The weekly true Democrat., 1907-11-22

and drafted Dill 10. p IDSgl Nn3Sn
was introduced by me on May ZSd. y.
8. j., 1893, p. '796. This bill had 9
stormy voyage In the Senate. On NAY
25th / called 1t up, but after long,
hard fight, IL was recommitted, on 9
vote OF IL to 8, with instructions 10
strike out all sections providing for vot-
ing by what Is known as the Australian
Ballot System. s. j. OF. But the seed
had been sown, and the sentiment OF
the people of the State for honest cleo
tions was 80 strong that IL was not long
before this idea was written IN the law.
FIRST ADVOCATE FOR STATE REGULA-
TION OF PRIMARIES.
was the first to advocate State reg
ulation OF primary elections, and intro
dueed Senate Bill l23 Ito regulate the
holding Of party primaries, and TO pun
ish illegal voting and false swearing at
| the same" s. j. 1893.
Measured by the standards Of favoring
a Railroad Commission, and advocating
the primary election system, my record
| is good and strong, and IL Is remarka-
BILE that should be charged with being
a corporation man for, beginning with
the Convention of 1884, and in every
State Convention since that time-on
| the State Executive Committee and in
| legislative hRlls--In season and out OF
season. have been In the forefront OF
| the fight for the peoples interests, and
stranger still, that some Of these charges
should come from men not identified
with US in these fights, but who were
then on the side Of the corporations.
II / were susceptible to corporation
! influences or control, / would have
gone over TO that side when they
were dominant in our politics, and not
at this time, when the people are IN the
saddle. could have been Governor IN
1892 had | not been true to the in
| terestB Of the people in 1891.
| A SELECT FEW WANT ALL THE OFFICES.
The trouble, my friends, is, that
there are some who want all the offices;
who think there are too many "people's 8
men" in politics, and they want to get
them out Of their way. They think
there are too many on the peoples side
of the number OF Offices, and try to
drive from the ranks of the people
those who dare to aspire for an office
they want. That Is the head and front
Of my offending.
They want the VOTERS TO be
"PEOPLE'S MEN" but they want no
"pEOPLE'S MEN" as CANDIDATES
but TIL EN- SELVES.
| fought the corporations when they
attempted TO build up political ma
chine, for ] am cOnstitutionally opposed
| 10 such methods. All machines look
alike TO me, whether they be corpora
| tion machines or the machines OF indi-
viduals or factions.
NOT THE CANDIDATE or ANY CORPORA
TION. CLIQUE OR FACTION.
am not the candidate of any inter-
est, corporation, clique, ring or faction
| of men In the State of Florida. / did
not call meeting or hold a conference
with any man or set of men for the
purpose of determining whether or not
| would enter the race. After decid-
ing 20 be candidate, there were two
courses open TO me. The first was to
consult with the friends of certain i'm
terests, and make combinations with
prominent men In various parts Of the
State, and thus start the construction
of q political machine, so TO speak.
| That did not appeal to me 1t smacked
too much on the old convention system,
without the advantage Of its publicity.
The other, was to make my announce.
ment first, and solicit the support Of the
people after. chose the latter, and
assure you now, that there was nc
meeting or conference, or gathering OF
any persons in my interest, prior to my
announcement. purposely avoided
anything that could In the slightest de-
gree justify q charge that l was the
candidate OF any corporation, interest,
CLIQUE or coterie of men, and / congrat
ulate myself that no Newspaper friendly
to me has referred to me as "the leader
of faction"
NOT A CORPORATION MAN, OR A CORPo
RATION CANDIDATE,
have never been a corporation man
am not one now, and never expect Il
be one in the future, unless by Cor
poration Man" is meant one who Ii ab
soutely fair in deciding between th'
people and the corporations, and VIII
practices that strict impartiality in hi
dealings with them which conscien
tIous observance of his oath OF ofiic'
requires. Jesus Christ laid down tn,
rule for all mankind TO follow, when h,
confounded his enemies by telling then
to "Render unto Caesar the thing
which are Cnsar's, and unto God tn
things that are God 's'--and / but carr!
his teachings into political life when
say render unto the corporations tn
rights that belong TO the corporations
and unto the people the rights that be
long tothe people. One OF our creates
Southern statesmen has said 9TH
man who would do the railroads wroni
in order 20 get the peoples office