The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 12Brann, William Cowper
History
The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 12
Brann, William Cowper
Brann, William Cowper, 1855-1898; Essays; Reformers
Mrs. Henrotin, president of the Federation of Women's
Clubs, has telegraphed McKinley from Chicago that she,
as the representative of that influential band of hens,
cordially and heartily indorses everything he has ever
done or thought of doing. It is proper to say that Mrs.
Henrotin no more represents her sisters than I represent
the W. C. T. U. She is only another instance of the
modern highly developed female, eaten by an itch for
writing and getting her name into the newspapers. The
mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and sweethearts of
America no more indorse William McKinley than they
indorse any other coward. The women of the federated
clubs are much like other women when they stop playing
upon the ink bottle and begin playing upon the cook-
stove. They have taken off Mrs. Henrotin's back hair,
and she now eats her meals from the mantelpiece. All of
which is proper.
. . .
Little Jimmy Eckles, Cleveland's undersized underling,
got some handclaps and whoops from the Chicago Credit
Men's Association when he addressed the members at the
Grand Pacific Hotel on the night of April 12th. He talked
about the business men's longing for war when the country
is insulted, and these snipes and jack bailiffs of the big
mercantile houses, warmed into drunken courage by gallons
of cheap wine, yelped in unison. This auriferous
insect, who was for four years comptroller of the currency,
is remembered in Washington chiefly for a remarkable
burst of speed displayed one night when his timorous
mind conceived the idea that a somnolent hackman was
going to rob him. He had his dress suit case in one
hand and his plug hat in the other, and he covered three
blocks in ten seconds. The cabby, whom he had hired,
waked in time to discover the meteoric dash, and was the
most puzzled man in the capital. Eckles is a warrior,
and his credit giving, or refusing, listeners are all warriors.
. . .
J. Guy Smith, of Cotulla, was locally called, so I am
informed, "Brann No. 2." Like most other men, he was
far behind W. C. Brann in wealth of intellect, in largeness
of heart, in charity, in his hatred of wrong and the
oppressor. It appears, however, that he had the habit of
speaking his mind and he was shot for it. Also that he
was shot in the back.
. . .
Joe Leiter, the wheat speculator of Chicago, is followed
about all day by detectives whom he has hired to protect
him. I do not know if anyone contemplates giving him
his deserts, but since he has used his inherited millions
to make bread dearer in thousands of poor mouths, he
should be whipped twice a day for a month. Under a
properly constituted and administered government, Leiter
and his kind would be sent to the penitentiary at hard
labor. He is as much a robber as any brigand of the
Italian passes, and as much of a thief as any pickpocket
in America.
. . .
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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