The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1911-07-27

ut by his followers. Has he ever through
his paper or public utterances rebuked
themf
Can man incite his followers to
such conduct and not expect it to flower
into violence? Is not man morally
Irresponsible for that which logically fol-
lows from his own teachingsi If not
then it is no longer true that swhAtso-
ever man soweth that also shall he
reap If not then the anarchist preach
ing anarchy in our streets 10 not to be
held morally accountable for the. deeds
| of violence that follow such teaching.
! "But / don't rest the case of the State
of Mississippi against James *. Varda-
man here. | will put it where every
man among you will realize that the
charge is just one. Almost at the
beginning of my campaign | spoke on
the Fourth of July year ago at God
bold Wells, in Pike county. | was ccn-
tinually interrupted by the Vardaman
/ followers with cries of Vardaman,
'Bilbo' and Mary Stamps the latter
said to be a negress of evil reputation
living in Jackson Did Vardaman re-
buke this treatment by his followers!
| About a week after there appeared III
| a Vardaman paper the following edito~
rial, unique in journalism III this state:
Honorable Leroy Percy spoke - a
| large audience in Pike county few
days ago. and the crowd hooted him n
! such way that he completely lost his
head, became angry and pit on d scene
-. j. - IL Dor
meant that I finished my speech, not
withstanding the interruptions and finally
| Quoted the audiencel. Mr.. Percy may
| be game all right, but he shows every
thing but level. headelncss. The Jour-
nal predicted several weeks ago that MIR.
| Percy would Quit the race before the
election and nothing has happened yet
to change our opinion, but instead sew
| eral occurrences have taken place TO
make us firmer in the belief. Il wonder
what kind of prophet this fellow now
| thinks he ISL Ordinarily we would con-
denim in most strenuous terms the con-
duct of this audience, but when we con-
slider the situation brought about by
| a lot of peanut politicians, as is the case
in our state, we are a little bit OF the
opinion that nothing too nasty Il hate
to Use that word in the presence of
Mississippi women) can be enacted by
political audience in Mississippi until the
present controllers are forever burieI.'
"When before waa the manhood OF
Mississippi ever taught that there was
nothing too nasty for them to do at
public gathering? No act of hoodluIn-
ism, no act of ruffianism, that tfey
ought not to do. Did Vardaman rebuke
this! Did he say, Don't teach my fol-
lowers that which will make ruf1ians
and hoodlums out of them Mississippi
has honored me too much for ME to be
willing to bring dishonor on herr No,
he reproduced the editorial in the issue.
Is that all? No. he left no uncertainty
in regard to his position. He endorsed
it, reproducing it in his paper OF July
Is, 1910, under the caption, Good Kea-
soning, and with this endorsement:
= asWill G. Hight, editor of the Winston (,
County Journal, makes the following
very sensible and pertinent observation
upon the political situation just now:'
"In other words, at the very outset
of my campaign, he said to his follow
ers: There is man chat am gong
to abuse and SANDER, but whoEs / will
not meet in joint debate. ] call upon
you to interfere with, and If possible,
stop his campaign by being as nasty
"a possible. There is nothing which you
can do, nasty and indecent, that will
not approve Of What leader that ever
lived in Mississippi before SO taught his
followers? Men of Alcorn county, IS
there father among you who would
teach his boy to attend public meeting
and be as nasty, as indecent, DIS much
like hoodlum and ruffian as 1t vas
possible for him to be? Any -ather
among you who would be degraded
enough to teach it to his boy would
have to do it away from the presence OF
the mother of that boy While You
would not teach it yourself, would you
vet follow as your leader the mar who
teaches it to the men and boys OF Mis-
sissippi2
"There can be no plea entered here
that the vouchers were lost. There is
no complicated account here to e'wll-
der the minds of the people. Out OF
his own mouth is he condemned.
ssI submit that the case is made out,
and that, morally, Vardaman was as
responsible for that act of violence IS
though his hand held the knife that WAS
plunged into the back of that defense
less officer. If he believes the charge
an unfair one, harsh or unjust one, ]
won't treat him as he has treated me.
I will not make charge against him
behind his back that am not willing
to make to his faces / make this charge
now in his absence solely because | can't
secure his presence, and if he will meet
me will make this charge to his face
before any audience in Mississippi, and
before that audience will convict him
of moral guilt.
sFriends, it matters little to Missis-