MESSAGE OF 
Governor Clifford Walker 
DELIVERED TO 
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA 
JUNE 22, 1927 
 
 To the General Assembly of Georgia: 
The Constitution of the state requires the Governor to give the General Assembly, from time to time, information of the State of the Commonwealth and to recommend to their consideration such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient. 
In compliance with my duty under the constitution I respect- 
fully submit the following message: 
This General Assembly and the incoming Governor were elected by the people after a campaign in which the issues were clearly drawn and thoroughly understood. The people of the State, in convention assembed declared the will of the people expressed at the ballot box in a platform in which this General Assembly was called upon to accord to the Governor the help of the General Assembly in organizing and arranging the affairs of the State upon a strictly business administration. That platform pledged the inactment of laws which would provide: 
 
Consolidated Tax 
 
1. The consolidation of the over 
 
Collection. 
 
seventy general collecting agen- 
 
cies or groups handling the State's 
 
money into one financial department, directing that all income 
 
of the State be covered directly into the State Treasury and dis- 
 
bursed upon proper vouchers according to law. 
 
Reform of Agri- 
 
~- For the elimination of the poli- 
 
cultural Depart- 
 
tical power of the Agricultural De- 
 
ment. 
 
partment and that the agricultural 
 
interests of Georgia should receive 
 
every possible attention and benefit from the operation of this 
 
department. A re-organization of the department is pledged 
 
by an overwhelming vote of the people, 
 
I 
 
 Re-Organization 
 
3. I quote from the platform ex- 
 
of Highway Depart- pressing the will of the people as to 
 
ment. 
 
the operation of the Highway De- 
 
partment: "The Highway Depart- 
 
ment should he removed from politics and made the best busi- 
 
ness organizavoIJ. that it is possible to construct. The large 
 
amount of money handled and expended by this department 
 
demands that this he speedily done. The distribution of road 
 
money or mileage on any other basis than absolute merit of the 
 
project and the favor of some sections as against others is a possi- 
 
bility under the present arrangement that should he remedied. 
 
We urge such a re-organization of this department from among 
 
the best business talent of the State and no member of the High- 
 
way Board shall he eligible to elective office until after a sub- 
 
stantial period from the expiration of his term of office on that 
 
hoard. 
 
The convention committed "itself to a speedy completion of Georgia state aid roads system connecting up the sites of the various counties to the weakest as well as the strongest, without putting such conditions upon the weaker or smaller counties as to make compliance therewith impossible on their part or burdening them with a debt to build State roads". 
 
Amendments to 
 
4. The platform urged the study of 
 
Banking Laws. 
 
the problems involved in the change 
 
of conditions in the hanking world 
 
brought about by the World War. I have sought without refer- 
 
ence to personal or political consideration to interest the best 
 
minds of the hanking and financial world in the solution of these 
 
problems. Recommendations in detail will he made to proper 
 
committees of the General Assembly looking to remedial legis- 
 
lation pledged by the convention. 
 
Tax Reforms. 
 
5. The people demanded of the leg- 
 
islature in their convention that "the 
 
law making authorities give comprehensive consideration to our 
 
entire tax system to the end that such tax laws he enacted as 
 
to place the burden of our government equitably on all classes 
 
of our people and on all classes of property." 
 
2 
 
 Agricultural Re- 
 
6. The people also demanded that 
 
lief. 
 
steps be taken looking to the relief 
 
of the financial distress of the agri- 
 
cultural interests of the State. 
 
Equalization of 
 
7. The people also committed the 
 
Educational Oppor- State to the pol\icy of a nine months 
 
tunities. 
 
term in every public school in the 
 
State, with equal educational oppor- 
 
tunities to all children, rich and poor, urban and rural. The 
 
people in convention solemnly declared that the remedy for many 
 
of the ills tliat have beset the State in the past and the hope of 
 
future greatness lies in the extension of educational opportuni- 
 
ties to those who do not now enjoy them. Preparing for a busi- 
 
ness administration the convention expressed the conclusion that 
 
the b~st business administration involves the investment of the 
 
largest possible fund in the education of its youth. The conven- 
 
tion declared as follows: 
 
"The convention recognizes that the educational needs of the State are not met in the financial provisions that are now being made and recommends to the Legislature more adequate funds both for common schools and the University system, so that they may not only take their places along side the accredited schools and universities of our sister commonwealths but that they may also serve their purpose in the development of Georgia young manhood and womanhood into an enlightened and equipped citizenry." 
 
I refrain fom an attempt to advise the Legislature in any exhaustive way on these fundamental matters as I realize that they were thoroughly discussed before the people and I take it. that since the people have spoken in such clear and unmistakable terms that the General Assembly will turn its attention toward the consideration of the best means of carrying out the pledges made. I assume that the Governor Elect will address you on these subjects and I urge most cordial co-operation with him to the end that these vital matters may be handled for the progress of the State and the uplift of the people. 
 
3 
 
 Importance of State Government. 
 
Largest Business 
 
I would call attention to the fact. 
 
Enterprise in State. not generally recognized, that the gov- 
 
ernment of Georgia is the largest business enterprise in the state. 
 
The largest private corporation in Georgia expended last year 
 
$16,178,000 while the state government expended $20,000,000 
 
and determined the policies of local government in the expendi- 
 
ture of another $30,000,000-a total of over $50,000,000. 
 
Also the state government more vitally inf\uences the welfare of the people than any other business. In its regulation of the ownership, use and disposition of property, the regulation of industry, business and labor, contracts, education, public health, social welfare, highways and the enforcement of the civil and criminal law, the state government is the pivot upon which turns the actual welfare of the people in their daily lives and ordinary occupations. Local governments are subject to the state government, receiving their authority from the legislature. The federal government is limited to specific powers which are enumerated in the constitution, while the state is a government of general jurisdiction and power, affecting the individual citizen more definitely than any power under God. 
 
Pays Greatest 
 
State and local governments cost the citi- 
 
Dividends. 
 
zens of Georgia $12 per capita. While 
 
this cost is less than that in any other state in the union except 
 
Alabama, it represents an investment for every citizen engaged 
 
in productive labor of about $50. I may safely say that this $50 
 
purchases more in protection and service for the average pro- 
 
ducer and his family th.an he could buy in any other market for a 
 
thousand times the amount. It might make one payment on an 
 
automobile, or buy a radio set, or pay a month's grocery bill, but 
 
for the same amount he could not buy the pavement on which he 
 
walks to the corner, or buy fire, police or health protection, or 
 
education for his children. We get all these things and much 
 
more because we have pooled our interest in the government, our 
 
greatest co-operative business enterprise. 
 
I do not make these statements to magnify the position which I have held as governor of this great state. The governor is not an 
 
4 
 
 executive in the sense that the head of a corporation is an executive. His powers and responsibilities are entirely too circumscribed, and the governmentsadly needs co-ordination. Of this I shall speak later. 
I desire rather to magnify the responsibility of the people to exercise their control over this stupendqus and all important state government. I would have them realize that, in spite of inefficiency, money invested in government under a fair and equitable system of taxation, is our most fruitful outlay, and that the development of efficiency in government through vigorous, constructive and critical public opinion will do more to increase the happiness and prosperity of our people than any other citizen activity. 
 
Control Vested 
 
In private business the policy and effi- 
 
in the Public. 
 
ciency of management is controlled by the 
 
officials. Not so in government. State officials and legislators 
 
initiate very little. Control in government is vested in public 
 
opm10n. In the final analysis legislatures and governors and de- 
 
partment heads respond to the demands of the people if those de- 
 
mands are voiced through adequate leadership, information 
 
and organization. 
 
In the absence of such leadership and organization government reverts to the power of the political boss- public functions deteriorate while designing politicians mold divisions amoung the people with false issues. 
 
In the light of these self-evident truths, the important factor 
is not the character of elected officials, not even the number of voters who register and go to the polls, but rather the preponderance in the state of men and women who give steady attention to public affairs, organized under the leadership of minds which are vigorously concerned with the current problems of statesmanship. 
 
5 
 
 Progress Due to Mobi1ized Citizens Under Aggressive Leaders. 
 
I am gratified to report that one of the outstanding developments of this administration has been the emergence of large bodies of aggressive citizens mobilized under a new type of leadership. To them is due most of the credit for the progress in government of the past four years. 
Witness the Georgia E,lucation Association, -grown from a few hundred in 1922 to over 10,000 active members, whose greatest concern is the provision of adequate educational facilities for every boy and girl in the state. 
Witness the forces organized for state highways-vigilant and untiring-they are surely overcoming ignorance and confusion and driving toward the construction of a great system of state roads linking every county in Georgia. 
Witness the Georgia Association and the many farmers' co-operatives, just now for the first time becoming powerful enough to actually grapple with the problems of the farmer. 
Witness the programs of the Georgia Medical Association, the mobilized strength of the women's organizations, and the constructive legislative programs of such state organizations as the American Legion, the Kiwanis Club and the Federation of Labor, and you will understand that public health and social welfare will finally have the attention on the part of government that they deserve. 
 
Changing Atti- 
 
The most hopeful development is the 
 
tude of Business. rapidly changing attitude of the leaders 
 
of business.  They are bending their energies to the building of 
 
a great state, and are realizing that their interests are identical 
 
with the common good. A bare handful of selfish men who have 
 
assumed to speak for business for many years still raise their 
 
clamor against every progressive movement, but my contacts 
 
with the business world have convinced me that the real leaders 
 
are men of vision and patriotism. 
 
6 
 
 State government cannot progress without the active support and participation of business. Economic stability, and the health and social welfare of the people which makes business profitable is increasingly dependent upon the state government. Business must meet the expenses of this government and is vitally concerned that it function efficiently. 
While the full strength of the various groups has not yet been combined in support of a great program of state development, and energy is often wasted in minor matters, I welcome this evidence of group consciousness with unfeigned enthusiasm. I know it is a popular pastime to rail against the coercive power of lobbies in legislative halls, but when constructive programs are presented by enlightened leaders, with technical and complete information, and have back of them a thinking organization of informed citizens, the result in better government is inevitable. 
 
Legislation of 
 
As I glance over the legislative accom- 
 
Civic Groups. 
 
plishments of the past four years, I re- 
 
alize that civic groups are largely responsible for the 
 
creation of the state auditing and revenue departments, the 
 
biennial sessions, the abolition of the fee system in our larger 
 
counties, the Savannah and Brunswick port developments, the 
 
constitutional amendment permitting exemption of new indus- 
 
tries from taxation for five years, the uniform negotiable instru- 
 
ments law, the permissive law combining the offices of county 
 
tax collector and receiver, the acceptance of part of the federal 
 
inheritance tax assigned to the state by congress, the revised mo- 
 
tor vehicle license law, the establishment of the real estate com- 
 
mission and its regulation of the real estate business, the zoning 
 
law for large cities, and many other important measures. 
 
Back of the measures discounting the Western and Atlantic rentals and establishing the tax on cigars and cigarettes in order that the state might meet its obligation to Confederate veterans stood any number of patrotic organizations. The American legion is responsible for the establishment of the veterans' service office. The Georgia Forestry Association is responsible for the creation of the forestry commission. Farmers' organizations put through the improvements in the cooperative marketing law. Organized credit men conceived the law authorizing the establishment of credit unions. 
7 
 
 The tax on fuel oil for highway construction was raised from I 
to 3 cents as a direct result of the organized efforts of our high- 
way associations. 
 
Legislation of 
 
For years educators have been advocating 
 
Educators. 
 
permissive combination of municipal and 
 
county school systems, the creation of an equalization fund to 
 
be distributed to the counties, prevention of fire hazards in school 
 
buildings, permission to develop municipal recreation systems, 
 
surety bonds for school superintendents, prompt payment of 
 
teachers made possible by increasing the borrowing power of the 
 
governor, and the budget plan for county boards of education, 
 
but not until ten thousand organized teachers, and thousands of 
 
organized parents made their wishes known did these things be- 
 
come realities. These steps taken during the past four years have 
 
inaugurated an advance along the entire educational front in 
 
Georgia. 
 
Health and 
 
Groups and organizations interested in so- 
 
Child Welfare. cial and child welfare and public health 
 
passed a modern child labor bill, a law requiring five days' notice 
 
of application for the marriage license, a constitutional amend- 
 
ment authorizing counties to finance the collection of vital sta- 
 
tistics, the building of a great tuberculosis hospital and other 
 
similar measures. 
 
I do not intend to minimize the fine work done by the authors of the measures themselves, nor the leadership and assistance rendered by state departments and officials, but merely to emphasize the fact that progress is dependent upon an aroused and informed and organized public, and to commend the activities of these far-sighted groups whose interest in the public welfare has borne fruit during this administration. 
 
Greater Achieve- 
 
The outstanding conclusion of my four 
 
ments Ahead. 
 
years' study points to one great need 
 
in Georgia-that these civic groups enlarge their vision and unite 
 
upon a constructive state-wide objectiYe. "Cnder such organized 
 
leadership an aroused public conscience would soon recognize the 
 
common justice as well as the civic necessity of educational oppor- 
 
8 
 
 tunities for the boy and girl in the country equal to those enjoyed in the towns and cities. Highway authorities would be led to appreciate the fact that equal educational opportunities cannot be carried to the country without a twelve months' dependable highway system. The alumni of the higher educational institutions would pool their interests, develop a joint program of higher learning in the state, and forever put an end to the disgraceful condition which has forced the heads of our institutions to the humiliating process aptly described as "fighting over the crusts thrown to them by the legislature." 
An enlightened public opinion would reform the present unfair tax system. Governors and commissions and statesmen in our legislature have struggled for years to effect a fair distribution of the burden of taxation. The issue has been taken to the people in elections and the voters have repeatedly registered their will. But the only organization touching taxation has been reactionary and opposed to the expressed will of the people. Georgia needs an effective organization of the leaders of public thought who are opposed to the system of favoritism and aristocracy in taxation and the time is approaching when clear-thinking business men will take this matter in hand. 
These tasks and many equally important will be accomplished by the thinking people in our state in the immediate future. Georgians are repudiating reactionary objectors at every opportunity. Progressives are on the march. 
Results of Scientific Research. 
Citizen interest in the services of government, has led to another development which I consider of almost equal importance. 
It is the increasing application of scientific research in securing the true facts upon which to base government action for human welfare. The new type of leaders and organized groups of intelligent citizens recognize that true progress can come only when ways and means of finding facts and measuring results are devised. They are no longer satisfied with mere speculation and subjective judgments but are demanding facts-facts upon which to base progressive programs. 
9 
 
 It is said that hundreds of millions are expended annually in research, study, laboratory work and investigation by our business interests. It is even more necessary that the state governmentGeorgia's greatest co-operative business enterprise, should make adequate investment in research. In its regulation of banking and industry, transportation, communication and agriculture, education, public health, police power and social welfare, touching the life interests of the citizens at every turn, Georgia can neither afford to listen to the over-conservative voice of tradition nor to the radical theories of speculation. There should be the most complete assembly of all available data, a painstaking and critical analysis and testing of every suggested solution. 
 
Facts Must Reach 
 
When this method is applied to a ser- 
 
the Public. 
 
vice that has been handled by the 
 
traditional method for a long time it often calls for a complete 
 
change in popular conceptions. An educational program must 
 
convince the citizen that the new method is rational, for in gov- 
 
ernment services, co-operation of the individual is always a first 
 
essential. 
 
For these reasons I am convinced that the agencies for research and the dissemination of scientific information are the most important basic elements in progressive government. I emphasize them because they are so little appreciated and only partially supported. Yet the beneficent results of their work need only be mentioned to be recognized. 
 
The foundation for a new agriculture in Georgia has already been laid by the work in the laboratories at the State College of Agriculture, the experiment stations, the board of entomology, and is being carried by the extension workers into the farthest corners of the state. 
 
Unlimited wealth and industrial development has already been made possible by the research work of our state geological department, and our state school of technology. 
 
Educational methods are being revolutionized as the result of the research work of the educational departments in our university and women's college and are carried to thousands of teachers in summer schools and institutes. 
 
 Standards of organization, supervision and finances of our public school system are being remodeled by the faithful staff of the state department of education. Consolidation of rural schools, improvement in teaching staffs, enrollment in high schools, and expenditures for modern buildings during the past four years have far exceeded any previous record. The principle of equalii&ation by which the state will equalize the educational opportunities of the country and city child, adopted at the last extra session of the legislature, came out of the research work of this department. This plan when finally fully applied will be recognized as one of the most important in all the annals of our state's history. 
The auditing department, created during this administration for the purpose of promoting a thorough study of the fiscal affairs of the government has already resulted in the saving of thousands of dollars. If kept out of politics, it will in time point the way to a complete coordination of the revenue collecting agencies, and the purchasing agencies, the disbursing of all state funds through the state treasury, and the establishment of a modern budget system. 
 
Overcoming disease 
 
The state department of health and 
 
and distress. 
 
the State Medical College, in co- 
 
operation with other health agencies have already discovered the 
 
means of ridding Georgia of the ravages of malaria, hook- 
 
worm and pellagra, typhoid, tuberculosis, diphtheria and 
 
many children's diseases, and are now challenging the counties of 
 
Georgia to organize for the conservation of our greatest resource, 
 
the public health. 
 
The plea of the underprivileged child and the baffled, discouraged family has been met by the most painstaking study on the part of the state department of public welfare. Standards of care in institutions and communities have been developed, modern laws have been drafted for the protection of child life, and a new spirit of optimism and faith in human nature is reaching out all over Georgia to succor the helpless and lift the fallen, to build communities in which children need not suffer from neglect, nor be trained in crime, and thus reduce the enormous expense of handling paupers and criminals. "The bandit of today is the 
 
11 
 
 juvenile delinquent of yesterday and the innocent child of the day before yesterday." 
The hunger for knowledge by the inquiring mind is being met by the state library commission, not only by research and educational work in the field of literature and in the organization and administration of public libraries, but by the distribution of traveling libraries and the loan books through the mail to thousands of individuals who have no other resources for enlightment. 
Research into the glorious history of Georgia, and compilation of the facts upon which the future must be builded, is being faithfully promoted by the department of archives and history. 
 
Research not Effective 
 
In two important fields we have 
 
Without Organization. 
 
the agencies for research but are 
 
lacking the organization to give their findings effect. 
 
I have already spoken of the thorough and exhaustive search in the problem of taxation, and the failure thus far due to lack of effective statewide organization. At this point I merely wish to pay tribute to the patriotic sacrifice and devoted service of the two tax commissioners who served during my administration, and to the group of big-hearted, broad-minded citizens who served on the special tax commission and developed a plan of tax reform which in time will certainly be the basis for a new program. 
 
At the state sanitarium for the insane we have kept abreast of the wonderful strides which the world is making in the treatment of mental disease, but we have been delinquent in our failure to carry this great healing ministry beyond the walls of the sanitarium to the people of the state. Mental disease is now recognized as a condition which may usually be cured if treatment is given in the early stages, and yet the only treatment we provide is after the patient has become so violent as to need confinement for his own or the public's safety. I am convinced by the best authorities that should we spend a few hundred thousand in mental clinics at various points throughout the state we could in a very short time stem the growing flood of acute insane which is already overtaxing the capacity of the sanitarium. This institution needs appropriations for remodeling and equipment, but there should be also an investment for carrying preventative treatment to the sufferers out 
 
12 
 
 over the state who will become patients if neglected. It has 
been proven that early recognition and care will prevent many cases of insanity. When we refuse to profit by the results of research, we are blind, indeed. 
 
Changes Needed in Organization of State Government. 
A process of expansion has marked the development of government. Cataloging its imperfections and appealing for study of the problems incident thereto do not imply a reflection upon the people or even upon the lawmakers. As a matter of fact government was satisfactory in the early days of simpler living. As life has become more and more complex more fields of governmental activity have been added and more and more demands made upon the state. Year by year the legislature has endeavored to respond to these calls by placing patches upon the body politic. The result is a veritable patchwork of governmental functions disjointed and unrelated with overlapping, duplication and lack of coordination which in the light of modern business methods constitute a reflection upon the business intelligence of the state. 
 
For example: 
 
Confusion In 
 
(1). Of the hundred departments, boards 
 
Fiscal Affairs. 
 
and commissions, probably a score scattered 
 
over the capitol and some outside the capitol are collecting the 
 
state's revenues. While the constitution provides a highly 
 
creditable fiscal system safeguarding collections and expenditures 
 
by the constitutional departments, strange to say, many other agencies created by statute collect monies in the name of the state and expend it as collected, never depositing funds in the 
 
treasury as was clearly contemplated by the constitution. Other 
 
departments withdraw appropriations from the treasury in lump sums, deposit in bank accounts and expend without system. 
 
Piling up deficits is encouraged by this lack of business system. 
 
The simplest principles of elementary business require that all 
 
the state's revenues be collected through a single agency, deposited in a common treasury, budgeted scientifically and ex- 
 
actly and disbursed through one officer with the wise safeguards 
 
now provided by the constitution. 
 
18 
 
 Budget System 
 
(2). The absence of a scientific system 
 
Needed. 
 
of budget of the state's expenditures 
 
is eq-ually discreditable. Too familiar and yet too dis- 
 
graceful has been the spectacle at each legislature of a hundred 
 
government agencies in an unseemly scramble for state funds. 
 
College presidents who need and are entitled to relaxation and 
 
recreation spend their summers begging for funds necessary to 
 
keep alive struggling educational institutions as though money 
 
expended in education were not an investment. Department 
 
heads and agents are forced to lobby for funds needed to carry on 
 
their programs when they should be at work in their departments. 
 
Politicians trade and traffic in appropriations and governmental 
 
favors and service when these benefits should be allocated on 
 
principle alone. A budget, with teeth, scientifically prepared, 
 
distributing the revenues of the state equitably, should be author- 
 
ized. Every dollar of the state's money should be covered into 
 
the treasury and no fund should be withdrawn from the treasury 
 
until the auditor certifies that the same is authorized by the bud- 
 
get. 
 
Work needs 
 
(3). It is unthinkable that the people will 
 
Co-ordination. 
 
much longer tolerate a lack of system, and 
 
overlapping and duplication of work by scores of boards and 
 
commissions, some of these working at cross-purposes and many 
 
of them with a lack of sympathy and a lack of coordinated pro- 
 
grams which would not be tolerated for a moment by a modern 
 
business. The state is not ready at this time for so great a change 
 
but it is interesting to note as a basis for research and study that 
 
several states have effected a complete reorganization of the 
 
government into probably as few as seven departments, each 
 
under one responsive head who is a member of the governor's 
 
cabinet and each one responsible to the executive for the success- 
 
ful functioning of his department. 
 
Governor Seriously (4). The unscientific system of distribu- 
 
Handicapped 
 
tion of governmental favors accounts for 
 
the humiliating fact that retiring governors for the past quarter cen- 
 
tury have all expressed disappointment that they have been unable 
 
to accomplish policies in accord with the expressed will of the people. 
 
They have been handicapped by a system which elects a legislature 
 
14 
 
 without reference to the platform or the political pledges of the choice for governor. In a two-party state the governor usually has a majority of the legislature elected on his platform but here the legislator makes no pledge as to great state issues while many of the leaders are candidates for governor, some so foolish as to seek advancement by discrediting the incumbent. Attention has often been called to the unseemly condition which forces a newly installed governor into a campaign for reelection not only before he has a fair chance to demonstrate merit of reelection but even before he has full opportunity to discover the real needs of the state. The recent passage of the biennial session law greatly aggravated this intolerable system providing that a governor shall be inaugurated after the organization of the only regular session of the legislature held during his administration with practically no opportunity to prepare for its deliberations. Prompt relief should be given by the legislature. At least three remedies have been suggested: 
(a) A four-year term for the governor. 
(b) The legislature to convene one year after the inauguration. 
(c) A ten-day session for the inauguration and organization to be followed by a recess of at least six months. 
 
Organization of 
 
(5). Reference can profitably be made 
 
General Assembly. here to minor and yet important details 
 
in the organization of the general assembly.. Unquestionably the 
 
political atmosphere in general and particularly about the legis- 
 
lature has been clarified during the past few years. Representa- 
 
tives of selfish interests are still too influential; consideration 
 
should be given to the weaknesses generally recognized; the 
 
great mass of local legislation unnecessarily exhausting time 
 
and money and preventing real constructive accomplishment; 
 
the time wasted on baseball games and round-robins working 
 
into the hands of scheming politicians by a congestion at the 
 
close of the session; the undemocratic and sometimes dangerous 
 
power of the rules committee; lack of provision for the scientific 
 
drafting of bills; the numerous and unwieldy committees, Indeed 
 
the very size of the legislature makes it difficult if not impossible 
 
to agree upon vitally Important reforms of taxation, highways 
 
and reorganization and coordination of the fiscal management 
 
of the state. 
 
15 
 
 Effect of 
 
(6). The method of employment, classifi- 
 
Spoils System. cation and promotion of state employees is 
 
entirely out of date. Great business enterprises have established 
 
personnel departments, which are demonstrating the value 
 
of applying scientific methods in handling their employees. The 
 
American people have long ago repudiated the spoils system in 
 
politics, and yet we know that in Georgia powerful political 
 
machines have been erected upon it. The working out of a 
 
thorough personnel system of examination of applicants for 
 
public employment, complete classification of positions and a 
 
merit system of assuring efficiency and recognizing it by pro- 
 
motion, is one of the necessary steps in the development of a gov- 
 
ernment worthy of the people's confidence. 
 
Special Research 
 
The foregoing illustrations of dis- 
 
Commission Suggested. organized government should con- 
 
vince the general assembly and the people that our state problems 
 
can be solved only as a result of the most careful study and re- 
 
search. 
 
Who in Georgia is competent to recommend a solution based upon the experiments of the hundreds of other representative governments which have been struggling with like problems during the past century? What more constructive contribution could the next legislature make than to raise a committee or other authority charged with making a scientific study and report necessary remedial measures to the people as a preparation for a constitutional convention to meet at a time when public sentiment is in proper frame for cool and conservative deliberation? 
 
The Problem of Crime 
In no field of government activity are we in so great need of calm, disp~ssionate study and research as in that of the control of crime. 
The cost of crime in the United States, estimated conservatively at sixteen billion dollars annually, is many times greater than the loss caused by the Mississippi flood. Georgia's crime bill this year will far exceed the damage done by the father of waters to 
16 
 
 any state along its course. The problem challenges the sanest thought and the most statesmanlike action, for the damage wrought is not only financial, hut destroys the happiness and undermines the security of thousands. 
 
There is no 
 
Before we can consider this problem ra- 
 
Crime Wave. 
 
tionally we must dismiss the current illu- 
 
sion that we are suffering from a "crime wave." The meager sta- 
 
tistics _available indicate that there has been no sudden increase 
 
in crime. The number of criminals in the country has only in- 
 
creased in proportion to the population. The amount of dis- 
 
honest dealing and fraud has only increased in proportion to the 
 
increase in business activity. If the crime problem were a new 
 
development, the hysteria incident to recent popular discussion 
 
of the 'crime wave' might be justified. But this problem is as 
 
old as civilization, and it is not to be solved by the superficial 
 
speculations of excited opportunists, nor by traditional vindictive 
 
methods. 
 
Three important considerations need emphasis: 
 
Only cure is 
 
1. The only cure for crime is prevention. 
 
Prevention. 
 
Every effort expended to afford each citizen 
 
from the day of his birth the proper development, growth, educa- 
 
tion, physical and mental health, recreation, employment and 
 
spiritual nurture, is directed toward the solution of the problem 
 
of crime. In our excitement over the "crime wave" let us not for- 
 
get this fundamental. After all we look to the leadership of our 
 
state departments of education, public health and public welfare, 
 
for the strengthening and enriching of our community life; to our 
 
business leaders and educational institutions for the development 
 
of sound agricultural and industrial economics; and to the churches 
 
for the quickening of the religious life of our people. These are 
 
the preventive elements in the warfare against crime. 
 
Agencies Without 
 
2. Our law enforcement agencies are 
 
Chart and Compass. entirely without chart and compass. 
 
The methods and organization of our police and courts have never 
 
been systematically studied. There is no state department con- 
 
cerned with the development of standards, the collection of sta- 
 
17 
 
 tistics, suggesting improvements in the laws, or co-ordinating these agencies. We have no central registration of criminals, and handle each offense without reference to the previous record of the prisoner. 
The development of a police system that is swift and sure, and a court system that eliminates technicalities and is a tribunal for the disinterested search for truth and the discovery of a proper method of treatment for each individual delinquent, and not a forum for the display of the wits of opposing counsel, cannot come as the results of speculation. It will only result from careful study. 
 
Only One State Has 
 
In spite of all the agitation of the 
 
Studied Problem. 
 
past few years, only one state, Mis- 
 
souri, has approached this subject in a throughly systematic 
 
fashion. George W. Kirchway, one of the country's foremost 
 
criminologists, says in a recent review: "The Missouri crime 
 
commission is the only organization, except the crime commission 
 
of New York, that has functioned to a degree that would justify 
 
any attempt to assess its value to the community, and the New 
 
York crime commission is a temporary makeshift, a glorified leg- 
 
islative committee, whose only title to fame is the body of drastic 
 
legislation enacted a year ago and bearing the name of its chair- 
 
man, Senator Baumes. Indeed, nothing more constructive 
 
than Baumes' laws can be expected of a body constituted for the 
 
sole purpose of dealing summarily with the crime situation, and 
 
continuing from one year to another by legislative enactment." 
 
The Missouri commission, on the other hand, is a permanent body, under no pressure to produce an annual grist of bills for legislative action, and with far less need to satisfy the clamor of the mob for vindictive legislation. Within two years after its organization the commission published the Missouri crime survey, representing the study of every important aspect of the problem, some of them by highly qualified and disinterested lawyers, university men, and specialists in public administration, and laying a substanti~l foundation for constructive legislation. 
 
Remedy 
 
For the attainment of these aims, the ascertain- 
 
Suggested. ment of facts as to crime and its treatment, the 
 
proposing of legislative remedies for the defects in the adminis- 
 
 tration of criminal justice which these facts disclose, and the stimulation of the public to demand and provide a wise and honest administration of the law, it is obvious that the state crime commission must be a continuous body. Its work will not be done, it will be scarcely begun in a year or a decade. Some of our best minds have suggested the creation in every state of a "ministry of justice" charged with the supervision and the progressive improvement of the law and its administration. Its first duty would be to devise and by appropriate legislation to set up adequate machinery for gathering, recording and tabulating the data as to crime and its treatment in the state. 
It is only by the establishment of such a state agency that we have accomplished the co-ordination of other systems, such as the public school system. Surely we could make no more constructive suggestion looking to the improvement of our methods of dealing with crime than that the legislature immediately establish a permanent state crime commission with the responsibilities outlined above. 
 
Delinquents Need 
 
3. The traditional faith in punish- 
 
Treatment. 
 
ment-stark punishment, as the only 
 
method of dealing with the individual criminal, cannot be accepted. 
 
It did not work when over two hundred crimes were punishable 
 
by death. It is less effective today when punishment consists of 
 
enforced association of criminals with each other in prisons 
 
which are more or less schools of crime. Modern science recog- 
 
nizes the delinquent as suffering from some malady, either physical 
 
mental, or environmental. If he has become a public menace 
 
he should be confined, but if he is ever to be released his trouble 
 
should be understood and corrected. The careful diagnosis and 
 
treatment of each individual delinquent, and not harsh punish- 
 
ment, will prepare him for freedom. There are constitutional 
 
delinquents who should never be released, and science is equipped 
 
as never before to discover these individuals, but the great ma- 
 
jority of offenders should be returned to society better equipped 
 
to become law abiding citizens. 
 
If these principles be true, and they seem self-evident, should we not concern ourselves with the improvement of the prison system, rather than with the adoption of more severe penalties? 
 
19 
 
 As a matter of fact we know that our present system releases the criminal weaker and more vicious. Most of the serious crimes are committed by criminals who have previously served prison terms, and have been schooled in crime by close association with other criminals. We must change our prisons into mental and medical clinics, and vocational and industrial schools. This does not mean coddling them, nor sentimentally crying over them. We must either build on the best that is in them, or lock them all up for life. 
Any other program will not only continue to expose the public to the_ constitutional delinquent until he has perpetrated horrible crimes, but will still further aggravate the malady of tlie curable delinquent. The longer his term in our present day prison, the more dangerous he is when released, and under any system, the prisoner, with few exceptions will be given his freedom sooner or later. 
 
Prison Reform. 
 
I confidently assert that the penal 
 
system of Georgia is as good as the average of other states yet 
 
it is true that the system is not nearly so good as that of some of 
 
the states and certainly is not as good as it can be and should be 
 
made. A modern sense of humanity demands a general reform 
 
of the old penal system. It is unthinkable in this enlightened 
 
age that a great state in its sovereign power should seize upon 
 
a young or a weak citizen, deprive him of his liberty, incarcerate 
 
him in one of its institutions for a term of years and then return 
 
him into society a more hardened character far less fitted for 
 
citizenship than when he was received. After the maturest reflec- 
 
tion, I recommend that a system be devised and a program adopt- 
 
ed calling for the use of all convicts in furnishing the labor for 
 
the paving of a state system of highways over a period of six 
 
years; that in the meantime the crime commission suggested here- 
 
in provide a plan for a central penitentiary in which convicts 
 
may maintain themselves and their families by making wages 
 
and at the same time be taught a trade or occupation, surround- 
 
ed with a moral and spiritual atmosphere which will enable them 
 
to come out better citizens and better able to provide for them- 
 
selves and their families. 
 
 There is no 
 
The extreme crime wave reformers would 
 
short cut. 
 
abolish probation, parole and the indeter- 
 
minate sentence, increase the severity and length of punishment, 
 
and frighten human nature into submission. However, they 
 
belie their own faith by providing that when a man has committed 
 
four felonies he shall be imprisioned for life! A harshly mechanical 
 
system of penalties strengthens the plea of the sentimentalist 
 
for clemency, encourages the unscrupulous lawyer to accomplish 
 
the acquittal of his client by unethical means, assures an earlier 
 
release for the criminal experienced in evading justice and a 
 
longer course in the university of crime for the beginner. One 
 
state adopts a penalty of death for holdup with a weapon, not 
 
appreciating the necessity it puts upon the bandit to kill his vic- 
 
tims and thus prevent them from persuing and identifying their 
 
assailant. 
 
It hardly seems necessary to prove that crime cannot be prevented by fear of punishment, by degrading associations, or by harsh, cruel and inhumane treatment. Such methods have been given a fair trial in the long history of the race. There is no short cut to the transformation of a delinquent. It must he attained by the long road of scientific improvement of our penal system. 
 
Equalization 
During this administration there has come into use the word "equalization" which in its influence upon the common weal and in its effect upon the course of government, is destined to rival some of the greatest words known to history. 
The word had fallen into disrepute in Georgia because of its application to a tax law that did anything but equalize the burden of taxation. Very quietly this word reappeared during the extra session of 1926, attached to a principle which I believe will revolutionize our educational system during the next decade, and when applied to other government services will go far toward assuring every future Georgian the rights promised in the old watchwords of liberty, equality and fraternity. 
The act passed in 1926 was "to authorize and require the general assembly to make an extra appropriation to the common 
21 
 
 school fund for the purpose of equalizmg educational opportunities to the children of the several counties of the state." 
 
Equalization 
 
By that act Georgia took the first step in 
 
Defined. 
 
repudiating that narrow selfishness which 
 
permitted each community to look after itself and the devil take 
 
the hindmost, and turned again to the age-old principle that 
 
the strong should help the weak. Not that the poor county 
 
should be pauperized by being relieved of doing its full part. 
 
Equalization proposes simply this-that when a county has 
 
taxed itself fairly, the state will supplement the fund suffi- 
 
ciently to afford opportunities that are available in a richer 
 
county which assesses the same tax rate. 
 
Half the counties of Georgia have less than $4,000,000 in tax values. The other half range from $4,000,000 to $253,000,000, but only 33 of them have more than $6,000,000 in tax values. Back of a teacher in Muscogee county is $300,000 in property value, while back of a teacher in Union county is less than $20,000 property value. 
 
Not only are the few richer counties profiting by their ability to afford good schools, but in them are located practically all the health officers, social workers, recreation facilities, libraries and other advantages which protect and enrich life. Only 23 of the 80 weaker counties are served by farm agents, although all of them are rural counties; only one is serv,ed by a public health officer; only one has a county library, and none of them employ workers for the other humanitarian services. Fifty of these counties spend less than $15 per pupil on their schools, while the average for the country over is over $60 per pupil. Practically all of the teachers with less than college training are employed in these counties. 
 
Must Raise Stan- 
 
There are those who still argue that 
 
dard of Living. 
 
these counties should improve their 
 
economic condition and obtain superior advantages for themselves. 
 
But without educational facilities, unable to establish adequate 
 
health service to cope with malaria, hookworm, typhoid and other 
 
diseases, dependent families becoming pauperized with no social 
 
service to guide them, is there any wonder that some of these coun- 
 
 ties become poorer each year, losing in both wealth and population? 
I am in full sympathy with every effort to decentralize industry and distribute new factories throughout the state. But the advance of both industry and agriculture in many sections of our state must be accompanied by the improvement of facilities for education, health and social welfare. 
Moreover, the future of our great centers depends upon the development of a prosperous hinterland. The strong counties can profit most in the end by the expenditure of state funds to equalize opportunity in the weaker counties. No state is stronger than its weakest county, no county is stronger than its weakest community. Education involves an investment, not an expense. Training the people to think straight materially increases their capacity to earn money and develop the natural resources of the state. It lessens crime and releases appropriation for constructive agencies and leads to the solution of every other civic and political problem. The rapid acceptance and adoption of this viewpoint by leaders in the big cities is one of the most encouraging symptons of the times. 
 
Should Apply to 
 
It is to be hoped that a legislature, 
 
all State Aid. 
 
composed of a majority representing 
 
the counties which would profit most from the development of the 
 
principle of equalization, will not be slow in applying it to the 
 
distribution of state funds. A few million dollars for education 
 
and a few thousand dollars for public health expended in the 
 
equalization of opportunity among the weaker counties of the state 
 
under the direction of our capable state departments of education 
 
and public health would go further toward the development of a 
 
greater, happier, more efficient Georgia than any action our 
 
legislature could possible contemplate. 
 
The same principle might well be applied to the distribution of road funds and all other state aid to local services. 
 
State aid should never be offered contingent upon the county matching the subsidy, dollar for dollar. Under this plan the rich counties are able to put up the money and get eyerything, while the poor counties get nothing. On the other hand, equal- 
 
23 
 
 ization measures the need against the ability to pay, and makes up the difference from state funds. 
I have long appealed for a real eqalization of the tax burden in Georgia When the state taxes are collected from every man according to his ability and distributed to every county according to its need, equalization will have done its perfect work in Georgia. 
The Heart of the Government 
The state department of public welfare has been described as 
"the heart of the government of Georgia." It represents the 
state's oversight of the helpless, the dependent and the erring among her people. During the seven years since this department was created it has earned an established place, not only as the state's throbbing heart and strong right arm in guarding the weak and quickening an enlightened good will, but as one of the chief means of conserving expenditures of tax funds, and re_ducing the cost of crime, insanity and pauperism. If it be permitted to attain reduction of dependency and delinquency and therefore a reduction also in the cost of government it will have a double right to be known as the heart of the state. 
While the state recognized an obligation to its helpless and dependent wards in the first state constitution the original state government saw fit to leave such matters to local political units, without state supervision or guidance. In the early pioneer days the problem was not acute. It was met by the local establishment of the "poor farm" into which were placed men, women and children, imbeciles, insane and infirm-all who could not take care of themselves, or who had overtaxed the neighborliness of their friends, while the law-breaker, including all who had passed the tender age of 10 years, were cast in jail. 
It never _occurred to our forefathers that the majority of those people could have been kept out of the poor farm and jail-prevented from becoming a perpetual public expense by the expenditure of a little money and effort. All of the difficulties of the unfortunates were blamed upon their own eYil natures, or ascribed to "the will of God". 
24 
 
 Plight of Unfor- 
 
Even when the conditions in the 'poor 
 
tunates Ignored. 
 
farms' became intolerable statesmen did 
 
not see that neglected little children, broken and disorganized 
 
families might he diverted from the road to the poor house and 
 
jail by careful adjustment of their difficulties before it became too 
 
late. The state undertook to remove the insane and imbeciles 
 
from the poor farms to a state institution, and because the state 
 
ignored the plight of the children, they were removed to institu- 
 
tions fostered by denominational and fraternal orders. Thus 
 
the poor farm remains the last refuge of the hopelessly aged and 
 
infirm. 
 
But under the complexities of modern life, the waste of this crude system-both in human life and in public and private funds- is becoming apparent. The cost of courts and prisons, children's institutions, insane hospitals, poor farms and poor relief mounts into the millions, and still the flood of unfortunates increases. 
 
It is just here that the department of public welfare has been called into existence to join hands with the department of education and public health in a full rounded program of study and prevention which challenges the laissez faire attitude of government, and presents the only hope for the maintenance of civilization under modern conditions. 
 
Counties Should 
 
In accord with the program advo- 
 
Adopt Program. 
 
cated by this department, every com- 
 
munity, every county in Georgia should promptly renounce the 
 
old methods, establish an adequate juvenile court with trained 
 
probation service to check the juvenile delinquent before he be- 
 
comes a permanent criminal to be caught and confined at great 
 
state expense; dispense with the palliative and indiscriminate dis- 
 
tribution of public relief and private alms, and adopt the modern 
 
methods of constructive service to rebuild broken families and re- 
 
establish them as economic assets rather than permanent liabili- 
 
ties. 
 
The department has made great strides in carrying this doctrine throughout the state. Its educational and inspection service has been of great aid to the agencies and institutions which are carrying much of the burden that should be borne by government. 
 
25 
 
 Children's Laws For the full achievement of a program of 
 
are Needed. 
 
prevention by counties several laws for 
 
the protection of children must be written on our books. These 
 
childrens laws prepared as they have been by a commission au- 
 
thorized by the legislature, revised and approved by one of the 
 
state's great constitutional lawyers, will afford the local county 
 
efficient and modern legal methods of juvenile court procedure, 
 
adoption of children, enforcing support of deserted and illegiti- 
 
mate children, and of supporting dependent children in their own 
 
homes. 
 
Not one of these proposed laws forces any expense upon the local county government, such expenditures being entirely optional, and subject to the enlightened will of the county authorities. Most of them will he authorized, however, when they are recognized as the ounce of prevention instead of the pound of cure. 
 
I am certain that the legislature will respond to the challenge by adopting the child welfare legislation necessary to the full achievement of this program of prevention in the counties. 
 
The Right to Live 
A new type of army is necessary today to secure to every citizen the "right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When the bewigged writers of the declaration of independence, made "the right to life" the first of their hold trio of fundamentals they felt that actual physical life could he assured to the citizens of the new republic by maintaining a standing army and a police force. Death stalked unchecked in the pioneer community. Disease was attributed to natural forces, and the protection of society from its fearful attacks, more damaging than any ever wrought by a human enemy, was not then considered a responsibility of government, 
'But in recent years medical science has conquered one disease after another until today thousands of permature deaths are preventable. "The right to life" has attained a new meaning as something which the state may give to its citizens, or withhold from them. If the state has within its power the 1neans to assure to its citizens the right to life but withho"<l,; it, 
26 
 
 thousands of them have little opportunity to enjoy either liberty or the pursuit of happiness. They are deprived of all three of the fundamentals rights guaranteed them in the constitution. 
 
Health Army 
 
If the state persists in refusing the right 
 
is needed. 
 
to life to these thousands; if it will not add 
 
to the standing army and the police force a health army capable 
 
of protecting every citizen in his right to live; if there is to cont;nue 
 
an unmitigated struggle to exist on the part of some of our citi- 
 
zens; then these citizens have the democratic right, since they are 
 
taxed to maintain a military army and a police force, to demand 
 
of the government the full protection of life from preventable dis- 
 
ease. 
 
In spite of the attainments of preventive medicine the majority of the people of Georgia and a large percentage of the peop1e of the United States, are little better as to health conditions today than they were thirty years ago. Certain sanitary and isolation laws are the only health measures which affect every member of a given community. Other health measures such as work with malnourished children, maternity care and even tuberculosis clinics are sporad:c, affect only a limited cle"ntele and however extensive, do not reach all the people who are entitled to them. 
 
30,000 Die 
 
A state government which cannot bear to have 
 
Needlessly. 
 
a child grow up an illiterate but which still can 
 
bear to see him needlessly become an invalid or die, is a rather 
 
curious guardian of its people. Yet within the five years ending 
 
January 1, 1925, 30,512 people died in Georgia as the result of dis- 
 
eases that are unquestionably preventable. These diseases can- 
 
not be prevented by the individual's own efforts nor by his physi- 
 
cian, but can only be prevented by organized public health meas- 
 
ures. Typhoid fever killed 3,820, malaria 2,922, smallpox 74, 
 
diphtheria, 1,971, measles, scarlet fever and whooping cough 
 
2,725, pellagra 2,252, tuberculosis 12,840, dysentery and diarrhea 
 
under 2 years 6,160. At least five times this many people suf- 
 
fered from these diseases during the period, though not fatally, 
 
and in many instances will hear the marks to an early grave. 
 
One-third of the people are handicapped by disease, two-thirds of 
 
which is easily preventable. 
 
27 
 
 The economic loss to the state incident to the illness and premature death of these thousands is incalculable. Even the monetary loss to Georgia has been estimated to reach the appalling sum of $21,407,820 annually. 
That the right to life can be protected has already been fully proven here in Georgia. In counties like Bartow, Mitchell, Clarke and Walker, where the typhoid death rate in 1922 ranged from 17.11 to 46.89, the establishment of a public health unit has practically abolished typhoid, while the rate for Georgia as a whole still remains above 26. Georgia has one-forty-second of the population of the United States and one-tenth of all the cases of typhoid fever in the United States occur in Georgia. 
The cities of Macon, and Athens have not had a death from diphtheria in more than twelve months as the result of a campaign of immunization through the use of toxin-antitoxin. 
 
Reaches Only 
 
The improved standards of living, lowered 
 
One Fourth the incidence of important communicable dis- 
 
Population. 
 
eases, and increased longevity which has 
 
accompanied the spread of public health organization during the 
 
past decade is proof enough of its effectiveness when applied to a 
 
part of the population. Thus far in Georgia it has reached only 
 
25 of our richer counties, while more than 75 per cent of our 
 
population is without official health service. 
 
This failure to finance an adequate army of public health cannot be attributed to poverty. As long as we spend $21 per capita for tobacco, $3 for patent medicines, $1.25 for cosmetics, 50 cents for chewing gum, we can certainly afford to spend more than 3 cents per capita for health. Other states with no more wealth spend 15 to 25 cents. Many counties in Georgia are financially unable to maintain an adequate health service but the state government is the acknowledged guarantor of the citizen's right to life. 
 
The time has come when Georgia must take up this war against the dread but easily conquered enemies of mankind. If a foreign enemy were slaughtering 30,000 of our people an emergency would be declared, the government would have the constitutional right to bond the state if necessary, millions would be raised to drive the ememy from our shores. 
 
 State Should 
 
There is the nucleus of an army of public 
 
Spend Freely. 
 
health. Our state department of health 
 
with meager equipment and thin, but determined lines has fought 
 
in the face of overwhelming odds, purifying our municipal water 
 
systems, campaigning for sanitation and immunization against 
 
diseases, training midwives and mothers, examining thousands 
 
of children and correcting physical defects, carrying the gospel 
 
of health in out of the way places through the healthmobile. It 
 
has kept up the fight with bravery that should shame the rest of 
 
us. 
 
We love the old veterans, and rightfully spend millions from the state treasury each year to protect them in their last days. Do we love the children less? We spent through the state hoard of health this year only $96,431 to protect the children in their "right to life." Let the legislature answer. 
 
Building for Tomorrow 
Civilization is continually threatened with dangers because it must be re-established with each succeeding generation. Upon the common ideas, ideals, attitudes and judgments developed in the children of today depends the stability of the democracy of tomorrow. 
The country has been constantly warned of a new dark age. Glenn Frank, President of the University of Wisconsin has ,.said that the impending danger cannot be averted by "The voluble insanities of the booster; such achievements wait upon the technique of the builder. A new renaissance must depend upon engineers rather than cheer leaders. 
"We are today threatened by a dark age because we have not used the raw materials as we should have used them in the building of the family life, the practice of politics, the management of business and industry, the organization of international affairs. We must set ourselves to the task of making these raw materials the basis of the policy and action of our common life." 
We are beginning to realize that the chief task of government is "not to legislate, hut to educate, to make not laws hut schools.'' 
29 
 
 Educational Bar- 
 
In Georgia the engineers of education 
 
riers Leveled. 
 
have been engaged during the past 
 
fifty years in hewing a course through the mountainous obstruc- 
 
tions that were laid down in the state constitution of 1877. As 
 
the barriers have been leveled and the track straightened each 
 
year has seen a more rapid acceleration of progress. Recently 
 
we have been adding a million dollars each year from state and 
 
local sources to our expenditures for the public schools, and while 
 
only one and a half million was expended in 1903 the total will 
 
exceed twenty millions in 1927. Four-fifths of this increase has 
 
been supplied from local taxation. 
 
There have been several notable achievements since the century opened. In 1906 the constitution was amended to permit local taxation for the support of public schools. Until that date the only public funds available for education had to come out of state taxes which were limited by the constitution to five mills. This fastened upon the state an iniquitous system of tuition fees which has not been abandoned entirely to this day. 
 
The second great milestone was passed in 1910 when the restrictions in the constitution prohibiting secondary education were stricken. Immediately education advanced by leaps and bounds. Whereas in 1903 there were only 90 accredited high school graduates in the whole state, in 1926 the graduates totaled 9,000, the high school enrollment was 75,617, there were 1,508 schools having high school grades and 431 four year high schools. Georgia leads the southeast in the percentage of its grammar school children who go to high school. 
 
Recent School 
 
In 1919 Georgia began to assume her edu- 
 
Progress. 
 
cational responsibilities in real earnest. 
 
The Elders-Carswell Act required every county to levy at least 
 
one mill, with the privilege of five mills, and an additional option 
 
of five mills to be voted by any school district in the county. In 
 
1920 the state offered special aid to counties in the maintenance 
 
of high schools and consolidated schools for rural communities. 
 
This has led to a school building campaign which brings the total 
 
,alue of school property from four million in 1903 to thirty seven 
 
million in 1926. Special state and federal funds for vocational 
 
education, first made available in 1917, have enriched the courses 
 
30 
 
 offered in agriculture and home economics so that today the children of the state are literally swarming around the 882 consolidated schools. About 35,000 children are transported to these centers of education which are transforming life in the country. 
In 1926 two more forward steps were taken. Since 1878 the state school fund, now grown to five million dollars, had been collected toward the end of the year, forcing the teachers to wait to receive their compensation. The legislature authorized the governor to borrow as much as three and a half million dollars in order to place these payments on a cash basis. 
The distribution of the state school funds on a school census basis was creating educational inequalities. Five million dollars only provided $5.13 for each child, and some of the poorer counties with low tax valuations were unable to raise sufficient funds to give their children adequate education. This situation was faced squarely in the extra session of 1926, when the state equalization law was adopted, and the coming session of the legislature will no doubt authorize a million dollars to be distributed among the needy counties. In fact, the time should come when the entire state fund will be distributed on an equalization rather than a census plan. 
 
Obstructions 
 
Furthermore the basis for the removal of 
 
Still Ahead. 
 
inequalities between the schools of the 
 
various districts within a county was laid in the passage of an 
 
act by the legislature of 1925 permitting merger of independent 
 
school systems with the county system. There are eighty of 
 
these independent systems, including most of the municipalities 
 
of any size in the state which have built walls around themselves 
 
leaving the rural sections of the county to shift alone without the 
 
aid of the higher tax values in the cities. Everyone of these inde- 
 
pendent systems should be abolished as quickly as possible. 
 
Yct another obstruction in the road of public education needs to be removed before the track will be entirely clear. The selecton of state and county school officials must be taken out of politics, and placed in the hands of competent boards of education. we are indeed fortunate in the present personnel of our state department of education, and in the heads of many county sys- 
 
31 
 
 terns, but their efficiency is diminished by the constantly impending opposition; repeated changes bring inexperienced men into office; while in many counties the encumbents are political handshakers, with absolutely no qualifications for the positions they hold. There is no more blighting law in our school code. 
When we have abolished the independent school districts, taken our school officials out of politics, and adjusted the distribution of our state school funds to the equalization principle, the track will be laid, the road clear, and only the problem of securing sufficient fuel will remain to be met. 
 
Handicap to 
 
We may well be proud of our success in 
 
Overcome. 
 
overcoming the stupendous difficulties over 
 
which we have triumphed during the past fifty years. But in a 
 
race the runner who has gotten off with a handicap must never 
 
forget his relative position if he is to overtake his competitors. 
 
Let us not forget that in the eyes of the world we are bringing up 
 
the rear in public school education. Those who are so afraid to have 
 
the facts mentioned for fear we will damage our reputation, should 
 
remember that in this matter of education we have no reputation to 
 
defend. Only recenty the National Industrial Conference Board has 
 
broadcast Georgia as ranking 47th among the states in provison 
 
of common school education and 47th in average annual salary 
 
paid to teachers, ($648.46) The same rank is announced every 
 
year by the statistician of the Federal Bureau of Education. 
 
We are inclined to pat ourselves on the back because we appropriate five millions from state funds for education, failing to realize that more than half the states appropriate a larger per capita. Georgia must face this situation and so adjust her tax system that she may double and even treble her state appropriations for education. We must prepare ourselves not only to equalize the educational opportunities as between the children of the different counties of Georgia, bu_t we must bring these opportunities up to the standard set by our sister states. 
 
The strengthening of the staff of our state department of education is not an unimportant feature in this program. The expenditure of twenty millions should be supervised in every detail. Within limits every dollar expended for expert state supervision will save thousands in more efficient local schools. The number 
 
32 
 
 of'state supervisors should be doubled at once and their salaries set at a figure that will secure the most competent educators in the field. 
Let us never forget that money appropriated for education is not an expense but an investment; that the severest loss the state can possibly suffer is the growing up of a generation without education. 
We must bear in mind that such progress as has been made in the past is largely in the towns and cities. While there are notable and creditable exceptions in the consolidated schools in the country districts, large parts of the country are still without modern school advantages, and many are suffering from the crudest makeshifts for schools. 
In the most earnest hope that the modern doctrine of universal education may grip the consciousness of all men let me repeat that no community can afford to build a wall around its limits, provide every educational advantage to its own children while practically none is furnished to those outside. One unenligth- 
ened militia district in an adjacent county can propagate enough crime and criminals to corrupt the city of Atlanta. The darkness of a neighboring militia district can provide enough intoxicants to debauch the youth of the city of Macon. Georgia can measure up to its destined glory only through the education of all its youth. 
The University System. 
In the advance of the Commonwealth toward the more abundant life we must look to our institutions of higher learning to develop not only an inspired intelligent leadership but a population permeated with the ideals of democracy and embmd with a scientific spirit. 
While not detracting in the least from the honorable record of our university system nor from the glory due those great characters who have inspired the young men and women to the triumps of the past, there can be no question but that the problems I have been discussing would not be so complex and difficult of solution had the state been more liberal in the support of higher education. 
This parsimonious attitude is challenged today by the great army of high school graduates clarmoring to enter our state insti- 
33 
 
 tutions. Scant appropriations, inadequate equipment, overworked and underpaid faculties cannot provide that equality of opportunity to which we are pledged. 
The most serious emergency facing the legislature is the need for increased funds for equipment and maintenance for the three chief branches of the university and the teacher training institutions. Broad statesmanship will not hesitate to use the state's credit, if necessary, to make an investment in trained citizenship when it realizes that the returns will far exceed the principal and interest. 
The university system, like the state government, is in need of co-ordination. In the past the legislature has assumed the duties of the trustees, creating new institutions, changing the functions of others, and practically eliminating the trustees and the chancellor from their rightful positions in formulating the policies of the system. The re-establishment of a co-ordinate system with a unified policy and budget can only be accomplished as the result of a careful unbiased survey of the situation. This has been recommended by the trustees and by every commission and organization that has come in contact with the problem. This survey should be authorized at once, but it would be criminal to neglect the emergent financial needs of the major institutions while awaiting its findings. 
Summary of Recommendations 
The burden of this message has been a plea for research. Government problems are too complex to be solved by the hunches of individual legislators, the prejudices of uninformed groups, or the selfish interests of political manipulators. I have suggested the following agencies of research: 
I A permanent commission on governmental efficiency to study the structure of the government itself, to profit by the experience of other representative governments, and develop plans which will eliminate duplication and co-ordinate the activities of an hundred state agencies into a few departments, correct the defects in the legislature branch, and establish a responsible executive department. 
34 
 
 The problems here suggested are not easily solved. The general assembly has grown so increasingly in size that it is doubtful if the more complicated problems can be solved by the As sembly. Thinking citizens are reaching the conclusion that the time is rapidly approaching for the convening of a Constitutional Convention. I respectfully suggest that the appointment of a commission is a necessary preliminary step and that the public should be thoroughly acquainted with its findings before the Constitutional Convention is called. 
When it is determined that the time has arrived, I respectfully suggest that the convention be protected from political encroachments by naming a majority of its membership from officials of high standing elected by the people ex-officio. 
2. A permanent crime commission to study the causes of crime and bring order out of chaos in our methods of handling the criminal; to suggest such amendments to the criminal laws and such changes in the rules of evidence as will in its judgement lessen crime; and to plan a penitentiary system where prisoners may be given educational and vocational training under proper moral and spiritual surroundings. 
3. An unbiased and thorough survey of our university system. 
The acceptance by the legislature of the unquestioned findings of research is no less important. State departments and commissions after painstaking study have presented legislative programs worthy of immediate acceptance. These include: 
1. The revision of our system of taxation in conformity with suggestions formulated by tax commissions in every administration during the past quarter century. 
2. The co-ordination of all state tax collection agencies in one department; the deposit of all state funds in the treasury, and their disbursement under a scientific budget. 
3. The reorganization of the state highway departn1ent to permit immediate construction of the state system of roads under responsible unified management; the use of all gasoline and automobile taxes on this system; and the relief of the counties from bonding themselves for state roads. 
35 
 
 4. The creation of an adequate state equalization fund for the common schools, the abolition of the independent municipal school systems, and the elimination of politics in the selection of state and county school officials. 
5. A state bond issue of at least ten millions for needed buildings and equipment at our state educational and eleemosinary institutions. 
6 The adoption of the children's laws, providing adequate protection for dependent, neglected and delinquent children. 
7. The reorganization of the state agricultural department, the immediate adoption of efficient tests for gasoline, and the reduction of the expensive army of fertilizer and gasoline inspectors. 
More Money Needed 
I am convinced that great economies may be achieved immediately, and as the result of research that may be projected by this legislature further savings will accrue in the years to come. However, I would call your attention to the fact that whatever immediate savings may result from strict ecomomy can be absorbed by the needs of state institutions and agencies which have been starved through the years. 
If the legislature is to meet even the emergency needs for maintenance of our principal educational institutions it must find at least one million additional revenue; the eleemosinary institutions including the school for the blind, school for the deaf, school for delinquent boys, school for delinquent girls, school for mental defectives, sanitarium for the insane, sanitarium for the tubercular-seven institutions in all,-will be seriously handicapped unless at least a half million additional is found for them,; the all important state equalization fund for education will require at least another million; the state department of public health should be given at least another $100,000, while other small but seriously needed increases bring the total to nearly three million dollars increased reYenue which the legislature must find. 
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 The people of Georgia have deliberately chosen a business man for governor. They are expecting a business administration-the kind of business acumen which surveys the field, discovers the needs of the situation, lays out a plan and carries it through. If this legislature continues to starve our institutions and government services, spending its time in political manoeuvres and dilatory tactics I am sure the man of sterling character and business capacity whom the people have chosen as Governor will stand blameless. Should that unfortunate situation develop I prophesy the Governor will carry this issue so convincingly to the people that two years hence a legislature will convene fully responsive to the needs of the state. 
My closing plea to the legislature and to the people of Georgia is in behalf of a new devotion to their state government. We hear a great deal of complaint about centralization of powers in bureaus in Washington. I am opposed to federal encroachment upon state rights with all the strength of my being, but I know that until we build an efficient and capable state government worthy of popular confidence the people will continue to turn to washington when they want to get things done. What we call federal encroachment is in reality nothing but state abdication. 
LET US RENEW OUR PLEDGE TO OLD GEORGIA. WE CAN FIND UNITY IN OUR FAITH IN HER, BROTHERHOOD IN OUR SERVICE TO HER, GLORY IN OUR TRIUMPH WITH HER. AS WE WEAVE OUR BEST INTO THE TEXTURE OF HER GOVERNMENT THE ECONOMIC STABILITY, THE INTEGRITY AND CULTURE, THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE OF HER CHILDREN WILL BE ASSURED. 
37 
 
 Misce11aneous Recommendations. 
 
State Treasurer. 
 
Highly intelligent and patriotic citi- 
 
zens are urging and entire reformation 
 
of the system of collecting the income of the State. There is no 
 
question in my mind that this judgment demands that this be 
 
accomplished. As a matter of course this will largely increase 
 
the work of the State Treasurer. If this additional work is not 
 
placed upon that department, the present demands absolutely 
 
require some relief. No good comes from the limitation now 
 
placed on this department and I recommend that in any event 
 
the limitation on the State Treasury, the Executive Department 
 
and any other constitutional office be repealed. No state ever 
 
had a more conscientious or efficient state official than State 
 
Treasurer Speer and he should be given the necessary tools and 
 
equipment to carry on the highly efficient service heretofore 
 
rendered. 
 
Secretary 
 
The work of the Secretary of State originally 
 
of State. 
 
contemplated by the Constitution and of high 
 
order of importance to the State, has been most proficiently 
 
rendered by Secretary of State McLendon. He is possessed of a 
 
store of knowledge of the history of the State and the tradition of 
 
his people unequaled in all the State and he is in season and out 
 
of season ready to come to the support of the State when it is at- 
 
tacked or criticized. Sound business judgement may demand 
 
the removal from the office of the Secretary of State of the col- 
 
lection of taxes due the State but it is unthinkable that the State 
 
should be deprived of the valuable services of this experienced 
 
servant which would from necessity follow unless the salary of 
 
the Secretary of State be increased to a living figure. I there- 
 
fore earnestly recommend that the salary of the Secretary of 
 
State be increased accordingly with the proviso that any ser- 
 
ss 
 
 vices rendered ex-officio or which may now or hereafter be placed upon the Secretary of State shall be rendered without additional compensation. 
 
Cigar and Ciga- 
 
A very large sum of money, approxi- 
 
rette Taxes. 
 
mating, as I am advised, $160,000, the 
 
proceeds of present cigar and cigarette tax collection has been 
 
held up by injunction in the court for some years. Fortunately 
 
this litigation was settled during the past year and the moneys in- 
 
volved covered into the treasury. I am advised that the cigar 
 
and cigarette dealers will ask this general assembly to repeal the 
 
present law on the ground that the same constitutes a hardship 
 
upon the dealers and the public claiming that a flat tax of a fixed 
 
sum on each dealer will in fact net the treasury of the state a 
 
larger sum than is now being covered into the treasury. In all 
 
deference to the position of these dealers I find myself compelled 
 
to disagree to this position as I have been unable to figure out a 
 
fair basis of charge as between the small cross-road dealer in the 
 
country and the dealer on the centers of traffic in the heart of the 
 
great cities. I do not believe that the proceeds would be in- 
 
creased by fixing a flat rate. Being conscientious in this belief, I 
 
urge that instead of a repeal of the law that it be checked up se- 
 
curely. The United States Government requires the payment 
 
of the taxes in advance of placing the cigars and cigarettes on 
 
sale. In this modern day of han'd to mouth retailing with modern 
 
transportation facilities no large quantity is needed and payment 
 
in advance can be no hardship on anyone. I earnestly urge that 
 
such laws be amended accordingly. 
 
Capitol Repairs and 
 
I call especial attention to the Gen- 
 
Reclamation. 
 
eral Assembly to the reclamation of 
 
the ground floor of the Capitol building and the elimination of the 
 
fire hazard on that floor. An examination will disclose that the 
 
builders of the capitol did not intend that floor to be a basement 
 
as commonly accepted but as a full floor. It was not completed 
 
when the Capitol was first occupied probably because the room 
 
was not needed. From year to year as additional storage space 
 
was needed the authorities permitted the building of frame stor- 
 
age vaults of highly inflamable material. . In the passage of years 
 
this highly valuable and practically fire-proof building was then 
 
39 
 
 formed into a most hazardous fire risk endangering the building and the lives of the occupants as well as creating a most unsanitary condition on the ground floor of the Capitol building. Meanwhile, unfortunately, in the passage of years, substantial repairs to the roof were necessary and in addition the monitors, or glass portions of the dome and roof required substantial repairs. The legislature made special appropriation for these purposes but money was not available for the reclamation of the ground floor and the making of other less vital but most important repairs and improvements. Another special appropriation enabled the installation of a modern heating plan and this has been installed in highly satisfactory manner. The need of repairs to the plastering and restoration to the painting and other decoration is perfectly apparent to any visitor to the Capitol. The electric wiring system has not been reviewed for many years. While I am not an expert I am very apprehensive that the wiring is out of date and that the present expense is out of proportion to modern wiring systems. I urge that the question of installing a complete new modern electric lighting system be given most careful consideration. The State is now renting additional outside buildings for the housing of such department and ecomomy and business judgment will dictate the immediate reclamation of the remaining portion of the ground floor of the Capitol building not heretofore developed. I estimate that additional offices of acceptable quality can be developed to house two departments, namely, the Board of Health and the Military Department. A scientific survey has been made and blueprints prepared by the Capitol architect and detailed report of the work already accomplished and recommendation for completing the work has been filed with the incoming Governor for consideration of the Executive and General Assembly. In the meantime even casual consideration of the question will demonstrate that even with the reclamation of additional space available on the ground floor the Capitol will still be crowded and the time has now arrived when consideration must be given to the acquiring of additional land for the erection of an annex to the Capitol. Such land near the Capitol can be purchased at a reasonable figure and as Atlanta is growing good business judgment would dictate that the purchase should be made without unreasonable delay. In the meantime it is probable that much activity carried on in the Capitol Build- 
40 
 
 ing could be transferred to the Agricultural College at Athens to the advantage of the State in economy and for other reasons. The building and its contents are too valuable to be hazarded by chemical laboratories and other activities of a similar nature. It has also been suggested that a modern building adapted to the needs of the State Library and the appellate court should be provided. 
These are matters which I respectfully submit for the consideration of the incoming Governor and the General Assembly. 
 
western and At- For a number of years the State has been 
 
lantic Railroad. 
 
subjected to an unfortunate and unnec- 
 
cessary litigation involving the terminals of the State railroad in 
 
the heart of the city of Chattanooga. That City has been en- 
 
gaged in the effort to condemn its right of way for the opening of 
 
a street through the very heart of the passenger terminals. The 
 
last Legislature created a special commission authorizing that 
 
commission to represent the State in the further prosecution or 
 
the settlement of this litigation. I assume that the chairman of 
 
that commission will make full report of the acts and doings of 
 
the commission. It is the subject of sincere personal regret that 
 
I found myself compelled to dissent from the judgment of the 
 
majority of the commission in the compromising of the suit en- 
 
abling the opening up of the street through the property of the 
 
State. I hasten to say that not only was there no ndication of 
 
any ulterior motive or unworthy interest on the part of any mem- 
 
ber of the Commission but on the contrary every manisfestation 
 
of sincere endeavor to meet the vital obligations involved in the 
 
trust. A similar litigation was projected by the city of Chatta- 
 
nooga many years ago. In consideration of the surrender of most 
 
valuable rights by the State of Georgia the city of Chattanooga 
 
then solemnly agreed by the most binding moral and legal obli- 
 
gations that they wou:d never thereafter attempt to prejudice 
 
the rights of the State of Georgia or to interfere in the peaceable 
 
enjoyment of the property rights of the State within the limits 
 
of that city. 
 
l\loreover, the experience of the State, both in the city of Chattanooga and in the city of Atlanta impeaches the judgment to voluntarily dispose of any part of the real estate holdings connected ,vith the terminal. My information is that the very heart 
 
41 
 
 and soul of railroad properties is the terminals; that all railroad managements are most jealous of the integrity of such terminals; the modern tendency is to acquire additional terminals rather than to dispose of any part thereof. Certainly the development of modern passenger railroad trains has doubled and quadrupled the length of such trains and the fundamental demand suggests the necessity of additional terminals rather than the lessening thereof. Referring to the disposition of terminal property in the past I am fully convinced that if the State of Georgia has not disposed of a substantial part of the terminal property in the city of Chattanooga that there would be today on its property a great central union terminal station. Exactly the same conditions are true in the city of Atlanta. For a comparatively small sum most vital properties were disposed of in Chattanooga and Atlanta. The result has been that in Chattanooga we are now almost at the mercy of another railroad system which acquired the property from the State of Georgia while in Atlanta the value of our terminal has steadily decreased while the great terminal union station has been erected on other property. While the people themselves has been greatly inconwnienced thereby. For these and other reasons I have dissented from the judgment of the majority of the commission. The action in the disposition of the terminals in Chattanooga requires, in my judgment, the immediate acquiring of new property for future protection of the State and I earnestly recommend that the General Assembly give consideration to this matter. 
 
Fish and Gainc 
 
Under its present management most nota- 
 
Departmcnt. 
 
hie improvement has been made and highly 
 
creditable service rendered the fish and game interests of the 
 
State. The Department has been dignified and its administra- 
 
tive functions made efficient. I commend the officials of the De- 
 
partment and urge the enactment of such regulatory amendments 
 
to the laws as they may prC'sent. 
 
Geological 
 
"'ith its meager appropriation the State Geo- 
 
Dcpartment. logical SurYey is unable to carry out the ob- 
 
jective set forlh in the hill establishing the Department. name y, 
 
a complete' geological, mineralogical and physical surYey of the 
 
stale. The Department now has in preparation two important 
 
 reports, namely, a report on the marble and one on the clay deposits of the state. It is important that topographic maps of every section of the state be completed as early as possible. This Department is in serious need of additional funds. 
 
Medical Educa- 
 
The State Medical College at Au- 
 
tion. 
 
gusta is constantly improving the 
 
character of its work. I call atten- 
 
tion to the serious situation which has been developing in the 
 
rural sections of the State with reference to the need of compe- 
 
tent physicians. For years a large proportion of doctors who 
 
have died have not been replaced. In a very few years condi- 
 
tions will be acute. Provision must be made for supplying addi- 
 
tional physicians in the country sections as well as expert health 
 
officials and trained nurses to render first aid in emergency cases. 
 
I am advised that a large proportion of maternity cases in the 
 
remoter sections of the counties have no medical attention. I 
 
urge the deepest consideration of these and allied problems. Since 
 
a medical education is by its very nature most expensive, I sug- 
 
gest that the Legislature require a pledge from graduates that 
 
they will practice within the State for a limited number of years 
 
in appreciation of the service rendered by the State in furnish- 
 
ing medical education~ 
 
State Parks. 
 
The record of the year marks the 
 
establishment of the first state park at Neel's Gap in Union 
 
County through the patriotic efforts of Mr. Bonnell H. Stone 
 
and the generosity of Mr. Fred Vogel. It is to be hoped that many 
 
such parks will be dedicated to the u'se of the public in the future. 
 
Forestry. 
 
The Department of Forestry estab- 
 
lished during this term has made much progress in building a 
 
sentiment for the preservation of the forests and the restora- 
 
tion through reforestation of the vital interests involved in the 
 
destruction of forests of the State. The great Mississippi flood 
 
is but one incident, though a fatally calamitous one, of the ruth- 
 
less neglect of these interests. 
 
Revenue Depart- 
 
The most sanguine expectations of 
 
ment. 
 
the work of the new Department of 
 
Revenue have been realized. The files of the department and 
 
 letters and personal statements of state and county tax officials attest the fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars of auto tag fees and other special taxes, heretofore escaping, are annually being paid voluntarily through the regular channels by reason of the vigilant checking of the Commissioner of Revenues and the inspectors of this department. Delinquent taxes collected and covered directly into the Treasury add large sums to the creditable showing made. I recommend that the scope of the department be enlarged by requiring every agency of the State to report promptly to this department delinquencies in taxes or other monies withheld from the State. I am advised that thousands of dollars of gasoline taxes and hundreds of thousands of advalorem taxes have been lost to the State by delay and failure to report and check delinquent collections. I earnestly recommend that authority and adequate force be given the Auditing and Revenue Departments to co-operate in checking and enforcing collection of delinquent ad-valorem as well as all other taxes. I predict that these measures will largely increaE>e the revenues of the State. 
 
Veterans Service 
 
The government of the State of 
 
Office. 
 
Georgia has shown as little apprecia- 
 
tion of the service and sacrifice of the world war Veterans as any 
 
other state in the union. I recognize that the unfortunate fiscal 
 
condition arising from an antiquated tax system is largely res- 
 
ponsible. I commend the good work of the Veterans Service 
 
Office and trust that the State may co-operate more generously 
 
in the future. 
 
Deficiency Appro- 
 
Sound business principles cannot jus- 
 
priations. 
 
tify overdrawing appropriation ac- 
 
counts. Constructive progress has been made toward the eli- 
 
mination of deficiency appropriations. A scientific budget will 
 
provide for each department and institution a reserve for emer- 
 
gencies. This should be provided with an absolute prohibition 
 
against any deficiency appropriation 
 
Escapes. 
 
The peculiar system under which the 
 
State Penitentiary is operated makes it difficult to prevent es- 
 
capes. However, my observations convince me that too many 
 
44 
 
 of the professional crooks and experienced criminals escape. I urge the Legislature to direct the Prison Commission to provide special means of guarding convicts of this class. 
 
The Credit of the 
 
Georgia enjoys perhaps the best credit 
 
State. 
 
of any State in the Union. Owning 
 
a trunk line of railroad and a large block of central city property 
 
in Atlanta every inch of which is covered by modern sky-scrap- 
 
ing buildings and several blocks of highly valuable business pro- 
 
perty in the very center of the city of Chattanooga, the State's 
 
property holdings are many times more than the five millions 
 
of its indebtedness. Moreover, the State's history demonstrates 
 
that it has always guarded with jealous pride its moral as well 
 
as its legal obligations. And yet Georgia's reputation has been 
 
seriously injured by reference from time to time to alleged re- 
 
pudiation of certain alleged obligations. Every year or two 
 
references are seen in outside newspapers to Georgia's repudia- 
 
tion of certain railroad or other state bonds. I have had pre- 
 
pared and filed in the Archives of the State Library a brief which 
 
demonstrates that Georgia never repudiated a bond or any other 
 
obligation of the State. The bonds referred to were issued by 
 
corrupt camp-followers of a carpet-bag administration without 
 
authority of law. They were not a legal or moral obligation of the 
 
State since the State did not authorize their issue and did not 
 
receive the benefit of a dollar of the proceeds of the sale if they 
 
were sold. I have directed that this brief be filed and preserved 
 
for the use of any citizen who may desire to defend the name 
 
of the State when assailed. I have also suggested that the United 
 
States Senators and certain patriotic native sons of Georgia now 
 
engaged in banking and bond business in New York confer and 
 
co-operate in the effort to establish the falsity of the charges 
 
and prevent the further slander of the state in the future. 
 
In the meantime, in a smaller way, the reputation of the State has been hurt by the unauthorized or unbusiness like use of the credit of the State. I am -advised that a certain silver service was purchased on credit for pres~ntation in the name of the State to the U. S. Battleship "Georgia" but without authority of the State. The ship having been withdrawn from service and the silverware returned, being now stored in the Governor's 
 
45 
 
 mansion subject to orders of the General Assembly, I recommend that the unpaid bill be paid or the silver service be restored to the original seller. 
My attention is also called to old unpaid bills due Index Printing Co. and Ernest Dallis and a bill of $536.15 for printing due the Byrd Publishing Co. This printing was ordered in a former administration and seems to have been authorized by law. I recommend that these bills be paid. I urge that the law be amended penalizing the contracting of a debt for which no appropriation has been made. 
 
Federal Building 
 
The Treasury Department at Wash- 
 
Sites. 
 
ington calls my attention to Federal 
 
Statutes which require the consent of the legislature to the pur- 
 
chase of lands for the purpose of erecting thereon any public 
 
building. No post office or other Federal building will be erect- 
 
ed in Georgia till this consent is granted. I have taken the liberty 
 
to request the Attorney General to prepare a bill to that end 
 
to be submitted to your body. 
 
Military Depart- 
 
It is important that there be main- 
 
ment. 
 
tained an organized force in peace as 
 
well as in war for police protection in emergencies. The State 
 
must bear its share of the burden of providing men capable of 
 
training soldiery in the event of military invasion or other attack 
 
upon our country. The Adjutant General advises me that the 
 
Military Department cannot be maintained on the present ap- 
 
propriation and suggests that adequate provision be made or the 
 
department be abolished. I recommended careful consideration 
 
of the needs of this department. 
 
Fidelity Bonds. 
 
Great financial loss and much worry 
 
to the State officials have followed the acceptance of personal 
 
bonds from tax collectors and other bonded officials. Since 
 
the law has been amended requiring more frequent remittances 
 
I recommend that the amounts of bonds required of tax collectors 
 
be reduced and that they be required in every instance to fur- 
 
nish fidelity bonds. I also urge that an act be passed making 
 
the tax collector Ex-officio Sheriff, and authorized and required 
 
46 
 
 to enforce the collection of taxes without recourse to the sheriff's office. Duplication of work in these offices and inadequate checking has resulted in the loss of an enormous amount of tax monies. 
 
Training School for A development which challenges the 
 
Boys and Girls. 
 
most serious thought of every good 
 
citizen is the appalling increase of crime in white boys. Many 
 
such youths are being sent to the penitentiary. This is a situa- 
 
tion which must not be allowed to continue. I commend the fine 
 
work of the Reform School for Boys at Milledgeville and ear- 
 
nestly plead for an enlargement of its facilities so that every 
 
boy under 18 years of age convicted of crime may be committed 
 
to its care. 
 
No greater service is being rendered the State than that of the Girls Training School near Atlanta. And yet delinquent girls are being turned away each week while a comfortable building is vacant because of inadequate maintenance fund. I urge that this fund be provided at once. 
 
Exactly the same conditions exist at the Training School at Gracewood. It should be supplied with necessary maintenance funds without delay. 
 
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