Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-02-26

A. DE ArmOnQ OF MISSOURI. Since
Thomas Bracket Reed went hence
without day Judge De Almond has no
peer or competitor in this line of ora
tory. His admirers describe him as a
skeen cutter" His sentences carve
his victims as so many razors. So
thoroughly is his superb capacity in
this regard recognized that nobody ever
interrupts him now that is, nobody
with any reputation to lose. When /
was boy, l attended public sale
down in the hill country of Kentucky.
Two men got into fight. One slashed
the other across the abdomen with
sharp knife and let out his ''innards."
The wounded man doubled himself up
and threw both hands in front of his
stomach to catch his entrails. l was
a child. The performance made deep,
an ineffaceable impression on my mind.
have recalled that picture thousands
of times. | never saw anything like it
until one day last year at the long ses
sion. De Almond was making a speech
when he was interrupted by an eminent
Republican with an impertinent ques-
ton De Almond knitted him instant
ly. There was that double gesture by
the unfortunate Republican-the dou-
bling up and the throwing out of both
hands to catch his entrails that saw
in Anderson county, Ky, forty years
ago. That man will never interrupt
De Almond again, nor will any one
that witnessed the disemboweling. Not
long since De Almond went after Mar
Gus A. Hanna as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, as / listened to the elo-
quent and instructive remarks of the
chairman of the committee reporting this
bill LMr. Cannonl and followed him in
happy reverie as he went over his review
of the history of the country, marking
its growth and progress, l thought how.
Notwithstanding the country has grown
rapidly, marvelously. the growth of ap-
preparations has outstripped the growth
of the country; that extravaganza, as
marked by legislative action, has been
even more rapid in it's progress, more phe-
nomenal in its achievements, than the
growth of the country itself. And, Mr..
Chairman, / could not help thinking while
contemplating the picture painted by the
eloquent gentleman from Illinois-and a
very interesting picture 1t was, too, and
l5-HOW we HID III tElc ucdI 1utuIc nave
to deal with other things calling upon the
treasury of the country and swelling tre-
mendously the appropriations made by
congress.
This suggestion comes in part from a
somewhat remarkable bill introduced at
the other end of the capitol, one having
somewhat remarkable objects in view. l
refer to the bill for pensioning the slaves,
the black men and the black women of
the south This bill provides that every
person. man or woman, who was slave
and has attained the age of seventy years
shall be given upon its passage $500 and a
pension of SIS a month so long as he or
she shall live after that time; that those
over sixty and not having attained the
age of seventy shall be given $500 and
pensioned at $12 a month; that those over
fifty and under sixty shall have 800 and a
pension of $8 a month, and that those who
perhaps were infants in arms during the
time of the war, those under fifty, shall
have pension of $4 a month.
do not know whether this bill is going
to pass / do not know whether it was
designed or expected that 1t should pass.
1t is a curious piece, however, in the
study of the passing drama of statesman
ship and politics. 1t is rather seductive
| picture held out for the black brother,
north or south 1t has attachments, too,
that will reach not only the colored broth
er, but ought, if it were made law, to
be beneficial to some of those who hur-
ried and scurried south shortly after the
war and associated themselves, for pur-
poses of their own, very greatly to their
own profit and very greatly to the injury
of the communities in which they dwelt.
with the colored brother. There are vague
passages in the bill under which and by
which those who have Supported the
colored brother might get the pension in
| place of the colored brother. think they
will not only take in the child who may
| have properly supported an aged father
| or an aged mother, but [ believe the bill
| can be so expanded and so applied that ii
| will take in these conference.-the carpet
| baggers-who in political association in
| the south have perhaps not strictly sup
| ported the colored brother, but who claim
| they have supported him, and who GER
| tainly were supported by him.
| Possibly this bill is of more value as a
| piece of political maneuvering than as a
| piece of prospective legislation. 1t car
| ries with it, 1t seems to me, to the broad
| nostrils in black the pleasant aroma OF
| the barbecue, borne upon the swift breezes
| of anticipation. 1t carries with it the sug-
| gestion that our Uncle Samuel Is moi
| merely going to kill the fatted calf in
order to afford a feast for his black chill
| dren, but that he is going to slaughter the
| choicest of his fiocks and herds. In this
| anticipation, in this pleasant looking for
| ward in this delightful shifting of the
| breeze which bears in anticipation and ir
| Imagination the odor and flavor of this
| barbecued meat, there appears to be some
| thing political. 1t seems to me that iT
comparison the 'glad hand is not in 1t.
| And then, what, in the estimation oi
1 the colored brother, Is the pleasant smile
/ in the drawing room as against baked
| possum and taters in the kitchen?
| OF course the gentleman who introduced
| this bill, as we understand upon his owr
| authority is not and will not be candi
| date for the presidency. We understand
upon the same authority, however, thai
| there are no trusts and so, putting thu
| one statement with the other statemen
| and drawing our own conclusions, we may
| wonder whether or not certain play fol
/ the favor of the colored brother has no
been met, and more than met by another
| play for the favor of the same coloret
| gentlemen. We know that when it comes
| to the nomination of a presidential candi
| date by at least one of the great partie!
| of this country the colored delegate is
very important factor-a factor to be play
ed for, factor to be dealt with, facto
| to be bargained for-and there is nothing
like making preparation in good time, 81
that the yearning of the colored brothe
may be directed in the proper channel, 81
| that the colored brother may look to tn
proper source for relief and benefit when
in good time. his friends come into con
troll Of5course. his friends have been il
control for a great many years, but s.
far he has been living very largely upol
promises.
Now. the old promise. the old suggestion
Of forty acres and a mule, is entirely dis
counted, is out of sight and belittled, il
view of the present promise of $500 and
pension of $15 a month.
/ do not know how this is going to com
out do not know what it is going to re
suit in, but it does appear to me that upo
the political checkerboard where ther
seem to be rather more of the colore
spots than is usual in the forming O
checkerboards, a very interesting play
going on. Those of us who are not in tn
game, those of us who are not particular
ly interested in the result of the game
can watch it, and meantime. as we hea
disclaimers from this source and that W
can put those disclaimers side by side wit
others and form our own conclusions a
to what they are worth.
From one point of yiew-not, Of course
from the political point, where, judg'
1t appears very practical. but from Gel