People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-09-02

communicating IfduQ. Inc land
lord could not Cypress man for the
misfortunes which might overtake
him. What else did we do? We
said that the landlord who broke his
contract with his servant should
have the same punishment meted
out to him as the poor man who
violated his contract. Great ap-
plause, and cries of 'Good-bye,
Jimp') They did not want you to
hear me to-day, after they had been
circulating such Infamous falsehoods
about Col. Peek and myself, but if
you boys keep your place you shall
have it all. They never did fight
this bill until it punished the land
lord for infractions of law just the
same as the tenant. A voice -''That
accounts for the milk in the coca
nut" They never did object to this
bill until it fed both men out of the
same spoon. Great laughter.)
They Dragged on it while the Hon.
W. D. Tut had it in the shape
where it punished the poor, white
and black, and not the rich farmer
or employer of laborers. (Muttered
cries of indignation.) They got dis
gusted with it as soon as Col. Peek
amended it, and carried majority
in favor of the amendment, where it
fed the rich man out of the same
spoon as the poor man. cloud
cheering and drums beating by a
party moving off,
Mr.. Watson: Looking around COM
placently, Give them chance to
skedaddle, boys, we have plenty of
time. (Laughter.)
Now, will 60 right on, I am
here to face the music. What we
said in the lower house, when that
bill came to us, was: it may be bad
thing for tenant to leave his land
lord; it may be a bad thing for the
servant to leave his master, and, in
some instances, as bad as for the
landlord or master, to wrongfully
Cypress the tenant or servant. Let
us try and be just to both. (''That's
rightly Here is my friend over
here who intends to run a farm next
year. He has the farm, but no
money. He mortgages his place in
order to get supplies to tide himself
and family over the year, depending
upon the crop to meet the mortgage;
he hires you to make the crop, and
the mortgage is large enough to tide
you over also, his paying the mort
gage depends upon you carrying out
your contract; his wife and children
are absolutely at your mercy, de-
pending upon you carrying out your
contract. You may do your duty
during January, February, April
and May, andlthen when we get
down to June the days are getting
long, and the crops woody, and some
INSCRIPTIONS rich farmer in the
neighborhood offers you an induce
ment to go and help him out, and
you pick up and leave the man who
carried you through the winter
months, and you leave him with the
mortgage on his farm, the crop rot
ting in the field, and his loving wife
and dear children liable to be put
out in the road through your dis.
honorable conduct. Now, do you
think that is bad conduct? (Cries
of: eyes! Yes,"') We said that the
man who did that, not from poverty
the man who did that, not from sick
ness; the man who did that, not from
misfortune, and in such way as to
show that he intended to defraud,
ought to be punished. What do
you say? (Voices all through the
assemblage: owe say so, too, You
are right, Tom, and you bet we'll
stand by your
Now, we said that there is anoth-
er man, even worse than that. Who
is that other man? The man who
would grind the face of Gods poor;
the man who took the proceeds of
your labor, when he sold the crop,
and would not pay when Christmas
came. CA voice: "God knows, we
know them!'')
Now, I say this, that there are dis
honest employers, just as there are
dishonest tenants, or dishonest labor
ers, Have there not been such?
(Cries of: eyes! Yes!'O Such a
man would work you all the year,
whether you were black or white,
and at the end of the year he would
lock the corn N the crib, and put the
key in his pocket; he would send the
cotton to Augusta, and put the
money he received for it in his peck
ct; and when you come to ask him
for settlement you had to whistle
for your money. Amt that so?
(Cries Of: eyes! Yes!') I say here
now, that there are not many men
who do that, but we said then and
there, with reference to a man who
would resort to such dishonest prac-
tices-nO matter how white that
land owner was, no matter how rich
and powerful that land owner was
if he resorted to such practices to
defraud the white tenant or the
black tenant, the white laborer or
the black laborer, the white hireling
or 4hc h1ooL b;ro1;pos Nv I1ooo;, =.