Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 53. No. 2.
; !
MOULTRIE M. SESSIONB|
Insists That Thirty-Ninth is
A New District
And That the Governor Should Have
Ordered Elections in Thirteen Dis
tricts. Cobb County Can Not Be
Legally Represented by Allen.
We print below a letter addressed
to The Atlanta Constitution by Hon.
Moultrie M. Sessions, relative to rep
resentation of the new state senatorial
districts.
It is lengthy, but as the constitu
tionality of all laws passed at the
next session of the legislature depends
upon the legality of the representa
tion of that body, it is well worth
careful consideration:
Editor Constitution:
In the Constitution of December
21st, 1918, there appeared an article
written by Mr. Holloman ‘entitled,
“The law prohibits Cobb from elect
ing a senator. State situation anal
yzed.”
As this article dealt largely with
and was evidently inspired by the
fact that I had a few days before
announced as a candidate for state
senator from the new 39th senatorial
district, which embraces Cobb county,
and as I am constantly being asked
in person and by letter my position
in the matter, I desire to reply there
to through the columns of your paper
and present the facts and law con
cerning the question as they appear
to me.
At the outset I will admit that I
am not a politician and know but
little of the game of politics, and
candor compels me to confess that I
was somewhat premature in announc
ing my candidacy; but it was re
ported to me on what I considered
good authority, that the governor had
called for special elections to be held
on January T7th, 1919, in all of the
new senatorial districts recently cre
ated in the state, and believing then
and now with many others that the
counties of Cobb, Cherokee and Doug
las composed” a new senatorial dis
trict which had never before existed,
1 yielded to the solicitations of many
friends and to several petitions sign
ed by hundreds of good citizens from
all sections of the county endorsing
my candidacy, also having the sup
port of both papers here, and an
nounced for the office without consult
ing as closely as I should have done
into the call issued by the governor.
Believing then, as I do now, that thir
teen new senatorial districts had been
created, I naturally supposed that
the governor would call for elections
to be held in all of the new dis-.
tricts, and I was very much sur-‘
prised to learn later that he had
called for elections to be held in only‘
seven of the thirteen new districts‘
which were created when “The people
ratified the amendment to the con
stitution at the general election held
in November, last.
My reasons for believing that thei
governor would call for an election
in each of the thirteen new districts
were based upon the language of the
Act itself: in the latter part of sec
tion No. 3, the following language
will be found: |
“If a majority of the electors qual
ified to vote for members of the
General Assembly * * * shall vote in
favor of the ratification of said pro
posed amendment * * * * the gov
ernor shall make proclamation there
of and shall call spection elections in
each of the n senatorial districts
so created for'g"ie election of a sen
ator for each of said districts in the
next General Assembly, as is provided
by law for the filling of ‘'vacancies
caused by death or resignation.
Of course, the whole matter turns
upon how many “new senatorial dis
tricts were so created.”
The governor and the attorney
general hold to the opinion that only
seven new districts were created; I
insist that as a matter of fact and
law thirteen new districts were es
tablished.
What is a “new” district? The
Century Dictionary defined the word
“new’” as ‘“‘different,” ‘“not the same
as before,” “not the old,” ‘distin
guished from the old, while named
after it.” If the dictionary is cor
rect as to the meaning of ‘“new,” the
39th senatorial district, now com
posed of the counties of Cobb, Cher
okee and Douglas, is not the old 39th,
composed of Milton, Cherokee and
Forsyth counties; it certainly is “not
the same as before;”’ it most assur
edly is “different”; it cannot be de
nied that it is “distinguished from
the old, while named after it.” It is
also true that the old 35th district,
composed of Fulton, Cobb and Clay
gofl is not the same as the new 35th,
composed of Fulton, Clayton and
Henry.
Still, one if not forced to rely upon
a definition in a dictionary or to de
pend upon his own deductions "and
opinions to establish the fact beyond
preadventure that the 39th senatorial
district of Georgia as it now exists
is a new district and not an old dis
trict, because the language and word
ing of the Act which provides for
THE MARIETTA JOURNAL
MOULTRIE M. SESSIONS, who
insists that Cobb County cannot be
legally represented by a senator,
living outside this district.
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a change in the constitution of the
state demonstrates this to be true, and
that it was the intention of the law
makers to create thirteen and not
seven new districts; it is true that
the Act only provides for seven ad
ditional districts, but in the creation
of these seven additional districts
(which are also new districts) it was
found to be necessary to abolish six
of the old districts and also to create
six other (but not additional) new
districts.
Now, what is the language of the
Act? Section No. 3, sub-section (a)
reads as follows:
“By striking all of sub-sections 15,
27 3034, 35 and-39."
When the people voted to ratify
this sub-section of the amendment to
the constitution, the six districts nam
ed in said sub-section were abolished;
the same electors who voted to es
tablish the seven additional districts
also voted to abolish six of the old
districts; if one part of the Act was
ratified, it was all ratified, because
it was voted upon as a whole and
not by sectons; if the old distrcts
were not abolished, the seven addi
‘tional and new districts were not
created.
Also, the language of sub-sectionl
(b) of Section No. 3, of the said
Act reads as follows:
“By substituting in lieu of the sub
sections so stricken out new sub-sec
tions 15, 27, 30, 34, 35 and 39, re
spectively as follows: (giving the
counties which shall compose the new
districts created in lieu of the six
old districts created in lieu of the
six old districts abolished).”
And said Act adds the following:
«“39. The Thirty-ninth Senatorial
District shall be composed of the
counties of Cherokee, Cobb 2and
Douglas.”
Now, what can be plainer than this
language? The Act provides that
six old districts be abolished, and
then, after they are abolished, pro
vides that six new districts be created,
and among these is the 39th; and to
show that there could be no mistake
about the intention of the law-makers
the Act calls them the “new’” 15th,
27th, 30th, 34th, 35th and 39th.
In creating the new 39th, Cobb
was taken from the old 35th, Doug-|
las from the old 36th, and Cherokee
from the old 39th, after these three
districts were abolished, and 2 new!
district created to be called the 39th.
I am sure that no lawyer will deny
the fact that when sub-section (a)
of Section No. 3, of the Act, was
ratified, it forever abolished the six
districts named in said sub-section;
and that when sub-section (o) of]
Section No. 3 of the Act was rati-!
fied, it created the six districts named
in said sub-section—now, were these
six districts thus created “new”? |
They had never existed before; they‘;
were different from any district that
ever existed before; they are “d}s-i
tinguished from the old, while name(”
(numbered) after them”; in my opin
jon, it is “just as plain as the alpha
bet’”’ that they are new districts. |
1 am sure that no one would con
tend for a moment that the number
by which a district is called decides
the question of whether it is a new
or an old district; I take it for granted
that the question at issue is whether
or not the district is new or old, and
not the number by which it is desig
nated. It is a fact that the six
districts abolished and the six created
in lieu thereof bear the same numbers
but I take it for granted that no
‘man will insist that any numbers
were either abolished or created; if
there have been any old numbers
abolished or any new numbers cre
ated by any individual, body corpor
ate, or state during the last few cen
turies, it has not been brought to
my notice—it is a question of eld or
new districts — not numbers. This
also holds true of the seven addition
al and new districts which were creai
ed when the amendment to the con
(Continued on page nine)
Marietta, Ga., Friday, January 10th, 1919.
HUNDREDS DIE IN 1
RIOTS IN GERMANY
Late dispatches last night stated
that the Spartacan revolution was
spreading to all parts of Germany.
Uprisings with varying success have
been reported in Dusseldorf, Muel
heim, Schwerin, Oberhausen, Mann
heim, Brunswick, Frankfort, Leipzig,
Wittenberg and Munich. :
Fighting was continuing in Berlin
last night. Several hundred persons
have been killed and hundreds more
wounded. Heavy artillery fighting
is going on there.
The Ebert-Scheidemann govern
ment was reported overthrown.
Karl Liebknecht and Georg Lede
bour, leaders respectively of the Spar
tacans and independent Socialists, are
said to have set up a new govern
ment in the Berlin police station.
Contradictory reports said that the
Ebert-Scheidemann government is
still safely in control and is gradually
subduing the revolt.
Twenty persons were killed in the
American embassy in Berlin when the
building was damaged during the
fichting in adjacent streets on Tues-
day.
Rumors are afloat in Berlin that
entente troops, at the request of Chan
cellor Ebert, will occupy the city.
Other rumors were circulated that
an American force would assume
control in Berlin to quell possible
riots during the national elections,
January 15th.
All work was reported to have
ceased throughout Germany as a re
sult of the revolution.
Troops from garrisons throughout
the country were reported to be rush
ing into Berlin in automobiles to
back up Chancellor Ebert.
MEETING CALLED ON
GEORGIA HIGHWAYS
Governor Dorsey has called a joint
meeting of the highway committee,
the state highway comission and the
budget and tax committee of the leg
islature for Thursday, January 16,
to discuss plans for a highway system
in the state.
Governor Dorsey stated Monday
that some feasible plan would be
adopted at the meting that would
later be submitted to the legislature
in orde. that the state may secure
the federal fund for highways.
BEATRIX MADDOX BURIED HERE
Miss Beatrix Maddox, 27 years old,
died on' Monday after a week’s illness
viith pneumonia at the Davis-Fischer
Sanitorium in Atlanta. The body was
brought home for burial. The funeral
cervices were held from the residence
of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. A.
Maddox on Maple avenue, on Tues
day afternoon, the Rev. L A. White
officiating. The interment was in the
city cemetery. ~The ball-bearers
were Messrs. John Fowler,- Cleber
Maddox, W. D. Crumley, George H.
Sessions, and Mr. Lewis, of Atlanta.
Miss Maddox is survived by her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Maddox,
one sister, Mrs. L. A. Adams, of El
berton, and three brothers, D. J. Mor
ris and Sam Maddox, of Marietta,
and A. R. Maddox, of Fort Sam Hous
ton, Texas.
Miss Maddox had a position with the
Southern Adjustment Bureau in At
lanta, and made her home in Atlanta.
GOVERNMENT REPORT
A bulletin soon to be issued by the
Bureau of the Census, Department of
Commerce, show, for the American
crop of 1917, a production of 11,248,-
242 running bales of cotton, worth
$1,532,690,000 to the growers, and of
5,040,000 tons of cotton seed, worth
$333,550,000; and for the “cotton
year” ended July 31, 1918, a con
sumption of 6,566,489 bales (exclud
ing linters), exports of 4,288,420
bales, net imports of 217,381 bales,
<tocks on hand at the beginning of
the year of 2,720,173 bales and at
the end of the year of 3,450,188 bales,
and cotton spindles active at some
time during the year to the number
of 34,542,665. For the entire world
the production of lint cotton destin
ed for factory use was 17,410,000
and the mill consumption 17,701,000
bales of 500 pounds net weight.
The American crop of 1917 fell be
low that of 1916 by 147,555 equiva
lent 500-pound bales, or 1.3 per cent,
but exceeded that of 1915 by 110,555
bales, or 1 per cent. Each of these
three crops was smaller than that of
any year from 1910 to 1914, exclu
sive.
Texas alone produced 3,125,378
equivalent 500-pound bales, or nearly
28 per cent of the total crop of
1917; and three states — Georgia,
South Carolina, and Texas, each with
an autput of more than a million
bales—produced 55 per cent. Cali
fornia, with a production of 57,826
‘bales in 1917, outranked Florida and
Virginia. Cotton growing in Arizona
‘has made rapid progress during re
cent vears. The production in that
{state in 1917, 21,737 equivalent 500-
pound bales, was; for the first time,
} greater than the Virginia crop, 18,777
bales. L
| (Continued on page ten)
Due to Rheumatism Which
Affected His Heart
Funeral Was Held Wednesday from
Christ Episcopal Church at Oyster
Bay. Telegrams of Sympathy Com
ing from All Parts of World.
Col. Theodore Roosevelt, ex-presi
dent of the United States and one of
the central figures in affairs of the
country for many years, died suddenly
at his home in Oyster Bay at an
early hour Monday morning.
He had gained his first distinction
as police commissioner of New York
City, then when he went to Cuba with
the Rough Riders, he further added
to his fame.
He was elected vice-president on
the ticket with Wm. McKinley, and
became president when Mr. McKinley
was assasinated. He was re-elected
for another term, and has since held
the spot-light in Republican politics,
dominating that party absolutely. He
had many enemies within his own
party, and many friends among the
Democrats, and was the most stren
uous character in American public
life for many years.
The colonel suffered a severe at
tack of rheumatism and sciatica on
New Year's day, ‘but none believed
his illness would likely prove fatal.
He sat up most of Sunday and retired
at 11 o’clock Sunday night. About
4 a. m. on Monday Mrs. Roosevelt,
who was the only other member of
the family at Oyster Bay, went to her
husband’s room and found that he
had died during the night.
Mrs. Roosevelt telephoned to Col.
Emlin Roosevelt, cousin of the former
president, and he came to the Roose
velt home immediately. Telegrams
were dispatched to the colonel’s chil
dren, who were in other parts of the
country. Two of the colonel’s sons,
Major Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and
Captain Kermit Roosevelt, are in the
service abroad.
i The former president came to his
ome on Sagamore Hill from the
%:)osevelt hospital on Christmas day,
t a week later was stricken with a
severe attack of rheumatism and
sciatica, from which he had been suf
fering for_some time. The rheuma
tism affected his right hand and it
became much swollen. He remained
in his room and efforts were made to
check the trouble.
The funeral was held Wednesday
from Christ Episcopal church, Oyster
Bay. Rev. Dr. George Talmadge offi
ciating. Interment was in Young Me
morial cemetery at Oyster Bay. The
services were very simple.
FRANCE’'S TRIBUTE
TO AMERICA’S DEAD
The State Department is in receipt
of the following message under date
of January 1 from the French gov
ernment:
“The French government wishes to
express its profound sympathy and
gratitude to the American families
whose sons have met a glorious death
on French soil during the war. It
wishes to share in their mournings.
The graves of the young soldiers of
America are as sacred in its eyes
as are those of their French com
rades and it will take the necessary
measures to provide that they shall
be respected and tended with a rev
erent and patriotic care.”
MR. CALVIN APPOINTED
STATE STATISTICIAN
Mr. Martin V. Calvin has been
appointed State Statistician and
Clerical expert, by Commissioner of
Agriculture, J. J. Brown. His offices
will, of course, be in the Capitol.
This is an appointment that gives
general satisfaction throughout the
state. Mr. Calvin iz known as a man
of brilliant intellect and profound
learning, and has held many offices
of distincting.
His term as President of the
Georgia Agricultural Society expires
this month. Marietta will be glad
to know that the family will continue
to reside here.
LOYAL RUSSIAN TRCOPS |
DEFEAT THE BOLSHEVIKII
Loyal Russion troops, operating
under the authority of the Omsk gov-/
ernment, have defeated a large Bol
sheviki army, capturing 31,000 pris
oners and large quantities of war ma
terials, it was reported last night.
The third Bolsheviki army of ten
regiments had been chattered, and
the loyal troops had advanced and
were pursuing the enemy, the report
continues.
Booty captured included armored
trains, as well as large quantities of
war materials and reserve supplies.
It is assumed that the jßussian
forces referred to were those which
recently captured a city in Eurcopean
Russia, near the Siberian line. More
than 10,000 prisoners were taken in
that engagement.
REAL PEACE WORK
TO BEGIN AT ONCE
Press dispatches from Paris state
that informal conferences with en
tente statemen which will lay the
real groundwork for the peace con
gress were to begin yesterday. These
conferences probably will be Presi
dent Wilson’s only official activity
prior to the beginning of the peace
congress, as it is necessary for him to
get some rest after a fatiguing round
of speeches and traveling.
As the conference approaches the
stage where important formal agree
ments which will have an impertant
bearing on final settlements will be
reached, there seems to be excellent
authority for saying that plans for
the settlement of the most important
questions—the league of nations, the
freedom of the seas and disarmament
—are still very indefinite. .
It is true several propositions are
being put forward for the adjustment
of those matters, but there is none
having the color of official sanction.
If Mr. Wilson has drawn up any spe
cific plans, he has not divulged them
to anybody, and it is known he is
closely studying various suggestions
advanced by others. This is not nec
essarily to be construed as meaning
that the president is without definite
ideas, but rather that he has been
giving thought to the governing prin
ciples and keeping an open mind so as
to benefit from ideas coming from
all sources.
DR. D. E. SAWYER
GETS PROMOTION
Dr. D. E. Sawyer, Cobb County
Demonstration Agent, whose office
was abolished by the Board of County
Commissioners at their meeting on
Tuesday, has already accepted work
elsewhere at a larger salary than
that asked of Cobb county.
The doctor was at Athens at the
state meeting there, when he received
the news that his office had been abol
ished, and as soon as it became known
he was solicited to take the work in
a number of counties, and has ac
cepted the work of Fulton County.
We understand the pay is much
larger than that which he had been
receiving here, and we are sure that
he might have done better at any
time, and that it was only because
of his association with the young peo
ple of Cobb County that he would
have been willing to return.
TWO OF OUR OLD BOYS HERE
Captain Palmer Earle and First
Lieutenant James S. Merrihew were
recent visitors to Mrs. Edgar Nichols.
The Earle’s are an old Marietta fam
ily, and their friends here are glad
to know that the two boys Jack and
Palmer, are decidedly “making good.”
James Merrihew and his grand
mother, Mrs. Taylor, made their
home with Mrs. Nichols from the
time James was a baby until a few
years ago. He has numbers of
friends here who are delighted to
know of his success.
Another of “Mrs. Nichol’s boys”
whom she has recently heard from,
is Lieutenant Foreman Screven, now
with the A. E. F. in France.
George Goumas has received the
Distinguished Service Cross for heroic
action under fire. He is one of two
boys of the 307th Field Signal Bat
talion to be so honored. The othre
boy was Corporal Louis Sorrow, of
Indiana.
The Official Bulletin of January
third, has the order published in full,
and we reproduce it below. We are
proud of George, and he has been
one of the boys who has faithfully
fulfilled his promise to write us fre
quently since he went away, although
the censorship prevented his writing
much of interest to the general pub
lic. Although he was wounded and
had been recommended for the cross
he never mentioned it to us until it
was published.
We have never had a doubt about
our boys when they got under fire,
and we expect them to bring home
many honors, although many may not
receive so great an honor as George
has attained.
The order relating to Goumas in
the Official Bulletin is as follows:
Private, (First Class) George Gou
mas, Company B, 307th Field Signal
Battalion. (No. 1918987.) For ex
traordinary heroism in action near
Fleville, France, October 21, 1918.
This soldier was in a relay station
which was struck by a shell, wound
ing him and five others. After as
sisting the other wounded men to a
truck nearby, he returned through
the falling shells to the relay station
and assisted another soldier in repair
ing the wire, which had been cut, re
maining at his post until he had made
sure that the lines were in good con
dition and he was ordered to come
in by his commanding officer. Home
address, George Tsipouras, cousin, 1
Park Place, Marietta, Ga.
Established 1866
John P. Cheney Sets Forth
| .
| Good Suggestions
Suggests that County Comissioners
Select Roads to be Made, and that
They be Paid for With Bond Issue.
Convicts to be Used on Work.
In our last issue we published an
editorial entitled Good Roads Again,
in which we invited our readers who
‘might have a definite plan of perma
‘nent road building in mind te put
‘the plan before the people of the
county.
~ We have just received the follow
‘ing letter from John P. Cheney, of
Marietta, in which he sets out plans
Pin detail for the construction of roads
'in the county, which is werthy of
careful consideration:
Mr. Editor:
~ From time to time I notice you
have made-suggestions as to the need
‘of permanent roads in Cobb County,
and it does seem to me that our peo
ple have not responded as they should,
however, I don’t believe it was be
cause of lack of desire on their part
for good roads, as much as it was the
fact that each man was waiting for
the other to offer suggestions. I be
lieve that we will all agree that we
want good roads—that is to say, per
manent roads. This sentiment has
crystalized within the past five years,
since our farmers have begun to buy
automobiles for their travel and
trucks for their hauling, so that now
the farmers, so far as they are con
cerned, see the need of a permanent
road system. I am going to offer
some rough suggestions merely to get
the argument started, and I hope that
everyone will feel perfectly free to
criticise them, but don’t criticise them
unless you have something better to
offer. My idea is as follows:
1. Our County Commissioners
should have a hearing as to which of
our roads should be considered as
trunk roads, and after such hearing,
they should declare which shall be
considered as trunk roads.
2. They should then employ a
competent road engineer to ascertain
the total and separate mileage of
these trunk roads, the width neces
sary to give good service, the amount
of grading necessary to put theqe
roads on such a grade as they ought
to have for a permanent road bed.
This work, including the grading
should all be done at the expense of
the county, through our ceunty com
missioners.
3. The balance of the weork to
be done, in order to make a perman
ent road should be paid for out of the
proceeds of a bond issue to be voted
upon by the people, and the money
arising from the sale of the bonds
expended by a special bond commis
sion of three or five men from the
county at large, these bond commis
sioners to be named by our county
commissioners after full hearing as
to the fitness of those who should be
named in the bill to be' efiacted by
our Legislature, and which is refer
red to later in this article.
4. After the number of trunk
roads and the total mileage thereof
has been ascertained, and an approx
imate estimate has been made to the
cost of making them permanent roads,
we should have a special act passed
by the Legislature this summer, which
should, before becoming a law, be
referred back to the people and rati
fied by a majority vote at a special
election. This act should name the
commissioners to handle the money,
and the amount of the proposed bond
issue, and should designate these
trunk roads and set forth what per
centage of the proceeds of the bond
issue would go to each road; also that
this permanent road work should be
done by contract to the lowest bid
ders, and the act should set forth
substantially the manner in which
these contracts shoud be let by the
special bond commissioners.
5. The bond commission should
see that the work is carried on without
delay, and that some work should be
done on each of the roads at the same
time, if possible; that is to say, they
should not undertake to complete one
road before the work was started on
another. And they should not under
take as a beginning, to build the roads
too wide, but should look to their
permanency. When this act was put
before the people for ratification
they would know exactly what they
were voting on; they would know
exactly how much their bond issue
was going to be; they would know
who was going to spend their money;
and they would know substantially in
what manner it was going to be spent.
In other words, they would know that
the whole thing would be handled
openly and above board, se that no
private contractors would get their
money without value received.
6. The county commissioners
should then use our conviet system,
and have practically the same amount
of funds for their road work as
usual, and should keep up all other
roads of the county, and sheuld not
(Continued on page ten)