The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-15
AHaerspts yntsttigettetr,
BILL APPS LETTER;
Bill Bas NO uss for BIgoted Secret Organ
izatlons of Any Kind.
atlanta Qonskttltior.

izations of Any Kind.
atlanta Conskhtion.
Our farmers are going to be in a bad
fix next winter. They wont have any
nubbins to feed the steers on. l
never saw such big fine corn nor so
much of it. I never saw such fine
cotton in Barlow County nor so much
of it. Our farmers made fine crop
of wheat and oats, and they will make
q big crop of sweet potatoes. The
gardens are fine, the cattle are fat, and
the chickens are juicy. A kind prov
idence and diligent work beats the al.
lance and all its signs and grips and
passwords and resolutions. [ see that
some farmers in South Carolina have
recently passed a resolution that they
will not sell their cotton seed for less
than 20 cents bushel. If they mean
by that to put them back in the land,
it is good, but if they mean to force
the market price, it is as foolish as
our State Alliance at Macon, that 8
few years ago resolved that they
would hold their cotton until it
brought 12A cents a pound. But
farmers generally have quit such fool
ishness and have fallen back on hard
work. They had some fun, and a few
of their leaders got into Office, but the
masses never got their hands in the
sub-treasury nor their cotton and grain
in government warehouses. | never
knew any good to come of these se-
cret-class associations, except where
they are formed for charity. Those
formed for political purposes are
o menace to good government, and
an insult to. outsiders. I remember
when the know-nothing party came
into being andsfor a few months how
cred over the country like adark and
threatening cloud. Those who did
not belong to it. felt subdued and
alarmed, for they did not know who
they were nor whom to talk to in con-
fdence. Some mornings we would
find the sidewalks spotted with red
paper triangles that meant a secret
meeting somewhere that night. If a
municipal election came off the know
nothings never said word, but when
the ballots were counted men were
elected who were not candidates.
Outsiders stood aghast.s Many would
have joined but were not wanted nor
invited. s:Put none but Americans
on guard tonight" was the patriotic
shibboleth, and no foreign-born citi-
zen, need apply. Protestant preachers
we're all in, but no priests nor Roman
Catholics. But soon the power Of
money began to be felt and some of
the worst men were nominated for
Office. About that time Aleck Ste
phens had walked up to the situation.
He stumped the State against the new
party, and so keen was his invective,
80 masterly his arguments, that good
men everywhere dropped out of it,
and their candidates were defeated.
It was withering and tragic to see the
little giant flash his dark eyes and
hear him scream
"How now, ye secret, dark and
midnight hagsl What is it ye do? A
deed without name" Yes, party
without a name, party that darken-
eth counsel without knowledge; a
star-chamber that would politically
gUillotine Lafayette and Baron de
Steuben, if they were here; party
that designating hypocrites and dis.
appointed demagogues originated fol
their own aggrandizement.
Well, he killed it in Georgia. OF
course he had help and cooperation,
but he was the chief executioneer.
Let me see. That was about forty
years ago, and now that same old
party has come to life again under q
new name-the A. P. A. sand its
vilifcation Of Roman Catholics is just
like it was then. The papers sent me
from Duluth and Rock Island TEEN
with SANDER and lies. They declare
the Roman Catholic priests to be lib.
ertines and the converts bagnios, and
the editor of the Duluth papers boldly
charges that the cells in the basement
of the convent in Duluth were built
to imprison the nuns who refused to
submit themselves to the priests.
The Duluth paper says that the asser-
tions that the Shermans were Roman
Catholics is an Infamous, slanderous,
lie, and that if Rosecrans, Mcclellan
and Mcdowell and McClennard were
Roman Catholics, they were utter fail
ures as commanders that out of the
IA, 900 Catholic Irishmen in the un,
ion army, over 100000 of them de-
serted, and that it was Roman Catho-
lie influence that caused the assassi-
nation Of Lincoln and Garfield. They
are awful mad with Mr.. Cleveland for
attending high assSonsthe death OF
Carnot, and denounces the Pope for
sending cid JEFF Davis his apostolic
blessing. The anathemagin these pa
.pers are fearful, and I ] don't seeshow
they can keep up the lick. When I
was young 1 read book called "The
Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk. "
Maria was an escaped nun from Ro-
man Catholic convent inaMontreal, ,
and her pitiful story was as startling
as is that of Ida Wells on the South
ern people. She sold 25O,000 copies
in little time, and was a great hero
inc in the best of society in New
York and Boston. But by and by the
whole story was disproved by COM
mittee OF Protestant clergymen in
Montreal, and Maria had to retire as a
fraud and an impostor. But she made
a snug fortune to retire on, and that is
what Ida is trying to do. The fools
are not all dead yet, and she knowsit.
But no party can ride into power on
the waves of persecution, especially
religious persecution. The A. P. A. s
will only make the Roman Catholics
stronger and more jealous. They are
strong now. They can stand alone,
even in sectarian war. The Pope
and the Cardinal and Archbishops
have recently made a declaration
against the liquor traffic that will
have widespread influence for good
government in this country. won
der what Duluth will say about that.