The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-09-07
BASKET DINNER AND PUBLIC SPEAKING
By State Candidates at Nettleton. Many
People Present and Enjoyed the Hos
pitality Of This Thriving Town.

VII " SOASoNHJ Voo oAA VSSSoAOAA
which shall always stand as a
compliment to the public spirited
and hospitable people Of that en-
terprising and thriving little city
and the good citizens Of the vic
Unity and the nearby counties of
Monroe and Itawamba who con-
tributed much to make the oc-
casion a complete success. The
committee on arrangement left
nothing undone to provide every
comfort possible and the dinner
spread at noon was such as to
dispel the fears of the most pes
simistic that the country was
not supplied with all that could
be necessary to make the people
happy and contented with their
lot. In addition to the delicious
ly barbecued meats the house.
wives had prepared all those lit
tie additions which furnish such
a palatable finale to the public
feast and to them much credit
and many thanks were voted by
the large crowd pres ent.
The speaking took place at the
new school building which is
nearing completion, the seats
are nearing completion, the seats
and stand being placed in the
grove. Hon. T. U. Sisson was
the first speaker and was intro
duced in most happy manner
by Hon. Claud Clayton of Tupelo,
who introduced all the candi-
dates. Mr.. Sisson said that he
had been accused by some of
his opponents as not having any
platform, or that he stood for
nothing. And in answer to this
charge, he would say that the
National platform, and the state
democratic platform was the one
he was running on. That the
several platforms that his opp0n-
ents Were advocating would be
forgotten when the platforms Of
the National and State Democrat
ic platforms were adopted. He
appealed to the voters that if he
was right in this statement then
to give him their support. In re-
gard to immigration of any people
he stated that the governor of
Mississippi had nothing to do
with it, but that it was matter
that was in the hands of the
United States government and
suggested that his opponents
that were making this an issue
run for United States senator.
His speech was appreciated by
his heaers and he was repeatedly
interrupted by prolonged cheers.
He was willing to stand upon
the fundamental principle of
government, so vital and far
reaching in their effects thatwere
fires promulgated by Jefferson
Monroe, Madison and Andrew
jackson. That these were the
principles that meant the welfare
of the citizen. He closed with a
beautiful tribute to the woman
hood of the south.
Judge Truly was the next
speaker and began his address
with the discussion Of the ine-
qualities existing in the distri-
bution.d the school fund which
gives TO the negro counties a
greater share of the money col
lected for school purposes than
was anticipated when the con-
stitut on of 1890 was adopted,
and the plans for distribution by
the number of educable children
in each county was inserted in
the constitution. He showed that
it was the intention Of the con-
stitution to provide the means of
an education to every white chill
in the state. but that the present
system of administering the
school fund subverted the inten-
ton Of the trainers of the con-
stitution so that now the money
devotel / to school purposes and
raised by general taxation from
the property of the entire state
was SO unevenly distributed that
the largest portion of the money
went to that portion of the state
where it was least needed. An
illustration was drawn by which
lit was shown that Lee county
had more white educable chill
dren than the counties of Tunica,
Coahoma, Washington, Sharkey
and Issaquena combined, while
those Delta counties drew annu-
ally from the state 500, 900 more
than did the county of Lee. The
children of the Delta had more
school term at public expense
better paid teachers, and better
school advantages than did the
(children Of the hill counties.
That the teachers who taught in
the hill counties were worked
harder and received less pay
than did those in the more tai
vored sections. The remedy
suggested was that q school term
| Of equal length be maintained in
every county. It was shown fur
lther that the lands Of the state