The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-02-11
THE METROPOLITAN POLICE BILL.
speech Of Hon. Thomas Spight, of Tippah,
Delivered In the House Of Represen-
tatiVes February Bird, 1875.

tatlfeS EeDTuaF9 0rds $780,
: Mn. SPEAKER II move that the b
: and amendments be indefinitely pOstpon,
: and upon that motion wish TO addre
: myself TO the merits of the bill
: 1 feel that should be guilty Of n
J, g.ect Of a solemn duty which owe
myself as a member of this House,
, duty which l owe to the people whel
l represent. and a duty whic
. owe to the peace and good ordt
of society, if l should fail to raise IN
voice against the passage of this bill. /
discussing the subject, | shall endeavo
to lose sight of party lines and part
prejudices, and look only to the peace
the happiness and the prosperity of all tn
people; and ask that be heard for M
cause, and that gentlemen will forget tina
l an Democrat, or that they are Repub
licans; and remember that we are tn
accredited representatives of all the PEG
pie, and that they have the right I,
expect at our hands such legislation a
will promote the interests of all anC
secure to all the blessings Of good govern
ment.
This bill, if it had no other objection
able features, is gross outrage upon the
oppressed taxpayers of one of the coun
ties of this State, in the great additional
burden which it proposes to place upon
the shoulders of men already weighted
down by taxation, which would result
in inevitable bankruptcy.
The organization of the police force, as
contemplated in this bill, would involve
an annual expense of not less than one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, all
of which, it is proposed, shall be saddled
| upon Warren county. There is, in my
mind, doubt as to whether the local au-
thorities have the power, under the con-
stitution, to levy such tax to support
institutions of their Oa0Il creation, and
conceive that the clause of the Constitu-
ton of the State, which says taxation
shall be equal and uniform" is violative
in its spirit and its letter, when the legis-
lature seeks to organize force for duty
all over the State, and proposes that a
single county shall pay all the expenses
incurred by such force, for salaries and
contiDgents.
This organization is not to be made up
of citizens of Warren county, but "citi-
zens of the State of Mississippi" which
means that the hungry sharks all over
the State are to be collected in Warren
county, that they may feast and
fatten upon the hard earnings
of the people of that county. If this
bill must pass, let it be so amended as to
make it State force, to be supported by
a State tax. Rather than see the people
of one county crushed under such load,
| would willingly, yea, gladly ask, for my
county, that she might be allowed to bear
her share of the iniquitous burden; and
| appeal to the magnanimity of members
upon this flo or, if it must be done, if the
money must be wrung from the grooming
people to support this terrible engine of
oppression, if they must be made to pay for
their own degradation, to see that all bear
their share. In the name of all that is
honorable and just, let us not beggar the
people of a sister county, and turn their
women and children out into the storm
but let us rise, like true men, and say to
them, ''When your wives and your chill
dren are driven from their homes by the
remorseless tax-gatherer, our wives and
our children shall go with them"
But there is another and darker side to
this picture, and ask that you look upon
it with calmness and deliberation. When
tell YOU that this bill is, in substance,
a declaration of war, but speak my hon
est convictions. 1t virtually places the
prosperity, the liberty and the liyes of the
people in the hands of military organi-
cation, under the control and direction of
man of military training and instinct,
who entertains feelings of the most invet-
crate hatred towards the people of Warren
county; and unless they bend the sup
plant knee, and, like the whining span
lei, lick the hand that applies the degrad-
ing rod, life itself will become intolerable.
Husbands and fathers will be torn from
the fond embraces of their wives, amidst
the piteous cries of helpless children in
dustry of every character will be utterly
Frustrated; public spirit and enterprise
will be paralyzed the fertile farm will
become as bowling wastes and barren des-
erts ruin will be written on every door
post, and every breeze will be freighted
with the signs and groans of blighted
hopes and ruined prospects. Great God
Is it possible, that men, claiming to be
the representatives of the people, intend to
fasten upon the wealthiest county in the
State, this black seal of swift and terrible
destruction cannot, [ will not believe
it. Let reason, and not passion, control
your action, and remember that you are
making history; yea, more than that,
you are making a record to-day which
must be met at the bar of God, on that
great day of accounts, when every thought
and every act of our lives must pass in
fearful array before the Great Judge.
call upon you, whose voices have, from
day to day, been raised from that stand,
in supplication to Him whose ears are
ever open to the cries of the oppressed,
who have prayed from time to time, that
peace and goodwill may prevail in our
borders, and that nothing may be done in
passion, or in forgetfulness of our personal
responsibility, to pause before you deny
your faith and insult the God whom you
profess to serve. If you are, indeed,
ministers of the glorious Gospel of the
blessed God, prove yourselves worthy of
your high calling; follow in the footprints
of your Iowly Master, and seek to bring
peace, not strife, goodwill, not enmity,
to your fellow-men.
But there is another thought in connec-
ton with this subject, which fills my mind
with the most fearful apprehensions, and
if it were not that love Mississippi, the
beautiful land of my birth, from whose
generous bosom l have been nourished.
through all the years of nay life, the home
of my wife and children, and beneath
whose sacred soil sleep the forms of
'sloved ones gone BEFORE" | should not