But let us leave the latter out of consideration for the present. It is not conceivable that there can be dug up in the office of the Appeal one individual so low in the scale of human development as not to concede honor, truth and justice as being the beginning, the very A B C of socialism. What must we think, then, of the estimate that the one who penned the abominable article referred to, places upon the intelligence of his readers, to say nothing of the hundreds who have drawn from the little stock of their earnings which are really needed for the comfort of themselves and family, to assist this poor degenerate in distributing his venom and flaunting his idiocy in the faces of a nation of intelligent people, to the disheartenment of thousands of advocates of socialism, and the great glee of those who aver that the animus of socialism and of all socialists is such as “Breathes the hot breath of brutal hate, and riots as it runs” through the two columns of the “Appeal?” To those who have not been unfortunate enough to read it, suffice it to say that it is a wholly uncalled for, unsocialistic, and, from every point of view, rascally, assault upon Hon. Thomas E. Watson, and to make it, if possible, more pusillanimous, it is given publicity just at a time when, on account of Mr. Watson’s having been grievously misused by his former business associates in the Watson’s Magazine enterprise, Mr. Watson is deserving of the sympathy of every person who possesses a spark of decency. It is cowardly in the extreme to strike a person when he is down or crippled.
Mr. Watson’s life history is now an open book to anyone, not an absolute ignoramus, in this broad country. He has his prejudices. He has his own political ideas, which, at the test of the ballot box, have been shown to be largely in the minority, but, to his honor be it said, the fact that they were not the winning card, has never caused him for one moment to falter in devoting time, money and energy in their advocacy, a fact which of itself would give the lie to the baseless, senseless and hypocritical charge of treachery and double dealing, which, by their own statements, finds 250,000 duplications in this issue of the Appeal.
It is doing too much honor to quote from it, but the readers of progress will excuse the presentation of some short samples. “Tom appears to have a grudge against whatever tends toward progress.” Think of that in reference to the father of the rural free delivery postal system which carries tens of thousands of copies of this very diatribe of lies to the farmers of the country, in whose interest Watson succeeded in having this system established, as the Congressional Record will bear witness. Again, “But he has been repudiated by the respectable democratic press of his state—as witness the merciless exposure of his methods by the Atlanta Constitution and the Macon Telegraph!” Respectable! The Atlanta Constitution and the Macon Telegraph! Socialists of intelligence, what have you to say of the creature so lost to decency as to, in the columns of the leading socialist weekly paper of America, if not of the world, so far as circulation goes, laud the Atlanta Constitution and the Macon Telegraph, notoriously the most mercenary and most thoroughly corporation-serving papers of the entire South, and for no other reason—for he can plead no other—than because they are fighting Tom Watson, who happens to be under the ban of his displeasure?
And why are the ultra corporation journals fighting Tom Watson? Because honest Tom Watson is sacrificing his private interests in a determined effort to defeat the machinations of the Walter Parkers, the Herrins and the Abe Ruefs of his beloved state.
Again: “That Watson received the price for his perfidy is not for a moment to be doubted.” Whoever penned those lines either knew that he was penning a most villainous lie or he is too ignorant to be worthy of the contempt of a chimpanzee. There isn’t a person with intelligence enough to write connectedly on truth, or any part of the scurrilous rot this creature did, but knows perfectly well that if Tom Watson had been corruptible, he could have received ten times more to have sold himself to the very forces this creature is supposed to be fighting, than it has ever been claimed he did get. That is just as true of Tom Watson as it is of ’Gene V. Debs. Everyone, including the writer of that malicious screed, knows that they both could be rolling luxuriously in wealth if they had but followed the course of these very papers which he is pleased to declare “respectable.”
But the last quotation is manly as compared with this one: “It is said that he has been up for sale before, and was knocked down to the highest bidder,” etc., “It is said!” The language of the conscienceless gossip, the method of the footpad, with the sand-bag, or the gas-pipe who strikes you out of the dark. Again: “John M. Barnes, a man for whose veracity many stand ready to vouch, etc.” Very good, Mr. No-name. Mr. Barnes is good enough authority to use in an effort to injure your brother man, Mr. Thos. Watson. Would you accept Mr. John M. Barnes’ statement as to the offices you, your associates and the Appeal to Reason are performing in America, and would you abide by and endorse them in your own case? Never! And that very fact impeaches your honesty in quoting, as against Tom Watson, the slanders of corporation hirelings and political hacks, whom you know are fighting him for what there is in it. No! no! When you go straining a point, you always prove too much.
Be something like a man, and bid him God speed in his task of awakening the people to their dangers, even if he does leave them short of being full-fledged socialists.
Tom Watson’s opinions are not in all respects mine. In fact, there are many points on which we do not agree. But if I have outgrown the tenets of Populism, and he has not, or if he sees so many falling away from the mere party organization of populism as to be heart-sore and discouraged, and chooses to advocate the same principles under the name of Jeffersonian Democracy, he is still entitled to the respect of friend and foe alike, until he sacrifices principle to greed or puerile hatred.