Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1908-10-22

junction Bill" ard "Errand Boy
Sherman" and Assumes the Role
of Cannon-Cracker-The Scared
Householder and the Burglar.
Monroeville's Democrats, assisted by
the county committee, had planned
what the posters called "A Monster
Bryan Ratification Meeting" The Re
publican school teacher remarked that
the first three words of the placard
held more truth than all the rest of
the sheet; but then, he was recent
importation from Boston, and so was
expected to SIT in the seat OF the
scornful. Undisturbed by any such
grammatical peccadilloes, most OF
Monroeyille's thousand voters, and
several hundred men from the outly-
ing country, turned out to hear the
music and the speech-making.
There was CONSERVATION in the
ranks of the committee when the eve
ming train brought no Lawyer Squlres,
the bright oratorical light upon whom
their faith had been pinned The
meeting had begun before the train
arrived; the preliminaries had been
disposed of and the local talent we'll
nigh exhausted when the nonplussed
committee arrived with the bad news.
Before it could be broken, however,
Zed Rumford, the hotel-keeper, whose
committee badge outshone his dla-
mond, had an inspiration. Why not
ask Tom Harkins, Ware & Tare's star
drummer, to give the crowd the same
sort of talk he had made to the boys
in the hotel lobby that afternoon? Tom
wasn't bashful, being a salesman, and
he knew human nature better than he
knew anything else except Ware &
Tare's line.
Thus it came about that instead OF
a pompous orator in a frock coat,
there was introduced well groomed
young man in brown, who began by
saying: Amt it awful, Mabel l
blew into this burg to talk Ware &
Tare's dry goods, and here they've put
me up to show q line of Republican
green goods. Instead of a big gun,
you've got a CannOn-cracker, for l
want to take a crack at Joe, since he
and Senator Son-iri-law >Oilrich are
more of an issue than Teddy's expand
ed shadow, Injunction Bill. !
wouldn't be afraid Of the big stick in
Tafts hands, any more than Wall
street is afraid of it; but Taft is only
the respectable cigar-store front of
the meanest gambling joint that ever
stacked the cards against q sucker.
The real owners are Cannon, Aldrich,
Rockefeller, Hartman and that whole
push Uncle Joe's lightest cuss word
is weightier than Taft's most delphic
deliverance For what Cannon says
goes, because he does not speak until
he has been spoken to by the men
higher up'-and the higher up where
Cannon goes for ordes is not heaven,
either. Do gu catch my point? There
is no voting for Protege Taft, or Err
rand-Boy Sherman, without a voting
TOR the continuation and Strengthening
of the Republican ring in house and
senate, ring SO crooked that, except
for a few months in presidential year,
even the Republican editors are kept
busy telling the nasty truth about it
If you want more Of the reign of the
game that has proved itself mightie.
than even Terrible Teddy then vote
for the amiable Taft and the shrink
ing Sherman"
The crowd had been rather too
,tiazed by the rapid-fire, unconventional
talk of the drummer at FIST to make
any response, but quickly it began to
murmur approval by such phrases as:
Now you're going some" That's the
talk" Give him another hot one" etc
The speaker paid no heed to these in
terruptions, but continued:
I had a neXt-dcor ne:ghbcr once
who woke in the night and found 6
hall light burning downstairs. H,
thought it was burglar. What 10 you
suppose he did? He stood urst airs
shvering in his rightie, hoping the
burglar would go away. Is that tns
way you do, when your wife shakes
you out of your beauty sleep and tells
you that there is a burglar down
stairs?'
Not On your life!" calculated g
bushy man in The audience; L g.
after him"
''Of course you do. So does every
other man who las red blood instea !
of skinned milk in his veins. Be
cause you are a man. the head of YOU
house, and responsible for its safe
and the safety CT your family, and you
face any danger that threatens YOU
home. In the exercise OF this FTiT1aa
right, which every male who grows
hair has considered sacred and bind
ing since the days Of the s one age
when a nan guarded she entrance 4;
his care-home with club. you woul,i
be willing to front the deTil himself
Well, gentlemen, that is just abou
What is up to you to-day in this poiiti
cal campaign. Your fundamental, in
eterent manhood. rights. are at stake
Your country, which is as sacred to
you as your heme-nyriadso CT patriots
have left their homes at tire call c.
ccuntry-has teen invaded by thieve :
and robbers. The ideals CT America,
government: have been vic'a;e You,
property rights have been taken from
YOU. Some of you have become sc
S;Irine and: unman1e5 that you grin
snd gloat overtEe power ard au32city
II the men who have plundersd and
s,31amed you: You, say they're mighty
smart, and that you'd do The same il
IS2u ad the chance. A man who talks
hike that is at heart. a, crook here
tie speaker grew vehement, and
iaf5ed his fore,finser viciously ire
tie aiT-s'snd'no decent citizen of this
republic"
\ terse4ess in the atmosphere and
lpw mucsnu.s s CT: APPRECIATION, rather
san cheers, greeted, tie srea,ie2'a