The Aberdeen weekly., 1922-04-21
POLITICAL AILMENTS
Of Last Legislature dag.
noSed.
noSed.

the Yazoo City Sentinel writing
under date of April 18th. gave
interesting diagnosis of the polls
llcal ailments which afflicted the
legislature during the closing
week of its session. We repro
duce IL because its worth read
ing:
The closing days of the legisla-
ture marked the end of a three
months attack upon the antitrust
laws of the State by the cohorts of
money. A handful of progressives,
and the governor. held the fort, and
defeated all the major efforts of the
attackers. 1t was fight worthy of
the traditions of Mississippi, and its
genuine importance will be, appre-
ciated as the years go by. Missis
sippi has been saved and the credit
goes to Coy. Russell for his bold and
courageous staEd, and to the splend-
Id fighting qualities of the little
band of men in house and senate
who stood firm against the embat-
tied hosts of the trusts. In the
closing days the trust majority went
down to defeat on every major prop
osition; losing the fight against the
revenue agent, the insurance rating
bill TO legalize the fire insurance
trust, and the bill to permit corpora
tions to own the lands of Mississippi.
The fight began on the governor
with the filing of the Birkhead suit
Then followed several Investigations
involving departments connected
with the governor, or presided over
ny his friends. However, the men,
bers of the legislature saw through
these schemes. and despite the daily
hammering of the trust press. they
remained steadfast, and as the time
for facing the folks back home drew
nearer more members began to fall
away from the trust group. Thus
in the last days the peoples repre-
sentatives were completely victori-
Gus on the major issue.
WEEK OPENS WITH FIST FIGHT.
Before the house opened for bust
ness Monday, a fist fight was staged
on the floor. resulting in the thrash
ing of newspaper editor. Repre-
. sentative Collins. from Jones. had
served notice ON the editor of the
Jackson News, two years ago. that
his name must not appear in the
columns of that paper, as the sub
iect of abuse. This warning was
ignored or forgotten, and when the
editor entered the chamber Mon
day morning. Mr.. Collins met
him, and after the exchange of a
few words, struck him a blow with
his fist. The editor was partly knock
ed down and fell into a clinch and
both men fell over a chair to the
floor Collins had the editors head
between his knees and began to
pound him in the face. Spectators
interfered before any serious dam
age was done but several ugly bruises
were on the editors face for the re-
mainder of the week. One of the
pnlookers remarked that the editor
looked like Jiggs when Maggie had
concluded a set-to with him.
FIRE RATING BILL DIES.
The fire insurance rating bill was
finally adopted by both house and
senate by less than two-thirds and
rushed to the governor The oppo-
nents had delayed the final passage
so that it reached the governors of
flee late Monday afternoon. Under
the constitution, he had five full
days to hold the bill, excluding the
day upon which it was received.
This gave him until midnight of
Saturday to hold the bill. Since
The legislature adjourned at noon,
the measure lies peacefully sleeping
in his desk until the next session of
the legislature two years hence.
LAND HOLDING BILL GOES DOWN.
For many years the corporations
have desired to gobble up the lands
of Mississippi. During Gov. Varda-
mans administration an attempt
was made to raise the limit on cor