The Jacksonian. (Jackson, Ga.) 1907-1907, August 23, 1907, Image 3

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GEORGIA LEGISLATORS WIND HP THEIR WORK Catapult Progress Made in Closing Hours Which Were Extended to Sunday. WHAT WAS DONE Many Bills Carried Through on “Reform” Wave While Others Languish Until Next Session. The Georgia legislature adjourned jat Atlanta sine die Sunday morning lat 3:26 o’clock. The session will be •one as notable for the things left un idone as the actions accomplished. ; The senate had the Dest of the house 'this year in the matter of having its bills enacted into laws instead of house measures. Senate bill No. 1, the famous prohi bition bill, after a stormy fight through thirty-odd days, was the first ibill to be enacted into a general law. The first bill introduced in the house ! —the famous Wright anti-lobby bill — [goes over until next session with un- Ifinished business. The Overstreet-Candler bill—passed ifirst by the senate —was late Saturday night enacted into a law, having been passed by the house only last week. i The Felder-Williams disfranchise- I iment bill, passed in the senate early in the session, was only accepted by jthe house during the last days of the Session, and passed. The Hall anti-pass bill —passed ear jiy in the session by the house —was sent to the senate, where the sen iate turned it down and insisted on | jthe Born-Felder bill, neither |bf which were ever accepted by the other, and this 'Platform plank goes over to the next session, along with the Wright anti-lobby bill. The bill to create a state board of .bank examiners and to authorize the •tate treasurer to appoint additional bank inspectors to improve and Istrengthen the state banking ( laws, |was passed by the house and accepted by the senate, afterwards becoming ia law. i In the Overstreet-Candler bill, which increases the powers and number of railroad commission of Georgia, the ihouse won out on the main points in !toe bill. i The house forced the senate to yield lin the matter of having five commis sioners instead of U>eee. But not un- til after a stormy session had followed to the senate, where it was openly Charged by three senators that the gov ernor had lobbied with the changing Senators in a manner which, if the same had been done by railroad attor neys, would have brought forth a howl jof protest. | The senate, time and again, refused to accept three commissioners, and the governor was about to call an extra session to have this bill enacted into a law when the change of heart and Votes took place, and the bill was ac cepted, as amended, by the senate shortly before midnight Saturday night. The house also amended this bill so that if the governor has the right to appoint two additional commissioners to serve until they or their successors can be elected by the people, he can not name the chairman, but that oi fleer is to be elected by the commis sion. It was also fixed in the house to regulate gas, electric and water pow er companies and in addition to all these, cotton compress companies. It was upon the motion of Mr. Hall that the office of attorney to the com mission was created with an annual salary of $2,500, and this 'Place is to be filled by appointment from the gov ernor. In the same way the disfranchise ment bill which came to the house tor amendments got one of the strong est clauses attached which goes the proposed constitutional amend ment. It is in the third clause under which registration is to be had, if the amendment is ratified by a vote of the people. This is the “good charac ter clause,” which is to stand for all time, and is not to be limited to 1910 or 1911 as was suggested by the senate. Other than this the adminis tration bill was passed just as receiv ed from the senate. The general tax act was the cause of lengthening the session far into Sun day morning. It was the section of this important measure which placed a tax on social clubs keeping intox icants in lockers. By reason of the close relation to the subject matter it was swung into another prohibition fight, and it looked as though an ex tra session would be necessary to get this clause accepted by both houses. Sunday morning at 3:15 it was agreed to tax these locker clubs SSOO instead of S3OO as proposed by Mr. Wright in the house or $10 ; 000 as pro posed by the senate. This compromise was not effected until the general as sembly was worn out, tired and sleepy. The governor sent a special message to the general assembly asking for an income tax on all railroads In the state. The house declared against income taxes. An amendment to the act call ing for an income tax on the manu facturers of soda fount sirups was of fered and voted down. The house refused to raise the com inon school fund to $2,000,000, but when the senate stood out for that amount for 1908 instead of $1,850,000, as fixed in the house, the house con curred, as it did for several other mi nor appropriations. Asa reinfcrcer of the prohibition law the house Saturday night passed the bill which prohibits the sale of nar cotics, except on physicians’ prescrip tions. The greatest interest had been aroused over what has been commonly called the “water power bill,” that was tabled Saturday night anu IdTied for the session. This bill provides the right of eminent domain for public utility corporations, and gives them the right to condemn other water power com panies for the public good. One of the most important pieces of legislation that was allowed to go over without enactment was the Hardeman resolution calling for the appointment of a legislative commission to investi gate the alleged ownership of the Cen tral o! Georgia by the Southern, any other corporation or individual in vio lation of the constitution of Georgia. Another important resolution not act ed upon was that by Mr. Johnson of Jasper, which called for the creation of a commission to investigate who is getting the benefit of reduced freight rates since the rates have been re duced to the jobber and the prices to the consumer continue to soar sky ward. The bill which raises the price of fertilizer tags from 10 to 25 cents passed in the house by a big major ity, but was not passed in the senate. It was hoped by the terms of this bill to raise $160,000 to support the eleven district and university colleges of ag riculture. Among the last bills to be passed were two of widespread interest. The first was that of Senator Dobbs,where by railroads are compelled to furnish refrigerator cars for the immediate use of shippers after being ordered and providing a heavy penatly for non compliance. The other was a “Sun day bill.” This bill provides for the creation of a stato board of examin ers for trained nurses, and was pass ed Sunday morning. While the s-ssicn was most fruitful many important bills not here enum erate went over to the next session. Repeated recesses were taken be tween midnight and adjournment. Dur ing these lulls there were mock ses sions of the legislature with various humorists in the speaker’s chair; oth er wits about the floor and a general jollification all round. The house threw spit balls until their arms ached; sang until thev were hoarse and danced un til they * were sore. To the tune of ••God Be With You Till We Meet Agai n ” the solons departed and de bate will be cut off in the capitol un til June, 1909. TEDDY WONT MEDDDLE Will Take No Hand in Settlement ol Strike of Telegraphers—Both Sides Still Remain Firm. President Roosevelt will not con cern himself personally with the tel egraphers’ strike, according to the best and latest information obtainable. Ap peals to the president to take some action looking to a settlement of the strike were received at the executive office in Oyster Bay Wednesday from boards of trade and commercial bod ies of a large number of cities. The applications were similar to those for mulated by the Chicago board of trade. The communications have been refer red to the commissioner of labor, Mr. NeUl. It is understood that no instruc tions or recommendations have been forwarded to Mr. Neill. The strike situation in Chicago and throughout the middle west, Wednes day night, according to officials of the Western Union and Postal, showed that duing the twenty-four hours pre ceding the companies whose men went on strike have made rapid strides to wards getting their business back on a normal basis. Conditions have improved so much with the Western Union Telegraph company they felt they were justified in opening their board of trade office, and announcement was made that they would have telegraph operators on the floor Thursday morning when the mar ket opened, ready to accept business for all parts of the country. The Postal telegraph officials de clare that they were more than satis fied with what they had accomplished toward getting the service going, and that it will be but a short time until branch offices will be opened for busi ness. Peace efforts inaugurated by Samuel Gompers and other officers of the American Federation of Labor are still under way, according to a statement made by President Gompers: “Peace has not failed, because peace has not been considered by either side up to the present time. While the men are still answering the implse to strike, there is little, if any, use in trying to get them to think of going back,” said Mr. Gompers. All the Associated Press circuits ra diating from Chicago to the east, the north and the west, were restored to normal working basis on Wednesday morning. There was little change in the tele graph strike situation Wednesday as far as concerns New York. The West ern Union and Postal Telegraph com panies profess to be thoroughly satis fied with the progress made toward normal conditions. On the other hand the leaders of the strikers declare their cause has been strengthened by the responses to the calls to go out in many of the cities where strikes had not already been inaugurated. The demands of the striking Asso ciated Press operators forwarded tc General Manager Stone are as fol lows: Day Work —Six days, eight hours day, $3O per week and overtime and extra, at the rate of CO cents pel hour. Night Work —Six nights, fight hours $35 a week and overtime and extra ai the rate of 70 cents per hour. The vacation to remain as at pres ent. A proportionate increase for chiefs and sub-chief operators. CORTELYOU IN THE BREACH. Secretary of Treasury Goes to Reliei on Money Market. Secretary of the Treasury Cortf:lyou has decided again to come to the re lief c*l the money market and distrib ute government bonds to aid the move ment of crops this year. The plan pursued last year again will be followed with some modifica tion, but in general it will be that for merlly adopted by Secretary Shaw. RAILROAD EMPLOYEES GUILTY. Conductor, Engineer and Two Dispatchers Held Responsible for a Collision. The coroner’s jury at Raleigh, N. C., investigating into the cause of a head on collision between a freight and pas senger train on the Southern railway near Auburn on August 6 in which a freight engineer and two firemen were killed, found that Engineer Ripp y and Conductor Oakley, B. R. Ketchum, chief train dispatcher, and Victor Par vin, train dispatcher, were guilty of gross negligence and carelessness. All four will be trieKl for manslaughter. WALL STREET TRIES A SCARE Solid Business of Country, How ever, is Not Disturbed. FAKE CRY OF “WOLF” Slump in Stoc’c Market Attributed te Standard Oil Gang’s Manipulation and Scheme Falls Flat. A Washington special says: Stocks have been declining the past few days at a great rate, and the Wall street speculators are declaring that the rea son for it is that the president seems about to enforce the laws of the Unit ed States. Mr. Roosevelt has been president of the United States nearly seven years. Exactly why anybody should come to the conclusion that now he Is going to enforce the laws against the trusts does not appear to the ordinary mind, but almoic anything appears to the stock gambler’s mind. The exposure of the methods of the Standard Oil company, which, after several years’ delay, Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, under the direction of Mr. Roosevelt, is making, is no evidence that anything ts going to be done about it, and if anything is done it seems very clear to those who watch the situation at close range that only the Standard Oil company will suffer. The Standard Oil company gets no benefit from the tariff regulations. All other big trusts which have been sell ing abroad cheaper than at home, for instance, are enabled to commit this iniquity by the tariff regulation. It is certain, almost beyond perad venture, that the government is not likely to touch any of the trusts which are protetced by the tariff. It is known that a certain group of financiers, shown as the Standard Oil are the most powerful manipulators in Wall street; and, although Stand ard Oil stock itself is known as a curbstone, that is, it Is not bought and sold on the stock exchange, it. is also known that this Standard Oil group has a hand in nearly every big transaction on the exchange. Stand ard Oil could, therefore, easily bring about a decline in the prices of most of the stocks. This, it is thought in Washington, is what is being done, in order to frighten the administration and prevent further proceedings against the Standard 0:1 company. Stocks may continue to decline and the panic on Wall street, inspired by the Standard Oil group, may cause thousands of panicky and <asily fooled American Investors to lose piles of money, but reports from every quarter of this country are to the effect that times were never better, the crop outlook is bright-r than it has been for years, all the great industries of the country are prospering, people have money and they have produce to be hauled by railroads and to be hand led by manufacturers, merchants and consumers. Thtre canont be any hard times when such conditions as these obtain and a cry of “wolf,” "wolf,” in Wall stret is a false alarm, as all wise men know. eYt, of course, there is only one man in America who can save the coun try. He is at present pitching hay up at Oyster Bay. SUMMER RESORT FIRE-SWEPT. Hotel Section of Old Orchard, Maine, Wiped Out With Heavy Loss. Nearly one-balf of the summer ho tel section along the shore front al Old Orchard, Maine, was swept by fire Thursday night, the 1()S3 probably amounting to fully half a million dol lars. The Hotel Fluke, valued at $50,- J 00; the Hotel Emerson, valued at $75,000; the Hotel Alberta, the Aldine, the Lawrence house and half a dozen smaller hotels, together with about fifty cottages, were destoryed. HEW’ YORK IN NEED OF CASH. City Unable to Secure Wherewith to Pay Pressing Obligations. Admission is made in New York that the city is hard pressed to pay its bills due to the present tight money mar ket and a consequent inability to dis pose of city bonds. The result is that one of the richest cities in the world Is poor, so far as ready cash is con cerned, for the first time in the mein cry of living man. It is stated that there is about $1,000,000 on hand to meet nearly $4,000,000 of pressing ob ligations. CONFLICT IMPENDING Between Little South American States, According to Surprising Lews Reaching Washington. The news from Mexico of an impend ing conflict between all of the Cen tral American states except Costa Rica was received in Washington on Thursday with surprise and incredul ity, for up to that time all of the ad vices from that quarter of the world which had reached Washington were to the effect that the asperities caused by the last Nicaraguan attack upon Acatutla, Salvador, has been smooth ed down under the combined influ ence of the governments of Mexico and United States. Indeed, It was the belief of the state department officials that arrangements were about to be perfected for a con ference in Washington next fall or winter of delegations from the Central American states, the only obstacle be ing the reluctance of each of the par ties to taking the initiative in asking for the conference. Only Wednesday the state depart ment received a cablegram from Amer ican Minister Lee at Guatamala City, stating that Guillermo Aguirre, the minister of finance of Guatamala, ac companied by Senor Mato and another official, had just left that city for the City of Mexico for the purpose of meet ing Secretary Root upon his approach ing vist there. It Is understood that this Guatamalan delegation is clothed with full power to represnt their gov ernment in the effort to Improve the relations between Guatamala and Mexico, which have not yet recovered from the strain to which they were subjected as the result, of the refusal of President Cabrera to surrender to Mexico for trial the alleged instigators of the assassination of the late Gen eral Barillas. Ail official statements relative to Secretary Root’s projected - trip har been to the-effect that It Is to be ab solutely unconnected with politics, but it is scarcely expected he would re fuse to meet the GuutaifTulun de-lega tion, in view of his freely expressed desire to use his best efforts to pre serve the peace in the south. For the same reason, if the meeting takes place, and war has not in the mean time broken out between the Central American states, It is probable that Secretary Root would feel It his duty to pass beyond the simple question of the relations between Guatamala and Mexico and endeavor to Impress upon the delegations the wisdom of conserv ing the peace with their other neigh bors. EMPLOYEES GIVEN A REST. Wholesale Vacations Granted By Big Man ufacturing Company. The Clark O. N. T. Thread company, which employes several thousand hands, posted a notice Thursday to the effect that the Newark mill will close down from August 24 until Septem ber 3, while the bill In Kearney will close on the same day and remain closed ftnt.ll September 10. The demand for vacations became so great that the company found It would almost empty the mills to grant all the applications and decided to let all hands rest at once. SPIES OF THE GOVERNMENT Employed on Railroads and Trust Combi nations Throughout the Country. Secret service agents of the United States department of justice, working through the bureau of corporators, are said to he on the pay rolls of all the big railway corporations and trust combinations in the country. In Chicago alone, it. is said, there aro at least 150 special men who are working fior railroads and packing ! house companies, and are watching ev | ery move that is made with a view to ! ascertaining whether the corporation | | a wa are observed in letter and spirit PRAYERS PROVED UNAVAILING. Father Allowed Child to Die Without s Physician and i3 Arrested. Ruth Anna Peterson, a 15-montha-oK child, Is dead of whooping cough at her home in Tottenville, Staten Island, and the police who allege that the child died without medical attention, piac and the father under arrest on a charge of manslaughter. Peterson told the coro ner that neither he nor h'-a wife were members of any cult, but believed in the efficacy cf prayer, nanquec.