Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-05-19
DIR. WARDS

man papers there has appeared al
article from the facile pen of DR..
B. F. Ward, supposedly in reply
to the letter of "Private" John
Allen. 1t is really quite amusing
how DR.. Ward rushes to the de,
Tense of his political protege every
time the latter is run into a cor
ner. In fact "defending Jim
seems tie the doctors pet diversion,
and as "Jim" has been a candi-
date for some office or other for
the past generation, the doctor,
from much practice along the line
mentioned, has become quite pro
ficient in the art of assisting a for
lorn hope.
In the present instance, the doc
tor consumes nearly four columns
of space i'll an endeavOr to answer
Mr.. Allen, but like the major in
his ''reply' of the previous week,
the doctor fails to really answer a
single one Of Mr.. Aliens ques-
tions. In fact, out of a nearly
four column article more than
three columns are devoted to mat
tiers that have practically nothing
to do with the questions asked by
Mr.. Allen. About one column is
devoted to a defense of radicalism
in which James u. George, Benja-
min Hill and Edward Carmack are
referred to in eloquent terms as
men of very radical tendencies,
Notwithstanding the fact that not
one of the immortal trio mention
ed ever advocated a scheme so
wild as to attempt to secure the
repeal of the fifteenth amendment.
Senator Georges whole purpose
was to take the race question out
of the hands of the nation and
make it state issue. He did not
even make that effort until cOndi-
tiOns had assumed a perilOus
phase and if, when he did so, his
effort had been no greater than
Major Vardaman's was in divid-
ing the school fund, we should
never have heard of the immortal
courage of James u. George. Ben
Hill was such a radical that he
opposed secession with all the elo-
quence that he could command
and in the very speech referred to
by DIR. Ward declared that the
South was back in the fathers
house Ito stay, thank God.D
While he spoke very freely of the
fanaticism then rampant among a
certain element in the North, vet
the tenor of that speech was a no.
bic plea for a spirit of mutual fel
lOwship and good will. Never
once did he refer to the president
of the United States as "a coon
favored miscegenationist," or as
a man whom he esteemed less than
a negro. Senator Carmack was
indeed a brilliant man, despite a
tongue of far too bitter sarcasm,
and yet though he served a full
six-year term in the Senate, not
once did he offer a bill to repeal a
single amendment.
From Major Vardaman's point
of view, it occurs to us that these
men, instead of being radicals were
really ''cOwardly conservatives"
OF course a denunciation of the
''secret" caucus had to be rung
in; that has so much to do with
the question as to how Major Var
daman handled certain public
funds. After absolutely failing to
answer the questions propounded
by MI. Allen, the doctor proceeds
to ask a few himself. Doubtless
Mr.. Allen is amply able to answer
any and all of them, though if he
follows the example set by Dr.
Ward and the major, he need not
deem it necessary to answer any
questions at all. But in this con-
nectiOn we should like to indulge
in a little questioning ourselves.
Is it true that the caucus of
1910 was the first ttSncret,, cancnS