People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-07-29
Mr.. Politics. Speech.


was the speech of J. E. Pottle, of Mil
ledgeville, Ca, as follows:
Ny Fellow-Citizens:
A great deal has been said to-day
about ex-Confederate soldiers and by ex-
Confederate soldiers. Their presence
here gives a profound meaning to the
purposes of this convention.
speak for the young men who greet
them here and as a representative of that
class who come with the vigor of young
manhood on their cheeks and the fire of
a devoted determination in their eyes to
prove to those who left their limbs at
Manassas and Gettysburg and carry the
| bullets of ruinous war in their bodies
that the sons of their dead comrades are
ready to give them the hand of encour-
agement and the God-speed of their
| hearts in this battle for God, for home
| and for native land.
/ L know not what motive may actuate
other men, but as for me, am PEG
| pies Party man because | am Southern
man because [ expect to live beneath
| Southern skies, and at last mlngle my
dust with Southern soil. Just as thous
ands of other Southern men did, [
| looked honestly and deliberately at the
history Of the past, the condition of the
! present and the prospect for the future.
[ saw that the past showed an almost
unbroken line Of legislation since the
war at war with Southern interests and
blighting to Southern homes. I saw
present wherein, by some strange COM
blnatlon of circumstances, the principal
mission of Southern toll and sacrifice is
to fill the Golfers of those who are utter
Of \
| enmlty with our interests. Looking to
the future with a fervent desire to find
one ray Of light, I saw only hopelessness
and despair, and seeing it so | would
have been recreant to my trust as a
Georgian and untrue to every sentiment
Of honor, of patriotism and of right, bv
a veteran of the civil war, had I not
promptly and emphatically declared my
| determination, to the best of the weak
ability God had given me, to remedy the
evils of the past and brighten the hope
for the future.
If the speech of General Gordon, re-
Gently delivered at Gibson. was correctly
reported, he told the people of Georgia
VINO are IN this new revolution that
they had as we'll abandon the idea that
the government can make them rich. |
want to tell General Gordon, with the
utmost respect for his superb character
and his glorious career in the past, that
this is not movement of fools or pau
pers, hoping or expecting to get some
thing for nothing, but that it is a
demand of freemen that hereafter the
produce Of their toll shall bring its le-
ultimate value, and that not a day
longer, if they can help it, shall Southern
policy be dictated by Wall street and
Eastern money sharks.
For many years the Southern States,
in their political demands, have been
ignored in the councils of the Demo
cratic party-the party which, without
the united aid Of these same Southern
States, would have long ago been
wiped from the face Of the earth. The
policy Of this party-the so-called party
of the peope-has been dictated by
Wall street and Tammany Hall and it's
candidates selected by the same unholy,
selfish power.
We propose to-day that a new policy
shall be inaugurated and a new era
begun.
Let them bring on their force bill
bowls and negro supremacy cries
Southern people are fighting for South
ern rights and preservation
The people have never yet been de
feated; Truth is with them Right is
with them God is with them.
But even if defeat shall follow and
our banners trail in the dust, we can
say, like the great Wing statesman of
England on the occasion of the defeat
of one of his favorite measures, 'Oh.
glorious defeat May thy memorial be
fresh and green to the latest gen
eratiOns p
To-day, fellow-citizens, the South,
once the proud queen of this Federal
Union-proud of the splendid intellect
and supurb character of her sons and
the freedom and prosperity of her peo-
ple-groans vnder the burden of partial
legislation and class selfshness and
greed. We have come to fear that this
South, once the garden of the nation,
will, under the present system, reach a
point where there will not be
GA rose of the wilderness left on it's
stalk,
To tell where the garden has been."
and we propose now to do our best to
prevent the approach of that evil hour
[ thank you for your patient atten-
ton.