The leader., 1905-05-20

ally protected the lie and happiness
of the blacks. BY strange paradox
of fate he has been called upon to set
right many of the consequences of
acts done by man whose ideas are
Numerically opposed to his own. The
hater has been forced to correct
abuses brought about by the acts of
the philanthropist! 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 K. 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 he has acquitted him
self like 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 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 aR 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 trifle with gray
but reaching in thick mass to the
shoulders-hair that might have be-
longed to Peter Cartwright, or soae
other stalwart backwoods preacher of
the olden times. This hair, tossed
back from high forehead, gives pict-
uresqueness to a personality strong,
dignified and unusual
Governor Vardaman is just above
middle height, and weighs possibly
180 pounds His face is smooth shay
en-, swarthy; his eyes dark but not
unkindly. There are pictures of the
old French explorer, Joliet, which
would almost do for likeness for
Vardaman. The cheek bones are high,
the dome of the forehead high. the
mouth firm, the chin strong. In con-
yersation the gestures are wide and
buoyant.
A ire-eater by instinct, Governor
Vardaman is most temperate man
in all his habits. He never touches
whisky. Indeed. although we think
of the South as whisky drinking
land, there is far less whisky con-
sumed per capita there than in the
North, and the temperance and pro.
hibition districts in the Southern
States are the largest known any.
where in America Therefore, if any
have pictured the picturesque govern
or of the great State of Mississippi
as swaggerer and roysterer, they
have been as far from the truth as
they could be. The truth is that Gov
ernor Vardaman is a very quiet, gem
tie, kindly man, albeit frankly out
spoken. and with no suggestion of lei.
ness or reserve. His home life IS
very sweet and simple. He sits at
the head of a long table, where the
III.
where a blessing is asked, even as it
was long ago, when ysu and | sat at
long tables. For pompousness and
egotism You must look somewhere
else than the executive mansion of
Mississippi's capital Positiveness.
decision, unaIterabIeness, you will
find, but these may go and do go with
a character singularly broad, demo,
cratic, kindly and loyal.
BY the time Vardaman shall have
gone to the United States Senate mat.
ters in his State will have shifted in
many ways. The South is changing
with great rapidity Northern capital
is literally pouring into Mississippi.
The delta lands are being taken up in
thousands of acres by Northern men.
The importation of white labor is just
beginning in the cotton districts. The
North, with its money invested, Is q
North not so wholly theoretical and
philanthropical The progress of the
North into the South will settle the
race question in time, in relatively
short time. The solution will not be
that Of education but the solution will
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 now there arise, years from
now, as there does today, the figure Of
some man bold enough to tell the
truth.
South Subterfage and denial and
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