The Columbus weekly dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1902-1905, 1903-03-12

non education of the negro, but
whether the white children would
be educated or not; that it was
better for US to have the negro
public schools controlled by US
than by Northern missionaries,
who would make every school
house supported by them a po-
litical hotbed. under the infences
of which they would be more and
more alienated from US; that, IN
der the present system we Sc
lected their teachers, made our
own contracts with them and
prescribed the textbooks studied.
There is no division among the
people of Mississippi as to white
supremacy; it is vital to our very
existence, but nothing could be
more dangerous to it than to
tamper with the Constitution
which secured it and which has
fully settled in Mississippi the
race question.
There is perfect harmony be
tween the races now. What good
can be accomplished by all this
agitation of the question in this
canvass +? Why devote our valu-
able time to discussion of these
fictitious issues; why not turn
our attention to the development
of our great natural resources.
There is more craftsmanship in
encouraging two blades of grass
to grow where there is only one;
the operation of two cotton mills
where there is only one, than in
all this agitation. No raw ma
terial. no bale of cotton, no lum-
Der ought to be shipped from the
State, but all ought to be man
ufactured at nome.
He said that New England was
by nature is bleak as the Klon-
dyke without the Klondyke's
gold, yet, without natural wealth,
it had become the richest sec
ton of the Union; while Mlssis-
sippi, rich in natural resources,
was one of the poorest in wealth.
The reason was that we had Civ
en- the North and New England
all our raw materials to be man
ufactured; that they had reaped
the profits of manufacturing the
goods, while we had added to
to their wealth by paying an i'm
mense protective tariff on their
manufactured product; that as
long as we were purely an agri-
cultural State we could receive
none of the benefits of protection,
for the simple reason that we
produce nothing that is imported.
While he denounced protection,
he said that he believed that it
would always be a distinctive
feature of this Government. and
that the only way for US to be
relieved of its burdens would be
to share it's profits by building
cotton mills in every county and
manufacturing our lumber into
furniture and other wares; this
would make every village Ia the
State as good a cotton market as
New York city, and keep up the
price of cotton by increasing the
buyers and competition. The
large number of cotton mills in
the South are largely the cause
of the high price of cotton.
Instead of unsettling present
conditions, destroying the peace
and harmony which now exists,
the State Administration should
be devoted to the enforcement of
law and order and the encourages
ment and promotion by every
legitimate means of the indus
trial development of the State
along every line. Let US build
up and not tear down; let US look
forward and not backward.
Congressman Fox said that
the Governor in this State had
too much power; that his duties
should be confined to the enforce
ment of the law and the execu-
ton of the law as near as posi-