The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-05
THE INNER CIRCLE.
An Imaginary CoIIoquy in the c
 Yicf ROard

Marion Standard.
 man of the State Convict Board. and his associate, Editor Hugh M. Wilson of The Opelika News, and our old friend. Captain w. H. King, warden, trees at Speigner some pleasant June day talking something like this:
 craig Hugh. old fellow, that edi- toriai you wrote about the Tax Com mission taxing large tracks of land at what they are worth regardless of cultivation and what they are made to produce, Is too drastic, You for get have several thousand acres of RIackbelt land. rich as the valley of the Nile, but I don't get enough profit on of it to pay the wage hands"
 Wilson--"But. Craig, you are not a good faImer. Conner makes his lands pay like an untaxed cotton factory. Besides. Craig. you can't put yourself up as the standard for the average land owned. You can stand the tax. make or loose. You've got money and a good fat office. Fact is you have had good fat office these many years. Now, Conner wants these lands taxed just as have stated. He won't talk to you, Craig, as confidentialIy along these lines as he does to me. lie a knows sa v you are good politician. and leve your blackbelt friends, and you can't be Shylock. But, Craig, 1t is going to take some Shy1ocking to put that money back into the treasury the administration has taken out. The corporations will only bear their pro rata share. and you large blackbelt land owners will have to give up few pounds of flesh"
 Captain King--'I quite agree with you. Craig: l have several hundred acres of this blackbelt land myself. and If I could get labor to work 1t I wouldn't hold this warden job ten TT not fo gram anyway. Why. my home friends would vote for me for almost any office might ask for from bailiff to Governor: They know I could fill all. three offices we hold and not half try. Besides. I am not like Wilson. l don't have to be appointed to every office l hold--the people elect me. But I am getting old and my rents will not support me. and I want to thank you boys for helping me get this job. But. Wilson don't rub any more tax on us; we people can't stand
 Craig (growing eloquent and uer- vous. swapping his tobacco from one side of his mouth to the other and splitting at every pause) Well, Cap- tain. you see Wilson is a Hill Billie. They only own about a quarter section to the farm up his way. and a thou sand acre farm looks as big as the ocean to him. Wilson used to split his feet from toes to heel when a boy driving the cows from the bam- boo pastures. and he has been sore on the world ever since. He will get all right now as soon as he gets used to grazing in high oats. We4must take him down home with us sometime and show him few things. Let him see Gods country and meet Gods people, people who have made Alabama; peo- pie who can point to mounds marking the last resting place of more citizen soldiery than all the rest of the State Cnmbinld WHara tha frat ate flag was fashioned and where the first Alabama regiment was mustered into service. People who without money and without price loaded trains houses to succor the hungring hill people when the ravages of war had ended and before their arms could be converted into blow shear and pruning hook. People who led tho fight for home rule and white supremacy, yield ing upon the altar of patriotism po- litical power that gave them any of- flee In the gift of the State for the cells. and stuffing ballot boxes as tight as a bass drum rather than sub init to negro domination. People who gave the State her. present constitu- brought prosperity never before en- joyed--a law which you opposed Will son. both the framing and the rati- fication of. People of nerve and
 
 Hill Billie feared to tread to protect the State. not themselves. from po- litical mounteb banks. People who have furnished preachers, teachers. States men. orators, authors and soldiers, who have lent lustre to Christian civiliza- tion throughout the world. No, thrice no! We will not confiscate their prop erty. Nv home Is there, my friends and mX neigEbors are there, and swear as a dutiful son in law to Co., mer, Wilson, If he submits to such move I will throw off the shackles of office, take my old friend King under my arm and we will return to Dallas and Perry and under our owu vine and fig tree while out the remainder of our lives among our homefolks who have never fouled an enemy pcr failed a friend"
 his checks and Wilson looking sullen like a bulb --'IIeres my hand, Craig; these hill folks with their quarter section farm and a Texas pony will never appreciate how we sacrifed life and property. to say nothing of political prestige, for the welfare of al the State as freely as our noblest, truest and best young manhood split their life blood following Lee. Jackson and Forest. Boys, let's take a drink and get in a good humor. If we had Wilson in Selma. Marion. Uniontown. ingstone, Tuscaloosa, Lowndesboro or Camden he would think he was in heaven and never would want to Wiiison-"No. thank you Captain; don't think State officer, ought to
 Craig any. Captain: help yourself; never drink"
 And they all smiled and the offl- cial family was again serene