The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-04-12

Worthy Master ofthe Mississippi
state Orange.

state Orange.
The subject Of this sketch is a ma
tive of Jefferson county, this State.
His father, John p. Darden, was a
planter under the old regime, noted
for his integrity, sound Judgment and
rare business qualifications.
/ Capt. Darden received collegiate
education, having graduated from
our State University in the year
1856. Subsequently he engaged in
farming, and so continued till the
call of arms in 1861, when he
promptly responded and enlisted for
the war. AS lieutenant of artillery,
he first served under Albert Sidney
Johnston in that memorable cam
paign from Bowling Green to Shiloh.
| Afterwards, as commander OF Oar
denis Battery, he followed the vary
ing fortunes Of the Western Confed-
crate army under Beauregard, Bragg,
Hardie, Joseph E. Johnston and
Hood, to the end-serving with dis
tinction in all the great battles
fought by these distinguished lead
ers.
On the close of the war he return
ed to his farm to engage in the hard
struggle to retrieve his lost fortune.
In the year 1866 he was elected n
member of the State Legislature, but
served only part of his term before
the State passed under the rod of
military rule.
At an early date in the history of
the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
he allied himself with that organlza-
ton. In the hard school of expert
ence he had felt and appreciated the
meaning of the many troubles and
difficulties that enyironed the farm
ing classes-the unjust exactions i'm
posed upon them-how their hard
earnings went to enrich more favored
classes-and how hopeless, under
then existing laws and systems, was
their struggle to free themselves
from bondage. He was deeply i'm
Epressed, therefore, with the necessi-
ty of such an institution as the
Grange, and soon became thoroughly
imbucd with the spirit of it's princi-
tples and purposes, and from the be-
ginning was warm, active and zeal
Gus worker in the cause. His tai
ents and energy soon brought pro
motion, and for six years past, as
Master of the State Grange,to which
position he has been repeatedly elect
ed, he has been untiring in his la
bors. During that period he has
once year made personal canvass
Of the State, making able and etfec-
tive speeches in every county in be
half of the rights of the people and
especially the intercs of the farm
ers. Whilst not antagonizing other
classes rr callings, he has sought to
arouse farmers to true sense of the
cause of their impoyerishment, and
to the necessity Of organization, Co
operation and combination in order
to their protection and prosperity
He believes that legislation both
State and National, has been adverse
to agriculture and its interests; that
the burdens Of taxation have been
unequally distributed, that the tariff
system has borne oppressively upon
the tillets Of the soil; that tie in
ordinate greed and growth Of great
monied institutions and corporations
have become a menace to republican
government, and that, WEDDING des-
fpotic power, they are depriving the
people of their liberties and grinding
them into deeper poverty. Upon
these and other evils that stand in
the way of the prosperity of the
people he proposes to wage relentless
war.
In politics, Capt. Darden has al
ways been Democrat. In the
memorable struggle of 1875, he was
the acknowledged leader of the pco-
pie in his own county, and did giant
service in restoring them to their
rights. But though a Democrat
from principle, he is no partisan,
and declines to engage in the tricks
and intrigues of politics. He is
firm in his advocacy of the purity of
the ballot box, and answering in
his devotion to the sovereignty and
rights of the people.
Capt. Darden is IN the prime of
life, and bids fair to serve the people
with still greater usefulness and dis
tinction.