The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-01
John Sharp Williams .
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on Constitution by construction. would like to hear Williams and Beveridge on opposing sides of the scope and force of the tenth amendment. would like to be present when Tillman and Foraker clash on the constitu- tionaI right of the South to vote the Demo- cratic ticket.
 Of the list John Sharp Williams is second to none in debate. Bailey is greater law yer, Carmack a more brilliant debater, Lodge Q more studious scholar. Bevertdge a more indefatigable worker; but as an all- round man in a political debate John Sharp is the equal of the bst of them. His is a powerful mind. cultured in the best schools of both hemispheres; his acquired knowledge is varied and extensive: he is as ready as Carmack himself; like Capt. Colepepper's bulldog, "he never sprang but at the throatP wide the lacerated gullet of the Hon. Lit tauer, who had charge of ship subsidy the last session. Not only is John Sharp Will Hams Democrat In principle; but he is the most thorough Democrat in demeanor since old Bill Morrison left here. For thls he has been harshly criticised; but his ca- shows that great man is only the greater for a simplicity that makes him lovable.
 It was fin December, 1903 that John sharp Williams was chosen leader of the minority in Congress, succeeding to the place form erly held by Richardson, Bailey, Crisp, Mills, Carlisle and Morrison, Since the first convocation of the Fifty-thtrd Congress the Democratic side has been mob. Crisp did not live long enough to show how hopeless his leadership would prove; but Bailey, an abler man failed lamentably simply for the reason that one having all the combined genius of Henry Clay, Thad Stevens. and Tom Reed could not have led that squad. Richardson tried urbanity that failed completely Bailey's arrogance. Then came John sharp Tn the leadership. and he did admirably, all things considered, for he had more envy snarling at his heels than even plagued Bailey. His biggest sin his resolution to make the party Democrat ic After a tremendous truggle he has suo- ceeded in Weeding out of the Democratic end of the Ways and Means Committee the Randalism he found there That Is the animus of the most of the cussinG Demo- crats have thrown at John Sharp Williams. He has construed his office to mean to lead. and he has led in the main. No doubt he has made mistakes, but ha is the ablest man in the House and the best debater on Capitol Hill. The envy 1t excites is the best test of superiority.
 The home of the "Old South" was rich in a few books that were regularly read and healthfully digested-the Bible. "Pilgrim's Progress" Herodotus. Rolin. Plutarch, Gib- bon. Hume, Robertson. Swift. Defoe Field ing Smollett, Shakespeare, Milton. Pope, Burns and Scott. Dickens and Thackeray were read in the Deriodicals of the day Macaulay. too, came by piecemeal. In such @ home John sharp Williams was reared.
 Born at Memphis. Tenn, in 1854 his mother died when he was a child, and his father fell at the head of his regiment the 27th Tennessee. at shiloh. before his gifted son had told his eighth year. Then 1t was that his family sought refuge from the advancing Union arms and took up their abode at his mothers family homestead. in the Yazoo delta, in Mississippi. He received a better education than most youths of family and fortune at the South of his gem eration. He attended the Kentucky Military Institute at Frankfort; he was at the Uni- versity of the South at Sewanee; he was at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and at the University of Heidelberg, in Germany. Subsequently, he studied law at the University of Virginia. and in tho office of a leading law firm of his native Mem phis. In 1S7S having been admitted to the bar, he returned to Mississippi and opened an office at Yazoo.
 Young williams spent several years in Europe. a part of the time at Dion. in Bur gundy, where Bonaparte fixed the headquar- ters of that phantom army with which he myBtified his adversaries just before Marengo and there Williams was a student of the College de France but his purpose was more to perfect himself in the language of the French tongue and familiarize himself with the literature of the French people than to take the regular course. He traveled much on the continent. and generally on foot which is the best way to see a country and