The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-08-05

A Champion Of " Referm."
Weehave termed the warfare which
the enemies of Florida are waging "a
campaign Of faisehosd," bat that it 10 %
is fact which the right-minded can
scarcely comprehend in It's fallness aud
its vileness. Crime is often An enigma
to the comprehension of innocence that
it can occur, is more or lees difficult to an
derstand by those who would not commit
it; its occurrence in new aspect IL ever q
surprise to them, even though they must
expect from the past that the future will
bring forth novelties in wickedness-new
instances of the depravity Of human ma
ture. Thus it lie that the better portion
of the people of Florida are surprised,
and do not yet comprehend that it is mere
depravity, but bold and brilliant de-
pravity, that incites the young man who
leads Il campaign of falschood in All at
tempt to injure his native State as much
as possible by inficting upon her again
the curse of radical administration. A
bad, INSCRIPTIONS man, and shrewd
enough to know that he must have some
ground of action TO go upon in appealing
for popular support, the Florida Malone
creates that ground by charging corrup-
ton aud maladministration which he
knows do not exist, calls for reform,
Reform" which is not needed, and runs
from place to place haranguing and ex
citing the most ignorant class of the pop
ulation, reitersting lies without needing
contradictions of them or producing evil
dence of his statements. This reckless
demagogue-this insurrectionist, if you
will-knows that the negro population
who have been entrapped to allegiance to
him by the Independent conspiracy will
accept every word Of the political leader
of their race, and will refuse to believe
the refuting statements Of the democrats
who, he has told them, are public plum
derers, enemies of poor men, perverters of
official power to the wronging of their
race. He builds up false image of dem
ocratic ipfamv before his auditors, and as
sailing it gains their sympathies. He pic
lures INSTRUMENTATION which does not
exist, and yells for reform, knowing that
reform was accomplished when the De-
mocracy captured the State from the
Radicals, and that continuous progress
aud prosperity has ever since been chron-
icled. He knows that every department
of the State government is honestly and
conscientiously administered, yet he
charges corruption and howis for reform
reform He needs no refutation, and
even continues to repeat to his negro
army that taxes have not been reduced
though any one of them who has paid
taxes for eight years past can see by his
receipts that they have been reduced two
thirds
The problem presented is as TO how the
campaign of falsehood is to be met if OPP
posing truth is to be utterly ignored. 1t
was written of old "truth ia mighty and
will prevail" and we must write now
"truth is mighty and shall prevail !"
This raDting demagogue, this insurrec-
zionist, who is preaching a crusade
against the welfare, the progress, the
honor Of Florida, must not prevail, but
must this year share the failure that his
tory shows to have befallen sooner or Ia
ter in their careers all seditious fellows of
his sort. Baser, because more enlightened
than the most vicious of his negro follow
ers, he should be allowed to attain no
official position, nor be accorded any
higher social consideration than theirs.
The people of Florida will not permit the
government they established in 1876 to
be overthrow by the race crusade that
Pope, the renegade, is leading. He is an
enemy of the commonwealth-th De-
mocracy must win.