The news & observer., 1897-02-25

| and talk about how to get there financial
ly. The curse of this land to-day is that
| man puts gold above God. The Lord
/ never made but one man and one woman
| and they are about as scarce now as they
were then. Everything that wears pants
! is a gentleman and everything that wears
a frock or bloomers is lady. Men and
women are scarce articles these days
| 'Selfishness is the bottom of all the
meanness in the world. Hell itself is
nothing but the essence of selfishness
and it is a wonder to me that some old
+ deasous don't catch fire by spontaneous
/ combustion The dollar is running every
thing. and the only question is where the
money is coming from. A member Of the
Legislature told me tonight that there
| was n flood of appropriation bills under
consideration, but that the treasury was
bankrupt and they didn't know where to
get the money.
"1'he trouble with this country is the
want Of confidence. If all the church
members in This town were to get to
heaven you'd have to sleep in heaven
with your breeches under your head, or
they'd be gone next mornimg.
''You see an old fellow Skinning and
sclimping ito save money. He says he's
got enough for himself, but he wants
something to leave for Sally and the
baby. He'll not be dead and in he'll three
years before another fellow will marry
the widow and sit ON the front porch
and enjoy the wealth. I've seen it done
time and aga;n. | saw it THE other day.
| said to my wife II ! die YOU can
marry If you want to- but for the Lord
sake keep the old dev;l off the front
porch
SAN old miser who knows nothing but
his gold reminds me of a fly that falls
into barrel of molasses. Molasses is
good for fly, but too much of it becomes
all molasses and no fly. DON'T turn your
heart to sordid dust.
i've paid out $4,000 i'm the last three
years by standing for fellows. I've quit
that now. I've found that when a fellow
wants you to stand for him he wants TO
lay down. Now when a fellow says /
would like to get you to stand for me- say
No, thank you, I'm tired of standing
while other people are lying around in
their internal laZiness
Again might stand here for an hour
and talk about getting there politically,
but the game isn't worth the candle. If
| wanted to ruin a. man I'd run him for
an Office and get him left. You ask If
good man can't go into politics. Yes, but
d clean man can't come out Of pOlatlcs.
4 clean hog can go into a mud hole, but
who ever saw a clean hog come out of
one. A politician has got no conscience
and no responsibility to God. Get after
a red nose politician and he'll say it was
not as a private person he did the deed,
but as q member of the Legislature.
Were a nation of calves, sucking at
the public teat and fighting for the best
places. We've lost all independence of
Thought and ACTION What effect viii 1T
have on the party and their chance Of
getting an office? is the question the
politicians want TO settle before decid-
ing how they stand ON any public ques-
tion.
You've got all sorts of politics IN
North Carolina I believe if all the poll
ticians in North Carolina were to die to-
night and go to hell and the devil were
to peep through the key hole and see
them coming he'd close up shop and leave
nv the back door On arriving the Leg
islaiture would, no doubt, keep up its re-
cord by holding a caucus and electang
a devil of their own. They have plenty
Of timber to choose from.
And here are the Legislators now The
trouble with them is that they don't know
much. They see too much and can't pass
anytihing-eyen a saloon. If there's amy
of you here that get mad with me just
come up after I get Through and say so
and III forgive you. never bear malice.
'"Take the old State OF North Carolina
soaked in wiliskey from one end TO the
other You could no more pass am ANTI
Eauor law than you could fly. Every
man in this State is responsible for the
saloons of this country. Amy member
of this Legislature who would vote for
n saloon is not fit to hang ON the back
door of hell The devil would get asham-
ed Of him and take down the sign, There
are drlmkards because there are saloons,
there are saloons because the law Ii
censes them, the law licenses them be-
cause the legislators allow it, and legis-
lators allow III because church members
elect them for that purpose.
You take Mckinley. He's a LOCAL
preacher in the Methodist church. Bryan
ds a. deacon in the Presby terrain church
and, know whereof / speak,
he's a royal christian-and yet
during the last campaign neither one
of these men mentioned the whiskey
question. They forgot or they would have
done it in a minute I'd rather be plain
Sam Jones and speak out my convictions
than he q politician and go to the Legfs
lature.
1 II went to the Worlds Fair at Chicago
three or four times 1t was wonderful.
They said there were specimens Of all
the nroduct of the bar-ro0ms. 1t wasn't
sthtutions. At first / Thought this was
so. but 1t wasn't. / looked around for
the products Of the bar-roons. 1t wasn't
on exhibition. There ought to have been
large glass case there with three or four
old buns in 1t, then Raleigh's chief dn-
dustry would have been fittingly repre-
scented.
'4nhe United States will not undergo the
i strain Of four more Presidential elections
/ like the last. tell you SO and you'll
see it, There is an undercurrent of If
/ we can't carry IL one way we will do it