Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1917-09-06

instead OF 10 a few newspapers in the
country. IL does seem to me that II the
Soys g are W ths 70 go fern ma and fight
the country, we ought TO be willing to
withhold any comment that will hamper
their successful operations.
1t was said by one Of the great states
men OF England that success to the
allies cause does not depend exclusively
upon the armies OF the allies, but that
success to the allies cause depends equal
ly as much upon the morale Of the peo-
pie behind the armies. The resources
must be organized and II the people be-
hind the lines crack the armies will
crack. The morale Of the people enters
into the fighting spirit OF the men. Al
ready from France we have received a
message from General Pershing TO be
united, that the Am erican boys now fight
ing for their country In France may be
encouraged
Unity Needed IN Crisis.
Profiting by the experience OF every
belligerent nation. 1t was manifest that
legislation must be passed increasing the
production and controlling the price OF
foodstuffs. Too long has the speculator,
middle man and common hoarder robbed
the honest farmer OF the fruits OF his
labor These statistics showed too plainly
that the high prices Of foodstuffs paid by
the consumer was not realized by the pro-
Queer So the House Of Representatives,
by unanimous vote, passed a food con-
troll bill, giving large powers to the Presi-
dent in controlling prices. guaranteeing
TO the farmers fair prices, prohibiting
further boarding and speculation and Gre
ating such conditions that our armies
might be sustained and the. farmer and
consumer protected. This bill went to
the Senate, and although the junior SEN
ator from Mississippi voted for it, he
consistently criticized 1t and assisted in
delaying its passage.
It was IN one Of his speeches in the de-
bate OF this bill that he congratulated
those In Canada who were rioting and
protesting against the selective draft bill
recently passed by that governm ent, re-
ferring to this law as an act of 'injus-
tice' and species of petty tyranny"
My countrymen, | submit it to you
whether or not i is patriotic for one
leader among men, to voice such senti-
meDfs in the face of this great crisis
when the selective draft plan for raising
an army must fail or succeed, when the
young men who are enlisting must be en-
couraged or discouraged, for him to ex-
press such sentiments as these? 1t would
seem that those who are not enlisted in
the war ought, to be good enough and
patriotic enough to try to unity the sem
timent of America against the common
foe. In the civil war, it is said soldiers
around the campfires Of the northern and
southern armies would sing this song
Tell the traitors all around you
That their cruel words we know,
In every battle kill our soldiers,
BY the aid they give the foe
/ commend that sentiment-the truth
OF which cannot be denied-to those pub
lie servants of today who are sowing the
seeds Of discord and endangering the sue
cessful prosecution of the war And those
who would persist then in their efforts,
let me remind them of poor, big, divided
Russia, whose resources are unlimited.
whose power is unexcelled. a majority OF
whose people are patriotic. yet through
the backfire of unpatriotic disgruntled
citizens, her present plight has come to
enough, let me commend to them those
brave, heroic women who snatched arms
from the retreating Russian traitors and
threw themselves in the path of the on
rushing Germans,
Vardaman obstructlonist.
The record of the junior Senator from
Mississippi has been one of consistent
obstruction and opposition to the leaders
OF his party Looking down the vista of
the past we can plainly see that If he
and five other Senators with whom he
stood had not strangled the shipping bill
the ships we are now forced to bufld att
an enormous cost, could have been bought
or constructed at a great saving to, the
country. The farmers of the country.
who are forced to suffer increase in
transportation rates on their cotton from
1925 to $500 a bale. would have saved
millions Of dollars II that bill had
passed our citizens might have Travelled
on our own vessels on the high seas and
war might have been aVerted. If the OPP j
position in that instance, had not arisen
to the Presidents policy, the expressions
Of the junior Senator for Mississippi and
others believing as he did touching the
right of our citizens to travel the high
seas, had been withheld, Germany prob
ably would not have come to the COM
clusion that there was division of senti-
ment in this country, and without this
encouragement she might not have
broken her pledges to our government and
renewed her unrestricted submarine war.
fare.
If the junior Senator from Mississippi
and those with whom he stood had CO.
operated with the administration in pre-
pairing this country as desired by the
President and in passing the armed neu-
trality bill, Germany would have appre-
ciated how fixed was our purpose and
how strong our determination to main
tain. our rights and in all probability
would have respected them.
Practically every move of the junior
Senator from Mississippi since the decla-
ration of war has been against his party
a prepared statement. given to the press,
and published all over the country he
said in speaking of Germany that Amer
lea had merely entered the war to stab
her in the back, while England and !
France have her down"
Unfair to Mississippi.
II there is a friend of the junior Sena-
tor here, l ask you can you possibly APP
prove that utterance Aren't you sorry
he made it? You who have boys already
gone to war-you who have sons who
will go to warts it fair to them, who are
to risk their lives in defense of their
nations honor, who are giving up their
all to fight for humanity and democracy,
to have 1t said of the cause in which |
they are fighting that it is merely one |
of stabbing Germany in the back?
love Mississippi. / love my state |
with all the devotion that any radical
state and its people; love its history and |
have played in every crisis of that his
tory. What ideals / have today are in
spired by the splendid deeds and chivalry |
of our fathers. And Mississippi in all her !
history, in every great national crisis |
where honor was at stake. has played a |
most commanding part. At New Orleans |
under Thomas Kinds, it was Mississippi |
riflemen that saved the day. In the Mex |
lean war 1t was a Mississippian, John A. |
Quitman, who first scaled the heights of |
Chapultepec. And It was Missssippian, |
jefferson Davis, who at Buena Vista first |
gave to military science the celebrated /
w" formation. need not mention the |
names OF those great leaders and the /
splendid soldiers who shed luster and
glory upon Mississippi from 81 to SO and |
every crisis when national honor was al.
stake Mississippians have been the first
to rally to the cause.
And as love my state love my party,
the party that stood by the white people !
~ fhn urttsfk In. tho h1or oh Hovo Of roron-