Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1904-01-20

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 pow
err In the government Of the State as
can be exercised without impairing
the facility in administering its af-
fairs. Responsibility produces conf
dence and capacity. II awakens an
Intelligent and patriotic self-interest-
the foundation stone Of all free gov
eminent and social organization-be-
gets and encourages civic pride. and
inspires the citizen with the truth that
he is the source Of all political pow
er. RS his labor is the source Of all
material wealth. Whatever bitterness
or acrimOny the recent campaign may
have engendCrai the wou1ds indicted
In the contest for place. the disap-
pointments and heart burnines that
resulted from the conflict, let US try
TO molhfy, conciliate and mutually for
give join hands. united in heart and
mind, aad present a solid front az we
march forward to meet the grave re-
s~ponsibiities Of the future. Life is
too short to be taken up in remember
ing or brOoding over d~isagresable or
immaterial things. Experience Is Of
no good, unless II 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
him. The great problem which rises
mountain high In the pathway Of the
States future. throwing its 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" / am confident that under the di-
rection Of an 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 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-
ton was committed, when In the
"agoniEing 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 ar
privileges Of citizenship. The inhu-
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 ~exigencies of war and Unsuitable
greed for gain. The nation should
correct this error-this s~tupenduous
s0lecism, and now, is the time to do Il.
l have no patience with the notion
entertained by men who insist that lit
is impolitic to press the question
It is never too early to correct
q mistake, to expose an error, or to ex-
plode a lie. Now is the time to do II,
and l believe the Southern people
should take the initiative. They are
with all the facts; they alone
are capable of informing the world Of
the profound, God-stamped, time-hxed
and u~nalterable incompetency Of the
for citizenship ia a white mans
country. This is q 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
Of the State, has been commit
led, should develop the best there is
n him. He cannot afford to be IN
Just, but 1t is no time for sickly senti-
ment. I believe in justice, / believe I
the sympathetic and love prompt
.ags OF the human heart. but the sur
yeon whose heart, rather than his
read, guides him in the treatment OF
desperate case. is an unsafe doctor.
The nation should act in this matter.
md act now. ProcrasAination will
only c0mplicate and intensity the diff
In the meantime. the South
,rn States must protect themselves.
Mississippi must conserve her own civ
lixation, and by law maintain white
supremacy. The welfare Of the negro
demands II, as much as the interests
II the white man. Ny fellow citizens,
be eyes Of the world are upon Mis-
today. No more important
lour Ia ell her history has been pass
ID than that 70 which the hand Of
Time Is now pointing. It is q time
or unalloyed patriotism to show forth
he integrity Of it's metal in the cruct-
lie Of courage, Of statesmanship and
elf-aacrihce-for manhood to flower
its glory Of divine potency, as It
las lowered In every crucial moment
4 the States history. Be not de-
erred, disauaded or inundated, ny
.~ountrymen, by the siren song Of the
oFdid materialist-"that we are doing
Vell enough" Eternal vigilance is the
Of liberty. When the stupid and
onscienceless dollar becomes the god,
Iecuniary interest the only thing to Be
considered, and honesty in and out Of
nice but refined expediency-when
hat becomes the order Of the day, the
eginning Of the end Of free govern