The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1888-03-15
THE oONFEDERArE MoNUMENr.

Duck hiil furnace deVOtes nearly
column editorial 70 the laudation
Of a State Senator, because he drew
and introduced a bill appropria-
ting ten thousand dollars to build
a Confederate monument at Jack
son. The bin passed the Senate
by a vote Of 20 to Z, but some Of
the majority, it is said, hoped the
House would killit. That is, these
chivalrous gentlemen could net
brave the displeasure Of the lobby
lists to do what they thought should
be done, but they we're willing to
shift the responsibility upon a body
Of men, who possessed more moral
courage than themselves, and let
them endure the villifcation and
abuse which the grave and rever-
end Senators knew would inevita-
bly, follow.
We did not appreciate the atti-
tude of the Senate on this measure,
if these runners were true, but we
we're proud ofthe compliment thus
indirectly paid the lower branch
Of the Legislature, wherein could
always be found majority having
the courage ofan honest conviction
and ever true to what Il conceived
to be a duty to the people, no mat
ter how great the outside pressure,
nor how much sentiment may have
been manufactured to aid in pry-
ing open the doOrs of our depleted
treasury.
With a State debt increasing at
the rate of more than 5000, 900
yearly; with an increase Of taxa
tion every time the Legislature as
sembles; with a knowledge that
the larger portion Of the landed
property Of the State claimed by
bona fde settlers was under mort
gage, and with the shameful fact
staring us in the face that two-fifths
Of the property valuation in Miss
issippi, was, through the operation
of iniquitously unjust laws, exempt
from taxation, we congratulate the
producers Of all our wealth that
they had friends enough in one
branch Of the Government to save
them from an unnecessary expense,
at a time when the people were
scarcely able TO bear the burd ems
otherwise heaped upon them.
And we speak rs an ex-Confed-
crate, for when a mere boy we don
ned the gray, and wore it, we hope
Wortbily from June 1861 to Nay
1865. We loved tho cause for
which we fought, because we
thought it was just, but whether it
was or not, We revere the memory
of our comrades, who gave their
lives for the independence of our
sunny southland, but when . large
proportion of the survivors Of the
war were struggling for a bare
subsistence, we did not think it
was the proper thing to increase
their burdens at the dictum of a
coterie Of sentimentalists, even il
some ofthem should be the most
accomplished and refined ladies in
the land.
We believe that if the spirits OF
our martyred dead could come
forth from their resting places they
would say to Us; "Let our valorous
deeds continue to be enshrined in
your hearts and feed our wild
ows and orphans, rather than in
crease your present embarrassment
to rear a monumental shaft heav-
onward to commemorate the heroic
sacrifices we have made. Nearly
century passed before the COM
pletion Of the monument erected
to the immortal Washington.
There is time enough yet, and we
can wait, never doubling that Mss
issippi will in due time do ample
justice to the memory Of her patri-
otic sons" As an individual, we
would willingly do anything in
our power consistent with our du-
ty to the living, to commemorate
the soldierly character, the chival-