The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-08-03
THE G. B.'S.
THE DIFFERENT sIGN1FICATIoNs OF THE
LETTERS.
GidcOn.s Band-GOOd BrOthers-Grin
and Bear it-Green Backs-Grand
Bounce for the Country People.
Under the similitudsof a Dream.

people rejoice but when the wicked heareth
rule, the people mourn
| ''SOme said, he IL Il good man other said,
Nay; hut he deceiveth the people,
Mem ber Of our Noble Order-What does g..
Town Boss-It formerly meant Gideon's
Band, but now since these wicked newspa-
pers have gotten hold of our secret and pub
lished it TO the world, we have changed the
Specification. 1t now means Good Brothers,
and henccforth we deny the existence of Gid
cons Band. The name has been changed to
! Good Brothers.
MO. y. O.--Have the letters no other sig
| nification?
Town Boss-Oh, yes 1t may stand for va
riOuS things, according as the Judgment OF
the Town Bosses, and the Cross Roads Man.
ayers OF the people may determine. For
| instance, IL may stand for "Grin and Bear II,
! If our noble brother countryman Soesn I like
our action in debating to him how he may
vote at the primary election. And under
certain circnms tances. q. b. may stand
for the Grand Bounce, which we give
to countrymen, who may assume TO want
the Offices which are justly and legally our
| own.
Again. G. b. may stand for the Green Backs
which the town boss desires TO make by con-
trolling onr noble order in his own interest,"
NJ. o. n. O.-Please do not insult me by
such reference to the countryman.
| T. Bon, 1 have no reference to you per-
sonalIy; you know that we have given yon
an office, and by preserving the unity Of our
oeSer NeSs oTae Te dree ang her osth
membership you know that they surrendered
their right TO vote as individuals. They must
now vote in solid blocks as we direct:
MON. OIL did not exactly understand
II IN that way, when Joined our noble or
| der.
r. B.-Oh. yes upon reflection you will
| remember that our noble order teaches The
individual member that the majority must
rule, that minorititS as individuals have no
rights which they dare assert. Our public
motto Is, Equal rights TO all, and special
| nri ilpppS to none"
NJ o. y. O.-What do you mean by public
mottoo Are there any secret notices?
| r. B.-I fear that you are too lnquisitive for
one who has not been Initiated into all the
secrets Of our noble order. But rs you have
been mith ana loyal, and as the Supreme
Council Of Dictators for this county has or
dained tina: you can get Office, presume
that / violate no confidence OF our noble
band by telling you that we do have many
! signs and many secrets from which the plain
ordinary voting members OF our order are
excluded. They know very little of the true
merits and real beauties Of our noble order.
They are down stairs, SO TO speak, ana they
are carefully drilled to do our bidding. We
| inspire them with the belief that In The sacrl-
| flee compromise of their own mpahood,
while doing our bidding, Is the highest order
OF patriotism. When we desire poor, blind
! creature TO serve our personal purposes, we
| tell him that the will Of the greatest number
must be regarded, and that II Is his duty to
! sink self out OF sight when the good OF the
order is imperilled, and we always impress
him with the belief that the welfare OF the
| order Is imperiled If the will OF the greatest
number Is diSregarded.
| NJ. o. N. O.-But how can you say what Is
the will OF the greatest number before the
people have given expression OF their VIII? =
| never before heard of any organization
! whose leaders told the people what was the
| will OF the majority; l always thought the
people gave such information To their ofl-
GERS?
II. B.-Oh now I can readily see that you
are not one OF the initiated. You didn't catch
fn trl rl1ut |
will of the INA Jority;' said The Will OF the
"greatest number'-the greatest number be-
ing No. ]. For instance: The town bosses
meet together and divide out the best offices
among ourselves and then we call in the
crossroads managers, throw them little Of
! flee which we don't want, and then tell them
10 carry their club % MS we say: Inc me country t
| from the town G. B.'s-that means Good
Brothers-but we don't let them fully into our
secrets.
! greatest good 10 the greatest number means
to convey the idea that the Town Boss Is the
great number.
II. B.-Oh, no, you must be stupid fellow.
We don't mean TO convey any such idea. We
! mean to convey the idea that the greatest
number means majority of all the people.
but you certainly have lived long time for
naught If you have not found out that words
have double meaning, and that No. Is really
the greatest number. l don't mean that 1t Is
numerically great, but In our noble order IL
| teaches US TO regard self as OF the nrst import
ancc, self therefore Is OF the greatest import
ance. Yes. sir, in our noble order No. | IS the
greatest number.
NJ o. n. O.-Yes, but cur people do not un-
derstand IL in that way.
| Il. B.-I know That perfectly well. But you
know ours Is a secret order, and il would not
do 70 let all the brethren into all o our Sc
crets. We put u brother on his guard at the
door, before he is admitted, and tell him. that
ours is Il secret organ izatlon. The greatest
mass OF those who enter our sacred por rlaIs
understand that the order is secret against
the ontside world. but they little dream that
we mean that much is secret from them. We
entrust the majority of the membership with
very few of the valuable secrets of the order.
We don't let them know the meaning of the
words "grealest good to the greatest num-
her." II we did so, our noble order would be
! broken up al once.
| NJ. o. n. O.--What secrets have the &. BIS,
which are kept from the great crowd?
! T.. B.-Well, you seem to he inquiS!live, and
as know you area faithful member ! vii!
| tell YOU q little. We keep the great objects of
our noble order profound secret from the
ordinary country member
! NJ. o. y. O.--Iou surprise me; am not In.
| formed as To the chief aims and purposes OF
our noble order?
r. B.-No. my friend: you reilly know
nothing of the ground principles upon which
our noble order is founded. You recollcct III
your initiation, we had much 10 say Ia y0u
about charity and brothcrly love. we had n lso
something to say of our supreme duty To- be-
friend brethren, and cordially impressed up.
I settle differences between brethren, to restore
harmony and good feeling where hatred and
j il-iecling had existed; you have not forgot
: ten that we enlarged upon the social feature
Of our noble order; but above all you rerol.
lect the piCus prcccpts and religions rites OF
our order You see In all this there Is much
to please the unthnk ing member. This love
and fellowship business. this zeal for social
equality is put into the ceremony TO catch
glldgeons; the prayers and o'hrr religious
ceremonies arc put in To win favor with the
t,I.
ncig ghbOrhOOd. We town bosses first organ-
iZed the order and gave IT, Ia the country
people. ! presume, of c"urSe. you q" not
think that we would organize great anu no
BILE order without taking care of ourselves:
NJ. %. y. OIL am surprised TO hear you
speak so plainly. hope you don = mean TO
say that our noble order is corrupt Or that our
. leaders are selfish.
r. B.-Uh, no, my friend: think our noble
order Is the hest and pnrrst on earth. You
know that IL Will ever rcinnin pure as long as
we town bosses continue To control the order
and receive The votes Of tie people. We or
course must receive some benefit in return
for the talent, labor and time which we en-
pend In Keeping the order together. II IL
! were not for our ability and superior worth,
the farmers would not readily consent for us
TO hold all the best offices. IL they did not
, acknowledge our superior ability the rouh-
/ try members would claim the good places
and quarrel over the offices. hence the order
would go To pieces. No, my friend: 1t was
never intended that the farmers should get
5 the offices. and you see thai they don 7 get
them. The town bosses have no use for coun-
Try people, except for election purposes.
] NJ. o. y. O.-Bul why do you claim such
friendship for the country people, If you only
want their vote:
r. B-Oh; | sec. plainly enough that you
| are no politician. ui course, we town bosses
: have no real sympathy with the farmers.
Our only object is Ia get the votes of the cOun-
try people. The situation may he summed
Inn In Z il ~ hny plu