The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-06-10
The Press and the Veto.

It's to be noted from the extracts Of state papers reproduced in the Herald.
that while largely against the governor in the pending issue, opinion Is divided
Is. further to be observed that the defense of the governor is predicated npn
acceptance Of his araignment d the faultne@ Of the Gordon plan, His con"i
,nhonal flaws attract neither favor o. attention This fact narro~s the tissue Of
the Gordon plan. on rather to the governors treatment oit And the first step
to just verdict ST correct knowledge Of the spirit and prompting which ami
mated him. when, he considered and passed judgement uponi Fit be shown
that tin this he has acted as al advocate and partisan of another plan, and not
jndihouIy ms the sworn impartial chief executive, his araignment Of Gordon
and Es specifications are Scredted unless eorrobomted As bearing upon ms
point the Herald recalls the circumstance previously noted in its columns Of the
governor failure to refer toa dispatch from GOV Cul"r~n testfying to Gor
dons reliability The portion Of his mcsag" that "" Thought married. by his
omission is here reproduced
After the legislature convened aud while this plan was, being considered it
was stated to N" that its author rs not competent md Tntah'e :" have charge
of the planning and supervision of such = building in support Of which 1t was
claimed that a courthouse in San Antonio u plan for which was designed and
specifications made by him, for 5000 600 md which had been left for that sum,
had in the end cost more than double that amount
was unwilling iHt could be avoided to send a message to the legislature
putting upon the journal this information and possibly doing an injury to thu
nan which couh not be CORE ted know nothing personally Of the mar who
gave the information and therefore when the bill was pnced IN my hands
sent Hon Thee Mcknight an & representative from Pike and Am't' counties
and now u citizen of Warren county n man Of high character for integrity, in
terigenceU and hmlnrailty and Of Il strict Snse of Justice to San Antonio q
q"~ting him to ascertain" d nr1omnt "' with te acts !" r'f''enc' TO 'h'
matter. He has returned md the Legislature nn obtain from him the benefit
Of amy information he possesses on the subject
This is not u matter Of men but of business 1t ia unimpotont who draws
tho plans and specifications That in which the people Of the state ire most N
tcr@tcd h in getting the best stat" house permanently built of the best material
for the least amount of money All sentiment Of consideration of individuals
should he discarded There should be no architect plans or specifications &C
ccp,cd, about which or whom there is amy doubt
Commenting upon the passage the Herald Snys:
Why did not GOV McIonrin a"puaint Che legislature with s"ch information
M he derived from Mr. Mcknight? Sent on n public mission to gnther facts
considered o material consequence - not '''''N"o' ''' no written fi"'
was submitted of this San Antonio search
copy Of dispatch, that VA wired to GOV McIauin the day before his veto
message was sent to the Legislature 1t is published IA possibly suggesting the
TbNVn WHY II NT' 'ifil h''NFhPf w lF'h'f6f' '' N'hb''' 'l' "l
part of the record
San Antonio, Texas May ~ 1891, Coy A ] Mcl@ntin, Jackson, Miss:
We, all the members of the commissioners court, OF Bexar county, Texas
certify that j X Gordon architect stands at the head OF his profession lin Texas
He ha man If high character, honesty and strict integrity, and worthy of your
full confidence. He was architect of Ur county court house, which proved sat
isfactory His estimates were never exceeded
s Peter Jones, Co Judge Bemr Co thaa Gufrin Com No 10; jesse NJ
Bell, Com No g Henry johnson, Go Com No 3 John Mixers Co Com Prn
No 4 Thnd Smith, Co Clerk Bexr Co, ToM5,
san Antonio Tex, May a. 1897 Gov. A J Mrl@nrin, Jackson, Miss:
] Riley Gordon is known % M ns n thoroughly reliable and capable arhi
tct and n courteous and honorable gentleman He is at the head of his pro
fesion in Texas and wonld appreciate any courhsiess shown him,
PERCY j LEWIS state senator
It will h" seen that the San Antonio building cummitec explicitly contra
diets what had been stated to the governor concerning the }exar county court
house, in that city Would not any Just person, any on" who desired to avoid
injury ton maj that could not be corrected have given him the benefit of
this testimonial? Docs not this so vi give color to the belief that tin the
building of the capitol it WAS n nNttcr of mn" that with Governor McLau
M reading his message " above quoted, believe and conclude that the governor
had NJ other information Of Gordon than that to (which he refers aTstntng that
he wns incompetent and undt'2 The Herald knows nothing about Gordon or
his plan, but the circumstances all go to prove that what the governor OF Miss
pipi says about the same merits IN weight n those who desire to Judge upon
evidence free from prejudice But after nl matters have turned out for the
hest Under the peculiar views upon prcrGntives and constitutional precrip
thns which this governor ms betrayed. it is we'll that his veto prevailed and
postponed this important bit of affairs out with the plan, wholly inimhcal to
the commissioners elected Sonred upon the legislature his term had best be
completed in The present building