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WATSON'S EDIT ORIALS
That Expert From Ohio.
A few years ago, when commercial fertili
zers consisted mainly of a quiet color and a
boisterous smell, Gen. Robert Toombs had oc
casion to defend, in the courthouse, a farmer
who was pleading “Failure of Consideration”
to a suit which the ’Guano Company had
brought against him for the fertilizer he had
used.
In the course of his speech to the jury,
Toombs shouted, “Why, gentlemen of the
jury, all that is necessary to do in the making
of such guano as this is to drag a pole-cat
through a sand-bed!”
This saying of Toombs’ popped into my
head as my wondering eyes traveled over the
Report of Expert Jackson, of Ohio, on the
condition of the Georgia Railroad. The finan
cial performance of the Ohio expert bears the
same relation to a genuine, conscientious ex
amination and report that guano, consisting
of sand and pole-cat perfume, bears to stan
dard commercial fertilizer.
Consider the case: The Railway Commis
sion of the State is called upon to take notice
of the fact that the Georgia Railroad has been
for several months in a dangerous condition.
Specifications are made out. Proof is offered
to sustain every allegation made.
What does the Commission do?
It sends to the Arkansas Hot Springs,
where an Ohio man named W. O. Jackson
had gone for his health, and it asks this gen
tleman from Ohio to come out of the bath,
wipe himself dry right quick, and hurry over
to Georgia to inspect the accused railroad.
Why snatch this man Jackson away from the
Hot Springs baths? Who is Jackson, any
way ?
J
How did the commission happen to know
of this particular “Expert”?
Was there no citizen of Georgia competent
to investigate the condiion of the road?
If I had Obe Stevens on the witness stand
for a pair of minutes, the probe would be
plunged pretty deep at just about that place.
But if the finding of the “Expert” was pe
culiar, the ways of the expert, after having
been found, were even more so.
Apparently, the first thing he did after be
ing discovered was to prepare a “Report”
that the Georgia Railroad was all right, for
his “examination” of the road was a roaring
farce. Jackson and Obe Stevens, one of our
funny little Commissioners, started out from
Atlanta on April 4th, and it would seem that
Jackson’s “Report” was ready on the evening
of the 6th. Consequently, one is to be excus
ed for suspecting that the Ohio man had his
mind made up a« soon as he was employed—
IF NOT BEFORE.
All the world has heard of the young law
yer who, at a Justice’s Court on Saturday, was
strenuously endeavoring to convince the Jus
tice, and to secure a favorable decision, but
who was finally swatted by the remark of
His Honor:
“Young man, there ain’t a bit ’o use to
argy the case any furder. My old lady and
me talked this thing over last Sunday and de
cided it .the other way.”
Evidently, the Ohio Expert was in some
what the same state of mind.
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN
A Newspaper Devoted to the Advocacy of the Jeffersonian Theory of Government.
PUBLISHED BY
THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON,
Editors and Proprietors
Temple Court Building, Atlanta, Ga.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1907.
He came to find the railroad in good shape,
and he found what he looked for. Nor did
he lose any time about it. Not only the main
line from Atlanta to Augusta was examined,
but also the branch lines from Macon to
Camak, from Barnett to Washington, and
from Union Point to Athens.
And all this inspection of the road, bridges,
depots, sidings, etc., was completed inside of
two days.
Does the Commissioner Obe Stevens ex
pect the people of Georgia to take such an
examination seriously? Is a “Report” based
upon such a flying trip over the road worth
the paper it is written on?
Consider two of Expert Jackson’s “find
ings” :
1. He says that the passenger depots are
“very nicely kept” . . . and are “ample to
protect the traveling public in a comfortable
manner.”
This is the finding of an Ohio Expert who
flew past many of these stations at 60 miles
an hour!
Did he examine a single one of these way
stations at night? Does he know that the
waiting rooms are not kept open at night?
Does he know that water-closets are not
provided at any of these passenger depots, as
they are always provided by the railroads on
the other side of Mason and Dixon’s line?
2. He says that the condition of the Geor
gia Railroad is fairly good as compared with
some other American railroads!
Why not adopt a better standard of com
parison? Why did he not compare the Geor
gia Railroad with the roads of Switzerland,
Germany and Great Britain? To say that the
Georgia Railroad compares favorably with
some other American roads is much the same
as saying that one lame horse travels nearly
as fast as another lame horse.
What the people want, and are entitled to,
is a railroad service that does not have to de
fend itself by saying it is no worse than
others, which are also bad.
1 here is no doubt of the fact that Manager
Scott has strained every nerve to get his
house in order during the last few months.
Bowdre Phinizy dropped a coal of fire on
the terrapin’s back, and it began to move!
During the last three months a greater num
ber of spikes have been driven into new ties
along the line of the Georgia Railroad than
for any similar period in many a year.
To that extent, at least, Mr. Bowdre Phin
izy has already done a public service of vast
importance.
Let us hope that Manager Scott will con
tinue the good work.
Let us hope that he will have the wait
ing rooms kept open and lighted at night.
Let us hope that he will voluntarily go
forward and put in water-closets. Let him
act upon his own motion, and not wait till
driven to action by local pressure.
In the name of common right and decency,
let Manager Scott adopt the policy of run
ning the road partly in the interest of the peo
ple who patronize it, AND NOT SOLELY
FOR THE PURPOSE OF FILLING THE
PURSE OF A LOT OF REMORSELESS
NEW YORK MILLIONAIRES!
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: SI.OO PER TEAR
Advertising Rates Furnished on Application.
Entirtd at Ptstoffici, Atlanta, Ga., January 11, IQO7, at itcond
clan mail matttr.
Lieutenant Lalvton Comes to Tohm.
Stirred by the same impulse which has
moved Missouri, Nebraska, Alabama, Penn
sylvania, and almost every other state in the
Union, Georgia is asking for a two-cent pas
senger rate on the Railroads.
One result of this movement in Georgia has
been a muster of the military. We mean the
corporation military, of course. The railroad
warriors are turning out in great style, and are
marching upon Atlanta in battle array. First,
came Major Cumming and Colonel Scott.
Later advices would seem to indicate that
Scott is only a mere miscellaneous Captain—
but that’s a detail.
Next, came Major Hanson and Lieutenant
Lawton. The Atlanta papers (always too
flattering to the myrmidoms of Power) called
him “Colonel” Lawton; but we know r better
than that.
His true title is Lieutenant—and a very
nice, well fitting, bright looking title it is,
too.
When Major Cumming and Captain Scott
reached Atlanta their general tone, demeanor
and mode of expression indicated a temper
that was violent, tumultuous, belligerent, in
subordinate and insurrectionary. The way in
which the Major and the Captain flung their
flouts about, and snorted at everything that
was not incorporated and chartered, filled The
Jeffersonian with pain, and caused it to cry
out in respectful protest.
The Jeffersonian feared that the bellicose,
if not bloodthirsty, aggressiveness of the Ma
jor and the Captain would exert a baleful in
fluence upon other corporation Mamelukes;
and that they would come riding down upon
us with a fury which might rouse a spirit of
retaliation.
Alas, it has so happened! Major Cumming
and Captain Scott had hardly retired within
their bulwarks, bastions, fortresses, bomb
proofs, inner fastnesses, and so forth, before
Major Hanson and Lieutenant Lawton ap
peared before the walls, blowing bugles whose
blare of defiance made our little one-horse
Railroad Commission call for more peanuts.
To say that Major Hanson and his Lieuten
ant were every bit and grain as “sassy” as Ma
jor Cumming and his Captain, is to put the
case with wisdom, justice and moderation.
In fact, Lieutenant Lawton, in manner and
style and contemptuous disregard of the mere
unincorporated, unchartered rabble, carried us
back to the good old days when Commodore
Vanderbilt could safely sav:
“The public be damned! I run MY ROADS
to make monev!”
In the eye f Licutneant Lawton, the record
of the railroads is almost as perfect as the
multiplication table. The popular clamor
against corporation abuses is mere poppycock.
All who say that the laws of the land should
be obeyed, passengers carried without being
killed, employes liberally paid and not over
worked, freight handled with some regard to
the interests of the shipper, and net earnings
limited to a reasonable return upon actual in
vestment or real values—are frothing dema
gogues.
They deserve, and shall have, ridicule and
abuse.