Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-05-08
BY j. ID. SMITH, NJ. d.

!
In the interest of free speech in
America, as well as the truth of Amer
lean history, | stand and knock at the
door of your columns, fully conscious
that | shall be permitted to enter.
The following communication was
sent to the editor of the New Orleans
| Christian Advocate, w. c. Black, ID.
d., of the NJ. +. Church, South, in
answer to a sweeping charge made by
him in an editorial of March 10,
against the National Prohibition party.
| The pA't of DR.. Blacks editorial to
which the following is ii reply is quot
ed in full below, and the language is
so emphatic that no one who reads it
can fail to understand it. | think
can understand why politicians who
are dependent upon the liquor vote
| for success in their efforts to secure
office, and secular press that stands
behind them, mlSrcpresent the PrOhl-
bition party and then refuse to enter
into an open discussion of the merits
of their charges; and can also see
why the editor of IL religious paper
uldN CuuCluuC lildU 1t 1S DcSJ Hbb W
discuss the merits or demerits of any
political party in the columns of his
paper. But ! can't see how any min
lister of the gospel can afford to assail
any political party, made up of aver
age American citizens, through the
columns of religious paper over
which he has editorial control, and
| then refuse to publish Il courteous re-
ply in the same so that the readers
thereof may have an opportunity to
judge of the merits of his attack.
Brother Black not only attacks the
Prohibition party; but he attacks it
by contrast; and by such contrast de-
| fcnds or eXalts every other party ever
organized in this country above it.
And however destitute he may have
| been of knowledge of the facts in
the case when he made the attack, he
could not have remained thus dcsti-
tute after reading my reply if he cred
tied my quotation of votes in Congress.
! And in order that Brother Black
might know of the truth for himself,
and be thus burdened with the con-
sciOusness of knowing that he was in
| Cllo anu w tiIpN tIldt Cllol
corrected, | gave him the very pages
of Il universally recognized authentic
work where he might verify the quo
tatiOns or statements that | had made.
| Brother Black rejected and returned
the article without comment but re-
tanned my letter accompanying it,.
| Hence / cannot give that letter rs |
would like to do. | qnote below all
of that part of Brother Blacks edi-
torial to which the following is II re-
ply, but that your readers may know
that | have not garbled anything,
enclose the whole of it and trust that
you may find space to publish it in
the same issue of your paper. And
| though Brother Black seems to have
determined that the readers of Ms
paper shall not know the facts in the
case, ! nevertheless invite him to a
| full discussion of the charge he has
made, through the columns of the
| Tennessee Methodist, which seems to
stand out as Il beacon light in our
Southland for the reflection of fair
discussion of all sides of every ques-
| ton vitality affecting the interest of
our country. The following was sent
to Brother Black:
To the Editor of the New Orleans Christian
| Advocate:
Having had the courtesy of the col
umns of your paper kindly extended
me by your predecessor, and now hav-
ing had the political party to which |
belong openly assailed by you in your
editorial of March 15, may | not, as a
Methodist in good standing in our
church for over forty years, an ex-
rebel soldier who sacrificed everything
but honor and life, and nearly life
itself, in the cause of the Southern
Confederacy, and as II citizen of our
common country charged with the
special duty of giving direction as
much as possible to the future pOliti-
cal as well as the moral and religious
course of seven noble young men for
whose existence /, as father, alone am
responsible, be permitted to discuss
the merits of the charge you make
against that party in the columns of
the same paper through which you
made it, that those who have read the
charge may have an opportunity TO
read an answer to it, and judge for
| themselves as to its meritsP
You say, without, qualification
"The National Prohibition party goes
further in the direction of centraliza-