The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-06
VARDAMAN AGAIN
 OUT OF THE TRACES Makes Another Vigorous Ali
 tack on the President DECLINES GUARDIANSHIP Thinks He Should Not Accept the Craftsmanship of Boil WeeviI Con
 ventIon Because of opposi
 tion That Has Arisen.
DECLINES CHAIRMANSHlP

Memphis. Tenn, December 5.-The Com mercial-Appeal tomorrow will publish a letter received from Jackson, Miss, in which Governor Vardaman declines to be permanent chairman of the boil WeeVil convention at Shreveport.
 The letter was given out today by the eovernor's secretary. It follows in part;
 Jackson, Miss, Dec. f. 1904. Hon. J. c. Pugh, chairman executlVe
 committee, national cotton convention,
 Shreveport, La
 My dear sir On my return to Jack son last evening l was shown number of clippings from two or three news papers published at Shreveport, La, pro- testing in the most scurlIlous terms against the proposition to have me serve as permanent chairman of the national cotton convention to be held in that city on the 18th to 18th inst.
 "As you are aware that the invitation to serve as chairman came to me unso- licited, you can doubtless imagine my great surprise at this editorial outburst
 Declines the Craftsmanship.
 1T think 1t best for me to~decline the honor and to leave the convention free to name for its presiding officer whom soever it may see fit. The question or the chairmanship being settled, l can not re- frain from noticing in this connection rapidly growing tendency with our peo- ple. which l fear may soon become char- acteristie, and which to me is more 10 be deplored than the boil weevil or any other enemy to our material interest. It is the disposition to surrender the impe7 rial right of a free born white American citizen to express his thoughts-the dispo- sition to barter their manhood and sell their independence for mess or pot tage of material prosperity, or polltlcai graft.
 ..One of the strongest arguments made by an editor of your city against per hitting Governor Vardaman to serve as chairman of the convention, was based upon the fact that Governor Naroainan has incurred the displeasure of the pres ent President of the United States, who would regard a courtesy to Governor Vardaman as a discourtesy to him, and for which discourtesy to him he would with 'dee-light punish all the cotton growers of the south by withholding fed- eral aid from their effort to stamp out the boil weevi, or head 1t off rom US devasting march to the North Poie hope the President of the United states is not as bad man as conduct of that chara cter would stamp him. But l am not sure of It.
 Never Can Tell.
 You can no more tell by what MT. neodore Roosevelt says today what he will do tomorrow, than you can tell the character of the person buried beneath the stone by the epitaph engraved on the stone. The people of the south are indeed in deplorable condition, If in the life of this republic, 1t has come to pass that in order to enjoy the privileges of citizenship and exercise their rights under the constitution, they must kiss the hand that smtes them, must ap- plaud the tongue that maligns them, and glorify the contemptible creature who would break down their institutions, dis honor the traditions which distinguish their civilization, and in either ignorance or malice place their affairs on par with the dIsorganized and discredited re- public of Hayti.
 HIn the performance of the functions of his office as President, standing as the embodiment of the majesty and pow or of the laws of this great republic. l, AS A citizen therof, am as loyal to Theo- dore Roosevelt as any man who lives be- meath the stars and stripes. But Tor the little Individual who has seen fit to malign Jefferson Davis, and with brutal dis courtesy refused to correct faisehood written about him, after MT. Davis had called his attention to it; who has in- suited southern people, violated the law for the purpose of humiliating MISSES sipians particularly. I have no more re- spect for him, though he be President, than I had for this same little individual when he was pursuing his most becoming avocation-breaking broncos on a west ern ranch'