Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-01-21
The Incoming Governor.
jackson New. January II. 1851

jackson News January II. 1851
At the noon hour on Tuesday
Theodore G. Bilbo took the oatl
Of Office as Governor of Mississip
pi.
The new Governor was not oul
choice, and our opinion on thai
point has not undergone any
change since the election.
However, if q mistake was made
by the voters when they express
ed their choice, it is too late to
rectify that mistake.
We are to have Theodore G.
BilbO as Governor for the next
four years, so we may as well
make the best of it.
More important than all else,
however, we join with all true
Mississippians in the earnest hope
that Bilb0 will make the best OF
his opportunity.
That he is shrewd, resourceful,
endowed with plenty of brains and
energy, and possessed of much
natural capacity, is not disputed
even by his bitterest enemies.
If he is imbued with q sincere
desire to give the people of Miss,
issippi an bonest, efficient and
business like administration, then
he is entitled to cordial support in
that endeavor.
Bilb0 is now on trial, and it will
be the most severe trial of his life.
Bi]ho will be watched, and it
will not be merely the casual scru.
tiny of admlring friends and par.
tisans.
Putting it quite frankly, he does
not hold the confidence of thou
sands of our citizens there
are no better citizens in Mississip.
pi than those who were unaltera.
bly, opposed to placing him in this
Office.
To win the respect of those who
doubt him, to inspire faith among
those who opposed him, is the
task that Bilbo must accomplish.
II is not an easy task.
We have neither purpose or de
sire to take up an unhappy past,
to kindle anew the embers of fac.
tional strife, but the past is still
fresh in the public mind, and the
hnessOf demarkation between Bill.
b0ism and anti Bilboism are too
plainly defined to be easily for.
gotten.
1t is generally believed that Bill.
DO cherishes an ambition to 90 to
the United States Senate. He has
disclaimed any purpose, however,
of opposing John Sharp Williams
in the approaching primary, and
it would be exceedingly foolish for
him to do so. Nobody knows bet,
ter than Theodore G. Bilbo that
John Sharp Williams, the ablest
figure in the United States Senate,
cannot be defeated, regardless Of
what tricks, wiles, schemes and
combinations may be used against
him.
Bilbo's opportunity for promo,
tion, therefore, will not come un.
til James K. Vardaman asks the
people of Mississippi for re.elec.
tiOn. 1t is his intention to run
against Vsrdaman in 191S-at
least, this is the current belief.
But before he can hope to de-
feat the man who is responsible
for his political being, and in
whose behalf he achieved notriety
of remarkably unpleasant charac.
ter, Bilbo must first make good as
Governor.
And nobody knows this better
than Bilbo. He is thoroughly
aware of the fact that the political
lines in this State are faulty drawn
that he captured the nomination
last August by a mighty small
majority. The element that put
him into Office is the same element
that elected Vardaman in 1911.
That Bilbo can get an even split
of this vote with Vsrdaman is
hardly to be doubted. In other
words, Bilbo is just as popular as
Vardaman in the country precincts.
Both are strong with the masses,
but neither has any following
among the conservative citizen,
ship of the commonwealth, the
substantial farmers, the bankers,
the merchants, the lawyers, the
doctors, and other men in the more
important walks of life.
1t is up to Bilbo therefore, if he
is to achieve his ambition to 60 to
the United States Senate as the
successor of James X. Vardaman
to inspire the confidence of con-
servative Mississippians. He must
win his way into their hearts, and
he can do it only by faithfully dis
charging the duties of the Cover.