Newspaper Page Text
Brown s Message
to Georgia Solons
(Continued from first page.)
by the net amount received from the
sale of such books when published,
also from the acts of the legislature
and such other state books as you
may see fit to include.
Prison Commission.
I would suggest that the prison
commission be given authority and
directed to inspect jails. It is more
important that persons detained mere
ly for trial be properly cared for than
that those already convicted of crime
be treated well.
Many good women have urged me
to advocate the enactment of a law
providing for the inspection by wo
men of those quarters occupied by fe
male prisoners I deem the sugges
tion a good one and well in keeping
with the demands of actual propriety
and broad humanity, and as suck com
mend it to you.
In this connection I will state that
it has been proposed in some circles
to restore the practice of whipping
female convicts in order to maintain
discipline. I respectfully suggest that
such a return to a practice semi-bar
barous in its nature would not be in
keeping with the enlightened spirit
of our modern civilization.
Charge to Juries in Capital Cases.
Experience having shown that in
capital cases trial juries from time to
time have requested the presiding
judge to re-charge them upon certain
points where their memory had failed
to retain the instructions in his
charge, I respectfully suggest that it
be required that in all capital cases
the presiding judge shall, after read
ing his charge to the jury, hand a
copy of it to the foreman to be taken
into the jury room for consideration
in their deliberations.
Suspending Sentences By Trial
Judges.
It is a known fact that a number
of the trial judges of this state, after
conviction by juries, pass sentences in
conformity with the law and then sus
ped them, such suspesion to last dur
ing the pleasure of the judge. Al
though this procedure by these judges
has been declared unlawful by the su
preme court, yet the practice is per
sisted in. I do not assert that this
practice is in itself against public pol
icy, but undoubtedly it should be it
conformity with the law if it is to bt
continued. Hence, I recommend thal
your honorable bodies enact such leg
islation upon this subject as your wis
dom suggests.
District Agricultural and Mechanics
Schools.
A' The district agricultural and me
chanical schools having been taken intc
the university system of the state. 1
respectfully suggest that the co-opera
tive relationship between the stats
university, through the state college
of agricu tore, and the above district
schools be made closer than they haw
heretofore been. To this end 1 sug
gest that the board of trustees of the
state college of agriculture appoint at
least one member from its board oi
trustees to an ex-officio member of
the board of trustees of the district
agricultural and mechanical school in
his congressional district, whereby
each of said district schools will have
thereon one trustee of the state col
lege of agriculture. Such member
should be required to attend the an
nual commencement exercises of the
district school to which he is assigned
and should have full privilege and au
thority to act with the board of trus
tees of the district school at that and
all other meetings of the said district
school, and should make to the trus
tees of the state college of agricul
ture, after said commencement exer
cises, a full report of the conditions,
progress, etc., of the said district
agricultural and mechanical schools.
State University.
While you are appropriating money
and enacting laws for the more effi
cient and extended cultivation of the
soil of our state, hold ever in mind
that the cultivation which will bring
the greatest crops and choicest fruit
is the cultivation of the minds of her
youth. Hence, I urge you to build up
as rapidly as Georgia’s resources will
admit the state university which our
forefathers created and which, with
its branch colleges and other high ed
ucational institutions, can develop the
mental powers of our young people
of both sexes for keeping this great
state abreast of her most ambitious
rivals.
School of Technology, Etc.
It is impossible to measure the
value to the state of the school of
technology. The high standard wh’ch
its graduates hold is finding its reflex
in the technical development of the
commonwealth from the mountains to
the seaboard. The modern demands
for education of this character in the
architectural and mechanical develop
ment of our people are so imperative
that we cannot afford to let this great
institution of V> arn i n £ lost aught of
£he high givdeVf efficiency now char-
Wiinm £ >t r - v
It is undoubtedly true that this
school has lost several of its leaning
instructors by reason of the inade
quate compensate n they received. 1.
therefore, urge you to appropriate the
sum ol ten thousand dol ars as an ad
dition to the annual maintenance fund
of the sad school, making same imme
diately available.
I also recommend the addition of
$7,500 each to the annual mainte
nance funds of the Georg a Normal
school and the Georgia Normal and In
dustrial school.
Payment of School Teachers.
In my annual message to your pre
decessors last year I stated that the
condition of the treasury had permit
ted the payment of but 10 per cent of
the amount due for expenses of the
common schools. I regret to report
that, the appropriations having in
creased in greater proportion than the
state’s income, i% has been impossible
to pay any amount as yet of the com
mon school appropriation for this
year.
During the past three months we
have made inquiry into the question
of the payment of teachers, that is,
we have sought to get the truth of
conditions as they are.
The result of the investigation
proves that the evil has not been ex
aggerated by those who have decried
it.
Briefly, we found that approximate
ly one-third of all the teachers in the
public schools of the state in 1912
were forced to wait from two to
twelve months for their pay, or, in
lieu of wai ng, had to discount their
claims at fiom 8 to 25 per cent.
1 urge upon you the ne
cessity for taking such steps as will
enable the executive office to make
prompt monthly payments as due on
the appropriation to the public
schools.
Economy in Appropriations.
While there has been a gratifying
increase in the taxable valuations ol
the property in the state, yet the de
mands for expenses to maintain
schools and other educational institu
tions and the civil list require more
than the present income of the state.
Hence, I urge your honorable bodies
to exercise great discernment and
care in the matter of appropriating
the people’s money; and that, so far
as can be made practicable without
militating against the actual needs of
the state’s institutions and the conduct
of the government, you exercise the
strictest economy.
Lawless Element in Certain Counties.
Within the past few months certain
lawless persons have posted notices in
Forsyth, Dawson, Cobb and other
counties, warning all negroes to move
from those counties under penalty of
destruction of their homes and lives.
Several of such threatened outrages
have b:en perpetrated through the dy
namiting of houses, besides the burn
ing of one store.
1 am reliably informed that quite a
number of farms in Forsyth county
have been practically abandoned this
year for lack of labor, which has fled
before these threats. The state can
not tolerate such a condition of affairs.
She cannot allow even a just resent
ment against lawless individuals to
take the shape of wholesale intimida
tion of labor necessary for the conduct
of farms and industrial enterprises.
I, therefore, recommend the enact
ment of a statute which will meet the
situation above indicated, and punish
all who would impair the powers of
honest labor. The penalty for dyna
miting or burning residences should
be fixed at $500.00 for each offemle
and rewards of such amounts, not
greater than $200.00 per person,
should be authorized for the arrest,
with proof to convict, of every one
guilty of posting threatening notices
or using other measures for intimi
dating people and driving them from
their homes.
Kailroad Commission.
Unnecessary offices which levy addi
tional taxes upon the people should
be abolished. It is against public pol
icy to maintain sinecures. 1 therefore
respectfully recommend to your hon
orable bodies the reduction of the
membership of the railroad commis
sion from five members to three.
When it is considered that only one
member of the five is required by law
to devote his entire time to the serv
ice of the office, and that the larger
number of members makes that body
cumbersome as well as needlessly ex
pensive, it is patent that it is to the
state’s interest to reduce the number
of commissioners and also to dispense
with the office of special attorney for
the railroad commission.
I will add that the interstate com
merce commission has assumed the
authority to raise intrastate rates
when it seems that these rates in
juriously affect interstate rates. The
lower courts have upheld that com
mission in this action. The supreme
court of the United States has prac
tically upheld, this position in a re
cent decision; hence it would appear
that a blow has been struck the rail
road commissions of the state. In
such event it would clearly be a waste
of the people’s money to maintain as
many as five members on this ccm
mission 'for’t‘ne' pVrpcEe"inaVfi!y' of’ su
pervising the occasional building of
depots end the ccl'.ect'cn of statistical
information.
Crimin'! Lews.
Inasmuch as cur penal laws have
undergone Blue change during the
past half century, it might be timely
for you to make inquiry looking to
amendments necessitated by changed
conditions and modern developments.
I wish to direct your attention to
one important change that is needed.
In misdemeanor cases, where prison
penalties with alternative fines are im
posed, leave should be given for pay
ment of the fine, or the pro rata por
tion of the fine due at any time be
fore the completion of the prison or
chaingang sentence. In most court
Jurisdictions it is held that once the
fine alternative is rejected, and the
period for accepting it elapsed, the
fine cannot be paid except by com
mutation from this office. In no case
will they pro rate the penalty, deduct
ing, as they do in cities, for the period
of time served by the prisoner.
This is manifestly unjust, amount
ing to a special penalty on gpverty and
misfortune. A great many persons
are unable to raise the amount of the
alternative fine when it is imposed
upon them, but later do raise it, or a
sufficient amount, allowing for the
time served, to meet the intent of the
sentence imposed. The only way they
can get relief is by coming to the ex
ecutive office with applications for
clemency, which puts them to unnec
essary expense and this office to much
trouble, all of which could be obviated
by your providing an automatic meth
od for prisoners to pay their fines at
any time before sentence is com
pleted.
Applications for executive clemency
are becoming more and more burden
some on the executive office. During
the past eighteen months this office
has been forced to consider nearly
1,000 of such appeals. Outside the
assistance rendered by the prison
commission, the executive office each
week is forced to read and answer
scores of letters, and see or otherwise
deal with scores of callers relating to
such applications. Inasmuch as the
constitution places full responsibility
In these matters on the governor, he
is in duty bound to examine each rec
ord and to make such investigations
and inquiries, in addition to those
made by the commission, as he thinks
proper.
The result is that this work takes
up a large proportion of the time of
the executive office, precluding atten
tion to other important business. In
addition to this, lack of time makes it
impossible for this office to pursue
investigation of many cases as thor
oughly as their importance demands.
Therefore I recommend that you
provide the governor with a pardon
clerk, or attorney, who shall devote
his entire time to assisting in handling
applications for executive clemency.
Taxes.
Again permit me tc repeat the rec
ommendation made in my general
message of last year, and previous
ones during a former administration,
relative to the urgent need of a better
method of assessing property for tax
ation.
It is but simple honesty to demand
that all property be required to bear
its just share of the expenses of the
government which gives it protection.
Therefore I recommend that you
amend the tax laws so as to provide
a method of assessment for and equal
ization of taxes more just than now
prevails.
Compulsory Arbitration Necessary.
During the fall of last year there oc
curred a strike by the employes ol
the street car company in Augusta
and another strike by certain em
ployes of the Georgia railroad, which
for a number of days prevented the
public from having the benefit of the
operation of these common carriers.
By the census of 1910 the city of
Augusta had a population of 41,040
people and the counties served by the
Georgia railroad had an aggregate of
682,182, These figures give an idea
of the widespread wrong which these
striking employes committed.
These two corporations were char
tered by the state for the purpose of
conducting commerce and the carriage
of passengers. The primary object of
their charters was service to the pub
lic. Consequently, when the charters
were granted and these roads were
built, a contract was virtually entered
into by the owners of these properties
and the state whereby the former
bound themselves to perform the du
ties of common carriers for the pub
lic and the latter bound herself to
-ut pun utiijoaj) aqy pun [ooqos
protect them in the peaceable per
formance of those duties. Not one
word was sad in those charters giv
ing the owners the right to suspend
the operation of the roads to the detri
ment of public convenience, or giving
the employes the same right. So long,
therefore, as either of those com
panies attempts to perform the duty it
asshmed, the state is under obligation
Id use extreme force, if necessary, to
npotect it in thus serving the public.
Hence u necessarily Icllcwe that
any person or combination of persons
who obstructs, intimidates or other
wise prevents the operation of the
contmen carriers str.kts a blow at the
interests <f the public : nd puts his cr
their wi 1 in conflict with the man
date cf the sovereign.
There is no escape, therefore, from
the conclusion that those em; loyes of
the street car company in Augusta
and of the Georgia railroad put them
selves in a state of open rebellion tc
the laws of Georgia. They ignored the
cardinal tent of republican govern
ment —viz: “There shall be equal
rights to all, special privileges to
none” —and arrogated to themselves
the exercise of special privileges for
settling their quarrels with their re
spective managements at the expense
and serious inconvenience of the pub
lie, and in a manner which embodied
defiance of the law which requires all
dwellers in the state having differ
ences which they cannot peaceably ad
just to submit them to the state 4 *
court b.
In considering the status of the pub
lic service corporations and their em
ployes, there is one factor which can
not be ignored. This is embodied in
the following w’ords found in the last
annual report of the railroad commis
sion of Georgia:
“In 1908 the railroads operating in
Georgia employed in Georgia 34,809
persons; in 1912 they employed 39,-
691.
“The wages paid these 39.C91 em
ployes in 1912 exceeded the wages
paid the 34,809 employes in 1908
$5,771,104.93 more than in 1908. This,
however, was to a larger number of
employes. The individual wage scales
show that, had the number of em
ployes for 1912 been kept the same as
in 1908, they are being paid $3,668,-
725.21 more than in 1908.
“In other words, the 34,809 em
ployes in 1908 received $3,668,725.21
more in 1912, which is an average in
crease to each railroad employe in
Georgia in 1912 over 1908 of more
than $105.00 per annum.
“The commission has taken ten
trunk line roads in the state—to-wit:
the Southern, the Seaboard, the At
lantic Coast Line, the Louisville &
Nashville, the Georgia Southern &
Florida, the Georgia railroad, the At
lanta & West Point, the Atlanta, Bir
mingham & Atlantic, the Central of
Georgia and the Western & Atlantic —
and their wage accounts show that
they paid in 1912 to the same num
ber of employes as in 1908, in wages,
$2,604,794.90 more than in 1908.
“The individual wage scale further
shows that by far the largest increase
in wages has been paid to employes
belonging to labor unions, such as en
gineers, firemen, conductors, train '
hands, etc.”
In other w r ords, while the average -
increase to each of the 34,809 em- J
ployes in 1912 over 1908 was $105.00
per annum, the average increase to
each member of a labor union was
larger by far, in some instances
doubtless, approximating $300.00 oi
more.
Hence we are brought face to face
with the fact that these unions or
combinations of employes, not only
on public service corporations, but, as
is generally known, on practically all
other corporations, have forced their
wages up above those received by
workmen in all other departments of
life who have not formed these ag
gressively militant combinations.
Tens of thousands of other citizens
who are not in thee unions, there
fore, are confronted by the fact that
the unions are levying a tax upon
them to the extent that they are forc
ing from the employers an inequitable
proportion of the wages paid to the
general classes in the state.
If the state not only authorizes
these unions or combinations to exact
higher wages than others receive, but
also permits them by authority of law,
or by winking at their violations of it,
to hold up the general public and rob
it of the facilities for transportation,
then 6he cannot claim the right tc
protect any farmer or other person
employing labor against his employes
who might strike and proclaim to him
that nobody else should work his crop
for him; that if he hired any other
employes they would burn his dwell
ing and barns, and, if need be, kill
him and his new employes to establish
their supremacy over him and his
property.
And if the state says to owners of
railroads, factories, etc., “You shall
pay tax on this property which you
have created or bought, but another
class shall control it; I hold you re
sponsible for keeping it in condition
for safely serving the public, but 1
allow them the privilege of wrecking
it or depriving the public of the use
of it,” then how can she protect a
farmer or any other citizen in the
right to control his property?
The same courts established by the
constitution and composed of judges
elected by the people, and jurors
chosen from the people, are open to
the members of labor unions on the
same guarantee of equality as they are
fj. mA ■ xP aB *aBK.. m ■ *
to farmers &r.a a.. .a the*
state, and no method of settlement c f
quarrels by labor anie ns which resuPs
in inconvenience and damage to the
j jblie should bt tee rated.
Or if the strikers are ret thug sup
ported by their brother members, they
ceu'd assess themselves a sum insig
nificant beside tie groFs amount of
wages lost during the period of the
strike and could have their case ad
judicated in the courts without in
flicting damage upen the unoffending
public.
Summing up the status of a strike
by employes on a public service cor
poration, we cannot fail to know that
there are more than, two parties to
such strikes. There is a third party—
the public—which is subjected to un
merited and unnecessary incon
venience and loss. And, above all,
there is a fourth party, viz: The state,
whose constitution the strikers have
ignored and whose laws they have
trampled under foot. Concerning this
fourth- and greatest party I will add:
* The’ crisis which a strike on a pub
lic service 1 corporation brings upon
the masses of the people is not only a
menace to their power to procure the
necessities ©f life, but iB also a chal
lenge to the very sovereignty of the
state, in that it arrogates to itself the
power to prevent the railroads from
performing the special functions for
which the state granted their char
ters, viz: Those of being common car
riers of persons and property.
The object lessons given by the*
striking employes of the street car
company in Augusta and of the Geor
gia railroad have been a practical
service of notice by the labor union
to the state of Georgia that its lw
within her borders is greater than,
her law; that the allegiance of ns
members to it is more binding than
the allegiance they owe to tier.
The executive office has not made
this issue; the state of Georgia has
not made it. The labor union baa
openly and recklessly thrown down
the gauntlet. The state, therefore,
cannot shrink from her duty to her
constitution and her people.
It is a matter of current note that
the power of the labor union to hurt
the general public and to terrorize pub
lic men anxious to retain offices of
honor and trust has been found in the
fact that in several communities it
votes solidly in blocks of- scores or
hundreds for those who cater to it
and against those who refuse to bow
to its demands; but I call your atten
tion to the fact that, besides multi*
tudes in the cities and towns whose
interests are jeopardized by its ex
actions, there are upwards of 200,000
voters in the rural portions of this
state whose welfare can oniy be pro
tected by holding the members of the
labor union to the same non-interfer
ence with the rights of others and
the same accountability to law which
they admit as governing themselves.
They will certainly claim that the la
bor union men, individually and col
lectively, are not better and have no
greater rights than they.
He, therefore, w T ho would remain in
public life would do well to merit the
approval of those myriads of law
abiding and peace-loving citizens be
side whose numbers the labor union’s
is a trifle.
The labor unions have bht a small
minority of the people of Georeia, yet,
by combinations which work through
strikes and kindred methods, they are
aggressively levying a toll upon all
the other elements of our citizenship.
In other words, they have organized
a trust and demand that all other peo
ple buy labor at whatever price they
choose to p”t upon it—and that price
is higher than other workmen in like
occupations receive and higher by far
than the people have ever paid be
fore. And contemporaneously, they
are endeavoring to force from-em
ployment all similar workmen who do
not join their orders. To attempt, as
non-union men, to compete with them
as laborers means to be treated with
open contumely, attended sometimes by
personal violence. To hire non-union
men means for employers to be boy
cotted and not infrequently to suffer
serious damage to their property.
Therefore, as the labor unions have
combined against all other classes in
their determination to defeat the
equality of opportunity assured by tne
laws of the state, .the necessity is
forced upon all other classes to stand
together in the refusal to concede lo
the unions the preferential privileges
they are endeavoring to exact for
themselvee alone.- Ahd, as the unions
have their pass-words, the password
of all other citizens should be: “The
Law.”
When a man does talk sense at
least half the people don't reconize
it.
Give us contentment and we
care not who invents perpetual
motion.
Sure things are sometimes un
certain. I