The Green Forest tribune., 1913-02-07

who can talk to them in their own words and phrases; who can comfort them in their troubles, and rejoice with them ill their simple joys; who can actually or in effect, put his arm around them and make them feel that he is their friend and their defense. For the inequalities of social and econ omic conditions always yearn for a voice to cry their protest.
 As it was in Greece and Rome, so 1t is with us today-he who has con summate skill to put himself in the place of a champion of the people is not merely a well-known and popular man; he becomes a sentiment, a belief, creed and conviction.
 Need not Fear These Men.
 But if anyone fears that these masses of men may lay violent hands upon the historic fabric of our institu- tions let him remember that the day may come when their true American bone and fiber will make them for tress and stronghold for all those things this nation holds most dear.
 MT President, one of the great fig ures in the history of the senate said, in speaking of his state: q shall en- ter on no encomium upon Massaehu- sets. She needs none There she is. Behold her and judge for yourselves.
 State Not Understood
 And l may say that my state of Arkansas needs no enconium. She needs only to be seen and to be known. for it has been the singular misfor- tune of Arkansas to be m1sused, misad- vertised, misunderstood and miniter- preted. Because we have areas of low lands, along with our highlands, our hills and our mountains, some persons who are unacquainted with the state are accustomed to speak of it as a place of swamps. For the most part these ioWlandS are not sWampS at all
 ''They are covered with towns and plantations or are lands that can be reclaimed for farms and homes with the simplest work of drainage and are being so reclaimed by local enterprise. But swamp is a ready and an easy word, which gratifies the human ap- petite for a touch of derogation, and is often chosen by the tongue in prefer ence to more accurate, if less satisfy ing, terms of description
 ''In my own state, we have a name for a particular type Of political par tisan who inhabits the lowlands and is noted for the great interest he takes in public affairs. He is called swamp Democrat These lowlands lie gen erally in eastern Arkansas, a region that was in part inundated by the last great flood in the Mississippi
 "A flood is a bad visitation. But eastern Arkansas is the daughter of the Father of Waters
 The Gift of the Floods.
 For century after century he has drawn on the East, the North and the West for the treasures of their soil and laid them at her feet. And when mankind came to claim the daughter of the river he found her lowered with wealth far greater than the marriage portions of all the princes of the earth.
 Now that eastern Arkansas has been wooed and won by mankind, she has built bulWarks against the Missis- sippi, but sometimes the Father of Waters breaks in and leaves muddy tracks over all the place Thus we are in need of works of reclamation. for flood protection and drainage and for channel improvement also.
 Rivers That Need Attention.
 Tt saying in our state that Ark ansas has more miles of navigable rivers than any other state in the union, and, I regret to add, perhaps as few miles of navigated rivers. The nation might we'll turn it's eyes to this undeveloped empire.
 You have heard the fearsome for mula of the political economist about the pressure of population on the means of subsistence. But in Arkan- sas so many crops may be raised in the same year on the same ground, and so bountiful is the earth that the trouble is rather the pressure of the means of subsistence upon the popula- tion.
 The Arkansas That Is.
 Rich in all the things that make a state both strong and great and bring