Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-08-16
THE LETTER

Lelilteb are mulkiNhlts WuAh else
could we have expected? OF course
they are saying that the president was
trying to dictate to the voters Of Mis-
sissippi how they should vote. What
else could we have expected? But as
a matter Of fact they have not the
slightest cause to be indignant, and
they have not the slightest cause to
charge that the President was trying
to dictate to the Mississippi voters.
The president did nothing more
than what he should have done under
the circumstances. After opposing
the administration as he had, the Sen
ator had the nerve" to tell the peo-
pie of Mississippi that the differences
between him and the president had
been greatly exaggerated; his cam
paign sheet made the same assertion
and, writing from the national capi-
tai, his campaign manager there, Pro-
German Lander, made it a thrice-told
tale. Then the Vardaman committees
throughout the state took up the
statement and enlarged upon it until
down in Pike County they actually
said that ave conclude that the presi-
dent is for Mr.. Vardaman," which
prompted a letter to the president
from a former Vardaman supporter
in order to ascertain the truth Of the
matter.
The presidents reply was in no
sense an effort to dictate to the
voters. He emphatically declared that
if the people Of Mississippi should
choose Vardaman he would have no
right to object and that he would
have no right to criticize them for it
doesn't sound like debating to
them, does it?). All that he did say
was the undeniable fact that should
the voters of Mississippi re-elect Var
daman in view Of his opposition to
the administration, the president
could only consider it as a condemna-
ton of his administration and he felt
that they should know this before
they act. That was all there was to it
"a mere statement of fact from the
highest authority in the nation, from
a man who is recognized throughout
the world as the greatest spokesman
for the rights and liberties Of man
kind in all the world to-day.
The great and only issue before the
good and patriotic people Of Missis-
sippi in this campaign, we repeat, is
one of loyalty to country. The presi-
dent, in his admirable letter to Mr..
Mcneil, has clearly shown us our
duty. The president did not advise
He did not even so much as suggest
to us our proper course of action.
He wrote in terms that could give
otfense to no one Said he, IF the
voters of Mississippi again choose
him (Senator Vardaman) to represent
them, I not only have no right to OBJ
ject, I would have no right in any
way to criticise them. But l should
be obliged to accept their action as a
condemnation of my administration,
and it is only right that they should
know this before they act"
The issue then becomes n of 10y
atty to the administration, the most
progressive in all the history of this
nation, the administration hat is
guiding this nation with firm and
steady hand in this mighty con-
flict for the freedom of the world,
or one of loyalty to the man
who almost from the hour he
took his seat in the Senate began to
harass the administration, abuse the
president on numbers of occasions,
and when the crisis with Germany
came opposed the ship purchase bill,
the preparedness legislation, protec-
ton for American citizens travelling
the high seas, the arming of Ameri-
can merchantmen, the breaking Of re-
lations with Germany, the declara-
ton of a state of war, the manner
of raising a national army, the law
| against seditious utterances, the avia-
ton appropriation, and who sowed
his state down with La Toilette
speeches, secured as his Washington
campaign manager a German SYM
pathizer. and who in a press inter
view more than four months after
war was declared grossly distorted
the statements Of certain ones who
had favored the war, putting into
their remarks a parenthetical clause
of his own, to the effect that they
wanted us to stab Germany in the
back, and who also said in that same
interview, Il have always thought
that this was a war purely for pecun'
larry profit and | think so still"
No wonder that the president tell.
us that if a man with such a recort
is chosen by the people of this state