The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1911-06-17
CONGRESSMAN PAT
HARR|SON'S SPEECH
Tariff Bill Used As a Text
for His Address-He Ad-
ministers Representative
Crumpacker a Dressing
Down. Mr.. Harrison
Resents the Indianian's
Criticism of Mississippi.

Resents the Indianian s
Criticism of Mississippi.
On last Saturday Congressman Byron
Patton Harrison, the second youngest
member of the House of Representative,
and representative from the Sea Coast
Congressional District, delivered his
maiden speech on the tariff. Already.
says press telegram from Washington
to the New Orleans Picayune, he has
achieved large popularity, and his
speech received close attention. AT its
conclusion he was warmly applauded
and congratulated. Mr.. Harrison pre-
faced his argument against public ex-
travagance and protective tariff by
saying:
In advocating at this time the passage
of the pending bill, l want to assure the
older members of this House that do
it, fully cognizant of the established
custom-that new member is expected
to sit, look and listen, rather than be
heard.
"For ten weeks, as one of the young
est, and, am sure, as new as the new
est, of the members of this body, have
modestly adhered to that custom, and |
would not today prematurely impose my
remarks into this discussion, did | not
chafe under the insincerity of the atti-
tude of the gentlemen who oppose this
bill.
Answering Judge Crumpacker, OF In
diana, who, few days ago, in reference
to the boomers in Canada, spoke of a
similar movement to the South, which
he called "another Mississippi bubble
will-o'- '-the-wisp excursion. Mr..
Harrison paid high tribute to his State.
'tAs a representative in this body
from Mississippi" he said, "if should
allow that statement to go unanswered
on the floor of this House, my people
would have right to think that | was
not worthy to wear the mantle that
they haye placed upon me. | can hardly
believe that the gentleman from Indi-
ana really desired to picture my State
to the country in false colors. What
has she done to the gentleman that
would warrant him to pick her out to
illustrate some fanciful thought? If he
is sincere in the belief that his con-
! stituents, in leaving his district to go
to Mississippi, were merely following
"a will-o'- -the-wisp' or another 'Missis-
sippi bubble, l would say to him that
he is mistaken.
'Tis true that, for the past fifteen
years, great hordes of citizens from
other states have heard of the wonder
full resources of Mississippi, and have
cast their lot with us. From the gen
tleman's own state and his own dis
trict they have come, not one, but
many have come, and they have re-
mained. Citizens from no section have
been more welcome than they, and no
part of our citizenship is making greater
progress and better citizens than those
erstwhile constituents of his.
''If the distinguished gentleman is
ignorant (and | judge he is) OF the
progress and true conditions in my
state, gladly cite him to the fact that
in my own district lands that ten years
ago were worth S5 an acre are now
selling from $50 to $50 an acre-lands
that. even under the cultivation of boys,
yield from IS to $50 bushels of corn
per acre; lands that brought forth, not
one crop year, but two and three crops
year; lands that not only produce
cotton comparable to any in the South,
but which has made the pecan and
orange industries most profitable.
"Surely the gentleman would not have
this House and the country at large
to think that the people of my State
advertise that which they have not
Her rich prairies, her hills, her maies-
tic forests of virgin pine, her fertile
lands of the delta, her navigable
streams, her delightful climate, the
hospitality of her people, and her Won
derful progress within the past ter
years, all answer the assertion of the
distinguished gentleman, and are proof
sufficient that when once nonresident
lands within her borders, Mississip-
plan he becomes for life. | am sur
prised at the mendacity of the distin.
guished gentleman from Indiana in at
tempting to praise, on the floor OF this
House, the land of his district at ths
expense of the fertile lands OF my State
"Mr. Chairman, Mississippi needs M
voice in this chamber to defend he
natural resources, her progress, and hel
own record.
"While the march of her industria
and commercial progress has been won
derful and the prowess of her poopl'
marvellous, she has enrolled on the lis
of great men in American history a
many statesmen and orators, with tn
exception of Virginia, the mother o
States, as any OF the sisterhood o