The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-11-14
SOUND AND SENSIBLE
Is Gov. TilIman's Talk at St Louis
How the South and West Can Unite
The South Carolina States
maj Grows Eloquent
man Grows Eloquent

man Grows Eloquent
Mr.. President and Gentlemen Of the
Convention. 1t is not my habit to
make any excuse for my style Q!
speaking or my lack of what men call
oratory. And l will simply make a
brief explanation in order that you
NAV not believe, since l have told you
that I came here to make a speech,
that I have any specially prepared
,eech. that I have elaborated any
ing. that l have polished anything.
1t has been five years since l wrote
1ythjpg on paper that / expected to
,eak. When I first began my career
"a politician, which was in 1886, be
g unused to public discussion, and
aturally nervous, l wrote down what
: wanted to say in order to keep from
forgetting it. Well, Ihave had a pref
tv rOugh-and tumble time since then,
and have learned to depend on my head
to furnish the words, whether they
were exactly grammatical or polished
or rhetorical, and if l have found the
facts aud the ideas l don't care a snap
for the manner IN which they are
dressed. Applause
Now, il rising to address you upon
the subject matter Of the resolutions
presented by the committee, if what
shall say should really aus any good
or do me any credit. l must Eece5-
sarily thresh some straw which others
have beaten and who'll have doncit more
eloquently and ably than I can.
propose to make a birds eye view
OF the political, financial and CONNER
cial condition Of the country.
lam plain, blunt man, as you haze
discovered I soy what l think and
believe. and when I get through Iqllt,
Laughter and applause Therefore,
I shall not worry you.
In turning your eyes back %ard over
the pages of our past history you find
that prior to the wal there We're two
great prevailing political issues -s!av
cry and the tariff. The wa grew out
Of the desire Of the South fer free trade
rather than the preservation OF slav
cry We wanted u get eff to cur
selves, il order to sell Il produces in
the best market and buy In the cheap
est market There were then only two
great questions, and last year we were
told that there were still two great
q~uessi3ns-the financial question
slavery having happily passed away
and tie tariff. We were led to expect
that when this Democratic Congress
met, with a majority in both branches
and the executive sent there by the
people for the first time in thirty years,
the tariff would be one Of the main
questions to which it would address 1T
self. We find, however, that Congress
has been called in extra session to solve
the other question, the financial que8
ton. which I have always contended
was the burning question Applause.
And today it is the most burning ques-
ton in American politics and has
brought the West and the South to
gether and made men who for twenty
a have been mortal political enc
mics act here as a band Of brothers.
Applause J
It is true that for a short period be-
fore the war, during the time Of An
drew Jackson-Old Hickory-the
financial question and the question as
to whether money in the hands Of a
few, to be manipulated by them,
should run the country or the people
should run it, was a burning question,
and the tariff and slavery questions
both dropped aside until that matter
settled to the satisfaction Of the
people. Jackson won his fight against
the bank in spite of a subsidized press
such as we now have advocating the
gold standard. Now the same issue
confronts US.
I said the financial question was a
burning question. While we had he ped
that the question of slavery had for
ever been settled and that it would
never again be an issue before the
American people, it confronts US now.
But alas the color of the slave has
changed the slaves are no longer black,
out are white men. Applause. What
do I mean by slave2 Tell me, gentle
men, what more absolute condition of
servitudecan possibly exist than of the
farmer, who in the language of the eIo
4uent gentleman from Missouri this
morning (Mr. Cochran) has for twenty
years, since 1878, been making his
crops on a falling market and has
grown old hoping to pay off the mort
no or on hic r~0nor%v Nn~I-~. ~