Vol. XVI. . : ; LINCOLN, NEB.; AUGUST 11,1904. : No. 12
TEE P OPULIST SL G AN iJStsr, AddreM
-r w w am v . w 7 . The. Nebraska. Slat a Convention
K. D. Sutherland: , Mr. Chairman,
.Ladies and Gentlemen: The pleas
ant duty of introducing to you a gal
lant son of the south has been placed
upon me. Our nominee for the presi
dency i3 a native son of Georgia, He
.is this side of fifty years or age. , He
, is an. author, and writer of Uoinepf
the trest anl -strongest history . that
j we have in our. libraries today He has
.been a warrior; and a strong gallant;
.fighter for -populist principles ever
since there has been a populist party. ;
(Applause.) He served two, years in
-the United States congress and from
the very moment that he, entered, that
'moment he assumed-, leadership of
"that small but energetic band of men.;
.They, labored for-the best interests of
the country as they saw it, the popu
lists of that day. One of the meas
' tires that our candidate for the presl
'deucy offered in that body and secured
, its -passage, is the bill that provided
for the rural free delivery system. In
February, 1893, when ... the post office
.bill was up for consideration - he of
fered "an ' amendment that $10,000 of
. that sum should be set aside for the:
experimental use of tne rree delivery,
of mail outside of the cities and towns
and our candidate for the presidency,
i Thomas E. Watson, . tnereby secured'
Into , law , the iirst great, principle of;
the populist Ideas, the , looking , after
the interests -of all the people of our
country, ' and it is JThbmas E. Watson'
to whom is due the faonor of being
'the father and originator of the rural
.free delivery system ana the first suc
cessful one to secure an appropriation
'from the government for the benefit of !;
all the people of our, great rural com-;
munity. Ladies and gentlemen, I have
the pleasure and honor of presenting,
to you. our gallant standard bearer,"
Thomas K.( Watson of Georgia.. (.Great ;
.applause.) - , . ' .' n.i-:.; -U;;.,;.-::
. (Mr. Watson's speech reported sten
ographically fjy J. E. i ems. ) ;. .: , ;-
; Mr. Chairman, Ladies and : Gentlemen:-
For the first .time in eight years
I assume to make ' a' political apeecfi.1
For the first time' in ejgut years I taRei
'parltn.a political campaign.' In
I met you people .cf Nebraska, and so
far. as I knew, proclaimed - the
. principles of Jeffersonian democracy,
those principles 'upon which popular
'government must rest, no' matter
by what name you. can-them,' .the right
of the peopie to' dictate, their laws,
mold their institutions and shape tire
destinies of their government. (Ap
plause,) All over the broad plains' of
Nebraska, as far as my 'Strength' would.
allow, I fought loyally for these prin
ciples and. did ray utmost to bring
- success to them. The eight years that
'have intervened have net been hap
py ones to me. The eight years that
have intervened have been . years ' of
sorrow to me. But I come back to
Nebraska in 19C4. I can look you
."squarely in the eye, meet you front
to trout, and foot to foot, and tell
you that the fires of populism; that
burned -in me thc:i, turu ju5t 13
'brightly today. (Applause.) I am
promt to iensve mat i represent a
licople that stand for principles, prin
ciples which are ' necessary to good
government; principles, without which,
the name democracy, is but a delusion
and a snare.: people who, planting
themselves upon the reck. of what they
believe to be right, are not to be
shifted back and forth at the ballot
boxes, but will stand by their princi
ples as long as their conscience dic
tates to them that they are In the
right.
In 1S9S the populists of Georgia
tendered me the nomination unani
mously, of governor. It was just aft
er the great campaign of it wa3
not possible for me to accept that
nomination. I had something then to
fight for, and in d 'cllntng that nomi
nation, I said in JSfX to thu people of
my state n follow:
I.ei no man believe that I despair
ff your principle, for I do r.t. Yon
stand for (he upward tendency of the
middle and lower classes. You stand
where the reformer ha always stood,
"for Improvement, for beneflel.il a Ivan
tasre. for recognition ,f himn broth
erhood In Its highest rue; for c; 14I
Ity of all men before the Uw, nd for
an industrial system which H not
lacwl upon the rlht of th Unrng
to plunder the weak; you Ui.d at
sworn foes of monopoly, not monopoly
in its narrow sense, but monopoly of
power,' monopoly of place, monopoly of
wealth, monopoly, of progress. You
stand knocking- at J he closed door of
privilege as the reformer has ever
stood, and saying to those within,
open, open wide the door that all who
are ; ready, may enter therein, let all
who deserve, --enjoy; .-.erect no barriers
.against the unborn; snut out no gener
ations' that are yet to be, God , made
life i for. all. - Put no barriers around
the good things of life. Make no laws
which foster inequality, establish no
caste; and legalize no robbing under th?
-name-' of taxation; give to no person,
natural or unnatural summary powers
over his fellowmen. Open, open wide
the aoor, keep the avenues of honor
free; close no entrance, to the poor
est or weakest ot humblest. . - Say to
men every where,, the field is clear, the
contest fair, Corae, and win your share
if you can. (Applause.)" ....-
"Such'ls populism. Such is Its clear
est creed. As ;sueh, I have loved Jt
with zealous preferences As ; la dis
ciple I have loved you, fought for
long comparatively ttnee at; this coun
try was a wilderness, and its every in
habitant a savage. It has not been
so long "since it was given over to
the wild beast .and the wild man who
came here. . Go and trace it to the
Jamestown in the south, or the Ply
mouth Hock in the east, and the an
swer i3 the same. It wa3 the tyranny,
the oppression, the unbearable burdens
of the old world that drove those pion
eers out. The king, the priest, the
church, the state, tyrannical, prlvl
leged In power, and the i individua
without power, without privilege, with
but freedom. king the source of al
law; the priest the guardian of the
conscience; the church and state tax
ing the masses to the utmost limit
of endurance, and dividing the results
between them in tithes and taxes. No
freedom of speech; no freedom of con
science; ; no civil law or corporate
everything centered in the hands of
the king and the nobility, Brave men
said these things are unendurable
Brave men said, let us risk the sav
age and the wilderness in which he
dwells, and make .us a hew home and
,.-1
u.
1 1
M
:::
t
0
p z
w
you, dared for you; never for one mo-t
ment doubting that you were right, but
that your creed was the same, simple
creed which in all ages has challenged
wrong. Such a creed can never die."
(Applause.)
In the darkest hour of our fortunes
in Georgia I said that to our people
there, and what was our creed, our
purpose, our Inspiration then, la our
cret'd, our purpose and our inspiration
now. (Applause.) I wonder to what
extent th'a audience is composed of
earnest men and women who wish to
view the nituatlon In the face, and
se exactly what It U. Kxactly what
we fear; exactly what we hope; exact
ly whnt wo in pan today; exactly what
we would do if we could? ! would
not have come a thonxand miles that
separate mo from you if there wer net
in my heart and my son? an earnest
neH whlh time can not destroy;
wht-h life only deepen au t which
nothlnt; but d.ath conll strike out of
my heart, (Appl;uie.
How Ion-? ha It tten ulnee reir peo
pli? in the old worll ttrugKli with
condltloni worse than thef,e which we
havt here tly; it lua k4 teett kj
dedicate.it to the rights of men. And
so they came, the bravest men known
to history; the pioneers or the south,
the pioneers of the north; the pio
ueers of the east who risked all the
horrors and all the suffering, and all
the dangers of that terrible situation
rather than live to be servants of the
kings in the old world. (Applause.)
What did they intend to establish?
The very first assemblage that met
In the south at Jame3town In old
Virginia; the first assemblage In ICl'J
pledged that handful of colonials to
the rights of trial by jury, representa
tive government to make their own lo
cal laws, freedom of speech, and while
they did not proclaim It, Ihey prac
ticed the freedom of conscience. I nay
what the colonlKt.H did In the south at
Jamestown, the other colonial did
I.ho at Ply mouth Knrfc, and wt these
two communities planted their stand
!trd and proclaimed tha sacred prln-
ciptn or human prosrcsn and human
liberty. (.nhtiie.) It ww not their
purpos fn et.tatdh.fi a government like
that of France; It wa not their pur
XRiii to establish a povernmenl lika
that of KtttfUnd; not their inirjwjs to
establish a government like Prussia,
or like. that of Austria or of Russia.
No, they had had enough of the privi
leged few; they had had enough of class
law; they had had enouga of corrup
tion; they had had enough of oppres
sion, they had had enough of tyranny,
and they came ' here not to make a
government li..e these abroad, but a
government different from those
abroad (appplause), ana throwing off
the yoke of the king, the combinatioa
of church and state, the yoke of ths
nobility, the dictation of the priest,
they, dedicated their eriergles to the
government of all the people, equal
and exact justice to all men, and clasi '
privileges, to none. (Applause.)
I need not dwell for a moment ex
cept to remind you that under these
splendid principles, with these splen
did beginnings how ue colonies rose
into a great democracy, a great re
public; because in the broad sense of
the term the two words mean the
same, the rule of the people, by" the
people, and for the people. (Applause.)
The .mother, country endeavoring to
fasten her grip, her tax. system;-her .
caste system upon us, we cried out,
liberty or, death; and the soldier said
liberty or. death; and the statesman
said, liberty or death; and American
citizenship; men, wonen and children, .
said liberty or. death, and they fought
and risked death rather than wear
the chain Of servitude of the king of
Great Britain , (applause) " against a
whole people, in arms. We won out
because we were united. We won out
because we' were consecrated: we won
j-out because we were right. (Applause.)
Ana louay, my countrymen, if the
spirit of our fathers is still to dwell In
the Institutions which they estab
lished, we 'have got tp resolve onco
more that we will make our fight, and
fight all along the line for the lib .
erUes which they bequeathed us (apr
piause), when Independence was estab
lished. JMore the old eternal civil con
flict which takes dace in eveiv env-
, r cj"-''
erument negan in ours, as far back as
the historian can see there is a Conflict
m , everyr organid society, just as
inevitable as the conflict between riahr.
and wrong, just as inevitable as the
conflict between light and darkness
what is it? The impulse of the masses
toward liberty, and the impulse of the
classes toward oppression, impulse of
me jew to monopolize tne benefits of
government, and the impulse of the
masses to j-esist it, and have' them.
distributed so that all men may en
joy It. (Applause.) Two great schools
of political thought sprung up Ham
iltoniau'and Jelfersonian. You know
without repetition what Hamilton be
lieved and stood for; also, what Jef
ferson stood for. Hamilton believed
that the English government was tha
best; that the few should always rule,
but. despised, the mob, calling it the
great beast, had no confidence In it,
no respect for it, no pity for it. no
sympathy with it. Put the govern
ment into co-partnership with the
rich; put the law making power into
the hands of the few, create an aris
tocracy of wealth and privilege and
commence as nearly as may ba, under
our laws, of establishing what they
lave in me old world. As opposed
to that came Jefferson,, believing in
the people, sympathizing with the peo-
)ie. hoping for the peopie, a cham- .
km of the people, and says to Ham-
iton and his disciples, all the people
fought for this; all tne people prayed
for this; all the people are Interested
n this; all the people shall have a
share In, this. (Appiause.) We shall
have no e1as legislation: we erra!!
lave no special privilege; we shall
lave no aristocracy of wealth, but wo
will have now and forever a democracy
onsecrated to the principles of eauat
and exact justice to all men. (Ap
)laue.)
ou remember that under (Jen-
rrnl Waxhlnston. Mr. HamiHon
bolus? hU ad User, with the rritlm
lernoirtttlc presH rtfi:ainst Wa.shinuton
establishing national bank. Pnactlnat
iaM laws, creating a funding sr-
em, patterned after everythluu of
Great Britain am far possible, Jf.
ferson resigned from Vht;;ton'
cabinet an I snld, I will flht It, I will
tight It; It H wrong; It violate the
compact, the purpose ot the pioneer;
it violate the spirit of the enrly et