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FITZGERALD ENTERPRISHE
Volume X 1
‘AN IMPARTIAL VIEW
OF THE JOINT DEBATE
Editor John Temple Graves, of the
‘“Atlanta Georgian,” as Umpire.
An Absolutely Just and ’
Impartial Report. ‘
The people of Georgia expect from The
Georgian nothing less nor more than the truth
about the Howell-Smith debate.
And this the people shall have in unvarnish
ed and undiluted form both in the local columns
and upon the editoral page.
EXPRESSED IN A SENTENCE, THE
DEBATE ENDED IN ADEFINITE AND DE
- CISIVE TRIUMPH FOR HOKE SMITH.
AFTER THE FIRST HOUR THE LAUR
ELS OF THE EVENING WERE ALL AT
HIS FEET. LET US NOTE THE CONDI
TIONS; ‘
The audience was in all probability the lar
gest and most representative ever addressed
under shelter by political speakers in Georgia.
It was an audience gathered upon equal terms.
The occasion was heralded widely as a joint dis
cussion between the two prominet candidates
for governor. Both sides had equal opportuni
ty for filling the hall. So far as all reports have
gone there was no effort on either side to pack
the auditorium in the interest of either candi
date. The personnel of the assembly was ex
ceptionally fine aud in view of the crowding
numbers, the order and decorum was far above
the average of political assemblies.
Before this most magnificent and represen
tative audience of their home people these two
political antagonists appeared to fight out their
differences and measure their merits in the are
na of debate.
In the first five minutes after the entrance of
the candidates the volume of applause seemed
to be in favor of Clark Howell. Wehther the
veices of his clansmen were heavier, or whether
they found their throats sooner, or whether the
followers of Hoke Smith weie slowerin limber
ing up their entusiasm, the impression was dis
tinctly left upoa the miad of the writer that the
primary balance of sound was on Howell’s side.
The basis of applause on both sides was in
the serried ranks of followers who were
ranged behind each candidate on the stage and
in the nearby adjoining galleries. In front sat
the vast body of the audience, the quiet thought
ful people, seemingly neutral, impassive and
watching developments—apparently the balance
of power in the debate and in the election. Up
to the close of Hoke Smith’s first speech they
made little demonstration and gave no tangible
sign of their preference and sympathy.
Hoke:Smith’s opening speech was a strong,
clear, bold argument upon the issu:s of the
campaign. It was in no sense a remarkable
speech.~ Neither in eloquence nor in logic was
it out of the ordinary run of political effort. Its
power was in its directness, it definteness, and
its unmistakable commitment to positive re
forms. Mr. Smith spoke forty-five of his sixty
minutes ably and exclusively upon the issues,
He devoted, by the watch only fifteen minutes
‘to a discussion of Mr. Howell and his record.
The impression made by his speech was thata
great political campaign was pending in Georgia,
that issues vital to the people were at stake, and
that he had fixed and clear cut views upon these
issues and powerful reasons for the faith that
was in him. It was meat for voters to feed up
on. It suggested statesmanship. It implied a
\ grasp of affairs. It promised a reformer in the
Georgia capital, capable to conceive and power
ful to execute the people’s will. Henot only as
serted principles and proclaimed attitudes, but
he argued, reasoned and plead in effective ad
vocacy for his convicitions. If not agreat speech
it was a strong speech, a vote-whinning speech.
It was received with strong approval and ap
plauded wildly by his cohorts in the rear and on
the sides, and moderately by the audience in
fpont, - . _
But the mighty waiting mass in the center
TEHEHRICE-A - VW EEIXIX
FITZGERALD, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 19086,
sat apparently reserving its decision until it
had heard the other man. The mass bhad Qt
yet commited itself.
Mr. Howell was received with an applawse
from his own immediate ranks, fully equaling
the reception given to Mr. Smith by his rear
guard. He fronted a great opportunity. He
had much to gain and little to lose in a contest
in which pubic opinion had already credited
his experienced antagonist with superiority in
debate. If Mr. Howell had made a strong, clear
presentation of definite views wpon the great
and pressing isswes before the people in this
campaign, if he had illustrated convictions
and the courage of them wpon the things that
were moving as realities in the public mind--
even if these convictions had been counter to
their own--the people would have applawded his
definiteness and respected his honest opinions.
Mr. Howell made here the- same fatal mis
talke which he has made all through hie can-~
vass of pitching his campaign purely and sim-~
ply wpon the idea of proving Hoke Smuth tobe
unworthy of the place.
The editor of The Georgian has warned
him of this errora dozen times. Mr. Smith
made his bid for suffrage upon the advocacy of
certain pressing and necessary changes in the
conduct and personnel of the state government,
Mr. Howell made his plea upon the idea of per
sonal depreciation of Hoke Smith’s sincerity and
consistency. Mr. Howell spoke by the watch
sixty-one minutes without touching ‘an issue—
except the issue of Hoke Smith’s political integ
rity, his temperance, his consistency. When
the audience finally demanded by calls some
comment upon pending issues, Mr. Howell
spoke by the watch seven minutes upon freight
rates without argument and confining himself
to the assertion that he had always been on the
side of cheaper freight rates. Then he drifted
back to the personal discussion of Hoke Smith.
Called again by undivided requests from the
audience, Mr. Howe]l gave six minutes by the
watch to the strong assertion, without argu
ment, that Mr. Smith’s disfranchisement
plaa would disfranchise thousands of white
men. Then he returned to Hoke Smith’s re
cord and stayed there until his peroration.
This is an accurate statement carefully and
judicially measured, watch in band, and absolut
ely without prejudice.
THESE ARE THE TWO PLANS OF
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN, SET SIDE BY
SIDE FOR TRIAL AND EXPERIMENT.
ONE MAN DEBATING STRONGLY THE
ECONOMIC AND RACIAL ISSUES OF THE
HOUR, THE OTHER MAN DISCUSSING
CHIEFLY THE PERSONAL UNFITNESS
OF HIS ANTAGONIST. WEHAVE NEVER
HAD ANY DOUBT FORAMOMENT THAT
THE DEBATER OF ISSUES WAS ON
STRONGER AND MORE HOPEFOUL
GROUND, AND WE HAVE SAID SO.
But we lay down here the proposition as a
fact and a philosophy that if a man gets on the
people’s side of a public question and advocates
it powerfully and consistently you may abuse
}Jim til'l doongsday and convict him of a dozen
inconsistencies, but you can’t shake the faith
of the people in the fact that he is right now,
and they are going to stand by him.
IIF THERE 1S ANY WINNING
STRENGTH IN HOKE SMITH'S CAM
PAIGR ITISDUETO THE FACT THAT
HE HAS CONVINCED THE PEOPLE
THAT THEY NEED NEGRO DISFRAN
CHISEMENT AND A HOME REGULATION
OF FREIGHT RATES, AND THAT HE IS
THE MAN TO GET IT FOR THEM. IF
THERE IS ANY WEAKNESS IN MR. HOW
ELL'S CAMPAIGN IT IS DUE TO THE
FACT THAT HE HASDEVOTED MORE
TIME TO DISCREDITING HOKE SMITH
THANHE HAS TO MAKING CLEAR HIS
OWN CONVICTIONS AND INTENTIONS
ON THESE GREAT QUESTIONS.
The two plans of campaign—the two theo
ries of candidacy had at least a fair experiment
last night.
At the conclusion of "Mr. Howell’'s speech
his partisan rear guard rose at him ina volume
of sound that was equal to anything that bad
gone before.
But the great central audience were yet
unresponsive. They gave small external evi
dence ofgtheir impressions. That mighty mass
had heard Hoke Smith in comparatively uare
sponsive silence. They bad now heard Clark
Howell in the same unmoved temper of atten
tion., They bhad listened to both men now and
were ready at last to express an opinion. The
great body which had preserved almost judicial
calm was now ready to return a judicial de
cision, B
It came with a whirlwind of approval when
Hoke Smith rose for his concluding speech. As
‘he rose the whole center of the house seemed to
rise with him. It was an ovation of swinging
hitds and waving handkerchiefs and ringing
cheers—a wonderful and inspiring scene.
Before this tribunal at least, and wpon this
presentation the campaidn of isswes had tri
umphed over the campaign of personal objection
The decision was clear unmistakable and
emphatic.
Hoke Smith’s concluding speech was a total
departure from his first. It was personal,
masterful and thrilling. It rang with confi
dence, it sparkled with satire. It pulsed with
dramatic defiance. He towered in his superb
personality and swept into further enthusiasm
an audience which had already commited itself
to his cause.
The conditions were unequal- for Clark
Howell. The editor and the trained debater
wereseparated by temperamental differences as
vast as the dispariy in their physical proportions.
Physical differences are of small account.
Aleck Stephens made that plain with Toombs
and Hill. It was the temperament that told.
# + No. 8250. & &
Creasury Bepartment €=
U mey S
N N e,
Oftice of Comptroller .
<7 G
of the Qurrenry
%4/&57/o}2, @ %, fme o, 1900.
Whereas, by satisfactory evidence presented to the under
signed, it has been made apparent that
Ghe Sxchange Jational Bant,
e of .z'lz]crala’, g
in the City of Fitzgerald, in the County of Irwin, and State
of Georsia, has complied with all the provisions of the Stat
utes of the United States, required to be complied with before
an association shall be authorized to commence the business
of Banking;
Now, Therefore, I, THOMAS P. KANE, Deputy and Act
ins Comptroller of the Currency, do hereby certify that
GChe Cxchange Yational Rank,
aaa OFf Z?ljerdld,__—* .
in the City of Fitzderald,in the County of Irwin and State of
Georgia, is authorized to commence the business of Banking
as provided in Section Fifty-one Hundred.and Sixvty-nine
of the Revised Statwtes of the United States.
ECONVERSION OF THE EXCHANGE BANK OF FITZGERALD,
In Testimong Whereof witness my hand and Seal
of office, this Sixth day of June, 1906.
_A
( o ) TP Fane;
. L . %ut}/ and e,%l;}y/ (&)‘m)%l;a//w rf @:fl#&my‘y{
The militant, intense and forceful miq;_‘
viction against the light, lovable and f§
spirit of concession and peace. Mr. Hi
voice in its range and compass placed hil
at great disadvantage with his robust and'§
ous rival, 3
I cannot be denied that Mr. Howell ex
ed his theory of debate with fearlessness &
<kill. His personalities were marshaled ‘al
and he put them keenly and brilliantly, If
bad been new and fresh tothe audience thé
would have made a sensation and might hay
turned the scale in his favor. But the fact tha
they had all been rehashed in the prints and re
plied to in kind made them stale flat and uns
profitable in a skirmish so near to the end of the
war, e
Summed wp in a nutshell here arethe equas
tions: i
A robust personality, a strong temperament,
a forceful conviction, against a likeable person=as
ality, a lighter temperament and indefinite
convictions.
Issues agdainst assertions. ;
Policies against personalities.
Is it any wonder that in a political pitched
battle the victory went to the stronger tempery
the impressive convictionand the definite issuef
X M
SMITH 12; NON-COMMITTAL I—MAs
CHINE AGENTS. 3
Ne wnan, Coweta, June 2,—lt was not as
unlucky number who atteaded the picnic gives
to the Singer Sewing machine representatives;
by Manager Dukes at Pearl Spring Park, fo3
it was not only an enjoyable feast but 12 out of
13 present were for Hon. Hoke Smith for gover
nor; one being non-committal. 3
The gentlemen, one from Haralson, oné
from Heard, two from Carroll three from Camps
bell, and six living in Coweta, claim their votes
represent the attitude of their respective couns
ties toward the people’s candidate. .
(Signed.) Franc Campbell.
Numberiii