The leader., 1905-05-20


with the Fifth United States volun-
teers. known as the mississippi I'M
munes who were not immune, but
who wanted to see some fighting.
They arrived in Cuba too late for the
glory but in plenty Of time for the
hard, unpleasant work. vardaman
came out Of the campaign as major,
and he speaks now Of his experience
as made up largely Of chasing mi
crobes up San Juan hill with bat
terry of quinine capsules.
After the close of the Cuban war
Vardaman ran for governor and was
defeated. He ran again in 1908, and
after a hot campaign was elected.
In a way he had split his party. This
often happens when a strong man
gets into politics. Some time a real
" big man will split up both national
parties and give America another and
better one. which assuredly America
needs.
His Platform of No Race Equality.
Vardaman was elected on the plat
form, in-part, Of no race equality, =
He fought the expenditure of the
State money for the education of the
negro, and declared he considered
that undertaking a hopeless one. His
opponents said he would drive every
negro from the State; that the plant
ers would be left without laborers.
In reply Vardaman continued to tell
them what they all knew to be true,
that black was not white. His argu-
ment was scientific, not political
The North joined in calling Varda-
man negro hater; it held up Missis-
sippi as a relic of the dark ages.
Needing friends in his political
campaign, Vardaman nevertheless
pledged himself to none, and went in
to Office absolutely without strings
attached to him in any way His
opponents predicted that after his
election there would ensue reign
of terror. an outbreak of lynchings
and an exodus of the black race from
Mississippi None of these things
happened. Vardaman proved not so
sensational and erratic. after all.
President Roosevelt has declared
his intention of upholding the law
and of giving every man a square
deal. Singularly enough, that was
precisely the platform on which Var
daman stood after his election as
governor. Whitecap outrages broke
out in Lincoln county. There are
nine men today serving penitentiary
sentences for those outrages. Pros
ecution was kept at work under the
eye of the new governor. Compare
that record with Indiana and Illinois
in similar cases in the last four years.
In Franklin county, Mississippi, some
lawless whites undertook to take the
/ law into their own hands. They, too,
are repenting in sackcloth and ashes
today. In spite of his pronounced
belief in regard to the negro. the me-
gro has been safer in the hands OF
this so-called negro hater than he has
ever been in Mississippi before. This
so-called violent and eccentric man
has enforced the law more sternly
than any Of his predecessors, and he
has let the weight of the law fall
upon white and black alike.
A severe test came last winter, one
of those horrible events which teach
Southerners what they know. Under
the very window of the capitol build.
ing a black man, still unknown, as.
saulted white woman, upon a light
ed street. at the very window of a
citizens residence. An arrest was
made. A thousand men besieged the
jail. An officer was showing his pris.
oner for Identification when Governor
Vardaman rode up. He commanded
the crowd to disperse. telling them
that this was not the right man, and
ordered the jailer to take him back
into the jail. He had no difficulty in
controlling the mob-as We of the
North call such gathering. Since
that time every white man in Jack
son has been guardian of his house
hold, armed, watchful and suspicious
/ There is no telling when a similar
calamity may befal any family in
that city, or in any other Southern
city. But, when the right man is
found, when the actual perpetrator OF
this crime is at last discovered, he
will fall into the hands of no mob in
Jackson. The so-called negro hater,
Vardaman, will see that he gets a
trial under the law and that swift
/ justice shall be his.
Immediately following this crime
| at the capital city, Governor Varda-
man issued proclamation to the of
ficers of the counties. cities and
towns Of the State of Mississippi, q
document which ought to be in the
/ hands Of all Northern men who look
upon the South as a land careless OF
the law. Reciting the circumstances
Of this horrible affair." Governor Var.
daman once more voiced his own con
vfction:
i Forty years OF freedom and free
public education have not fulfilled
/ the Utopian dream of the negrophil.
ist Of the North, and the North-fia-
vored vagarist Of the South It has
not improved the negro's morals,
awakened within him an intelligent
love of country, or cultivated an up
lifting, MISUNDERSTANDING self-re-
spect. He is the barbarian still, with
i thin veneering of civilization, and
the education afforded him by the
white mans money, over period Of
forty years, seems only to have IN
creased his capacity for crime. IN
his educated condition, his aspira-
/ tion to rise in the world and stand
on dead level with the white man
socially and otherwise. manifests it.
self IN beastIy assaults upon white
women.
The situation is becoming desper.
ate and something must be done
Remedy FOR the Grimes.
The remedy suggested by the gov.
ernor was simply the enforcement 81