Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-07
MISS RUTHERFORD
PRAISES DAVIS IN
REUNION SPEECH

the Associated Press. 1.-THE south
learned its constitutional law from
Madison and Jeffsrson-not from
Hamilton and Marshall" Miss Mil
dred Lewis Rutherford, of Athens
Ca, historian general of the Con
federatde Southern Memorial asso
citation, said in an address today be
fore the reunion of the United
Confederate Veterans, in which She
paid tribute to Jefferson Davis an6
defended the action of those respon
sibIe for secession in 1861 as based
on the principle of state and con
stitutional rights.
Secession was regarded as con
stitutional remedy in 1861 for pre-
serving the union" Miss Rutherford
said. "They believed a separate Con
federacy with their constitutional
rights retained would be better than
a so-called union with their rights
trampled upon and ignored or, far
worse, held together by physical
| force.
with a monument to be unveiled
to him June 7, at his birthplace, and
| his carved face soon to be revealed
| on the greatest monument in the
world at Stone Mountain, Jefferson
| Davis, a living martyr for so many
! years, will stand, and the cause for
which he stood will stand, vindicat-
ed in the eyes of the world" Miss
Rutherford said, in recOunting the
! trials Of Davis.
Historians for the most part, Miss
| Rutherford said, had failed to show
| the southern statesman in his true
| light. Davis, she said, was the vic
| tim OF persecution and charged that
| some of his critics had endeavored
| to make him a Escape goat to cover
the wrongdoinss of others"
Miss Rutherford took issue with
| statements made by Pollard, of Vir-
glnla, in his history of Davis, which,
she declared, was "unfair" and as
serted that other historians TOOK
their cue from him.
The first historian to show Davis
IN his true light, she said. was d
Boston man.
Jefferson Davis bent to none but
God. Miss Rutherford said. st was
impossible to ask for pardon, for he
had only done his duty as he con-
scientiously saw it. He died I'M
changed, standing like a mast when
a ship goes down. Brave, uncon-
querable hero! No one can touch
the character of jefferson Davis
morally. FIe was pare in speech, pure
in life and pure in religious pro-
fessiors. His mistakes were of the
head, not of the heart.
l1a oo1
the world shall understand him
the courteous gentleman, the true
man, the brave soldier, the great
statesman, the Christian hero-a
typical representative of the old
SOUTH
MRS. HARROLD EXTENDS
GREETINGS OF THE u. ID. C..
MEMPHIS, Tenn, June 4.-"East
and west from the Father of Waters,
north and south of the Mason and
Dixon Line, we are one today" Mrs.
Frank Harold, of Americas, Ga,
president-general of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, said
in an address of greeting at the open
ing session today of the 34th annual
reunion of the United Confederate
Veterans. I'VE are one in the proud
possession of a glorious past, one in
a resolute purpose to meet the duties
of the hour and one in an abiding
faith in the future of our beloved
country.
For one land, one people, one.
flag and one destiny, let us reVerently
thank the God of our fathers"
Mrs Harold greeted the old sol
dlers on behalf Of the 100000 mem
bers Of her organization.
1--WE are daughters of the Confeder.
acy to preserve in hving remem-
brance the memory of those who
gave their lives for the Confederacy;
to protect their last resting places
from neglect and obiteration; to
care for the needy ones who still
abide with us; to guard the truths of
history; to educate worthy young peO-
pie who are descendants of Confeder-
ate veterans, and lastly, by mutual
study and research, to keep alive for
many years a distinctly southern
Womanhood.
GAS daughters Of the Confederacy
we realize that we have entrusted to
our care a charge so sacred that it
is only by approaching it with rever-
ence that we can faithfully fulfill it.
That task is the perpetuation of the
glorious spirit which animated our
fathers and mothers in the dark days
of the sixties. To keep alive for our
Children and our children's children
the inspiration which made of the
Confederacy a cause so transcendent-
ly heroic that it became the synonym
of chivalry, the reflection of honor
and turned inevitably defeat into the
proudest heritage mankind ever gave
to future generations.
when women are banded together
in loyalty and love, not only to COM
memorate the past but to build new
south where the old south sacrificed,
no one can help feeling that such
an organization has an important
part in the life of our country
and. although we are holding
aloft the principles of our Confeder-
ate fathers, yet. we are thrilled when
we talk of the rededication on the
part of all of us to the great nation