The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1916-03-03
C. P. BRADFORD TAKES vARDA-
MAN TO TASK

My Dear Sir have read and re-
read your address printed in the Con-
gressional Record of Jan. 81, 1916,
entitled ga New Year Greeting to
the People of Mississippi" and as
you state that there can be no selfish
interests to becloud the vision or
warp the judgment OF the private
citizen, l take the liberty of address
ing you as such. l am a native
Mississippian and am proud to be a
citizen of such a great state. My
people are Mississippians, and, as
good Democrats, have supported
you every time you have run for
office. /, too, would have voted for
you for United States senator at the
time of your election had l not been
out of the state at the time of the
primary. But now 1 am constrained
to believe-in fact, have decided
that you, as u representative and
spokesman in the Senate of the
United States, have turned your back
on Us, even though we have been
good to you far beyond your des-
serts. Your stand on the programme
of preparedness does not set forth
the wishes of the toiling mass of this
great state. A canvass of this dis
trict, which includes your home city
Of Greenwood, will show a great
majority in favor of preparedness
not only this district, but I believe
over the entire state the sentiment l.
the same.
The good people Of this state are
sorely disappointed that you have
not supported the administration
not only in the preparedness pro
gramme, but other issues of as much
vital Importance. You deserted Us
in the hour of our greatest need
when you did not support the ship
purchase bill. You can v offer
= satisfactory reason to the people
# this state for not voting for it.
Time has proven since that bill was
up that you were wrong, and now
you come to offer your resistance tc
the Democratic party on its one and
greatest problem of preparedness
You say, "The only light we have to
guide us in the darkness of the future
is that which shines out from the
experiences of the past. Human
nature is the same today that it was
when the Pharaohs ruled Egypt, or
the Caesars welded the scepter of
authority in ancient Rome, and the
| same influence that moved men to
action in the remote past impel them
on today" Isn't that argument suf-
ficient within itself to cause n to
believe in preparedness? What
were the causes hat prompted the
Caesars to WELD the scepters of
authority in Rome? What were the
causes that led to the greatest con-
quest in Europe in the past? They
were lust, greed, a desire to obtain
and rule and gather the riches of the
wealthiest lands to be converted to
the personal benefit Of the few in
authority. Then, if it was those
causes that prompted it, it seems to
me that the same cause would prompt
it today, according to your own
argument.
The Argument of Guns
Isn't this great republic OF the
United States the greatest nation in
the world. Its wealth and
hang, as it were, as a nugget of gold
before the eyes of the warning
nations of Europe today. We have
differences with those very nations
at present chat are trying to be
amicably settled by the administra-
ton. Who knows but what they
will, after the termination of the
present conflict, turn to us and de-
mand an adjustment, or an indemni-
ty of some kind for our actions?
What, then, would be the report of
the pacifist? There isn't much
argument to offer the muzzle of a
big gun. There is nothing to
answer it but another gun, and if we
SoI IN guns anu the men
behind them, we would have to polite
~ bow to the orders of our enemies.
Men who have homes and families
want them protected, and demand
that they must be protected. There
are dreamers of universal peace,
but they will some day awake from
their sleep to find that it is only a
dream. We have built great levees
to hold the mighty waters of the
Mississippi River in check to keep it
from running our fertile lands and
drowning our live stock, because
floods have ome in the past and we
have good reason to expect them in
the future. Wouldn't it be foolish
for a man to move his residence over
the levee and down next to the river.
and say that there would be no more
high water because he believed that
God Algimhty would protect him
and keep him from being washed
away? No; God helps the man who
helps himself, and if we don't do u
duty, and prepare our nation to de-
fend itself against its enemies. then