Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1917-11-09

w NAAN AiAN'~AAiN VIM 0AAN kSNA
Iof the farmers of Mississippi, !"
strongly asserted Mr.. Harrison.
TT ! he showed how in every
W we have participated in. the
ia nerS have been patriots. He
showed, too, how every act Of
the Administration has been one
that aids the farmer; how the
very war itself is fought for the
rights of the farmer.
He proceeded with a review of
the Incidents leading up to our
entry into the war, showing the
work of the German spies, the
Zimmerman notes to Japan and
Mexico, the efforts of Bernstorff
to buy our lawmakers, the use
by Bernstorff of inside knowledge
to makesponey on the stock ex-
change, and of the outrages of
Germany. Then" he said,
when the President could stand
it no longer, and had to do some
thing. he still would not declare
war, but asked Congress to give
him the power to arm shipping
vessels. The House passed the
bill and it went up to the Senate
where twelve willful senators fill
bustered and defeated it, and my
friends, sad to relate. one of these
senators was the distinguished
Junior Senator from Mississippi,
your former friend and mine"
Mr.. Harrison then showed the
result of the defeat of this bill;
how it made the German leaders
feel that the United States was
divided and how in three weeks
time twenty-three of our ships
and five hundred citizens were
sent to the bottom of the sea.
He then related how President
Wilson, after exhausting every
other means, was forced to ask
for a declaration of state of war,
and how the Junior Sc 1ator. with
a few other willful men, opposed
it. He also recounted Senator
Vardaman's opposition to the Sc
lective Draft law. the Airplane
bill and the Espionage law. At
the same time Mr.. Harrison re-
lated his own record in these mat
tiers, saying that he had stood by
tho President and the American
people.
In speaking of the interviews
of Senator Vardaman, Mr.. Harri-
son said that they were worse
than his behavior in the Senate.
But" he said, Il see that the
distinguished Junior Senator has
changed some since he got home.
And in this | am reminded of the
story of the Greene county negro.
Rastus had come up on a party
of negro boys who were trying
to ride a small, unruly mule.
"T nme show you," he said,
am proceeded to get on the
mules back. The mule began to
kick and plunge and make many
indescribable motions, when sud-
denly he made a motion like
an interrogation point and
Rastus landed in a potato patch.
When the negro boys got to him
he was picking himself up and
saying, Oats de way to do it,
dat's de way to do it: when you
see he's gwine to throw you, git |
off. git off. +"
One of the most striking parts
of the address was his arrrign-
ment of the Junior Senator's pub
lie interview to the effect that |
we were stabbing Geamany in
the back while England and
France had her down, and that,
too, for the purpose of protecting
Mr.. Harrison said
that this was not the kind of at
titude he liked but that he pre-
ferred the attitude of a Confed-
crate veteran at the last reunion
at Washington, who carried a
large banner in the parade with
these words on it, Damn a man
who amt for his country-right |
or wrong"
1t was at this point that Mr..
Harrison related how he came to
enter the race. He explained |
that he had been told by every
candidate for congress in his dis
trict that he would have no oppo-
sition if he would announce for
the lower house again. But he
said that the people of Mississip-
pi were humiliated over the rec
ord of the Junior Senator in his
of Mississippi,
and that all felt that a man must
he elected to the Senate who was
true to the Democratic party and
to his country in time of greatest |
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