The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-01-06

let out of turning the stone for somebody
else.
"Good. Then let get a cigar and sit
down and look on-unless you have some
thing better to do
John had not, and he was glad to post
pone possible return of the isolated feel
ing, As they were passing the clerk 5
counter, his companion said something in
= low tone to the smiling parsonage behind
it, and the reply was instant and suave.
'Of course: Mr.. Teppenpaw, let me
introduce Mr.. Tanning, president of the
Southern Implement Company.
Johns slow smile hghtened his grave
face when he shook hands with Tanning
Seems sort O stiff and belated, after
we've been jawing one another across the
table for he last half hour doesn't itY
':Yes, the social forms are pretty me
chanical, when you come to think of it.
Then, genially: Shall we find com
| Portable corner and sit a while? I'm in
terested in what you We been telling me
about your farming methods It's in my
line, you know.
The corner and two unoccupied chairs
were found and at the end of an hour
Teppenpaw had told the manufacturer all
about himself his farming, his ambition to
own the best land, the best cattle, the
best homestead in Greene county, Lastly
he spoke Of the chance which had flung
him into politics, laughing quietly and call
ing himself happen-so.
I'm sure your fellow citizens couldn't
have made a better choice, was Tanning
commentary on this last You are
man Of high ideals and the good Lord
knows we need such men in politics nova
days.
oh don know about the ideals, -
said John. bluntly II just know I'm
going 10 stand for what think Is right
That Is III the best man in the world
could do. was the reply. Then the man
ufac,urc1 smoked in silence for full min
ute before he said, How Is the feeling
ever in your county about the repeal Of the
convict contract law, Mr.. Teppenpaw?'
why, | don't know what the feeling
:, generally John had quite forgotten
lhe crucial question put to him by Lut-
;relI striker in the pandemoniac moment
Of the County Convention, and his answer
thereto re farmers, most of US,
and it doesn't touch US But for myself,
| think it ought to be repealed.
Why
Well, On general principles, | reckon
7, docsn >eem right to make free labor
mix up man to man with criminals
That !, never done, was the quick
response The convict labor Is sold to
the highest bidder, who takes it all, or all
be can use Of it, and employs no other.
''Yes but that throws just tha; many
free men out Of job.
Ny dear SIR That shows just how
li,,lc yuu vc gone into the thing Granted
that the couv:cts take the place of free IA
h1r 10 a yery limited extent, ism t it better
10 have them earn their own living than to
make them a charge on free labor by keep
iuE them in iilco,zs
Il don't know but i, Is, as you say,
haven gone into It very much. But
there another point one Of the newspapers
made This convict labor Is always cheap.
Tha, lets whoever contracts for it unlerseIl
other people Dossn't that ge, back at
free laboF another way
.Ncnseu,c said flaming mere par
,lsar shelljng oC the woods. Mr. Teppen-
paw Under the present law the oonyic,s
are ! source Of revenue to the State, and
they are provided with useful healthful
cmgl5ymcnt-v /, LITTLE less than
tiodscnd to the poor devils You think it
over bcforc yen make up your mind to
work for the repeal
The member for Greene said he would
and parted cordially FROM the man Of bus
ineSs when the latter said be must % home
Hunt me up again, Mr. Tanning be
said. az the hand-shaking f.: reckon
need jogging up 4 little on some o these
bigger things
Since thi, was the Sunday evening, and
the Assembly would not convene until
TUESDAY, there was clear day in which
Tepreupaw might have looked for the sim
pie JetIcr-ouian boarding house But on
the Monday he was otherwise and far
more pleasantly employed. Early in the
forenoon, the president Of the Southern
Implement Company turned up a, the no
tel with = team that made Johns horse
loving eyes water, and the entire day was
spent in fann.ng company.
Anetward, there was even less time for
house hunting When the work of the ses-
sion began, Teppenpaw applied himself
Ike school boy To his task, determined to
understand the intricacies of each separate
measure before voting upon it, In the
House they called him the silent member
for Greene, aud made sport Of him but he
took it good natured and only grubbed the
harder in the field of legal phrasings
In these bill studies, Tanning proved
himself friend in need Before the ses-
sion was fortnight old, acquaintance had
ripencd into friendship, and Tanning gen.
erously put his experience as a man Of the
wider world at TepPenpaw' disposal. In
very few days Greene county had
shrunk to its proper inconsequent proper
tions on the State map and John was freely
owning himself jay, with everything to
! learn,
Long afterward, he remembered that
these educational talks often turned upon
the benefcence of the convict labor law,
and he was then able to trace his change
of opinion regarding it step by step. But
at the time he would have said that there
was no change; that he was merely getting
a broader point of view. Indeed, he was
growing broader and more lenient in every
way. as witness an admission made to Fan
ming one evening over the tete-a-tete din
ner in the Jackson cafe which had come
TO be a frequent thing with them.
There another thing I've got onto
since | came here, Mr.. Tanning. Politics
ain as black as they're painted in the
newspapers Eve been here three weeks,
now, right in the thick Of it, and I've got
to have the first man make a break at me
to influence my vote.
The expression on the president face
was hard to read. But what he said was:
You re quite right about that of
course, where no question Of right and
wrong is involved man may very prop