Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-06-03

lungrateful, and vicious attacks on me in
his public speeches.
Couldn't he support Hoke Smith. with
out reviling me? Seab Wright did; Judge
Hines did: Hoke Smith himself did. But
Mr.. Hardwick, my personal friend and
immediate representative, could not get
his consent to spare me from his vituper-
| ative tongue.
| ! put IL to any gentleman-to all gen.
tlemen-did 1 not carry forbearance as
/ far as you could have carried it? Would
not you have felt just as 1 did, had your
| intimate friend gone-almost Immediately
from under your roof. from your fireside
and family circle-and begun to make
public speeches against you which, If be-
lieved, would have consigned you to the
contempt of honest people? What sort
of opinion you'd you have of a man who,
| for years, had claimed to be attached to
you, who had eaten your bread and slept
| in your beds and been considered a true.
and confidential friend. and who for no
other reason than that you could not sup
port his candidate for governor turned
on you and stung you with the con-
centrated venom of a moccasin?
| WHAT WOULD YOU THINK?
| l put it to you-what would you think
| OF such a man?
| In vain will Mr.. Hardwick endeavor to
| reduce the issue to one of personalism
| My opposition to his continuance in con-
gres is fourfold:
1. He has been a failure, having &C
complished nothing that his secretary
| could not have done.
| 2 He gets drunk and CANDLES, and is,
therefore, unworthy to be our represen-
| tative.
| g. He abandons his duties in congress,
| to butt into local elections, and to at
tend to his law cases. No other Georgia
| congressman does so.
| l. He increased his own salary $500
year, without consulting his employers,
and without having the manhood to place
his vote on record. The salary was $lOOO
/ for about nine months work, in the per-
| Torrance of which the government al
lows him $3.50 year for clerical help.
He never told his employers that he was
dissatisfied with his wages; and 1t wasn't
right for him to take 5000 more, Tor
the term, than he had been getting.
Besides thees public reasons there is the
personal one, for which 10 one Is TO
blame excepting Hardwick himself. He
pretends to scout this feature of the case
| as entirely negligible. He seems to think
that he can treat me like dog wltnout
! offending my old friends in the Tenth
district He revels in wordy abuse ana
ridicule of me, as though he believed that
no one cared how much he despatched
me- He may be right about I'll ooh
know. NV work keeps me at home, ana
II has been some years since / went the
rounds of my old stamping ground
Rut the faith is strong within me that
tha ola guard of the 90s have not for
gotten everything. Perhaps Mr. Hard
U,,c,, will be made to know that they nave
not forgotten anything. l cannot oe1eVe
that the fearless and loyal men "hosF
banner I bore in those hot years VIII
saw. nv their votes, that l ought 10 nave
| submitted to Hardwick unproVokeo "iii,
6cation. / cannot believe that they WIN
continue to honor and reward a not
toaSad Young politician who is exhaust
ing the resources of SANDER, ridlcule anu
! Accommodation to disgrace me in the eyes
of the world l think the warm-hearteo
men of the district will sympathize WIN
their old leader, and rebuke his Wanton
assailant. ~,
NJ Hardwick wakes indignant at my
attempt to influence results In the 1enN'
district. His wrath is somewhat taruy'
He saw no harm in my enorts 10 neIp
direct events in 1915 since 70 NJ. t,1e
me in that connection is practlcally the
same as to gIorify himself, he pro
pounces the eulogy. But after 1 parted
comnany with him, my patriotism left
me in that connection is practlcally the
vilest of political prostitutes. he KNOWS
tbis Is true, because my bedfelloWs IN
ions we're Pendleton. Howell and 10y
less: whereas, in 1906, they had oeeh
such paragons of civic virtue as Boykih
Wright. Slick Thompson and LaWtoh
MtIIerI Accidents OF the campaign are
-. IN n with Hardwick. The moment
he sees two former opponents lined up
topetber. he KNOWS that somebody has
rotted. He did not know this in 1906
hut he knows IL now. In fact, he dis-
covered ii in 1908. Whereupon' ne
rushed from Washington to Macon 10
teu everybody about IT. Ridiculous lit
tie Titmouse that he Is, he could not
more find anything morally wrong about
my course in 1908 than he could ABOUT
1906! MY position was taken without
reference to Pendleton, Howell or 10y
less: and they took theirs without refer
ence to me-
| To ease the Hardwick mind-whats
left of 1T will say that every energy
of my heart and soul will be consecrat-
ed henceforth to doing something Tor
the good of the country, through the
Democratic party. Stern experience has
taught me that no other method can
+ succeed in the south. Asking nothing
for myself, 1 will labor with all my
strength to- restore to the common peo-
pie the control of their public analrs;
to elevate the old southern ideals OF
craftsmanship; to unfetter the south
from the domination of Republican
states in the National Democratic con-
vention; to bring ante-bellum Demo-
cratic principles once more into the
creed of the party and the legislation OF
congress-thus redeeming the masses
from the abuses of special privilege,
and re-establishing the Jeffe<sonian
dogma of Equal and exact justice for
all men, without special privileges to
any," THOS.- E. WATSON.
Thomson, Ca, May 80, 1910.