The Searchlight. (Savannah, Ga.) 1906-19??, May 05, 1906, Image 1

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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-