The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16
FATE OF THE OLD CAPITOL AT JACKSON ! HANGS IN BALANCE Mississippians Would Have
 Legislators Express
 Themselves
MAY BE MADE ANNEX
 TO PRESENT CAPITOL
Patriotic Men and Women of State In- sisting Next Legislature Shall Make Provision for Repair
 ing Instead of Destroying
By E. E. FRANZ

By E. E. FRANZ
 Jackson Miss, August 15.--( (Special) For sentimental reasons if for no other. thousands of good and perhaps a few bad Mississippians propose to create such strong demand for the repair and preservation of the old capitol that it would be well for every legis- latfve candidate to incorporate such a plank in his platform.
 It is proposed to show the tax payers as we'll as the voters who pay no taxes, that it is to the interest of the state to spend a goodly sum of money as we'll as the voters who pay no in snatching this venerable and his- toric structure from the corroding hand of time--to prove that the state needs it in its business now. and will | need it more and more as the years roll by.
 This movement does not originate with the people of Jackson, the pos sibility being that if left to them the commercial spirit would prevail in a demand that the old capitol be razed and the ground on which it stands be sold to the highest bidder.
 Patriotic men and women in every section of the state are insisting that :, the next legislature shall make provi- sion for repairing instead of demolish- ing. They look at the matter from a
 business as we'll as sentimental
 standpoint They appreciate the fact that the new capitol is even now crowded, and that heavy rentals are being paid for the storage of supplies
 for the National Guard, that several of the departments of the state govern
 ment are in cramped quarters; that
 the halls and corridors are most of
 the time filled with great and unsight- ly boxes of goods for the commission CT of agriculture, and that he is forced
 to the necessity of converting large
 room into a printing office-a place
 that is hard to keep in order, tidy and clean.
 More Room Needed
 There is no disputing the fact that
 more room Is needed for the business of the state, and that one of two
 things must be done-add to the new | capitol or repair the old From busi- ness standpoint the two propositions
 are we'll balanced, but when sentiment
 is thrown on the old capitol end of the
 scales, the light weight of the oppo-
 site side is shown so plainly that he
 who runs may read.
 The idea is to educate the people of
 the state along this line and to de- mand of candidates for the legislature that they express themselves one way or the other-for or against the old capitol. Some of them may try to straddle the fence and dodge the prop osition, just as was done few years ago when they were required to answer | for or against free silver
 1 The Daughters of the Confederacy
 Daughters of the American Revolution, Confederate Veterans. Sons of Confed- crate Veterans and scores of other or ganizations of this character, are be- hind the movement, and they are not actuated solely by sentiment. It was
 sentiment that built the imposing Con
 federate monument at Jackson, it is
 sentiment that has caused several coun- | ties and towns of the state to sub scribe money and erect marble shafts dedicated to the memory of the men
 who wore the gray, it was sentiment
 that caused the legislature of two years ago to erect monument to the
 women of the Confederacy on the capitol grounds at Jackson and again | to place markers and a monument to | the memory of the Mississippians who fell at Vicksburg in the National park
 near that city. No protest outside of
 legislative halls has ever been heard | though 1t has taken large sums of money from the pockets of the tax lpayers-and yet except for sentimental
 reasons the appeal of the women of the state for funds would never have been answered, and no monuments would have topped Mississippi hills
 as silent reminders to future genera
 tions of deeds of valor performed by their fathers.
 It was sentiment that built the tri- umphal arches of Rome. 1t was senti- ment that sent skyward the Statue of
 Liberty and placed a costly monument l over the mortal remains of Grant, it was sentiment that caused New Orleans l to dedicate a monument to big hearted woman. The world is full of
 sentiment and evidences of it-why should Mississippi hesitate to preserve the one great historical building with in her borders on that ground alone. if there should happen to be no other? Let latter day commercialfsm scoff and scorn as much as 1t pleases, it cannot be denied that sentiment is one of the strongest ties in the human heart, and as with pity is akin to love.
 Once Pride of the Nation
 Mississippi was one of the first states
 of the union to build handsome capi- ltol and in those days of more than lthree-uuarters of & century the state house at Jackson Is said to have been the finest in the land. During the l1Sss session of the legislature 1t was determined that a new capitol should he erected. The state was then using small building that stood on the corner of Capitol and President streets iust one block from the site afterwards , selected for the new edifice. An ap- Ipropriation of $170,000 was made to cover cost of building and furnishings.