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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1899)
* * * -T * ' tbe Conservative. The conmgo of fa CAXDIDATUKK . . . , . cnndiclnture for COIx. oflico into the cur rency of tbo realm is a. very honorable and successful industry. There is , however - over , in that mouth-mint which alone coins into cash , candidature for office , a complete monopoly or trust Colonel Bryan is a phenomenon in finance. He is the only patriot who over made a largo income of money from a. largo outgo of mere words. Ho has the only mint for coining candidature into currency. He is a mouth-trust monopolist. Getting money out of running for office mak ing a livelihood and a competence out of candidacy is a splendid industry by which "the plain people" will be much profited. Silos HOURS Rent FIRE ! FIRE ! Holcomb is the president of a mutual fire insurance company which is doing a tremendous business in Nebraska. Nothing could be "handier to have in the house" than Q. supreme court judgeship when liti gation sets in for that plutocratic mutual fire insurance company. "When the money power , the corporation - tion cormorants , the venal vampires of the dollar-abovo-the-mau diabolism seek to put the president of a railroad era a fire insurance company upon the supreme bench of Nebraska what more degradation of popular rights can they contemplate ? When the interests of the insurance company of President Holcomb are conserved by Judge Hol- comb , justice will wink and the plaintiff vs. House Rent may weep 1 IN SOUTH CAROLINA. JONESVILLE , S. C.Oct. 15 , 1899. Bryauism and Tillmanism being syn onymous terms to the Tillnmnites of South Carolina , we would like to inquire - * quire How are they understood by the Bryanites of the West ? And while not authorized to speak for Mr. Bryan , yet as a native of the middle West , as a worshiper at the political shrine of Thomas H. Hendricks , I know full well that he , with all his eloquence , his mag netism and his extensive vocabulary , * dare not advocate these isms as they exist today before an intelligent , unbiased - * biased and enlightened people , and even hope for political preferment. 4 In the abstract , Bryanism-Tillmanism as known in South Carolina , is the essence - , sence of class legislation. It is centrali zation of power in the most insidious form. It is imperialism , in the Bryan- ized interpretation of that word. These are the facts as revealed to an immigrant after a residence of four years in the South not as they are understood by the partisan people ; but as revealed by an analysis of the census reports , the election returns and personal observa tion ; while Mr. Bryan with his usual assurance and complacency , comes down hero and , before an ignorant and parti san people , advocates Tillmanism to the limit , either in words or action which speak louder than words. I would be unjust to myself were I to ask if he ad vocated these same un-American ideas in any enlightened community without making my question more specific. Tillman , as is well-known in his own province , floated into office by organiz ing one class against the others ; the populistic bumpkin against the pro fessor , the planter against the merchant , the country against the cities , the northern and western part of the state against the southern portion , and he has maintained his power by the prejudice and gross ignorance of his bigoted serfs. ( Do not misunderstand me for you will find as well informed , as broad-minded , genial companions and as desirable neighbors in South Carolina as you can find anywhere upon the face of the earth. BUT they are NOT Tillmanites. ) No one conversant with the recent political history of South Carolina will tion of the files of any of the leading papers of the state will confirm my statement , any reasonable man will agree that my claim of class legislation is well taken and in this respect Bryan- ism of today and Tillmanism of yester day are one and the same Bryan's ap peal of The Foolish Virgin being his chief stock in trade. The first step towards centralization of power is to deprive residents of the right to participate in the general government. This is such a tender sub ject in the South that I do not care to discuss any branch of it , in this connec tion , further than to use one of Mr. Bryan's rant phrases and say while I don't believe in disfranchising a single 'God-made man , " I will make no com ment upon the first stop towards cen tralization , which was taken in 1880 by denying 80 per cent of the niggers the right to vote , nor will I offer any objections now , when the second step was taken in 1884 and every nigger in South Carolina was deprived of the rights of suffrage. Neither will I pro test when the third step was made and 07 per cent of the foreign born but American citizens were denied their constitutional rights in ' 84 ; but when the fourth step was made in 1888 and in addition to the nigger , every foreign born American citizen was denied that which is guaranteed them under the constitution , it was time for us who might have acquiesced in those fatal first and second steps to at least inquire where and when was this abridgment of rights by these disciples of King John of England to cease ; and when we found the fifth step of these destroying isms of American institutions had in sidiously invaded the sacred precincts of the native born in 1888 and robbed 10 per cent of us of the rights for which the gallant Marion and Sumter fought and won , it was time for us to protest and reflect upon what we had brought upon ourselves in entrusting the govern ing powers to unscrupulous fortune hunters , who are without a conscience and who "assure us it is the money that is in the office , not the honor" that they are after. Our reflections , however , were not calculated to have a very soothing effect upon a liberty-loving people , especially when the sixth step of these isms was another invasion of our sacred precincts , a further abridgment of our constitutional rights and 82 per cent of the native bom whites were not only robbed of their suffrage in 1892 , but , gloating over the powers we had so injudiciously bestowed upon them , these imperialists reversed the vote actually cast and when a majority of the 08 per cent of native whites who could vote asked for bread we were given a stone. We asked and voted for the removal of a curse and received the greatest monopoly ely that exists in the United States today , and yet these isms have the in consistency to condemn monopolies in one breath and declare that individuals should not do a business that the state could , would and did monopolize. While wo fully realized our lamentable condition in ' 92 we had hopes of im proving them in the campaign of ' 90 , but Mr. Bryan's well known endorsement of Tillman and Tillmanism only added another "ism , " increased our degrada tionstrengthened the "gigantic octopus" which took another stride the seventh towards centralization of power , and 41 per cent of the native born white , 100 per cent of the foreign born white and 100 per cent of the niggers did not and could not , from one reason or another , vote in 1890. Aware that these remarks are so un-American as to sound unreasonable ; aware that it is possible some partisan or ignorant may denounce and vilify me in an attempt to detract from the facts I ask of what use is it to abuse me when I refer those of you who can read and reason to the follow ing election returns of South Carolina , which prove every statement made above in figures , if not in words ? There were 205,789 males of voting age in South Carolina in 1880 , with 83 per center or 170,388 voting ( the democrats getting a majority of 54,241 , by the way ) ; 218- 048 voters in 1884 , with 42 per cent or 91,578 votes ; 281,511 voters in 1888 and 34 per cent or 70,581 votes ; 252,620 voters in 1892 and 28 per cent or 70,440 voting ; 286,580 voters in. 1896 with 24 per cent or 68,907 voting , the democrats and the populists and free silverites combined only getting a majority of 48,689. 17 per cent not voting in 1880 ; 58 per cent in ' 84 ; GO per cent in ' 88 ; 72 per cent in ' 92 and 76 per cent in ' 96 ,