Newspaper Page Text
Fitzoerald Enterprise.
BY THE
I ZGERALD PUBLISHING CO.
ISSE MFRCER -....coens-covrvrm e Ediltor and Manager.
PUBLISHED THRICE-A~WEEK:
TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY.
ONE DOLILAR.
. & Thursday, February 15, 1906, o
CLARK HOWELL AND
THE LIQUOR QUESTION,
A Baptist preacher, Rev. M. D. Pope, asked
Mr. Howell at Moultrie Monday to define
his positon on the liquor question. Mr. Howell
was not ready for the question altho he prob
‘ably knew that it would be fired at him when
he started this campaign. He tarried a little
and then asked the preachar to repeat his ques
t'on. The reverend gentleman arose and re
peated ‘I would like to hear your views on the
liquor question.”” Mr, Howell said:
“I favor the present local option system in
force in this state.”’
“Each county should have the right to say
‘what it wants in this matter. Butwhen a coun
ty votes liquor out itself, the strong arm of the
state should get back of that county and see te
it that no 1 quor goes there, either through blind
tigers, express shipments or otherwise.””
He d d not explain that when each county
comes to decide that important question that
the negro vote is the most important factor in
the contest. That every wet county in the
state is kept so by the negro vote and tbat in
every county of the s'ate where, by local option,
‘the bar rooms have been voted out, that it has
been necessary to overcome this negro vote,
which is nearly always wet—as wet as Mr,
Howell—and easily bought with whiskey or
money.
Mr. Howell neglected to state that every
saloon mau in Georgia is a local optionist just
like he is.
oA
The Grady County Times is tremendously
Jim Smithy, and says a great many rash things
about the othe candidates, or rather the back
ing of the other candidates. The main- point
it makes is that the farmers are stroog in
Georgia and Jim Smith is a farmer, It is a
great pity the Times does not take up farmer
Rodenbery, of the new county of Grady. He
is a farmer and as smart a man as Jim Smith
and much closer to the Times.
We appoint Editor Mercer to go to Cordele
at once and try to settle that newspaper row,
which seems to be getting ‘‘dangerous.”’—
Vienna News.
Why, Adkins, would you push us into the
danger zone? There is nothing in the world we
fear more than danger.
O
If Tioke hasn’t got Clark skinned a mile
then we lisk our reputation on the statement
that there is no mile to skin.
MOm
This is the day .
To
Clean
Up
Your premises, particularly the back yard.
MM
The Atlanta News announces inlines that
span the whole of the front page, that it is free.
Free from all litigation, free from corporate
domination and (in small type) free from John
Temple Graves. Itannounces that the:
“Story of Hanson's conspiracy to control or
wreck th: N:ws will be given to pecple at once.
How Hanson and his allies attempted, but failed
‘utterly, to capture an independent, free news
paper and operate it under dictatorial and cor
porate policv, will be told. Conspiracy to domi
nate the Atlanta News and how Hanson and
others attempted to wreck, ruin and throttle the
property. Their miserable failure in this pur
pose now a matter of court record.”
“In this combination to rule or wreck the
Atlanta News stands pre-eminently the figure of
J. F. Hanson, Presideat of the Central Railway
. LCompany and the chief dictator of corporate in
terests in the state of Georgia.. This man set
about deliberately to capture this paper, body
and soul, and attempted in the most outrageous
manner to secure control and domination of the
<aterprise. In this he failed miserably and utter
iy, and because of his desperation upon being
orevented in his scheme and purpose he aided,
betted and instigated in part the litigation
which bas involved this paper.”
& “Colonel Clifford L. Anderson, for Colonel
Praves, stated that his client would not enter in
%o a trial cf the issues involved in the cross-bill,
but that he would tender his resignation as ed
étor-in-chief of the Atlanta News and withdraw
, ?rom the paper.
& “Thereupon the court dismissed all of the
Zproceedings in the case, leaving the Atlanta
Publishing Company and Charles Daniel,
its Maoager, andJ. W. Eoglish, Jr. relieved
1\..,_» *-, . » " ’ \ »," e
GAINING GROUND EVERY DAY.
Those who have been expecting Hoke Smith
boom to wane seem doomed to disapprintment.
The campaign he is making is unprecden ed.
It is not always safe to deal with opinion, but in
a campaign like this facts are toe only depend
ble icdications.
Several weeks ago Mr. Howell was in East
man. Itis said be went there because it was
regarded as a Howell stronghold. He went
to Columbus first, choosing that place for the
unavoidable meeting with Hoke Smith because
it was generally understond to be the strongest
Howell County in the state, and Eastman was
the second choice.
It is interesting to ncte thedifference in bis
reception at Eastman and tbat accordeq Mr.
Smith who was there last week. A comparison
of the two events isa fair indicatiun of the
temper of the pcople.
A report of Mr. Smith’s reception says:
The ball was crowded to overflowing, and
although every conceivable isch of space was
utilized, many were unable to gain ad mission,
The crowd was so large that the jury room
doors were opened into the ball and these rooms
were packed with people. The double doors
forming an entrance to the court room were
thrown wide open despite the weather and prob
ably one hundred people jamnmed the passage
way leading from the room to the stairs into the
hall. :
The windows on every side of the room and
in the hallway were lined with men standing on
the sills, and altho the position was a trifle un
comfortable, nota person moved during the
speech, which lasted for two hours, y
Many additional chairs were brought from
down town stores, but instead of being used to
sit people they formed the props placks on
which five and sometimes ten people stood,
A conservative estimate placed the number
who were turned away unable 10 fiand a place to
stand on the second floor of the building at 200.
All of them, however, did not leave the premises
but waited until after the speech and shook
hands with the candidate.
As To HowELL AUDIENCE. - - .
The audience was not composed for the
most part of women and childrea as was the
crowd that greeted Clark Howeil when he §poke
here on January 17. There were, however, a
pumber of women present, but 'ther werd’ few
children. N
The local board of education' was not pre
vailed upon to dismiss school and march” the
scholars in a body to the court house, ag was
the case upon the occasion of Mr- Howell’s
visit, » :
Mr. Smith did not begin his speech until
nearly ncon and the delay’ being occasioned by
a wait for the Dublin and Southwestern train,
which brought three or four huandred people
from Dublin and other sections of Laurens
county.
Early in the morning Col. Wiley J. Wil
liams, president of the local Hoke Smith ' club,
received a telegram from Dublin asking him to
bave the speaking delayed uatil the Dublin train
carrying over 300 passengers arrived.. The
rain from Dublin was polled and there were
only 14 men on board who failed to record them
selves as favorable to the candidacy of Hoke
Smith, and 9of these were non-committal. -
Practically every man who cime.on the
train worea Hcoke Smith button on the lapel- of
bis coat, and as they entered the already crow
ded court house they seat up shout after shout
for the candidate for whom they propose to
vote—Hoke Smi:h. .
| When Mr. Howell spoke here the day was
one of the most pleasant imaginable., The
~ weather was warm and spring-like, the couanty
roads were delighiful, and easily traveled.
Such was not the case today. It rained all of
the night, the sandy roads were heavy and the
weather was too cold to be pleasant for even a
north Georgian, to say nothing of the people of
this sectiop, who rarely experienced cold
weather.
E
The Postoffice at Dorminy Mill was discon
tinued yesterday. The people of that section
will be supplied by R. F. D. No. 1 from
Bowen'’s Mill. T
® R
The possibilities of the South are simply
enormous and unlimited. and twenty years
more of development at the present rate will
make it the wealthiestand most powerful section
is the country.—Americus Recorder. :
MO
Mr. Hill, the big railroad man, says the new
rate bill will make the roads sick. Well, the
roads make those who pay the freight sick,
&M A
THOUGIITS
“Success never comes to the man who is
watching the clock for fear he might work over
time. The man who succeeds is the man who
is not merely satisfied to do the work laid out
for him, but willing and glad to do more.”"—
JamesJ. Hifii !
WHO HAS BEEN “LIBELOUS” IN GEORGIA?
Qur friend, the editéor of the Fitzgerald
Enterprise, is usuvally a clear-headed and fair
mioded man. one ior whom we have great re
spect, and in wbom we have almost unlimited
confidence. We have known him well and long.
But in the following criticism of The Telegraph
we fear tbat he is a victim of the very spirit of
unfairness with which be charges us. He says:
‘“The great and good Macon Telegraph
starts ont its editorial page Thursday with a
t.mely suggestion in the nature of u protest
against the cartoons appearing in the Qonsti
tution and Journal. Buat the ‘‘great and good”’
shows a weakness in its protest that betrays
its utter unfitness for tho task it undertakes.
A paper so devoid of the spirit of fairness as
The Macon Telegraph clearly shows itself to
be in that editorial, can be but a sorry judge '
in the important matter ' discusred— fratri
cidal strife within the party. We gquote: ;
**Suppose Mr. Howell is nomipated, and
Mr Watson d-c'des to contest the governor-:
abip with h:m at the October el-ction, Will the
Jourpal be able to swallow its own cartoors,
and suppors Mr Howell wi'h a pleasant coun
tenance? It will be more than ordinary every
. day crow _
‘‘On the other hand, suprose Mr. Hoke
Smith is nominated, and the Laird o’ Mountain
Top becomes bis chief foglemana d file-leader
with a dieposition to do the McDuff act to the
vanquisbed, will Mr. Howell be able to gulp it
down without a wince?”’ %
Now, lets suppose Hoke is nominated,
which is more than likely, what then can The
Telegraph say, with the puerile and Jibelous
insinusations contained in the last above quo
ted pardgraph staring it in the face?
Which is to say that it is ‘‘puerile and libel
ous” to make ‘‘insinuations’ that if Mr. Smith
is nominated Tom Watson might become bis
chief exponent, and be disposed to ‘‘lay on Mc-
Duff,” upon ‘‘the vanquisbed,” Mr. Howell.
We are glad to see that at least one of the
newspapers that is helping aloog the Journal
“ Watson campaign is sensifive-about-the hyphen
that connects the alliance.
But Mr Smith does not seem to be sensitive
about it, since he has said he would esteem it
an honor to have his own face bulletined inevery
window im Georgia in the same frame with Wat
son’s, and since he bas made.it all right with
Watson and received his forgiveness for those
Democratic spceches he.used to make against
Watson. , i
The Atlanta Journal evidently gloriesin the
hvphen, and fairly revels in the smiles of the
"‘Laird o’ Mountain Top,”’ since it bas printed
in its own columns Tom’s statement that the
Journal has made the ‘‘amende bonorable’—an
apology—for once opposing his ambition to de
feat Parker for President. While its hand was
in this Brutus business the Journal printed an
article in its columus wi'hout quotation, without.
pamiog the man who'spoke, without signature,
but under a Georgia date line, which said:
Well, didn’t Olark get himself in a hole in
. that Columbus speech? Yes, and one that he
“* wiil never be able to pull bimeself out of Waell,
. . what surprised me most was’'the attack on
* Watron That just showed his sense. You
know a man who hasn’t aoy better .judgment
than thar ought notto be governor of the state.
Waison loaded him to stay -loaded Well, you
know, Hoke got him bewildered and he became
frantic and said things that surprised himself
afterwards. There is one tbing that jumps hy
. me. Ibelieve Clark Howell would be & Demo
: crat if be knew that the party would bankrupt
the country and put us 21l in poverty. The
Democratic party has been the means of rob
. bing the people of this state for the past 25
years. but still he says *‘l am a democrat.”
Those cartoons he has of Watson and Hoke
Smith, in the cabin of the Wrecker are ridicu
lous. If the party is that rotten, I say levs
bury it, never to be resurrected. ;
Now isn’t that to the Queen’s taste? Is
that also “’libelous?” Was it printed to please
Watson?
But to continue.
The Gwinnett Journal prints an enthusiastic
endorsement of Watson, placing him several
notches above every other living Georgian in
eight or ten particulars, and quoting a **Watson
follower’ as supporting Smith because Watson
is for him. Is thatalso ‘'libelous?” :
The August Herald groups ‘‘Hoke, Smith
Tom Hardwick and Tom Watson” as typical
‘“loyal citizens,” who ‘‘bave advanced and ag
gressive views. ‘‘Does that also Jibel Mr. Smith?
But to come back to the excitable Atlanta
Journal, Sowe time since, it dec'ared that “‘for
a great many years the Governor of Georgia,
and many of the high officials of the state have
been elected by the railroad interests;” that
with “'some exceptions’ the “legislative, exe
cutive and judicial divisions of the state gov
ernment have been responsive when the rail
roads pressed the button!”
Now, speakiag about *‘libelous®’ things in
this campaign. what is the matter with tbat?
Almost as bad as the statement that ‘‘tbe Dem
ocratic party has been the meaos of robbing the
people of this state for the past 25 years,” isn’t
Bliss Triumph Irish Potatoes. =
White, Yellow and Multiplier Onion
= s s
Georgia Rye. Fresh Stock of Small
i Garden Seeds Just Received.
Campbell’s Seed Store,
PHONE NO. 32. PINE STREET.
it? Quite as “libelous’ as the other statement
that “'tbe party is rotten,” and “let’s bury it, "
don’t you think? b :
But, as to the part The Telegraph is play
ing in this same, the Darien (Gazette, whose
opinions we have no doubt our Fitzgerald ced
temporary respects, has another view of t\hg%
case. Speaking of the very matter under re
view it says: ' ~
“The old reliable Macon Telegraph
is determined to keep the regqrd
ftraight and it is now in a position
to do that thing. The Telegraph
koows all tbe political humbugs and
srauds and doesn’t mind exposing them,
either” B¢ g Aoy Yo
We are sure that that is not “libelous,”
: The Charlotte N. C. Observer, edited by
Hon. D. A. Tompkins, a Democrat of notional
reputation, necessarily an imparrial observer,
commends the very article which our Fitzgerald
contemporary condemns, as follows:
The Macon, Ga , Telegraph ir of the opin- ..
jon that it is ‘*about time to protest against
those beastly cartoons which are appearing
; respectively in the Atlunta Journal and the
Atlanta Constitution—cartoons holding up to
ridicule and scorn Mr. Howell and bis bfother
by the one, and Mr. Hoke Bmith and Mr. Wat
son by the other.”” The Macon paper thinks
it a sorry sp:ctacle in what ought to be a de
cent contest in a Democratic primary, and
proceeds: :
~ “‘suppose Mr. Howell is nominated, and
Mr Watson decides to contest the governor
ghip with bim in the Octoher election, will the
Journal be ab'e to swallow its own cartoons
and support Mr. Howell wt'h‘a pleasant coun- -
tenance? It will be more than ordinary-every
day crow,
**On the other hand, suppose Mr.. Hoke
Smith 18 nominated, and the Laird o’Mogntain
Top becomes his chief fugleman and file-leader
_ with a diepoegition to do the McDauff act-to the
vanquished, will Mr. Howell be abie to gulp it——
alld own without a wince? :
‘*‘Next the plan to disband the Democratic
party by denying its name inthe primary, this
perrxonal, political and newspaper feud. s do
ing most barm to the State Democracy, which
is n very large part of the state. It is an at- -
temyt to line up Georgia in two fendal bands
with rapiers and shields, and with lairds
o’mountain tops, and cross-bones and-ekulls
jn th;,yaueys. Isn’t it a fine-smelling, savory
mess i
~ The cartoons referred to, which appear al
most daily in the Atlanta Journal and the At
lanta Constitution are anything but creditable
to these papers; indeed, they are along the
pame Jine as the disgusting teeth pictures of
President Roosevelt which the New York Jour
nal turned out during the last campaign and- ..
which many southern papers reproduced in
their columns. These (3eorgia cartoone, how- -
ever, are little, if any, worse than wbat is said
in plain English about the two Atlanta candi
' dates for governor by the Journal and the Con- -
stitution It would bs only just retribution if -
the Dem«crats of Georgia shoutd choose neith
er of the Atlanta men. provided the candidates
themselves are responeible for the action of
the newspapers, and in the case of one of them
this is probably true, for he is the ediror The -
Atlanta fight resembles a yellow journal eam
paign more than it does a race in.a Democrat
ic primary between two promivent citizens,
Now, will an impartial public say that the
Telegraphb is more uafair than the Fitzgerald
Eaterprise. We think not.—Macon Telegraphy®
The Telegraph takes advantage of our crit
icism to say a great deal about Watson and very
little about its inconsistency and unfairness. -
We have never been a Watson man ia poli- ‘
tics, (tho we have read his books with pleasure
and profit,) and no man knows that better than
does the able editor of The Telegraph.
We bhave not been misled by the misrepre
sentaticns of those who charge candidate Hoke
Smith with anything undemocratic, dishonorable
or unusual in connection with the populist lead
er. "
The ounly time in the history of our state
politics that Mr. Watsor, or his party, ever
gave any real trouble, the editor of The Tele
graph, the editor of the Enterprise and Hoke
Smith stood together ard stubbornly against
him and his politics, and editor Howell gave
them more comfort than any man in the’ Dem
ocratic party, ' g
Editor Tompkins, of the Charlotte: Ob
server, does not more heartily approve the pro
test of The Telegraph =zgainst the cartoons
in the Journal and Constitution than does the
editor of the Enterprise. We characterized it
as a TIMELY PROTEST, but— i :
The unfairness exhibited by The Tele
graph in its “‘protest,” clearly discovers the ne
cessity for a “timely protest’” against its treat
ment of the leading cand:date in this campaign,