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

say voted Tor the local option
bill which allowed every county to
settle that question for itself; a bill
which allowed McDuffie county to
settle it for itself; a bill which al
lowed Hancock county to settle it
for itself; bill which allowed every
other county in the State to settle it
for itself; bill which secured the
old Jeffersonian doctrine of home
rule (great applause), allowing every
county to have just what it de-
sired - prohibition or anti -prohibi-
bition. (Renewed cheering.) l
voted for that bill, as John T. Jor-
dan did; l voted for that bill as
many another good man did; [ voted
for that bill as a majority of the
House did, and I have no apologies
to make for that vote. Voices,
"There is no call for any. You were
right. We are satisfed.'O I do not
know whether l am losing votes or
not by saying that I voted for the
local option bill, but if it lost me
every vote in this vast audience, I
would do it again. loud applause)
Not only that, when it come to vote
in the Legislature, / voted for pro-
hibition, and if that makes me enc
mics, make the most of it. say
this: When they attack my prohi-
bition record, they are in a pretty
fix to fight me on that line Cheering
and laughter); Mr.. Black is IN =
pretty fix to fight me on that line. I
say, let the people Of Hancock vote
for it or against it, as they see fit.
That gives you home rale. Free
men want nothing moce. (Gre2t
applause.
Here is what they say, that Wat
son had voted to retain maa in a
seat to which he was not elected, and
to eject Anthony Wilson from a
seat to which he was elected. How
do they know he was not elected?
If they told you that the committee
to which it was referred was split
half and half; if they told Yoa that
the committee was made up IF some
of the best lawyers in the Stats of
Georgia; if they told you hat one
half of the committee voted one way
and the other half the other way !;
if they told you that some Of the
finest lawyers in the State Of Geor-
gia voted as I did, they would have
come to the truth, but that dil not
suit their purpose. I have my speech
with me, and it was all right then,
but it is all wrong now; it was a
good speech then, but it is a bad
speech now. They have very sud
denly broken out in very bad case
of Anthony Wilson. Great applause
and laughter) Why is it that they
did not tell you of that before?
daughter and applause.) Why is
it that the people of my county,
white and black, turned out and
gave me such welcome as I never
had, and probably no other Geor-
gian ever had? Why did the
colored band turn out and express a
desire to play at my reception?
Did not they know that was such
an enemy to the colOred people ?
Did not they know whether I treated
all right, irrespective of color
whether rich or poor, white or black?
(Cries of "You bet; the people know
youw) Well, they say in this that I
denounced Anthony Wilson with
great bitterness I have that speech
here to-day, and if you can find one
word of bitterness in it against
Anthony Wilson, or against the
black men; if you can find any al
fusion to the black people in this
speech, | will withdraw from the
race. My fellow citizens, when /
was in Congress [ voted to seat
Republican, and they say 1 was
wrong. | won't stop to argue the
reason. In the Legislature | voted
to seat a Democrat that they wanted
seated. What | did in the first place
was right then, but wrong now;
what | did in Congress was wong,
because nothing | do can be right
Why, if l had the seven-year itch
these men would not let me scratch,
and if | did not scratch they would
denounce me for not scratching.
applause and laughter.) So far as
I can find, it is a clear case Of
"You can and you can't,
You will and you won't;
You'll be damned ii you do.
You'll de damned if you don't"
Great laughter.) No matter which
road l take, am on the wrong track;
no matter what medicine | take, |
am adopting the wrong remedy.
Let us be fair and honest. Until
you have the facts before you, you
cannot Judge intelligently. [ voted
against Anthony Wilson in the Leg
islature, just like voted against the
democrat in Congress, and neither
politics nor color had any effect upon
me. (Applause.) Anthony Wilson
did not show by the best evidence,
no matter what the. presumption
might have been, that he ought to
have the seat. Therefore, voted
in his case as | did in the case of the
renublican in Congress, according to