Newspaper Page Text
4
|
Vigorous Attempt to Repeal New Tax
Equalization Law Also Is Expected
by Georgia Assembly—Dßig Politics
SuretoCreepln and Hamper Work.
3 By JAMES B. NEVIN.
The second and final session of the Georgia Legislature for
191314 will be called to order in both branches at 10 o’clock, Wed
nesday, June 24. The session will continue until and ineluding
Wednesday, August 12, when the present General Assembly will
pass out of existence.
During that period of 50 days, the Legislature will thrash out
hundreds of local measures, and at least four or five big general
measures. The former will attract little, if any, attention, while
the latter will rivet the attention of the entire State.
There will be much politics mixed with legislative procedure
this summer. for never before in the recollection of politicians have
«0 many big offices been involved in the primaries of one year.
There will be a big fight over the
matter of schoolbooks. There ig an
element in the House that is firmly
convinced that the children of Geor
gia are not being treated right and
that the only remedy is for the State
to take over the publication of its own
books, and supply them directly to
the children. The eventual aim of
this, of course, is free schoolbooks.
I'ndcubtedly this means a rousing |
contest, with the so-called “book
trust” tiie ohject of some bhitier at
tacks.
Fight To Be Stubborn. .
This fight is apt to be prolonged
and stubborn, as it looks now as if
the friends of State publication are in
tne minority of the House, and the
revess committee to investigate and
report upon the question involved will
not recommend State publication. An
exbaustive report against it has been
yrepared, and will be filed early in the
seLson.
Another thing that is going to en
gage the attenticn of the General As
sembly is the matter of child labor
reform. - This fight probably will be
even mcre spectacular than the
schoolßook fight, and promises far
mote of success.
The Legislatures of the immediate
past for cne reason and angther have
failed to enact such child labor laws
as seem to many people necessary
and desirable in Georgia, as contrast
ed with other States, but the friends
of anti-child labor laws are deter
mined that results shall be achieved
this time. Georgia has been at a
standstill for years in the matter of
genuine anti-child labor legisiation,
and a finish fight along that line is
generally accepted as ope of the sum
mer promises that will come true.
'There will be much flamboyant ora
tory and one thing and another of
that sort induiged in with respect to
the Western and Atlantic Railroad—
the State's pet and biggest asset—
but not much by way of legislation
likely will result. The present lease
of the road dces not expire until 1919,
and there is plenty of time to provide
for a new disposition of the property.
An especially competent recesse
committee has been considering the
matter of the Western and Atlantic,
however, and it will file an intelligent
and thoroughgoing report of its find
ings and conclusions. This report
probably will be laid aside for future
leference, but it will prove a big heip
to incoming Legislatures.
The Liquor Situation.
Ancther spectacular fight is likely
to center around the so-called “Webb
bill,” which seeks to make Georgia a
“dry” State. within the meaning of
the Federal act of the same name,
passed some two years ago. This bill
undertakes to make it unlawful to
ship into Georgia, in quantities of
more than three gallons at a time, to
any one consignee, any variety of
spirituous, malt or intoxicating liquor.
This bill passed the Senate last sum
mer, and now is 1n the Temperance
Committee of the House. What its
fate this summer will be is hard to
forecast. There is much feeling both
ways in the Legislature.
Curiously enough, some anti-pro
hibitionists are supporting it ae the
“best way out of the woods,” while
some prohibitionists are opposing it
upon the theory that the State al
ready has all the prohibition law it
needs, and that the enforcement of
the present law is al! that is required.
Perhaps the very bitterest fight of
the session, however, will center
about the tax equalization act, passed
by the Legislature last summer.
A vigorous, and even desperate, ef
fort will be made to repeal this act,
which has been In operation only a
few months, Its passage was the cli.
max of the session of last summer,
and it was put threugh by the ex
tremely narrow margin of one vote—
the Speaker's. For weeks the House
and the Senate battied over it, and
for a time all legislative appropria
tions were held up pending its dispo
sition.
Governor Backs It
Governor Slaton frankly made it an
administration measure, and staked
®is all upon it. He urged it in a spe
THE GEORGIAN'S NEWS BRIEFS.
cial message to the Legislature when
that body was first assembled, and ne
urged it again in a special message.
The Governor considered the entire
matter to be a choice between honor
able discharge of financial obligations
upon the part of the State and bank
ruptey.
The measure was fought bitterly in
the House and the Senate, but par
ticularly in the House. It required,
the heaviest pressure the administra
tion could bring to bear to pass it—
even including a solemn threat to
veto the general appropriation bilis.
The measure finally was sent to the
Governor—not in the shape he desired
it, but in such shape, at least, that a
beginning in the matter of taxation
reform might bs made—and he
promptly signed it. He considers ilt
the supreme act of constructive
statesmanship accomplished by the
present Legislature—and he will de
fend it against its enemies if they
attack it this summer. The admin
istration is very much in earnest
about it.
The Governor has been hard at
work on his first general message for
several weeks. It will be long, and it
will cover anew every phase of his
originally announced legislative pro
gram that has not yet been acted upon
by the General Assembly.
The Governor is a candidate for the
United States Senate, and it is not
improbable that some efforts will be
made to embarrass him in his legisla
tive work this summer—but he i$
worrying little, if any, about that, ap
parently. If the tax equalization act
is to be fought in the hope that,
among other things, it may embarr ss
the Governor in his race for the Sen
ate, he will meet the issue thus set up
fearlessly and confidently. o
Do T e T AR A WG T IR, |ll o -A U/ QRT3 LWI
In that fight, moreover, the Gov
ernor unquestionably will be backel
to a finish both by the President of
the Senate and by the Speaker of ‘he
House. These officials played oig
parts in putting the tax.equalization
act upon the statute books
The present Legislature is remarX.
able in its pover ; of floor leaders.
The first session, held last summer.
absolutely failed to develov one really
striking figure on the floor. There are
a few good debiters and a few gond
parliamentarians in the House, bat
there is not one who commands %
large. compact and genuinely entha
siastic following.
In previous Legislatures the pres
ent President of the Senate and ihe
Speaker of the House developed
marked characteristics of floor lead
ership, but both by reason of their
present offices are estopped in large
measure from assuming commanding
parts on the floor.
Big Politics Afoot.
Rather a small percentage of the
present Legislature seemingly desires
to succeed itself in office, and for that
reason more or less definite legisla
tive results might be anticipated were
it not for the further fact that so
many big offices of State-wide impor
tance are under consideration. Much
big politice likely will creep into the
legislative endeavor, and with that
cutting in so many different direc
tions. it is impossible to forecast with
a confident degree of certainty at this
time the fate of any measure.
The Legislature will assemble Wead
nesday, buH\i\ likely will not get down
to real work for a week or ten days
thereafter. The politicians will want
a few days to get their bearings, and
there will be much prelim!nary spar
ring for position. Last summer's ses.
sion was rather a nightmare for i(he
most part, but in the final ten days of
the session much really effective work
was accomplished.
The membership of the General As
gembly is capable, even if leaders are
scarce.
KILLS WIFE AND HIMSELF.
DENVER, COLO., June 19—J. F,
¥reeze, an insurance agent, entered
his wife's bedroom, where she was
slecping early to-day, and shot and
killed her and then committed suicide.
Mrs. Freeze recently sued her hus
band for divorce. The shooting was
witnessed by their 3-year-old son. .
§
VS o CAMPBELL, |
: who shares jointly with g
| her mother the $60,000,000 es- ¢
{ tate left by her father, but g
{ other relatives plan to fight |
g the bequest. . §
i R
(T AN, 7
o Mf‘ Y b
i 4 B Bt
. nR i
5. :
)B s %
o ?
M R
¥ R
ko \\fi : ; e 8
o i s
Presstin. SR S 3
SBT = i
P b 3 R R
P e
ReR s S $
L
P e b
T S o S N ;
% *\o\v R % 7 3
N Y ;
SR oo &y
R } s e,
i R
R e R, 2
S s’\ R
R ‘.i--.1355§55'?1§?3§‘::.§:..,1f-‘:1 i : $
Tien L R Y i
SN R A 3 %
o .-_s.\:’.-tz.»..--:.-.,_..;.t.-:f, e
S "'i'-::':»:?;:a‘??‘%."i‘»:;%i?zf*:‘ ToEs e R
|
A R R R i R B
0 e T o
RS R e SO e
o AR k;,»;«-..;;;fi::::":{-"’ R
G m}:fl‘; A
e X 5
TRI e ;
‘\” S
) SR
X g eR,
e A SR
s NG e R puo.
SR Aime Dupoal.
" WASHINGTON, June 20.-——Thomas
iD. Jones, of Chicago, member of the
‘board of directors of the Harvester
Itrust, who was nominated by the
}Prosidom to be a member of the
}P‘ederal Reserve Board, to-day was
' defended before the Banking Com
mittee of the Senate by the President.
The committee has assigned each
nominee to a subcommittee for inves
tigation.
| Chairman Owen late to-day re
ceived the following letter from the
President upholding the nominee and
giving him a clean bill of heaith:
“] am afraid that Thomas D. Jones
is the man about whom the commit
tee will have the least information
and 1 venture to write you this let
ter to tell you what I know, and for
tunately I can say that I do really
know it.
“1 have been associated with Mr.
Jones in various ways for more than
fifteen vears and have seen him tried
by fire in causes which were like the
very causes we are fighting for now.
Stcod by the People.
“He has stood for the rights of the
people against the rights of privilege
and he has won a place of esteem
and confidence by his quiet power
and unquestionable integrity in the
city of Chicago, whieh 1 think is
enviable indeed.
“His connection with the Harves
ter company is this:
“He owns one ghare and only one
share of stock in that company,
which he purchased to qualify as a
director. He went into the board
of the Harvester company for the
purpcse of assisting to withdraw it
from the control which had led into
the acts and practices which have
brought it under the criticism of the
law officers of the Government, and
has been very effetive in that ca
pacity.
“His connection with those acts
and practices is absolutely nil. His
connection with it was a public ser
vice, not a private interest, and he
has won additional credit and admi
ration for his ceurage in that mat
ter
Colleague at Princeton.
“He is a lawyer by ofession, but
he has devoted his ml‘:smnn to spe
cial aspects of the law and has been
very little in the courts, I believe.
‘My close association with him was
in the board of trustees of Princeton
| University, where he stood by me
l»\ith wonderful address and courage
in trying to bring the university to
true standards of democracy by
‘which it would serve not-special
classes, but the general body of our
] youth. :
“He was graduated from Princeton
in 1876. He is of Welsh extraction,
possibly of Welsh birth, though I am
not certain on that point, and is a
man whom I can absolutely guaran
tee in every respect to the commit
tee. He is the one man of the whole
number who was, in a peculiar sense,
my personal choice.”
DORSEY WON'T MAKE RACE.
Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey will not
be a candidate for Governor nor for
any other office in the primaries this
summer.
He made a definite and precise
statement with regard to that mat
ter Saturday night, setting at rest
finally various rumors as to whether
he would run for the United States
Senate or for Governor.
WAR PLANNED
ON 550.000 00
DANPBELL WL
ST. LOUIS, June 20.—Mrs. Rose
Virginia Curtis, 756 years old, sister
of the late James Campbell, to-day
admitted reluctantly that Mrs. WwWil
liam H, Harrison, of Cincinnati, is
Campbell’'s niece and James G. Camp
bell, of Chicago, his nephew.
According to the dispatches, Mrs.
Harrison and a brother in Chicago
are considering filing suit to break
Campbell's will, Campbell left his
fortune in trust in such a way that
his widow, Florence A. Campbell, ani
his daughter Lois shall have a life
interest in it, the principal ultimately
to go to St. Louis University to build
a hospital and aid in medical re
search.
The owner of vast mining interests
in the West, a pioneer in railroad
building and one of the greatest
captains of industry in the world, Mr.
Campbell, who was 67 vears old, was
born in Ireland and came with his
parents to this country when ¢ years
old. His first job was in a grocery
store, where, at the age of 11, he be
gan a career that was te place him
in the front rank of financiers.
Believed in Persistence. .
“Tenacity and endurance count for
more than genius in business suc
cess,” was Mr. Campbell's motto
And his courage to follow out his own
ideas with unfalteriry courage was
the one reason for his success.
While working in the grocery store
he was sent, after the war had start
‘ed, to deliver supplies to an army
icamp outside of Wheeling. General
| Fremont, the Pathfinder, took a fancy
to the boy and employed him for $8 a
week as a messenger.
{ His first financial venture was made
in 1873, when he bought up the bonds
of a number of counties in Missouri,
which were in default. By mortgag
ing his holdings to the limit, he was
able to purchase bonds worth half a
million at their face value for prices
ranging from 10 to 25 cents on the
dollar. Railroad building restored
prosperity in the State and Campbell
reaped immense profits.
Electric Pioneer.
He became interested in a number
of electric roads and was a pioneer in
the field of supplying heat, light and
power by high tension electric cur
rents from dynamos driven by natur
al water power,
Until a few years ago he used to
take a great deal of pride in the fact
that in all his business life, during
‘which he had been engaged in trans
!qctions involving hundreds of mil
lions of dollars, the court records
showed that he had had only two law
suits. That record, however, did not
survive the collapse of the Frisco
System. -
Million for Hackett
Within 18 Months
NEW YORK, June 18.—The value
of the estate left by Mrs. Minnie
Hackett Trowbridge is $1,389,049.46.
Nearly all of this property goes to
James K. Hackett, the actor, but he
vill not be in possession of the prin
cipal until after the Farmers’ Loan
and Trust Company has had it for at
least a year.
But within eighteen months Mr,
Hackett will be more than a bare
n.illionaire.
.
Attacks on Lindsay
. .
Make His Bride 111
DETROIT, June 18.—Made ill by
the constantly recurring attacks of
Denver politicians upon her husband,
Mrs. Ben B. Lindsay, bride of the
Colorado judge, will return to Michi
gan soon to recuperate in the Battle
Creek Sanitarium, where she first
met her husband.
This information was given out to
day by her mother, Mrs. Frankie Lip
pert, of Detroit.
Suspended 29 Years
u
Ago, He Gets Degree
CHAMPAIGN, ILL.,, June 17.—
Twenty-nine years after He had been
suspended by the faculty of Illinois
University for “cutting” chapel Foster
North, now stoop-shouldered and
wrinkled, was given the degree of
bachelor of science at the commence
ment exercises to-day.
7 g
Contest to Fix Way
- .
To Eat Spaghetti
CHICAGO, June 18.—The National
Association of Svaghetti Manufactur
ers to-day adopted plans for spa
ghetti eating contests to establish a
“standard method” of consuming their
products. i
