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The Georgia Legislature.
North Carolina can gloriously knock the
Yankee corporations that are plundering the
South; Virginia can rouse herself, and bring
Wall Street myrmidons to their knees; Ala
bama can rise up, assert her statehood, and
fetch Barbour Thompson and Brother Finley
down from the tall timber; but poor old
Georgia can only rattle her chains.
Finley and Thompson and McWhorter still
boss the situation in Atlanta.
Ihe Legislature from which so much was
expected has done almost nothing. Members
who would not have had a ghost of a show for
election if, 'they had not been supposed to be*
in harmony with Hoke Smith and the Macon
Platform, openly antagonize the Governor and
scornfully repudiate the platform.
The Speaker of the House has allowed the
corporation obstructionists to weed the wid
est possible row. Jack Slaton in the chair,
Joe Hill Hall on the floor—and “farewell
Edith*!
Day after day has been consumed in stub
born obstruction which might be called mere
pig-headed obstinacy, were it not so plain
that there was method in this madness. Every
hour wasted for the people, was an hour gain
ed for the Yankee corporations. Every day
knocked out of the life of the Legislature,
was a red-letter day in the calendar of the
Yankee corporations.
The longer they can stave off reform laws,
the longer they can plunder the people. They
ask for nothing better than to be let alone.
“Let us alone, while we violate your State
Constitution, ignore your statutes, neglect our
franchise duties, escape our just proportion of
taxes, discriminate in our charges and service,
juggle with stocks and bonds, and pile up
wealth for New York Millionaires.”
And the Georgia Legislature heard the pray
er, and answered it.
There is but one thing for Governor Smith
to do.
Call an Extra session of the Legislature!
Let us mark these Georgians who take the
part of the Yankee corporations against their
own flesh and blood.
Let us have their names. Let us go to the
people with the facts—with the votes which
these men have cast.
Let us kindle the fires of just indignation
against these men.
Let us arouse a Public Sentiment so strong,
so determined that the members of the Legis
lature will not dare to defy it.
*. M 1? \
7 he Mississippi Election.
Governor Vardaman was beaten for the Sen
ate by 648 votes. Considering the advantage •
which John Sharp Williams had in the race
the moral victory is Vardaman’s.
That he will yet be. the ambassador of his
state to the Senate of the United States is
just as certain as the continuance of his life.
Vardaman is one of those big, brave, brainy
fellows who are not to be kept down. From
this defeat he will rise and come again.
The Jeffersonian was warmly his friend in
the campaign, and v is proud of the splendid
fight he made against great odds.
And while the buglers of the corporations
are tooting their horns jubilantly over the
selection of Williams, the Jeffersonian accepts
the joy of the corporation footers as but an
other evidence of the fact that John Sharp Wil
liams is one of the corporation Doodles.
RUH
THE GENTLEMAN FROM 8188.
The Herald has had occasion before to direct at
tention to the antics in the house of the gentleman
from Bibb, Mr. Joe Hill Hall. It is noticed that not
only does he continue in his pernicious activity, but
that it grows. As the end of the session draws near,
and the number of days lessen in which work may be
done, the great obstructor works full time and over
time keeping the legislature from accomplishing any
thing. •
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
What is his purpose? Why does Joe Hill Hall pur
sue such, a course?
On Tuesday the anti-pass bill was before the
house. It should have been passed long ago. There
is no disagreement over the essential features of
this bill among the members. They are unanimous in
favor of such a law, and time is pressing, for only a
few days remain of this session and as yet little work
has been completed. The anti-pass law should have
passed long ago. It should have been passed Tuesday, •
as soon as it was taken up.
But it wasn’t. And the reason was Mr. Hall. He
had a substitute which he wants passed. Mr. Hall
has a substitute for every bill, or an amendment, or
something to delay and obstruct, it seems; and when
he has nothing else he wants- a reconsideration.
Always obstructing; always delaying the work of
the legislature.
For the anti-pass bill Mr. Hall had his substitute.
The headlines of the Atlanta Constitution tell, un
premeditatedly but in a most striking manner, of
the success of the obstruction scheme of the gentle
man from Bibb: “Six hours of talk without any re
sult —House wrangled over anti-pass measure through
two sessions—Flood of amendments offered to Hall
bill—One adopted was afterward reconsidered after
debate lasting more than two hours. Another sub
stitute offered.”
For six hours Mr. Hall managed to keep the house
in a wrangle, during which he stood up and “roared,”
as reported in the press, about what he had seen
in the Macon convention, and that “oyu must take
my bill or take none.” A whole day killed and
nothing done.
Again the next day, Wednesday, more valuable time
was consumed by Mr. Hall iji the obstruction he
had provided by this substitute of his for the anti
pass bill. He finally secured its adoption, the
members in sheer weariness yielding to the machin
ations of this obstreperous obstructionist. Well
do the newspaper reports represent him, after the
wrangle was ended and all this valuable time had
been wasted: “Mr. Hall, wearing a smile a yard long
more or less, walked down the main aisle of the
house into the lobbies and over to the senate. It
took him ten minutes to make the trip. * ♦ ♦
Then he took, a seat in the senate where the per
sistent smile of victory continued to attract atten
tion almost breaking up the debate on the anti
lobbying bill.”
What is Mr. Hall after in all this obstruction?
His anti-pass bill, the adoption of which by the house
he forced, was not better than the bill it supplanted.
Mr. Hall admitted himself that it is not-as good. More
than that, it comes in conflict with the bill already
passed by the senate, and to reach an agreement
between the two will probably cause further wrang
ling and the loss of more time. Was that the
cause of the “smile a yard long”? If Mr. Hall were
the paid agent of corporations interested in defeat
ing pending reform bills, he could not serve them
more effectively than he is doing by his obstruc
tive tactics.
Or is it purely egotism which makes the gentle
man from Bibb play the role of the great obstructor?
His anti-pass bill was introduced years ago. At
that time it was an up-to-date reform measure, and
it is a pity that it wasn’t passed then. But conditions
have changed. The people have made progress in
the w r ay to handle the predatory corporations, and
they demand more now than they did then. A
reform bill that was good several years ago does
not come up to requirements today. Wds it purely
the exaggerated ego of the man which made him
contend for his bill when the bill, he was seeking
to displace was by his own admission a better one?
And can puffed-up vanity land egotism be given
as the-explanation for his obstructive tactics on all
other bills? Who can tell what it is that prompts
these tactics of the gentleman from Bibb? —The
Augusta Herald.
R R R
• •
THE RANSEY SNIFFLES OF JOURNALISM.
After an enforced retirement of almost exactly one
year, during which time his evangelistic voice had
“sunk to silence like a tavern brawl,” the editor of
The Atlanta Constitutiion once more comes to the
front as a marplot mischief-maker and a prophet
of conditions which he would like to bring about.
With the strabismic vision which has always ena
bled him to keep an eye on two separate and contra
dictory chances at once, he beat the tom-tom in the
editorial pages of The Constitution in favor of an
effective anti-pass bill and a vigorous anti-lobbying
bill all during the period whwen those measures
were in a formative state, and then with front page
editorials fanned opposition to them while they were
on their pasragc. He placed himself in the category
with the cuttie fish obscurists who hid themselves
in the confusion of their own making, hoping to
convey the impression to superficial observers that
he was aligning himself with the straightforward
demands of the people, while in reality lending aid
and comfort to the enemy by magnifying the amend
ments which destroyed the force and effect of reme
dial legislation.
The Constitution, in one of its justly famous flrst
page editorials which appears this morning makes
a studied effort to convey the impression that the
governor of the state and the present legislature have
reached the parting of the ways and that the former
will “castigate” the “recalcitrant” members unless
they surrender to HIM.
The speciousness of such an argument is evident
to any man who is familiar with the situation, and
yet it cannot be regarded as surprising when it
comes from its present source. It is calculated to
awaken amusement and perhaps compassion, but not
alarm.
For the benefit of The Atlanta Constitution and
all others who may be concerned, it may be stated
once and for all that the “recalcitrant” members who
have failed and refused to enact the remedial meas
ures demanded by the Democratic platform are plac
ing themselves, NOT IN OPPOSITION TO GOVERN
OR HOKE SMITH, NOT IN ANTAGONISM TO THE
“ADMINISTRATION,” BUT TO THE GREAT BODY
OF THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA.
Governor Smith was chosen merely to execute
the wishes of the people as embodied in the Demo
cratic platform of the state and endorsed by an over
whelming majority of the voters of the state of
Georgia. The measures set forth in that political
creed represent the convictions, the wishes and the
demands of the people which he, as the chief ex
ecutive of the state, was chosen to execute when
they had been enacted into law. The members of the
genera: assembly were sent here by the vote of
the people with a special mandate to enact those
laws, AND WHEN THE DAY OF RECKONING
COMES IT WILL BE A SETTLEMENT, NOT BE
TWEEN THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE AND
THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED HIM, BUT BE
TWEEN THE GREAT BODY OF THE PEOPLE
OF GEORGIA AND THE MEMBERS OF THE LEG
ISLATURE TO WHOM THEY HAVE CONFIDED A
HIGH AND IMPORTANT STEWARDSHIP
The demands of the platform are clear and spe
cific. , They are not open to debate or speculation.
They have been determined upon beforehand after
mature consideration and long discussion. They
do not involve any question of the personality of the
chief executive or of “administration.” IT IS A
DIRECT ISSUE BETWEEN THE LEGISLATURE
AND THE PEOPLE, AND IF THE FORMER ARE
UNFAITHFUL TO THE TRUST REPOSED IN
THEM IT WILL BE FOR THE PEOPLE TO LAY
ON THE ROD OF CORRECTION.
It is easy enough to understand that in fanning the
flames of dissension the wish, on the part of The
Constitution, is father to the thought. With the
time-serving adaptability which is a part of its very
fibre The Constitution has been making a steady
effort to run with the hare and hold with the
hounds. It has given a nominal editorial support
to the reforme measures introduced in the general
assembly, and at the same time has pursued a
course in its inspired news-column editorials calcu
lated to encourage the “recalcitrants” and to nulli
fy the remedial measures which the real representa
tives of the people have introduced. With all the
old familiar tricks exposed and discredited so long
long ago, the hand is the hand of Esau but the voice
is the voice of Jacob.
The people of Georgia see through all this trans
parent sham as easily as they have done in the
past. The cunningly devised plan to create dissen
sion between the general assembly and the gov
ernor of Georgia, the effort to discredit what it is
pleased to term the “administration,” is so evident
that a wayfaring man, though the editor of The
Constitution, need not err therein.
No subtle invention of the trimmer and the time
server, no ingenuity on the part of the Ransey
Sniffles of Georgia journalism can obscure the noon
day clearness of the fact that on one side stands the
people of Georgia, demanding reforms which the ed
itor of The Constitution opposed and covertly op
poses still, while the general assembly, elected to en
act these reforms into law, is balked by a few
“recalcitrants” who have not yet made up their
minds to carry out the wishes of the people.
The reckoning will be between these recalcitrants
and their constituents, but in the meantime the ed
itorial cuttie fish cannot obscure the issue.— The
Atlanta Journal.
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