Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

GARRARD A FAILURE AS BUSINESS MAN. Compares the Records of the Two Mayoralty Candidates. MR. CUNNINGHAM GIVES LOGICAL RESUME OF POLITICAL EVENTS. Arraigns Present City Administration Exposes Graft, Theft, Cruelty and Incompetency Asks if Public Con science is Dead This is Worth Reading. Unless the public conscience is en tirely dead, the crushing and final de feat of the Citizens Club at the polls on T'uesday is inevitable. There ought not to be any confusion in the public mind on the fundamental issue. Shall an incompetent and disgraceful admin istration of municipal affairs be per petuated, or shall there be a change, in the hope and expectation that we shall have a clean, healthy administra tion of our public affairs? If any thoughtful man will look back over the occurrences of the past year he will be persuaded beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Citizens Club has forfeited all claims upon the suffrage and respect of our citizens. It started the campaign for the county offices last February with an unblushing ef fort to brow-beat and intimidate the voters. It thronged the court house with a crowd of political thugs who insulted peaceable citizens and rioted in the very halls of justice, and wound up with a very carnival of crime in front of the city hall. These men were employes of the city, paid by the city. The mayor knew of this politi cal activity. He was advised of it by letter, so that he might have no escape. Their activity was offensive, grossly so, and yet none were discharged on that account. Political activity was the price of political advancement. The Citizens Club’s theory of politics is that unless a man is politically ac tive he does not earn his job. But now Mayor Myers and Alderman Gray son have become very zealous of the interests of the tax payers. Political activity has become a crime. The per sons selected for decapitation are those who secretly opposed the ad ministration in June, and do so openly now. How about those who are re tained? Does any sane man doubt that the party scourge will be applied and that they will all be whipped into political activity. If not, the whole history and career of the Citizens Club will be reversed. Indictment of Citizens Club. The next indictment against the ad ministration is that they attempted to debauch the Registration, and were caught red handed in the act. Two employes of the city, high in the po litical counsels of the administration, were apprehended, carried into the United States Court and confessed their guilt, and were heavily fined. Did the administration discharge them? Not a bit of it. It had neither the j courage nor capacity to do it. Their acts were condoned, and with a reck less disregard of public decency they were retained in their offices of honor and trust. I pass over hurriedly the fact that the Mcßrides, after the ca- j tastrophe at the city exchange, walked the streets of Savannah and that none j in authority dared to raise their hand to arrest them, and that when they j were finally arrested they were liber ated by the sheriff on a fake investi- j gation by the coroner. This was more j open and flagrant defiance of law than would have been attempted in a border town on the western plains. We can hardly forget the fact that public gambling became so notorious last summer that a committee of the grand jury, composed of partisans of the j Citizens Club, were forced by public j opinion into denouncing it. Nor do we forget those dramatic orders of the mayor to his gallant chief of po- I lice to sit on the lid, and how the lid ; had a habit of blowing off every Sun day. The hyprocrisy and sham of the whole proceeding were disgusting. I Our memories must be very short if we do not recall how conspicuous in its advocacy of the Citizens Club at I the polls on June 12th were the gambl ers of the town. We may expect a repetition of this on January Bth. | Usually those gentry keep under cover and make themselves as inconspicu ous as possible, but not so here; they J assume the attitude of boss politicians among us. Finally, if cumulative evidence were wanting of the unfitness and incom petency of the present administration, one need only remember the amusing ! antics of the board of aldermen after : the June primary. They hastened to ! give overwhelming evidence of their j own incompetence, and to expose the weakness of several public servants. | They investigated everybody and ev- I erything and did nothing. They ex ! posed the fact that, as a chief of 1 police, Garfunkle was absurdly incoin . petent. Creamer, who had been a defaulter of many months, was driven from public office. It was discovered that the campaign of the Citizens Cluo j had been, financed with the city’s funds. Same Old Crowd. Does any sane man doubt but that the people who are responsible for the ; conditions which I have enumerated are actively in the fight and asking a vote of public confidence? Garrity, I the Garfunkles, Mcßride and Osborn are all actively engaged in the fight. Does anybody doubt the influence of the Garfunkles in city affairs? Crea i mer is yet high in the councils of the party; as significant of this I point to the fact that at their meeting at the Benedictine Hall, when Capt. M. J. i Doyle entered the hall, Mr. Robert Creamer arose from the center of the meeting and moved that Capt. Doyle; should be invited to a seat upon the j i stage. The very same people who were repudiated at the polls on June 12th are the backbone of the fight against the Peoples’ Democratic j League. As to Colonel Garrard. Now, with regard to the candidate; of the Citizens Club for the mayoralty: Colonel Garrard is. of course, a gentle- ! man, and I think he is even a kid glove ; gentleman, a thing which Mr. Collins seems to abhor. It is also true that he served with distinguished gallantry in the Confederate Army. I desire j to be perfectly fair and just even to my political adversaries, and I could j not be fair if I did not say this much with regard to Colonel Garrard. More than this I even regret the necessity which compels me to point out such j reasons as seem to me to be cogent why he should not be favorably re-! garded as a mayoralty candidate - | Much stress has been laid on Colonel Garrard’s war record, and the per sistency with which that qualification has been heralded leads me to think that much noise has been made on that subject to distract the attention from other matters which are closer. When a man offers himself for public! office we must look to his environ ment. We see Collins supporting him j on one side, Osborne on the other and Myers in the rear. We hear the | Colonel declaring that if elected he will be mayor and wear no man’s col lar, and on the same stage we hear Jake Collins declaring that he is going I to distribute all the patronage, and | that if the Colonel does not behave | himself that he (Collins) will attend !to him. Collins is going to be on the board of aldermen. He is going to head the ticket, and if they do not make him Chairman of Council, even if he does run last on the aldermanic ticket, they are going to certainly hear from him. The Colonel, if elected, will not have the patronage but Col lins will, and look at the hungry crowd he has to provide for. And how they are going to keep the ins in and put the outs in at the same time is a I study in political mathematics. Then what disposition is to be made of i Garfunkle, chief of police, and Jack i Maguire, fire chief, and Mcßride, is I he, too, going to, stand to the rack and get nothing? Not much, he is too wise a bird so,? that. How is the j Colonel to avoid all of these political j obligations. Granted that he was a I j gallant soldier, he never fought against I a handicap like this in his life before. And last, but not least, there is ! Myers—his shadow must fall athwart the mayoralty chair if ever Garrard should sit in it. Worn out and dis-: | gusted with the job himself, with his | administration coming to a close as | an utter and disastrous failure, afraid j himself to run again, he is yet heart | less enough to push Garrard to the j front, and sacrifice him to defeat. ! Myers has nothing to lose by this and; | everything to gain. The National Bank, in case of success, would still be! ! the city depository, Myers would be the power behind the throne. A ■well, j know'n writer, writing under the Nom ! de Plume of Herman Myers, in Sun- I day’s paper, undertook to give the pub- 1 | lie some advice as to the selection of f mayor. It was not a very happy thought for Myers to boost Garrard.! He was not exactly an impartial spon- j I sor. The head lines read thus; j “Mayor praises Col. Wm. Garrard,” j j “Interests of Tax Payers." Now if ! ! there were two things which could j ! injure Col. Garrard’s candidacy they! | were the mention of Myers and the j : interests of the. tax payers. A Business Failure. If there is one thing that Colonel Garrard has not been it is a success ful business man. We can only judge of the future by the past, and judged by this standard the interest of the tax payers certainly would not be con ! suited by the selection of Colonel Gar rard as mayor. Upon the other hand, we have a candidate in Mr. Tiedeman who. judging by his past performances, would give the city of Savannah a strictly business administration. His career in City Council when he was; an alderman will challenge compari son with that of any other man who ever served Savannah in that capacity. Here are a few things that George W. Tiedeman has done for Savannah. For four years Mr. Tiedeman gave his close attention to duties devolving upon him as an alderman, looking af ter the Finances. Accounts, Streets and Lanes, Opening Streets and other departments. Street Paving. During the 1895-1890 Myers’ admin istration it was through his efforts that the Asphalt Company was forced ' to reduce their maintenance contract from 10 cents per square yard to 5.! cents, thus saving this city about $35,000 to date. Pretty good for one little item. Laurel Grove Cemetery. ( During the 1899-1900 Myers’ admin- . istration, Mr. Tiedeman prevented, by his opposition, the condemnation and | closing up of Laurel Grove Cemetery. Land Deals. 1 f During the 1899-1900 Myers’ admin- ( istration. an effort was made to sell j r to the city for cemetery purposes, a ( tract of land, owned then by Col. Wm. j Garrard, situated about four miles out, on or near Ogeechee Avenue. Mr. « Tiedeman led the fight against it —, ( against warm opposition, and pre- vented the unloading of this property. t Public Spirit. For about twenty years he has taken a prominent and active part in all mat- £ ters that would aid Savannah's com- mercial advancement. For many years | (Continued on Fourth Page ) t JUDGE ADAMS SAYS IT IS DUTY OF EVERY GOOD CITIZEN TO VOTE FOR MR. TIEDEMAN. Honored Citizen Tells Why One Should Net Vote For ! Colonel Garrard. TALKS OF HIS RECORD AS CONFEDERATE SOLDIER. Said More is Expected of a Man With Such a Brilliant War Record—-Explains What and Who Garrard Stands For. I appear tonight to urge the hearty , support of Mr. Tiedeman and his Al ! dermanic ticket. My personal and j professional relations with the nomi | nee for the Mayoralty of the Citizens ; Club faction are not only friendly, | they are very cordial, but, in this mat i ter, I cannot permit my personal rela tions to control my conduct as a citi j zen. A number of years ago, at a banquet j given to celebrate Ihe Centennial of the Savannah Volunteer Guards, in I response to the toast “The Confede-! rate Soldier,” I paid earnest and sin- j cere tribute to the splendid record of j Col. Garrard as a Confederate Soldier. It was an occasion peculiarly separate ; and apart from the spirit or purposes j of a political gathering. There has j ; been, within the last few days, a re publication of what I then said, and | ! what I now unhesitatingly repeat, J without abatement or qualification. Effect of Victory of People’s Demo cratic League in June. While this record is worthy of con- j sideration, it does not follow that the | nominee of the faction referred to; ought to be elected Mayor. There are I a number of good reasons why Mr. Tiedeman and his ticket ought to be ; elected. One very important reason is that they are nominees of an organi zation that has already accomplished much for the community, and is en titled to the encouragement and sup port of good citizens. Some months I ago it attempted what appeared to be j a hopeless task, the defeat of a sac- i tion seemingly invincible. It w r as thoroughly understood at the time that j the election which immediately ab sorbed the attention of our people was significant largely because of its in fluence upon the approaching Munici pal Campaign, The defeat of the j People’s Democratic League now would largely destroy the effect of the j great and glorious victory won last June. I have no question myself that if the Citizens Club faction had suc ceeded, the old condition of affairs, illustrated by the prevalence of the two great evils, of gaming houses and the sale of liquor on Sunday, -would have continued, and the same lawless ele ments would have been tolerated and encouraged. Under the rule of the Citizens Club faction we had, for many years, been known as a wide , open town and that reputation would have continued to be ours but for the < success of the organization which de feated that faction. The success of the Citizens Club faction would have post- ; poned indefinitely the day of our re demption. As the immediate and di- < rect result of that success, the gam ing house evil has substantially, if not entirely, disappeared. Our lanes and our alleys are no longer filled . with policy shops which openly ply, their nefarious business, preying uj)on the ignorant and the helpless. 'Our ! Sunday is much more orderly, and the laws designed to give us a quiet and I respectable Sunday are very much better observed. Outside, therefore, of the fact that I have been and still am actively allied with the People’s | Democratic League, and, as a member ;°f the Executive Committee, moved the ratification of the Special Commit tee that suggested Mr. Tiedeman as ; our nominee, it seems clear to me that I I ought not to hesitate to sustain him 1 and his ticket now. Garrard Representative of Citizens Club. I cannot avoid the effect of the coti -1 viction that, if a majority of the citi ! zens of Savannah had Toted as the nominee of the Citizens Club faction himself did, the evils tolerated by that faction for political ends would have | continued in Savannah and the great I good accomplished by our success ! would not have been secured. Their nominee for the Mayoralty voted their entire ticket during the last contest j and openly and earnestly did what he I could for its election. He is today as completely the representative of that faction as could be Mr. Osborne or Mr. Myers, if either of these were nominated. The fact that he may be > called the nominee of the People's i eague, or of the Collins faction, or 'of any combination among dissatisfied elements, is not material. If elected, his election will be due to the Citi | zens Club faction and it will be a triumph of that faction. When I think |of the terrible evils wrought by ele | ments that were tolerated because of their political help by this faction, of the suicides of tw r o young men ruined in gaming houses in Savannah, of the j tragedies that oceured there, which resulted in the rushing, unbidden and unprepared, of three men into the presence of their Maker, of the dis | grace to our City by the prevalence j of these evils. I cannot, I ought not, to withhold my active support to the ticket put forth by the organization that helped to redeem this City, purify our moral atmosphere, give us a bet ; ter standing in the judgment of all good men, and whose defeat, I be lieve, would largely nullify the good effects of what have already been substantial and important reforms. Garrard’s Unfortunate Position. The better the record of a nominee of the Citizens Club faction, in peace or in war, the more unfortunate and the most unwholesome Is his present alignment. We have the right to ex pect men of proud records in times of war to help their communities in times of peace, whether their private interests are helped or retarded. Splendid Ticket of People's Demo cratic League. The People’s Democratic League has (Continued on Fourth Page.)