The Searchlight. (Savannah, Ga.) 1906-19??, May 12, 1906, Image 1

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VOL- I- The Lay of a Bird. 'The night, which covers every kind ■Of variegated tricks; The ancient papers in the squares; The worn and shabby bricks; The countenance of boss and slave, The collars that they wear— Had fallen, when the gallant First To meeting did repair. And Wickham, j., was in the chair, With Murphy at the door; And Saussy, G., charged in the lists, And Butch he held the floor. And, oh, it was a pleasing sight! And, ah, it was a dream! With gentle breezes all abaft, And likewise all abeam. Then Cream he spoke of purity, And Satis he sang of peace; And the language when not oily Was redolent of grease. And as each noble' word went up Like rockets in the air, The henchmen pounded on the floor, And Wickham on the chair. Ah, who might know and who' might guess That to that peaceful scene, Where politics was stripped of greed And graft was no more seen; And everything was bright and pure As any summer day—• That even to that sheltered nook A squall was on its way. For even as they smiled and smirked, With chuckle and with grin, A humming on from pole to pole A telegram came in To advertise that peaceful throng, ■ A bird was coming through IfcLJ-piLiisy with a. sharpened beak was a fighting cock — This nightingale so gay— And when he lit upon that stage And raised his tuneful lay, He carolled of the names of things And told with songful might The legend of the milk white dove With feathers black as night; And how his mission was to pluck, Like tares from out a sheaf, A very darksome leatherette He claimed to be the Chief Who caracoles and gambolades—> A warrior of renown—< Whene’er our valiant policemen Go slouching from the town. Then up rose Sergeant Murphy, A trembling like a leaf: ■“And must I sit or stand and hear A bird peck at a Chief; And call his plumage darksome, And play upon his name? I put the Chair on notice I’m quivering like a flame.” “Lese majestle,” cried Wickham, j., (Whatever that may be), -TH have no little nightingale A sassin’ back at me. Avaunt! Away! Go forth! Begone!” And out into the night They drove that little soulful bird— And turned out all the light. And now we’ll never, never know What name our chief should bear, For nightingales where bosses reign And graft is king, are rare; And when our Chief with martial stride Upon our ways is seen — The vexing question still will rise, What did the birdie .mean? O, Wickham, j.! O, Wickham, j.! And has it come to this, That after years of tooting horns, And oyster roasts and fizz; And spinning wheels, and lidless hells, And marching clubs galore— A free-born Chatham rossignol May sing his song no more! Feminine View of It. Mrs. Diggs—l was too ill to attend the Woodbe-L’perton wedding. Were you tbdre ? Mrs. Biggs—Yes, indeed. Mrs. Diggs—And what did you think of the presents? The papers praised them very highly. Mrs. Biggs—They were just too lovely for anything, I Ho wonder of what ' grin they rented them. ’ ‘ ' • • • 'c ®l)c torcljlijljt SAVANNAH, GA , SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1906- NOTICE. There will be a meeting of the Southside Club of the Peo ple’s Democratic League at Benedictine Hall, 34th & Bull Sts., at 8:30 o’clock, Wednes day evening, May 16, 1906. Prominent speakers will address the meeting. P. A, S. McGlashan, Pres. F. W. Perriott, Sec. Flam Facts Not by Our Professions of Principles, But by our actions should we be judged by our fellow men. If we profess one thing and practice anoth er diametrically opposite, then indeed are we insincere and hypocritical. To merit our own self esteem and to command the respect and admiration of our fellow citizens we must be truthful and consistent. But, why these reflections! Why quote these axioms which every good and free man, woman and child well know ? The answer is simple:—By the above standard we propose to gauge the Citizens’ Club. In its (?) platform, adopted at the Theater meeting held on Feb. 20th, it proposes, among other things, to | be opposed to bossism, graft, gamb ling houses, policy shops and Sunday liquor traffic. (The fact should not be lost sight of that in its career of some ten years or more the Citizens' Club here, never previously adopted a plat form.) During its existence, it has on several occasions had opposition previous to the present movement. Why did not it then adopt a plat form before now. It did not dare to, because it nas always favored the very things which it now with brazen ef frontery declares against. It still fa vors and fosters them, and if the Cit izens’ Club continues in power, these very evils will flourish even more openly- than now, if such a contin | gency is within the realms of possi- ■ bility. ; In his oration at that meeting, the boss questioned the sincerity of the ■ Democratic Club of Chatham county I in adopting the platform which that organization had declared as its pro i session of faith, and which the Citi- I zen’s Club by attempting to steal ' were trying to make appear ridiculous in the eyes of the public, Mr. Os- borne suggested that if the Democrat ic Cluo was sincere, that the Citizens’ Club was willing to let them lead the crusade, and in a spirit of what he considered was sarcasm mentioned the names of two gentlemen identi fied with the opposition, one to un dertake the crusade against gambling, the other against illegal sale of intox icating liquors on Sunday. Here they seem content to rest, for here they have pitched their tents. (The utterances are in strict accord with Mr. Osborne’s official record on these very two subjects. He does not think it his duty to ferret out viola tions of the law; but will prosecute them when they 7 are brought to the attenion of the grand jury by some one else than himself.) He expected the forces of the oppo sition to accomplish the objects of their platform, with all the machinery of the law allied against them, with the sworn officers of the law sanc tioning and permitting what they should condemn and prohibit. Knowing the insincerity of. the of fer, the opposition paid no attention to the bluff. But what has the Cit izens’ Club dr te since? Have they accomplished what they profess in their platform? Have they driven from our midst the boss or the graft ers? Is there a single less gambling house, or one less professional gamb ler in Savannah than there was be fore th Citizens’ Club adopted its (?) platform? Have the policy wheels discontinued to tprn? Hav the poli cy sharks ceased to wring from the poor and needy n?:r nickels and dimes? Are the bar rooms closed on the Sabbath? If these things have been accom plished, then the Citizens' Club has done its duty well. If these evils do not now exist, then there might be no reason for any opposition to the pres ent administration. But, has the good been accomplish ed? Has there been any change in the condition of affairs? Has the Cit izens’ Club, or the administration (which is a part and parcel of the Citizens’ Club) made one single move towards suppressing any one of these evils? If not, why not? If these evils won’t be corrected now, can the pub lic expect the Citizens’ Club to cor rect them after ’ election, if they should be successful? That the evils exist, the Citizens’ Club administration knows full well. In its platform it declares to have them discontinued if the Citizens' Club is successful in the elections. Why wait then? Why not act at once? If it is sincere, why not do so at once? It has every 7 branch of the city and county administration in its control, as fully now, as it would have after election, if it elected its every candidate. If sincere, do it now! But nothing is done. The deduc tion is clear —the Citizens' Club is insincere in the adoption of its (?) platform. Is it therefore entitled to the support of the good citizens of Chatham county? Reflect, ye men of Chatham coun ty! Register and qualify yourselves to deal the death blow to duplicity and insincerity, to bossism, graft and policy thieves. Her Perquisites. E. Z. Gross, th6 mayor of Harris burg, Pa., was condemning the fees and unfair perquisites which swell unduly the salaries of many unimport ant office holders. “Fees and perquisites,” he said, “tend to cause unjust dealings. Even in the kitchen that is so. “A butcher told me the other day that a young woman, the cook in a prominent family hereabouts,- came into his shop and said,: “ ‘Gimme a fine large roast o’ beef with plenty o’ bones.’ “ ‘Plenty of bones?” said the butcher in amazement. ■•‘Yes.’ answered the young woman, ’’pnes .is»my .perquisite? ’ NO- 3- THE WAIL OF THE PAVEMENT BRICKBAT. Poor little cuss’d out brickbat. How many things pity-pat, Over me go. Strangers stop and look at me— ’■Bum,” they say, "not worth a D,” Oh my! Oh! • AWJ Very hard it is to bear Everybody’s ugly sneer, At me cast. Pretty women-at me pout, Saying “they should take it out,” It can’t last.” All the travel by me borne, Just as if I wasn’t torn, It’s too bad. A whole brick’s work I do, And to get a cussing too, Makes me mad. Since the city paid for me Half price only, don't you see, It ain’t fair? Now I ’m down to tell the fake, That since laying 1 did break, From the wear. “Grafters” make me doubly work While their duties they do shirk, All for self. But at last they are dismay'd For sure they’re doomed to be laid On the shelf. ’Tis the same old ring, With the same old song— “ Vote for us an We’ll help you along.” ”"i« the'same old crowd \ml’ the same old threat — • . ■ - ■’ ■, We'll make you st* at.” 'Tis the same old gang. With their same old strife — . “Vote for us. or We’ll wreck your life.” 'Tis the same old lot That wouldn’t (?) rob, "But vote for us And we’ll give you a job.” 'Tis the same old set, With its pap-greed cry*—< “Vote for us, or We'll starve and die.” ’Tis the same old ring With its modest request—* “Put us in power And we ll do the rest.” A CHANGE NEEDED. Even a casual observer must no tice the deplorable fact that the moral tone of the city of Savannah has been lowered considerably in the last half of the reign of the Citizens' Club bosses. During the first half of their supremacy, they were without experience in public graft and hence not so harmful to the community. But now they must have become a political stench even to themselves. What party could stand without nau sea the unholy alliance that now mis uses the name of Citizen (with Club appendix) after detection and convic tion of naturalization frauds of the acknowledged leaders of the Citizens’ Club, who designed to cheat our real citizens out of the power of their vote. If they had not been detected and punished in time, who can doubt that the fraudulently naturalized Greeks and Turks would have been voted, over and over again, by this mis-called Citizens’ Club, and thus have neutralized hundreds of votes of our true American citizens cast In favor of public morality and honesty! Can it be that the community has fallen so low in its pwn estimation that it is unwilling (to exert itself to shake off the incubus of boodlers and grafters! Can anyone who choos es to exercise good judgment fail to realize that a change of administra tion is needed? We think that the tiroper answer will be at the polls at the coming primary when it is con fidently expected that the People's Democratic League will score a sweep ing victory. , .c.