The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-12-23
THE SOLDIER BOYS.


to be mustered out.
The HERALD opposed the coming
of the Mississippians, and shall with
even more zeal oppose the coming
of the Tennessean'.
Indeed and in truth we are sur.
prised that anybody wants to repeat
the experience Columbia has had
for the last month. And if they do,
why not leave Columbia and go to a
mining camp, where they may get
their fill of such crOwding and ours
ing and drinking and fighting.
We do not wish to be unkind in
our criticisms of the Mississ:ppians
now they are gone. We have said
before and we repeat, that many Of
them were well behaved, polite and
courteous young men. But some of
them were not; and there was
enough Of the turbulent element
among them, to make their stay here
in many respects very disagreeable.
The first day of their coming was
characterized by such shameful dis
order ana riotous conduct as this
town has never seen before, and we
pray may never see again. Not only
that day, but any day and every day
they picked quarrels with our negro
citizens, and upon the slightest
provocation or with no provocation,
fell to beating them numerically.
They would line themselves on the
sidewalks and jeer at countrymen
as they passed, tip their hats to
ladies with the most familiar air
and break into loud laughs at some
remark one of their number had
made. They have done a thousand
little things not worth noticing or
resenting, yet at the same time pro-
voking and offensive. And in ad-
ditiOn to all this, he worse element
it seems were always on the streets
and their ribald oaths even when
they were sober, was common
nuisance.
Their general conduct was such
that many of the ladies of the town
and county-a majority it may be
safely said-preferred to postpone
their Christmas shopping until the
soldiers had left Columbia, rather
than be stared a. and laughed at and
bowed at by them. That a COM
paratively few did this, diu not
make it any less embarrassing at
the time.
Now to invite a repetition of this,
with the knowledge we have gained
from experience. is almost to be-
come party to it. If our ladies
have been-either from fear,
timidity or ENTHUSIASTICALLY driv-
en- off the streets or kept out of town
for the last month, shall we invite
another crowd here to brighten them
away again?
If the negroes have been afraid to
come to town to trade, and if even
the town negroes have been inter
fered with in their work, and if two
of our mills have been compelled
by disorderly soldiers to stop work
shall we invite another crowd here,
equally boisterous, lawless and un-
ruly?
Shall Maury County trade be
sighted, Inconvenience and ig-
nored, for floating trade as uncer-
tain as it is transient? Shall Maury
county women be compelled to dc
their shopping elsewhere, to make
place on the sidewalks and in the
stores for staggering, swearing
set, WHO can find nothing better to
do than to wait for their wages and
stare at women?
Columbia is not big enough, its
facilities not large enough, its police
force not strong enough, to take
care of an encampment of two regi-
ments of soldiers, without seriously
mountaineering the regular Gus
toners of the town. The number of
the stores, the size Of the town and
the character of the two trades is
such, that one or the other must be
Inconvenience they have not
mixed, they will not mix. Our
climate is such that the soldiers can
not be kept in camp, and when
boarding all about town they are
absolutely without discipline. The
constant noise, confusion and rOwdy.
ism on the streets, drives away trade
and interferes with business. 1--WE
have had enough of it," is the eX-
preston of large majority of the
people, and the few who think they
may profit from the soldiers trade,
should not ignore the wishes or for
get the rights of their home people.
! PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S PROPOSE
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