Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-23

ject:
In discussing the Coxey movement q few
days ago with prominent gentleman for
merly OF Boston / secured a very suggest
I've chapter In Brownies biography. by
the way" remarked the gentleman, did
you know that Carl Browne was Dennis
Kearney's right-hand man sixteen years
ago when the distinguished luminary of the
sand lots was at his zenithr' ] confessed
that this was news to me. and asked for
further Information. you remember" con-
tinued he. after Kearney had set the
whole Pacific coast afire with the anti
tinent. The object of his trip (at least the
ostensible object was to visit his mother,
an old lady living at Brighton, near Bos-
ton ton; This trip occurred l think. in 1878 :
fiery orator and a shrewd agitator,
had aroused and crystalized an ire
sistible anti-Chinese sentiment on the
coast. The burden of all his speech
es was summed up in the sentence, The
Chinese must co. which he hurled at his
audiences like stone from a catapult. His
journey from San Francisco to Boston was
an almost continuous ovation. In the Hub
he spoke in Faneuil Hall to an immense
audience, comprising much of the brains
and culture of the city. Before the meet
ing was arranged for several leading men
of the city went out to Brighton to see the
orator of the sand lots, and, II possible, to
determine what manner of man he was. I
was a member Of the delegation. On that
; with Kearney acting a sort of secretary.
He was q young looking fellow-I should
Judge he Is now about forty-fve. He sat
around. said nothing. and didn't look as If
he knew much.
II never met him again until two years
ago, and was astonished at the man he
had developed into. He recognized me at
once / asked him what had become of
Kearney, Oh said he. .kearney is in San
Francisco. but he's not doing much. He
hasn't joined this reform movement This
sort of thing Is too fine for him. He can't
get hold of 1t. He can't grasp an issue IN
less it's coarse enough to strike the
naked eye. He's been trying to get up an
anti-Japanese scare. but without success
II have since heard that Browne had a
good deal more to do with Kearney's sue
cess than appeared on the surface that he
was. to a large extent, the brains OF the
movement which Kearney headed just as he
is of this Coxey movement. Whether this
be true or not, Brownies experience in those
intensely exciting times was an excellent
education for him. Any one who observes
his skill in planning and carrying out the
present ON to Washington crusade must
see that he Is no novice in handling men,"
As n Finance Reformer.
As to how Browne Occupied the time from
1878 to 1890 / have no information When
the populist movement came to the front he
appears again in the arena of political agi-
tatton, this time as finance reformer. He
Travelled over the coast states exhibiting his
panorama, and making speeches whenever
he could get anybody to listen. In 1892 he
came to Nebraska and spent several months
campaigning in his peculiar way, usually
drawing crowds. and leaving the Impression
that, whatever the worth of his doctrines,
he was in dead earnest.
In the fall of 's2 Browne returned to the
coast When the session of the California
legislature opened he began the publication
of illustrated daily paper, known as The
Cactus Plant" Copies of this paper ought
to be preserved in all the museums of the
country as rare freaks. The paper contain
ed nothing but cartoons, notes and COM
ments. He used no type. All the work was
done with his pen. The issues were run off
on himsy paper. with some sort of copying
or duplicating apparatus.
In the following spring Browne drifted
eastward again, and in due time turned up
smiling at the worlds fair. He talked to
the crowds Of unemployed on the lake front.
He was roundly abused by the Chicago
press. An effort was made TO squelch him.
He appeared before Mayor Harrison. who
denounced him as a bogus cowboy and a
dangerous agitator. But, as usual all this
only served Browne as free advertising and
brought him the sympathy of the unem-
ployed 1t was In Chicago at this time that
he met the now fallen Unknown" who
was a patent medicine vender. He invited
Browne to speak in his tent, and became a
convert to his financial theories. Their
further connection has been given to the
press by Browne since the ''late unpleas-
/
downfall.
As nm Artist.
AS an artist Carl Browne belongs to a dis
tinct school. In fact, he constitutes the en-
tire school. His panorama. like that of Ar
temus Ward. is very bad from an artistic
point of view, but admirably adapted to his
purpose. The great humorist used to bring
down the house by pointing to some object
in one Of his pictures. and exclaiming with
greatest anDaront delight
at last discovered what the artist intended
to represent by II. So Brownies pictures
would be an insoiuble puzzle without
Browne to unravel their mysteries. He is
not humorist, either artist or speaker.
His pictures resemble nothing much as
| the coiored glass figures to be seen in
church windows.
But Browne and his panorama are insepa-
rabfe- He loves 1T he child of mis- brain.
IL consists of a series of pictures painted
In bright unblended reds. yellows and green's.
| on strips OF coarse canvas, about six by
three feet In size. These are hung up on a
J horizontal wooden arm, very much as
school charts are sometimes hung up. Each
picture contains perfect maze of scenes
and figures. in which perspective Is un-
known, and order Is stranger. In these
pictures ne has attempted to portray the
breaking out of the civil war down to the
present time; the disappearance Of gold the
| Gripping Of the greenbacks by the excep-
ton clause, the issue of interest-beari ring
| DohNo' Tic hdliOlidi Ddith act, me destruction
| of the greenbacks after the war; the credit
| Strengthening act by which the bonds were
| made payable in coin, the decentralization of
silver. &c. All these acts of financial Iegis-
| lation Browne denounces as crimes against
| the public welfare. He tries to picture their
effects in producing pauperism, bankruptcy,
misery and crime. On the other hand, he
endelvors to show the conditions which he
claims, would prevail If his own ideas of
finance were enacted into law.
Browne is also cartooni3t. In one of his
bulletins he advertises that he will draw
cartoons a la TIL. Mast" A suit for libel
] by the said Tn. Mast would undoubtedly lie
As an Orator.
When Browne gets up before a crowd and
swings his panorama TO .he breeze he is
| happy. With a long stick he points out the
various objects. explains their symbolic
! meaning. and launches forth his invective
against the existing order Of things. As a
speaker he is neither humorous nor elo-
quent; he Is forcible. His patience and per-
sistence are simply monumental He never
gets angry at disturber. No interruption
can throw him of the track Of his dis
course. He never sets an audience on fire
with enthusiasm or infiames the passions OF
crSwd. His main idea seems to be to in
gospel of social regeneration, and he preach
es 1t with all the earnestness of a fanatic
In this sense, and in this only, may Brown
be properly termed a crank, and it Is only
fair to say that cranks of this kind some
times move the world. In the light of the
facts l have related, the attempt of the
Unknown" alias Smith. alias ROZaris to