The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1961-01-05

OF the people, not just the Cltl-
Gems Councils.
Despite our aversion to fight
ing the Civil War all over again,
we enjoyed thoroughly Gun
boats Round The Bend" al
Vicksburg's Memorial Auditori
UNI last Wednesday evening.
The premiere of this musical
drama about the Balfour bal
held in Vicksburg during the
bleak days of December. 1862
as the city lay waiting for the
coming of the Federals, was held
Wednesday evening, December
%, before an assemblage of local
citizens and visitors who crowd
ed the Auditorium, which seats
about $500 people.
Governor Barnett and Missis-
sippi's gracious and lovely First
Lady, Mrs. Barnett, headed the
list of dignitaries attending
opening night of the presenta-
ton being sponsored by the
Vicksburg Centennial Commits.
sion of the Civil War.
The gorgeous ante bellum
gowns worn by the ladies OF
Vicksburg, both in the drama
and in the audience, added great
w to the color and pageantry
of the evening.
We particularly liked til e
dances, the values and polkas,
the Virginia Reel and other
dance of those days, performed
by men and women in beautiful
costumes, who were obviously
enjoying themselves thoroughly.
Hundreds of Vicksburg citi-
zens gave unstintingly of their
time. talent, efforts and money
to make the occasion an out
standing one.
We hope all of our friends and
readers will visit Vicksburg
some time during the commence
ration this Summer and enjoy
aGunboats Round the Bend" as
we did.
Editor Curtis Mullen of the
Madison County Herald nomi
mates the independent or I'm
pledged elector movement Of
Mississippi as the top fiasco Of
1860.
Mr.. Mullen. called~the I'M
pledged elector movement ss
futile effort that did manage to
fool about SO per cent of the
states voters and made the
state somewhat of a LAUGHING
stock among the other 49,"
There are a lot of people who
will agree, including many Mis-.
sissippians who supported thu
Independent Electors among the
80 per cent that did so. It is
significant, however, that the
majority of u citizens elected
to take a realistic course and
remain in the two major politi-
cal parties.
While the election is over and
President Kennedy was elected
despite everything Governor
Ross Barnett, the Citizens Coun-
ellis and Unpledged Electors did
to prevent it, we have not heard
the last of it by any means.
1t appears now "wednesday
that u four Congressman who
deserted the Democratic candi-
dates and supported the I'm
pledged Electors may be dis
ciplined by the party they have
to look to for committee assign
ments and favors. This is not
surprising. The wonder is the
party hasn't done anything be-
fore now to curb those protested
Democrats. who vote with the
Republicans as many or more
times than they vote with mem
bers Of their own party.
But the fact remains that if
our four Congressman are dis
ciplined our state will suffer to
some extent in the Congress -
and the Unpledged Elector move
ment will have to assume re-
sponsibility for it.
The thing that concerns us
more, however, is the pro-
nouncements from Barnett and
others that the Unpledged Elec-
tor movement must continue"
in Mississippi.
We can see nothing good for
Mississippi in these statements,
regardless of how good the in
tentions are of those making
them.
The fact is the Unpledged
Elecsor movement is a divisive
movement and influence which
is dividing the people of our
state at a time when all of us
should be working together for
our common good.
For the most part, with some
exceptions, those behind the
Unpledged Elector movement are
the same folks who want to
DESTROY you if YOU don't agree
with them, and go along with
them on everything they do
and say.
To us this is not only I'M
democratic, but un-American.