The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-02-13


ztt fsey { aid MT be <apPsrted af iess
Than s5g per heal---s 5O30.eO0 annually
SDent III the State OF Mississippi oSrlke
OUT he lien law and where must the %,
O00.OO0 come from. Il must como from
the land and if the landhuiders have not
. got If. ana tl,ey are universally p Ior, they
will have TO get it on credit; and the lanu-
ed i,lcerest will be encumbered with mort
payes ana deeds OF trust in order TO raise
the money. He did not know any lan9-
holders who had money, and they woulu
have to q > TO the merchant and give mort
gage on their lands and after all the mer-
chant would close them out anu the Iahos
would change hands. That great interest,"
which should be Stable one, and go COW
from father to so 4, would become an ooJeSt
of change and barter. The lien law was
/ bsneficenf, and had greatly benehtteu ms
county: but tor it two-thirds OF the lands
would have been sold. We are as poor 10,
day as when this law was enacted, ana
even poorer owiug to national legts'dCioh'
and therefore the need for the law was as
great. What class would be Oene-
fitted bv its repeal? The merchants. TheV
would still be the supply men, AMI furnish
the supplies to the landlord, an6 nave al
their backs The landed interest tor security
Another point he would call at e1ilon TO
ThiS was the greatest question that ndl
ever been imposed upon he people OF Mis-
siSsippi. It WAS tie question OF drawing
back that large, helpless enirauchised cias>
to the people who had oace taken care al
them. They should b. educafc', ana al
forled every opportunity Tor advauceineht
An eioqutnt man had said that The mighty
North had slntlered the bOni between the
Slave and his ma ter, like Richard Couer de
Lion with one bioN "a severe.l the bar o
iron; and that Reconstruction had cur the
Silken cord OF affection u 3iiclI bound the
two races in the South. as the scimeter OF
Sal liiu Had cut the : lkeu baGG. Slavery
was forever Suusipred, bat by wise ana pFU-
d ut measures, high and nobif purposes,
the SHn lered web OF affection h"tWe u the
colGred race and native whites OF Mtssis
-ippi could b picked.up. Bdi # this bill was
AL 'pted he latter NO d be an i'm pa ibil.ty
The land holder wond be made Il supply
merclianr, and when the negro came up a:
the end OF the year I" get his shire OF the
crop the negro would tuiuk the land holder
had swindIcd hin. 10 N tttcr how honest he
had be N. The merchant occupied dti-
fetent position. Toe negro always gave the
merchant credit Tor swiuditng him, aud he
went to The land holder for protection and
sympathy, aud generally received it. But II
the position of The Hand holders were
changed he would probably swinlle the ne
gro also.
Mr. Hatch said: He Ii II listened to such
a conglnm ration IF arguments and ideas
upon this measure. tnaC he had never been
so confoundedly confDunded in his lite
He wa- utterly opposed TO the substitute,
and the repeal of thu llth section of the lien
law. He admired the speech OF Mr.. Sha"d'
it was worthy of "a better cAns-. III Mis-
sis~ippi bad n It gone through 50 much SUI
tering during the last seventeen years. ne
might be tempted to embark in his iraii
craft Ii rep al the en- law, we viii
find ont that we have made a most greViOIs
mistake. We would have endless ling itioD,
an one-half the land which was now
blooming with cultivation, would be turned
Into "A waste. Half of the population Of the
Stare would be in idleneSs. and industry,
be paralyz,d. Gentlemen talk abOat deSti-
tulinn aud starvation. lie had seen very
little OF it. Tue war had lift the State
almost ueSOlate, the labor system frVolu-
tionjz4d, and since the war, she had under
gone tour or five years OF Radical misrule,
aud only finds herself to-day merged into
the nation vi h Il new lif'. We have Il
beautiful land, a land of plenty. We have es-
cAprd the financial PANE that is to-day
shaking the grear East and West. The
gentleman who sa d I'VE are starving" was
one of the fattest men in the House--he
thought he WIS at one en1 of the lien law
and the devil at the Other. lie has been
charged that the merchants and lawyers
were only benefited by the lien law. H.,
(Mr. II } mad ben charged with being a
lawyer, but got a prompt retractiOn. But,
seriously, he would ask, have we not honest
lawyers and merch mts in oar common
wealth. He thought we had. aud ins.auced
Gen. Il. o. Reynolds as one ct the former
class, He thought, however, thlt the law
yers would be greatly more benefited by
the repeal of the law than if lt were let
alone. He had heard of laborers that were
about to leave the State, because they c0ul.l
not get supplies. owing TO the doubt about
the lien law If the substitute should b.
come IA law. we would find year hence that
we had made serious mistake.
Mr. Pegram said he would speak against
the lien law and in favor ofit->trdddie The
fence but before he got through he woull
show that the repeal of the lien law would
work a great injury 10 the State. II you
re peal the lien law YOU cut off the credit o
the STA D.; cut on the Iaborer from &sra4l:4,
ard sad results would follow. Although
the law bad me bad features, still great
ben fi-s lowed from it, Could the soil OF
Mississippi be cultivated without some Sc
curity for supplies advanced? Our lands
are fertile, but take away that which give,
sustenance 10 the iAb0rer who cultivatcs the
land, and it will become a waste. the gen
tleman from Tate said We were guardians
of the people. We are not their guardians
we are their legislators. Repeal this law
and go back to your constituents and they
will tell you that you need guardian
yourselves. and guard against YOU return
to the Legislature. Repeal this law, ard
you will see a tidal wave in the political
history of the State; the laborers will rise
en- n1dsSe and send here Representatives who
will replace the law and, he would not be
surprised to see sixty or Seventy-fiVe color
ell men in this Hall. II this law is repealed,
the colored vote, and the Democracy would
be defeated. He was in favor Of modifying
the law so that no lien could be given for
whisky or tobacco. According TO the 18th
section OF the law, the laborer could seize
anything for a labor claim. This section
ha been overlooked, and also should be
modified. The laborer should he put on an
equality with other people. In 1880 we can
repeal the Ii n law, but to-day it would be
suicidal to do it. ""Tis better to bear the
ills" etc. Choose the lesser of two evils ana
refuse to pass the law. If he should vote to
repeal the law, he could not look for favor
or thanks in Vicksburg; the merchants
would consider that he had attacked their
interests. Time was called on Mr. Pegram
Mr.. Miller of Copiah favored the substi-
tutcs and opposed the old law.
Mr.. Tison, at 10 30 o'clock, moved to post
pone further consideration of the bill until
Wednesday, February II, at "a o'clock
Carried, and the House adjourned