The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1907-04-27
GOVERNOR VARDAMAN
ADDRESSES THE PUBLIC.
Spoke With Masterful Eloquence For Over Two
Hours at the 0soinach Opera House Was
Applauded to the Very Echo and Made Mag
nificent Impression = Brief Outline OF his
Address-The Race Question.

United States Senate, addressed the
public in this city at the Osolnach
Opera House Tuesday forenoon at IL
o'clock.
The distinguished visitor greeted
"packed house" - people from everv
walk of life being present-and was ln-
troduced by South Mississippi's young
lawyer and representative citizen, Hon.
W.. J. Gex, chairman of the reception
committee, who said: "Ladies and gen.
tlemen, it affords me honor and pleasure
to introduce to you Governor Jas. K.
Vardaman, the peerless Vardaman, the
best governor the State of Mississippi
has ever had!" prolonged applause.)
Governor Vardaman, soldier, patriot
and statesman, is an orator, deep in
thought and profound in study, whose
eloquence and scholarly treatment of
the subject matter sways his audience
almost at will; for his position on all
issues affecting the public veal is une-
quivocal, his deductions conclusive, and
he is a man whose convictions are un-
questionable by virtue of the intensity
of that sincerity which ever character
ICES him. No man can doubt the earn
estnesS of Vardaman. He is too can
did, too sincere, too honest, to deceive
his fellow -man-even himself.
Opening his address, the governor
dwelt upon the perniciousness with
which he was being misquoted, particu-
larly on one question-the ownership Of
railroads by the government-an issue
that was fraught with grave dangers if
adopted, and vice versa, if the present
conditions of certain tendencies con-
tinued. He stated that for once and
thousand times again he stood for the
railroads for the people, and the people
for the railroads; that he was friend
of the railroads so long as they did not
own the government, for he recognized
this agency as great developer and
upbuilder of the country, but from that
moment the railroads would assume to
own the government, he would favor the
government owning the railroads.
Imperialism, although not an active
issue Just now, was another vital ques-
ton he discussed, dwelling upon the
fallacy of this country acquiring the
Philippine possessions and burdening
the tax payers-the man with the hoe
with the obligations resulting from the
necessity of a large navy and standing
army. He said the Stars and Stripes
were the supposed emblems Of peace,
liberty and freedom, but to those inhab-
itants of the far-away islands its sight
brought terror, subsection and tyranny.
The tariff was another inactive issue
Just now, but important all the same,
that he discussed at some length, till
finally he said why discuss it further;
the entire South stood solid on the sub
ject of tariff for revenue only, and not
for high protective tariff. In 1860, the
speaker said, the State of Massachu-
setts, one of tae smallest States in point
of area in the United States, was about
as rich as the State of Louisiana, and,
with its congestion of manufacturing
enterprises, that State, under the pres
ent defective tariff system, had become
40 enriched as to be able to buy, not
only Louisiana to-day, but Mississippi
as we'll, with other Southern States
thrown in; that the State of Pennsyl-
tha 1nfo
tive system of high tariff that it could
buy the entire South
The repeal of the fifteenth Amend
ment was discussed as a possibility, and
probability as well, and in the same
wise he discussed the modification of
the Fourteenth Amendment. Governor
Vardaman does not promise or say that
he will accomplish these radical changes,
but he does say that he is in favor of
them, and should he go to the Senate,
every speech will contain an effort or
move in this direction.
And then: The Vardaman idea-the
race question. No man is more CONVEX
SAINT with this subject than he. He
waxed warm and eloquent, and made an
earnest plea in behalf of the flower OF
the land-the mothers, wives and sis
tiers and daughters of the manhood OF
the country. He said the "blight'' was
rampant and should be checked; that
the opposite color, as whole, was more
educated, more enlightened and more
intelligent to-day than forty years ago,
and yet their criminal propensities are
greater now. This sensational state
ment, he said, was backed by history,
was borne out by the records and official
archives of our country. He said he
was the black mans best friend. While
Governor he had pardoned more negroes
than white men, as the records show.
The black race had been his best friend.
In the Civil War, when his father shoul-
dered musket and started off to war,
he Governor Vardaman) was one
month old, left at home with defense
less woman (his mother) and other
small children, with no other protection
but the family slave or slaves. Picture
to-day, he said, going t. war and leav-