The Tupelo journal., 1906-05-04

CnaC IL was state sovereignty,
others contend that the negro
was he cause. All that concerns
! the Confederate soldier is that
there was war and a terrible
war; great battles were fought,
thousands upon thousands of
lives were sacrificed and the
south was drenched in blood and
the land filled with widows and
orphans and mourning.
Now / desire to say right here
that if the issue of state sover-
eighty was the cause of the war,
the Confederate soldier has won
a great victory. There has been
since the war, a gradual growth
! of the views and sentiments of
the South on this question
throughout the North. While
there is a class of statesmen con-
tending for increased centralized
Federal power, this class is grow
ling smaller and weaker year by
year. Today the sovereignty of
the State, with all of it's powers
and rights, is absolutely recog-
nized by the Supreme Court of
the United States.
The Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States has in recent years
rendered decisions establishing
the sovereignty of the state as
clearly and as conclusively as was
ever contended for by John C.
Calhoun. | know of one case,
with which | was connected, af-
fecting the sovereign rights of
Mississippi, where the Chief JUS
tice of the Supreme Court of the
United States, a Republican, re-
cognized this, in more practical
form, in defining the powers of
the State, than was ever con-
tended for by any great South
ern statesman. Now this is all
| have to say on this subject.
| We have met here for the pur-
pose of unveiling a monument
that has been erected by the men
and women of this community
for the purpose of commemorate
ing the courage, daring and pa
triotic service of the Confederate
soldier. 1t has been the custom
from time immemorial for ma
ton to honor the soldiers who
died for their country, by erect
ing monuments in their memory.
Now the patriotic men and wo-
men of Lee county have, by their
own exertions, raised sufficient
money to provide a monument in
memory Of the Confederate SOL
diers who left this immediate
community and district and were
left dead on the battlefield.
In this connection l wish to
pay a tribute to citizen whose
! lips are now closed in death. l
am informed that more credit
for collecting the means of this
monument is due Major James
Kincannon than any other one
man. If there ever was a brave
and loyal spirit, devoted to the
cause of the Confederate soldier,
it was Major Kincannon. Many
of us here had soldiered with
him; he was our comrade in the
war and we know how loyal his
heart always beat for the Con-
federacy and how his sympathies
and affections always followed
the Confederate soldier. 1t was
said by the Romans that the
praise of the dead should not
| fret the living. Now all of the
citizens and the fair and beauti-
full and loyal women of this COM
munity are to be complimented
and congratulated on having
brought to a successful finish the
monument that is to be unveiled
today. God bless the women of
Tupelo and of Lee county and of
the South. They never allowed
defeat and disappointment and
deprivations to weaken their in
terest in the cause and their SYM
pathy for the Confederate SOL
dier. They went to theft looms
and wove home-spun dresses and
wore them, and they went to the
oat fields and with their deft fin
gers made their oat-staw bonnets
and / can remember when l saw
them in home-spun and oatstraw
bonnets when they looked as
beautiful and lovely as any queen
who ever sat upon a throne.
Now comrades, what can |
say to you, you gray-neaded and
weather-beaten citizens, who
were once the bravest and most
intrepid and the most fearless
soldiers who ever trod the ter
rible ridge of battle? l have
seen you when the sun and hoa-
vens were concealed by the ilame
and smoke of battle and looked
into your faces and saw the de-
termination to win, relsr LESS
Of your own lives. / have hearI
Continued on page q