Newspaper Page Text
PAGE TWELVE
WELL DONE, THE GOVERNOR.
(Continued from Page Nine.)
attorneyship of the railroad commission to Judge
James K. Hines.
It is a timely and merited recognition of that
great company of Populists who having recorded in
three campaigns their protest against the corporation
drift of our modern democracy, and having en
grafted many of the best and wisest of their Jeffer
sonian principles upon the platforms of the democrat
ic party, have come back in good faith and in self
respect to the house of their fathers to remain.
The appointment of Judge Hines is an act not
less of personal appreciation for loyal support, but
as well of that high and comprehensive statesman
ship that builds parties above prejudice and beyond
the narrow lines of faction. We congratulate the
governor upon the tender.
There were never any better and truer citizens
of Georgia than those who made up the old Populist
party. They were honest and conscientious farmers,
of the bone and sinew of the state, genuinely per
suaded of the necessity of reforms which they feared
could not be attained within the existing lines of the
Hon, Seaborn Wright on the
Locker Question,
To the People of Georgia:—
The number of letters coming to
me from prohibitionists over Georgia,
• asking for an explanation of what
they are pleased to call the “locker
tax,’ 1 convinces me that an organized
effort by the liquor interests is being
made to deceive the people as to this
tax; and that a full explanation oi
the tax is necessary. While it is a
question of law, I will try to make
the explanation so plain that no one.
need be longer in doubt as to the
wisdom and necessity for the tax.
1. The tax of SSOO on clubs was
put in the General Tax Act the last
day of the session of the legislature,
to CURE a DEFECT in the prohibi
tion bill itself passed some weeks be
fore.
2. This defect in the prohibition
bill was in the first section of the
bill, and the Avords were as follows:
“No intoxicating liquors shall be
given away to induce trade at any
place of business or kept or furnish
ed at any other PUBLIC PLACE.”
3. Intoxicating liquors CAN be
KEPT in any place not forbidden by
the prohibition bill, and as the pro
hibition bill forbids the keeping of
it in PUBLIC PLACES ONLY, it
follows that it be kept in any
• place that is NOT A PUBLIC
PLACE.
4. Is a club a public place?
If it is, then regardless of the
SSOO tax, it cannot be kept in a club
room or “locker.” A proviso to the
SSOO tax EXPRESSLY says that
“nothing in this section shall be con
strued to license or permit any in
toxicant or liquors in any place now
prohibited by law or which shall here
after be prohibited by law.”
If, however, a club is NOT A PUB
LIC PLACE, then liquor can be kept
under the terms of the prohibition
bill itself, in a club room or locker.
5. The question arose, with the
friends of prohibition in the legisla
ture, after the passage of the prohi
bition bill, and when it was too late
to amend the prohibition bill as to
what was best to be done.
Our only chance was to amend the
- tax act, which had not then passed
the house, and put as high a tax on
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
democratic organization. They fought their battle
fairly, bravely, capably, and they won. They carried
Georgia with them and were for a season the domi
nant party in the state.
They were Georgians to the core, and not an un
worthy act mars the record of their brief career of
power, which resulted in the partial acceptance by the
democracy survives to vindicate and perpetuate its
which they contended, while every subsequent year
has given them more abundant vindication in the
adoption of their creeds by the great party of thq
people which Jefferson founded for the people.
No Populist need ever blush for the history and
achievements of his party so long as our definite
democracy survives to vindilcate and perpetuate
principles,.
And Judge James K. Hines was one of the ablest
the cleanest and the best beloved of the leaders of
these honest Georgians. He was their candidate
at one time for governor. He was at all times their
loyal and eloquent advocate, and the asperities of
politics never discovered a stain upon his character
When Governor Smith launched the great cam
paign that carried the Incarnation of that definite de-
clubs or “lockers,” as possible. Not
to license its keeping in clubs or
“lockers,” but to PREVENT its
keeping in clubs or “lockers,” which
the prohibition bill did not do.
6. If a club is NOT A PUBLIC
PLACE, then any dozen men more or
less under the prohibition law, could
have rented a room and kept in it
a “locker system” without costing
them a cent —but since the club tax
was placed on such rooms, they must
pay SSOO for the privilege of simplv
keeping their liquor in a “locker.”
7. T drew the club tax for SIO,OOO
originally. This would have abso
lutely cured the defect in the prohi
bition bill. This SIO,OOO amendment
I gave to Mr. Sheffield, of Decatur
county, and it was offered in the
house and VOTED DOWN. Then
the S3OO tax was offered, and every
prohibitionist in the house, then pres
ent, voted for it. This gave the sen
ate the right to amend it, which it
did, striking out the S3OO and insert
ing SIO,OOO as originally offered by
Mr. Sheffield. It came back to the
house, and the house again against
my earnest appeal, voted down the
SIO,OOO senate amendment. Confer
ence committees were appointed from
the senate and the house, and they
finally agreed to the SSOO tax the last
hour of the session.
8. This SSOO tax cannot be con
strued or twisted to mean a LI
CENSE to keep liquor in lockers. Tv
does NOT, IN ANY SENSE.
CHANGE. ALTER OR NULLIFY
THE PROHIBITION .LAW. Its
adoption was the best thing possible
to do until the meeting of the present
legislature next June, when, if the
courts hold against us, as to clubs
being public places, we can amend the
prohibition bill, and positively forbid
the keeping of liquors in clubs.
9. As a rule, no legislation is per
fect at the beginning. In the light
of the experience we will have had
from January, 1908, to June 1908.
when the legislature meets again, va
rious amendments to the prohibition
hill may be found necessary to per
fect it. We hope then to pass the
bill of Mr. Mundy, of Polk, making
it a felony to leU liquor in the state;
also the bill of Mr. Persons, of Mun
roe, making the holding of a United
States license prim a faeae evidence
of guilt; also the bill by Judge Cov
ington making aIL railroads and ex
press companies keep a record of li
quors delivered in Georgia, * subject
to the inspection of the grand jury.
10. This tax on clubs is no new
tax. For many years it has been in
the general tax acts. At first it was
S2OO, and two years ago—in a fight
led by Judge Covington and myself—
it was raised to S3OO. It was simply
renewed this year. As a matter of
fact there never has been a law in
Georgia against lockers, and club
members keeping liquor in them,
EVEN IN DRY COUNTIES. The
old club tax alone stood in the way.
11. The following is an exact copy
of the locker tax, and speaks plainly
for itself:
11 Under every club, eorporation or
association of persons who shall keep
or permit to be kept, in any room
or place, or any room or place con
nected therewith, directly or indi
rectly, in which membaos of such club,
association or corporation frequent
or assemble, any intoxicating liquors,
the sum of SSOO.
“PROVIDED, NOTHING IN
THIS SECTCION SHALL BE CON
STRUED TO LICENSE OR PER
MIT ANY INTOXICANTS, IN ANY
PLACE NOW PROHIBITED BY
LAW OR WHICH SHALL HERE
AFTER BE PROHIBITED- BY
LAW.’’
12. A word in conclusion: I care
nothing for the curves of my enemies.
I have been hurt at times by the un
just criticism of them I have tried
honestly to serve. But regardless of
curses or approval I usually do what
I think is right, let the consequences
be what they may, and I expect to
continue to do so. If a man is hon
est with himself and the people,
things come right in the end.
Laying aside my personality in
this matter, I beg of prohibitionists
in Georgia to cease grumbling over
minor matters: shut their ears to the
specious arguments of the enemies
of tlieir law, and for the good of the
common cause press forward to the
one great issue of the enforcement of
our law.
SEABORN WRIGHT.
P. S.—l call attention to the fact
that no correct copy of the prohibi-
• ■ > 'v f \ 4
moracy for which James K. Hines and Thomas E.
Watson pleaded in large part> under the banner of
Populism, both Hines and Watson felt that they
could without a trace of inconsistency fall in line
behind this real champion of the people.
And they did with power and eloquence give
ring and currency to the Hoke Smith campaign,
fighting in the ranks like men.
It is well that the governor should tender to
James K. Hines the legal counselorship of the great
railroad commission which he has builded to estab
lish the equality of the people.
He could not find a truer democrat, in the genuine
sense, to fill this station.* >
He could not reward a cleaner and more yirtuous
citizen.
He could not honor a more incorruptible patriot.
And he could not do a wiser thing than to tonic
the whole rank of his own party by this injection of
the good name and the high talents of an organiza
tion that has been from the beginning an inspiration
and a helper to the better democracy of this larger
day.
Well done, Governor Smith.
Welcome, Counselor Hines. —The Atlanta Georgian.
tion bill has yet been published by
any paper in Georgia. In every pub
lication I have seen, the word “pub
lic” has been left out of the first
section; and this, I believe, has caus
ed the wide-spread misapprehension
of the “locker tax.” S. W.
NOTICE!
When in need of Corn,
Hay or Feed Stuff, write J.
R. REYNOLDS, Louisburg,
Tenn. . •
/# SSUPCPJUR TOAL.L,
Because it Is SO per cent briefer,
more legible, and can be learned in
one-half the time. We will prove
these claims or give yon a course free
in any of the old systems. All com
mercial branches taught by experts.
Write for catalogu WAYCROSS BUS
INESS COLLEGE, Waycross, Ga.
APPLER OATS
Appier Oats, crop 1007, $1 per bush
el, f. o. b. Griffin, Ga. In ordering use
egress or P. O. money order. Address
Martin V. Calvin, Director Georgia
Experiment Station, Experiment, Ga.
(Mention Watson’s Weekly Jefferso
nian.)
Splendid Premium
For 3 subscribers and $3.00 you get,
for your Premium,
A STORY AND A STUDY OF THE
OLD SOUTH,
BETHANY
which was the name of the ancient
church where Thomson now flourishes.
Mr. Watson’s descriptions of condi
tions preceding the Civil War, and
during the war have been pronounced
by old folks as truer to life than those
found in any other book.
His statement of the case for the
South is considered by many the fair
est and strongest that has been made.
Toombs, Hill, Stephens, Yancey and
Jefferson Davis appear in life-like man
ner in the book.
Bethany is bound in cloth and is il
lustrated.
Address,
THOS. E. WATSON.
Thomson, Ga.