Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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