Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-04-28
THE MAJAH'S

Mississippi audience that the ne
gro is inferior to the white man,
and then without a moments
warning, holds up suddenly be-
fore their affrighted eyes the dread
spectre of negro domination. Ac-
cording to the major the negro
can never develop mentally to any
marked degree because of the
closing of the sutures of his skull,
and yet the negro is rapidly be-
coming better qualified as the days
pass by to exercise the right of
suffrage. If this strikes his hear
ers as a bit inconsistent, there is
really no occasion for surprise, as
we a assure them that cOnsisten-
cy is one word that has no place
in the majors many wOrded lexi-
con.
To enumerate all the incOnsist-
ent points in Major Vardaman's
career, would fill a large sized vol
ume. We shall name a few of the
more striking ones, however, for
the calm and careful consideration
of his idOlatrOus adherents.
In the first place Major Varda-
mans entire public record is an
anomaly. In practically every is
sue he has ever advocated he has
been inconsistent. He boasts of
his opposition to a certain railroad
merger while governor, yet some
years before he not only did not
oppose another such merger, but
lObbied in favor of it and was paid
for doing so. He swears eternal
enmity to the liquor traffic, yet
had whiskey in his headquarters
during the so-called secret caucus,
and is known to have a decided
fOndness for sherry wine. While
editor Of the Greenwood Common
wealth he favored mob law and
bitterly attacked in the columns of
his paper a certain minister of the
gospel who had preached a sermon
against the reign of ~lawlessness,
declaring that all the minister
wanted was a job up north and he
hoped to God he would get it; yet
he is now boasting of his spectacu-
lar efforts to prevent mob violence
while governor. In other words,
he boasts of his efforts to prevent
the very thing he strenuOusly adj
vOcated while a private citizen.
He poses as the friend of the down
trOdden masses and processes eter-
nal enmity towards the cruel trusts
and heartless corporations, and
yet while governor he rode on free
passes in violation of the law more
than once and used telegraph
frank books, throughout a four
year term, for his PERSONAL
messages from two of the greatest
corporations in all the land. He
loudly proclaims himself the can
didate Of~the~~f6oral element and
yet has assniled in the vilest terms
some of the most honored and best
beloved Christian ministers in the
state.
He prates loud and long of his
faithfulness to every trust while
governor, yet handled several
trust funds so ~recklessly that a
legislative committee, several of
whom were his staunch supporters,
were compelled to render a report
that showed vouchers to the eX-
tent of several thousand dollars to
be missing, and several palpable
instances of double charging were
shown. In answer to these charges
he claims that the vouchers must
have been stolen; but when asked
by an opponent to let the books
at the bank where these funds
were placed be referred to as proof
of his innocence, his sole answer
is to call that opponent a tadpole.
In fact, he exclaims dramatically,
"Lct the blessed sunlight Of pub
licity shine in" and then closes
all the shutters fast and tight.