Newspaper Page Text
i
Atlanta SYMWtWa Sminial
VOL. XXIII. NO. 13.
Dictograph Trap by
Prohibition Agents
Set for J. H. Harden
Trial of Farmer Brings Out
Testimony of SSOO a
Month Bribe Offer to
Agents
John Henry Harden, formerly a
prominent merchant and farmer of
Cherokee county, was found guilty
by a jury in United States court
Thursday afternoon of attempting to
: bribe a federal prohibition agent,
and sentenced by Judge Samuel H.
Sibley to pay a fine of $1,500 and
serve two years in the Atlanta fed
eral penitentiary. The jury re
mained out but ten minutes. Coun
sel for the defense served notice
that a motion would be made for a
• new trial. Harden's bond was fixed
St $3,000.
The trial consumed the entire ses
sion of court Thursday, having been
continued from Wednesday. Gov
ernment witnesses told the jury how
a dictograph was planted in the
room of E. E. Dixon, a prohibition
enforcement officer, in the Wilmot
hotel on March 15, and how Harden
paid SSOO to Dixon for protection
against raids while other federal of
ficers listened in the adjoining room.
It was testified that Harden prom
ised Dixon SSOO for each month the
latter would protect his stills in
Cherokee county from federal raids.
Harden declared in his statement
to the jury that he made Dixon a
.loan of SSOO at a time when the lat
ter 'was in debt on account of Al
ness in his family, and that he did
not attempt to buy protection with
the money.
Herbert Clay, attorney for Harden,
characterized the trap laid by- the
officers to catch his client as "a
concocted plan which followed their
failure to get evidence against him
In any other way.”
Assistant District Attorney Paul
Carpenter, arguing before the jury,
declared Harden was a menace to the
community in which he lives, and
that he had been interested in prac
tically every large still operated in
Cherokee county during a long pe
riod.
Throughout the trial, Harden sat
with his counsel with his eyes fas
tened on the men in the jury box
fie was unmoved when he heard the
verdict.
■ "You have been with the
law.” Judge,Sibley told Harden in
passing sentence, “and you have
practiced opposition to the constitu
tion of your country. And in at
tempting to bribe a federal agent,
£ou have tried to stick a knife in thu
very fundamentals of our law. In
view of your former prominence,
your actions are inconceivable. You
nay pay a fine of $1,500 and serve
two years in the penitentiary.”
The defendant recently completed
an eighteen-month sentence in the
Atlanta federal penitentiary follow
ing his conviction in federal court on
Illicit distilling charges.
How prohibition agents used a dic
tagraph and carefully laid a trap to
“listen in” while Harden offered to
pay E. E. Dixon, a federal agent,
SSOO a month to protect him against
whisky raids, was related by wit
nesses to the jury.
For many years, it is said by fed
eral agents, the defendant was the
“first” citizen of Jasper, Ga. He was
foreman of the grand jury, an active
church worker and a prominent and
prosperous merchant, farmer and
capitalist.
Some months after the national
prohibition act became effective he
was convicted in federal court of op
erating a distillery and sentenced to
eighteen months in the Atlanta pen
itentiary. His conviction came, it is
eaid, as the proverbial “bolt from the
blue” to his townsmen, who had
known him only as Cherokee coun
ty’s leading citizen. Harden served
the sentence, and after his release,
is said to have caused the prohibi
tion enforcement’ officials consider
able trouble. In the language of a
government witness who testified on
Thursday, “we could seize stills
which were planted by him, we could
destroy his liquor and catch his op
erators, but it seemed we were never
able to find Harden on the spot.”
TWaVes “Protection” Proposition
E. E. Dixon, one of the officers
who sought for many months to con
nect Harden directly with the man
ufacture of liquor and arrest him,
told the jury that Harden approach
ed him early in March in the Atlanta
postoffice building and made him a
proposition to pay him well for pro
teetion against raids on stills he
wAs preparing to operate.
The officer reported Harden’s offer
to “buy” protection to D. J. Gantt,
(supervising prohibition enforcement
officer, and after a conference with
other federal officials, including Unit-
Id States Attorney Hooper Alexan
der, it was decided to "go through
with the performance” and nab Har
den while he was in the act of pay
ng over the money.
Then the trap was laid, Mr- Dixon
testified. A dictagraph was planted
n Dixon’s room at the Wilmot hotel.
Harden met the officer there on
March 15. He paid him SSOO, said
the witness, and as they left the
room, a squad of officers who had
seen listening in the adjoining room,
Maced Harden under arrest.' He was
later released under $3,000 bond.
Mr. Dixon further swore that Har
den declared to him that he had
previously bought protection against
raids from other officers. He said
Harden told him early in the spring
in Atlanta, shortly after Judge Sam
uel H. Sibley became judge of the
northern district of Georgia, that he
was "in Atlanta for the purpose of
Observing Judge Sibley’s attitude to
ward moonshiners, so I'll know how
to operate in the future.”
*' Denies Money Was Loan
On cross-examination by Attorney
Herbert Clay, counsel for Harden,
Mr. Dixon denied that he told Harden
he was *‘a poor man in strained cir
cumstances” and that he needed
money badly to pay for his automo
bile. Attorney Clay then quizzed the
■witness in an effort to draw the
statement that federal officials
agreed in a conference following re
peated efforts to obtain facts against
Harden in connection with operating
stills, that "if we can’t get him one
w£y, we’ll get him another.”
The witness denied that the money
paid him by Harden was intended
purely as a loan, by reason of the
witness’ alleged representation to
Harden he was "broke.” “He
gave me thff money expecting pro
tection against raids on stills he in
tended to operate,” said the witness.
I lively tilt occurred at this junc-
(Continued on Page 7, Column 3)
FIGHT STAGED
OVER COFFIN.
OF M’SWINEY
HOLYHEAD, Wales, Oct. 29. —(By
the Associated Press)—Relatives of
the late Lord Mayor MacSwiney re
sisted when the authorities started
to place the body of the lord mayor
on board a boat bound for Cork.
After a fight over the coffin, how
ever. the body was taken aboard the
vessel, which sailed for Cork.
Sisteru and brothers of the late
Lord Mayor MacSwiney of Cork
were forcibly expelled, with other
mourners, from their railway car
riage by' police as a result of the
fight over the coffin. Members of
the family objected to the coffin be
ing placed on board a special boat
which would go direct from this
port to Cork, and a violent scene en
sued. The fight lasted five minutes.
LONDON. Oct. 29. —The govern
ment has refused to permit the body
of the late Lord Mayor MacSwiney,
of Cork, to be landed in Dublin and
has provided a special steamer to
convey the remains to Cork.
The reasons assigned by the gov
ernment for not permitting the body
to be landed anywhere except in the
lord mayor’s native city was “the
risk of political demonstrations,
which might result in the loss of in
nocent lives.”
M’SWINEY’S CORTEGE
IS STRANGE PROCESSION
LONDON, Oct. 29. —A little band
of Irish pipers, wailing a weird
dirge and shrieking defiance by
turns, led the strangest funeral pro
cession that ever wound its way
through the streets of London, a
procession of 8,000 Irish “rebels,”
Sinn Feiners and sympathizers, fol
lowing the body of their dead
leader.
And of these 8,000, hundreds were
proscribed "outlaws,” with a price
upon their heads, marching in safety
through the heart of the “enemy
country, protected for once by a tacit
truce between the British government
and the Irish “republic/’
They wore their Sinn Fein uni
forms beneath long overcoats. They
carried, draped in black, the pro
scribed green, white and orange flag
of the only government they recog
nize. But there was no reply' to
their mute defiance. London offered
them only respect.
For their own part, the Sinn Fein
ers gave and accepted pledges that
for this one occasion there should
be no outward indication of that
ever-living hatred of Enghtnd, never
so bitter as it is today, that burns
in Sinn Fein hearts. The pledges
were kept, while soldier of the “re
public” and soldier of the empire co
operated to make the final journey
of Terence MacSwiney, late lord
mayor of Cork, from cathedral to
railway' station, an uninterrupted trib
ute to his courage and devotion.
The funeral of Terence MacSwiney
is the most dramatic incident in the
history of the Irish revolt. Hours
before the Irish leaders emerged
from St. George’s cathedral, where
impressive services had been con
ducted. the three miles of streets
through which the procession was to
pass, were lined deep with British
crowds.
In Gaelic Uniform
Four hundred metropolitan police
were stationed near the cathedral,
2,000 police lined the roads. A few
yards apart . In and around ? the
church were hundreds of men in
gaelic uniform ready' to enforce de
corum if emotion should surge out
of bounds. Two nurses, also in Sinn
Fein uniform and waving large Irish
“republic” flags, made a splotch of
color on the cathedral steps.
“Sure” First Word
Spoken by Convict
During Ten Years
BOSTON, Oct. 28. —The first word
spoken by Patrick J. Hanley, the
"silent man” of Charlestown prison,
who was recently given his freedom
after serving 25 years, ten of which
was spent in self-imposed silence,
was:
“Sure.”
When newspaper men met him as
he left the prison they asked him if
he would like to go on the stage, and
he answered with that word,
Hanley, or "Silent Corkey” as he
was known, pronounced the word
slowly and painfully with a tongue
long unaccustomed to such such.
Then he pulled from his pocket a pad
and pencil and answered other ques
tions in writing. He took the vow of
silence when a prison “pal” is al
leged to have revealed platis for es
caps.
"Corkey” saw his first automobile
when Warden Shattuck took him in
his car to the state house, where he
met his sister and other relatives.
Informed by the warden that he
would be freed Hanley informed
Shattuck, via pad and pencil, that
“this is the best prison on the planet
and I cannot leave un(jl my work is
completed.” He offered to pay the
state ten cents a week to be allowed
to remain and sleep in his cell, but
was told he would have to accept his
freedom.
Presidential Returns to
Be Sent by Wireless
Announcement has just been made
by the Atlanta office of the West
inghouse Electric & Manufacturing
company that returns for the presi
dential election of November 2 will
be sent out bv wireless telephone
from the company’s station in Pitts
burg. Pa. Amateur wireless operat
ors within a radius of 500 miles will
lie able to receive the messages, it
is said, provided they are equipped,
with apparatus of the better type.
Test messages will be sent three
or four days in advance of November
2 and a definite announcement of
this date will be made later.
Fair May Collect
Weather Insurance
MACON. Ga., Oct. 28.—The Geor
gia State Fair association is protect
ed from financial loss that might be
caused from rain to the extent of
$60,000 under a policy taken out, on
iwhich the premium will be $2,400.
From the general appearance of
I the weather it looks as if the policy
I will be an asset, for a continued slow
rain has been falling here since Tues
day night, which is the first rain in
about twenty days.
INTEREST REVIVAL
IN LEAGUE ISSUE
WILL AFFECT RACE
Any Calculations Made Prior
to October 5 Will Have to
Be Revised, Says David
Lawrence
BT DAVID LAWRENCE
(Leased Wire Service 1n The Journal.)
(Copyright, 1920.)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29. —The coali
tion of the west and south which
gave Woodrow Wilson his victory In
1916 was a new combination of elec
toral votes. Previously the big east
ern states—New Y'ork, New Jersey,
Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, together
with New England, were sufficient to
tell everybody on election night that
the race was over.
The big question this year is
whether there is any combination
of votes whereby. Governor Cox can
win the presidency. Senator Harding
has been picked by most everybody
to win chiefly because of the tradi
tional habit of America to change
administrations every few years. But
the Democrats have managed to force
the League of Nations to the front
as an issue with remarkable success
in the last fifteen days, and any
calculations made by the writer or
anybody else as early as October 1,
are necessarily subject to revision
at the last moment.
When this correspondent visited
every state west of the Mississippi
with one or two exceptions, he re
’ported, after an investigation of thir
ty days, that there were only a few
states—Utah, Montana and Nevada—
''wherein the Democratic nominee for
the presidency had a good chance. Tn
orftler to determine whether these
states still are safe for Cox and
whether any others have been added
to the list, the writer has sent tele
grams to almost every man in the
west in whose judgment he can place
reliance and has asked that the re
plies be sent in a.specified code so
that men working on Democratic
newspapers or in the Democratic or
ganization or those employed in the
Republican camp would have no hesi
tancy in expressing over the tele
graph wire their own confidential
and innermost judgment.
Extraordinary Factors
These telegrams are coming in and
the results will be embodied in to
morrow’s dispatch. As for the situ
ation east of the Mississippi river,
which has been examined in person
by the writer in the last thirty days,
several factors stand out as extraor
dinary:
First—The heavy registration of
women has made it doubtful wheth
er in some states everybody will
have a chance to vote in the limited
period that the polls are open. On
account of the congestion at the
polls, especially in states where no
provision has been made to handle
the crowds, many votes will not be
cast at all.
Second —The negro vote in the
northern states is better organized
than it ever has been. In some of
the border states feeling is not al
together pleasant over the way the
negroes have besn mobilized by the
Republicans and it is not altogether
a certainty whether in cases where
the Democrats control the election
machinery there will be time enough
for the negroes to vote though in
certain cities where the Republicans
have control just the reverse is apt
to be the case and many whites may
not get a chance to vote. The race
question unfortunately enters into
jthe calculation of certain important
states.
Woman Vote Uncertain
Third—The true effect of the en
franchisement of women throughout
the nation is the most uncertain
quantity in the whole situation. Po
liticians profess to know how the
women will vote but they don’t. No
political leader in all the states that
the writer visited was able to pro®
duce a canvass of the feminine vote
which could be considered complete.
Time and again the canvass of the
masculine vote has been accomplish
ed with such accuracy in advance of
the election that the result has va
ried but little from the offiial result.
Most editors and political leaders
agree, however, that the women will
merely double the Republican of
Democratic vote or increase it by at
least SO per cent. As the husband
votes, so votes the wife. That’s the
theory. Westerners who . have had
more experience with woman suf
frage for many years uphold that
view yet in Indiana, Kentucky, West
Virginia and even Ohio it has been
admitted by politicians that perhaps
the League of Nations has made
more women voters independent of
partv lines than at first expected.
In West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio,
New York and New Jersey there has
been a noticeable revival of inter
est among men and women in the
League of Nations, a wider reading
of the covenant than was believed
possible on a question that has so
often been dismissed by the profes
sional politicians as "dead” or with
the statement that the “people are
sick and tired of the thing.”
Fourth —Another remarkable thing
is that, while the street talk and
club talk and smoking car gossip
and newspaper talk has constituted
an apparent wave of anti-Wilsonism.
the casual mention of the name of
Woodrow Wilson in meetings held
by the Democrats have not been met
with silence or a few scattered
handclaps, but by spontaneous out
bursts of applause. The Democrats
themselves have been pleasantly
surprised by the demonstrations and
i don’t know whether to interpret it
1 as a feeling of sympathy for the
man who has broken down in health
in his endeavors to serve the peo
ple as he thought best, or whether
to regard it as an indication of Dem
ocratic strength at the polls.
Wilson’s Judgment Vindicated
Fifth—The economic situation has
had so many puzzling developments
in the last three or four weeks,
prices have dropped so materially
and unemployment has come so
suddenly in many cities that in more
than one case are suspicions ex
pressed that the shut down has
something to do with the oft-heard
conspiracy of intimidating labor. On
the other hand, in the rural dis
tricts the fall in the price of
wheat and the general decline of
livestock prices has stirred up the
tariff issue and made friends for
the Republican tariff program. The
reader himself probably has noticed
that Senator Harding has evidently
been told of this sentiment for he
has devoted two or three statements
to it lately. Moreover the rising
tide of interest in the League of
Nations has been met by the Repub
licans in the last two weeks by cam.
paign speeches from such friends of
the league as Herbert Hoover. Wil
liam Howard Taft and Elihu Root.
The attack has been against Article
(Continued on Page 7, Column 6)
ATLANTA, GA., SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1920.
THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWE’EN
t' K .
aim. t < w
sQk' *
The Tri-Weekly Journal’s cartoon is in tune with the
spirit of Hallowe’en, when, according to ancient belief, witches and
goblins and ghosts and all manner of eerie folk are wont to walk
abroad after night falls. Since long before the Christian era. All
Hallowe’en Eve, or the Vigil of Hallowmas, or All Saints’ Day, or
Hallowe’en, as it has been variously called through the ages, has
been a festival. The Druids used to believe that Saman, Lord of
Death, called together on this night all the souls condemned during
the twelve months past. The Romans and the'Gaelic race and other
peoples all had kindred superstitions in their time. In modern his
tory, Hallowe’en falls on Otcober 31;* and young foks all over the
world make merry with. In America, pumpkin lanterns and masks
and pranks and parties are the order of the day and night.
<g V/olf of Montana,”
On Chicago Rampage,
Tamed by Policeman
CHICAGO. —“My name is Hardy,”
he beamed. “I’m hard and that’s
the way I like my potations. Set ’er
up. barkeep. This one’s on me.”
Tall and bronzed, wearing a Wil
liam S. Hart waistcoat and a “Big
Bill” sombrero, James Hardy, other
wise known as “The Lone Wolf of
Montana,” projected himself into the
barroom of the New Gault House
and made his demand upon the bar
tender.
“Brother, you know you’re in a
prohibition town,” began the bar
keeper.
Mr. Hardy swept a .44 from his
pocket.
“Out in my country,” he cut in,
ENGLISH STRIKE
ABOUT SETTLED
AFTER PARLEY
LONDON, Oct. 28. —(By the Asso
ciated Press.) —The strike of coal
miners throughout England and
Wales was settled this afternoon,
but the settlement is contingent on
a ballot of the miners.
Frank Hodges, a member, of the
miners’ executive body, announced:
“We have got terms frojn the gov
ernment which the executive is sub
mitting to a ballot of the men for
their judgment. Their executive are
recommending their adoption as a
temporary measure until a national
wages board is established.”
The terms which the executive
body of the miners is recommending
to the men provide for an advance of
two shillings per shift for persons
of eighteen years of age. with a cor
responding advance for younger
miners. The miners pledge them
selves to co-operate to the fullest ex
tent to obtain an increased output.
Harding Pleads for
Republican Senate
In Speech at Akron
AKRON, 0., Oct. 29. —Replying to
charges of a ‘‘senate oligarchy,”
Senator Harding declared in a speech
here last night that he was not the
candidate of any clique or combina
tion, but was absolutely “unpledged”
and “unbossed.”
The senator spoke in the armory
here ' before a crowd which packed
every available square inch of space
and interrupted the address many
times with cheering.
Previously, despite a drizzling rain,
a torchlight parade had escorted him
through downtown streets and
crowds had thronged the sidewalks
at many points and cheered him
along the way.
In asking for a Republican senate.
Mr. Harding said that many of the
difficulties of the last session were
due to the slender Republican ma
jority and to the fact that “a num
ber of so-called Republican senators
were not always Republicans.”
No senate oligarchy exists, the Re
publican nominee declared, and no
group of men would ,control him if
he were elected to the presidency.
He said the only promise he had
made which was not in the party
platform was his pledge to try to
organize a federal department of
public welfare.
“I’m known as a timber wolf and am
given the spells of howling when 1
do not get, damn pronto, what I ask
for. We’ll now dance and I’ll play.
The .44 spoke, and a bisue statute
of the Venus de Milo crashed to the
floor. Another shot splintered the
cigar case.
“Orange phosphate denatured cher
ry bounce, bah!” roared Mr. Hardy,
as he sent a bullet through the floor
directly between the feet of the bar
keeper. He had just shot a match
box off the bar, twenty feet distant,
and shot out a knot hole in a panel,
when a lone policeman came in,
smacked him on the head once or
twice and led him away to jail to
thjnk it over.
8188 GRAND JURY
EXPRESS THEFTS
INDICTS MANY FOR
MACON, Ga.. Oct. 29.—Thirty-six
true bills, one of which involves the
indictment of sixty-four persons
charged with having participated in
the alleged wholesale express rob
beries which have taken place In
Georgia during the last year, were
returned Thursday at noon when the
federal grand jury made its present
ments to the United States district
court. The indictments made by the
grand jury include charges of viola
tion of the narcotic act, the nation
al prohibition act, embezzlement
from the mails and express robber
ies, according to Clem Powers, as
sistant district attorney, not only
employes of the American Railway
Express company were included, but
also several employes of the Central
of Georgia railroad and several Ma
con men not employed by these
companies were indicted. Mr. Pow
ers refused to divulge the names of
those who have been indicted pend
ing their arrest.
The indictments were handed the
United States marshal immediatelv
following the report of the grand
jury.
W. C. Wright, foreman of the
jury, made a short speech upon mak
ing the presentments .to the court.
He declared that the jury had found
a spirit of lawlessness existing
which to them was astounding. He
stated that intoxicating liquors were
figuratively flowing across this
state like a river and leaving wreck
and ruin behind them.
Nebraska* Farmers May
Burn Corn for Fuel
OMAHA, Neb.. Oct. 28.—Hundreds
of bushels of corn may be burned as
fuel by farmers in northern Nebras
ka this winter, according to reports
brought here from north line coun
ties. High priced coal and a bounte
ous, but low-priced crop of corn is
given as the reason. New corn, un
shelled, now brings three-fourths of
a cent a pound, or sls a ton. The
cheapest soft coal is sls. and there
are transportation charges above
that. A wagon box thirty inches high
is required to hold a ton of unshelled
corn and that amount, it is said, will
make a hotter fire and lasts longer
than a ton of coal.
G. ML DELEGATION
HEARS WILSON ON
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
President Speaks Feelingly
of Covenant’s Importance
to Future Peace of the
World
Following is the complete text of
the first speech delivered by Presi
dent Wilson in,the present presiden
tial campaign. The address was
made by the president at the White
House to a distinguished delegation
of Republicans who favor the League
of Nations. On another page of The
Tri-Weekly Journal, Theodore Tiller,
Washington correspondent of this
paper, comments on the circum
stances surrounding the occasion.
My fellow countrymen:
It is to be feared that the su
preme issue presented for your
consideration in the present cam
paign is growing more obscure
rather than clearer by reason of
the many arbitrary turns the
discussion of it has taken. The
editors and publishers of the
country would render a great
service if they would publish the
full text of the covenant of the
League of Nations, because, hav
ing read that text, you would be
able to judge for yourselves a
great many things in which you
are now in danger of being mis
led. I hope sincerely that it
will be very widely and general
ly published entire. It Is with a
desire to clarify the issue and to
assist your judgment that I take
the liberty of stating again the
case submitted to you, in as sim
ple terms as possible.
Refers to War
Three years ago it was my
duty to summon you to the con
cert of war, to join the free na
tions of. the world in meeting
and ending the most sinister per
il that had ever been developed
in the irresponsible politics of
the Old World. Your response
to that call really settled the
fortunes of war. Yo will re
member that the mo e of the
German people broke ' 'own long
before the strength of the Ger
man armies was broken. That
was obviously because they felt
that a great moral force which
they could not\look in the face
had come into the contest, and
that thenceforth all their profes
sions of right were discredited
and they were unable to pre
tend that their continuation of
the war was not the support of a
government that had violated ev
ery principle of right 'and every
consideration of humanity.
It is my privilege to summon
you now to the concert of peace
and the completion of the great
moral achievement on your part
which 'he war represented and in
the presence of which the world
found a reassurance and a recov
ery of force which it could have
experienced in no other way. We
entered the war, as you remem
ber, not merely to beat Ger
. many, but to end the possibility
of the renewal of such iniquitous
schemes as Germany entertain
ed. The war will have been
fought in vain and our immense
sacrifices thrown away unless we
complete the work we then be
gan, and I ask you to consider
that there is only one way to as
sure the world of peace: That is
by nfSking it so dangerous to
break the peace that no other
nation will have the audacity to
attempt it. We should not be de
ceived into supposing that im
perialistic schemes ended with
the defeat of Germany, or that
Germany is the only nation that
entertained such schemes or was
moved by sinister ambitions and
longstanding jealousies to attack
the very structure of civilization.
There are other nations which
are likely to be powerfully moved
or are already moved by com
mercial jealousy, by the desire
to dominate and to have their
own way in politics and in enter
prise, and it is necessary to
cheek them and to apprise them
that the world will be united
against them as it was against
Germany if they attempt any
similar thing.
Must Consider Mothers
The mothers and sisters and
wives of the country know the
sacrifice of war. They will feel
that w’e have misled them and
compelled them to make an en
tirely unnecessary sacrifice of
their beloved ones if we do not
make it as certain as it can be
made that no similar sacrifice
will be demanded of mothers and
sisters and wives in the future.
This duty is so plain that it
seems to me to constitute a pri
mary demand upon the conscience
of every one of us. It is incon
ceivable to most of us that any
men should have been so false or
so heartless as to declare that
the women of the country would
again have to suffer the intoler
able burden and privation of war
if the League of Nations were
adopted. The League of Nations
is the well-considered effort of
the whole group of nations who
were opposed to Germany to se
cure thepiselves and the rest of
mankind against a repetition of
the war. It will have back of it
the watchfulness and material
force of all these nations, and
is such a guarante of a peace
ful future as no well-informed
man can question who does not
doubt the whole spirit with which
the war was conducted against
Germany.
The great moral influence of
the United States will be abso
lutely thrown away if he do not
complete the task which our sol
diers and sailors so heroically
undertook to execute.
One thing ought to be said,
and said very about Ar
ticle X of the covenant of the
League of Nations. It is the spe
cific pledge of the members of
the league that they will unite
(Continued on Page 7, Column. 4)
Dorsey Declines to
Join Movement for
Shutting Down Gins
FARMERS LIKELY
TO BE ASKED TO
‘HOLD’ PRODUCTS
The Atlanta Journal News Bureau,
623 Riggs Building.
BY THEODORE TILLER
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28.—The sec
ond agricultural conference which
convened here Thursday in all prob
ability will ask the farmers of the
nati to enter a “holding move
ment” which will obligate all pro
ducers to hold on their crops until
a price equal to the cost of produc
tion has been reached. Indications
are the conference will not set a
specific price for cotton, wheat, live
stock and other products, bu action
taken will set “cost of production at
last” as the selling price.
A committee on ways and means
to draw up a plan to assist the
farmer in the present financial strin
gency was named by Charles S. Bar
rett, president of thh Farmers' Nal
tlonal union, who presided. This
committee said it would not be able
to report before Friday. L. B.
Jackson, director of the state bu
reau of markets of Georgia, is a
member of the committee, which
comprises farmers and state offi
cials from all sections.
Frank Morrison and several other
officials of the American Federation
of Labor attended the opening ses
sion and promised the farmer the
aid of labor in his fight against
ruinous prices.
It is not expected the conference
will agaip appeal to the treasury de
partment or the federal reserve
board for government assistance. It
la likely, however, that Secretary
Houston and Governor Harding of
the board, will be requested to cease
the Issuance of official statements
ai.l interviews bearing on price de
clines and the necessity of lower
prices.
Organized labor joined in the con
ference, being represented by Frank
Morrison, secretary of the American
Federation of Labor, and by William
H. Johnson, president of the Inter
national Association of Machinists.
Mr. Johnson announced that he had
been authorized by Warren S. Stone,
president of the Brotherhood of Lo
comotive Engineers, to say that the
engineers’ organization was ready to
co-operate with the farmers.
"Farmers and labor are suffering
from the same evil," said Mr. John
son, “and -4f -w®' only co-operate we
can solve them all. We could se
cure control of the banks by co-oper
ation and change the complexion of
congress.”
Mr. Johnson charged that "certain
men”/ had gotten hold of the gov
ernment an dwere manipulating it
for the benefit of the few, but ex
plained that he was not referring to
any particular administration.
H. S. Mosely, of Perry Grove, Ark.,
suggested that the farming interests
send telegrams to Governor Cox and
Senator Harding asking them wheth
er, if elected president, they would
“remain inactive while the farmers
are losing millions of dollars” and
demanding an answer before the
farmers “go to the polls.”
Cox Fires Broadside
At Harding and G.O.P.
In Indiana Speech
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 29.—Argu
ments addressed especially to voters
favoring Senator Harding, upon the
broad, general ground of desiring “a
change” in national affairs were em
phasized here last night by Governor
Cox.
To a large audience in Tomlinson
hall, and in a formal statement, Gov
ernor Cox fired a broadside of ques
tions to the American people, attack
ing Senator Harding and other Re
publican leaders tor their League < f
Nations, legislative and political
records.
“Republicans, when they are hon
est,” Governor Cox declared, “have
acknowledged what is patent to ev
ery one—that no one really wants
Senator Harding for president. And
yet they tell me that as partisans
many expected to vote for him be
cause they have been taught to be
lieve that they ‘wanted a change.
The expression was preached as prop
aganda by reactionary leaders until
it has become nauseating to the pub
,lic.”
Governor Cox asked whether the
voters “desire a change back to nor
malcy relative to legislation to tax
revision by big business,” to “suc
cess of reactional politicians,” to
“control of government by men led
by Lodge and Penrooe” and other
conditions.
Great Rally of Democrats
Governor Cox’s visit here was the
occasion for a great rally of Hoosier
democracy. A parade, with fire
works, torchlights and bands, was
staged and the governor spoke to an
overflow meeting outside of the hall.
Hundreds of persons, including many
clubs, marched in the parade.
The governor arrived here at 5:30
o’clock from Dayton, Ohio, where he
spent the day resting and where he
issued a second statement, attacking
the Saturday Evening Post, renew
ing charges of unfair partisanship.
With his fire against the argu
ment “for a change” in government
Governor Cox’ also preached the
League of Nations and predicted vic
tor next Tuesday. _
Cotton Pickers Versatile;
Expert Pocket Pickers
NOBLE, Ogkla.—J. H. Hughes
hired two men to pick cotton for him.
On his way with the pair to his
plantation they picked his pockets.
They vanished, he told the cops.
Plotters Used Germs
To Make Monkey Bite
King, Doctor Charges
NEW YORK.—Dr. Georges Fer
nand Widal, a French specialist,
who was called in consultation in
the illness of King Alexander,
said the monarch had been the
victim of a plot to assassinate
him. He declared that political
enemies of the king, knowing his
fondness for his pet monkey, had
deliberately inoculated the animal
with the germs of hydrophobia in
the hope that it would become
violent and bite him, which it did.
The report that the monkey had
been poisoned was later denied by
the Greek legation at Paris.
5 CENTS A COPY.
$1.59 A YEAR.
Acting Upon Advice of Com
missioner J, J, Brown He
Sends Governor Parker
Adverse Reply
Guided by the opinion of Commis
sioner of Agriculture J. J. Brown
that the south’s farming Interest®
can be best conserved by. the con
tinued operation’ of the ginneries at
full time. Governor Dorsey Wednes
day declined to join Governor Par
ker, of Louisiana, in issuing a proo
lamation urging all ginneries to shu<
down for thirty days in an effort tr
stimulate the cotton market.
Governor Parker is at the head o’
a movement which has been launch
ed in several states to meet the cot
ton crisis, and closing of ginneries
for thirty days was suggested as ar
effective measure to bring this about
Governor Dorsey was urged in »
telegram received from the Louis*
iana executive Tuesday to join In
the movement. He promptly sought
the opinion of Commissioner Brown, ,
who told the governor Wednesday
that “in order that We might handle
our cotton to best advantage, it
would be wise to gin it and place it
in bonded warehouses, if possigle,
so as to use the certificates as col
lateral with which to borrow money
to meet maturing debts,”
Mr. Brown said this had been his
position on the cotton question for
eight weeks and that he saw no rea
son for changing it now. With ref
erence to the suggestion that the
legislature be convened in extraordi
nary session to Investigate the feas
ibility of enacting a moratorium,
Commissioner Brown told Governor
Dorsey that he would prefer a mora
torium to an order closing ginneries
for thirty days, although he did not
urge either.
Doubts Wisdom of Move
In his reply' to Governor Parker,
Governor Dorsey declared that “al
though I have great regard for your
opinion, I doubt the wisdom of re
questing the gins to suspend opera-
At rate ’ in view of the
attitude of Commissioner Brown
Who is probably as well informed on
agricultural conditions as any man.
1 hardly feel that i would be author
ized in making tho request you sug
gest. *
Another development in the cotton
crisis Wednesday was the announce
ment that J. S. Wannamaker, presi
dent of the American Cotton asso
ciation, was sending telegrams from
Columbia to the governors of four
teen cotton states, urging that spe
cial sessions of legislatures be con
vened for the upurpose of passing
legislation postponing the payment
of taxes and assuring a uniform re
duction in cotton acreage for 1921
of 33 1-3 per cent. Mr. Wanna
maker s message has not yet been
received by Governor Dorsey.
Parker’s Letter
Governor Parker’s communication to Gov
ernci Dorsey follows;
“Dear Governor—Your favor of October
together with a number of letters aim
telegrams referring to the present situation
has been received and carefully noted.
“In reply, will say that 1 am informed
that quite a large per cent of the cotton
west of the Mississippi has already been
ginned, and a considerable amount of Texas
cotton has been placed on the market.
“You have noticed from the press for the
past six or eight weeks that I have taken
the position that 1n order that we might
handle our cotton to the best of advantage it
would be wise to gin it and place it in ware
houses, bonded if possible, so as to use the
certificates as collateral with which to bor
row money to meet maturing debts and to
protect supply merchants and the small hank
ers In carrying the-supply accounts of the
farmers advanced while producing the pres
ent crop until tlie market price reaches at
least cost of production.
“I see no reason to suggest a change in
that policy.
“I note from the letters you sent me that
some suggest that the legislature be assem
bled In extraordinary session for the purpose
o“ enacting a moratorium law. As to closing
down the gins for sixty days or the enact
ment of a moratorium law, I suggest that
the latter would be much more preferable.
“I am in receipt of hundreds of letters and
telegrams as well as the ones banded to me
by you suggesting that you call an extra
session of the Georgia legislature at once
and urging me to use my influence to get
you to do so for the purpose of enacting a
law reducing the acreage for the 1921 crop
to five acres to the plow. I do not think
that a law of this kind would be constitu
tional, therefore, I would suggest that in
the event you call an extra session, and 1
believe that it would be wise to do so, that
our laws giving police quarantine authority
to the state board of entomology should be
so strengthened as to give the board eueh
control as would he necessary to successfully
control or exterminate tlie boll weevil, and
that our state warehouse and banking laws be
so amended as to allow state banks to give’
preferential Interest rates to co-operative
bonded warehouses, as this would have a ten
dency to strengthen the bonded cotton ware
house receipts as against those receipts issued
by non-bonded warehouses, many of which
are unknown outside of their immediate com
munities.
“I believe that the question of acreage
reduction should .be within the hands of
tlie farmers themselves in co-operation with
t(i/ state board of entomology, and I am
of the firm opinion that an organization
among the farmers will be perfected with
in the nexty ninety days that will reduce
the cotton acreage to five acres to the plow,
or not more than 50 per cent of this year's
acreage of cotton.”
Governor Dorsey’s Letter
Governor Dorsey’s letter to Governor
Parker is as follows:
“My Dear Governor: Referring to your
telegram of the 25U1 instant, asking that
I join in the request for all gins to shut
down for thirty days, or longer:
“I referred your telegram, and also other
communications in which other suggestions
are made, to the contmisioner of agricul--
titre of this state. Copy of his letter set
ting out his views attached.
“Though I have great regard for your
opinion, I doubt the wisdom of requesting
the gins to suspend operations. At any
rate, in view of the attitude of Commission
er Brown, who Is probably al well informed
on the agricultural conditions and needs In
this state as any man, I hardly feel that I
would be authorized in making the request
which you suggest.”
Wannamaker’s Telegram ’
President Wannamaker’s telegram to the
governors follows:
“The main source from which the great
majority of the citizens can hope to obtain
money to meet their obligations, as well
to pay their taxes, which must be paid by
February 1, is from the sale of cotton, this
being the main money crop of the south.
“The law of supply and demand Is not
functioning. Cotton can only be sold tn
a limited way, at prices that are absolutely
confirscatory, being only half the cost
of production.
“Cotton must be held for at least the
cost of production—4o cents, basis mid
dling. We must arrange to market cotton
in central Europe, where there is pressing
demand. We must assure the cotton-con
suming world, beyond a shadow of doubt,
that cotton acreage will be reduced 83 1-3
per cent next season.
“I earnestly request that you call sn
extra session of the legislature of your
state to convene as speedily as possible for
the purpose of passing necessary leg.'sli-
(Cpntinued oa 7> Colama. S)