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

against Anthony Wilson, but say,
boys, examine the case well and &c
and cast your votes lntelligently, and
to please yourselves.
I am thankful, gentlemen, that
you stopped long enough to hear the
reasoning of the whole matter from
the beginning, therefore, we ought
to have patience to hear the conclu-
sion of the whole matter.
There is another Representative
running for Congress in the adjoin-
ing District, and seven years ago
what did he do? Why, he did the
same thing, and nothing is mention
ed about Anthony Wilson having re-
ceived bad treatment at his hands,
or why Anthony Wilson, or An
thongs colored friends ought to turn
against him.
Another thing, I want to say a
word in reference to the Eleventh
District. Mr.. Turner is running in
the Eleventh District-In Anthony
Wilson's District-and not a word
is said about his vote, yet Anthony
Wilson becomes a campaign Demo
crat two hundred miles from home.
Now gentlemen and fellow citi-
zens, this is race for Congress.
This is a movement called the Peo-
PIES party movement. There is a
division between the people of the
State of Georgia, and it behooves
you, as colored people, to say which
is the best course to pursue. Seven
teen years ago you were told to get
the scalawags and carpct-baggers
from among you--to give them the
cold shoulder. God be praised, the
carpet. baggers and the scalawags are
gone, and you to-day say by your
enthusiasm that you are willing to
60 with the Southern people; yet,
there is another batch Of Southern
men who say that you are wrong
yet. Laughter and applause. Well,
according to that, | do not see that
we are able to please anybody. II
we go with the carpet-baggers and
scalawags, we are wrong; if we go
with the Southern people, we are
wrong; if we 60 by ourselves, we
are wrong. When will we do right
Where is the right place for the ne
gro? T A voice, "In the third party"
Well, sir, decide for yourselves; that
is what brought you out to-day; and
I put this matter plainly before you
that you may decide for yourselves.
You have been trying to have others
decide for you, and you see that
there is no chance for you to be set
right by them, now decide for your
selves; and if you decide that the
third party is the right thing, why,
put your feet down and stay there.
Several voices, ewes already de-
cided."7
Now, [ want to say a few words
on another question, and that is the
school question. Voices, eyes we
want to hear about that. During
the time that I was in the Georgia
Legislature / will say right here,
before going any further, that there
is no man in Georgia, white, black,
green or blue, whose heart goes out
more to the blessings of education Of
the people than mine, though totally
uneducated, as the papers said yes
terday. | say, too, that there is no
man in the great State of Georgia,
who leans more in that direction
than I. l am in favor of educating
the people, white and black because
the ignorant white man is as danger
Gus to the peace of the State as the
ignorant black man yet, if you look
on the record you will find one of
my votes recorded against the school
bill-the same bill for which Mr..
Watson is sought to be prejudiced
for voting against as an enemy of
educating you colored people. A
word of explanation. l did It in this
wise: We were in that old capitol
building on Marietta street, and we
were told that it was unsafe-that it
was very dangerous-and I well re-
member the great snow the last year
| was in the Legislature, and upon
entering the capitol we were told
that we had better get out as quick
as we could. Seeing the great ne
cessity OF having capitol that would
be safe to meet in, and the pride Of
the city of Atlanta and the State of
Georgia, we passed bill appropriate
ing 100000 for that capitol, and
Immediately upon the heels of that
came up school bill to straddle a
heavy tax upon you in addition to
the million just appropriated. I
thought, as one of your representa-
tives, that would be too great bur-
den, and it would be the part of
wisdom to let it rest for two years,
and [ therefore cast my vote against
that measure. Voices, "And you
were right" l thought we had bet
ter let the matter rest for two years,
and when the capital was finished
we could take a fresh start.
Now, then, my fellow citizens, I
did not come before you to make a
speech; | simply came to set these
matters right before You. I did not