Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-03-18
STATE SOLORS
HEAR HEARST
COMPLIES WITH INVITATION
OF MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
QUESTIONS PARAMOUNT
To the South Discussed with Candcr
and Conservatism by the Democrat
ic Aspirant for Presidential Nomi-
nation.

nation.
Jackson, Miss. The following ad-
dress by Hon. W. R. Hearst has been
received and read before the Missis-
sippi Legislature:
Washington, D. c., March s.
Hon. L. Pink Smith, Clerk Of the
House of Representatives, Jackson,
Miss.,: I have the honor to submit
herewith the address to the Legisla-
ture of Mississippi. Will you please
present the same and accept my
thanks for your kindness?
William Randolph Hearst.
"To the Legislature of Mississip-
pi: Gentlemen-I consider it great
honor to be permitted to address the
representatives of the people of Mis-
sissippi, and l thank you for yo.n
courteous invitation. l cam -
tend, of course, to discuss wit. IL
gentlemen, upon the terms of eq1a'
knowledge, matters affecting the
South, its extraordinary growth, and
its great problem, but as both my fa-
ther and my mother were born in the
South, and as / have been treated
with great courtesy and much unde-
served consideration wherever I have
travelled throughout the Souther,
country, it would be certainly ver4
strange if | were not deeply interested
In everything that coneerens tbs
South and the Southern people, The
wonderful growth of the South during
recent years, the power of >construc-
tive recuperation which it has dis
played, has, of course, filled all parts
of our country with admiration and
with satisfaction. Admiration based
on American courage and ability, ..tt-
isfaction based upon brotherhood, and
to some extent, personal interest.
Long ago we found that Southern
prosperity is very important to Amer
lean prosperity generally. Every
American halls with delight the
growth of the South, and he welcomes
the interoceanic canal, largely because
Of the benefits it must confer upon
your territory. From the ports upon
the gulf, and from the great Missis-
sippi river, this country will soon be
sending food and manufactured pro-
duets to the Far East by ship through
the Panama Canal. The country can
look forward with confidence to a
great increase in the South s prosper
ity when we shall have as an accom-
plished fact the canal that we have so
long fought for. The South in its i'm
perial growth in the solution of its
material problems has the heartiest
cooperation of all parts of the coun-
try. [ wish, as one residing in the
North, that as much might be said of
the great moral and social problems
with which the South is dealing. That
problem of race is one of the greatest
that can possibly confront statesmen
and good citizenship. l wish that all
the influences Of the North could un-
derstand that the least they can do is
to leave the South alone, keep their
hands off, and not complicate the
Southern problem by of1iciousness, or,
worse still, by dangerous meddling
based on personal ambition and politi-
cal expediency. Northern interference
with the South is based sometimes on
more or less enlightened good inten-
tions, but often upon political ambi.
tions or political iealousies. am one
of those who sincerely deplore any eff
fort, especially from official sources,
to complicate the grave problems with
which the South is dealing, or to add
in any way to its burden. We have
recently witnessed what can only be
called a deliberate effort to stir up
dissatisfaction among the negroes of
the South dissatisfaction with their
best friends, the white men among
whom they live, and dissatisfaction
with the necessarily slow, gradual pro-
cess Of working out one of the great
est problems that has ever confronted
a high civilization. / ask myself, with
out regard to.any politicians of other
ambitious men who aim to fill the ne
gro with unrest and turn them against
the white men around them, these
questions:
First-Is the conduct of such dis
turbers sincere? Is it based on actual
desire to benefit the negro or the white
race, among whom he lives, or is il
based upon desire for political ad-
vancement?
'Second-In viewing the course Of
those politicians who have chosen to
select the South as the field for their