The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-08-25

>>>~>~~~AA~>>>>>>D
reform have any effect on this young
| man from Georgia. The fact Is. Mr..
watson thought he was a reformer. a
delusion like that has ruined greater
men than he. He also thought ne was
| the honestest man in Congress, ana |
| suspected that a big majority OF his
fell0w solons were better qualihed TOT
prison than for Congress. He soon de-
veloped into hopeless agrarian. ana
had he hailed from the West instead
of from the South he would have been
the chiefest of the popuists. Unfor-
| tunately for him, there was no possi-
hle place for Georgia except In the
Democratic party. |
/ Watsons speeches showed that he
was for everything impractical, vague |
| and impossible his party clamored for.
He was for free silver and he was
against the banks. The corporations
were accursed in his sight and the
bane o fthe people. He believed the
courts were enlisted in the cause OF
capital and resolved on the oppression
of labor. He had nothing against the
Democratic party, but he had persuad-
ed himself that the party was led by
| bad men and had got into bad company
and SO he dissolved partnership with
1t.
The Corpse Of 10 to 1.
He looked up in amazement and rage
that bleak night in March, when the
Fifty second Congress, with a MAORI
ty equal to twice the full Republican
membership killed the last of the
Bland bills that ever reached a vote In
Congress. The gold bugs were led by
Reed, Cochran and George Fred
williams. The first rollcall was about
hn
motion to lay the bill on the table. and
with the speaker recorded in the mega
tive the vote was a tie. and the mo- |
ton was lost. The last vote was had |
not great while before daybreak on |
the next morning. and the Bland bill
was dead. But the corpse of 16 to /
remained In view long time. and it
was reserved by Judge Alton B. Par |
ker to bury 1t at st. Louis in 1904.
The populists were now certain the |
world was theirs. They waxed strong |
er every day In Kansas and Nebraska
and the mining states. They met in
convention and nominated James II.
Weaver for President, and the party
was now exceedingly formidable es-
pecially to the Republicans. The Har-
rfson administration was laden down
with the reputation contained in the
Sherman silver law. the increased tax
the public discomfort because of the
Homestead strike. The Democrats
were flushed with the victory of 1890.
and confident in the strength of the
| man they had thrice nominated for the
| highest office in the world. When the
| returns of the election were computed
| the populists had above a million
votes, and in the Electoral college they
| had twenty-five votes. This was a
| OF
fortune. and the democratic party cast
| covetous eyes on II and began to lay
| claim to it4f Conditions were favora-
BILE. Calamity was abroad in the land
and was proclaimed from every house.
top and SO 1t was that the Democrats
absorbed the Populists. or the popu-
lists absorbed the democrats. nobody
kno which, nor is 1t important to
knC
| single term in
Co ,efeated for re.
.Aet Eirement he has
I pr ften history, and
I've 1t is. His his
t. q great book. 1t
lconta..-- opeals to the man
who reads for p,U.-- Ire--much Of the
gossip of history. You can't mention
the book in the same connection with
Gibbons Rome or Humes England,
but more men would enjoy It than
would enjoy either of the others.
France Is the greatest and the most
inviting theme for the writer OF pro-
fame history in all the world-indeed,
the history of France from the begin
ming of the Hundred Years. War" to
the battle of Waterloo would be the
history OF civilization for all those
centuries. Watson has not told the
story after the fashion OF a great wri-
ter; but rather after the style of
pleasant writer. 1t Is an excellent
book to put in the hands of Intelligent
boys, and calculated to give them a
taste for reading and q thirst for
knowledge.
The life of Jefferson is exceedingly
Watsonian. 1t was written for contro-
versy. and the South owes Watson a
debt for this book. Our history has
been written at the North, and much
of 1t is lacking in the element of fact,
and some of 1t is without the element
of truth. Virginia was the backbone
of the rebellion of 1776. Most people
think New England was. 1t was the
| mountaineers of Virginia and the two
Carolinas that fought and gained the
decisive battle of the war, and have
seen the statement that the name of
no man who gained Kings Mountain
Is on the roll OF any army register.
Depend on 1t that the memory OF every
New England Rebel of that period Is
preserved in the national archives
New England is not to be blamed for
this. and let us hope the South may
initiate her and write enough history
to tell her story
Thomas E. Watson will probably be
the last populist candidate for Prest-
dnt this generation will hear of.