Newspaper Page Text
May, 1914
THE ATLANTIAN
5
Who Will Be Governor
The campaign for Governor is beginning to warm
up a little. The “possibilities” are numerous at the
present time. Anderson, Burwell, Harris, Blalock,
Thomas, Hardman, and last but by no means least, Jesse
Mercer, who put “Game” in the Game Law, and made
a record that the people of the State will not forget.
And right here we might say there is another thing
that the people of Georgia have a habit of not forget
ting, and that is what they consider unfair treatment
of one official by another. The Governor had the right,
under the law, to appoint a Game Commissioner, and
everybody, friends and foes alike, expected him to re
appoint the man who had made good, but he did not,
and that is another story.
In the long list of those “mentioned” are several
smooth and plausible gentlemen. All of them have seen
service in the General Assembly and in other branches
of the State and National Government. It is one of
our characteristics to love to honor those who make
good and who have that sort of human kindness that
respects every other man’s sentiments. Vanity is a cu
rious thing.
Mr. Anderson is a lawyer—they say he is a Corpora
tion lawyer. Burwell is a lawyer. Thomas is a lawyer.
Most of them are lawyers, but Jesse E. Mercer, whose
coming, by the way, has disturbed the peace of mind of
some of the others, is one of the “common” people. A
County Fair prize for the best plowman in his (Cal
houn) County, is one of his most cherished possessions.
He left a clean bill of health in the State Game Com
missioner’s office when the Governor appointed a man
to take his place, and while in there he greatly increased
his popularity. He believes in working men, and, inci
dentally, the women who work, and woman’s rights in
general. He has picked up a few points on the political
game that will stand him in hand this spring. Keep
your eye on him. The man who imagines that he is not
a strong possibility had better go back and revise his
calculation should Uncle Jesse be in the race.
Our guess is—he’s a winner.
The Police Board
For three or four months, the Police Board has been
trying to elect a Chairman of the Board. The twelve
voters are divided between three candidates, with a
deadlock, which has almost become one of our perma
nent institutions.
The Atlantian has no special candidate, but is strongly
impressed with the idea that it is the duty of the gen
tlemen who compose that Board to get together and
elect SOMEBODY as Chairman—for, if in a matter so
comparatively unimportant as to which member should
preside over its deliberations, they can deadlock for
three months, how in the world can they ever get to
gether on anything of real importance connected with
the affairs of the City and the welfare of two hundred
thousand people. It creates a suspicion that these gen
tlemen are too hard-headed over small matters, and the
man who is so stubborn over trifles is usually not of
sufficient breadth to be liberal or wise when confronted
by big propositions—because if his stubbornness is in
proportion to the size of the job, he would have to be
as old as Methusaleh before he could ever get anything
done when a big job was presented.
The Atlantian does not want to be hard on these
brethren, and it is possible that a feeling of loyalty to
friendship would carry them into extremes, but it really
is getting time for them to quit what to the outsider
looks like foolishness and settle their teapot tempest
promptly. Get together boys and pull for Atlanta.
The Police And Over-Time
Our Police Force is divided into three shifts, each of
which works eight hours per day, and that is enough.
We understand commencing May 11th, their working
hours have been put up to twelve hours per day, and
this is to be maintained until after the Shriners Con
vention has adjourned. The Atlantian has no criticism
beyond one thing. It may be wise that the police should
work over-time when the City is overflowing with thou
sands of strangers—but if they have got to work over
time they ought to be paid for over-time. If any of
our readers are disposed to believe that, in this matter,
The Atlantian is making an outcry over nothing, we rec
ommend to such readers that they get a job of standing
up eight hours per day, and try it on for about a week;
and it is dollars to doughnuts that any citizen who will
try that experiment will come to the conclusion that
there is not money enough in the town to tempt them
to stay on the job permanently. The man who stands
on his feet eight hours continuously has earned the day’s
pay, and when a man is compelled to add another four
hours, he is entitled to another half day’s pay, because
it is about as trying work as anyone can do, and is en
titled to all that is paid for it, and from our standpoint,
even more than is paid for it.
The Wisdom of Hoke Smith
The wisdom of Hoke Smith bids fair to become pro
verbial. His achievements to date borders on the mar
velous. In less than three years he has become one of
the commanding figures in the United States Senate.
He has helped give the people of the country an income
tax, a revision of the tariff downward, a new currency
system, and last but not least a regional bank for the
Southeastern territory with headquarters in Atlanta.
When the character of the legislation that he favors
has been considered, it will be clearly seen that Hoke
Smith has won glory enough to enrich a dozen admin
istrations.
He may make some mistakes, but nothing his enemies
may do or say can rob him of that credit due.
It is conceded by his enemies that he has made good
in Washington and should be returned without oppo
sition.