Sharp County record., 1901-10-18

1
| the cotton crop. This mat
ter has been considered at some length
because the Republicans, unable TO
defend the attitude of their party on
the trust question, have sought to dodge
the issue by bringing accusation
against Senator Jones, as chairman
of the Democratic National Commit
tee.
During the campaign the only re-
ply made by the Republicans, when
charged with friendliness to trusts,
was that Tammany leaders were in
terested in an ice trust, and that Sen
ator Jones was interested in the cotton
trust AS soon as the campaign was
over, it was found that Governor
Roosevelt had, for political reasons,
suppressed Mayor Van Wyck's answer,
and it also developed that the Repub-
| lican senate refused to consider the
| house antitrust bill, when Senator
| Jones tried to call it up"
In the face of this array of facts, |
| believe that any man who pretends to
] believe that | am in any way connect
ed with a trust is looking more for
some pretext on which to base his op-
position than in trying to find out the
truth.
Another charge made by the Globe
Democrat, at the same time, and which
| has been industriously circulated by
| Governor Clarke's friends in this state,
| is that since | have been senator |
have grown rich, that l am million
aire. The impression intended to
| be conveyed of course is that /
have grown rich by some improper
practices. No such charge is made,
| but it is no discredit to a man to ac-
cumulate property if he does it in a
proper and legitimate way, hence there
is a necessary implication against my
reputation when the charge is made.
say it is no discredit for man
to be rich if he acquires his
property in a legitimate way. We
read in the Book of Books that Abra-
ham was rich, that he was very rich,
and yet Abraham was the only man
of whom, so far as l know it was ever
written that he was called the friend
of God"
One of the newspapers strongly
advocating Governor Clarke has been
fair enough to say in one issue of its
paper that there is no charge that l
have ever used my official position
| for any improper purpose. Still, there
is nothing in this charge of being rich,
unless it implies charge of some bad
| conduct on my part. confess that |
have a great contempt for this sort of
political methods, but in re-
| ply to the statement that l
am a millionaire, and the innu-
endo that necessarily follows it, l will
say that when l was first elected to
| congress l had a few thousand dol
lars worth of property, and that all of
the property now have, aside from
my interest in the American Cotton
Company, differs very little from the
amount of property had then. The
| nature and character of the property
has been changed, but it's value has
not materially increased, and l have
not an income Of five hundred dollars
on the face of the earth outside of my
salary. l have never derived a dol
lar from the American Cotton Com
pany, either directly or indirectly.
The money borrowed and spent in its
development, | owe now, with almost
all of the interest. Inc patent was
issued several years ago; l don't know
just how long, but think six or seven
years. The life of patent is, as you
| oil a, hn
date of its issue. There is, then, per-
haps ten or eleven years of the life of
this patent yet remaining, and at the
expiration of that time the patent
will become absolutely the property of
the public. If within six or seven
years of the life of the patent l have
not derived a dollar of profit from it,
it is not likely that, in the ten or
eleven years yet remaining, l will
receive any great amount of money
from it, and under these circumstances
of course it is idle to talk about mo-
nopolizing the packing of cotton under
this patent Mr.. Bryan says in his
article that we are not packing ten
per cent of the cotton-that it is
| uCdl Cl hNO' iuC u ulh Is IudI we al
packing less than two and onehalf per
cent of the crop.
j make no complaint of Gov.
! Clarkes attempted criticism of my
private affairs, of my personal busi-
ness, if he likes that sort of politics,
or if he thinks that they affect the
public interest in any sense. have
lived in all good conscience
fifty-three years amongst the
people of this state My public
and private life is we'll known to my
neighbors and am glad to say that
where l am best known ! have most
friends, and that all of the charges
made against me and my good name
have found no lodgment amongst the
men who were my comrades during
the war and who have know all
about my life since. | will not follow
this example Of Gov. Clarke's. There
may be matters in his private life
and in his business methods and busi-
ness connections, which it would be
well for the public to consider in de.
termining his fitness or unfitness for a
| high and hOnora hle nOcition vTb;, T