The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-11-30
ALL OFFICIAL HONESTY NOT
CENTERED IN ONE MAN.

Ledger of last Friday.
Hon. Fl. J. McLaurin, of Rolling
Fork, the owner of the Sandy Bayou
plantation, in Sharkey county, which
has been the subject of considerable
controversy among the members of the
board of control, was in Jackson to-
day, and when asked if he had any
thing further to say about the leasing
of that place again, and the comments
made few days ago by Governor
Vardaman on that subject, said:
twill not say that Governor Var
daman has anything against me. He
says ne does not permit personal feel
ings to influence him in his official
acts. Governor Vardaman is not a
businessman, and his statement is a
misjudgment on business affair. He
was opposed to taking any place at all
this year, although the state did not
have land enough for the convicts to
work. He did not know that to cut
green timber from land in the summer
time, when the trees are full of sap,
extracted from the strength of the
ground, is exhaustive of the land, and
therefore injurious. Sandy Bayou
plantation made for the state last year,
clear of all expenses, about $40, 600.
1t will make the state about this much
this year, clear of all expenses; and
the state is this much better off than
If the poor business advice of Govern
or Vardaman had been taken and the
place rejected last winter. AS an
other evidence of Governor Varda-
mans deficiency in business qualifica-
tions, he made speeches last spring
advising people to hold cotton, assur-
ing us that cotton should go to 10 cents
by June, and asserting that the states
cotton should not be sold under 10
cents, and he held the states cotton
until it ran down from over 9 cents,
and then just as it began to look up,
he sold it before June at 1855 cents,
thereby losing the state many thous-
and dollars.
"The only thing I was sorry to see
was the charge against the other
members of the board of control that
they were controlled by ''favoritism !"
Such charge, SO unwarranted, should
not come from one occupying the high
office of governor All official hon.
esty in the state is not conferred in one
man. The charge is less excusable
when we rembember that time has
demonstrated the business wisdom of
the other members of the board of
control. Indeed, these members have
all along shown high order of capa-
bility for the positions they occupy,
and commendable fidelity to duty
and official integrity
''What about the statement that
the state cleared the Sandy Bayou
place or the greater portion of it?' -
was asked.
'The state did not clear the Sandy
Bayou place, or the greater portion of
it.. When the state first leased the
place Governor Stone was president of
the board of control, and he had the
land in cultivation surveyed, and by
actual measurement there were 613
acres in cultivation and large burn,
that is, where timber had been dead
ened for years and fire run through it,
burning the cane and chunks, thereby
making it very easy to clear, and the
state got this free of rent, and in this
way was paid for all the land it cleared
on Sandy Bayou. The state was we'll
paid for all the land it cleared on the
place. Governor Stone said it was
the best bargain for the state that was
offered the board of control. Surely
no governor will charge Governor
Stone with sfavoritism' in leasing the
Sandy Bayou place. No governor will
dare in this state question the official
integrity Of Governor Stone in leasing
the Sandy Bayou place. The board
Of control frequently contracted to
clear land for people when the con-
victs were not busy with the crops,
the price being paid to the board and
the board paying it to the state. This
was one of the means Of revenue from
the convicts. Governor Stone thought
it better for the state to clear this
land with the onvicts and get all the
land made for the state than to get
money from the owner for the clearing
and then pay the owner money for the
land. The convicts while clearing
the land were absolutely under the
control Of the state authorities, the
landowner having absolutely nothing
to do with the convicts- another in.
stance Of Governor Vardaman's de-
ficiency In business knowledge. He
could have procured al this informa.