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14 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA GOVERNOR HARDWICK DECLARES VEAZEY LAW IS BEING ENFORCED CONTRARY STATEMENTS DISPROVED BY PUBLICATION OF HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH SA VANNAH’S SOLICITOR GENERAL. So many politicians promised to enforce the Vea- ley or Convent Inspection Act in each campaign since it was put on the law books of the state that there is a widespread belief in anti- Catholic circles that the act is now a dead letter law. This belief was no doubt strengthened by the outrageous statements of the Junior Senator from Georgia last spring to the effect that many of the thousands of missing girls throughout the United States mig’ht be found de tained against their will in Savannah Catholic con vents. In spite of the Junior Senator’s failure to an swer the open letter ad dress to him by the Cath- olist Laymen’s Association of Georgia, asking that he name one, just ONE, of the girls so detained, and the statement of the Sa vannah juries that they had inspected the convents of the city as the law provides, the idea that the FROM THE METTER ADVERTISER. In calling the hand of Senator Thomas E. Watson of Georgia and inviting him “to stand up and be counted” in answer to a series of questions touching Mr. Watson’s statement that a majority of missing girls were captured by Catholic priests, the Catholic Laymen’s As sociation has met the wishes of a great many people in the State who are not members of the Catholic Church or believers in that faith. There are many people who have been disgusted at the attacts made upon this denomination and others have been made to wonder how public confi dence can be reposed" in any man who makes a hobby of calumiating a religious sect. law is not being enforced is so strong that Governor Hardwick wrote Solicitor Walter C. Hartridge of the Savannah Circuit, asking for a statement on the subject. The correspond ence between Governor Hardwick and Solicitor Hartridge which was is sued by the Governor to allay the spirit of religi ous intolerance in the state, shows that since the constitutionality of the act Was tested in the courts of the state, shortly after it became a law, it has been strictly enforced. The Catholic Laymen’s Association has sent copies of a circular, containing correspondence between the Governor and the So licitor, to every member of tT , _ the U. S. Senate, and the House of Representatives and to the editors of Georg ia together with a letter recalling the Junior Senat or s charges and the relation of the Hardwick-Hart- ndge correspondence to them. The circular follows- “WATSON’S WHITE GIRL SLAVE PENS” » f Letter from the Governor of Georgia to the solicitor General of Savannah Judicial District, with Reply of the Solicitor General, as Given Out and Commended by the Governor of Georgia and Published in the At lanta Journal of September 26, 1921, Night Extra Edition, Page 1, Col. 5.) uonsnea m the At- GOYERNOR HARDWICK’S LETTER “Hon. Walter C. Hartridge, “Solicitor General, Savannah Judical Circuit, “Savannah, Ga. “Dear Mr. Hartridge: “By way of premise, I beg to invite your atten tion to the enclosed correspondence, which is self-ex planatory and intended for your information. “There seems to exist in this state a wide-spread belief that the Veasey law, providing for the inspec tion of certain institutions, is a dead-letter so far as its enforcement in your judical circuit is concerned. “I think this impression may rest, to some ex tent, upon the resistance once made by some of these institutions to certain efforts to enforce this law. “I am writing to inquire of you exactly what the situation is in respect to this matter in your judicial circuit, and to urge you if necessary, to use every ef fort to see that the law is impartially and rigidly en forced. “I believe that it will make for a much better con dition of public sentiment if this law is rigidly en forced in every judical circuit of the state, and if the people and public are officially advised that such is the case. “Will you please be good enough to advise me as to what the situation is with respect to this matter in your circuit, and what steps are being taken to en force this law. “With assurances of my high personal regards, I am, “Very sincerely yours, (Signed) “Thomas W. Hardwick, “Governor” SOLICITOR HARTRIDGE’S REPLY “Hon. Thos. W. Hardwick, “Governor of Georgia, “Atlanta, Ga. “Dear Governor Hardwick: “I am in receipt of your favor of the 20th in stant, and thank you for taking up with me the mat ter about which you write, as I have understood that there exists a misapprehension throughout the state on the question of the enforcement of the act known as the Veazey bill in this circuit, and I am grateful for the opportunity of correcting this erroneous im pression. “I desire to state to you that I have been present as solicitor general at the opening of each term of the superior court of Chatham county since the pas sage of the Veazey bill and have heard the late Judge Charlton and Judge Meldrim, who now presides in that court, charge each successive grand jury, as re quired by the act to do, on the subject of inspection of certain institutions enumerated in the act. I have read or heard read the report from each grand jury from the first grand jury empanelled after the pas sage of the act to the one last discharged, and I beg to assure you that each and every grand jury has done its full duty as disclosed by the reports made in open court.