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THE i Jeffersonian k A to the Advocacy of the Jeffersonian Government. |K published by THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON Editors and Proprietors Austell Building, Atlanta, Ga. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE - . $i oo PER TEAR. Advertising Rates Furnished on Application. Enlfrtd at Printer, Atlanta, Ga., January 11, IQO7, at irctnd clan mail mattrr ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1907 Gob. Vardaman of Mississippi. To realize how false may be the impression made upon your mind by newspaper misrep resentation, you have but to know, as he really is,”Tamer K. Vardaman, Governor of Missis- ’ •yofous ’ ir ifySf* will listen to the talk of his enemies, you wiy think him a very bad man indeed— a sort of Catiline-Cade-Tillman combination. According- to the average Northern editor and jSoJiJir.iati, Vardaman is an uncouth, lawless ari(?ib n > whose only distinctive characteris rJß|tasf trc d of the negro. *fIMBK-self, have been so venomously libeled bjJHR* newspapers that, whenever I hear them un‘ite in abusing some public man, my first impulse is to believe that he is doing things to Me Gang, and that The Gang is trying to cnish him. That was my opinion, in advance, about r ardaman—and that, I now find, is the fact. He has been fighting the organized gang of plunderers who, in Mississippi, have been loot ing the convict system, who wanted to deliver the timber lands of the state to millionaire corporations, and WHO WANTED TO EX EMPT MONEY FROM TAXATION, Think of that, will you? Think of a gang which would deliberately tax a poor man’s farm, which might be mort gaged to half its value, and yet exempt the rich man’s money which, of course, represents a surplus! Well. Vardaman has fought The Gang on things like these and has whipped it. Therefore, The Gang hates him. Personally, James K. Vardaman is a splen did specimen of manhood. Tall, strongly built, deep-chested, erect as an Indian chief, bull-necked, his fine, open countenance clean shaven; bis grey-brown eyes glowing with animation as he talks—this Southern leader of forty-five strikes me as one of the men to whom our Future will owe much. He thinks for himself, and is not afraid to say what he believes. He has convictions; better still he has noble purposes; better still, he is a man of the peo ple ; better still, he does things that need to be done. Uncultured? Why, Vardaman can ciuote more of the best stuff that’s to be found in our best books than any public man of my acquaintance. He will quote you the finest poetry, verse after verse, for hour after hour. There isn’t a literary topic you can start up, there isn’t a social, economic, or political ques tion that can be mentioned upon which he will WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. not say something which prJ&es tjj,at he has studied it, read the literature olyrMftXnd come to a definite conclusion. Semi-barbarian? II Why, Governor Vardaman is uSßMtleman to the finger tips. And, in hospitality; he is a Prince of the Blood. Self-respecting and, therefore, commanding respect, Gov. Vardaman is one of the most easily affable and courtly men of the day. But the final test of every man is the home life. What is he in his home? What is he at his own fireside —off the pub lic stage, where the crowd looks on the play? What is he to wife, and child —and to chos en friends? And it is this test which reveals the true beautv and innate worth of Vardaman’s char acter —for his Home-life is ideal. He came into my room, in the morning, while I was still in bed, and—half-dressed — GOV. VARDAMAN, Os Mississippi. his long, black hair clustering upon his leon ine head, and flowing down that bull-neck of his —began to quote poetry. Among others, he mentioned the hump backed English poet, Henley, who was denied the Laureateship because he was not Ortho dox; and who in defiant scorn flung out those lines which Jell so much to those who can comprehend. Recited in Vardaman’s sonorous and sym pathetic voice, the words thrilled me through and through—for I felt as though I had found a twin-brother who was speaking to me from over the Big Water: Out of the night that shelters me Black as a pit, from pole to pole, I thank whatever God there be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced or cried aloud; Beneath the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody but not bowed. However strait may be the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my Fate, I am the captain of my soul. Lon Libihd&f&tfaibie Jordan ’s Partner. For seventeen years the farmers of the At lanta (Ga.) District have kept Lon Living ston in Congress. For seventeen years the corporations have been using for their own purposes, the Con gressman whom the farmers elected. Not a single thing has he done that makes the condition of the farmers better than it was when he first won the office. His opportun ity was great, and he could have done much. He has not only done nothing for the agricul tural classes, but he has not even tried. Think of what this man might have done for the farmer during this seventeen years in which they have kept him in office had he wanted to serve them—with anything more substantial than lip service. Had he but given to the farmer half the zeal he gave to the Southern Railway Com pany, how much brighter might have been the home and life of every farmer in the South! Recently, indeed, he has become loud in his declaration against cotton Future Gamb ling-. But the evil was as great ten years ago as now; why then, has Livingston not applied for his “Fraud Order” before this? Because there was no Farmers’ Union movement to dupe, mislead and betray, as he duped, misled and betrayed the Farmers’ Alliance. He and McCune sold out the Farm ers’ Alliance to the Wall Street Railroaders led by Pat Calhoun, and he now wants to aid Harvie Jordan and Joe Hoadley in queering the great reform movement which the real farmers have again set on foot. It is my firm and settled conviction that I have never known a more abandoned knave than Lon Livingston. The truth isn’t in him. Honesty and sincerity are alien to his char acter. « He revels in double-dealing; he is rotten to the core; and he is besides, that most disgust ing of all bad men —an aged libertine. That such a disreputable and notoriously evil man should have so long held a place in National Councils, is a proof of the power of self-seeking corporations over political ma chines. * * n Co-operation. Its power is irresistible, and the agricultural classes must have it. If they co-operate, all the powers of evil cannot defeat their just demands. But—carefully study the meaning of that word Co-operate. You cannot co-operate with a man who wants to do something different from what vou want to do. You can’t co-operate with a man whose purpose is different from yours. To successfully co-operate with others it is necessary that there should be mutualitv of interest. To successfully co-operate it is absolutely essential that the lines along which all parties march shall be parallel lines.