The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-07-05
The Major Thinks we Ought to lave
Force Bill and that the Women
Ought to Count the Votes.

OH D4A4 Ala hAS
Ought to Count the Votes.
B.-"Hello! Nh. Editor"
R.-"Hellol Major. How IS your
political crop9"
B-"Fine. I think 1 will raise the
best crop of politics this year that you
ever sa v. I'm goin' to bring them to
the State Fair an get a premium"
R.-"How is the force bill out your
way Are you all against it2
B.-"No, not by a jugfull. Me and
Betsy are for it. We think the Con-
gressmen all ought to be forced to do
some work and forced to stay away
from the boss races and forced to stay
in Washington an attend to business"
R.-"You have got it down wrong.
The object of the force bill is not to
coerce Congressman"
B.-"Well, by jings 1 thought it was
for that purpose. Anyhow we car use
it to force the members of the legisla-
ture to pass a bill for a reform school
for boys, a whippin' post law for
rogues an wife-beaters an the 6 per
cent. interest bill an a dog tax law"
R.-"Mistaken again, The law
would not have anything to do with
the legislature, either. Think youridea
iscorrect, however, for we ought to have
such a force bill or a vigilance commit
tee or something to look after Congress
and the legislature, but you had better
leave out a clause providing for a whip
ping post for wife heaters. You know
Mrs. BiIkins and yourself don't always
agree, and you might be a at
the foot of the whipping post some fine
day"
Bob, go away an hide yourself.
Do you think I would undertake to
whip Betsy7 Why she would clean
me up in half a minute an the whole
United States army couldn't keep her
quiet for the next three months. Say,
what is the force bill?
R-"No one seems to know. Some
say it would take all our liberties
away Others say it is for the purpose
of getting a fair count in the elections
in the South. However, no sensible
person is alarmed, for it will never be-
come a law. Wall street men keep the
matter before the public in order to
keep alive sectionalism. The Omaha
platform will denounce the whole out
fit and all their bills, or ought to, if
the delegates think it worth the ammu-
milton"
B.-"I expect you are right, 1 am
goin' to investigate the thing an if
these little peanut politicians don't
quit tryin' to scare the people I'll let
Betsy get a chance at them an put a
quietus on them"
R.-"What has become of Mrs. Bill
kins? She don't have much to say
now"
B.-"Betsy says she has done about
all the talkin' she is goin' ter do, an
that she's goin' ter act now. I'm in
favor of lettin' the wimin do the count
in of the votes. They are honest, an
if they can't vote they can count the
votes"
R.-"YoU had better sing low. There
are hundreds of Dem ocrats and Repub
licans in the country who are active in
politics. They are so much opposed to
women having anything to do with
public matters that they fail to asso-
ciate with their wives, stay away from
home talking politics and don't furnish
their families with a living, Some of
them eve forget that their mother was
a woman, and think the Democratic
party gave birth to them and that it
must be their religion, their god and
Saviour. Thousands of men claim to
be good party men and they couldn't
get credit for a pound of soap. A good
party man must belong to a good party
and be a good citizen generally. MANY
men think their allegiance to party
equal to a free pass to Heaven"
B.-"I reckon it will carry them
somewhere when they die, but it will
be a place where o~vercoats are not
needed. That's what Betsy says, an
I'll bet a mule she is right. Good bye"
YOUNG MEN TO THE FRONT.
We have often said that young men