The herald., 1898-10-25
At a Waters Meeting

To the Editor of the Los Angeles Herald:
The Republican papers are telling great
stories ABOUT the crowds OF people who tight
and scramble Tor an opportunity to see anC
hear Mr.. Waters, whose eloquent bank book
secured him the Republican nomination toi
congress. The other candidates were his
superiors in oratory and every other quail
hcatlon necessary Tor Il congressman to have
but the Republican leaders and manlpuiatorS
found that " aters was wealthy and willing
to use his money as vote getter, to offset
his lack of every other qualification.
The EA press announced that il Rcpulllcdn
mass meeting would be held in the Ninth
ward Friday night, and be addressed b.
Waters, so / went to hear him. lher. WA
baker dozen present when i arrived at
the hall. Soon a fow more struggled in, and
later few Populists came in, which seemed
to relieve the chairman of much anxiety
over the small audience present. The chair
man is an employe OF large corporation, and
excepting the pops" nearly all the rest
present were holding down jobs in the court
house, city hall, school department, city
parks or fire department. When the speak
ers charged the fusion party with being i'm
bued with the sole purpose of getting a seat
at the pie counter, these men who are fat
tening at that same counter applauded loud
ly, and OF course they had no idea that
they were thus displaying as much selfish
ness as hog with ali his feet and nose in
the trough.
The first speaker said he had read some
Popullstic literature sent him by friend
and he would always be thankful he had read
it. If he will read The Herald and the Popu
list papers he will get his eyes open like
every other young pup does. He denounced
the Populsts for favoring fiat money, for
getting that Republicans introduced it, and
demonstrated Its utility, and that our coun
try was never more prosperous than when
paper money was almost the on ly medium oi
exchange, and by its use our country wa.
saved millions OF dollars interest, it would
have paid had our government issued bond
to buy gold to carry on the war, as the pres
ent administration has done.
Like nearly all Republican speakers, h,
said the great issue in this campaign is ''th,
single tax, and went on to say that Demo
Gratis w.Aiited to place all the taxes on the
farmers land and let the railroads go free
lie forgot TO tell the people that the Demo
Gratis passed an equitable income tax law
which, by Republican jugglery, was declared
unconstitutional. He did not tell hi,
hearers that the Republican assessor placed
the valuation of the 'S P.'s" great wharf
at Santa Monica (Which Huntington says
cost one million dollars at a sum in the
neighborhood Of $4,000. How can the Re
publican party, which connved with its as
SCISSOR to value that railroad property al
a about two per cent of its actual value hav,
the supreme effrontery to prate about pro
tectlng the farmer from the alleged evils O
the single tax?
The Los Angeles Times is furnishing it,
readers abundant evidence that the Repub
lican assessors and Arnold and Notorious,
Of the state board of equalization have out
rageously taxed the farmers while strain
ing every point to reduce the taxes of tn,
Southern Pacific Railway company. TIL;
Times says:
Arnold and Moorhouse know every
law that can be strained to Justify low
assessments on the railroads. but no
such care IS exercised in favor of the
farmer and home-owner. Not all the
expert bookkeepers in the world can
find where farmer and home-owner has
escaped outright robbery.
Democrats can furnish stronger condemna
ton of the Republican party than the fore
going statement of the Times. No wonder
the Republican speakers prefer to tickle the
public with the garbled stories about th
single tax, rather than take up the live quss
tions at issue, among which is the sub
serviency of the Republican party to thu
Southern Pacific as specifically shown in the
Times columns.
When Waters arrived the chairman was ir
high glee (ward heelers love to be "seen" b,
"a wealthy canddate), and promised lis
flow of eloquence fit to grace the halls o.
congress. But Waters is a poor speaker
He related two stories without application
and closed by saying he though
he would rather hear his quar-