People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-09-30
From Harris County.
SHIPLEY. ca. Sci

SH1PLEY, GA, Sept. q,
There has been a great deal said
in the present campaign on the sub
ject of economy. 1t has been the
advice of nearly every campaign
speaker in the democratic ranks, and
especially has it been the hobby of
Governor Northen. Now, I, for
one, say that it is good advice. Not
withstanding the fact that the far
mers of Georgia have already stinted
themselves almost to the point of
starvation it is still possible that,
being hungry, we can live ON just
little bit less food; that, being ignor-
ant, we can become more so by tax
ing the little children from our
school rooms and send them to the
cotton field to labor for money to
pay the tax on a privilege that they
are too poor to enjoy. If there are
any who do not believe this to be
the situation / ask him Just to go
into the rural districts of the country
and see for himself. That being al
ready weary, worn and bowed down
with the toll Of many burdensome
years our old men, though their
heads are white and hoary, and
totter in their gait, yet these old men
can still rise little earlier in the
morning, can WELD the spade little
more vigorously even though they
do it in pain.
|, for one, am perfectly willing to
make these sacrifices, because grim
necessity forces me to make them;
for it is physically impossible for me
to make, on a one. horse farm, enough
money that my family may have
enough to eat and clothes to keep
them warm, and send little Johnnie
and Mary to school, and pay up the
doctors bill, pay the preacher, and
then to pay tax to keep up the State
military encampment, the Expert
mental station, and to pension all the
widows.
We accept and keep up the Con-
federate home; to give 100000 to
the worlds fair, and many other
useless expenditures.
Now, as a matter of course, I
would be in favor Of all these things
if we were able. Everybody knows
that the farmers of Georgia are less
able to pay taxes now than ever be.
fore IN their history; yet the tax rate
is higher than ever before. So you
see that Governor Northen ought to
economic some, too. He ought not
to want the poor people of Georgia,
distressed and debt-ridden as they
undoubtedly are, to pay tax to keep
up Camp Northen. We have got
State pride enough to be willing to it
if we were only able, but we don't
think it is right for the State to re-
duce US to the necessity of sacri-
ficing the education of our children,
home comfort, ETC., to pay this tax,
for it is not necessity.
There is the worlds fair, to which
our economical Governor wanted
US to give 100000. Now, we know
we are an ignorant set, but to our
lives we can't see its benefit
to us. Oh, says the Governor, it will
show to the world what a prosperous
country we have. But, SAID we, Gov
ernor, we are not prosperous; there
is not one out Of every fifty of US able
to pay up his debts and have money
enough left to pay his fare to Chicago
Then he told US it would turn immi-
grafton towards the. South. You
ought to have seen how scared we
old farmers got when the Governor
told us this, for he had just been ex-
planning to us how we had made an
overproduction of everything that
made prices so low, and we were
thinking of the competition. In fact,
we old farmers believe the whole
business is nothing short of a scheme
of a gang of rich real estate boomers.
The governor seemed very much
fretted that we did not help him out
in his scheme, but he ought not to
have got mad with us, for we needed
the very money he wanted US to give
to the worlds fair to pay up the
preacher and get our winter clothes,
now didn't we, Governor Be hon
est, and own up.
Now, in conclusion, / want to say
a word to the campaign speakers: