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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. PAGE NINE