The Brookhaven leader., 1891-01-29

1
no "whIpping the devil around the
stump" and indirect methods that will
bring the State to more dangerous
condition in the future than the
present.
Alas that great leader whom the
people confidently trusted should have
proved himself so unworthy Of lead
ership ! roOkhdren Leader, Sept. 4th,
1890.
We have no desire to do
our Senator the least injustice. So far
from it, we are proud of the ability he
has shown as member of the United
States Senate and Of his record in
that body. No man in political life i'll
Mississippi has commanded more fully
than he our confidence and personal
esteem. Our complaint is, that his
course as II member of the COnven-
ton, when brought face to face with
Mississippi's problem, has not been
commensurate with the character and
responsibility of his high position.
Senator George is more responsible
than any one man in Mississippi for
the calling of the Convention. Well
do we remember how sOlemnly and
earnestly he urged its importance in a
speech at this place last fall and point
ed out that something eff'ectual and
lasting must he done to legally stay
tile constantly swelling black tide
that is threatening to hOpelessly en-
gulf our social and political institu-
tons. But behold, when the hour for
real action comes, what do we see
Our great Senator trying to damn up
this dark stream with the sand and
straw of sheer expediency and circum-
yentiOn!
Mr.. Mclean says that he has shown
the utmost willingness to compromise
on something of this sort. Right there
is the rub. 1t was to be expected that
men of contracted views, limited fore
sight and craftsmanship would be i'll
favor of giving the patient catnip tea;
hut for man of Senator Georges
ability, position and influence, who
had promised to lay something of val
ne on the council board of the Con-
ventiOn, to fail to take high ground
for ballot reform that meant some
thing and urge its acceptance upon
the members of the Convention who
naturally looked to him for leader
ship, has been disappointing in the
extreme.
His course, according to Mr.. Nc
Lean, has not only been one of COM
promise, but compromise on a low
plane, that will accomplish little last
ing goOd-and thus, through his ac
knowlcdged influence with the men in
the convention who look to a leader,
he has become an "Obstructionist' in
the way of those who have the fore
sight and courage to insist upon he
role treatment.
According to Mr.. Mclean, Senator
George wants to emasculate the DOrch
or Australian system (the best thing
in the committees report of its main
virtue after January list, 1896, by hav-
ing an officer stand at the polls to
mark the tickets of all who are too ig-
norant to mark them for themselves.
Why did he not insist on allowing no
one to vote after Jan. LIST, 1896, who
could not read the Constitution for
himself, and leave the DOrch system
in full force? Is it proposed to virtu-
ally drop back into the old order of
things at the end of six years and per-
petuate white supremacy, if need he,
by perpetuating fraud and perjury If
the report of the committee is adopt
ed on this point, that will inevitably
follow, for nothing will be easier or
more common than for partisan regis
tration boards to rule that all pOliti-
cal opponents who have to have the
Constitution read to them do not I'M
derstand the same, and that all who
stand in with the powers that be (nO
matter how densely ignorant) do I'M
derstand it; while the proposition to
allow an election officer to stand at
the polls and mark the tickets for il
literatesy will be regular school for
the practice of partisan fraud and de-
ceptiOn.
The people of Mississippi who are
sick and tired of ballot box frauds,
perjury and all their attendant de-
moralization, and the people of this
entire nation, are looking on and ex-
pecting something higher and more
manly than this from Convention of
Mississippi's picked statesmen, called
| W TclOIHl tIlo uHTdSc-SOIlttHlHS LHdI
will be above the suspicion of fraud
CT indirection, something that will en-
throne virtue and intelligence and dis
count ignorance and crime-and es-
pecially do they expect something
higher and nObler of Mississippi's Sc
niOr United States Senator. Brook
haren Leader, Sept. 11th, 1890.
This was what the LEADER had to
say about Senator George when we
thought he was in favor of Constitu-
tiOnal Prohibition, and we have never
changed our opinion as to the justice
of the criticism. The understand
ing clause" of which lie was the au-
thor, and his gerrymandering scheme,
have excited more harsh criticism at
home and throughout the country at
large, than everything else the Con-
vention did combined, and is the most
difficult for him to defend in Congress,
for, in the light of all the facts and
circumstances, it is simply indefensi-
BILE.
This article is long and we do not
ask the editor of the Globe to repub-