The leader., 1902-08-27
.McLAIN AND SPENCER.
They Address A GOOd-Sized Au-
dience at the Court House
Last Thursday Night.

A good-sized audience assembled at
the court house in Brookhaven last
Thursday night to listen to speeches by
Hons. F. A. McLain and j. G. Spencer,
opposing candidates for Congress.
By agreement, each speaker was
given an hour, Mr.. Spencer to open
with As minutes speech, followed by
Mr.. McLain for an hour, Mr.. Spencer
to close with rejoinder of Is min
utes. The speakers were introduced
by A. c. McNair, Chairman of the
County Democratic Executive Com
mittee.
AS both candidates are Democrats
and stand on the National Democratic
platform, there was no disagreement
between them on National questions,
and each speaker endeavored to i'm
press his hearers with his own supe-
rior fitness for the Office of Congress
man. Mr.. Spencer once represented
the Seventh district in Congress for
two years, and for the last three and a
half years, Mr.. McLain has been the
representative from the Sixth district.
The most pertinent thing to do, there
fore, seemed to be the discussion and
criticism of each others congressional
record and services.
Mr.. McLain reviewed his work in
Congress and showed that he had Sc
cured appropriations for government
work in Mississippi aggregating
81 1000, including $4,000 for gov
ernment building at Natchez, and
100000 for government building at
Biloxi; the rest going to rivers and
harbors. He reviewed his opponents
Congressional record and showed that
during the two years he was in Con-
gress Mr.. Spencer introduced 43 bills,
not one of which ever became a law,
and only one of which was ever report
ed back from the committee to which
it was referred under the rules of the
house. This bill was for the relief of
B. F. Jones, ex-postmaster of Beaure-
gard, to reimburse him for $4,000 lost
during the Beauregard cyclone, and it
was vetoed by the President and failed
to become law. This difference in
results, Mr.. McLain claimed, was due
to Mr.. Spencer's failure or neglect to
follow up the measures he would have
passed by going before the committees
to which his bills were referred, de-
manding hearing, explaining their
merits and getting them reported back
to the House with recommendation
for or against them by the committee,
without which it was impossible, un-
der the rules, to get them on the cal
endar and to vote before the Honse
He, McLain, had always followed up
in the committee rooms the bills he
was working to get passed, called in
all the help and influence he could get
from others and got them reported
back favorably by the committees, and
this explained why he had accom-
p11ouOO oO DO1o LIS OppO-
nent.
Mr.. Spencer sought to break the
force of this argument by asserting
that what Mr.. McLain claimed to have
accomplished naturally resulted from
influences and forces set in motion by
others, and to the increasing devel-
opment of the country, rather than to
anything Mr.. McLain had done him
self, but it is doubtful whether he con-
vinced any of his hearers.
Both speakers made courteous and
earnest appeal to their hearers for
support on election day. Both were
quite literally applauded, but judging
by this, Mr.. McLain was evidently the
favorite.
The discussion was entirely free
from bitterness or personal detraction,
and neither speakers nor their au-
dience had anything to regret on that
score.