The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1888-03-08
Hon. Sidney 0. Love.
TIPPAH COUNTY's REPRE-
SENTATIVE.
Would 20 God that Our Legislature
Was Made up Of Such True Men.


nieation Of Hon. Sidney o. Love
Tippah cOunty's tried and true
Representative, to the Ripley New
Era, in which he very ably defends
himself and others, who are and
have been trying to serve the peo-
pie at Jackson. He says;
"IfI was mistaken in
my position on the conventional
question, / wish to say that 1 am
endorsed by the entire Senate ex
cepting four members, and by some
of the ablest men of our State,
further, that mistakes are not hay.
stacks for If they were, then, the
editor Of the Sentinel and the writ.
ter, would have faster cattle than
they now possess. As to being
one of Tippah's misrepresentation
as charged not long since, I do not
claim to be a Solon; nor make any
pretensions to infallibility. Yet /
do claim 10 be able to discern the
difference between sugar and salt,
without a pound of each. AS
Cesar said Brutus struck him.
This was the unkindest cut of all.
l voted for the bill first, last, and
every time in order that the peo-
pie might exercise as farmers the
poor pitiful privilege of saying by
their ballots whether they wanted
to wipe out the constitution ofJim
Hill, Cardozo and others, left us
as a relic Of the darkest period OF
Mississippps history. Never as q
democrat, and patriot could / be
induced to deny this God given
right, even though the heavens fall.
/ voted for this bill in order to
beat a crew that opposes, and
seemed to have come here to de-
feat or prevent all legislation in
the direction of economy and re-
form. Every riiig man that could
get here was on hand working
against the bill. They sent tele.
grams one after another so inter.
ested were they IN the result. But
they met a waterloo IN the persons
of the farmers of this body. Hence
the discsmforture prevalent among
certain class. The bill was op-
posed by every colored member in
the house and every Republican.
I voted with Hons. J. P. Carter,
Frank Burkitt, the true and tried
friends of the people, also Hons.
Madison, Roberts, Ramsey, Shan
non, Underwood, Maxwell, Sulli-
van, Speaker Mitchell and the bal
anee of the farmers of this body.
The Sentinel says that S. 0. Love
abrogated all rights to thanks and
honors by voting for the bill. /
wish to say that it is written that
man shall not live by thanks alone,
besides l care not to wear honors
at the expense of the rights of the
people. This body is charged
with having passed this bill in or
der to get themselves returned to
said convention SHOULD one be
called in order to receive the four
dollars per diem. Ny God! What
a reflector. In the language OF
Richard III / would say, shame be
to him who such evil thinks. A
nice allusion TO the Mississippi
Legislature, by a Mississippian.
But such assaults upon the honor
Of this body are of as little weight
as the gnat on the bulls horn of
which 4Esop tells in his fable. The
sovereignty of the people in all
public questions, and the right by
ballot to decide questions Of public
policy by the people themselves, is
a leading principle Of the demo-
cratic party, that we have long
boasted of, and cannot afford TO
ignore, even though it should meet
the disapproval OF an oligarchy.
Whenever the people cannot be
trusted at the ballot box, then we
had better dispense with any Leg.
islative department, bid adieu to
States rights, and political freedom
forever. As a representative of
the whole people at large IN my
county, I conceived it my duty not
TO say that they should, or should
not, call convention. But, that
they themselves ought, and should,
have a chance to settle the ques-
tion, as they by their ballots deem
ed best and proper. I have writ
ten in order that the public might
understand the motives that
prompted myself and the majority
of the farmers in this body to pass
the bill, at which the Governor
raised his hands in holy horror,
and for the first time cried out