Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-02-13
Our Jackson Letters.


Editor of the Beacon
You lett out a part of my letter about
the Insurance Bill that destroyed the
sense of it, | said that under this bill
II provided a way for adjusting all losses
by boards Of arbitration. In case Of a
loss the insured selects one man, the in
surance company selects one, and those
two an umpire-all local men. to settle
this loss. And then we have adopted
an amendment providing that if the
company does not accept this award and
the insared has to go to the courts to
settle it, they are liable for 10 per cent
damages and a reasonable attorneys
fee. This provision does away with the
old adjustor' This bill will be reported
in a day or two and will no doubt be
come a law. 1t repeats the valued policy
law except as to realty, and Mr.. Cole
says will decrease the cost of insurance
in the state very considerably.
Yesterday was a field day in the
house. 10 was the day set for the dis
cussion Of the proposed amendment to
the constitution, prohibiting the sale Of
whiskey in the state As most of your
readers doubtless know by this time, it
failed of passage by six or eight votes.
There wa- a great deal of interest mani
fested-the galleries Of the house were
packed with visitors. Methodiit; and
Baptist preachers were much in evil
dence, and all seemed crestfalleD at our
defeat. The speaker was quite fair and
recognized a number of members who
spoke on each side of the question.
Smith of Holmes lead the debate on our
side. The following is a synopsis Of the
speech ] made. for | told them that
while | did not expect the speaking
would change a single man, that I. too,
mad to speak. for like the old member
from Buncombe county, N. c., on be.
ing told once that his speech would not
do any good. he said. well. l am not
caring about these fellows, but | am
speaking for the people Of Buncombe.
! said, ''Mr. speaker and gentlemen
of the house: Last year about this time
being on a visit to the city Of jackson,
and seeing this magnificent Capitol, |
conceived the idea that | would like to
represent the grand old county of Noxu.
bee in the first legislature that met
within its walls. Acting on this idea. |
at once wrote and announced my
candidacy for this position. During the
summer ! received a letter from the
Prohibition committee asking me, if
elected, would | vote to submit an
amendment to the constitution prohibit
ting the sale of whiskey, to be voted on
by the people. and l replied that. if
elected, | would not only vote for the
submission OF this amendment, but that
l would also promise to vote for the
amendment when so submitted; that |
had been a prohibitionist so long | was
like the little negro that drove old Mrs,
Eryin to a prohibition meeting once. As
they were coming home he said ''Missus
what is the name CT your company, "
and she said prohibition. He re-
piled you had better call it 'Proshebi-
ton, they amt no men there"
And | also promised my people on the
platform, while making a canvass last
summer that if elected | would vote for
this amendment, so l stand here today
as a representative of the grand old
county Of Noxubee ready to vote aye on
this question and feel that / have done
well and have the people of my county
at my back.
The gentleman from Lauderdale has
said that il this question is submitted
and left to a vote next November that
the white people will be divided and
that they will bring the negroes in the
election. This threat might have had
effect years ago, but l tell you, Mr..
and gentlemen of the house,
that the people OF Mississippi have long
since ceased to fear the negroes in cleo.
That question has been settled in
Mississippi When we donned the red
shirts in 1875, our slogan was DRY
or white supremacy and l
want to say to the gentlemen of this
house that if this question is submitted
to the people allowing vote on it, that
although Noxubee county has a large
negro population, there is no white man
base enough in that county to try to de-
feat a question of any kind over white
men by negro votes. The gentlemen
Coahoma has said that if we have
wide prohibition that the counties
along the river will be bothered by men