries of "No!"] What "Western State did Tilden carry? What Western State did Hancock carry? When has there ever been a time in any race made by Cleveland or others you could slap Wall Street in the face with one hand and the Eastern money power with the other and rely upon the West to get you out of the scrape? [Great applause.] Is it the Western Democrat who makes the suc cess of your ticket probable? Not at all. Who is it then? Who is the man standing at your back and tells you lie will help you fight the battle and has made you suddenly grow fat and saucy? Who Is it? Is it the Western Populist? And what did he used to be a Western Republican, That is it.
I want you to get that fact well in your minds. You will never be able to judge what I was striving for, until you remember to-night that it is the men that I and my friends pulled out of the Republican party to help you to elect to the Presidency of the United States the Hon. William J. Bryan. [Applause.]
THE SEVERAL SITUATIONS.
In the West there are those Populists saying that they are going to stand by you in this fight; there are Democrats in the West glad to get their help out there, cant do "without it; but there in the

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON. 153
South, they say, "We dont ask you fellows any odds; we have got a little machine that answers to the demand of every emergency, and turns us out just the number of votes we want." [Laughter and applause.]
'"We dont ask you fellows any odds." That is the voice of the Democratic party. They have taken our doctrine, "but they dont like our doctors. They are fond of our physics, but they dont like our physicians. They want to run our ship, but they want to expel cur crew. They want to run our train, but want to kick the engineer off. They say they want fusion. So they do. It is the fusion that the earthquake makes with the city that it swallows. [Tremendous and prolonged applause.]
Now I am going to say a "word about tlie Southern politician. Where has he been during the last four years, and where have we been? For four years we have stood battling for these principles. For four years we have stood outside of the offices, outside of power, and outside of patronage, to show that there were people iu this land who loved right and honor better than they loved the political pie crust. During these four years we have stood by these princi ples, and you yourselves sympathized with us in it. Where were the Southern politicians? I am not going to say anything in anger; nothing in the spirit or revenge, God knows I harbor no vindictive feelings to-night against any numan being. I am here to-night to bring all of our people together, if I can. I want to see our people come together. I want to see us marching foot to foot and shoulder to shoulder in the battle. I wa,nt to see us lay down the "weapons of party warfare, lay down the banners and party fig-lit and rally to the common flag of our country, and fight the fight that means welfare to your homes and mine, and to all of the people of the South, to the white and black, to the rich and the poor, to the high and the low, to the city and to the town. [Applause.]
Now, "where were your own leaders? Isnt it a fact that the crime of 1873 was duplicated iu the crime of 1893? Didnt they find the doors of the mints about three-quarters open to silver, and didnt they leave them four-quarters shut? [Laughter and applause.] Didnt they throw the key in the branch, and didnt they deny to the Government the right to coin its own seigniorage which it bought and paid for with your money? Didnt it denounce con traction of the currency and then contract? Didnt it contract the currency to the extent of over $100,000,000 within the last two years? Didnt it preach economy, and then spend everything there was in sight, so that if Uncle Sam had died there would not have been two pennies in the cash box with, which to weight the old mans eyes down? [Laughter and applause.] Are they not living to-day on borrowed money? Didnt they spend $10,000,000 more than they took in during the last month, and were not we even glad to escape at those figures? Havent they strengthened your
11 Is

154 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
public credit by adding to your national debt? Havent they illus trated the duties of tariff reform by giving the whiskey trust a loan of $100,000,000 of your money for eight years at a very small per cent? Havent they illustrated it by letting Havemeyer, of the sugar trust, go into Washington city and inspire John G. Carlisle thereto? Didnt the fingers of that cabinet officer write down the schedule that the Sugar Trust demanded? Didnt they illustrate their desire to curb corporations by putting three corporation lawyers in the cabinet to keep Grover Cleveland company ? Isnt that all recent political history? 1 dont rake it up for unpleasant, purposes. I do it simply as a background from which to discuss; the present. I do it simply as a matter of history to throw reflec tion on the more pleasant history that we are now approcbing[Jjaughter and applause. 3
HIS BEAR STORY.
For four years we have been standing for these principles. For years the Democrats said they would enact them, and for four years they have been carrying out the Rep ablican policy, and now they have gone to Chicago and swallowed our platform, and they would like to swallow us. [Applause and laughter.] For the first few "weeks after the Chicago cenvention adjourned every Democratic leader slightly winked as he met every other Democrat, as though to say: "We are quite sure that we have caught the bear." Since/ the St. Louis convention adjourned there is not a single Democratic leader who is not about half-way willing to swear that the bear caught them. [Tremendous and prolonged applause.]
It is one of the incidents we find in history, where a half a loaf was found eventually worse than no bread. The St. Louis convention came along, cut off half the ticket the Democrats have named, and the entire Democratic party is in misery because it is discussing the problem Is half a loaf better than no bread? [Prolonged applause.]
TO VOTE FOR BRYAN.
We wanted to be fair and generous; therefore, we said: "Take the first place and take the platform. Give the highest honor to your man. Take him from your party. We want to be patriotic. We can vote for Mr. Bryan because he has been advocating our principles and been running on our ticket, and we can stand for Mr. Bryan because he stood with us in Congress. But when you ask us to give our party support to Mr. Sewall from the rigorous climes of Maine, we respectfully stop. [Tremendous applause and cries cf "We will never do it!"] This we can never afford. We cannot afford to vote for Mr. Sewell. Why? Because he does not repre sent our platform and he does not represent our cause."

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 155
We cant vote for him, and you ought not to vote for him. If we vote for him we say we did not mean what we declared when we adopted our platform. If you vote for him you will say you did not mean what you said when you adopted your platform. Tou cant fight the national banks with any sincerity with a national banker aa your leader. [Applause.]
You cant fight the corporations with a corporation king as youi leader. You cannot fight the railroad monopoly with a railroad king as your leader. You cannot fight for legislation that will represent the people as against the money power when on your ticket is a man who, in every respect, is a representative of the money power. And we say you cannot be consistent in saying that this is the movement of the South and West, if you turn your backs on the South and say that the South is not fit to name a Vice-President.
Therefore, we say that your leaders have made a mistake; that your leaders have done what you could not yourselves do. We step into the breach and do what they ought to have done. We said to America, "This is a movement of the South and West, and as you have got the first first place for the West, why should not the South have the second place? Why couldnt the Democratic party have chosen a Southern man? Where was Joe Blackburn, of Kentucky? Where was Culberson, of Texas? Where was Richardson of Tennessee? Where was Clarke Howell of Georgia?"
We said, "Let the West and the South unite, and let us have a leader from the West and also a leader from the South." My God, hasnt the South played second fiddle long enough? [Cries of "Yes. ] Hasnt the South been sitting at the footstool long enough? [Cries of "Yes, Yes!"] I stand to-night to repeat oh, that I had the power to repeat it right I stand to-night and repeat the judg ment of the great Ben Hill, and of the eloquent Grady, that the South ought to be recognized in full sisterhood again in this American union.
"THE SOUTH SUPREME."
For thirty years the Democratic party has acted as if it was ashamed of the South. You elect Democratic Presidents, and you never name any of them. Your one hundred and fifty-six electoral votes assure the election of any man who can carry a decent support outside the South. You do all of the work and get none of the honor. Hasnt this gone on long- enough ? I appeal to Southern manhood. I appeal to Southern pride. 1 appeal to old men and to young men of the South, if this situation hasnt lasted long enough. It has been a purpose of mine to do whatever I could in this brief life to reinstate the South in the proud position which she once held in the royal sisterhood of States, and that purpose is not less strong in me to-night than it has been heretofore. Many a time within the past, in fighting the prevalent policy of the Democratic

156 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THQS. E. WATSON.
party the work has been hard. Many a time my heart has grown faint. Many a time I would gladly have turned away and sought an easier task, but ever and ever duty would unveil her starlit face and say, "Tired hands, work on; tired feet, march on! The day will come, and the opportunity will come with it, when the people will act and they will lift the South from out the Valley of Despond, and bring to the South a brighter future than she has ever known or hoped for during these latter years." [Prolonged applause.] As a Georgian I appeal to Georgians. As a Southern man I appeal to Southern men, and I beg of you to seize this opportunity to link the South with the West and make a new chapter in your political history. This combination will enable you to throw off the domination of the North and East, which has been ruinous to the farmer, to the merchant and to the laborer.
CONCESSIONS HIS THEME.
You tell me that the Democratic party has conceded enough. "What has it conceded? You named your own President and your own Vice-President. There was no concession there. Where is your concession? Is it in your platform? If you believed in those principles sincerely you conceded nothing to us. You made a con cession to yourselves. There was no concession to us in doing what you thought was right. If you adopted those principles as a concession to us, not believing in them yourselves, then we ought to double the guard and watch closer than ever. [Applause.] To get at the facts, 1 say, there is no concession in the nominees, be cause they are Democrats. There is no concession in the platform, because you must have believed that those principles were right, and, therefore, you did what you did in justice to yourselves and you made no compromise with us. What did we do? We did make a compromise with you. We stepped out of our own party and selected as our man your nominee. We did not put up a nominee against Mr. Bryan, and we are going to keep the faith. We are feoing to vote for Mr, Bryan whether you take Mr. Sewell out or not. [Applause and cries of "Good! Good!"] I am going to try to so manage this campaign that William J. Bryan shall get the benefit of every silver vote, even if Tom Watson goes to the bottom. [Applause and cries of "He will never get there!"]
I see threatening our country the great perils of McKinleyism, organized trusts, special privileges and class legislation, McKinley ism represents the principle that the few have got the right to go into the chambers of national legislation and write down just what laws they want; McKinleyism represents the gold standard, "which is squeezing values every day and bringing want into your midst until workmen tramp the streets hunting for work and find none. Are not your merchants failing every day until Bradstreets can

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF T&OS. E. WATSON. 157
hardly keep them numbered; until we see in every paper where some poor mother, driven frantic with grief has murdered her own child because she could not feed, it?
The mines pour forth more wealth than they ever did; the smoke houses are full, the banks are full, the granaries are full, and yet men and women destroy themselves and their children because they cannot get work to do and bread to eat. The man who cannot hear the roar of Niagra ahead is deaf indeed. That is McKInleyism, and if we are defeated in this campaign, and if we are routed in this fight and McKinleyism is endorsed, we had just as well give up at least, in this generation. Therefore, I would despise myself if I did not advise these brave men who followed me so long to stand by the contract made at St. Louis. [Applause and cries of "We will do it."l Give Mr. Bryan every vote you have got and let Senator Jones say what he likes. Let him insult you at his pleasure. Make no angry reply; lilt yourselves above it; think of your country; pray for its liberty; work for its best interests and do your duty, and let God Almighty take care of you and your party. [Cries of "We will do it."]
HE COMES HALF WAY.
We say to you, gentlemen of the Democratic party, that we have met you more than half way, and now cannot you extend your hand, to us? Wont you receive us except upon the condition that we abso lutely surrender our party? Can it be possible that you will not take our help unless we flrst put the knife to the throat of our party? If our party has no man on the national ticket, then we go out of existence as a party, and our four years work is worthless. If the Democratic leaders mean to give you free silver why do they object to the existence of the party that has proved itself true? If they do not mean to give you free silver, dont you honest Democrats prefer that our party should continue its organization, continue in existence so that when you see the broken pledges two years from now your indignation will cause you to step out from your party, and then you will find a loyal home to come to, with the lights burn ing in its"windows? [Applause,]
If they mean to give you free silver the existence of this free silver party cannot hurt them. If they do not mean to give it to you this party will hurt them and hurt them bad. And why? Be cause it will remain true to its principles, and we will have proved to you by our patriotic vote this year, and we will have won your confidence, and you will come into the party and vote with us. Here is what we are going to do in the national convention: We are going to put out a full peoples party electoral ticket for Bryan and Watson. We cannot vote for Mr. Sewall; that would stultify us. We will put out a full ticket, and empower our committee to take on part of your electoral ticket any time when the Democratic party

158 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
will retire Mr, Bewail. They ought to do it. Why? Because the South is going to demand it, and Georgia Democracy is going to demand it. The Democratic managers have made up their minds to put Tom Watson down and keep him down, hut the people of the State have entered into no such contract, thank God! [Applause and cheers. 3
MR. WATSONS DREAM.
There is no fair-minded Democrat here to-night who does not feel drawn to me "with kindly sentiment. A few years ago I was proud of the popularity I had with the people, and it fills me with greater pride when 1 see the sunlight of your approval upon my head. Men of Georgia let us unite in this fight. Men of the South, let us unite in this fight. Let the people move, and the people will control. Honor the West, and also honor the South. Let this campaign show to all the world henceforth and forever that the South is determined that she will never be the footstool of the North again. [Applause.3
A few days ago an article which I had written in "Washington City one nignt in 1891 was published in the Atlanta Constitution, and I was denounced and held up to ridicule as a dreamer. In that article I tried to picture your condition as it is now. I sought to picture it as it would be under better laws. I am accused of being a dreamer. To that indictment this defendant waives arraignment and pleads guilty, arid for answer as to why sentence should not be pronounced upon him, he has this to saySince God made Adam there never was a noble deed done on this earth that was not the child of a noble dream. Give me high aspirations and I will give you high deeds. Give me pure thoughts and I will give you pure lives. Give me low aspirations and I will give you low lives. Give me vicious thoughts and I will give you vicious deeds. I plead guilty of having dreamed that this land might be better governed than it is to-day, and that its people might be happier. 1f I have committed no greater sin tnan that I believe you will say I am not disqualified for the office of the Vice-President of the United States. If I can get the support of all the generous men and noble-minded women -wno sympathize with me in these aspira tions I will rally to my side a mighty host that will snatch this cam paign from the hands of the tricksters, and will bury McKinleyism face downawrd too deep for resurrection, which will send John Shermanism to tne political hell where it belongs fapplause] and which wilJ send Grover Clevelandism to keep company with J hn Sherman; which will rescue our statute books from the harpies of class legislation; which, will drive out from the temple the money changers, who will defile it; and which will make of this republic what it was intended to be, a home, a refuge, a sanctuary for all who love good government. [Tremendous and long cheering and ap plause.]

Speech at Lincoln, Neb.
September, 1896.
From the Nebraska Independent.
(JR. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW CITIZENS: I am not here to make a little two by four silver speech. [Applause.} I am a Populist from nay head to my heels. [Loud ap plause and cheering.] I am not ashamed of my cause nor
afraid to unfold my banner anywhere and fight under it. And I be lieve I am addressing- brave men and true-hearted women, who will not respect a gentleman less for the fact that that gentleman stands unflinchingly by what he thinks is right. [Applause.]
In every age we have had reformers, and reform parties; great works have been done. The true reformer reaps his reward from the consciousness that the generations to come "will bless his name and enjoy his work.
THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM WRONG.
We say the transportation system is wrong. In the State of Georgia we had what we called "The Georgia Central Railway." It was one that was prized by the people of the State and because of that we exempted it from taxation, we gave it special privileges, gave it right of way, and advantage in nearly every county. It was capitalized at $3,500,000 and increased to $7,500,000. Its stock be came one of th.e grandest securities of Georgia, rated alongside of Georgia State bonds. It became so good and the people had so much confidence in it that many a business man, retired from business, was glad to invest his lifelong savings in the railoard of that state; many a widow put into the Central railroad her last dollar; many a guardian invested the funds of orphan children of that state; everybody considered it perfectly safe. One day a railway syndicate took hold of it; they sent Pat Calhoun down South and he bought up a control of stock in the Central Railway. They worked one of those reorganization schemes; they put on a mortgage and in a little "while the mortgage was foreclosed on the property and the property was sold, and in the flash of an eye every orphan child who bad a dollar in it lost it; every widow in Georgia who had a dollar in that road lost it; every retired merchant and farmer and every kind of business man that put his fortune in that road lost it, and bank ruptcy reigned throughout Georgia. A man who steals a hog would have gone to the penitentiary. These fellows stole a railroad, came in a palace car and went out the same way. [Applause.] Now
<159)

160 LIFE AND SPEEjOHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
after they worked that scheme with that mortgage on this Southern railway system, Morgan of Wall Street, got hold of the railroad and reorganized it again and this time it was reorganized to the tune of fifty odd million dollars. Now,, then, every laborer on that road is made to do duty at half pay, and every man that travels or ships freight over the Central has to do what? He has to pay a freight and passsenger rate to enable them to declare a dividend on fifty-three million dollars "when the original investment was only seven and a half million dollars.
Therefore we see the railroad system of to-day enables the shrewd, unscrupulous manipulator to swindle in that way, and the present system allows the railroad to build up one city at the expense of another, and build up one section at the expense of another; kill off competition and oppress labor all along the line, and dictate how they shall vote in a Presidential campaign. [Great applause.]
RAILROAD POWER, TO TAX.
We say further that the present system is wrong because it exer cises a power of government, and that is bound to be dangerous. It is wrong again because it exercises the power of taxation, without allowing the privilege of representation, and that is dangerous to Republican institutions. They can levy a tax on every bale of cot ton, every bushel ot" wheat, every mule, and every horse; they can do "what Congress cannot do, and the people who are taxed are denied representation, and if they protest, their protests are un heard. Our forefathers fought the Revolutionary War because they refused a tax which, compared to this, was insignificant. They de manded to be represented before they should be taxed, and the railroads levy this tax upon you and your property, and your voice is not heard at the council board where the taxes are levied.
RAILROADS IN THE SENATE.
We say further that the railroad system is wrong because it cor rupts polities. They subsidize your public men; they have got their hands in your polities; they have their attorneys running for the legislature, they want their attorneys to run for the State Senate, they try to send their representatives to Congress, and in the Senate of the United States Calvin Brice, a Democratic Senator, represents the railroads, and John M. Thurston, a Republican Senator from your own state, represents the railroads. [Loud cheers.] It does not stop there. In Clevelands cabinet, the railroads are represented by I>an Lamont and Richard Olney. [Applause.3 I told you 1 was a Pop [Cheering], I have got to hew to the line, let the chips hit who they will. [.Cries, "Hit them again.") Now the objections to this system can be remedied by the -way pointed out

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 161
by the Populists: the Government ownership and control of the railroads. "What objections are urged against this policy ? The Government is running a large per cent of them all the time; they are run by Federal courts and deputy marshals. A year or two ago, the Government had to step in when nearly every line running out of Chicago was tied up, and had to call out the United States army, and hy putting a mail sack on a street-car bring their employees to subjection. [Applause.]
UNCLE SAM RUNNING RAILROADS.
If the Government is called upon to run the roads and
it cney -were not prontaoie property would tney want tnemv uon i you know that the returns show that in the freight rates and pas senger rates you pay for them every twenty years? You pay for them every twenty years of your life. In twenty years you have pafd every dollar they are worth, and you have done that in paying freight and passenger rates, and now you dont own a single hand car. [Applause.] The Peoples party stands up for this proposition, that the next time you pay for them the property is yours when you have honestly paid the last dollar on the price. [Applause.] What has been done in Europe can be done here. Nearly every Civilized country in Europe and the East own their own their own public highways, while in this country alone, our commerce is carried and controlled by private owners of public high-ways. I do not mean to rob any man or corporation of its property, but I mean if they will not sell, to take them, honest compensation being first offered. If they will not sell, take this property as they take yours under the law of eminent domain. Offer them a fair price first and. pay them honestly the price agreed upon or settled in a proper way, and .hen the Government -will own its railways. [Applause.]
ENGLANDS EGYPTIAN SLAVES.
In the valley of the Nile in the land of Egypt, there is a fertile soil that produces crops abundantly. It never depends upon the accidents of the season nor upon the rainfall nor upon the sun shining. All that is necessary to do is you plant the seed and you get the crop and you are absolutely certain to have a fair return for your labor in the great and rich valley of the Nile. The people

162 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
there own not one dollar of the -wealth which they produce. The native Egyptian cultivates a soil that doesnt belong to him. He produces crops and everything in plenty and he gets barely enough to eat and barely enough to wear and lives in a hut which no wellregulated cow should be put into. He is working for whom? He is working for those who hold the debt which. Egypt owes; working for those who hold the bonds issued by a corrupt ruler, the Khedive; working for those who hold their bonds the English Rothschilds, the Paris bankers and the great European money holders. The army of Great Britian stands guard to compel them to do it. They stand and see that the Egyptians go to their daily work and see that they produce enough to pay the interest due to Rothschilds on this unlawful debt. These people have no hope and no prospect, no chance to pay their debts. And they may work till the most distant day and they can never escape this bondage held over them by the European. They work in order that the English capitalists may rob them of the harvest for the interest upon their bonds. And if you people will continue in the same policy with Grover Cleveland, and allow them to issue bonds, how long will it be until we have the same things here? [Great applause and cheering.]
ENGLANDS FIJI SLAVES.
Let me give you another illustration. [ "How about McKanley?"] I wont forget the Major; I promise you that. But let me give you another illustration. And it is not taken from a dime novel and it is not taken from my imagination. But it is taken from the pages of history.
Down in the seas close to Australia there is a group of fertile islands called the Fiji Islands, inhabited by a simple harmless race, and so they lived until tne year 1858. They had no money; they wanted none, "What commodities they had tbey swapped with one another. Barter was their rule of trade. They had a king and he was well satisfied. He wanted enough to eat and enough to wear and he wanted a house to live in and he wanted somebody to hold an umbrella over him when he walked out; and he wanted some one else to do his work and some one to fan the flies off of him when he slept. Those people were glad to give it to him. That is all the taxes they paid. Then came upon the scene a certain number of Christian missionaries who nad a great anxi>ety for the souls of these heathen. That was a very worthy object. But in the wake of the Christian missionaries always cornea the Christian traders. And after the Christian missionaries came to the islands there also came the Christian traders, and they bought up certain lands in the Fiji Islands and not wanting to work them themselves, they got the Biji Islanders to work them for them. The Fijians didnt like the way they were being paid and thought they wet unjustly treated

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 163
and "broke into a riot and did some damage. The traders saw their opportunity and complained to the United States Government and said they had been damaged to the extent of $45,000. The American government at once ordered the war vessels down to the Fiji Islands and said to the Fiji Islanders that they must pop up this $45,000. They had never seen a cent of money in their lives and ttiey did not know what it was. They knew nothing about money and nothing about the mystery of European finance. The American ships waited around awhile and took possession of the best lands of these islanders and insisted upon the payment of the demand. On account of the delay in payment they raised the sum to $90,000.
The king was more helpless and hopeless than ever. He did not know what to do and so he made an appeal to the British merchants at Melbourne. It was an unlucky appeal. For if there is any one set of people more able to rob a heathen than an American, it is an Englishman. This unlucky king jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The English merchants came and they agreed to take up and pay off the American debt, and they did pay it. They said to the king: "Give us one hundred thousand acres of your best and choicest land for the debt." The king agreed. He could not do any thing else. The English merchants, seeing how easy it was to get one hundred thousand acres, asked for two hundrel thousand. They asked for it and they got it, making two hundred thousand acres of the best land in the Fiji Islands.
This is not all this syndicate did. After they got possession of the two hundred thousand acres of land they said to the king: "You must exempt our property from taxation. You must exempt our land the property you have given us from taxation forever." They further said to the king: "You must not allow the people to pay you in commodities; you must require your taxes to be paid in money. Your people will need money. You must let us have the sole privilege of establishing a bank and supplying your people with money and you must not tax our bank and you must not tax our money."
They said to the king thj.t he must not be satisfied with the taxes Fijians paid him in food and clothing; tnat he ought to have them paid in money. So they imposed a tax a poll tax in its nature of five dollars a head on every man in the Fiji Islands and one dollar on every woman. The people did not know what to do. They had no money. And so they had to go to the English banker to get the money to pay the taxes. And when they went to the English bankers to get the money, they had to pay a high price, for it took a large amount of the native land to pay the taxes and a large amount of the native product. In short, one-third of all the land and products produced by those colonies had to go to meet the demands of taxation to this British syndicate.

164 LIFE AND SPEECUKS OF THOS. K. WATSON.
Not satisfied with this they said to tlie king, "when these people could not pay the taxes ana had given away all the land, to make them pay a fine and if they could not pay a fine, to make them work it out and "we will hire them from you." The first timo if they could not pay it, they got six months in the chain-gang and then they raised that to twelve months and then to eighteen months and then to thirty-six months. The result being, there was hardly any of the tax paid only in "work of this kind and they had over half the persons the natives of the Fiji Islands in absolute slavery to that British syndicate. Finally, the people could tolerate It no longer, and a great cry went up from, that oppressed people. They thought of the land that was once their own when by their work they produced everything necessary to their comfort and happiness. They thought of their once happy homes and the memory was sweet
that they had once been a prosperous and happy people. So they sent a petition to the great Christian queen Queen Victoria. They said, "Come down and relieve us; take on5 these taxes; bring relief to us and we will give you, not a hundred thousand acres, no we will give you the whole of the island if you will just relieve us from this British syndicate and their system of taxation."
The great Queen heard the prayer of the petition, granted the request, and took charge herself. To-day, if you will visit that country, you will find that it belongs to the British governmemt and that it is administered entirely for those who own the debts owed by those unfortunate people. They abolished the poll tax and sub stituted a tax payable in products, and the ninety thousand-dollar <lebt ran up until they owed one million, three hundred thousand dollars, and these people on their original debt of forty-five thous and dollars are compelled to make an annual payment of three hun-dred and fifty thousand dollars in products for interest on bonds,taxes and other fixed charges. These people under the British sys tem, belong to great Britian and from the time reveille sounds in the morning until taps sound at night, these people hear the clank ing of their chains and will escape from that slavery no more forever. [ Applause, j
ENGLANDS AMERlCAN SLAVES.
"What do I say about our system? I say you have been mortgaged to the British bondholder. [Applause.3 Tou have been put in debt and you have seem your products going down from time to time until now, under this system, you can never pay off what you owe your creditors. "What you are able to produce and the increase on your wealth will not pay the interest on your debt. [Applause.] You owe forty billion dollars, and the interest on that, with the fixed charges of the Government, amounts to three billion five hundred million dollars annually. The annual increase of your wealth amounts to

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 165
THE FIFTY-THREE-CENT DOLLAR.
But they say that we dont want any cheap money; we dont want any dishonest money. They say that we dont want any fifty-threecent dollars. Well, we dont; and there isnt any danger of us getting any, either, [Applause.] You tell me that the amount of silver in a silver dollar is only worth fifty-three cents, and I will tell you that 1 dont care -whether it is worth, that or not. It naakes no difference to me what the silver in it is worth, go the silver dollar will do for me what any other mans dollar will do for him. [Applause.] If the silver dollar will buy as much to eat, will buy as much to drink, wiJJ buy as much to wear, will pay as much in taxes and in debts as a gold dollar, I would not turn on my heel to have a gold dollar in preference to a silver dollar. You say that the silver miner will make the difference between fifty-three cents and one dollar. Does it worry you that the gold miner now makes the difference between twenty-three cents and a dollar? [Applause.] I dont care what he makes so that the people make more than lie makes. What he naakes is mere incident to the system. I guess you could not make money out of paper with out doing some good to the people who make paper. The Bank of England can make money out of linen, and when they do that, they are doing some good to the people who make linen. You say that the gold dollar is good. That the gold in a gold dollar is worth a dollar, while silver is not. Why is it that the gold in a gold dollar is worth a dollar? Because the law says so. [Applause.] You say that because a nation like England will take the position that the law will make it worth a dollar that* the United States must follow it. With a great nation behind that law which is remorseless and powerful, a nation upon whose dominions the sun never sets, which girdles the world with its bayonets, a nation which walks over everybody, let that nation say let the gold be worth a certain price and it will be worth it. And let that nation say that silver will be worth a certain price, it will bring it.
WHAT MAJOR McKINLEY SAID.
Major McKinley says [Great cheering.} These Republicans want to hear what Major McKinley thought and I hope they wont be so impolite as to cut off a quotation that I will make from the Major, Now, Major McKinley, I think, is a gentleman of high quality and a gentleman of perfect purity of character. Major McKinley says that

166 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON.
if you have cheap money ta.e laborer always gets the cheaper dollar. He wants the dollar of the same value as any other dollar. Kverybody wants tbat. Who has ever heard of a tax collector refusing to receive a silver dollar? Has any merchant ever refused to receive a silver dollar? The trout-ie with the laborer to-day is that he is not paid any dollar at all.
The laborer is not complaining of the dollar that he gets,, but he is. complaining of the dollar he does not get. [Applause.] And we say that the only way for him to get more money is to make more tar him to get. [A voice; "Somebody else pays Major McKinleys debts, he dont pay them."] I have nothing to do with that. I dont indulge in any personalities at all. I am discussing the great prin ciples of the campaign. I am a flghter, but a fair fighter. I wont hit any man below the belt. [Great cheering and applause.]
THE: TARIFF DILEMMA.
Now, I see that Mr. Bourfce Gochran in. his argument, says, that a dollar will buy more now than it ever bought and he says that that ought to make the laborers pleased with the present situation. Everything you buy is a product of labor and if you can buy a. larger amount of the commodities now than are produced by labor, with a dollar, are yon not buying a larger share of what the laborer produces with the dollar than you ever did before? Can it be a pleasant situation for the laborer that this commodity is going at a smaller value than ever before? If his labor his commodity goes down, wont he go down, too? Mr. Cochran says, "How will rising prices help labor?" Mr. McKinley says that what the laborer wants is a high tariff. I have found other Republicans that believed in high tariff and you believe in it with McKinley because it gives higher prices. Dont you now? [A voice: No.] Why? Because it gives lower prices. Just take which horn of the dilemma you want to. You can take the one you want, you take either one you like and you get impaled all the same. If a high tariff has some effect on prices it must make prices high or Mark Hanna would not be working for it. It either sends up prices or it sends them down. Now which? Pay your money and take your choice. [Applause.] If you mean that it makes lower prices, tell me why Mr. Mark Hanna wants lower prices for his goods. [Applause.] If it makes higher prices tell me why Major McKinley and Bourke Cochran. do not agree that you have got to pay higher prices. Boys, you ought to agree. 1f tariff makes higher prices It wil* do what the silver craze will do. Yon say that higher prices is what you want and that is what the silver men say.

r

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 167
THE POPULIST IDEA.
We Populists stand for this idea. We say that* the free coinage of isilver will only lielp the people to the extent that it increases the amount of money. We say that you cant start with the falling prices at 1873. You must go back further than that. You must go back to 1S66 and 1867, when they began to burn up your money. [Applause.] You cannot confine contraction and this fall of prices to that time without explaining to the people the work that con traction consisted of. There has been no contraction of gold and no contraction of silver. Where has been the contraction? It has been when they commenced burning up the paper money and there have been falling prices since 1873 and for three years or more be fore that. It commenced to work the injury when they commenced burning up the paper money. We Populists say that money, like any other commodity, operates under the law of supply and demand. If there is a large amount of money, it is cheaper. Make more money and such a demand grows for everything that prices will be good. If the demand grows greater, and the amount of money grows scarcer, it will become dearer, like any other commodity. You burned millions of the peoples money. The increase of the gold is hardly appreciable compared with the increase of business and population. We say that the single gold standard is absolutely disasterous. At the treasury of the United States, Mr. Cleveland has established a rule that the money of final payments is gold, and gold only. [Loud and contiued cheering.]
WALL, STREETS MONEY CORNERS.
I say that the present money supply has been cornered in Wall ^Street and they want to increase the power of that money corner, of that combine, of that trust, by saying "by law" that gold, and gold only, shall be the money of final payment. [Great Applause.] If you dot mean that tell me what you mean by a single gold standard. [A voice: "Ask Tammany."] God forbid that I should say anything for Tammany. I understand that they have endorsed Mr. Bryan, but they stand upon the same money platform as McKinley and not that of Bryan. If that is Tammany, that is McKinley. I say this, your supply of money is getting smaller and the demand for money is .getting greater. The smaller you make the supply the greater you make the demand and the greater will be the price of the money in existence. Is that plain? What; do you mean when yom say that it will bring bigger prices?
I mean to say that you have got to go out into the market to get money to pay your debts ana to pay your taxes and the less money there is in the market to be bought, the higher price you will have to pay. It will take more labor, it will take more wheat, it will take more corn, it will take more cotton, to get a dollar. What do

168 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
we say? We say, open the mints and make more money. [Great applause and cheering.]
OPEN THE MINTS AND THE MILLS WILL START. I believe if I refer to the New York uhamber of Commerce, it will be considered good authority to the average business man, and the New York Chamber of Commerce says that owing to the stringency of money they are forced to issue certificates. [Laughter.] In otlier

i open e ms.

ppause.

y

e ms

Because tb.e manufacturer cannot sell his goods. "Why cannot the

merchant sell his goods? Why cannot he sell them to the farmer

and why cannot the farmer buy them? Is it because they dont want

them? Oh, no, fellow citizens, you here in Lincoln, Nebraska, you

in this city, may not know, but I know. 1 say to you most emphati-

implements which they need, ana do the various repairing that is absolutely necessary on the farms; they could spend millions of dollars every year if they had the dollars to buy with. [Applause.] Open the mints and make the money. [Ap plause.] Then the farmer can sell for better prices and can buy the merchants goods, and the merchant can buy from the manufacturer and the manufacturer can start the wheels and make the spindles hum.
LABOR AND THE GOLD STANDARD.
You ask me how it is, a day laborer is benefited by rising prices. How does it hurt him to nave falling prices? Just reverse the two situations and you have it. Falling prices means that the stores will be snut up and the clerk out of a job. Falling prices means the mills shut down and hands locked out from their work. It means that the railroad is in the hands of receivers and half the crew do twice tne amount of work and the other half go without; it means that the farmer is sold out by the sheriff, and his wife and child and hired man have to take to the pig road and tramp alike for work. [Applause.] You ask me how rising prices help t*he day laborer. I will tell you how: It will increase the demand for his labor, his labor is his stock in trade. Rising prices means opening the doors of the stores and opening of the mills to be run; railroads doing a business with a full crew, farmers singing the songs of gladness. It means that the laborer gets work to do because there is a demand for-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON, 169
it and price goes according to demand. But not only that; five men get work where one man gets it now.
THE TARIFF AND WAGE-WORK.
You ask me about the tariff syatem protecting the laborer. It has been protecting him a hundred years, has it not? [Laughter.] The tariff system has produced millionaires. [Laughter.] Is there any laborer a millionaire? Yet the tariff system has been protecting the laborer one hundred years. Why is it that the laborer never gets at the right end of a Winchester rifle? He is always at the wrong end. Why? Been protecting the laborer one hundred years. Does he ride in a palace car ? Does he ride in yachts across the ocean? Does he enjoy his life in castles in Scotland? Does he have a summer palace by the seaside, seeking the health-giving breezes by the ocean that may fan his fevered brow? [Laughter.] Does he have a winter palace in Florida, where he can go when the cool wind blows and enables him to enjoy the luxuries of our Southern climate? Does the laborer do that? Is it the manufacturer that is killing his wife and children because he cannot get bread for them Uo eat? And yet in the protective center of New York and Chicago, unless the old party papers are telling more stories than usual, laborers are shooting and killing their wives and killing their little chil dren because they had rather kill them than see them starve to death. [Applause.] The good Master said that the tree might foe judged by its fruit. This is a tree that has stood for one hundred years, which was to make the laborer content and happy; it was to protect from competition, to give him a benefit. Has he got it? if not, the tree does not do what it was warranted to do, does it? They say that the tariff will protect them from foreign competition, and yet at the same time the doors of commerce are open to the impor tation of foreign labor that wants to take the bread out of your mouth. [Applause.] I ask my good friends, the Republicans, if the system was not adopted for the purpose of giving a benefit to the American laborer, what was it adopted for; and if it was adopted for that purpose has it done what it was intended to do? And if not, dont you think one hundred years is long enough to try it in? [Applause.]
RESTORE THE STOLEN GOODS.
The Peoples party stand for this principle on the financial ques tion. We have been in our government just like the Fiji Islands; we have a special class exempt from taxation that issues the money, that enjoys the money, enjoys special privileges and we say you can not restore the government of a people, by a people, and for n people until you strike down class legislation. [Applause.] They say we are anarchists. Wny? Because we want to go back to the system
12 1 B

170 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
of our fathers, the system i:hat Jefferson and Jackson wanted. Then I enroll myself among the anarchists. The Government of my fathers is good enough for me; the Jeffersonian system is good enough, for me. The Populists say, let us create silver money, but don't stop at that; they go further than my D-emocratic friends. They say you cannot cure the ills of the body politic until you put out at least enough paper money of the Government to take the place of the greenback money they burned up. Restore what you have taken away from the people, and then the people will have what* they used to have, a good government. Mr. Bourke Cochran says Bryan wants to take something from somebody and give it to some body. If a horse-thief has goc my horse I don't think I am doing an injustice to the horse thief to take my horse back, [Applause.]
A UNION OF THE WEST AND SOUTH.
Now, fellow citizens, we don t look for any help from the East or North. Why? Plenty of good people up there who -will agree wiili us as to principles but the money power controls the East and North. That was shown in the Maine election on Monday last. [Applause.] Well, then, where must we look? To the South and West. Your in terests are the same as ours. Your interests are agricultural just like ours. You have banks and you have railroads, "but they are in the minority in the South and West. They do not control as in the North and East. If the country is to be saved, we should look to the South and West. The South realizes that we cannot win this fight alone, and our friends of the West ought to realize that they cannot do it alone. A community of interest ought to make a community of principle. And 1 am here from the South to tell the people of Nebraska that the people of Georgia are ready t'o pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor that if the West will stand by the South, we will not stop this fight' until we secure the overthrow of class legislation. After the bottom of the ship has been cleaned of her barnacles she will once more walk the waters like a thing of life. [Applause.] I am here to say to the people that we look upon you as brothers. The hatreds of the war have passed away. [Applause.] The dead past with us has buried its dead; a new generation has sprung up to whom the war is nothing but a memory.
Let us in this campaign remember that t'he issue is upon the one side, whether the few shall rule the many, and the few shall monop olize all of the blessings of the soil and of the climate, or whether all the people shall share justly and fairly in that herit'age which a good God gave to all the people. [Applause,] And as against the tyranny and the slavery and the wrong that is on the side repre sented by Hanna and McKinley, may God give the victory to the side of freedom and the right--as represented by Bryan. [Long and continued applause and cheering.]

Summary of Mr. Watson's Speech
At Thomson, July 37, 18OS.
NCE upon a time there was a people wlio were oppressed "and who suffered greatly. It was the MINORITY, and they
lived in the Old Vvorld. This minority had a hard time of it. The king demanded that everybody should believe as he did in politics and religion. Not to do so was treason or heresy both punished by death. "When a member of the minority spoke ont (so that the proof could be had on him), expressing independence in politics and religion, his head was chopped off provided the State took charge of him. If the Church handled the case, the victim not only died, but died amid tortures, broken on the wheel, or pulled to pieces on the rack. If a scrap of paper was found in a mans desk whereon he had written that the people should have a voice in making laws, it was treason, and he was put to death. Thus died Algernon Sydney. The people could not vote, could not choose officers, could not regulate taxes, could not criticise the government. "When wars were made, the people had no voice in going to war but had the fighting to do when it began. They had nothing to do with the taxes except to pay them. To resist an illegal tax was treason and death. Thus died Hampden. Men could be imprisoned without warrant, and kept in jail with out trial. Victims of malice sometimes lay in prison thirty years without Vrial till the prosecutor was dead, and the family of the victim scattered, and all knowledge of the case had passed out of mind. Poor men who could not pay their debts rotted in jail their wives homeless, their children starvlings or criminals. Class legislation cursed the people. The few ruled and monopolized. Free speech was denied, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience and freedom of pretty much everything else, was prohibited. To criticise the government was a criminal act, no matter whether you told the truth or not. The more trulli you told on a bad govern ment, the more it punished you. Defendants arraigned by the king were not allowed lawyers to defend them. Their witnesses were not sent for. Frequently they knew not what the charge was until the trial began. "Wealth was the pet of the law; life its victims. To cut a tree was felony; to shoot a deer or a rabbit was death. Class legislation exempted the few from taxation, and put it upon the unprivileged many. The toil of the masses enriched the Church

172 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
and the State, for these were partners in plundering the poor, under the guise of tithes and taxes.
Great was t,he suffering of th.e minority wb-ich stood out against this tyranny. They struggled desperately to escape it but they could not. The king and the priest were too strong and too subtle. They kept the people divided, and thus ruled them. Finally, Columbus took it into his head that God must have made some other continent
that another world must be hanging around somewhere. He wanted to find it; needed money; begged it from court to court; and got it from the Queen of Spain when everyone else had turned him away. Crossing the trackless seas, in three miserable wooden tubs, he found another world.
"There shall be our home!" cried the minority, with a mighty shout of joy. "Well leave the Old World, with its kings and popes, aristocrats, and class legislation, and we will make us a new home, a new government, ruled by new laws, dedicated to the rights, of common humanity, and based upon the eternal principles of justice."
They left the Old World left lands and houses, friends and kindred, and steered for the New World. Here they planted new institutions whose principles you will see in the Bill of Rights of your State Constitution the same general ideas as are imbedded in the Constitution of the Union. These are the jewels the minority cherisned and came here to preserve.
This gallant minority toolc charge of this continent modestly assuming that God had made it expressly for them, and their in stitutions. They cleaned up the woods, and they cleaned up the red men who were in the woods; with the axe and the spade they con verted the forest into a farm; with the rifle and the rum bottle they converted the Indian into a peaceable corpse. They humbly tnanked God for their success, as white races usually do when they spoil the Egyptians the colored races. They made just laws, made every man as equal before the law as the ruggedness of nature would permit; taxed all alike; extemporized a currency of coon skins, glass beads, fish shells, and paper; hung a few old women who were ugly enough to be taken for witches; and waxed strong, prosperous and happy.
England, the mother country which had driven us out had mani fested considerable interest In holding the chain of title to us, and had fought off other nations which wanted to take us in. This had cost money. England wanted us to pay some of the expenses. We declined. We fought rather than use stamped paper and tariff tea. (We are using both, at this time, in considerable quantities.)
The Revolutionary War followed, England would have whipped us all to hollow, if it had not been for the help we got from vwo nations. Which two were they? France and Spain.
The King of France gave us two hundred and fifty thousand

T.IFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 173
dollars to buy arms, and the King of Spain did likewise. This was only the beginning. They continued to nelp us with money, with ships and with troops. Washington himself had given up hope of success, and declared that he must have help, or fail.
We won. Thirteen little republics were established. Democracy ruled the land. Equality was the watchword. Justice the political religion. Then came the Constitution, the merging of the thirteen republics into one great nation. Then came the power of the Federal Government to enforce taxes which it had not before. Then came the power of the United States to coerce, separate states, -which it had not had before. Then came class legislation, which had not existed before. Then came bonds, banks, tariffs, moneyed aristoc racy, and unjust financing, which had not existed before.
The Government took its first steps backwards in the direction of the evils from which our forefathers had flown.
Attempts were made to arouse the people to a sense of their danger, resulting from this trend of legislation.
Jefferson arose, defeated the Northern and New England money power, and, for a time, checked the victorious career of class legisla tion. He fought the national bank, fought the bonded system, fought the tariff system, fought the internal revenue system, opposed the increase of the army and navy, favored paper money, favored both gold and silver coinage, favored taxes laid on -wealth, and fought with all his strength the English principles which Hamilton was attempting to introduce and which now govern the republic.
After Jeffersons time, the trend of legislation again took the direction he had opposed. The national bank came back, bonds multiplied, tariffs climbed higher and higher, moneyed aristocracy rose in power, and the masses of the Democracy fell.
Again, the people rose against it. Jackson led them, and won. The bank was smashed. The tariff was compromised, and -was to be gradually wiped out. The country paid oS its bonds, got out of debt, and seemed to be looking into the radiance of a glorious future.
Then came war again to free the negro. Two men of New Eng land had gone to Africa to see the negro. One of these Yankees carried a Bible and a hymn book; the other a gun and a rum bottle. Both made converts but the man of the gun and bottle kept far in t-he lead. Many negroes he got, and he sold them over here as slaves. New England was too cold for them: they thrived only in. the South. The North didnt like this, and cultivated its conscience and its bile on the slavery question. You know the result. After the war, came English principles again. Bonds, national banks, con traction of currency, increase of taxes on the many; decrease of taxes on the few, class legislation all along the line. Why did the people stand it?
Politicians kept them divided. Democrats -were inflamed against

174 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Republicans, and Republicans against Democrats, by the agents of Class Legislation, and thus while the masses quarreled over names and dead issues, the moneyed aristocracy fixed the laws as they wished.
At last some of the people realized what was going on. The Greenbacker arose and appealed to the nation. His voice arrested attention. His challenge to debate could not be met. His was a triple armor of the champion whose quarrel is just. Therefore he "was denied a hearing. Politicians reviled him, slandered him, lied about him in the canvass, cheated him at the polls. The paid newspapers covered him with abuse and ridicule. The very people he was fighting for were made to hate him.
Yet, truth being mighty, he continued to wax strong. Force couldnt crush him, and they resorted to fraud and deceit. The two great political parties whose class legislation had cursed the land, pretended to be sorry, promised in their platform to be better Greenbackers than Greenbackers themselves, and some of the Greehack leaders were taken up to the top of a small potato bill and shown a mangy little office, and the contemptible leader was greatly tempted.
Thus by fraud, by deceit", by fusing, the great Greenback party was torn to pieces destroyed. After the elections, the platforms -were forgotten. They had served their purpose. Fusion Greenbackers, indebted to one or the other of two great parties, became the tools of the one or the other, and thus became the tools of those who favored class legislation.
After this, the laws became worse than ever. Taxes and expenses were rapidly increased, and were levied upon labor, upon the masses. Capital paid little or nothing of the Federal taxes. Owning about half the wealth of the nation, the corporations paid no Federal tax. The railroad companies, express, telegraph and insurance companies paid none. The protected manufacturers paid none. The national bankers paid practically none. Wealth, as a rule, was exempt; labor, as a rule, was taxed. Three hundred millions of acres of your public land, intended to furnish homes for the people, were given to rail road corporations. Sixty millions of your tax money was given to the bondholders as a premium on bonds not due. Fifty odd millions were loaned to the national banks without Interest, to be loaned to you with usury. Offices were multiplied unnecessarily; expenses in creased unwisely; class-laws pushed forward beyond all reason. The finances were manipulated in the interest of concentrated wealth: the value of the dollar raised, the value of labor and its produce lowered. Debts and taxes became harder to pay ever more hard. Paper money was almost entirely destroyed, in the interest of those who wished to make money scarcer, dearer, and easier to control.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON. 175
Then the raid was commenced against silver, to leave gold tlie monarch of the market,, and its owners the despots of trade.
Then the Peoples party arose. Once more the principles of our forefathers were proclaimed. Once more, an effort was made to re establish the republic on its original foundations.
Purer motives, nobler aims never thrilled a people than those which moved the men and t*he women who organized the Peoples party. Ridiculed, abused, slandered, we fought on, and we were growing as the storm cloud grows. We couldnt be met in debate. Our case was too plain: our proofs too positive. Newspapers had to close their columns to us. The editor gave his readers slanders not arguments. The politicians gave the people falsehoods not reason. They could howl us down, they could shoot us down, they could count us out they could not meet us in fair debate, and they had sense enough not to try.
We were growing in the South, in the West even in the North, and EJast. To our success one thing was absolutely necessary to steer clear of both the old parties. In the West, we had Republicans to fight; in the South, Democrats. To fuse with either would hurt us in the other sections. In the South we did not fuse: in the West they did. It killed us as a growing party seeking- political power. Not1 only did it stop our growth there, but Populists in the South afterwards imitated the bad example and office seekers in the South traded Populist principles and votes to tne Republicans for office, >ust as in the West the same thing had been done. Thus we fell upon evil ways, and evil days. The old game which tricked the Green backers was renewed with the Populists. Democrats in the South, and Republicans in the West began to steal our clothing. Democratic speakers go abroad, and make Populist speeches. Strip the average silver Democrat of his Populist clothing, and you would leave him shivering in his shirt. You could indict him, for a notorious act of public indecency.
If you ask me how fares it with the Peoples party, I must ask you to divide the question.
If you mean the organization, 1 must answer that it is in a bad way. Democrats control it, through men whom they have bribed, directly or indirectly, to mislead you and betray you. Our national organization is a Democratic organization.
If, on the other hand, yeu mean to ask me, how goes it with the Principles of Populism, I say to yom that they never commanded more respect, never met with the approval of a larger proportion of your fellow citizens, than they do to-day. Necessity is forcing them forward. Class legislation has become so arrogant and oppressive that the masses of the American people are stirring in profound dissatisfaction with it. Money is bossing the legislation of the land and all men realize it. The taxes are put on the many, the favors are

176 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
voted to the few. Corporate greed and lawlessness is adding strength to our railroad plank. The great New York papers are Populist on that question. The railroads there are so tyrannical that they have forced public opinion our way. At an expense of sixteen million dollars, the people of the two cities, New York and Brooklyn, built a magnificent bridge to expedite business and travel for the people- Bribed aldermen have given over this bridge to the rail roads, and these have practically driven the people off their own bridge. Hence the New Yorkers see the wisdom of opening the highways of travel and letting the ownership of public highways remain with the public.
In the State of Georgia they have immensely furthered the free school movement, reforms on the convict system, cleanliness in the public administration, and the stoppage of favoritism. They put a stop to the use of public moneys by the banks without interest. We get two per cent where we got nothing, and I cannot see why they should not pay more than two per cent. Break down the monopoly called "State Depositories," and let all the banks which can offer good securiety compete for the money, and you will get four per cent for it. The newspapers are giving great praise to the free delivery of mail system which is now being extended rapidly, and with increasing benefit to the people. That is a Populist measure: though the newspapers will not say so.
You now have the principle established that judges should be elected by the people. That is a Populist doctrine, pure and simple.
The Peoples party, therefore, has done much. Its mission as an exponent of principle is not yet ended cannot be while there are governmental wrongs to right. Dont you believe that principles die! If God lives, wrong cannot forever rule, nor good principles perish.
Bad men may put force against right, strike it* down, chain it hand and foot, but the shackled giant is yet a giant, and he will strain at those chains, desperately resist those chains, and finally shatter thosa chains, unless the fool is telling the truth when he says, there is no God!
They tell me that force rules the world; that the triumph is to the subtlest at fraud; that the race is to the swift, the battle to the strong.
They repeat to me Napoleons maxim that "God fights on the side of the heavies guns."
Yes, I know all that, but I come back at you and I tell you thai Bonapartes power withered like the mown grass and that St. Helena was his prison at last. 1* tell you that Socrates and Plato outlived Alexander and Cyrus. I tell you that the justice of Roman law yet rules an empire which the scepter of Ctesar never reached. I tell you that the thoughts of the great thinkers have outlived the cannon and swords cf the warriors. Rust-eaten are the big guns of Napoleon*

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 177
rusty his sword; shattered his sCepter, but the empire of Rousseau,, of Target, ever "widens its limits.
Kings could send patriots to the block, but patriotism refused to die. The kings are dust, and the principles of freedom for which the patriots died, bless the freed millions to earth to-day,
Popes could send heretics to the stake, but the burning of Huss was not the burning of truth. Everlastingly vital, the cause of justice sounds her trumpet in every age, and calls to the brave, "Come and fight my battles."
You preach to me in vain when you say that brute force rules the world. I fell you, No; a thousand times. No!
The triumph of force is of the deviI7 vile and degrading and shall perish, when the fires burn out the dross. In all the essentials of victory, in all the real triumph of life, there and hereafter there can be no victory but right no other monarch secure of his throne, and happy in his power. Are the laws of the land just? Do they deal out equal and exact measures to all men?
If so. Populism has no mission out to keep them so. But if the laws are unjust, then Populism has work to do, and will do it. Dont you flatter yourself, legislators, to the classes, that the money question is settled, that the tax question is settled, that the corporation question is settled. You have got them fixed, but not settled. No question ends till the settlement is just. Have you settled these questions right? Populism throws this question at you as a challenge, a glove at your feet, and dares you to pick it up. Have you settled the tax question right? You nave put the burden on tb-e masses, mainly upon the neces saries of life, and labor pays, while capital thrives upon exemption. Your Dingley Bill is no revenue act. It is a monopoly act. It turns over the American market to the protected manufacturer. The for eigner cant sell here, because he cannot add the tariff duty to the price of his goods and find a customer at that figure. Therefore, the government is getting comparatively little from the tariff. Who * does get fatness from it? The protected American, manufacturer, who monopolizes the market inside the tariff wall, carries the price of his goods almost to the point where foreign competition would reach him, stops just short of that point, puts in his pocket all that he gets, robs the people with unreasonable prices, pays the Government. nothing for protecting him, and proves his deep-seated patriotism by sending his surplus products to foreign markets to be sold for less than he makes the home-folks pay. Is that* the way the tax question is to be finally settled? Never in the world. Just as the manufacturers are protected and exempted from Fed-

178 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON.
eral taxation, so are the railroads, express, telegraph and insurance
companies. Can those exemptions stand? Not always if the republic is to
endure. You have settled the money question by allowing nearly four
thousand national bankers the monopoly and sovereign power of issuing and controlling paper money. Can that settlement stand? Never in the world. You have fixed the owner of bonds and the owner of gold as the autocrat of the American world of business.
Can that settlement stand? I tell you, No! Nothing is settled till it is settled right. Forever unsettled is a question settled wrong. It is a settlement built on sand, and the day and the storm will fini it at last, and strew the strand with its wreckage.
Examine this last tax act of the Government, the war revenue act. Whom does it tax? The masses mainly. Whom does it exempt? The classes who are already privileged, mainly.
Do the protected manufacturers pay any of this tax? Not a cent that I can see. They did pay, as a class, under the war revenue act of the sixties. Why dont they pay now, as they did then?
Go ask your Senators and Congressmen. Do the railroads and express companies pay anything under this bill? It would seem from the act that they did pay a trifle, but, ac cording to the New York papers, they do not. The law says the railroads and express companies must affix a stamp to the bill of lading or express receipt. The companies claimed tbat they were to affix the stamps, and the other fellow to pay for it. The Government ruling, according to the papers, was that the shippers must bring the stamp, and the corporations must stick it on. The citizen pays; the corporation licks; the citizen cuts; the corpor ation grunts. Who else is exempt? Bondholders of all sorts, conditions and colors. National bondholders, state bondholders, county bondholders, city bondholders, town bondholders all go into the ark and are saved from the rain. Why should not the holders of the hundreds of millions of crCy bonds help pay the war tax? Can anybody name a reason that wouldnt make a mule blush, or a ward-heeler weep? Under this bill everybodys note must pay tax, excepting the note of the national banker. Hes the only man in the crowd who gets rich on what he owes, and draws interest on his own debt, and yet his notes are too sacred to touch with a tax. And yet these lawmakers hunted around with a microscope for things to tax, and couldnt see as big things as Andrew Carnegies steel works, the cot ton mills of Lowell, the coal mines of Pennsylvania, nor the mines
of silver nor those of precious gold. Neither would they levy a tax on the building and loan associa-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 179
tions the most* ungodly usurers that ever fleeced a brother under the pretense of loving him. Can any sane man tell me why Congress should tax a yearly tenant (or the laborer) when land is rented, and not tax a building and loan association? Why should statesmen tax tobacco, medicine, tooth-powders and hair oil, and not tax holders of municipal bonds? Why should the boyish girls and girlish boys be taxed on chewing gum (the only mental exercise they take) and no tax be pt upon the maufacturer of gunpowder and guns? Under this act you cant swallow a pill, without the aid of a revenue stamp. If the pill doesnt move your liver the stamps will.
When you buy a plaster, the Government is there with its revenue stamp to aid it in raising a blister.
If you want to use a dressing on your head, other than plain soap and water, you must pay a tax to do it. If you "want to oil it or grease it, on goes the stamp. If you havent got your share of hair and want more, yon cant use restoratives without paying war tax to do it.
If you dont like the color of hair which your Maker selected for you at the time He made you, you cant change it until you pay a part of the Spanish War tax.
Who gets the benefit of the war? Those who pay no tax, mostly. The railroads have already made fifty-five million dollars, it is said, by hauling the troops and the equipment. They will make as much more hauling it all back. Do the railroads give the Govern ment cut rates? Not at all. They wont even treat the Government as well as they treat a negro excursion. You know what a negro excursion is. Its a frolic at one end and a funeral at the other.
The excursion gets cut rates, and politicians of the right sort get free passes, but the Government is railroad meat, and they charge full fare and go by the longest route.
Bond-seekers will profit by this war. We howled the buttons oft when Cleveland issued less than three hundred millions of bonds in 1896. We lick our lips and say "well done," when Congress authorizes four hundred millions in 1898. We gave these bond holders sixty million dollars in premiums to call in the bonds, not due, in 1888, and we now issue bonds again to get back that sixty millions and other squandered money. Thats finance, isnt it?
National bankers will profit by this war. The new bonds give them the basis for new banks, and their power is prolonged.
The privileged classes all profit by this war. It takes the attention of the people off economic issues, and perpetuates the unjust system they have put upon us.
Politicians profit by the war. It buries issues they dare not meet. What do the people get out of this war? The fighting and the taxes. The last Congress, directly and indirectly, spent thirteen hundred

180 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
million dollars of your money. You need never expect to see these war taxes abolished. They are here to stay. The navy must be increased, the army will stand at fifty thousand or more, and your annual expenditures will, in my judgement, reach nearly one thous and million dollars. How, then, can the War Revenue Act be re pealed? The Government will need funds which the Dingley act will not furnish. Under this excuse war taxes will last, even when peace returns.
Would that our government had never gone into this war! The Spaniards were not bothering us. They were oppressing the Cubans, just as England oppressed Ireland, Egypt and India; just as France oppressed Siam and Madagascar; just as Turkey oppressed Armenia. It "was none of our business. Our fathers warned us to let Europe alone a.nd attend to our own affairs.
Did we go to war with Spain because a Spaniard sank the Maine? The Declaration of War doesnt say so. We said that Spain had been fighting and starving Cuba long enough, and that it must stop. There is no principle of the law of nations which authorizes us to say this. The Spaniards and Cubans were bushwhacking one another, and killing from three to five men at a battle. We have gone down there and killed more men in three months than they would have killed in thirteen years. 1f they were starving before, who feeds them now? Famine has killed its thousands where, before it slew its hundreds. All honor to our "brave soldiers no man glories in their spunk more than I, but who doubted that Americans would fight? What are we going to get out of this war as a nation? Endless trouble, complications, expense. Republics cannot go into the conquering business and remain republics. Mili tarism leads to military domination, military despotism. -
Imperialism smoothes the way for the emperor. Populists! never doubt that I am with you heart and soul! Your creed waa never dearer to me; your cause more sacredly just. Keep the faith, and feed the fires of your hopes. Your time will come. Wrongs may multiply, but we must not abandon the right. Stand to your principle; stand by your nominees; give Hogan and his ticket your zealous support. A stancher man has never been called to lead you. He did not seek this nomination. It sought him. He is an able man, a pure man, an experienced man, a God-fearing man! stand by him; do your duty as he is doing his. Comrades, it will all come right; it will all come right! Some where in the economy of the universe there is honor for the champ ions of right. Somewhere there is honor for the brave men who will not worship the wrong, who will not cease battling for the right. We found the tree of human liberty planted here when we came into the world; let us see to it that we leave it standing. We found the sacred torch of freedom burning; let us keep it lit, and pass it

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 181
on. Lot tlie sower die,----it must be so; but let him scatter good seed first--then leave the harvest to Time and to God.
As firmly as if my feet were on the rocks, I believe in the final triumph of right----believe that justice will yet rule the earth, believe that the white banners of universal peace shall supplant' the bloodred flags of war. Parties may come and go, force and fraud may rule the day but yet and ever yet, I believe that right shall sit on the throne of the world, and rule the hearts of all men.
The clouds gather, I know, and the storm and the darkness come upon the land. The weaklings perish; the birds of the air fall and flutter and die. But the eagle----he of the ages----strong of wing and dauntless of heart, rises against the storm, beats his way through it, and beyond it, and gives a fierce cry of joy as he bathes his wings in the sunlight above the cloud. Oh, spirit of Populism! Be thou the eagle----to rise against the darkness and the storm, and to live in the sunlight beyond, when the temptest is passed and gone.

On Child Labor
Report, by Josiah Carter. address, Mr. Watson began hi

. Nor would the speaker cast any doubt upon the parity of motive of legislators, or private citizens who antagonize the measure. He cheerfully conceded to them the same honesty of conviction he claimed for himself.
THE BILL.
What does the Houston bill seelt to do, ,nd what are the argu_ ments in its fav --

,

,

. The same conditions which caused it will

ppeerrppeetuuaate it unnleesss thee higgheerr power seps n.

2. It proposes that modern commercialism shall he told in language

it must obey, that our twentieth century civilization will not allow

the children of the land to be thrown into its hopper and ground out

into dividends.

It proposes to declare that modern religiou sentiment and the

enlightened convictions of leading men and women_ will not allow

built up amongst us a system whereby our Christian civilization,

like Saturn of old, devours its own children.

4. It proposes to restore the or

-declared everywhere

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TFIOS. E. WATSON. 183
by the God of nature----a law to which all brute creation conforms, that the parent support t'he tender-aged offspring, and not the tender-aged offspring support the parent.
To allow idle, dissipated, unnatural parents to live in ease at the expense of little children of tender age is to reverse the order of nature and set at naught the law of God. Who objects to the Hous ton bill, and upon what grounds?
ITS OPPONENTS.
The Associated Cotton Mills, through its Republican representa tive, H. C. Hanson, appears before the Georgia legislature, and at the very outset exposes the weakness of his cause by abusing his opponents. In effect, he classes the advocates of the bill under the three heads of fools, fanatics, and demagogues.
This was a fine display of insolence made by a Republican to the Democratic legislature of Georgia!
In whose behalf did Hanson appear? In that of capital? Oh, no. Associated capital never asks any thing for itself. Wearing the same old hypocritical mask which protected capital has worn for a hundred years, Hanson came up here to speak in behalf of labor! Hanson would have us down right in calling us fools if we were capable of believing that in fighting the Houston bill the motive of the associated manufacturers is to prefect labor. Away with silly subterfuge! Hanson was here in the interest of dividends, not children, and he ought to have been brave enough and honest enough to say it. What objections are made by Hanson to the Houston bill? He says it would be class legislation! My God, think of that! The associated factory owners send Han son here to implore the legislature of Georgia not to be guilty of the crime of enacting class legislation! Of all the impudence that ever I saw in all my life, this caps the climax. Who was it that went to the very first Congress which ever con vened and demanded class legislation in his own behalf? The manufacturer. Who is it' that for one hundred years has never let a single Cong ress meet and adjourn without demanding and getting something more in his favor as class legislation? The manufacturer. Who is it that now declares through his national organization, that the American market' belongs to him and he must be protected in his monopoly of it? The manufacturer.

184 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
And yet, Hanson, the handsome Hanson, the wealthy Hanson, the Republican mill-owner Hanson dares to exhibit an unblushing front to the Georgia legislature and to protest against legislation in favor of the helpless children of Georgia, on the ground that such law would be class legislation.
Confound his infernal impudence!
OBJECTIONS URGED.
What other objection does he urge? He says that it would be an interference with private business. The answer is short, sharp and final. "Whenever tlie management of private business results in a public injury the sovereign power of the State must, in the interests of the public, redress that wrong. No man, rich or poor, has got a vested right to so conduct his business as to inflict permanent injury upon the society in which be lives. What else? They say that the farm laborers are having a harder time than factory laborers. If that be true, it does not prove that reformers have gone too far----it would prove, rather, that they have not fully gone far enough. Hanson says that the farming class in Georgia is so pitifully poor that' they flee to factory serfdom to escape the harsher slavery of the farm. Is that true?. If so it were high time that the Georgia Legislature and other legislative bodies were directing their attention to the farms as well as to the factories. I am not here to discuss the agricultural system and situation, myself. I will take what the agent of the mill owners says of it. Their Republican spokesman, Hanson, says that our farming popu lation is reduced to a pitiable condition of hardship and suffering. If this situation be a general one, there must be some deep-seated general cause. What is the cause? Is it laziness, as Hanson would seem to intimate? Surely laziness is not general in Georgia, else we should never have so marvelously increased our crops and our wealth. What, then, is the cause? May it not be the class legislation of our federal government which for a hundred years has been building up manufactures at the expense of commerce and agriculture? May it not "be the system which protects our manufacturer from foreign competition while it compels our fathers and wage-earnera to compete with all the world?

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E, WATSON. 185
May it not be that system of federal taxation which puts the taxes mainly on the necessaries of life, and thus compels a one-horse tenant of the farm, or the common day-Jaborer in the city to pay as much federal tax as Carnegie, or Rockefeller, or Morgan, or Vanderbilt, or Gould?
May it not' be that system of class legislation which compels the wage-earner in the republic to pay federal tax upon his food, his clothing, his household furnishings, his tools and implements of work, when the vastly wealthy insurance companies, express com panies, telegraph companies, national banking companies, railroad companies pay practically no federal tax at all?
If our farmers and wage-earners are in such pitiahle plight, may it not be on account of this very protective system which the manufac turers have for a hundred years been building up----a system under which the American manufacturer now sells his products to foreign people cheaper than our home folks can get them; a system under which competition has been destroyed by the trust; a system in which the cost of living on every farm and in every wage-earner's but' depends absolutely upon the greedy demands of the managers of the despotic trusts?
CRrME AGAINST HUMANITY.
My own convictions are clear. I repeat what I have so often said in years gone by----this building up of one man's industry at the ex pense of another is a crime against humanity and a menace to the true prosperity of the republic. Believing that the protective system has brought us to this pass I would, if I could, reform the entire situation as Great Britiau reformed it----by removing every tariff ex cepting those on luxuries, and establishing free trade.
Manufacturers should not be permitted to take advantage of their own wrong. They have impoverished the farm--for God's sake let them spare the little children of the farm. They have blighted the prosperity of the farmer----don't allow them to blight the youth of the farmer's child.
But while I admit the hardship of farm life, I deny that it is, or ever can be, as hurtful to the child as life in the city.
Even when children under twelve work on the farm, they can only labor for a part of the year. As a rule the child works in the spring, summer and fall. There are healthy, expansive surroundings. There is much rest and recreation. The weather and the crop con ditions do not admit of constant drudgery. There is no deadly grind, of the treadmill, even at its worst. And I will prove the nature of the tree fay the fruit it has borne.
Where are your great and good men whose tender years were spent in the factory?
'Where are they?
13 13

186 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
If life at the loom is so good a thiiig for the boy of ten and eleven and twelve, where are some of the ripened products, who have, day in and day out, in the narrow limits of a building, labored in an at mosphere heavy with the germs of disease and death, in a deafening roar of machinery all day long, and under conditions which stunt the child's development physically, mentally and perhaps morally?
No; farm life is not like that. If your tree of child labor be so good a tree, show me some of the fruits!
You cannot do 1C, and you know you can't. Now look at the farm. Look upon that. tree, and gaze upon its fruits. Who built up Atlanta and made it the pride of the South? Boys who have slaved in the factories at ten years of age? No! a thousand times no. The men who have crowned themselves kings of success and have made Atlanta's name a synonym of pluck and strength, and victory, drank in the heatlh and the inspiration and the courage, which made them great, at the pure fountain of farm life. Instance also: Ben Hill, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Andrew Jackson. What would have become of Alex. Stephens had he been placed at ten years in the poisoned atmosphere of a factory?
ALL ARGUED BEFORE.
Every argument urged against the bill was urged in 1833 in Eng land, when the reformers first interfered in behalf of the men, the women and the children of the coal mines and the factories.
Human greed made the same plea in its own defense that it makes now. The arguments which Hanson makes against Houston are pre cisely the same as those which capitalists made against Lord Ashley.
As those arguments "were swept aside by a Parliament dominated to a large extent by hereditary aristocrats, it is to be devoutly hoped that the same arguments will be swept aside now by a Georgia legis lature not dominated by corporations or hereditary aristocrats, but actuated solely by the desire to so legislate as t'o protect the best interests of the commonwealth.
Major Hanson stated repeatedly in his speech that mill owners did not favor child labor as an "original proposition,"
Then at some time or other the mill owners must have been op posed to child labor.
When was that time? Was it five years ago, or ten, or twenty, or fifty?
If they were opposed to child labor twenty years ago, what were their reasons?
The question is one of principle, and principles do not change. If the factory owners were opposed to child labor as an "original

r

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON. 187
proposition," In God's name tell us why a thing that was wrong in principle then is not wrong now.
Major Hanson said that the reformers had failed "in his time." Assuming that he must be some sixty or seventy years old, I must remind him that the despised reformer has almost changed the face of the "world "in his time." To name the victories of the reformer in the nineteenth century is to give the history of humanity's pro gress- And that march of the people toward higher standards and better conditions has but fairly begun. No Hanson can stop it. No manufacturers' association can stop it. To the extent that its cause is just, its final triumph is assured.
If it be true that our economic conditions are so had that we can not rescue both the young and the old, but must sacrifice one to save the other, I would say:
"Save tne young." 'In the horrible "Passage of the Bersina," when the wreck of the Grand Army of Napoleon was madly crowding the bridges to escape the Russian and Cossack horses, "when camp followers and demoral ized soldiers were desperately struggling for footing on the bridge, a mother was seen crowded off the bridge, sinking into the freezing waters of the river. In her arms, held on high as she sank to her death----was her babe, and after she could no longer speak, those motherly arms, holding aloft her infant to the last, made mute appeal : "Save my child. Let me die if you must, but1 save my child!" Noble humanity speaks always and everywhere the same language. If indeed we have come to such a pass as Hanson says, and cannot rescue both the mother and the child, I am quite certain that every true-hearted motlier would do as the dying mother at the Bereslna did, hold up her babe in her sinking arms and make the heart thrill at her cry: "Save my child!"
[This address was made in response to an invitation from the Georgia Legislature, in 1903. The audience cheered it throughout, and while the Child Labor bill was not passed at' that session it be-~ came a law at the next.]

Watson's Speech of Acceptance
DELIVERED AT COOPER UNION, NEW YORK, AT THE FORMAL
NOTIFICATION OF HIS NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
August 18, 19O4.
|N this era where so many men wear their political "beliefs loosely, in this time when the voter who went to bed a Democrat----having prayed for free silver before closing his eyes----awakes in the morning and finds himself under
the necessity of clothing himself in the irrevocable gold standard,, or of having no Democratic garments to -wear----it is something to be able to say, "I belong to a party "which has never struck its flag, "which "will not desert its creed, which stands to-day just where it stood on the day of its birth, which glories in its principles in the hour of defeat, which believes it has a message to mankind, and a mission to perform, and which will tiever cease the Struggle to restore our government to the Democratic ideal of the wise men, the good men, the great men who framed it." ,, Unless I am entirely mistaken, there was never a time when the plain people of America were so dissatisfied -with the conditions and. the tendencies which prevail. There is unrest, distrust, grave appre hension everywhere. In vain do the subsidized organs of monopoly preach good times, universal prosperity, general content. Deep down in their hearts the masses of the people feel that the reins of power are slipping out of their hands; that those who fill the high places are not so anxiously concerned about the welfare of the common peo ple as they pretend to be. In spite of all that' can be done by a parti san press, the fact cannot be concealed from the eyes of the average citizen that the vast preponderance of all tne wealth produced in this land is transferred by legalized robbery into the hands of a few; that the courts are run in the interest of t*he few; that the law-making power is maintained by the few; and that while both the old political parties pretend to devote themselves to the interests of the common people, they are both financed by Wall Street, both dominated by Wall Street, both the willing and the servile tools of Wall Street.
COFIDENCE GAME BEING PLAYED.
Tell me that the people of this country are resting easy under con ditions like these? Tell me that the confidence game being played upon them by the wily leaders of both the old political parties creates no angry discontent?
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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TI1OS. E. WATSON.
The man who comforts himself with that belief has no conception whatever of the true feelings of the American people. Do you need proof that the masses are ready to rush to the support of any leader who is brave enough to challenge the right: of the corporations to rule this land?
Set how they rallied to W. K. Hearst. Because he had taken sides with the masses, because he was denouncing oppression and plead ing for the rights of the common man, there was from ocean to ocean an upheaval in his favor which astounded the professional politicJans and strained all of the resources of political strategy to defeat that noble-hearted champion of Jeffersonian Democracy.
To every American citizen a question of supreme importance is this: Does the Government still represent the ideals of those who framed it? Is it the Government which the statesman planned, for which t'he orator pleaded, and to establish which the soldier shed his blood? Is it still a government of the people? Does it respond to the will of the people? Is its chief aim the welfare of the people? Is it run in the interest of the great' mass of its citizens? In other words, is it truly a democratic republic?
From the depths of my heart I believe that such a government is what the American people want and mean t'o have. I believe that seventy-five per cent of our citizens are firmly wedded to the old doctrines of popular self-government as they were in the days of Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.
Since human society was organized there has been a constant struggle between two principles of government; one of which, seeks to concentrate power, wealth and privilege in the hands of a class; the other of which strives to have the benefit of the Sfate shared by all alike.
"WEALTH.
At the very beginning of our history the two antagonistic prin ciples clashed. The one was represented by Alexander Hamilton, who had no confidence in the people, no sympathy with the people, but who believed that wealth should be taken into co-partership with the Government, given control of its laws, given command of its policies, and thus the favored few becoming identified with the Government, would give it that kind of strength, which, according to his theory, it needed. Devoted as he was to the English model, utterly scouting t*h idea that the people were capable of selfgovernment, he brought all the powers of his magnificent intellect, and of his indomitable energy, to the introduction of measures to evolve the money aristocracy, which according t'o his ideal, had the right to govern.
On the other hand came Thomas Jefferson proclaiming the prin ciples of Democracy. With the idea of human brotherhood, with a

100 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
perfect faith in the great body of the people, and with a constitution al love of right and justice which made class legislation abhorrent to him, he challenged the doctrines of Hamilton, and struggled to hold the Government' true to the principles of "equal and exact justice to all men."
To-night, fellow-citizens, I ask you to taKe this simple question home to your hearts and your consciences: Which is the party and who is the candidate, that proclaims the principles of Thomas Jeff erson, and goes forth to fight for the masses of the American people? Is it the Republican party? How can any sane man answer, Yes. In form and in spirit it is Hamiltonian.
REPUBLICAN PARTY THE CHAMPION OF TRUSTS.
In purpose and in practice it is Hamiltonian. Every corporate in terest on the continent knows that it" has a champion in the Repub lican party. Every beneficiary of special privilege knows that he has a welcome in the Republican party. Every trust, levying it's tribute upon the millions of homes of the people, feels secure in the organized power of the Republican party.
I have no words of abuse for Theodore Roosevelt. I believe him to be a brave, honest, conscientious man. I give him full credit for having a splendid courage of conviction, but inasmuch as he stands for those governmental principles, which, in my judgment, are hurry ing this republic into a sordid despotism of wealth, I will combat him and his principles as long as there is breath in my body.
How is it with the Democratic party? Our political history has never seen a situation so ludicrous as that which the national Democ racy now holds. I can understand how the citizen can. work for the Republican party and vote its ticket wii'h enthusiastic zeal. If the Republican party represents his ideals of government, then he is justly proud of it, can justly confide in It, for it has stood by its prin ciples through sform as well as sunshine; and no matter how bad you may think its creed is, we are bound to admit that the Republi can party has a creed, is willing to fight for it, is willing to cling to it in defeat, and continue to struggle for it until victory comes again. But why any human being should in the year 1904, vote the national Democratic ticket is something that passes my untutored compre hension.
I understand why the citizen could vote a local Democratic ticket; I can understand how in some cities and in some states that party may be struggling t'o do some distinct thing, which he believes ought to be donq; but in the name of common sense tell me why any sane and sober citizen should in this campaign vote the national Demo cratic ticket.
What principle of Democracy does it stand for? What does it' propose to do for the people, different from what toe Republicans are

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 191
doing? To what point is it directing its line of march, except to the -- Republican camp? Surrounded toy the Wall Street magnates who had financed his campaign for two years, Judge Parker bided his time till the perils of the two-thirds rule were passed; and when it was too late for the convention to retrace its steps----for even the Demo cratic bosses require more than fifteen minutes to turn completely round in----he cracks the "Wall Street whip over the heads of his leaders, and with prompt obedience the great Democratic legions were made to furl their flags and reverse their line of march.
SILVER.
The mass of the Democratic party feel outraged at the way in which their leaders have sold them to Wall Street. I do not believe that1 the six and a half million men who followed Bryan, with cheers on their lips and warm convictions in the hearts, can now be de livered like cattle to the Clevelandites who knifed the ticket or bolted in 1896. I believe that' the great majority of the men who voted for Bryan are men of conviction; I cannot 15ut hope that they will realize that I am fighting their "battle now.
Where are the voters who followed the fortunes of the Democratic standard-bearer in 1896 and in 1900? Were they men of conviction? Did they honestly believe in the principles they professed? I believe that they did. Acting" upon that belief, our party joined hands when the Democrats had adopted our platform, and I myself did yoeman service for Bryan----stumping his own state and helping to give Nebraska's vote to him. To-night I remind the Democratic voters that the People's party stands just where it did then, and if they believed in our principles then they ought to come with us now.
I call upon the six and a half million voters whose political faith was crystalized in the Chicago platform of 1896 and in the Kansas City Platform of 1900, and I ask, What is there in the Democratic platform of 1904 that bids you hope? What is there for you in that platform? What do you get out of it? To what extent does Parker represent you? What' is it that he proposes to do for you? If you believe in Republican doctrines, why vote for Parker? Why not "go the whole hog or none" and vote Jor Roosevelt? By what right do the Democratic leaders undertake to preach and expound to the American people any economic questions? How do we know that they have studied and mastered any of those questions?
Never in the world could it emphasize itself on any issue as it did on the money question from 1896 to the year of 1904. I'f all the writings and all of the speeches which they made against the Re publican party on the money question were put into printed form, and loaded for transportation upon the backs of camels, the caravan would stretch from one end to the other of the great Sahara Desert-
Did they understand the money question? If not, how do we know

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that they understand any other question? In their campaign book of 1896 the Democratic leaders say: "We are unalterably opposed to mono-metallism."
ALL PROPHECIES OF EIGHT YEARS REPUDIATED.
In the famous telegram of 1904 their candidate says, in effect, that lie is unalterably in. favor of mono-metallism. All the literature of eight years is to be destroyed. All of the prophecies of eighl* years Tiave been repudiated. All of the dire calamities which were sched uled to take place if the Republicans carried out their policy on the money question have been put' aside. The great party which pledged itself to the American people as unalterably opposed to mono metallism, has shifted over to the proposition of being irrevocably in favor of the gold standard.
Do the Democratic leaders suppose for one moment that the voters of this country are going to forget the history of the past eight years? Do they imagine for a moment fhat, when they stand, in. the attitude of confessing so colossal a blunder as they made upon the money question, they are going to be trusted on any other question? I again ask: Did they know what they were talking about during those eight years, or were they simply deceiving the American people?
Perhaps they were ignorant upon the money question. If so, how will they go about convincing the voters that they are wiser to-day than they were yesterday? But, perhaps, they know that tiie Re publicans were right and were simply misleading the people. If so, how will they go about satisfying the voter that they are honester to-day than they were yesterday?
It seems to me to be the most amazing piece of effrontery for the Democratic party to go before the American people and proclaim that for eight years they have been wrong and the Republicans have been right' and, at the same time, demand that the crowd whicb- nas been wrong shall be put in the places of those who have been right. It would indeed be a miracle if any such thing would happen, and, so rar as I am concerned, I do not believe it will happen.
Why do I say so? Because I believe that if the gold standard be right, as both of the old parties now say if is, tfae people of the country will give the credit and tb.e support to the men who were brave enough to pioneer its way, fight its battle and win its triumph.
TARIFF.
But we are told the Democratic party has taken a bold stand on the tariff question. It has declared that protection is robbery. If that declaration means anything it certainly means that any protec tion, however small, is dishonest. But they would never dare to say

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that the American people must construe that language to mean what it ordinarily would mean. Even those who claim that1 the words mean "a tariff for revenue only" will tind cold comfort iu the letter of their candidate who declares that, while he would be glad to see a revision of the tariff, he knows that,' he cannot bring it to pass.
To save the trouble of any great doubt upon that great subject,, ne hands in. his capitulation to the Republicans before a single gun. is fired.
The campaign has hardly been opened before the standard bearer of Democracy commences his retreat. Therefore, the great tariff question may be considered as "waived," just as the great money question is "waived."
Let us see what else the National Democratic party presents as an_ issue. In their platform they declare that further legislation isneeded against the trusts. But their candidate, in his speech of acceptance, says we have as much law as we need. For all practical purposes, therefore, the attitude of the National Democrats on the trust question is precisely t'he same as that of the National Repub licans.
And as further proof that the Democratic platform will never cause any loss of sleep to the Havemeyers, the Rockefellers, you have only to remember that in 1892 fhey denounced the trusts and the pro tective tariff, within whose barriers all trusts are formed, in lan guage equally as strong as that used in the platform of 1904; and. when we construe the meaning of t'he platform of 1892 in the light of the admitted infamies of Cleveland's second administration, with its well remembered surrender to the Sugar Trust, the patriotic citizen migut heartily exclaim, "God deliver us from another re demption of Democratic pledges on the subject of the tariff and trusts."
COLONIES.
But we are told that on the question of imperialism there is a dif ference, vital and far-reaching, between the Republicans and the Democrats. Wh at is it ? We have seen that Judge Parker is in favor of granting local self-government to the Philippine Islands when they become prepare'd for it. When will they become pre pared for it? Judge Parker does not stat'e. Will it be four years, forty years, four hundred years? No mortal can tell what the Judge means.
But he certainly does not express the intention to do anything whatever about it during his term, if he should be elected, nor does he specify wherein the Republicans have gone wrong in the manage ment of that question.
Let us presume that Judge Parker, against whose character I would not venture to say a word, for I believe him to be an eminently

194 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON.
worthy man--let' us presume, I say, that Judge Parker, as the cham pion and representative of the great Democratic party, has the cour age of his convictions. If we do presume this, his failure to state wherein he would make any change in the policy which the Repub licans are pursuing in the Philippines, is the most significant bit of silence in all the various and interesting bits of silence to be found in Judge Parker's remarkable speech of acceptance. --- Where does the National Democratic party stand on the labor ques^ tion? Can anybody tell?
We know what its record is. We have not forgotten how, at the call of the Pullman Palace Car Company, a Democratic President in vaded a sovereign State with federal troops., in spite of the protest of its Democratic governor----John P. Altgeld--a better, abler and more patriotic man. than ever Grover Cleveland was.
STATE RIGHTS ARE TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT.
We all remember how the strike of the "workmen whose wages had been cut, was broken 'by the mailbag farce, and the prostitution of the power of the United States army to the service of a greedy and heartless corporation. The Democratic doctrine of State rights was trampled under foot, and, urged on by Olney, Grover Cleveland exercised a power "which Daniel Webster, advising Andrew Jackson, believed could only be exercised by authority of a special act of Congress.
Well might Judge Cooley, the eminent constitutional lawyer, write a letter of congratulantion to Cleveland for having established a new precedent in constitutional law. It was new. And the greatest novelty about it was that the railroad attorney, Olney, was able to force a Democratic President into a position, vastly more undemo cratic than that which Alexander Hamilton and Daniel Webster ha'd ventured to take when a similar crisis occurred in the administration of Washington and Jackson.
They tell ns tiat Judge Parker is a man of judicial temperament---- calm, meditative, circumspect, dispassionate---- and yet in his speech of acceptance he prejudges the laborers of Colorado, assumes as proven the unestablished accusation that union men resorted to dynamite, and thus demonstrated that, if elected President, he "will go into office with his mind made up against the laborers upon one of the most serious and doubtful problems of the day.
Who has supplied Judge Parker with the proofs that the union laborers committed that dynamite outrage? Where has he lis tened to witnesses whose testimony was given under the solemn obli gation of an oath? Surely Judge Parker----eminent jurist and just judge----did not find these men guilty until they had proven them BO? Surely, as a lawyer and a judge, he presumed that even a union laborer, o Colorado----hounded and driven and bull-penned, and ban_

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ished by the Peabody and Bell combine----to be innocent till proven to be guilty?
No. He could not presume innocence in such, a case. He could not give tlie accused th-e benefit of any doubt. Upon the one-sided state ment of their bitterest enemies the Democratic nominee for the Presidency prejudges the cause of the laborers, and gravely declares that to their use of dynamite must be traced the horrible conditions in Colorado.
LABOR.
I am not here to say who is to blame for the lawlessness in that distracted Stat'e. It may have been the Federation, it may have been the Alliance! 1' simply do not know. But this much I do say: the conduct of the legislature of Colorado in refusing to enact the eighthour law after the people had sanctioned and demanded it by ballot, was in its very essence far more destructive to republican govei*nment, far more demoralizing in its influence and tendency than any mere dynamite outrage that ever was known in Colorado.
When corporations can corrupt the law-making power to such an extent, that the will of the people, as legally expressed at the polls, is nullified, then the end of popular government is at hand. It is revolution----nothing less. Judge Parker, while condemning the laborers for the alleged use of dynamite, utters not one word of cen sure against the unscrupulous monopolists who debauched a legis lature into a base betrayal of its trust.
So much for the Democratic platform and for the nominee who stands upon it. Again I ask: What is the issue between Parker and Roosevelt?
The Hon. Henry G. Davis came up to New York soon after his sur- prising nomination for the Vice Presidency, and in the first gush of his exultation told the truth. He declared that the platforms of the two old parties "were almost identical," and that the issues were nar rowed down to a choice of persons. What a pity it was that the politicians got' hold of the old gentleman and inoculated him with the "don't talk" policy which prevails at Esopus!
The two platforms almost identical? Certainly they are. Boiled, down to its real essence, sifted to its real meaning, the Democratic campaign of 1904 is a mere unscrupulous hunt for office. They have no fixed and certain creed. They have no articles of faith by which Democratic loyalty can be tested. A party, like an individual, should seek to build up character. And without convictions there can be no character.
PARKER'S BACKERS DON'T WANT INCOME! TAX.
By convictions I mean essential beliefs which become a man's very life; convictions by the light of which he works; convictions for

196 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
which lie "would die. Has the Democratic party any such character? Can you measure it by a standard like that? Stealing the platform "of the People's party in 1896; stealing that of the Republicans in 1904, how can Democratic leaders now pretend to lead a party based upon convictions ?
I cannot see in the management of the national Democratic party anything on earth except an effort to find out which is the best bait to put on the hook. It is merely a question of catching the voter, and winning office.
A few years ago they were clamoring for the income tax. What has become of that demand? Who told them to drop it? The plain people of America did not. The masses of our people are in favor of sucb a tax, almost unanimously. The corporation kings who are financing the Parker campaign are naturally opposed to the income tax. It has dropped out of sight. By whose orders?
A few years ago the Democartic party went back to its historic position upon the question of national banks, and proclaimed the old doctrine of Jefferson and Andrew Jackson that the government should retain in its own hands the sovereign power to create money.
What has become of that doctrine? What did they mean when they reproclaimed it in 1896? Controlled as they are by Wall Street bankers, they meant in 1896, when they made tne declaration, just what they mean at the present time when they do not make it. They mean to uphold the powers and the privileges and the profits of the national bankers, overwhelming proof of which is to be found in tne fact that when the national banks came to Congress in 1902 asking to be rechartered for a term of twenty years, not,a single Democrat in either House or Senate made an attack upon that system which Thomas Jefferson solemnly declared was of greater hostility to the spirit of republican government than a standing army.
TRUSTS.
You may ask why do I consume more time discussing the D-emo-crats than in speaking of the Republicans. My reply is; It's an easier and quicker job to strike an open enemy right between the eyes than it is to tear off the mask from the face of a pretended friend and show him to be the hypocrite that he is.
The great mass of the people from whom I have entertained the hope of support are in no danger of voting the Republican ticket. They know that the Republican party stands for class legislation. They know that it stands for national banks, corporate wealth and special privilege.
Hence, I have no fear that the people to whom I shall appeal will make any mistake about the Republicans. For I know they will do as I shall do----fight the Republican party with all the power that is in them. But the national Democratic leaders, pretending to be in

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favor of Jeffersoniau. principles, when at heart their purpose is the same as that of the Republicans, hope to mislead those millions of voters who will always be found vtoing for Jeffersonian principles unless they are deceived.
I speak to-night for the Populists--a people who have been rid iculed, misrepresented, villified ia every way known to political war_ fare. The artist with his picture, editors with their pens, book writers and pamphleteers have pursued us with a persistent cruelty which had not been known in this land since the passions of the Civil War died down. Our leaders have been caricatured until they seem to be monstrosities. Our principles have been burlesqued until they appeared to be the vagaries of madmen, headed for chaos.
PLEADS THE CAUSE OF THOSE WHO TOIL.
To-night I shall do what I can to make you understand us better. I do not speak for ta lordly magnates of class legislation. 1 do not speak for those who for one hundred years have stood at the door ways of national legislation begging for special favors. No!
The men whose cause I would plead before the bar of American public opinion are chiefly those who toil in the hundred different fields of industry, and who have never lifted their voices to ask any thing of this government except just laws and honest administration.
They are the men of the mine, the mill, the shop and the fiela. They are the obscure toilers who in time of peace send pulsing through the veins of commerce the rich blood of prosperity. They are the men who in time of war spring into the battle at the tap of the drum and with patient feet follow the march and with fearless heart make the charge upon which is based and builded the world wide fame of your commanders to whom you rear monuments in the open places of your cities. I am not ashamed of these men. You will not find them as a rule housed amid the luxuries and elegancies of life, but as a rule you will find them in the humble walks where men are still earning their daily bread in the sweat of the face.
You will find them in the shop where the anvil rings; in the mill where the spindle hums. You will find them in the wheat fields of the West, "where, as far as the eye can reach, runs the yellow harvest in waves of gold. You will find them on the farm in the South----the dear, old South!----where the cotton blossoms, white and bediamoned with the morning dewdrops, blushes and becomes as pink as the rose under the kisses of the midday sun.. No, I am proud to speak for these men and proud to proclaim their creed.
AMERICAN PUBLIC SHOULD OWN ITS PUBLIC ROADS.
What is it? We say that the great American public should owm its public roads. We say that as long as private corporations use for

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private gains those franchises -which are of a public nature and which were granted to them for public purposes there can never he any escape from the tyranny of the corporation. Their power is too vast to be resisted. With wealth greater than that which belongs to the Government, with a revenue twice as great as that of the Govern ment, with a power to tax persons and property which is greater and swifter than that of the Government----it is simpry a question as to whether the Government shall run the railroads or submit forever to the disgraceful situation in which tb.e railroads run the Government. They can tax the life out of one city to build up another, out of one business to build up another. By secret rehates and discriminations they can destroy any citizen, any business, any city, any State.
Their corrupting influence is felt and seen all the way upward from the to'wn council to the judge on the bench; from th bench to the Senate of the United States, and from the Senate to the Railroad Commissions., whether Stat'e or national.
Almost without exception, the railroads of this republic were paid for by the republic, and not by the corporations -which own them.
In donations of land, of bonds, and of actual cash, the American people have paid for practically every railroad on the continent. And -we have nothing to show for it. We are paying dividends every year on at least five billion dollars of watered stock.
The figures show that in every ten years we pay in freight and pas senger charges an amount equal to the sum total of the actual cost of the roads. Talk about the trusts. The greatest support which the trust system of America has this day is in the railroads. It is only by discriminations, secret rebates, special help and favors that Rockefeller or any other great organizer of the trusts could make his way to the gigantic power which he has established.
LARGER THE INCOME, LARGER THE TAXATION.
By no other methods than by government ownership of the rail roads can you equalize all shippers, all persons, establishing a fair system of exchange, restore public franchises to public uses; take out of politics one of its most corrupting influences; take out of com merce one of its most tyrannical masters, and thus put transportation where the postofflce system is----making it a servant and agent of all the people, doing good where it extends.
Is public ownership of railroads and telegraphs and other public utilities the cry of a mere demagogue? Is it a step toward anarchy and chaos? Is it a subject which can find no room in the domain of legitimate, respectful debate? Gladstone, of England, was in favor of government ownership of railroads, and when he was a member of Sir Robert Peel's cabinet carried through Parliament a law which the corporations managed to render a nullity.

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 199
Brismark, the Iron Chancellor of fesurreefed Germany, was in favor of government ownership; and it was through his leadership that Prussia acquired her railway. Nearly every kingdom in Europe, many of the countries of Asia and Africa have adopted the system and work it with perfect success. And as an American citizen, see ing that Australia and Canada successfully deal with this great prob lem and operate railroads in the interest of all the people, I feel ashamed of the backwardness of our own statesmanship which fears to grapple with that issue.
We are in favor of an income tax. Planting ourselves squarely upon the ground occupied by Thomas Jefferson, we say that the larger the income the larger should be the rates of taxation on that income, to the end thai' vast accumulations should be discouraged, and that the wealth of the country should always be in a process of distribution.
No fairer tax than this can be imposed. It would put the burden of government upon the shoulders of those who are most able to bear it. It would draw the support of the administration from those who derive from it the greatest benefits.
It would throw our pension debt upon that class of men who, dur ing I'he Civil "War, speculated upon the necessities of the country and grew rich while the soldier was in the field.
INCOME TAX.
Declaring itself in favor of a graduateu income tax, the People's party supplements that by saying that there should be no tariff upon the necessaries of life which the poor must have in order to live, Establish an income tax, and you would give the Government a source of revenue independent of the tariff, and thereby pave the way for the reduction of the tremendous burden of taxation which now rests mainly upon the shoulders of the middle and lower classes. At this time, when governmental extravagance squanders every dol lar of the national income, it is idle to prate of tariff revision until they first tell us how they will get the money to run the Government when the tariff revenues have been lowered.
Tne farmer must pay his fax, whether his farm be run at a profit or not. The merchant must pay his tax regardless of whether the net balance of trade be for him or against him. The income tax is levied upon profits only; and there is not an argument to be urged against it that does not reek with the ranfeest selfishness.
Upon the money question we have always stood for the quantitive theory, have always opposed national banks, and have said that the creation of money was a governmental function which should never be surrendered; should never be delegated to any class citizens, but should always be held by the government as one of the great attri butes of sovereignty. We were for free silver upon the general ground that to the extent it v.-as coined it would increase the volume

200 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON.
of the currency. But any other equal amount of currency created by the Government out of any material whatsoever would have suited as well. We stand precisely where Jefferson and Jackson stood- We are for the money of the Constitution, and for the old Democratic doctrine, that it is as easy for the Government to issue its own treasury notes to pass current as money, as it is to issue a bond upon which t'he hanker shall base his note, and use it as money.
1'f Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson considered that one national bank with its comparatively insignificant circulation was of deadly danger to republican institutions, why should it be heresy for us to contend that five t*housand national banks, with a circulation of more than four hundred million dollars, are likewise dangerous to the spirit of republican institutions?
No class of citizens should be allowed to use a governmental function for private profit and reap the enormous gains which tbe bankers now derive from that source. But this view of the subject is almost trivial compared to the tremendous power which the national banks have in expanding and contracting the currency, thus holding the markets of the republic at their mercy and having the power at any time to unsettle values from sea to sea.
GOLD.
This country to-day is in the utmost peril from the money question. In vain do the Democrats waive it; it cannot be waived. The Cleve land ruling, by which coin was held to mean gold, and by which pa per notes were used to get bonds from the Government, is still in fore, and the endless chain only needs another Cleveland at the wind lass. And when we see standing around Judge Parker the same old Cleveland crowd----Olney, German, BeJmont, Carlisle, Lament--the gravity of the situation deepens as we study the faces of that notable collection of patriots. Th discoveries of new methods in treating gold ores, the opening of vast deposits of tbe precious metal in so many different parts of the world illustrated and vindicated the Peo ple's party contention on the subject of the currency rather than dis credited it.
But I beg to call your attention to the fact that no man can tell when these veins will be exhausted, and when this vast increase in our currency will be discontinued. And I warn you now that when that day arrives, contraction, and the frightful results which have always flowed from contraction, will be upon you. The moment the volume of currency ceases to increase, as population and commerce increase, then relative contraction is at once in action; and the in creased^ heed for money not being followed by a greater supply of money, there will be a crash which will make this republic shake from one end of it to the other.
And in this storm that sweeps over the land, as it surely "will do, there will again be heard the cry of suffering man, the suffering

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woman and the suffering child. Why is Judge Parker so assured that the gold standard ig irrevocable? Nothing. In human law and custom is irrevocable----especially if it is wrong. Neither the sanc tions of the Constitution of the United States, the statute law of the land, nor the unbroken national practice of a century were sufficient to make the double standard of gold and silver irrevocable. Why, then, should the single gold standard, which violates the Constitu tion, mocks the statute law and rebels against the precedents of a hundred years, be considered irrevocable?
MANHOOD SHOULD COUNT FOR MORE THAN MONEY.
It seisms to me that a financial system which is based upon a violation of fundamental law which all officials are sworn to obey rests upon a foundation which lacks a good deal of being as stable as the rocks.
If I know myself, I am a Jeffersonian, heart and soul. If I know my party, it is Jeffersonian, through and through. We have the same faith that he had in the principles of human brotherhood and the same horror of any system which robs labor of its just reward, which builds up aristocracy by means of special privilege and which by class legislation brings back with new faces the old foes of the hu man race.
To restore the liberties of the people, the rule of the people, the equality of all men before the law is our purpose. We believe that manhood should count for more than money; that character should outweigh the dollar. Whether he work with brawn or brain, it is the worker who should be monarch of the world.
Not wealth, not birth, not office, but the worker----he who has noble ideals; he who wants to achieve; he who has a message and a mis sion, and looks upon the earth as a room to work in and the blessed sun the light to work by----lie who, clinging to those convictions which become a part of his life, would rather die than make coward ly submission to what he felt to be wrong.
For myself, I do not believe that the present tyranny of the cor poration, the monopoly of the autocracy of wealth, can endure for ever. Some day, some day the American people will rise in their resistless majesty and drive the usurpers from the places they have seized. Some day popular sovereignty will come again and put its foes to rout as it did in the time of Jefferson, as it did in the tima of Jackson.
It may be that this effort of mine to rally and arouse the real Democrats, the real believers in popular government, may come to naught'--but no matter what befalls, I will accept this call, which seems to me to be the call to duty. As fearless John Adams said in the brave days of old, "Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perisb, I give my hand and my heart to this cause."
14 I g

Speech in Nashville, Term.
September, 19O4.
EL.LOW CITIZENS: For the first time since the Civil War, a national party has dared to nominate upon its presidential ticket a man south of Mason and Pixon's line. In this campaign that Southern man, who is proud that he is a
Southern man, in blood and in sentiment, is the only candidate who stands upon a platform Of JefCersonlan, Jacksonian Democracy. [Applause.] And yet, almost without exception, those politicians and editors of the South, who claim to have in their peculiar keeping the word "Democracy," are doing their utmost to misrepresent that candidate, and to grind him down into the mire of defeat. Isn't that a singular situation? If the candidate really be a Southern man, if he really stands upon Democratic principles, has he no right to sympathy and support among his own people of the South?
To-night I beg you to listen to me patiently, while I endeavor to appeal not to your passions, not to your sympathy, but to your reas on----to your judgment. It does seem to me that it is high time that the average man of the South should do some of his own thinking, and should act for himself according to his own light, and not forever obey the crack of the party whip. [Applause.]
WHAT A BALLOT MEANS.
-- Your ballot! What is it? I wonder sometimes if American man hood stops to think what the ballot really represents, and what it is. In tne first place, it represents the triuitiph which champions of pop ular liberty won from tyranny in the years that are gone. The time was when this race of white people had no suctt thing as free speech had no such thing as freedom of the peu, had no such thing as free dom of conscience, had no such thing as freedom of the ballot. How did our people get it? By following the lead of those brave pioneers who unfurled the standard of revolt aganist existing oppressions, against existing tyranny, whether of king or class, and consecrated to the purpose of lifting the common mass of humanity up upon a higher plane of civilization, demanded for the people the right to vote for themselves. [Applause.] Therefore the ballot----the ballot is the trophy--the evidence of victory which the reformer won in the years that are gone; and many a brave man lost his life--lost his life at' the headman's block, or on the battlefield, before that piece of paper came into the hands of the white race. [Applause.] Not only is it a souvenir and sacred heirloom of t'he years that are gone----reminding us forever of the great reformers of the white race who have stood
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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 203
the stress and the storm, and made the fight for the rights of the common people. Not only that, but it is, after you have got it, the weapon, the bloodless weapon with which you defend home and fireside, wife and child, liberty and life from the oppressiveness of those who might, if their encroachments were submitted to, drive you hack again into a condition of class servitude. Eternal vigilance being the price of liberty, the use to which you shall put that wea pon--the bloodless "weapon by which civil liberty is kept after it is won--that weapon with ceaseless vigilance should be used wherever your liberties are at stake, and in such a "way as to preserve the sacred heritage of the past. [Applause.]
WHAT IT CAN ACCOMPLISH.
I hope to God that every man who takes his ballot on tne eighth day of November to cast it, will remember that "through this piece
, ought to be carried on for future generations." [Applause.]
Now, it may be ttoat society will some day evolve a condition in whicn the independent voter will accomplish Ms ends by simply casting his independent ballot. It is sufficient to say that we have not reached that stage yet. Nothing, can be accomplished now with out organization. In polities organization means a political party. What is a political party? The coming together of a body of men who have the same purpose, and who wish to unite their hands and hearts and minds, so that the strength of all may he combined to carry out that common purpose. [Applause.] That is a political party. And with your ballot in your hand you march, citizen of the South, inarch, citizen of Tennessee, with that party which represents your convictions. Otherwise you have done violence to your con science and to those convictions that ought to be sacred to you as life. [Applause. ]
VOTE YOUR CONVICTIONS.
If I were a Republican on principle----if I believed in the declared and practiced principles of the Republican party, I should not hesi tate a moment how to vote. If that platform represented me; if my convictions spoke there; if my purposes were embodied there, I would not hesitate a moment; I would go fearlessly, and march with the ranks of the Republican party, and follow Theodore Roose velt to the very death. Why? Why? Because, he would be my standard bearer. He would be my representative. He would be wanting to do what I would want to do. His purpose would be my purpose. His hope would be my hope. His party would be my party.

204 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
And, this being a free country, I wouldn't hesitate to tell any man "Roosevelt stands for me, I will stand for Roosevelt." That is right. That is common sense. That's courage. That's manliness. That puts the hypocrite to shame. [Applause.]
WHY WE OPPOSE ROOSEVELT TO THE BITTER END.
But, with the convictions which I hold, Roosevelt represents the thing that I would fight from morning to night every opportunity I got, every day of my life from now until the folding of the hands across my breast'. [Great applause.]
Roosevelt stands for those I detest. He stands for principles which, in my judgment, are subverting our republic and making it a sordid despotism of wealth. He stands for governmental policy which puts the dollar above the man, which puts the corporation above the peo ple, which puts the few above the many, which puts the class above the mass.
WHY PARKER'S NOT AS GOOD. AS ROOSEVELT.
But if I believed in Republican principles I could not vote for Judge Parker, although he comes so close to the Republican plat form [Laught'er and applause.] I see no reason why those two eggs might not have been taken out of the same nest. [Laughter.] To me they are two drinks out' of the same jug. [Laughter.] I would vote always for the genuine, original, Simon-pure articles, if that was what I wanted. I don't want the "just as good;" I want the "real thing." Because the "just as good" is always a liar and a hypocrite. [Applause.]
Well, now, let us see. It ought not to be a matter of mere state ment. It ought to be a matter of demonstration. I promised to address your judgment and your reason, not your sympathy, not your passion.
You are told in the South not' to vote for Roosevelt, because he is for Republican principles. And yet Mr. Parker in his speech of acceptance has nowhere had the manhood to tell you wherein he differs from Roosevelt on a single material issue. [Cheers.] Now, that is true! Don't tell me anything about' your platform, because, for instnace, in the tariff plank, you start in with "All protection is a robbery;" and before you get' through, you don't know whether you are for tariff for revenue only, or high protection. You must take your platform construed by your candidate. In other words, his construction of the platform is official, is binding, is conclusive. Not t'his stump speaker; not that stump speaker; not this editor; not that editor; but the man who wants to get your votes; the man who is the official spokesman of his party; the man who is the standardbearer of national Democracy----liis word is conclusive.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TTIOS. E. WATSON. 205
PARKER'S SPEECH DISSECTED.
Now, let us take Judge Paker's acceptation speech, and find, if we can, the difference between him and Theodore Roosevelt. Is it on imperialism? Oh, how this country did ring with imperialism! We went to bed frightened at it; and we got up next morning surprised that it hadn't captured us and carried us off. Imperialism! Terrible things were going to rise up out of the islands of the sea and come in upon us and devour us. Mind you, I wish to God that our Gov ernment had never meddled with a single one of the islands in those distant seas. [Cheers.] But -when I remember tnat the treaty of Paris was concluded at the urgent personal solicitation of W. J. Bryan himself, it looks to me like both the parties are committed to the proposition that the holding of the Philippines is a good thing to do, or at least a necessary evil. Both are committed to it. Now hav ing got them, what are we going to do with them? Roosevelt says, "We will give them self-government whenever they are prepared for it." That's the substance of it. He doesn't set the time, the place, or the manner. Judge Parker, in his speech of acceptance, says: "When they are ready for self-government we will give it to them." [Laughter.] There you've got it! But whether the Pilipinos will get it in advance of Gabriel's trumpet, wuld be a hard thing to say. My own opinion is, that the Philippines will get their independence when the Democratic and Republcan capitalists exploiting them get ready for it, and not before. ^Cheers.] Upon Imperialism there is no difference that you can figure out in plain English between Roose velt and Parker.
WHAT ABOUT THE TRUSTS?
What about the trusts? Mr. Roosevelt says that there are legal trust and illegal trusts; good trusts and bad trusts; criminal trusts and non-criminal trusts and that the criminal trusts must be perse cuted and punished. [Applause.]
The Democratic platform declares that we need legislation, against the trusts. Judge Parker, in his speech of acceptance, said: "No, we don't need any new legislation; the law as it stands' is good enough; all you have got to do is to carry it out." Against whom? When ? And how ? Judge Parker upon that subject is gloriously indefinite, and furnishes no bill of particulars. Therefore on the subject of the trusts there is absolutely no difference that you can state in plain English that the common man can understand.
WITH ROOSEVELT ON THE TARIFF.
Again, on the tariff. Oh, what a tremendous subject the tariff is during the campaign! Robbery of the poor people! It's such a wonder that the poor people have so many friends^^-the day before

206 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
election; and yet they never can get the tariff revised! The Dem ocratic platform says that the tariff must be revised, that all pro tection is a robbery. Mr. Roosevelt, in his speech of acceptance, says that the tariff should be revised from time to time, without saying what time or in what respect the revision should he made. Glorious ly indefinite! The English language has suffered more this year in being used to keep people from saying anything than ever before. [Applause.] Shakespeare used it to say things; Milton used it to say things; Byron used it to say things; Burke, Chatham, O'Connell, Grattan, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jetferson, Andrew Jackson----they all used it to say things and hide things. [Applause.]
Judge Parker says the tariff ought to be revised. Yet he does not say how or when, but he does say, "I won't have that office but four years, even if you give it to me; and in four years I won't be able to do anything to the tariff." Therefore he surrenders in advance, almost before the line of battle is formed. He runs up the "white flag on the tariff question, and absolutely surrenders to the Repub licans.
TAKES THE BACK TRACK ON NATIONAL BANKS.
Let us see what else. The question of national banks figures very much in the Democratic campaign books I have here. The Democrat ic party hitherto has held to the Jacksonian and Jeffersonian doc trine that national banks were of deadly hostility to republican gov ernment, and that they must be abolished; and that the Government must take back to itself the sovereign power to create money and to issue it to the people. Where are they now? Where is that decla ration now? It has been dropped. Roosevelt favors national banks. Parker favors national banks! They are like two black-eyed peas on the question of national banks.
WHY POPULISTS STAND FOR THE INCOME TAX.
Take the income tax. The taxes should be laid upon the rich, but the necessaries of life should go untaxed, to the end that the poverty of the country should not be burdened with the expense of govern ment, but that the wealth of the country should he burdened with the government. Isn't that right? That is good Democracy. There fore Jefferson said, "Put an income tax, not on the poor farmer's farm, which may not produce any income; not on the merchant's store that perhaps is bankrupting him; not upon this advocation, and that, where possibly money is being lost; but put it upon the net incomes, put it on the profits." "Don't take a part of the milk! Take a part of the cream!" Take a part of the net profits, and as the net profits grow larger, let the tax grow larger and larger by geometrical progression. Graduate it according to the size of the in-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON. 207
come, and when the income swells enormously, let the tax swell in proprotion, so as to put back into the general fund where all can get a chance to obtain their share of it, that overplus of which greedy fellows has got more than his share.
Back there in those old campaign books the great Democratic party declared for the principles of Jefferson on the income tax. Where is it now? It isn't in the platform! Mr. Roosevelt is against the income tax, and Judge Parker is against the income tax; a noble pair of brothers fighting the battle of the rich against the poor. [Cheers.]
HOW THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS HAVE LIED.
There is another question, the money question. The Democratic campaign book of '96 said it was the biggest of all the questions---- paramount in importance----head and shoulders, like Saul, above all its fellows in political issues. They declared that they "would, like, Washington in 1776, fight this British policy, and assert the rights of America to maintain the constitutional currency which our fathers had framed, and which we had sworn to support. And they said, "We are not only opposed to the British gold standard but we are unalterably opposed to it." "No matter what else we may change, we won't change on this. No matter what we may fall down on, we won't fall down on this. No matter what apostasy we may make on something else, we won't apostatize on this!" Unalterably op posed to it, because it is British! "It will ruin us; it will destroy the people," said the Democratic platform of '96. And for eight years this country rang with Democratic editorial ink. War! Famine! Pestilence! "Nothing could be worse than the single gold standard!" For eight years that was their cry. Yet one day a lot of representa tives went to St. Louis, with, that cry still ringing like bugle notes all over the country; and, without any new facts developed, the gold standard became monarch of all it surveys, and the little telegram from Judge Parker prostrates the leaders into an abject surrender of this eight-year principle of the great Democratic party of the South and West. [Great cheers. 1
DAVE HILL THE BOSS OF THE KITCHEN.
In 1886, they would not' even allow Dave Hill the compliment of a temporary chairmanship at the Chicago convention. He was nothing! He was nobody! No power! No influence! And yet in 1904 at St. Louis Dave Hill absolutely sliced up all the pie and dictated what each should get, every one, from Bryan down to John Sharp Williams. [Applause and laughter.]
The great' Democratic party is once more under the heels of the Wall Street goldbugs, but who are at heart as much In favor of Re publican principles as Theodore Roosevelt himself. [Cheers.]

208 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
THE "NIGGER." QUESTION.
Oh, but they tell us there's a big difference on the "nigger" ques tion. Ah, that's where they have got us. [L,aught'er.] Negro ques tion! Sometimes I wonder -what on earth the national Democratics would do if it wasn't for the negroes. Wouldn't* they be com pletely lost if they could not fall back on Sambo? What would they have to talk about when they come back home after one of their big surrenders at' a national convention ? Talk about flops! I have heard of one Baptist going over to the Methodists, or one Methodist going over to the Baptists, and so on; but I never have heard of an entire denomination just* floping all at once. [Laughter and ap plause.]
And here at St. Louis it wasn't one Democrat that flopped; it wasn't two Democrats that flopped; it was the whole army that flopped. [Laughter. 1 And I ask of you to-night what reason have they given you for it? Oh,, they say, "We must submit to it, because of the negro question." Weli, now, let us see. It does seem to me that down South we are doing to the negro pretty much everything that we want to do. It looks that way to me. I am one of those men that are not at all afraid of any negro domination in the South. [A voice, "That's right," and cheers.] Never in the world. When it comes to the question of racial integrity, social life, the welfare of Christian civilization, no matter what our party may be,we are brothers all. [Applause.] And the man doesn't live who would more earnestly and actively do all in his power to preserve the absolute integrity of the white race, of the white man's home, and of the white man's civilization than I. [Applause.]
PARKER'S STAND WITH ROOSEVELT ON THE NEGRO QUESTION.
Now, you are asked to vote for Judge Parker because he differs from Roosevelt on the negro question. In what respect does he dif fer? Don't all speak at once! [Laughter.] You may talk about me when I am not here; but I'm here to-night [laughter], in perfect good burner, and in perfect readiness to debate; and I ask you, Mr. Democrat, tell me in plain English wherein you know that Judge Parker differs from Theodore Roosevelt on the negro question. What? What? Nobody knows? Then why vote for him on that question? Why vote against' me, a Southern man, on a supposed differecne between Roosevelt and Parker and the negro question ? [Applause.]
If there is no difference which you can state, and none that he will state, don't you think, Southern people, you might' stand by a Soutnern man, when that Southern man is the only one that is fight ing for Democratic principles? [Prolonged applause and cheers.]

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 209
-- PARKER IS LOCKJAWED ON THE NEGRO QUESTION.
I have told you how I stand on the negro question. He hasn't. Don't you think you might trust me? Blood of your blood; flesh of your flesh; soul wedded to you.r soul in every great national aspira tion! [Cheers.] They say Theodore Roosevelt lunched with Booker Washington. Did they say Judge Parker would not lunch with him? [Laughter and cheers.] Let us talk out now before the election! Let Judge Parker talk! Does he mean to say that he wants the Southern people to vote against Roosevelt, because Roosevelt lunched with Booker Washington, upon the idea that he, Alton B. Parker, would not himself lunch with Booker Washington? Let him staTe it! I challenge him to stat'e it! What else? Negro appointments in the South! Crum at Charleston, for instance! It is not the first we have known about' it, I am sorry to say, or probably the last; but let Judge Parker say whether or not he will refuse to appoint any negro to office in tEe South. Let him speak out' like a man! Do his friends say that he "will not appoint negroes to office in the South? He has got some friends here, hasn't' he? [Laughter.] Is it possible that in as large a crowd as this in Nash ville, Tennessee, a commercial center, Democratic stronghold, regu lar citadel of organized Democratic strength, I have stumbled in on a mass meeting where Judge Parker has not got a single friend? [Laughter and applause.] If not so, let his friends speak out and say -whether or not Judge Parker will refuse to appoint negroes to office in the South.
PARKER STANDS JUST WHERE CLEVELAND STOOD-
Now, let us see. Does Judge Parker himself say that he would not go as far as Grover Cleveland did when Grover Cleveland wrote personal invitations to Fred Douglas, and asked him to participate, on terms of equality, in White House functions? Cleveland did that! And in receiving Douglas in that way he treated this negro as Booker Washington was treated by President Roosevelt. Cleveland did that, and Cleveland says Parker is all right. [Laughter and applause.]
Turn about is fair play. Cleveland having said Parker is all right, Parker wouldn't say that Cleveland was wrong, would he? [Laugh ter.] At a-ny rate he hasn't done it. Now, another thing, in the State of New York----any time you want to go to the State of New York you can see little white girls and boys mixed up in the schoolhouse with little black girls and boys, on terms of perfect social equality, on the same benches, using the same books, and the same appurtenances of the schoolhouses; and at times the white children have negro teachers. xt wasn't long ago that a 'ittle negro boy went from South Carolina to one of these schools up there, and-

210 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
was guyed like new boys are always guyed, and the black South. Carolina nigger pulled out a razor and ran one hundred and fortysix of those New York white children out of the schoolhouse. [Laughter.] That happened in April of this year, and every reporter here will remember naving seen and read that in the New York papers.
Well, now what started that system? Grover Cleveland signed the bill. [Applause.]
Grover Cleveland signed the bill which abolished toe separate negro schools in New York, because up to that time they had been separate. He signed the bill wbich abolished them and put the whites and the blacks together in the childhood stage, the formative stage, where social equality by training of that sort becomes almost compulsory. Crover Cleveland signed it and Alton B. Parker, or "Aulton" B. Parker, whichever way they pronounce it [laughter] it really makes little difference----has never disapproved it', BO far as I know. [Cheers.]
WE WANT TO KIND. WHERE PARKER AND CLEVELAND DIFFER.
I have gone all along down the line, making a calm, dispassionate, fair comparison between the two platforms and the two candidates. Where is the difference? Where is it? The great corporations are pouring in their millions to elect Roosevelt, are they not? You know they are! Why? They expect to get value received. Who is pour ing in the millions for Parker? The great corporations, with Belmont to represent them----Belmont the American agent of the Rothchilds, and l*he Standard Oil crowd. What are those corporations pouring their wealth in Parker's campaign fund for? When a rail road stuffs a judge's pocket with free passes, you know what they expect, don't you? You know they expect something in return. they expect a friendly disposition on the part of the judge, and very frequently it is quite friendly. [Laughter.] When tne Standard Oil Company, and the Rofhchilds combination and Belmont, who manages the Southern railway combine, when these men pour money into Parker's campaign, don't you think they expect something, too? Isn't that common sense? Oh, Southern man, unshackle your brain and think for yourself! [Cheers.]
THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE FOR HONEST DEMOCRATS IS TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE'S PARTY TICKET.
If you are a real Democrat as Jefferson was a Democrat in prin ciple, a Democrat as Jefferson was a Democrat, as Andrew Jackson was a Democrat, as Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, was a Dem-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON, 211
ocrat----you have got to do one of two things, you have sot to put your principles under your foot, or you have got I'o follow tne standards of the People's Party. [Cheers.]
PEOPLE ;5 PARTY PRINCIPLES MADE PLAIN.
. Now, let us see if I can demonstrate that. 1' "won't dodge any issue that I know of. Let me state them to you plainly, because I want you to carry this talk home with you and think about it. What do we stand for briefly? "We stand for that income tax which the Demo crats had in their platform a few years ago, and which they dropped. We always have stood for it. We have never changed from that. It was in our first platform, and by reaffirmance is in our last, and haa been in all others. Isn't that' Democratic? It has the stamp of Jefferson's approval of it! What else? We are in favor of taking the taxes off the necessaries of life which the poor must have to live. That is the idea of putting the burden on the strongest shoulders--the tax on those most able to pay it; getting the revenue from those who get the most out of the Government. We stand for putting the taxes on the luxuries of life, which a man may or may not buy, just as he feels able to buy. But the necessaries of life you have got to have; therefore you are compelled to pay the taxes, and thereby the taxes of this Government, running up now to somewhere in the neigh borhood of eight or ten dollars apiece for every man, woman and child, when it used to be seventy-five cents to a dollar apiece, is laid upon the poverty and the labor of the land instead of upon the capital and the wealth of the land. The People's party says that is not right. That is Jeffersonian Democracy.
WE WANT GOVERNMENT MONEY.
What else? We say that the Government ought to create its own money, and issue it upon equal terms to all people, high and low, rich and poor. The national banks ought not to usurp that sover eign power of Government, to create money, because it gives them the power to expand and contract the currency, run up or run down, prices, thus precipitating panics. That is good Jeffersonian Democ racy, isn't it? Cannot you follow us on It? That isn't running like a wild st'eer, is it? [Laughter.] That is common sense isn't it?
WE WANT GOVERNMENT TRANSPORTATION.
What else? We say that very nation that ever existed and pros pered owned its own channels of trade, it's own highways, its rivers, and its great national highways. We say that every argument that "will convince you that corporations ought not to own the Missis sippi River, will convince you that they ought not to own the Louis ville & Nashville Railroad. [Applause.]

212 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Tnose corporations have a power to tax the people more oppress ively and more exorbitantly than, the Government itself. They can tax the life out of your business, out of your own town. They can tax the life info another man's business, and inito another man's town. They can destroy the cotton industry, the corn industry, the trucker's industry, or the wheat grower's industry. They can build up an enormous combine like t'he Standard Oil Company by secret rebates and discriminations that make competition impossible.
That is a power too great for any private person to exercise. Therefore we say, let the Government, by the exercise of t'he la'w of eminent domain, assess those roads at a fair price, pay for them in low interests bonds, or by money which the Government can cre ate, if it likes, both or either, or part of one and part of the other; and then operate the public roads for the benefit of the public. [Cheers.] Statistics show that practically every railroad in this country was built not by private capital, but by public combinations in lands, stocks and bonds, and sometimes in money. And statistics show that we pay for them over again in freight and passenger rates every ten years. We have been doing that now for more than a generation. Why shouldn't we, the next time we pay for the railroads, have something to show for it, and thus destroy these great builders of the trusts and combines, and equalize one of these vast advantages for tne benefit of the common people?
TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONES SHOULD BE PART OF OUR POSTAL SYSTEM.
Now, another thing; we say in connection with that ought to go telegraphs and telephones, as a part of the postal system. They laugh at it now just as they laughed at the rural free delivery when I first introduced the resolution in Congress in February, 1893. But' in spite of that ridicule, 1' took the position that if the Govern ment sent mail two or three or four times a day to the table of the banker or the merchant in the city at the expense of the Government --carried the mail to him and carried his mail back to the post office----if they did that for the man who was nearest to the post office and could get his mail "with the least trouble, why in the name of God and justice, shouldn't they send mail once a day to a man who had to go farthest' after his mail and lost the most time to get the benefit of it? [Cheers. 3
So the system -was adopted and it is now going all over the land and the very men who opposed it say that it is one of the greatest civilizers of this century.
Now, I haven't time to go, at length, over our paltform pledges, but I mention those specifically Read our entire platform, and you will find that it ie sound all the way through.

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON. 213
DANGER OF FARKER'S ELECTION.
Oh, sovereign people, arouse yourselves to the danger which threatens principles! If Parker is elected, the same corporations that are now ruling this country, will continue to rule it. Changing . the man doesn't change the policy of the Government when one of the candidates won't say wherein he differs from the other. If they make any change, t'hey ought to say it like Jackson said it and like Jefferson said it and fight it out on that line. [Cheers.]
And when they won't dare to say what the issue is, you may just put if down as certain that there is no issue.
A PEOPLE'S PARTY AN ABSOLUTE NEED.
In the latter days of the Roman republic, when it was rushing to its fall, the cry used to be: "There is a party for Ctesar, a party for Pompey, but no party for Rome." To-day there is a party for Roose velt, and one for Parker, but unless we be it, there is none for the people. [Applause. 3 And the People's Party says that there ought not to be two Republican parties; there ought not to be two of them financed and controlled by Wall Street; there ought not to be two of them servants to the corporations. The people are entitled to one and therefore we come to the front with our platform and our argument and we say: "Fellow citizens of the South, for your own sake, listen to us! Liberal Republicans, if you believe in the creed that Lincoln used and believed in, you cannot follow your party now! Bryan Democrats, if you believed as I believe you did, what you have been saying for the last eigE/C years, you have got no home now except with us! [Applause.]
"We are your only shelter. You came to us in '96 and we helped you fight the battle. If we were good enough for you then, we ougtit to be good enough for you now. [Cheers.] You captured us and used us in two campaigns. Let us try and see how it will work to let us capture you and use you in one campaign.
"Let us march together; we will like each other better when we will go shoulder to shoulder, we will understand each other better. We will have unfurled the banner of resistance to these corporation oppressors and we will have a recruiting this year, every vote that you give now as a protest against this twin combination of Roose velt and Parker will encourage the brave man who will bear your standard in 1908. I do not ask to do it. Let my ambition perish, I can but start the movement going until it becomes a grand army that is irresistible. [Cheers.] If you think that Bryan can do it better than I, put him on these principles just as I am on them to night and I will serve as one of his lieutenants. If Bailey, or Tillman, or Carmack, or Williams or any other leader whom you trust can do it better than I, I won't sulk in the tent but will do my dluty

214 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E*. WATSON.
in the ranks as far as I can. But you must understand this, boys, we cannot give up our organization any more." [Many "voices, "No, no, no." Cheers.]
WE ARE THE BOYS WHO MADE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ACT.
^" It was the coal of flre which the People's Party put upon tiie backs of the old Democratic leaders in '96 that made them to begin to move toward Jefferson, and when they thought the party -was dead and the coal of fire was dead, they got back to the old place where they had been, and very many of them----very many of them--consoled themselves for the result of the campaign of 1896 and 19 0 0( by saying: "Well, we did one good thing, anyhow. We billed the People's Party," Is she dead? [Many voices, "No, no, iio."3 No, no, and she is not going to die! [Prolonged cheering.] We did not link our efforts to any temporary issue. We are not bound by the luck of an evanescent notion. Ever since human society has been organized there has been a conflict between the oppressors and the oppressed--the few who wanted too much and the many who -wanted a fair distribution. To-night we stand for the many as against the few. [Cheers.] We stand upon that rock of ages in governmental construction which seeks to uphold the rights of Mm who by class legislation would create himself an aristocrat and a master, [Cheers.] Standing thus, we cannot' die until truth itself dies; cannot die until the insult of liberty dies, but we will gather up strength and march on and as sure as God lives, we have got the best oppor tunity that we ever had. [Cheers.]
In Nebraska, where I opened the campaign, I heard the rebel yell and the band played "Dixie." In New York----think of it----in New York----in New York----I heard the rebel yell and when I spoke of the South, and said"the dear old South," as I did s&y it---- feeling every word of it--that great' audience of Yankees rocked with sympathetic applause and the Yankee band struck up "pixie." [Great applause."] And at St. Louis, the other night, on the World's Fair Grounds again, again, the same spirit brought the same cheers and the same yell when the band struck up "Dixie."
There is the spirit of religious revival in this movement, 1 have seen oid men embrace and cry and laugh over the coming together again of the disordered, disbanded Populists. We had not had a meeting; in Georgia in sis years. To send delegates to Springfield only fifteen men volunteered to go in Atlanta; and the other night, see what had taken place in Nebraska after fifteen days' notice---- after they met in New York, that great, great city was overrun with old heroes of the campaigns of the past, and if you could have seen them shaking hand and hugging one another and thanking God that the revival was on again and the conflict was up again, your hearts would tave been touched and filled by the enthusiasm as mine was. ,f Applause.]

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 215
PROOF AGAINST HATE AND SLANDER.
Let t'he editors rail. They will understand me better some of these days.. [Applause.]
Let the politicians howl and hate me. If they are true to the South, they won't hate me always. Some of these days the idea of the statesmanship that would redeem the South by crushing the tyranny of Wall street and linking our great agricultural section with the great agricultural section of the West----some day that will be the law of Southern policy and we will again have a real Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democratic party.
So with your bright eyes looking into mine and your cheers ring ing in my ears, I go on my way encouraged, inspired with the belief that it is a glorious thing to represent a people like this and I can well afford to leave the harvest to time and to the God who rules us all. [Gre^-t cheering.]

The True Brotherhood of Man
Six Hundred Sit at Union Labor Banquet. Many Old-Time Demo crats and Republicans Attend Gathering in Tom Watson's Honor.
(From the New York American, Thursday, October 6, 1904.)
Mr. "Watson spoke as follows:
HEN Alexander Pope wrote the line, "The proper study of mankind is man," his thought was virtually the same as that which, thousands of years before, had found expression in the Greek adage, "Know thyself."
When i have studied myself I have become acquainted with you. With the master key of sympathy the doors of every human heart are opened. When we laugh over a book we may be sure the writer laughed; when our eyes fill with tears we may be sure that the tears of the author blistered the page as he wrote it.
Victor Hugo declared that there was not a single crime which he might not, at some time, have committed, and Rousseau elab orated into book form the record of his follies, his vices and his crimes. Thus in every age and every way we see the emphasis which nature puts upon, the great mystery of human brotherhood.
Every morning we rush, to devour the newspaper. It has be come a part of our daily bread. Why? It tells us "what men and women are doing, saying, suffering, achieving, all over the world.
At midnight we hear a cry of "Fire!" We leap from comfortaDie beds and rush to the scene where we know that fellow mor tals are in deadly peril. A woman appears at some upper win dow where the smoke pours forth; a child screams in some room where the fire is already licking with its greedy tongue, and a hundred men dash, forward to save the unknown woman, the un known child----simply because it is a woman, simply because it is a child--and in the efforts to save human life display a greater amount and a finer quality of courage than the Old Guard showed at Waterloo.
READ BROTHERHOOD OF MAN.
Walt Whitman in the hospitals was aa true a soldier as any hero who fought with Lee or Grant.
The Red Cross heroine who braves bullets and pestilence to min ister to the wounded and the sick is but another splendid illustra tion of the grand truth that mankind is linked by the family tie.
Whoever admits the fact of the brotherhood of man roust go one
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step farther arid admit that no brotherhood is consistent with in equality or slavery.
If we are brothers, we must recognize equality, we must recog nize liberty. Not equal mentally, physically, morally, we separate ourselves into different groups----social, religious, political----hut the . Government which does not grant equal protection to all, equal justice to all, prostitutes its power, and is false to its mission.
In this land, each of you is clothed by law with an equal voice, an equal right to rule. With your ballot, and through your repre sentatives, you are supposed to govern yourselves. If our system is all that it should be you have but done your duty; you have but proven yourselves worthy of the privileges and powers you inherited from the hero-martyrs of the past. If your system is not what it should be, yours is the fault, for the responsibility was on you, and you had "within your own hands the "weapon with which it was in tended you should forever defend your liberties----the ballot.
Let us briefly glance at some of the features of our system. Let us face the facts. Let us grapple with actual conditions and see what it is that dissatisfies us. Let us know ourselves in the broad est scope of the adage.
WASTE3 BASKET OF HUMANITY.
Is it true or not that millions of human beings among us never have enough to eat----never know what it is to have sufficient warmth and food and raiment and shelter? Is it true that children perish for lack of air? That women stitch their lives out in filthy sweat shops, or are driven by unmerciful poverty into the hopeless caverns of vice? That men toil and moil all the days of their lives at heavy tasks, never knowing what it is to have a rest from the yoke, never out of sight of the yawning pit of pauperism----and are turned out at last, when bent and spent, all broken in mind and heart and body, into the waste basket of humanity, called Potter's Field?
Is it true that the great part of the wealth of this wealthiest land on the globe was made by the toil of the unprivileged millions? With his rifle tne plain citizen of the United States won the land in which we live; with his axe he conquered the forest; "with his spade he reclaimed the marsh; with his plow he made the seed-bag for the harvest; with his trowel, or his saw and plane and hammer, he built your houses; with his pick and his shovel he ripped open the very bowels of the earth and tore out the precious metal hidden there from the foundations of the world. Who can dispute this re cital of the deeds done by the plain common people of the land ? Nobody can do it; nobody tries to do it.
NEVER CREATED ONE DOLLAR.
Where is the greater part of all this wonderful production of wealth which has taken place here for the last one hundred years?
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218 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Who has got it? Not the men whose toil created it. No. Almost entirely it is in the hands of men who never created one dollar of it; almost entirely is in the hands of men who never in all their lives did an honest day's work.
How aid they get it? Mainly by operation of Laws which violate every principle of common sense, common justice, common right. (Jertain men have been granted privileges not enjoyed by others; certain men have been exempted from the burdens of Gov ernment; certain men have been given ttie right to tax their fellow citizens- These unnatural, irresistible and immensely important in equalities in law have, during the long- period of a century been operating silently, consistently and persistently in favor of their beneficiaries at the expense of their victims. There can only be one fault. Those who had the advantage used it----reaping where they had not sown. Those to wliose disadvantage the special privileges had been granted had to bear the loss. Under forms of law their property, the produce of their labor, was annually taken from them and given to those whom the law specially favored.
THE UNJUST LAWS.
What laws are these? 1. Our system of taxation, which burdens the wage-worker, the farmer and the merchant in order that a few mill owners shall enjoy a monopoly of the home market----a monopoly which frees them from the competition of foreign capital in the home market and allows them the luxury of selling their goods in foreign markets cheaper than they do in the home market, and cheaper than the foreign manufacturer can sell in the foreign market. 2. A financial system which allows the national bankers to do business for their private benefit upon the credit of the Government, to use in their private business the funds of the Government without payment of interest, to create and issue the paper currency of the nation at an immense profit, enjoying at the same time the power to absolutely dictate values by the expansion or the contraction of the currency. 3. The land legislation which had either given away to private corporations a heritage which belonged to all the people, or allowed it to become in a great measure monopolized for speculative pur poses. 4. The corporation laws, which have granted sovereign powers to money making combinations, whose sole purpose was selfish gain. They have been granted exemptions from taxation; they have been given the tremendous power to tax every person who wishes to travel, and every package of merchandise which seeks a market. No individual can resist the operation of law. If we violate the la of health, we must pay nature's penalty. So, in a State, any

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LIFE AND SPKEC'HES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 219
law which operates in favor of one man against another, the result will be inevitable. The man in whose favor the law works win grow stronger, the victim weaker. Thus one class becomes great at the expense of another. The favored few become masters and mil lionaires; the unprivileged many becomes subjects and paupers.
FORTUNES BUILT O^N PRIVILEGE.
How could it be otherwise? "When legislation gives to its fav orites something more than tixe common man enjoys, the common man has lost something----some part of his power or his opportunity, or his property. The fact is self-evident. Every fortune in this land, or any other, which has been, built upon privilege is a dishon est fortune. To the extent that it grew out of special favors, it grew at the expense of somebody else. And to the extent that it did this, the law forcibly confiscated one man's goods and gave them to another.
To take from him who made, and give to him who did not make, is one of the worst forms of tyranny. Our own Government has been doing it since the Civil War, with a callous indifference to correct principle----a shameful pandering to wealth-seeking lust---- such as the history of the world rarely presents.
nad the Government governed justly, the probability is that we would never have had a labor question in this young; republic----never a strike, never a lockout, never a Cripple Creek horror, never a Chicago pandemonium. Had legislators in. this country always been true to the Bentham principle of '"the greatest good to the greatest number," had they never set themselves down with cold, deliberate purpose to create a moneyed aristocracy at the expense of the peo ple, i believe----God knows I state my profound belief----that the beg gar in the streets would have continued to be a spectacle to excite astonishment, as Dickens said lie would have been in the streets of Boston some fifty years ago. The frightful tenement house cancer would not now be eating its way into the vitals of social order. The huge army of poverty and despair would not now be marshaled under the black flag of quenchless hatred to the rich and to the sys tem which made them rich.
WHO SHOULD WEAR CROWNS.
The charity of a Louis Pleischmann is a monument to his memory more enduring than brass. Better, infinitely better, for the world that such men as he should wear crowns, if there must needs be crowns, than any king or kaiser known to the world at this day; but the very charity of the good-hearted of New York is an indict ment of the social and political order which created the vagabonds he fed at his door.

220 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
The lunch wagons of a man like W. R. Hears!; the fuel, the cloth ing:, the food with which, that generous young millionaire has kept life and warmth in many a poor outcast in your wonderful city was not more of an evidence of his broad sympathy with the unfortu nate than it was an arraignment of the social and political system whose advance in wealth ana power should be marked with such a frightful waste of human, life.
Poets and painters, novelists and historians, exhaust the powers of vivid expression on Napoleon's retreat from Russia, and Dante's hell contains nothing more horrible than the crossing of the Beresina. It is a thought to appal you that in almost any winter in this land of Christianity, law, order, peace and plenty there occur scenes of horror that equal the crossing: of the Beresina----and with our army of the poor there is an eternal retreat from Russia, -with never a lion-hearted Ney to heat off the Cossack hordes----the hunger and the cold which pierce with lances more cruel, more deadly than those of Platoff's flying squadrons.
A FAILURE OF DUTY.
"Where Government presents pictures like this, Government is not doing- what it ought to do, what it was meant to do. Who is re sponsible for the wrongs which I have described? The People's party is not, for it has never been in power, never had control of Government, never had an opportunity to do that which it professes a purpose to do. If only one of "the two great political parties" has been in power, then the party is responsible and deserves condemna tion. If both of these great parties have alternately been in power, both had the opportunity to correct these abuses, then both the two great political parties are responsible, and both should he con demned.
The Republican party has been in power, and none of us will dis pute its responsibility for the system as we have it. The Democra tic party has also been in full control of every branch of the Gov ernment, and nobody who is impartial and unprejudiced "will deny that it also is responsible. Whatever changes are made when con trol passes from the one party to the other leave the system, with all its abuses, absolutely unaffected hy any material changes. The cry of the People's party to the masses of our country is, "You have tried the Republicans, and you have tried the Democrats, Both parties verbally relieve your burdens before the election; neither of them does anything for you after the election----Trust us awhile! Give the People's party a chance!"
SWALLOWING A PLATFORM.
In this campaign of 1904, Theodore Roosevelt might safely swal low Parker's platform without the slightest fear of an attack of acute

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 221
indigestion, and Parker might take off his shoes and the other things and waltz barefooted all over Roosevelt's platform and be in no danger of running a splinter in his foot.
So far as matured purposes are concerned, so far as foundation principles are concerned, the two old parties are
"Two minds with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one."
The party which I have the honor to represent in this campaign is the only one which stands for Jeffersonian principles; is the only one which wages war upon the principles of the Republican party; is the only one which plainly, distinctly and positively tells the peo ple wherein it differs in essential principles from the party of Roose velt.
I nave done this so fully, so often and so recently, that I need not do so again to-night. Study our creed for yourselves----then vote as your heart, intelligence and conscience direct; we will not fear results. Our appeal is made to reason----not to prejudice or passion. Our argument is based upon facts, upon well-known con ditions; not upon speculations or theories. We are not bound for any Eldorado, any Utopian dreamland, -where all the women are angels and men are things divine. No; our purpose Is more prosaic and practical. We want to keep our feet upon the earth and, dealing with men and women as they are, work out reforms in which every man who is willing to pay the price of working for it shall have a fair share of the wealth of this land.
THE RIGHT TO LABOR.
Every man shall have the right to labor on the earth and make his living out of the common estate, or shall have work for him self, and not for a master, in some other avocation. Every man shall have the equal protection of the law, and no more; equal ad vantages under the law, and no more. In other words, we mean to have legislation recognize the fact that God made the -world for all of us, and not for a few of us. No man shall draw more from the common stock than is represented by the sum-total of his labor or the greater value of his work. Monopoly shall not be allowed to oppress the living and then transmit the wrong and the oppres sion to future generations.
The trust shall not be allowed to dictate the price either of labor or produce, but that price must be fixed by fair competition in the open market, or we must establish cooperation based upon the nat ural law of human brotherhood. The corporation shall be made to surrender its oppressive privileges and to pay its fair proportion of the taxes, have its franchises assessed under the law of eminent

222 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
domain and honest payment made; and its powers exercised afterwar5 by the government for the equal good of us all.
The mill owner shall be made to moderate his appetite for gain. JHe must be made to liberate the children of tender years whose little lives he is grinding up into dividends; he must grant shorter hours of labor; he must increase the safety of those who work for him by the adoption of every life-saving invention and every im proved sanitary regulation. He must recognize the fact that as long as capital is combined labor has the right to unite, and that the struggle of the labor classes to retain in their own hands a greater share of what their hands produce is just as natural and more in accordance with fairness and justice than the efforts of the com bined capitalists to increase t'hose fortunes whose origin was legis lative favoritism and whose existence represents governmental in justice.
SHOULD BE CO-OPERATION
Instead of competition and conflict between labor and capital there should be co-operation and concord. Capital is not to be hated for itself. Lahor produced it; labor is always producing it. As long as each day's product is consumed, and we never have the accumulated surplus called capital, we can never be more than barbarians. The comfortable clothing:, the comfortable houses which every workingman deserves and should have, is not labor. It is capital.
Whatever labor produced last year and has not consumed is capi tal. Why, then, make war upon that which the workman himself created? The labor of the past, stored up and invested, represents the entire visible wealth of the world----excepting the land in its natural state. Without the accumulation of labor into capital there could be no leisure class; therefore, no literature, no fine arts, mone of the music which inspires the world, none of the thought which leads the minds of men to higher ideals; none of the com forts, luxuries and elegancies of life.
I believe in private property. The little girl playing with her doll, fondling it, kissing it, talking childish prattle to it, dressing it and malting it ever more beautiful, If she can, represents the maternal instinct of the human race. The man's instinct for home, a home of his own, is almost as strong, almost as universal. The beasts of the field, the birds of tae air, struggle for what is theirs---- the nest their inarvelous skill and industry built, the caves which they found and appropriated, the bed of leaves or straw or rushes which they made for themselves.
ijet one bird or beast invade the home of another and there is a fight.

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LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON. 223
HOW MAN HAS ADVANCED.
Man's advance from barbarism to civilization can be shown in a series of lightning flashes which, reveal the changes he has made in his home- From the bark hut in the woods to the log cabin in the cleared field, and the mansion in the town, man improves his home as he improves himself. The -whole weight of civilization rests upon the home----its inspiration is the home. Patriotism in its last analysis is the love of home. And you love it for the reason tliat it is your home----yours exclusively; yours to lock the door of and say to all tne world, "Keep out, this is mine; here is my castle, here is the fireside by which I sit, sheltered from the outer storm, with my wife's arm around my neck and my child sitting on my knee. Mine, mine, not Smith's, not Brown's, nor everybody's----but mine, just as my wife is mine and my child is mine."
The party which I represent does not think it can do its work in one day, or in one campaign. It does not delude itself with vain imaginations. But it does say that all reforms must start some where. No matter how small the beginning, if it is right, it is not to be despised. A million acorns may fall to the ground and never produce an oak; but whenever you gaze upon the majestic oak---- the royal tree which has resisted the storms of a hundred years, which shelters the birds of the air amid its boughs and the beasts of the fields beneath Its shade, remember that there was a time when all the life and greatness and beauty were held in the dainty little cup which, nature made for the acorn.
WORK FOR THE FUTURE.
To the remotest regions of the earth have penetrated the organized hosts of Christianity, rearing temples wherever the human family makes a home, and as ages go it' has not been so long since the enor mous energies of Christianity were bound up in the lives of the twelve moneyless, homeless wanaerers of Judea.
Let no man be ashamed of being in the minority. Let him be ashamed only in being in the wrong.
To the extent that we allow our liberties encroached upon, we have been cowards, renegades to principle, recreants to duty. We can restore our government to right principles if we will, but we bave no time to lose.
Liberty, civil liberty as we know it, did not happen by accident. Your ballot, your right to vote, was not picked up in the highway. Every privilege we enjoy has been wrested from the oppressor, cost lives of brave men, h#s ^een drenched with martyr blood. What we call Christian civilization was once the protest of a despised minority, the vision of men who were in advance of their times.
To the ordinary man the rough block of marble, just from the quar_

224 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON:
ry, is a block of marble, and it is nothing more. But the sculptor, looking upon the same rude block, see an angel within the stone, and deftly with his chisel he works and works till that which was in his mind is bodied forth in the stone, and the world possesses an Apollo, a Greek slave, a Venus----"a thing of beauty and a joy for ever," In like manner there can never be good government, wise government, just laws, happy conditions till some statesman con ceives the ideal and works with all his soul and heart and mind to / bring forth into actual existence that which he has conceived.
ON NO TEMPORARY ISSUE.
The People's party has not founded itself upon any temporary issue, any trivial grievance. It has linked its fortunes with the eternal principles of human brotherhood and undying purpose on the part of the people that liberty and equality shall not forever be trodden under foot. No defeats can discourage us. No ridicule or abuse or misrepresentation can daunt us. From the passion and the prejudice of to-day we appeal to the sober second thought of to-morrow. Looking neither to the right nor to the left, we go marching on, proud to battle for the sacred principles of self-gov ernment.
when those who had promised to die for it had deserted? It is an honor to champion a great cause, no matter how heavy the task may be. There is glory in defending the right, no matter how goes the tide of success. There is inspiration in working for the plain people when they cheer you on as they are cheering me.
Jeffersonians! Your flag was pulled down at St. Louis, and you were left without leaders. I have picked up your flag from the ground where it lay, and I call upon you to rally to it. Refuse, and you have done violence to your own sense of right. Refuse and
, overwhelming defeat; restore the rule of the people and bring back to us once more the rule of nobly patriotic men under wise and equitable laws.

Watson's Speech in Chicago
October 1O, 19O4.
Mr. Watson was introduced by Hon. Clarence S. Darrow, who presided over the meeting. He spoke as follows:
ADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MT FELLOW CITIZENS: On the Fourth of July last, when the remnant, the discouraged but indomitable remnant, of the People's party met at the home of Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, and
made its nomination for tbe presidential campaign, the great ma jority of the newspapers and magazines of the country ignored the incident. Half a column "was ready for a baseball game; a full column was ready for a horse race; a whole page -with illustrations was ready for an automobile contest, but the national atcion of the People's party did not rise to the dignity of an item of news. It was not even a joke. To-day that party has its flag flying in almost every State of the nation; its working organization is being felt in three-fourths of the states of the nation. The gatherings of its clans are being seen from the lakes to the gulf and from sea to sea. "Why? Because of its candidate? No. Because of its name? No. Because of the undying principles which it represents, and which no other party represents in this campaign. [Loud applause.]
A BASE AND IGNOBLE SURRENDER AT ST. LOUIS.
The great national Democratic party went down to St. Louis like an army with banners. It had a creed which it dared to proclaim for eight years; real Jeffersonian doctrines. It is true, they stole them from us in 1896, but nevertheless, although they were stolen goods, they were good goods. [Laughter and applause.] For eight years, with the exception of our railroad plank, they had proclaimed tbe soundness of the essential principles of the People's party. For eight years, they had told the American people that those principles were Jeffersonian Democracy applied to modern conditions. For eight years they had champions who dared to go up against the Republican party and fight the principles of that party. [Aplause. ] For eight years the Democratic party was aggressive, with an aggressive creed, an aggressive leader, and when it moved it moved in .lines of battle. L ~oud applause."I It skulked in no ambush. It stood behind no blind. It formed its lines in the open, planted its batteries and gave them the charge of "Forward, march," with out fear, except that of failing to follow the flag. [Applause.] To-njgat, to-night, where are those principles of the Democratic
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226 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON.
party? They had them for eight years; where are they now? They fought plutocracy and Republicanism for eight years; who is fighting it now? The most singular campaign, that the American people has seen since the Civil War presents this as its most peculiar feature that all of the real battle was previous to the nomination, and the skirmish, what little there is of it, takes place after the nomination. [Laughter and applause.]
ALL FORMER METHODS OF CAMPAIGN DISCARDED.
Heretofore in the history of political combat the skirmish line -was what preceded the national conventions. I put it to your intel ligence as thinking- men t'o-night: Why is it, why is it that there was ten times more energy and ten times more money in the Parker campaign previous t'o the St. Louis convention than there has been since ? Isn't it a singular situation ? There was a flglit for the nomination; there has been no fight since. A great line of patriots, editors, politicians, calling themselves Democrats, marched to August Belmont's office in New York City; came forth with bulging pockets, [Laughter3 and in a little while all the country was shouting, "Parker! Parfcer! Parker," a man of whom nobody had heard. [Laughter and applause.] Identified with no great speech, identified with no great measure, identified with no great struggle for Democracy, identified "with no great decision even, and he a judge [laughter] Parker a discovery; [laughter and applause] a regular find [laughter], made by David B Hill and August Belmont in the somnambulism of political necessity. [Laughter and ap plause.] Oh, what a fight there was to nominate Parker. [Laugh ter and applause.] The editors were armed and militant. Politicians were armed and aggressive. The nomination was made. Then you would have supposed, that the real war drum would, have sounded and the batallions would have gotten in line of march up against Roosevelt and the Republican principles. Whereas, a dead silence fell upon the country after that nomination, and the silence still is like a pall over the American people. [Laughter.] No war drum sounds, no bugle blows; no flag floats; no leader says, "Follow me, ana let us fight Roosevelt and the Republican party!" Isn't it queer? Can you explain it?
CORPORATE WEALTH AND TRUST MAGNATES MANAGED THE DEAL.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 22T
lation which suits the corporate interests, which, suits corporate wealth, -which suits that class -which -we generalize under the name of the money power; which suits those influences which we describe in a rough way, as Wall Street. In other words, the beneficiaries, of the system just as we have got it now,, the men whose fortunes have grown upon privileges, the few -who have monopolized the benefits of government and the products of the toil of the millions, the men who have taken the machinery of government and operated it for their own interests and made if simply the instrument of rob bery by wMch they make money out of the pockets of the men. who made it, and put it into the pockets of the men who did not make it. [Loud applause. ] That is the system! That is the system! The Republican party stands for it; Roosevelt stands for it; stands "pat" [Laughter]; defiantly, openly, aggressively, lie stands for it, I am against him all along the line, from a to izzard; from Dan to Beersheba, and from hell to breakfast. [Loud laughter and applause.] If" I could crush the life out of that system to-night with the stamp of my foot, I -would do it, because I am a Jeffersonian Democrat from my head to my feet [Applause] and always have been in book and speech, in deed and vote! Always have been. and, bless God, always shall be. [Applause.!
HONOR FOR A BOLD AND OPEN ANTAGONIST.
Therefore, I say I am against Mr. Roosevelt, but his letter rings with manly frankness and resolution. He does not dodge; he does not straddle; he is not playing -with loaded dice; it is not a con fidence game. He comes square out, tells you, "This is T,'he thing I am for; the situation as you see it; the yoke as you feel it; the injustice as you know it. I am for it! I am for it, and if you elect me that is the thing you are going to continue to get." [Ap plause.] And, as much as I am against him, I can honor the bold and open enemy, as every fighter honors tlie foeman who is worthy "of his steel, and who gives hi in a fair fight in an open field. [Applause.]
A voice: "How about the other fellow?" Mr. Watson: "I am going to treat of the other fellow. [Laughter and applause.! Judged by every principle of political definition, the Republican party is a party that has a creed which unites them all, a purpose which combines their individual strength, a leader who says, "I am ready to fight for this thing because I think it is right." The People's party dares to proclaim its creed; it tells you that it is against Republican principles all along the line; that all these abuses whch we have pointed out in speech and in tract and in book -we are in favor of reforming. "We -want you to restore the Government to the hands of the people and take it out of the-

228 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.

hands of these secret committees, these private office influences, these little gatherings of financiers and little politicians who are fastening upon this great republic the star-chamber methods which are infamous in English history [Applause.]

PARKER A STAR-CHAMBER NOMINEE----THE CANDIDATE OF THE "SYSTEM."

Parker is the nominee of the star-chamber influence. [Applause.]

He represents, not the great body of American Democracy; he

represents the financial committee; the political committee that

meets in the private room, without publicity, without consulting the

people. Deciding upon what they want and what you want, they

build a platform without asking you to help; nominate the candidate

without asking you to help, and then demand you in the name of

party loyalty to come forward and ratify what they have done. [Ap

plause.] Mark you, I say, let us assume that the men who are

in control of the system----I am going to give it that name through

out now, and when I say "system," I mean the Government that we-

have got to-day with all the evils of class legislation; taxes put

upon the middle class and the poor; no income tax to make tlie

rich contribute; no income tax to malie the corporations pay some

thing toward the Government that supports it; no income tax to

discourage the accumulation and concentration of wealth; no Gov

ernment ownership of Government utilities to liberate the people

from the tyranny of the corporations in town and village and city

[loud applause] ; no laws to restore to the Government the right

to create Its own money, issuing it for the benefit of all the people

instead of delegating that power to a special class, national bankers,

who reap $32,000,000 per year profit at your expense by doing

business on your credit instead of theirs [applause], and who enjoy

the vast power and advantage of expanding the currency or con

tracting the currency, unsettling the markets, controlling values,

and thus exercising in their own interests a despotic power that

ought to belong to the Government, and nowhere else [loud ap

plause] ; no laws to allow the people to initiate legislation; to veto

it by reference back to them; to cancel the commission of an officer

who has betrayed his trust; to put imperative mandates upon an

officer who ought to obey the people by the system, to continue just

as it is. Tou know nothing of the law until the time comes whett

you must obey it. Tou will be unable to get rid of the officeholder

for two years, four years or six years, or in the case of a federal

judge, for life. No right to put your hands upon an officer; but

the corporation or the officer himself is allowed to put his will upon

you instead of you putting your will upon him. [Applause.]

:

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 229
BRYAN DEFEATED BY MONEY POWER.
Now let us see. The powers that be, the rulers that we have, the dominant influence, the system, wants to perpetuate its own life. It has one of the parties, the Republican. Now, what else does it want? It naturally wants the other party. [Laughter and ap plause. J It spent from eight to fifteen million dollars to beat the Democratic party when it was led by Bryan. [Applause.] The man "who does not know that for months and months August Belmont was engaged in buying up Democratic editors and Demo cratic politicians and Democratic obligations, does not know enough to get from here to the lake front. [Laughter and applause.] They bought them like sheep in the market; bought them for whatever price would get them, so they got them, because it was cheaper to buy a convention than it was to by a republic. [Loud cheering and applause.]
That is the explanation of why they lost interest in Parker 's nomination after he had gotten it. [Applause.] They do not care whether he is elected or not. As between him and Roosevelt they wouldn't care a snap of a finger. We will get the same things from both, though Alton B. may be a little bit easier and a little quieter than Theodore. [Applause.] No matter which is elected, the system stands as it is. No law will be reformed ; he doesn't even promise to reform, though Cleveland used to promise. [Laugh ter.] They have reached that stage of contempt for the people that they don't even think it necessary that they should go to the trouble and the sin of making promises to break 'em. They make you no promise; they do not tell you they will give you any reform. They do not tell you they will make any difference in the system. No! The "system" has gotten its nominee; has captured both the old parties; has made it sure that no effective opposition can come up against them, as they suppose, and, having captured both the old parties, the "system" can say, "T'eddy and Alton, fight it out, you boys; it doesn't make a bit of difference which whips, the 'system' will be all right." That is the size of it. If Theodore is elected the "system" stands; if Parker is elected the "system" does not fall. [Laughter.] There you have it.
NO MATERIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PARKER AND
ROOSEVELT.
Do you want the system as it stands? Are you in favor of it juat as it is, or are you where you have been for the last eight years? Are you in favor of reformation? Are you in favor of giving the people a hand a*d a voice in the control of their own affairs? If so, tell me where is the issue between Theodore amd Alton B.! Is it imperialism? State me the difference. One says, "I will give

230 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS, E. WATSON.
the Phillippines home rule when they are ready for it"; and the other says, "I will give them self-government -when they are pre pared." Tariff reform? Why, Alton B. says that the Senate will be Republican during the four years, the only four he would talte it, and he could do nothing with it if he would. CLaughter and applause.] On the negro question, where is the difference that they dare to state so that the people will understand it? Only the money question. Judge Parker hastened by telegram to say, that there was no difference.
Oh, what a campaign humbug this is of Parker's! [Laughter and applause.] A campaign against the trusts financed and led by Pat McCarren, the paid lobbyist of the Standard Oil Company; a campaign of financial economy, led by the same old Cleveland crew, who, when they had charge of the Government way back yonder in 1892, ran an increase of the debt of $262,000,000 and had neither Panama nor the Philippines to show for it [laughter] ; had nothing to show for it except the paper parchment upon which they printed the bonds. [Laughter and applause.] A campaign for home rule, and popular self-government, and the rights of labor, led by the very men -who loaned the United States army to the Pullman Palace Car Company to put down a strike of laborers at the point of the bayonet. [Loud cheering and applause.]
Men who are going to be against the corporations and for the people, going to relieve the farmer and the laborer, and who dep utized a cabinet officer from a Democratic cabinet, John G-. Carlisle, to write the sugar schedule against the people, to the extent of millions of dollars, with Havemeyer looking on and directing the job! Hypocrisy! Humbug:! "Why a prohibition campaign led by the whisky trust [loud cheering and laughter]; a fight for the rights of organized labor led by Baer and Peabody, and Bell and Frick; a crusade against gambling led by Richard Canfield of New York and Tom Taggert of Indiana [laughter] would not be a more self-evident humbug and preposterous proposition than that of this campaign against the corporations, cashed and led by the Standard Oil Company, the Sugar Trust, August Belmont and Arthur Gor_ man! [Applause.] Will the people never see? "Will they never rise above party? Will tliey never use their independent thought and act independently like brave men? [Applause. 1 You want the Republican party whipped? Of course you do, but you want its measures whipped as well as its men. You want its principles assailed as well as its personalities.
DUPLICITY AND COWARDICE OP THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS,
The Democratic party for eight years knew how to write a Dem ocratic platform. Had they forgotten when they met at St. Louis? If they wanted t'o write a Democratic platform, why didn't they

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TPIOS. E. WATSON. 231
do it? And, if they had wanted to put up a fight on it, why didn't they do it? Democracy in the past has been led by fighters. It is not led by any fighter to-night. [Laughter.] If you want to whip the Republican party you have got to go up against it and fight it. If you want to fight Roosevelt you have got to go up against him and fight him. It looks very much to me as if Parker is afraid of Roosevelt. [Laughter.] In his letter of defiance Roosevelt throws down glove after glove and says, "Pick it up if you dare." [Ap plause.] To me it is the same as if I saw Roosevelt walk up to Parker with his doubled fist and rub it all under his nose. [Loud cheering and laughter.] Oh, but lie does accept the challenge on one point----the Pension Order No. 78. Parker says: "If I am elected President I will revoke that order, and then I will get Congress to re-enact it."* In other words, "Theodore has done the right thing; he has done the same thing that I would do; he has done the same thing that I will do; but Theodore has done it irregularly and if you "will elect me President I will do it regularly." [Applause.] That kind of national issue belongs to the class of little red horse minnows we used to catch in the branch -when we were boys, on a bent pin with a grubworm bait. They were too small to put on a string, and we threw them back into the branch. [Laughter.] As a national issue it seems to me that that is too small to do anything with except to throw it back into the branch. [Loud laughter and applause.]
Is there nothing else to fight about? Is there no great national wrong for these two giants----if Alton B. is a giant----to grapple with each other about? Talk about a man whipping Roosevelt who goes at him in that way! Why, he will never do it in the world. Judging from what I can see, I am warranted in believeing that Roosevelt could tie both hands behind him a-nd run Parker clean out of the ring by shining his teeth a.t him t [ Prolonged laughter and ap plause.] There should be an anti-Republican party; there should be an anti-Republican candidate, and Parker doesn't fill the bill. Why doesn't he come down? "What good is he doing?
PARKER A "BUFFER" FOR THE SCHEMERS.
I will tell you "what he is doing----he is acting as buffer----a buffer to keep off the real opposition of the movement which I am trying to build up, and which would go up against Roosevelt and fight him at tbe drop of the hat. [Prolonged applause.3 They tell me as a matter of reproach, "You are drawing more votes from Parker than you are from Roosevelt." My answer is: "1'f both of you are going to do the same thing when you get into power, I am as much against one of you as I am against the other. [Applause.] And if you, Judge Parker, are going to do something that Roosevelt did not do, are going to undo something which he did do, be man

232 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
enough to come out and say it now!" That is the idea. [Loud applause.] Until you say it, I have got a right to presume that you will do the, same thing that Roosevelt did, and leave undone the things that he left undone and therefore, so far as I am concerned, you are a pair of Siamese twins [Laughter], and it doesn't mattor to me which one of you is hurt most by my drawing votes. [Ap plause. ] I am willing to take the votes from any source, provided they come to me as a matter of conscience and conviction, and are at heart Jeffersonian Democrats. [Prolonged applause.] Oh, you say, you don't want t'o waste your vote. Waste my vote? Well, if I vote for either one o tnose men and they are doing the same thing, and that is something I do not want done, I have thrown away my vote. [Loud applause.] When I cast my vote "where my heart goes with, it, I have not wasted that vote. [Applause.] When I give it to a man or to a party which fails to represent my innermost con victions, and have done it for fear that I would get with a little crowd, for fear that I wou.a get with a minority, for fear I would not get with the big crowd, I have acted the coward and am not: worthy to be one of the rulers of this country, [Prolonged cheering: and applause.] Let me cast my vote "where my intelligence, my heart and my conscience tells me to cast it, and I have discharged my responsibility. I have reached peace with myself. That is the point! That is the point! [Applause.] I am at peace with myself, and can afford to leave the balance to the God that made me.
AIM TO AROUSE THE AMERICAN CONSCIENCE.
"Oh," they say, "you have got no chance to be elected." Well, whose fault is that? [Laughter.] I can't do all the voting. There are some places where a man can vote a good many different times, I understand. [Laughter.] I have been up against places like that myself, but I cannot vote ror all the American people. No, no. If I have taken the right position and do not get elected, the responsi bility is upon you and not upon me. [Prolonged applause.] If I had remained silent; if I had failed to do what I could to expose this monumental sell-out at oc. Louis; if I had failed to do -what I could to arouse the American heart and conscience, then I would be re sponsible. But having clone my part, having pleaded to the jury the great case which is their own, if they cannot reach a proper verdict the responsibility is with them forever, and not with. me. [Prolonged applause-1 This I know, that there would be no golden harvest of the summer or the autumn unless some man had forethought enough to prepare the ground in the bleak days of winter or spring, and to cast into the earth the seed which matured the harvest. [Applause.] The harvest may forget the sower, but without the sower there would have been no harvest. The loom cannot put forth the fin ished cloth until some steady hand throws the shuttle through. The

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 233
--- BRYAN'S GREATEST BLUNDER MADE AT ST. LOUIS. Oh, I wish to God that at St. LouSs when that telegram came from
Albany and W. J. Bryan was waked up from his bed and carried hack to the convention, I wish that he had not held out his wrists to the handcuffs. [Applause.] I "wish that he had sounded the note of revolt; put the bugle horn of Roderick to his lips and sent the fiery cross from hill and plain and from valley to mountain-top; from sea to sea, from the lakes to the gulf to call the clans of battle. [Prolonged applause ana cheering.! Had he done so, in my honest conviction, he would have walked out of that convention, that "sell out" convention, that' treacherous convention----he would have walked out of there the uncrowned king" of American Democracy. [Loud and prolonged cheering and applause.] I have been all over the South,, and I know that our people are sick and disgusted with the action of the St. Louis convention. I have touched the pulse of the North and I can say the same. Had Bryan unfurled the flag of revolt and called the people to rally to the standard of true Democ racy, every Jeffersonian in this republic, regardless of party affilia tions, would have moved to him, as they did in the days of Jackson, and the cry would have been, "Bryan! Bryan!! BRYAN!!!" and he would have marched onward into the White House. [Prolonged cheering and applause.] Oh, the lost opportunity which comes no more. I wish to God he had seized upon it! I would have been content to have been one of his lieutenants in that kind of a fight. But, bless God, we have got the movement under foot, all the same.
[Loud applause.]
NO PATIENCE WITH SELL-OUTS AND TRIMMERS. While politicians cultivate their regularity, thank God there are some men yet who will cultivate their sense of right. [Applause.] Let some men follow expediency and policy. I am proud to know that among the intelligent men of America there are some yet who will fight for ideas and die for principles. [Applause.] There is life in t'he old land yet, and the politicians who reckon without the American conscience, and the American heart, and the American
16 Is

234 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
sense of right, will find that they have cut the ground from under their own feet. [Applause.] All the people want to know is that leaders are leading who won't sell out, and who are not afraid to fight. Oh, if Parker would come down, "would get out of the way! Great God, who is lie respresenting, anyho^v? [Prolonged laughter and cheering. ]
What does he stand for that Roosevelt does not stand for just as well? [Applause.] Name it! Name it! Not your editors; they're not responsible; their brains have been hashed about so much the last eight years that they don't know their own opinions. Construe your platforms according to the utterances of the candidates. That is the way to do it. That is official. Let Roosevelt tell what the Republican platform stands for, let Parker say what he understands the Democratic platform stands for, and you put Parker right back on the Albany platform, which Bryan said was a "cowardly strad dle." And he said that nobody but an artful dodger could stand on, that sort of a platform, and that a Democratic campaign under those political utterances could not' appeal to the American masses, and that with a meaningless platform and a speechless candidate----observe the harmony [laughter and applause], observe the felicity of that expression, will you ; you see thai* it had been very carefully pre pared in the studio; it reeks of midnight oil and the chisel of Mm who polishes. "A speechless candidate upon a meaningless plat form;" that such a campaign "would commence 'With a foot race and end with a rout----not "riot,' as some of the newspapers had it.
THE AMERICAN VOTERS LOVE A FIGHTER.
Why, you couldn't get any riot out of Parker with, dynamite, [Laughter.] The foot race has begun; anybody can see it. Parker hasn't got a ghost of a show, and you know if. Why should he have? The real Republicans want the genuine thing; the real Democrats want the real thing. Who is it wants Parker and his sort of thing? The American people love a flghter, a man who "writes his convict ions on his forehead and stands by them or falls by them. That is what the American people want. Let Parker get out of the way. Give me the papers that are behind Mm; give me the organization he has got; give me the six and a half million votes that followed Bryan in his fights, and I will promise you this: I won't promise you that I can "whip Theodore, but I "will promise you a fight that will interest you. [Applause. I And a, fight that will so interest him that when he returns home Mistress Roosevelt "will have occasion to inquire: "Teddy, who has been hold of you this time?" [Laughter.]
Ever since the St. Louis convention Democracy has been bowed and bent; humiliated, despondent, despairing; covered over with sackcloth and ashes. Where are the champions who swore t'o defend

r

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON, 235
her? "Where are the belted knights whose swords should have leaped from their scabbards in her defense? Where are they? She has suffered. Her enemies have triumphed over and insulted, her, and those who swore to die rather than surrender have been culti vating their "regularity."
RALLY TO THE STANDARD OF HONEST EFFORT AND PURE POLITICS.
I didn't butt into this situation. CLaughter. ] I am no political I am not here in any individual capacity. I was at my

Speech by Thomas E. Watson
At Newton, N. C., October, 19O4.
Special to the Observer.
DjEWTON, October 3.----TMs reporter has cried wolf so often and has been so free of eulogistic language that he fears it will be impossible to excite or impress the people now that' he has encovmtered the biggest wolf that ever he encoun
tered before, Mr. Thomas B. Watson is not' fairly represented in the pictures of
him. He is not a large man, but of good proportions. He is well groomed and wears his clothes well. His face is full of healthful color. His jaws fit together firmly, and his sensitive red lips are expressive. He has that cut of nostril, thin and shapely, which sometimes means pride and always courage. His brownish yellow hair is thick and shocks over his forehead when he speaks. His eye is large and beautiful, and when he smiles the lower lid comes up and half conceals it.
He stood here to-day and spoke for an hour and a half, extem poraneously, and his language was classic and his thought as clear as sunshine. He is not a strenuous speaker, but' the most persuasive, the most engaging and entertaining that I have ever heard.
"When we were schoolboys," he began, "-we made this speech:
" 'Tall oaks from little acorns grow, Large streams from little fountains flow.* "
He expounded his thought in golden words, and added, by way of illustration, tnat "The great Methodist Church, which has carried its white flag wherever the sun shines, once comprised John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitfield; and the great Baptist Church, the simplicity of whose government and teaching I so much admire, was long confined to the mountain recesses of Italy and Prance, biding its time to shed its light upon the world."
The application will be obvious. John W. Daniel said at the St. Louis convention, "I'm tired of being in the minority." If he waa wrong he might well be tired of it; if his conscience was not clear, he might well be tired of it; >but majorities and minorities----why should a man whose object is truCh and who believes iu. the principles he stands for consider them? -- "Talk about throwing away your vote----the only vote you ever throw away is the vote cast in violation of right."
He said he was appealing to straight-out, middle-of-the-road Pop_
(236)

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TflOS. E. WATSON. 237
he's every inch a man. Now tear me to pieces!" This he said with a smile. "But I think he's wrong from his head to his heels, and I am against him from a to izzard, from Dan to Beersheba.
"But he is an open, bold, defiant antagonist. You know where he is. Tou could find him in the dark. I would that I might find him alone. I might whip him. He might whip me; but when he went1 home his wife would say, 'Teddy, who's had a hold of you?"
He briefly traced the history of the opposing parties, showing how Democracy was outspoken against Republican principles from Jef ferson to Bryan.
JUDGE PARKER. "But now," said he, "When we are in the last quarter of the race, when each jockey is plying the whip on both sides and spurring for life, no man has been able to make Alton B. Parker say where he differs from Roosevelt in principle." "Judge Parker," he said, "is the meekest fighter I ever saw go into the ring. Roosevelt says that when the Phillippines get ready for independent government, he is going to give it to them; Parker says when they are quite prepared for it, they shall haTe it. "Both say they will prosecute Illegal trusts, but they furnish no list of the criminals. Both agree that the tariff needs revision, but wherein, they say not. "Would he ever whip Roosevelt that way? The only way to whip a man is to fight him. You will never whip the Republiacn, party until you get a fighter, for the Republican party is headed by a fighter." The two parties do not differ as to imperialism. We won the Philippines as the spoils of war, and yet Mr. Bryan went to "Wash ington and used his personal influence for the passage of the treaty of Paris, whereby, after having already won the islands we paid twenty million dollars for tTiem. "That is what put imperaUsm on. us." Democratic votes were necessary to its passage. The parties united in it.

238 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.

""*

- THE NEGRO ISSUE.

Mr. Watson dwelt on the race question. His face wore a winning smile. His voice has a subtle duality, suggesting reserve power; and when ne let it fall at his periods, there was something in it so sweet, so persuasive, that you can understand it only when you hear it. It seemed tnat he had extended his personalityy to his audience. While he was discussing straight political topics, making no effort at pathos or eloquence, r saw hundreds of eyes swimming in tears from no other cause than the mental excitement. I never saw people listen in this rapt way before. The little, quiet-mannered man stood there, making a few gestures, not often raising his voice to a high pitch, not a hint of perspiration about him, but his very calmness was the calmness of strength. But I am straying from the negro issue.
"I presume," said he, "that I am in a Democratic stronghold. I am in good humor, and I trust you are. However widely we may differ on other things, on this we are together: we are all white men and we would die for the white man's supremacy."
He woke the house into thunders of applause when he said, "Oh, if I had more time so that I might reach the people, Parker would have to get out of the way, the gold Democrats would rally behind the Republicans, and the great JefEersonlan Democrats behina a man who is not afraid to fight!"
The Democrats, he said, are, as usual, making thunder out of the negro, "If they should wake up some morning and find the negro gone they would feel like the old cow who had lost her cud."
And yet Grover Cleveland, as Governor, signed the bill providing for mixed schools in New York, thus making social equality or ignorance inevitable for the poorer classes. "When I asked Mr. Parteer, through the Associated Press, in papers which he must have seen, whether he would do the same thing, he did not answer and he has not answered yet. When he writes to a negro, how does he head the letter? 'Sir?' No. 'Dear Sir?' No. He heads it 'My---- Dear----Sir,' the words in which one gentleman, one friend, addresses another.
"Mr. Parker is an Eastern Yankee. I am a Southern man." Here Mr. Watson raised his voice to its height, leaned out over the crowd, and the scene was thrilling: "Southern in blood. Southern in an*es_ try, Southern in sentiment and in deathless devotion to the best interests of the South!"
"Why will you vote against a Southern man who tells you flatfootedly before the election that he is with you, and for an Eastern Yankee who will not speak out except to a negro? 'My----Dear----Sir?' I am with you on the race question and I'm a Jeffersonian Democrat from my head to my heels, and if you are a Jeffersonian Democrat

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 239
you must vote for me, or----" The rest of the sentence -was drowned in applause, not so much, I took It, of the sentiment as of the oratory.
THE POPULIST PLATFORM.
After lie set forth the reforms of the "banking system proposed by his party, he continued: "What Jefferson said, what Jackson said, what Bryan said, I say. But the Democrats don't dare say it now---- they have sold out to the national bankers.
"I am preaching the same doctrine t'hat I preached when I used to come to North Carolina to help our venerated chief, L. L. Polk. It fills me with sorrow that he is not here to welcome me. He loved me as a son, and I him. as a father, and with his dying breat'h, in Washington, he blessed me."
During his discussion of the income tax, he said: "Theodore Roosevelt could swallow Parker's platform without batting his eye, and Parker could waltz barefooted over Roosevelt's and never get a splinter in his foot.''
"Let* the people own the railroads," said he. "That's good Jeffersonian Democracy. Henry Clay said, when the first Morse tel egraph wires were being strung, that the Government ought to own the telegraph. The telegraph ought to be a part of the postal system.
"Oh, but you say, 'He's wild.' ^ "When I stood up in Congress and advocated that the mails
should be distributed to the country people, I was laughed at. Now forty thousand men are employed in the rural free delivery of mail, and twenty-six million dollars expended. I have offered to give one thousand dollars--and I'm able to do it, thank God to anyone who will show that I am not the originator of the rural free delivery of mails." He cited the Congressional Record for February 17, 1893.
No one can understand how impressive it was -when he said concluding this subject, "After I had been counted out and was not t'o be a Congressman any more.I--remembered----you; and now, since you have the opportunity, are you going to remember me?"
He said this with his hands outstretched to the people. The beauty of it all was in the way in -which it was said and done. There was not a ripple of applause, but tears were on many a cheek. It was the man's wonderful presence.
That was a splendid flight of oratory on the employment of children in factories. Now the South, with all its chivalry and hu manity, winks at this thing, and the North, protecting its own chil dren by statute, invests i'ts capital in Southern mills where it can employ Southern children, "And we bow down to the Christ Who loved little children, and have been taught to love Him because He cared for the helpless!" --~ He described how the bill to prohibit the employment of children

240 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
in factories was pending before the Georgia legislature; how he was wired to come from Louisiana and speak for its passage.
"I hadn't made a public speecli in six years. It was the first chance I had had to speak a word for humanity. I went as fast as the trains would carry me, and I spoke as best I could. One Republican made a speech against it. And yet a Democratic legislature got right in behind the Republican and followed him as the little pigs follow the big pig to the plum orchard.
REPUBLICANS FINANCING HIM.
~- "Talk about their paying me," he said, coming to the current charge that his campaign is being financed by the Republicans. He bent forward again in that indescribable way and said with empha sis: "If they can pay for such work as l"m doing, they must have lots of money to spend." The applause and laugnter -were tremendous, wb_en, after having led up to it, he said: "There are too many kinds of Democrats. It's like driving a balky team in the sand bed: you can raise any quanti ty of dust, but you can't go anywhere." "After the Populist party had been betrayed by fusion," said he, "just as basely as Christ was betrayed, the Democrats came around to the Populist view. We didn't want to fire on our own flag. "We
didn't want to abandon the field because they had come in, and for that reason the Populists party lay quiet for eight years. But now the Democrats have grone over to the enemy." "We don't need," said he, "two parties that stand for the corpora tions and not for the people. We want a party that will stand for the people, and, by the grace of God, we'll have it!" "The boys are coming back to the flag," he said. In the meeting in New York recently the house was rocked with applause whea he referred to the "dear old South," and the Yankee band played "Dixie."
"And this movement," he concluded, "Will go on until our reforms are put into practice; it will go on until the corrupt partner ship between the two old parties has been, crushed, until the TU>C of the corporation has ended. This movement will stop when we have once more enthroned Jeffersonian Democracy, when popular sover eignty is once more our king, and before the king we will bow in loyal d'evotion as we cry, 'O king, live and rule forever!' "
The scene at the close of the speech was remarkable. The people crowded about Watson to shake his hand, and many of them were crying. There was no reason why they should oe moved, except that it was in the air. I have heard Bryan, Gunsaulus, the Dixons, and other great speakers, but this beat the band. The fragmentary quo tations given here cannot do justice to the speech, and the stenog raphers made a total mess of it.

Speech at the Cotton Convention
In New Orleans, January, 19O5.
Southern Mercury.
F the three thousand, five hundred or more representative cotton producers who met at the Cotton Problem, there was not' one in all that vast assembly who so captivated the people as the Georgia Commoner, Thos. E. Watson. We
clip the following from the New Orleans Times-Democrat of January 28:
"When Mr. Watson was introduced he stepped forward and grace fully sxiggested that he had been invited to speak at eight o'clock and the time now lacked but three minutes of eight thirty. At tnit juncture J. Poole Brown, chairman of the committee who invited Mr. Watson to speak, endeavored to interrupt him.
"Mr. Watson would not grant the floor to Mr. Poole, and t'he con vention cried loudly for the speaker. With adroitly turned sentences Mr. Watson suggested that he relinquish the floor to Captain Hobson, and that he would willingly await until afterwards.
"He resumed his seat, but the convention would not allow him to retire, and after the delegates had worked themselves up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm Mr. Watson arose from his seat and stepped forward. The convention was wholly his during his eloquent address, which is printed below.
"Such an ovation as was accorded Mr, Watson when he completed his oration was never before witnessed, and it is doubt'ful if more demonstrative tokens of admiration and appreciation have ever been accorded a speaker in New Orleans.
"Captain Hobson, who followed, was received with what seemed but slight applause, after the thunderous cheers had subsided, for his predeccessor. Mr. Hobson, the hero of the Merrimae episode, gracefully complimented the effort of Mr. Watson and at once launched into a brilliant discussion of the cotton question from the standpoint of the desirability of trade with China.
"Presenting two contrasting styles of oratory, the Hon. Thos. E. Watson and Capt. Richmond P. Hobson were heard by the cotton convention last night. The demonstration given Mr. Wat'son was overwhelming in its intensity, while but two or three ripples were accorded Mr. Hobson.
"The two men were placed in what may be called an oratorical contest' by a parliamentary slip, which made the time allotted Mr,
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242 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Watson but little more than one-half hour. And Mr. Watson profited by the slip.
"Upon being introduced, Mr. Watson faced his audience, already fired by his appearance, and after paying a graceful tribute to Captain Hobsin, explained the difficulty of both himself and Captain Hobson, speaking in the limited time allotted, and insisting that it would cause embarrassment both to himself and Captain Hobson, he again asked tliat the entire time be given to Captain Hobson.
"This fanned the flame of enthusiasm that had been kindled, and loudly the delegates from every seat In the immense audience clam ored for the Gorgia orator.
" 'Please don't misunderstand me,' said Mr. Watson, 'I have no idea that he would abuse the courtesy. I would listen to his address with more pleasure than you could possibly listen to mine, and when the Captain finishes what 1' know will be a magnificent ora tion, I will then address you without embarrassment to him or to myself. Allow me to do that', please.'
"However, when Mr. Watson resumed his seat, BO loud and in sistent were the calls that he was compelled to again arise. A motion had been introduced whereby his time was unlimited. The ease of the speaker, his clear-sighted statements of his position upon the issues under discussion, and the brilliancy of his power of oratory, gradually worked his audience to that stage of enthusiasm where hats fly in the air and yells supplant shouts.
"The ovation accorded Mr. Watson after he had completed his address bordered closely on pandemonium. Those upon the plat form flocked about him, and others jumped upon the stage to grasp his hand. Not content to see him from the stage, he was urged from the platform and compelled to meander through the hall and receive the homage of the different delegations, while cheer upon cheer was given in his honor.
MR. WATSON'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President, and Fellow Members of the Convention: By way of preliminary, I beg to call your attention to several facts
which are of great importance to us in the study of the situation in which we now find ourselves placed.
1. The annual consumption of coffee is sixteen million bags. Three years ago there was an overproduction of fourteen million bags. The price of coffee is controlled by a trust, just as the price of oil is controlled by the Standard Oil Company. What was the result? with almost twice as much coffee on their hands as the world was able to buy, they not only kept the price from declining, but actually advanced the price three or four cents during the time that the surplus has been on their hands. [Applause.] What has become of the fourteen million bags? The trust retired it from the market

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 243
three years ago, and it is still on hand. They were able to do it. From their standpoint, it was necessary to do it; and they did it.
During the three years which they have held this surplus and advanced the price they have actually compelled the consumers of coffee to pay the old price for the usual crop, and at the same time pay for the surplus, so that it makes no difference to the trust whether they ever market the fourteen million hags or not.
In the advance of price which they were able to demand of the consumer they are compelling him to pay not only for the coffee consumed but for the surplus in their hands, -which has never been sold. [Applause.]
2. I call your attention to another fact: During the year preceding the fight -which the farmers made against the jute bagging trust (in 1888 or '89, as I remember), there was a "corner" on cotton in New Tork. Speculators who had gambled upon the belief that they could deliver spot cotton found that there was no spot cotton to deliver. The bulls had the bears at their mercy, and were press ing their advantage with such remorseless greed that bankruptcy threatened to play havoc in Wall Street.
"What did the "shorts" do? Messages flashed along the cable. Cotton was bought in Liverpool- Steamships came speeding across the ocean, bringing the cotton to New York, where no tariff sched ule compels the importer of raw cotton to pay a prohibitive price for the privilege of bringing in the product.
The "corner" was broken by the bringing in of the spot cotton and the hard pressed speculators saved themselves by reason of the fact that there -was free trade in raw cotton. [Applause.]
3. I call your attention to another fact: For one hundred years the strong arm of the Government has been thrown around the manufacturers of this country, specially protecting them from foreign competition. Thus they have enjoyed a monopoly of the home market and the great mass of the people have been plundered to enrich a favored few.
The pretext for this favoritism has always been that if our man ufacturers were protected against the foreigner we would all share the benefit and that' eventually manufactured goods would be cheaper here than abroad. As a matter of fact, the manufacturers of America are now selling their goods to those foreigners at a lower price than they sell them to us.
Farm Implements, cultivators and harvesters are sold abroad cheaper than our farmers can buy them, and the yellow men of China and Japan can clothe themselves in American-made cotton cloth, at less cost than we Americans can buy the same goods. [Applause.]
4. Again, I call your attention to the fact that there is sufficient circumstantial evidence to prove that last spring the manufacturers

244 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.
and the bear speculators in "Wall Street conspired against the cotton growers of the South. Part of their plan was to incite the farmers to plant for an enormous crop.
Another part of their plan was to purchase no more cotton than was absolutely necessary; thus at once increasing the supply and lessening the demand.
In order to further this conspiracy between tne manufacturers and bear speculators, certain newspapers throughout the South began to urge the farmers to plant for a crop of 12,000,000 bales, assuring them that this crop would bring twelve cents per pound.
They were told that the world needed 12,000,000 bales, and would pay twelve cents for it.- The Government reports stated this in creased acreage to be 20 per cent, but the newspapers which had advised the farmers to plant for 12,000,000 bales were not content with those figures. They published it to the world that the acreage had been increased thirty-three and one-third per cent instead of twenty per cent.
We all know that during the entire fall these newspapers were full of statements which would necessarily bear down the price. They published great, flaring, illustrated advertisements for Theo dore Price, the eold-bloodea, cruel-hearted and utterly unscrupulous gambler, who is now exploiting the misery of the Southern people. Ljreat applause, and cries of "Give it to him!"]
The farmers of this land "were not the originators of the bull movement which carried cotton to seventeen cents. Almost without exception they sold their cotton at eleven or twelve cents, and many of them got a smaller price than that.
it was the speculators in Wall Street who bulled the price of cotton above its true valuation, and it was they who derived the benefit. But in the bear movement of 1904, the movement which the manufacturers conspired to bring about, it was not the spec ulators who were hurt----it was the farmers of the South, who are thus made the plaything, the football, the victim of both the bulls and the bears.
i do not believe that tne manufacturers intended to drive the price down to the present figure. They are themselves in danger of being caught in the trap which they set for the farmers. [Ap plause.]
5. I call your attention to the further fact: The volume of cur rency has expanded; tne output of gold showed an increase of twenty-five per cent for 1904; and that everybody expects the amount of gold to continue to increase. Owing to this, and other causes, the price of everything excepting cotton has gone up, and stayed up, including cotton goods. [Applause.]
What a cruel situation is ours! Nobody says that we have done wrong, yet we suffer as if we had been guilty of some tremendous violation of law.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 245
We have done simply as we ought to have done----made a good crop of a necessary article, an article which all the world wants and which the world could not dispense with. We started out to maKe a good harvest, and because we did make it, we find that we have brought on ourselves a calamity. Because a bountiful repast is spread upon the table we suffer the pangs of starvation.
Millions of people died like flies in Hindoostan some years ago because famine laid upon the land her withering touch.
Russia, in 1892, was fed by the bounty of other nations, because the soil had refused to respond to the plow and the hoe. In Ireland to-day grim hunger prowls through the highways and byways, claiming its victims, because the earth did not bless the husband man. But in the South is no famine. Nature co-operated witTi the industry of man. Soil, weather and toil combined to give us a
, trial allies.
What a predicament we are in! If we make no crop we are ruined; if we make a crop we are ruined. [Laughter.] The old predestination lines fit tke ca ----
"You can and you can't, you will and you won't, Tou are damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."
t Great laughter and applause. ] Why are we reduced to this condition? First, because we are Disorganized, while our competitors are organized. [Applause.] Second, we are devoid of system in the marketing of our product. When the crop is matured it is gathered as fast as busy fingers can pick it, ginned as fast as whirring saws can separate seed and lint, rushed to market as fast as mules and horses and trains can be made to go, and dumped upon the buyer at whatever price he is willing to give. [Applause.] Third, the laws of our country are unjust to us. With tariff barriers, those who would sell us cheaper goods are shut out. Tlius the demand for raw cotton in this country is limited to what our protected mills are willing to consume. Hear me on each of these points briefly. To organize is a vital necessity, and that is a remedy which lies within our grasp. We might as well look the facts in the face. Commerce no longer sails the seas under the white flag of peace. The trust controls commerce, - and the trust flies the black flag of the pirate. Commerce has thus become war----war of the most' pitiless kind.

246 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
The trust shows no mercy. To the hungry, the Meat Trust says: "Pay my price or starve." To those "who to-night shiver in the wintry blasts all over the East and North and West, the Coal Trust says: "Pay my price or freeze." [Applause.]
I do not advise the farmers of the South to form a piratical or predatory combine, but confronted as we are by the organized battalions of the hostile combinations, we would be less than men If we did not make a stand for homes and loved ones. [Applause.]
We must organize. At present the farmer is a lamb among lions. He must arouse himself, develop the strength of combination and be a lion among lions. [Applause.]
Much has been said about cutting down the production of cotton. Why not increase the consumption of cotton?
George McDuffte, the orator of Georgia and Carolina, proclaimed the fact, seventy-odd years ago, that out of every hundred bales of cotton produced in the South, forty bales went to increase the wealth of the Eastern manufacturer.
That statement was true when it was made; it is true now, and will continue to be true as long as the Government discriminates in favor of the manunfacturer against the farmer. Let anyone who will figure the difference between the price which is paid for the raw cotton and the price it brings the manufacturer when it has been woven into cloth, and he will see what it was that Mr. McDuffie
meant. It would be a low estimate to say that the manufacturer receives
thirty-five cents per pound for the cotton when it becomes cloth. Thoughtless people gabble about "over-production." As long as there is a man woman or child on the American con
tinent who suffers because of insufficient clothing, there can be no over-production of cotton. Great applause.]
Use your eyes, and throughout the entire South, yes, even here in New Orleans, the great cotton emporium, you will see men, women and children whose scant and ragged garments do not always hide
their nakedness. [Applause.] Many children throughout' the South do not go to the school or to
church because their parents are unable to supply them with such clothing as will save them from mortification as they mingle with other children, [Applause.]
Consider the enormous use of cotton goods. Think for a moment that from our head to our feet we are clothed in cotton. It furnishes the dress of man, woman and child, the rich, the poor, the white and the black, in the country and in the town. -
Consider how it is used for beds and bedding, how it is used in the dining room, how it is used in cheap carpeting upon the floors, how it is used in rope and in netting and in all bunting and in twine, used for horse collars and back bands and plow lines and well rope, used,

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 247
on the one hand, to take the place of wool and on the other hand to take the place of silk.
A crop of thirteen million bales is not too much for the demands of the American people alone. I say nothing of Canada, which uses cotton and produces none. I Bay nothing of Great Britian, with its population of forty millons, using cotton and producing none, I say nothing of France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany and Russia, with their teeming millions, using cotton and producing almost none.
I say nothing of the far lands of Asia and Africa, all using cotton, but producing nothing like enough for their own needs.
Let us confine the study to the eighty millions who live in the United States. When we consider the vast variety of uses to which cotton goods may be put, you will agree with me that ten dollars' worth per capita is an exceedingly modest allowance for what would be consumed by each individual if he were able to buy as much as he needs. Putting the price at ten cents per pound and fifty dollars per bale, it will be seen that if we allow only ten dollars for each of our own people, it would at once consume a crop of sixteen million bales. [Great applause.]
Why is it that the people who want to buy, and who need to buy, do not do so? Because class legislation has concentrated the wealth of the country in the hands of the few, and has left the unprivileged millions without the means to supply themselves with the neces saries of life. [Applause.]
The tariff protects the manufacturer against foreign competition, giving him the monopoly of the home market; therefore, the con sumption of cotton goods by the American people is limited to those in this country who are fortunate enough to be able to pay the price which the American manufacturer demands.
Suppose you were to put cotton goods on the free list. What would be the immediate result? The cheaper goods of Great Britian and other manufacturing countries would immediately come into the American market. The people who are not able to pay the high prices of the American manufacturer would be . able to pay lower prices of the English manufacturer. Consequently, there would immediately be an increased demand for cotton goods, and it re quires no Solomon to see that an increase in consumption would make a larger market, which would mean a higher price to the farmer. In other words, just as the cotton "corner" of 1888-89 was broken by the bringing to this country of raw cotton from England, so the present situation would at once be relieved by bringing through our ports, free of duty, the cheaper English goods, which, being sold here, would at once boom the price of raw cotton. [Ap plause.]
i have no patience with the man who contends that our cotton mills, after a hundred years of dandling on the knees of the Gov-

248 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TI1OS. E. WATSON.
ernment, cannot" now stand alone. The English mills have no Gov ernment protection. The English manufacturer has to pay ocean freight, ocean insurance and the commissions of the buyers; there, fore, he is at a great disadvantage "when compared to the American manufacturer, who can get the cotton at his own door.
If the American manufacturer cannot now stand on the same footing as the English manufacturer, he ought to be ashamed to admit the fact. For one hundred years he has been a beggar, asking special favors of the Government, which, has heaped benefits upon him at the expense of others. The farmer has never asked anything of the Government except a free field and fair fight. [Great Ap plause.]
What must we do to be saved? After all it comes to that. What must we do to escape from the horrors of having produced too much of a good thing? [Laughter and applause,] -- ]. We must arrange to remove from I'he market the present sur plus of cotton. [Applause.] 2. We must organize ourselves into a defensive alliance. The trust is an invention of the devil, but in this case we must fight tn e devil with fire. [Cheers.] 3. We must regulate the future supply of cotton to the market demands. [Ap plause.] 4. We must work with might and main to have manu factured goods put upon the free list, in order that the outrageous robbery of the producer in the interest of the manufacturer shall be stopped.. 5. Above all things, at the present time, we must Siold on to our cotton. [Applause.} We must stand pat. [Great laugh ter and applause.] Let the other fellow pay. [Laughter and ap plause.] They tell you that spot cotton is being sold in Wall Street. Not a "word of it is true. Cotton is not being sold in Wall Street or anywhere else. What. they are selling in New York is hot air. [Laughter and applause.]
This fictitious cotton----cotton futures----sooner or later will play out. [Applause.] The mills can't run on cotton futures. [Great applause.]
The railroads won't get rich hauling cotton futures. [Applause.] Even tne speculators cannot continue always to settle their differ ences with cotton futures. [Applause.] Sooner or later spot cotton will assert itself, proclaim itself "Mon arch of all it surveys." [Applause.] "Cotton futures" has usurped the crown, arrayed itself in royal robes and mounted the throne, from whence it rules the markets with a rod of iron. But "cotton futures" s not king. Spot cotton is king, and will always be king as long as we are true to it. [Cheers.] You have got spot cotton. Hold on to it. [Cheers.] Bull the market with it. Turn a deaf ear to those insidious men who would persuade you to lend them your cotton, promising to pay you whatever advanced price cotton may bring during the season.

r

LIFE AND SPKKCIJKS OF THOS. E* WATSON. 249

If you listen to this treacherous plea and throw your cotton into the

hands of those who want it, the price will never advance, hut will,

in all probability, sink to five cents.

"What do they do in Wall Street? They sell futures at below seven

cents----futures for February, March, April, May. What do they

mean? They simply bet that spot cotton will fall to that low price

during these months.

If you sell your cotton during this depression, they" win their bet.

If you do not sell, they Jose the game.

Hold on to your cotton, and sooner or later the man who has

contracted to deliver spot cotton will have to come across and pay

your price to get it. [Applause.]

But I say to you that you will need all your courage i* this strug

gle. I do not tell you that the campaign will be short, or the victory

easily gained.

On the other hand, I say to you that the campaign will be long and

hard. You will need courage if you win it. Have you got it?

- The heart of the South is with this convention. "What we do here

will be watched with eager eyes. Our people are stirred as they

have not been since the evil day of reconstruction, -when the idomi-

table white men of the South rose up amid the aslies of their homes

to throw off an alien yoke and to assert the principle of home rule.

[Great cheering-.}

Let us deliberate earnestly, decide wisely, and act promptly. Then

as we go home we will go as messengers, from this great assembly

to arouse the South for an industrial struggle against wrong; to

arouse her as in the old days the* fleet-footed runners of Scotland

kindled Argyle's fires on Highland peaks to call the clans to battle.

[Cheers.]

I turn to the representatives of North Carolina. Have you got

the courage? Tour forefathers bore the brunt of the fire at King's

Mountain, the decisive Dattle of the Revolutionary War; over your

dauntless lines floated the last nag of the Confederacy at Appomattox.

[Applause. ] North Carolinians! Are you ready for this fight ?

[Cries of "Yea!" "Yes!"]

I turn to the delegation from South Carolina. You are the sons

of those who gave to their State the proud, title of the "Harry Hot

spur of the Union." Sons of a State whose fearless volunteers gained

at Fort Moultrie the lirst victory of American arms over the trained

soldiers and sailors of England. Have you the courage for this fight?

I turn to Texas, and ask, Have you got it? [Cries of "Yes"

"Yesl" from the Texas delegation,3

You are the sons of those heroes who at the Alamo gave the most

splendid Illustration of American heroism that this country has ever

known. Sons of heroes who accomplished there what Leonidas did

not accomplished at Thermopylae. Have you got it? [Great cheer

ing.]

' 171s

250 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS. E. WATSON,
Men of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana! Have you got it? [Cries of "Yes" and applause.} You are the sons of those militia men who followed Andrew Jackson down to this city, and within a few miles of where we now stand gave to the veterans of Welling ton, who had put to flight t-'he eagles of Napoleon Bonaparte on every battlefield of Spain, the worst whipping that English troops had ever received before, or have ever received since. [Cheers.] Men of the South! Get up and form your Hn>e of battle. Every man of our glorious section should stand foot to foot, shoulder to shoulder, and inove hand in hand, heart to heart. One motive should be supreme. Let th-ere be no Republicans, no Populists, no Dem ocrats, but simply Southern men who stand together for the common rights of our native land. [Tumultuous applause.]
Necessity requires" it. The industrial life of the South depends upon it. It is a call of auty.
We must act, act, ACT, wisely, promptly, fearlessly. In such a cause, I feel that I can say to every man in Dixie: "He who dallies is a dastard. He that doubts is damned." [Great demonstration, cheering, suspending business for several minutes, while the speaker was given an ovation on the fioor of the hall.]

Banquet Speech
New York, February, 19O5.
|N civil life, as in war, it not seldom happens that a crisis demands that some one should lead a forlorn hope. Victory is not expected, glory may not be won: but Duty calls the soldier, and he answers, "Here!"--to do and dare and die in.
her exacting service. In the Presidential campaign of 1904, it fell to my lot to lead the
forlorn hope. With full knowledge of the weight of the burden, I took it up and
bore it as best I could; and I am proud to meet to-night so many of those who stood by me throughout that' ordeal.
I am sure that I express your sentiments when I say we glory in the fact that in spite of all the abuse and ridicule which beat' upon us, we boldly supported the banner of Jeffersonian Democracy at a time when its trusted leaders had weakly surrendered or basely deserted.
The Democratic party had grown weary of the virtue which meets with no substantial earthly reward.
To lay up treasure in heaven is apparently not part of its pro gramme.
For eight years prior to 1904 it had done business on principles forcibly borrowed from the Populists in 1896; but while these principles were right they had not yet become sufficiently popular to command the vote of the majority.
"We are tired of "being in the majority," cried the Democratic leaders; and in order to set on the winning' side they dropped the colors under which they had marched since 1896, and astonished mankind by trying to win the game with cards which the Republi cans had already dealt to themselves.
The result was precisely what might have been expected by any body except by a party which, after having sent its prayers skyward through a megaphone, chose August Belmont for its cashier, Gi'over Cleveland for its wet-nurse, Tom Taggart' for its prophet and Dave Hill's favorite pupil for its candidate.
The smofee of battle has now lifted; the campaign liar is taking a vacation; and we may at length form some accurate estimate of what was accomplished by the campaign of 1904.
Who gained ground Thy that contest? The Radicals. The Republicans stood for conservatism; the Democrats stood for conservatism. No issues were raised.
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252 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TUPS, E. WATSON.
The two old parties were so determined not to alarm, anything, or anybody, that they did not even alarm each other.
On every subject----Finance, Tariff, Imperialism,--the attitude of the two presidential candidates was so nearly identical that neither of them could or would define the difference.
THE RADICALS STOOD FOR VITAL REFORMS.
And now, what is the result? The conservatism of Republicans and Democrats has been cast aside, and the two old parties are doing their best' in Congress to convince the people that they themselves are radicals. They realize that the great deeps of American thought have been broken up and that irresistible waves are beating against t'he walls of special privilege and monopoly, Suppose Eugene Debs had not made his splendid fight; suppose I had failed to answer the call of the Springfield convention, does anyone believe that Congress would now be so eagerly interested in reform ? Year in and year out.' the wrongs under which our people suffer had cried aloud for redress, and no President had moved to our relief. It was the campaign of 19O4 that put fire on the terrapin's back and made him begin to move! Can the Republican party give this people the reforms they need? Impossible! There are too many Republicans personally interested in Iteepingr things substantially as they are. Can the Democratic party do the work? Impossible! There are too many Democrats personally interested in keeping: things substantially as they are. What, then, is the hope of the country? The union of all the reformers. We must draw from the Republican party those who oppose classlaw and money-bag aristocracy. We must draw from the Demo cratic party every true-hearted man who puts Jeffersonian principle above party dictation. We must gather into one compact, aggressive movement all patriots, no matter what they call themselves, who are broad-minded enough to agree upon essential reforms which are within the reach of this generation. We must choose for leaders men who have in their make-up the fire of the crusader and the consecrated zeal of the martyr----men who are not to be tempted or bullied; men who fear nothing in God Almighty's world except to violate their own sense of right. This people will not' be redeemed from misrule by leaders who

r LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 25
never dare to take a stand upon any question until they have first considered anxiously how it will affect the vote.
The buzzing of the presidential bee in any man's bonnet benumbs the brain, shackles the tongue, and hypnotizes the conscience.
Such reform as we need never will come if we wait for those who measure right and wrong with the yard-stick of political convention.
That party, or that set of leaders, which never knows what it' believes in, or stands for, until its national convention has adjourned, deserves no toleration from gods or men.
The only party and the only set' of leaders which deserve respect, or can hope to make the world better by its labors, is that which adopts its creed with conscientious intelligence, fights for it' with fearless devotion, and clings to it, throughout the night and the storm, with a fidelity which no discouragement can shake.
Great is the original thinker; great the emotional orator; but thought, however wise, speech however sublime, avail nothing until the worker conies into the field, 1 Rousseau's thought was profound, but it was the worker of the French Revolution who shaped radical ideas into laws and institu tions. - For many generations, England had her democratic thinkers and lier democratic orators, but the people had no civil liberties until the workers and the fighters had made the creed of the student the chart by which they moved, the plan by which they worked and fought.
So in this land, we have had the thinkers----from Jefferson's time to that of Henry George; we have had the orators from Patrick Henry down to----well, down to John Sharp Williams. * But to win,\ve need tlie worker.
We need the man who puts principle above party, patriotism above self, duty above hunger for office. . We want men who are nov afraid to be in the minority, if they are right; men who would rather hear the still small voice of an approving conscience than to listen to the roar of a nation which blindly applauds the wrong.
For the men who want thus to work, the American world offers tasks worthy to enlist all the strength of the mind, all the zeal of the heart.
Commercial slavery holds in chains tens of thousands of the little children of our land.
We are cowards, and become parties t'o the crime, if we do not do our utmost to strike these fetters from their helpless limbs.
Ten millions of our fellow citizens are in poverty, and their poverty threatens the whole body politic----for with poverty goes an infinity of woes whose evil effects are not confined to the poor.

254 ^^^g^j^gjgggggggg^-^ TflOS. E, WATSON.
Almost exclusively the poverty from wliicli we suffer result's from bad laws and dishonest administration. Legislation has been help ing the strong to plunder the weak; dishonest administration has been aiding piratical capital to exploit a submissive public; dishonest officeholders have been giving away to greedy corporations the most valuable property which belonged to the people; and franchises which should have been exercised for the benefit of all, are being need by the few to rob the many.
Again, we see everywhere that we no longer have representative government. The people do not control.
Tlie Senate of the United States is selected by organized capital, and it obeys the will of its master.
The Federal judiciary, appointed for life, owing nothing to the peo-ple, and not responsible to them, is the bulwark of money-bag aristocracy. When corporation tyranny shall have been checked at every point, it will entrench Itself behind this undemocratic and irresponsible power, and it' may happen that the President and Cong ress will assault in vain the common enemy when it is shielded by judges who claim and exercise the right to nullify legislation upon which Congress and the President have agreed.
We must give the people the right t'o initiate and vote legislation; the right' to control their representatives; the right to remove the officeholder who betrays his t'rust.
If we had had no other doctrine beside that in the last campaign---- if we had no other now--that doctrine alone would justify us in the determination t'o keep in line of battle.
Give the people direct legislation; give them control of their repre sentatives; then the cynic will have excuse to say----should the result be disappointing----"The people have as good government as they deserve to have.
Comrades! I'n this, the dawn of the new year, let ua revive our energies, strengthen our purpose, and press forward. For my part, my motto shall be that of Seneca's pilot when, in t'he midst of the tempest, he cried out :
"O Neptune! You may save me if you will; you may sink me if you will, but whatever be my fate, I shall hold my rudder true!"

How the Law Controls the Distri bution of Wealth
Mr. Watson's Speech to Farmers* Union-
The address of the Hon. Thos. E. Watson, before the great rally of the Farmers' National "Union, at th Baptist Tabernacle on the evening of Tuesday, January 22, 1907, will be remembered for years by everybody who heard the orator. The big tabernacle was filled almost to overflowing. Hon. John Temple Graves presented Mr. Watson to the meeting. The full text of Mr. Watson's speech, from a stenographic report", follows:
Gentlemen of the Farmers' Union:
[jT is my purpose to show you that' the South, which by the law of nature, should abound in wealth, is comparatively barren, and that this comparative lack of wealth has been brought about, not by nature, not by the fault of the peo
ple, but by the fault of the lawmakers who have passed laws against you to enrich the East at the expense of the South and West. [Applause.] I am going to prove to you to-night that the compara tive barrenness of the South is the result of hostile legislation; that the fabulous wealth of New England is the work not of nature, but of the legislators who passed laws in favor of New England against the other section of the Union.
I am not going to quote from any partisan campaign book. I am not going to quote from any literature of propaganda. I am not go ing to quote from doctrinaries, theorists, socialists, single-taxers.Populists, tariff reform leagues or money reform leagues. No, I shall quote every fact that is laid before you to-night from the official publication of the United States Government. For convenience sake, the one volume which will be used to-night will be the Statistical Abstract for 1905, published by the Government, containing facts gathered by the census bureau, carefully sifted and officially pub lished.
Now, assuming that you are earnest men, come with me walle I go into this book, which your own Government says contains the truth about your condition.
In 1850, I find that the agricultural classes possessed wealth to the extent of four billion dollars. Let's take a survey of our national situation at that time. The farmers had more than half the wealth of the Union----four billion dollars; more than half of the national estate. What was the general condition of affairs? There was not a
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256 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TBOS. E. WATSON,
single national bank, from sea to sea, from lakes to gulf. Andrew Jackson, a Southern President, had made war upon the national bank, and had stamped the life out of it. [AppIauseO
CONDITIONS BEFORE THE WAR.
In 1859 there "was a public debt of less than two dollars per capita. In 1850, we had gone into a period of low tariff. In 1846, Great Britain, under the lead of Sir Robert Peel, had hearkened to the cry of distress that came tip from the multitude of her "people. She had stricken down the protective tariff, had declared for free trade, and, as a consequence, had entered upon that career of marvelous prosperity which increased her foreign commerce rrom a total of six hundred million dollars to three billion dollars within thirty years. The United States imitated, that policy, and in 1846, a Southern man being President, a law was enacted known as tlxe Walker tariff, which reduced the duties to only twenty per cent. That is to say, you were only taxed twenty per cent----twenty cents out of every dollar when you bought' protected goods----a tribute of only twenty cents on. the dollar was taken from the South and West for the benefit of the North and East.
We are frequently fold that in the great fight between. C'alaoun and the United States Government, on the question of the tariff, Calhoun "was defeated. This is not the truth. History will not support the statement. On the other hand, that one brave and intelligent states man. of the South, John. C. Calhoun, contended for her rights against the protected interests of New England, forced Clay to Ms knees ', and Jackson himself accepted a compromise which took the pro tective feature out of the tariff, and made it a revenue measure only. [Applause. J Then, in 1850, the tariff was only twenty per cent. Now, let me pause hight here.
If there are any reporters who are taking down these remarks, let me say, first of all, if they will bring their notes to my room after the meeting is over If "will give me the greatest pleasure to correct them, because I necessarily deal in figures a good deal, and errors are almost unavoidable. Another thing, I want the reporters all to get it down right now, that I made no effort to get the Farmers' Union to go into politics. fGreat applause,] I want that statement to appear bright and early in the morning, in order that the appetite of certain people for their breakfast may not be spoiled. The Farmers' Union as an organization, ought never to go into politics. t Applause, 1 But if every individual in the Farmers' Union does not go into politics waist deep, shoulder deep, chin deep, to get what he needs for home and wife an.d child, lie will be -the biggest fool on the face of the earth. [Great applause and cries of'Hurrah for Tom Watson!"] Now, have the reporters got that

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON. 257
down ? fApplause. ] I want to be very careful to have the re porters get it down, that I am opposed to the Farmers' Union going into politics. There are two men--well, I should say, a new firm recently formed, whose peace of mind would be greatly disturbed if I did not have that statement in the papers bright and early to morrow morning----a new firm, known under the style of Livingston & Jordan. C Applause. ] Lon Livingston and Harvle Jordan. [Laughter and applause and cries of "Hurrah for Tom Watson! "3 And I would not for any consideration disturb the harmonious relations and pleasant anticipations which now possess the minds and hearts of these interesting: individuals. [Laughter and ap plause.]
In 1850 the agricultural classes had four billion dollars of wealth. We go on forward now for ten years, to 1860. There are no national hanks; there is a very small public debt; the tariff only levies twenty pear cent tribute upon us; the farmers of the country are able t'o bear their burden, and the result is that in 1860 the farmers have doubled their estate, and they have eight billion dollars of wealth.
ANOTHER DECADE FORWARD.
Let us go fqrward another ten years----1860 to 1870. What occured during those ten years? There are four years of warfare, and nearly one million workmen taken out of the fields of industry! Three billion dollars of wealth are destroyed. Fields are trampled by clashing legions and charging war horses. Cities given to the flames--Atlanta and Columbia send their lurid glare into the night; yet, in spit'e of that four years of calamity, four years of destruction, when we come to take the census of 1870, what do we find? The farmers have increased their wealth from eight billion dollars to eleven billion dollars. How can we account for it? The public debt has been running up until some years during that decade if is sev enty-six dollars for every man, woman and child in America. 1'n 1861 the low tariff had been swept aside, and the high tariff, known as the Morrill tariff, had been put upon the books, and the agricultural classes were being taxed between twenty-five and thirty per cent to add to the wealth of the manufacturing classes. Yet, in spite of war, in spite of a huge public debt, in spite of a high tariff, the farmers went forward and increased their estate four billion dollars. How can you explain it? Tell me, Mr. Doctrinaire, tell me-, Mr. Editor, how you will explain it on any other theory than .that the United States Government had filled every channel of trade with mosey, had put new blood into every shrunken vein of commerce, and the greenback currency----more than fifty dollars per capita----had enabled the farmers to shake off ijhe losses of war, as the roused lion sb--**^s the tiewdrops from his mane [Great applause.]

258 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON,
Let's go forward, now, another ten years----1870 to 1880. Coming on down the line and getting nearer home----1870 to 1880. We started out with eleven billions of wealth. There are a greater number of workers in the field than ever before, their gross product is greater than ever before----such enormous quantities o corn, of wheat, of cotton are produced as have never been before in the history of the world. The sun had not failed of warmth, the clouds had not failed of rain, the soil had not failed of fertility, the people had not failed of their willingness to "work. Yet what? When we take the account in 1880, we find that the entire wealth, of tlie agricultural classes Is only twelve billions of dollars. They have increased but one million in ten years----ten years of peace, whereas, they increased four billions during the ten years in which they had four years of strife, in which a million men were trying t'o kill each other. How do you explain that? In 1870, there was practically the same tariff, until along toward the end of the decade, when it' was run up higher----so high that common window glass bore a tax of forty-nine per cent; pig iron fifty-five per cent, common cottons fifty-eight per cent, spool cotton eighty-two percent, salt eighty-one per cent, blankets eighty-two per cent', wool one hundred and eight per cent. So that nearly everything that you bought, you had to pay something like two prices for it. But what else? That was not the worst. They have gone to work: in the latter years of the sixties to burn up your paper money. By 1868 they had destroyed one thousand million dollars of your paper money. Money, becoming scarcer, because harder t'o get, and "when you went into the market t'o get it, you had to pay more cotton to get it, you had to pay more wheat to get it, you had to pay more corn to get it, you had to pay more labor to get it, and after you got it, you could not' do a bit more with it in paying taxes and debts than you could the ten years before. [Applause.] That destruction of your currency went on during the years i'rom 1870 to 1878, when the large-minded, largeheaded Northern man, General U. S. Grant who told President Johnson that he could not dishonor the parole that' had been issued to Lee and his troops [applause] put a stop to the burning of paper money. "Why were they burning it? That the country might get on a gold basis, and the few New York millionaires -who had the gold, might rob the balance of the people that did not Have it. [Great applause.] The sold standard? And yet, what do you get your gold with? Not with corn--something like only two per cent ot Vhat goes abroad; not with wheat----only attout one-third of that goes abroad; but with your cotton, three-fourths of wliich goes abixMi^i and brings in tlie gold with, which to support the gold stand ard. [Gioat applause.]

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 259
THE TARIFF AND THE CURRENCY.
Now, then, you bad, in 1880, only Increased your wealth, one billif n dollars in ten years. Am I establishing in your minds the truth that there is a relation between the law and the question as to whether you can hold what you make, after you have made it? Don't you see that every time they tamper with the tariff, sending it down, you prosper; while in sending it' up, you suffer? Every time they tamper with the currency, decreasing the amount, you suffer; increasing the amount you prosper. Am I establishing that in your minds?
Let's go along a little further. If there is any reasonable doubt in the court house, I will drive it out before I quit. Let's go forward from 1880----but I came near to forgetting one thing: in this period, between 1870 and 1880, when the farmers, increasing the cotton, the wheat and tke corn, could not increase their wealth, measured by money. Get that good in your mind that, in increasing their cotton, in increasing their wheat, in increasing their corn, in increasing the number of wage workers, they could not increase their supply of money. Don't you forget that one of tho crimes against the people was that they struck the silver dollar of Thomas Jefferson out of your currency and closed the mints to silver. "The crime of '73!"---- there used to be a good deal said about it----but we won't go into politics t'o-night.
Now we take another step--from 1880 to 1890. 'When we come to cast up the books in 1890 we find that the total wealth of the agricultural classes has I increased from twelve billions In 1880 to sixteen billions in 1890, The farmers have begun to gain more ground, you see. Why, what had happened between 1880 and 1890? What was it that gave you more money to show for your work and your products? First of all, a tariff commission had been appointed in 1882 and the tariff had been reduced. They had stricken out of the dutiable list nearly a thousand articles, and reduced the tariff on several hundred more. Besides, that noble old Roman of the South, Richard Bland of Missouri, who had been fighting "the crime of '73" so persistently, in 1878 got them to open the mints to silver again, and between 1880 and 1890 you were getting from two mil lion to four million dollars of brand-new silver from the mints every month in the year. Nothing else had happened; the rains were about as usual, the sun was about as usual, but there was lots of difference in the amount of money; there was lots of difference in the volume of currency. Why? Because there was lots of difference in the law. If you think you can escape the law, you must have been advising with the new partnership of Livingston & Jordan. [Laughter and great applause.] [Cries of "Hurrab. for Tom! give it to "em."] But we must not get into politics; let's go on with

260 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. K. WATSON.
the facts. Let's go from 1890 to 1900. When we cast up the books in 1900 we find that the agricultural classes had increased their wealth until the sixteen billion dollars of 1890 had grown into twenty billion, five hundred millions in the year 1900. Twenty and a half billions! Still gaining ground, don't you see? Now, what had happened? The Dingley bill has followed the McKinley bill and carried up the tariff. That is true, but what else has happened? It is true they closed the mints to silver and we lost that four million, five hundred thousand dollars a month in silver. What else has hap pened? There has been a vast increase in the paper money issued by the national banks, and tlvere Has been a vast increase in the amount of gold money, partly by the amazing increase in tlie output of tlie mines of Soutli Africa and Alaska. Therefore there have been pour ing into the markets of the world, into the veins of our body politic, the life-giving blood of expanding currency. Therefore you get more money. Naturally you get more when there is more to get. [Laughter and applause.] Naturally you get less when there is less to get [Laughter and applause.] I "was puzzled to realize that it was - hard for some people to understand that. I should think that even the new firm of Livingston & Jordan would comprehend that. [Ap plause.]
SOME TELLING STATISTICS.
Now, let's go back. In 1850 the farmers had four billion dollars of wealth; the entire country, including the farmers, had seven bil lion dollars. Therefore, what? The farmers had more than half. In 1860 the farmers had eight billion dollars, while the entire country had sixteen billions, including the farmers. Therefore, what? The farmer had half----losing a little bit of ground, you see, because of that twenty per cent tariff; but he doubles his wealth. Even though handicapped, weighted down by the burden, he doubles his wealth.
Now, in 1870 the entire wealth is thirty billion dollars. Tke farmer had eleven billions----not sixty per cent, not fifty per cent, but just a little more than thirty per cent. He had more than half in 1850, lialf in 1860, just a little more than a third in 187,0. But what is the matter? 'Wealth is increasing. Yes, the figures show that, but the farmer isn't getting it. Who is getting it? I will tell you bye and bye. [Laughter and cries of "Let's have it; go on with it."] In 1880 the entire wealth of the country is forty-two billion dollars; the farmer has only twelve billions. Wny, he has not even got a third. Very much less than a third----still losing, you see. Well, what the farmer loses somebody else must be gaining, because the wealth is here. Who is getting it? We will find him bye and bye. In 1890 the entire wealth of the country is sixty-five billion dollars. The farmer has only sixteen billions----not a third any more; no, BO, no, way down about one-fourth; and in 1900 the entire wealth of

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 261
the country is ninety-four billions, and the farmer has only twenty and one-half billion dollars. Why, he has dropped down about1 onefifth. Did you ever see a man slide down the steps as the farmer did? More than half in 1850, fully half in 1860, more than a third in 1880, down to about a fourth in 1890----a filth, or about t'hat, In 1900. What has lie done that lie should lose all thai money? Why are those billions of dollars gone from him every year, during the years when he has been rolling up such enormous crops of cotton---- such enormous crops of corn and wheat, such enormous crops of goldproducing cotton as never was seen before in the history of the world? The farmer made It, but the farmer has not been able to keep it. Who took it away from him? I will tell you bye and bye. -[Applause and cheers.]
In 1880 the farmers, yon see, had twelve billion dollars invested in their business. They were employing over four millions of workers. Yet the farmers had to sell the entire product of two billion two - hundred and twelve million dollars. Will you admit that the wage workers on the farms are worthy of their hire? Surely. Will you admit that the fair average for the mill worker would be a fair average for the agricultural workers? Surely. Then what? Allow these men who work in agricultural pursuits the same wage that' is allowed in manufacturing pursuits, and you have this appalling state of affairs: After >jh& sale of the production you have not got enough money to pay wages, by three liundred and seventy-two mil lion dollars! Not one penny in the way of interest upon t'he twelve billions; not one penny with which to make repairs. If you allow the same wages to the agricultural worker that are allowed and paid t'o the manufacturing worker, you will be three hundred and se-ventytwo million dollars short in your wage fund. Now, isn't that enough to make you stop and think? These are facts. These are not flowers of rhetoric; these are not t'he appeals of partisanship; these are not jokes and anecdotes; These are facts taken out of tlie report of the United States Government, and 1' am throwing them at you in the hope that they will arouse you into action to demand your rights and fight for them until you get them. [Loud and continued applause.]
In 1890 the farmers had invest'ed, as you have seen, sixteen billion dollars; there were on the farms, eight million, five hundred thous and workers; the entire product only sold for two billion, four huadred and sixty million dollars. If you give wages by the same scale as that paid in the manufacturing industries, you are short in your wage fund for that year, four hundred and ninety-eight million dol lars. You haven't got a cent to pay taxes; you haven't got a cent' return on the money invested, and you are short in your wage fund, as compared t'o manufacturing pursuits, four hundred and ninetyeight' million dollars. [Great applause.]
In the year 1900, the farmers had ten and one-half million wage

262 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
workers. They had invested twenty and one-half billion dollars. They sold their entire products well that year. "Why? There was more money, and when there is more money afloat, even the farmer can get some of it'. In that year, they sold their products for three thousand, seven hundred and sixty-four million dollars. That was enough to pay wages; they had a surplus of one hundred and thirtytwo millions----five per cent on the amount invested----and I presume that that would he enough to pay the taxes and make the repairs---- and I guess it would take that much to do it. Oh, did you ever see such a record as that? Don't you see the necessity of arousing your self to study t'hese conditions; don't you see that if you keep on los ing year by year, year by year, you will be vassals, and some other class will be your lords and masters?
SOUTH AND NORTH COMPARED.
Now, let's look at it in another way. In 1850 the South had half the wealth that there was in the Union. The North had the other half. They labored and competed for ten years. The North has the advantage of a twenty per cent tariff. The North is making the race with wings to her shoulders; the South is making the race with clogs to her feet, and yet in ten years the South had outstripped the North twelve million dollars! But, now, what? Juggle with your tariff, juggle with your money system----change your laws and you change your conditions. To what extent? Between 1880 and 1900-, the one little New England Stal^e of Massachusetts gained more wealth than nine great agricultural States, made up of four in the West and five in the South. The State of Pennsylvania, aided by this great McKinley and Dingley tariff, had gathered to herself as much wealth as the entire South. In other words, under a twenty per cent tariff, the entire South could beat the entire North in the race of material prosperity. But under a tariff of fifty and one hun dred per cent, the one State of Pennsylvania could outstrip the entire South. Is that enough to impress you ? Oh! but you say Southern men and Western men are lazy, they are not business-like, they are not 'cute. Let's go up among the country people of New England. Let's see how the Yankee farmers have been getting on, as compared with the Yankee manufacturers. Nobody ever accused a Yankee farmer of being anybody's fool. "Well, in 1880, the amount of capital the Yankee farmer had invested was the same as that which the Yankee manufacturer had invested. They run along for ten years, to 1890, and, then, what do we find? The Yankee manufacturer has doubled his estate, and the Yankee farmerhas not only made nothing hufi he has lost one-fourth of which h) had, and lie has abandoned four thousand, one hundred and sixty of his farms. [Applause.] "We go forward another ten years, to 1900, and the Yankee farmer, after ten years of tremendous struggle, has-

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 263
just about been able to hold Ms own; he has not made a dollar----not a cent; he's got just what he had ten years before, with t'en years of labor thrown in, "free gratis, for nothing." [Applause.] - But' sometimes our editors go into ecstasies because a New Eng land cotton mill has come down South--the Northern capitalist has brought his money South and built another cotton mill down here, and, oh, they go into raptures, jubilating! What difference does it* make to you whether the Northern manufacturer comes down South to rob you or stays up yonder and robs you? [Laughter and ap plause.] I believe, if the robbery's go to go on at all, I would prefer for him to st'ay in the North, where he would grind up his own little children into dividends----[Tremendous applause and cheers of "Go after him Tom"]----and not come down here to the South, where our corrupt' legislatures allow them to grind up our children into dividends. [Great applause.]
Now, have I made out my case, that there is a pretty close con. nection between law and wealth? George McDuffle used to tell your
fathers that, under this protective system, out of every hundred bales of cott'on you made you lost forty, which went to the North as tribute under the tariff. The great' French traveler, DeTocqueville, who came to this country a generation ago and wrote a remarkable book about it, said that the great Mississippi Valley impressed him as being the grandest' home that God Almighty ever made" for the human race. He thought that the wealth would always be in the South and "West, because of their natural advantages. He believed that' the poverty would always be in New England, because of her natural Weakness and sterility. But the laws have been made by Northern men, and it is fhe South that Is comparatively bleak, while sterile New England has wealth that surpasses thedreams of avarice.
Who got your money? Now, let's take a search -warrant and go and find that wealth that' you have been losing----let's see if we can't locate it. [Laughter and applause.] I am going to take out a search warrant' here to-night, "based upon the facts contained in the Government' report and I am going out looking for the millions that you have lost, and I will find them, and I will uncover t'o your gaze such hordes of stolen property as no robber ever hid away and no pirate ever piled up in caverns.
FINDING THE STOLEN GOODS.
On page 110 of the Statistical Abstract of 1905 I think I come upon one bunch of these men who have been getting your money. [Laugh ter.] They are named by the Government, the National Banking System. Now, understand me, 1' have nothing in the world unpleas ant personally to say against the national banker. He ia, as a rule, a most elegant gentleman; he dresses well, looks well, behaves well,

264 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
and indeed he is an extremely ornamental figure in society or in the church, especially on the days when they take up collections to send the gospel to the heathen. [Laughter.] It Is not in my heart to say a word to hurt' the feelings of the Individual national banker. I am after the system; and here I find, on page 110 of the Govern ment report, that the Government says that the net' profits of the national bank system t'o the national banks in 1882 were fifty-five million dollars. That's a right' neat sum of money. What is the . special privilege to the national banker? What advantage has he got over the balance of us, whether merchants or farmers? _Why, the Government lias simply turned, over to him the great national pre rogative of making money. He issues his own notes; we are glad: to get them t'o use, and thus the banker gets rich on what he owes. [Laughter and applause.] Thaf's all there is to it. I might talk till midnight, but I could not hit the center of it any better than that. Th_ej2gyernineiit_ ought to issue its own money, but it allows the nat ional bank to do it. In 1882 there were two thousand,-one hundred of the~h-rtliat used this little government favor, this special privilege, at the expense of all the balance of us, and cashed in fifty-five mil lion dollars of clear profit on It. In 1890 they had increased their profit' until it was seventy-two million dollars every year. In 1900 it was eighty-odd millions of dollars every year. Now, you see -who has been getting some of your money. [ Laughter. ] In company with the national banker we find the private banker, the State banker, the loan and trust" companies and the savings banks----who save a good deal of their own money while they are saving yours---- by the v.-ay. [Applause.] And in 1903 they stand together, national bank, State bank, private bank, loan and trust company and sav ings bank have available cash assets to the amount of eight hun dred and thirty millions, and they had loaned out at interest, coming from us to them, eight billion, three hundred and thirty-four million dollars. In oth er -words, for every dollar fhat they had, they had put ten dollars out at work----bringing in a revenue, and every dollar was multiplying itself by ten, and thus the one dollar in hand had ten representatives out yonder in all the fields of indust'ry, bringing money in to these gentlemen----multiplying their capital by ten. That is a right nice "skin" game, Isn't it'? [Laughter.]
"Well, you may think it is a very soft snap, but I will show you another one that will make that one look like thirty cents. On page 554 of the Statistical Abstract of 1905 we come upon our friends, the railroad companies, and a sweet bunch they are, too. [Laugh ter.] In the year 1880 these gentlemen were making a clear profit of two hundred and fifty million dollars per yer. Out of what'? Out' of public franchises granted to private individuals. Out of tre mendous power to tax persons and property for going along the highways. Out of these special privileges they -were making two

f

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 265

hundred and fifty-five millions per year in 1S80; in 1890 they were making three hundred and forty-two million dollars per year; in 1900, six hundred and thirty-nine millions per year. In their invest ment there is at least one-half water, and there are at' least from six billion to seven billion dollars in their stocks and bonds that repre sent no honest' investment of actual money; yet they are compelling the people to pay tax on it, pay dividends on it, by reason of the fact that they can tax your freight, and your persons as passengers, and thus they are making over three hundred, millions a year, not a dol lar of which have they any honest title to have--not one. Therefore the tax of the national bank, amounting to one hundred million a year, looks small as compared to Chat of the great railroads, which tax you not only upon the actual investment, but about three hun dred, millions per year upon a fradulent investment--and how do they do it? By managing everything with a view to dividends. They let the roadbed run down, they let the bridges decay, they let the rolling stock get in bad order, they let the engine become out of date, force the engineer to work forty-two hours at a time, until he goes to sleep in his cab; the telegraph operator is overworked and goes to sleep in his office----they do everything to get dividends, although they keep on killing men until they kill their own president on t'heir own road----everything is sacrificed to the heartless desire to niJike dividends! [Great applause.] In the republic of Switzerland, the State owns the railroads and no such butcheries as these occur. Why? Because the State, owning the railroads, thinks more of the lives of the people than they do of dividends, and they adopted the automatic block system. No train can rush in upon another where you have the automatic block system; where, when one train is in tbat section of the track, no other train can come in until that train has gone out. Therefore these awful wrecks can't happen. But it would cost seven hundred dollars per mile to put on that system, and the railroads will not spend that money to save human life; they would rather have dividends and have dead men all along their tracks than to carry their passengers safely and have smaller ' dividends. What I want to see is more home rule applied to our roads. There has been too much Wall Street rule----too much foreign, rule. We must have more say-so ourselves, and I thank God that in the State of Georgia, after the first of June, we are going to have a governor that will not be the stool pigeon of the railroad kings. [Great applause and cheering and cries of "Hurrah for Tom Watson, hurrah for Hoke Smith."]
THE WORST OF ALL,.
Well, now you may think that what the railroads are doing amounts to an enormous robbery. It does. But I am going to show you another little game, played under forms of law, that will make
181s

266 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
the railroads' game look like a slick dime with a hole in it. [TJreat applause.] Let's go now to the manufacturing industries. In 1880
Vhey had invested two billion, seven hundred and ninety million dollars. They employed less than three million men, women and children. Their entire output sold for more than five billion dollars. After paying for all the materials need, after paying an average wage of about three hundred and forty-eight dollars for each man, woman and child employed, how did they stand on tne year's busi ness? They had a clear profit of one billion, t'wenty-four million dollars. What was the investment? Two billion, seven hundred and ninety million dollars. Nearly forty per cent on the capital invested, after paying for materials and wages, and that was the year when. the farmer did not make enough to pay wages by three hundred and seventy-two million dollars. Oh, we are finding them now. [Great laughter and applause. ]
In 1890 the manufacturers had increased their capital until it was six billion, five hundred and twenty-five dollars. They sold their product for more than nine billion dollars. After paying wages, after paying for materials, how did they stand? They had a net profit* of one billion, nine hundred and twenty-nine million dollars---- nearly thirty per cent on the enormous capital of six and one-half billions; and that was the year when the farmers, with nearly twice as much money invested, and nearly twice as many men at work, could not produce enough to pay wages by four hundred and ninety-eight million dollars. [Laughter.]
-- In the great race of prosperity, the lines have been so shaped against you that you are losing about two thousand billion dollars a year that' is rightly yours, and Lon Livingston is going to stop it all with a fraud order against gambling. It is an. extremely interesting piece of news to me that Livingston is interested in morals of any sort. [Applause and laughter. J
In 1900 how do we find it'? The amount of capital invested in manufactories is ten billion dollars. The gross products sell for thirteen billion dollars. After paying wages and paying for materials, the amount of profit left is two billion, eight hundred and eightyeight million dollars. Nearly twenty-nine per cent profit in that year, when you farmers almost had enough to pay taxes and mate repairs. How much invested? Ten billion dollars. How much clear profit? Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty million dollars. Any financier here, any business man here, will agree to the propo sition that five per cent would be all lie could get as a net return on that amount of money if it were put in any business where the law did not grant special favors. Therefore, the ten billions of dol lars would have brought in five hundred millions; but let us say it could have been loaned out on land mortgages and not a dollar of it lost, evry cent collected, the net profit that would have "been allow-

LIFE AiV> SPEECHES OF THOS. B. WATSON. 267
able under the law-& of Georgia would have been eight hundred million dollars. They have not only made the eight hundred, hut they have made two themsand millions besides. Did you slop to think of that? Here the n gt profit of that one year was sufficient to have paid off the natioto; il debt; in addition to that it was sufficient to dig the Panama Canal according to the estimated cost. It was almost, if not quite enough to build a transcontinental railroad, which would have gone a long w ay toward breaking up the reign of such railroad kings as Harrimac ., Morgan, and the rest. Two thousand million dollars a year over and above eight per cent clear dividend upon the money invested!
NOT OPPOSED TO FAIR PROFITS.
-- Do you understand me to-night t'o be making any attack upon bank ing as such? I hope not. I am not so narrow, so bigoted as to fail to realize the enormous benefits of any community of railroads. Do you understand me to-night t'o be making any attack upon manufac turers as such? I hope not. They are necessary to the well-being of the entire country. It is well for us to produce here, as far as possible, everything that* we need; but what I do say is this: that the great American family is made up of Uncle Sam's big boys--the farmers, the banker, the railroader, the manufacturer----and three of t*he boys ought to give a fair show and a square deal to the other one; and the other one must see to it, that his big brothers come across and treat him right. [Applause. ] * Time was when the South was the home of a happy, prosperous, contented people. True, we bad slaves, but they were the best glares that the world ever knew. When they were too young to work, they were not made t'o work--they were left to play about the grove and the yard. When the slaves were sick they were not driven to their tasks nor forgotten and neglected----they were not left to die, in neglect; the doctor was sent, medicine was sent, food suitable to the condition of the sick, was sent; and when too old to work, the old slave, male or female, was secure in his or lier cabin home for the balance of his life. New England made war upon that system, and drenched the continent with blood to stamp it out. In the place of that she has established another slavery----not of the black people, but of the white people, and in that slavery, the child is made to work; the sick are neglected and left to die, and when, dead are carted off to the potter's field, and the old are turned out as they used to turn the horses out to graze about until they starved. DeTocqueville said in his work on America, that' aristocracy would come upon, us through this protective system, and it would be the harshest aris tocracy that history ever knew. It is harsh, it has no heart' and soul in it; it Is built upon a theory that takes from agriculture and gives to manufacturer, and we are going to fight it until we compel the

268 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
manufacturer to be content with EL stare that "will not hog the -whole business. [Applause. ]
THE OLD SOUTHERN HOME.
Ah., that old Southern home! You can call it up in your minds to-night----so can 1'. Just as when the soldiers in camp sang the song which reminded them of home, "each one recalled a different name, but all sang Annie Laurie;" So to-night, when I speak of home, of the old home of the South, each one will recall a different scene, but all of it will he the old home of the South, before the war. The noble trees stood before the house. It may not have been a man sion----it was more frequently a cottage, but not the less commodious and comfortable for that. The noble trees, the oak, the hickory, the maple, the ruby-crested holly that had stood there for generation after generation. How delightful it was in the spring to notice when the sap would begin to rise and swell the buds----stirred them with life until some morning wli-en we stepped out, the tender flags of green floated all over the grove- You remember how the trees moaned when the wind moaned; how they roared when the storm raged; how they sighed -when the hushed night fell down. Do you remember how the mocking bird chased his mate in and out among the boughs, sh.e pretending not to want to be caught, with that pretty coquetry which belongs to all the more refined specimens of feminine gender throughout the world? Not discouraging him by getting too far from him, not making him lose heart in the chase, just staying far enough apart to keep up the lover's ardor----but at length they came to terms in the old, old way, and the nest was built for the little family that was to come- As the summer went on, and as the trees took on the full leaf, how beautiful it was to see the mottled shadows which softened the blazing sunlight of our Southern sun; and at night -every leaf upon the oak seemed to be a looking glass, and the moonbeams, like pretty girls, were looking at them selves in it. [Applause.3 And then, you remember the evenings after supper, when the old people gathered on the front veranda to talk of old times, how we children used to stretch out on the floor, listen to'the katydids in the trees, and with that lullaby in our ears, got to sleep in that innocent Sleep of childhood. On one side of the houseyard stood the orchard; you remember it? The trees were not those grafted ones from the nurseries. They were seedlings; their lineage ran back, perhaps, to the Indian days. How brilliantly beautiful was her royal highness, the peach tree, standing there arrayed in her robe of pink, daintily dressed in her vest-*ments of pink, breathing subtile incense upon the amorous air, trembling when the lover-wind threw his arms around her, blissful at the touch and the kiss of the sun-beams----the fairest, daintiest daughter that nature ever let fo'rth to greet an April day! And you remember the apple orchard

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 269
----the May apple, that was mellow, sweet and tender; the June apple which reminded you of "Araby the Blest," and the common, but most satisfactory, old horse apple. The nurserymen have none wonders since then, but they have not heat these three old favorites. There was the old apple tree in which the blue-birds made their nests, and you loved, to go there and see the nest, and later, the fledged birds. As you gazed in rapt admiration at the wonderful wreath of blossoms that crowned the apple tree, you "wondered to yourself whether the Queen of Sheba when she went to visit the Jewish king, ever wore a tiara so magnificent as that; and whether Solomon in all his glory ever had a mantle so beautiful as the drifted apple blossoms beneath the tree----the drifted blossoms that suggested a snowstorm in some far-off paradise, where even the snowflakes had learned to blush, and to breathe the fragrance of sweet old recollections? And you must not forget the flower garden. Ah, that beauty spot in tne home of the old South! Many a time now you walk down its path, side by side with your mother, gathering flowers. You remember where the lilac bush stood; you remember "where the hyacinth and the snowdrop first came up; you remember where the rosebush grew; you remember the pansy and violet beds; and, although to-day the roses are as red as ever and pinks as sweet, there are no flowers that are quite the same to you, as the roses, the pinks and the violets, the old-fashioned flowers that used to grow in the old home garden in that home of the old South. [Great applause.] "Where is it? Oh, the home of the oM South, where is it? It is gone. It is a piece of property yet, but it is not the home any more. The family moved out and went to town----forced to do it by cir cumstances and conditions. Who is living in the house? Negro tenants. Where are the windows? All smashed out. Where is the chimney? Leaning on a rail fence. [Applause and laughter.] Where is the flower garden, the orchard? All in the cotton patch. [Laughter.] Three or four mangy, flea-bitten dogs are lying at the front door. On the outside you may find a great big negro fellow dying with pneumonia, because he wore shoes that were out at the bottom, and he is probably lying on a twenty-two dollar bed----I have seen that myself. Perhaps a twenty-dollar calendar clock sits on the mantel and tells that negro when it is time to get up and go to work----and then lie does not do it. [Laughter.] Sooky Jane has got a seventy-five dollar organ in the parlor. Her father mortgaged everything he had to get it. And the one hundred and fifty dollar mule had. seventy-five dollars of his value knocked out of him because the negro "would not buy a two dollar collar for the one hundred and fifty dollar mule to keep the names from off his shoulder bone.
Can we not redeem the homes of the old South? [A voice: Yes."] Shall we not do it? When the country boy comes to town and gets rich, "what is his dream? That he will make for himself an.

270 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
ideal country home. Why can't we have an ideal country home like that our fathers had? [A voice: "Going to have it."] We must have it. [Applause and cheers. 3 Let the cry of the farmer be, "Back to the country home." Let's quit this breaking up and "going to town. .Let's-go back and plant our banners on the old red hills and swear by th e God that made us that we will redeem the old home of the South. [Continued applause.] How? How? How? Now I am going to tell you.
THE REMEDIES.
First of all, we must have a farmers' union. [Applause.] Th farmers must nave a class organization. That is, every man whose interests unite him to tae agricultural interests ought to belong to a farmers' union, and no other man ought to be able to get in there with love or money. [ Applause. ] Oh, let's fceep out the fellows that I found to be in possession of your money- [Laughter and applause.] Here are the national banks----we found them with the goods on them. Kight clever set of fellows; don't they Christianize the heathen? And give us hail Columbia here at home. [Laughter.] But 1 say, what example do they set us? They have a close organization, and into that organization not a single com petitor is allowed to enter; not a single rival is allowed to enter; nobody gets into that organization that is not devoted heart and soul to the purposes of the association. The banks act on the idea that the cause of one is the cause of all. [Applause.] Why, they have not even invited me into it. [Laughter and applause.]. Surely, I am nice enough to go anywhere. [Laughter.] I am fifty years old, and they haven't invited me yet. [Applause and a voice: "They are afraid you will tell on them."] possibly I may get an invitation through the new firm of Livingston & Jordan. [Great applause and cheers for the speaker.]. By the way, have you been invited into it? [Cries of "No."] Any lawyers, doctors, preachers been allowed to go into it? Not unless they are national bankers. No, sir, that is one Joseph's coat that is all of one color. [Laughter.] Is life worth living until you learn something? Let us learn from th,e national bankers, who will not let anybody in but a national banker. Now, here are the railroaders. They have organized. When one moves they all move; when one gets mad, they ail get ready to fight; when one is tickled they are all ready to laugh. They stick together, these railroad fellows, clean down to the men who drive the spikes. [ Laughter. ] Why, one of lliese engineers may run down a cow, you know----running full speed, did not see the cow, knocked her about forty or fifty yards, leaving very little of the cow,*" and he will immediately go in and report that the cow rushed out suddenly from behind a pile of cross-ties, and it was impossible to .stop the engine In that short time, and then when he will tell you

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 271
about it in private he "will wink his eye, and tell you he had it to do. [Laughter.] "Oh, "well, say, Mr. Watson, I don't want to lose nay job about that blamed old cow." [Applause.] "Well, now, if the railroaders don't allow anybody in but railroad men, you must know there is some good reason for it.
Take the manufacturers* association. They are organized, have been for many years. In 1898, I think it "was they declared very frankly what their purpose was; they declared their purpose was to --.maintain an absolute monopoly of the American market. The manufacturer bottles you up and sells you at the pric'es of the monopoly, and the association declared that that was the purpose of their organization. Now what? Have they invited any of you farmers into it? [Applause and a voice: "No!"] Why in the name of common sense should they then have the impudence to come into your cotton association? When I went to New Orleans --'about two years ago to make a little speech to Harvie Jordan's conglomeration ] laughter [ you have no Idea how many bankers, how many cotton speculators were there. You have no idea how many of those fellows were down there telling the famers what they must do, and the last one of them were the fellows who made their living off the farmers. [Laughter.] Not a single one of them adds a dollar to the increase in wealth; they simply take what you make and convert it to their own use. Bankers do not create wealth; railroads do not create wealth; manufacturers at best simply increase wealth, but they cannot increase it one dollar until you give them the materials to work up the goods with. [Applause.] They are robbing you, too, and you let them come down into your farmers' conventions----not into yours, but into Harvie's----and tell you what you must do to be saved. I notice that they never do say a word about saving a cent of that two thousand million dollars which they take from you every year. They want the people to talk about stock gambling, they want them to talk about holding companies, they want them to talk about everything else except the one thing that you have got Co do In order to make way for your salvation----that Is, to broaden the market. Now, these gentlemen----why, they even had a cotton speculator----Joe Hoadley----down at Birmingham telling the farmers what to do. Nice man to be in a farmers' convention, wasn't he? I wonder tnat Livingston didn't abolish him then and there. [Great applause and laughter.] If you allow the rival interests, the competitive interest, the hostile combination, to go into your secret organizations, you will be doing what? Playing: the game against the competitive interests when you never see their --cartls, while they always see yours. Can you win the game that way? If you think you cau win the game, letting them keep their hand concealed from you and you showing yours, you are just as simple as the new firm of Livingston & Jordan takes you to be. [Laughter.]

272 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
BROADEN YOUR MARKETS.
What next? You must broaden your market. All this talk about reducing the output is nonsense; make just as much cotton as you can, then determine to get a good price for it, and don't turn it loose until you do. Did you ever stop to think tnat if every man, woman and child in America bought only ten dollars' worth of cotton goods----and they need that much----that amount calls for sixteen mil lion bales of cotton right here at home, to say nothing of the needs of continental Europe, of South America, and of the five hundred million people in China, Japan and the islands of the ocean? Don't you see you are not making too much? Your own children have not got what they need; your own grown folks have not got what they need. "Why? You haven't the money to buy with. Broaden your market; lower the tariff; let the foreigner come in here and sell as well as you go abroad with your cotton and sell it. You sell to the foreigner and let him sell to you. Invite the foreigners to come in nere, by lower tariffs--that means lower goods, that means more people to buy the goods, that means more goods needed, more raw cotton needed, greater demand for cotton, and that means a higher price for cotton. That is the statesman's view of it. All this talk about a ten million dollar holding company, all this talk about fraud orders to stop gambling----Mrs. Partington's attempt to sweep back the waters of the Atlantic ocean with a house broom was sublime compared with this business. [Applause and laughter.]
Let me give you an instance of what I mean by broadening your market. President McKinley----aghast at the operations of his own law, and sympathizing with tb.e people----determined to have rec iprocity treaties put into effect, and he appointed the Hon. John A. Kasson to go abroad and negotiate reciprocity treaties. He made a treaty with France that probably would have enabled yon to have increased your annual trade in cotton seed oil by twenty million dollars, thus adding to the value of every bushel of the seed and thus to the value of every bale of cotton through the South. Did tne treaty become a law? No, it was killed. "Who killed it? The Manufacturers' Association killed it. Why? Because France asked a slightly reduced duty upon cotton stockings, and there was one little mill in New England tnat made that grade of cotton stockings. To have had the duty lowered would have meant that that mill, instead of making twenty-eight or thirty per cent of clear profit, might have been compelled to be content with sixteen per cent clear profit, and the mill objected. The Manufacturers' Association, rep resenting that little mill, put the strength of the entire association back of that little one-horse New England mill, the Kasson treaty was defeated in the Senate, and the South lost the benefit of com mercial reciprocity that woula have broadened her market-by twenty

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 273
million dollars per year. Sometimes when I see an outrage liKe that perpetrated upon my people there swells within me for the moment the wish that I was there. I would at least give them a fight that would make the house rock before they should perpe trate such an outrage. [Great applause and cheers.} The South sacrificed for the little cotton mill. The Manufacturers' Association spoke for the cotton mill and the Republican Congressemn moved at the "word of command; they knew they would lose their seats if they did not. Who spoke for the farmers of the South? Not a single man opened his mouth for the farmers of the South; but one of them who was there and could have fought your battle, who was there and didn't fight your battle, was the Honorable Leonidas F. Livingston. [Applause.}
What else ought you to do to be saved? Fight special privileges. The farmers have never asked any favors. Make the others get on the same lines. Tell them we must have a square deal; tell them that Democracy as taught by our fathers meant equal rights to all men and special privileges to none. [Applause.] How will you fight it? By electing men who agree with your views. Do you expect the door "will be opened unless you knock? Do you expect to receive without asking? Do you suppose those protected indus tries got what they got without organized effort? Had you been organized when the Kasson treaty was up, the one little New England cotton mill would not have knocked out all the farmers of the South. [Applause.] Hereafter, with your organization, you will be in a position, as individuals, to make your sentiments known and your wishes respected. The politicians are careful observers. They keep their fingers on the public pulse. They will know how
it is beating pretty soon. You just get things right, and when you do, you just touch the button----the politicians will do the rest. t Applause.]
w What else must you do? You must study this labor quesiton. There are some people who say "Immigration! Immigration! Immi gration!" I tell you, go slow on that matter. What I mean is this: Don't let the steamship companies unload upon you shiploads of the pauperism, vice and rascaldom of Europe. Rather than see the South people by dangerous classes from Southern Europe, who fear not God and hate the law and hate wealth in all its forms, I would rather that half the South grew up in old field pine to enrich our grandchildren. [Applause.} Systematize your immigra tion; be methodical about it. If you can get good, sober, industrious. God-fearing, law-abiding Swedes, get them; Norweigans, Danes, Germans, get them; but tor God's sake, be careful tow you load up this country with a lot of the low orders of Hungary, Poland and Southern Italy. Be careful. Let me tell you another thing. I believe the negro is here to stay. I will tell you how I believe the

274 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
f negro problem can be solved. If we had, growing out of the Farm ers* "Union, a county council government, meeting every three months, and have that represented by a committee of twelve, speak ing with the authority of the whole county, indorsed every three months or put out every three months, I believe you could put every white and black vagrant to work or put him In the chain gang inside of twelve months. The courts move too slowly and the law yers have too much to say. Organize a county government commit tee, and let it be understood that you will deal Justly between white and black, and that you will no more tolerate vagrancy, vice and crime in the white man than you will in the trifling negro. [Ap plause.] If you will do this, my judgement is it is all that ninety per cent of the negroes want. I believe that ninety per cent of the negroes don't care a thing about social equality, don't care a thing about going to college, don't care a thing about putting themselves where they are not wanted. I believe that we white people owe it to ourselves, to our posterity, and to the grand men who went be fore us, to govern this country and keep it white. I believe that the army does not need the red man, nor the yellow man, nor the black man----it ought to be made up of white men entirely. [Great ap plause.] I believe that the civil service ought not' to be made up of red men, nor yellow men, nor black men; it ought to be made up of white men. Legal rights are one thing; political privileges are another. I would give to the black man, to the fullest extent, in word and in deed, in letter and in spirit, absolute legal protec tion, absolute legal rights, and there I would stop. I would hold for myself all political privileges and all political power. [Tre mendous applause.] Ninety per cent of the negroes would be
satisfied with this. Ten per cent would not be. The ninety per cent would be negroes; the other ten would be Afro-Americans. [Applause.] And I will tell you what I would do with them. If they stayed In the community I would make them behave; I would make them behave. And if they did not behave, if they would not behave, they would, in some way, get out of that community. [Great applause and cheers.]
SECTIONAL INTOLERANCE.
Away with sectional intolerance! "Wherever a President, whether from the North or from the South, Republican or Democrat, shows a disposition to be your friend, I would meet him half way. Right now, I believe that every white man in the South owes it to the State to say that we endorse Theodore Roosevelt and will sup port him. [Long and loud applause.] It would gratify me and it would strengthen the South if we could have a rising vote on that. I believe that Ben Tillman has allowed his personal hatred of the President to lead him into a false position; and the longer

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E, WATSON. 275
he stays in it, the worse It will be for Ben. But I believe we owe it to the South to stand by tlie men who stand by us, and Roosevelt to-day is being bombarded, is being browbeaten, is being abused, because he cleaned out of the service a gang of roughs, who shot up the town of Brownsville, and reddened the streets with the blood of peaceable citizens. All of you who believe we should stand by Theodore Roosevelt, rise. [The entire audience rose as one, aud signified their approval of the President by long, loud and continued cheers. After the tumult subsided, the speaker proceeded as follows: ]
Study all economic questions. Find out what is the matter; reach convictions that satisfy your own minds, and then vote these convictions regardless of party names. [Applause. 3
Some years ago, thirty years ago, the great Ben Hill stood here in Atlanta receiving a flag from Ohio, and with that eloquence of his which no one could imitate, said in conclusion: "Flag of our Union.' "Wave on! wave ever! but wave over free men and not over subjects. Wave over States and not over provinces! Wave on, flag of our fathers! wave forever t but wave over a nation of equals, and not over despotism of lords and vassals; over a land of law, liberty and peace, not of anarchy, oppression and strife."
Thirty years have gone by and the prayer remains unanswered. The South is still a province, exploited by the North. We have yet to pray for a union of equals, for there is uo equality in our relations. There is still the oppression of unjust laws. Oh, my friends! Here to-night in the presence of the gathered men of the entire South, I pledge my word and honor that to the extent of nay power, everything that I can do with pen or tongue to help these brave men build up the cause of the Southern People shall be done, without money and without price, without reward or the hope thereof. [Applause.] From the North Carolina shore, where the Atlantic washes the crags of the Old North State, on out to the Pacific and where the South Sea washes the sands, I intend to go with him this year and unfold your flag "wherever the opportunities and the people are ready for it. [Great applause.] I want no office, no. I want to help you make good men out of your boys. I want to do all I can to help you build back into prosperity your desolated homes, so that the chain of special privilege being broken, the laws which oppress you being removed, a square deal being: given you----some other speaker, ten years from now, can stand right here and can then say: "Wave on, flag of our Union! Wave ever! For thou dost wave over free men and not over subjects! Thou dost wave over States and not over provinces! Wave on, flag of our fathers! Wave forever! For thou dost wave over a union of equals and not over a despotism of lords and vassals! Thou dost wave over a land of law, of liberty and peace, not of anarchy, oppression and strife."

Speech at White Oak CampGround
Summer of 19O7.
"Memories of General Dale," who was one of tite officers in charge of the Indians that were being removed from Ala bama and Georgia, we are told in a most touching way of the love those red men bore this beautiful land. General Dale relates that not only were the women, and children heartbroken with grief at having to give up their homes, but' that the warriors themselves were utterly unmanned. Stoical braves who would have died under torture without a groan, broke down and cried like children, when the United States soldiers came to march them oft to the West. General Dale says that after the Indians had been collected and started on their journey, they would return each night to their homes, to see them on.ce more. This was kept up until the camp was pitched forty miles away. In all the wide world the stars of 1831 looked down upon no sight more pitiful than that of these children of the forest, stealing out of camp at night to walk back twenty, thirty and forty miles, to get one last look at the humble cabins which, had been their homes. But who need wonder that the Indians loved this Southern land? Where did the smiles of God, on Creation's morning, rest more radi antly than upon this marvelous clime of the green field and cloudtopped mountain, or shadowy forest and verdant valley, of dimpled lake and rushing river? The red men loved it----loved it with all their simple hearts. They loved it well enough to fight for it. They never gave it up until every battlefield upon which they could muster an army was red with their blood. But they lost their homes, nevertheless----why? Because in the subtler combat of mind against mind they were no match for the whites. The pale face deceived his red brother, when the Indians were the strongest; and when at length the whites were the strongest, the red men had to give up their homes.
FARMERS DEPRIVED OF BIRTHRIGHT.
Brethren of the South, will you learn, nothing from the past? Have you no eyes to see what is going on? Do you not realize that in the war of wits you are losing ground? Will you never un derstand that national politics and laws can be so shaped as to give
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all tlie advantage to one class, or one section? Is it impossible for you to learn that special privilege always1 lives at the expense of the unprivileged----is a deadly parasite that will sap tlie life of the noblest tree?
Use your eyes. Look about you. See things as they are. Where is the bulk of the wealth of the nation?
In that portion of it which nature did the least for--New England. How did bleak, barren New England come to be so rich? She made the laws to suit herself, and these laws took the prosperity of the South and "West and gave it to the capitalists of the East and North.
Who owns your railroads? The North. Your mills? The North. Your banks? The North. Your mines? The North. There isn't a merchant, banker, miner, manufacturer, farmer or railroad in the South that doesn't have to depend on the North for money. Yet the most of that money was made in the South and West. The financial current's which flow West and South from New York first flowed into New York from the South and West. Practically none of that wealth was created in New York.
BURDENS IMPOSED BY THE TRUSTS.
Consider the laws which the manufacturers of the North have made for themselves. These capitalists are protected from outside compe tition ; they monopolize the home market, they form a trust to dictate ouptput and price, and they sell their goods abroad cheaper than at home.
What is the result? They are making yearly, a net profit of two billion, eight hundred million dollars, wnich is two billions more than eight per cent upon the money invested. Think of it! After allowing themselves a clear income of eight per cent upon their investment, they compel the consumer of manu factured goods to yield to them a yearly tribute of two thousand millions of dollars. Thus every man, woman and child in America is taxed about twenty-five dollars per year to give special privilege to the manu facturer. On every family of five this is a crushing burden of one hundred and twenty-five dollars per year----and it is nothing more than shameless, heartless confiscation. How does this national policy of special privilege affect tite agri cultural classes? It takes everything they make, excepting enough to live on. The goose which lays the golden egg is allowed to live---- not because the specially privileged love the goose, but because they are fond of golden eggs. The same official reports, which show that the manufacturing class has been piling up fabulous wealth ever since the Civil War, prove

2T8 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. K. WATSON.
that the agricultural classes have simply made a living. Inasmuch as the South- and West are mainly agricultural, tnese two sections feel this cruel injustice of the law more sensibly than the others.
FARMERS' TAXES EQUAL ROCKEFELLER'S-
Under this diabolical system of national taxation, John D. Rockerfeller, worth his five hundred million dollars, pays no greater sum. toward the support; of the national Government tnan many a twohorse farmer pays. Under any decently fair system of taxation,, Rockefeller would pay five hundred thousand dollars. But, under our policy, the farmer may pay more than Rockefeller----the tax not being paid upon income, or accumulated wealt*h, but upon the amount of manufactured articles consumed.
Thu0 the literal truth is that our national Government does not "tax "wealth at all. It allowes the rich the benefit of special privilege which not only exempts them from national taxation, but permits them to tax the unprivileged,
PURPOSE OF OCALA PLATFORM.
-- Unjustly treated by the Government under which they live, the agricultural classes have repeatedly made tbe effort to organize for their own salvation, Eignteen years ago the representatives of these people met in Florida and put forth what was known as "the Ocala platform." A nobler creed has seldom been reduced to writing. I embraced it then----I love it now. What were its leading principles? The income tax. The removal of tariff taxes from the necessaries of life. Direct election of United Stats senators by the people. Ab olition of national banks. Government loans of money to the peo ple, on good security, at two per cent. No industry to be built up at the expense of another. Government control of railroads; and, if that proved a failure, Government ownership. When the Ocala platform was first proclaimed two of its declara tions were fiercely assailed. Thousands of honest men strongly combated th idea of Govern ment loans at two per cent. Yet tnat policy not only has the sanction of continental Europe, but of Great Britian also; and we have seen such statesmen as Gladstone and Chamberlain and Campbell Bonnerman doing in Ire land precisely what the farmers of America asked. Our own Government, to the amazement of the enlightened states manship of the world, not only refused aid to its depressed agricul tural classes, but shifted the burdens of taxation so that the heaviest load would bear on that class; ran up the expenses of the government

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 27a
to an unprecedented height; yet exacted so great a sum from the unprivileged taxpayers that a huge surplus was left unspent in the treasury. To get rid of this money--taxed mainly out of the farmers ----our Government which refused to consider the farmer's request for loans at two per cent, handed over the surplus as a loan to the national bankers, at no interest at all.
When the farmers first put forth their demand for loans at two per cent objections: were made that the Government itself could not borrow money at such a low rate of interest. But experience has shown that the objection was groundless- The Government is now floating bonds at two per cent.
In my opinion, the Government could float its bonds at par, on the tax exemption alone, without any interest whatever. We have so many rich men ready to quit business and anxious to put their sav ings where they will be safe and untaxed, that Government longterm bonds could be floated at par, bearing no interest. If the plan is ever tried fairly, tbe event will show that I am right.
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF RAILROADS.
The other plank in the Ocala platform which created a storm of opposition was that which declared for Government ownership of railways in case Government control proved a failure, -- When we recall Mr. Roosevelt's position, when we remember Mr. Bryaii's attitude, we can proudly say that it took such leaders as Bryau and Roosevelt eighteen years to reach the point which the farmers reached in the Ocala platform. Honor, everlasting honor, to the Farmers' Alliance and the Ocala platform. -- That grand movement was the greatest educator of the masses that this country has ever known. It made war upon partisan poli tics; and gave it a blow from which it never recovered. It went far toward reuniting the divided sections. It brought the Western Re publican farmer into brotherly relations with his Southern Demo cratic brother. It shattered many a prejudice growing out of the Civil War. It forever buried the bloody shirt. It entered the busi ness of making a political living of a war record. It made it neces sary for tbe ambitious politician to read books. It was the evangel of the true Jeffersonian Democracy at a time when there was none of it in either of the old parties.
It sounded tbe trumpet of resurrection, and the principles of our fathers came forth from tbeir graves to live once more in the hearts and souls of men. God bless the old Farmers' Alliance! I stood by its cradle, in the jute bagging fight in 1888. I shared in the glories of its zenith of power. I saw its treacherous Livingstons and Macunes betraying it to its death. Unable to save it, I followed its hearse, and mourned over its grave.

280 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TFIOS. E. WATSON.
From that day to tills, I liave had a longing that in some other form, led by some other leaders, it might come again, and now---- thank God----it is here.
UNION SUCCESSOR OF ALLIANCE.
The Farmers' Union is but the reincarnation of the Farmers' Alliance. The new order takes tlie place of the old. The prophet dies but the word lives. The flag which one brave standard bearer drops from his dying hand, another catches up and carries on.
And so, under the blessings of the Most High, the Farmers' Union will march on, march on, until it plants its victorious banner on the walls which tne Farmers' Alliance was not permitted to storm.
Rome was not built in a day. "Try, try again," is t"he watchword of all progress, individual or collective.
It is not often the first charge that carries the attaching force over the breastworks. None of the great inventions that have made a new world out of the old world of our fathers are following the first models. "Try again," says the invent'or, whose first attempt is a failure. "Try again," says the soldier whose first assault was beaten back. "Try again," says human ambition on every field where courage and fortitude unite to snatch victory from defeat. So, the farmers must' try again. It is never too late to mend. There's life in the old land yet! We won't make the mistake which wrecked the farmers' Alliance.
To-morrow taere will be.a cry that Watson is trying to lead the Farmers' Union into politics.
Pay no attention to the clamor! The mistake which the Farmers' Alliance made was that it endorsed candidates for office. Leaders of the Alliance fried to deliver its vote fir0t to one candidate and then to another. This split the order into factions. -- Then, again, nearly all the officers of the Alliance wanted office. You remember how it was here in Georgia, in one campaign every blessed State officer of tne Alliance was running for office. From L.ivingston down to the county president, and vice president, they every one made a break for the public crib.
This very thing had as much to do with killing the Alliance as any
other. The Farmers' Union is avoiding this fatal mistake. Their officers
are not allowed to run for office while holding their positions in the order. -- Another thing helped to kill the Alliance. A few of the leaders organized a secret order within the Alliance, for ilie purpose of con trolling it. This wheel within the wheel was called "Gideon's Band.'Livingston was one of the main leaders of this secret ring.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 281

Such doings as this would kill any order, and they killed the Al

liance,

i|

The mistakes of the past teach us wisdom. Through our failures

we press on to success.

With all my heart I warn you to keep out of politics. But here is what I mean: Don't run your own officers as candidates for political

office; don't indorse the candidacy of men running for office; let each member of your order go the polls and vote as he chooses; don't tie his hands with instructions given in secret meeting.

But do not deceive yourself into believing that laws are going to be made as you want them without some effort on your part. The

Government made laws, to suit the manufacturer and banker, because the manufacturer and banker put the necessary pressure where it would do the most good. Banking associations and manufacturing

associations do not openly put out candidates for Congress; yet Cong

ress gives these bankers and manufacturers just what they want.

STUDY PUBLIC QUESTIONS.
You cannot always be satisfied with co-operative buying and selling These are good things, but after a while you will want to modify a protective system which robs you of forty bales of cotton out of every hundred. You will want to modify the banking system which puts you at a hopeless disadvantage. You will want to exert more con trol over transportation companies and over public utilities of all kinds. You will want special privileges roofed out, and the laws made according to the JefCersonian gospel of "equal rights to all."
You must study questions of national policy and legislation. You must pass resolutions embodying your views. You must show by your resolutions how you intend to vote. The politicians will do the rest.
See how you managed that question of immigration. You did not endorse any candidate, you had no election. You simply passed some resolutions. That was enough. The immigration business died quickly, without so much as a death rattle in its throat.
Why can't you do the same with other public questions? You can do it. You can take up every demand of the Ocala platform and have it made info law by presenting a bold front in its favor. Once im press the politicians that you are determined to have these things, and that your voting strength Is sufficient t'o mean defeat to on0 who defies you, and the reforms which you approve will become laws.
Statesmen create currents, but politicians float with the current. Statesmen often tell you things you don't want to hear, but the politician seeks always to tell you what you wish to bear. The statesman may defy your pleasure, telling you that you are wrong, but the politician will seek to please you by doing what you com-
19 3s

282 LIFE_AND Si^EEGHES OF THOS.JE. WATSON.
mand,although he may know that you are wrong. The statesman thinks only of your good, and may often go against your present "wishes for your future welfare, but the politician thinks only for his own good and to get what lie wants from you, will go your way, even though he feels it to fee to your hurt. Therefore, you have nothing to fear from them. You show them which side the butter is on and they will know how to select the bread.
PJjEA TO ADOPT THE OCAL.A PLATFORM.
Why shouldn't the Farmers' Union declare itself in favor of the Ocala platform of the Farmers' Alliance?
Sooner or later the union must set forth a national creed, and a national policy. In no other way can it be kept together; kept growing and toe made a controlling factor in national affairs.
This is self-evident. Then what better creed does the union want than that upon which the Alliance united the farmers of the West and South; the laborers of the fields and the shop, the toilers of country and town?
Examine the Ocala platform, plank by plank. Does any member of the Farmers' Union object to direct election of senators by the people? Certainly not. Who opposes the income tax? Nobody but the millionaires, who now escape national taxation. Does the farmer oppose the removal of tariff taxes from the nec essaries of life? Of course not. Where is the intelligent member of this great order who does not linow that our national banking system Is the grossest class legisla tion and ought to be abolished? How could any farmer oppose the Government control of the railways? Or Government loans to farmers at two per cent interest? Why should the farmers rest easy under a financial system which puts tiiem at a disadvantage in the borrowing of money and makes them pay higher rates than anybody else? Men of the Farmers' Union! ! You must have a national purpose, a national creed, if you would be felt as a national power. Take the Ocala platform and breach the walls of privilege with it. Battern down our monstrous system of class legislation and restore the system of equal rights. In this way you safeguard the future of th e republic against tne plutocrat on the one hand, and the socialists on the other. Do away with special privileges, compel national legislation to follow the Jeffersonian rule of "Eaual and exact justice to all men." When our Government is thus rededicated to the principles of our fathers we snail have conditions which are as perfect as are possible to imperfect human beings.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 283
GLORIOUS PROMISE OF FUTURE.
With the principles of the Ocala platform enacted into law, I can see as in a glorious vision a new world coining into existence for the agricultural classes, and for the country as a whole.
Blessed with a fair share of wealth which he creates, the farm&r hecoines prosperous and happy. Country life takes on again its ancient dignify and beauty and comfort. This fearful crowding of people into the cities conies to an end. Labor and wealth distribute themselves instead of congesting, and the cry of the socialist's on the street corner dies away.
The frightful commercial spirit which exalts the dollar above the man is rebuked and cowed. Public and private morality steadily advance their standards; and as general comfort spreads among the people crime almost disappears. Education knocks at the humblest cottage door calling to the school room the children of the poor. The golden doors of opportunity swing wide open, and a voice from within constantly calls, "Whosoever will, let him come."
Five years ago who could believe that a Republican President would be leading the host's of reform? Five years ago who would have believed that the big criminals would be on the run, and the monster corporations quivering in every limb?
Let the agricultural classes rouse themselves and put forth their strength. Ih five years we shall see still greater tilings, and one of the greatest will be----the Government dealing justly with all classes, giving justice to the manufacturers and nothing more; justice to the banks, and nothing more; justice to the railroads, and nothing more; justice to the farmer--and nothing less.

Speech on the Tariff
Delivered Before the Farmers' Union at Beall Springs, Ga., 19O7.
|T the Farmers' Union rally, which took place at Beall Springs, Warren County, Hon Thomas E. Watson was tlie principal speaker. Among other things, he said:
The consular reports, published by our Government, are the most interesting books that a student of human affairs could find. Tee only other work that compares with these consular report's, in value of that kind, is the statistical abstract, also published by our Gov ernment.
In the reports of the consuls who represent us abroad, we learn how the people of other countries are getting along. In the statis tical abstract we learn how we ourselves are getting along.
Aftr considering the condition of the masses of the people at home and abroad as disclosed in the official publications, I find it to be a case of "pull Dick, pull devil" as to whether the privileged few are doing worse in Europe, the land of monarchies, or in America, the haven of democracy. Both at home and abroad the great fact is the same----the irresistable machinery of government is being used by the beneficiaries of special privilege to convert to their own. use the wealth produced by the unprivileged many.
Consider the case of Germany. There you see a people who are supposed to be intelligent, courageous, educated and capable of good government- While they have an emperor, they also have the ballot. With the ballot used wisely, they have the power to control the em peror. They can make just such laws as they want. Once made, tfrese laws have to be enforced. While the empire maintains an immense army, this army is altogether different from tlie standing armies of former times. It is constantly changing----new men coming into it to serve their time and tb_e older troops going out' as tneir term expires. The officers may constitute a fixed body of educated military men, and this body of officers may grow into a caste, tant the German army itself will always be a people's army, for the reason that it is always coming from the people and always going back to the people. Every few years the change of men in the ranks is com plete.
Therefore, as I have said, the laws of Grmany are bound to reflect the opinions and wants of the people, just as ours do. German people are just as free to vote as we are. 1'f they have foolish laws, they themselves are to blame, just as we are to blame if we have laws that are foolish.

LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 285
Now, what are the facts about Germany, as shown in our consular reports?
SOME FACTS ABOUT GERMANY,
In that land of free ballot and open school house and compulsory education and almost universal capacity to read and write----even in that' land--the privileged few who run the government have been allowed to make the laws which have reduced the masses of the people to the eating of horses and dogs.
According to the official report of our consul at Annaburg, in Saxony, the people of tnat one state of the German empire devoured, during the year 1906, 3,736 dogs.
It is not to be supposed that Saxony is fonder of dog meat than are the other parts of Germany----consequently it is fair to assume that in other parts of the country an equal consumption of dog meat toofc place. If this be so, then the enlightened Germans are sup porting with their votes a system of legislation which, for some reason, is playing havoc with the dogs.
If Saxony eats more than her share of dog meat, the great German empire is annually feeding itself on about fifty thousand dogs.
A system of government which brings about a thing of that sort is certainly a curious phenomenon----and statesmen would do well to give it their attention. But that is not* all of the story. These uni versally educated Germans are also devouring their horses. The consular reports show that horse meat is regularly sold in the markets, and that the yearly number of horses butchered for food purposes is two hundred thousand.
Think of it statesmen! O think of it, you men of the masses! The best educated people in the world----people whose institutions are being copied throughout the world, people who for ages have had the best teaching of Catholicism and Frotestanism, people who pro duced statesmen like Stein and Bismarck and Frederick the Great---- these people, with a free ballot in their hands, go to the polls and vote for laws which put them to eating horses and dogs!
What started France to eating horses? The miseries of the ancient regime. The old order, with a few thousand uohles to plunder the unprotected millions of wealth producers, did indeed bring down those unprotected millions to the eating of horses.
But even the horrors which were the prelude to the French Revo lution did not drive the suffering people into the regular, systematic eating of mangy curs and wornout hounds.
What's the matter in Germany that such things reveal themselves in the official reports?
CAUSES OF THE UNNATURAL CONDITIONS.
^* Unnatural conditions suggest some unusual causes. Why do the common people of Germany live so largely on dogs and horses?

280 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON.
Because they are cheaper than mutton, beef and pork. Because such horse- meat as they get comes from animals that cost less than the same amount of cow meat and hog meat. Because the useless dog sold by its owner, or the dog stolen by some thief, costs less than a sheep or a bullock. And why is it that the common people of Germany cannot afford to make use of those food product's which they, in common with the whole civilized world, naturally prefer? Why ig it that Pido must come to the supper table in sausage, and JDobbin be served up as steak for breakfast? Because the German manufacturer and the German landlord have made the laws t'o suit themselves, and between these two mill-stones the unprivileged millions of German toilers are being ground to powder. The laws which give a monopoly of the German market to the merman manufacturer also give a monopoly of the same market to the German landlord. These two classes, the manufacturers and the landlords, have taken the trowel of legislation and, out of the huge granite blocks of special privilege they have built a wall around the German empire so that outside manufacturers and landlords cannot come inside and sell their foreign products. There are gates in these walls, and toll keepers are placed thereat, and whosoever would pass into the German market to compete with t'he ingenious men who built the wall "must pay dearly for the privi lege. Having paid the toll, the stranger may pass the gate, but when be offers his goods for sale in the German market he must necessarily add on to his old price the amount of toll he was made to pay when he entered the gate. Therefore, t'he German who buys the stranger's goods pays the toll at last,
HOW PRICES ARE SET.
How does this wall which the manufacturers and the landlord built around the German empire put money into their pockets?
How does the toll which the stranger paid at the gate work any benefit to t'he men who built the wall?
Just this----as all the world knows: The stranger has to add the toll to the price of his goods, and when the stranger fixes his price the men who built t'he wall can go to it. They can get as much for their stuff as tne stranger gets for his, and thus while the stranger gets back a toll which he honestly paid, tho men who built t'he wall get the same amount without ever having paid any toll at all.
Therefore, the man who brings goods inside the wall catches hail Columbia ail round. If he buys from the stranger he refunds the toll which the stranger was made to pay at t'he gate. If he buys from

LIFK AND SPEECHES OF THOS. E. WATSON. 287
the men who built the wall, he gives them just as much as though they had paid toll at the gate.
The net result to the builders of the wall is this: if strangers come in at the gate, paying toll, the Government gets it from the strangers, and the strangers get it back from the people, whereas, when the builders of the wall make a sale to their own people, they get as much as the toll amounts to, and the Government does not get a cent of the money.
The Government grows fat off the toll the strangers pay; the manufacturers arid landlords grow fat off the tolls they did not pay, and the people who pay what the Government gets as well as wliat the wall builders get, grow excessively lean, and go to eating horses and dogs.
God! What a situation in a Christian land! Using now the phraseology of the legislator----the wall of which we have spoken is the German tariff system; the toll gates are the German custom houses; the tolls which are demanded of the stranger are the tile import duties laid on foreign goods brought into Ger man markets, and the wall builders and all they who aid in the same, are German protectionists who believe it to be an unnatural thing for the inhabitants of the earth to freely exchange products with one another. Slaying the great law of supply and demand; scorning the divine message of "Peace on earth and good will to men," those monsters of greed who build these tariff walls have inaugurated the fiercest strife throughout the commercial world; have set' rival trades to throat-cutting methods all over Christendom; have turned peaceful pursuits into desperate and deadly struggles for supremecy; have made commerce more fatal than war, and have so changed the stand ards and ideals of the human race that the stern virtues of our fathers are fast becoming the subject of youthful scoffs and jeersThe Spartan father who hoped to make a sober man out of his boy by lorcing his slaves t S gt drunk--so that the boy, seeing the dis gusting sight of drunken men, "would he too proud to ever stoop to that level. From such teaching sprang the soldiers who died at Thermopylae.
TIME TO BE ACTING.
My countrmen: let us do something akin to this. Let us look upon drunken Germany and become sober. Debauched on class legislation, Germany reels with Jegislative intoxication----is drunk on tariff protection; is feeding fortunes to the privileged few, and (logs to the unprivileged many.
Let us look upon that shameful, horrible misuse of political power and turn to political sobriety, for we ourselves have been made drunk on the same wine of special privilege.

fir,1 *s>4
Sv':Sfl

288 LIFE AND SPEECHES OF TIIOS. E. WATSON.

Our consular reports make the proof against' Germany; our sta tistical abstract makes the proof against ourselves.
We have helped our privileged few to build the highest tariff wall ever seen on this earth. "We charge the stranger the heaviest toll ever paid. "We put up the most expensive custom house at every seaport on the coast, and we build them also in the cities hundreds of miles from the water. We have given our pampered pets of special privilege such profits as were never before repeated in legitimate in dustry. "We have made it possible for one man to amass riches until his wealth is greater than that* of King Solomon. We have been blindly voting to support a syst'em which enables the poorest section of the Union to become the richest, while the richest section in natural wealth has become the poorest.
We have gone like fools to the polls and held up "with our ballots a system which gives the one privileged corporation----the Steel Trust ----greater net profits than can be earned by ten million workers on five million farms.
We have reeled in a political drunkness as we followed leaders who made us vote for a system "which gives to the privileged few, engaged in manufacturing, net profits, every year, of six per cent on the investment, and two billion dollars besides; whereas the ten million workers in agricultural pursuits have made no net profit', at all.
This, and more of the same sort, is disclosed by the Government itself in its statistical abstract. What are you going t'o do about it?

FARMERS MUST TAKE LEAD.

-

roduces the food and raiment of

ithin a few days of destitution, and your children

. live harder lives than they ought to live, and they are broken in health and beauty at an age when they ought to be in their prime. There is t'he pinch of poverty in your homes, when there ought to be comfort and plenty. God never meant that a few should grind, oppress and plunder the many. Nature has no such law anywhere in all the myriad leaves of her great book. Such laws are made by men ---- men who are grasping and cruel, men who have no proper sense of justice, men whose selfishness knows no rule of right, men, whose god is gold, men -who would trample the light' out of a million cot tages to"" illuminate some Newport or New York palace.
But what about you? Who shall be able to sum up in words the immensity of your own

folly? You are the men who are to blame for the fix in which you find yourselves. You are the men whose ballots did the business.
"Who killed Cock Robin?" Who slew your prosperity? You did it. You did it by your fanatical devotion to party namas, your blind adherence to sectional prejudices, your refusal to use your eyes to see actual facts, your boundless credulity in helieveing all that the political leaders told you. * Do you tell me that you can't price raw cotton when you sell, nor manufactured cotton when you buy?
My answer is, "Nobody's to blame but you." * When 1 was at school I soon learned that if I didn't want every blessed boy in the hunch to run over me I had to do some fighting. Each of you had the same experience, I guess. What is true of the individual is true of the class. A man who is too weak to stand up for his own rights is not permitted to have any. A class that is so unwise as to let every other class exploit it will go hungry and naked into a permanent, hopeless degradation.
EQUITABLE TAXATION A NECESSITY.
An equitable system of national taxation is surely a prime neccessity.
Have we got it? No! One of the most extravagant governments the world ever saw is supported in its wastefulness by a system of national taxation which is almost incredibly unjust. It does not tax accumulated wealth. It does not tax large incomes. It does not tax vast landed posessions, gorgeous palaces, mines of silver and of gold, or any form which tangible values take. It does not tax the colossal corporations whose revenues exceed those of the Government itslf. It exacts no tribute from insurance companies, express companies, banking companies, telegraph and telephone companies, railroad and Pullman car companies. What the Government does is to make us pay the tax when we buy the necessaries of life, and under such a system the rich pay less than the poor. A more infamously unfair arrangement never had the respect able name of law.
ORGANIZATION AND. UNITY.
But first of all, organize. Let every farmer go into the Union. Forget your past differences. Forget old feuds. Let the dead past bury its dead.
For the sake of liberty prosperity and country, unite. For the sake of good laws and good government, unite. For the sake of

home and fireside, olT wife and child, of tlie future as well as the present, unite.
Always try to be exactly right iu everything you undertake, and then fight /or it until you get it.
In a, land where the ballot is free, political salvation is also free. Free for all---thank God!
Good government, is yours without price, it you want it, RISE AND GIVE IT TO YOURSELVES!
;JCT 11 1138