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8 THE ATLANTIAN
Tennessee Hospital Regulations
Tennessee has passed a remarkable hotel-guests’ protective act to
hang, framed or unframed, with the inhospitable hotel keepers’ pro
tective act telling what will happen if you slip out of to\Vn without
paying your bill.
Puny enactments in other States declare the lawful hotel sheet
must have nine feet of length. Tennessee fixes lawful sheet widths.
It also says how often pillow slips must go to the laundry and slaps
State-wide prohibition without benefit of local option on the roller
towel. Insecticidal and germicidal fumigation of all sleeping rooms
is made obligatory once in three months and will, it is predicted,
make the typical Southern hotel in the smaller rural Tennessee
town almost unrecognizable.
It is assumed that the pure food law will look after provisions
before delivery at the hotel back door, but the hotel law shirks no
responsibility thereafter. Food must be kept in mouse and rat-
proof receptacles and must at all times have screened protection
from flies. All kitchen utensils, even to the chopping bowls and
dish trays, must be sterilized once a day with steam. No steward,
cook or waiter must dare to appear on duty without clean clothes
and hands.
This Tennessee hotel-regulation law, especially in its kitchen and
table provisions, is a law with teeth.—Ex.
Campaign Stingers
Pope Brown has been a life-time friend of the working-man.
Labor, in every form, has had his consistent friendship. He favors
those things demanded by organized labor, which will result in bet
ter working conditions—in shortest hours consistent with effective
production, and with all the wages that employers can afford to
pay and have a moderate margin left. In other words, he wants
the laboring, man to have all that is justly coming to him.
# * * # •
Joe Brown has an official record which shows that he is not a
friend of the working-man, but that all his sympathies go out to
the big corporations and their allies. All men will remember his
calling out the State Militia to shoot down the working men at the
Durham Mines, unless they would yield to the desires of one of his
supporters, at whose instance the Military had been called out.
# # # # *
In his “pronouncements,” ex-Governor Joe Brown has laid special
stress on the Governor’s pardoning power. In that connection, how
ever he has never made any explanation of how he came to pardon
eighteen of his supporters who had plead guilty to violation of the
pure election laws. It seems to make some difference with the
ex-Governor as to whose ox is gored.
*****
Ex-Gov. Joe Brown claims to be a Prohibitionist, but his labored
argument has aroused our suspicions that his Prohibition proclivi
ties are mainly for use in political campaigns. He also claims to
be a Democrat, and is running in the Democratic Primary. A few
of us, who have not lost our memories, recall that in the last
general election he was voted for by several thousand men as an
independent candidate for Governor, after he had been defeatd in
the Democratic Primary. We also remember that he did not con
demn such action, nor did he forbid the use of his name. Prudent
little man—he seems to believe that the less one does, the better
his chance for political preferment. We strongly suspect that
his Democracy and his Prohibitionism are about of the same quality,
and lack a great deal of being all wool and a yard wide.
• * * * *
Ex-Gov. Joe Brown was a member of the Georgia Railroad Com
mission—it was not so very long ago, either. Quite a few of us
can remember that if the ex-Governor ever felt any sympathy for
the working-men on the Railroads, he concealed it so carefully that
nobody ever suspected it. On the other hand, he was such an ar
dent friend of the great corporate interests which control the
Railroads that Governor Smith, in a fit of justifiable rage, incon-
tinentally kicked him out of office. We have not always agreed with
Governor Smith in everything, but we have several times forgiven
him, for things that we did not like, because of that righteous
act; and, if at any time in the future, we should be disposed to get
mad with him, the recollection of that deed will cause us to forgive
him again.
BRIEF FILED BY BERNARD SUTTLER
With the State Railroad Commission in Opposing
the Application of the Georgia Railway
and Power Company
To the Railroad Commission of
Georgia: Greedy men, disguising
themselves under the pleasing names
of "promoters” and "developers,” have
brought our country to the verge of
economic chaos. This has been done
by their custom of discounting the
future through the medium of over-
capitalization, or watered stocks, and
thus forcing an unhealthy development
which in turn promotes an undesir
ably large immigration, and has put
upon the people the burden of creating
a sufficient volume of business to care
for the dividends and to put value
into these paper stocks.
Resulting from this, we find that the
United States today, with six per cent,
of the world’s population, has fifty
per cent, of the world’s railroads.
Bringing it closer home: If the State
of Georgia were divided into little
squares measuring 2.8 miles each way,
it would be found that there was one
mile of railroad for every one of these
little squares. And yet people are
clamoring that Georgia needs further
railroad development. A close study
of the map has satisfied me today the
State of Georgia could be benefited
only by the building of one single line.
A further result of this is that the val
uation of the railroad property of the
State is fully twenty-five per cent, of
the total valuation of ALL the prop
erty in the State. As I see it, this is
an undue proportion.
The word "profits” implies a gain
upon invested capital. Where the pro
moter or developer, so-called, makes
a vast gain without any investment of
capital, I should call that "unearned
profits”—and many of the great for
tunes of this country today represent
these unearned profits.
The pending application for au
thority to permit -an enormous issue
of stocks and bonds by a water-power
merger in Georgia illustrates precisely
what I have said. Any man of ordin
ary intelligence knows without argu
ment, that every water power in North
Georgia, improved and unimproved,
does not represent an investment of
thirty millions of dollars. And yet
these promoters come before the Com
mission and ask for permission to is
sue thirty millions of dollars in bonds
and twenty-seven million dollars in
stock. It does not require an expert
accountant to see that the twenty-
seven million dollars in stocks repre
sent no investment of money what
ever, and is merely another case of
discounting the future. Having ac
quired this right, these promoters will
go ahead with their schemes and, in
a few years claiming a vested rights
by reason of invested capital, demand
that they be permitted to have a fair
return on their money.
The Georgia Railway and Electric
Company of this city—which I am in
formed is one of the parties to this
merger—is a concrete example of how
these things work. The original in
vestment was solely the proceeds of
the bonds—or so nearly so that any
other investment was a negligible fac
tor. I have seen the stock of that
company grow from ten cents on the
dollar to above par—and this value
has been created by all the people. The
gentlemen who planned that enterprise
and discounted the future, planned
well for themselves and have made a
good many millions by their scheme.
They would not hesitate to come now
before this body and claim the right
to earn fair profits upon their capital,
when as a matter of fact, their capital
consists solely of the money which
they have taken from the people on
an investment which consisted in the
first instance of some well-executed
documents. Encouraged by the suc
cess of this, they now come before the
Commission and ask for greater
things.
As a citizen affected by these things,
and realizing fully the tremendous
drain upon the country’s resources
caused by the multiplication of these
paper stocks, I protest, and I ask
that the Commissioners placed here
to protect the people of Georgia, refuse
to permit the issuance of one dollar of
stocks or bonds, until satisfied after
thorough investigation, that one hun
dred cents of good money is behind
each dollar of bonds or stocks. Any
thing other than this will be working
an injustice upon the people, in order
that a few men may reap unearned
fortunes.
I protest with all my strength
against such a dangerous, such an un
patriotic course of conduct, realizing
fully, as I do, that it is such schemes
as thi3 that are driving our people to
Socialism. Respectfully submitted,
BERNARD SUTTLER.
I append herewith a summary of my
objections:
I. The evidence, in this case, dis
closes that only fear of the Commis
sion restrained the promoters from
an enormous increase in the capitaliza
tion over the proposed figures.
II. It further discloses that they ex
pect, with the thirty millions of bonds
sold at 85, to pay for everything, leav
ing four and a half millions for the
financiers, and twenty-seven millions
of stocks for the promoters.
III. This amounts to the people of
Geoiyia making these people a present
of thirty-one and a half millions of
dollars.
IV. The Commission represents the
people of Georgia, it is our Attorney;
these promoters come with their army
of paid experts, attorneys and finan
ciers; THE PEOPLE HAVE ONLY
THE COMMISSION TO PROTECT
THEM.
, V. The authorization of this bond
and stock issue means the placing of
Continued on poire 12