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About The Henry County weekly. (McDonough, GA.) 18??-1934 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 1910)
Proposed Amendment to Constitution. I’roviding a Presentation for City of Augusta to Increase Its Indebted ness. By his Excellency, Jost j h M. Brown, • Governor. Atlanta. Ga August 3,1910. Whereas, the General Assembly at its ■session in 1909 proposed an amendment to the Constitution of litis State, as set forth in an Act apj roved August 16th j 909, to-wit; An act to amend Paragraph cite of Sec- j lion seven of Article sevtn of the Const!- ; tntion of this Sta te, so us 1 to provide for j allowing the City Ctuneil cf Augusta, | which owns both a power producing ca- J nal and water works, to increase it* bonded indebtedness beyond the amount | now allowed under said paragraph, im- j der certain circumstances,. for the pur . pose of flood protection. \ Section 1. Be it enacted by the Gen ! oral Assembly of the Stale of Georgia, j and it is hereby enacted by the authnviiy J of the same, That paragraph one of Sec- ; tion seven of article seven of the Consti- j tuition of thie State is hereby r.mended Wv j adding at the end of said paragraj h the , following words: “Except that, the' City Council of Augusta, from time to time a‘s j necessary, for the purpose of protection against floods, may incur a bonded in debtedness upon its power producing ca-1 jial and municipal waterworks, in addi- j .tion to the debts herein! efore in this par gigraph allowed to be incurred, to amount in the aggregate not exceeding fifty per centitm of the combined value of such properties; tl o valuation of such proper ties to be fixed as may be prescribed by law, but said value not to exceed a figure percent, on which shall represent the net r venue per annum produced by the two such properties together at the time of said valuation, and such indebtedness not to be incurred except with the asst lit of two-thirds of the qualified voters of such city, at an election or elections for that purpose, to lie held as may be now, or jnay hereafter, prescribed .by law for the incurring of the new debts by the said Gity council of Augusta, so that said par agraph when amended shall read as fol- lows : “Paragraph 1 The debt hereafter in curred by any county, municipal corpo ration or political division of this State, except as in this Constitution provided for, shall not exceed seven per centum of the assessed value of nil the taxable prop erty therein, and no such county, muni cipality or division shall incur any new debt, except for a temporary loan or loans to supply casual d» fieiencies of rev enue, not to exceed one-fifth of one per eentum of the assessed value of taxable property therein, without the assent of two-thirds of the qualified voters thereof, at an election for that purpose, to be held as may be prescribed by law; but iiny city, the debt of which does not ex ceed seven per centum of the assessed value or the taxable property at th 3 time of the adoption of this Constitmi in, may be authorized by law to increase, at any time, the amount ef said debt, three jer centum upon such assessed valuation; except that the Oily council of Augusta, from time h'o lime, as necessary, for the purpose of protection agaii st floods, may incur a bonded indebudness upon its power producing canal and municipal waterworks, in addition to the debts hereinbefore in this paragraph allowed to be incurred, to an amount- in the ag gregate not exceeding fifty j.er centum of the combined value of such properties, the valuation of such properties to be fixed as may be prescribed by law, i<u" * said valuation not to exceed a figure five percent, on which shall represent the net revenue per annum produced bv the two properties together at the time of said valuation, and such indebtedness net to be incurred except with the assent of two thirds of the qualified voters of such eiiy. at an election or elections for that pur pose to be held as may be now, or may be hereafter, prescribed by law for the in curring of new debts by said the City council of Augusta.” Sec. 2. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whenever the above proposed amendment to the Con stitution shall be agreed to two-thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly, and the j same has been entered on their journals, , with the ayes and nays taken thereon, the Governor shall, and he is hereby au thorized and instructed to cause said amendment to be published in at least two newspapers in each Congressional district, in this State for the period of two months next preceding the time of hold ing the next general election. Sec. 3, Be it further enacted by the antharity aforesaid, That the above pro posed amendment shall be submitted for ratification or rejection to the electors of this State at the next general election to be held after publication as provided for in the second Section of this Act, in the several election districts of this State. at which election every person shall be qualified to vote who is entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly. All persons voting at such election in favor of adopting the proposed amend ment to the Constitution shall have writ ten or printed on their ballots the words: “For amendment allowing City of Au gusta to increase its bonded indebtness ■ ; : - 'Ufi'.r **'? 'ilWKl U ’ ' ■ -■ ' . ♦ ' • *r'f' ' ' -f --h ~ ’ , • aw ■ lit-. ~-o f •' '>• • ’ v * ‘ V ' .V-C. ; y, - ‘ -- A-i.-J* * •sa’ ■ -. r \ y s'* ~ -• \ i £•***•’ Vjv = SS* .< 1 ' • . " ■ ..; f * . • ' '•/' ■ y '' I;.- ' x "'i k ' s - ■ . ■-> . GOVERNOR HOKE SMITH. Hat Smith’s Acccmplishcd in Two Years. Passed the Disfranchisement Law, which removed the negro from participation in the political affairs of Georgia. The registratieu of whites this year is 261,145, while that of the negroes is but 11,235, a number of counties ret having a tiozeri blacks on the registration lists. Passed the a v enlarging the Railroad Commission and increasing its powers; sustained it in reducing passenger fares, so that the people of the State are now saving a million dollars a year on that Item alone. When Joseph M, Brown was Railroad Commissioner he voted against reducing passenger fares. Compelled the railroads to treat shippers with fairness in the matter cf demurrage and complaints, so that shippers are now given prompt eon <dd: rsticn in these mutters where formerly they were wearied cut with delays. t Cut off free passes, an insidious form of bribery, which was the chief stock i i trade of the lobbyist. Passed the law to prevent corporations from contributing money to politics. rasssd the law to compel candidates to publish their e'cction ex penses. Paste d the iaw to prevent snap judgment on the people by the cn 11 - irg of early primaries, ro that no primary can be held more than two months before the regular election. Passed the new registration law which prevents the registering of purchased vs'e? and imported voters on the eve of an electio-n, and gives time and opportunity for purifying the registration iists and fir any voter whose name is cut off by the registrars to have his case heard and his name restored tc the list which was impossible under the old lav/. Abolished the Convict Le;s? System and put the convicts on the pub ic reads despite the efforts of the opposition to provide for leasing part cf them and putting some on the Wimberly farm. Saved the State nearly SIOO,OOO by refusing to buy the aforesaid farm, which was the only one the Prison Commission would racommend, though it was wholly unsuited to the purposes, and was exorbitant in price, even if tho State had needed a farm—which it did not. Established Juvenile Courts, inaugurated a Parole System for Pen itentiary convicts, pardoned and set free many incurably tick and helpless convicts, freeing the State from that burden ana turning them over to their friends; established a State Sanitarium for consumptives; added $600,000 a year to the School fund, and for the first time in the history of the public schools drew warrants on the Treasury paying every claim due teachers before the year closed. Increased the taxes paid by the railroads half a million dollars, thus lightening the burdens of the people, yet working no injustice to the cor porations which had escaped the payment of their proportionate share of the taxes. Relied successfully on the local authorit es to preserve order during the Georgia Railroad strike and thereby prevented riots and bloodshed forcing an arbitration between the corporation and its firemen, whose places were being given to negroes. Being a man of ideas, he announced his principles. Being a man of the people, he stood for the people. Le ng a man of his word, ne kept his promises. Being a practical man of affairs, he conducted a business ad ministration, met the expenses as they fell due, never advertised to the world that the State was facing a deficit when the Treasury balance sheet showed the conditions to be two million dollars the other way. AND HOKE SMITH NEVER SUGGESTED A BOND ISSUE TO MEET CURRENT EXPENSES. I’or fl tod protection,” anil all persons op posed to the adoption of the amendment j shall have written or printed on their | ballots the words: “Against amendment j allowing City of Augusta to increase its bonded indebtedness for II nil protec tion ” Sec. 4. Ik* it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Governor be and he is hereby authorized and di rected to provide r or the submission of the amendment proj>os< d in the first Sec tion of this Act to a vote of the jienple as required'by the Constitution of this State in jiaragraph one of Section one of article thirteen, and by this Act, ajid if ratified, the Governor shall, when he as certains such ratification from the Sec retary nf State, to whom the returns shall be referred in the manner as in oasi-sof election for members of the Gen eral Assembly to count and ascertain the results, issue his proclamation for one inseriion iu one of the daily j aj/eis of i tills State, announcing such result and declaring the amendment ratifii d. Sec. 5. -Beit further enamed by the authority aforesaid, That all laws ami parts of laws in conflict with this Act, be, and the same are, hereby repealed. • i Now, therefore, I. Joseph M. Brown, Governor of said State, do issue this hit proclamation, hereby declaring that the ; foregoing proposed amendment to the Constitution is submitted for ratifica-! tion or rejection to the voteis of the state qualified to v >te for membeis of the Gen eral Assembly at the general election to be held on Wednesday, October sth, 1910. JOSEPH M. BROWN, Governor. By tha Governor. PHILLIP COOK, Secretary Slate. Baseball Galore. The McDonough team has in dulged id several games of base ball this week. Wednesday the Jonesboro team came and were defeated in the prettiest game seen here this sea son. it was a 10 inning game and the score was 4 to 3. Thursday the Senoia team came fyr three games, and in the first game were defeated in a poor game by a score of 5 to 0. The second game of the series will be played thir afternoon and the third Saturday afternoon. Just received some nice fresh country grown sweelf potatoes. Copeland-Turner Merc. Co. BKOWN’S MESSAGE SENT OUT GARBLED State Flnodsii With Big Circu lar R&ip< rkshle For • Cridisions. GOVERHOH mis OWN rR’NTEO W3333S Claim that Br-wn Raised Pric r of Cotton Denojt eeii by Farmers. Un ion News—Campaign of Bluff and Deception. In tho closing hours of the campaign there is being sent broadcast over the state from Governor Brown’s headquarters a c’:iss of political liter ature that th' vo’ors may well regard with suspicion, its effect is to mis lead-and deceive. Governor Brown’s messages are l:c* Lag garbled by himself or his cam paign mating-, as i 1 those portions cat out which he ’rows the people are ready-to reptuilue. This is but o: c cf n number of bc a ernes to ira.ro e upon and delude the votere. Governor Brown has, in two mes sages to the legislature, recoiunu -d --ed, urged ami ; ,gt:od for a bond issue of $600,000 vh.i which to meet a pr.rt of the current expenses of the mate, which would violate the settled policy of Georgia and set a mo; t uangero.,s precedent. The slogan cf “Brown and Bread’ has become one of “Brown and Bends.” Suppresses Hir, Own Recommendation. Yet an immense four-page circular, which is being sent out from Brown headquarters, containing pretended copies of the Governor’s messages, omits the twice-made recommendation of a bond issue. Why does Governor Brown, in his messages ft)-the Legislature, call for $600,000 of bonds with which to meet the current expenses of the State, and then in his appeal for votes emit the recommendation? Is it fair to the vot er to thus deceive him? It is done because he knows the peo ple of Georgia will not trust the Treasury and the disbursing of over five million dollars to a Governor who proposes to plunge the State into a bond issue to meet the ordinary ex penses of his administration. Here is the Record. Here are Governor Brown’s own words, first appearing in his message of 1909 and repeated in his message of 1910, but suppressed in the mes sage which he has sent to the voters of Georgia when asking re-election: “The Cuncial Assembly should propese, and Rubirik to ii:e people of this Slate an amendment to Uio (Ji r.utltutinn au thorising the issuance of about ?GOO.oGO of bonds, the proceeds of which should be used to create a puvmant nt loan fund to be loaned every spring to the school fund for the payment of teachers’ salaries, and returned to this lean fund in Decem ber when the tuxes are collected." The voters can not find the recom mendation in the messages going out from Brown headquarters, but they can tind it. in the printed copies lur nished to the Legislature and in the printed Journals of the House and Senate. Denies His Own Words. Governor Brown in his address to the people published August 9tii says: “x\s to the Railroad Commission, Governor Smith aays that the pres ent administration seeks to take from the Railroad Commission the fight to supervise the stock and bond issues of public service companies. No such attempt has been made cither directly or indirectly.” The above statement is astounding in the face of the following quotation from Governor Brown’s message of July 1, 1909, page 27: “Railroad Commission. —I respect fully call your attention to the amend ment, or addition, to the Railroad Commission Law, approved August 22, 1907, regulating the issuance of stocks and bonds by common carrier corpora tions. The theory upon which the above amendment was founded is, on the surface, quite tenable, but an ex amination by you will show that the result will be. the practical stay in railroad building in Georgia save of branch or short lines.” Does Governor Brown read his own messages? Is he simply forgetful? Or is he afraid of his own record and try ing to mislead the people? More Instance, cf Omission. He has in his messages recommend ed that the Railroad Commission be weakened by reducing the membership from five to three; that its rate ex port be taken away and its special at torney be cut off; by taking from it the power to regulate public service cor porations other than the steapa rail roads; and by taking from it the pow er to prevent watering of stocks by public service corporations. All of which is emitted from his big circular of campaign literature. Is that treating the voters with the fairness thit should characterize the campaign methods of a candidate for Governor? Condemned Again By the Record. Governor Brown, himself in his ad dress to the people published in the newspapers of August 9th, says of the reduction in passenger fares: “The reductions in passenger rates were made by the railroad commission while I was a member of it. The rate fixed for the Central and the Southern railway sys tems was 2 1-2 cents per mile. I voted for that rate. It has never been changed. The rate fixed for the Atlantic Coast Line and the Georgia railroad was 2 1-4 cents Rer mile. I voted against that rate, de clttxinu i* U& lutlJJ- - l 5 his is a siuuied effor* to mislead, for the minutes of the Railroad Com mission show that when the various amendments had been voted upon and disposed of and the only question be fore the commission was that of re ducing railroad fares, Commissioner Joseph M. Brown voted “no” and the reductions weie made in spite of hia vote. Claims Raised Price of Cotton. In the big circular referred to the Ebsurri cl ira - nr de that Govern*}? Brown lias raised tho price of to. on to lfi 1 i cents. Thu tlaim is an insult to the Intel l ligema cf the f..nre;but it is cn a level with tire ether claims and the methods o p the' politicians who aie i.i charge of Brown headquarters. Have the fa:me. j of Gef. ,ia rot rived ary ! '.ore l :r th ir to ton than was ie ccivr.J by the farnurs of Texas and all (he of r southern itatc :? The Farmers’ I men Nc. . th ct!l -rial organ oi tho Farmers’ Union, in its issue of August 3, 1910, clenou eoa this political clap ! -y of the hn * l politicians. In a dduble-eclumn edi torial headed “i’olitic ians Cluimiv.s Credit for Better Prk os,” it says: Politicians Claiming the Credit for Pott.-r Prices. “Jr.m :i was pieilicw l in tin* <••>! mna i f A •:* )> \ .>*• s«u > iul in .• i.. 0 cvec-wat.lifnl jx liticians i. ... l'l-i: i to Texas, vviio seek for s-.a •- lot to oled ion, will be ami ;■ u’.uin r ci t for higher prices «. f l.:.rn > ■=. '• i never li or the p- litic.n:: ■ i the 1 ur ine! s’ I'll. >n credit li v ao.vi It) “Cotton was sell iif. I. t s.x e< ; r pound M,\ V(-,-us a,. •, ivl’i n the K; ? Unli n bfgan We sm-ci ,ih.l in i •.. .:gi; • ice .: < .ton to ten eeiiis, then t • twi ive. and <i, a Inst season we could sell it at rtf tec :i cents, ft has si.ld hl t -.„ as si.sto-u a; 1 nne-hnlf cents, and in the luce . f these facts you will find politicians g, ing out . f their way to claim credit h r this is c : i prices, li' Ik l’er times, in c.;;y fcjtate me due lo tile ailin;nist:ats n, it ci is the a Iministi a tic n }>: • • sing the ..no In which the good times occur. “Tho p liticians will m t Le aide to (> «>l many h.ik wall tips guile; they lwiovv and ought to knovv tiiat we know that no State administrations affects tho prims* of cotton and oilier farm products, and yet they l a-g tho aud?<Jty U ir-ult tho cotton growers by claiming tTiO : . q>< ::s.- bilily for higher prices for cotton. ’’ I he politician who thinks he can cram such rot down.our threats has not k* t pace with the intellectual awakening which the Farmers' t ni<\n l-.as wrouglit among the tillers of th? sell. Every where the farmers will lie found resent ing such insults to their intelligence, and tile politician who attempts it will Hse hundreds of votes among the farmers. "We call upon our readers lo look about them find see who is trying to stuff them with such rot. The attempt is being made, and we have the evidence. Wo are notifying the farmers; they don’t have to take our word for it, but if they will notice tHoir w« ekjy papers and < ;im palgn literature, they will see that the attempt we mention is being made.” Governor Brown claims that he was elected by the farmers of Georgia, ir so why does he feed upon such chaff as that he has raised tiie juice of cotton, that, he h"s done for them that which they know they have done for themselves, assisted by the grow ing demand for our great staple in all the countries of the globe. Why does he not tell the farmers frani ly and truthfully that his admir.Htr tion has dene nothing for them except to tax their dogs? Brown’s Treasury Always “Broke.” For business methods corftpare the administration of Governor Hoke Smith with that e’f his successor. No suggestioy of a bo id i me by Hoke Smith, and despite the loss of a ou :r --ter of a million dollars of revenue from liquor licenses, and the incense in the appropriation far education, ev ; ery obligation was met as it m tured 1 and the surplus was increased about $400,000; while -Governor Brown, af j ter a little more than a year in nflkc ! sent to the Legislature on August 1 a 1 special message announcing that by September 1 the St :fe Treasury would be practically empty. Wonderful m: n, who can ra'se the price of cottcm throughout the civi’- teed world and bring prosperity to nU North America, hut who enn rot man age "the finances of the State without the incessant t ry that the trou: :ry is “broke.” Would Net Duy *7 s ’a-i.nal3. • The Legasi . * c o. 19. 9 v. airing tc jirotcctjh 0 interests of tho Western and A Lit. n tic raihoad, directed him tc purchase certain terminal properties in the edge of Ch?.ttanoega, but he re fused to to so, <)!t the ground that thu State did not have the money; but when tho Legislrtuie demanded a better reason he decia. ed he had re fused to. buy because thirty four years ago, when the heart of Chattanooga was flooded by an overflow of the Tennessee river, and the floor of the passenger dejtot itself was submerged, the property in question was also partly under water. Yet people are today building homes on that land. Campaign of Bluff and Deception. This cuinjtaign of bluff and bluster, deception and humbuggery, has taken the form of interviews and statements from pretended Hoke Smith men, whose utterances it is hoped will in fluence voters. This fraud has been repeatedly exposed, but icok out for it, it is the last desperate effort of a po litical syndicate whose candidate gar bles his own message and suppresses his own recommendations, and whose campaign promises of 1908 have gone to protest, and whose “reforms” have gone into bankruptcy, due he says, to the fact that the Georgia Legislature is still for Hoke Smith’s policies and refuses to adopt his own! Full line of Red Seal Zephyrs and fancy Madras in solid, stripes and plaids in ajl the new shades. Nothing better for school dresses, they have the appearance and wearing qualities of fine imported fabrics, they are tub-proof. Copeland-Turncr Merc. Co. I
