The Columbus weekly dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1902-1905, 1905-06-01

Let us hope that in those DAYS
there viii be other men of both par
ties who will see that this question is
not one of politics. but Of industry and
science. Three hundred millions of
dollars spent in the South have edu-
Gated the negro into 600 per cent
more of crimel The cost was hiehl
With il has gone an industrial waste
OF many times three hundred million
All the foregoing is true. and yet 10
call Governor Nardaman a hater OF
the negro is a deep injustice He no
more hates them than does Theodore
Roosevelt himself - perhaps dislikes
them not so much The latter has cost
many negro lives and much negro hap
piness in the South-indirecfly and
unintentionally. The former pro
claimed abroad as an enemy Of the
black race, has directly and intention
ally protected the life and happiness
OF the blacks BY a strange paradox
of fate he has been called upon to set
right many of the consequences of
acts done by q man whose ideas are
Numerically opposed to his own. The
hater has been forced to correct
abuses brought about by the acts Of
the philanthropfsti Was ever. in the
queer tumble of American politics. a
stranger situation than this? Yet it
is fair statement of the relations
between President Roosevelt and Gov
ernor Vardaman, dear enemies as they
are
Personal Traits Of the Man.
Personally. James X. Vardaman is
a great democratic soul In appear-
ance he is picturesque. stalwart In
a matter of personal opinion he
is apt to assert rather too much
than too little His fiery tenn
per has often gotten him in trouble.
but in trouble be has acquitted him
self like a man. When he finds he is
in the wrong, he is first to make
amends as does any good fighting
man In a great many ways he
seems a survival of the old South
tempered by the changing conditions
of the South today The Vardaman
hat is wide and black, the Vardaman
cravat Immediately white, the Var
daman feet well shod. after the way
of all Southern gentlemen. The Var
daman bow upon meeting a lady is
wide and deep, the hat going as low
as the knee, or perhaps under the left
arm, If he pause to converse. The
Vardaman hair is long black, Indian
like, shot now just a trifie with gray.
but reaching in a thick mass to the
shoulders-hair that might have be-
longed to Peter Cartwright. or s0ne
other stalwart backwoods preacher Of
the oden times. This hair. tossed
back from a high forehead. gives pict-
ureseueness to personality strong
dignifed and unusual
Governor Vardaman is Just above
MIDI height and weighs possibly
$50 pounds His face is smooth shaw
en-, swarthy; his eyes dark buc not
unkindly- There are pictures of the.
old French explorer, Joliet, which
would almost do for a likeness for.
Vardaman. The cheek bones ar high
the dome Of the forehead high. -he
mouth firm. the chin strong. In con
versation the gestures are wide and
buoyant
A iFe-eater by instinct. Governor
Vardaman is a most temperate man
In all his habits. He never touches
whisky Indeed. although we think
OF the South as a whisky-drfnling
land. there is far less whisky con
sumed per capita there than in the
North, and the temperance and Dro.
hlbition districts in the Southern
states are the largest known any
where in America. Therefore. II any
nave pictured the picturesque govern
or OF the great State of MississfpDi
as a swaggerer and a roysterer they
have been as far from the truth as
they could be. The truth is that Gov
ernOr Vardaman is a very quiet. gen
tie, kindly man, albeit frankly out
spoken, and with no suggestion of lei
ness or reserve. His home life "a
very sweet and simple. He sits at
the head OF a long table. where the
fare of the country is served and
where blessing is asked, even as IL
was long ago, when you and I sat az
long tables. For pOmpousness and
egotism You must look somewhere
else than the executive mansion Of
Mlssissippis capital. POsitiveness
decision, unalterableness. YOU Will
ind, but these may go and do 60 with
character singularly broad. demo
cratic. kindly and loyal
BY the time Vardaman shall have
gone to the United States Senate mat
tiers in his State Will have shifted I'm
many ways. The South is changing
with great .rapidty Northern capital
IS literally pouring into Mississippi
The delta lands are being taken uD I'm
thousands Of acres by Northern men.
The importation Of white labor is iu9t
beginning in the cotton districts The
North, with its money invested. is a
North not so wholly theoretical and
phiianthrOpical. The progress of the
North into the South will settle the
race question In time, in a relatively
short time. The solution will NOT be
that OF education, but the solution viii
be found, and by the white man Out
of the smother Of this rush of modern
progress, which is bound to overtake
the South-which has. indeed over
taken it nowhere arise years from
now. as there does today. the figure Of
some man bold enough to tell the
truth.
II is the truth which will save the