Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-06-30
SENATOR PERCY
AT HATTIESBURG

Commercial Appeal in reporting the
speech delivered by Senator Percy, among
other things said:
The speaker referred to the charge
that he had been unfairly elected by
the caucus and said:
Fairly Elected.
mo opponent of mine has made that
charge and been willing to assert it, in
joint debate, before the people of Mis-
sissippi; although in a speech delivered
in Jackson in October last, and by a
personal letter, I challenged Gov. Varda-
man, if he made such a charge, to meet
me in Joint debate before the people,
because, as 1 said, If you can substan-
tate the charge that, for the first time
in Mississippi's history, her legislature
has been debauched and corrupted, then
that legislature should be branded with
disapprOval and the man who sought to
proGt by that corruption should be
driven, in shame, out OF public life; but,
if you make that charge and cannot
s~ubstantiate it, then you stand convict
ed of having slandered the legislature of
your state, for political profit, and you
are unworthy of any honor at the hands
of her people, and that legislature SO
slandered is entitled to the vindication
which my election, and my election alone,
can carry to it, That challenge. is I'M
answered to this good hour, for, though
foul of tongue he is fleet of foot, and
deems it the wiser if the less manly
course to Islander the legislature and
myself, where he is free from the OPP
p%ortunity of correction afforded by joint
debate, and where, too, he runs no risk
of being confronted with that grizzly
horror, his own shameful record"
The speaker referred to an editorial
quoted in the Issue from the Kosciusko
Star-Ledger, the substance of which was
that it was anticipated some fraud has
been perpetrated upon the people of the
state in the appointments of election
CONFERENCE.-The closing paragraph of
the editorial being as follows:
"To our way of thinking, a great
wrong has been pe~rpetrated against the
people of Mississippi and may terminate
in bloOdshed at the polls. For one thing
may be depended upon, the Vardaman
forces are going to see to it that they
nave a fair ballot and a fair count.
Peacefully if they can; forcibly if they
must"
And, hldorsing this, he said:
ct is just another instance of trying
to defeat Vardaman. Honestly if they
can, but defeat him they must"
This is a new note heard for the first
time in a political contest in Missis-
sippi. If the election is not conducted
in a manner to suit him and forward
his political fortunes, there is to be
bloodshed at the polls! Whose blood
must be shed? Not the blood of aliens,
enemies or negroes, but the blood of
white Mississippians, acknowledgements.
There was never an hour in Mississippi's
history before when one of her leaders
would not have been quick to bare his
own breast to prevent the blood of the
people of Mississippi being shed. He has
abused your president, slandered your
aovernOr, vilificd your ministry, said
that your courts were corrupt, your ju-
ries were corrupt and your legislature
debauched, and now, without reason or
Justification, says that the commission
ers of election, honorable Democrats, APP
pointed from all over the state, are
about to perpetrate a great fraud upon
the people. Is everything in Mississippi
that we have honored to be smirched in
order to promote his political ambition?
If the people of Mississippi are as cor
rupt as he would nave you believe, it
would be poor honor to represent them.
The object of the TRADE is to deter the
election commissioners, sworn officers of
the law, from doing their duty, purging
the poll books, but the attempt viii fail.
They will do their duty and "hew to the
line, let the chips fall where they may"
They Will enforce, not violate, the law,
and those who perform the duties of cit
izenship should know those who shirk
them. Those who pay the taxes by
which our government and public schools
are maintained, not those who evade
the payment. Those who are qualified
as voters, not those who are disqualified,
will see at the polls who are to be their
representatives, officers and senators.
The law will be enforced and there
w4ll be no bloodshed either. Like a
whipped child he has cried since his de-
feat in the caucus, and now with defeat
staring hin in the face in the primary,
he is preparing to squeal like a stuck
pig after the primary, and that will be
the only bloodshed over the election.
The speaker discussed the position
taken by Vardaman in the Issue that
only Vardaman men should be elected to
the legislature, and stated that the at
titude taken was a most unfortunate
one; that one of the chief benefits of
the primary election law was that mem
bers of the legislature could be elected
with regard to their merit as legisla-
tors alone, and unaffected by their
senatorial preference, as such preference
would be controlled by the result of
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