The Searchlight. (Savannah, Ga.) 1906-19??, May 05, 1906, Image 1
VOL- I-
Hie Doty of
Registration,
A large number of men who call
themselves good citizens have not reg
istered. The fact that they are un
appreciative of a great right, secured
■for them at the cost of blood and
treasure and mighty effort, does not
seem to occur to them. The fact
. that they are neglecting a plain, obvi
ous, duty seems to be Ignored. If
they were told to their faces that they
w&re bad citizens, unworthy of the
name of citizens, they would be of
fended, or pretend to be, and yet, this
would be the simple’ truth. If such
an accusation, grave and serious as it
is, were published in the newspaper
by their accuser, and this accuser
were sued for libel, lie could justify
by a plea of the truth of the charge,
and the party complaining would lose
his case. More than this, if the ac
cuser were to add the further state
ment that the non-voter ought to be
forcibly expatriated, removed from a
country of which he was unworthy,
this charge would also be justifiable,
and an intelligent, patriotic, conscien
tious jury would be obliged tc find it
true upon issue joined.
Men who do not care enough for
the interests of the community, in
which they and their families live
to vote their convictions, are utterly
and hopelessly selfish. They are very
poor citizens and deserve exposure
and contempt. These are strong
words, but no stronger than the facts
warrant. Usually such men are un
patriotic end stolid. All they ask is
to be allowed "to put money into
tvniif end ai| long ss this, to
them, all important-purpose in life is
not abridged or interfered with, the
public weal can take care of itself
The hope of the community is in the
fact that all men are not like them,
without civic virtue, pride or char
acter.
It must be confessed to our shame
that there is a very large purchase
able vote in this community, even
among tlie white people. Politicians
will sometimes tell us that one out
of three can be bought. This is
doubtless an exaggeration. It is ap
palling if it be approximately true, but
certain it is that this purchaseable
vote holds the balance of power, and,
in many elections, have controlled the
result. A very large majority of the
people wish to do right, and, there
fore, to vote right. If they were reg
istered, they would vote conscientious
ly, and no bad cause, or bad man,
could hope to secure a majority of
the votes, notwithstanding the large
number of men who are purchaseable.
The non-voting clasg is responsible for
the influence of the purchaseable vot
ers. If registration and voting were
to become general, these unprincipled
scoundrels (who would barter away
not only their votes at the polls, but
their votes as jurors, if they sat on
juries, and their country itself, in
times of peril, if the offer were suf
ficiently large) would soon find their
occupation gone and would cease to
register. A man with whom a vote
means nothing except the money that
It will bring in the market would fiind
that the conscientious and upright vot
ers controlled and office-seekers had
to look to them, and, therefore, he
would withdraw his wares and disap
pear.
Many people do not register because
they prefer to withhold from the public
a poll tax, which they owe, thus add
ing the sin of positive dishonesty to
their other vice. They have no more
right to withhold from the public the
poll tax, if they are able to pay it,
than'they have the right to withhold
from a friend a dollar which they owe
the friend. It is high time that public
sentiment demand some conscience as
these fundamental matters. The time
must come when a man will be just
as much ashamed to have it saul of
wm that he withholds from the public
what is due the public as to have
it said that he withholds from a neigh
bor what is due his neighbor.
In addition, under the law, this poll
®)c
iSAVANNAH. GA, SATURDAY, MAY 5. 190 t-
THE FOURTH DISTRICT
People's Democratic League
WILL HOLD A HEETINQ AT THE
Drayton and McDonough Streets, on
Tuesday Evening, May Bth,
AT 8130 O'CLOCK.
Prominent Speakers Will Discuss the Issues of -the Campaign.
BOSSISM.
* - , ' A •
ARE WE UNDER THE DOHIiNATJON O : 1 S 5?
THE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC LEAGUE SAY
THAT WE ARE, AND OFFER IN SUPPORT
OF THE PROPOSITION AN EXTRACT
FROM A TELEGRAM TO THE AT=
LANT-A JOURNAL DATED
MAY 2nd 1903.
On May 2nd, 1903, there appeared iu
the Atlanta Journal an article giving
the membership of the Marching Club
and dealing at length with the posi
tion of the Marching Club in Chatham
county politics. The Atlanta Journal
not only published the telegram sent
them, but also the photographs of the
following:
A. A. Lawrence, president; John J.
Garrity, vice president; James Mc-
Bride, vice president; A. J. Garfunkle,
treasurer; R. M. Martin and J. Robert
Creamer, recording secretaries; and,
together with these, the photographs
of W. W. Osborne and Herman Myers,
mayor.
The following language is a part of
the telegram sent:
"While Hon. NY. \Y. Osborne
does not hold any important
Marching Club position, he is the
recognized ieader in its affairs.
His is the dominant spirit; he
controls as completely as does
Croker or Murphey in the coun
cils of Tammany Hall. Nothing
is done without his sanction; if
tax is used for the purpose of educat
ing the children of parents who are
too poor to educate them with their
own funds at private institutions, or
who prefer, on account of their supe
rior facilities afforded by the public
schools, to send their children there.
Anyone refusing or neglecting to pa„»
this poll tax is an enemy to the cause
of education, because every dollar con
tributed in this way adds to the ability
of the school authorities to give a thor
ough system of public educaation.
Certainly the interests that are in
volved in a contest between the domi
nant faction and its opponents are
sufficiently important to concern all
good citizens. They ought to vote
one way or the other. If they be
lieve, in the light of the record of this
dominant faction, that the best inter
ests of their community will be ad
vanced by continuing this faction in
power, then they ought to vote for this
faction, but if, on the contrary, they
believe that there ought to be a
change, that this dominant faction has
been tried and found wanting, then
their bounden duty is to vote against
Mr. Osborne desires a thing done
is sufficient, the reverse is equal
ly true —if he does not desire a
thing done, it is not done.”
There can be no question about the
! telegram to the Atlanta Journal voic
ing the sentiments of the Marching
| Club forces who are indeed the usurp
i ers of the Citizens’ Club, and no one
who is well informed will question the
telegram as' sent. If it was true in
1903 that we were living under the
: rule of bossism, it is true today be
jcause the boss has not been reduced
|in rank. It is claimed by those well
! informed that no important move is
; made without the sanction of the boss.
I Indeed it is well understood that noth-
I ing is done without his sanction:
! lienee the charge of the People’s Dem
ocratic League that we are living, un
der bossism has been sustained, cer
tainly to the satisfaction of all un
prejudiced citizens. The People’s
Democratic League was organized for
the purpose of fighting bossism and
machine rule.. If the administration
forces have any denial to make, let
them make it.
it, regardless even of persons. We
cannot confine the issue to a question
of persons. The interests of the com
munity ought to be paramount and
I controlling, and we should vote, not
! as individuals and friends, but, as
I citizens and members of the body pol
j itic, contributing by our vote to what
j we conceive to be the public good
and the highest and best interests of
our community.
HO/AI SIDES
COMMITTED IN SAVANNAH AND
CHATHAM COUNTY IN THE
PAST FIVE YEARS.
A CARNIVAL OF CRIME has been
enacted in Savannah in the past five
years, and the only information that
the citizens and taxpayers have had
is that "a murder has been committed,
investigation would be made,” etc.,
etc., but nothing more on the subject
has been heard.
What is the cause of this SILENCE?
Our incompetent and inefficient Su-
j 1 erintendent of Police, Police Force,
! Detectives, Sheriff and Deputy Sher-
I iffs.
Tq prove the truth of our assertion,
| w-a give a partial list of murders
| which have been committed in Sa
! vannah and Chatham county in the
j past five years:
WHITE MEN.
Mr. Baker, killed in Colonial
[’Park.
. Mr. Barnard Smith, killed on
i Broughton street, near Whitaker.
! Mr. August Pratt, killed on Bur
. roughs street.
Mr. Miller, Jailed on Winkler’s
j Farm.
Mr. Sehreck, killed or. Ogeechee
i roml.
; . It. LaelfeT. killed on J. - •■. t i.,2.
A fruit dealer, killed at farm near
Bay street.
An engineer at Exley’s Mills, Mon
teith.
Mr. Fountain, at the A. C. L. Cross
ing.
Mr. Bourquin. killed on Ogeechee
road.
Mr. Nelson, killed at Beach Ham
mock.
Mr. Dyer, in front of city ex
change.
Mr. Kearney, in front of city ex
chauge.
Out of the thirteen homicides above
mentioned, four arrests were made,
and in all of the four arrests, with
j one exception, the defendants were
acquitted.
Mr. Baker, who was assaulted in Co
lonial Park, was arrested and locked
up in the police station, where lie re
mained until he was discovered by one
of his relatives and taken home.when;
he. died the next afternoon, and up
to the time of his death no investi
gation had been made of Mr. Baker s
case, and since then nothing has been
heard about the cruel murder of the
GOOD OLD CONFEDERATE SOL
DIER. Mr. Myers, mayor of the city,
made the comment in the public press
that Mr. Baker was very imprudent
to pass through Colonial Park at that
time of night. (Colonial Park adjoins
the police barracks.)
In the case of Mr. Miller, who wa3
murdered at Winkler’s Farm, there was
no investigation made by the Sheriff
; or Deputy Sheriffs. The coroner
merely held an inquest, aud permitted
the body to be buried.
111 regard to the negroes who have
THEPLATFORM OFTfiE PEOPLES
DEMOCRATIC LEAGUE.
We advocate and will work for:
1. The Suppression of bossism and
its machinery.
2. The suppression of policy shops
and gaming houses.
3. The elimination of all grafters
from positions of every kind in the
public service.
4. The protection of faithful public
officers against dictation aud intimi
been murdered in Chatham county in
the past five years, we have records
showing that twelve have been mur
dered and the murderers escaped in
each case.
The cases of Dyer and Kearney are
too fresh in the public mind to need
any comment. The Superintendent of
Police was selected entirely on ac
count of his political pull. His only
qualification was that he was a “vote
getter."
The Sheriff's office is notoriously in
efficient. Under the circumstances,
how can the public expect protec
tion
The White Dove.
An eloquent speaker at a recent
meeting of the Citizens’ Club in the
Soutiiside compared the Citizens’ Club
to a white dove and said that there
were some biack feathers in the dove,
one of which he called Mr. Garfunkel,
chief of police, and which he said
ought to be plucked. The local press
carelessly forgot to print this portion
of the speech. It is said that this
bon mot fell like a bombshell in the
meeting, and that the hearers have
not yet recovered. Perhaps the Citi
zens’ Club was a white dove when it,
was very young. The buzzard when
first, born has beautiful fluffy white
feathers, but. it. soon moults them
and dresses in its sombre garb with
i which we are more familiar. The
j speaker must have looked upon the
I Citizens’ Club bird when it was very
j young. In the ornithology of politics,
! there never was so fine and white a
dove as this! Oh, beautiful dove! Oh
snow white dove!
tOtVI VYiTIE IS DISMISSED.
■■
M|e- Savin j Poor Old Russia from Dis*
grace He Takes Back Seat.
I - "■ •
j
o.vcial an: ouncement that Premie,
Witte’s resignation has been accepted,
coupled with the statement that for
mer Minister of the Interior Goremy
kin would succeed him was made on
Wednesday. In view of the publica
tions of the last few days the former
statement did net come as a surprise,
but M. Goremykin’s elevation to the
premiership created amazement. He
is ’iot only regarded as a reactionary,
but the general opinion is that he is
rot equal to the task of facing the
j coming crisis.
Count Witte’s retirement from pub
: lie life is complete. He will again as
sume the role of a spectator of the
great events which are transpiring,
returning' to private life from w'licll
he was summoned last summer to ne
gotiate the peace of Portsmouth.
Count Witte simply served the em
peror’s purpose as a barrier between
him and the people during the try*
i ins months of the revolution, *ml
now that the uprising is suppressed
and the treasury again replenished#
the count has been ignominiously d£T
thissed.
BIG SAW MILL AMD LAND DEAL.
Lumber Company Disposes of Property
Valued at $200,000.
A saw mill deal involving $200,000
was closed at Moultrie, Ga., Thurs
day by which R. J. Corbett and Dr.
G. F. Taylor acquire the T. N. Baker
Lumber company's holdings at Tick
nor. The property includes 12,000
acres of very fine timber, a mill with
a cutting capacity of 100,000 feet of
lumber daily and all the running
equipment.
r
! dation in their offices by political
| bosses.
5. The election to public offices of
worthy and capable men who will
| give us a clean administration and
; who shall have full latitude to do
their duty and be directly responsible
to the people. *
i 6. An impartial and fearless admin
-1 istration of the law and a square deal
■ all round.
NO- 2-