The Grenada sentinel., 1904-01-23
GOV. VARDAMAN'S
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


modern times-to it's prese 1T condition
OF superiority. 1t is the result of the
evolution of ages, the education Of
the generations, and can only be
pushed forward or maintained by the
agencies that have been employed in
the past. / am in favor of putting in
the hands Of the people as much DOW
er in the government of the State as
can be exercised without impairine
the facility in administering It's af-
fairs. Responsibility produces conf
dence and capacity. 1t awakens an
intelligent and patriotic self-interest-
the foundation stone of all free gov.
ernment and social organization-be-
gets and encourages civic pride. and
inspires the citizen with the truth that
he is the source of all political DOW
er, as his labor is the source of all
material wealth. Whatever bitterness
or acrimony the recent campaign NAV
have engendered, the wounds inflicted
in the contest for place, the disap-
pointments and heart burnings that
resulted from the conflict, let us try
to mollify, conciliate and mutually for
give, join hands, united in heart and
mind, AID present solid front as we
march forward to meet the grave re-
sponsibilities OF the future. Life is
too short to be taken up in remember
Ing or brOOding over disagreeable or
lmmaterial things. Experience is of
no good, unless it makes man wiser
and better. He who hates hurts him.
self. for hatred poisOns the heart. be-
clouds the judgment and paralizes the
imagination.
The State has the right to demand
of every citizen the best there is in
him. The great problem which rises
mountain high in the pathway of the
States future, throwing it's chilling
shadows over the most glorious possi-
bilities, would alarm a less heroic and
resourceful people. But the white peo-
pie of Mississippi have always proven
themselves equal to every emergency,
and, believing, as do, that,
that which they have done is but
an earnest of the things that they shall
do" l am confident that under the di.
rection of al Allwise Providence
which by all it's dispensation proves
that everything vas created for a def
mite purpose and to perform a GER
tain necessary function in the economy
of the world, that this paramount
problem-the race question-will ulti-
mately be settled, and settled justly
r
negro aad the white man. That the
negro was created for some good pur-
pose, time has demonstrated; but that
good purpose is not participation in
the government of white men, The
crime of all the ages against civiliza-
tion was committed, when in the
"agonizing spasm of infuriated men,"
just after the civil war, the North ex-
pressed it's hatred of the white people
of the South in the eadments to
the Federal constitution, which invest
ed the negro with all the rights AZ
privileges of citizenship. The infiu-
ences which dethroned the reason, the
dust and smoke of war-bred prejudices
and animosities have been blown
away by the winds of common sense,
the sections reunited by the spirit of
AnglO-Saxon brotherhood, and that
mistake stands out naked to all the
world in all of it's stupidity and ugli-
ness. 1t is the bastard offspring of
the exigencies of war and Unsuitable
greed for gain. The nation should
correct this error-this stupenduous
solecism, and now is the time to do it.
/ have no patience with the notion
entertained by men who insist that lit
is impolitic to press the question
now" 1t is never too early to correct
mistake, to expose an error, or to ex-
plode lie. Now is the time to do it,
and l believe the Southern people
should take the initiative. They are
familiar with all the facts; they alone
are capable of informing the world of
the profound, God-stamped, time-fixed
and unalterable incompetency of the
negro for citizenship in white mans
country. This is a serious matter, and
the moral obligation resting upoa the
white man into whose hands the des-
tiny of the negro race, as we'll as the
future of the State, has been commit
ted, should develop the best there is
in him. He cannot afford to be un-
just, but it is no time for sickly senti-
ment. l believe in Justice, believe
in the sympathetic and love prompt
i1gs of the human heart, but the sur
geon whose heart, rather than his
head, guides him in the treatment of
a desperate case, Is an unsafe doctor
The nation should act in this matter,
and act now. Procrastination will
only compl1cate and intensity the diff
fculties. In the mean time, the South
ern States must protect themselves
Mississippi must conserve her own civ
ilfzation, and by law maintain white
supremacy. The welfare of the negro
demands it, as much as the interests
of the white man. My fellow citizens,
the eyes of the world are upon Mis-
sissippi today. No more important
hour in all her history has been pass
ed than that to which the haad of
Time is now pointing. It is a time
for unallOyed patriotism to show forth
the integrity of it's metal in the cruel
BILE of courage, of craftsmanship and
self-sacrifice-for manhood to flower
in its glory of divine potency, as it
has ffoweped in every crucial moment
of the States history. Be not de-
tered, dissuaded or intimidated, my
countrymen, by the siren song of the
cordid materialist-"thatw we are doing
well enough" Eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty. When the stupid and
conscienceless dollar becomes the god,
pecuniary interest the only thing to be
considered, and honesty in and out Of
fNaaf roAn01