Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-04-14
mws previously approved by Governor


service he is presently to enter and
sternly interdlcts any additional Iegis-
lation, declaring the now archaic law
OF 1900 ample to remedy any wrongs
that may exist" and stigmatizing any
legislator with the temerity TO oppose
him "as demagOgue who would seek
TO blackmail railroad company" and
A"as felon deserving Of the severest
punishment" When l call the coun-
try's attention to this remarkable coin
cidence and the subsequent oN.y cor
ner provided upon his retirement from
office by those most benefited by his
inexplicable conduct, he admits APP
proving the act, boastfully Incorporates
the shameless message in his opening
address, cOnfesses having the rail-
roads coin in his flank, but accuses
me Of "an utter disregard for the
truth" because l did not fully explain
= that, having served the railroads for
Fseven years gratis, he took the first
Job he could get his hands on at half
price, inca culpa, mea maxima culpa."
l plead guilty. have innocently, 1
assure him, led my hearers to believe
that he was not so cheap a man as
he has proved himself to be. In the
future / shall be less severe upon my
distinguished opponent and more caus-
tic with the L. and N, for it has treat
ed Goebel with inhumanity and Beck
ham with ingratitude
Mr.. Beckham says he accepted this
employment because 81 had no means
upon which to live and support my
family" In other words, HE NEED
ED THE MONEY. / never charged
him with spending the money on any
body elses family. l do not care a
rap how he sepnds his money. 1t was
the way he got 1t that interests me.
A man with a wife and children usu-
ally spends his money on his family,
whether he earns it or steals it.
Speaks at Request of Tobacco Growers.
But Mr.. Beckham charges that with
boisterous defamation and vehement
gesticulation" have strobe about over
the state delivering myself of "inflam-
matory and incendiary harangues to
the tobacco growers" A charge of this
kind, emanating from one who is now
the beneficiary and has the active sup
port of the meanest hirelings of their
arch enemy and who did not hesitate
to line up with Thomas Fortune Ryan.
the MOlOch of the American Tobacco
company, even against Bryan himself.
need not be taken seriously. In this
case / am rather amused at the alb
surdity of the charge than angered at
Its falsity.
have campaigned five states at the
request Of the tobacco growers.
have spoken all over Kentucky, and
these utterances speak for themselves.
, On NOV. 6, 1907, l delivered an ad-
dress at Springfield. Tenn, more than
10000 copies of which were printed
by the Planters Protective association
and distributed in twenty counties
throughout western Kentucky. l said:
81 say to the freeborn farmers of
Robertson county that there is one
thing you must respect-that is the
law. While Gods love saved the
world, il is his law that moves it.
Destroy law and turn your backs
4 upon the courts of justice and no
mans property is his own; no wo-
mans honor is sacred. Your safety
by night and your independence by
day are dependent upon the law.
have no patience with mObs. If
you cannot win this fight in obedience
to law, if you cannot win except by
banding together to do violence to
some men, for Gods sake go burn
your own barns and tobacco and dis
band. And were | an officer of
the law and you did I'd hunt you
down with the same fierce energy that
1 would prosecute a trust. You have
no right to take the law in your own
hands. The law is bigger and greater
than you are"
In an address to 10000 tobacco grow
ers IT Lexington ON April %, 1907, l
discountenanced lawlessness in the
strongest terms declaring:
1.-THE welfare not only of the tobac-
co growers, but the entire community,
rests upon wholesome respect for the
law"
On Jan. %, 1907, l wrote n letter,
published in the Morganfeld Sun, in
which said:
"As you probably know, l have at
all times and under all circumstances
npnequivocally and strenously opposed
Qany esort to violence by the tobacco
growers or anybody else"
This silly Islander is as old as it is
unfounded. 1t has been repeated time
and again by the emissaries Of the
American Tobacco company. Mr..
Beckham. however, is the first Demo
crat even pretending to be interested
in farmers organizations who has had
the temerity to father or repeat 1t.
find that the tobacco growers as
sociations In Kentucky are justly in
clined to resent so groundless a state
ment They regard IT. not without
AN