The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-08-19
POLITICS.

feeling and excitement IN the pre-
sent nva is a subject of
congatulation, and constitutes a
new era in the politics of MISSISSIPPI
ri. The current which sets toward
Hancock and English is deep and
strong, but there is scarce a ripple
on the surface to cell of opposition.
OF course we shall have a good deal
Of speaking from politicians who
are on the alert and well posted for
any emergency, and who can hardly
be expected to carry out their stock
of anecdotes and elaborate essays
on order No. 40. But it all falls on
easy tempers who indicate by their
carelessness and good-natured in
difference = perfect confidence
that the country is entirely safe
and that the quadriennial crisis
has been indefinitely postponed.
Far be it from us to undertake
the Importance of the election or
the value of discussion. The cleo
ton of q President can never be
a matter of small import, and the
discussion of state and national
Questions by those whose taste and
information qualify them, for the
task is always useful when instruc-
tive, and indeed we may say it is
essentially necessary for the pre-
servation of republican institutions.
Nevertheless, the present lull in
what is usual a stiff political
breeze, if not n tempest, is a favor :
able moment for a seyerer study of
public affairs and q cultivation Of
practical politics. Now that it is
clear that everybody means to vote,
at least in Mississippi, for Demo
cratic candidates, we recommend
a practical turn be given to the in
struction from the stump in this
state, and that DeGolyer pavement
land credit mebilier scandals be ig-
nored. The field for earnest en-.
deavor to develop the natural re-
sources of the State is boundless,
while the workers in that field are
like angel visitors.
Take for instance Pearl River as
an example of the absolute neglect
and inexeusable oversight of States
men. Such q river in New England,
IN the North or the West would
have been made navigable the wear
round. Fifty years ago vessels
piled in it from three to six months
in the year. Fifty years ago it
carried on it's bosom from twenty
five to fifty thousand bales of cot
ton to market annually, and sup
lied the farmers in return with its
proceeds. Not a single year has
past for half a century that the
neglect of the outlet to the open sea,
and the great metropolis of the
South, has not been a political blum
der. The LAND upon its banks is as
fertile as any in this section of the
State. The pine forests adjacent to
the swamp are uniimitable, and
constitute a mine of indefinite and
boundless wnalth. and yet, while it
runs through the capital Of the
State, to the open sea, nayigable
every foot of the way from n
hundred miles above Jackson. if
the snags and logs in its bottom
were dug out; it is allowed to run
sluggishly to Lake Borgne, breed
ing pestilence and death trough
Overflows from the distractions to
its current, and constitutes a stand
ms monument Of the neglect OF
practical politics by our people and
politicians.
No statesman IN the South can
survive the present calm in the
storm of Sectional strife who can
produce nothing practical to show
for the money which he draws from
the treasury. Orthodoxy cannot
compensate for useful and practi-
cal thought, and progressive devel-
opment. neither will the people be
deceived by Il show of doing some
thing. A small appropriation for
instance here and there amounts to
no more than a tub to the whale.
Give us facts and figures that con-
vince the judgement of all men of
common sense to begin with, and it
will convince congress. Give us a
plan built upon facts, q methodical
land systematic scheme: give us in
short practical politics, and spare
us from frothy defamation and
s ectarian strife.