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Doesn’t the state of Georgia own
a railroad? What is being done with
it? Is it. being extended in length
and developed into a great state
highway and operated at cost for
the benefit and convenience of the
people who own it, or have the p »lili
cians contrived to turn it over for the
enrichment of some private money
schemer?
A railway is simply and only an
improved highway. That is well se -
tied in law, logic and common sense.
A locomotive is simply and only an
improved horse. A car is simply and
only an improved wagon. Strange
ind ed that a certain class of po i
ticians think they can fool the peo
ple into the belief that there is any
necessity or excuse for giving any
private person or private corpora
tion for pecuniary profit a monopoly
of these public highways. There is
just as much logic in advocating the
granting of special privileges to erect
toll gates on all public streets and
common highways.
How does the Hon. Hoke Smith
stand on these questions? Is he for
the people, or for the corporations?
There is no half-way g;o:md; all pol
iticians must be for either the one or
the other. If Mr. Smith is truly for
the people, for states’ rights, for lo
cal self-government, for public (not
private) state and municipal (not
Federal owneiship of all public util
ities, franchises and rights-of-way,
by all means let the great South
present and urge him as its truly
Democratic candidate for the presi"
dency Let it be thoroughly under
stood that he stands right on these
questions, and no power can defea*
him.
Mr. Roosevelt’s proposed solution
of the railroad question is no solu
tion at all, although he himself is
thoroughly honest in its advocacy.
Mr. Bryan’s proposed solution is on
ly partially right. Insofar as Mr.
Bryan advocates state ownership he
is right. Insofar as he advocates
Federal or national ownership he
is wrong. Give us a Southern Demo
crat who knows the rational the dem
ocratic, the constitutional and ade
quate solution, and who is possessed
of the manhood and courage to advo
cate it against all opposition, and he
will win; and by placing his party
in the right position he will assure
its ascendency for at least fifty years
to come. Respectfully,
F. Q. STUART.
Shreveport, La.
FINLEY GETS A REPLY.
St. Paul must have been startled
when, according to tradition, the new
angel asked him if he “ever got an
answer to those letters he wrote to
the Ephesians. ’ ’
But his surprise was nothing to
that of President W. W. Finley, of
the Southern railroad, in Richmond,
on Wednesday night, when a mem
ber of the Southern Hardware Job
bers’ Association, which he was ad
dressing, came back at him with a
speech which knocked alLthe under
pinning from the “discourse” which
he had just delivered for the enlight
enment and frightenment of his hear
ers.
It was the same old speech which
Mr. Finley has been delivering so
long. Our readers know it practi
cally by heart. It was a Jeremiad of
generalities in . which he pointed out
the oppression under which the rail-
roads live and labor, because of Ihe
shortsightedness of the people in
demanding their rights. He sp ke
of the heavy expense entailed upon
the railroads because of the great
amount of traffic which they are
forced to handle, and pointed out
that this was no time for the “propa
ganda of destruction,” as he aiiily
termed it. It was time, rather, for
tolerance and good will—on the pari
of the people.
And then something dropped.
Mr. John Donnan heard him
through and then rose in his place.
We can well imagine the impatience,
the curl of the lip with which he must
have sat through that long speech on
the oppression of railroads by the re
morseless people.
And when he rose all the vials of his
logic were poured out. He carri- d
it home to Mr. Finley that there was
not much oppression on the part
of the people so long as they were
powerless to defend themselves
against the delays of the railroads in
the transportation and delivery of
freight. An adequate law, providing
for demurrage, would, he thought, be
an excellent thing when exercised in
the interest of the people as well as
when it is invoked in the interest
of the raidroads, and he did not hesi
tate to say so in words that breathed
and burned.
The sympahetic audience gave him
an ovation.
Mr. Finley was stunned. Here he
had gone all over the south making
that speech. He had learned how to
make it well. He was able to dis
card his manuscript entirely. He
knew it by heart, with all the com
mas, semi-colons and inflections dis
tributed in the proper p’ace. Wher
ever he had delivered it, he had noth
ing to do but say his little piece and
sit down. No one ever thought of
“answering back.”
But in John Donnan he met a tar
tar. Mr. Donnan knew, as we all
know and have known all along, that
there was another side to the ques
tion of which Mr. Finley presented
only one elevation, and he proceeded
to hand it out right then and there.
It is not recorded that Mr. Finley
made any rejoinder. He wisely con
cluded, perhaps, that joint debates
were not his long suit. He was hap
piest in discourse when he had th?
floor entirely to himself. So he fold
ed his speech, like a sophomore, and
quietly stole away.
The next time he maneuvers for an
opening to deliver that justly cele
brated speech he will have the audi
ence searched. If there is any man
present who betrays signs of having
a rejoinder concealed about his per
son he will have the offender arrested
for constructive treason, hanged,
drawn and quartered, and then hissed
from the room. —Atlanta Journal.
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