Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-01-22

| A full and ample discussion of all
questions, both through the press and
on the hustings, was permitted, but
fortunately. as is always the case in a
free country, wherever falsehood. vi
tuperation and misrepresentation were
resorted to to win strategic advantage,
wreak personal revenge, or for any
other purpose, some honest and fear
less man was ever present, armed
with the truth to drive back the hosts
of error, put to shame the caluminator
and vanguish. the enemies of right.
The primary election law enacted
by the last legislature afforded an OPP
.portunity which was readily embraced
by all white qualified electors to. parti-
cipate in the government of the state
to go to the polls and with their bal
lots register freemens' will
There Is no danger in falsehood-
false doctrines. constituencies and. ir-
responsible error are harmless. the
poisonous tongue of the sanctimonious
mercenary and sectarian partisan
the Vaccinations of the artful dema-
gogue, the cunning of the diplomatic
office-seeker, all are absolutely impo-
tent and inocuous, just so long as
truth is untramelled and the source
of all political power rests with and is
vouchsafed by the law in the hands of
the white people of Mississippi.
Too much authority and power can
not be reposed in the people. Every
citizen should understand that with
his ballot the laws of the land are
written--that the government is just
as good as he is, and that in the pro-
portion that he is wise and just in
the exercise of the supreme function
of citizenship, so will the laws of his
state be wise and just in their opera
tions.
The ability to govern ones self-to
perform properly the sovereign func-
tions of citizenship in a republic, is
greatly enhanced by practice The
fact is, it required many centuries of
tutilage in the rigid school of exper-
ience to bring the Anglo-Saxon race
the only self-governing race of modern
times-to its present condition of SUI
periority. 1t is the result of the evo-
luton of the ages, the education of the
generations and can only be pushed
forward or maintained, by the agen-
cies that have been employed in the
past. 1 am in favor of putting in the
hands of the people as much power in
the government of the state as can be
exercised without impairing the facili-
ty in administering its affairs Re-
sponsibility produces confidence and
capacity. 1t awakens an intelligent
and patriotic self-interest-the founda-
tion stone of all free government and
social organization-beget and en-
courages civic pride, and inspires the
citizen with the truth, that ne is the
source of all political power, as his
labor is the source of material wealth
Whatever bitterness or acrimony the
recent campaign may have engender-
ed the wounds inflicted in the contest
for place, the disappointments and
heart-burnings that resulted from the
conflict, let us try to mollify, concilate
and mutually forgive, join hands unit
ed in heart and mind, and present a
solid front, as we march forward to
meet the grave responsibilities of the
future. Life is too short to be taken
up in remembering or brooding over
disagreeable or immaterial things Ex-
perience is of no good, unless it makes
man wiser and better. He who hates
hurts himself, for hatred poisons the
heart, beclouds the judgment, and
paralyzes the Imagination.
Maj. Vardaman then entered boldly
into the race question and said: II am
confident under the direction of an all
wise Providence which by its dispen-
sation proves that everything was
created for a definite purpose and to
perform certain necessary function
in the economy of the world, that this
paramount problem-the race ques-
tion-will ultimately be settled, aud
settled justly-protecting alike the in
terests of the negro and the white
man. That the negro was created for
some good purpose. time has demon
strated; but that good purpose is not
participation in the government of
white men. The crime of all the ages
against civilization was committed
when in the "agonizing spasm of in
furiated men," just after the Civil
war, the North expressed its hatred of
the white people of the South, in the
amendment to the Federal constitu-
tion, which invested the negro with all
the rights and privileges of citizen
ship"
Maj. Vardaman declared that the ma
tion should correct this error and that
now is the time to do it." He had
no patience he said with the notion
that 1t would be impolitic to press the
question, and insisted that now is the
~~-~-~~-~-~~->~~~~-o~
Chicago. "A dispatch from Denver,
Col, says: Henry Herbert Piggott,
who achieved notoriety in 1901 by
eloping from Philadelphia to Denver
with Charlotte Bryan, his wife s
niece, disappearing, it Is claimed, with
funds estimated at more than $780,
600, has been arrested with the woman
at Princeton, B. c. The capture was
effected after a long chase on dog