The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1894-03-16
THE "CITIzEE" AND THE 6ITI-
ZENS.

BILE newspaper. Though conducted by
aliens. 1t calls itself THE Citizen" OF
the citizens of Florida it says:
''The people are the party, and what they de
mand can be secured within the party ranks.
Their votes are their own. They can elect
whomsoever they please. Let them know the
men for wium their batts are cast zet -eire+si
be honest with themselves. Let them be trne to
their better impulses true to their homes, true to
their country, and all will be we'll
But when a certain number of these
citizens get together, some of whom
have been in Florida since territorial
times; some of whom are "native
and to the manners boTn;" and all of
whom have deep concern in the
welfare of the state, get together and
submit certain propositions to their
fellow-citizens, and ask that these
propositions be arried out within
party lines, what is the reply this new
born Citizen makes:
The sole burden of the address" which the
''retormers" have presumed to lay before the de-
mocracy of this state purports to be an attack
upon the railroads, a hobby which Call and his
satellites have worn threadbare for political pur-
poses.
"Presumes ~ Is it presumption
for native born citizens, who have
been democrats all their lives, to lay
their grievances before their fellow
democrats?
Out upon such miserable drivel.
IF shall be shown, says The Citizen, that
corporations unjust toward the people. it is
the avowed duty OF the democracy to secure
whatever relief may be practicable through the
medium of legislation"
How are we to get favorable legisla-
ton if we do not point ont our grew
ances to one another and urge the
democratic people TO elect such men
to the state legislature and to. congress
as will vote for remedial measures and
not be blinded by false issues trumped
up by false prophets.
The Citizen says yet more than
this:
It is significant that every signer OF the "ad-
dress, with possibly one exception, belongs to
that element of the democratic party-if they
may be called democrats--which Is known as
the Call faction. Partly as a means of account
ing for this remarkable solicitude for the people
it would be interesting to the pubic TO know
the aggregate amount of produce annually
shipped by the members of this committee
Two Of the men who sign this doc
ument hail from Marion county and
we know that one of them. c. b. Col
Inns, has hardened his hands by fol-
lowing the pillow and the title of "sand-
spur philosopher" was conferred upon
him because he had won the honor
and was entitled to wear it; and Gen
eral Bullock is largely interested i'll
the question of ansl.ortation as he is
a large shipper of both oranges and
lemons and now holds the bag for last
years crop while the railroads hold
the money.
The Citizen says further:
ut fine so-called addressl IS remarkable be
cause it is a desperate attempt to wreck the par
ty to which its signers profess to belong because
It is a transparent effort to deceive the people
with false pretenses and shallow hypOcricies; be-
cause it seeks to use their votes for the purpose
of elevating its promoters to political power he
cause it endeavors to play upon their passions
and prejudices for selfish purposes; because it
presumes upon the intelligence of the masses by
nsince professions of solicitude for their utter
ests, and finally because it thinks to dupe them
s.
mask has been torn, leaving it naked and ex-
posed in all the deformity OF its real motives and
its false professions.
Why is it a species of demagogy for
a body of citizens, when it is shown
that it has cost more to move the or
ange crop of Florida than the sale of
the crop has amounted to, to arraign
the railroads for excessive charges?
And in what manner have the masks
been torn from their faces? Will the
Citizen, who comes all the way from
Philadelphia to Florida with a mint
of money back of it to slay Senator
Call, point out the "false pretenses
and shallow hypocricies" of these
men? In what manner is this an eff
fort to wreck the party to which these
men profess to belong? Is it because
they are pushing aside imaginary
evils the Citizen has attempted to set
up and thrust upon them for real
ones? Let the growers of cotton, and
the growers Of vegeta bles, and the
growers of fruits, make answer.
This "cry against the corporations"
it informs us, "has been worn thread
bare" by Senator Cali and his satel-
lites.
The elegantly equipped railroads
on the one side, and the paralized
fruit and vegetable industries, and the
bankrupt farmers on the other, tell a
story of threadbareness, and a most
pitiful one it is. And though it be
threadbare, we say to Senator Call, his
satellites and this committee, in the
language of Macbeth:
Lay on, Macduf,
And darn'd be him that FIRST cries, hold.
enough.'
Let the fight be to finish.