The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1895-09-17
AN OUTING IN HEAT

u
Mr.. J. +. Greer, Prohibition nominee
for Floater Representative. A good
many people in that section of Lincoln
were seen and talked with during the
trip.
1t was discovered, among other
things, that the late Democratic pri-
mary" (so-calledl had left many wounds
and scars among candidates and their
friends, that will not soon be healed
or forgotten. Beat has heretofore
been the Democratic Gibralter of Lin
coin county. The Democrats out there
had the idea that the new constitution
was framed to eliminate the negro
from taking an active part in politics,
and they remember that the biggest
argument their party used In the Pres
idential campaign in 1892, was the
Force bill racket that the Republican
party was trying to bring the negro
back into politics to control elections
in the South. Hence they don't un-
derstand why several hundred negroes,
most of them not qualified electors,
should have been so soon dragged into
the late primary, under sanction of
party authority, and actually massed
in favor of certain candidates and
against others, as in old carpet bag
Republican times, thus defeating some
of the best white Democrats in the
country. Many of the best men out
there are swearing it was no Demo
cratic primary, and that they will not
be bound by any such farce.
Again, beat has been the Prohibi-
ton Gibralter of Lincoln county. In
the local option election of Aug. 10,
1886, at the Caseyville precinct,
there we're only 2 votes in all cast
against Prohibition. Now those peo-
pie are beginning to take more than a
local view of the liquor question, and
as they think, they are getting their
eyes open to some things they had not
thought of before. For instance, if
they are Prohibitionists, they are be-
ginning to ask, why they should con-
tinue to give their support to candi-
dates and political parties opposed to
Prohibition? If Prohibition is right
and sound In principle and a good
thing for Lincoln county, why isn't it
right and good thing for the State
and the Nation, and why should they
vote to protect the liquor traffic in 9th
er parts of the country when they are
not willing to have it here? Many of
them are beginning to realize that the
Democratic party is hopelessly welded
to the saloon with its moral and polit-
ical corruption, and that the Peoples
party, though claiming to be reform
party, is following right along after
the Democratic party on this question.
They look at the Prohibition party,
with its splendid ticket and sound
principles, and see that consistency,
and right, and the future of their chill
dren and everything else dictate that
they should sever old party ties and
give it their support.
Crops are good and the material
condition of the people hopeful and
encouraging. The energy, industry
and recuperative powers of our people
are wonderful, as was amply demon
strated after the war, and these are
again asserting themselves in spite OF
the long continued financial depression
and the shameless betrayal of the pro.
ducing classes of the country into the
hands of the trusts and the money pow
er, by the Republican and Democratic
parties.
And this reminds us that some of
the bosses of both of these old parties
are now actually trying to persuade
the people that money panics and gen.
eral financial Generalization are a
blessing in disguise. They might just
as reasonably argue that cyclones are
blessings to q country because along
the old cyclone track which passed
through beat 5, we noticed the people
have rebuilt their houses and fences
and cleared fields, until there are now
only dim signs of the cyclone visible.
Nobody wants another cyclone be-
cause they are getting over the one of
1883, and tho people do not want an
other financial panic because they are
recovering from the effects of the last;
but they will have another as sure as
taxes have to be paid, if they continue
to trust the old parties and let the Ma
tional banks control the currency of
the country as they have been doing
for the last 25 years.
Corn, cotton sugar-cane, peas and
potatoes, are all looking well. The pea
and hay crop was never better. Many
of the farmers have good herds of cat
tie and hogs, and some are raising their
own mules and horses. Most of the
houses and fences are in good state
of repair, and the wise policy of rails
ing enough provisions at home for
home consumption, is taking strong
hold on the people, white and black.
We were especially gratified to note
the m arked improvement at and near
Grange Hall School since our visit
there four years ago. The school
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