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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. ‘The Dixie Business College THE SCHOOL FOR THOROUGHNESS Only Thorough Course in Office Routine and Touch Typewriting offered in the Southeastern States. 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Negligee Shirts Every man wants comfort this hot weather, Our “Feather Weight Negligee Shirts” are the newest and decidedly the most comfortable shirts on the mar ket today. $1 and $1.50 4 They are as light as a feather, patterns neat and fresh. In checks, stripes and figures. Silk Shirts In Pongee, all colors, with collars and cuffs attached. Just the thing for outing, golf, tennis and good sum mer comfort generally. $1.50, $2.00 $2.50 Essig Bros. “Correct Clothes for Men” 26 Whitehall St. Atlanta PAGE FIFTEEN