The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1907-07-06
THE NlLLIAMS-vARDAMAN JOINT DE-
BATE.

hear and witness tho Williams.
Vardaman joint discussion, which
had been heralded far and wide
for the past two weeks as the
greatest political event of the
campaign. We are glad we went,
for we did get to see and hear for
ourself just how it all was. We
were greatly surprised, after all
that had been said and published
on the subject, that there we're
not more people present. There
we're twenty thousand or more
people in Meridian that day, un-
doubtedly, including the resi-
dents, but there were only FIVE to
six thousand actually present at
the speech-making, the greatly
exaggerated newspaper reports to
tie contrary Notwithstanding.
Mr.. Williams and his noisy par
tisans have appeared almost frantic
for some months for joint de-
bate with the Governor, and there
has been a vast amount Of cheap
Boosting as how the Governor
would be demolished if the two
distinguished gentlemen ever did
meet on the same platform. Some
of the Williams men had appar-
emily convinced themselves that
the Governor was afraid to meet
the GREAT Minority Leader"
In joint debate and that when such
a thing happened, if it ever did,
Vardaman would be literally
eaten up, boots, long hair and all,
and that then "the Great Minor
ity Leader" would weep because
there wasn't enough of the re-
mains to satisfy his appetite for a
joint debate and no other oppo-
nent IN sight.
Well, Gov. Vardaman has met
Mr.. Williams, and The Leader,
in no spirit of vain boasting, can
assure its readers that the gov
ernor and his friends have ample
grounds to be proud and salts
fed with the result. In very truth,
what was so heralded before hand
by Mr.. Williams partisans as
coming humiliation and political
disaster to the Governor, culmi-
mated very decidedly in a Varda-
man triumph-almost boomer
ang to the Williams shouters who
had gone there to howl down and
interrupt the Governor, and to
Mr.. Williams candidacy. 1t is
not surprising that, in their an
ger, disappointment and chagrin,
they have since resorted to all
sorts of misrepresentation and
false reports about the meeting
and the Governor, and in some in
stances gone to downright lying.
Knowing Meridian to be in Mr..
Williams old congressional dis
trict and that it was reputed to be
a Williams stronghold, we had ex-
pected to find a decided majority
of the people at the speaking
Williams sympathizers and sup
porters. Judging by the size of
the Vardaman procession, the
Vardaman badges in sight, and
the amount of enthusiasm and
applause received by the respec-
tive candidates, it was just the
other way and Vardman ahad the
crowd and the shouting on his op-
ponent.
Mr.. Williams made very much
the same speech he made at Brook
haven on June Goth, except that
few features of his speech here
were lacking in his Meridian
speech; so that thosr who heard
him at the Brookhaven Opera
House, practically heard all Of his
Meridian ioint-discussion speech.
The features lacking were that be
did not assail the Governors po-
litical sincerity to the extent that
he did here or attempt to make
of him such a political and legal
idiot; did not claim that the
Standard Oil Trust was indicted
under the new railroad rate bill
which be helped to pass and take
credit for it as he did here. did
not hold up the peril Of negro
conductors and no separate wait
ing rooms and cars in the South
for the races If railroad ownership
is adopted, and did not arraign
the Protestant ministers as he did
here for not giving more attention
to the moral and religious educa-
tion Of the negro. At Meridian,
as in Brookhaven, Mr. Williams
showed that he had never been
about farm enough to learn that
ooat doesn't saueal.