The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1922-03-01
/" VARDAMANISM I"
(From The Montgomery Advertiser)

The damage suit for 100000 filed
: at Jackson against Governor Russell,
of Mississippi, by woman formerly
employed in his office at the capitol,
doubtless opens, as critics there as
ser, zone of the bitterest and most
sensational legal and political fights
in the history of the state" Grave
accusations, set out with minute de-
tail by the complainant, are charac-
terized by the defendant as "the most
damnable blackmail conspiracy in the
history of Mississippi" Whether we'll
founded or ill-founded, these accusa-
tions cannot fail to awaken general
interest. In Mississippi they are GER
tain to incite elimination and recrim-
nation between rival political fac
tions struggling there for power that
will separate the people into two
hostile camps.
Forces likely to produce a social
and political earthquake have been
accommodating in Mississippi since
"Vardamanism" first began to en-
erge there twenty years ago. Pre-
Stunning to reflect the better tradi-
tions of Mississippi, this blatant dem
agogue contravened the ideals of pub
lie life that had made Mississippi
comedy for almost a century. Until
his arrival in Mississippi politics,
leaders had commanded rather than
courted public favor. "The low ap-
pear' they scorned. Class conscious
ness they deprecated Above the racial |
line, the life of few states in the I'm I
ion was so sanely or so soundly DEM
ocratic. The uncommon man, whether
he be Wing like Seargent S. Prem
tiss, in antebellum days, or a DEM
ocrat like Jefferson Davis, was rec
ognized and rewarded. After the
Civil War, this standard was main
tanned by placing in high official sta
ton men like Walthall and Lamar.
"The ideal American Senator" says
the late Senator Hoar, of Massachus- (
etts, in his Recollections of a Long
Life, is Senator Walthall of Missis-
sippi."
Of all Southern states, none with
stood the "agrarian" or "populistic"
beginning in 1885 and cul- I
in 1896, more resolutely \
than did Mississippi. It's public men
were not swept from place. Senators {
of ability and integrity like, George
and Money maintained the prestige of
in Congress. Demagogues c
like Gore, later Senator from Okla {
homa, left the state. The Mississip-
plan, wherever met up with in pub
lie life, was recognized as a man of
inc taste, of intellectual integrity h
and of high character. f
In 1902 came the first rumblngs Y
If "Vardamanism" with its menace \
hat was later to blight Mississippi. D
Raising the race question:" making q
oersistently "the low appeal" this d
dangerous demagogue, at first de- Q
Gated, was later elected governor of N
he state. In this office he scandaliz- h
d Mississippi. At first defeated, he 3
vas later elected United States SEN n
tor. Controversial and contumacious "
IS he was, with a genius for being n
n the wrong side of almost every
ublic question, he reached his pin W
acle of peverseness while the war K
'as on by opposing politics intended q
0 equip America to win the war. "
appealing to the people to vindicate M
is unpatriotic conduct, he was de- f
ervedly defeated, being displaced in x
ne Senate by Pat Harrison, an in I,
slligent and patriotic legislator. Re- K
red from public life under conditions x
nat would have spelled disgrace for
ny man with lively moral sense,
ardaman returned to Mississippi to
lrse his grievance and to square his ~,
rudge against the high-minded and in
atriotic people who had relegated II,
m to private life. 90
In the primary election for Cover A,
n in 1919, Vardaman supported Lee od
ussell. In the four-cornered race ~
lat followed, Russell received the
and received it because =
was supported by the Vardaman ~
ction. The opposition was divided. ~
lssell was the beneficiary Of the ~
ardaman grudge. Though caring "
tie for Russell, personally, Varda- 8.
an was paving the way for re-elec- - -
IN to the United States Senate to -
cceed John Sharp Williams. 49,