The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1910-01-07
Hum PRAISES MISSISSIPPI

Hum PRAISES MISSISSIPPI.
Mr.. Hugh n. HUM, special CORE
spondent of the Memphis CONNER
cial Appeal, and who is considered
one of the ablest men of any repor-
torial staff in the South, was sent to
Jackson by this excellent paper to
report the senatorial campaign that
is being .waged in the Mississippi
Legislature these two weeks. Mr..
HUM has given the readers of the
Commercial quite an interesting &C
count of the session to date, in which
he gave the following tribute to our
state, which is appreciated by all
Mississippians.
"They do things different here in
Mississippi. They are clean and
courteous fighters. There is no
mud-slinging. The whole texture
of the present general assembly is
superior to that of Tennessee. Mis-.
sissippi is a mother of statesmen.
The Mississippi legislature, that is,
the present one, is largely composed
of young men, fresh, vigorous and
ambitious. It is an excellent train
ing school. l have watched the at.
titude of politicians in the noun
tains of East Tennessee when face
to face with a crucial issue. l fol-
lowed the late Senator Edward W.
Carmack and Gov. NJ. r. Patterson
in that unprecedented and brilliant
battle of debate; followed them into
the wilderness of the Cumberlands,
where the sound of a steam whistle
is never heard and where the cleo
trio light is as remote as the planet
Mars. was with these two giants
of the platform in the garden of
Tennessee and along down the
swampy section, from the county of
the night rider to the city of Mem
phis. l was with senator Jeff Davis
of Arkansas in his memorable can
vass of sister state, when he opposed
Judge Carroll D. Wood in the guber-
material contest. I stood in the
shadow of the speakers stand when
Attorney General G. w. Murphy, for
he vas the encouragement at that
time, denounced Gov. Davis, and
when men from the hills rode down
to hear and listen with Winchester
rifles across their saddles. I saw in
one place rifles lying across the tab
les as the speaking when on with
out interruption. I have seen ballot
boxes in Memphis shot and ballots
burned, and have gone through
campaigns of pitiless vituperation.
Here l find something new. Here
in Mississippi a fight is in progress
that is being watched not only by
the South, but the whole of the
United States, a contest in which
the conservative element Of the state
is relentlessly aligned against the
less conservative, a fight in which
feeling is intense and in which the
strength of men is conferred. l have
yet to hear the first derogatory re-
mark made in public or the least un-
toward expression of vindictiveness.
This Mississippi school of politics is
an interesting study. In a way it is
a revelation. I now understand
why Eastern ~jurists so frequently
quote Mississippi court reports.
The game has class in it here. It
is an honest one. These men in the
fight are just as deeply conferred in
the victory or defeat of their candi.
dates as ever a Memphis ward poll
tician has been in the head of his
ticket. Yet, their contest is one OF
repression, and the very intensity of
it is felt by strangers. It is a fight
to the death, but it is a clean fight