The Southern herald., 1898-02-25
NO 'POSSUM FOR ARP.
Georgia Philosopher Says It's
mon Possum" for Him.
Which Means "I'm Not AbIe"-Tniks
Of the Newman supper and Of
Cuban and Hawaiian
Questions.

NANaA anu hawaiian
Questions.
"'Possum" seems 10 be the slogan Of
state politics. II is among the first
Latin words ever learned to decline.
and means 81 am able" As a filthy
varmint | decline it still, and if l had
been invited to the feast l should have
replied non possum. lean eat crow, but
not 'possum. A buzzard would be as
palatable, for one is a day scavenger
and the other hunts for earrion by
night. Not long age Mr.. Hale told me
at Rising Fawn that bis boy caught
three on three successive nights by
setting his steel trap on a dead hog in
the woods, and Mr.. Young told me re-
Gently that the last one his dog treed
was 10 the carcass OF dead horse. Now,
il a 'possum is kept up in a coop or pen
for a month and fed on decent food, his
oily carcass might be ftteh for a scala
veg or a hungry darky. Col. Gambler
in bis letter sings the praises and the
oily juices of the north Georgia 'possum.
but turns up his nose at the piny woods
breed, The difference is that dead dogs
and hogs and mules are few and far be-
tween In the piney woods, and the pos
sums can't get enough carrion to get
fat. But 'possum is just now the po-
litical fad, and politician will eat any
thing for office except crow. They
don't like that. DR.. Miller used TO say
that he could eat crow, but be didn't
banker after It, We college boys used
to have 'possum suppers away In the
night, but Hansel, who furnished them,
kept them up and stall fed them. The
chief satisfaction, however, was in
breaking the rules and lodging the pro-
fessors and tutors. Jim Warren and
Chess Howard used to give midnight
suppers and pull up the 'possum and
taters In basket by rope and take It
in at a third-story window.
Well, the nation has got slogan too.
Cuba and Hawaii are still on deck as
shuttlecocks, and the game is long and
uncertain. Cuba is fruit that is about
ripe, and ought to be pulled before it
rots on the tree; but Hawaii is as green
as a gourd. Cuba is 400 miles long, and
is near by and should be purchased just
like we bought Florida from Spain; but
Hawaii is 1000 miles from our Pacific
coast, and all the islands put together
have not as much area as a single county
in Texas. They say we want II for a
coallug station, We have it now for
that, and can keep II during peace; but
it would take all Of our little navy TO
hold it during war. 1t looks very like
the whole plot of annexation is q per-
sonal job for few men. They are try
ing TO alarm MS with the threat that II
we do not annex II England will. ]
don't reckon England wants II very bad.
In case Of great war, II would take
good part Of her navy to hold it, and the
game is not worth the candle. 0urpoor
little navy won't justify us in annexing
anything, and we can't hurry up any
more battle ships under the Dingley
tariff and the pension frauds.
England has IS battle ships, 81 cruis-
ers, six gunboats, Sc torpedo boats and
eight war steamers-in all 116 keels.
The United States has six battle ships,
1s cruisers, IS gunboats, six monitors
and five torpedo boats-in all, so keels.
How is that for war? Japan has more
war keels anoat than the United States,
and is now the acknowledged mistress
OF the Pacific ocean. But we can beat
them all In brag and bluster and ingo-
ism. We are very like the average
young man who lives on his fathers
reputation. We go back century or
so and bank on the constitution and the
Wasp in the days Of Paul Jones and De-
catur. Those were glorious victories,
but we were fighting on the defensive
then, and our great leaders, both on
land and sea, were southern men-Paul
Jones was from Virginia and Decatur
was from Maryland, and old John
Adams didn't like either Of them.
But almost everything that concerns
congress now is political jobbery-aDd
the pension frauds will go on. They
grow bigger and bigger as the years roll
on. The 10000 pension lawyers up north
must be kept fat, and they are organized
and know how to control congressman.
Ten dollars from each one will place
half million in Washington and that
will purchase so votes at $4,000 vote.
They defy Commissioner Evans and all
his efforts to purge the rolls will be in
vain. Wickedness in high places still
prevails, and the wonder is that the ma
tion survives It's corruption. heard
some preachers discussing 1t on the
railroad and one said the wickedness
was so great it was wonder that the
Lord didn't destroy the capital and all
the great cities. But an old Irish preach
er said: "No, sir; no, sirl the Lord
wouldn't have destroyed Sodom il there
had been ten good men there, and am
sure there are at least so in Atlanta and
nearly as many in Washington and New
York"
No, sir, the cities are safe for some
time to come, but 1t is well enough to
keep your eye on place in the coun-
try. In 1s41 Thomas II. Benton made a
great speech in the United States senate
in which he opposed the grant Of $685.
900 to President Harrison's widow and
said: "a new page has been opened in
the book of our expenditures and this
new departure taken which leads TO the
bottomless gulf Of pensions and gratui-
ties" Verify he spoke like a prophet,
for So, ,000, ,O00,O 900 have already been paid
and there are now on the rolls nearly
], ,0OO, 900 pensioners and Commissioner
Evans fnds 100000 additional pending
applications. Good gracious, how we
did fight. John c. Calhoun said in one
Of his speeches: "A power has risen up
in the government that is greater than
| the people, 1t consists Of many inter.