Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1905-05-18
VARDAMAN
By EMERSON HOUGH,
Author of THE LAW OF THE LAND.-

cftsn happens when n strong man
gets into politics. Some time a real
y big man will split mp both national
parties and give America another and
better one. which assuredly America
needs
His Platform Of No Race Equality
Nardaman was elected on the plat
form. in part. OF mo race equality"
tie fought the expenditure Of the
state money for the education II the
aegro, and declared he considered
hat undertaking a hopeless one. His
opponents said he would drive every
legro from the state: that the plant
.srs would be left without lahorers.
IN reply Nardaman 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 a negro hater. II held up Missis-
sippi a. relic OF the dark apas.
Needing friends in his political
campaign. Vsrdaman nevertheless
pledged himself to none. and went in
20 Office absolutely without strings
attached to him in any way His
opponents predicted that after his
election there would ensue a reign
" terror. an outbreak Of lynchings
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 "a
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.
N Franklin county. Mississippi some
lawless whites undertook to take the
law into their own hands. They. too.
are rerenting in sackcioth and ashes
today. In spite OF his pronounced
belief IN regard to the negro. the ne
gro has been safer In the hands OF
this so-called negro hafer than he has
ever been in Mississippi before This
so-calied violent and eccentric man
has enforced the law more sternly
than eny 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
fha varv xrfnfnu, Of fha .ufsuH h,,ffN
ing a black man. still unknown. as
saulied n white woman. upon a light
ed street. az the very window OF a
citizens residence. An arrest was
made A thousand men besieged the
jail. An officer was showing his pris-
onar for Identification when Governor
Nardaman rode up. He commanded
the crowd to disperse, telling them
that this was not the right man. and
ordered the jailer tn 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 a guardian Of his house
hold. armed, watchful and suspicious
There Is no telling when a similar
calamity may befalI 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.
Nardlman. will see that be gets
trial under the law and that swift
Justice shall be his.
Immediately following this crime
at the capital city. Governor Varda-
man issued n proclamation to the Of
icers OF the counties. cities and
towns of tle State OF Mississippi. a
document which ought to be in the
hands Of all Northern men who look
upon the South a. n land careless of
the law. Reciting the circumstances
OF this horrible affair. Governor Var
daman once more voiced his own con
viction.
Forty years Of freedom and free
public education have not fulfilled
the Utopian dream OF the negrOphil-
ist OF the North. and the North-fa-
vored vagarist of the South Il 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
a thin veneering of civilization. and
the education afforded him by the
white mans money. over n period og
forty years. seems only 10 have in
creased his capacity for crime. In
his educated condition, his aspira-
tion To rise in the world and stand
on a dead level with the white man
socially and otherwise. manifests It.
self in beastly assaults upon white
women.
The situation is becoming dssper-
ate and something must be done"
Remedy for the Grimes.
The remedy suggested by the gov
ernor was simply the enforcement Of
the law. There has been begun the
past winter, all over the State of Mis-
sissippi. the nose vigorous campaign
against idlers and yagrants. and vi
cious characters in general. which
was ever known in the State of Mis-
sissippi. The river towns are all lit
orally cleaning up. A campaign
against vice and lawlessness such as
has been waged in the cities of Jack
son and Vicksburg during the past
few months would be a model for
Chicago or any other OF the great
Northern centers Of population We
have been known such a campaign
in the North We have no Northern
cities In which the law is so abso-
lutely and impartially enforced. This
was not the case under any admins
TRITON before that of Governor Var
saman. These facts may be taken TO
signify what one likes. They are
facts
Criminal Tendency Is a Deep One.
Now, 1t is the belief of Governor
Vardaman that crimes such as that
mentioned above are not cured by
education, but are made more numer-
Gus. The records of the South show
that the criminal disposition of the
negro is more apparent than IL was
twenty. thirty or forty years ago
This crime. which put all Jackson in
a horror, was a crime unknown in
slavery days. 1t is a crime exclusive