The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-11-03
The Proposed Confederate Monu-
ment.

Our esteemed contemporary, the Port
Gibson Reveile, is opposed to a Confed
crate Monument so long as we have no
Soldiers Home for helping Confederate
soldiers"
We have been all the time in favor of
some substantial recognition by the
State of the services rendered by the
soldiers of the Lost Cause who are
citizens of Mississippi, and who need
assistance, but we must confess that the
arguments on the subject made before
the last Legislature tended to convince
us that any scheme worth considering
was almost wholly impracticable. So
far as the proposition to build "Home"
for disabled and INDECENT Confederate
soldiers is concerned, that was resented
on the floor of the Senate by gallant
Confederate soldier who had left an arm
on the battlefield, as an insult to the
great body of those who now find their
greatest comfort and happiness in the
bosom of their families and surrounded
by their friends and associates of the
olden time.
But the proposition to build Monu-
ment is in no way intended to relieve
the State of any of its obligation to the
soldiers of the Confederacy. If among
those who are living there be helpless
and needy ones whose necessities the
charity of individuals does not relieve,
a condition of things exists which calls
for consideration by the State. To post
pone the erection of Monument until
We have Soldiers Home for helpless
Confederate soldiers" will not advance
the establishment of q Home, and the
erection OF monument by individual
contribution will not retard the estab-
lishment of Home. If this be true,
then the objection urged by the Rereitie
falls to the ground.
The monument project is not receiving
the encouragement it deserves, consider-
ing that it appeals to the noblest of all
sympathies; and we have thought that
if it is to be a success; if it is to be
worthy of the object for which it was
inaugurated-new life and new interest
must be inspired. We think of plan
that viii insure success if it shall
secure the approval of those to whom it
is proposed.
Most of the newspapers of the State
have Endorsed the project; most of
them are heartily in sympathy with it:
but there has been, as yet, no concerted
or determined effort among them to
further it. The influence Of the news
papers is powerful, and never more
powerful than when combined in the
effort to accomplish a worthy object.
To assist in erecting memorial to the
gallant dead who gave up their lives in
defense of their country should excite
the liyeliest emotions of patriotism. In
such work, there can be no rivalry
except such as shall spring from a gen.
erous desire to accomplish the most for
the common purpose.
In furtherance of the plan proposed,
we suggest to the one hundred and more
newspapers in the State that they take
this grand project in hand and pledge
each other that they win never cease
their efforts until they have been re-
warded by success. The proposition to
build the Monument is the suggestion of
one of those said to be foremost in all
good works. Let the newspapers Of the
State push 1t to successful completion.
What the New York World did for the
Bartholdi Statue, surely he press of
Mississippi can do for the proposed
Confederate Monument Subscrip-
tions sent throu gh either of the newspa-
pers published at jackson will be duly |
acknowledged and the money placed |
with the Monument Fund.