The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-06-12
THE PREACHER IN POLITICS

sent out from Jacksonville by the
Ministerial Alliance" TO line I'D the
prOhibitionist cohorts against one Of
their own number for an eleventh
hour convert, says that he had rath-
er vote for a Seminole Indian than for
Albert W. Gilchrist for governor If
/ Florida
Mind you, this man is giving advice
to those who are 70 participate in a
democratic primary. and the pledge
which one takes who participates in
the same is that h. Will support It's
nominees
Now. suppose that Albert W. Gil
christ is nominated-as he will be
what is this ambassador of the Min
isteT1aI Alliance" going 10 do? Is he
going TO renounce a most solemn
pledge and vote for the Seminole n
dian?
IS he advising his followers TO do
so pernicious a thing?
IS this thing possible?
But Rev. Bigham is a transfer from
some other section of the universe.
about whose antecedents We know
very little. if anything; presumably.
however, from Kentucky, for in his
speech in Ocala he also paid his re-
spects TO Editor WattersOn, the Sir
Rupert of the press gang.
And what did he say Of him?
He said he saw him so maudlin
drunk that "he could not spit over his
chin"
Yet no other Kentuckian, no other
man on the face of the earth. ever
saw Mr.. Watterson in a like condi-
ton
To Mr.. Watterson is ascribed the
father of the mint julep," and his
name is inseparably connected with
the mint beds Of Kentucky. Yet Mr.
Watterson says that in all his life he
! never tasted a mint juIep.
1t just proves that "a lie can trot
around the globe while truth is put
! ting on her boots!"
But this is what the Rev. Mr.. Big
ham says.
The Rev. Mr. Boggs is a different
! type OF man and belongs TO a different
denomination, one that rarely leaves
the pulpit for the political forum.
/ Now, what does he say?
Listen:
Il would cast my vote for a Semi
mole buck, fresh from the Everglades.
before I would help my only brother
| if he silently accepted such help (the
same as Albert Gilchrist is dOingJ
have two bright boys in Florida;
they are gifted. highly educated and
honorable BY and by, if they cOntin-
Ne as they have begun. they might,
think. aspire to any office in this or
tany other state. But if | should be
living when one or both of them make
the attempt. and did see one or both
silently using aid which corrupts the
ballot box. please God. | would repu-
diate my sons for such foul wrong.
/ | have never yet voted for an African
for any public office, but in such q
direful extremity, if / should find q
tOlerably decent African TO vote for.
| would vote for him rather than for
reprobate son, willing 70 sacrifice
the honor of his state for a paltry ~
flee"
All this rhetoric and volubili;y
against a lifelong friend of the cause
he pretends to represent on the trivial
assumption Of what some one has
said that he heard someone else say
whose name he does not give when
he is requested to DO 50.
The Rev. Mr. Boggs forsakes Mr.. Al
bert Gnchrist "a lifelong friend of the
ctuse of temperance) for fear that Gil
christ's silence will corrupt the ballot
box, yet Gilchrist's record all the
while speaking out in thunder ton IS
that ought not TO have escaped TN
acute ear Of one who seems TO have
been on the alert 10 hear things.
We say that he fOrsakes General
IGilchrist for Mr.. Stockton for fea.
that the sacredness of the ballot bOS
will be destroyed, yet what is Mr.
StOckton's record as to the sacredness
of the ballot box?
1t was given out by Mr.. Claude l. En-
gle four years ago and was made public
and is being reprinted for Mr.. BOggs
benefit. so that he shall not violate
his conscience with his eyes open.
In his newspaper Of March 10Th
1904, Mr.. L'Engle said:
In 1892, before the convention
; which Bars, Stockton and BrowarC