The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-12-18
BRANN ON TOM WATSON.

The Irish Standard some months ago
commented on the un-American utter
ances Of Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Of
Georgia, the brilliant statesman nomi-
mated by the Populists for vice-president
of the United States in 1896. Among
other ignorant assertions made by this
were strictly forbidden to read the
works of Byron, Goldsmith, Thackeray
and Dickens, because they were looked
upon as heretics by the Pope. Of course
any man possessing common sense
knows that Tom Watson is an ass for
publishing such nonsense. We have
time and again quoted Protestant writ
ers in these columns, and how could we
have done so if we had not read their
works? In our issue of today we show
a. familiarity with Protestant authors,
as can be seen in the editorials on Ed
mund Burke and "The Story of Liber-
ty." To convince Tom Of the fact we
will mail him marked copy of this is
sue Of the Irish Standard to remove
his dense ignorance on this question.
1t appears that the Georgian states
man is bigot of the first water, ac-
cording to the review Of one Of his
tracts entitled ga Good Catholic" by
w. G. Brann, the irrepressible editor of
the Iconoclast, who raps Tom over the
knuckles in the December number Of his
magazine, as follows: 'Of the most
bigoted sect of pseudo-religious fanat-
les that ever cursed the country the
Hon. Tommie Watson Is perhaps the
most intolerant and narrow Drained lit
tie blatherskite. And the worst of 1t
is that while in religion he Is q fool,
in politics he is knave. Avaunt! thou
contumacious little coyote, thou pesti-
ferrous pole-cat. Shut up, thou Ratchet
faced, splenetic-hearted, narrow-headed
little hypocrite, for verify the world Is
aweary Of Tommie Watson"
What does our friend Ignatius DON
nelly think Of Brann for applying the
above forcible language to his idol? In
last weeks issue of "The Representa-
tive" under the initials Of his name,
the author Of "The Great Cryptogram"
bestows an eneomium upon Watson and
styles him "the great patriot and ora
tor Of Georgia, who has heart big
enough to fill the whole space between
Georgia and Minnesota" and all because
he contributed five dollars in money
and one hundred copies of his History
Of France" (Which was laughed at by
the reviewer of the New York SUM to
the Lease home fund After writing
about Toms big heart so hyperbolically
1.-The great patriot and orator Of Geor-
gia" may get an expansion of the heart
to fill a wider space, say from the
Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay, and
induce him to donate his tract on ga
Good Catholic" for the benefit of Mrs.
Lease.
Our friend Mr. Donnelly is mistaken
In the character Of Tom Watson, or he
would have nothing to do with him or
his asinine productions. We are sure
Mr.. Donnelly is too broad man to be
allied with bigots, even though they
may be Populists. He has frequently
denounced bigots in his inimitable style
and is the eloquent champion Of true
Amerlcanism. A few years ago he took
the platform against Sims, the A. P. A.
evangelist. and advocated freedom Of
conscience for all men in our republic,
He declared that the anti-American as
ISOLATION which Sims represented was
inspired and encouraged by the British
government and the American oligarchy
to keep the people divided so that they
could be the more easily enslaved
Knowing all this the Irish Standard as
sumes that Mr.. Donnelly is laboring un-
der false impression when he eulogizes
this southern bigot as "a great patriot"
He is nothing of the kind, and the soon
er the Populists ignore and ostracize
him from their party the better it will
be for the cause in which they are en-
gagged. Our Eastern exchanges say that
Hon. Geo. F. Washburn. of Boston,
whom Mr.. Donnelly lauds in his paper
is tarred with the same stick as Wat
son. Is 1t possible that the Populist
rarty, OF which Ignatius Donnelly Is the
brains, can find no other men than these
two individuals to honor? Away with