Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE SIX Os INTEREST TO WEALTH CREATORS GOVERNMENT AND THE WATER WAYS. A variety of causes, national and commercial, have united to fasten public attention upon the need of some broad and systematic develop ment of the inland waterways of »he country for transportation. Govern ment ownership of railroad* seems to be a long way off in the future, but the government ownership and con trol of waterways is a present and permanent fact. Perhaps if private initiative had had full swav in the pas* upon all our rivers and canals the same as on the railroads, the present relation of the two means of communication would have been re versed. Much of the heavy freight traffic of Germany is handled by canals and “canalized rivers.” A considerable volume of this class of business in this country might be so carried, and the present congestion on the railroads is an argument that it would be so car ried. Before the coming of the rail roads the air was filled with the cry for canals, and the promotion of in ternal improvements, which included water transportation, was a fixed ar ticle in the creed of the intelligent public man. When the railroads got to work the demand for waterways was sidetracked. The roads got there first, and speed was then the question of the houi. Some minds have foreseen the present situation. The late Senator Morgan predicted a ship canal from Chicago to the Mississippi, and a deep channel down that river to the gulf. Tie dreamed of a ship canal across Florida to shorten the trip be tween Atlantic and Gulf ports and also a series of canals to connect lakes and bays lying along the At lantic coast, and provide an inland waterway from North Carolina to Maine. The spirit of public enter prise will no doubt be able to make this dream a realization without wait ing for private initiation and capital to blaze the way. They are matters for public action. The public control* the water sheds, which are the life of the rivers and the canals. Our in land waterways, both die natural and the artificial, can be made to play a most important part in the future prosperity of the land. We have tried the railroads under private manage ment, and we know about what to ex pect of our waterways. Their thor ough development as public institu tions can but prove beneficial. Per haps the turbine engine or something better will give an approach to rail road speed for passenger boats, but the main utility of deep waterways will be to handle ore. grain, coal and bulky and heavy manufactures Spartanburg Journal. THE MESSAGE FROM MORGAN. All through the morning, despite the millions that were being poured into the market, prices continued to drop steadily on the Exchange. The price of money arose in proportion. Union Pacific fell from 110 1-2 to par, Great Northern went eff 7 3-4, Read ing 9. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 7 3-8, Southern Pacific 6 1-4 American Smelting, 5, and so on down the list, while the price of money on WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. call loans went from 25 to 50, then to 75, and finally to 100. Two o’clock arrived amid tremen dous excitement. A loan of SIOO,- 000 was made at 100, and SIOO,OOO more was snapped up at 130. The floor of the Exchange was 4 perfect bedlam. White-faced brokers dashed about in a frenzy of fear. • They beg ged the money sharks for loans at any price. Stocks continued to tumble Scores of men faced absolute ruin. The sup ply of money apparently was exhaust ed. From his place in the rostrum, President Ransom H. Thomas took in the situation at a glance. Jamming his hat down over his ears, he leaped to the flooi, fought his way through the mob of frenzied financiers and dashed out of the door. A thin, white-faced, careworn man is seen running at top speed across Broad street, and through Wall to the office of the National City Bank. Ignoring the attendants at the door, scorning the use of the elevator, he leaps up the stairway, springs into the waiting room, which he crosses with a bound, and flings open the door of President James Stillman’s pri vate room. “The bottom is dropping out of the market!” he cries. “Money is ad vancing to 150. We must have $25,- 000 000 instantly to hr*»ak the grip of the sharks, or the end is at hand!” A hurried consultation follows be tween the two leaders. “It is impossible for us to advance it all.” enes Stillman. “We’ll go halves at 6 per cent. See Morgan fnr the balance.” W ith a bound. Thomas is out of the room once more, down in the street, and living diagonally across the street, threading his way through th-" crowds to No. 23. the office of J. P. Morgan. The conversation with Stillman is hurriedly repeated. While Mr. Thomas waited Mr. Morgan got in communication with representatives of the National City, Hanover. Chase. First National and other banks, and a pool was formed to furnish the needed relief. The hands of the clock point to 2:12. A minute later Morgan an nounces the decision. “Rush back to the Exchange,” is his message; “Lbe money is at your command ” Once more Thomas wings his flight. Through the crowd he leaps, up the steps of the Exchange, from the por tals of which the shrieks and roars of the maddened brokers are belching. A font inside the door, he hurls his messages from No. 23. “Money’s coming hnys! Morgan will supply it —$25,000,000 at ten tier cent ” Up, up go the stocks; down, down goes the price of money. U. P. swings back to 110 3-4, Great North ern to 115 3-4, Reading to 79 1-2, Southern Pacific to 69 1-2. Trading is resume dwith a vengeance. Prices leap back to their former level, and even begin to mount above it. The situation i* saved. The gong snurds. the gavel falls, and trading for the day is done. Sim ultaneously a hundred throats send out a cry more strident, fierce, and exultant than anv heard when the panic raged its fiercest; “’What’s the matter with Mor gan?” “He’s all right N. Y. Evening Journal. 9 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP IN CHATTANOOGA. The Primary Result. The defeat of Mavor Trierson by Col W. R. Crabtree, for the Demo cratic nomination as mavor of Gfiit tanooga. by a vote of almost two to one, surprises no man who has kept up with local politics and has the faculty of reasoning from cause to effect. It was one of the inevitables of politics, and is easy to understand. Several months ago the people got it into their heads *hat poor manage ment, and possibly some graft, were losing the city money in the matter of letting contracts for public im provements. This idea was encour aged and fanned into a flame hv the opponents of (he mayor. There was never anything in the charge of graft —nothing worth raising a row about nt least—but the people believed the reports and held Mayor Frierson re sponsible for failure to take drastic action in the way of turning on the light. Mavor Frierson satisfied him self that there had been no corrup tion of city officials, but be did not satisfy the public on (hat score. Again the municipal ownership peo ple believed that Col. Crabtree would be more active in the matter of pur chasing or building a water works for the city than Mayor Frierson had been. This belief sent nearly all the municipal ownership advocates into the Crabtree column. The fight between factions for po sition with the general council pre vented a number of influential poli ticians, who were for Mayor Frierson, from going tlteir length in his behalf. They paid more attention to the races for councilmen than they did to the mayor’s race. A number of minor issues and cir cumstances combined to accomplish Mayor Frierson’s undoing. How ever, we must not lose sight of the fact that Col. Crabtree is a popular man. He has been mixing with s he people of Chattanooga in one capac ity or another for many years, has many friends, and but few enemies. He made a close, personal canvass of the city, saw the voters, shook hands w’itb them, and asked them to vote for him. This had its effect; it always does. However, there is not much profit in discussing the causes. The thing has been done and Col. Crabtree is the nominee for mayor. No man can doubt that he will, if elected, give the city the most conscientious serv ice. He is a man of big ideas, be lieves in doing something, and. there fore, may be relied on to push the material interests of Chattanooga with all the force he can command. He is an advertiser, a promoter and an optimist. He believes in keeping all the advantages the city enjoys constantly in the public eye, and we say without the fear of successful contradiction, that he will employ en ergy and good, hard sense in the con duct of the office so far as it affects the standing of Chattanooga abroad. That is to say, he will use all the power which the charter of the city places in his hands to keep Chatta nooga’s advantages well to the front. In a word, he will make us a good mayor. LET’S FIND OUT WHERE WE STAND. Isn’t it about time that the penpie of Georgia and the many varied in terests in the State were finding out just where they stand in respect to the proposed public policies which have formed the basis of popular agi tation and popular demand? Equilibrium is a law of trade, of material development and progress, as it is of nature, and instability means suspense and retardation. There can be no progress without knowledge and assurance cf the conditions to be met and dealt with. If Georgia is to continue to move forward as in the past, we must know, in the language of the statesman, where we are “at.” We must ret down to bedrock and build upon it. There must be no uncertainty as to what the legislative and executive branches of the government are going to do. They must settle now, once and for all. one way or another, the important public questions which have been the storm centers of pub lic and political agitation for the lats two years, and the uncertainty re garding which has, in many quarters, brought about a state of suspended animation. Are we c r are we not to have an in come tax on corporations? Are we or are we not to have port rates? Are we or are we not to have fur ther reductions in freight rates, and other requirements upon public ser vice corporations which have been suggested or promised, but about which there has been considerable un necessary delay in the performance? It is due the people of Georgia, it is due the railroads and other cor porate interests of the state, it is due the outside world, which has trade and investment relations here, that these questions be answered —ans- swered promptly, definitely and em phatically, that there may be no fur ther doubt, no possible question as to what the state is going and is not going to do. Certain of these questions can only be answered by the general assem bly, but the importance of reaching definite conclusion with regard to them is becoming every day more and more apparent and pressing. It is for this reason that The Con stitution feels impelled to give hear ty indorsement to the suggestion of Hon. Thomas E. Watson that the gov ernor call the general assembly in extra session for the purpose of put ting an end to this injurious and dan gerous suspense. In the current issue of his Weekly Jeffersonian, Mr. Watson says: “The people elected Hoke in order to get certain things. A fair inven tory of these things was prepared by Hoke and his friends. That inventory is called ‘The Macon Platform.’ “As yet, we cannot 4 check up.’ The goods to tally with the Inventory have not been delivered. “My own deliberate opinion is that the legislature ought to be called to-