The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1915-06-18

the Governor. They said, "We don't
want that; we want Legislation proper"
He then whirled around and fought
the bill. 1t then turned out that the
bill had been written by the lawyer
for the Edward Hines Lumber Con.
pany, the greatest land grabbing con-
Germ in the country. They are also
putting up campaign money for him
to make his tour for office of Governor.
! don't want to keep you here long
this hot night.
There is a rule now In this State
that If a fellow has not got the smell
of the ~penitentiary on him he cannot
hold an office. and If he is double
backed by crime and has escaped from
the p~enitentiary by a packed jury or by
any other trickery, that he should be
elected to the highest office in the
State.
When the Confederate soldiers came
back here after the war and found that
the farms were destroyed, and black
ened chimneys marked the spot of
their former homes, they beat their
swords into plow-shares and titled the
soil. They have maintained this coun.
try In honor and glory, and handed it
to me and to you; and shall we, the
young men of this generation, hand it
to the younger generation as it was
handed to us?
| want to tell you that as ex.officio
president of the high educational insti-
buttons of Mississippi today, | have OBJ
served that there have been more boys
expelled from this and that Institution
in the past three and a half years for
stealing and such crimes than were
ever put out before in ten years. In
Hattiesburg | discussed this matter
with the president of that college. Mr..
Brown of the Mississippi Heights
Academy said that 81 have expelled
more boys in the past two years than
ever before in the history of the insti-
tuition" Mr.. Provine Of the Missis.
sippi College, also says this is true
OF that great institution. There have
been more boys convicted of this kind
of crookedness and sent to the peni,
Tertiary in the last three years than
ever before in any twenty-five years
OF the States history. 1t is my duty
as the watchdog on the tower to tell
you about 1t, and | must tell you to-
night. The reason is patent, and n
man who is not a candidate for office
will tell you what it Is. Just as long
as Mississippi will elect a man who
took six hundred ana forty-fye dollars
as a bride for his vote, and with it in
his pocket, he voted as he had agreed
to vote-just as long as you worship
at their shrines and make gods of
them. as certain as the night follows
the day you will follow the harvest.
(Long continued cheering.)
You may want a job on the levee
board; you might be a man who would
vote for AL Jennings il you lived in
oklahoma; you may hate me because
| come out and talk plain to you. Let
me leave this with you: The time
will come in Mississippi history when
you will rise up and call me Blessed
for it. (Long continued cheering.)
Let me tell you something else, my
friends. Suppose the gentleman rel
there goes home tonight to his little
boy and the boy says, Father, I got
an inspiration tonight; | want to be
governor Of Mississippi" You say,
"you are not qualified" He says, Il
know, papa, but | am as much so as
Governor Brewer when he was my
age He says, Tell me what to do
that | may become governor Of Mis-
sissippi." You will tell him, Son,
first, qualify yourself that you may
be competent to discharge the duties
of that high office. Second. live that
true and honest life that will entitle
you to the confidence of the people of
Mississippi" Then he says that,
Don't you think 1t would be better
to follow the shorter route as AL Jen-
nings in Oklahoma and become a bur.
glar and h~ighwayman, and then run
for ~vindication?" What would you ad.
wise him to do, in that light2 Sup
pose he says, Papa, let me get a
little newspaper. and play upon the
credulity of the common people, and
get mixed up with all kinds of bride
crooks and fall over and stick up my
heels like a poodle dog and hollow,
PERSECUTION" What are you go
ing to tell him? II you are going to
be honest with your child, be
honest with your neighbor's child.
Don't tell him one thing and then
vote another way.
don't believe the time has come
in Mississippi when we shall return
to the scrap pile and the crooks Of
the State. believe the time has come
when the bold and chivalrous people
of Mississippi. should stand, up and
beat back the aggression like the
rock at Gibraltar, beat back every
wave that PUSHES against 1t, as they
did in the life of the carpetbaggers.
In church and state, in peace and
war, Mississippians have never fol-
lowed but where greatness led. When
the times called for great men, like
the storm at sea for a pilot, when the
life OF the nation is je~opardized, Mis-
sissippians have unfallingly respond
ed to the demands Of the hour. Call
the roll as she has done in the past;
the young manhood of the present
will not be run over.
thank you.