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m HOKE SMITH’S SPLENDID RECORD IN WASHINGTON
ALL HIS WONDERFUL
r ORK HIS CROWNING
CHIEVEMENT WAS IN
RINGING THE REGIONAL
ANK TO GEORGIA.
From the Macon Daily Newa.
was the first Monday in Decem
-1911, that Hoke Smith, leaning
the arm of Senator Augustus Oc
ius Bacon, walked down the aisle
the senate chamber to the vice
sident’s desk to be sworn in as a
ator of the United States.
[e had been a member of Presl
t Cleveland’s cabinet and had been
ce governor of Georgia, but there
s an air of reserve, almost diffi
ee, as he took his seat on one of
back rows after the ceremony,
iv senators are always given one
those seats and later on they get
Jnething better either by process of
■ wing or filing a claim in case of
I ancy.
■he senate is so old and so self
lisfied vthat the advent of a new
Imber hardly excites a mild curi-
Jty. The senators knew of Hoke
lith, but only the more prominent
les knew him personally, for it had
Ln nearly twenty years since his
■ourn in Washington as secretary
I the interior. •
■As the hum-drum of routine went
I the new senator began to take in
E surroundings. He studied the sen-
Ers as first one and then another
Suld engage in debate. It was pret-
I much as if he were studying an
Itagonist— the lawyers on the other
le in a great law case. Before him
Ire members of the greatest law-
Iking body in the world—more than
Eety of the picked men of the United
lues. The game was old to them, for
Ey had debated questions of gov
liment among themselves for a dec-
Ir or a score of years. Attentive in
Ihigh degree to all that said,
Eke Smith was in reality weighing
E men with whom he was to eon-
Ed in the enactment or defeat of
Eislation. The republicans were in
Iwer and over on that side stood Root
Id LaFollette, Lodge, Penrose, Smoot,
litlierland, McCumber, Cummins and
lliers, an air of confidence and a
Eile of satisfaction on every face.
Ee democrats were to be played with
I a cat would play with a mouse,
loke Smith observed it all, but before
le holidays came Tie IMW slreff ttp th<*
Inate and knew the fighting weight
■ practically every man on the other
lie. He "know their strength, he
Eew his own and he was not dis-
Erbed.
■ '"here was a tradition that new sen
iors should not rush forward in de
late. They are supposed to confine
Eeir labors to answering roll call for
It least a year. But Hoke Smith got
last that ancient idea so easily and
|o quietly that he did not even slight
|. jar the senatorial dignity. Just a
Ittle speech in favor of the children's
lureSu in Washington —not a speech
In the tariff, or the trusts, or the
lurrency—only a modest little talk
■ bout the welfare of children, made
lv an ex-member of the cabinet, ex-
Lovernor, a big, broad shouldered man I
from whom might have been expected
a thunderous exposition of some in
ternational question. But it broke the
Bee. Hoke Smith had made his first
Free Legal Aid Society
For City of Augusta
The above named organization
foes not exist. The purpose of
this article is to hasten its com
ing. Raleigh has from its found
ation been open to all corners; the
state has given us free education;
public spirited physicians have
given us free health; the thought
has begun to occur to many that
it is time justice also were trans
ferred to the free list.
The popular outcry which has of
recent years gone up against the
administration of Justice is not
merely a protest against an over
technical judiciary or a too compli
cated system. Those officers of
the courts—lawyers—are on trial
before the bar of public opinion.
They stand charged with violating
the spirit if not the letter of
Magna Charta, which laid down the
proposition that, “justice shall not
be denied, delayed nor sold.”
The way in which the legal fra
ternity can do much to set itself right
with the public is by providing an or
ganization which will seek justice
without charge for those unable to
pay. That a lawyer is entitled to fair
compensation for his services goes with
cut saying, but our natures rebel
against the thought that any man
•mould fail to obtain justice merely
from lack of means to hire an attor
ney. or should be robbed by those
Professing to uphold the arms of the
law
Quacks are present In every pro
fession Even the ministry draws its
goo: Thev cannot be abolished en
tlreiy and the fact Is evident that the
Prof' -slon of law Is a more fertile
breeding place than any other, be
cause of the many opportunities af
forded therein for crooked dealings.
“ Is. therefore, the more Incumbent
J'Pon members of the legal profession
m all quarters to carry out the Ideals
j' r which they are supposed to stand
opening the avenues of justice to
me n>edy and at the same time to
eradicate the parasites by depriving
'hem of their prey.
hi 1 S 7« a group of Germans in N* w
ln rk <'ity organized for tlie purpose
'' re ud(,rin illegal aid to the German
immigrants Vhjen coming to New York
4
speech in the senate. And the bill
which he had advocated was passed.
One thing that was noticed was the
fact that the new senator’s voice was
distinctly Southern, so clear that with
out effort it was heard in the most
remote corners of the gallery and so
softly modulated that it fell pleasantly
upon listening ears.
There came along in a few days the
matter of committee assignments for
the new senator. What would ne have,
the republicans wanted to know. A
place on the agricultural committee
and a place on the postoffice commit
tee, was the answer. Oh, no, no, he
could not get those places.
“Then, leave me off entirely,” was
the reply. “I would Just as soon take
care of myself on the floor of the
senate.”
And then the republicans saw that
while the new senator’s voloe was
soft enough there was the glitter of
steel in his grey eyes that meant trou
ble and they went off by themselves
and came back and said he could have
the two committee places for which
he had expressed a wish. What Sen
ator Smith has done with those com
mittee places will be told of a little
further down in this article.
His Early Work in the Senate.
Early in the session the house
passed a resolution to dissolve a treaty
with Russia which had been in exist
ence for a long period of time. It in
volved the right of naturalized Jews
to return to Russia and was a very
delicate international question. Rus
sia was the friend of this country.
There was no objection to the abroga
tion of the treaty but the house reso
lution was offensively worded. Sena
in great numbers. The newly formed
organization was styled the German
Legal Aid Society. In 1890 Mr. Arthur
Brissen was made president of the
society which then extended its much
needed aid to the poor of all nation
alities, and thus came into existence
the Legal Aid Society of New York.
Mr. Briesen is now entering upon his
twenty-fifth year as president and has
earned a world-wide reputation for
what he has accomplished in this great
work. During the year 1912 there
were handled by this society 37,796
cases which resulted in recoveries and
I collections for clients amounting to
i $142,429.51. The society’s expenses for
! the same year were $46,194.69.
The idea launched by these public-
I spirited Germans has traveled far, be-
I cause of its soundness and timeliness.
I Today, besides the one in New York,
i there are legal aid societies in the fol
i lowing American cities: Akron, Atlan
j ta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston,
! Bridgeport, Buffalo, Cambridge, Chi
cago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado
Springs, Denver, Des Moines, Hart
ford, Hoboken, Houston, Kansas City,
Louisville, Los Angeles, Montgomery,
i Newark, New Bedford, New Orleans,
New Rochelle, Pittsburg, Philadelphia,
Portland (Ore.), Trenton and Wash
ington. Foreign citieg have followed
example: Copenhagen, Edinburg, Birk
enhead, Liverpool and Lubeck. It re
mains to add Augusta to this list.
The American Legal Aid Societies
1 have a national organization which
| meets in annual conventions composed
of delegates from society.
The constitutions of these societies,
i patterned after the parent New York
' organization, express thiir purpose in
, similar words: "The purpose of this
I society shall be to render legal aid,
gratuitously if necessary, to all who
mav appear worthy thereof and from
poverty are unable to procure asslst
i ance elsewhere.” Most of these so
cieties charge a small fee—from ten
to fifty cents —as an evidence of good
faith, and In some cases a percent
age never exceeding ten per cent, is
retained of the amount recovered oi
collected. However, In cases of ex
treme poverty no fee or percentage
whatever is charged. The small rove
nue from these fees is used to aid in
SENATOR HOKE SMITH
tor Smith's second speech was in sup
port of an amendment modifying the
language in such a way that it would
not offend a friendly power and the
position which he took was sustained
by the senate.
When the arbitration treaties known
as the peace treaties came up Senator
Smith pointed out that under the bill
as proposed vital questions of our gov
ernment could be passed upon ’by ar
bitration, possibly forcing the United
States to abandon positions heretofore
held or to repudiate its treaty agree
ments. The resolution was amended
so as not to include the admission of
aliens to the United States or to the
educational institutions of the several
states; the territorial integrity of the
several states; .alleged indebtedness of
any state, the maintenance of the
Monroe doctrine or other purely gov
ernmental policy.
This amendment protected the
Southern states against suits over the
fraudulent bonds of reconstruction
times.
The senator made a fight on the
special pension bills, and on the Sher
wood pension bill, which would have
increased the amount paid for pen
sions by $75,000,000 a year. The house
had passed that bill, many democrats,
among them Speaker Champ Clark,
voting for it. The senate refused to
pass the Sherwood bill, but it passed
the McCumber bill, adding about $25,-
000,00 a year to pensions. Senator
Smith had part in preventing the pass
age of the Sherwood bill which meant
a $75,000,000 raid on the treasury, thus
helping to save the country $50,000,000
annually. He also voted against the
$25,000,000 increase.
defraying office expenses, the deficit
being covered ,by contributions from
lawyers and public-spirited citizens.
Bar associations have brought
about the establishment of these so
cieties in most of the cities named
above, but wherever an organization
of this kind is started there is at first
a feeling among a certain element of
the bar that the society will deprive
some lawyers of their practice. There
is no disposition on the part of these
legal aid societies to compete wiih
practising attorneys. The first inves
tigation made in each case is for the
purpose of determining whether the
applicant is really able to employ coun
sel; if it be found that he is, his appli
cation is refused. A more difficult
situation arisese where a person with
out means brings a case involving re
covery of damages or the collection of
money due, which case would be ac
cepted by most attorneys upon a con
tingent fee basis. Here the line is not
strictly drawn and much is left to the
discretion of the society’s attorney. It
it appears that client is deeply in
need, then the society feels justified in
taking the ease in order that the en
tire amount recovered may go to the
needy applicant; and this is often
done even where the society exacts a
small fee, it being thought better to
take the case and charge a small fee
than to have client charged a much
larger amount by an attorney. if,
however, the amount recoverable is
large, and the applicant not entirely
poverty-stricken, he is told to en
gage his own attorney.
It is finite impossible to enumerate
the varied benefits such an organiza
tion brings with it. When one has
seen a poor man or woman thrown
into a |aw suit—the panic-stricken
feeling that comes over him, his ideas
that the courts, lawyers and society
are combined against him, his belief
that justice is a fiction and truth a
phantom, and doubtless his experience
that a lawyer’s threshold cannot be
crossed without surrendering a five
dollar bill —one begins to appreciate
the function of a legal aid society in
modern civilization. The most ef
fective antidote for anarchy is jus
t ice.
The advantages of having such an
organization are not entirely with the
poor. Most lawyers welcome the ad
vent of the legal aid society. Almost
every practicing attorney carries a
certain number of cases know'n as
“charity cases" which aside from con
suming valuable time often carry him
THE AUGUSTA HERALD. AUGUSTA, GA.
Perfected Parcel Post Law.
One of the big questions before con
gress in the early part of 1912 wa»
the parcel post. There was already an
international parcel post permitting
the shipment of packages of not ex
ceeding eleven pounds in weight for
a uniform price of twelve cents a
pound. That was what the farmers
were clamoring so right to ship
an eleven pound package anywhere in
the United States at twelve cents a
pound, which would have been $1.32
for the package, and that was what
was in the bill as it was passed by
the house.
Senator Smith had gone on the post
office committee for just such work
as he proceeded to do on the parcel
post. He reasoned that something far
better than the house had proposed
could be done for the farmers and the
people generally. The long haul at
twelve cents a pound would suit some
folks, but most people were interested
in a short haul at a lower rate. Sen
ator Bourne, chairman of the com
mittee, and Senator Smith evolved a
zone system of rates —fifty miles, one
hundred and fifty, three hundred, and
so on, starting with five cents for the
first pound and adding two cents a
pound so that an eleven pound pack
age could be sent fifty miles for twen
ty-five cents. Other rates were in
proportion and in that shape the law
was passed.
Experience has demonstrated that
the bulk of the business is on the short
hauls and at the low rates, and it is
a singular fact that despite these low
rates the financial returns to the gov
ernment are more satisfactory on the
short hauls than on the long hauls.
Tlie weight limit has been increased,
first to twenty pounds and finally to
fifty pounds. Under this system of
low rates for the short hauls the par
cel post has been a great and instan
taneous success. Senator Smith is
immensely pleased with the results.
During his first year in Washington
Senator Smith introduced a bill to
establish in the department of agri
culture a division of markets to aid
the farmers in the marketing of their
crops. This bill was introduced at
the suggestion of Hon. Charles Bar
rett, Hon. R. P. Duckworth and other
officers of the Farmers’ Union. An
appropriation of $50,000 a year was
made and the division has been in op
eration now for more than a year.
Its work is to be largely increased and
extended under appropriations already
agreed upon.
._. Advocated Wilson’* Nomination.
As early as February, 1912, Sen
ator Smith announced his advocacy of
Woodrow Wilson for the presidency.
He was steadfast in urging Wilson's
nomination, and with the adjournment
of congress spent the succeeding
months in campaign work in the West
and East. He was rewarded by seeing
the former Georgian sweep the coun
try from ocean to ocean.
When it was known that the repub
licans, who a year before were in
haughty control of the government,
had been hurled from power, the fig
ure of Hoke Smith loomed still larger
in national affairs, and when later it
was seen that even the senate had
passed into the hands of the demo
crats, Hoke Smith was hailed as the
coming leader of the senate. The up
heaval of November was to be felt in
every department of the government
—the house, the senate and the presi
dency, all belonged to the democrats.
into branches of the law and into
courts with which he is not entnrely
familiar. The legal aid society stands
ready to handle every case of this
nature and thus relieve attorneys of
these small and often troublesome
matters.
A legal aid society is a logical com
plement to the other charitable organ
izations of the city. These charities
frequently meet with legal problems
anj it is in keeping with Augusta’s
sentiment of conservation that their
legal difficulties be cared for without
expense and thus larger funds be left
for the carrying on of their work.
There is prevalent a base miscon
ception of legal ethics among certain
I members of the bar, to the effect that
one attorney should not engage his
| services to a client desiring to press
I a claim against another attorney for
: bad faith, outrageous charges and the
' like. The quicker this delusion is dis
pelled the better it will be for the
general reputation of the bar which
is by no means too savory at the pres
en' writing. If the public is made to
feel that the members of the legal
fraternity have joined hands to pro
tect dishonest members in their knav
ery, then that fraternity must will
ingly bear the odium justly heaped
upon it. The legal aid societies, being
by their very nature impersonal bodies,
are in position without any embar
rassment to handle claims against at
torneys and to bring to light every
case of abuse and dishonesty.
To institute the Augusta Free Legal
Aid Society no funds will be needed
at the outset other than those neces
sary for incorporation. A small office
will be secured in some central loca
tion; instead of engaging permanent
counsel a few members of the bar
will be asked to give an hour a week,
so that the office may be kept open
several hours each day. It is hoped
that the services of several of the
more mature law students from the
university can be secured to assist In
the clerical side of the work. As the
scope of the society enlarges and
funds accumulate through donations
and bequests steps will be taken to
ward employing competent counsel.
“I think I’ll take a little fish, wait
er.”
"Yes, sir. Bluofish or w-hiteflsh,
sir?”
"Bring me a little of each and a pnr
tion of red snapper. I'm nothing If
not patriotic.’’-—Seaettle I’ost-Intelli
gcr.cer.
This political revolution meant first
of all the complete reorganization of
the senate. Under the old order of
things democrats of a reactionary
type were in line for committee chair
manships. The seniority rule would
have given them these places of pow
er and they could have stifled impor
tant reforms, as was done under
Cleveland. The great body of demo
crats turned to Hoke Smith to lead
in handling the situation. He was on e
of the controlling spirits on the com
mittee that effected the reorganiza
tion, and it was accomplished without
the slightest friction. Each senator
was given the chairmanship to which
he was entitled under the seniority
rule, but the membership of the com
mittees was so arranged that the pro
gressive democrats were In control.
It is a ‘ fac*, however, that the men
who were considered reactionary got
Senator Smith Announces His
Candidacy For Re-Election
Washington City.—ln a statement breathing a spirit of harmony
and good will for all Georgians, notwithstanding past affiliations and
alignments, Senator Hoke Smith today declared he would be a candi
date to succeed himself in the United States Senate, subject to the
democratic primary in August. The statement follows:
“It has hardly seemed necessary for me to make any formal state
ment of my candidacy for the nomination in August to succeed myself
in the senate. Friends who have supported me in past contests, and
many who have opposed me, have written most cordially expressing their
purpose to support me for reelection, and have seemed to regard my
candidacy as a certainty.
“The newspapers have generously given to the people the facts as
to what I have been doing in Washington, and the voters are already, to
a large extent, familiar with my efforts to serve the state.
WOULD SERVE ALL.
“So long as I am in the senate it will be my earnest desire to.serve
all the people and to represent them all to the extent of my ability.
“While I cannot hope that all the voters will agree with me, I will
not, by any thing I may say or do, make it even difficult for any citizen
to confer with me, or take up with me matters in Washington in which
he may be interested. (
“I have long realized with regret that former political contests re
sulted as they were obliged to do, in some acute differences and even
estrangements, but I am encouraged by what has said to me by
hundreds of those who have opposed me in the past, to believe that bit
terness and harshness has been forgotten by others, as it has by me.
TRUSTS ELECTION TO FRIENDS.
“The people have been very generous to me, and I am anxious to
have every citizen of Georgia, no matter what our past relations have
been, feel perfectly free to call on me while I am in the senate when
ever I can serve him, and do so with the full assurance that he will
find me his friend, and really pleased to respond to his call.
“I will not be able to spend any time in Georgia until after ad
journment of congress, which will probably not be earlier than the mid
dle or last of July. I shall devote my entire time while congress is in
session to the discharge of my official duties, and must trust my elec
tion to my friends and those who approve my record in the senate.
into line quickly and never since the
v.ar Itas there been such harmony as
the democrats have experienced under
Wilson's administration.
Tariff and Currency Bills.
When the democrats came into pow
er on March 4th, 1913, Senator Smith
was urged to take the chairmanship
of the new banking and currency com
mittee, which was to shape the cur
rency bill. He preferred, however, a
place on the finance committee, which
Odd and Curious Phases of Law
It is the common belief of laymen
that law books contain the direct atjd
the most uninteresting reading matter
in the world, but there never was a
greater mistake. The bound volunmes
of the decisions of the supreme court
of Tennessee aboundantly verify the
statement these truth is stranger than
fiction. In these volumes there may
be found stories of love and hate, gen
erosity and greed, humor and pathos
and comedy and tragedy. A few il
lustrations will suffice to prove the
truthfullness of these assertions.
In the year 1869 Wade H. Bolton, a
well-known and wealthy citizen of
Memphis, died and his will, which was
a lengthy document, contained among
other singular clauses the following:
“I give and bequeath to my neice,
Josephine Bolton (now the wife of the
notorius Dr. Samuel Dickens, the Ju
dieas of the family, give dollars, one
sixth of what Judas Iscariot got for
betraying the Lord. * * * * II
she ever gets time to step her mad
carrer trying to help swindle her sis
ter, and her memory will let her mind
reflect back upon hed childhood days
when she sat under the shade trees
and roof of her father and mother
and saw the streaming tears and heard
the bitter sobs of her departed mother
portraying in the ears of her father
that at some distant day old Tom
Dickens would swindle them and their
children out of all they had and bring
them to need and want, the prophecy
is fulfilled in 1869 • • *and Joe
is lending a helping hand.” This is
reported in 14th Lea.
The will of the same testator, as ap
pears from the same ease, contains the
following provision:
“I give and bequeath to the widow
and children of Gen. Thomas J. Jack
son, known as Stonewall Jackson, who
fell at the battle of Chancellorsviiie,
Va„ ten thousand dollars, as history
tells me his widow's furniture was sold
after his death for debt."
The supreme court in its opinion in
construing this will, recites the f.u t
that Gen, Jackson’s family had been
puid the sum of money thus left them
by Mr. Bolton.
In 1812 the supreme court of Tennes
see had before it a suit involving the
election of Wiliam Henry Harrison
over Martin Van Buren for president
of the United States. In that case it
appeared Lea and Callawuy us a wag
was to have charge of the tariff, and
still clung to his old places on the
postoffice committee and the commit
tee on agriculture. He took the chair
manships. The seniority rule chair
tion and labor and is on other com
mittees, including the important ju
diciary committee.
As a member of the finance com
mittee, Senator Smith spent practi
cally the entire summer of 1913 on the
tariff bill, working usually from early
in the morning until 11 o’clock at
night.
As soon as the tariff bill was dis
posed of he took up the currency bill,
to which he added important amend
ments. One of these provided for re
ducing the rate of interest on the Ald
rich-Vreeland emergency currency to
three and a half per cent per annum
for the first six months. That amend
ment made available at a low rate of
interest, $500,000,000 of currency al
ready printed and lying idle in the
treasury. The wisdom of this amend
ment was so apparent that it was
adopted by the democratic caucus and
passed by the senate without a dis
senting vote.
Farm Demonstration Bill.
One of Senator Smith’s measures
which he regarded as equaling the
currency bill in importance has finally
passed both house and senate and been
er that Harrison’s majority over Van
Buren would not exceed two thousand
in East Tennessee. Lea and Callaway
won the note. The court held that it
was a gambling transaction and ille
gal and immoral and for that reason
the note could not be collected. This
case is reported in 3d Humphrey.
In 1852 Mrs. Mary Sullivan, a widow,
living in Middle Tennessee became
involved in debt. By the will of her
husband she owned a plantation and
some slaves as long as she remained
a widow, but if she married again this
property was to go to her children
Her creditor was about to seize hot
interest in the plantation and slain
when she suddenly married one John
Clark. This marriage, of course, had
the result of divesting her of all her
interest in the plantation and slaves
and vesting it in her children, and
thereby prevented her creditor from
seizing it. The supreme court makes
the following statement in regard to
this marriage:
“The marriage, in point of form,
was solemnized in accordance with the
prescribed ceremonies of the law, and
with the mutual consent of the parties
* * * but it is evident beyond
all doubt from the proof in the cause,
that main, if not the sole inducement
to the marriage on the part of the said
Mary, was to put an end thereby to
the estate vested in her during her
widowhood under the before mention
ed will, so as to defer the cotnplan
ant's levy and recovery for debt. The
motives and conduct of the said Mary
in forming this matrimonial alliance
are of n character, as exhibited in
this record, to shock the moral sense
of the community, and to outrage all
the decencies of social life. It Is prob
able from the proof thut site has not
in fact, and perhaps never intended
to live with the said Clark, who is
proven to be a drunken sot, degraded
in reputation and loathsome in ap
pearance and habits.”
The court proceeds then to hold that
the creditor of Mary Sullivan, not
withstanding the fraudulent charac
ter of this marriage, hud no one else
had the right to dissolve the marriage
tie. This case in reported in 2d Swan.
Tlie late Judge George Brown, one
of the best known and most eminent
members of the lecal profession who
ever lived In this city, while sitting as
circuit Judge, made certain rulings in
signed by President Wilson. The
Smith-Lever bill for practical dem
onstration work of agricultural col
lege and experiment stations, which
for two and a half years has attracted
the attention of the entire country, is
at last a law of the land and under
its terms the government will, within
a few years, be spending five million
dollars annually in teaching farmers
on their farms those facts which they
would learn if they couid attend agri
cultural colleges.
The bill was introduced by Senator
Smith soon after he entered the sen
ate and the next day was introduced
in the house by Congressman Lever
of South Carolina. Each state will
receive ten thousand dollars next year.
The year following Georgia’s part will
be thirty-five thousand dollars. The
amounts will Increase each year and
in the course of a few years the total
expenditure for all the states will be
five million dollars annually. Vast
improvements in agriculture are sure
to follow this farm demonstration
work.
Regional Bank in Georgia.
But Senator Smith’s crowning
achievement for Georgia was in se
curing for his state one of the twelve
regional banks provided for by the
currency bill.
This bank, which will have about
five million dollars capital, will be
located in Atlanta, and will make the
Georgia capital the financial center
so. Georgia, Florida, East Tennessee,
Alabama, part of Mississippi, and part
of Louisiana, including the city of
New Orleans. Its purpose is to make
money easier by keeping bank reserves
in this section that would otherwise
go to New York and by providing ad
ditional currency for making and mar
keting crops. If Senator Smith had
not been able to get the bank for
Georgia it would have gone to Louis
ville or Cincinnati, cities that have no
interest whatever in building up thi3
section.
The Macon News said of Senator
Smith lasi December:
“A wonderful record is behind Hoke
Smith and a greater future awqits
him. The thousands who followed him
in the campaign of 1906, before this
record had been made, have reason to
be gratified over the soundness of
their judgment and the vindication of
their faith. He was a great governor
and he is a great senator, and those
who supported him in the several cam
paigns, as w r ell as those who opposed
him, must, as patriotic Georgians, find
satisfaction in the commanding posi
tion which he occupies in Washing
ton.
“We cannot recall an instance in
which any man has ever in so short a
time attained so forceful a position in
that body of distinguished statesmen
nor more completely won public confi
dence by a clear, strong grasp of great
public questions.”
That commendation, which was de
served then, is doubly deserved today,
for since the words were written Hoke
Smith has won the regional bank for
his state and has passed the farm
demonstration bill which means so
much for the country, and he is today
fighting the battles of the administra
tion for the repeal of the free tolls
clause the Panama canal bill. It
is not surprising that the thinking
people of Georgia are practically
unanimous for his return to the senate
unopposed.
the case of Lewis vs. the State, re
ported in 3d Head, which have ever
since attracted the attention of the
profession.
Judge Brown while the jury was be
ing empannelled in this case noticed,
as did certain members of the bar,
that one of the jurors was making
signs to the brother-in-law of one of
the defendants, indicating by motions
of the head whom to accept and whom
to reject as jurors. Judge Brown upon
seeing this, struck this juror's name
from the pannel and discharged him
from the case. The prisoner’s counsel
contended that upon the rejection of
this juryman they were entitled to
a full new pannel of Jurors, but the su
preme courts held that they were not
and approved to Judge Brown’s ac
tion in the most unequivocal language.
In the same case the’Jury brought in
a verdict of "guilty," but recommend
ed the prisoners to the mercy of the
court. Judge Brown disregarded this
recommendation of mercy and sen
tenced the prisoners to be hanged.
The supreme court held that in thl3
respect too he had committed no er
ror. This is believed to be the first
instance on record in this state where
a judge disregarded the jury's recom
mendation of mercy.
These are only a few hastily gather
ed instances out of many which must
be set out to show the character of
the contents of the dry looking law
books seen upon the shelves of every
practicing lawyer.
GEORGIA SHOWS
SHE IS FIRST
_ The first boys’ corn club in the
South was organized in Newton coun
ty, in 1914, by County School Com
missioner G. C. Adams.
Grier’s Almanac, that fireside gom
panion of so many Southern homes
even today, was founded and printed
in Georgia by Mr. Grier. He was
born and lived and died in the state.
Largest tobacco plantation in the
world is in Georgia: 25,000 acres.
In the Spanish-Atnerican war more
troops were sent from Georgia than
from many other states in proportion
to the population.
There are no ’possums like Georgia
'possums.
No other state had a Sidney Lanier.
No other state had an “Uncle
Remu3.”
No historian is better known than
Charles C. Jones.
No finer statesman than William H.
Crawford,