The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-03-24

those who prey upon his stupidity,
He even prides himself upon the mum
Der of times he has been Rocked dOWr
aid then ''etuck to his bngy"-"de
feated" as he calls it He often says
he will stand by his bogy no matTer
what he does Oae day when his
shirt was nearly torn off him by his
fall I saw branded on his back the
words, st raight ticket, D P" in cap
ital letters I rushed up to his
shame. He got insulted and said he
wanted everybody to g it in order
that they might know which bOgy "he
belonged to-" He stated Furthermore
that he had always belonged TO it and
intended to as long as he lived.
Said his father and grandfather be
longed to it. I asked him who put the
brands on him. He said it was a fam
lily mark; that his father and grand
father had it before him and we're proud
Of it. When I suggested that the men
who operated the bogy machine put
this brand on him and his ancestors
while they we stupIfed from having
been knocked down, IN order that they
might know them as their property, he
becam3 lnsulCed, not at my suggestion
of his being a mere chatCel and belong
ing to another, but at my ~lnsinuatIOn
that the bogy man he belonged TO was
worked by a power behind the scenes
and by the same power that worked the
other bogy. He had no shame at
wearing around his neck a welded iron
collar labeled like his back, and he boas
ted Of it's strength and endurance and
the length of time he had worn it.
Another voter of rather dark skin,
in addition 90 Oeiug branded in sew
eraI places, ''straIght ticket, R P"
and having on the IRON collar, had also
a cham attached to it "a link Of
which also sometimes passed through
his nose) by which a white man was
leading him about, occasionally beat
ing him with a bull whip called the
party lash" This white man wore
no clothes except a bloody SHIRT he had
worm without washing for thirty years.
On it was embroidered the words,
This is the party that set you free
the G 0. P"
What causes and continues the STRIFE
and confusion among those SO called
voters" Is the fact that many from be-
mind the scenes, who are sharing in the
profits of it's operations mlnGle freely
with the voters, get up sham fghUs.
bet on their favOrIJe bogies, take sIde S
IN all the zealand snam fights and often
pretend to be knocked down by a
oogy and to be thereafter enraged
about it. They do not, however, Ike
most OF the genuine voters, have their
iaoels branded Into them through their
skins, but on the cOntrary, wear them
on their coats, so that they may, and
they do readily change them when
eve they may thereby increase the
profits of the machine. Their collars
zoo are not metallic nor welded round
their necks. but are only cla~ped by a
-cret spring. Secretly and at heart,
these machine man have great con
tempt for the genuine voter, and when
among themselves, they ridlcule his
pride blgo0ry, ana simplicity.
Another very interesting operation
Of the machine is the practice of sham
fighting between the b0gy men. They
fight lively too, and make every body
feel like fighting. After long fulmi
nations of platforms and challenging
and denouncing each other in the most
men4cing manner, (in all Of which the
ventrIIOquist operator shows his gen
JUS 80 advantage by his change Of man
ner and voc), they finally come to
blows, tearing each others hair and
flashing each other most numerically.
During this operation, to prevent de-
lection, they are kept rapidly whirling
round and round the upright bar to
which they are att8ched, and a great
number Of the machine operators are
kepU busy amOny the voters throwing
dust in the air and sand IN the eyes of
all who are tryi. G to see, or who seem
to be impertinently curious about the
working Of the machine. Great clamor
and quarreliug arises, abuse fills the
air on every hand, fighting and vic
!ance and even bloodshed follow.
The attention of the people is kept
so much distracted by these a1tful
c~ontrivances that they cannot see even
when the bogies strip each other nakeo