The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1914-10-02
THE CoNFEDERATES.

Sob artists are busy again this
campaign with their tributes and eu
iogies upon the old Confederate vet
Grams. Every campaign speaker feels
It incumbent upon him to devote 6
considerable portion Of his speech tt
mock heroics and lip professions Of
love and admiration for the soldiers
of the South. Every two years in
Tennessee the ears Of the Confeder
ate veterans must burn for they are
. very live subject in the political
campaigns. Between campaigns we
hear very little about them, but ZEN
during of election" they become i'm
mensely popular.
And this is about the most disgust
ing and nauseating feature of our
campaigns. Every effort is made tc
get the Confederate soldier vote by
fiattery and by professions of friendly
interest. As if the Confederate sol
diers, the real heroes of the times
that tried mems souls could be won
by such methods. Two years ago
and four years ago an effort was made
to line the Confederate soldier vote
up against Hooper because the gov.
ernor, when young man, had voted
against Confederate pensions and
had made some very Incorporate re.
marks. We resented this because we
insisted that if the Confederate sol
diers honestly believed that Hooper
was right, that his election would be
for the best interests Of Tennessee,
they would not hesitate to vote for
him regardless of his views upon pen
sions. In other words we took the
position then and we hold it now,
that the Confederate soldier, the vet
eran who for four long years follow
ed Lee and Johnston and the other
great commanders in sunshine and
storm, could not be bought now with
a pension.
The Confederate soldiers have
made better citizens than they made
soldiers, and there have never been
better soldiers. They vote their hon
est convictions. They act from a
sense of duty. They are not influ-
enced by the measley sum that the
state gives them as pensions. 1t is
an affront to their patriotic concep-
ton of duty to intimate otherwise.
Hooper received in 1910 and 1912 per-
haps majority of the votes of these
old soldiers. He got them, not be-
cause they were republicans or be-
cause they felt under any sort of OBJ
legations to Hooper or his party, but
simply because they honestly believ-
cd that Hooper's election would be
best for the state. They are going
to vote this year from a sense of du-
ty. Many Of them will again vote for
Hooper; others will vote for Rye, but
no matter how they vote practically
all will cast their ballots as the re-
suit of conscientious conviction that
they are best serving their state and
country.
1t used to be the custom some If.
teen or twenty years ago in Tennes-
see for political orators and candi-
dates for office to flatter the farmers
It was their habit to tell the sons of
toll that they were the best people in
the world; that it was in the far off
haunts of the country that the only
real honest patriots were to be found |
This was Of course an insult to the
intelligence of the farmers. The ora
tors found out that such stuff did
not go down and they stopped it. Now
they are indulging in the same kind
Of tactics with the Confederate SOL |
diers. And in doing so they are in
sulting the intelligence Of the Confed- !
crates and rejecting upon their hon .
esty and integrity.
Even Hooper has at last fallen" ,
for this sort of rot. He is going about
over the state telling the Confeder-
ates how much their pensions were
increased under his administration.
One would think that Hooper was per-
sonally paying from his own funds
the Confederate pensions AS a mat
ter of fact Hooper is no more entitled
to credit for the increase in pensions
than any member of the legislature. :,
Every pension bill for the last ten
years has been unanimously passed /!
and no governor would dare veto
one. Not because of mourning the
wrath of the veterans but because of
the force Of public sentiment.
Rye, too, is shedding a bunch OF
tears over the old fellows. His
speech about them is pretty, but it
hoe M n1oca in -tbio oopopoiop To