The Tupelo journal., 1904-01-22

inspires the citizen with the truth that
he is the source of all political pow
er, as his labor is the source of all
material wealth. Whatever bitterness
or acrimony the recent campaign may
have e%ngendered, 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, ald present a 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 yer disagreeable or
immaterial 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 PARALLELS the
imagination.
The State has the right to demand
of every citizen the best there is in
hims The great problem which rises
mountain high in the pathway of the
States future. throwing it's chilling
shadows over the most glorious posi-
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 lone is but
an earnest of the things that they shall
do" l am confident that under the di-
rection of al Advise Providence
which by all its ~dispensation proves
that everything was 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
protecting alike the interests of the
negro ald 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-
ton was committed, when in the
"agonizing spasm of Infatuated men,"
just after the civil war. the North ex
pressed its hatred of the white people
OF the South in the amendments to
the Federal constitution, which invest
ed the negro with all the rights aI.-
privileges of citizenship. The influ-
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 its stupidity and ugli-
ness. 1t is the bastard offspring of
the e~Xigencies 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 sit
is impOlitic to press the question
now" 1t is neve too early to correct
a mistake, to expose an error. or to ex-
plode a lie. Now is the time to do it,
and | 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-ixed
and unalterable incompetency of the
negro for citizenship in a white mans
country. This is a serious matter, and
the moral obligation resting upon the
white man into whose hands the des-
tiny OF the negro race, as well 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. | believe in justice, | believe
in the sympathetic and love prompt
ilgS 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. ProcrasHination will
only complicate and intensity the diff
ficulties. In the meantime, the South
ern States must protect themselves.
Mississippi must conserve her own civ
ilization, and by law maintain white
supremacy. The welfare of the negro
demands it, as much as the interests
Of the white nan 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 hand of
Time is now pointing. 1t 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 Powered in every crucial moment
of the States history. Be not de-
tered, dissuaded or i~ntimidated, my
countrymen, by the siren song of the
cordid NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. we are doing
well enough" Eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty. When the stupid and
constituencies dollar becomes the god,
pecuniary interest the only thing to be
considered, and honesty in and out of
Office but refined expediency-when
that becomes the order of the day, the
beginning of the end of free govern
ment is at hand. Demosthenes, in one
of his superb orations, stated the cause
of Greece's downfall in these indy
ing words: What has ruined Greece?
Envy when a man received a bribe;
laughter when he confessed it; mercy
to the convicted, and hatred to those
who denounced the crime"-all the
usual accomplishments of corruption.
Beneath the crushing weight of crime
that sun-crowned civilization-the first
born of democracy-whose glorious eft
fulgence Eliminates the dark pages
of the past and still throws a mellow
glow owe the present, went down
never to rise again; the blight of cor
ruption had destroyed the very germ
of life. Would it not, | submit. be
wise for us to pause. survey the field,
and If possible avoid the snares into
which that glorious democracy of an
cient times fell to its ruin?
The disposition on the part of the
masses in recent years has been to