The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1915-07-02
THE MISSISSIPPI TWINS.
with APOLOGIES TO THE s1AMEsE rw1Ns).

WITH APOLOGIES TO THE SIAMESE TWINS(.
In the early part of the XIX Century there
we're born IN Siam two beings. if indeed they were )
two. who were gwen the names of Eng and Chang
known to the world as the Siamese Twins. Two
bodies, two brains, two hearts; a duplication oil
every organ but united by a lgament through
pulsated the blood of one body to the other;
hearts beating in unison conveying health or dis
ease through the dual system. Born together. they
lived together and died; by the structure of their
lgament made inseparable. The health of
the one was the health of the other; the pollution of
one the defilement of the other. A monstrosity.
They are dead.
The Romans had a kind old maxim enjoining
silence as to the dead unless one spoke good. Now
far be it from us to speak unkindly of Eng and
Chang when we compare them to Bilbo and Russell,
but the resemblance is striking. Not by a physical
ligament but by a seemingly irresistible affinity of
the monads, the ultimate units, of their being they
seem as close drawn together as the twins of Siam.
The same energy pulsates in the being of each, be
it for good or evil, though necessity forces us to
say that the impulse for good seems in a strange
state of atrophy, while the impulse to evil shows
monstrous development. The political Siamese
twins OF Mississippi; one, indivisible, inseparable.
We must take them together; for better, for worse,
they must stand or must fall. Useless one without
the other" and candor compels the statement that
they are rather useless when taken together.
We have recently commented on the record
of Mr.. Bilbo. How the Senate in which he sat SOL
EMMY proclaimed him as having perpetrated "a
trumped up falsehood entirely unworthy Of belief
and pronounced him "as unfit to sit with honest,
upright men in a respectable legislative body"
Harsh language, but it seemed necessary and ire
%pressible. Those quoted words are written in the
serious pages Of the Senate Journal and must stay
there without change or abatement in perpetum.
Now let us see the other half of this dual ego
Mr. Russell. Like Bilbo he claims to have come
from the farm, and like him, unsatisfied with the
honest endeavor Of farming pursuits with its re-
stricted opportunity for dishonest enterprise, he
sought urban life. Bilbo and Russell farmers!
Rufus Wallingford and Blackie Daw blown into
town! After a career Of regeneration in the legal
profession his conduct became SO intolerant that
disbarment proceedings were taken against him
signed by every member of the Oxford bar except
one man who was so unfortunate as to be his law
partner! These proceedings were had in the Fed
eral Court sitting at Oxford and he was saved from
degradation only by the ruling Of the court on tech.
nical points, who dismissed the proceedings with a
severe reprimand. Another case Of crafty evasion
of the penalties Of the outraged law" The above
statement will be corroborated by reference to the
records Of the Federal Court at Oxford.
In the State Senate he made violent statements
which caused the production of a document signed
by 100 of the best citizens Of Oxford affirming that
they WOulu not believe him on oath. Recently he
has again stirred the turbid waters of pollution in
which he lives by forging the names OF men to a
bond In a drainage case at bar in the Chancery
court of Lafayette county, calling down upon him
self the severe condemnation of the Chancellor.
This matter is of record in that court.
Here we have them, Castor clasping the hand
of Pollux; Eng feeling the pulsation of the blood Of
Chang. Bilbo and Russell! Each trying to pass
the Intel of office through the high courts of in
fanny. Bilbo, sly and furtive but engaging because
unblushingly speaking fasehood and insisting on it
as truth. Russell, less adroit but, also, of more at
tractive personality; possessed of effrontery which
would enable him to publish unscrupulously the
most fragrant false statement labelling it as the very
essence of verify. With too little morals to feel re-
cy. Like a scampering jackal he yelps at the Gov
ernor and fancies that his yelping is intelligent
speech. He makes himself absurd but fancieS he
is forceful. He mistakes noise for the expression
of reason, and hraying for logical speech. He i'm
AGNES he is famous because he has been properly
elect him Lieutenant Governor he foolishly tells
them he would. not spend a small fortune to get
such a small office" but is merely taking this step
inehis progress toward the office of Governor. Eng
is not asking for the office this time because Chang
wants the job, but when Chang reaches the Senate
Eng will be Governor.
And SO we have it. We have spoken simply
by the indisputable record in the case of each.
Neither having sufficient character for the most
obscure job, each is asking the people for the most
Irresponsible office. Both are men of sufficient in
telligent to have made useful citizens had their am
billions been governed by moral principle.
He might have scared in the morning light
But he made his nest with the birds Of night"
Il