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The first move along this line was the announce
ment <>i’ Mr. W. S. Morris, treasurer of the Georgia
Railroad Company, of his candidacy for a seat in the
Georgia Legislature from the Richmond district, in
opposition to Mr. Bowdre I’hinizy. editor of the
Augusta Herald. It seems that .Mr. I’hinizy is to be
punished and humiliated because he had the temer
ity some months ago to call public attention to cer
tain decayed cross-ties and other physical defects in
the Georgia Railroad Company’s road-bed and track
age, which he conceived to be inimical to the safe
passage of trains over some portions of the system.
The technical charge General Manager Scott is
thought to have registered against Mr. I’hinizy is
Lese Majesty, a common translation of which term is
popularly accepted as “abuse of royalty." or some
thing like that. If Mr. I’hinizy should be defeated it
would doubtless carry a salutary lesson Io the com
mon people of the dangers which lie in criticism of
their rulers.
Mr. Morris announces in a card that he has the
word of the management of the railroad that the of
ficials of that corporation would not consider the 1
entry of its treasurer into the campaign for election
to the legislature “an interference with his duties
to the road."
This assurance is said to have been very com
forting and decidedly encouraging to Mr. Morris,
inasmuch as it removes from the path of his ambi
tion every obstacle save that which he regards as.
unimportant, namely, the will of the people not al
lied with the railroads. Mr. I’hinizy's fight in be
half of the unrailroadized part of the population
clearly teaches that there is still a disposition in
some quarters to “persecute the transportation com
panies" in this State, and that it is the people, not
the railroads, who should be “regulated.’’
Truly, Georgia is getting on.
Do Not Coerce or Discourage the Militia.
As the season approaches for the regular annual
encampments and practice drills for the State mili
lia, young men belonging to military bodies are
meeting their regular annual troubles with their em
ployers. The latter seem to be growing more and
more hostile every year toward the natural and
praiseworthy ambition of youngsters in their pay to
connect themselves with this very important branch
of home defense.
While it is true that Hie militia is but seldom
called into active service, it is also a fact that when
the necessity does appear it appears very suddenly,
and the militia when needed at all. is needed very
badly. It would seem to be an amazingly short
sighted policy on the part of men of affairs and own
ers of destructible property should they employ co
ercive measures to prevent their employes from
joining the militia, or to induce those already en
listed to sever their military connections.
But if there is anything in persistent rumors and
complaints one hears about the streets of Savannah,
a great many business mon are pursuing precisely
this policy and, furthermore, some are discriminat
ing against militiamen in favor of non-soldiers when |
new men are employed.
The very citizens who are following this course
would doubtless be among the first to clamor for
military protection should there unexpectedly occur
any sort of outbreak of popular passion too consid
erable for the police to handle.
THE REASON
As is well known, the South particularly, and
the country in general have always opposed a large
standing army, because of popular reliance upon the
State troops to furnish all needed protection from
attack from without or riotous conditions within the
national borders.
Discourage Hie growth of the militia, and you
make ... . ’-eat standing army an early and inevitable
necessity, is the wisest opinion heard.
It is with difficulty that comment is elicited from
the young men effected by the unfriendliness of
their employers toward soldier service. Some are
said to have lost their jobs because of it. Others are
apparently intimidated and are reluctant to express
themselves fully, and when they talk about the mat
ter at all, it is under the seal of confidence.
The intimation is now and then heard that some
of the commissioned officers who, in the conduct of
their business affairs, employ young men. do not —
to say the least —encourage the enlistment or con
tinuance of the latter in the State militia service.
One officer, holding a high commission in the lo
' cal military service, when asked for his opinion in
regard to the matter of coercion in general, dis
played marked impatience and stated that he had
determined not to be quoted on the subject, nor even
to discuss it with his own men. As an after
thought, he observed while excusing himself from
further questioning, that there was “no such trou
ble in his regiment.’’
11 is regiment must be of very little importance
not to have been touched by the trouble complained
of.
Hoke Smith—A Character Study.
All things considered, it is probable that Gov.
Hoke Smith is pretty well satisfied with his visit
to Savannah. This city has been generally regard
ed, ever since the campaign began, as the Gibraltar
of the opposition to the Governor, and he, himself,
admitted in the course of his speech at the Savan
nah Theater, Tuesday evening, that he was sensible
of the fact that he was confronting the “enemy’’
in his stronghold when he faced a Savannah
audience.
There was something in the atmosphere about
the Theater early in the evening which appeared
strongly portentions of squally times ahead. The
Brown advocates were present in goodly numbers,
and on the part of some there was noticeable a ten
dency to make things interesting for the Governor,
and there was some indication that these gentlemen
had predetermined about how they would do it.
That these plans were not carried out to any great
extent was unquestionably due in large part to the
Governor’s tact and diplomacy in dealing with in
terrupters who were apparently intent upon embar
ra sing him.
Gov. Smith displayed a broad capacity for gov
erning his temper under more or less trying condi
tions. and for returning apt and pithy replies to
hostile questions. His skill in reparte, while arousing
great enthusiasm amongst the Smith supporters, was
displayed in a manner to beget the admiration and
respect of his adversaries rather than to implant a
sting in their hearts. Only once did the Governor
manifest a disposition to “flare up.” That was
when a persistent interrupter insisted that the Gov
ernor’s alleged “Happiest day of my life” remark