The Tupelo journal., 1918-04-26

0 fLee County
Candidate for Congress
The friends of a bill authorizing bucket
shops in Mississippi say that I defeated the bill.
| believe that our anti-bucket shop law, which
that bill would have repealed, is one OF the
wisest pieces of Legislation of recent years. l
was instrumental in the passage Of the bill es-
tablishing a juvenile reformatory. 1t IS no
longer necessary to place juvenile convlcts
among hardened criminals in Mississippi; and
the boy who is led into evil and falls into the
clutches of the law will not now be condemned
to the life of a criminal, but will be given a
chance to make of himself a laW-abiding, use
full citizen.
AT the recent session of the Legislature,
we increased the appropriation for the public
schools. The public school is our greatest in
s~titution. In it the masses receive their prepa-
ration for life and its duties; and, as Thomas
Jefferson we'll said, our Government will be
safe in the hands of the people so long as we
maintain a citizenship which is honest and in
telligent.
We increased the appropriation for Con-
federate pensions. | am opposed to borrowing
money to pay current expenses; but | believe
that we should mortgage everything we have,
if necessary, in order to secure money With
which to provide for the heroic men who, in
the dark days of the sixties, spent the best
years of their lives for the maintenance OF the
1unQalnonL&I pTIilC1plGS IL QSI11OC1 dSJ.
They need our assistance now more
than ever before; they are passing rap
idly beyond the reach of our help; and we
ought to express to and for them our love and
appreciation while we have. them.
We passed the one-qUart law, an excellent
prohibition measure. We passed a bill pro-
hibiting liquor advertisements IN the state, and
a "bone-dry bill" which will really prohibit
the liquor traffic in Mississippi.
believe that this law is eminently proper
at this time. But, if the majority do not want
it, they have the power through the initiative
and referendum amendment, which | inserted
in the constitution, to vote this law out. But
in this, perhaps the darkest period OF the
worlds history, when the fate of civilization
may be reversed within an hour, when every
man, woman and child is called upon to pro-
duce and save everything possible, to make all
the sacrifice that can be made and to furnish
everything that can be furnished for maintain
ing, equipping, and feeding our own boys at
the front and our allies, | do not believe that
there is a man in Mississippi who, seeing the
situation as | think / see it, would not be willing
to deny himself indulgence in intoxicating
liquor in order that the food products which
have heretofore been manufactured into al
coholic beverages may be used to keep the
pangS of hunger from our soldiers IN Europe
and their families at home, and to relieve the
sufferings of our allies.
I appointed the subcommittee which
drafted the moratorium bill protecting the
rlgnJS Oh SOlQ1orS ana sailors III the courts uuT-
ing their absence. | also appointed the sub
committee which, at the Extraordinary SEES
sion, drafted the soldiers and sailors voting
bill. That bill was hurriedly drawn and pass
ed on account of the limited time. But we
perfected it at the regular session. Now en-
listed men can vote in the primary elections
regardless of where they may be.
was largely responsible for the passage
of the Abatement and Injunction Act, which
will enable our officers to get rid of all re-
stricted districts in the towns of the state. This
act was especially advocated by the War De-
partment for the protection Of the soldiers in
camp in Mississippi. We have taken every
precaution to see that. the characters Of our
girls are developed in a moral atmosphere
which is pure. But the idea has long prevailed
that any old place is good enough for the boys.
The boys are certainly entitled to the same pro-
lection from evil influences with which the
girls are surrounded. It is said that Great.
Britain has 300, 900 soldiers in hefShospitaIs
unable to do any fighting and unfit to return to
their homes as a result Of their immortality.
The same may, perhaps, be truthfully said Of
US if we do not give our boys the protection to
which they are entitled.