Macon beacon., 1916-08-25
No More Swinging Into Office On
the Bilbo. Vordomdn Coat Tail
Ftom tho Vicksburg Herald.

iONNliO utbs VI. IpllIIO
will take no part in the race
to decide who shall be Judge
of the Supreme Court for the
term beginning January, 1917.
Before leaving for the coast
yesterday he issued a signed
statement in which he denied
that he was working in the
interest of Potter or Ethridge
and said he refused to be
dragged into the present race
Clarion Ledger.
The above is occasioned because
Judge Potter ian the first primary
through for re election the undis
puted reputed protege of Gov.
Bilbo; who admits writing letters
in his favor. He ran behind Mr..
Ethridge, of Meridian, about 2,
600 votes. His backing having
proved a liability instead of an
asset, the Governor would very
considerably eliminate himself in
the second primary. Vide his
card elsewhere published in to.
days Herald. HIS organ, the Is.
sue, thus plays up to the Gov,
crnor's game:
1t was learned after the
primary Tuesday, that here in
the city of Jackson there was
aline up industriously worked
by local politicians against
Judge Clayton Potter. 1t is
well known that quite a mum
ber of voters here are politi.
cally. opposed to Governor
Bilpo, and on the eve Of
the primary it was circu.
lated that Judge Potter was
the Bilbo candidate, when in
fact, Governor Bllbo is n
friend to both General Eth.
ridge and Judge Potter, and
for that reason kept hands off
the judicial race.
These excerpts are reproduced
because they 'point n moral and
adorn tale' of current Missis
sippl politics. In the past five
years, the ,undenied and undis
guised best chance for election to
office in the state has been to
swing IN on the BiIbo Vardaman
coat tails, The quoted disayow
sls not only mark the end of the
means of political prefcrmcnt,
they exhibit Governor Bilbo, at
last, as standing from under the
topping ediiicc where has perched
his pride as a deus cx machina.
We imagine that the revelation
VIII neither be lost on his 1911
running mate, nor the public.
But the 1911 political partner.
ship had its hardest Jolt on Tues
day last in the Fourth (Sisson's)
congressional district harvest
Each of its eleven counties was
carried by Sisson, by decided ma,
Jorltles o,er the combined opposi-
ton. This outcome is commended
10 the wv hite Chiefn-the Fourth
district having been his, and Bill
DOS, stronghold. Interest in the
dlstrlct contest dragged, until the
publication of a lengthy and char
acterlStic attack on Sisson by the
venerable, learned and vitriolic
Dr, b. f. Ward, High Priest of
the cult of VMdaman Bilboism
When the Doctor throws his hat
IN the ring the public always sit
up and take notice. The Bilho
organ. the Issue, joining in the
hue and cry raised by the Winona
Lord High EXecutioner, the fight
in the Fourth district grew lively;
or seemed to. How this pair OF
patriots tiayed or hagelated the
Hon. T, L. SiSSon, was something
long to be remembered in the an
nails OF iactlouS politics.
DR.. Wards opening gun wa,
loaded with text taken from
John the Divine that woult
"spew out the Christian neithe,
hot nor cold" 1t was applied tc
Sisson as a 'scathing, witherins
denunciation of the halting, vacil
lating, doubledealing politician
and office seeker" This fierc,
anathema was buttressed on nun
eious specifications of Sisson'.
dereliction-not emitting his in
fidelity to Senator 4ardaman-
fortified by long and lumin
GUS citation of authorities rangin,
from "the Palladins who tough,
and fell and died around the col
ors of Charles Martel, y to the X,
Klux Klan.
Proclaiming the end of "coa
tail swinging into office" the 4tl
district result is thus pungentl,
expressed by the .Kosciuskt
Herald-which has heretofore sa
In the pew Of the Vardaman -Bilbt