Governor's Message
To the
General Assembly
of Georgia.
June 25, 1913.
ATLANTA, GA.
CHAS. P. BYRD, State Printer, 1913.

Governor's Message
To the
General Assembly of Georgia.
June 25, 19 13.
ATLANTA, GA.
CnAs. P. BYRD, State Printer, 1913.

Governor's Message
Atlanta, Ga., June 25, 1913.
To the General Assembly:
Upon your assumption of the responsibilities of ]egis]ation for the welfare of the people of this great Commonwealth, I extend to you a cordial greeting, with the l1eartfelt hope that our Almighty Guide will lead your minds into the channels of wisdom and deliberation. I cannot doubt that the people have sho~rn careful discernment in the choice of members of both of your houses, hence it is with confidence that I lay before yon the views which I deem worthy your consideration, recommending their enactment into laws which I believe will enhance the well being of the State.
These views affecting the proper use of the ballot -the freeman's inherited right-the safety of person from disease and casualty, the economical, but judicious, expenditure of the people's money and the equitable levying of taxes for collecting the same, and other matters are such as experience and observation in the Executive Office have convinced me are necessary for the protection of the people and their progress on orderly lines.
I cannot refrain from premising with the statement that the words ".Jnstice" and "Equality" are
3

the bases upon which is built our governmental structure. vVithout justice government is a mockery, without equality we cannot have a republic. Therefore, if we be patriots, our life lines, our ambitions and endeavors cluster around these fateful words.
REGISTRATION LAWS.
First for consideration, I call your attention to the serious defects and unnecessary barriers in the registration law now upon the statute book. The requirement that the registration lists shall be closed six months in advance of regular elections is more drastic than that in any other State in the Union, and imposes unnecessary hardships upon the country people of this State. The same barrier to franehise rights for the choice of State and County officers prevails in only a less degree against tho voters in the cities. Yet, in their municipal elections, the latter are allowed as short a time as they desire for registration. With some of them this limit is less than thirty days. Hence, I earnestly recommend that your honorable bodies make such changes in the registration laws as will protect all voters alike in their proper rights for exercising the franchise.
Under the present Jaw upwards of twenty thousand white voters in Fulton County alone are deprived of the right to vote by the operation of the law in question. And the total number disfranchised throughout the State exceeds seventy-five thousand. The continuance of the law, as framed, on the statute book will bring reproach upon the State.
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BUILDING OF PUBLIC HIGRWAYS.
The building of good roads is undoubtedly one of the main factors in the marked progress the State has made in material development during the past four years. Yet, as this progress is mostly due to the use of the State's convicts, the State has the right to require such handling of the convicts as will generally benefit all the people while increasing the facilities of the several counties.
Therefore, it should be required by law that, at least, a stipulated proportion of _the convicts be worked upon the main roads in each county leading from its county site to the county sites of adjoining ,counties, or that all of the convicts be worked upon :such main roads a stipulated proportion of their total time until said roads are completed.
Furthermore, that the main roads be laid off and worked in accord with the demands of public neces:sity and modern science, I recommend that the office of Commissioner of Public Highways be established, and that it be filled with an experienced Civil Engineer, at a salary and traveling expense, etc., to be fixed by law.
DOUBLE-TRACKING RAILROADS.
The increasing population and expanding commerce of the State of Georgia have now reached the point where the people's needs will soon demand that the main lines of the leading railroads of the State be double-tracked. This is required for the greater safety of the millions of passengers and the enormous amounts of freight transported. The single tracks of some roads are now becoming almost inadequate to modern requirements. With the
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double tracks not only would life and property be better protected, but speed, comfort and practically all advantages would be materially enhanced. With the single tracks the delays alone, during the winter months and during the times when fertilizers are moving in the spring and fruits in the summer, cause our people each year an aggregate delay of an astonishing number of hours which, distributed over the hundreds of stations, means an absolute and irreparable loss to the productive and commercial energy of the State. The loss thus caused is, beyond all comparison, greater to the multitudes who travel and ship freight than it is to the owners of the railroads.
I suggest that your bodies, together with the Railroad Commission, take this matter under advisement, in order, by practical means, to bring about the benefits that double-tracking would afford.
And in this connection I will call your attention to the fact that railroad building in Georgia for the past few years has not kept pace with the development of other general properties, as is shown by the following official figures :

Total miles of single track railroads in Georgia in 1905 _________________ _

6424.46

Total miles of single track railroads in Georgia in 1912 _________________ _
Percentage of increase, 11.

7166.36

Aggregate value of all property in 1905 _____________________________ $ 577,840,282

Aggregate value of al1 property in
1912 ----------------------------- 842,358,342 Percentage of increase, 45.7.

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STATE AUDITOR.
I respectfully call your attention to the great need of an up-to-date system of auditing accounts, and recommend that you establish the office of State Auditor with such clerical force as is found needful. I am confident that an auditing department, with the authority to supervise all expenditures, would save many times its cost each year.
FARM CREDIT SYSTEM.
The farm credit system which has wrought such extraordinary results for good to the dwellers upon the farms in Germany and some other European countries has attracted wide attention within the past twelve months in this country.
I attended a Conference of the Governors at the White House, which was called hy President T'aft, in December, 1912, for the purpose of discussing this system. Experts appointed by the United States government and by the Governors of some of the States are now investigating this subject in foreign countries. Georgia is represented in this investigation.
That our people may have direct information upon this subject, I recommend that your honorable bodies appoint a joint committee to whom shall be added about three or five other citizens of Georgia to be named by the Governor, for the purpose of securing and placing before our people the most available plan of securing for our farmers at the lowest rates of interest such money as they may need for the conduct of their affairs.
When we realize that in Germany a farmer can borrow money at a rate of interest not exceeding,
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1ive per cent., whereas in Georgia the gross rate paid rnns from twelve per ,cent. sometimes to even twenty per cent., the importance of this subject can be readily realized as being paramount.
INHERITANCE TAX.
I desire to here repeat the suggestion I made to your predecessors in 1909, viz.:
Over three-fourths of the States now have laws providing for an inheritance tax. A proposition to impose a national inheritance tax has lately been presented to Congress, and practically the only argument brought against the measure was to the effect that inheritances were properly subjects for State taxation, and that a majority of the States now imposed such a tax.
The policy of modern government is opposed to the accumulation of vast estates, so hedged about by legal technicalities and safe-guards as to escape their equitable burden of taxation. In the enlightcened view of the leading publicists and economists of. our times, no sound reason exists why inherit.ances should not be subject to taxation.
NEAR BEER TAX.
The law providing for the collection of a license tax for the sale of near beer is so drawn that the payment of this tax has been delayed or evaded by very many dealers.
To prevent excuses for delay in paying this tax in future, I recommend that you place the duty of its coJlection upon _some of the county offiicers with proper compensation therefor and also provide adequate penalties for failure to make prompt payment
8

BANK EXAMINERS.
The great increase in the number of State Banks has rendered it physica1ly impossible for two examiners to adequately perform the work required by law.
Under the present system two examiners are rb quired to audit correctly the accounts of almost seven hundred banks semi-annually within this State. Hence, through no physical fault of the bank examiners those of the public who make their deposits in State banks have no assurance that all the banks are in a sound condition. It is, therefore, imperatively necessary that the number of bank examiners be sufficiently increased to meet the demands for the proper protection of those who place their money in State banks.
The very large increase in the number of banks to be examined necessarily demands an increase in the number of examiners.
VITAL STATISTICS.
Nothing is of more importance to a State than the preservation of good health for its inhabitants. The vital statistics of Georgia are so incomplete as to really furnish us with no reliable information. I, therefore, recommend the enactment of laws requiring physicians to report all births and deaths coming under their purview. The birth statistics, of course, should show sex and race. The death statistics should show the disease, or complaint, of which each person died.
If these statistics were kept fully and definitely, we could within a few years ascertain what diseases
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were most prevalent in the various counties of the State, and in that way could be guided in taking steps toward alleviating the trouble to some extent. For example, if in one county there was a great proportion of deaths from malarial fever, and in another from pneumonia, or bronchial troubles, the concentrated efforts of the State could be directed toward at least a partial removal of the cause, or the extension of knowledge among the local populations for handling the troubles most prevalent in their localities.
In this connection, I call your especial attention to those portions of the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture which bear upon the shipment of tuberculous cattle into this State and also to the inspections of dairies and butchers' establishments.
No better use could be made of the surplus income of that department, after paying $10,000 each to the Distrct Agricultural Schools and the expenses of the department, than to provide for extension of inspections suggested by the Commissioner of foods of various kinds and the increased expense needed for the laboratory. These matters are of excessive importance in protecting the health and lives of the people.
HISTORICAL RECORDS.
""\Vork on the Colonial Records and on that portion of the records which include the rosters of Georgia troops during the years 1861-65 is being well done; but I respectfully suggest that Georgia has much history not covered by the two periods indicated.
The S1 tate should see that her history from the
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foundation of the Colony of Georgia by Oglethorpe to the present time is officially written. Her people are entitled to know what has been done by Georgians throughout the whole period of the State's history. Georgia is amply able to perpetuate her records in definite form. Hence, I recommend that
the office of Compiler of Colonial Records be per-
petuated for such length of time as will ensure the proper writing of the State's history from the date reached by the present compilation until the date when such work shall have reached the then contemporary period. The expense of future work can be met by the net amount received from the sale of such books when published, also from the Acts of
the Legislature and such other State books as you
may see fit to include. That the people of Georgia may haYe facilities for
acquainting themselves properly with the history of the State, I respectfully recommend that sets of these historic volumes be deposited in the Ordinary'!! office or other proper office in the court house of each county of the State.
I know of no better mode of arousing State pride in the youth and to some extent even among the
adult population than to put in reach of all of them the facilities for learning the achievements of Georgians and the power and glory of our great State.
GREAT SEAL OF STATE.
It is a matter of public note that the Great Seal of the State of Georgia has become so worn by use
that its impression is now practically indistinguishable. As hallowed by association and memorv as
is this great symbol of Georgia's sovereignty, ~om-
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mon sense would seem to demand that a reproduction of it be made, which would enable all of the great documents of this ,State to be properly stamped. I, therefore, recommend that your honorable bodies take steps to effect the above purpose.
PRISON OoMMISSION.
I would suggest that the Prison Commission be given authority and directed to inspect jails. It is more important that persons detained merely for trial be properly cared for than that those already convicted of crime be treated well.
Many good women have urged me to advocate the enactment of a law providing for the inspection by women of those quarters occupied by female prisoners. I deem the suggestion a good one and well in keeping with the demands of actual propriety and broad humanity, and as such commend it to you.
In this connection I will state that it has been proposed in some circles to restore the practice of whipping female convicts in order to maintain discipline. I respectfully suggest that such a return to a practice semi-barbarous in its nature would not be in keeping with the enlightened spirit of our modern civilization.
The point has been raised in the public press and
in some other circles that the State ought to allow
moderate wages to convicts in the penitentiary, such wages to be paid to the families of these ronvirts whose protector and provider the State holds in confinement. I scarcely think that we are ready to take such a step; but in the event it he seriom;]y considered, I respectfully suggest that, inasmuch as the convict is immured because of his taking the life of
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another, or of some damage done to others, if wages be allowed by the State they should be paid mostly, if not entirely, to the family whom the convict has deprived of its protector and supporter.
CHARGE TO JURIES IN CAPITAL CASES.
Experience having shown that in capita] cases trial juries from time to time have requested the presiding judge to re-charge them upon certain points where their memory had failed to retain the instructions in his charge, I respectfu1ly suggest that it be required that in a11 capital cases the presiding judge shall, after reading his charge to the jury, hand a copy of it to the foreman to he taken
into the jury room for consideration in their delib-
erations.
SUSPENDING SENTENCES BY TRIAL .JUDGES.
It is a known fact that a number of the trial judges of this State, after conviction by juries, pass sen-
tences in conformity with the Jaw and then suspend them, such suspension to last during the pleasure of the judge. Although this procedure by these judges has been declared unlawful by the Supreme Court, yet the practice is persisted in. I do not assert that this practice is in itself against public policy, but undoubtedly it should be in conformity with the law if it is to he continued. Hence, I recommend that your honorable bodies enact such legislation upon this subject as your wisdom suggests.
GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE.
As is well known, the Governors of the various States of the Union, annually hold a conference for
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mutual interchange of thought and with the idea of unifying, as nearly as can be made practicable, the laws which similarly affect in their application the people of all the States. Their suggestions to the legislatiYe bodies and for general interchange of thought may ultimately work out great good.
It is the practice of most of the States to pay the expenses of their Executive officers when in attendance upon these annual conferences, also for printing and otherwise preparing the minutes of their meetings, and other expenses incidental thereto.
The State of Georgia has no provision in law for this expenditure, hence, the payment must come from the Governor, individually. I respectfully suggest the enactment of a statute authorizing these expenses to be paid from the contingent fund of the ,State, inasmuch as Georgia scarcely expects her Governor to fail to attend these annual conferences.
I also suggest that the Governor be authorized to pay this State's quota for printing the minutes of the meeting of the Conference in Richmond, Va., during December, 1912.
DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL & ~fECHAXICAL SCHOOLS.
The District Agricultural & ::'.\Iechanical Schools having been taken into the University system of the State, I respectfully suggest that the co-operative relationship between the State University, through the State College of Agriculture, and the above district schools be made closer than they have heretofore been. To this end I suggest that the Board of Trustees of the State College of Agriculture appoint at least one member from its Board of Trustees to be an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees of
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the District Agricultural & Mechanical School in his Congressional District, whereby each of said district schools will have thereon one trustee of the State College of Agriculture. Such member should be required to attend the annual commencement exercises of the district school to which he is assigned and should have full privilege and authority to act with the board of Trustees of the district school at that and all other meetings of /f:he said district school, and should make to the Trustees of the State College of Agriculture, after said commencement exereises, a full report of the conditions, progress, etc., of the said District Agricultural & Mechanical Schools.
o' The Board of TrusteP~ the State College o'
Agriculture should also be clothed with power to, exercise such authority over the district schools as will cause them to conform to a general plan.
STATE UNIVERSITY.
The demands of modern civilization are trending toward the greatest development of the human mind. That State which trains the brains of its young manhood and womanhood to the exercise of the highest powers is the State which by natural process takes and holds the leadership over her civic sisters. The strongly developed mental faculties of a people have greater weight in the control of world powers than the broad-sides of battle ships. Genius makes conquests more abiding than are made by guns, and the strength in the trained brains of a people holds -~eater security than strength in the most elaborately constructed forts.
And while you are appropriating money and en-
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acting laws for the more efficient and extended cultivation of the soil of our State, hold ever in mind that the cultivation which will bring the greatest crops and choicest fruits is the cultivation of the minds of her youth. Hence, I urge you to build up as rapidly as Georgia's resources will admit the .State University which our forefathers created and which, with its branch colleges and other high educational institutions, can develop the mental powers of our young people of both sexes for keeping this great State abreast of her most ambitious rivals.
Before passing from this subject I cannot refrain from the statement that the charm of the University of Georgia is its democracy. From a close observation of the conduct of its affairs for the past four
years, I am prepared to assert with pride that the
son of the poorest parents in the State has equal consideration by the faculty with the son of the richest. Merit and application open the gates of opportunity to al( alike, and it is especially pleasing to note that the citizens of Athens extend impartial kindness to all the students regardless of rank or wealth. The State, therefore, has a selfish interest, and pardonably so, in every dollar she appropriates to maintain to highest efficiency this, her great braintrainer.
SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY, ETC.
It is impossible to measure the value to the State
of the 18,chool of Technology. The high standard which its graduates hold is :finding its reflex in the technical development of the commonwealth from the mountains to the seaboard. The modern demands for education of this character in the arcbi-
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tectural and mechanical development of our people are so imperative that we cannot afford to let this great institution of learning lose aught of the high grade of efficiency now characterizing it.
It is undoubtedly true that this school has lost several of its leading instructors by reason of the inadequate compensation they received. I, therefore, urge you to appropriate the sum of ten thousand dollars as an addition to the annual maintenance fund of the said school, making same immediately available.
I also recommend the addition of $7,500 each to the annual maintenance funds of the Georgia Normal School and the Georgia Normal and Industrial School.
PAYMENT OF SCHOOL TEACHERS.
In my annual mesS'age to your predecessors last year I stated that the condition of the Treasury had pemnHted the payment of but 10 per cent. of the amount due for expenses of the common schools. I regret to report that, the appropriations having increased in greater proportion than the State's ineome, it has been impossible to pay any amount as yet of the common school appropriation for this year.
During the past three months we have made inquiry into the question of the payment of teachers, that is, we have sought to get the truth of conditions as they are.
The result of the investigation proves that the evil has not heen exaggerated by those who have decried it.
Briefly, we found that approximately one-third of
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all the teachers in the public schools of the State in 1912 were forced to wait from two to twelve months for their pay, or, in lieu of waiting, had to discount their claims at from 8 to 25 per cent.
A great proportion of those who received prompt payments were paid with funds borrowed by local boards of education, who were required to pay from 6 to 12 per cent. for the money.
Concretely, we estimate from the reports received that advances made to boards or teachers during 1912 amounted to approximately $2,000,000, and that these advances cost at least $75,000 in interest or discount.
Thus, it is clear that the waste in money due to delayed remittances from the State is great, and there must be an equal loss in efficiency resulting from the indifference fostered by the faulty and difficult method of financing the schools.
"'\Yith $1,000,000 more revenue available during the Spring and Summer months the State would be able to make prompt monthly remittances to the school systems, and thus would practically overcome the difficulties now labored under, and growing worse.
Therefore, I urge upon you the necessity for taking such steps as will enable the Executive Office to make prompt monthly payments as due on the appropriation to the public schools.
The information gathered as the result of- the investigation above referred to is on file in the Executive Office subject to your wishes.
EcoNo:-.I:Y IN APPROPRIATIONS.
While there has been a gratifying increase in the taxable valuations of the property in the State, yet
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the demands for expenses to -maintain schools and other educational institutions and the civil list require more than the present income of the State. Hence, I urge your honorable bodie-s to exercise great discernment and care in the matter of appropriating the people's money; and that, so far as can be made practicable without militating against the actual needs of the State's institutions and the conduct of the government, you exercise the strictest economy.
LAWLEss ELEMEXT 1x CERTAIX CouxTIEs.
within the paist few months certain lawless persons have posted notices in Forsyth, Dawson, Cobb and other counties, warning all negroes to move from those counties under penalty of destruction of their homes and lives. Several of such threatened outrages have been perpetrated through the dynamiting of houses, besides the burning of one store.
I am reliably info1,rned that quite a number of farms in Forsyth County have been practically aban'doned this year for lack of labor, which has fled before these threats. The State cannot tolerate such a condition of affairs. She cannot allow even a just resentment against lawless individuals to take the shape of wholesale intimidation of labor necessary for the conduct of farms and industrial enterprises. There is no reason why farms should lose their productive power and why the white women of this State should be driven to the cook stoves and wash pots simply because certain people blindly strike down all of one class in retaliation for the nefarious deeds of individuals in that class. The application ,of the law is to the individual who violates it, and
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all who are law-abiding are entitled to and must have the protection of the law.
I, therefore, recommend the enactment of a statute which will meet the situation above indicated, and punish all who would impair the powers of honest labor. The penalty for dynamiting or burning residences should be fhed at $500.00 for each offensef and rewards of such amounts, not greater than $200.00 per pers,on, should be authorized for the arrest, with proof to convict, of every one guilty of posting threatening notices or using other measures for intimidating people and driving them from their homes.
RAILROAD COMMISSION.
Unnecessary offiices which levy additional taxes upon the people should be abolished. It is against public policy to maintain sinecures. I therefore respectfully recommend to your honorable bodies the reduction of the membership of the Railroad Commission from :five members to three.
When it is considered that only one member of the :five is required by law to devote his entire time to the service of the office, and that the larger number of members makeS' that body cumbersome, as well as needlessly expensive, it is patent that it is to the State's interest to reduce the number of Commissioners, and also to dispense with the office of Special Attorney for the Railroad Commission.
I will add that the Interstate Oommerce Commission has assumed the authority to raise intra-state rates when it seems that these rates injuriously affect interstate rates. The lower courts have upheld that Commission in this action. The Supreme Court of
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the United States has practically upheld this position in a recent decision, hence it would appear that a blow has been struck the Railroad Commissions of the States. In such event it would clearly be a waste of the people's money to maintain as many as five mernbers on this Commission for the purpose mainly of supervising the occasional building of depots and the collection of statistical information.
Furthermore, it is well known that the number of members of this Commission was increased in 1907 for the purpose of installing what were termed "Port Rates." Yet, although the advocates of "Port Rates" have been in the majority on the Commission from September, 1907, to June, 1909, and from Novaember, 1911, to this date, there has been no effort made by the Commission to even promulgate "Port Rates." Hence, as "Port Rates" have been proven to be a campaign theo1 ry, which it is impracticable to make effective, it is manifestly contrary to the public interest to maintain five members on this hoard at the expense of the tax payers.
CRIMINAL LAws.
Inasmuch as our penal laws have undergone little ehange during the past half century, it might be timely for you to make inquiry looking to amendments necessitated by changed conditions and modern developments.
I wish to direct your attention to one important change that is needed. In misdemeanor cases where prison penalties with alternative fines are imposed leave should be given for payment of the fine, or the pro rata portion of the fine due at any time before the completion of the prison or chain-gang
21

;-;entence. In most court jurisdietions it is held that 01':.ce the fine alternative is rejected, and the period for accepting it elapsed, the fine cannot be paid except by commutation from this office. In no case wilJ they pro rate the penalty, deducting, as they do in cities, for the period of time served by the prisoner.
This is manifestly unjust, amounting to a special -penalty on poverty and misfortune. A great many persons are unable to raise the amount of the alternative fine when it is imposed upon them, but later do raise it, or a sufficient amount, aJlowing for the time served to meet the intent of the sentence imposed. The only way they can get relief is by corning to the E\Xecutive Office with applications for clemency, which puts them to unnecessary expense and this oftfoe to much trouble, all of which could be obviated h~T your providing an automatic method for prisoners to pay their fines at any time before sentence is completed.
Applications for executive clemency are becoming more and more burdensome on the Executive Office. During the past eighteen months this office has been forced to consider nearly 1,000 of such appeals. Outside the assistance rendered by the Prison Oommission, the Executive Office each week is forced to read and answer scores of letters, and see or otherwise deal with scores of callers relating to such applications. Inasmuch as the Constitution places full responsibility in these matters on the Governor, he is in duty bound to examine each record and to make such investigations and inquiries in addition to those made by the Commission as he thinks proper.
The result is that this work takes up a large pro-
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portion of the time of the Executive Office, precluding attention to other important business. In addition to this, lack of time makes it impossible for this office to pursue investigation of many cases as thoroughly as their importance demands.
Therefore, I recommend that you provide the Gov.ernor with a pardon clerk, or attorney, who shall devote hjs entire time to assisting in handling applications for executive clemency.
TAXES.
Again permit me to repeat the recommendation made in my general message of last year, and previous ones during a former administration, relatiYe to the urgent need of a better method of assessing property for taxation.
All who have studied the question agree that if property now escaping taxation, and other property bearing less than its equitable burden, were required to contribute their just part to the support of the State government our revenues would be augmented to the extent of the deficit, which is now of serious consequence.
It is but simple honesty to demand that all prop-
erty be required to bear its just share of the expenses of the government which gives it protection. Therefore, I recommend that you amend the tax laws so as to provide a method of assessment for, and equalization of, taxes more just than now prevails.
D-c-CKTO\VN COPPER MINES.
The United States Supreme Court, some years ago, gave to the State of Georgia a decree against the
23

oopper companies operating in what is known as the Ducktown region in Tennessee. The fumes arising from the operation of the copper mines have been doing great damage to growing crops of citizens living in Fannin and other Georgia ciounties. This State, being willing to allow owners of the copper mines to continue the development of their property if our citizens were protected against damage, has allowed the copper ciompanies time for perfecting appliances for taking care of the sulphur fumes. This is resulting in the manufacture of enormous amounts of sulphuric acid from the copper fumes.
But as the damage is still being done to some extent, one of the companies, the Tennessee Copper Company, has offered to place in the hands of the State a sum approximating $15,000 annually for the purpose of indemnifying those Georgia citizens who are damaged, such annual fund to be available until their improved appliances are completed.
I respectfully suggest, therefore, that you authorize the Governor to make this agreement with the Tennessee Copper Company, and require a similar agreement to be made with the other company or companies to the end that our citizens be protected from damages which are occurring during the growing seasion to crops each year.
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION NECESSARY.
During the fall of last year there occurred a strike by the employees of the street car company in Augusta, and another strike by certain employees of the Georgia Railroad, which, for a number of days, prevented the public from having the benefit of the operation of these common carriers.
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By the census of 1910, the city of Augusta had a population of 41,040 people, and the counties served by the Georgia Railroad had an aggregate of 582,182. These figures give an idea of the widespread wrong which these striking employees committed.
~ese tW10 corporations were chartered by the State for the purpose of conducting commerce and the carriage of passengers. The primary object of their charters was service to the public. Consequently, when the charters were granted and these roads were built a contract was virtually entered into by the owners of these properties and the State whereby the fiormer bound themselves to perform the duties of common carriers for the public, and the
latter bound herself to protect them in the peace-
able performance of those duties: Not one word was said in those charters giving the owners the right to suspend the operation of the roads to the detriment of public convenience, or giving the employees the same right. So long, therefore, as either of those companies attempts to perform the duty it assumed the State is under obligation to use extreme florce, if necessary, to protect it in thus serving the public.
Furthermore, in the amended Railroad Commission law, as embodied in Sections 2663 and 2664 -of the Code of Georgia, the Railroad Commission is authorized to require all common carriers and other public service companies under its flupervision "to establish and maintain such public service and facilities as may be reasonable and just." Also, "to order and compel the operation of sufficient and proper passenger service when in its judgment in-
25

efficient or insufficient service is being rendered the public or any community.''
Again, it has been very aptly said by one writing on the status of the State in relationship to the common carriers :
'' The power to fix rates and charges for transportation is an attribute of sovereignty, because in operating a public highway a transportat~on corporation exercises the power of a sovereign. This power over public highways constructed for public use to accomoda te public travel and secure public convenience is a matter of public concern and is absolutely essential to government.''
Hence, it necessarily follows that any person or combination of persons who obstructs, intimidates or otherwise prevents the operation of the common carriers strikes ~ blow at the interests of the public and puts his or their will in conflict with the mandate of the sovereign.
There is no escape, therefore, from the conclusion that those employees of the street car company in Augusta and of the Georgia Railroad put themselves in a state of open rebellion to the laws of Georgia. They ignored the cardinal tenet of republican government, viz: '' There shall be equal rights to all, special privileges to none,'' and arrogated to themselves the exercise of special privileges for settling their quarrels with their respective managements at the expense and serious inconvenience of the public, and in a manner which embodied defiance of the law which requires all dwellers in the State having differences which they cannot peaceably adjust to submit them to the State's courts.
Again, their acts in leaving the service of the employing companies, and in virtually encouraging the
26

formation of mobs to intimidate and personally assault those citizens whom these common carrier~ induced to take the places they had vacated, that the carriers might obey the law which creafod them, was logically a claim which can be expressed in these words: "This is your property, but it is my job on it. I and my partners, the union, will defend our mutual rights to exclusive ownership of the positions which we hold on your property. \Ve will determine for you whom you shall hire and whom you shall not hire, and what wages you shall pay. while it is true that we have not invested a dollar in this public service utility and you have invested millions in it, yet, we have vested rights in these positions, rights which we have acquired by usurpation, and we will l:rold ,them, while defying the laws of the State and subjecting the public to serious inconvenience and loS's, even against you. On your property chartered to serve the public we are supreme over you, supreme over the public, supreme oyer the law. The union label carries more authority than does your Great Seal of State."
In considering the status of the public serYice corporations and their employees, there is one factor which can not be ignored. This is embodied in the following words found in the last annual report of the Railroad Commission of Georgia :
"In 1908, the railroads operating in Georgia employed in Georgia, 34-,809 persons; in 1912. they employed 39,691.
'' The wages paid these 39,691 employees in 1912 exceeded the wages paid the 34,809 employees in 1908, $5,771,104.93 more than in 1908. This, however. was to a larger number of employees. The individual wage scales show that had the number of employees
27

for 191:2 been kept the same as in 1908, they are being paid $3,668,725.21 more than in 1908.
'' In other words, the 34,809 employees in 1908 received $3,668,725.21 more in 1912, which is an average increase to each railroad employee in Georgie in 1912 over 1908 of more than $105.00 per annum.
'' The Commission has taken ten trunk line roads in the State, to-wit, the Southern, the Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast line, the Louisville & Nashville, the Georgia, Southern & Florida, the Georgia Railroad, the Atlanta & West Point, the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic, the Central of Georgia, and the Western & Atlantic, and their wage accounts show that they paid in 1912, to the same number of employees as in 1908, in wages, $2,604,794.90 more than in 1908.
"The individual wage scale further shows that by far the largest increase in wages have been paid to employees belonging to labor unions, such as engineers, firemen, eonductors, train hands, etc.''
In other words, while the average increase to each
of the 34,809 employees in 1912 over 1908 was
$105.00 per annum, the average increase to each
member of a labor union was larger hy far, in some
instanres, doubtless approximating $300.00 or more. Hence, we are brought face to face with the fact
that these unions, or combinations of employees, not
only on public service corporations but, as is gener-
ally known, on practica1ly all other c:orporations
have forced their wages up above those received by
workmen in all other departments of life who have
not formed these aggressively militant combinations. Tens of th:ousands of other citizens "110 are not in
these unions, therefore, are confronted by the fact
that the unions are levying a tax upon them to the
extent that they are forcing from the employers an inequitable proportion o1 f the wages paid to the general classes in the State.
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If the State not only authorizes these unions, or combinations, to exact higher wages than others receive, but also permiits them by authority of law or by winking at their violations of it to hold up the general public and rob it of the facilities for transportation, then she cannot claim the right to protect any farmer or other person employing labor against his employees who might strike and proclaim to him that nobody else should work his crop for him; that if he hired any other employees they would burn his dwelling and barns, and, if needs be, kill him and his new employees to establish their supremacy over him and his property.
And if the State says to owners of railroads, factories, etc.,: "You shall pay tax on this property which you have created or bought, but another class sha11 control it. I hold you responsible for keeping it in C'ondition for safely serving the public, but I allow them the privilege of wrecking it, or of depriving the public of the use of it," then how can she protect a farmer or any other citizen in the right to control his property1
T11e same courts established by the Constitution and composed of judges elected by the people and jurors chosen from the people are open to the members of 1abor unions on the same guarantee of equality as they are to farmers and all other classes in the StatP, and no 1nethod of settlement of quarrels by ]ahor unions which results in inconvenience and d:=irnag-e to the public should be tolerated.
Again, upon this point, it is genera1Jy understood thnt w11en the members of one of these unions strike against the employing compan~', the members of the same nnion on other companies are assessed to sup-
29

port the strikers until the strike is ended. If this be true the organization in question could assess its members one-tenth or one-fortieth of the amount and employ counsel to take the cause of controversy into court and could have justice secured without damaging any of the interests of the public.
Or, if the strikers are not thus supported by their brother members, they could assess themselves a sum insignificant beside the gross amount of wages lost during the period of the strike and could have their case adjudicated in the courts without in~icting damage upon the unoffending public.
In either case they would go before judges and juries of their fellow citizens in precisely the same manner as every other one is required and compelled to do; and it is impossible for all other classes to concede that the members of labor unions have any preferential privileges suggesting, if not actually applying the process of anarchy when theythe masses-are required to submit to the process of law.
The mere fact that the laborers on a public service utility or in a factory have more votes than the owners of these properties have, has no bearing on the legal status of the case. Justice is not measured by the number of votes any more than by the weight of dollars. Each party is under the law. Each is entitled to the protection of its own rights in court. Neither is entitled to interfere with the rights of the other either in court or out of court.
It should be further borne in mind in this connection that it is primarily the poor people who are subjected to inconvenience and damage by the actE
30

of strikers. In Augusta, for example, the rich could use their own conveyances or hire others for the purpose of coming into town and going out to their homes, but the poorer classes in some instances were compelled to walk two miles each way to reach their places of employment and to return home; whereas, had these striking employees of the street car company abstained from the unlawful acts they committed in preventing the operation of that public utility, these laborers in the humbler ranks of life could have come from and returned to their homes at trifling cost. And the poorer people at the stations on the Georgia Railroad were subjected, at many points, to great privations which the rich were able to protect themselves against.
Therefore, in such caseS' it is the striker, who, in his blind recklessness, puts his feet in the bread tray of the poor man and interferes with or depriveS'
him of the right 'to live,-the ca,rdinal right of
humanity.
Summing up the status of a strike by employees on a public service corporation, we can not fail to know that there are more than two parties to such strikes. There is a third party, the public, which is subjected to unmerited and unnecessary inconvenience and loss. And above all, there is a fourth party, viz.: The State, whose Constitution the strikers have ignored and whose laws they have trampled under foot. Concerning this fourth, and greatest, party, I will add:
The crisis which a strike on a public service corporation brings upon the masses of the people is not only a menace to their power to procure the
31

necessities of life, but is also a challenge to the very sovereignty of the State in that it arrogates to itself the power to prevent the railroads from performing the special functions for which the State granted their charters, viz. : Those of being common carriers of persons and property.
There is no power in Georgia greater than the power of the State herself, and th~t power holds mastery over and gives direction to every other power which she permits within her borders. 8he is supreme in potential activities, whenever she finds it needful to exert them. She exacts allegiance and will not divide it. She ordains one process for all, and holds any rival process as rebellion. She is no respecter of persons in the enforcement of her laws.
It is needless then to say that the State would not
permit the management to shut down the operation of a street car line or a railroad. It is manifest, therefore, that the acts of the employees in preventing such operation is equally indefensible, -equally condemnable, and that they should be just as inflexibly held accountable to the laws of the State. No man, no combination of men, is greater than the State and her laws.
I have stressed the views herein advanced because the object lessons given by the striking employees of the street car company in Augusta and of the Georgia Railroad have been a practical service of notice by the labor union to the State of Georgia that its law within her borders is greater than her law; that the allegiance of its members to it is more binding than the allegiance they owe to her.
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The Executive Office has not made this issue; the State of Georgia has not made it. The labor union has openly and recklessly thrown down the gauntlet. The State, therefore, cannot shrink from her duty to her Constitution and her people.
It is a matter of current note that the power of the labor union to hurt the general public and to terrorize public men anxious to retain offices of honor and trust has been found in the fact that in several communities it votes solidly in blocks of scores or hundreds for those who cater to it and against those who refuse to bow to its demands; but I call your attention to the fact that, besides multitudes in the cities and towns whose interests are jeopardized by its exactions, there are upwards of 200,000 voters in the rural portions of this State whose welfare can only be protected by holding the members of the labor union to the same non-interference with the rights of others and lthe same accountability to law which they admit as governing themselves. They will certainly claim that the labor union men, individually and collectively, are no better and have no greater rights than they.
I will add that it is no answer at all to say that labor cannot get its rights in any other way than by a strike and boycott. The courts are as open to the labor union man as to the farmer, and there is not the slightest reason why the latter should be required to settle his difference in the State's way, which injures no third party, and that the labor union man be left free to damage everybody else while settling his difference by a strike.
He, therefore, who would remain in public ]ife
33

would do well to merit the approval of those myriads of law-abiding and peace-loving citizens beside whose numbers the labor union's is a trifle.
Finally on this subject, I will observe that the trend of the laws of the present day is to the suppression of combinations, generally styled trusts, organized for the restraint of trade. These trusts are condemned by law because they endeavor to force from business all competitors save those in their guild and to exact out of the people unduly high prices for products they handle. Yet, while it is a matter of public note that the labor trust is the most widespread and aggressively exacting trust in America, politicians pander to it, statesmen stand in awe of it, and the public seems helpless in its grasp. Why? Because it votes in blocks of thousands in almost every S1 tate in the Union. It is composed of allied organizations which stand as one man against all other elements of society. Recent events have shown that some of the leaders of one of ,these organizations have been sentenced by a United States Court to imprisonment for crimes of violence against those who did not yield to their exactions, and the members have bailed them out and re-elected them to high offices in the organization. Such a development is appalling to every lover of law. Yet it is an object lesson which tells more vividly than words that the labor union holds itself as being higher than the law.
The labor unions have but a small minority of the people of Georgia, yet, by combinations which work through strikes and kindred methods, they are aggressively levying a toll upon all the other elements
34

of our citizenship. In other words, they have organized a trust and demand that all other people buy labor at whatever price they choose to put upon itand that price is higher than other workmen in like occupations receive and higher by far than the people have ever paid before. And contemporaneously, they are endeavoring to force from employment all similar workmen who do not join their orders. To
attempt, as non-union men, to compete with them as
laborers means to be treated with open contumely, attended sometimes by personal violence. To hire
non-union men means for employers to be boycotted
and not infrequently to suffer serious damage to their property.
Therefore, as the labor union's have combined against all other classes in their determination to defeat the equality of opportunity assured by the laws of the State, the necessity is forced upon all other classes to stand together in the refusal to concede to the unions the preferential privileges they are endeavoring to exact for themselves alone. And, as the unions have their pass-words, the password of all other citizens should be: '' The Law.''
It is not improper here for me to declare that not
all of the members of the labor unions are wilful yiolators of law. A very large percentage of them love their State and would not knowingly do any one an injustice. Yet they are the victims of a sys-
tem which is breeding anarchy, which has already
put the State's Constitution in contempt, which has relentlessly wronged hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens who have not offended them, which, .in plain words, has applied lynch law methods to
35

millions of dollars worth of property. I pass no harsh criticism on them, but every person who reverences the law must condemn the reckless disregard of the rights of the public which has eharacterized their leaders. And the State must, with unmistakable clearness, not only condemn these acts, but must force the doers .of them as clearly, to know that she will not suffer such occurrences to he repeated.
It is a cardinal principle of civilization that lawabiding people shall be protected in the enjoyments of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The State does not interfere with her orderly citizens in the possession of these rights, and it is the intent of her Constitution that no one within her borders shall be permitted so to interfere.
I have no more interest in this matter than has any other average citizen of Georgia; but, as her Chief Executive, whose duty to obey her laws by enforcing them is supreme over every ambition and personal interest, I have noted the recurring instances of open contempt of her Constitution, of inconvenience and damage recklessly inflicted upon multitudes of her citizens by one class, and of brutal assaults upon working men who were engaged in obeying her laws and serving the people by operating the public utilities which she had chartered and. whose operation she had commanded, and I would be unworthy of the confidence with which the electorate has honored me should I fail to lay these facts before you and call upon you to enact such statutes as will force all classes and all individnals to equal allegiance to the State, and equal obedience to her laws. Upwards .of two millions of people in
36

Georgia will look with no patience upon the continuance of a condition which leaves their basic rights in life at the mercy of the star chamber of the labor union.
Under the conditions I have portrayed it has been made the duty of the State, therefore, to protect her citizens from such unlawful happenings in the future. Compulsory arbitration should be required by law, and neither the management nor the employees of a public service corporation should under any circumstances be permitted to paralyze or otherwise interfere with the powers of the public for the transportation of persons and property, or for any other service for which the corporation was chartered.
I, therefore, respedfully impress upon you the importance of enacting such laws at your present session to the end that the masses of the people shall not again suffer from the acts of any who, for their own selfish interest, would impede commerce, travel or other public need or convenience. And the same law should govern every factory wherein capital and labor come into conflict.
I also respectfully suggest that you amend Section 2664 of the Code of Georgia by re(Juiring the Railroad Commission to promptly advise the Governor of the stoppage of perforrnance of the duties for which it was chartered by any public service corporation when combinations of persons unlawfully prevent its operation, thus damaging the interests of the public, and that he thereupon issue a proclamation requiring the sheriffs of all counties in which said public service corporation's working
37

property lies to summon posse comitatus to protect said corporation in the performance of its chartered duties; and that, in the event the resistance to law by disorderly parties be too great for the civil authorities in any county or counties to overcome, the judge or judges, sheriff or sheriffs shall promptly notify the Governor, who shall thereupon use the militia, or such portions of it as may be needed, to enforce the State's laws which require the operation of said public service corporation or corporations for the welfare of the people.
I also respectfully suggest that you enact a law authorizing the Governor to suspend a sheriff whenever he finds it proven that said sheriff has wilfully failed to do his duty in protecting the people of his county against acts of lawbreakers, and to appoint a sheriff to serve until after a new sheriff is chosen by the people at the next regular election. Such a law prevails in several other States, and that it is needed in Georgia was proven in at least one glaring instance during the period of the strike on the Georgia Railroad last year.
It should be furthermore provided that a sheriff thus removed shall not be eligible for election to any office in the county of his residence until at least two years after he has been thus removed by the Governor.
u LA,vs REGULATING THE SE OF THE :MILITIA.
The Constitution of Georgia, Article 10, Section 1, says:
"A well regulated Militia being essential to the peace and security of the State, the General Assembly shall have authority to provide by law how the
38

Militia of this State shall be organized, officered, trained, armed, and equipped; and of whom it shall consist."
The words '' es,sential to the peace and security of the State," are proof that the makers of this Constitution, which we have taken an oath to execute, deemed that there were likely to come crises in which the civil authorities would not be able to maintain peace and protect life and property. The genius, the very soul, of that Constitution is democracy, yet its every paragraph proves that it is a selfbridled democracy. Its provisions leave every lawabiding citizen fullest liberty for exerting hi,s powers in any legitimate occupation, but places a constant curb on crime, with penalties to be applied to every one who will interfere with the rights of those who obey it. The great minds which made it realized that attempts to supplant or dethrone the law must not be temporized with, but must be promptly met by trained force which would maintain protection to the people through the supremacy and majesty of the law.
Hence, they have clothed your honorable bodies with the authority above indicated and by plain inference have made the same your duty.
Therefore, if the use of the militia of the State be "militarism" it is clear that the Constitution creates "militarism" and ordains that such shall be the instrument of its enforcement when lawless elements in any community, contending only with the civil authorities, set that Constitution and the ,statutes at defiance and imperil the lives and property of the people. The same Constitution declares that "protection to 1wrs0n and property is the para-
39

mount duty of government and shall be impartial and complete.'' This is but an amplification of the ancient maxim: "The safety of the people is the supreme law.''
And we must not ignore the fact that on her Great Seal of State, amid the columns, "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation'' which uphold the arch of the Constitution, Georgia presents to the world's view the figure of a soldier holding a drawn sword, thus symbolizing the fact that inside the very temple of peace she holds the type of martial power, power loyal and ever ready to protect that Constitution and the peace which it commands.
During the past summer and fall, the use of the military was called for, in the manner prescribed by law, to protect the public against lawlessness resulting from the strike by street car employees in Augusta; and als10 from /threatened ruttempts to prevent the procesS' of the State's laws in Cumming, Georgia.
It was a deplorable fact that in Augusta three persons put themselves in insubordination to the military law, one, if not two, of them in an open and defiant manner intended to lead to destrucfion, by a mob, of property in custody of soldiery placed by the State to guard it; hence, were killed in the exercise of their unlawful acts. No one except these can be blamed for their deaths. Deeds done in defiance of the military law must necessarily meet penalties just as deeds done against the civil laws must meet the same. It is well known that extreme acts of violation of the civil laws have for their penalty death, and this, when dire ne<'Pc;sity comes, the State inflicts.
40

It can not be admitted, therefore, that when lawless parties, by threats of incendiarism and personal violence, terrorize a community and prevent the civil authorities from enforcing the laws, and the military is called out, that the latter should be instructed to refrain from rigorous measures, even from the infliction of death, for the protection of the peaceable and faw-abiding members of the community. The Constitution manifestly does not intend that the militia shall be used simply as a bluff. Such use would put the Constitution itself in contempt and .absolutely invite anarchy. The very word "militia" earries with it the knowledge that its weapons are guns and other means of destroying life if extreme necessity for securing impartial and complete protection tior the }aw-abiding so demands.
We must not overlook the fact that the Constitution provides that the sheriff of any county may summon posse comitatus when the elements of violence threaten to subvert the law in his county. But the militia is the State's posse comitatus, to be used when t,he sheriff's posse comita.tus is too weak to protect the peace and good name of the State. If then the posse comitatus of the Sheriff of Richmond County had have ki1led the three men before referred fo, in Augusta, no law-loving citizen would have condemned it. There is, therefore, absolutely no reason for eondemning the State's militia for a like defense of the State's authority. No man must give a dare to the State.
As to the trial by a military court of the officers and men concerned in the killing in Augusta of the three men who by their deeds defied the militia wihom the State had put in charge of the city, for the pre-
41

servatron of life and property, I will say that the State has both the legal and the moral right to fix whatever process she deems appropriate. In some of her civil courts she requires trial by jury, in others juries are omitted. In municipal courts persons are deprived of liberty without the verdicts of juries. She, therefore, ordains such court procedure as she deems fitting to the crime, the local conditions or the emergency.
In her law governing the case under review she did not choose to fix a status, half fish and half fowl, to adjudicate in a civil court acts done under military government which the civil authorities had requested to supercede their own. Here was no usurpation of the rights of a free people; they made the status themselves. There was no degredation of their manhood. That manhood is as upright and as selfrespecting in decreeing the temporary supremacy of the military to stamp out anarchy as it is in times of peace when the civil process is properly the only authority. The suppression of anarchy is the right and duty of a free, law-loving people, and there come times when they must shoot it to death just as they shoot down foreign invaders.
And no specious pleas by enemies of law and no . theoretical treatises by alarmed sentimentalists
should weigh against the logical process which law, in times of peril, must take to ensure its supremacy over the hydra of anarchy. And, while I hold in high honor the patriotic devotion of some of our best citizens who have deemed the use of the military as a menace to the security of our institutions, yet I must say firmly that the man at headquarters, who,
42

the Constitution declares, shall be a conservator of the peace throughout the State, and the man on the scene of danger, are better fitted to judge whether the soldiery is needed to protect life and property, as is provided by the Constitution and the statutes, than can be any people living many miles from the zone of peril.
Now, as to the personnel of the militia, I call your attention to the fact that.its members are not foreigners or hirelings. They are not the Governor's soldiers, organized by his order to display his power; they are your soldiers, by the mandate of your Constitution, organized to protect your homes, your lives, your civilization. They are your own flesh and blood, your sons or brothers, who, thrusting not themselves into the arena of danger, but called thither by the operation of your statutes, leave their occupations, sometimes losing their present income, and submit to inconvenience, endure privations, and stand ready to sacrifice even life itself to shield you and to uphold the dignity of your laws.
Instead, therefore, of being held as a thing apart, the Constitution makes them an integral factor of your government; instead of being an excrescence, they are your strong arm never to be exerted save when your other elements of strength are inadequate or helpless, then, with the force of a thunderbolt.
And in their patriotic willingness to lay down even life itself to protect you and your laws, they embody the words of our Divine Lord: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." (John 15-13.) And should any of them lose lives in the service for which your very Constitu-
43

tion has ordained their organization, they merit the paraphrase of the simple, yet sublime, epitaph which his countrymen placed over Leonidas and the Spartan band who fell at Thermopylae in defense of their country, viz: "Go, stranger, tell it in Lacedaemon that we died in obedience to her laws."
Let me say, therefore, that Georgia's name should be the synonym of good faith; that wihen she guarantees impartial and complete protection she must make her guarantee good; that the uniform of a soldier who unselfishly leaves' home comforts and bazards his ]ife for the protection of the laws of the State and the lives of her people is a badge of honor. And a twenty year old youth, standing in uniform with gun in hand for the protection of the law, is more to be honored than are ten thousand men who directly or indirectly lift hands for anarchy, class preference, or class tyranny, for that youth represents not militarism in its formal sense, but he is the ultimate resort of the law.
The present law pres'cribing the manner of using the militia of the State was passed unanimously by the Senate and almost unanimously by the House of Representatives. Both factions united in enacting it after considering it for more than a year. Undoubtedly a potent factor in securing the enactment ,of the law was the knowledge that, while many good people are moving into Georgia, yet there are also elements with practices and views widely at variance with these adhered to by our native population. Consequently we must assume that it is the judgment -0f a vast majority of the people of Georgia that the
44

military must be used as military when emergencies demand. The General Assembly, therefore, does not have to apologize for making this law; and the Governor does not have to apologize for ordering its enforcement. And the militia does not have to apologize for obeying the order the Governor transmitted to it. Each performed a high duty which the people for their protection had ordained.
Some of the happenings in Georgia during the present year have trended inevitably toward bringing your Constitution into contempt. It is for you, therefore, to say whether you are going to Fmrrender this State to anarchy or whether you are going to preserve it for law. It is for you to say whether you are going to allow one class, with less than 30,000 members, preferential privileges to the detriment and danger of the remainder of the public with upwards of 330,000 voters or whether you will enforce your process against all law-breakers alike. It is for you to say whether you will allow barns to be burned, residences dynamited and people driven from their homes, thus destroying property valuations and depriving certain counties of needed laborers; and whether you will allow mobs to force sheriffs and jailers, before the muzzles of guns, to surrender prisoners in the State's custody, who are then taken out and unlawfully killed. It is for you to say whether you will allow the statutes you enact to be made a mockery or whether all men in all classes shall obey them in the same manner. You have the power to enact laws which will control every situation I have portrayed.
45

Yet, I am in the line of duty and self-respect when I say: Do not make it the Governor's duty to enforce a law and then condemn him for doing it. Any Governor, true to his oath, will enforce it regardless of condemnation. And do not, even by inference, command a militiaman, a sheriff or other agent of the State to imperil his life and possibly lose it, to protect your lives and property and uphold the dignity of your Constitution, and then fire into his back from the State House whence his orders came. Do not enact laws which you intend shall not be enforced, or which you would allow to be tampered with. There is no middle ground between law and anarchy.
The people of Georgia are jealous of their liberties, but they are not going to suffer their statutes defeated and their Constitution made contemptible under the false plea of liberty. That license which styles itself liberty, which would subordinate the rights of the public to the selfish interests of classes or which would substitute the process_of anarchy for the process of law, has no place in any State inhabited by freemen. True liberty sits side by side with the enthroned law.
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, allow me to urge upon you thoughtful care in the enactment of statutes for the public welfare. The laws of Georgia should he deliberately framed and so broad and just as to he graven on the very hearts of her people ; they should inspire confidence and willing loyalty which would make it the proudest boast to say: '' I too am a Georgian!''
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And the authority of the State and of her municipalities should be so reverenced that a sheriff's badge .and a policeman's club would command as great respect as does the baton of a marshal of France.
Respectfully submitted, Governol'.
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EXHIBIT A.
Report of pardons, conmrntations, paroles and respites granted since the last report to the Leg-islatme.
PARDOXS.
II. ,Y. XALLY; Paulding <Superior Court; forgery; sentenced as for a misdemeanor; disabilities 'removed July 10, 1912, on the ground that the offense of which he was convicted was largely of a technical nature.
FRANK HAMES; CHy Court of ::\Jorgan County; simple larceny; disabilities removed ,July 15, 1912, as the offense was a technical one and did not show moral turpitude.
}IILTON THOMAS; Superior Court of Fulton County; burglary; pardoned September 9, 1912, as new evidence was presented making it clear that he had been wrongfully convicted and was innocent of the crime charged.
GEORGE F. GERDING; vagrancy; City Court of Fulton County; pardoned February 7, 1913, as it was established that he was not guilty of the offense eharged, being a stranger here in search of medical treatment.
CARL DAvrs; Superior Court of Haralson County; burglary; disabilities removed February 18, 1913, after he had served sentence -with good record, applicant being a youth.
JOHN QvrnN; City Court of :Macon County; stealing ride on railroad train; pardoned ::\Iarch 18, 1913,
49

because it was shown that he was an escape from the State Lunatic Asylum of Mississippi, pardon being granted on condition that he be returned to the institution.
PARDONS GRANTED AS PER TERMS OF THE PAROLE LAW.
(NoTE.-The following ca'S'es have previously been reported in detail as paroles, pardon oPders being promulgated in compliance with the statutes under
which they were paroled b: Gov. Brown in 1910-11.
Gov. Smith in 1911 and Acting Governor Slaton 111 1911-12).
ToM GASTON; Butts County; manslang:hter; pardoned May 2, 1913.
All fo11owing were pardoned ,Tune 18, 1913:
HENRY JINKS; Appling County; murder. ToM RHINEHART; Baldwin County; murder. DAN TucKER; ::\Ierriwether County; murder. :MATT GRIER; ,Tasper County; murder. JuLius ALLA.GOOD; Telfair County; manslaughter. HENRY FrsH; Miller County; manslaughter. A ;1,DREW BAKER; Chatham Count:; murder. GREEN GIFFY; Pike County; murder. ,YYATT BowLES; ::\Iuscogee County; burglary. BERT BYRON; Dooly County; manslaughter. FRANK VlrLLIAMS; D'ool: County; murder. JORN SrMMoxs; Monroe County; murder. STEPHEN CusTER; Gordon County; murder. ,JULIA ANDERsox; Tattnall Count:; murder. En STEPHEXSON; Henry County; murder. Sr:c:rn Ihxnox; ,Yorth Count:; mnnler.
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Toxy HrnHTmYrn; Pike County; rob leery. .JOE HALL; ::VIacon County; murder. .JAMES GRAHAM; Bul1och County; murder. FosTER BROOKS; Catoosa County; murder. ToM ""\YEEKS; Emanuel County; murder. .JAMES PosTER; Early County; murder. ALAMORE ""\YrLLIAMS; Emanuel County; murder. vVILL ARENDALE; Fulton County; robbery. CocHRAX MURRAY; Pike County; robbery. CHARLEY BLACKMAR; Tattnall County; murder. HENRY HoDGES; Effingham County; murder. OscAR LoTT; Hall County; forgery. CLINTON SMITH; Pulaski County; murder. CHARLES SrMON; Fulton County; murder. ,JIM DANIELS; .Jasper County; murder. WILSON PAuL; Macon County; murder. ,ALEXANDER FAVORS; Pike County; murder. ELIZA HILL; ::\fontgomery County; manslaughter. ALFRED ALLEN; Gwinnett County; robbery. JoHK RILEY; Taylor County; manslaughter. LILLIE YARBROUGH; Fulton County; manslaughter. Lucrns GuTHRIE; Cobb County; attempt to murder. Russ HARRISOK; Hall County; manslaughter. G1.:Y YEAL; Carroll County; manslaughter.
PAROLES.
BELLE vV1LLOUGHBY; Superior Court of Putnam County, September term, 1910; manslaughter; three years; paroled .July 15, 1912, for statutory reasons.
En ,\~.U,KER; Superior Court Emanuel County, Fall term, 1897; murder; life sentence; paroled September 2, 1912; statutory reasons.
BR!\ .Jmrns; Superior Court of Randolph County;
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,June term, 1891; murder; life sentence; paroled September 2, 1912, for statutory reasons and as a reward for saving warden's life during mutiny rn convict camp.
E. E. \V1LLIAMs; Superior Court of Cherokee
County, August term, 1910; bigamy; three year:c;; paroled on recommendation of prosecutors and court officials, it being evident that the offense wa,s committed out of ignorance.
Pm Km :B~OSTER; Superior Court Floyd County. Fall term, 1903; manslaughter; fifteen years; parole1l September 9, 1912, for statutory reasons and extenuating circumstances connected with the crime.
JoHN ANTHONY; ,Superior Court of Hanco('k County; 2\farch term, 1908; burglary; twelve years; paroled September 9, 1912, for statutory reaso11,and doubt as to whether he should have been cc11victed of the crime._
MARY FoRTSON; Superior Court F1ulton Count.\. May term 1910; manslaughter; five years; parold September 9, J 912, for statutory reasons and e\"tenuating circumstances connected with the crime.
TOJ\r BELL; Superior Court Taylor County, ::\Iay term, 1911; manslaughter; two years; paroled September 9, 1912, for statutory reasons and the recommendation of the Judge who expressed some douht as to whether he should have been convicted.
JERRY Hou.ms; Superior Court of Chatham County, Spring term, 1896; murder; life imprisonment; paroled October 10, 1912, for statutory reasons and evidence indicating that a Yerdict for manslaughter would haYe been proper.
52

HENRY EvANS; Superior Court of Fulton County, January term, 1901; murder; ]ife imprisonment; paroled October 14, 1912, for statutory reasons, his youth, and extenuating circumstances.
JuLE RENFROE; Superior Court of Lowndes County, May term, 1910; assault with intent to murder; eight years; paroled October 21, 1912, for statutory rea,sons and developments indicating circumstances extenuating the offense.
WILL BASKIN AND vVILL KNIGHT; Superior Court of J17 ulton County, 1Spring term, 1911; burglary; five years; paroled Octobe!" 29, 1912, for statutor; reas,ons and because of the youth of applicanfa.
JOHN RoBERSON; Superior Court of .\Vashington County, September term, 1901; murder; life imprisonment; paroled October 31, 1912, for statutory reasons, and doubt as to his guilt.
BILL Lu~nr; Superior Court of Screven Count.', November term, 1901; murder; life imprisonment; paroled October 31, 1912, for statutory reasons and strong moral circumstances extenuating the crime.
JACK BELL; Superior Court of Jackson County, August term, 1909; burglary; paroled November 5, 1912, for statutory reasons and the recommendation of the court officials, including the Judge, who stated that the sentence was probably too long.
T. P. JoLLY; Superior Court Brooks County, May term, 19,]1; larceny; two years; paroled November 30, 1912, for statutory rea,sons, being a young man and the offense not particularly atrocious.
,TAMES BRUCE; Superior Court of Pieken:- Count>--

April term, 1910; robbery; five years; paroled November 20, 1912, for statutory reasons and the fact that the offense was not such as would class him as a confirmed criminal.
vY. G. CARTER; Superior Court of Polk County,
August term, 1906; manslaughter; ten years; paroled December 12, 1912, for statutory reasons, and on the recommendation of all the court officials, who declared that in their opinion he had been sufficiently punished.
ANNIE vVOOTEN; Superior Court of Fulton County, Spring term, 1893; murder; life imprisonment; paroled December 16, 1912, for statutory reasons, and because she had served nearly twenty years, the offense not being one of extreme character.
MITT HAMMOND; Superior Court of Decatur County, June term, 1898; murder; life imprisonment; paroled December 16, 1912, for ~tatutory reasons, and because the crime committed was not of extreme character and as reward for aiding in stopping a serioll's mutiny in the camp where he was confined.
ROBERT BAKER; Superior Court of J\!Iclntosh County, October term, 1892; murder; life imprisonment; paroled December 16, 1912, for statutory reasons, long and faithful service being to hi1s credit, having been seriously injured while working in the coal mines.
FoRT ::\ifcELvoY; Superior Court of Muscogee County, November term, 1910; larceny; four years; paroled December 30, 1912, for statutory reasons and on the recommendation of the ~fudge and other
54

court officials who stated that he was a youth of low mentality.
GEORGE BAILEY; Superior Co'.urt of Richmond County, October term, 1908; attempt to murder; paroled December 23, 1912, for 'Statutory reasons and because he had served two sentences from other courts for what was in reality only one offense.
CHARLES SuTTON; Superior Court of Fulton County, ,January term, 1911; four years [md two years (2 cases) ; robbery; paroled December 23. 19]2, for statutory reaisons, being a youth of onl: 20 years old and living in another State.
,JOHN ADAMS; Superior Court of Whitfield Count~ April tenn, 1911; burglary; three years; paroled December 30, 1912, for statutory reasons, being a young man who probably was influenced h: older persons.
\VALTER H. MooNEY; Superior Court of Fulton County, April term, 1907; burglary; eight year.-: paroled January 10, 1913, for statutory reasons and
cb1.e0cuasuscen.mthee. record did not show a peculiarly atro-
A. Y. CHASTAIN; Superior Court of Grady County, September term, 1910; assault with intent to commit murder; three years; paroled .January 13, 1913, for :statutory reasons, and because new developments indicated a measure of moral justification for the offense.
JOE TENNYSON; Superior Court of Emanuel County, October term, 1892; murder; life imprisonment; paroled January 14, 1913, for statuton- rea-
55

sons, affidavits being submitted to the effect tlrnt the killing was accidental.
,Tur WILLIAMS; Superior Court of Stephens County, May term, 1909; burglary; ten years; paroled ::VIarch 8, 1913, for statutory reasons and because it was made clearly evident that the sentence was excessive.
,JoHx HENRY HILL; Superior Court of Decatur County, 1fay term, 1913; burglar:T (3 cases); eighteen ,\-ears in the penitentiary; paroled April 15, 1913, for statutory reasons, and because it was clear that the combined ,sentences were excessive.
Doss KNICKS; Superior Court of 11:urray County, February term, 1912 ; larceny; two years ; paroled April 17, 1913, for statutory reasons, applicant being a youth who had been promised leniency if he assisted in recovering the stolen property which he did.
CHARLES V. GONZALES; Superior Court of Fulton County, September term, 1910; burglary; ten years; paroled April 17, 1913, for statutory reasons and because it was shown that the penalty was out of proportion to the offense committed.
MARTHA WOOTEN; Superior Court of Rabun County, August term, 1911; manslaughter; four years; paroled June 7, 1913, for statutory reasons, and because strong mitigating circumstances were ,shown.
CLARENCE RICHARDSON; Superior Court of Early County, October term, 1909; manslaughter; four years; pariled June 7, 1913, for statutory reasons,
5f5

he being a young man and strong mitigating circumstances being shown.
EARL OvERBY; Superior Court of Bibb County, May term, 1911 ; larceny; five yearis; paroled June 12, 1913, for statutory reasons applicant having been only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time of the crime and of good family who promised to take and look after him.
COMMUTATIONS.
WEBB GrnsoN; Superior Court of Early County. October term, 1911; murder; death sentence; commuted to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. July 11, 1912, evidence which wa1s not presented to the jury showing that the murder was not of sueh character as demanded the extreme penalty.
MARTHA THOMAS; Superior Court of Early Count~-. January term, 1912; selling liquor; twelve months on the chaingang, three months in jail or $100.00 fine; :sentence commuted July 9, 1912, to present service and .fine of $100.00, it being shown that there was some doubt as to her guilt and that the senteme evidently was exceS1sive.
HENRY LEw1s; Superior Court of vVilkes County, November term, 1908 ; simp] e larceny; one year on the chaingang; commuted July 10, 1912, to fine of $150.00, on recommendation of .Judge and So]ieitor General.
ABNER D. McM1LLAX; City Court of Fulton County, February term, 1912; gaming; commuted July 10, 1012, from fine of $100.00 or twelve months to fine -0f $35.00, applieant haYing- serYed near]~- six month:-.
57

RICHARD ALLEN; Superior Court of Coweta County; sentenced to State Reformatory; sentence commuted August 6, 1912, to present service, in order that his mother might take him to Chicago where she had gone to live.
-STANLEY AYLOR; Superior Court of Houston County, April term, 1912; shooting at another; six months or $100.00 fine; commuted to present service August 13, 1912, on statements from the Judge of the City Court and the Solicitor General that punishment had been adequate.
ANDERSON GooLsBY; City Court of Ocilla, December term, 1911 ; drunk on highway; twelve months; commuted September 2, 1912, to fine of $50.00, on recommendation of the Judge and Solicitor and other court officials.
WILL JoNEs; Superior Court of Baker County, Spring term, 1911; larceny; two y~ars; commuted September 2, 1912, on recommendation of court officials and as recognition of heroic act in saving a white woman from death in a runaway on a road where he was working.
"\VARREN HARDWICK; City Court of Dooly County, Fall term, 1911; twenty-four months (two cases); commuted September 2, 1912, on statement of Judge that he had imposed the heavy penalty on information he later found to be false.
vV. rr. ALLEN; Superior Court of Henry County,
October term, 1911; twelve months; commuted September 2, 1912, to present service on recommendation of Judge and because of applicant's advaneed age and feeble condition.
58

llEN MosEs; Superior Court of Baldwin County, July term, 1911; burglary; twelve months; commuted September 4, 1912, to present service on the statement of the Solicitor General to the effect that he had agreed for a fine to be imposed when applicant pleaded guilty to the charge.
CLAUD QuARLES; Superior Court of Cobb County, November term, 1911; larceny; five year,s; commuted September 6, 1912, on recommendation of prosecutor and court officials who said it had been understood that boy would be sent to the State Reformatory but had been put on gang.
J. W. BornoN; Superior Court Decatur Connt;v. May term, 1911; violating prohibition ]aw: two years or $100.00 fine (two cases); sentences commuted September 9, 1912, to present service, as he had served more than one year and the court officials declared thlJs to be adequate punishment, applicant being an old mqn with a blind wife to support.
Lou LYON; Su)perior Court Pike County, Fall term, 1911; violating prohibition law; twelve months and six months (two cases) ; commuted September 9, 1912, on recommendation of Judge and Solicitor, applicant being an old negro woman.
ALBET H. WHITMAN; City Court of Fulton County,
June term, 1912; vagrancy; two months in jail and six months on the chaingang; commuted September 9, 1912, on recommendation of court official,s who stated that he had been sent to prison to be cured of the drug habit, which end had been accomplis1rnd.
J. E. STEPHENS; Superior Court of Chatham County, Februar;v term, 1905; burglary: ten years
59

m the Penitentiary; commuted to present service
September 9, 1912, on the ground that he had been adequately punished, others connected with the crime having been extended clemency.
JOHNSON ,'1EBB; Superior Court of Early County, October term, 1911; murder; death sentence; commuted September 19, 1912, to Iife imprisonment in the Penitentiary on the ground of extenuating circumstances which had not been before the jury and the recommendation of the Solicitor General and county officers.
L. J. PoE; City Court of Fulton County, October term, 1912; impersonating an officer; $100.00 fine or 12 months on chaingang; commuted October 3, 1912, those responsible for the ca,se being made certifying that the prosecution should not have been brought.
JESSE BARNES; City Court of Houston County, ,hme term, 1912; violating prohibition law; commuted October 5, 1912, from 12 months or two months and a fine of $125.00 to a fine of $30.00, it being alleged that he pleaded guilty on the understanding that he would be let off for a fine his employer could pay.
MAUDE ToLBERT; City Court of Fulton County; fornication and adultery sentence commuted on the appeal of the Judge because, she being a young white woman, there was no proper place for her to serve the sentence, October 4, 1912.
CHARLES GrnBoNs; Superior Court of Jefferson County, November term, 1911; murder; death penalty; commuted to imprisonment in the Penitentiary for life, ,July 17, 1912, as it was shown that there
60

1vas eonsiderable doubt as to his guilt, and, 1:esidt':s. if guilty, the crime was not of such extreme elwraeter as eustomarily ca11s for the death penalty.
EARL KADERLY; City Court of Fulton County, June term, 1912; vagrancy; eight months; commuted Odober 7, 1912, to be effective October 28, 1912, to present service, because of bis youth and the desire of his brother-in-law to take him to South America to live.
En DAXIEL; City Court of Cordele, F'ebruary term, 1011; gaming, larceny and violation of the prohibition la"-; twelve. months, $100.00 fine, :or twelve months and $50.00 fine or three months; commuted October 8, 1912, to present service, on the ground tliat he had been adequately punished, having served on the gang for more than a year and a half.
,JULY BRmYN; City Court .of Pulaski County, May term, 1912; violating contract labor law; ten months; commuted October 11, 1912, to present service, on the recommendation of the prosecutor, Solicitor and .Judge.
HILL BAxKs; City Court of Carroll County, ,June term, 19] 2; violating prohibition law; twelve months; romnmted October 11, 1912, to fine of $75.00, because of his youth and wife and children to support and extenuating circumstances.
L. C. AYERY; Superior Court of Cobb County, 1012; twelYe months; commuted October 11, 1912, to fine of $150.00; being an aged man and there heing some doubt as to the evidence on which he was convicted. Violated prohibition law.
61

Lucrns SMITH; Superior Court of Paulding County, Febrpary term, 1904; murder; life imprisonment; commuted October 14, 1912, to present service, on the earnest plea of Hon. vV. K. Fielder, who as Solicitor General prosecuted the case, on the ground that applicant should have been convicted of manslaughter.
G. E. CRAWFORD; Superior Court of Fannin County, October term, 1906; murder; life impri!sonmnt; commuted October 15, 1912, to present service, on account of his age, doubt as to his guilt, extenuating circumstances and the recommendation of county officers and court officials.
G. F. BALMER; Superior Court Chatham County; embezzlement; three years; commuted October 29, 1912, on recommendation of prosecutors, and because of extenuating circumstances.
RoE PIRKLE; Superior Court of Hall County, January term, 1912; robbery; five years; commuted October 29, 1912, to one year and fine of $150.00 on recommendation of prosecutor who said that, owing to Pirkle 's help in convicting others involved with him, sentence was excessive.
J uo HoLLIS; Superior Court of Bibb County, }fay term, 1910; robbery; four years; commuted November 6, 1912, to present service on recommendation of Judge and Solicitor General who declared he had been adequately punished.
HATTIE JOHNSON; City Court of Washington, Fall term, 1912; larceny; twelve months; commuted November 7, 1912, because she was the only woman
62

on the vYilkes County chaingang and it was represented that she was soon to be a mother.
LUKE DYER; City Court of Athens, April ter.m, 1911; larceny; twelve months; commuted November ,, 1912, to present service on recommendation of county commissioners, who said applicant was in the last stages of tuberculosis and a menace to the other prioners.
,Y. H. A. NESBIT; City Court of Waycross, October term, 1!112; selling toy balloons without a license; commuted Xovember 13, 1912, on recommendation of court officials, who made it clear that applicant was ignorant of the law he violated.
HcGH K. NISBET; City Court of Atlanta, .July term, 1~)]2; vagrancy; eight months; commuted to present service November 20, 1912, on recommendation of the court officials who said he had been sent to prison to become cured of the drug habit, which had heen accomplished.
REBECCA ROBINSON; City Court of Chatham County, May term, 1912; assault and battery; nine months;' commuted December 12, 1912, because of her youth and recomrnencla tion of court officials.
G. ,Y. ::\JcCoRMICK; Superior Court of :Mitchell Count)-, August term, 1912; keeping whiskey in public place; thirty days in jail or $200.00 fine; commuted December 18, 1912, to present service, on re(rnmnendation of the .Judge itpplicant having ,-:erYed hYo sentences in other cases, the three being jmposed nt the same time.
'\Y. H. Xc:--xALLY; City Court of j __t]antn, Spl'ing
63

term, 1912; vagrancy; eight months; commuted December 19, 1912, on recommendation of court officials who stated that applicant had been sent to prison so he might be cured of the drug habit which had been accomplished.
DocK CROSBY; Superior Court of Fulton County, April term, 1903; murder; life imprisonment; commuted December 23, 1912, on recommendation of court officials which recommendation was based on new developments showing that applicant should have been convicted at best of manslaughter.
JOHN BANKS; City Court of Americus, November term 1912 ; gaming; $50.00 fine or twelve months ; commuted January 17, 1913, to $50.00 fine, it being held that after he accepted the chaingang penalty friends he had been unable to communicate with in time could not pay the fine except by order of this office.
Sm SMITH; City Court of Monroe County, July term, 1912; gaming; twelve months; commuted ,Janunry 17, 1913, to present service, on the ground that sentence was excessive, the basis of the prosecution being a "ten-cent game of craps."
WrLLIAM B. QurTOR and ERNEST A. GRANT; City Court of Decatur County, November tenn, 1912; larceny; $50.00 fine or eight months on the chaingang; commuted to present service January 17, 1913, on the ground that the penalty was excessive, applicants being boys and the offense consisting of stealing a few stalks of sugar-cane.
WALTER HICKS; Superior Court of Taylor County, April term, 1912; violating prohibition law; twelw

monthe; commuted January 18, 1913', to present serviee, as it was shown he had sold only one drink of whiskey and was dying from tuberculosis.
BuRLEY CuMBY; City Court of Carrollton, May term, 1912 ; misdemeanor (two cases) ; $100.00 fine or twelve months in each cas'e; commuted January 18, 1913, to one chaingang sentence and fine of $100.00 t10 make effeetive the sentence of the court.
J. H. DAvrs; Superior Court of Cobb County, lVIareh term, 1912; assault and battery; eight months; commuted January 25, 1913, to a fine of $3'50.00 on recommendation of the Solicitor General and because of extenuating circumstances developing after the trial .
HENRY TAYLOR; Superior Court of Baldwin County; murder; death sentence; commuted January 25, 1913, to imprisonment in the Penitentiary for life, applicant being a youth of poor mentality, and it being shown there were strong extenuating circumstanees which were not developed at the trial.
ALBERT CORNELL; City Court of Fulton County, October term, 1912; Larceny; $75 fine or twelve months; commuted February 5, 1913, on recommendation of court officials and prosecutor, applicant being a young man of previous' good conduct and the offense not being an extreme one.
PEARL RYANS; City Court of Atlantn, January term, 1913; larceny; three months in jail ; commuted February 14, 1913, on recommendation of court officials because she was soon to become a mother.
R. n. \YI-IITAKER; City Court of Atlanta, Nonmber
65

term, 1912; vagrancy; twelve months; commuted February 14-, 1913, on recommendation officials who stated that applicant had been sent to prison to be cured of the drug habit which had been accomplished.
GRACE CHAMBERS; City Court of :B1 ulton County, December term, 1912; vagrancy; $100.00 fine or eleven months; commuted March 7, 1913, as it was clear that he had come to Atlanta in search of a relative and was not guilty of the offense charged.
JoHN HENRY CHANEY; City Court of Fulton County, December term, 1912; vagrancy; $100.00 fine or eleven months; commuted March 7, 1913, as it was clear that he had come to Atlanta in search of a relative and was not guilty of the offense charged.
AARON 0RDISTER; City court of Wilkes County, Fall term, 1910; larceny (four cases) ; four years; commuted February 18, 1913, on the ground that the punishment was adequate as the conviction was for virtually only one crime and that not an extreme one.
OLEY WALKER; Superior Court of 'lvalton County,
February term, 1910; forgery; four years; commuted 2\farch 7, 1913, on the ground of adequate punishment, as applicant was an ignorant negro boy who had forged an order for a small bill of g'oods which were recovered.
FoREST ,Jo::--Es; City Court of :B7 ulton County, October term, 1912; carrying concealed weapons; eleven months; commuted March 7, 1913, on recommendation of Associated Charities who certified that investigation showed he had committed the crime in ignorance while taking a revolver to a pawn-shop to get money for his sick father.
66

J uLrns :McBRAYER; Superior Court of Haralson County, January term, 1913'; being drunk at church; one year; commuted March 7, 1913, to fine of $100.00, on account of his youth (18 years).
$. B. Cox; Superior Court of Mitchell County, October term, 1912; violating prohibition law; $50.00 fine and thirty days in jail or twelve months on the chaingang; commuted March 7, 1913, on recommendation of Judge on the ground that applicant had been adequately punished.
BoB DAVIS; Superior Court of Monroe County, August term, 1912; furnishing liquor to a minor; twelve months; commuted March 10, 1913, on recommendation of prosecutor.
JoHN SCARBORO; Superior Court of Bulloch County, Fall term, 1910; burglary; four years; commuted March 10, 1913, to present service on account of his youth and good conduct as a prisoner.
JIM: STRICKLAND; Superior Court of Forsyth County, August term, 1912; violating prohibition law; twelve months; commuted March 19, 1913, because of his age (70 years) and the fact that it was established he was not an habitual violator of the Jaw.
JOHN Cox; Superior Court of Bulloch County. October ter:m, 1910 ; burglary; five years; commuted :March 10, 1913, on aceount of his youth and extenuating circumstances.
JEFF GRIER; City Court of Flovilla, October term, 1912; larceny; twelve months on chaingang; com11.mted March 21, 1913, on statement of the .Tudge that he w:is ronvinced that the sentence was excesRive.
67

MARTIN WALKER; City Ciourt of Carrollton; 8eptember term, 1912; disturbing divine worship; twelve months; commuted March 19, 1913, to fine of $50.00, because of his youth and extenuating circumstances.
WALTER SEAGRAVES; Superior Court of Spalding County, January term, 1913; forgery; twelve months; commuted April 2, 1913, to $125.00 fine on recommendation of the Judge who stated that if later developments had been known to the jury he doubted if applicant would have been found guilty.
W1LL HARBIN; Superior Court of Douglas County, September term, 1912; making whiskey; $200.00 fine or twelve months; commuted March 21, 1913, on recommendation of court officials who said there was doubt as to his guilt and that he had not been the principal in the transaction.
SHINE HAYDEN ; City Court of Jefferson, July term, 1912; carrying concealed weapons, discharging pistol on Sunday and being drunk on highway; sentences aggregating two years; commuted April 17, 1913', to fine of $150.00, on the Judge's recommendation to the effect that the heavy penalties had been imposed on information found later to be fals'e.
RABUN AYERS; Superior Court of Haralson County, February term, 1913; drunk on public highway; four months; commuted April 17, 1913, on recommendation of the trial Judge and because of the youth of applicant who had served eight months for another offense.
ULEY BELLINGER; City Court of Sylvani,a, .July term, 1912; carrying concealed weapon and carrying weapon without a license; twelve months and six
68

months; the six monthi sentence remitted April 17, 1913, on the statement that the heavy combined penalty had been imposed on a misapprehension as to the boy's character.
FLETCHER WARE; Superior Court of F'loyd County, October term, 1912; violating prohibition law; sixteen months on chaingang; commuted to $150 fine April 17, 1913, on account of the bad health of the .prisoner and the recommendation of the prosecutor and the Mayor of Rome.
FoREST CHESSER; City Court of Floyd County, Spring term, 1912; gambling; eight months; commuted April 17, 1913, to fine of $50.00, in order to carry out the original sentence of the court, the time having passed for paying the fine originaily imposed.
T'oM PowELL; Superior Court of Lowndes County, January term, 1911; involuntary manslaughter; tw@ years; commuted April 19, 1913, on recommendation of Solicitor General who stated he was convinced the sentence was excessive.
ERNEST CARSON; City Court of Atlanta, February term, 1913; assault and battery; twelve months; commuted April 17, 1913, to $50 fine on statement of the Solicitor General that if new evidence had been known to jury boy would have been acquitted.
CoLUMBUS LowE; City Court of Spalding Count~-, December term, 1912; violating prohibition law; commuted April 17, 1913; to fine of $175.00, on the statement of Judge that he had intended to reduce the penalty to a fine but forgot to do so before adjournment of court.
69

STONEWALL DAVENPORT; Superior Court of Ocone~ County, January term, 1911; Robbery, ten years; commuted April 17, 1913, to present service on showing which proved clearly that the penalty was excessive.
DAN SHAw; Superior Court of Fulton County, February terun, 1913; violating prohibition law; commuted April 22, 1913, to fine of $700.00 on recommendation of the Solicitor General.
LEM STARR; Superior Court of Henry County, October term, 1912; violating prohibition law; twelve months; commuted 11:ay 6, 1913, to $100.00 fine, as it was shown that he had sold only one drink of whiskey.
EARL ZUBER; City Court of Fulton County, 1913; assault and battery; two years (two cases) ; commuted May 9, 1913, to present service, it being shown that he was crazy and should be sent to the asylum for the insane.
JrM HENRY; Superior Court of Floyd County, October term, 1912; violating prohibition law; twelve months in chaingang and $500.00 fine or six months in jail; commuted May 13, 1913, to fine of $150.00 on recommendation of the officers of the court and other officials.
PERCY MARABLE; Superior Court of Oconee County, June term, 1912; misdemeanor (two cases); two years; commuted on recommenda<tion of Judge and Solicitor and other officials, it being shown that the two crimes cnsisted of but one act, carrying a pistol concealed to church, May 16, 1913.
70

FEASTER McCuRRY; Superior Court of Floyd County, July term, 1912; violating prohibition law; six months; commuted May 22, 1913, to fine of $150.00, on recommendation of court officials, ne-w evidence indicating that he had been falsely con~ victed.
DALLAS RussELL; City Court of Fulton County, April term, 1913; larceny; $50.00 fine or eight months; commuted May 23, 1913, to fine of $40.00, to carry out sentence of court.
JAMES GARRETT; Superior Court of Paulding County, February term, 1913; violating prohibition law; twelve months; commuted June 7, 1913, to present service on account of his youth and recommendation of .Tudge and Solicitor.
THOMAS O 'HANNIFEN; Superior Court of Floyd County, December term, 1912; violating prohibition law; twelve months; commuted ,Tune 14, 1913, to fine of $150.00, on recommendation of officers of the court and others on the ground that he had been adequately punished.
,rAsH DEAN; Superior Court Houston County, October term, 1912; murder; death sentence; commuted June 10, 1913, on recommendation of Judge and Solicitor county officers and many citizens on the ground that the crime was not of such nature as demanded the death penalty.
B. B. EDWARDS; Superior Court of Floyd County, January term, 1913; violating prohibition la11; twelve months and $250.00 fine; commuted June 14, 1913, to fine of $250.00 on recommendation of court
71

officials to the effect that he had been sufficiently punished.
""\. J. CoLLIER; Superior Court Richmond Count~-, May term, 1907; car-breaking and burglary; two years (two cases); commuted June 21, 19'13, because of applicant"s youth and on the earnest plea of the ,Judge and Solicitor General who tried the case.
CoMMUTATIONs As THE RESULT oF PAROLES.
(These were reported to previous Legislatures in detail as paroles) :
PRINCE McLix; Hancock County; murder. ANDREW PARKS; Madison Cotmty; murder. JOHN SAXON; Oglethorpe County; murder. ""\V. F. CULPEPPER; Decatur County; manslaughter. G. S. CoRKEN; Houston County; burglary. JOHN McDorGAL; Lowndes County; murder.
RESPITES.
"\VEBB GrnsoN; Early County; murder; from June 28 to July 12, 1912, to afford time for proper consideration of application for execufoe clemency.
CHARLES GrnBoNs; Jefferson County; murder; from July 5 to July 19, 1912, to afford time for proper considerntion of application for executfre clemency.
JOHNSON vVEBB; Early County; murder; from Jul>-
19 to August 9; from August 9 to September 6, from September 6 to September 20, to afford time for proper consideration of application for executin clemency.
72

JACK BALDWIN; Stewart County; murder; from October 11 to November 8, 1912, to afford time for proper consideration of application for executive clemency.
Ai:;s ToLLIYER; :Miller County; murder; from August 6 to September 6, 1912, to afford time for proper consideration of application for executive clemency.
JORN HAYGOOD; Habersham County; murder; from October 11 to Novernber 8, 1912, to afford time for proper consideration of ap1)1ication for executive clemency.
"\V. J. McNAUGHTON; Emanuel County; murder; from November 16, 1912, to February 28, 1913, from February 28 to May 9 and from :\lay 9 to September 5, 1913, to afford time for the disposal of indictment against :Mrs. 1\Iattie Flanders, jointly accused with :McNaughton of tlie crime for which he was conYicted, but who had not been brought to trial or the indictment dismissed, that he might be used as a witness at said trial of ::\irs. Flanders and that such pertinent disclosures as made at said trial might be available for consideration in connection with application for executive clemency made by ";\foNaughton.
J. EDWARD BRAZZELL; Richmond County; murder; from December 6, 1912, to ,January 3, 1913, to afford time for proper consideration of application for exeC'utive clemenc~.
HENRY TAYLOR; Baldwin Counf.r' murder' from
.January 2 to ,January 17, from ,January 17, to ,January 31, 1913, to afford time for proper consideration of application for executive elemency.
'i'3

JACK CRAWFORD; Putnam County; murder; from ~Iay 9 to }fay 23, 1913, to afford time for proper consideration of application for executive clemency.
,YAsH DEAN; Houston County; murder; from June 10 to June 13, 1913, to afford time for proper consideratiou of application for executive clemency.
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