The Starkville news., January 09, 1903, Image 1

About The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
VOL. 1
President Lincoln.
Anti His Picture in Mississij -
pi’s Capitol.
The Letter From Dr. B. F.
Ward Which is Attract
ing Attention, And
Which Receives
Endorsement
of U. C. V.
Veterans.
The following from the pen ol
that disliguished gentleman, Dr
B. p. Ward, of Winona, is inter
esting reading just now:
Col. John Cussons in his ad
mirable little book, “Glance at
Current History,” describes an
element of Southern citizenship
which, for more than three
decades, has persistently and in
dustriously sought “reconcilia
tion" at the hands of the northern
brothers from whom, however,
these overtures have received
scant recognition.
Col. Cussons further says, in
speaking of these “chronic recon
cilers," that people who are
overhasty to forgive their ene
mies may be equally ready to
forget their friends.
Director Rowland's feeble and
awkardly arranged scheme for
securing his gallery of Mississip
pi’s “greatest men” was by most
Mississippian, generously re
garded as an innocent blunder,
but when in the multitude of his
own council he suddenly leaped
to the conclusion that Mr. Lin
coln was the one and only presi
dent of the United Stales whose
portrait might fitly adorn his
••Hall of Fame," presumably in
tended for Mississippians only,
he thrusts, in a vital spot, the
historical proprieties of the State
and deals a blow to her dignity
and manhood that elicits a pro
test not unmixed with a tinge of
resentment.
Ihe merits, capabilities and
achievements of Mr. Lincoln as
a man are not called in the ques
tion: as one of the greatest figures
of his age. his record has passed
beyond the limit of legitimate
discussion.
History, and especially nor
thern history will abundantly
take care of him. The present
and future generations of Mis
sissippians should be permitted
to stud3 f him in the facts and
philosophy of history by the
light of matured intelligence, but
it is not sound dielics nor civic
sanitation that should be dis
pensed to their teething intellects
as the only reliable baby food
for infantile patriotism. In all
the ages of civilized man the
ethics of combat have contem
plated that when individuals,
parties of governments appeal
their issues t© the arbitrament of
physical forces, the vanquished
should accept, in good faith, the
terms of the victor, but the
“olive branch” of courtesy and
conciliation should always be
first extended to a fallen foe by
the magnanimity of his triumph
antagonist. It carries with it,
then, the aroma of true valor;
but when these amenities come
ever unsolicited and always un
required, from the weaker party
they reak with the odor of syco
phancy and chill like the cold
and clammy hand of insincerity.
When any northern state shall
THE STARKVILLE NEWS
STARKVILLE. MISS., FRIDAY, JAN U ARY 9, 1903;
have placed the portrait of Mr.
Davis in its capitol it will bo an
appropriate recognition of thr
courtesy Jo place Mr. Lincoln s
in ours.
Some of the chronic ‘•recon
cilers” go into ecstacies even
time a northern writer or speak
er tenders a cramped and crum
oled compliment to Lee or Jack
son.
It ought to be apparent to any
■•onthorn man that in limiting
5-heir expressions of esteem 1c
Lee, the ulterior purpose is
gradually but effectually obscure
md minimize Mr. Davis and re
tire him as far as possible, in the
estimation of his own people.
By continually denouncing and
ignoring Mr. Davis while pre
tending to respect and admire
others, they hope ultimately as
the wave of generat ions recedes
from the war period, to promote
decay and disintegration of the
love and admiration for Mr,
Davis which the south has thus
far cherished.
They would let his memory die
of negh ct at his old home.
To our shame, be it said, the
deadly process is already at work.
It is not unusual now, to hear
from the lips of southern orators,
the progressive representatives
of the “new era,*’ the names of
Lee and Lincoln associated as
the highest types of Americans
to the utter exclusion of Jeffer
son Davis.
This pattern of eloquence is
gradually being installed not
only in the acadamies and col
leges, but also in the pulpits of
Mississippi.
It is legitimate and rational to
draw comparisons between Leo
and Grant as great men and great
commanders, but it is historical
absurdity to associate Lincoln
and Lee. They have absolutely
nothing in common. Davis and
Lincoln are the conspicuous
tragedians between whom history
and posterity must decide.
Lee was simply one of Mr.
Davis’ lietunants, just as Grant
was one of Mr. Lincoln's Heaton
an ts.
Davis and Lincoln were head
and front, the embodiment, the
respective representatives and
exponents of two antagonistic
and hostile theories of govern
ment.
Mr. Davis was a statesman.
Mr. Lincoln was a fanatic. Mr.
Davis learned, liberal, scholarly,
comprehensive, majestic and
national. Mr. Lincoln was strong,
conscientious, illiterate, dogmat
ic, narrow and sectional.
Mr. Davis placed the organic
law of the land above the will of
the majorities. Mr. Lincoln ac
cepted the “higher law" of the
abolitionists as superior to the
constitution and the deliverances
of the supreme court.
Mr. Davis addressed the intel
ligence, the sense of justice, the
honor, the pride and the patriot
ism of the nation.
Mr. Lincoln spoke to the
heriditary prejudices and the in
flamed passions of a dominant
faction. Mr. Davis asked for
peace, Mr. Lincoln tendered war.
Mr. Davis appealed to the law T .
Mr, Lincoln appealed to the
sword, and thus the issue was
joined. Viewed in the light of
crystalled facts it looks now
that the result from the begin
ning was inevitable; although
General WooUley. of the Britisl
irmy, in his review of the con
federate war, says the confed
eracy was two or three time*
within a stone’s throw of success
However that may be, no ques
tion involved in that contest wa*
adjudicated >n evidence or ad
justed on merit. It was sol eh
md distinctively a test of physi
cal strength and endurance.
The forces of democracy were
vanquished and subjugated by
the legions of imperialism.
Democracy accepted in good faith
the terms of surrender and will
render faithful allegiance to the
powers “de facto.” Physical
force merely determines con
ditions and is utterly powerless
to destroy or reflect the everlast
ing parallels of principle.
If, then, the placing of Mr.
Lincoln in the new capitol is in
tended only to emphasize the fact
that we have accepted the arbitra
ment of battle ills superfluous
and silly.
It it is lifted up as a signal to
the world that, entering upon a
new era with the foundation of
our million dollar capitol, we
have abandoned the theory and
principles o government to
which the southern peolpe have
adhered for more than a century
and for the maintenance of which
they sacrificed everything save
honor and virtue and valor, then
it is discreditable to the man
hood of Mississippi and carves
upon monument to her dead
soldiers the mournful and tear
stained epitaph:
“These men were valiant but
wrong.”
With Mr. Lincoln as a man we
have no controversy. lie was
the logical offspring of heriditary
and environment. According to
his most authentic genealogy
every fibre of his being was de
rived from southern loins. The
blood currents of the patrician
and the plebian found their con
fluence in the masterful physical
mould of this remarkable man.
Biologists will tell you that the
product of such transfusion takes
its intellectual caste from the
stronger and its moral complex
ion from the weaker.
If the people of Mississippi
feel that it is incumbent upon
them to reciprocate courtesies
extended by northern states to
Gen. Lee, who was a citizen of
Virginia, then let them associate
together the portraits of Lee and
Grant, the rival knights upon the
chess board of war.
Grant was not only a great
soldier, but a magnanimous man.
He was slave holder and disre
garding Lincoln's emancipation
proclamation, continued to enjoy
the hire of his slaves till the
close of the war.
Neither he nor Lee were states
men, nor were they ever expo
nents of any theory of govern
ment and they might without
serious shocks to the most deli
cate sense of propriety, consti
tute a twin adornment of every
capitol in the government.
Mr. Lincoln was the man who
by armed force abrogated that
clause of the constitution which
provides that “That powers not
delegated to the United States
by the constitution, nor prohibi
ted by the states, are reserved
to the states respectively, or to
the people.”
With a great imperialist in-
stalled in Mississippi's capitol:
with the chief executive of the
executive of the nation openly
md defiantly announcing his
diampionship of social as well as
p fiitical equality of the races.
A picture is nothing but apiece
if inanimate canvass, yet be
loath its colors may lurk a senti
ment as deadly to the manhood
>f Mississippi as the asp that
clung to the bosom of Egypt’s
queen.
In 1 s()i> when Lee had defeated
and routed McClellan in front ol
Richmond, driven the federal
forces across the Potomac and
carried the war into the enemy s
country, thus strengthening tin
anti-war spirit in the north and
brightening the hopes of the con
federacy, Mr. Lincoln, thinking
to weaken the sinews of the war
in the south, issued Ins emanci
pation proclamation.
When Mr. Seward, who had
lived in the south did not under
stand the fidelity and docility of
the negro as a slave, warned him
that the proclamation niigh incite
a general insurrection, and mas
sacre of women and children in
the rear of the confederate army,
Mr. Lincoln promptly and
resolutely replied: “The time
has arrived when we must know
whether the slave element is for
or against us."
Mr. Lincoln's admirers ought
to be willing for him to stand on
his record and if his portrait
must go into the new capitol, we
insist that there should be writ
ten above, in letters of glistening
steel, his famous utterance; “The
Time Has Arrived When We
Must Know Whether the Slave
Element is For or Against Us."
When the confederate soldier,
whose life is interwoven with the
history of Mississippi and whose
sacrifices and achievements are
a part of greatness, her grandeur
and her glory, visits the “Hall
of Fame” and salutes the celebri
ties assembled there, when he
faces the great destroyer of the
constitution, like the old Earl of
Scotland, lie will gather around
him the folds of his martial cloak
and say, as Lord Angus to Mar
at ion :
Mv manors, hails and bowers shall still
He open at my Sovereign's will.
To each one whom he lists, however,
I'nmeet to In* tin* owner's peer.
My castles arc my Kiag’s alone.
From turret to foundation stone —
The hand of Douglass is his own.
■■■ -. ■■■"—
New Year Resolutions.
To borrow more money than
trouble.
To give more advice than Help.
To bear patiently my neigh
bor's suffering.
And to be courageous in his
defeats.
To sit quietly while others
stand.
To drink while others thirst,
and to eat while others starve.
In short, to live along the lines
of least resistance, and die com
fortably.
This is my symphony. —Life.
—
Clara Ware, a deaf-mute, 19
years old, who had never spoken
a word from her birth, was sud
denly gifted with the power of
speech before she died at her
home in Madison county, and
called to the members of her
family to come to her.
A CITY OF SALT.
Kelburg, Holland, a Beauti
and Healthful Place.
Kelburg, near Cracow, Poland,
is a city underground and is ex
cavated in rock salt. There are
‘I,OOO inhabitants, all salt miners,
and the houses and streets are of
the very purest white. The
Cathedral is the most beautiful
feature of the city carved in salt
and lighted by electric lights.
Infectious diseases are unknown
in this underground city and
most of the population die of
old age.
Pointed Paragraphs.
It manages to get very late
nowadays.
It is all well enough to judge
a tailor by his clothes.
The more you pelt a tanner the
better be seems to like ir.
Never confide a secret to a
woman with a pedigree. Blood
will tell.
Ask a conceited man a question
and*be will never say “I don't
know.”
If a man always pays cash he
is entitled to a lot more credit
than he ever gets.
The easier it is for a man to
run into debt the harder it is for
him to get ahead.
A woman who has false teeth
likes to pretend that siie has the
toothache occasionally.
When you meet a worthless
man its doughnuts to fudge he
cancel 1 you a sure cure for corns.
A mule imagines he has a
musical voice—and a good many
people seem to be built on the
same mistaken plan.
The average wife dislikes to
ask her husband for money
almost one-tenth as bad as he
dislikes to have her do it.
When some men give a dollar
to charity they manage to get
two dollars worth of satisfaction
from the contemplation of their
ge nerosi ty. —C hie ago Ne ws.
Wisdom’s Whispers.
Many men —
Talk about their homo affairs
asthough they were subjects for
public discussion.
See the bright side of life on
an exceedingly limited income.
Pay their debts as grudgingly
as though they were • being
fleeced.
Find satisfaction in telling how
well they would live if possessed
of wealth.
Show the most agreeable side
of their disposition when at
home.
Fail to find contentment even
under the most favorable cir
cumstances.
Make use of every man with
whom they come in contact.
Easily make friends and just
as easily lose them.
Talk about themselves as no
one else should he discussed.
Are seltish in small affairs and
generous where commendation is
sure to follow’. —Philadelphia
Bulletin.
Justice Fitzgerald holds that
the Governor had no right to call
in outstanding bonds and the
case will go to Supreme Court
for settlement.
NO. 44