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GOVERNOR's MESSAGE.

M E S S A G E .
- -
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, \
MiLLEDGEvil LE, Nov. 4, 1845. §
FELLow-Citizens of the SENATE
AND House of REPRESENTATIVES :
During the present year the labors and hopes of the
husbandman have been visited by a general disappointment.
His accustomed and anticipated reward is not now to be reap-
ed in his fields. Compelled to be content with his limited
supply, and patiently submissive to the Great Cause which
produced it, he should seek to alleviate the deficiency of the
present and provide an abundance for the future, by sum-
noning to his aid frugality and forecast. The exercise of
these virtues, when united to industry, cannot fail to awaken
his gratitude, when he feels that the wants of the mo-
ment are softened or supplied by the bounties of the past.
Who has ever repined over a full granary? Has not a
crowded cotton-house now lost more than half of its charm 3
Certainly experience has painfully demonstrated that the
latter is and has ever been an inadequate substitute for the
former.
In view of the depressed condition of the agriculture of
the State, I respectfully submit to your consideration the
propriety and necessity of adopting some plan which will
give the promise of plenty in the land. The first step will
doubtless be to restore fertility to the fields and procure
grains and grasses adapted to the climate. Every experi-
ment faithfully and fairly made, will require improved im-
plements of husbandry; and, if reliable as a guide for the
future, a closeness and accuracy of observation which shall
mark its progress and cnd. For this purpose I earnestly
recommend that an appropriation of a limited sum be annu-
ally expended in the purchase of the varieties of grains and
glasses, and gratuitously distributed to the several agricul-
tural societies of the State which are now or may be here-
after formed. The object is to concentrate individual exper-
iments, deduce general results, and thereby give to this
primitive and indispensable occupation that strength which
system always imparts.
In 1778 Georgia offered (liberally of her then wealth)
large bounties of land on condition that the receiver would
erect machinery for the manufacture of her iron ore. Since
that period large expenditures have been made on her rivers
and roads—but it is thought that the instances are few in
which direct legislation has been made and intended to foster
this leading interest of the State.
The tax act of 1804 is the basis upon which all subsequent
revenue laws of the State rest. Its inequalities have been

4.
more plainly exhibited by every advance we have made in
extent of territory, increase of population and change of sta-
ple. At the period of its enactment it operated over only
one third of the territory of the State, and on a population
nearly two-thirds less. Since that time the great staple of
the South has been developed, and in a great measure sup-
planted the productions of that day.—The inequalities of
the present system have doubtless been perpetuated by the
occasional acquisitions of land, which, even under the adopt-
ed policy of lotteries, brought revenue into the Treasury, and
thereby averted the necessity of general taxation. This rev-
enue is now cut off, and the legitimate mode of supporting
government, by taxation, must supervene. In this search-
ing operation of the government, equality should be approx-
imated; nor should an abrupt, novel, or extreme plan be
adopted; because that which is the most expedient is not
always the most practicable.
Accordingly the system, as proposed by the Treasurer,
is recommended as retaining the principles of the present
tax laws of the State, and equalizing in some measure the
burthens imposed, by extending the list of taxable objects
Under the head of specific taxation about one half of the re-
quired revenue will be raised, whilst the other half will be
produced according to the plan of valuation. Both plans em-
brace about an equal number of taxable objects. It is there-
fore proposed that the rate of taxation shall be fixed on all of
the enumerated objects mentioned in the Treasurer's report,
with the exception of real estate and its improvements,
which shall be valued by the oath of the freeholder, and that
the digest of the several receivers shall be returned on the
first of July, annually to the Comptroller General, who shall
be required to assess a rate not exceeding a fourth of one per
cent. on the valuation of such real estate and its improve-
ments, so as to raise a given amount; and notify the several
collectors of that rate, who shall be required to collect accor-
dingly. -
Certainty in amount may, by the plan proposed, be always
realized, so that the government may be placed beyond con-
tingency of want, to which it has been exposed by the fluctua-
ting amount of taxes. The freehold-interest is required to
supply a contingent deficiency; yet even that is restricted
and limited to a rate less than any other of the entire list
of taxable objects. Its conservative character over exces-
sive appropriations may be presumed, because the freehold-
interest is at all times fully represented, and would be care-
ful to check extravagance.
It will be seen that a reduction of sixteen per cent of the
present fixed rates on several important objects is proposed,

-
º
and that this may be safely made without public detriment
if the integrity of the scheme be preserved.
Whether the proposed system be adopted or the present
one retained, I respectfully suggest the propriety of requir-
ing every person fully to perform his duty in this regard.
Representations have been made that there have been eva-
sions of the existing law, in making full returns of taxable
property. The remedy for this default is to be found in a le-
gal enquiry accompanied by an appropriate penalty.
The subject of changing by a reduction of the rate of inter-
est in the State is respectfully suggested for your considera-
tion. A discussion as to the abstract right to pass usury
laws may be waived, by considering the fact that in this age
Christian nations have concurred in their propriety or ne-
cessity, and their best defence may be found in the argu-
ments of the heart, which, if less clear, are quite as cogent
as those of the head.
Money, like every other marketable article, is relative in
its value, and influenced by its scarcity or abundance. The
large amount of money which recently flowed into the Trea-
sury arising from investments in the reverted lands of the
State, indicates a surplus beyond the wants of the debtor
class of the community. The large sums on individual de-
posite in several banks of the State disclose the fact that
safe or satisfactory investments cannot be made by capital-
ists. As a consequence of this excess of capital beyond the
general want, freehold property, usually slow to exhibit any
pecuniary impulse, has been enhanced in value. Individu-
al capital has in some measure supplanted that of banking cor-
porations, several of which have recently reduced their capitals.
In the proposed reduction, our position in reference to that
of adjoining States and their legislation is to be also consider-
ed. Any extraordinary difference between our and their
standards of interest, might have the effect of diverting, in
some degree, capital from one State to another; though
it is believed in regard to loans, the confidence reposed in the
borrower by the meritorious lender is the primary induce-
ment, whilst the usurer looks to an extravagant per centum
as covering the profits and perils of his contraband contracts.
Nor should an ancient rule be rashly innovated upon. In
all cases, when time and experience have imparted their ge-
nial influence, extreme counsels or extreme measures are
to be avoided. It is therefore recommended that the pres-
ent rate of interest of the State be reduced to seven per cent-
um per annum, and that a fixed standard be retained so
that any conventional agreement between the contracting
parties may be legally excluded. Legislation in relation to
contracts which may not be obnoxious to a constitutional
objection, should be prospective. The effect of a law such

t; -
as is now proposed, on existing contracts which shall be
hereafter enforced by legal process, may be safely left to the
Judiciary, when organized according to the constitution of
the State.
In relation to the establishment of a Supreme Court for
the correction of the errors of the inferior judicatories, the
legislation of Georgia has been peculiar and irreconcilable.
Ten years ago two amendments of the Constitution were
finally passed by majorities of two-thirds of the members
of two consecutive Legislatures. The one removed the
property qualification of a member of the Legislature—the
other required the establishment of a Supreme Court. The
Constitution now stands with the specific restriction lopped off
and the granted power added. Unquestioned and unques-
tionable privilege has probably been enjoyed under the one,
whilst the duty, commanded, in my opinion, by the other, has
not been performed. The task remains for you—and wheth-
er in reference to constitutional requirement or social neces-
sity, I cannot too earnestly commend it to your delibera-
tions. Eleven Judges, each supreme in his authority, and
capable of being appealed from himself only to himself, can-
not be presumed to decide with uniformity. Without unifor-
mity law itself is a chance, and has been aptly called a mis-
erable servitude. Laws are mere abstractions unless known
by their practical application, which tests their wisdom or
folly. Uncertainty aggravates the wrong by multiplying the
chances against redress. The litigious and harmful rejoice
in a controversy surrounded with doubt—the peacable and
just, from the same cause, as frequently waive as seek repara-
tion, unless urged by resentment, which, awakened by in-
jury, usually encounters all hazards. We have no reports of
binding authority in which are proclaimed and preserved the
great conservative principles of social justice. The contem-
poraneous expositions of our early laws are fading away in
the dim twilight of tradition.
These evils, perhaps, are not now greater than might have
been expected from the inherent and radical defects of the
present system. Probably they have increased only with the
numerical increase of the Judges—being in the proportion of
eleven to three.
Moreover the railways which are already in operation in
the State pass through eight of the eleven judicial districts.
Upon them are transported one third of the marketable pro-
ductions of the State. The value of the merchandise carried
by them would swell the value of property to at least six
millions of dollars annually. This property should be under
the protection of the same uniform law in its transit from
one point to another. We have moreover by the extension
of the State railway to the West, and by our improved facili-

7
ties of transportation and market, invited the citizens of ad-
joining and other States to come into our midst and bring with
them their productions. The guard of law uniformly admin-
istered should be vouchsafed to both. With it this scheme of
social and commercial intercourse may be rapidly advanced,
and, without it, retarded by distrust. Every interest, at
home or abroad, pleads for a controlling corrective of the
discordant and conflicting decisions of the inferior judicato-
ries. In adjusting the details of the Court, prudence would
suggest that the defects of the old system are only to be rem-
edied. Delay and heavy expenses are to be avoided. Like
other free institutions, its existence and strength should re-
pose in public confidence.
It must be confessed that the present system of free schools
has not diffused the blessings that were anticipated by its be-
nevolent and patriotic projectors. Its failure may be mainly
ascribed to the irregular aid derived from the State, the un-
fortunate administration of its funds and a general popular
indifference to the subject. The Poor School Fund amount-
ing once to half a million of dollars, is now reduced to two
thousand six hundred and thirty shares of the capital stock of
the Banks of the State of Georgia and Augusta. Until the
last session of the Legislature it formed a part of the capi-
tal of the Central Bank, and during two years of this peri-
od no dividend was declared and distributed for educational
purposes. Moreover it is now stated as an illustration of
general indifference on this subject, that during the past year,
only fifty-three of the ninety-three counties of the State made
applications at the Treasury for their allotments of the
Poor School Fund, and when too the penalty for default
was known to be an absolute forfeiture of claim.
The numerous acts of the Legislature, which have been
as only so many innovations upon the system, have related
principally to the administration of the funds in the hands of
public officers, and have been frequently passed under the
allegation of its actual or supposed misapplication.
As a remedy for these evils it is respectfully proposed for
your consideration, that the system be changed so as to in-
fuse into it more of public care by combining with it public
responsibility. . This endit is thought may be accomplished
by immediately distributing the Poor School Fund among the
several counties upon a basis similar to the one by which di-
vidends are now declared—giving to the Grand Juries the
approval or disapproval of the direction and application of
the fund-holding each county liable for the principal amount
received, and in case of loss or diminution of the same, from
any cause whatsoever, the deficiency to be replaced by an
extra tax levied by order of the Inferior Court, on the re-
presentation of any Grand Jury, and in its default then to be
S
-
collected by a mandate of the Superior Court of the county.
In making distribution according to the foregoing plan, it
will be necessary to make provision that as the shares of the
Bank stock constituting the Poor School Fund are in amounts
of one hundred dollars each, fractional sums may occur
which may be advanced from the Treasury without inconveni-
ence, as an equal amount in the undistributed shares of stock
would necessarily be retained and which, when sold with the
accumulating dividends, would soon reimburse the State.
It is proper that I state that this remnant of public bounty
under an act for the education of the poor, passed by the last
Legislature, was transferred from the Central Bank to the
Treasury, where I hope it will remain untouched unless for
the specific object to which it was originally dedicated. Be
the dividends large or small, one desirable object will be
attained, that of certainty in a fund reliable for some a-
mount. It will give the assurance that the plan of general
education, commended to our care by every political and so-
cial consideration, is not abandoned. The amount received
from the fund during the last year and subject to distribution
was $2,225. The estimated amountof the current year will
be $18,000.
In connection with this subject I would respectfully refer
you to the constitutional requirement in relation to the liberal
and continuing endowment of one or more seminaries of learn-
ing. Its obvious purpose was to elevate as well as to diffuse
Hearning. Both plans are constitutionally united, and in the
spirit of their original conception should move harmoniously
together. The means of a liberal education were intended
to be cheap and easily accessible to the aspiring youth, who
has no other fortune than his genius and perseverence—who
springs up vigorously in the midst of the people and partakes
their sympathies.—To-day they are his patrons, to-morrow he
is their advocate. This is a part of the policy of our educa-
tional system, which was planned by ancestral wisdom and
perpetuated by constitutional command.
I transmit here with copies of several Executive Orders
which have been issued within the two years past. Among
them is a respite of the sentence of Charles Jones, convicted
of murder in the Superior Court of Lumpkin county, and
whose execution is suspended until the 14th day of December
next. A transcript of the evidence in this case is also trans-
mitted. Also an order to suspend an execution issued on a
forfeited recognizance against Mrs. Sarah McKean, one of
the securities for the appearance of Thomas C. McKean-
Also an order in behalf of Samuel F. Jones, one of the secu-
rities of the late defaulting Tax Collector of Macon county.—
The motives which influenced the passing of these orders are
stated in their preambles.


()
Executions have been issued against the Bank of Mill-
edgeville and the Commercial Bank of Macon for the Tax
on their respective capital stock, and have been suspended in
consequence of a reduction of their capitals by loss or oth-
erwise. It is proper to state that these banks have paid the
Tax due on their stock which is actual and operated on.—
The question which was presented to my mind when these
executions were ordered to be issued, was in relation to the
capacity of the stockholders to reduce at pleasure their cap-
ital stock. The correlative right to increase it could only ex-
ist by legal permission. It is believed that the right to reduce
the capitals of Banks has appertained exclusively to the Leg-
islature, and has not been conceded in any instance in grant-
ing a charter. The converse of this proposition is not true,
as authority is frequently given which permits an increase of
capital stock. In cases of loss of capital it is equitable that
the tax should not be collected. Like other perishable pro-
perty the legal exemption should be extended to it. As a
check upon the expansion and contraction of Banking capi-
tal, it is recommended that a law be passed which will perma-
nently limit the capital stock of each Bank to the amount
which shall be returned as liable to taxation. This restric-
tion may not interfere with the rights secured under existing
charters, as it will present the alternative proposition either
to pay the tax on the maximum of capital heretofore report-
ed, or reduce theircapital without the power of here after in-
creasing it. Such Banks as have been legally authorised to
reduce their capitals, of course are excluded from the opera-
tion of the proposed law.
The great increase of the inmates of the Lunatic Asylum
imposes the necessity of enlarging the comforts of the institu-
tion. The number, as reported by the Trustees, is sixty-
three—a large majority of whom are recipients of the bounty
secured by an act of the last Legislature to this indigent and
afflicted class of our population. That act relieved the coun-
ties of heavy burthens created by the legal obligation of sup-
porting their poor. This item of their expenses would be
greatly increased, when it is considered that to the duty of
providing food and raiment for these indigents, may be sup-
eradded that of furnishing the curative means to these mental-
ly afflicted. In respect to the expenditures necessary to the
bodily comforts of the insane poor, it would seem equitable
that this charge should be borne by the counties from which
each is sent, whilst the healing process of the mind should
devolve as a gratuity and a duty on the State. A moiety of the
amount usually allowed as a support of each sane indigent
person would be adequate to the maintenance of an insane
pauper in the Asylum—or at least would in some degree
relieve the Treasury of this burthen, which, under the opera-

l{}
tion of the poor-laws should be sustained by the counties, at-
cording to the number of lunatics each may send to the Asy-
lum, Viewed only as a pecuniary question it would be more
advantageous to the counties that their paupers were all in-
sane, as thereby an entire suspension of the beneficent laws
for the protection and care of the poor would be produced.—
Whatever may be your conclusion as to this equitable claim
—that each county should provide at all times personal com-
forts for its poor—the obligation of the State to minister to
the diseased mind is now too imperative to be overlooked or
avoided. The usefulness of the institution will be promoted
by the completion of the unfinished building which was orig-
inally intended for the reception and cure of male patients.-
As the salaries of its officers are placed in the discretion of the
Trustees and Executive, it is recommended that they, as in
other cases, be fixed by law, and increased in proportion to
services rendered.
The incurring of debt by States or individuals may be ac-
complished when the object is pursued perseveringly. Its
reduction or payment is a more painful task, arising doubt-
less from the contrarient motives influencing the two trans-
actions. The expedients of the present suggest the facili-
ties for the future, and hence accumulation of liabilities sel-
dom gives alarm, except to that class whose virtue abhors
indebtedness not less at its existence than inception. To pay
promptly and fully will counteract the temptation to borrow
incautiously. The greater portion of the public debt of the
State was, in some respects, the result of the beguilement of
the times. Fortunately its amount is not so large, compared
with the resources of the State, as to induce any default on
her part. By the report of the Treasurer the entire debt of
the State, arising from the several appropriations for the
Western and Atlantic Railroad, amounts to the sum of $1,-
727,760. In this amount is included the debt of Messrs.
Reid, Irving & Co., which, after estimating the premiums on
exchange and all incidental charges, is placed at the sum
of $292,510. This debt bears an interest of five per centum,
which is payable in London; though really after discharging
all commissions and costs, it may be reckoned at a rate ex-
ceeding six per centum per annum. Hence it was an object
of consideration with this Department, under the act of the
last Legislature, that these sterling bonds be commuted into
Federal bonds, bearing an interest of six per centum, paya-
ble at the Treasury—and, accordingly, a proposition to this
effect was made to Messrs. Reid, Irving & Co., which was
declined. The Bank of Augusta also held sterling bonds
umounting to the sum of $302,500, which was changed into
Federal bonds. This arrangement operated beneficially to
both parties, as each saved the heavy expenses usual in the

11.
transfer of funds from the United States to Europe, or their
disbursement in the latter place.
The law of the last Legislature providing for the extin-
guishment of the debt due Messrs. Reid, Irving & Co., has
not been fulfilled. A sale of bonds as authorised by that act
could not be effected at the price and in amounts desired.
These gentlemen have made a proposition to receive pay-
ºnent of the remainder of their debt due by the State, by
estimating the pound sterling at four dollars and eighty cents
—the same to be paid in the city of New York—and allowing
interest at the rate of five per cent per annum for sixty days
from the date of the payment, being the usual period con-
ceded for the maturity of bills of exchange between this
country and Europe. The proposition is limited to the time
when the Legislature shall adjourn, and is, in my opinion,
one that ought to be acceded to. The character of the debt
and the patience of the creditors should induce on our part a
strenuous effort to rid ourselves of a claim which has been
too long suspended in its payment. With the expectation
that the Legislature will early provide for the settlement of
this just demand against the State, I have made enquiry as
to the probability of raising the necessary funds on advan-
tageous terms, by which these creditors may be fully requited
in their debt. The negotiation for a loan is pending, and I
hope before your session closes to be enabled to advise you of
its successful termination.
The sum of $100,000 has been paid to Mess. Reid, Ir-
ving & Co, and the interest on the public debt has been dis-
charged whenever demanded at the Treasury. At the com-
mencement of the present year an Executive order was
issued, permitting the payment of interest six months in
advance of the time when due. As the funds were in the
Treasury and incapable of being used, it was deemed proper,
as a convenience to the public creditor, and that the order
referred to might safely be executed without injury to the
Treasury. It was intended to aid public credit, and will be
persevered in without legislative prohibition, or the Treasury
be incapable of anticipating and bearing its burthens. Kin-
dred to this scheme is the authority to invest trust funds in
State securities. The right should be permissive only, and
whenever faithfully exercised, the trustee should be fully
protected. Such a law would facilitate the administration
of estates, and invite, by reason of its security the worthy
to cngage in their management. Indeed it would be an ad
ditional protection to estates—as the opinion is hazarded that
if the funds of estates had been invested in State-securities,
and even at their nominal valueless loss would have occurred
than will probably happen under their present management.
At your last assemblage the funds of the Treasury ren.

| 2-
sisted exclusively of the depreciated bills of the Central Bank.
Issued upon and sustained by the credit of the State, it was
palpable that if they were again put into circulation that
their depreciation would be progressive and lingering, and in
the mean time its sympathetic effect would be felt throughout
the entire fiscal operations of the State. The large and im-
mediate disbursements consequent on the adjournment of the
Legislature threatened the necessity of their reissue, as the
act which authorised the funding of $150,000 at seven per
centum, offered its succo too late for the emergency and too
disrelishing as to profit. Under the act of 1840 which au-
thorised the issue of bonds bearing an interest of eight per
centum per annum, all the Banks with the exception of
three, in Savannah and Augusta gave their kindly aid in
restoring specie payments at the 'Treasury. They received
the bonds of the Central Bank in lieu of their own bills which
were then and have continued at par, at a time when the
narkotable value of the bills of the Central Bank were at a
discount of from two to four per centum, and whose full com-
mercial valne was not attained till the month of May of
the last year. This serviceable arrangement was completed,
after much delay and apparent reluctance on the part of the
Banks, only a few days before the adjournment of the last
Legislature. The sequel has illustrated its anticipated ben-
efits. Specie payments were resumed and have been since
maintained at the Treasury—the currency has become sound
—and State credit is advancing to its proper and honorable
position.
The bills of the State banks which circulate as money are
considered as valuable as coin. When the one bears a close
proportion to the other, no permanent injury can befall the
hill-holder. The relation between the banks and bill hold.
ºrs may be said to be almost universal. As it began in
confidence so it should end in punctuality. It is the duty of
the Legislature to supply any defect in the existing laws
on this subject, to the end that this general relation be-
ween banks and bill holders may be maintained without
harm to the latter.
The balance in the Treasury on the first inst., exclusive
of the taxes of the present year and the poor school fund,
a mounts to the sum of $91,616 3s. This amount will be
liminished by payments of the last quarter of the civil es-
tablishment of the current year, to teachers of poor children
for the years 1842 and 1843, and other charges, the aggre-
gate amount of which is estimated at $46,000. It may be
assumed as true that a balance of $45,000, after defraying
all demands on the Treasury, will enain and be available
in the government during the ensuing year. It was found
ºn paying the accounts of some of the counties for arrentages

13
due to the teachers of poor children, that some of them won tº
so large in amount, that, if the other counties which had
put in no claims to the fund were to exhibit their demands
in the same ratio, the fund itself would have been insufficient
to have inct such demands. In cases where the demand
was large, the payment was restricted in amount so as to
guard against a deficiency of the fund. Even in these cases
the amounts received are larger than any sum at any time
heretofore obtained for free school purposes. Nor can it es-
cape notice that as the means of supply from the Treasury
for free schools became less certain and smaller, the tendency
to indebtedness was vehemently increased. The amount al-
ready paid on this head is $5,711.23. -
The Act of 1826 was obviously intended to equalize the
salaries of the Executive officers of the State, and require
the perquisites which might accrue in their respective offices
to be paid into the Treasury. Accordingly an Executive
order was issued shortly after I came into office, requiring
that all emoluments, other than those of the salaries of the
officers should be paid where the law directs. Subsequent-
ly it was found that the posterior Act of 1839, remarkable
for its phraseology, gave to the Comptroller General and
Treasurer certain perquisites on the issuing of Pedler's It-
censes. In the conflict of the two acts just referred to, it
was not deemed prudent to relax, or rescind, the order,
as it was believed that instances had theretofore occurred,
when these offices had been used for other than public pur-
poses. The amount received within the two years last
past, on account of Pedler's licenses has been kept as
a separate fund, subject to the decision of the Leg-
islature, to whose judgment it is respectfully referred,
with the remark that the claims of the Comptroller Genera:
and Treasurer, are, in my opinion of legal validity, and un-
less allowed, it will be the part of equal justice to demand
restitution of the sums respectively received by their prede.
cessors since the passage of the last mentioned act. Inti
mately connected with this subject is a grave question. As
a source of revenue to the State, the profits from Pedler's li
censes are small, after deducting all the incidental expenses.
The injury inflicted on the stationary merchant, who is heav-
ily taxed, is less to be considered than the danger of placing
the itinerant trader in contact with all classes of our popula:
tion. Whilst this mode of traffic at the doors of our citizens
is considered convenient, social security is to be regarded as
a paramount duty. It is therefore submitted whether the
income to the State from this source of taxation should not
be surrendered, and the price of a Podler's license he fixed
by the luſorior Court of each county, to whom it shall be

14
raid with the restriction that each pedler shall confine his
operations, under a certain penalty, within the limits of such
Counties as he shall have previously been licensed to trade
in. Should it be the will of the legislature to retain the pre-
sent system, Hthen recommend that the tax be increased, and
the perquisites arising therefrom paid into the Treasury.
I submit copies of a report made by R. R. Cuyler, Esq.
of the management and condition of the Darien Bank. It
is to be regretted that that institution within a few years
past has been subjected to abuse and peculation. Before its
assets were turned over to the Central Bank, according to
the act of 1841, its credit had been exposed to the wildest
and most unprofitable speculations. These were based essen-
tially on the credit of the State as she was the principal
stockholder. When the assets of the Bank were, in accor-
dance with the provisions of the act just referred to, placed
under the control of the Central Bank, one of its officers was
charged mainly with the collection of its debts. The report,
of Mr. Cuyler represented this officer as in arrear for a large
amount, for the recovery of which suits are now pending
against him and his securities in the Superior Court of Bald:
win county. The liability of the State, as a stockholder,
for her proportion of the outstanding circulation of the Bank
is unquestionable. The estimated amount of this liability
may not exceed sixty thousand dollars after the available as-
sets of the Bank are realised. Unless otherwise directed it
shall be the policy of this Department to effect the collection
of the debts due the Bank with convenient despatch.
As with the Darien Bank, another commission, authorised
by a resolution of the last Legislature, has examined into the
condition of the Central Bank of Georgia. The labors of
this latter commission have just ended. Originally it was
composed of Messrs. Hunter, Loyd and Beall, who entered
upon the duties of their appointment last spring, and at that
time had completed their report with the exception of the
probable value of the assets of the Bank which were placed
in suit. Upon my suggestion they adjourned to meet again
at such period when the necessary information for a fair esti-
mate of the value of the claims in the hands of attormies
tnight be procured. In the mean time, one of the committee,
Mr. John F. Loyd, departed this life with the regret of all
who knew him personally or by reputation. It was not deem-
ed necessary to supply his place, as his successor would have
been required only to express an opinion upon a single sub-
ject, and that too only upon documentary evidence, which, to-
gether with the report is at the command of the Legislature.
The committee report that on the 13th day of October of
the present year the unredeemed circulation of the Bank was
-

15
$67,750—its estimated resources $475,385 71—and liabili-
ties $840,609 64. The estimated loss may therefore be
placed at the sum of $364,223 93. This amount may be
decreased by a loss of the bills which will never be presented
for redemption. Probably the sum of forty or fifty thousand
dollars may be placed to the credit of the Bank from this
Rource. -
With the exception of a President and Cashier, all other
officers of the Bank were discharged as early as the begin-
ning of the present year. No reduction was required on the
salaries of the retained officers, as heavy duties were imposed
upon them. The policy of winding up the Bank is regarded as
necessary and sound. The institution was originally defec-
tive in its organization, by requiring loans, almost compul-
sory, over an area of sixty thousand square miles by a di-
rection numerically small and always residing at the centre.
The scheme was full of difficulty and peril, yet with the early
restriction imposed on the line of discounts which made the
institution only a loan office of present capital, only a few and
unavoidable losses were sustained. When, however, the
character of the Bank was essentially changed, and the na-
ked credit of the State was substituted on the alleged ground
of releiving individual necessities, the number of applica-
tions for loans was multiplied and the chances of loss pro-
portionally increased. -
Thus the credit of the State was abused by inviting the
people to lean on the government, when, rightfully, govern-
ment should be supported by the people.
The profits and liabilities of the Bank belong exclusively
to the State. Numerous pledges have been given by succes-
sive Legislatures that the State was responsible for every li-
ability created by the Bank. It is presumed that such is
now the unanimous opinion of both branches of the present
General Assembly. Therefore in prospect of reducing
these liabilities, consisting in bonds bearing an interest of
eight per cent. per annum, as well in the belief that the State
credit will shortly advance to par, it is recommended that
authority be given to redeem these outstanding bonds by the
substitution of others at a lower rate of interest. It may be
proper to remark that there is nothing inhibitory in the con-
tract between the State and the bondholder, as there is an
express reservation in each bond that it may be redeemed at
the will of the State.
In carrying into effect the law relative to the reverted
lands of the State, it was discovered that the books of this
Department, in some instances, had been altered, forged, and
erased. In such cases, the granting of lots was arrested by
ºn Executive order, on the ground, that, by the delusive en-
tries, fair competition had been destroyed. There are ma-

10
my lots in this situation supposed to be of value, which are
ungranted, and will require legislative action. With a view
of avoiding the turbulence and heart-burnings consequent
upon a reduction of the price of grants, and early closing the
books of the several lotteries, I recommend that all ungrant-
ed lots be sold, except such as are excepted in the Act of
eighteen hundred and forty-three—that notice be given, and
sales made at Milledgeville under the direction of the Sur-
veyor General. This being accomplished would leave only a
small share of public service to be performed by the Survey-
or General, and might lead to a union of his office with that
of the Secretary of State, who might readily perform the du
ties of both.
The State by sales of large portions of her territory, em-
bracing entire districts of counties and fractions, gave,
through her agents appointed for the purpose, certificates of
purchase. It is thought that the purchasers have acquired
possession, in many instances, without having perfected their
titles, though grants were required to perfect them. I
submit to the Legislature the propriety of passing some law,
by which the terms of such sales may be consummated.—
Failing to adopt some measure of this kind, I cannot per-
ceive by what equitable right the State can retain the grant
fees in the cases of those who have paid for their purchases.
It can be no infringement of the contract that all the parties
be required to perform their respective parts;–failure on ei-
ther side should be visited by the penalty of forfeiture after
reasonable notice.
It is thought that large quantities of land are ungranted in
the State which have never been surveyed, or if surveyed
have never been legally disposed of. It is therefore recom-
mended that authority be given for their sale under such
terms as it shall be the will of the Legislature to prescribe.
The State owns a valuable freehold interest in the cont-
mons of certain towns and cities. She has no motive to re-
tain, but every inducement to sell it. It is equitable, as
this species of property has been enhanced in value, by rea-
son of the location of a town, or city, and its improvements,
that a portion of the proceeds of the sale be given to the
corporate authorities of such town, or city, when a sale takes
place. I recommend that only a moiety of such sale be re-
tained by the State.
The disorganized condition of the militia in some sections
of the State, is a subject of regret. The reports of the Di-
vision Inspectors will show the feebleness and inefficiency of
the military system of the State. It requires amendment.
Aside from the volunteer companies and a few exceptions, this
part of the public duty of the citizen is performed reluctant-
!y, or not performed at all. The coercive power of law is
17
represented as having lost its energy. In all such cases new/
modes of enforcement should be adopted. Officers intent
upon their duty should be armed with the necessary authori-
ty to execute their commissions, and their sentence, legally
pronounced, have the force and effect of a judicial judgment.
Such an amendment of the military law of the State, it is
thought, would remove the difficulty which usually attends
fines and penalties when imposed by Courts-Martial.
The claims on the United States for payments made by
this State to her militia for services rendered during the In-
dian troubles and warfare in Florida, within our limits and
on our frontier since the year eighteen hundred and thirty-
five, remain unsatisfied. Early after your adjournment the
attention of the Secretary at War was called to them, and
certain views sought to be impressed on that Department as
to the proper construction of the Act of 1841 which provid-
ed for their partial payment. It was not the pleasure of the
then Secretary to reply; though the subject was renewed on
an application made by that Department for a purchase of
Cockspur Island, on which the Federal Government is erect-
ing a defence for the harbor and city of Savannah. From
an examination of these claims it appears that certain ac-
counts were paid by the authorities of the State, which, ac-
cording to the official stringency at Washington in settling
accounts, were not allowed, and hence rejected. In some
cases more plenary proof has been required, when owing to
our migratory population it was incapable of being furnish-
ed. Under the existing law and its construction I have con-
ceived it to be a fruitless task to comply with the requirements
of those who are charged with the liquidation of these claims.
Mr. Poinsett, who was at the head of the War Department
when these services were rendered, recommended their full
payment. The emergency doubtless called for expenditures
which legally might have been denied, still they have been
paid by Georgia in good faith to the soldiery hastily called in-
to the service of the United States and without the limits of
this State. This claim may be delayed in its payment—yet
the history of the Federal Government furnishes the hope
that sooner or later a liberal equity will preside over its coun-
sels. Within the last two years the State has received only
thirteen thousand dollars on these claims, which sum is not
equal to the interest on the balance due and unpaid. Indeed
it may be added that the whole amount received from the
General Government scarcely exceeds the interest on the
sum actually paid by the State.
The experiment of biennial sessions has so far acted bene-
ficially, particularly on the pecuniary affairs of the State.
It has given, in some degree, permanence to our laws, and
saved the excitement and turmoil incident to annual elec-
*

ls
tions. It is, however, objectionable in relation to an exami-
nation into the condition of the public debt and the Treasury
in each alternate year. The act of 1843 should be amended
so that the power of appointment of the committee to per-
form this service be taken away from the Executive and ex-
ercised by the Legislature. Such an alteration would pre-
serve the popular check on public officers, as emanating di-
rectly from the representatives of the people. Indeed, I re-
commend in reference to the great interests of the State, that
nothing may be left to Executive discretion except those ca-
ses for which legislative enactment cannot fully provide. It
may be stated in connection with this subject, that certain
expenditures, subject to the discretionary action of the Exe-
cutive should be restricted by specific appropriations. Of
this class is the pay of the State House guard, and the
salary of the Messenger of the Executive Department.—
Equally objectionable is the classification under the head of
contingencies, are overpayments by tax collectors on account
of the insolvent lists, and repayments of grant fees, when
the same lot has been twice granted, or from other cause.
These might be placed under distinct appropriations, spe-
cific as to object and general as to amount. Proper le-
gislation in these respects would take away the necessity or
pretence for a large contingent fund, which, above all others,
is most obnoxious to abuse.
By the Federal Constitution Congress is authorized to de-
termine the time of choosing the Electors of President and
Vice President of the United States. Heretofore this power
had been exercised by the States, which had appointed dif-
ferent periods for the election of their electors. The last
Congress passed an act which requires the elections in the
several States to be on the same day. As the constitutional
grant is positive, and Congress has exercised the right, it is
the duty of each State as a faithful confederate, to conform
its legislation accordingly.
Apart from the necessary alteration to be made in this re-
spect, I suggest the propriety of revising the several laws in
relation to elections. Two lists of the voters should be filed
in the office of the clerk of the Superior Court of each coun-
county, and subject always to public inspection. Every
means should be provided for the safe and proper exercise
of the elective franchise, as it is infinitely too valuable to be
exposed, with impunity, to abuse. This Department has re-
ceived only ninety-one returns of the late election for Gover-
nor. Eighty-seven of the number only have any post marks
by which to ascertain the county whence they came. In the
legislative returns from the counties of Dade and Lowndes,
certificates of election for Governor were enclosed. These
irregularities were sought to be obviated by a circular which


19
º
was issued by this Department during the present year, un-
der authority of a resolution passed in the year 1837, and
addressed to the several clerks of the Superior Courts of the
State.
The Executive appointments made since your last assem-
blage and proper for your action, are those of the Honorable
W. C. Dawson as Judge of the Superior Courts of the Oc-
mulgee District on the resignation of his predecessor in of-
fice; of James L. Pierce, Esq., as Solicitor General of the
Chattahoochee District, on the death of M. Williams, Esq.,
the duly elected officer; and of Samuel Hall, Esq., as So-
licitor General of the Flint District, on the resignation of the
prior incumbent.
In the execution of the law of the last Legislature rela-
tive to the Western and Atlantic Rail Road, I have not
been enabled to sell or complete it. The proposition to sell
was met by no corresponding offer to buy. The terms,
which were in some respects limited to Executive discretion,
were published in several Gazettes of the State, and intended
to secure equal privileges to the two branch Rail Roads con-
necting with the State-road. It is the part of honorable du-
ty, if at any period the State should sell this road, that these
branch roads should be placed on a basis of perfect equality.
But whether sold or retained, hastened or delayed in its pro-
gress, it should be regarded as the fixed policy of the State that
its ultimate completion must be effected between the termini
originally designated. The necessity and wisdom of this work,
notwithstanding the wasteful outlays of money upon it, will
be illustrated—and are now in process of being illustrated—
by alleviating distress which may arise from natural or ar-
tificial causes, and developing new sources of wealth, which,
in its expansion, will mitigate taxation.
The Report of the Chief Engineer is herewith submitted,
which shows that fifty-two miles of the road are now in suc-
cessful operation, and that the income from it for the first
month, and at a distance of twenty miles only, has been
$1,200. Other and important facts are stated in the report,
which will doubtless commend themselves to your considera-
tion.
The contract for eighteen hundred and forty tons Railroad
iron is explained by the Chief Engineer. The enhanced
value of this commodity in England during the last year ex-
plains the bad faith of the contractors and the duress in
which the State was placed. The excess of price as charg-
ed by them above the customary rates when the contract
was made, created a balance exceeding the appropriation, of
$14,000. No alternative was left except to suspend the work
or take the iron according to the terms demanded. If time
had been allowed, and railing had been scught elsewhere, the

20
State would have been compelled to have paid at least
twenty-five dollars more on the ton. It was a clear case of
necessity, dictated by the iron mongers, in consequence of the
accidental fluctuation of the market. It was deemed the
most economical plan to take the iron after obtaining pecu-
niary concessions made by all the parties, innocently or
wickedly engaged in this fraudulent transaction. I author-
ized the Chief Engineer to hypothecate a part of the Bonds
as security for a loan at seven per cent, as being in my judg-
ment the most economical mode of using the appropriation.
But one other plan was left, which was the sale of the Bonds
at a discount of six per cent.
As all the Bonds, amounting to the sum of $270,000, under
the appropriation for the Rail Road, were issued during the
last year and used in small amounts according to the neces-
sities of the work, a large back interest had accrued. Only
so much of it has been used as was necessary to fulfil con-
tracts of the class just referred to.
During the present year a corresponcence was opened with
the Secretary of the Treasury for the purpose of suspend-
ing the collection of duties on Rail Road iron imported by
the State. He replied and alleged his want of authority.—
The claim of the State to have the duties refunded already
paid by it, is equitable and just ; and it is thought from the
recent action of the Senate of the United States, a proper
consideration will be taken of those works, in the completion
of which time was an essential element, and especially such as
were commenced when Rail Road iron was not dutiable.—
I respectfully suggest the propriety of expressing legislative
will on this subject, with a view to relief.
As an incident usual to the opening of a Rail Road, I re-
gret to say that a serious accident has happened by which
severe personal injury was inflicted on the Chief and Assis-
tant Engineers and conductor. This misfortune is alleviat-
ed by the hope that no life will be lost.
However advantageous the immediate extension of the
Road to Cross Plains may be, an increase of the public debt
cannot now be recommended. To hasten slowly was once
the remark of successful ambition. Its force should not now
be lost upon us, when we have profitable examples of seas-
onable delays in other enterprizes of like character, and as
heavy burthens are overlaying the public credit. If the ex-
tension be urged, it should be made upon the funds and cred-
it of the Road, with a limitation that a certain amount shall
not be exceeded—and that too at periods when the work may
be done economically and advantageously to the State.
According to the report of the Principal Keeper of the
Penitentiary, the condition of that institution is prosperous.
Under his skilful management it has produced a nett income

21
of $8,987 83 the present year. Whatever may have here-
tofore been the large and unrequited outlays of money on ac-
count of this institution, thereby making it a distasteful bur-
then on the people, the problem is now solved that convict
labor may be so applied as to remunerate the public Treas-
ury and satisfy that active philanthrophy which looked to
uilt and its atonements—that preserved life and reformed
i. offender. The exercise of the pardoning power accor-
ding to an Executive order of last year, it is believed, has act-
ed beneficially on their conduct by stimulating the hope of
the convicts. The worst of all calamities is when a man
despairs of himself.
The trades pursued in the institution are not intended ma-
terially to interfere with the regular and honest mechanics.
The principal pursuit is the making and working leather in
most of its forms of use. These fabrics do not supply one
fiftieth part of the consumption of the State.
An appropriation of a small amount is recommended so as
to cover any demands when the fabrics of the institution may
not be available, but with the condition that the same be re-
placed in the Treasury within the space of twelve months af.
ter the same shall have been drawn. Also, that authority
be given to employ master-workmen as overseers at a price
exceeding the present limits, and the salaries of some of the
principal officers of the Institution be increased.
In the revision of an act of the last Legislature authoriz-
ing the creation of certain corporations, defining their rights
and privileges and providing a mode for changing the names
of individuals, some embarrassment was felt in consequence
of the action of my immediate predecessor on the subject.
In the year 1789 an act was passed, and it is believed to be
now in force, whereby the Executive was vested with au-
thority to incorporate churches, limiting his power to grant
only such charters as were similar to those conferred on the
two churches designated in the act. In the mean time re-
peated legislation has occurred in relation to the delegation
of the appointing power to certain offices, which in the early
period of the government had been exclusively exercised by
Legislature. It is to be noticed that in most instances when
this power has been transferred by and from the Legislature,
the Judiciary, in some of its branches, has been made the
depositary. In the exercise of this delegated power it is
thought that no case has arisen in which its constitutional com-
petence over the subject has been seriously doubted or au-
thoritatively denied. In 1841 the Legislature conferred up-
on the Superior Courts of this State authority to change the
names of individuals. In accordance with these precedents
I sanctioned the bill of the last Legislature, and now recom-
-
-
º-º-

22
Ž.
mend that its provisions may be so altered, that that right
belong exclusively to the Superior Courts.
On the eye of the adjournment of the last Legislature sev-
eral bills were presented for my approval, which were in my
opinion defective as to their captions or imperfect as to mean-
ing (doubtless the result of engrossing) or irregular as to
the periods when read in both branches of the General As-
sembly. Otherwise they presented no objection, and are
herewith returned to the respective branehes of the Legisla-
ture in which they originated. -
The several resolutions ºf the last Legislature which im-
posed duties on this Department, have been carried into ef-
feet or are in progress of fulfilment. In several cases the
required services have been performed, but which have not
been compensated on the ground that money can not be ap-
propriated by resolution. These will require legislative at-
tention.
A change of plan in the education of the indigent deaf and
dumb of the State was contemplated by resolution of the
hast Legislature. The commissioner of the State for that un-
fortunate class, has reported favorably to the Cedar Valley
Academy in Paulding county. His report on this subject,
with accompanying documents, are in this Department sub-
ject to the command of the Legislature.
Several reports of public officers are herewith submitted,
as well as abstracts of the Executive warrants drawn during
the fiscal year just terminated.
The Arsenal on the Capitol Square is not well adapted to
the purpose for which it was constructed, and is insecure by
reason of its decaying condition. It should be removed to
some spot near the Penitentiary, rebuilt on an economi-
cal plan, and placed under the guard of that institution. In
that event the office of Military Store Keeper at this place
may be abolished. The powder in the magazines of the
State has become useless from age. I recommend that a
fresh supply may be purchased.
A number of resolutions from different States of the Union
+have been forwarded to this Department, copies of which
are herewith transmitted. I cannot fail to remark in rela-
tion to those pertaining to the controversy between Massachu-
setts and South Carolina and Louisana, that the two latter
States are defending their own reserved and sovereign rights
—that their cause is our cause and their destiny our destiny.
They deserve our sympathy and should have our aid.
In closing a message embracing the local events of two
years, and perhaps tedious in detail, I would invoke a
union of counsel and action, as constituting our safety and
strength.
GEO. W. CRAWFORD,
}
-¿
§§

37
& #/2
stokº Cú
W L 1 g
MESSAGE
OF THE
Governor of Georgia
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JULY 1, 1909
Atlanta, Ga.
Chas. P. Byrd, State Printer.
1909, -

MESSAGE
OF THE
Governor of Georgia
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JULY 1, 1909
Atlanta, Ga.
Chas. P. Byrd, State Printer.
1909.
&c'hāś
-i ºf ary -
Jniversity of Minnesºtá.
9% (º
&
DEC 2 3
MESSAGE.
ATLANTA, July 1, 1909.
STATE OF GEORGIA,
ExEGUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
To the, General Ass embly:
At the threshold of the assumption of the duties
which the call of a free people has imposed upon
us, it is well to remember the constitutional limita-
tions of each department of the State government,
and, while maintaining the integrity and independ-
ence of each within its proper sphere as the surest
safe-guard of our republican institutions, to so
generously co-operate that our united labors may
enlarge the benefits of the public service, and thus
fulfill our obligations as faithful servants of the
people.
While the Executive may recommend legislation,
the duty and the responsibility of making laws must,
and should rest upon you as the chosen agents of
the people to give legislative expression to their
will.
4.
In full recognition of this responsibility, and in
a kindly spirit of comity and co-operation, I beg to
lay before you certain matters which to me seem
timely and expedient.
A CONSTRUCTIVE GEORGIA.
In endeavoring to solve the problems confronting
liS 8.S the result of events reaching back into the
years 1905-'06, we must ever have in mind the motto
words of our great State: “Wisdom, Justice,
Moderation.” We must put behind us animosity,
discard denunciation, and accord to those who differ
with us the right to hold individual opinions and
to exercise individual judgments—the right guaran-
teed to all by the spirit of our institutions and the
letter of our laws.
Moved by this, spirit, let me quote to you the fol-
lowing words from the Democratic platform, where-
under the people of this commonwealth.entrusted the
administration of their affairs to our hands: - .
“We pledge, not only to citizens of this State, but
to citizens of other States, that all capital invested
in legitimate enterprises in Georgia, whether foreign
OI’ domestic, corporate or private, shall have the
equal. protection of the laws, and the equal friendly
consideration of those who administer the laws.’’
5
The above words are but an amplification of the
principle enunciated in the Bill of Rights of the
Constitution of Georgia:
‘‘Protection to person and property is the para-
mount duty of government and shall be impartial
and complete.”
Hence, we find the synonymous words “equal’’
and “impartial” in the two mandates which declare
the will of the sovereign people.
“Equality” and “Impartiality,” therefore, we
may esteem the key-words in the State's relation-
ship to the citizen: equality of obligation by
the citizen to the State; equality of opportu-
nity for the citizen with the citizen; and equal-
ity of protection to the citizen by the State.
And this equality or impartiality the State explicitly
decrees shall apply to property exactly as it does
to the citizen. Just as there shall be no discrimina-
tion against a citizen in favor of other citizens, so
there shall be no discrimination against One species
of legitimate property in favor of other species of
legitimate property. All must obey the law, and
all while obeying the law, must be protected in
equality of rights. And if there be found abuses in
the handling of property, we must apply the hands
of the law to those who abuse their trust, instead of
impairing or destroying the income of the innocent;
for events have proved that when we destroy, or
seriously curtail that income, we force out of em-
ployment thousands of Georgia’s sons of toil, whose
wages, while providing sustenance for their families,
are distributing benefits in every community wherein
they dwell. Therefore, upon equality, or fairness,
is built up prosperity, and the State whose laws
command or permit the contrary, invites catastrophe.
With equality as a standard, let the people’s will be
done. In fraternity and co-operation let us move
forward a constructive Georgia.
But we cannot have a constructive Georgia if we
have not capital. And we have not as the posses-
Sion of Georgians, capital sufficient to develop her
Water powers; to erect factories for the operation
of which we have so many varied resources; to
build railroads of which some of our counties have
not one, (while none of them have all they need,) and
to furnish more banking capital, of which we are
vastly behind our necessary limit. The shortage
thus existing reaches not merely into every indus-
trial and commercial centre, but into practically
every farmer’s home in Georgia. -
Therefore, to induce foreign capital hither, we
must guarantee to it not only the protection of its
*
principal, but as certainly the protection of its
power to earn a reasonable income. That protec-
tion must be, as our State Constitution says,
“impartial.” It must be as our convention plat-
form said, “equal.” The capitalist from outside
of the State must have the guarantee that his money
invested in Georgia shall have the same rights,
whether invested in public utility-corporations or
otherwise, as has the Georgian’s money invested like-
wise in his own State—the same, no more, no less.
The people of Georgia ratified the above pledge
that the guarantee of the organic law of this State
is the guarantee of its citizenship; and I have full
confidence that every law you enact, every resolu-
tion you pass will cheerfully confirm it as the judg-
ment and pledge of your official and personal man-
hood. -
It would be unfortunate should public utility cor-
porations misinterpret the spirit of a constructive
conservatism approving a fair and just treatment
of their interests, as a license authorizing hurtful
discriminations, or the exaction of unjust tariff
rates. Fair treatment by the State of these artificial
persons carries reciprocal obligation of a just, im-
partial and courteous public service which brings
its own reward in the creation of a generous public
favor, the safest shield against hostile laws; while
8
a service indifferent to the rights, needs and com-
forts of the people is sure to bring about those oft
recurring periods of anti-corporation activity, re-
sulting in harsh and retaliatory measures that rarely
fall short of vindictive reprisals.
We should, however, not lose sight of the fact
that corporations are but the property of people:
and that besides those of our fellow citizens (voters)
and citizens of other States who exercise directly the
powers of ownership, there are upwards of 2,000
Georgia women, 700 estates of deceased Georgians
and 80 educational and eleemosynary corporations,
among which are one asylum for blind children,
several orphan asylums, several endowed hospitals,
colleges, church funds, and the like; in other words
those who are the wards of the very conscience of
our civilization, thus making it imperative that dis-
cernment be exercised in the application of the laws,
yet, corporations, it must be said, are not without
blame for public sentiment in regard to their acts;
hence, it is proper to state clearly that the full power
vested in the Executive shall be used to protect the
people against any unjust conduct on the part of
corporations.
PROMPT PAYMENT OF TEACHERs.
One of the matters of greatest concern to the
future welfare and prosperity of our State is the
proper support and maintenance of our common
school system. While it is by no means a perfect
system, we should not lose interest in it, but should
carefully adopt such means and plans as may be
necessary for its betterment. One of the greatest
drawbacks is our manner in paying the teachers.
The State is one year behind in making these pay-
ments, that is to say, in the main, the money for
paying teachers’ salaries for this year will not be
collected until the latter part of December, when
the taxes are paid into the treasury. -
The teachers are faithful servants of the people
and should be paid with the same regularity as the
State pays all her other officers. All agree as to
this proposition. It has been before the public
for many years, with the result that our teachers
have received fair promises, but not prompt pay-
ments. They, alone, have been denied the benefits
of that key-word “equality.” It does seem to me
that the application of a few business ideas might
relieve the situation and accomplish the desired end.
The teacher alone, of all the officers of the State,
is required to discount his or her salary account
10
against the State, and lose from eight to twenty
per cent. This is a great wrong upon these officials,
- one that no fair businessman would perpetrate upon
his employees. I suggest that we take at once the
necessary steps to catch up with our school fund,
and pay every public school teacher in Georgia his
or her salary monthly. It is impracticable for us
to collect in one year the necessary sum from taxa-
tion and accomplish this result, and it would be
almost criminal for us to stop the schools of Georgia
to enable is to catch up with our funds. - *
What then must we do? What would first suggest
itself to every business man that calmly considers
this condition, should he be confronted with like
conditions in his own business affairs? He would
at once take the necessary steps to raise the money
by use of his credit. I propose that we handle in
like manner for the State and for the teachers, the
situation that now confronts us, and utilize the credit
of the State to relieve the condition. The General
Assembly should propose, and submit to the people
of this State an amendment to the Constitution
authorizing the issuance of about $600,000 of bonds,
the proceeds of which should be used to create a per-
manent loan fund to be loaned every spring to the
school fund for the payment of teachers’ salaries,
and returned to this loan fund in December when
11
the taxes are collected. This fund should be sacredly
guarded, and should not be used for any other pur-
pose, SO long as the necessity for such loan fund
exists, and should it cease to exist, then let the fund
So raised be applied to the payment of the valid
bonded indebtedness of the State. The State could
raise this money upon a 3 per cent basis. When
not in use the depositories would pay sufficient
interest to reduce the cost to the State to 2 per cent.
The bonds so issued might be retired in a few years
at the rate of $100,00 per annum, without the neces-
sity of any increase in our tax rate.
Under this method the fund will be protected by a
Constitutional provision, and the prompt payment
of teachers will be absolutely certain. In other
words, it will place such a loan fund beyond the
power of diversion, either by the General Assembly
or the Executive. Should you, however, in your
wisdom adopt some other practical method by which
the same result may be secured, it will receive my
hearty concurrence.
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONs. "
All our public institutions should be properly Sup-
ported, holding in mind, as we do, the object for
12 |
Which they were established, and the duties we owe
to humanity and to education.
I direct your attention especially to the needs of
our various educational institutions, including the
agricultural Schools recently established. The latter
mark a distinctively progressive move in the matter
of industrial education, which has attracted atten-
tion and commendation from the best teachers of
the World. -
LABOR COMMISSIONER.
The industrial growth of our State, and increasing
number of skilled and unskilled workmen in Our
population demand that the State keep pace with
the progress of the times, and establish a Depart-
ment of Labor.
We have, for many years maintained a Depart-
ment of Agriculture, which has been conducted by
experienced farmers to the substantial benefit of
the agricultural interests. While I would advocate
nothing that would tend to lessen the scope of that
department, or decrease its Worth to the class it
directly serves, I urge, as a matter of simple justice,
as well as industrial economy and necessity, the
establishment of a similar department of State gov-
ernment, where the great toiling element of our
/
13
people may have their interests guarded and their
rights protected. **
The Commissioner of Łabor should be charged
with the enforcement of all laws affecting labor.
I am proud of the fact that our State has kept
abreast of the times in the matter of child-labor
legislation, and am sure that present laws will be
strengthened as soon as necessity demands and in-
dustrial conditions warrant. The Commissioner of
Labor should be specially charged with the enforce-
ment of child-labor laws. It should also be the duty
of the Commissioner of Labor to compile statistics
showing labor conditions throughout the State, and
furnish the same to industrial institutions who desire
such information. Since the State is so well favored
by both labor and climatic conditions, authentic in-
formation would doubtless prove very valuable, as
it might mean the establishment of many other
enterprises in the State.
It should also be made the duty of the Commis-
sioner of Labor, in connection with the Attorney-
General—and, in the -case of railroad employees, in
connection with the Chairman of the Railroad Com-
mission, to act as mediator in disputes between
capital and labor, when called on by either side, so
that harmonious relations between the two may be
encouraged and fostered; and in cases of strikes to
14
exert their efforts to effect prompt and satisfactory
settlement by arbitration, or such other means as
may meet the approval of the contending factors.
‘I am convinced that had such a department ex-
isted under the direction of a competent man, the
severity of the recent unfortunate conflict between .
one of our largest railroads; and its employees
would have been lessened, if the trouble had not
been entirely averted. At least, there would have
been no necessity for the appearance of Federal
officials—more or less foreign to our industrial con-
ditions and sentiments—upon the scene, to settle a
dispute intra-state in character.
TAXATION.
The principal source of the State's revenue for
the support of the government and the State insti-
tutions must necessarily be derived from direct
taxation of property. The Constitution requires
uniformity and equality in all tax levies. Under our
present imperfect tax system, it is impossible to
secure uniformity or equality of taxation.” Property
is returned in one county at one standard of valua-
tion, and in another county at a different standard
of valuation. Even in the same county, and in the
same locality, there is no uniform standard of valua-
15
tion, for the reason that each property owner places
his own valuation on his property in his tax returns;
and even where the tax officers reject the returns,
and submit the same to arbitration, the arbitrators
differ in each case, and naturally they adopt differ-
ent standards of valuation. *
This same defect and inequality of taxation
applies to the tax assessments of those corporations
required by law to make returns to the Comptroller-
General. If the returns are rejected, and arbitration
becomes necessary, different arbitrators pass upon
and fix the tax value of different companies, fre-
quently adopting different standards of value. In
addition to this, these arbitrations are usually very
expensive to the State. Another defect in our pres–
ent tax system is its failure to provide adequate or
effective means of assessing, or of taxing unreturned
property. If the burdens of taxation are to be borne
equally, as required by the organic law of our State,
some new and more efficient system than the present
law on the subject of taxation must be adopted.
I, therefore, recommend the enactment of legisla-
tion providing a new system of taxation, with Boards
of Equalizers for each county, and a State Board
of Equalizers, upon whom shall devolve the duty
of assessing all property now required to be re-
^-
16
turned to the Comptroller-General, as well as equal-
izing the assessments in the various counties of the
State. The details of this system I leave to your
judgment and legislative experience. A system of
this character would insure one standard for tax
values for all the property in the State, and make
the burdens of taxation fall equally and fairly upon
all alike.
The system enacted should provide adequate and
sufficient means for assessing and collecting taxes
upon unreturned property, and provide opportunity
for the taxpayer to be heard.
INHERITANCE TAX.
Over three-fourths of the States now have laws
providing for an inheritance tax. A proposition to
impose a national inheritance tax has lately been
presented to Congress, and practically the only
argument brought against the measure was to the
effect that inheritances were properly subjects for
State taxation, and that a majority of the States
now imposed such a tax.
The policy of modern government is opposed to
the accumulation of vast estates, so hedged about by
legal technicalities and 'safe-guards as to escape
17
their equitable burden of taxation. In the enlight-
ened view of the leading publicists and economists
of our times, no sound reason exists why inherit-
ances should not be subject to taxation. The duty
of formulating such laws as will meet this demand
necessarily devolves upon your body, and I there-
fore leave it to your wisdom, with assurances of my
unqualified approval.
BIENNIAL SESSIONs.
Another matter to which I feel it my duty to call
your attention is that of biennial sessions for the
General Assembly. It is not for me to argue at
length upon this subject. Suffice it to say, that the
conviction of the public seems to be that annual
•sessions result in the making of unnecessary laws,
and in unnecessary expense to the tax payers. Only
about a half dozen States in the American Union
now have annual sessions of the law-making bodies.
In this connection. I desire to call your attention
to the advisability of changing the time of our
general election from the first Wednesday in Octo-
ber, to Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
thereby saving to the people the cost of an election.
18
PUBLIC ROADS AND CONVICTs.
* The Convention which riominated the present
administration of our State made, also, the following
pledge:
“Recognizing that, the cardinal principle in the
enforcement of our criminal laws is the punishmept
of crime, the reformation of the offender and the
protection of society, we pledge ourselves to such
changes in our convict system as will completely
eliminate any traffic in convict labor, and, as far as
possible, place the State convicts upon public
Works.” tº *
The above pledge, having been approved by the
people of Georgia, was redeemed in great measure,
by the last General Assembly. g -
e
The public sentiment for years has been crystalliz-
ing around the fact that good roads are an impera-
tive necessity for the proper progress of our State.
The necessity that two mules should do the work
which was demanding six; that in one hour should
be taken the trip which was consuming from three
to five; that there should be easier access from the
country to the city, and vice versa; that the conse
quent cost of handling produce and other tonnage
between the farms and the leading points should be
19
cheapened—these and many other practical reasons
are demanding good roads. Furthermore, we must
bear in mind, that between the city and the country’
there has existed for ages an indefinable wall which
good roads more than any other factor will break
down. The city man and the country man have not
had the time to get together. Since their lots are,
in great measure cast in different lines, they live
apart.
Good roads mean easy transit, hence quick transit;
again, good roads mean getting face to face, mutual
understanding, sympathy with each" other, accord,
co-operation, fellowship and unification of interests.
In other words, good roads will cause a greater
commingling or association of city people with
country people. Thus we will know each other bet-
ter, and as one of Georgia's greatest sons said a
generation ago: “Let us know each other and we
will love each other.” All lines of business, the
schools and churches, as well as the State's taxable
resources will be advanced by good roads: Thére-
fore, there can be no doubt of the wisdom of our
platform mandate as to the disposition of the con-
vict question. Convicts should be employed upon
the public roads or works, and no traffic in convict
labor should be allowed. Frequent inspections of
the various camps should be made in order to pre-
20
vent, as far as possible, violations of the rules of
the Prison Commission. Feeble and disabled con-
victs should be placed upon a farm for their support
and maintenance. -
The operation of the Act of 1908 has suggested to
the authorities charged with its execution the neces-
sity of some amendments. Looking to the perfec-
tion of the law, I bespeak for such measures your
most careful consideration.
CoMMON CARRIERs.
The Convention which named the present admin-
istration of this State also made the following
declaration of principles:
“We believe in the strict control and firm regula-
tion of all public utility corporations, and favor
prescribing such freight and passenger rates as will
be just to the corporations and to the traveling and
shipping public, and such rules as will give to
shippers expeditious and safe transportation, and
quick adjustment of all claims for overcharges,
damage and demurrage; and to passengers regular
schedules, comfortable coaches, well-lighted and (in
winter) well-heated waiting rooms, with the neces-
saries for comfort. To further secure the accom-
plishment of the above end, we favor the require-
21
ment that the common carriers shall maintain their
road-beds in safe condition, and shall provide such
warehouses and other terminal facilities as the ex-
panding commerce of our State demands.”
The Words in the paragraph quoted embody the
fixed policy of this State for many years past. It
is indispensable that the State retain supervisory
control of the creatures it brings into being. It is
true that a corporation is an artificial person; but
it is a person with no greater powers than its creat-
ors have given it. The purpose of government
supervision and regulation of utility corporations is
not to destroy the property of the corporation, but
to preserve and safe-guard the rights of the people.
The interests of the two are inseparable. When
you injure one you do violence to the other. A true
healthful prosperity in one is a sure sign of pros-
perity in the other.
The legislation which created the Railroad Com-
mission of Georgia was brought about by certain
arbitrary acts and discriminatory rates by the rail-
road managers which highly offended the minds of
the people. There was unreasonable delay in
settling claims for overcharge and damage, in fur-
inishing cars for forwarding freight, and in the ex-
peditious handling thereof after it was received. ,
There were frequently no fires in the waiting rooms !
22
in cold weather, often no lights, and the depots
themselves were too small or inconveniently located
for accommodating travelers. There were many
other abuses which required correction, hence the
law creating the Railroad Commission was enacted,
and from time to time has been supplemented by
legislation which the public needs demanded.
I regard it as unfortunate that railroads should
have become the bone of political contention in this
State. While abnormal increase in traffic of several
years ago, due to the rapid growth and development
of our State and its industries at that time, had
much to do with the inability of the railroads to
fender proper and satisfactory transportation ser-
vices, thereby causing much irritation to the public,
it cannot be doubted that there were other just
causes of complaint on the part of the people which
could not be fairly attributed to mere increase in
business. Among some of these complaints were
the frequency of overcharges and inaccuracies in
freight bills; long, delays in the settlement of just
claims; lack of proper consideration for the interests
of the shipper and consignees of freight. Undoubt-
edly these evils ought to be corrected. Certainly
they should be diminished as far as the regulating
power of the State can diminish them. But regula-
tion and correction of evil is quite a different matter
23
from retaliation or revenge. As a matter of fact,
neither revenge nor retaliation should have any
place in government or legislation.
It frequently happens that when the people have
a just grievance against a public service corpora-
tion, it is comparatively easy to arouse public pas-
sion and prejudice to such an extent, that instead of
attempting to correct existing evils, they content
themselves with punishing the corporation in other
ways, and when the pendulum of popular feeling has
spent its force and exhausted its power in revenge
alone, and the Wreck is surveyed, it swings back to
the other extreme, leaving the real evils uncorrected.
I, therefore, suggest to you the advisability of
providing by direct legislation, some fair and rea-
sonable method whereby the individual shipper and
consignee of freight may enforce his rights, and
obtain redress promptly in the courts of the State,
for overcharges in freight, and for delays in the
settlement of just claims. This can be done by legis-
lation providing reasonable penalties for delays in
settling claims. In my opinion such laws will prove
a much more efficient remedy to the individual ship-
per and consignee, who can bring suits in their local
courts, if they prefer, rather than pursue the pres-
ent indirect method of relief through the Railroad
Commission.
24
DoublE TRACKING MAIN LINEs.
Reductions in the income of the owners of common
carriers should only be made when necessary to
remove unjust discrimination, or when the reduc-
tion will remove unjust burdens from the masses.
Statistics, we should bear in mind, show that 70
per cent. of the gross earnings of the carriers go
directly or ultimately to labor; hence, when reduc-
tions in gross earnings are made, labor is the first
loser, and the farmer who feeds labor is the second.
If, therefore, the future policy of the State be to
abstain from unwarranted reduction of rates, i. e.,
the income of the owners of these carriers, it will
in a few years be in a position legally and fairly to
require the carriers to greatly improve their road.
beds; to build larger depots and more comfortable
waiting rooms with modern conveniences; to in-
crease their side-tracks, add more passenger trains
and like improvements.
The continuous dread by the owners of com-
mon carriers that their income would be unreason-
ably reduced, has been given, time and again, as the
reason for not improving their tracks and depots
and amplifying their service. This very dread has
been voiced as the reason why the owners of some
25,
of our main lines do not lay down double-tracks.
They admit that the expanding commerce of this
State and section requires double-tracks; but say,
that to build them they must borrow money, and
that if they should do so the State authorities, ignor-
ing the fact that the money to be used for this pur-
pose was borrowed, would reduce their income.
Experience would seem to justify them in this ap-
prehension. As Georgia is more interested in hav-
ing her main lines double-tracked, thus adding im-
mensely to the safety of life and the expeditious
handling of persons and property, than she is in
making unjust reductions in rates which reach only
certain classes, it is worth your while to consider
the matter of authorizing the Railroad Commission
to confer with the authorities of the main lines with
the view of double-tracking them; yet, nothing herein
should be construed as advocating any increase in
the rates now in effect. #
There are about 1,650 miles of main line, in this
State. It is estimated that the cost of double-
tracking would average $15,000 per mile. Therefore
the total cost for all the lines would approximate
$25,000,000. Outside of steel rails, which could be
largely if not entirely supplied from Birmingham,
in our sister State, Alabama, the money would be
26.
mostly spent in Georgia for labor and for cross-
ties and other materials. It is safe to say that two-
thirds of the $25,000,000 would lodge in Georgia. . .
It would seem the part of wisdom for Georgia to
take the lead in the movement to secure state-wide
double-tracking of the main lines of common car-
riers. If attained, not only would the money spent.
during the few years the building progressed
quicken the commerce of the entire State, resulting
in greater security of life, etc., but the carriers would
need many more permanent employees whom the
farmers must feed and otherwise furnish. -
MUNICIPAL CONTROL.
Another utterance in the platform declaration
from which I have quoted should have attention
here, viz.:
“Such public utility corporations as are purely
local in their operation, should be left to the control
of the municipalities in which they are located.”
I unhesitatingly commend the above. Local self-
government is the bed-rock of our rights, and the
paternalism manifest in some portions of our pres-
ent law enlarging the powers of the Railroad Com-
mission should be eliminated.
27
RAILROAD COMMISSION.
I respectfully call your attention to the amend-
ment, or addition, to the Railroad Commission law,
approved August 22, 1907, regulating the issuance
of stocks and bonds by common carrier corpora-
tions. The theory upon which the above amend-
ment was founded is, on the surface quite tenable,
but an examination by you will show that the result
will be the practical stay in railroad building in
Georgia save of branch or short lines.
The platform upon which the present administra-
tion of Georgia was chosen, contains the following
declaration: "
‘‘We are opposed to unnecessary offices which
levy additional taxes on the people; and we ask the
legislature to scan carefully Georgia’s pay-roll to
the end that all sinecures be cut off. We especially
favor a reduction in the membership of the Railroad
Commission from five to three, and the abolition of
the office of special attorney to the same.’’
It is impossible for me to find any ground upon
which I can stand to argue against the foregoing.
We should not for an instant consider the establish-
ment or maintenance of “unnecessary offices which
levy additional taxes upon the people.” If we have
28
such offices now, they should be cut off and the bur-
dens of the people lessened to the extent of such
needless expense.
As to the Railroad Commission, the Act enlarging
its powers, approved August 22, 1907, created four
absolutely “unnecessary offices which levy addi-
tional taxes upon the people,” namely:
Two extra Commissioners, salaries
aggregating ---------------------- $ 5,000
Attorney to the Commission, salary_- 2,500
Rate Expert, salary----------------- 3,000
| W
$ 10,500
Add increased compensation to the
Chairman ----------------------- 1,500
Total ------------------------ $ 12,000
The , original law establishing the Railroad Com-
mission provided for three Commissioners. Their
salaries were fixed at twenty-five hundred dollars
each. The Act enlarging the powers of the Railroad
Commission retained the three Commissioners with
salaries aggregating seven thousand five hundred
dollars, and added twelve thousand dollars to this
pay-roll.
29
It will be noted that besides more than doubling
the salary account of members of the Board, there
has been added a rate expert, whose salary, payable
by the people, has been fixed at $3,000.
Under the long maintained composition of the
Commission, one of the members was required to be
‘‘ of experience in the law” and one ‘‘ of experience
in the railway business,” whereas, under the
amended law, each Commissioner shall be elected
“without reference to his experience in law or rail-
way business.” The present Board is composed of
four lawyers and one farmer, and it has demon-
strated the lack of wisdom in the change of the law
by the necessity of employing a rate expert at the
expense to the State of $3,000 per annum.
We would find a parallel to this extraordinary
Board if the members of the Supreme Court of
Georgia were composed of good industrious car-
penters and farmers, each appointed “without
reference to his experience in law,” who should
employ a legal expert to keep the law straight in
their hearings and written decisions.
Or, another parallel would be, the appointment of
a preacher who never lived outside the city, as Com-
missioner of Agriculture.
30
On this subject it is pertinent to state that the
official organ of the Farmers’ Union of Georgia
advocates, and I think with reason, the establish-
ment of the office of County Commissioner of Agri-
culture, or the establishment of an Agricultural
Department in some form in each county. It copies,
with seeming approval, a law of the State of Miss-
issippi establishing such a department in the
counties of that State. From this law I note that
the County Commissioner of Agriculture “shall be
a person well versed in scientific and practical agri-
Culture.”
The requirement that one of the Railroad Com-
missioners shall be of “experience in the railway
business” should be restored in the law; or experi-
ence has shown that probably the better words would
be “experience in rate making and other matters
of railway business” thereby increasing the effici-
ency of the Commission.
The sinecures provided in the amended Railroad
Commission law are too patent to justify discussion,
hence I Submit the subject to you with merely these
crucial questions:
What has the Railroad Commission of five mem-
bers, with a special attorney and a rate expert done,
which a Railroad Commission of three members
31
composed as under the law could not have done, if
clothed with the same powers now existing?
J
If three Commissioners (each with qualifications
formerly required, and each clothed with the same
powers now conferred upon five Commissioners)
could have done during the past two years and can
do in future the same things done and to be done
by the five Commissioners, the attorney for the
Commission and the rate expert, why should the tax-
payers of Georgia be burdened with the unneces-
sary salaries now paid to the two surplus Commis-
sioners and the two other gentlemen associated with
them? {
REGISTRATION LAW. -
I wish to call your attention to the serious defects
and unnecessary barriers in the registration law
passed by your immediate predecessor. As pointed
out by our able Attorney-General in his annual
report, no provision was made for registry lists
before the general election in 1910. This Omission
has already caused considerable confusion, in con-
nection with holding special elections, and unless
corrected, will cause more, besides laying serious
grounds upon which to question the validity of every
special election ordered under its terms.
32
In my judgment, however, one of the main pro-
visions of the law should be amended. It provides
that the registry lists shall be closed on April 1st of
election years, or more than six months in advance
of the election. I recommend that this be changed,
so that the interim between the closing of the lists
and of the elections may be no more than 30 days
before general, special or primary elections.
It is a well-known fact that a large majority of
our farmers and business men do not pay their taxes
in person, but by agents or by check. It is therefore
easy to see how the present law will practically dis-
franchise many good citizens. &
To require the citizens of Georgia to register six
months in advance of the election is entirely too
drastic. We presume that the average Georgia
Voter is honest. . This Act presumes that he is not,
and seeks to shut him out unawares from the natural
right of a free citizen, i. e., the right to vote. The
law should make it easy, not hard, for a man to vote,
the presumption of innocence being on his side.
We should abstain as far as possible from restric-
tive legislation; for the true democratic idea is that
the citizen shall have the greatest possible freedom,
so long as it does not interfere with the rights of
others. The law ought not assume, as restrictive
33
legislation such as this does, that practically all
people are corrupt.
I agree that the purity of the ballot is one of the
bed-rocks of our institutions. Drastic legislation
along this line tends to defeat its own purpose, and
to augment the evil aimed at. The venal person
who makes of his franchise an article of trade will,
for selfish reasons, be on his guard and get in posi-
tion to deliver his vote. But the honest farmer,
mechanic, laborer or business man, interested in his
Own business, usually neglects to register until the
stress of political contest impresses him with its
importance. To require that all register six months
before the election would have the effect of enhanc-
ing the importance of the corrupt voters, as the
bulk of them will take pains to qualify, while many
honest citizens, through excusable neglect, will be
excluded from the exercise of the ballot.
The registration law affects every citizen. The
laws against felonies and crimes in general affect
only those who commit the crimes. Why should the
citizen in the exercise of his highest right be pre-
sumed a criminal? Election laws should be aimed
at the corrupt voter, and should not in their opera-
tion impair the power of the honest voter in the ex-
ercise of his right as a free citizen.
34
LOBBYING.
I trust that you will not ignore the demand of the
Convention that lobbying shall cease, and I urge
that laws be framed which will rigidly enforce the
will of the people, as is so plainly expressed in our
Constitution.
STATE BANKs.
State Banks are indispensable. They have be-
come one of the greatest factors in the developinent
of our resources. No prosperous city or town can
very well handle its commerce without a good strong
banking institution, through which it may transact
business with other cities and towns.
Just but rigid laws should be enacted so as to
give the innocent depositor, who simply deposits lis
money for safekeeping, every protection that he
deserves. The enactment and enforcement of rigid
banking laws will not only protect the depositor,
but will greatly increase the deposits in all such
institutions. All penalties for violating the law
applicable to banks of issue should be made to apply
to every bank chartered under the laws of Georgia,
and we should require as strict inspection as is
required by the Federal law for National Banks.
35.
* GAME Laws.
I respectfully call to your attention the necessities
for changes in our game laws. Birds and other
game, once plentiful, are now scarce and in some
localities almost exterminated.
Besides preserving them as game, we must hold
in mind that birds are man’s best protectors against
the insects which do damage to fruits, garden and
field crops. It has been estimated that insects would
render the growing of Some classes of products an
impossibility if the birds were exterminated.
It would be better to shorten the season for killing
game, and limitations should be placed upon the
exportation of game from the State.
FISH AND OYSTERs.
Our laws as to fishing should also be in harmony
with the plan to stock the streams with fish and to
give them such protection as will cause them to in-
crease rather than become extinct.
And upon this line I suggest that a joint Com-
mittee be named by the General Assembly to ex-
amine the State laws of Maryland, Virginia and
other coastal States on the subject of acquisition
36
and protection of oyster-beds, with the view to mak-
ing these beds a source of income to our people and
of revenue to the State.
Our coastal waters are as good for the propaga-
tion of Oysters as are those of other sea-adjoining
States; and if they, notably Maryland and Virginia,
derive large annual revenue from this source, it
would be well for Georgia to do the same.
STATE MILITARY.
In the language of our Constitution, “a well
regulated Militia being essential to the peace and
security of the State,” it is the duty and should be
the pleasure of the General Assembly to give proper
support and encouragement by appropriate legisla-
tion to this important part of the State Government.
In this connection I beg to call your attention to
the various military schools in the State. These
schools are important feeders to the military organi-
Zations of the State, and should be recognized by
Such appropriate legislation as will make them a
part of the System. This may be done by authoriz-
ing the Governor to commission the principals or
commandants of such schools as may comply with
the necessary requirements.
37
CoNFEDERATE SOLDIERs.
It is a source of congratulation that your prede-
cessors, in conformity with the Democratic platform
of 1908, enacted legislation whereby we have re-
turned to annual payment of pensions to Confed-
erate soldiers.
It will be necessary for the General Assembly to
enact suitable legislation to carry into effect the con-
stitutional provision extending pensions to all Con-
federate soldiers, and widows of Confederate sol-
diers who are not worth exceeding $1,500. In pro-
viding pensions for this new class care should be
taken that no reductions be made in the amounts
paid pensioners enrolled under the existing law. Be-
fore passing upon this question I suggest that your.
bodies, through appropriate committees take the mec-
essary steps to ascertain the probable number who
will come within the requirements of the Constitu-
tion as amended. Investigation on this line will
enable you to make an appropriation that will pre-
vent the recurrence of delays in payments which
have heretofore attended the addition of new classes
to our pension rolls. * * h
I respectfully call your attention to the Confed-
erate Cemeteries near Resaca and in Marietta, which
38
our State has accepted as the wards of her future
care. These hallowed resting places should at all
times be kept in such order as befits the affection
our people cherish for the heroic ones who braved
war's terrors and died for Georgia’s honor.
As further evidence of Georgia’s enduring grati-
tude let me urge that you take under consideration
the erection, in the Capitol Square in Atlanta, of a
monument to the memory of the Confederate dead.
"Tireless in valiant deeds, loyal in love, true to ideals
high, and faithful unto death, their story lights a
page which reads, “Death is the gate to life l’’
Let us inspire our children now to emulate their
Worth; let us through future ages prove Georgia
constant in truth.
In conclusion, I trust that you will allow me to
express the high appreciation in which I hold your
honorable bodies, and the confidence I feel in the loy-
alty to our State, and in the fidelity to her Constitu-
tion which inspires the heart of each member. While
you doubtless will differ at times, as to policies, or
the application of principles, with each other and
With the Executive, I feel assured that your and our
differences, if such there should be, will be found
39
bordered by a circle within which we can all unite—a
circle whereon, written as in letters of gold, we read
the words, “Love for Georgia.”
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph M. BROWN,
Governor.
* | ..]
(, ‘AA6%

Governor's Message
To the
General Assembly
of Georgia.
June 22, 1910.
ATLANTA, GA.
CHAs. P. ByRD, State Printer,
1910.

4/. ~
*-
Governor's Message
To the
General ASSembly
of Georgia.
June 22, 1910.
ATLANTA, GA.
CHAs. P. BYRD, State Printer,
1910.
MESSAGE
STATE OF GEORGIA,
ExECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
ATLANTA.
June 22, 1910.
To the General Assembly: -
Through the blessings of a beneficent Providence
the past twelve months have been replete with pros-
perity for our people. The husbandman has re-
ceived a gratifying reward for the fruits of his toil;
the laborer in the city has found employment at re-
munerative wages, and those in other avocations
have reaped more than the average allowance of the
enjoyments of life.
It is especially gratifying that the asperities
which had marred the relationships with each other
of many of our citizens have been softened or en-
tirely allayed and that peaceful pleasures are now
the happy lot of the generality of Georgians.
It is to be sincerely hoped that this rest from
political agitation will long continue and that our
people will co-operate in friendly accord in all en-
deavors to build up our commonwealth and to per-
petuate mutual toleration and good will.
o
O
In this spirit I commend to you the kindred hope
that in our conduct of the people’s governmental
affairs we may hold ever in mind that the humblest
is entitled to the same consideration as the highest,
that equality is the standard by which we must meas-
ure all and that fair play is the freeman’s right.
REGISTRATION LAW.
With the desire to protect, therefore, the rights
of the people of Georgia, I respectfully call your
attention to the serious defects and unnecessary bar-
riers in the registration law passed by your imme-
diate predecessor, and repeat the recommendation
made in my first message regarding the provision
which closes the books six months before elections.
In addition to the reasons I advanced in that
message, I will add others that have been demons-
trated to be valid, together with data that have been
collected. The operation of the above provision of
this law, when taken in connection with the regis-
tration and subsequent elections in various munici-
palities in the State, proves that it directly and flag-
rantly discriminates against the residents of the
country districts and in favor of the residents of the
cities and towns. To illustrate this fact I give the
following list of municipalities in which elections
were held to determine the issuance of bonds for
waterworks, electric lighting, street paving, build-
ing of school houses and bridges, etc., and for other
other improvements, or for annexation of suburbs,
or for municipal primary elections, and for other
purposes:
CITY OR TOWN PTJ RPOSE DATE REGISTRATION | DATE OF ELEC- TIME INTER—
BOOKS CLOSED TION VENING
Athens-------------- Bonds - - - - - - - -------|Last Year's Registration.--|March 2nd. ----------|--------------
Atlanta ------------- Bonds-------------- February 4th - - - - - - - - - - February 15th - - - - - - - 11 Days.
Columbus- - - - - - - - - - - Bonds - - - - ---------- Last Year’s Registration.--|February 10th - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Donalsonville - - - - - - - - Bonds-------------- April 30th. - - - - - - - - - - - - May 10th - - - - - - - - - - - 9 Days.
East Macon - - - - - - - - - Annexation---------- March 10th- - - - - - - - - - - - March 19th- - - - - - - - - - 8 Days.
Gainesville - - - - - - - - - - Bonds-------------- Last Year's Registration.--|April 2nd------------|--------------
Grantville - - - - - - - - ---|Bonds-------------- April 6th -------------- April 16th----------- 9 Days.
LaFayette- - - - - - - - - - - Bonds - - - - ---------- March 16th- - - - - - - - - - - - March 22nd--- - - - - - - - 5 Days.
Montezuma - - - - - - - - - - Bonds--------------- April 22nd------------- May 3rd------------- 10 Days.
Rome--------------- City. Election - - - - - - - - | February 18th - - - - - - - - - |March 1st ----------- 10 Days.
South Macon - - - - - - - - Annexation---------- February 19th - - - - - - - - - March 2nd----------- 10 Days.
Sparta -------------- Bonds-------------- No Registration-- - - - - - - --|May 3rd-------------|--------------
Sylvania ------------ Bonds-------------- April 30th--------------- May 10th------------ |10 Days.
Union City - - - - - - - - - - Bonds-------------- April 2nd------------- April 9th------------ 6 Days.
It is well known that the avowed purpose in fix-
ing the excessive time limit of six months between
the closing of the registration books and the date
of the election was to purify the ballot by shutting
out the “venal voter,” the ‘‘hobo,” the ‘‘ward-
heeler,’’ and the like. These nefarious classes were
represented as being mainly residents of the large
cities. Yet, we find Atlanta closing her registra-
tion books only eleven days before voting on the
question of binding herself to the payment of $3,-
000,000 in bonds, an amount equal to almost half of
the public debt of the State. And we find Macon,
Columbus, Grantville and Rome closing their regis-
tration books from eight to eleven days before the
dates of elections of momentous interest to their
citizens, while Gainesville and Athens voted without
requiring any registration this year.
So, too, at LaFayette the time-limit between the
registration and the election was only five days and
in the other municipalities named this limit was in
each case less than thirty days. Again, it has re-
cently been decided that Atlanta for her election of
city officials on Wednesday, December 7th, will not
close her registration books until November 28th.
Yet, in the same counties wherein all the foregoing
cities and towns are located, and in other counties,
the residents of the country districts, in elections in
which they take part, must register six months be-
fore the date of casting the ballot or they are de-
barred from the power to vote, that power which
was once held to be the right of freemen inalienable
save by the commission of crime.
6
Therefore, while it has been the current belief
that the “venal voters” and other obnoxious classes,
whom this law would debar from the ballot box, are
the dwellers in the city slums, or are temporary im-
portations thereto, the law itself, by its operation,
says that these “venal voters” and the like are con-
fined almost entirely to the country districts; for,
as I have shown, one great city can vote an enormous
issue of bonds and another can transform country
people into city people—the most radical of changes
in our system of government—on a few day’s notice,
while the countryman must register six months be-
fore election day so as to give the registrars suffi-
cient time in which to examine carefully each indi-
vidual’s status, to purge the lists and throw out all
who are “venal voters” or ‘‘ward-heelers” or ‘‘ho-
boes.” - *
I respectfully submit that this inevitable logic of
the law is an uncalled for and unjustifiable aspersion
on by far the greater portion of the electorate of
Georgia; and it places them under a discrimination
as needless as it is unmerited.
Yet, the glaring disabilities in the exercise of
the voting power which this registration law places
upon chiefly the country people of Georgia becomes
still more distinctive when we note the following
compilation of registration laws prevailing in other
States as they bear on the time for closing the lists,
V] Z. :
CoMPILATION OF REGISTRATION LAWS OF DIFFERENT
STATES, SHowING DATES FOR CLOSING Books:
ALABAMA: Books close three months before the gen-
eral election, but are reopened on Friday and
Saturday before any general, special or primary
election for the registration of those who came
of age after the books closed or had been una-
voidably prevented from registering.
ARKANSAS: No registration is required.
CALIFORNIA: Books are closed forty days before
each general election, and twenty days before
each primary election.
COLORADo: Books are closed thirty-five days before
general elections.
CONNECTICUT : Books are closed on fourth. Monday
next preceding general elections.
DELAware: Books are closed on third Saturday
next preceding date of general election.
FLORIDA: Books are closed on second Saturday of
the month next preceding the day of election.
GEORGIA: Books are closed sia, months before the
general election.
IDAHO: Books are closed on Saturday next preced-
ing date of general election.
ILLINois: Books are closed on Tuesday of the week
preceding the election.
INDIANA: No registration of voters required.
8
Iowa; Books are closed on second Saturday next
preceding date of election. -
KANSAs; Registration required in cities only and
books close ten days before election.
RENTUCKY: Registration required in cities and
towns only and books are closed thirty days be-
fore election, but voters may register by affi-
davit the day before the election. -
Louisian A: Registration books closed thirty days
before all elections. -
MAINE: Books are closed from one to four days be-
fore the election in towns and cities and on day
of election in country precincts.
MARYLAND: Books are closed three weeks before
the election.
MASSACHUSETTS : Books are closed on last Saturday
before primary elections, and, in cities, twenty
days before general elections, and, in towns, on
the last Saturday but one before general elec-
tions.
MICHIGAN: Books are closed in townships on Sat-
urdays before elections and in cities one week
to ten days before.
MINNESOTA: Books are closed on Tuesdays before
day of general elections.
MISSISSIPPr: Books are closed four months before
general elections. - * *
9
MIssourſ: Registration is required in cities only
and books close twenty days before elections.
MoWTANA: Books closed ten days before elections.
NEBRASKA: No registration required except in cities
above 10,000 population and only brief interval
between closing of books and elections.
NEVADA: Books are closed just a few days before
elections.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: No registration is required.
NEw JERSEY: Books are closed two weeks before
elections in cities of more than 35,000 popula-
tion—on Tuesdays next preceding general elec-
tions at other places.
NEw YoFK: Personal registration required only in
towns and cities of 5,000 or more population.
In New York City books are closed 22 days be-
fore elections; elsewhere, where personal regis-
tration is required, on the third Saturday before
elections; where personal registration is not re-
quired, on the fourth Saturday next preceding
general elections.
NORTH DAKOTA: Books are closed on last Tuesday
next preceding general elections.
OHIO : Registration required only in cities on Pres-
idential years alone, excepting cities of 100,000
population. - •
OKLAHOMA: Permanent registration prevails, but
Voters may get their names on the lists as late
10
as Saturday preceding elections, general or pri-
mary.
OREGON : Books are closed nine days before pri-
mary, and twenty-one days before general elec-
tions. -
PENNSYLVANIA : Registration is required only in
cities and books are closed four weeks before
primaries, and 35 days before general elections.
RHoDE ISLAND: Automatic registration of tax-pay-
ers prevails, and books for the registration of
non-taxpayers are closed on June 30th each
year.
SouTH CAROLINA: Books are closed thirty days be-
fore elections.
SouTH DAKOTA: Books are closed on last Tuesday
next preceding elections.
TENNESSEE: Books are closed twenty days before
elections. - - -
TEXAs: Presentation of poll tax receipt entitles one
to vote, but payment must be made before Feb-
ruary 1 of the year in which elections occurs.
Poll tax must be paid in person only in cities of
more than 10,000 population. No requirement
as to property tax. -
UTAH . Books are closed on the first Wednesday
prior to the general elections.
VERMONT: Personal registration is not required.
Lists are prepared by Boards of Civil Authority
thirty days before elections.
11
VIRGINIA: Books are closed thirty days before elec-
tions. -
WASHINGTON: Books are closed twenty days before
elections, but registration is required only in
precincts of more than 250 voting population.
WEST VIRGINIA: Books are closed ten days before
elections.
WISCONSIN: Registration required only in cities of
more than 2,000 population and books close on
Tuesdays next preceding elections.
WYOMING: Books are closed twelve days before
elections. -
It will be noted that in Texas only is there a
limit approximating that required by the law in
Georgia, but in Texas the payment of poll tax alone
is the prerequisite, whereas in Georgia all taxes must
be paid six months in advance of the election and, in
addition, the voter must, in person, register six
months before the election. In Texas one specific
act only is required, and it may be performed by
friend, neighbor or agent of the voter, except in
cities of more than 10,000 population, where it must
be in person, while in Georgia two specific acts are
required and one of these must, without exception,
be performed by the voter in person.
It is a Constitutional requirement that all taxes
must be paid six months before the election in order
that the voter may be qualified to exercise the fram-
chise. Is not this a sufficiently drastic requirement,
12
is it not in itself an adequate safe-guard against
‘‘padding” without the additional prerequisite that
the voter must go in person to the tax-collector's
office, at least six months before the election, and
sign the voters’ list, without recourse in case sick-
ness, business necessity, absence from the State or
even excusable negligence prevents him from so
doing? Should not the payment of taxes six months
in advance of the election in itself be indicative of
the voter’s integrity, in itself indicate that he is no
“venal voter,” no “hobo,” no “immigrant,” but a
good citizen? *
In no other State of the Union are such multi-
plied impediments placed upon the exercise of the
most sacred right of the free citizen.
Finally, as proving that the present registration
law has inflicted a blow to the white electorate of
Georgia which is truly appalling in its magnitude,
I call attention to the fact that by the Federal census
of 1900, after deducting the non-naturalized foreign-
ers, there were in this State 274,797 white males 21
years of age and upwards. -
If during the past decade the population has in-
creased proportionately as rapidly as it did during
the previous one, viz: 20 per cent., we can estimate
the present number of white males of voting age in
Georgia at 329,576.
The reports of the registration in the State un-
der the present law, as published in the daily press,
indicate that there are now registered about 212,000
White voters. -
Hence, by the operation of this law in effect, even
13
after making liberal allowance for those made per-
manently ineligible by the Constitution, it appears
that upwards of 100,000 white citizens are debarred
from the right to vote in the elections of this year.
The restrictions placed in the Reconstruction Con-
stitution of 1868 did not by many thousands so re-
strict the right of suffrage to the white citizens of
Georgia.
It is superfluous to argue that there are not 100,-
000 “venal voters,’’ ‘‘hoboes,’’ ‘‘ward-heelers,” and
other objectionables among the White citizenry of
Georgia, as those who contend for existing restric-
tions would by inference intimate. In several coun-
ties where the effect has been most glaring in de-
priving white citizens of their Constitutional right to
vote, negroes sufficient in number to easily hold the
balance of power in case of a close division of the
whites have qualified. -
I hold that the white citizenry of Georgia is hon-
est, intelligent and responsible, and that each unit
of it should have available the power to protect his
rights by the freeman’s weapon, the ballot.
I, therefore, recommend that the limit between
the close of the registration books and the date of
elections be reduced to thirty days. -
The ends of good government demand that the
person who makes venal use of the franchise shall
be denied the privilege of voting, but because he is
per se a voter is no ground upon which to base a
suspicion of venality. The law should be aimed at
the criminal and not at the honest man. It is not
fair to disfranchise possibly 50 good citizens in order
to catch one venal voter.
14
It will, I believe, be admitted that those voters,
excepting negroes, at whom stringent regulations
are aimed, will be found almost exclusively in the
cities. Not that the citizenry of our municipalities
is not of a high order, but owing to the thick popu-
lation election evils may be more easily perpetrated
in them in rural communities. I make the sugges-
tion, therefore, that if discrimination is to be made
it be in favor of rather than against the rural voters;
that if we must have severe restrictions they be
placed upon the cities alone. Reference to memo-
randa given above will show that in many States
that are noted for their progressive legislation with
regard to the ballot no registration is required in
purely rural communities.
If registration should be required in rural com-
munities, better provision for the convenience of the
voters should be made. Registrars should be pro-
vided for each militia district, or the tax-collector
should be compelled to visit in person or by agent
each militia district on some fixed or advertised days
before each primary or general election for the pur-
pose of affording each voter this facility without
extreme inconvenience to him. It is proper to add
that by the census of 1900, 89 per cent. of the popula-
tion of this State resided in the country, a large pro-
portion of them many miles from the court houses.
PROMPT PAYMENT OF TEACHERs.
In my first message to your honorable bodies I
also called attention to the propriety of devising
some plan for the prompt payment of the school
15
teachers of the State, and suggested that there be
an amendment to the Constitution authorizing the
issuance of about $600,000 of bonds, the proceeds of
which to be used to create a permanent loan fund for
the payment of teachers’ salaries to be returned to
this loan fund in December when the taxes are col-
lected. -
Parenthetically, let me say that it is not the
means but the end which I consider most important.
It is not so much a matter of how the teachers shall
be paid, but that they should be paid. The State
owes it as a duty to those who serve it—most partic-
ularly to those who serve the future State by train-
ing rising generations—to be in position to meet
every obligation when due. Delay in meeting bills
is less excusable in the State than in private busi-
TheSS.
If the proposed plan is adopted and the State
should within a year or two determine by one tax
levy to extinguish this entire indebtedness a rate of
one mill on the present taxable valuations of prop-
erty in the State would more than provide the neces-
sary amount. If, therefore, only $100,000 of this
indebtedness was retired each year it will be seen
that the annual burden would not be great.
It is fair to state that the plan which I advanced
has been criticised, hence, it is in order to call atten-
tion to the fact that this plan, if adopted, will inure
mainly to the benefit of the teachers in the country
districts and the small towns. The teachers in the
city schools generally get their salaries promptly
through means adopted by the municipality. At.
16
lanta, for instance, not only pays her teachers
monthly, but within the month of February of the
current year she voted a bond issue of $3,000,000, a
considerable portion of which was for the building of
new school houses. The city’s bonded indebtedness
was already $3,995,500.00. This new issue of bonds,
therefore, increased her total indebtedness to $6,995,-
500.00, or about 6 per cent, on $115,765,696, the total
assessed valuation of her taxable property.
The present bonded debt of the State of Georgia
amounts to $7,034,202.00, which is less than one per
cent. on $725,018,187.00, the total amount of the as-
sessed valuation of her taxable property.
The bonded indebtedness of the other chief cities
of the State range from two to nearly six per cent.
of the amount of their assessed taxable values, and
their tax rates which are uniformly higher than the
tax rate of the State are in a large measure levied
to pay the salaries of their school teachers promptly,
hence it would seem that the people of the cities
ought not to object to the plan which requires a small
increased burden—and that a temporary one—to
secure the prompt payment of the salaries of coun-
try school teachers.
Nevertheless, as I stated in my first message,
should you in your wisdom adopt some other prac-
ticable method by which the same result may be
secured, it will receive my hearty concurrence.
In this connection, I would direct your atten-
tion to the need of better laws governing our
system of popular education. Our State School De-
partment is barely more than a clerical bureau or-
17
ganized for the purpose of distributing the educa-
tional fund appropriated by the State, and for that
purpose even it not as well provided for as its im-
portance deserves. This Department, which is ex-
pected to supervise the distribution of two and one-
half millions of dollars—or approximately one-half
of the State’s total revenue—annually, is operated
at less than $5,000 annual expense. Its head, who
is supposed to be the head of our public school sys-
tem, gets a salary which is smaller than that paid to
the Superintendents of schools in many towns and
counties. It is fortunate that we have been able to
secure high types of educators so devoted to the
work that they are willing to head this Department
for the small remuneration, but it is not fair to ex-
pect such personal sacrifices, and besides we face the
danger of being unable to retain or secure a thor-
oughly competent person, for this important office.
The State Board of Education should be so re-
organized as to be composed of experienced edu-
cators, and its authority should be extended; the
State School Commissioner should be made State
School Superintendent, in fact as well as in name,
with authority to give, under the supervision of the
State Board of Education, some direction in the
modes by which the school appropriations should be
expended in different communities. Such changes, I
believe, would mean improvements to the public
schools as a whole of such nature as would equal in
efficiency an additional expenditure of a quarter of
a million dollars under our present lax methods.
I am advised many counties are now drawing
18
more money out of the State Treasury for public
Schools than they put in, in all kinds of taxes, and
it is but fair that the State which provides the means,
though it comes direct from the people, should be
able to exercise some authority in seeing that it is
expended to the best advantage in securing the ob-
ject intended.
BETTER TAXING SYSTEM NEEDED.
Bearing in mind now that to the tax-payer is our
first and highest duty, let me say that in naught is
reform more needed than in our tax-levying methods.
The present system is old, cumbersome, crude, inad-
equate and unjust. No principle of government
should receive greater reverence and care than that
which says that all the burdens of government shall
be borne equally by the beneficiaries. It is just as
necessary that there be equal obligation and duty as
that there should be equality in the distribution of
benefits. No one who has given the matter examina-
tion will argue that the burden of taxation is equally
borne by the citizens of Georgia. Instead, the
greatest of inequalities exist and will continue to
exist until some method by which this burden shall
be equally distributed has been adopted.
Our present system is essentially one of volum-
tary contribution; as our learned Attorney-General
has aptly said, it is a case of ‘‘merely passing the
hat.” The result is that some are heavily taxed as
compared with their neighbors, and some who reap
most lavishly of the benefits of good government fail
to pay their proportionate share. The lamentable
19
feature is that in the former class will, in the main,
be found the small tax-payer, the humble owner of &l
cottage home, the ruralist with his few acres or few
heads of stock, the workman with nothing but his
household goods. In the latter will be found many
of the owners of large properties, wealthy corpora-
tions and affluent non-residents.
Something should be done to insure the return of
the large estate and the great holdings of corpora-
tions, on the same ratio of valuation as characterizes
the returns of the owners of small properties, and
to insure the return at equitable valuations of per-
sonal property upon by far the larger part of which
no taxes are paid. Something should be done to see
that property in each county shall be taxed by the
State on the same basis of valuation that prevails
in other counties. As it is now assessments are
made without bare semblance of uniformity though
the State tax rate is the same in all.
Therefore, I repeat the recommendation of my
first message regarding the creation of county
Boards of Equalizers, whose duty it shall be to re-
vise all returns made to the tax receiver and to re-
ject and assess those found to be at valuations less
than the prevailing standards, and to search out and
assess all property, personal or otherwise, which is
not returned, of course providing opportunity in all
cases for the tax-payer to be heard. There should
also be a State Board of Equalization whose duty
should be to see that the same standard of values is
adhered to in each county, in order that there may be
uniformity among counties, and to revise the re-
20
turns of public service and other corporations such
as make returns to the Comptroller-General, and to
reject them when too low and assess them at the
prevailing or proper standards of value. This sys-
tem would be less expensive, fairer to all concerned,
and less productive of inequalities than the present
method of arbitration.
The cry may be raised that this will increase
taxes. No greater Sophistry could be employed to
deceive the unsuspecting mind. It will not mean that
the total amount of taxes paid shall be more. It will
mean that some who are now paying less than their
share will be compelled to pay more, while some who
are paying more than their due will pay less. Larger
assessed valuations, with the corresponding decline
in the tax rate that will follow, will do much to place
this State before the business world in a true light.
If our assessed valuations were $1,500,000,000
which in real value they are, or more—and our tax
rate 21% mills, no more taxes would have to be paid
than now yet we would stand before the country as
one of its richest communities and having one of the
most economical of governments.
In North Georgia there is a county where ira-
proved lands were returned in 1908 at an average
valuation of $12.24 per acre, while in an adjoining
county they were returned at $6.65; in middle
Georgia one county returns improved lands at an
average valuation of $5.84, while an adjoining
county pays taxes on the same kind of property at
an average valuation of $3.89 per acre; in South
Georgia will be found a county where improved
21
lands are assessed at an average of $12.86 per acre,
While one adjoining pays taxes on an average valua-
tion of $2.73 per acre. º
Within the territory comprising the municipality
of Atlanta, State and county taxes are collected on
property returned at $84,053,739; on the same
property city taxes are collected on an assessed val-
uation of $115,765,696, while the real value is
estimated by the City Comptroller at $200,000,000.
In Augusta property within the city is assessed for
city taxes at a valuation of $26,324,072; for State
and county taxes the same is returned at $21,709,031
in Savannah, city taxes are collected on property
valued at $48,689,875, while the same property is
taxed by the State and county on a valuation of
approximately $40,000,000. Similar inequalities, I
suspect, exist with regard to most, or all, city prop-
erty in the State. It might be stated that these
cities no longer abide the voluntary return system,
prevailing in the State government, but, as a rule,
have assessors who make direct assessment or
minute revision of all returns.
In an address before the International Tax Con-
ference in September of last year, Hon. C. Murphey
Candler, an expert on Georgia tax laws, said:
‘‘Taking the latest estimated true values of all
property in Georgia, made by the National Census
Bureau in 1904, improved real estate constitutes 48
per cent. of all the property in the State and pays
51 per cent. of all taxes. All property in the State
was returned for that year at 44 per cent. of its
estimated true value.
“Real estate and improvements were returned at
49 per cent, live stock and farm implements at 59
per cent., railroad property at 40 per cent. and street
railroad, electric light and gas companies, and ship-
ping at 21 per cent. of their estimated true values.
The Census Bureau gives no separate estimate as to
the true value of money, notes, accounts, solvent
debts, etc., but it is exceedingly doubtful if this class
of personal property is returned at over 30 per cent.
of its value.’’
While these ratios may have been somewhat
changed in subsequent years, it must be remembered
that the assessments on which these figures were
based by the National Census Bureau were made
under the same laws and regulations as prevail now.
With much respect, but great earnestness, I sub-
mit the above stated facts to you, and believe they
show that the subject is one deserving great consid-
eration at your hands.
INHERITANCE TAx.
In this connection I again urge upon you the
passage of a law placing a tax upon inheritances,
graduated according to their size and their collateral
nature. In England and in many of our own States
this has been found a source of large revenue and
one that is fair and equitable.
A LABOR BUREAU.
Permit me again to respectfully call your atten-
tion to the recommendation made in my first message
23
to the effect that you establish a State Department
of Labor. -
The reasons then advanced for the establishment
of such department appear now of even more con-
trolling importance, besides to do so is both a de-
mand of the people, as expressed at the ballot box
and in convention assembled, and a pledge of the ad-
ministration of which you are a part. Since the De-
partment of Agriculture has wrought such sub-
stantial benefits to the agricultural interests, we can
readily anticipate that a Department of Labor would
likewise protect the rights and enhance the interests
of the laboring classes in the cities and other local-
ities.
The great growth of the manufacturing and other
industrial establishments in the State is demanding
raany thousands of new Workers and their needs
of fair treatment and protection call for the most
discerning care. - .
New problems regarding labor are arising, and
such a department would not only serve the em-
ployee, but, in many instances, the employer as well,
by promoting harmonious relations between the two.
It is a matter of gratification that good relations
have existed, almost without exception, between em-
ployers and employees in this State. This makes the
establishment of a labor department all the more de-
sirable in order-that the State shall contribute to-
wards continuing such a beneficent condition.
Such departments have been established, in some
form, by a number of States, and have been found
highly satisfactory.
24
IMPROVING THE COTTON PLANT.
Acting under the direction of a Resolution (No.
4, Georgia Laws 1909) adopted at your last session,
it was my pleasure since your adjournment to com-
municate with Mr. Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa,
California, with regard to including the cotton plant
in his experiments. His reply is here with Sub-
mitted: -
“SANTA Rosa, CAL., March 17, 1910.
“To His Eaccellency,
Joseph M. BROWN,
Governor of Georgia.
“ESTEEMED SIR: Your highly appreciated com-
munication of March 11th just received, and while
I am highly pleased to know that yourself and your
Legislature have confidence in my abilty to improve
the cotton plant (which most certainly can be im-
proved under the right management), yet I feel,
under the great pressure to which I am continually
subjected, that it will be impossible for me to do very
much of anything in this line.
“Our coast climate is too cool for the cotton plant
and I have so many experiments on hand and such
a great amount of correspondence, which must be at-
tended to, that I do not feel like starting a new ex-
periment station further inland where the cotton
plant would be grown with success. At the same
time, I have now started some very Small experi-
ments in this line, which may possibly sooner or later
25
be of some benefit to the growers of cotton. The
study of the cotton plant in all its phases, sufficient
to thoroughly encompass the work of improving it,
would almost be a life work for a single individual.
Hardiness, productiveness, length and quality of
staple, resistance to diseases and insects, especially
the boll weevil, and a thousand other questions
would be brought up in the improvement of cotton.
“While this work would interest me beyond
measure if I was within the cotton belt, yet, having
thousands on thousands of experiments of other
kinds, some of which have been going on for ten to
thirty years, it would seem almost an impossibility
for me to branch out and attack as I would like to
such a great subject as the improvement of cotton.
My time is so occupied that I could not well attend to
this, excepting in certain directions, more especially
towards a hardier variety.
“If at any time I can make suggestions which will
be of service to other workers, it is always my
pleasure to do so.
Faithfully yours,
LUTHER BURBANK.”
In this connection it pleases me to bring to your
attention the splendid work being done on the above
line by our State Agricultural College under the
direct supervision of Dr. A. M. Soule and Prof. R.
J. H. DeLoach, and by the State Entomological De-
partment under the supervision of Prof. E. L.
Worsham. These experiments have developed to an
extent that promise great benefit to the cotton
26
growers of the State, and I commend them to you
for consideration and encouragement.
I am advised that the State Agricultural College
is engaged in the development of a cotton plant
which will be proof against Anthracnose and which
will have a longer and more valuable fiber. The
success of this effort by experiments will add great
value to the cotton crops of this State and I, there-
fore, recommend a reasonable appropriation to the
State College of Agriculture to be used in carrying
on this work. The work of the Entomological De-
partment in overcoming “black root” has met with
encouraging results and provision for its contin-
uance should be made.
RAILROAD COMMISSION.
The Sovereign people of Georgia, in the election
which chose your honorable bodies, adopted, through
their representatives, a platform which contained
the following expression of their will:
‘‘We are opposed to unnecessary offices which
levy additional taxes on the people; and we ask the
Legislature to scan carefully Georgia’s pay-roll to
the end that all sinecures be cut off. We especially
favor a reduction in the membership of the present
Railroad Commission from five to three, and the
abolition of the office of special attorney of the
same.’’ - - -
I respectfully renew the recommendation made
in my first message that this mandate of the people
be made effective. The present number of members
of the Railroad Commission and the consequent in-
27
: - \ - - • - º
crease in its expenses are out of proportion to its
usefulness and the tax-payers should be relieved of
these superfluous burdens.
BIENNIAL SESSIONs.
Another matter to which I call your attention is
that of biennial sessions for the General Assembly.
Only about one-half dozen States in the American
Union now have annual sessions of their law-making
bodies, and the sentiment of the people of Georgia
appears positive to the effect that this State should
be freed from the expense of yearly sessions, which
are calculated, also, to burden the people with un-
necessary laws.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS.
The reports of the State House officers and of
trustees of colleges and public institutions and of
our other boards are or soon will be before you. I
respectfully commend them to your attention as con-
taining much useful and creditable information with
many worthy recommendations too numerous for
mention here. -
REPAIRS IN LEGISLATIVE HALLs.
Acting under direction of your honorable bodies,
I have had the halls of the House of Representatives
and the Senate renovated, repaired and re-carpeted.
The work was let in two contracts, one for repairs
and decorations and the other for carpets. Each
contract was let by bids, suitable advertising being
28
made and full opportunity offered all who desired to
make estimates.
In order to insure the most acceptable results in
the matter of repairs and decorations, I thought it
wise to reject all of the first bids submitted for that
part of the work. The work being of a highly tech-
nical nature, a reliable and skilled architect was em-
ployed to prepare specifications and engaged to
supervise the work, under which, after advertising
throughout the State, bids were again submitted and
opened, the contract being let to the lowest bidder.
The re-carpeting cost $4,890.37 and the decor-
ating and repairing $6,123.00. The services of the
architect cost $350.00, making a total of $11,363.37.
Payments on these contracts have been made out
of the Public Buildings fund, causing the same to be
severely taxed, and which will not be able to sustain
the extra expense unless re-imbursed. Therefore,
I respectfully suggest that the Public Buildings
Fund be reimbursed in the sum of $11,363.37.
In the above connection, the Engineer of the
Capitol brings to my attention in his annual report,
the fact that the Capitol Building boilers are in
serious need of repair. He states that money might
be saved by replacing them with new ones, and has
secured estimates covering the expenditure which
are now on file in the Executive Office. He also,
urges, as a matter of economy as well as comfort,
that the Capitol elevator be changed from steam to
electric power.
29
INSURANCE PREMIUMs.
During the year, new property coming into pos-
session of the State needed to be insured, and some
old property that had been omitted from the insur-
ance schedule or which was covered inadequately was
brought to my attention. I authorized the issuance
of policies on this property, each being for a period
of five years, but, in the absence of any insurance fund
at my disposal, contingent upon an appropriation to
meet the premiums. The total amount due is
$2,498.05. I suggest that the sum of $5,000 be appro-
priated as an insurance fund, out of which premiums
on existing new policies shall be paid and any
further needs of like nature met pending the expira-
tion of the general schedule of State insurance. -
THE NEW CODE.
The special Commission from your two houses
which was named to examine the new State Code
prepared by Hon. John L. Hopkins and tentatively
accepted by you, has made its report to me, which is
herewith submitted to you. (Appendix B).
The manuscript for the new Code is now in the
possession of this department and awaits your direc-
tion.
PARDONs.
In conformity with the requirements of the Con-
stitution, I herewith submit to you a statement of
all the pardons, commutations and reprieves granted
by me during the past year. (Appendix A).
30
Rather than make this message too voluminous,
I have deemed it wise to postpone the discussion of
some matters which I shall bring to your attention
a few days later.
CONCLUSION.
And now, in conclusion, allow me to repeat the
assurance of co-operation with which I closed my
first message to your honorable bodies. Our powers
and duties, it is well known, are different, but asso-
ciate. You occupy the dual status of being the
crystallization of the sovereign people and the agents
of the same to whom they have delegated duties
which they have made mandatory. I am the Execu-
tive of their will as written upon the statute books
by you. The Executive cannot enact a law, he can-
not repeal a law; but, with the instruments of
authority placed in his hands, he can enforce the laws
you enact. Let us then hold ever in mind that the
protection of society, equally, impartially, firmly,
discerningly and completely is our paramount duty
to the people of the State.
Respectfully submitted,

31
(APPENDIX A.)
In Compliance with the provisions of Section
5815 of the Code I herewith submit report of all re-
preives, commutations of sentences, pardons, etc.,
granted during the past year.
PARDONs GRANTED.
L. M. PATTEN.—Selling Whiskey. Criminal
Court of Atlanta, spring term, 1909. With fine of
six months in jail. He was convicted on evidence
of man who was afterwards convicted himself. He
is from good family, and his previous record is
good; he has served four months in prison; and his
release is recommended by Assistant Chief of
Police, by detectives who had charge of case, by
Solicitor General who prosecuted case, and by
Judge who presided at the trial. Pardon granted
July 10th, 1909.
LACE SIMPSON.—Murder. Superior Court, Hart
county, March term, 1899. Life imprisonment.
Witness who was young at date of trial makes
affidavit that she was excited and made mistake in
giving evidence on trial, which is material testi-
mony; from affidavits it appears that the offense
might have been only manslaughter; he has served
with good record ten years, and his pardon is recom-
mended by practically all of the trial jury, by the
officers of the county, by the Solicitor General and
by the prosecutor. Pardon granted July 21st, 1909.
32
J. H. WICKER.—Cheating and Swindling. County
Court of Green County, March term, 1909. Sentence
12 months chain-gang. County physician certifies
that he has chronic kidney trouble and dropsy and
is unfit for service. Commissioners and most of
other county officers ask his immediate release on
grounds of humanity. Pardoned July 22nd, 1909.
JIM ELLISON.—Larceny. City Court, Atlanta,
spring term, 1909. Sentenced to 10 months and
$75.00. Criminal intent doubtful; family upon
public charity. The prosecutor, presiding judge
and solicitor ask his release. Pardon granted July
24th, 1909.
HAYWOOD PowrDL.—Burglary. Superior Court,
Bibb county, January term, 1906. Sentenced for 5
years. He has served all of sentence but eight
months, with good record, and was only 15 years,
or less, when convicted; his pardon is asked by the
trial Judge and the Solicitor who prosecuted case.
Pardon granted July 30th, 1909.
HENRY A. HEITMAN.—Bigamy. Superior Court,
Bartow county, 1907. Three years sentence. Some
doubt as to guilt, and his physical inability to per-
form labor required is vouched for by four physi-
cians; the county physician where he is confined
certifies officially to his extreme inability to work.
His wife also asks his release. Pardon granted
August 3rd, 1909.
33
JAMES REED.—Murder. Hall Superior Court,
July term, 1907. Life imprisonment. States wit-
ness admits he was mistaken on material point; his
physical condition very bad, and his pardon asked
by 1,600 citizens of county where crime was said to
have been committed, also, by trial jury, grand jury,
and trial Judge. Pardon granted August 4th, 1909.
SHERMAN BREWER.—Burglary. Fulton Superior
Court, November term, 1903. 11 years in peniten-
tiary. He was convicted on three separate charges,
but Judge Fite, who presided at the trial, told him
if he made a good record that he would recommend
that two years be taken from sentence. Prisoner
has made good record and Judge Fite recommends
the pardon. Pardon granted August 6th, 1909.
ALICE WILLIAMS.–Misdemeanor. Eight months
chain-gang. She served about 6 months; has been
sick most of the time, and confined to bed about one
month, and there are serious doubts as to her re-
covery if further confined in prison. Pardon
granted November 1st, 1909.
JoHN N. PYLE.-Manslaughter. October term,
1909, Superior Court, Early county. Sentenced to
8 years in penitentiary. Character of prisoner good
prior to conviction. Grand jury returning bill and
trial Judge, together with all officers including Solic-
itor, recommend his pardon. Pardon granted De-
cember 9th, 1909.
34
SAMUEL SUMMERS.–Burglary. March term,
1908, Superior Court, Gwinnett county. Sentenced
to reformatory. He is a young white boy, who is
said to have been influenced to participation in the
crime by an older boy, who technically guilty, record
at reformatory good. Solicitor General prosecuting,
doubts whether the boy should have been convicted,
and strongly urges his pardon. Pardon granted De-
cember 17th, 1909.
J. W. ROYALS.—Misdemeanor. July term, 1909.
City Court, Valdosta. Sentenced 12 months chain-
gang. His wife and six children dependent upon
him, are in destitute condition. Judge Smith, who
presided at trial, Solicitor who prosecuted case and
a number of citizens of Lowndes county, recommend
release. Pardon granted December 20th, 1909.
E. A. MooRE.—Murder.—Fall term, 1905. Supe-
rior Court, Chatham county. Only son of widowed
mother; was conductor on street car, and having
difficulty with passenger, fired shot which killed lady
on street. His crime, if any, it seems should have
been involuntary manslaughter in commission of
unlawful act. A large number of the citizens of
Chatham county, together with city recommend
pardon. Pardon granted December 20th, 1909.
EUGENE HUTCHINSON.—Misdemeanor. August
term, 1909. City Court of Hartwell. Sentenced to 12
months or $250.00 fine. A married man with invalid.
35
wife and several small children dependent upon him.
Court of Appeals says “the evidence is barely dis-
cermable to judicial scrutiny.” Presiding Judge,
Solicitor prosecuting the case, together with Sheriff,
strongly recommend clemency. Pardon granted
December 20th, 1909.
GEORGE MADDox.—Stabbing. August term, 1907.
Superior Court, Spalding county. Sentenced to re-
formatory. Boy was about 12 years old at date of
difficulty, and was struck by another boy with whip,
whereupon he threw knife at him, making painful
wound, but not serious. Previous record is good
and the Solicitor General prosecuting case strongly
requests discharge. Pardon granted December
20th, 1909.
JoEIN PENLEY.-Gaming. August term, 1909.
Superior Court, Spalding county. Sentenced to 6
months chain-gang. He is a young White man; a son
of a poor widow woman; other boys engaged in the
game paid fine of $40.00 and were released. Penley
being unable to pay fine began service August 11th,
1909. Mother and five young children needs his
help; only white person in Spalding camp, and a
large number of citizens, also chain-gang. County
Commissioner recommend his pardon. Pardon
granted December 20th, 1909.
MAUD SHORTER.—Attempt to Murder. Novem-
ber term, 1908. Superior Court, Stewart county.
36
Sentenced to reformatory. Girl was only 11 years.
old when tried and sentenced. Superintendent.
writes that she has made an excellent record, and
asks her release. Pardon granted December 21st,
I909.
JOHN W. CHAPMAN.—Drunkness. August term,
1909. Superior Court, Milton county. Sentenced
to 12 months in chain-gang. Offense did not result
in difficulty with another one; is of a good family
and previous good character. His family, consist-
ing of wife and three small children, who are in des-
titute circumstances. Has been confined in chain-
gang about 4 months and the condition of his family.
is such as to need his presence. Pardon granted
December 20th, 1909.
TERRRY. W. CoRDRAY.-Assault and Battery. Fall
term, 1908. City Court of Blakely. Sentenced to
reformatory. Has served 14 months; maximum
sentence for crime committed. Is only child of
mother who needs his labor to care for her. Solic-
itor City Court, together with officers and Mayor of
Blakely and number of citizens ask his discharge.
Pardon granted December 21st, 1909.
JoEIN BURNs.—Misdemeanor. Convicted. City
Criminal Court, Fulton county, 1909. Sentenced 3
months on chain-gang or $25.00. He is a very old
white man who was convicted for being drunk on the
public highway without disorderly behavior. Judge
37
who tried him and Solicitor who prosecuted, regard
that his age and circumstances of his offense, to-
gether with good record on chaingang works release,
he is unable to pay fine. Pardon granted December
23rd, 1909.
W. A. CHAMBERs.--Larceny. May term, 1909.
Criminal Court of Atlanta. Sentenced to Fulton
County Reformatory. It is represented that boy
was put into the reformatory at instance of father,
who thought he had taken money from older sister.
His guilt is doubtful and his mother, a Christian
lady, and other members of the family request his
release. Pardon granted December 24th, 1909.
WALTER L. HoRNSBY.—Assault and Battery.
June term, 1909. City Court of Atlanta. Sentenced
to 12 months chain-gang or $300.00. Presiding
Judge, Solicitor General, Sheriff of county and a
number of citizens, and mother of boy assaulted,
ask his pardon. Pardon granted J anuary 12th,
1910.
HERMAN MENDELL.-Assault and Murder. Fall
term, 1908. Superior Court, Muscogee county. Sen-
tenced to penitentiary. Judge and Solicitor General
prosecuting, indorse application for pardon. Par-
don granted January 12th, 1910. .
CHARLEs AIKEN.—Concealed weapon. January
term, 1910. City Court, Atlanta. Fine of $50.00
38
and costs. Presiding Judge and Solicitor who pros-
ecuted, indorse application for clemency. Pardon
granted February 7th, 1910.
J. S. TRIBBLE.—Misdemeanor. October term,
1909. City Court, Atlanta. Fine $100.00 or 12
months in chain-gang. Presiding Judge, Prosecuting
Attorney, recommend application for clemency.
Presiding Judge expresses doubt as to guilt. Par-
don granted February 3rd, 1910.
LEVI ELLIOTT.—Simple Larceny. February term,
1908. City Court of Atlanta. Sentenced to Fulton
County Reformatory. He was 15 years old when
sentenced, and has been in reformatory about two
years. His mother who lives in Tennessee desired
to take him home and put him in to school. Pardon
granted February 3rd, 1910. -
GUY MORGAN.—Simple Larceny. March term,
1909. City Court, Atlanta. Sentenced to Fulton'
County Industrial Farm. Was sentenced for very
trivial offense. Presiding Judge, Sheriff, Hon.
Jerome Jones and many others of prominence
recommend his application for clemency. Pardon
granted March 9th, 1910.
JEROME WOOD.—Malicious Mischief. Fall term,
1909. City Court, Hazelhurst. Sentenced to State
Reformatory. Is son of widowed mother, and seems
to have been convicted of trivial offense. Judge of
39
City Court, Clerk of Court and a large number of
citizens ask his release. Pardon granted March 9th,
1910.
T. A. McGINNIs.—Bigamy. Fall term, 1908.
Superior Court, Forsyth county. Sentence two
years in penitentiary. He is weak mentally, and
having married, instituted proceedings for divorce,
procured one verdict, and thought he was author-
ized to marry again, did so and was indicted, where-
upon he plead guilty, Solicitor General, trial jury
and honorable citizens of county, recommend his re-
lease. Pardon granted March 10th, 1910.
EARL WAUGHN.—Simple Larceny. January term,
1910. City Court, Atlanta. Sentenced to six months
in jail. He is a young man of unsound mind, re-
cently from State Sanitarium at Milledgeville; sick
with fever in Fulton jail; father desired to take him
to Grady Hospital. Pardon granted March 11th,
1910.
LILLIUs THURMOND.—Assault with Attempt to
to Murder. Spring term, 1909. Superior Court,
Jackson, Ga. Sentenced two years in penitentiary.
His pardon is recommended by County officers, 15
members of the Grand Jury returning indictment.
Hon. John Holder, Speaker of House Representa-
tives and numerous good citizens of county recom-
mend his pardon. His wife and child dependent
upon him are in destitute condition. Pardon granted
April 11th, 1910.
40
OLIVER FINCH.—Selling Liquor. March term,
1909. City Court of Statesboro. Fine $300.00 and
six months in chain-gang. Fine and costs which
amounts to $460.00 has been paid, and has served in
chain-gang since March 7th, 1910. Seems to have
been largely under control of older brother. Appli-
cation indorsed by trial jury, except one inaccessi-
ble. Hon. J. J. E. Anderson, county officers and
about 800 citizens, neither Judge nor Solicitor op-
pose. Pardon granted April 12th, 1910.
EARL OVERBY.
Simple Larceny. May term,
1909, Criminal Court, Atlanta. Sentence Hapeville
Reformatory. Was convicted of trivial offense, has
been confined about one year. Mother is grief
stricken on account of death of the young brother
and had ask his release. Pardon granted April
12th, 1910.
G. M. MANUS.–Selling near beer without license.
Spring term, 1909. City Criminal Court, Atlanta.
Sentence $100 or 12 months in chain-gang. He is
an old infirm Confederate soldier. Trial Judge,
Prosecuting Attorney and Chief County Police, to-
gether with Sheriff, recommend his release. Pardon
granted April 15th, 1910.
NEWTON J. THRELKELD.—Murder. Spring term,
1906. Superior Court, Grady County. Life impris-
onment. Nine of trial jury say they do not believe
he was guilty of murder, but only of manslaughter,
41
which was not given in charge of trial. Hon. W. S.
Wright, member of Legislature from Grady County,
and Hon. W. S. West recommend his release. Par-
don granted April 16th, 1910.
ARTHUR Col.F.—Selling liquor. Fall term, 1909.
Superior Court, Fannin county. Fine $1,000 or 12
months in chain-gang. He began services in chain-
gang October 1909. In view of severity of sentence
and having served more than six months, his pardon
is granted upon payment of $100.00. Pardon
granted May 5th, 1910.
WILL W. McKINNEY.—Vagrancy. February
term, 1910. Criminal Court, Atlanta. Sentence 12
months in chain-gang. Was addicted to the use of
drugs, opium and morphine. No substantial charge
against him, but was tried and sentenced to gang in
order to cure him of habit. Doctor says he is cured
and recommends pardon, application indorsed by
trial Judge and Solicitor. Pardon granted May
11th, 1910.
B. T. McHENRY.—Forgery. February term,
1910. Superior Court, Chatham county. Sentence
six months in jail. Intent doubtful, amount in-
volved only $4.00. Jury recommend pardon, present
character good; family badly in need of his labor.
Pardon granted May 16th, 1910.
CoMMUTATIONS GRANTED.
RoBERT HAywooD.—Gaming. April term, 1909.
Superior Court, Fulton county. Sentence eight
months in chain-gang or $50.00. According to state-
ment of County Physician McDonald, this boy is
confined in the Incurable hospital of Fulton County
Camp, suffering from consumption, and will never
be able to work in the future. In opinion of physi-
cian, he can only live a short while, but being per-
mitted to go home to his mother in the country, his
life may be prolonged; present record good. Com-
mutation granted July 8th, 1909.
FRANK MEYERs.-Stealing Ride. October term,
1908. Superior Court, Fulton county. Sentence 12
months chain-gang. Meyers was morphine fiend,
and at the request of mother was sentenced without
fine, in order to be cured of morphine habit, he is
now well, having served 9 months. Judge who sen-
tenced, Solicitor prosecuting him, together with Dr.
J. W. Hurt recommend his release. Commutation
granted.
BoB FLOYD.—Larceny. Superior Court, Warren
county. Sentence 12 months chain-gang. He is
suffering with incurable disease in hospital; physi-
'cian and surgeons certify to his condition, and
County Commissioners command his release. Com-
mutation granted July 8th, 1909. -
43
D. C. FINCH.—Selling Whiskey. February term,
1909. City Court of Statesboro. Fine $1,000 and
three months in jail. Reputable physicians certify
that he has suffered from chronic rheumatism and
engorgement of the liver, all of which would be in-
creased by long confinement in jail. Sentence com-
muted to 20 days service in jail and payment of
$1,000. Commutation granted July 10th, 1910.
GUss PEASE.-Murder. Spring term, 1893. Su-
perior Court, Cobb county. Sentence Life imprison-
ment. Trial jury and presiding judge being fully
acquainted with facts, urge release on the grounds
that prisoner has been sufficiently to satisfy the de-
mands of law. The Wardens certify to good conduct
during 16 years of service; many citizens urge
clemency. Commutation granted July 25th, 1909.
R. L. V.ANDEFORD.—Rape. Superior Court, Fall
term, 1906. Gwinnett county. Twenty years in pen-
itentiary. Solicitor General says public excitement
was great, and it was doubtful whether defendant
was guilty with more than misdemeanor. De-
fendant’s counsel insist that he is innocent. 650
citizens, all of Gwinnett county, ask his release, say
that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice, on
account of overwhelming excitement, and say that
they do not believe that he is guilty of crime charged.
His conduct as a prisoner has been very good and
exemplary. Commutation granted August 3rd,
1909.
44
RICHARD ALLEN.—Burglary. October term, 1908.
Superior Court, Fulton county. Sentence 12 months.
Has served all of sentence except two months, and
is unable to work on account of disease, for which
reason clemency is recommended. Commutation
granted August 6th, 1909.
NORMAN JACKSON.—Voluntary Manslaughter.
December term, 1900. Superior Court, Chatham
county. Was convicted mainly on testimony of wit-
ness who was drunk and witnessed the killing. The
defendant denies guilt. Has served 10 years and
Solicitor General, seven members of trial jury and a
large number of reputable citizens ask clemency on
grounds of sufficient punishment and doubt as to
guilt. Commutation granted August 6th, 1909.
CLEVELAND PICKLEHEIMER.—Murder. February
term, 1906. Superior Court, Cherokee county. Was
only 18 years of age when crime was committed
and was put upon trial three days after arrest. His
father 80 years of age, his aged mother, together
with mitigating circumstances gave request for
elemency by Grand jury, trial jury, county officers,
Solicitor General and large number of reputable
citizens authorize his release. Commutation granted
August 6th, 1909.
W. L. J oughts-Assault with Attempt to Mur-
der. June term, 1907. Superior Court, Chatham,
Ga. Sentence 7 years in penitentiary. Was accused
45
of assaulting his wife, though injury very slight.
He has served two years and his recommendation
for pardon is recommended by Solicitor General,
foreman of the jury and others. Commutation
granted August 6th, 1909.
RILEY WALTON.—Burglary. Spring term, 1909.
Taylor County. Sentence 4 years in penitentiary.
Was convicted for entering house in day time and
taking therefrom $4.75, upon evidence of negro man
and his wife. Mr. Vann, a reputable white man,
testifies that he was picking cotton in the field at
time of alleged crime, thereby establishing alibi.
He is of good family. Commutation granted August
7th, 1909.
GORDON SIRMANs.-Selling Liquor. November
term, 1908. Superior Court, Decatur county. Sen-
tence 12 months chain-gang. Has rheumatism in-
volving heart, which is certified to by County Physi-
cian, exposure makes condition worse. County
Commissioners, county officers, Senator and Repre-
sentative, together with other good citizens of the
county, ask clemency. Commutation granted
August 7th, 1909.
ALF HALL.-Burglary. Fall term, 1907. Superior
Court, Ben Hill, Ga. Was confirmed opium eater,
wandering around, physically unable to do much
work, and in this condition, stole clothing and food,
in day time from dwelling houses. Was sent to
46
State Farm where he remained two years with good
conduct. Physician at State Farm certifies that he
is thoroughly cured of opium habit. Trial Judge
satisfied that the object of sentence and law vindi-
cated. Commutation granted August 9th, 1909.
George Cooper.—Larceny after Trust. April
term, 1907. Superior Court, Chatham county. Sen-
tence 8 months. Testimony technically justifies
conviction, but present circumstances indicate no
criminal intent; while intoxicated borrowed gun and
pawned it, but redeemed same and returned it.
Owner of gun did not prosecute and asks release.
He is working man with large family and has served
nearly half of sentence. His release is asked by
Representatives of the county. Commutation
granted August 9th, 1909.
ED IS Nox.—Murder. March term, 1901, Supe-
rior Court, Franklin county. Sentence life im-
prisonment. Evidence defendant developed Prison
Commission shows voluntary manslaughter. His
release is recommended by 12 Grand jury, 5 trial
jury and large number of citizens, by trial Judge
and Solicitor General. Commutation granted
August 10, 1909.
CHARLEY HUDSON.—Violation Prohibition Law.
June term, 1909. City Court. Fine and 10 months
chain-gang; five months jail, $75,00 fine. Hud-
Son is physically unable to work or stand upon his
47
feet. His pardon is recommended by trial Judge,
County Commission, City Court and by Physician
and Sheriff. Had previously served in city chain-
gang for Some offense and received injury while
confined therein. Commutation granted August
13th, 1909. .
LOUISA LINDSAY.-Infanticide. Spring term,
1900. Superior Court, Spalding county. Sentence
life imprisonment. At last stage of consumption,
and can only live few weeks. Trial jury, presiding
Judge and many citizens recommend her release.
Commutation granted August 28th., 1909.
BEN GADson.—Burglary. December term, 1905.
Chatham county. Sentence 7 years in prison. Has
served nearly 4 years of sentence and is suffering
from incurable disease and unable to perform any
labors. County Commissioner and others recom-
mend his release. Commutation granted September
10th, 1909.
GILBERT MATHEws.—Rape. January term, 1908,
Superior Court, Bibb county. Sentence 10 years in
prison. Is a negro between 60 and 70 years. His
pardon is recommended by trial Judge, Prosecuting
Solicitor, trial jury, Sheriff and deputies, together
with jailor and others. Sheriff states that a number
of burglars had planned killing of jailor and defend-
ant gave information concerning same and pre-
vented jail delivery with probable saving of jailor’s
48
life. Girl of bad character. Commutation granted
September 10th, 1909.
FRANK JARVIs.—Misdemeanor. February term,
1909. Superior Court, Cherokee county. Sentence
12 months in prison. Brother and sister have died
with tuberculosis and it is believed that defendant
has contracted same. His pardon is asked by trial
Judge Morris, county officers, preachers and reput-
able citizens of Cherokee county. Commutation
granted September 10th, 1909.
ELISHA WHITE.-Gaming. August term, 1909.
Superior Court, Muscogee county. Sentence three
months in jail or $40.00. Defendant makes affidavit
that he was never charged with any crime but this.
Began service in jail August 3rd, and is unable to
pay fine, his wife and six children, oldest less than
10 years and youngest about six months of age.
Trial Judge thinks circumstances warrant commu-
tation, same is also recommended by Solicitor Gen-
eral and Mayor city of Columbus. Commutation
granted September 20th, 1909.
CLEVELAND, ANDERSON.—Murder. Fall term,
1909. Superior Court, Fulton County. Sentence
life imprisonment. Boy was 16 years old when con-
victed; some doubt as to criminal intent. Has con-
sumption as certified to by Dr. Green. Has served
about 10 years with good record, which together
with physical condition authorizes clemency. Com-
mutation granted October 12th, 1909.
49
ALICE WILLIAMS.–Misdemeanor. City Court,
April term, 1909. Lowndes county. Has served
more than half of sentence at State Farm. Pardon
is recommended by prosecuting Solicitor upon pay-
ment of $100.00 and costs. Commutation granted
October 12th, 1909.
- LOUIS CHAMBERS.–Assault to Rape. October
term, 1907. Superior Court of Whitfield county.
Sentence 10 years in prison. Hon. A. W. Fite,
trial Judge says he doubts if boy was guilty of any-
thing more than assault and battery, and he, to-
gether with Solicitor General prosecuting case re-
commend clemency. Application is indorsed by trial
jury and mother of girl. Commutation granted
October 12th, 1909.
TILT SHELTON.—Murder. August term, 1908.
Superior Court, Chattahoochee county. Sentence
life imprisonment. Convicted on slight testimony,
and it is very probable that killing was result of an
accident due to want of knowledge in handling auto-
matic pistol. Many of the best citizens of the county
urge clemency. Commutation granted October 12th,
1909.
JoHN GRIFFIN.—Misdemeanor. October, 1909.
Calhoun County. Sentence two months in jail or
$200 fine or 10 months in chain-gang. Previous
record good, sold a pint of whiskey. Several of
family died with tuberculosis, and he now has same
disease, which would likely be precipitated by con-
50
finement in jail. Fine of $200 or 10 months in
chain-gang. Commutation granted October 30th,
1909.
DAVE. WILLIAMs.-Concealed weapons. Two
cases. September term, 1908. Spalding county.
Sentence of 12 months in chain-gang in each case.
Has served one sentence and two months on an-
other. Trial judge recommends release upon pay-
ment of $75.00. Commutation granted upon pay-
, ment of $75.00 November 1st, 1909.
L. H. GRIZZARD.—Burglary. November term,
1907, Superior Court, Fulton county. Sentence
3 years imprisonment. Former employers certify
to his previous honesty. Trial judge, presiding Sol-
icitor recommend clemency, to which proprietor of
hotel states to them is entirely agreeable. Commu-
tation granted November 13th, 1909.
PEARL HAwRINs.--Adultery. Fall term, 1909,
Superior Court, Pickens county. Sentence 6 months.
Physical condition is such, and conveniences at
State Farm are of character that require her release
in interest of society and humanity. Commutation
granted November 15th, 1909.
LYDIA HARDEN.—Vagrancy. 1909 term Superior
Court. Appling county. Sentence 12 months.
Physical condition is such and conveniences at State
Farm are of character that require her release
51
in interest of society and humanity. Commutation
granted November 15th, 1909.
ELIX FEARS.–Larceny. May term, 1909, Supe-
rior Court, Fulton county. Sentence 6 months in
jail. He is suffering with tuberculosis of the lung
and physicians recommend his release in order to
prevent probable spread of disease. Term would
expire 28th of November. Commutation granted
November 2nd, 1909.
ROBERT SHEPARD.—Murder. Spring term, 1905.
Sentence life imprisonment. The evidence devel-
oped before the Commission was not produced at
trial, and shows grave doubts as to guilt of defend-
ant. Trial judge, Solicitor-General and Clerk of
court recommend application for his release. Com-
mutation granted November 13th, 1909.
WILL TRUMPLER.—Misdemeanor. Spring term,
1909, City Court of Richmond county. Sentence
8 months in prison. Boy was only 16 years old
and was convicted of assault and battery. Boy
assaulted was only slightly injured. Application
is recommended by Solicitor of City Court, members
of city council, chief of police, Hon. W. H. Fleming,
Sheriff of county, Mayor of Augusta, President of
the Board of Health and members of the Legisla-
ture. Commutation granted November 17th, 1909.
JoHN HARPE.R.—Murder. August term, - 1907,
Superior Court of Murray county. Death penalty.
52
The record shows that the Solicitor-General, prose-
cuting the case, stated to the jury in his open re-
marks that he would prove by eye witnesses the
crime. This he did not do. Affidavit of eye witness
above referred to since the trial has made affidavit
to the effect that the sheriff, whom Harper killed,
did not give Harper reason to know that he was such
officer and shouted “hold them up.” The witness
further says that Keith (the deceased) shot several
times as he pursued Harper. Finally after he had
run some distance, about two hundred yards, Har-
per turned and shot at Keith.
Two of the jurors made affidavits concerning this
Statement and say had they heard at the trial, the
statement made in the affidavit they would not have
convicted said Harper of murder, nor would they
have agreed to a verdict of murder in said case.
Two Justices of the Supreme Court, to-wit.: Hon.
Beverly D. Evans and Horace B. Holden, have in
Written statements said that they consider the case as
being one warranting commutation. One member
of the Prison Commission strongly urges by way
of argument the way of clemency, commuting said
sentence to life imprisonment. Commutation to life
imprisonment granted October 28th, 1909.
PETER WILLIAMs.-Gaming. May term, 1906,
Criminal Court of Atlanta. Sentence 12 months in
gang or fine of $75.00. Defendant is in last stage of
Bright's disease, and the opinion of Dr. McDonald
is that he can only live a short while. Wardem cer-
53
tifies his conduct to be good since confinement.
Commutation granted November 15th, 1909.
CLIFFORD WEST.-Misdemeanor. August term,
1907, City Court of Monroe. Sentence 6 months
chain-gang, or $25.00. He is in the last stage of con-
sumption. Presiding judge and trial solicitor rec-
ommend clemency. Dr. Elrod says he is unable to
work and is a menace to the camp. Commutation
granted November 16th, 1909.
LizziE TEASELEy.—Selling liquor. September
term, 1909, Superior Court, Cobb connty. Sen-
tence 6 months chain-gang. She was received at
convict camp September, 1909. County physician
where she is confined in camp hospital, says she is
suffering from tuberculosis, and owing to this hear-
tily recommends pardon as soon as possible. This
certificate is approved by Board of County Commis-
sioners. Commutation granted November 20th,
I909.
DALLAS HALL.—Burglary. Spring term, 1909,
Superior Court, Jackson county. Sentence two
years in prison. Trial judge strongly urges commu-
tation of sentence. Commutation granted Novem-
ber 20th, 1909.
JoE GREER.—Concealed weapon. March term,
1909, City Court, Jasper county. Sentence 8
months chain-gang. M. J. McElheny makes affida-
vit that prosecutor after trial told him that defend-
54
ant did not have pistol concealed. Eleven members
of trial jury ask that his sentence be commuted.
Sentence commuted and fine of $20.00 November
20th, 1909. s
A. E. SALLY.-Misdemeanor. Spring term, 1909,
Superior Court, Richmond county. Defendant is
a physician residing in Augusta for several years,
and judge pronounced sentence and stated that de-
fendant was an ill man, and that sending him to
gang would mean his death, and under the law he
would be forced to give him jail sentence. Consid-
ering the increasing disease of the prisoner, pre-
siding judge together with the Solicitor-General,
trial jury, judge City Court, Mayor of city and 30
physicians ask his release. Commutation granted
December 1st, 1909. -
Mose. BUSH.-Breaking jail. March term, 1909,
Talbot county. Sentence 12 months chain-gang.
Has served 9 months of sentence. County Commis-
sioners and camp physician certify that he is dying
of tuberculosis and ask his release. Commutation
granted December 7th, 1909.
J. B. DEAN.—Burglary. January term, 1909,
Criminal Court, Fulton county. Sentence two years
in prison. The entire trial jury recommend release.
Strong evidence showing an alibi has been sub-
mitted. Commutation granted December 10, 1909.
PRIMUs BUFFINGTON.—Voluntary manslaughter.
55
August term, 1905, Superior Court Hall county.
Sentence 10 years in prison. Presiding judge and
trial solicitor, Hon. Fletcher Johnson, attorney for
prisoner, county officers, all of jury that are accessi-
ble, both rhembers of the Legislature, chief police of
Gainesville, City Clerk and Mayor and a number of
citizens ask release. Commutatian granted Decem-
ber 11th, 1909.
HOMER LUNSFORD.—Misdemeanor. October terra,
1909, Criminal Court of Atlanta. First offense of
the defendant. His release is recommended by Sol-
jčitor Hon. Lowry Arnold, R. M. Wiley, prosecutor,
and others. Sentence commuted December 9th, 1909.
FRED IRBY.—Concealed weapon. October term,
1909, Superior Court Houston county. Sentence 12
months chain-gang. County physician certifies that
he is suffering from very serious affliction of double
hernia and is liable while undergoing the sentence to
become strangulated, producing permanent disabil-
ity. Is unable to work and citizens recommend com-
mutation defined. Commutation granted upon pay-
ment of $35.00, December 14th, 1909.
JOHN LIVELY. —Misdemeanor. September term,
1909, City Court, Atlanta. Sentence 10 months in
chain-gang. Two cases against defendant, one for
being drunk on public highway, and the other for
fight with brother-in-law. No serious injury result-
ing. Defendant is in poor health as shown by Doc-
tor’s certificate. Judge Calhoun, Solicitor Arnold
56
|
and many good citizens recommend release. Judge
Calhoun says is a burden to county. Commutation
granted December 14th, 1908.
DELLA LALLIE.—Murder. January term, 1905,
Superior Court Fulton county. Sentence life im-
prisonment. Presiding judge and Solicitor Hill
prosecuting case, recommend pardon and say that
she was hardly guilty of anything more than man-
slaughter. Has served 5 years and shows good rec-
Ord. Commutation granted December 16th, 1909.
SIM HARRIs.-Murder. January term, 1902, Su-
perior Court Fulton county. Sentence life impris-
onment. Upon evidence not submitted at trial, it
appears that defendant was perhaps not guilty of
anything, certainly not of murder. Camp physi-
cian certifies that defendant is in bad physical condi-
tion. Shows excellent prison record. Commuta-
tion granted December 16th, 1909.
ROBERT CALLAHAN.—Gaming. May term, 1909,
Criminal Court, Atlanta. Fine of $75.00 or 12 months
in chain-gang. Defendant having served about half
of sentence, the judge and solicitor prosecuting case
recommend that sentence be commuted to fine. Sen-
tence commuted to $40.00 December 17th, 1909.
JIM ALLEN.—Burglary. Fall term, 1905, Supe-
rior Court, Bibb county. Sentence five years in
prison, term will expire January 20th, 1910. De-
fendant pleads very earnestly for spending Christ-
57
mas at home. Considering all circumstances, good
record, etc., it is deemed not amiss. Commutation
granted December 20th, 1909.
WILL KELLEY.—Assault to murder. Spring term,
1908, Superior Court, Walker county. Sentence
three years in prison. Solicitor-General, Hon. J.
W. Bale, and Hon. Frank Copeland, of counsel for
the State, father of assaulted party, Sheriff, Ordi-
nary and Clerk of Superior Court request commuta-
tion. Commutation granted December 20th, 1909.
GRIFF FREEMAN.—Misdemeanor. August term,
1909, Fulton county. Sentence 6 months in jail.
County physician certifies that he has a dangerous
asthma and heart trouble from which he is suffering
and advises his release. Sheriff certifies that his
death is very much imperiled by confinement in jail
and recommends his release. Commutation granted
December 20th, 1909.
JoBIN C. WITZELL-Larceny. Fall term, 1907,
Superior Court Gilmer county. Sentence four years
in prison. He is an ignorant Dutchman who has an
exceptionally fine prison record. He loaned an-
other Dutchman $50.00, which he failed to return,
and defendant very much in need of same was ad-
vised by a friend to go to Gilmer county, whip the
borrower and take his horse. This he did, but horse
was recovered with little expense. Circumstances
warrant release. Commutation granted December
20th, 1909. -
58
FRANK FALLING.—Larceny. Fall term, 1907,
City Court, Jasper county. Sentenced to Reforma-
tory. Has served since November 24th, 1907.
Superintendent of Reformatory recommends dis-
charge on good record. He is 15 years of age.
Commutation granted December 20th, 1909.
LUCY LITTLE.—Felony. Spring term, 1908, Su-
perior Court Putnam county. Sentence five years
in prison. She is an invalid suffering with tubercu-
losis and unable to work, has people who will take
care of her. Commutation granted December 20th,
1909. -
Selling liquor. July term, 1909,
Oconee county. Sentence 12 months chain-gang.
Has served half of sentence, and trial judge requests
commutation of sentence to $100.00 including costs.
Solicitor, Ordinary, Sheriff and Clerk also recom-
mend that the case take this course. . Sentence com-
muted in accordance with request December 21st,
1909. -
JIM REESE.
WESLEY PIERCE.-Murder. Fall term, 1908, Su-
perior Court, Fulton county. Sentence life impris–
Onment. Was a negro boy 14 years of age when con-
victed, and has served 11 years. Solicitor-General
and many good citizens ask his release on account
of youth and aggravating circumstances. Sentence
commuted December 22nd, 1909.
ANNIE TUCKER.—Misdemeanor. October term,
59
1909 City Court Hancock county. Sentence 12
months in chain-gang. A married woman with two
small children dependent upon her for care and sup-
port. Her physical condition is bad rendering her
unfit for service. Member of legislature, senator of
the district, judge and solicitor and other prominent
citizens indorse application for clemency. Commu-
tation granted January 8th, 1910.
JAKE CARITHER.—Misdemeanor. October term,
1909, City Court of Monroe. Sentence of $100.00
or 12 months in chain-gang. Trial judge in a let-
ter strongly urges clemency. Commutation granted
January 17th, 1910.
JOHN I. LEWIS.–Misdemeanor. Fall term, 1909,
City Court Wilson county. Sentence nine months in
prison. Presiding judge and trial Solicitor recom-
mends a moderate fine. Hon. Pope Brown, and
other good citizens testify to good character and
believe that he will not again violate the law. He
is a poor trustworthy farmer, has a wife and several
Small children dependent upon him for support.
Commutation and payment of $25.00 granted Jan-
uary 12th, 1910.
JOHN ROBERTSON.—Murder. February term,
1903, Superior Court Fulton county. Sentence Life
Imprisonment. Presiding Judge, Solicitor-General
and also county officers and many citizens urge
clemency. Commutation granted January 12th,
1910.
60
PERRY CRAWLEY. —Larceny. April term, 1909,
City Court of Berrien. Sentence 12 months in
chain-gang. Presiding judge, Solicitor-General,
county officers and trial jury indorse application.
Commutation granted February 7th, 1910.
HENRY RORERTs.--Larceny. September term,
1897, Superior Court Pickens county. Sentence Life
Imprisonment. House burned was a small shack.
Party owning house and prosecuting case, asks that
sentence be commuted. Trial judge and county
officers strongly urge clemency. Trial Solicitor
dead. The defendant has served 13 years with good
conduct. Commutation granted January 12th, 1910.
GEORGE GoolsBY-Murder. May term, 1909,
Superior Court Upson county. Commuted to Life
Imprisonment. His pardon is recommended by
Prison Commission after careful view of all facts in
case. It also appears that other parties were con-
nected with commission of crime and the commuta-
tion of Life sentence of defendant may result in
their conviction. Commutation granted January
13th, 1910. #. .
CHARLIE THOMAS.—Larceny. March term, 1909,
City Court of Atlanta. Sentence 12 months or
$100.00 each. Has completed one sentence, and
Prosecuting Solicitor and Trial Judge join in recom-
mendation for $50.00. Commutation granted Jan-
uary 22nd, 1910.
61
ROBERT YouNG.—Misdemeanor. December term,
1909, City Court of Oconee county. Presiding and
Prosecuting Solicitor urge clemency. Sentence
commuted to a fine of $50.00. Commutation granted
February 7th, 1910. & • -
AMELIA MORELAND.—Arson. September term,
1884, Superior Court Green county. Defendant a
negro Woman has been confined in penitentiary 26
years. Prosecutor states in writing that he does not
object to release. Hon. H. G. Lewis solicitor at the
time, says he cheerfully recommends same, other
prominent citizens do likewise. Commutation
granted February 11th, 1910. .
SALLIE GRIFFIN.—Vagrancy. September term,
1909 Criminal Court Atlanta. Defendant has served
about six months, conduct has been good; Judge,
Solicitor, Sheriff strongly urge her discharge. Com-
mutation granted February 19th, 1910.
WILL HENRY.—Larceny. July term 1909, City
Court, Oglethorpe county. Fine of $75.00 or 12
months in chain-gang. The sentence provided that
the payment of money in lieu of chain-gang services
should be paid by a certain date. Defendant failed
to raise money at the time, but afterwards did so
and desired to pay; court refused. Commutation
granted by allowing payment of $75,00 the original
fine imposed by the court. Commutation granted
February 28th, 1910.
THOMAS HOPKINS.-Misdemeanor. Fall term,
1909, City Court, Screven county. Sentence 12
months chain-gang. Judge Boykin who presided
at the trial strongly urges commutation to payment
of $150.00. Commutation granted in accordance
with recommendation February 28th, 1910.
ANTHONY REDDICK.—Murder. Spring term, 1909,
City Court, Sumter county. Four cases. Sentence
40 months chain-gang. County physicians report
defendant in desperate health. It appears that fur-
ther confinement would result in death, and perhaps
if released he might recover, although it seems .
doubtful. County Commissioners and Warden say
that he is unable to work, and his care and ex-
penses are $42.00 per month. Commutation granted
February 28th, 1910.
JULIAN CLARK.—Stealing ride on train. Septem-
ber term, 1909, Criminal Court, Atlanta. Was con-
victed September 25th, 1909. His mother is danger-
ously 'sick, and not expected to live. He was only
16 years of age when convicted. His youth and con-
dition of mother and circumstances of case justify
commutation. Fine commuted to payment of $25.00.
Commutation granted March 7th, 1910.
CHARLIE IRWIN.—Selling liquor. November term,
1909, Superior Court, Henry county. Sentence
$500.00 or 12 months. He is reported to be practi-
cally an invalid, and not able to pay fine. His appli-
cation is endorsed by members of Legislature from
63
Franklin county. Dr. W. W. Carmichael and others
certifies to his physical condition. There is some
Question as to whether he sold the whiskey or bought
it from one Jack Williams. At the trial of the case,
it was not certain that there was such a party as
Williams, but since the trial it has developed that
there was such party. Eleven of the jury recom-
mend clemency commuted to $100.00. Commutation
granted March 9th, 1910. ---
JIM STAPLEs.-Burglary. February term, 1908,
Superior Court, Polk county. Sentence 4 years.
Trial judge, prosecuting solicitor and sheriff of
Polk county endorse application on grounds that he
gave information on intended escape from jail on
the part of several other persons. He has served
since September 11th, 1908. He stayed in jail about
a year prior to sentence. This would make, credit-
ing him with good time, about three years confine-
ment. Commutation granted March 9th, 1910.
MosB JoHNSON.—Murder. September term, 1908,
Superior Court, Baker county. Sentence death
penalty. Prosecuting attorney states that he does
not think boy should be hanged. The trial judge
says that if the two old men who procured the boy
to do the shooting escaped with life sentence, that
the boy should not be hanged. He has just passed
16 years of age and the grand jury indicting him ask
for commutation for life imprisonment. Commuta-
tion granted March 15, 1910.
64
JULIA MoRTON.—Arson. December term, 1899,
Superior Court, Jackson County. Sentence life im-
prisonment. Defendant was paroled some time ago.
She is now in desperate health, having pneumonia
and has convulsions frequently, is also a consump-
tive, and doctors say she cannot live long. Sentence
commuted to present service April 10th, 1910.
RICHARD CARR.—Robbing. December term, Supe-
rior Court, Bibb county. Sentence 10 years in
prison. Presiding judge, prosecuting attorney,
grand jury, arresting officers, recommend commuta-
tion to present service. Commutation granted April
26th, 1910. -
FERDIN AND HORSTMAN.—Larceny. Fall term,
1905, Superior Court, Fulton county. Sentence 8
years. He has served more than half his term,
seems to have been duped into commission of crime
by one O. B. Black, who was sentenced to 10 years
service, and granted commutation in 1908. Com-
mutation granted April 6th, 1910.
IKE TUGGLER.—Murder. Spring term, 1901, Su-
perior Court, Walton county. Judge R. B. Russell,
who presided at trial, Hon. C. H. Brand, Solicitor-
General prosecuting, the grand jury and trial jury
all recommend commutation of sentence to present
service. Commutation granted April 7th, 1910.
DAN Lyon.—Murder. Fall term, 1884, Superior
Court, Bryan county. Life imprisonment. Pris-
65
oner was paroled April 1909, after diligent inquiry
and investigation of conduct of present sentence, he
was paroled. The Commissioners recommend he is
entitled to pardon. Commutation granted April 7th,
1910.
HENRY BRADLEx-Murder. November term,
1906, Superior Court, Montgomery county. Sen-
tence life imprisonment. Negro killed was a desper-
ate character, having gone to the mill where defend-
ant and others were at Work and shot at some of
the negroes. Superintendent sent some of the neg-
roes through the swamp where he was hiding, and
being located and resisting arrest, was shot and
killed. Hon. E. D. Graham, prosecuting attorney,
urges clemency. Commutation granted April 15th,
1910.
SHUG BERRY.-Burglary. February term, 1909,
Superior Court, Butts county. Sentence 5 years.
Character of the witness upon whose testimony de-
fendant was convicted, renders his guilt extremely
doubtful. Eleven of trial jury, prosecuting attor-
ney recommend clemency. On trial of case jury rec-
Ommended misdemeanor, but judge did not respect-
fully recommend same. Commutation granted June
4th, 1910.
DORSE PARKER.—Murder. 1896 term Superior
Court, Wilkinson county. Sentence life imprison-
ment. Defendant has served in penitentiary since
1896. Seems to have been convicted on circum-
66
stances. Had head crushed since being in peniten-
tiary, from which he frequently has convulsions.
Trial judge and solicitor endorse application for
clemency. County physician states defendant can-
not live much longer. Commutation granted April
12th, 1910.
BEN SMARR.—Assault. February term, 1910, Su-
perior Court Monroe county. Sentence 12 months
in chain-gang. The entire jury, except one, recom-
mended that fine be reduced below $100.00. Sheriff
also recommends same, county officers, Representa-
tives and other good citizens endorse application.
Sentence commuted to payment of $125.00. Com-
mutation granted April 12th, 1910.
E. F. KING-Misdemeanor. August term, 1909,
Superior Court, Gordon County. Sentence $700.00
and 9 months. Application for clemency is endorsed
by trial jury, together with about 700 citizens of
Gordon county. Col. Rankin says that Judge Fite,
who presided at the trial, stated to him that he did
not oppose commutation. Chain-gang Sentence was
suspended by trial judge if the defendant would
leave the State. Has been absent from State 7
months, and desires to return to his home and county,
and promises to never again engage in the sale of
liquor direct or indirect. - . . . .
As Article 1, Section 1, Paragraph 7 of the Con-
stitution of the State of Georgia says “neither ban-
ishment beyond the limit of State, nor whipping, as
67
punishment for crime, shall not be allowed,” and as
the law does not permit judges of the Superior court
to suspend sentences, it appears that the trial judge
exceeded his authority in this case, and therefore
under the circumstances it seems to be a proper case
for the exercise of clemency. Commutation to pay-
ment of fine granted April 15th, 1910.
EVA BARRY.—Selling liquor. June term, 1909,
City Court of Millen. Fine of $200 and 12 months.
Eight of the trial jury recommend commutation, as
also does a large number of citizens. She is a poor
negro Woman and will have to stay in the chain-gang
for 12 months. Commutation of sentence to service
of 12 months in chain-gang and payments of costs
in case. Commutation granted April 15th, 1910.
KATE O'Dwy ER.—Misdemeanor. October term,
Superior Court, Clarke county. Fine of $1,000, 12
months in chain-gang, and 6 months in jail. De-
fendant plead guilty in two cases, in one she paid
fine of $200.00. The sentence in the other case, the
One noted above, was suspended upon her agreeing
to leave county. Her attorney advised at the lapse
of 12 months she could return to county, which she
did, and is confined in chain-gang. Her application
for clemency is indorsed by Solicitor-General and
others. Commutation to present service granted
April 29th, 1910.
FELIX Davenport.—Assault with intent to mur-
der. Spring term, 1907, Superior Court, Jackson .
68
county. Five years in prison. Solicitor-General,
trial judge and county commissioners all urge clem-
ency. Commutation to present service granted April
30th, 1910.
ARTHUR Col.F.—Misdemeanor. Fall term, 1909,
Superior Court, Fannin county. Fine of $1,000, or
12 months. Defendant has served in gang since Oc-
tober 30th, 1909. In view of long service and good
behavior, it is recommended that the sentence be
commuted to present service upon payment of $100.
Commutation granted May 5th, 1910.
ELI MULLIS, J.R.—Misdemeanor. March term,
1909, Superior Court, Wilcox county. The sentence
provided for 12 months in chain-gang, and also that
10 months of the sentence might be commuted on
payment of $250. Commutation granted in accord-
ance with recommendation May 7th, 1910.
TALLY LUKE.-Burglary. March term, 1910, Su-
perior Court, Coffee county. Four months and $200.
Defendant has just passed 15 years of age, and has
served more than a month in chain-gang. Grand
jury recommended commutation of his sentence to
the payment of fine imposed. The goods taken were
of the value of about $12.00 or $15.00. Commuta-
tion to payment of $200.00 and present service
granted May 7th, 1910.
DENNIS HAMILTON.—Misdemeanor. City Crimi-
pal Court, April term, 1910. Ten months in gang or
69
$50.00. He is a half-witted boy 16 years old without
mental capacity to appreciate the offense he com-
mitted, or to know he is in chain-gang. Was ar-
rested in Habersham county. Left home without
consent and came to Atlanta, was picked up a vag-
rant and was accused of stealing rooster. Trial
judge recommends commutation to present service,
which was granted in accordance with recommenda-
tion May 9th, 1910.
B. F. TowleR, WILL HUNT, ALVIN EVANs.-Per-
jury. Superior Court, Walton county, February
term, 1909. Sentence four years. Defendants are
all ignorant men overpersuaded to testify falsely by
a man of much superior intelligence. They volum-
tarily pleaded guilty and gave evidence resulting in
the indictment of the suborners and the conviction
of one of them, who is now serving a 7 years sen-
tence. Trial judge makes statement in person that
he thinks it would not be against public interest to
commute sentence. Solicitor-General, Representa-
tive Edwards and all county officers, together with
grand jury and 25,000 citizens of Walton county, all
recommend release. Commutation granted May
11th, 1910.
JIM HILL.—Forgery. March term, 1907, Supe-
rior Court, McDuffy county. Sentenced to 1 and 4
years. Has had tuberculosis for several months and
has been critically ill, and a menace to the other
inmates. The attending physician urges his imme-
diate release; county authorities and trial judge do
7()
likewise. Commutation to present service granted
May 11th, 1910.
ROLLIE WALDEN.—Simple larceny. January
term, 1910, Superior Court, Rockdale county. Sen-
tence four months. Has served three months, and
from facts gathered, it is doubtful whether he is
guilty. Condition of his wife is such as to need his
presence and services. Seven of the jurors, trial
judge and large number of good citizens ask that
sentence be commuted to present service. Commu-
tation to present service granted May 11th, 1910.
JERRY FARLow.—Misdemeanor. October term,
1909, Criminal Court, Atlanta. Sentence 8 months.
Two cases. Trial judge, prosecuting Solicitor and
officers of court, policemen representing case, all rec-
ommend commutation. Commutation to present
service granted May 13th, 1910.
L. M. BROUGHTON.—Attempt to murder. City
Court, Fulton County, January term, 1909. In trial
of case, jury recommended punishment for misde-
raeanor, and he was sentenced to chain-gang for 12
months. A disease has developed since his confine-
ment which renders him unfit for labor. County
physicians certify that he has valumber heart trou-
ble, causing general dropsy, and inability to lie down
at night, and trial judge and solicitor recommend
release. Commutation to present service granted
May 13th, 1910.
-
JoBN GRINER.—Burglary. Fall term Superior
Court, 1907, Coffee county. Sentenced to Reforma-
tory. Superintendent writes that he has complied
with all requirements. Commutation granted May
16th, 1910.
Mrs. R. B. HILL-Misdemeanor. February term,
1910, City Court, Floyd county. Twelve months
chain-gang. She is 48 years of age. Chairman of
County Commissioners, Hon. W. M. Gammon and
other prominent citizens of Floyd county recommend
release. Commutation to present service granted
May 16th, 1910.
JOHN CARTER.—Simple larceny. August term,
1909, Superior Court, Campbell county. Party was
convicted for stealing a small amount of corn from
the man which he lived with and feeding to chickens,
not over $1.00 worth. Has served about 8 months,
and asks to be discharged on payment of $20.00.
Commutation to present service granted upon pay-
ment of $20.00, May 14th, 1910.
HENRY WHITE HEAD.—Misdemeanor. January
term, 1910, Criminal Court, Atlanta. Sentence 12
months in chain-gang or $50.00. Negro was only 15
or 16 and was convicted for some petty larceny. He
is in such condition that he is unable to work, suffer-
ing from chronic peritomitis, and county physician
requests his discharge. Commutation to present
service granted May 18th, 1910.
72
E. B. RUNYON.—Burglary. April term, 1910,
Superior Court, Chatham county. Two cases, six *
months each. Boy of very respectable parentage in
Richmond, Va., came to Savannah about April, 1910,
and committed offense above stated. Is about 17
years of age, and was sentenced to Industrial Farm
near Savannah. Affidavits of several physicians
show that at the time he committed the crime and
before said time, was severely demented and that he
should be released and removed where he can have
surgical attention. Commutation to present service
granted June 16th, 1910.
TROY THOMASON.—Subornation of purgery. Aug-
ust term, 1909, Superior Court, Walton county.
Was convicted mainly on own statement. It appears
that he was trying to obtain release of an older
brother and perhaps in ignorance of law committed
the crime. The trial judge, grand jury, county off-
cers of Walton and Gwinnett county, together with
several hundred of the best citizens recommend par-
don. Commutation granted June 19th, 1910.
JACK McCLOUD.—Murder. October term, 1905,
Superior Court, Telfair county. Life imprisonment.
Prosecutor, near relatives of deceased, Solicitor-
General, trial jury and all of county officers recom-
mend clemency. Commutation to present Service
granted June 12th, 1910.
73
PAROLES.
BUD CoopFR.—Murder. March term, 1903, Su-
perior Court Gwinnett county. Sentence Life Im-
prisonment. Prisoner has served more than the
minimum sentence fixed by law for the crime com-
mitted. Two representatives and the former Solici-
tor who prosecuted him recommend parole, Presid-
ing Judge dead. Parole granted July 7th, 1909.
O’MEIG PoweLL.—Manslaughter. Spring term,
1906, Superior Court, Sumter county. Sentence 20
years in prison. Has served more than minimum
sentence. Strong petition of citizens urge release.
Solicitor General does not object. Parole granted
July 28, 1909.
HENRY SMITH.—Burglary. April term, 1909,
Superior Court Montgomery. Sentence 15 years in
prison. Good conduct of prisoner. Has served
more than the minimum sentence. Application in-
dorsed by solicitor-general, county commissioners
and others. Parole granted July 29, 1909.
OsCAR ALGREEN.—Burglary. April term, 1907,
Superior Court Fulton county. Six years in prison.
IHas served more than minimum sentence for crime
committed with good record in penitentiary. His
release is recommended by Solicitor-general and
officers, also by Rev. Carl Schaefer pastor of church
and many good citizens. Parole granted August
7th, 1909.
74
!
!
WALKER BARENTIME.-Voluntary Manslaughter.
March term, 1906, Superior Court Coweta county.
Sentence 5 years in prison. Has served more than
minimum sentence with good record. Physician
certifies he has developed tuberculosis. Release is
recommended by very large number of citizens.
Parole granted August 9th, 1909.
EULACE WALLACE.-Larceny. After Trust.
Spring term, 1909, Superior Court Fulton county.
Three years in penitentiary. Has served more than
minimum sentence for crime committed with good
conduct. His release is recommended by solicitor-
general, officials of the county, and other prominent
citizens. Parole granted August 9th, 1909.
TOM EVANs.--Larceny. March term, 1908 Sup-
erior Court Cobb county. Five years in prison.
Has served more than minimum sentence fixed by
law. Has served a year and six months with good
conduct. His release is recommended by Trial
Judge, Solicitor General, officers and several hundred
citizens of Cobb county. Paroled September 11th,
1909.
TOM ANDERSON.—Murder. January term, 1898,
Superior Court, Emanuel county. Sentenced to life
imprisonment. Has served more than minimum
sentence for crime committed with good conduct.
His release is recommended by trial judge, prose-
cuting Solicitor, nine jurors, others not being acces-
Sible and large number of good citizens. Parole
granted September 11th, 1909.
75
SNow ALLEN.—Burglary. Spring term, 1902,
Superior Court, Jackson county. Sentence 10 years
in prison. Has served more than minimum sentence.
Presiding judge and large number of citizens recom-
mend his release. Parole granted September 11th,
1909.
EMANUEL McGHAN.—Murder. April term, 1886,
Superior Court, Marion county. Life imprison-
ment. Has served more than minimum sentence
with good conduct. He is growing old, considering
the conflict together with his long services. Parole
granted September 11th, 1909.
ToL CANNON.—Larceny. March term, 1906, Su-
perior Court, Habersham county. Has served more
than minimum sentence fixed by law. Trial judge
recommends release, other good citizens do likewise.
Parole granted September 11, 1909.
JoHN BICKERs.-Burglary. November term, 1905,
Superior Court, Bibb county. Sentence 10 years in
prison. Has served more than minimum sentence
for crime committed. Trial judge, solicitor-general
and county physician recommends release. Parole
granted September 11th, 1909.
W. A. MAxwell.—Voluntary manslaughter. Fall
term, 1907, Superior Court, Grady county. Sen-
tence 8 years in prison. Has served more than
minimum sentence for crime committed. Previous
history and record good. Solicitor-general, trial
76
judge, jurors and citizens of Grady county recom-
mend his release. Parole granted September 11th,
1909.
ANN TURNER.—Murder. Spring term, 1890, Su-
perior Court, Terrell county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence for crime
committed and is now 60 years of age. Her pardon
is recommended by solicitor-general, all the jurors
except one who is not accessible. Parole granted
October 12th, 1909.
CHARLIE HAMILTON.—Burglary. Fall term, Su-
perior Court, 1908, Fulton county. Sentence four
years in prison. Has served more than minimum
sentence for crime committed. The jury recom-
mended that he be punished as for misdemeanor,
but the judge did not so sentence him. His mother
is very old, a widow with sick daughter, and no other
members to support her. Parole granted Novem-
ber 13th, 1909.
HENRY PATTERSON.—Murder. July term, 1896,
Superior Court, Hall county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence for crime
committed. Has been a prisoner for 14 years. Pre-
siding judge and prosecuting attorney say that they
think he has served long enough. Parole granted
November 26, 1909.
CHARLEs SWANSON.—Voluntary manslaughter.
Spring term, 1905, Campbell county. Sentence mine
77
years in prison. Has served more than minimum
sentence for crime committed. Presiding judge,
prosecuting Solicitor, most of the trial jury, warden
and many good citizens recommend his release.
Parole granted November 13th, 1909.
JESSE CLARKE.—Assault to murder. October
term, 1906, Superior Court, Jones county. Sen-
tence five years in prison. Has served more than
minimum sentence. Trial judge, solicitor-general
and the prosecutor, trial jury and others ask release.
Parole granted November 16th, 1909.
PHILLIP JEMISON.—Burglary. November term,
1905, Superior Court, Muscogee county. Sentence
five years in prison. Capt. Wyly Williams who pro-
secuted defendant and others say he is of weak
mind. Parole granted November 16th, 1909.
MoLLIE FARMER.—Murder. April term, 1888, Su-
perior Court, Fulton county. Life imprisonment.
Was convicted for killing infant child. Has served
over 22 years. She has always protested her inno-
cence. Her pardon is recommended by warden, su-
perintendent and others of the State farm, by solic-
itor-general Chas D. Hill. Parole granted Decem-
ber 9th, 1909.
JoHN NELMs.—Felony. Spring term, 1905, Su-
perior Court, Webster county. Fifteen years in
prison. Has served more than minimum sentence
with good record. His release would not be incom-
78
patible with welfare of society. Parole granted De-
cember 9th, 1909. -
WILLIE MORGAN.—Larceny. Spring term, 1909,
Superior Court, Fulton county. Three years in
prison. Has served more than minimum sentence
for crime committed. Judge Roan now considers the
case misdemeanor and advises pardon. Boy only 13
years old when crime was committed. Parole granted
December 13th, 1909.
WESLEY PIERCE.-Murder. Fall term, 1898, Su-
perior Court, Fulton county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence with good
record. Was 14 years old when crime was com-
mitted when under aggravating circumstances.
Parole is recommended by solicitor-general and citi-
zens. Parole granted December 20th, 1909.
JAMES A. GOSSETT.—Voluntary manslaughter.
December term, 1903, Superior Court, Muscogee
county. 16 years in prison. Circumstances of con-
viction show great provocation. Previous history
and present record good. Paroled December 20th,
1909.
ALBERT ANDERSON.—Burglary. February term,
1907, Superior Court, Muscogee county. Five years.
Has served more than minimum sentence with good
record. Physicians say that his health is not good
and that he is suffering considerably with serious
disease which requires his release. Paroled Decem-
ber 20th, 1909. -
79
JAMES LOCKETT.—Murder. June term, 1907, Su-
perior Court, Bibb county. Life imprisonment. Has
served more than minimum sentence for crime com-
mitted. Previous history and present record good.
Release is recommended by a petition of 200 citi-
zens and the judge with Solicitor-general say that in
their opinion the offense committed was that of man-
slaughter. Parole granted December 21st, 1909.
ARTHUR JOHNSON.—Voluntary manslaughter.
Fall term, 1900, Superior Court, Floyd county. 15
years in penitentiary. Has served more than mini-
mum sentence with good record. Release is recom-
mended by trial judge, solicitor-general, nine of the
jurors. Parole granted December 21st, 1909.
JoHN HOLDER.—Voluntary manslaughter. Jan-
uary term, 1905, Superior Court, Laurens county.
Fifteen years in penitentiary. Previous history and
present prison record good. The testimony shows
that the deceased used very insulting language about
defendants wife. Judge, county officers and a num-
ber of citizens recommend his release. Parole
granted December 21st, 1909.
PARKER LEwis.-Murder. Spring term, 1903, Su-
perior Court, Hancock county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence with good
prison record. The grand and traverse jury recom-
mend parole, presiding judge is dead. The record
discloses that a witness who was not sworn in on the
trial states that the deceased made an effort to strike
80
defendant with a piece of rail. Forming consider-
able doubt upon legality of the Supreme Court of
murder. Parole granted January 12th, 1910.
MARY DURDEN.—Murder. Spring term, 1900, Su-
preme Court of Camden county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence. Previous
history and present record good, and defendant is
in the last stage of consumption. Paroled January
11th, 1910.
CARRIE LOCKLIER.—Vagrancy. December term,
1909, City Court, Floyd county. Confinement in
chain-gang. Has served more than minimum sen-
tence With good conduct. She is a young girl, who
at the request of Hugh S. Wallace of Rome, Ga.,
Will go to Barclay Memorial Home. Presiding judge
Strongly urges this course. Parole granted Febru-
ary 21st, 1910.
MINNIE SMITH.—Vagrancy. December term,
1909, City Court, Floyd county. Confinement in
chain-gang. Has served more than minimum sen-
tence with good conduct. She is a young girl, who
at the request of Hugh S. Wallace of Rome, Ga., will
go to Barclay Memorial Home. Presiding judge
strongly urges this course. Parole granted Febru-
ary 21st, 1910.
NEWTON ROBINSON.—Burglary. October term,
1908, Superior Court, Houston county. Seven years
in prison. Has served more than minimum sentence
with good record. Presiding judge recommends
81
parole. County physician says he is suffering to a
great extent from rheumatism, same statement by
warden. Judge Calhoun, Hon. Clark Howell, Solici-
tor Hill, Judge Reed, Hon. Arnold Broyles, Hon.
Lowry Arnold and others of prominence ask clem-
ency. Parole granted February 26th, 1910.
DAVE PETERS.-Murder. Spring term, 1899, Su-
perior Court, Emanuel county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence with good
record. Judge E. D. Evans who presided at the
trial and others indorse application. Paroled March
5th, 1910.
WILL SMITH.—Murder. November term, 1902,
Superior Court, Bibb county. Life imprisonment.
Ełas served 17 years with good prison record. Pre-
siding judge, prosecuting solicitor and some of the
jury and other good citizens recommend pardon.
Parole granted March 7th, 1910.
ALLEN RocKMORE.-Burglary. April term, 1907,
Superior Court, Jones county. Seven years. Has
served more than minimum sentence with good rec-
ord. Trial judge, solicitor-general and prosecutor
and others ask release. Parole granted April 6th,
1910. |
BEN ATKINSON.—Murder. November term, 1894,
Superior Court, Bryan county. Has served more
than minimum sentence with good record. Applica-
tion is indorsed by judge of the City Court, nine of his
82
members, member of the legislature of Bryan coun-
ty, sheriff, and various good citizens, senator and
many officers of Emanuel county where defendant
formerly lived and is now stationed. Parole granted
April 7th, 1910.
&
CHARLEs HAMILTON.—Burglary. Fall term, 1908,
Superior Court, Fulton county. Four years. Has
served more than minimum sentence with good rec-
ord. His mother is very old and a widow with sick
daughter and no members of the family to support
her. A great number of officers of Fulton county
and a number of citizens recommend release. Parole
granted April 19th, 1910.
ENOCH SANDERS.–Assault with attempt to mur-
der. March term, 1908, Superior Court, DeKalb
county. Has served more than minimum sentence
with good record. Trial judge, solicitor-general,
trial jury and a large number of citizens of DeKalb
county recommend release. Parole granted April
14th, 1910.
JoHN THOMAS.–Burglary. Fall term, 1908, Su-
perior Court, Fulton county. Three years. Has
served more than minimum sentence with good rec-
ord. Was only 16 years old at time of conviction,
served about 18 months with good record. His
mother is old and paralyzed and needs his support.
Solicitor-general recommends pardon. Parole
granted April 18th, 1910.
WILL JONES.—Burglary. Spring term, 1908, Su-
perior Court, Richmond. Five years. Has served
more than minimum sentence fixed by law. Presid-
ing judge, Solicitor-general and others recommend
parole. Paroled May 16th, 1910.
ROLLIN KNIGHT.-Larceny. December term, 1909,
City Court, Atlanta. Eight months. Has served
more than minimum sentence for crime committed.
Presiding judge, arresting officers indorse applica-
tion. Amount of property involved about 90 cents.
Parole granted May 16th, 1910.
JoHN W. Row E.-Burglary. March term, 1908,
Superior Court, Fulton county. Fulton reforma-
tory. Has served over two years and more than
the minimum sentence for crime committed. Boy
only 19 years of age and always maintained that he
was innocent. Members of county commission to-
gether with best citizens of Fulton county recom-
mend his release. Parole granted May 18th, 1910.
GEORGE PALMER.—Murder. Fall term, 1901, Su-
perior Court Emanuel county. Life imprisonment.
Has served more than minimum sentence with ex-
cellent record. Ten of the jury recommend his par-
dom. Judge Beverly D. Evans, who presided at the
trial sign his application, a large number of citi-
zens, several officers of county ask his release. Parole
granted May 20th, 1910.
84
RESPITES.
W. H. MITCHELL.-Assault and battery. Fall
term, 1909, Superior Court, Thomas county. 12
months on chain-gang. Respite granted September
1st, 1909, in order to give opportunity for prison
commission to consider application for clemency.
Date of respite August 10th, 1909; again on Sep-
tember 4th, 1909, in order to give executive time to
consider application for clemency.
J. B. KELLogg.—Murder. Superior Court, Cher-
okee county. Fall term, 1909. Respite granted un-
til November 19th, 1909, in order to give prison com-
mission and executive time in which to consider ap-
plication for commutation to life imprisonment in
accordance with the recommendation of trial Judge
Morris. Date of respite October 9th, 1909.
JOE GREER.—Concealed weapon. March term,
1909, City Court Monticello. Eight months chain-
gang. In order to give prison commission and ex-
ecutive time to consider application for clemency,
on the grounds of new evidence seeking to establish
innocence of defendant. Respite dated October 19th,
1909, and postponed execution of sentence until Oc-
tober 20th, 1909.
MITCHELL CATCHINGs.-Selling whiskey. March
term, 1909, City Court, Monticello. 12 months chain-
gang. In order to give prison commission and exec-
utive time to consider application for elemency upon
85
the grounds of defendant suffering from tuberculo-
sis. Respite dated October 19th, 1909, and of force
until November 1st, 1909. -
GEORGE GooLSBy.—Murder. May term, 1909, Su-
perior Court, Upson county. In order to give prison
commission and executive time in which to consider
application for commutation to life imprisonment.
Respite dated January 4th, 1910, and of force until
January 14th, 1910. -
GEORGE BURGE.-Murder. Superior Court, Ful-
ton county, fall term, 1909. In order to give attor-
neys’ for defendant opportunity to present applica-
tion for commutation to prison board and have same
considered by prison commission and executive. Re-
spite dated January 6th, 1910, of force January 21st,
1910, and January 15th, 1910, and of force January
28th, 1910. In order to give prison commission and
executive time in which to consider additional mo-
tion and grounds for commutation to life imprison-
ment. Respite dated January 15th, 1910, and of
force January 24th, 1910; again January 27th, 1910,
in order to give the Supreme Court time in which
to consider and pass upon bill of exceptions while
in case. Date of respite January 27th, 1910, and of
force until Friday, March 25th, 1910, and again
March 24th, 1910, in order to give Supreme Court
additional time in which to pass upon branch of case
submitted to that court. Date of respite March 24th,
1910, and of force until April 15th, 1910.
86
WILLARD WEBB.—Rape. Fall term, 1909, Supe-
rior Court, Cobb county. Sentenced to be hanged.
In order to give prison commission and executive
time in which to consider application for commuta-
tion to life imprisonment, on evidence alleging alibi.
Respite dated February 3d, 1910, and of force until
February 18th, 1910. -
E. F. KING-Selling whiskey. August term,
1909, Superior Court, Gordon county. In order to
give prison commission and executive time in which
to consider application for commutation, and on
account of sickness of attorney for King. Respite
dated March 17th, 1910, of force April 16th, 1910.
JoHN SUPPLE.-Murder. February term, 1909,
Superior Court, Jeff Davis county. Sentenced to be
hanged. In order to give attorneys’ for defendant
an opportunity to prepare testimony and submit an
application for commutation, and time for prison
commission and executive to pass upon the merits
of clemency application. Respite dated March 25th,
1910, and of force until April 22d, 1910; and again
on April 19th, 1910, in order to give prison commis-
sion additional time for investigation of evidence in
case and of force until April 6th, 1910.
HENRY PATTERSON.—Murder. November term,
1909, Superior Court, Sumter county. In order to
give prison commission and executive time in which
to consider application to commutaton to life im-
prisonment, OIl application claiming newly discov-
37
ered evidence. Respite dated April 25th, 1910 and
of force May 31st, 1910.
JESSE Cook.-Murder. January term, 1910, Su-
perior Court, Bartow county. In order to give
prison commission and executive time in which to
consider application for commutation to life impris-
onment. Respite dated May 19th, 1910, and of force
June 17th, 1910.
FRANK BROOKs.—Murder. August term, 1909,
Superior Court, Fulton county. In order to give
prison commission and executive time in which to
pass upon application for commutation to life im-
prisonment, chairman being sick, and temporarily
unable to act. Respite dated June 1st, 1910, and
of force June 17th, 1910.
Dr. J. M. ELLIOTT.—Murder. November term,
1908, Superior Court, Troup county. Respite granted
until September 10th, 1909, for the hearing and con-
sideration of application of commutation to life im-
prisonment; again on September 7th, 1909, until
October 8th, 1909, on account of the sickness of Hon.
W. D. McNeal counsel for the defendant and the
application for clemency; again on October 4th un-
til October 22d, 1909, in order to allow the prison
commission and executive time for the considera-
tion of application for life sentence; again October
20th, 1909, until November 15th, 1909, on grounds to
give expert physicians an opportunity to make ex-
amination as to the sanity of the defendant and re-
88
port same to the proper authorities; again on No-
vember 5th, 1909, until November 19th, 1909, on ac-
count of physician’s certificate of the defendant had
attempted suicide, by taking poison on November
4th, rendering his mental and physical condition
such as to make the enforcement of the law in this
case act repugnant to our civilization. -
JoEIN HARPE.R.—Murder. August term, Superior
Court, Murray county, 1909. Respite granted until
October 8th, 1909, in order to give prison commis-
sion and executive time in which to consider appli-
cation for commutation to life imprisonment, on
grounds of newly dscovered evidence; again Octo-
ber 4th, 1909, until October 22d, 1909, in order to
give prison commission and executive time for con-
sideration of application for commutation to life
imprisonment.
WILL Holt—Misdemeanor. July term, 1909,
City Court, Monticello. In order to give attorney
for defendant an opportunity to prepare testimony
to submit to prison commission and executive and
give them time to consider application for commu-
tation. Respite dated January 5th, 1910, of force
January 15th, 1910.
RoGER MERRITT.-Rape. Superior Court, Fulton
county, 1910. In order to give prison commission
and executive time in which to pass upon applica-
tion for commutation to life imprisonment. Respite
dated May th, 1910, of force June 17th, 1910; and
.89
again on June 16th, 1910, and of force June 24th,
1910, in order to give judge and solicitor time to
investigate testimony as to mistaken identity and
have same passed upon by prison commission and
executive.
(APPENDIX B.)
REPORT OF THE NEW CODE COMMISSION.
To HIS EXCELLENCY,
Jose PH M. BROWN,
Governor.
We, the undersigned Commission, appointed in
pursuance of an Act of the General Assembly ap-
proved August 14, 1909, to examine and report on a
new Code of Georgia, codified by Hon. John L. Hop-
kins, submit the following report:
Since the last session of the General Assembly
we have met in the Capitol in Atlanta from time to
time and have reviewed with Judge Hopkins the en-
tire work done by him in codifying the laws of
Georgia, as provided for in the above Act, and after
completing this work we beg to report that we believe
the work to be as complete and accurate as it has
been painstaking and careful.
We have examined the Code of 1895 and noted
90
every proposed addition to this Code, and every part
proposed to be omitted, and where additions were
made, we examined with Judge Hopkins the Act
from which said additions were proposed and in
every case we examined the authority for proposed
omissions from the Code of 1895. In this manner we
are satisfied that all the laws of a general nature
now of force in Georgia are included and that all
laws of a general mature which have been repealed
or which have been declared unconstitutional or have
been clearly superseded, have been properly omitted.
We also report that the work of arranging the
different sections, placing the new laws in their ap-
propriate places, under their proper titles, and the
renumbering of the sections, has been satisfactorily
done.
This Commission approves the arrangement pro-
posed by Judge Hopkins by which the Code will be
published in two volumes, the first volume to contain
the political and civil laws, together with the Code of
civil practice, the rules of courts, and the Federal
and State Constitutions; the second volume to con-
tain the penal laws, and the laws of procedure in
criminal cases together with the laws governing the
working and control of convicts, the laws pertaining
to the public defense, and the pension laws.
We, therefore, certify that we have carefully ex-
amined a new Code of Georgia, codified by Hon.
John L. Hopkins, and are satisfied that said Code
embraces all the general laws of a permanent nature
in the present three volumes of the Code of 1895,
9 |
not repealed and still of force, together with all the
general Acts and amendments of a permanent na-
ture since enacted, including the Acts of the session
of the General Assembly of 1909 properly arranged
and with the sections properly numbered, and all ap-
propriate marginal references to Acts, decisions and
cognate sections, and the Constitution of the United
States, and of the State of Georgia, and all amend-
ments thereto, the rules of the Supreme Court, the
Court of Appeals, and the Superior Court, with a
complete index to said Code; and we hereby deliver
said Code with this report to Your Excellency.
Atlanta, Ga., June 15th, 1910
H. A. MATHEws,
W. H. BURWELL,
Commissioners on the part of the Senate.
W. F. B.Row N,
A. A. LAWRENCE,
W. R. Jones,
Commissioners on the part of the House of
Representatives.
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- - CHAs. P. BYRD, State Printer, -
1913.
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§
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y
Governor's Message
To the
General ASSembly
Of Georgia.
----------"
June 25, 1913.
ATLANTA, GA.
CHAs. P. BYRD, State Printer,
1913.
*6.
A vſ.
Governor's Message
9. *-*.
Atlanta, Ga., June 25, 1913.
To the General Assembly:
Upon your assumption of the responsibilities of
legislation for the welfare of the people of this great
Commonwealth, I extend to you a cordial greeting,
with the heartfelt hope that our Almighty Guide
will lead your minds into the channels of wisdom
and deliberation. I cannot doubt that the people
have shown careful discernment in the choice of
members of both of your houses, hence it is with
confidence that I lay before you the views which I
deem worthy your consideration, recommending
their enactment into laws which I believe will en-
hance the well being of the State.
These views affecting the proper use of the ballot
—the freeman’s inherited right—the safety of per-
son from disease and casualty, the economical, but
judicious, expenditure of the people’s money and
the equitable levying of taxes for collecting the same,
and other matters are such as experience and ob-
servation in the Executive Office have convinced me
are necessary for the protection of the people and
their progress on orderly lines. -
I cannot refrain from premising with the state-
ment that the words “Justice” and ‘‘Equality” are
3
the bases upon which is built our governmental
structure. Without justice government is a mock-
ery, without equality we cannot have a republic.
Therefore, if we be patriots, our life lines, our am-
bitions and endeavors cluster around these fateful
words.
REGISTRATION LAWs.
First for consideration, I call your attention to
the serious defects and unnecessary barriers in the
registration law now upon the statute book. The
requirement that the registration lists shall be
closed six months in advance of regular elections is
more drastic than that in any other State in the
Union, and imposes unnecessary hardships upon the
country people of this State. The same barrier to
franchise rights for the choice of State and County
officers prevails in only a less degree against the
voters in the cities. Yet, in their municipal elec-
tions, the latter are allowed as short a time as they
desire for registration. With some of them this
limit is less than thirty days. Hence, I earnestly
recommend that your honorable bodies make such
changes in the registration laws as will protect all
voters alike in their proper rights for exercising the
franchise. .
Under the present law upwards of twenty thous-
and white voters in Fulton County alone are de-
prived of the right to vote by the operation of the
law in question. And the total number disfran-
chised throughout the State exceeds seventy-five
thousand. The continuance of the law, as framed,
on the statute book will bring reproach upon the
State. - -
|BUILDING OF PUBLIC HIGHWAYs.
The building of good roads is undoubtedly one of
the main factors in the marked progress the State
has made in material development during the past
four years. Yet, as this progress is mostly due to
the use of the State's convicts, the State has the
right to require such handling of the convicts as will
generally benefit all the people while increasing the
facilities of the several counties.
Therefore, it should be required by law that, at
least, a stipulated proportion of the convicts be
worked upon the main roads in each county leading
from its county site to the county sites of adjoining
counties, or that all of the convicts be worked upon
such main roads a stipulated proportion of their
total time until said roads are completed.
Furthermore, that the main roads be laid off and
worked in accord with the demands of public neces-
sity and modern science, I recommend that the
office of Commissioner of Public Highways be estab-
lished, and that it be filled with an experienced Civil
Engineer, at a salary and traveling expense, etc., to
be fixed by law. -
DOUBLE-TRACKING RAILROADS.
The increasing population and expanding COIOl—
merce of the State of Georgia have now reached the
point where the people’s needs will soon demand
that the main lines of the leading railroads of the
State be double-tracked. This is required for the
greater safety of the millions of passengers and the
enormous amounts of freight transported. The sin-
gle tracks of some roads are now becoming almost
inadequate to modern requirements. With the
5
double tracks not only would life and property be
better protected, but speed, comfort and practically
all advantages would be materially enhanced. With
the single tracks the delays alone, during the winter
months and during the times when fertilizers are
moving in the spring and fruits in the summer, cause
Our people each year an aggregate delay of an
astonishing number of hours which, distributed over
the hundreds of stations, means an absolute and irre-
parable loss to the productive and commercial
energy of the State. The loss thus caused is, beyond
all comparison, greater to the multitudes who travel
and ship freight than it is to the owners of the
railroads. - -
I suggest that your bodies, together with the Rail-
road Commission, take this matter under advise-
ment, in order, by practical means, to bring about
the benefits that double-tracking would afford."
And in this connection I will call your attention
to the fact that railroad building in Georgia for the
past few years has not kept pace with the develop-
ment of other general properties, as is shown by the
following official figures: -
Total miles of single track railroads in
Georgia in 1905 –––––––––– –––––––– 6424.46
Total miles of single track railroads in
Georgia in 1912 –––––––––––––––––– - 7166.36
Percentage of increase, 11.
Aggregate value of all property in
1905 ----------------------------- $ 577,840,282
Aggregate value of all property in -
1912 ----------------------------- 842,358,342
Percentage of increase, 45.7.
6
- STATE AUDITOR. ‘. .
I respectfully call your attention to the great need
of an up-to-date system of auditing accounts, and
recommend that you establish the office of State
Auditor with such clerical force as is found needful.
I am confident that an auditing department, with
the authority to supervise all expenditures, would
save many times its cost each year.
FARM CREDIT SystEM.
The farm credit system which has wrought such
extraordinary results for good to the dwellers upon
the farms in Germany and some other European
countries has attracted wide attention within the
past twelve months in this country. . .
I attended a Conference of the Governors at the
White House, which was called by President Taft,
in December, 1912, for the purpose of discussing
this system. Experts appointed by the United
States government and by the Governors of some
of the States are now investigating this subject in
foreign countries. Georgia is represented in this
investigation. *
That our people may have direct information upon
this subject, I recommend that your honorable
bodies appoint a joint committee to whom shall be
added about three or five other citizens of Georgia
to be named by the Governor, for the purpose Of
Securing and placing before our people the most
available plan of securing for our farmers at the
lowest rates of interest such money as they may
need for the conduct of their affairs. -
When we realize that in Germany a farmer can
borrow money at a rate of interest not exceeding
7
five per cent., whereas in Georgia the gross rate paid
runs from twelve per cent. sometimes to even twenty
per cent., the importance of this subject can be
readily realized as being paramount.
INHERITANCE TAX.
I desire to here repeat the suggestion I made to
your predecessors in 1909, viz.:
Over three-fourths of the States now have laws
providing for an inheritance tax. A proposition to
impose a national inheritance tax has lately been
presented to Congress, and practically the only argu-
ment brought against the measure was to the effect
that inheritances were properly subjects for State
taxation, and that a majority of the States now im-
posed such a tax.
The policy of modern government is opposed to
the accumulation of vast estates, so hedged about
by legal technicalities and safe-guards as to escape
their equitable burden of taxation. In the enlight-
ened view of the leading publicists and economists
of our times, no sound reason exists why inherit-
ances should not be subject to taxation.
NEAR BEER TAX.
The law providing for the collection of a license
tax for the sale of near beer is so drawn that the
payment of this tax has been delayed or evaded by
very many dealers. &
To prevent excuses for delay in paying this tax in
future, I recommend that you place the duty of its
collection upon some of the county officers with
proper compensation therefor and also provide ade-
quate penalties for failure to make prompt pay-
ment.
BANK EXAMINERs.
The great increase in the number of State Banks
has rendered it physically impossible for two ex-
aminers to adequately perform the work required
by law. -
Under the present system two examiners are re
quired to audit correctly the accounts of almost
seven hundred banks semi-annually within this
State. Hence, through no physical fault of the bank
examiners those of the public who make their de-
posits in State banks have no assurance that all the
banks are in a sound condition. It is, therefore, im-
peratively necessary that the number of bank ex-
aminers be sufficiently increased to meet the demands
for the proper protection of those who place their
money in State banks.
The very large increase in the number of banks
to be examined necessarily demands an increase in
the number of examiners.
VITAL STATISTICS.
Nothing is of more importance to a State than
the preservation of good health for its inhabitants.
The vital statistics of Georgia are so incomplete as
to really furnish us with no reliable information.
I, therefore, recommend the enactment of laws re-
quiring physicians to report all births and deaths
coming under their purview. The birth statistics,
of course, should show sex and race. The death
statistics should show the disease, or complaint, of
which each person died. -
If these statistics were kept fully and definitely,
We could within a few years ascertain what diseases
9.
were most prevalent in the various counties of the
State, and in that way could be guided in taking
steps toward alleviating the trouble to some extent.
For example, if in one county there was a great
proportion of deaths from malarial fever, and in
another from pneumonia, or bronchial troubles, the
concentrated efforts of the State could be directed
toward at least a partial removal of the cause, or
the extension of knowledge among the local popula-
tions for handling the troubles most prevalent in
their localities.
In this connection, I call your especial attention
to those portions of the report of the Commissioner
of Agriculture which bear upon the shipment of
tuberculous cattle into this State and also to the
inspections of dairies and butchers’ establishments.
No better use could be made of the surplus income
of that department, after paying $10,000 each to the
Distrct Agricultural Schools and the expenses of
the department, than to provide for extension of
inspections suggested by the Commissioner of foods
of various kinds and the increased expense needed
for the laboratory. These matters are of excessive
importance in protecting the health and lives of the
people. | th
* *.*.*
HISTORICAL RECORDS.
Work on the Colonial Records and on that por-
tion of the records which include the rosters of
Georgia troops during the years 1861-65 is being
well done; but I respectfully suggest that Georgia
has much history not covered by the two periods
indicated.
The State should see that her history from the
10.
foundation of the Colony of Georgia by Oglethorpe
to the present time is officially written. Her people
a]’é entitled to know what has been done by Geor-
gians throughout the whole period of the State's
history. Georgia is amply able to perpetuate her
records in definite form. Hence, I recommend that
the office of Compiler of Colonial Records be per-
petuated for such length of time as will ensure the
proper writing of the State's history from the date
reached by the present compilation until the date
when such work shall have reached the then contem-
porary period. The expense of future work can be
met by the met amount received from the sale of
such books when published, also from the Acts of
the Legislature and such other State books as you.
may see fit to include. - -
That the people of Georgia may have facilities for
acquainting themselves properly with the history of
these historic volumes be deposited ... the Ordinary's
office or other proper office in the court hous? of
each county of the State. -
I know of no better mode of arousing State pride
in the youth and to some extent even among the
adult population than to put in reach of all of them
the facilities for learning the achievements of Geor.
gians and the power and glory of our great State.
GREAT SEAL OF STATE.
It is a matter of public note that the Great Seal
of the State of Georgia has become so worn by use
that its impression is now practically indistinguish-
able. As hallowed by association and memory as
is this great symbol of Georgia’s Sovereignty, com-
11
mon sense would seem to demand that a reproduc-
tion of it be made, which would enable all of the
great documents of this State to be properly
stamped. I, therefore, recommend that your hon-
orable bodies take steps to effect the above purpose,
PRISON CoMMISSION.
I would suggest that the Prison Commission be
given authority and directed to inspect jails. It is
more important that persons detained merely for
trial be properly cared for than that those already
convicted of crime be treated well.
Many good women have urged me to advocate the
enactment of a law providing for the inspection by
women of those quarters occupied by female prison-
ers. I deem the suggestion a good one and well in
keeping with the demands of actual propriety and
broad humanity, and as such commend it to you.
In this connection I will state that it has been
proposed in Some circles to restore the practice of
Whipping female convicts in order to maintain dis-
cipline. I respectfully suggest that such a return
to a practice semi-barbarous in its nature would not
be in keeping with the enlightened spirit of our
modern civilization. -
The point has been raised in the public press and
in some other circles, that the State ought to allow
moderate wages to convicts in the penitentiary, such
Wages to be paid to the families of these convicts
whose protector and provider the State holds in con-
finement. I scarcely think that we are ready to take
such a step; but in the event it be seriously consid.
ered, I respectfully suggest that, inasmuch as the
convict is immured because of his taking the life of
12
another, or of some damage done to others, if wages
be allowed by the State they should be paid mostly,
if not entirely, to the family whom the convict has
deprived of its protector and supporter.
CHARGE To JURIES IN CAPITAL CASEs.
Experience having shown that in capital cases
trial juries from time to time have requested the
presiding judge to re-charge them upon certain
points where their memory had failed to retain the
instructions in his charge, I respectfully suggest
that it be required that in all capital cases the pre-
siding judge shall, after reading his charge to the
jury, hand a copy of it to the foreman to be taken
into the jury room for consideration in their delib-
erations.
SUSPENDING SENTENCES BY TRIAL JUDGES.
It is a known fact that a number of the trial judges
of this State, after conviction by juries, pass sen-
tences in conformity with the law and then suspend
them, such suspension to last during the pleasure of
the judge. Although this procedure by these judges
has been declared unlawful by the Supreme Court,
yet the practice is persisted in. I do not assert that
this practice is in itself against public policy, but
undoubtedly it should be in conformity with the law
if it is to be continued. Hence, I recommend that
your honorable bodies enact such legislation upon
, this subject as your wisdom suggests. -
GOVERNORs’ ConFERENCE.
As is well known, the Governors of the various
States of the Union, annually hold a conference for
13
mutual interchange of thought and with the idea of
unifying, as nearly as can be made practicable, the
laws which similarly affect in their application the
people of all the States. Their suggestions to the
legislative bodies and for general interchange of
thought may ultimately work out great good.
It is the practice of most of the States to pay the
expenses of their Executive officers when in attend-
ance upon these annual conferences, also for print-
ing and otherwise preparing the minutes of their
meetings, and other expenses incidental thereto.
The State of Georgia has no provision in law for
this expenditure, hence, the payment must come
from the Governor, individually. I respectfully sug-
gest the enactment of a statute authorizing these
expenses to be paid from the contingent fund of the
State, inasmuch as Georgia scarcely expects her
Governor to fail to attend these annual conferences.
I also suggest that the Governor be authorized to
pay this State’s quota for printing the minutes of
the meeting of the Conference in Richmond, Va.,
during December, 1912. -
DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL & MECHANICAL SCHOOLs.
The District Agricultural & Mechanical Schools
having been taken into the University system of the
State, I respectfully suggest that the co-operative
relationship between the State University, through
the State College of Agriculture, and the above dis-
trict schools be made closer than they have hereto-
fore been. To this end I suggest that the Board of
Trustees of the State College of Agriculture appoint
at least one member from its Board of Trustees to
be an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees of
14
the District Agricultural & Mechanical School in his
Congressional District; whereby each of said dis-
trict schools will have thereon one trustee of the
State College of Agriculture. Such member should
be required to attend the annual commencement ex-
ercises of the district school to which he is assigned
and should have full privilege and authority to act
with the board of Trustees of the district school at
that and all other meetings of the said district
school, and should make to the Trustees of the State
College of Agriculture, after said commencement ex-
ercises, a full report of the conditions, progress,
etc., of the said District Agricultural & Mechanical
Schools.
The Board of Trustees of the State College of
Agriculture should also be clothed with power to
exercise such authority over the district schools as
will cause them to conform to a general plan.
STATE UNIVERSITY.
The demands of modern civilization are trending
toward the greatest development of the human mind.
That State which trains the brains of its young man-
hood and womanhood to the exercise of the highest
powers is the State which by natural process takes
and holds the leadership over her civic sisters. The
strongly developed mental faculties of a people have
greater weight in the control of world powers than
the broad-sides of battle ships. Genius makes con-
quests more abiding than are made by guns, and the
strength in the trained brains of a people holds
greater security than strength in the most elabor-
ately constructed forts.
And while you are appropriating money and en-
15
acting laws for the more efficient and extended cul-
tivation of the soil of our State, hold ever in mind
that the cultivation which will bring the greatest
crops and choicest fruits is the cultivation of the
minds of her youth. Hence, I urge you to build up
as rapidly as Georgia’s resources will admit the
State University which our forefathers created and
which, with its branch colleges and other high educa-
tional institutions, can develop the mental powers
of our young people of both sexes for keeping this
great State abreast of her most ambitious rivals.
Before passing from this subject I cannot refrain
from the statement that the charm of the University
of Georgia is its democracy. From a close observa-
tion of the conduct of its affairs for the past four
years, I am prepared to assert with pride that the
son of the poorest parents in the State has equal
consideration by the faculty with the son of the
richest. Merit and application open the gates of
opportunity to all alike, and it is especially pleasing
to note that the citizens of Athens extend impartial
kindness to all the students regardless of rank or
wealth. The State, therefore, has a selfish interest,
and pardonably so, in every dollar she appropriates
to maintain to highest efficiency this, her great brain-
trainer. 4. - - , -
ScHool, OF TECHNOLOGY, ETC.
It is impossible to measure the value to the State
of the School of Technology. The high standard
which its graduates hold is finding its reflex in the
technical development of the commonwealth from
the mountains to the seaboard. The modern de-
mands for education of this character in the archi-
16
tectural and mechanical development of our people
are so imperative that we cannot afford to let this
great institution of learning lose aught of the high
grade of efficiency now characterizing it.
It is undoubtedly true that this school has lost
several of its leading instructors by reason of the
inadequate compensation they received. I, therefore,
urge you to appropriate the sum of ten thousand
dollars as an addition to the annual maintenance
fund of the said schoel, making same immediately
available. . . . .
I also recommend the addition of $7,500 each to
the annual maintenance funds of the Georgia Normal
School and the Georgia Normal and Industrial
School. - -
PAYMENT OF SCHOOL TEACHERs.
In my annual message to your predecessors last
year I stated that the condition of the Treasury had
permitted the payment of but 10 per cent. of the
amount due for expenses of the common schools. I
regret to report that, the appropriations having in-
creased in greater proportion than the State’s in-
come, it has been impossible to pay any amount as
yet of the common school appropriation for this
year. - -
During the past three months we have made in-
quiry into the question of the payment of teachers,
that is, we have sought to get the truth of condi-
tions as they are. - - . . .
The result of the investigation proves that the
evil has not been exaggerated by those who have de-
cried it. • -
Briefly, we found that approximately one-third of
17
all the teachers in the public schools of the State in
1912 were forced to wait from two to twelve months
for their pay, or, in lieu of waiting, had to discount
their claims at from 8 to 25 per cent. -
A great proportion of those who received prompt
payments were paid with funds borrowed by local
boards of education, who were required to pay from
6 to 12 per cent for the money. . . . . .
Concretely, we estimate from the reports received
that advances made to boards or teachers during
1912 amounted to approximately $2,000,000, and that
these advances cost at least $75,000 in interest or
discount. .
Thus, it is clear that the waste in money due to
delayed remittances from the State is great, and
there must be an equal loss in efficiency resulting
from the indifference fostered by the faulty and
difficult method of financing the schools.
With $1,000,000 more revenue available during the
Spring and Summer months the State would be able
to make prompt monthly remittances to the school
systems, and thus would practically overcome the
difficulties now labored under, and growing worse.
Therefore, I urge upon you the necessity for tak-
ing such steps as will enable the Executive Office to
make prompt monthly payments as due on the ap-
propriation to the public schools. . .
The information gathered as the result of the in-
vestigation above referred to is on file in the Execu-
tive Office subject to your wishes.
ECONOMY IN APPROPRIATIONs.
While there has been a gratifying increase in the
taxable valuations of the property in the State, yet
18
the demands for expenses to maintain schools and
other educational institutions and the civil list re-
quire more than the present income of the State.
Hence, I urge your honorable bodies to exercise
great discernment and care in the matter of appro-
priating the people's money; and that, so far as can
be made practicable without militating against the
actual needs of the State's institutions and the con-
duct of the government, you exercise the strictest
economy. - -
LAWLESS ELEMENT IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.
Within the past few months certain lawless per-
sons have posted notices in Forsyth, Dawson, Cobb
and other counties, warning all negroes to move from
those counties under penalty of destruction of their
homes and lives. Several of such threatened out-
rages have been perpetrated through the dynamiting
of houses, besides the burning of one store.
I am reliably informed that quite a number of
farms in Forsyth County have been practically aban-
doned this year for lack of labor, which has fled be-
fore these threats. The State cannot tolerate such
a condition of affairs. She cannot allow even a just
resentment against lawless individuals to take the
shape of wholesale intimidation of labor necessary
for the conduct of farms and industrial enterprises.
There is no reason why farms should lose their pro-
ductive power and why the white women of this
State should be driven to the cook stoves and wash
pôts simply because certain people blindly strike
down all of one class in retaliation for the néfarious
deeds of individuals in that class. The application
of the law is to the individual who violates it, and
19
all who are law-abiding are entitled to and must
have the protection of the law. * * . . .
I, therefore, recommend the enactment of a statute
which will meet the situation above indicated, and
punish all who would impair the powers of honest
labor. The penalty for dynamiting or burning resi-
dences should be fixed at $500.00 for each offense,
and rewards of such amounts, not greater than
$200.00 per person, should be authorized for the ar-
rest, with proof to convict, of every one guilty of
posting threatening notices or using other measures
for intimidating people and driving them from
their homes.
RAILROAD COMMISSION.
Unnecessary offices which levy additional taxes
upon the people should be abolished. It is against
public policy to maintain sinecures. I therefore re-
spectfully recommend to your honorable bodies the
reduction of the membership of the Railroad Com-
mission from five members to three.
When it is considered that only one member of
the five is required by law to devote his entire time
to the service of the office, and that the larger num-
ber of members makes that body cumbersome, as well
as needlessly expensive, it is patent that it is to
the State's interest to reduce the number of Com-
missioners, and, also to dispense, with the office of
- Special Attorney for the Railroad Commission.
I will add that the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion has assumed the authority to raise intra-state
rates when it seems that these rates injuriously affect
interstate rates. The lower courts have upheld that
-- Commission in this, action, The Supreme Court of
i . . . '; , , , , • . * *.
* . . . . a . . . • , , " .
the United States has practically upheld this posi-
tion in a recent decision, hence it would appear that
a blow has been struck the Railroad Commissions
of the States. In such event it would clearly be a
waste of the people’s money to maintain as many
as five members on this Commission for the purpose
mainly of supervising the occasional building of de-
pots and the collection of statistical information.
Furthermore, it is well known that the number
of members of this Commission was increased in
1907 for the purpose of installing what were termed
“Port Rates.” Yet, although the advocates of “Port
Rates” have been in the majority on the Commis-
sion from September, 1907, to June, 1909, and from
November, 1911, to this date, there has been no ef-
fort made by the Commission to even promulgate
“Port Rates.” Hence, as “Port Rates” have been
proven to be a campaign theory, which it is imprac-
ticable to make effective, it is manifestly contrary
to the public interest to maintain five members on
this board at the expense of the tax payers. -
CRIMINAL LAws.
Inasmuch as our penal laws have undergone little
change during the past half century, it might be
timely for you to make inquiry looking to amend-
ments necessitated by changed conditions and mod-
ern developments. . . . . . . .
I wish to direct your attention to one important
change that is needed. In misdemeanor cases where
prison penalties with alternative fines are imposed
leave should be given for payment of the fine, or
the pro rata portion of the fine due at any time
before the completion of the prison or chain-gang
21
sentence. In most court jurisdictions it is held that
once the fine alternative is rejected, and the period
for accepting it elapsed, the fine cannot be paid ex-
cept by commutation from this office. In no case
will they pro rate the penalty, deducting, as they do
in cities, for the period of time served by the pris-
'OIléI’. - - w
This is manifestly unjust, amounting to a special
penalty on poverty and misfortune. A great many
persons are unable to raise the amount of the alter-
native fine when it is imposed upon them, but later
do raise it, or a sufficient amount, allowing for the
time served to meet the intent of the sentence im–
posed. The only way they can get relief is by com-
ing to the Executive Office with applications for
Clemency, which puts them to unnecessary expense
and this office to much trouble, all of which could be
obviated by your providing an automatic method for
prisoners to pay their fines at any time before sen-
tence is completed. -
Applications for executive clemency are becoming
Tmore and more burdensome on the Executive Office.
T)uring the past eighteen months this office has been
'forced to consider nearly 1,000 of such appeals. Out-
side the assistance rendered by the Prison Commis-
ision, the Executive Office each week is forced to read
and answer scores of letters, and see or otherwise
ideal, with scores of callers relating to such applica-
:tions. Inasmuch as the Constitution places full re-
sponsibility in these matters on the Governor, he is
in duty bound to...examine each record and to make
‘such investigations and inquiries in addition to those
made by the Commission as he thinks proper... . .
The result is that this work takes up a large pro-
22
portion of the time of the Executive Office, preclud-
ing attention to other important business. In addi-
tion to this, lack of time makes it impossible for this
office to pursue investigation of many cases as
thoroughly as their importance demands. . . . . .”
Therefore, I recommend that you provide the Gov-
ernor with a pardon clerk, or attorney, who shall
devote his entire time to assisting in handling appli-
eations for executive clemency.
TAXEs. -
Again permit me to repeat the recommendation
made in my general message of last year, and pre-
vious ones during a former administration, relative
to the urgent need of a better method of assessing
property for taxation.' * * * * -
All who have studied the question agree that if
property now escaping taxation, and other property
bearing less than its equitable burden, were required
to contribute their just part to the support of the
State government our revenues would be augmented
to the extent of the deficit, which is now of serious
Consequence. . . . . . . .
It is but simple honesty to demand that all prop-
erty be required to bear its just share of the ex-
penses of the government which gives it protection.
Therefore, I recommend that you amend the tax
laws so as to provide a method of assessment for,
and equalization of, taxes more just than now
prevails. • * . . . . . . . .
DUCKTown CoPPER MINEs.
The United States Supreme Court, some years
ago, gave to the State of Georgia a decree against the
23.
copper companies operating in what is known as
the Ducktown region in Tennessee. The fumes aris-
ing from the operation of the copper mines have been
doing great damage to growing crops of citizens
living in Fannin and other Georgia counties. This
State, being willing to allow owners of the copper
mines to continue the development of their property
if our citizens were protected against damage, has
allowed the copper companies time for perfecting
appliances for taking care of the sulphur fumes.
This is resulting in the manufacture of enormous
amounts of sulphuric acid from the copper fumes.
But as the damage is still being done to some ex-
tent, one of the companies, the Tennessee Copper
Company, has offered to place in the hands of the
State a sum approximating $15,000 annually for the
purpose of indemnifying those Georgia citizens who
are damaged, such annual fund to be available until
their improved appliances are completed.
I respectfully suggest, therefore, that you author-
ize the Governor to make this agreement with the
Tennessee Copper Company, and require a similar
agreement to be made with the other company or
companies to the end that our citizens be protected
from damages which are occurring during the grow-
ing season to crops each year.
CoMPULSORY. ARBITRATION NECESSARY.
During the fall of last year there occurred a strike
by the employees of the street car company in Au-
gusta, and another strike by certain employees Of
the Georgia Railroad, which, for a number of days,
- prevented the public from having the benefit of the
operation of these common carriers.
24.
By the census of 1910, the city of Augusta had
a population of 41,040 people, and the counties serve
ed by the Georgia Railroad had an aggregate of
582,182. These figures give an idea of the wide-
spread wrong which these striking employees com-
mitted. - •
These two corporations were chartered by the
State for the purpose of conducting commerce and
the carriage of passengers. The primary object of
their charters was service to the public. Conse-
quently, when the charters were granted and these
roads were built a contract was virtually entered
into by the owners of these properties and the State
whereby the former bound themselves to perform the
duties of common carriers for the public, and the
latter bound herself to protect them in the peace-
able performance of those duties. Not one word
was said in those charters giving the owners the
right to suspend the operation of the roads to the
detriment of public convenience, or giving the em-
ployees the same right. So long, therefore, as either
of those companies attempts to perform the duty
it assumed the State is under obligation to use ex-
treme force, if necessary, to protect it in thus servi
ing the public.
Furthermore, in the amended Railroad Commis-
ision law, as embodied in Sections 2663 and 2664
of the Code of Georgia, the Railroad Commission is
authorized to require all common carriers and other
public service companies under its supervision “to
establish and maintain such public service and fa-
cilities as may be reasonable and just.” Also, “to
order and compel the operation of sufficient and
proper passenger service when in its judgment in-
25
efficient or insufficient service is being rendered the
public or any community.” -
Again, it has been very aptly said by one writing
on the status of the State in relationship to the com-
mon carriers: . . - -
“The power to fix rates and charges for transpor-
tation is an attribute of sovereignty, because in oper-
ating a public highway a transportation corporation .
exercises the power of a sovereign. This power over
public highways constructed for public use to acco-
modate public travel and secure public convenience
is a matter of public concern and is absolutely essen-
tial to government.” . . . . - . . . .
Hence, it necessarily follows that any person or
combination of persons who obstructs, intimidates
or otherwise prevents the operation of the common
carriers strikes a blow at the interests of the public
and puts his or their will in conflict with the man-
date of the sovereign. - -
There is no escape, therefore, from the conclusion
that those employees of the street car company in
Augusta and of the Georgia Railroad put themselves
in a state of open rebellion to the laws of Georgia.
They ignored the cardinal tenet of republican gov-
ernment, viz.: “There shall be equal rights to all,
special privileges to none,’’ and arrogated to them-
selves the exercise of special privileges for settling
their quarrels with their respective managements at
the expense and serious inconvenience of the public,
and in a manner which embodied defiance of the law
which requires all dwellers in the State having dif-
ferences which they cannot peaceably adjust to sub-
mit them to the State’s courts.
Again, their acts in-leaving the service of the em-
ploying companies, and in virtually encouraging the
26
formation of mobs to intimidate and personally as-
sault those citizens whom these common carriers
induced to take the places they had vacated, that the
carriers might obey the law which created them, was
logically a claim which can be expressed in these
words: “This is your property, but it is my job
on it. I and my partners, the union, will defend our
mutual rights to exclusive ownership of the positions
which we hold on your property. We will determine
for you whom you shall hire and whom you shall
not hire, and what wages you shall pay. While it is
true that we have not invested a dollar in this public
service utility and you have invested millions in it,
yet, we have vested rights in these positions, rights
which we have acquired by usurpation, and we will
hold them, while defying the laws of the State and
subjecting the public to serious inconvenience and
loss, even against you. On your property chartered
to serve the public we are supreme over you, su-
preme over the public, supreme over the law. The
union label carries more authority than does your
“Great Seal of State.”
In considering the status of the public service cor-
porations and their employees, there is one factor
which can not be ignored. This is embodied in the
following words found in the last annual report of
the Railroad Commission of Georgia:
“In 1908, the railroads operating in Georgia em-
ployed in Georgia, 34,809 persons; in 1912, they
employed 39,691. • 3 * . . " -
“The wages paid these 39,691 employees in 1912
exceeded the wages paid, the 34,809 employees in
1908, $5,771,104.93 more than in 1908. This, however,
was to a larger number of employees. The individual
wage scales show that had the number of employees
27
for 1912 been kept the same as in 1908, they are
being paid $3,668,725.21 more than in 1908.
“In other words, the 34,809 employees in 1908.
received $3,668,725.21 more in 1912, which is an
average increase to each railroad employee in Geor-
gie in 1912 over 1908 of more than $105.00 per annum.
“The Commission has taken ten trunk line roads.
in the State, to-wit, the Southern, the Seaboard, the
Atlantic Coast line, the Louisville & Nashville, the
Georgia, Southern & Florida, the Georgia Railroad,
the Atlanta & West Point, the Atlanta, Birmingham &
Atlantic, the Central of Georgia, and the Western &
Atlantic, and their wage accounts show that they
paid in 1912, to the same number of employees as in:
1908, in wages, $2,604,794.90 more than in 1908.
“The individual wage scale further shows that by
far the largest increase in wages have been paid to
employees belonging to labor unions, such as engi-
neers, firemen, conductors, train hands, etc.”
In other words, while the average increase to each
of the 34,809 employees in 1912 over 1908 was:
$105.00 per annum, the average increase to each.
member of a labor union was larger by far, in some
instances, doubtless approximating $300.00 or more.
Hence, we are brought face to face with the fact.
that these unions, or combinations of employees, not
only on public service corporations but, as is gener-
ally known, on practically all other corporations.
have forced their wages up above those received by:
workmen in all other departments of life who have.
not formed these aggressively militant combinations.
Tens of thousands of other citizens who are not in
these unions, therefore, are confronted by the fact
that the unions are levying a tax upon them to the
extent that they are forcing from the employers an
inequitable proportion of the wages paid to the gen-
eral classes in the State. . . . ' • * * * *
28
*s
If the State not only authorizes these unions, or
combinations, to exact higher wages than others
receive, but also permits them by authority of law
or by winking at their violations of it to hold up the
general public and rob it of the facilities for trans-
portation, then she cannot claim the right to protect
any farmer or other person employing labor against
his employees who might strike and proclaim to him
that nobody else should work his crop for him; that
if he hired any other employees they would burn his
dwelling and barns, and, if needs be, kill him and
his new employees to establish their supremacy over
him and his property.
And if the State says to owners of railroads,
factories, etc., ; “You shall pay tax on this property
which you have created or bought, but another class
shall control it. I hold you responsible for keeping .
it in condition for safely serving the public, but I
allow them the privilege of wrecking it, or of depriv-
ing the public of the use of it,” then how can she
protect a farmer or any other citizen in the right to
control his property? - s
The same courts established by the Constitution
and composed of judges elected by the people and
jurors chosen from the people are open to the mem-
bers Óf labor unions on the same guarantee of
equality as they are to farmers and all other classes
in the State, and no method of settlement of quarrels
by labor unions which results in inconvenience and
damage to the public should be tolerated.
Again, upon this point, it is generally understood
that when the members of one of these unions strike
against the employing company, the members of the
same union on other companies are assessed to sup-
29
port the strikers until the strike is ended. If this
be true the organization in question could assess its
members one-tenth or one-fortieth of the amount
and employ counsel to take the cause of controversy
into court and could have justice secured without
damaging any of the interests of the public.
Or, if the strikers are not thus supported by their
brother members, they could assess themselves a
sum insignificant beside the gross amount of wages
lost during the period of the strike and could have
their case adjudicated in the courts without inflict-
ing damage upon the unoffending public.
In either case they would go before judges and
juries of their fellow citizens in precisely the same
manner as every other one is required and com-
pelled to do; and it is impossible for all other classes
to concede that the members of labor unions have
any preferential privileges suggesting, if not actu-
ally applying the process of anarchy when they—
the masses—are required to submit to the process
of law. -
The mere fact that the laborers on a public service
utility or in a factory have more votes than the
owners of these properties have, has no bearing on
the legal status of the case. Justice is not measured
by the number of votes any more than by the weight
of dollars. Each party is under the law. Each is
entitled to the protection of its own rights in court.
Neither is entitled to interfere with the rights of the
other either in court or out of court.
It should be further borne in mind in this connec-
tion that it is primarily the poor people who are
subjected to inconvenience and damage by the acts
30
of strikers. In Augusta, for example, the rich could
use their own conveyances or hire others for the
purpose of coming into town and going out to their
homes, but the poorer classes in some instances were
compelled to walk two miles each way to reach their
places of employment and to return home; whereas,
had these striking employees of the street car com-
pany abstained from the unlawful acts they com-
mitted in preventing the operation of that public
utility, these laborers in the humbler ranks of life
could have come from and returned to their homes
at trifling cost. And the poorer people at the sta-
tions on the Georgia Railroad were subjected, at
many points, to great privations which the rich were
able to protect themselves against. , . . "
Therefore, in such cases it is the striker, who, in
his blind recklessness, puts his feet in the bread
tray of the poor man and interferes with or deprives
him of the right to live, the cardinal right of
humanity. . . - * . -
Summing up the status of a strike by employees
on a public service corporation, we can not fail to
know that there are more than two parties to such
strikes. There is a third party, the public, which is
subjected to unmerited and unnecessary-inconven-
ience and loss. And above all, there is a fourth
party, viz.: The State, whose Constitution the
strikers have ignored and whose laws they have
trampled under foot. Concerning this fourth, and
greatest, party, I will add: - -
The crisis which a strike on a public service cor-
poration brings upon the masses of the people is
not only a menace to their power to procure the
31
necessities of life, but is also a challenge to the very
sovereignty of the State in that it arrogates to itself
the power to prevent the railroads from performing
the special functions for which the State granted
their charters, viz.: Those of being common carriers
of persons and property.
There is no power in Georgia greater than the
power of the State herself, and that power holds
mastery over and gives direction to every other
power which she permits within her borders. She
is supreme in potential activities, whenever she finds
it needful to exert them. She exacts allegiance and
will not divide it. She ordains one process for all,
and holds any rival process as rebellion. She is no
respecter of persons in the enforcement of her
laws.
It is needless then to say that the State would not
permit the management to shut down the operation
of a street car line or a railroad. It is manifest,
therefore, that the acts of the employees in pre-
venting such operation is equally indefensible,
equally condemnable, and that they should be just
as inflexibly held accountable to the laws of the
State. No man, no combination of men, is greater
than the State and her laws.
I have stressed the views herein advanced because
the object lessons given by the striking employees
of the street car company in Augusta and of the
Georgia Railroad have been a practical service of
notice by the labor union to the State of Georgia
that its law within her borders is greater than her
law; that the allegiance of its members to it is more
binding than the allegiance they owe to her.
32
The Executive Office has not made this issue; the
State of Georgia has not made it. The labor union
has openly and recklessly thrown down the gauntlet.
The State, therefore, cannot shrink from her duty
to her Constitution and her people.
It is a matter of current note that the power of
the labor union to hurt the general public and to
terrorize public men anxious to retain offices of
honor and trust has been found in the fact that in
several communities it votes solidly in blocks of
scores or hundreds for those who cater to it and
against those who refuse to bow to its demands; but
I call your attention to the fact that, besides multi-
tudes in the cities and towns whose interests are
jeopardized by its exactions, there are upwards of
200,000 voters in the rural portions of this State
whose welfare can only be protected by holding the
members of the labor union to the same non-inter-
ference with the rights of others and the same
accountability to law which they admit as governing
themselves. They will certainly claim that the labor
union men, individually and collectively, are no bet-
ter and have no greater rights than they.
I will add that it is no answer at all to say that
labor cannot get its rights in any other way than
by a strike and boycott. The courts are as open to
the labor union man as to the farmer, and there is
not the slightest reason why the latter should be
required to settle his difference in the State's way,
which injures no third party, and that the labor
union man be left free to damage everybody else
while settling his difference by a strike.
He, therefore, who would remain in public life
33
would do well to merit the approval of those myriads
of law-abiding and peace-loving citizens beside
whose numbers the labor union’s is a trifle.
Finally on this subject, I will observe that the
trend of the laws of the present day is to the sup-
pression of combinations, generally styled trusts,
organized for the restraint of trade. These trusts
are condemned by law because they endeavor to
force from business all competitors save those in
their guild and to exact out of the people unduly
high prices for products they handle. Yet, while it
is a matter of public note that the labor trust is the
most widespread and aggressively exacting trust in
America, politicians pander to it, statesmen stand
in awe of it, and the public seems helpless in its
grasp. Why? Because it votes in blocks of thous-
ands in almost every State in the Union. It is com-
posed of allied organizations which stand as one
man against all other elements of society. Recent
events have shown that some of the leaders of one
of these organizations have been sentenced by a
United States Court to imprisonment for crimes of
violence against those who did not yield to their
exactions, and the members have bailed them out
and re-elected them to high offices in the organiza-
tion. Such a development is appalling to every lover
of law. Yet it is an object lesson which tells more
vividly than words that the labor union holds itself
as being higher than the law. *
The labor unions have but a small minority of the
people of Georgia, yet, by combinations which work
through strikes and kindred methods, they are ag-
gressively levying a toll upon all the other elements
34
of our citizenship. In other words, they have organ-
ized a trust and demand that all other people buy
labor at whatever price they choose to put upon it—
and that price is higher than other workmen in like
occupations receive and higher by far than the peo-
ple have ever paid before. And contemporaneously,
they are endeavoring to force from employment all
similar workmen who do not join their orders. To
attempt, as non-union men, to compete with them as
laborers means to be treated with open contumely,
attended sometimes by personal violence. To hire
non-union men means for employers to be boycotted
and not infrequently to suffer serious damage to
their property. -
Therefore, as the labor unions have combined
against all other classes in their determination to
defeat the equality of opportunity assured by the
laws of the State, the necessity is forced upon all
other classes to stand together in the refusal to con-
cede to the unions the preferential privileges they
are endeavoring to exact for themselves alone.
And, as the unions have their pass-words, the pass-
word of all other citizens should be: “The Law.”
It is not improper here for me to declare that not
all of the members of the labor unions are wilful
violators of law. A very large percentage of them
love their State and would not knowingly do any
one an injustice. Yet they are the victims of a sys-
tem which is breeding anarchy, which has already
put the State's Constitution in contempt, which has
relentlessly wronged hundreds of thousands of their
fellow citizens who have not offended them, which,
in plain words, has applied lynch law methods to
35
millions of dollars worth of property. I pass no
harsh criticism on them, but every person who rever-
ences the law must condemn the reckless disregard
of the rights of the public which has characterized
their leaders. And the State must, with unmistaka-
ble clearness, not only condemn these acts, but must
force the doers of them as clearly, to know that she
will not suffer such occurrences to be repeated.
It is a cardinal principle of civilization that law-
abiding people shall be protected in the enjoyments
of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The
State does not interfere with her orderly citizens in
the possession of these rights, and it is the intent
of her Constitution that no one within her borders
shall be permitted so to interfere.
I have no more interest in this matter than has
any other average citizen of Georgia; but, as her
Chief Executive, whose duty to obey her laws by
enforcing them is supreme over every ambition and
personal interest, I have noted the recurring in-
stances of open contempt of her Constitution, of
inconvênience and damage recklessly inflicted upon
multitudes of her citizens by one class, and of brutal
assaults upon working men who were engaged in
obeying her laws and serving the people by operat-
ing the public utilities which she had chartered and
whose operation she had commanded, and I would
be unworthy of the confidence with which the elec-
torate has honored me should I fail to lay these
facts before you and call upon you to enact such
statutes as will force all classes and all individuals
to equal allegiance to the State, and equal obedience
to her laws. Upwards of two millions of people in
36
Georgia will look with no patience upon the continu-
ance of a condition which leaves their basic rights in
life at the mercy of the star chamber of the labor
tunion. 4. -
Under the conditions I have portrayed it has been
Imade the duty of the State, therefore, to protect her
citizens from such unlawful happenings in the
future. Compulsory arbitration should be required
by law, and neither the management nor the em-
ployees of a public service corporation should under
any circumstances be permitted to paralyze or other-
wise interfere with the powers of the public for the
transportation of persons and property, or for any
other service for which the corporation was char-
tered. -
I, therefore, respectfully impress upon you the
importance of enacting such laws at your present
session to the end that the masses of the people
shall not again suffer from the acts of any who, for
their own selfish interest, would impede commerce,
travel or other public need or convenience. And the
same law should govern every factory wherein capi-
tal and labor come into conflict. -
I also respectfully suggest that you amend Sec-
tion 2664 of the Code of Georgia by requiring the
Railroad Commission to promptly advise the Gov-
ernor of the stoppage of performance of the duties
for which it was chartered by any public service
corporation when combinations of persons unlaw-
fully prevent its operation, thus damaging the inter-
ests of the public, and that he thereupon issue a
proclamation requiring the sheriffs of all counties
in which said public service corporation's working
37
property lies to summon posse comitatus to protect
said corporation in the performance of its chartered
duties; and that, in the event the resistance to law
by disorderly parties be too great for the civil au-
thorities in any county or counties to overcome, the
judge or judges, sheriff or sheriffs shall promptly
notify the Governor, who shall thereupon use the
militia, or such portions of it as may be needed, to
enforce the State's laws which require the operation
of said public service corporation or corporations
for the welfare of the people. . . . .
I also respectfully suggest that you enact a law
authorizing the Governor to suspend a sheriff when-
ever he finds it proven that said sheriff has wilfully
failed to do his duty in protecting the people of his
county against acts of lawbreakers, and to appoint
a sheriff to serve until after a new sheriff is chosen
by the people at the next regular election. Such a
law prevails in several other States, and that it is
needed in Georgia was proven in at least one glaring
instance during the period of the strike on the Geor-
gia Railroad last year. -
It should be furthermore provided that a sheriff
thus removed shall not be eligible for election to
any office in the county of his residence until at
least two years after he has been thus removed by
the Governor.
LAWS REGULATING THE USE of THE MILITIA.
The Constitution of Georgia, Article 10, Section
1, says: - : * * -
“A well regulated Militia being essential to the
peace and security of the State, the General Assem-
bly shall have authority to provide by law how the
38
Militia of this State shall be organized, officered,
trained, armed, and equipped; and of whom it shall
densist.’’ -
The words “essential to the peace and security of
the State,” are proof that the makers of this Con-
stitution, which we have taken an oath to execute,
deemed that there were likely to come crises in
which the civil authorities would not be able to main-
tain peace and protect life and property. The gen-
ius, the very soul, of that Constitution is democracy,
yet its every paragraph proves that it is a self-
bridled democracy. Its provisions leave every law-
abiding citizen fullest liberty for exerting his pow-
ers in any legitimate occupation, but places a con-
stant curb on crime, with penalties to be applied to
every one who will interfere with the rights of those
who obey it. The great minds which made it realized
that attempts to supplant or dethrone the law must
not be temporized with, but must be promptly met
by trained force which would maintain protection to
the people through the Supremacy and majesty of
the law. - -
Hence, they have clothed your honorable bodies
with the authority above indicated and by plain in-
ference have made the same your duty.
Therefore, if the use of the militia of the State be
“militarism” it is clear that the Constitution cre-
rates “militarism” and ordains that such shall be the
instrument of its enforcement when lawless elements
in any community, contending only with the civil
authorities, set that Constitution and the statutes
at defiance and imperil the lives and property of
the people. The same Constitution declares that
“protection to person and property is the para-
39
mount duty of government and shall be impartial
and complete.” This is but an amplification of the
ancient maxim: “The safety of the people is the
supreme law.” -
And we must not ignore the fact that on her Great
Seal of State, amid the columns, “Wisdom, Justice:
and Moderation” which uphold the arch of the Con-
stitution, Georgia presents to the world’s view the
figure of a soldier holding a drawn sword, thus:
symbolizing the fact that inside the very temple of
peace she holds the type of martial power, power
loyal and ever ready to protect that Constitution
and the peace which it commands. ſ
During the past Summer and fall, the use of the:
military was called for, in the manner prescribed by
law, to protect the public against lawlessness result-
ing from the strike by street car employees in:
Augusta; and also from threatened attempts to:
prevent the process of the State’s laws in Cumming,
Georgia.
It was a deplorable fact that in Augusta three
persons put themselves in insubordination to the
military law, one, if not two, of them in an open and
defiant manner intended to lead to destruction, by a
mob, of property in custody of soldiery placed by
the State to guard it; hence, were killed in the exer-
cise of their unlawful acts. No one except these can
be blamed for their deaths. Deeds done in defiance
of the military law must necessarily meet penalties
just as deeds done against the civil laws must meet
the same. It is well known that extreme acts of
violation of the civil laws have for their penalty
death, and this, when dire necessity comes, the State
inflicts. w
40 .
It can not be admitted, therefore, that when law-
less parties, by threats of incendiarism and personal
violence, terrorize a community and prevent the civil
authorities from enforcing the laws, and the military
is called out, that the latter should be instructed to
refrain from rigorous measures, even from the in-
fliction of death, for the protection of the peaceable
and law-abiding members of the community. The
Constitution manifestly does not intend that the
-militia shall be used simply as a bluff. Such use
“would put the Constitution itself in contempt and
absolutely invite anarchy. The very word “militia”
carries with it the knowledge that its weapons are
guns and other means of destroying life if extreme
necessity for securing impartial and complete pro-
ºtection for the law-abiding so demands.
We must not overlook the fact that the Constitu-
*tion provides that the sheriff of any county may sum-
mon posse comitatus when the elements of violence
threaten to subvert the law in his county. But the
-militia is the State’s posse comitatus, to be used
—when the sheriff's posse comitatus is too weak to
protect the peace and good name of the State. If
-then the posse comitatus of the Sheriff of Richmond
County had have killed the three men before referred
-to, in Augusta, no law-loving citizen would have con-
demned it. There is, therefore, absolutely no reason
“for condemning the State’s militia for a like defense
of the State's authority. No man must give a dare
- to the State. -
As to the trial by a military court of the officers
and men concerned in the killing in Augusta of the
three men who by their deeds defied the militia whom
—the State had put in charge of the city, for the pre-
41
servation of life and property, I will say that the
State has both the legal and the moral right to fix
whatever process she deems appropriate. In some of
her civil courts she requires trial by jury, in others
juries are omitted. In municipal courts persons are
deprived of liberty without the verdicts of juries.
She, therefore, ordains such court procedure as she
deems fitting to the crime, the local conditions or
the emergency.
In her law governing the case under review she did
not choose to fix a status, half fish and half fowl, to
adjudicate in a civil court acts done under military
government which the civil authorities had requested
to supercede their own. Here was no usurpation of
the rights of a free people; they made the status
themselves. There was no degredation of their
manhood. That manhood is as upright and as self-
respecting in decreeing the temporary supremacy of
the military to stamp out anarchy as it is in times
of peace when the civil process is properly the only
authority. The suppression of anarchy is the right
and duty of a free, law-loving people, and there come
times when they must shoot it to death just as they
shoot down foreign invaders.
And no specious pleas by enemies of law and no
theoretical treatises by alarmed sentimentalists
should weigh against the logical process which law,
in times of peril, must take to ensure its supremacy
over the hydra of anarchy. And, while I hold in
high honor the patriotic devotion of some of our best
citizens who have deemed the use of the military as
a menace to the security of our institutions, yet I
must say firmly that the man at headquarters, who,
42
the Constitution declares, shall be a conservator of
the peace throughout the State, and the man on the
scene of danger, are better fitted to judge whether the
soldiery is needed to protect life and property, as is
provided by the Constitution and the statutes, than
can be any people living many miles from the zone
of peril.
Now, as to the personnel of the militia, I call your
attention to the fact that its members are not foreign-
ers or hirelings. They are not the Governor's sol-
diers, organized by his order to display his power;
they are your soldiers, by the mandate of your Con-
stitution, organized to protect your homes, your
lives, your civilization. They are your own flesh and
blood, your sons or brothers, who, thrusting not them-
selves into the arena of danger, but called thither by
the operation of your statutes, leave their occupa-
tions, sometimes losing their present income, and
Submit to inconvenience, endure privations, and
stand ready to sacrifice even life itself to shield you
and to uphold the dignity of your laws.
Instead, therefore, of being held as a thing apart,
the Constitution makes them an integral factor of
your government; instead of being an excrescence,
they are your strong arm never to be exerted save
when your other elements of strength are inadequate
or helpless, then, with the force of a thunderbolt.
And in their patriotic willingness to lay down even
life itself to protect you and your laws, they embody
the words of our Divine Lord: “Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friend.” (John 15-13.) And should any of them
lose lives in the service for which your very Constitu-
43
tion has ordained their organization, they merit the
paraphrase of the simple, yet sublime, epitaph which
his countrymen placed over Leonidas and the
Spartan band who fell at Thermopylae in defense of
their country, viz.: “Go, stranger, tell it in Lacedae-
mon that we died in obedience to her laws.”
Let me say, therefore, that Georgia’s name should
be the synonym of good faith; that when she guaran-
tees impartial and complete protection she must
make her guarantee good; that the uniform of a
soldier who unselfishly leaves home comforts and
hazards his life for the protection of the laws of the
State and the lives of her people is a badge of honor.
And a twenty year old youth, standing in uniform
with gun in hand for the protection of the law, is
more to be honored than are ten thousand men who
directly or indirectly lift hands for anarchy, class
preference, or class tyranny, for that youth repre-
sents not militarism in its formal sense, but he is the
ultimate resort of the law.
The present law prescribing the manner of using
the militia of the State was passed unanimously by
the Senate and almost unanimously by the House of
Representatives. Both factions united in enacting it
after considering it for more than a year. Un-
doubtedly a potent factor in securing the enactment
of the law was the knowledge that, while many good
people are moving into Georgia, yet there are also
elements with practices and views widely at variance
with these adhered to by our native population.
Consequently we must assume that it is the judgment
of a vast majority of the people of Georgia that the
44
military must be used as military when emergencies
demand. The General Assembly, therefore, does not
have to apologize for making this law; and the
Governor does not have to apologize for ordering its
enforcement. And the militia does not have to
apologize for obeying the order the Governor trans-
mitted to it. Each performed a high duty which the
people for their protection had ordained.
Some of the happenings in Georgia during the
present year have trended inevitably toward bringing
your Constitution into contempt. It is for you, there-
fore, to say whether you are going to surrender this
State to anarchy or whether you are going to pre-
serve it for law. It is for you to say whether you
are going to allow one class, with less than 30,000
members, preferential privileges to the detriment
and danger of the remainder of the public with up-
wards of 330,000 voters or whether you will enforce
your process against all law-breakers alike. It is
for you to say whether you will allow barns to be
burned, residences dynamited and people driven
from their homes, thus destroying property valua-
tions and depriving certain counties of needed labor-
ers; and whether you will allow mobs to force
sheriffs and jailers, before the muzzles of guns, to
surrender prisoners in the State’s custody, who are
then taken out and unlawfully killed. It is for you
to say whether you will allow the statutes you enact
to be made a mockery or whether all men in all
classes shall obey them in the same manner. You
have the power to enact laws which will control every
situation I have portrayed.
45
Yet, I am in the line of duty and self-respect when
I say: Do not make it the Governor’s duty to enforce
a law and then condemn him for doing it. Any Gov-
ernor, true to his oath, will enforce it regardless
of condemnation. And do not, even by inference,
command a militiaman, a sheriff or other agent of
the State to imperil his life and possibly lose it, to
protect your lives and property and uphold the
dignity of your Constitution, and then fire into his
back from the State House whence his orders came.
Do not enact laws which you intend shall not be
enforced, or which you would allow to be tampered
with. There is no middle ground between law and
anarchy.
The people of Georgia are jealous of their liberties,
but they are not going to suffer their statutes de-
feated and their Constitution made contemptible
under the false plea of liberty. That license which
styles itself liberty, which would subordinate the
rights of the public to the selfish interests of classes
or which would substitute the process of anarchy for
the process of law, has no place in any State inhabi-
ted by freemen. True liberty sits side by side with
the enthroned law.
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, allow me to urge upon you thought-
ful care in the enactment of statutes for the public
welfare. The laws of Georgia should be deliberately
framed and so broad and just as to be graven on
the very hearts of her people; they should inspire
confidence and willing loyalty which would make it
the proudest boast to say: “I too am a Georgian l’’
46
And the authority of the State and of her munici-
palities should be so reverenced that a sheriff's badge
and a policeman’s club would command as great
respect as does the baton of a marshal of France.
Respectfully submitted,
Governor.

47
| L ..] MESSAGE
OF
GOVERNOR HUGH M. DORSEY
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
-*-
JULY 6, 1920
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1920
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ATLANTA, GA.
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MESSAGE
OF
GOVERNOR HUGH M. DORSEY
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
JULY 6, 1920
1920
BYRD PRINTING CO.
ATLANTA, GA.

L|BRARY OF CONGRESS
TECEIVED
FEB 121921
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UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
LIBRARIES
266892
MARCH (93Q
STATE OF GEORGIA,
Executive Department,
Atlanta, June 7, 1920.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEROGIA:
FINANCES.
For more than sixty days prior to your convening,
the treasury of the State has been unable to honor requi-
sitions of those authorized to draw appropriations, made
by your honorable body at the 1919 session, for the con-
duct of the State’s business and the support of its insti-
tutions. Our educational institutions: The University;
the several agricultural schools, and its other branches;
our educational and eleemosynary institutions; the Acad-
emy for the Blind; the School for the Deaf; our educa-
tional and corrective institutions—the Training School
for Girls; the Training School for Boys; our Soldiers’
Home; our State Board of Health, to which appropria-
tions for the Tuberculosis Hospital is made; our Sanita-
rium for the Insane; our Prison Commission; our Depart-
ment of Agriculture, and other departments at the Cap-
itol—those and others have been forced to go without
funds, which are necessary if these institutions and de-
partments are to continue functioning. -
Those familiar with the finances of the State have
anticipated that this condition which now confronts.us
was ultimately inevitable—the only element of uncer-
tainty being the date of culmination. Except for your
3
prompt compliance with my request, at your 1919 session,
to defer the distribution of the State Road Funds to the
counties until September 10th of that year, it is probable
that the embarrassment which is now existent would
then have arisen. (Georgia Laws, page 1440, Resolution
No. 16.) * -
The situation as it has been developing, and as it was
at the beginning of this year, can readily be seen from
this statement: -
“Undrawn bal- *- Deficit, or
ance” or Ap- Balance in ann Ount not On
propriations for Treasury to hand necessary
previous year help pay “Un- tº:
unpaid on Jan. drawn bal- “Undra. Wn
1 Of each year. ance.’’ balance.”
Jan. 1, 1913 ----$2,092,794.79 $1,113,517.31 $ 979,277.48.
Jan. 1, 1914 –––– 1,607,431.30 739,625.75 667,805.64
Jan. 1, 1915 - - - 1,901,702.07 --- 787,455.88 1,114,246.19
Jan. 1, 1916 - - - 2,259,261.73 842,799.09 1,414,562.42
Jan. 1, 1917 --- - 2,627,631.43 * 1,386,136.42 1,241,496.01
Jan. 1, 1918 –––– 2,812,640.43 1,459,531.18 1,383,309.25
Jan. 1, 1919 - - - - 2,926,671.06 813,139.66 2,113,631.40
Jan. 1, 1920 - - - 2,997,368.91 909,825.64 2,087,743.27
The State, it is seen, therefore, began the year 1920
in need of $2,087,743.27 with which to balance its ac-
count. - e
In addition to the ordinary expenses of our civil es-
tablishment and the usual maintenance expenses of our
institutions, there were two obligations—one created by
contract under the School Warrant Law of 1915; the
other, the payment of pensions due our Confederate Vet-
erans, which the State had to meet during the first of
the year. These two items are the largest in the State's
budget, and for some years—although the treasury funds
have been supplemented by temporary loans—which the
4
Governor is authorized to make—their prompt payment
has not been met without some apprehension of a pos-
sible failure.
A detailed statement of the plan of payments for
this year may be profitably set forth:
Although under the law pensions to Confederate
Veterans are not necessarily payable until May 1st each
year, still it has been found advisable to pay as soon
after the beginning of the year as possible the pensioners
in one-half of the counties—those given priority one year
being postponed the next—and this has been the un-
broken custom since the law allowing annual payments
to pensioners was enacted.
On February 10, 1920, therefore, a warrant for $632,-
820,00 was paid by the Treasurer for one-half of the
pensions for 1920. This payment was made without se-
curing a loan. - -
On March 1, 1920, a warrant for $1,979,617.75 was
paid to redeem discounted school warrants issued to
finance the public schools during 1919, and in anticipa-
tion of the taxes for that year. It was necessary to use
the Governor’s borrowing power up to $150,000.00 in
order to meet this obligation. This loan was paid March
23, 1920.
On April 21, 1920–some few days earlier than com-
manded by law—a warrant for $627,775.00 was drawn on
the Treasurer for the second installment of pensions for
1920. But to make this payment it was necessary to
again use the borrowing power of the Governor—and per-
haps for the first time in the history of the State for the
full amount authorized, viz: $500,000.00—certainly for
the first time since the limit has been increased to the
present Sum. - .
*
The loan of $500,000.00, while obtained of the High-
way Funds, exhausts the borrowing power of the Gover-
nor; as this fund, though heretofore available tempor-
arily for general purposes until its distribution to the
counties (which ordinarily is done annually about the
first of June), under the terms of the Reorganization
statute passed at your last session, is now “controlled
and disbursed under the provisions” of that Act only,
and hence must necessarily be kept separate and apart
from other funds and held until the occasion arises for
its use in carrying out the road building program.
Although the revenues of the State have undoubtedly
substantially increased from year to year, and though
probably the increases for 1919 and 1920 will fully equal
those of other years—still the greatly increased appro-
priations to almost every department and institution—
and especially the large increases to pensioners and the
public Schools; the withdrawal of funds heretofore tem-
porarily employed to tide the State over “the lean”
months, coupled with the depreciated purchasing power
of the dollar and the unusual “high cost of living”—
which has necessitated larger drafts, or more frequent
calls, than heretofore have been made during the first
half of our fiscal year—have at last necessitated the sus-
pension of payments on appropriations, because the State
neither has the money that can be used, nor the power
to borrow more. - *
Only a small per cent, or about 13.17 per cent, of
1920's anticipated revenues have been paid thus far. The
greatest portion of the 86.27 per cent remaining will not
be collected until toward the close of the year; but, in the
mean time, half of the fiscal year has already passed, and
within that period the necessities of the departments and
6
institutions, as might reasonably be expected, have de-
manded such a proportion of appropriations as exceed
the revenues realized.
The appropriations already made for 1921 exceed
those for the current year by about $700,000.00 and the
indications now are that probably earlier next year than
this the treasury will again be empty and those who have
been so greatly inconvenienced this spring must again
suffer.
Teachers; the employees of the Sanitarium for the
Insane, and others employed at the various institutions
of the State—most of whom realize little enough for
their labors—should neither be denied prompt payment
of their meager stipends, nor made apprehensive and
uncertain as to their livelihood.
And above all, the State should consider its helpless
wards—the mentally sick—the infirm confined in our
State institutions—and should not deny them the use of
money which otherwise would lie idle in our State depos-
itories.
Therefore, I unhesitatingly suggest legislation per-
mitting the use, temporarily, of such portions of the high-
way funds as may be needed; provided, of course, that
such use shall not interfere, hinder, or delay in any re-
spect the State’s road building program.
This, so far as I am able to see, is the only way by
which immediate relief can be assured. Under no cir-
cumstances should these funds be diverted from the
purpose for which they were originally intended, and
their use should be permitted only for such period as is
absolutely necessary and to such an amount as can be
7
certainly repaid out of the bulk of the State's revenues
which will be collected in the fall.
|
There is little reason in holding this highway money
idle in banks when the State’s institutions need it and
its agents and employees are forced to go without pay,
unless they borrow money of these same banks and at a
very high rate as compared with what the banks pay
the State for its use, or unless the officials of the depart-
ments or institutions they serve voluntarily and person-
ally do so for them.
There are two ways, and only two, whereby, in my
opinion, the State can insure against a similar situation
in 1921. One is to permit the use of highway funds; the
other is to increase the borrowing power of the Governor.
Prior to 1912, the Governor was authorized to bor-
row $200,000.00. A Constitutional Amendment passed
that year increased the borrowing power to $500,000.00.
Appropriations for 1912, when the borrowing power
was $200,000.00, were $5,625,825.00. The borrowing
power, therefore, was approximately 3.55 per cent of the
appropriations.
The 1913 appropriations were $5,904,567.00, and the
borrowing power of the Governor for that year was $500,-
000.00, or 8.46 per cent of the appropriations.
The borrowing power of the Governor now is only
5.41 per cent of the 1920 appropriations.
It might be advisable to amend the Constitution au-
thorizing the Governor to borrow not more than 10 per
cent of the appropriations made by the General Assembly
for the fiscal year in which the loan is negotiated; or, if
8
not that, then to increase the borrowing power to three-
quarters of a million, or a million dollars.
The adoption of the foregoing suggestions, in all
probability, would serve temporarily—and certainly if
the increase in revenues for 1920 as suggested by the
Comptroller General should be realized, and provided
no other appropriations are made.
TAXATION.
But the State is greatly in need of revenue beyond
any increase that can be expected by the most Sanguine
adherents of the present plan of taxation.
The Comptroller General, in his report for the year
ending December 31, 1919, on page 12, lists appropria-
tions for 1920 at a total of $9,074,616.50. The correct
total is probably more, or $9,082,586.72.
This official also, in the same report, on page 13, ex-
presses the hope that the net revenues for 1920 will be
increased to $1,092,750.00, basing his expectations on the
hoped for increase of assessed valuations of the State for
this year as given by the Tax Commissioner, though the
Comptroller accredits that official with expressing the
hope that the values will increase ten million, more than
the Tax Commissioner in his report, at page 9, estimates
will be the case.
But, conceding the figures given by the Comptroller
General to be correct, and also the opinion which he ex-
presses that all the 1920 appropriations as made can be
paid by revenues to be realized this year, including the
approximately $500,000.00 increase needed to pay pen-
sions to our Confederate Veterans, authorized under an
9
Act passed at your last session, and the more than one
million dollars asked by the department and institutions,
as set out in the Budget and Investigating Committee's
report just filed—still, even if these items are included
and covered in the statement of the Comptroller General
as referred to, Georgia, when you consider its needs, is
not receiving adequate revenues, and will not until its
tax methods are, in my opinion, “recreated.”
I cannot see that there is any just ground for com-
plaint as to appropriations, because I feel that they are
all-possibly without a single exception, certainly as to
those which are in amount consequential—abundantly
deserved and advantageously used. But there must be a
change. We cannot continue to increase our appropria-
tions thirty-seven per cent when our revenues only in-
crease twenty-two per cent, as has occurred during the
five-year period from 1915 to 1919, inclusive.
The Tax Commission in its report submitted to you
at your first session, gives a thorough and exhaustive
study of the intricate and complex question of taxation.
Nine Out of the ten members of this Commission—
one of whom is the Tax Commissioner of the State—con-
curred in the majority report. This report shows that
other States have failed also to raise adequate revenues
under the ad valorem system of taxation, and because of
the impossibility of devising under that system any kind
of tax machinery that would succeed in realizing reve-
nues from intangible property. -
I have seen no valid objection to the majority plan.
The suggestion that its adoption would result in a divi-
Sion of our people into classes, Iregard as not based upon
facts or reason. Such has not been the case in those pro-
10
gressive States where it has been of force and where, if
such a result were possible, sufficient time has intervened
since its adoption to have produced this unfortunate re-
sult. On the other hand, the uniform ad valorem clause
results in an uneven distribution of the burdens of taxa-
tion and here and elsewhere has already, if you please,
divided people into classes—those who pay and those
who evade; those who pay some and those who pay less;
those who pay on a fair valuation and those who pay on
an inadequate valuation; a class that cannot evade be-
cause its property is in the open, and a class that evades
and circumvents, and will inevitably, under the law as it
now is, continue this practice. -
The new law will classify property for the purpose
of taxation, and Scientifically, according to its nature, its
characteristics and its earning capacity.
The present law divides our people into classes fully
as much as any new system could possibly do—one of
which—the owners of real estate—pay taxes on 86 per
cent of the actual value of their property; while another
—some of the public service corporations—pay as low
as 22 per cent of the actual value of their holdings—while
from the standpoint of relative burden imposed, real es-
tate furnishes 83 per cent of the revenue of the State as
against 6 per cent which is furnished by those who pay
on money and credits.
At page 495 of the Georgia Senate Journal of 1919,
a table will be found showing that the percentage of in-
tangible property to the total assessed value of property
in Georgia has been steadily decreasing, having dropped
from 14%% in 1875 to 61-14% in 1918—and also that the
percentage of personal property to the total assessed
11
value of property has decreased from 42
32 2-3% in 1918.
2-3% in 1875 to
To more clearly indicate the above, the table is
| herewith set out.
%
#3 så få
8 : P. 2 g; º- #.:
• Å #% 5: o . §§
; (b. & sº 9 : S
73 P ro -º-, #5 's
$ 8 : q) gº §§ • 8
rd 80 D O 60
f § : § >, ºr, º: 3. § *4 £ 3.
3 g ### § – # Tº 3 º
§ 5 #3: §§§ ; : § 5
* 5. sº dº 33 43 & 8
1878--$ 261,755,644 $37,130,943 $14 1-5% $111,656,490 42 2-3%
1880-- 261,424,651 29,323,736 11 5-6% 99,276,876 39 1-4%
1885- - 381,695,616 33,795,735 10 1-2%. 119,200,739 37
1890-- 416,828,945 38,933,258 9 3-8% 152,311,869 36 5-8%
1895-- 410,692,093 31,064,175 7 3-8% 133,555,811 32 1-2%
1900-- 432,323,691 24,730,695 8 %. 150,006,530 34 1-2%
1905-- 577,840,282 41,172,177 7 1-8% 203,979,464 35 1-2%
1910-- 766,787,139 48,248,841 6 1-7% 253,186,230 33 %
1915- - 951,763,472 33,659,082 5 3-8% 276,796,383 23 1-7%
1918-- 1,079,261,333 65,613,896 6 1-14% 349,589,021 32 2-5%
The report of the Tax Commission says:
“The remarkable situation shown by the above table
is not unique for Georgia, but has been found to exist in
many other States where the ad valorem general property
tax was still used in personal property.”
In the State of New York, as shown by the report of
the State Board of Tax Commissioners of that State for
1914, page 49, it appears that the percentage of personal
property to total assessment in that State has decreased
from 18.9% in 1840 to 10.04% in 1905.
12
af
The Minnesota Tax Commission report for 1910
Says: .
“Under the existing system, personal property
tends to form a constantly decreasing proportion of
the total property assessed for taxation. It is gen-
erally admitted that under modern conditions, the
amount of personal property in existence always
equals, and frequently exceeds, the amount of real
property. In a State like Massachusetts or New
York, some would have it that the amount of per-
sonal property is two or three times as much as the
amount of real property; whatever the exact propor-
tion may be, it is certain that it cannot be less than,
and probably greatly exceeds, the amount of real
property. During the Nineteenth Century, it is cer-
tain that the increase of personal property was par-
ticularly rapid; yet the statistics covering this pe-
riod show that this class of property has usually of—
fered a decreasing proportion of the total assess-
ments.’’
This condition, which seems to exist in all States
where the ad valorem plan obtains inevitably results in
placing an increased burden on real estate. That is the
situation in Georgia.
It should be borne in mind that the suggestion with
reference to the division of our people into classes, as
urged by the opponents of this measure, presupposes that
the General Assembly of Georgia, to whom would be in-
trusted the matter of classification, would prostitute
their high office to an unfair and indefensible imposition
of taxes upon one class at the expense of another. I shall
never believe that the General Assembly of Georgia will
13
be composed of a membership which will so far forget its
duties to the whole people and lend its vote to any such
program. ** .
It should always be kept in mind in the consideration
of this proposed change in our tax system that under no
circumstances could any burden be imposed upon any
property in excess of the five mill limitation prescribed
by our Constitution, and which all property now theo-
retically is supposed to pay.
If the people of Georgia are willing that your Sug-
cessors in the positions of trust which you now occupy
should use their judgment—after a full investigation as
to the advisability of classification—you should be will-
ing to submit to them for ratification the Constitutional .
amendment giving them this power; because, after the
adoption of this proposed amendment, the same rule of
uniform and ad valorem taxation as it now exists, if
deemed wise, could be applied.
If the tax machinery adopted in Virginia—as the
opponents of this new law have suggested—and not the
inherent merits of the new system, are to be credited
with the splendid success brought about in that State
(in which it took six years to persuade the people that it
was wise) is it not a remarkable coincidence that such
Success was only accomplished contemporaneously with
the adoption of this new principle of taxation? Is it not
a noteworthy coincidence that, without an exception, suc-
cess in raising adequate revenues has accompanied a
change from the old ad valorem to the classification sys-
tem, and that this additional revenue has, in every in-
stance, come chiefly from the classes of property which
usually escaped taxation under the ad valorem plan?
14
Under the law of averages as shown by the expe-
rience of other States, the chances are against Georgia
ever being able, under any kind of machinery, to ac-
complish under the Constitutional provision of 1877, what
is being accomplished in the nineteen States referred to
on page 30 of the report of the Tax Commission, and in
the States of Montana, New Jersey and Vermont, which
were not included in this enumeration.
I cannot believe, in view of the universal failure of
the uniform ad valorem principle of taxation, that Geor-
gia can ever do under this principle that which other
countries and States of the Union have failed to do, the
reason for which failure can be summed up in the state-
ment that it is inherently and fundamentally unfair.
Hon. H. J. Fullbright, in his annual report to the
Comptroller General, on page 6, with reference to this
report, says:
“The recommendations contained in the ma-
jority report are in keeping with the thought of many
of the ablest authorities on the subject of taxation,
and in line with the laws of all the more progressive
States of the Union. I heartily join in that report,
believing that the adoption of the recommendations
therein made would greatly improve our tax laws.”
It is agreed, not only by the majority of the Tax
Commission, but by the Hon. Seaborn Wright, who alone
dissented from the report of the majority, and who filed
a minority report which was submitted to your body;
and by the Comptroller General of the State of Georgia,
Hon. Wm. A. Wright, that changes should be made in
our tax laws. -
15
While the Comptroller General, in his report for
1919, at page 21, disagrees with the majority report sub-
mitted by the Tax Commission, still he says that he has
given much thought and study to the legislation proposed
by the bill introduced at the last session, and that he is
more strongly convinced than ever that were the machin-
ery recommended by the Commission for the new system
applied to the existing system of taxation, it would ac-
complish better results without the destruction of the
system, which, in his opinion, has been successfully
in operation since the adoption of the Constitution of
1877. -
Therefore, I am suggesting that in view of the fact
that all who have studied the subject agree that some-
thing should be done, that you adopt the plan recom-
mended in the report of the majority of the Tax Commis-
sion; or that suggested in the minority report; or the
plan advocated by the Hon. Wm. A. Wright, Comptroller
General of the State, who has had long experience in the
practical administration of the taxing laws of this State.
If it is the policy of the State to continue the old ad
valorem system of taxation, amendatory laws to perfect
the machinery along the lines indicated in the report of
the Minority Committee of the Tax Commission, or as
suggested by the Comptroller General, should be imme-
diately adopted. i -
I strongly advise that something be done—raise the
constitutional limit; re-value the property now on the
tax books; perfect—if it can be done—the machinery un-
der the Constitution as it now is, or amend—and this I
think to be wise—the Constitution, as suggested in the
report of the majority of the Tax Commission. You
16
should do something without delay. You are in posses-
sion of as much information as any General Assembly
can possibly have, and in view of the great needs of the
State, and also in view of the fact that all who have
given the tax methods of the State any thought, are of
the opinion that something should be done, there can be
little excuse for your failure to act.
BUDGET COMMISSION.
I unqualifiedly recommend the creation of a Consti-
tutional Budget Commission, and invite your serious con-
sideration to the bill suggested by the Budget and Inves-
tigating Commission in its 1919 report, “Exhibit I.” This
bill provides that after this Commission has devoted the
time necessary to an intelligent understanding of the
needs of the State’s agencies, departments and institu-
tions and has recommended an apportionment of the
State’s revenues for these purposes, while items so rec-
ommended may be decreased or omitted under the usual
rules of the General Assembly, the amount of no item
may be increased except upon a two-thirds vote of the
membership of each House of the General Assembly pres-
ent and voting, provided that such two-thirds shall con-
stitute a majority of such memberships.
This provision is very similar to one in the Constitu-
tion of the Confederate States of America.
It is a necessary provision to give the work of this
Commission before your body that standing to which it
is entitled. This provision is also in the interest of pro-
tecting your membership against the solicitations and
importunities of those who seek appropriations, and
17
tends to enable such matters to be settled upon merit
alone.
This provision is not a limitation on the authority
of the General Assembly in the matter of appropriating
the State’s funds. It is simply a sensible, reasonable and
businesslike regulation of the procedure by which appro-
priations are to be made. It must be recalled that the
General Assembly has no unlimited power in this respect,
as the Governor, by the exercise of the veto power, can
over-rule the wishes, with reference to matters of legis-
lation, of any number of Representatives in the Lower
House less than 128 and any number of Senators less
than 34, so that under the provision of the Constitutional
amendment providing for the creation of the Budget
Commission your body will be placed under no further
limitations than now.
Members of your body would have the balance of
power on the Commission, while the minimum member-
ship authorized to increase any item recommended, 97
in the House and 27 in the Senate, as now constituted,
would suffice.
This provision would give to Georgia one of the es-
sential requisites of a business budget system. It has
been written into the laws of other States, and, after trial,
has been found satisfactory. It is hoped you can approve
this plan for Submission to the judgment and wisdom of
the people of this State, whose representatives you are,
and who can well be trusted to say whether or not this
is a wise and expedient regulation to safeguard State ex-
penditures and insure their wise use.
I desire also to endorse that provision of this sug-
gested Constitutional amendment which requires that no
18
other appropriation bill shall be considered until the
General Appropriation Bill has been finally acted upon.
During my tenure of office, the General Appropriation
Bills have always been deferred and finally put through
in the last minutes of the session, and hence have come
to the Executive Department for consideration and ac-
tion only after the adjournment of your body, and when
to withhold approval of any item of consequence therein,
would necessarily entail upon the tax payers of the State
the expense of an extraordinary session. To delay the
passage of the General Appropriation Bill until special
appropriation bills have all been passed upon, must in-
evitably result always in the passage of special bills with-
out any regard whatsoever to the State's ability to pay.
It is unbusinesslike and unsystematic.
The benefits that will accrue from the adoption of
the plan embodied in the Budget Bill submitted, will be
So apparent—if it is once put in vogue—as to cause us
to wonder that the old plan was ever permitted to exist.
Further, let me commend that provision in the last
paragraph of the suggested Budget Bill which says that
no special appropriation bill shall be enacted, should the
amount therein carried cause the total appropriations for
any year or years in which the same is to be paid to ex-
ceed the total revenue as estimated in the report of the
Budget and Investigating Committee, unless such special
appropriation bill shall provide the revenue necessary
to pay the appropriation therein. The adoption of this
will inevitably result in focusing the mind of the General
Assembly on the amount of the State's revenue and the
source from which it is derived, instead of permitting it
in making appropriations—as has heretofore been the
19
case—to think only of the great needs of the State and
its institutions. •
If this Budget Bill should be adopted, Georgia would
never again be confronted with the situation which met
you at the threshold of your deliberations at this session.
HIGHWAYS.
You are to be congratulated on the Highway Legis-
lation passed at your last session, and it is earnestly
hoped that with such minor amendments as may be sug-
gested by your wisdom and as the operation of the State
system which you have inaugurated may have developed
are necessary, the program as outlined in the report of
the Majority Committee, as submitted to you at your
last session can be put through.
CONCLUSION.
Your body, at its 1919 session, undoubtedly passed
as much progressive legislation as any General Assembly
in the history of the State at its first session. Your
creation of the State Board of Public Welfare; your es-
tablishment of the State Banking Department; the State
Printing Department; your revision of the educational
laws, and your highway legislation, constitute in them-
selves a splendid catalogue of accomplishments. If at
this session you can succeed in the enactment of proper
tax legislation; take the initial step for the establishment
of a Constitutional Budget and Investigating Commission;
take additional steps as indicated for the establishment
of a State System of Highways, you cannot be denied
the honor of having enacted more legislation in the in-
20
terest of the people of our State than any General As-
sembly heretofore has ever done. It is a great oppor-
tunity and one which it is sincerely hoped you will em-
brace.
Respectfully submitted,

Governor.
21
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# , 7 & | MESSAGES OF
HON. HUGH M DORSEY,
GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA ---....
RELATIVE to
CLEMENCY CASES
AND RELATIVE TO
N.
REPORT OF
BUDGET AND INVESTIGATING
COMMISSION
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MESSAGES OF
HON. HUGH M. DORSEY,
GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA
RELATIVE TO
CLEMENCY CASES
AND RELATIVE TO
REPORT OF
BUDGET AND INVESTIGATING
COMMISSION

# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
RECEIV/ED
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FEB 121921
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UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
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266892
MARCH 1930
REPORT ON CLEMENCY CASES.
STATE OF GEORGIA,
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
ATLANTA.
June 25th, 1920.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
I hand you herewith report, as required by the Con-
stitution of the State, showing all clemency matters—
reprieves, removals of disabilities, probations, paroles,
commutations and pardons granted since my last report
submitted June 26th, 1919.
Respectfully submitted,
HUGH M. DORSEY,
Governor.
3
REPRIEVES.
TOM STEELE: Thomas County; murder. Respited
from July 11th, 1919, to August 15th, 1919, and again
from August 15th, 1919, to September 5th, 1919, in order
to allow time for the Prison Commission and the Gover-
nor to review application for commutation of death sem-
tence to life imprisonment.
JTM HILL : Crisp County; murder. Respited from
July 16th, 1919, to August 27th, 1919; again from August
27th, 1919, to September 24th, 1919, and again from Sep-
tember 24th, 1919, to October 1st, 1919, in order to allow
time for the Prison Commission and the Governor to re-
view application for commutation of death sentence to
life imprisonment.
JOE WEBB: Floyd County; murder. Respited from
September 1st, 1919, to October 1st, 1919, in order to al-
low time for Governor to review application for commu-
tation of death sentence to life imprisonment.
WM. W. ODOM: Bacon County; seduction; 5 years.
Respited from October 29th, 1919, to December 3rd, 1919,
in order to allow time for filing of application for clem-
ency with the Prison Commission. This respite was
granted because of the extraordinary facts set forth in
papers presented to the Prison Commission, and upon
recommendation of the Prison Commission.
WM. DANIELS, ALLAS SMOKEY JOE: Pulaski
County; murder. Respited from October 31st, 1919, to
December 1st, 1919, and again from December 1st, 1919,
to January 2nd, 1920, in order to allow time for the
Prison Commission and the Governor to review applica-
tion for commutation of death sentence to life imprison.
ment.
HOLLIS LANDERS: Jackson County; murder. Re-
spited from January 2nd, 1920, to February 6th, 1920;
again from February 6th, 1920, to February 27th, 1920;
4
again from February 27th, 1920, to March 26th, 1920;
again from March 26th, 1920, to April 2nd, 1920, and again
from April 2nd, 1920, to May 7th, 1920. Respites granted
in order to allow time for the Prison Commission and the
Governor to review application for commutation of death
sentence to life imprisonment, and in order to allow time
for filing and hearing of extraordinary motion for new
trial, and in order to allow time for filing and hearing on
petition for writ of mandamus to compel the signature
of the trial judge to bill of exceptions, and in order to al-
low time for a rehearing of the application for commuta-
tion of sentence by the Prison Commission and the Gov-
€I’ll OI’.
DINK TOWLER: Gwinnett County; assault with
intent to rape; 12 years. Respites from August 28th,
1919, to September 2nd, 1919, in order to allow time for
filing of extraordinary motion for new trial during term
time, the extraordinary motion being based upon newly
discovered evidence. The Prison Commission recom-
mended that the respite be granted.
JOE JAMES: Twiggs County; murder. Respited
from April 21st, 1920, to June 2nd, 1920, and again from
June 2nd, 1920, to June 16th, 1920, and again from June
16th, 1920, to August 18th, 1920, in order to allow time
for Prison Commission to review application for commu-
tation of death sentence to life imprisonment.
FRED SHIELTON: Bartow County; murder. Re-
spited from April 30th, 1920, to May 28th, 1920, in order
to allow time for Prison Commission to review applica-
tion for commutation of death sentence to life imprison-
ment. -
ULYSSES GOOLSBY: Early County; murder. Re-
spited from May 7th, 1920, to June 4th, 1920; again from
June 4th, 1920, to June 25th, 1920, and again from June
25th, 1920, to July 23rd, 1920, in order to allow time for
5
Prison Commission and the Governor to review applica-
tion for commutation of death sentence to life imprison-
ment. w
J. J. GORDON: Jones County; violating prohibition
law; 1 year. Respited from June 14th, 1920, to June 28th,
1920, in order to allow time for Governor to review appli-
cation for respite until next term of Superior Court of
Jones County for the purpose of filing extraordinary
motion for new trial during term time. This respite was
recommended by the Prison Commission.
REMOVAL OF DISABILITIES.
JAMES A. BEAVERS: Coweta Superior Court,
March term, 1919; receiving stolen goods; $150.00 fine.
Applicant paid the fine of $150.00. Upon recommenda-
tion of the Prison Commission, trial Judge, Solicitor-Gen-
eral, and others, disabilities removed and restored to full
rights of citizenship, May 7th, 1920. -
EDWARD HAWKINS: Chatham Superior Court,
December term, 1911; bigamy; 3 years. Applicant served
out his sentence several years ago, and it is shown that
his conduct has been good since his release. Upon recom-
mendation of the Prison Commission and a number of
citizens of the community in which applicant has resided
for the past six years, disabilities removed and re-
stored to full rights of citizenship, May 27th, 1920.
PROBATIONS. •
H. R. DUBBERLY: City Court of Reidsville; sell-
ing liquor; 12 months. Upon recommendation of the trial
judge and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation. Approved
July 25th, 1919. - -
RAIDER ALMON: City Court of Carrollton, July
term 1919; carrying concealed weapons and carrying
weapons without license; 6 months or $60.00. Upon rec.
6
ommendation of the Prison Commission, applicant al-
lowed to serve remainder of his sentence on probation,
upon payment of fine of $60.00. Approved July 31st, 1919.
REUBEN HARDY: City Court of Thomasville,
September term 1918; selling liquor; 10 and 10 months.
Upon recommendation of the Prison Commission, appli-
cant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on pro-
bation. Approved August 9th, 1919, to become effective
September 30th, 1919.
R. R. CLARK: Harris Superior Court, April term
1919; violating prohibition law; 8 months or 4 months
and $500.00 fine. Upon recommendation of the Prison
Commission, trial Judge and Solicitor-General, applicant
allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on probation,
upon payment of fine of $100.00. Approved August 9th,
1919, to become effective August 21st, 1919.
F. A. ROWLAND: Laurens Superior Court, April
term 1919; fornication; 12 months. Upon recommenda-
tion of the trial judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison
Commission, applicant allowed to serve remainder of his
sentence on probation, upon payment of all costs. Ap-
proved August 22nd, 1919, to become effective November
7th, 1919.
FLETCHER BRAWNER: Harris Superior Court,
April term, 1919; violating prohibition law; 8 months or
4 months and $500.00. Upon recommendation of the
trial Judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison Commission,
applicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on
probation, upon payment of all costs. Approved August
26th, 1919. - &
WILLIAM PALMER: Decatur Superior Court, Fall
term 1918; fornication; 12 months and 6 months in jail.
Upon recommendation of the jurors, trial Judge and So-
licitor-General and the Prison Commission applicant al-
7
lowed to serve remainder of his sentence on probation,
upon payment of $141.61. Approved September 30th,
1919. **. - -
WALTER REVELS, ADDIE REVELS, JOHN Mc-
DUFFY AND WEST McLEMORE; September term
1919, Wilcox Superior Court; larceny; 12 months and 6
months or $75.00. Upon recommendation of the trial
Judge and the Prison Commission, applicants allowed to
serve remainder of their sentences on probation, upon
payment of a fine of $75.00 each. Approved November
11th, 1919.
W. W. ODUM: Bacon Superior Court, March term
1917; seduction; 5 years. Upon recommendation of the
prosecutrix, trial Judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison
Commission, applicant’s sentence was commuted so as to
allow him to serve 12 months on probation, upon payment,
of a fine of $200.00. Approved November 25th, 1919.
JOE T. JONES: Troup Superior Court, July term
1919; larceny from house; 12 months. Upon recommenda-
tion of the trial Judge and the Prison Commission, appli-
cant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on pro-
bation. Approved December 2nd, 1919. \
E. S. PURCELL: Franklin Superior Court, Septem-
ber term 1919; violating prohibition law; 3 months in jail
and $500.00 fine. Upon recommendation of the triai
judge and the Prison Commission, applicant released
after he had served one-third of his sentence and allowed
to serve remainder of his sentence on probation upon pay-
ment of fine of $500.00. Approved December 5th, 1920.
W. J. HUCKABY: Cobb Superior Court, March
term 1919; fornication; 12 months. Upon recommenda-
tion of the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation, upon pay-
ment of all costs. Approved December 19th, 1919, to be-
come effective December 21st, 1919.
8
C. E. CORLEY: Taylor Superior Court and Craw-
ford Superior Court, Spring term 1919; violating prohi-
bition law; 12 months in each county. Upon recommenda-
tion of the trial Judge and the Prison Commission, ap-
plicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on
probation, upon payment of all court costs in the two
cases. Approved December 20th, 1919.
HENRY RICHARDS: Morgan Superior Court, Sep-
tember term 1917; violating prohibition law; 6-6-12 and
12 months. Upon recommendation of the trial Judge,
Solicitor-General and the Prison Commission, applicant
allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on probation,
upon payment of all costs in any one case. Approved
December 23rd, 1919.
CRAWFORD BRIDGES: Harris Superior Court,
August term 1919; manufacturing liquor; 12 months or 5
months and $250.00. Upon recommendation of the trial
Judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison Commission, ap-
plicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on pro-
bation, upon payment of the fine of $250.00 imposed by
the Court, after he had served 5 months. Approved Jan-
uary 2nd, 1920.
HAROLD GAUSE: Chatham Superior Court, Oc-
tober term 1919; larceny; 12 months. Upon recommenda-
tion of the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation. Approved
January 6th, 1920.
FELTON ADAMS: Haralson Superior Court, Oc-
tober term 1917; larceny; 12 months and $250.00 fine or
6 months in jail. Upon recommendation of the Prison
Commission, applicant allowed to serve remainder of
his sentence on probation. Approved January 9th, 1920.
L. L. THOMAS: Bibb Superior Court, April term
1919; violating prohibition law; 12 months and $250.00
fine. Upon recommendation of the trial Judge, Solicitor-
9
General and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed
to serve remainder of his sentence on probation, upon
payment of fine of $250.00. Approved January 16th,
1920.
E. H. HUMPHRIES: Warren Superior Court, Jan-
uary term 1919; violating prohibition law; 12 months
and 6 months in jail. Upon recommendation of the
Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve remainder
of his sentence on probation, upon payment of a fine of
$1,000.00. Approved February 5th, 1920, to become ef-
fective March 15th, 1920.
ERNEST CORNELL: Clay Superior Court, Spring
term 1919; misdemeanor (2 cases); 12 months and 5
months. Upon recommendation of the Prison Commis-
sion, applicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence
on probation. Approved February 9th, 1920.
TOM HALL; City Court of Dublin; December term
1918; carrying concealed weapon; 12 months or $200.00
fine. Upon recommendation of the Prison Commission,
applicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence
on probation. Approved February 9th, 1920, to become
effective February 16th, 1920.
MRS. NORA. ETTER: Walker Superior Court, Feb-
ruary term 1919; assault to murder; 12 months. Upon
recommendation of the Prison Commission, applicant al-
lowed to serve remainder of her sentence on probation.
Approved February 9th, 1920, to become effective May
28th, 1920.
ANDREW TAYLOR: Clayton Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1919; larceny; 12 months. Upon recommenda-
tion of the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation, upon pay-
ment of all costs. Approved February 9th, 1920.
CHARLIE HATTAWAY: Glascock Superior Court,
August term 1918; manufacturing liquor; 12 months and
10
6 months in jail. Upon recommendation of the trial
Judge and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his 12 months’ sentence on probation
and to pay fine of $500.00 (imposed by Court) in lieu of
jail sentence. Approved February 9th, 1920, to become
effective February 24th, 1920. . . . -
CHARLIE BURKE: City Court of Albany, Novem-
ber term 1917; violating prohibition law; 12 months and
$1,000.00 fine or 6 months in jail. Upon recommendation
of the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve re-
mainder of his jail sentence on probation, upon payment
of all costs for the six months' jail sentence only. Ap-
proved February 14th, 1920. - , -
MRS. PATTLE PARKER: City Court of Waycross,
October term 1919; misdemeanor; 6 months. Upon recom-
mendation of the trial Judge and the Prison Commission,
applicant allowed to serve remainder of her sentence on
probation. Approved February 14, 1920, to become ef-
fective February 25th, 1920. • * * .
OLIVER WILLIAMS: Putnam Superior Court,
Spring term 1919; attempting to manufacture liquor; 12
months. Upon recommendation of the Prison Commis-
sion, applicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence
on probation, upon payment of all costs. Approved Feb-
ruary 14th, 1920, to become effective March 4th, 1920.
JIM. JESTER: Butts Superior Court, October term
1919; violating prohibition law; 9 months. Upon recom-
mendation of the trial judge, Solicitor-General, and the
Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve remainder
of his sentence on probation, upon payment of all costs.
Approved March 1st, 1920, to become effective March
6th, 1920. . . .
WILLIAM HALL: Wilkinson'superior Court, Oc-
tober term 1919; violating prohibition law; 12 months.
Upon recommendation of the trial judge, Solicitor-Gen-
11
eral and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation, upon pay-
ment of all costs. Approved March 15th, 1920.
J. R. NEAL: Glascock Superior Court, August
term 1918; manufacturing liquor; 12 months and 6
months in jail or $1,000.00. Upon recommendation of
the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve re-
mainder of his sentence on probation, upon payment of
fine of $1,000.00 and all costs. Approved March 31st,
1920, to become effective April 7th, 1920.
JOHN T. HENDERSON: Pierce Superior Court,
March term 1920; violating prohibition law; 12 months
or 6 months and $250.00 fine. Upon recommendation of
the Prison Commission, applicant having paid the $250.00
fine, he was allowed to serve remainder of his sentence
on probation, upon payment of all costs. Approved
April 10th, 1920.
EDGAR GILBERT: Clayton Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1919; assault and carrying pistol; 12 months
or $150.00 and 10 months or $100.00. Upon recommenda-
tion of the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve
remainder of his sentence on probation, upon payment
of fine of $150.00. Approved April 10th, 1920.
CHARLEY EASTERWOOD: City Court of Carroll-
ton, September term 1919; violating prohibition law:
$50.00 or 30 days in jail and 12 months. Upon recom-
mendation of the trial Judge, Solicitor and the Prison
Commission, applicant allowed to serve remainder of
his sentence on probation upon payment of fine of $50.00.
Approved April 13th, 1920. • -
ROMAN MINSEY: Berrien Superior Court, August
term 1919; larceny; 12 months. Upon recommendation
of the trial judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison Com-
mission, applicant allowed to serve remainder of his
sentence on probation. Approved April 13th, 1920.
12
JOHN ALEXANDER: Butts Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1919; violating prohibition law, gaming and
carrying concealed weapon; 9-5 and 2 months. Upon
recommendation of the trial Judge and the Prison Com-
mission, applicant allowed to serve remainder of his
sentence, upon payment of costs in any one case, on pro-
bation. Approved April 28th, 1920.
CAPE ANESS: Spalding Superior Court, January
term 1919; violating prohibition law; 12 and 12 months.
Upon recommendation of the trial Judge, Solicitor-Gen-
eral and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation. Approved
April 22nd, 1920. -
EDD FAMBROUGH: City Court of Griffin, Fall
term 1918; misdemeanor (4 cases); 9 months in each
case. Upon recommendation of the trial Judge, Solicitor
and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve
remainder of his sentences on probation. Approved May
3rd, 1920. -
SON THOMPSON; Campbell Superior Court, Au.
gust term 1919; making liquor; 12 months. Upon recom-
mendation of the trial judge and the Prison Commission,
applicant allowed to serve remainder of his sentence on
probation, upon payment of all costs. Approved May
10th, 1920. * -
ELBERT DENSLEY: Baldwin Superior Court,
July term 1918; manslaughter; 1 year. Upon recommen-
dation of the trial judge, Solicitor-General, jurors and
the Prison Commission, applicant’s sentence commuted
to 12 months and allowed to serve remainder of his
sentence on probation, upon payment of all costs. Ap-
proved May 18th, 1920. - . . .
ED DOOD: City Court of Newnan, July term 1919;
gambling and larceny after trust; $75.00 or 9 months and
$150.00 or 12 months. Upon recommendation of the trial
13
judge; Solicitor and the Prison commission, applicant al-
lowed to serve remainder of his sentences on probation,
upon payment of the costs, $92.70. Approved May 18th,
1920.
WILLIE HENRY: Clayton Superior Court, Feb-
ruary term 1920; larceny; 6 months. Upon recommenda-
tion of the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve
remainder of his sentence on probation, upon payment of
all costs. Approved May 18th, 1920.
MAX LOCKRIDGE AND CLAUDE NELSON;
Whitfield Superior Court, January term 1920; larceny;
6 months. Upon recommendation of the trial Judge and
the Prison Commission, applicants allowed to serve re-
mainder of their sentences on probation. Approved May
18th, 1920.
CARL THOMPSON: Fulton Superior Court, May
term 1919; cow stealing; 2 years. Upon recommendation
of the trial judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison Com-
mission, applicant’s sentence commuted to 12 months and
he was allowed to serve remainder of his sentence of 12
months on probation. Approved May 21st, 1920.
AYELS CAPEL: Muscogee Superior Court, Jam-
uary term 1920; violating prohibition law; 12 months or
5 months and $250.00. Upon recommendation of the
Prison Commission, applicant allowed to serve remainder
of his sentence on probation, upon payment of fine of
$250.00. Approved May 25th, 1920, to become effective
June 6th, 1920.
J. T. BRITT: Muscogee Superior Court, November
term 1917; violating prohibition law; 6 months in jail
or $1,000.00 fine and 12 months. Upon recommendation
of the trial Judge, Solicitor-General and the Prison Com-
mission, applicant allowed to serve one-half of his sen-
tence on probation, he having paid the $1,000.00 fine. Ap-
proved May 25th, 1920.
14
TOM W. BARLOW: Wheeler Superior Court,
March term 1920; violating prohibition law; 9 months or
$100.00 and 6 months. Upon recommendation of the trial
Judge, Solicitor-General, jury and the Prison Commis-
sion, applicant allowed to serve remainder of his sen-
tence on probation, upon payment of fine of $100.00. Ap-
proved June 11th, 1920, to become effective June 15th,
1920. -
IVEY LITTLE: Cobb Superior Court, November
term 1919; horse stealing; 12 months. Applicant has
Served over half of his sentence, and upon recommenda-
tion of the Solicitor-General and the Prison Commission,
allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence on proba-
tion. Approved June 18, 1920.
WILLIE JONES: Laurens Superior Court, Feb-
ruary term 1920; simple larceny; 12 months. Upon rec-
ommendation of the trial Judge, Solicitor-General, prose-
cutor and the Prison Commission, applicant allowed to
serve remainder of his sentence on probation. Approved
June 19th, 1920.
FRANCIS SHEPPARD: Emanuel Suno
cow stealing; 12 months. Upon recommendation of the
Prison Commission and in view of applicant’s physical
condition and the fact that he has only about 3 months
remaining of his sentence, allowed to serve remainder of
his sentence on probation, so that he may enter a hospital
at Government’s expense on account of his service in the
army. Approved June 19th, 1920.
PAROLES.
Following paroles approved on representation made
as to character of applicants previous to conviction, cir-
cumstances attending commission of erimes and priscm
deportment.
15
Every application for parole approved was recom-
mended by every member of the Prison Commission.
JACKSON WILLIAMS: Burke Superior Court,
October term 1903; murder; life; approved July 11th,
1919.
G. W. ELLER: Cherokee Superior Court, February
term 1918; manufacturing liquor; 2 years; approved July
22nd, 1919. \ -
PAT KNICK: Murray Superior Court, August term
1914; manslaughter; 10 years; approved July 24th, 1919.
W. H. TAYLOR: Bibb Superior Court, April term
1916; assault to murder; 6 years; approved July 28th,
1919. - g
JULIUS WILLIAMS: Jenkins Superior Court,
March term 1917; assault to murder; 3 years; approved
July 28th, 1919. -
JOE L. BROWN: Turner Superior Court, August
term 1914; bigamy; 10 years; approved August 2nd, 1919.
WILLIE HTERS: Colquitt Superior Court, January
term 1916; manslaughter; 15 years; approved August 9th,
1919, to become effective October 25th, 1919. g
GEORGE PETERSON: Calhoun Superior Court,
June term 1908; murder; life; approved August 9th, 1919.
EUGENE ORR: Fulton Superior Court, May term
1918; larceny after trust; 3 years; approved August 13th,
1919, to become effective November 7th, 1919.
J. F. MULLIGAN: Polk Superior Court, February
term 1916; manslaughter; 10 years; approved August
14th, 1919, to become effective August 17th, 1919.
KNOT HOLLAND: Laurens Superior Court, Octo-
ber term 1917; voluntary manslaughter; 3 years; ap-
proved August 20th, 1919. -
EBB GLENN: Clay Superior Court, September term
1916; larceny; 3 years; approved August 20th, 1919.
16
JUDGE MAHONE: Talbot Superior Court, Septem-
ber term 1903; murder; life; approved August 20th, 1919.
JIM. JENKINS: Burke Superior Court, April term.
1904; murder; life; approved August 22nd, 1919.
JOHN WASHINGTON: Chatham. Superior Court,
October term 1915; assault to murder; 5 years; approved
August 22nd, 1919. .
WILLIAM FORD: Chatham Superior Court, April
term 1906; burglary; 20 years; approved. August 22nd,
1919. +
LONNIE COLLIER: Richmond Superior Court,
April term 1917; burglary; 5 years; approved August
22nd, 1919. - - , -
BOSE BENTLEY: Upson Superior Court, May term
1918; manufacturing liquor; 3 years; approved August
22nd, 1919.
LUKE MURPHY: Spalding Superior Court, January
term 1909; murder; life; approved August 27th, 1919.
- ISAIAH FARLEY: Fulton Superior Court, Septem-
ber term 1915; rape; 20 years; approved September 1st,
1919. • . . .
ASA HEMBREE: Hart Superior Court; August term.
1914; seduction; 7 years; approved September 6th, 1919,
to become effective May 7th, 1920. -
EUGENE FINNEY: Baldwin Superior Court, Jan-
uary term 1917; burglary; 10 years; approved September
10th, 1919. - 's
J. S. AMERSON: Newton Superior Court, January
term 1916; larceny; 4 years; approved September 15th,
1919. - -
GUS CAESAR: Twiggs Superior Court, October
term, 1906; murder; life; approved September 15th, 1919.
CLEAVE. EASON: Pike Superior Court, April term.
1909; murder; life; approved September 17th, 1919.
§
17
JOHN UMBERHANT: Habersham Superior Court,
August term 1915; murder; life; approved September
17th, 1919, to become effective December 9th, 1920.
WM. B. NORTON: Jones Superior Court, October
term 1919; murder; life; approved September 17th, 1919.
MILFORD MOORE: Muscogee Superior Court,
March term 1901; murder; life; approved September 18th,
1919. . - -
MARTIN OWEN: Spalding Superior Court, January
term 1916; larceny; 3 and 3 years; approved September
18th, 1919.
WILLIAM WAITERS: Chatham Superior Court,
October term 1903; burglary; 20 and 20 years; approved
September 18th, 1919. - -
HENRY RAMEY: Fulton Superior Court, September
term 1917; burglary; 8 years; approved September 19th,
1919. g
AYED ESA: Bibb Superior Court, January term
1916; manslaughter; 15 years; approved September 19th,
1919, to become effective December 9th, 1919.
FLOYD JOHNSON: Sumter Superior Court, Novem-
ber term 1905; murder; life; approved September 19th,
1919, to become effective January 14th, 1920.
WILL HAMPTON: Warren Superior Court, April
term 1915; manslaughter; 9 years; approved September
19th, 1919, to become effective February 25th, 1920.
ED WARD: Upson Superior Court, November term
1911; manslaughter; 15 years; approved September 22nd,
1919, to become effective November 19th, 1919.
TOM GIBSON: Habersham Superior Court, January
term 1916; manslaughter; 10 years; approved September
24th, 1919. - - -
BIRD MILLER: Whitfield Superior Court, April
term 1916; arson; 3 years; approved September 25th,
1919. -
18
LETHLA HIGDON: Laurens Superior Court, July
term 1910; murder; life; approved September 25th, 1919.
WILL RICHARDSON: Walton Superior Court, Feb-
ruary term 1909; murder; life; approved September 26th,
1919. l
KELLY MINCY: Emanuel Superior Court, October
term 1908; murder; life; approved September 30th, 1919.
OLIVER SMITH: Lee Superior Court, November
term 1912; murder; life; approved October 1st, 1919.
JOE TROUP: Wheeler Superior Court, September
term 1915; assault with intent to murder; 10 years; ap-
proved October 2nd, 1919. -
WALT GLASS: Fayette Superior Court, March term
1915; manslaughter; 9 years; approved October 3rd, 1919.
MACK D. MIDI) LETON: Dougherty Superior Court,
April term 1916; manslaughter; 10 years; approved Oc-
tober 3rd, 1919.
CHARLES EVANS: Richmond Superior Court, Jan-
uary term 1917; robbery; 5 years; approved October 13th,
1919. * * , º
* MOSE PETERSON: Clay Superior Court, Septem-
ber term 1908; murder; life; approved October 29th, 1919.
- ALEC TOMBERLIN; Coffee Superior Court, Sep-
tember term 1913; murder; life; approved October 28th,
[919. *.
NELSON MARSHALL.: Thomas Superior Court, Oc-
tober term 1906; murder; life; approved November 14th,
1919. . -
DAVID BUNDY: Fulton Superior Court, August
term 1918; larceny; 4 years; approved November 17th,
1919. -
MILES HUNTER: Washington Superior Court,
March term 1909; murder; life; approved November 17th,
1919. ...”
19
SAM REED: Fulton Superior Court, December term
1914; robbery; 20 years; approved November 17th, 1919.
JOHN COOK: Bulloch Superior Court, November
term 1911; manslaughter; 12 years; approved November
20th, 1919.
LEM GREER: Spalding Superior Court, August
term 1905; murder; life; approved November 20th, 1919.
O. C. SPENCE: Grady Superior Court, September
term 1915; wrecking bank; 6 years; approved November
24th, 1919.
MATTIE SHORTER, ALLAS POWERS: Stewart
Superior Court, Fall term 1905; murder; life; approved
November 25th, 1919.
JESS FORTSON: Elbert Superior Court, October
term 1914; manslaughter; 15 years; approved November
25th, 1919.
CHARLIE TALMADGE: Butts Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1909; murder; life; approved November 25th,
1919.
JEFF MOORE: Dooly Superior Court, June term
1919; murder; life; approved November 28th, 1919.
RILEY FEARS: Morgan Superior Court, September
term 1913; manslaughter; 10 years; approved November
28th, 1919.
JOHN McNALLEY: Gordon Superior Court, Sep-
tember term 1918; burglary; 2 years; approved November
26th, 1919.
BEN CUYLER: Tattnall Superior Court, October
term 1914; murder; life; approved November 25th, 1919.
WILL RHODES: Greene Superior Court, August
term 1909; murder; life; approved November 25th, 1919.
BOSSIE BROWN: Glascock Superior Court, August
term 1911; manslaughter; 15 years; approved November
26th, 1919.
20
MARTHA HARRIS: Wilkes Superior Court, Novem-
ber term 1914; murder; life; approved December 1st, 1919.
ELIJAH NEAL: Baker Superior Court, March term
1910; manslaughter; 18 years; approved December 1st,
1919.
JOHN McCLARY: Thomas Superior Court, October
term 1899; murder; life; approved December 3rd, 1919.
GEORGE N. McPHERSON: Floyd Superior Court,
July term 1916; manslaughter; 15 years; approved De-
cember 3rd, 1919.
CHARLES ALLEN: Emanuel Superior Court, Octo-
ber term 1909; murder; life; approved December 18th,
1919. *
ABE MADDOX: Butts Superior Court, August term
1912; murder; life; approved December 20th, 1919.
WILLIE SEWELL AND LOUIS BUSH: Muscogee
Superior Court, June term 1918; burglary; 5 years; ap-
proved December 23rd, 1919.
WILLIAM COBB AND SAM GRANADE: Fulton
Superior Court, November term 1911; manslaughter; 16
years; approved December 23rd, 1919.
SAM DREW: Chattooga Superior Court, September
term 1911; murder; life; approved December 23rd, 1919.
WILL SATTERFIELD: Polk Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1917; burglary; 4 years; approved December
29th, 1919.
JOHN DYE: Whitfield Superior Court, April term
1906; rape; 20 years; approved December 29th, 1912.
WILLIAM McMILLAN: Wilcox Superior Court,
October term 1890; murder; life; approved December
31st, 1919.
GEORGE PROPES: Fulton Superior Court, May
term 1918; manslaughter; 5 years; approved December
31st, 1919.
21
F. W. JEFFERS: Douglas Superior Court, April
term 1916; rape; 17 years; approved January 2nd, 1920,
to become effective April 29th, 1921.
JIM RICHARDSON: Fulton Superior Court, June
term 1908; murder; life; approved January 8th, 1920.
JESS BARNES: Henry Superior Court, October
term 1912; manslaughter; 12 years; approved January
8th, 1920.
GERTRUDE TANKSLEY: '. Richmond Superior
Court, December term 1915; murder; life; approved Jan-
uary 8th, 1920. *
J. J. MIMBS, JR.: Colquitt Superior Court, July
term 1918; larceny after trust; 2 years; approved Jan-
uary 8th, 1920. \
LEWIS FORTSON: Wilkes Superior Court, August
term 1915; manslaughter; 15 years; approved January
8th, 1920.
MAT RUCKER: Walker Superior Court, August
term 1914; manslaughter; 10 years; approved January
8th, 1920.
LONNIE HICKMAN: Franklin Superior Court,
March term 1915; attempt to rape; 10 years; approved
February 9th, 1920.
HENRY SMITH: Clarke Superior Court, April term
1915; robbery; 15 years; approved February 9th, 1920, to
become effective May 17th, 1920.
BILL SMITH: Mitchell Superior Court, October
term 1909; murder; life; approved February 9th, 1920.
JIM. F. HILLIARD: Dodge Superior Court, May
term 1918; rape; 5 years; approved February 9th, 1920,
to become effective June 5th, 1920.
SEYMORE BARNES: Rockdale Superior Court, Fall
term 1913; manslaughter; 10 years; approved February
9th, 1920, to become effective February 26th, 1920.
22
PRINCE ALLEN: Bibb Superior Court, November
term 1900; murder; life; approved February 9th, 1920.
JORDAN WARE: Carroll Superior Court, December
term 1911; murder; life; approved February 9th, 1920.
HENRY KING: Fulton Superior Court, December
term 1902; murder; life; approved February 9th, 1920.
HENRY BERRY: Pierce Superior Court, November
term 1916; attempt to murder; 5 years; approved Feb-
ruary 9th, 1920. - . . . .
VAN THOMAS: Mitchell Superior Court, October
term 1913; murder; life; approved February 9th, 1920.
DAN WHIPPLE: Pulaski Superior Court, Spring
term 1905; murder; life; approved February 9th, 1920.
ROBERT WILLIAMS: Lowndes Superior Court,
May term 1896; murder; life; approved February 14th,
1920. • * - . -
CALVIN RUSSELL: Laurens Superior Court, July
term 1914; burglary; 7 years; approved February 14th,
1920.
LENA BELLE WARREN: Hancock Superior Court,
March term 1913; murder; life; approved February 17th,
1920.
OLIE GODDARD: Whitfield Superior Court, Feb.
ruary term 1919; shooting at another; 2 years; approved
February 18th, 1920, to become effective February 23rd,
1920. - -
ED GOODRUM: Butts Superior Court, September
term 1912; murder; life; approved February 18th, 1920.
BANKS AND CHARLEY WEAVER: Bibb Superior
Court, February term 1919; burglary; 2 years; approved
February 18th, 1920.
JIM FLOURNOY: Jefferson Superior Court, July
term 1907; murder; life; approved February 19th, 1920,
to become effective July 19th, 1920. -
23
ALPHONZO CoPPAGE: Cobb Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1908; larcey; 5 years; approved March 1st, 1920.
JOE CHAMPION: Gordon Superior Court, Feb-
ruary term 1918; seduction; 3 years; approved March
1st, 1920. - •
PINK HEYWOOD: Banks Superior Court, March
term 1914; manslaughter; 10 years; approved March 2nd,
1920. -
FLORENCE BURTON: Richmond Superior Court,
April term 1915; burglary; 7 years; approved March 2nd,
1920. - -
FRANK WHITEHEAD: Newton Superior Court,
January term 1918; burglary; 3 years; approved March
2nd, 1920. • -
TONY MITCHELL: Dougherty Superior Court,
April term 1908; murder; life; approved March 15th,
1920.
JACK MOORE: Jasper Superior Court, August term
1909; murder; life; approved March 15th, 1920.
GREEN MERIWEATHER: Calhoun Superior Court,
December term 1909; murder; life; approved March 15th,
1920. • *
GEORGE NAPIER: Upson Superior Court, Novem-
ber term 1905; murder; life; approved March 15th, 1920
SEABORN MORRIS: Pike Superior Court, April
term 1908; murder; life; approved March 15th, 1920.
CHARLES SMITH: Chattooga Superior Court, Sep-
tember term 1911; murder; life; approved March 15th,
1920. - •'
R. B. FLOYD: Laurens Superior Court, December
term 1912; murder; life; approved March 16th, 1920.
DUDLEY NELMS: Thomas Superior Court, April
term 1907; murder; life; approved March 24th, 1920.
24
RICHARD WARD: Dougherty Superior Court, Oc-
tober term 1902; murder; life; approved March 24th, 1920.
LONNIE SCOTT: Hart Superior Court, April term
1910; murder; life; approved March 24th, 1920.
FRANK WASHINGTON: Worth Superior Court,
December term 1902; murder; life; approved March 24th,
1920.
HAYS FRANKLIN: Twiggs Superior Court, April
term 1914; manslaughter; 12 years; approved March 24th,
R920.
ARNOLD WHITEHEAD: Harris Superior Court,
April term 1909; murder; life; approved April 9th, 1920,
to become effective April 29th, 1920.
ARTHUR MOSELEY: Early Superior Court, April
term 1915; manslaughter; 15 years; approved April 9th,
1920, to become effective May 10th, 1920.
HENRY DURHAM: Greene Superior Court, De-
cember term 1912; murder; life; approved April 9th, 1920,
to become effective December 5th, 1920.
SPENCER WRIGHT: Spalding Superior Court, Sep-
tember term 1912; murder; life; approved April 9th, 1920.
ALPHONZO LUCKIE: Greene Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1916; manslaughter; 5 years; approved April
9th, 1920.
MARCUS BOSTICK: Lowndes Superior Court, No.
vember term 1916; forgery; 7 years; approved April 9th,
1920; to become effective June 5th, 1920.
MUFF BOYCE: Walton Superior Court, March term
1918; attempt to murder; 3 years; approved April 8th,
1920.
JEFF SMITH: Tattnall Superior Court, April term
1904; murder; life; approved April 8th, 1920, to become
effective July 12th, 1920.
25
WILL SMITH: Bibb Superior Court, February term
1908; murder; life; approved April 8th, 1920.
BEATRICE HORNE: Crisp Superior Court, March
term 1915; manslaughter; 12 years; approved April 8th,
1920, to become effective September 9th, 1920.
HORACE WIMS: Calhoun Superior Court, Decem.
ber term 1906; murder; life; approved April 8th, 1920.
LEWIS JONES: Clarke Superior Court, January
term 1916; attempt to murder; 10 years; approved April
13th, 1920. *º.
BUBBER LUNDY: Bibb Superior Court, March
term 1914; attempt to murder; 8 years; approved April
13th, 1920.
COMER JONES: Sumter Superior Court, May term
1916; sodomy; life; approved April 13th, 1920.
ARTHUR TURNER: Pike Superior Court, October
term 1916; assault to murder; 4 years; approved Apri;
21st, 1920. p
E. R. GARRETT: Worth Superior Court, April term
1918; hog stealing; 3 years; approved April 28th, 1920.
MIKE BAILEY: Bibb Superior Court, February
term 1907; murder; life; approved April 29th, 1920, t ,
become effective February 26th, 1921.
GEORGE LEONARD: Worth Superior Court, Oc.
tober term 1908; murder; life; approved April 29th, 1920.
JOHN FORMBY: Polk Superior Court, Septembe)
term 1903; murder; life; approved April 29th, 1920.
THEODORE STEPHENSON: Meriwether Superior
Court, August term 1908; murder; life; approved April
29th, 1920.
BARNETT BOOKER: Fulton Superior Court, April
term 1908; murder; life; approved April 29th, 1920, to be
come effective October 27th, 1920.
26
JIM DEADWYLER: Madison Superior Court, No.
vember term 1911; rape; 20 years; approved April 29th,
T920.
PLEAS WILLIAMSON: Taylor Superior Court,
March term 1915; murder; life; approved April 29th,
1920. g
WILLIAM MITCHELL: Chatham Superior Court,
November term 1912; murder; life; approved April 29th,
1920.
JOHN SANDERS: Warren Superior Court, October
term 1906; murder; life; approved April 29th, 1920.
BUSTER SIMS: Walton Superior Court, February
term 1909; rape; 20 years; approved April 29th, 1920.
JACK DAVIS: Fulton Superior Court, August term
1918; burglary; 3 years; approved May 1st, 1920.
ADDIE BINNS: Wilkes Superior Court, February
term 1916; murder; life; approved May 3rd, 1920. \
BEN SNOW: Harris Superior Court, October term
1908; murder; life; approved May 3rd, 1920.
GREELY THURMAN: Jones Superior Court, May
term 1918; manslaughter; 5 years; approved May 3rd,
1920, to become effective November 13th, 1920.
G. S. LEMMING: Walton Superior Court, Septembel
term 1915; robbery; 15 years; approved May 3rd, 1920.
GEORGE BALL: Habersham Superior Court, Sep
tember term 1911; robbery; 20 years; approved May 3rd,
1920.
R. F. (COOT) WILSON: Early Superior Court, Oc.
tober term 1916; manslaughter; 5 years; approved May
3rd, 1920, to become effective August 1st, 1920.
C. E. JERNESS, ALLAS CHAS. EDWARDS: Lib-
erty Superior Court, February term 1917; bigamy; 4
years; approved May 5th, 1920, to become effective May
15th, 1920.
27
WILL JOHNSON: Clinch Superior Court, April term
1906; murder; life; approved May 10th, 1920. r
TYBEE TUGGLE: Greene Superior Court, February
term 1915; burglary; 10 years; approved May 10th, 1920.
RICH OWENS: Upson Superior Court, December
term 1909; murder; life; approved May 10th, 1920.
º WM. J. HUDSON: Fulton Superior Court, December
term 1915; burglary; 7 years; approved May 10th, 1920.
DENNIS CARR: DeKalb Superior Court, March
term 1913; manslaughter; 15 years; approved May 18th,
1920. -
JOHN H. HINES: Coweta Superior Court, March
term 1910; murder; life; approved May 18th, 1920.
RICHARD D. JACKSON: Clarke Superior Court,
November term 1916; manslaughter; 8 years; approved
May 20th, 1920, to become effective November 13th, 1920.
OSCAR HARGROVE: Jefferson Superior Court,
May term 1906; murder; life; approved May 20th, 1920.
G. C. CARSON: Fulton Superior Court, January term
1918; larceny; 5 years; approved May 27th, 1920.
DOOLEY FARRAR: Jones Superior Court, October
term 1915; manslaughter; 10 years; approved June 1st,
1920. -
JIM BRIM: Burke Superior Court, May term 1915;
murder; life; approved June 1st, 1920.
g- JOE JACKSON: Decatur Superior Court, May term
1910; murder; life; approved June 1st, 1920.
JIM HAINES: Wilkes Superior Court, August term
1917; assault to murder; 4 years; approved, June 1st,
I920. • 1, .
WILL BIGBY: Fulton Superior Court, March terra
1904; burglary; 20 years; approved June 11th, 1920.
CHARLOTTE WALKER: Bibb Superior Court, May
term 1915; murder; life; approved June 15th, 1920.
... 28
HILLIARD CONLEY: Meriwether Superior Court,
May term 1895; murder; life; approved June 16th, 1920.
SOL LEWIS: Terrell Superior Court, November
term 1910; murder; life; approved June 16th, 1920.
T. N. MIZE: Milton Superior Court, April term 1911;
murder; life; approved June 16th, 1920.
WALTER TR1CE: Taylor Superior Court, April
term 1917; manslaughter; 6 years; approved June 16th,
1920.
WILL HUGHES: Thomas Superior Court, October
term 1917; manslaughter; 6 years; approved June 16th,
1920, to become effective October 30th, 1920.
J. L. WILSON: Fulton Superior Court, July term
1917; dynamiting street car; 10 years; approved June
18th, 1920, to become effective October 22nd, 1920.
HONEY WELL JONES: Early Superior Court, Octo
ber term 1904; murder; life; approved June 19th, 1920.
JOE KING: Berrien Superior Court, March term
1918; larceny; 3 years; approved June 19th, 1920.
BOB SIMMONS: Calhoun Superior Court, August.
term 1910; murder; life; approved June 19th, 1920. &
DUFFIE RAGAN: Dooly Superior Court, November
term 1909; murder; life; approved June 19th, 1920.
BEN SHARP: Richmond Superior Court, April terrº
1919; burglary; 3 years; approved June 19th, 1920.
WALTER EASTRIDGE: Troup Superior Court
May term 1917; murder; life; approved June 21st, 1920.
J. T. PETERMAN: Taylor Superior Court, Decem
ber term 1912; murder; life; approved June 21st, 1920, to
become effective December 15th, 1920.
COMMUTATIONS.
The following cases in which commutations were
granted, were recommended by the Prison Commission.
29
JIM HEARN: Harris Superior Court, October term
1917; assault to murder; 2 years. Upon recommendation
of the prosecutor, trial Judge, Solicitor-General and a
large number of citizens, sentence commuted to payment
of a fine of $300.00. July 11th, 1919.
J. C. THOMAS: Fulton Superior Court, January
term 1917; burglary; 2 and 1 years. Sentence commuted
to present service July 12th, 1919, upon recommendation
of the trial Judge, and because of the mental condition
of applicant. e
JOHN SHELNUT, FRANK GUERRIN AND ED
CRISTY: Oglethorpe Superior Court, December term
1917; violating prohibition law; I year and 12 months.
Because of the destitute condition of the families of appli-
cants and upon recommendation of the trial Judge, Solici-
tor-General and a large number of citizens, sentences
commuted to present service August 20th, 1919.
TOM HANNAH: Douglas Superior Court, September
term 1917; burglary; 10 years. Upon recommendation of
the prosecutor, trial Judge and Solicitor-General, and in
view of the circumstances under which applicant entered
plea, sentence commuted to present Service August 28th,
1919.
LEAMON SMITH: City Court of Sandersville, July
term 1919; violating prohibition law; 12 months or $200.00
and costs, and 3 months or costs. Sentence commuted to
payment of a fine of $200.00 and costs in both cases Sep.
tember 3rd, 1919. *
JTM HILL: Crisp Superior Court, June Special term
1918; murder; death sentence. Sentence commuted to
life imprisonment September 25th, 1919, because of ap-
plicant’s very low order of mentality, newly discovered
evidence, and strong recommendations by the trial Judge
and ten of the jury.
30
| e
JOE WEBB: Floyd Superior Court, July term 1918;
murder; death sentence. . Sentence commuted to life im-
prisonment September 29th, 1919, because of newly dis-
covered evidence and strong recommendations by the
trial Judge, all twelve of the jurors, and a large number
of citizens.
GUY BIRD: Madison Superior Court, December
term 1913; horse stealing; 10 years. It appears that this
offense was committed while applicant was under the
influence of whiskey. The property stolen was returned
to the owner and he suffered no loss except some injury
to the horse. Applicant has served nearly six years of a
ten-year sentence. In view of these facts, sentence com-
muted to present service October 16th, 1919.
HERMAN L. SCHWALBE: Fulton Superior Court,
November term 1917; forgery; 5 years. Upon recom-
mendation of the prosecutor, trial Judge and Solicitor-
General, applicant granted a conditional pardon because
lie had not served long enough to be eligible for parole,
and sentence commuted so as to allow him to serve the
remainder of his sentence outside the confines of the pen-
itentiary November 4th, 1919.
TTVUS PARSONS: Taliaferro Superior Court, Au-
gust term 1918; assault to murder; 2 years and 12 months.
in view of the disclosures set out in the record, not known,
to the Court and jury at trial, the statement of the Solic;
tor-General that “there was a miscarriage of justice in
the case,” Sentences commuted to present service No-
vember 17th, 1919.
FLORA. HAMILTON: Fulton Superior Court, No-
vember term 1917; burglary; 7 years. Upon recommenda-
tion of the trial Judge, who stated that by mistake the
Clerk gave seven years when the court intended only two,
sentence commuted to present service November 20th,
1919.
31
JTM SMITH: Harris Superior Court, April term 1914;
murder; life. In view of statement made by defendant’s
attorney, now Solicitor-General, that he prevailed on the
defendant, over his protest, to enter a plea of guilty, and
in view of the facts as disclosed by affidavits in this file,
sentence commuted to present service November 25th,
1919.
W. D. SMITH: Bibb Superior Court, November term
1899; mayhem; life. In view of newly discovered evi-
dence, sentence commuted to present service December
1st, 1919.
EMMA GREEN: Fulton Superior Court, November
term 1917; burglary; 7 years. In view of affidavit of trial
Judge that by mistake the Clerk gave seven years when
the-Court intended only two, sentence commuted to pres-
ent service December 18th, 1919.
L. L. HORN: Harris Superior Court, April term 1919;
manufacturing liquor; 15 months. In view of affidavit
as to statement of co-defendant, letters of Judge and So-
licitor-General, sentence commuted to present service De-
cember 19th, 1919.
F. O. MYERS: Polk Superior Court, Spring term
1915; embezzlement; 5 years. In view of the fact that
applicant would have completed his sentence except for
his escapes, his good behavior since being recaptured,
sentence commuted to present service December 29th,
1919.
JEFF GUNN: Newton Superior Court, September
term 1919; manufacturing liquor; 1 to 2 years. In view of
the circumstances under which applicant entered plea
of guilty and the recommendation of the trial Judge,
sentence commuted to four months service and a fine of
$150.00, January 9th, 1920.
32
FATE MAYO; City Court of Camilla, November term
1919; carrying pistol without license; 12 months or $75.00.
Sentence commuted to payment of fine of $62.50 Feb-
ruary 7th, 1920, which was the pro rata part of fine then
due, giving applicant credit for time served. *
J. L. MALLARD: Worth Superior Court, January
term 1915; perjury; 4 years. Since applicant was con-
victed, a civil law suit involving the genuineness of the
deed about which he testified and for which testimony
he was convicted of perjury, has been upheld by another
jury. In view of this, and the fact that he has made a
splendid record as a convict, sentence commuted to pres-
ent service February 19th, 1920.
WILL WOOD: Upson Superior Court, July term
1918; bigamy; 2 years. In view of statement of the trial
Judge, sentence commuted to present Service March 2nd,
1920.
B. F. NEWMAN: Muscogee Superior Court, Feb.
ruary term 1918; violating prohibition law; 8 months.
Applicant was convicted about 3 years ago and his
sentence suspended during good behavior. It is shown
that his behavior has been good since sentence was im-
posed. Sentence commuted to present service on pay-
ment of all court costs March 15th, 1920.
CLAUDE C. GRAY: Fulton Superior Court, May
term 1919; car breaking; 3 to 5 years. In view of this
man’s good record previous to this trouble, the direction
given by the Court to cases in which pleas for similar
offenses were entered, the condition of his wife, the at-
titude of the Judge and Solicitor-General, sentence com-
muted to payment of a fine of $130.00 April 10th, 1920.
MILAND DAVIS: Jasper Superior Court, August
term 1919; manufacturing liquor; 2 years. In view of
doubts entertained by the trial Judge and Solicitor-Gen-
eral as to applicant’s guilt, sentence commuted to present
service April 13th, 1920.
33,
CLEVE BRIDGES: Fayette Superior Court, Septem-
ber term 1919; manufacturing liquor; 8 months. In view
of the statement of the trial Judge that he intended and
thought that he had sentenced applicant to a term of 6
months, applicant having completed more than a six
months’ sentence, sentence commuted to present service
April 16th, 1920.
CHARLIE W. HARGETT: Harris Superior Court,
October term 1918; manufacturing liquor; 15 months. In
view of affidavits as to statement of co-defendant and
recommendation of the trial Judge, Solicitor-General, and
large number of citizens, sentence commuted to present
service April 29th, 1920. Af
RAT PERRY: Laurens Superior Court, January
term 1917; assault to murder; 10 years. In view of rec.
ommendations of trial Judge and Solicitor-General, and
cspecially because of newly discovered evidence indicat-
ing that the offence was probably an assault only, sen-
tence commuted to present service May 3rd, 1920.
LEWIS CROW: Clayton Superior Court, February
term 1916; murder; life. In view of statement and recom-
mendation of the trial Judge, in which the Solicitor-Gen-
eral concurs, and after a careful reading of the evidence
adduced at the trial, sentence commuted to present serv-
ice May 25th, 1920.
W. D. O’HALLARAN: Muscogee Superior Court,
February term 1918; violating prohibition law; 12
months and 6 months in jail or $1,000.00 fine. The trial
Judge suspended the 12 months sentence upon payment
of the $1,000.00 fine. In view of applicant’s deportment
since sentence was imposed, the payment of the fine, and
recommendation of the trial Judge, sentence commuted
to present service June 15th, 1920.
J. P. LEVENS: City Court of Carrollton, March term
1919; assault and battery; 12 months or fine of $150.00.
34
Applicant was given ten days in which to pay the fine.
He filed a motion for new trial and allowed the ten days
to lapse. Sentence commuted to payment of fine of
$150.00 June 21st, 1920.
PARDONS.
JIM. J.ENKINS: Glynn Superior Court, December
term 1912; assault to murder; 10 years. Pardoned No-
vember 25th, 1919, because of showing made as to state.
ments and character of prosecutor. Clemency recom-
mended by the Prison Commission.
CHARLIE HILL: Decatur Superior Court, May
term 1918; cow stealing; 4 years. Pardoned April 8th,
1920, because of newly discovered evidence showing that
applicant was not guilty of the crime for which he was
convicted. Clemency was recommended by the prosecu-
tor, trial Judge, Solicitor-General and Prison Commission.
UNO SAVOLINEN, ALIAS J. P. EDWARDS: City
Court of Cairo, February term 1920; vagrancy; 6 months
or $75.00 fine. Pardoned April 9th, 1920, because of
newly discovered evidence showing that applicant was
not guilty of the crime of vagrancy. Clemency was rec-
ommended by the trial Judge, Solicitor and Prison Com-
mission.
G. C. CARSON: Fulton Superior Court, January
term 1918; robbery; 15 years. Pardoned May 24th, 1920,
because of newly discovered evidence which abundantly
establishes this man’s innocence of this charge. Clem-
ency was recommended by the trial Judge, Solicitor-Gen-
Gral, jury and Prison Commission.
35
State of Georgia,
Executive Department,
Atlanta, June 28, 1920.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
Attached hereto are:
(1) Letter of the Budget and Investigating Com-
mission transmitting the report of that Com-
mission to the Governor; and requesting that
the same be submitted to you.
(2) The report of the Commission.
Respectfully,
HUGH M. DORSEY,
Governor.
37
June 28, 1920.
To His Excellency,
The Governor of Georgia.
Dear Sir:- g ©
We have the honor to transmit, through you, to the
General Assembly, this report of the State Budget and
Investigating Commission.
Very truly yours,
HUGH M. DORSEY,
Governor and Chairman.
R. A. DENNY,
Attorney-General.
M. L. BRITTAIN,
State School Commissioner.
IVAN E. ALLEN,
Chairman, Appropriations
Committee of the Senate.
GEO. M. CARSWELL,
Chairman, Appropriations
Committee of the House.
38
STATE OF GEORGIA,
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
June 28, 1920.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA :
In accordance with the provisions of House Bill No.
327, as shown on page 155, of the Georgia Laws of 1918,
the Commission appointed to examine the State appro-
priations and to make recommendation to the Legisla-
ture in reference thereto, has held meetings at various
times since the last session of your Honorable Body. The
members, composed of the Governor, the Attorney Gen-
eral, the State School Commissioner, the Chairman of
the Appropriations Committee of the Senate and the
Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the House,
submit the following report:
GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILL.
Section 3 of the Law makes it the duty of the Com-
mission to examine into the appropriations of previous
Legislatures, the necessity for the same and to prepare
for the General Assembly the General Appropriation
Bill. This was done at your previous session last sum-
mer and the unusual system and accurate classification
presented attracted favorable comment from the House
and Senate and the press and people generally. It was
the nearest approach to a carefully planned budget that
the State has ever had and we hope that it will lead to
the complete establishment of the Budget System with
a State Auditor for this commonwealth. It enabled the
House of Representatives to pass the Appropriations
Bill at an earlier date and to transmit it to the Senate
with more thorough knowledge of the facts and with
more certainty and accuracy as to the funds required
than ever before. If this same good fortune had at-
39
tended the Bill in the Senate and throughout the closing
days of the session, the finances of the State would be in
much better condition today.
FINANCIAL SITUATION.
The opening of the Legislative session of 1920 finds
the State Treasury without funds. The Governor has
exhausted his borrowing limit of half a million dollars.
On the date this report is written there is in the Treasury
cash to the amount of $29,485.17. Warrants have been
presented to the Treasurer for payment to the amount
of $129,566.07. These are the more pressing of the bills
due; in addition, warrants have been requested for
nearly this much more and represents debts due in ac-
cordance with appropriations made by the General As-
sembly last year. It is not entirely just, however, to
state that the large appropriations made in 1919 form
the sole cause of our financial troubles. A more correct
statement would be to say that they are the result of our
system which collects the major part of our taxes late in
the fall of the year to pay for the expenses of departments
and institutions which necessarily begin on January
first. It is true, however, that we are farther behind
than usual owing to the fact that appropriations have
exceeded the estimate of income for several years past.
OIL INSPECTION FEES.
The possibility of more financial trouble has recently
arisen in legal proceedings by the Texas Oil Company to
prevent the collecting of inspection fees. These in
amount were nearly four hundred thousand dollars last
year and, of course, if the State should lose the suit
would cause a lessening of our annual income by that
amount.
40
RECOMMENDATIONS.
These facts and the worthy appeals to be shown in
detail later, coming with justice from the State's insti-
tutions show the necessity for prompt action on the part
of the General Assembly to meet the financial situation.
The suggestion has been made that the remedy could be
found by removing the limit of five mills on the rate of
taxation. There would, undoubtedly, be help in this by
reason of the fact that the members of the Legislature
would be cautious about voting appropriations that
would require a levy of six or seven mills instead of five.
We believe, however, that this is unnecessary and that
the end desired could be secured, and with impartial jus-
tice to all, by changes in our tax system to reach intangi-
ble or hidden property.
UNTAXED RESOURCES.
According to the tax digests, only sixty-six million
dollars were given in for taxation last year in the shape
of funds on deposit by the people of Georgia. More
than this amount, according to newspaper reports, were
to be found in Atlanta alone on one day of last year and
it is safe to assume that over four hundred million dol-
lars were in existence in the entire State. The State
should legally and properly be just as much entitled to
revenue from this source as from the tax payers’ farm or
home. In this respect, therefore, Georgia might per-
haps claim equal credit with the Tax Commissioners of
Mississippi who reported the system of that State as al-
most ideal for the evasion of taxes. From this source
alone, therefore, we could secure nearly half as much re-
sources as are now derived from our ad valorem taxes.
TEMPORARY AID FROM THE HIGHWAY FUND.
To date from automobile taxes, highway fund, the
State has collected $1,798,039.56. Since the beginning of
41
its operations the State Highway Commission has used
$199,247.83. This money is paid into the Treasury at
the very time in the spring of the year when it is de-
pleted after payment of pensions to Confederate Veterans.
It does not seem businesslike for the State to borrow
funds, or to be unable to pay its just debts, when it has
on hand a large amount of money waiting until it is
needed by the Highway Commission. The recommenda-
tion is made therefore that measures be introduced al-
lowing the use temporarily of this money until needed for
the purpose for which it was secured. We recommend
legislation, therefore, authorizing the employment of
the highway funds each year for the general business of
the State until they are needed by that department.
DEPARTMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS.
The Department of Public Printing needs your at-
tention at this session. It was created last year and yet
no provision was made for the salary of Superintendent
or office help. Mr. C. M. Methvin was appointed and
served until May 10th, with ability and credit to himself
and the State. On receipt of his resignation, Mr. P. T.
McCutcheon was appointed by the Governor to succeed
him and has attended to the duties of his office with ef-
ficiency, in spite of the conflicts caused by different
rulings as to the law concerning the duties and responsi.
bilities of the department. We recommend, therefore,
that suitable salary and maintenance fund for the Super.
intendent of Public Printing be provided, and the enact
ment of laws that will enable the department to function
without friction.
RAILROAD COMMISSION.
Salaries of the Railroad Commissioners were in
creased by law at the last session and no legal provision
42
was made for paying these increases. We recommend,
therefore, that legislation be provided by the General
Assembly at this session.
GEORGIA LIBERARY COMMISSION.
The State Library Commission was created to en-
courage the creation of libraries throughout the State
and to maintain traveling libraries when needed. There
are only twenty-eight in Georgia supported by public
funds, though there are several other libraries established
by clubs or associations. We commend the purpose and
work of this Commission and hope it will be extended
until there is a county library in every county in Geor-
gia. We recommend that a State Censor or Board be
created and given the right to censor and supervise the
motion pictures shown in this State. We believe that
the fees received would be sufficient, after paying the
expenses of the Commission, to provide funds for the
promotion of the work of the Georgia Library Commis-
sion, as well as to give needed protection to the youth of
the State with regard to the kind and character of mo-
tion pictures presented.
NOTARY PUBLIC FEES.
The State Librarian, Mrs. Maud B. Cobb, reports
$209.00 deposited in the State Treasury from State at
Large certifications. During 1919 the librarian issued
commissions to 762 individuals as Notaries Public. The
fees received in accordance with Section 3 of the law as
found on page 137 of the Acts of 1916, were in amount
$1,524.00. This, under the act, is applied as a Supple-
ment to the salary of the State Librarian. This with the
regular salary of the office is not too much to be paid to
the excellent official at present holding this position.
The Commission does believe, however, that it is wrong
43
in principle for the salary of a public office to be depend-
ent upon the fluctuations of fees paid in this way. Fur-
thermore, it is easily seen that with the possible increase
in number from year to year in time the salary would be
out of proportion to the work required or to that re-
ceived by other officials. Consequently, we recommend
the substitution of salary for fee paid in whole or part
as salary for this and all public offices of the State.
GEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT.
The salaries for the State Geologist and his assistant
were fixed years ago and it is now quite impossible to
secure the trained help needed in this department for
the former sums paid. These amounts should be re-
vised and increased."
PUBLIC WELFARE BOARD.
i. The Public Welfare Board was created last year
and an appropriation of $15,000 was made in order that
it might investigate and Supervise the management of
orphanages, asylums and other public institutions into
which abuses have gained admittance. A notable in-
stance was that shown in the public press as having been
maintained for some years in Cobb County. We have ex-
amined the work of this new Commission and find its
officers diligently engaged in the performance of their
duties. They have undoubtedly rendered good Service
to the State and desire increased maintenance fund. We
would recommend favorable action if we felt that the
condition of the Treasury justified this.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
We regard it as most fortunate that the Common
School appropriation has been definitely settled at 50%
of the State’s income. As Georgia increases in wealth
44
this amount will become larger each year and this af-
fords a firm and fixed basis for the training of our
youth in the elementary grades. The Constitution has
been amended until the authority for State maintenance
of high school is practically settled and will be assured
beyond question after the passage of an amendment
which is before the General Assembly at this session. The
Commission is inclined to believe that it would be just
as wise for the Legislature to fix a definite percentage
of its income for the maintenance of all its eleemosynary,
educational, corrective and charitable work as for the
public schools. -
We call the attention of the General Assembly to the
passage of an act by Congress which was approved by
the President June 5th, 1920, providing for the voca-
tional rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry. This
Federal law provides a sum of money for each State to
be expended under the direction of the Vocational Board
of the State. The Legislature, however, must pass an
act accepting the fund providing that the State Treasurer
shall be its custodian and meet the amount appropriated
by Congress dollar for dollar in order to receive the aid.
Other countries as well as this are providing means in
order to train to be self-supporting those persons who
are injured so that they are unable to make a living and
we recommend, of course, that you pass the act required
by the Federal Government and shall prepare a bill to
present to you for this purpose. -
It is neither right nor just to refuse aid for the
proper training of our negro population and we recom-
mend the establishment of an additional A. and M. Ag-
ricultural High School for colored youth to be located
near the center of the State.
APPROPRIATIONS.
In conclusion we submit two statistical tables marked
“A” and “B.” The first gives the amount of the ap-
45
propriations to each of the State’s departments and in-
stitutions for the year 1920 in the first column; in the
second you will find the amount paid to date; in the
third there is shown the balance to be paid as soon as
the condition of the Treasury will permit. Table “B”
will show you the present appropriations received by the
State's departments and institutions and the amounts
asked for. Beside those which you have been support-
ing Bowden appears for the first time with the request
that you support that school as a college or normal school
and provide $50,000 for a building and $20,000 for main-
tenance fund. Of course, if the State had sufficient
funds, it would be helpful to have a new institution in
that section of Georgia. Necessity demands that you
make increased appropriations to Some of our present
institutions. With the higher prices demanded for la-
bor and supplies of all kinds it is absolutely impossible,
for instance, for the State Sanitarium to carry on its
work without large increase to its maintenance funds.
The same thing is true with regard to the University
and its various branches. Our youth are aroused as
never before to the necessity for an education and the
State cannot lag behind in the provision for this need.
New buildings must be provided and the diminished
value of the dollar must be made good in the salaries of
the instructors. The School of Technology is crowded
to its doors, the South Georgia Normal at Valdosta finds
itself unable to complete its new building at the previous
estimate, the G. N. & I. C., at Milledgeville, is filled to its
doors, the N. G. & A. C., at Dahlonega, wishes additional
help, and the parent institution at Athens, with no dor-
mitories built for years, is especially insistent that one
be provided for the young women.
Among these worthy claimants to which we call
your attention for needs that are proper and, in many
cases, necessitous, should be mentioned our Training
46
School for Girls and the Industrial School for Boys. The
Committee has been impressed by the improvement and
good work done at these two institutions and recommends
additional help and facilities which can be secured only
through increased maintenance and support.
Very truly yours,
HUGH M. DORSEY,
Governor and Chairman.
R. A. DENNY,
Attorney General.
M. L. BRITTAIN,
State School Commissioner.
IVAN E. ALLEN,
Chairman Appropriations
Committee of the Senate.
GEO. H. CARSWELL,
Chairman Appropriations
g Committee of the House.
47
TABLE * “A.”
Appropriations
1920 and
Estimates
Academy for Blind ----------$ 40,000.00
Agricultural Schools --------- 180,000.00
Albany Normal School (Col.)— 7,500.00
Binding Codes (estimate) ---- 750.00
Binding Journals (estimate) -- 550.00
Board of Health ------------ 75,590.00
Civil Establishment (estimate) 356,990.28
Clerk’s Cost Court Appeals
(estimate) --------------- L000.00
College for Colored ––––––––– 35,000.00
Contingent Fund ------------ 25,000.00
Contingent Fund—R. R. Com. 3,000.00
Contingent Fund Supreme
Court ------------------- 3,000.000
Contingent Fund C. & L. ---- 1,800.00
Contingent Fund Court of
Appeals ------------------ 3,000.00
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE:
(a) Maintenance ----------- 18,000.00
(b) Pure Food ------------- 10,000.00
(c) Chemicals –––––––––––––– 22,000.00
(d) Contagious Diseases ----- 5,000.00
(e) Hog Cholera Serum ––––– 20,000.00
(f) Inspectors Salary, etc. ---
(estimate) --------------- 36,824.09
(g) Tick Eradication -------- 25,000.00
(h) Veterinarian expense
(estimate) --------------- 1,409.92
Dept. Agr. -Warrants (estimate) 43,169.94
Dept. Archives & History---- 7,200.00
Dept. Commerce & Labor ---- 8,100.00
Experiment Station --------- 8,800.00
Game Protection Fund ––––––– 3,600.00
Geological Fund ------------ 16,500.00
Georgia Medical College ––––– 35,000.00
Ga. Normal & Ind. College ---- 100,000.00
EHighway Commission ------ 199,242.89
Horticultural Fund --------- 63,000.00
Incid. Exp. Gen. Assembly ---- 225.00
Indexing House & Senate
Journal -------------------- 150.00
Indian Springs Fund --------- 105.00
Insp. of Oils (estimate) ----- 4,056.43
Ins. Pub. Bldgs., etc. --------- 5,000
Ins. Dept. Fund (estimate) --- 10,400.00
Land Script Fund Interest ---- 6,314.14
Legislative Pay Roll --------- 111,441.10
Library Fund –––––––-------- 4,250.00
Library Fund Reference Bureau 1,600.00
Library Fund Court of Appeals 1,000.00
Market Bureau ------------- 38,000.00
Library Fund Supreme Court-- 4,000.00
Ga. N. & Ind. Col. Extn. WK. 12,500.00
Amount paid
to June 23
1920 Apprn.
13,333.32
56,250.00
29,500.00
177,743.40
28,360.00
12,831.77
1,000.00
600.00
6,000.00
2,500.00
4,999.99
5,000.00
18,507.57
10,000.00
562.18
30,963.65
2,369.21
2,025.00
6,634.25
900.00
4,691.85
18,360.00
37,500.00
199,242.89
29,945.00
62.32
2,192.43
3,784.06
2,979.03
3,157.07
1,119.31
16,040.30
Balance to
be paid of
1920 Apprin.
26,666.68
123,750.00
7,500.00
750.00
550.00
45,990.00
179,246.88
1,000.00
6,640.00
12,168.23
2,000.00
3,000.00
1,200.00
3,000.00
12,000.00
7,500.00
17,000.01
5,000.00
15,000.00
18,316.52
15,000.00
847.74
12,206.23
4,830.79
6.075.00
2,165.75
2,700.00
11,808.15
16,640.00
62,500.00
33,055.0
162.68
150.00
105.00
1,964.00
1,215.94
7,420.97
3,157.07
111,441.10
3,130.69
1,600.00
1,000.00
21,959.70
4,000.00
12,500.00
48
Coastal Plains Exp. Station.-- 25,000.00 25,000.00
Board of Health, Venereal Dis. 15,000.00 3,000.00 12,000.00
Library Commission --------- 6,000.00 2,804.00 3,196.00
SPTECIAL APPROPRIATION
3rd Dist. School ---------- 7,500.00 7,500.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION
4th Dist. School ---------- 3,750.00 3,750.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION
9th Dist. School ---------- 10,000.00 5,000.00 5,000.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION / tº-
5th Dist. School ---------- 12,000.00 12,000.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION
6th Dist. School ---------- 6,250.00 6,250.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION
7th Dist. School ---------- 3,000.00 3,000.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION
12th Dist. School ––––––––– 10,000.00 10,000.00,
Agrl. Ind. & N. Col. (colored)- 5,000.00 5,000.00
Georgia Military College ---- 5,000.00 5,000.00
N. Ga. A. & M. College ------ 30,000.00 10,000.00 20,000.00
Overpayment Taxes Refunded
(estimate) --------------- 25,000.00 12,988.50 12,011.50
Pension Fund (estimate) ---- 1,266,365.00 1,266,365.00
Printing Fund --------------- 50,000.00 22,866.94 27,133.00
Printing Fund R. R. Commission 2,000.00 76.31 - 1,923.00
Prison Fund ---------------- 120,000.00 58,281.76 61,718.24
Public Bldgs. & Grounds ---- 50,000.00 26,934.86 23,065.14
Publishing Records (Col. & Con.)
estimate ------------------- 2,359.19 2,359.19
Publishing Georgia Reports –– 10,000.00 2,316,66 7,683.34
PUBLIC DEBT:
(a) Interest ----------------- 237,687.50 86,866.95 150,820.55
(b) Sinking Fund ---------- 100,000.00 81,000.00 19,000.00
Reward Fund -------------- 3,000.00 3,000.00
S Roster Fund ----------------- 5,000.00 1,976.94 3,023.06
School for the Deaf —-------- 60,000.00 25,243.29 34,656.71
School Fund ---------------- 4,000,000.00 5,343.13 3,994,656.87
School of Technology ------- 125,000.00 41,800.00 83,200.00
Soldiers Home ------------- 50,000.00 17,367.00 32,633.00
Solicitors-Generals’ Fees
(estimate) ---------------- 7,925.00 2,975.00 4,950.00
S. Ga. A. & M. College (Val)— 72,500.00 14,980.00 57,520.00
Special Appropriations
Miscellaneous (estimate) -- 16,000.00 707.05 15,292.95
Special Appropriations *
Legis. Com. (estimate) ----- 5,199.86 3,338.42 1,861.44
State Normal School, special__ 74,000.00 23,190.00 50,810.00
State Sanitarium—— ---------- 891,334.00 385,666.98 505,667.02
State Uni. Support Fund ---- 108,000.00 44,800.00 63,200.00
State Uni. for Agri. College -- 132,500.00 55,225.00 77,275.00
State Uni. for Smith-Lever---- 54,485.08 45.500.00 8,985.00
State Uni. for Summer School- 7,500.00 7,500.00
Training School for Girls ---- 35,000.00 14,000.00 21,000.00
Tuberculosis Sanitarium ––––– 39,750.00 24,750.00 15,000.00
Vocational Education -------- 39,000.00 17,305.87 21,694.13
49
State Medical College for Hygiene
and Public Health -------- 20,000.00 20,000.00
Summer School for Colored
Teachers ------------------ 2,500.00 2,500.00
Training School, Boys -------- 30,000.00 15,500.00 14,500.00
Public Welfare Board ------- 15,000.00 5,056.25 9,943.75
Totals ---------------- $9,350,674.42 $3,084,980.51 $6,265,693.81
TABLE * * B.’’
The following comparative statement will show the present appro-
priations to the Eleemosynary, Educational and Correctional Institutions
of the State and the increased amounts requested.
Present, Ap- Increased Appropria-
propriations tions Requested.
Academy for Blind ---------------- $ 40,000.00
* Albany Normal School (colered)---- 7,500.00 10,000.00
Ga. Ind. College for Colored Youths— 35,000.00
Georgia Medical College --------- __ 55,000.00
Georgia Normal & Ind. College ----- 100,000.00
Ga. N. & Ind. College Extension Wk.- 12,500.00 80,000.00
North Ga. Agricultural College------ 30,000.00 5,000.00 Main.
50,000.00 Build.
Georgia School for Deaf ----------- 60,000.00 Increase
Ga. School of Technology ---------- 125,000.00 125,000.00
South Georgia Normal College------- 72,500.00 5,000.00 Main.
75,000.00 Build.
State Normal School –––––––––––––– 74,000.00 30,000.00 Main.
100,000.00 Build.
State Sanitarium ------------------ 891,334.00 Increase
State College of Agriculture ------- 132,500.00 20,000.00 Main.
100,000.00 Build.
State University ------------------- 108,000.00 25,000.00 Main.
325,000.00 Build.
4,500.00. Ins.
State University (Smith-Lever)----- 109,085.08
State University Summer School -- 7,500.00
Bowdon College -------------------- 20,000.00 Main.
• | 50,000.00 Build.
Training School for Girls ---------- 35,000.0% 5,000.00
g 5,000.00 Def.
• Training School for Boys ---------- 30,000.00 Increased
Appropriation
Tuberculosis Sanitarium ----------- 39,750.00 Increase
12 Dist. A. & M. Schools --------- ... 180,000.00 120,000.00
| 10,000.00 each
assessessº
J
|
; 7
.G 4/4
sloºct
º:
. . -- M E S S A G E
GOVERNOR THOMAS W. HARDWICK
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
JUNE 29, 1922
DiC KER SON-W RIGHT PTG. C.O.
AT LANT A
M E S S A G E
O F
GOVERNOR THOMAS W. HARDWICK
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
JUNE 29, 1922
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
In obedience to the Constitutional mandate, I again appear
before you “to give information on the State of the Com-
monwealth” and to recommend for your consideration such
measures as may seem necessary or expedient.
It is my purpose in this message to deal only with matters
of the highest and most general importance; consequently,
I shall, from time to time, transmit in writing for your con-
sideration other messages dealing with other matters, as
the session progresses and as these matters may be properly
brought to your attention.
FISCAL AFFAIRS.
I beg to invite your attention, first of all, to the fiscal af-
fairs of our State. They are of the utmost importance and
demand your first and most careful attention.
Taken as a whole, the State has undergone, and is under-
going, one of the periods of most profound depression in its
entire history, and the condition of its people of all classes
and of all sections is such as to imperatively demand of us
the application of the soundest principles to our fiscal affairs
and the practice of rigid economy and drastic retrenchment
in the expenditure of public money, to the end that the credit
of the State may be preserved, the efficiency of its govern-
ment may remain unimpaired, and at the same time, if
possible, the tax burdens of its people may be lessened.
When this General Assembly began its work on the fourth
Wednesday of June of last year, and I became your Gover-
nor on the Saturday following, we were confronted by a
most difficult and embarrassing situation. According to the
last Annual Message of Governor Dorsey, of date June 25,
1921, he estimated the deficit, or the amount not on hand
necessary to complete the payment of “undrawn balances,”
as of date January 1, 1921, to be $3,186,687.85. In my mes-
sage to you of date June 26th, 1921, I estimated that the de-
ficit would reach the total figure of $3,547,421.38 by the end
of the year 1921 unless some relief was afforded. Both of
these estimates were slightly in excess of the real figures,
for the reason that the State Tax Commissioner had esti-
mated that there would be a fall in property values of $200,-
000,000 in 1921 below 1920, which meant the loss of $1,000,-
000 in revenue, when figured at the constitutional rate of
5 mills. Later in the year it developed that the shrinkage
in values was only about $80,000,000, instead of $200,000,-
000, as had been estimated, consequently the loss in revenues
was only about $400,000, instead of $1,000,000, as estimated
in the figures given by Governor Dorsey and myself.
4
It is thus apparent that the real deficit was substantially
$2,500,000, on January 1, 1921, and but for the measures
we adopted to prevent it, would have reached the sum of
practically $3,000,000 by December 31, 1921.
Last Summer we were confronted by this situation. It
was not of our creation. Neither the present General AS-
sembly nor the present Governor caused it or contributed to
it, but the responsibility was upon us to meet it and to
remedy it, if possible. Confronted by this situation, what
courses were open to us? The answer is simple. It was our
duty to reduce the appropriations for the year 1921 so far
as the same were undrawn, or else increase the revenues for
that year so as to strike a balance and make the one equal
to the other; or, to accomplish that result, partly by reduc-
ing appropriations already made and partly by increasing
the revenues; or, if it should prove impossible, for reasons
hereafter referred to, to accomplish this result in either of
the above ways, then to raise the money in some other way
so as to enable the treasury to meet the demands upon it,
so as to save the credit of the State. It naturally suggested
itself to you at first, as it did to me, that the best way to
accomplish the result was to reduce the appropriations for
1921, particularly in a time of hardship and depression. But
it must be remembered that we were dealing with appropria-
tions already made by previous legislatures, a great part of
which had already been spent, and when we came to the ef-
fort to reduce the unspent part of those appropriations we
found it was practically impossible to do so, because in al-
most every case, the rights of third persons had intervened,
moral or contractual obligations entered into on the faith of
the appropriations already made to school teachers, pen-
sioners and other creditors of the State were so strong that
we could not, without great injustice and great hardship,
reduce the appropriations, already expended in part, on the
faith of which these engagements had been entered into.
Unable, for this reason, to make any considerable reduc-
tion in the appropriations for 1921, the Legislature next en-
deavored to raise additional revenue for the year 1921, in
order to meet these appropriations, but when you came to
the consideration of this question, you found yourselves con-
fronted by two great practical difficulties. First, the money
was needed for the year 1921; two-thirds of that year had
already passed and it was difficult, under the Constitutional
limitations under which the Legislature operated, to mate-
rially increase the revenues in the short part of the year
that was left; second, business conditions of the State were
so bad generally that it was practically impossible to raise
additional revenue for the year 1921 in any great amount,
without working a hardship, if not confiscation, on such
classes of business as in ordinary times might have been
taxed in an emergency of this character.
Consequently, the General Assembly was forced, in order
to preserve the credit of the State and to pay the appropria-
tions made by the preceding General Assembly, to provide
for the discount of the rental of the Western & Atlantic
railroad for a period of five years in the future. I unhesi-
tatingly recommended that course to the Legislature as a last
and desparate remedy for a situation which it did not create -
and which I did not create, but which we found confronting
us and menacing us when we assumed the responsibility of
office. No citizen of Georgia could have been more reluc-
tant than I was to advise such a course. No man is more
keenly aware than I am of the dangerous precedent it set,
but it was a condition, not a theory, that confronted us, and
it was absolutely indispensable to adopt some remedy to
preserve the credit of the State and to save her obligations
from dishonor. Yielding to that imperative necessity, the
General Assembly passed this legislation with only a very
few dissenting votes against it in either House.
After the adjournment of the General Assembly, the Con-
stitutionality of this legislation was publicly assailed. So .
much doubt was cast upon its legality that it was impossible
for me to discount the W. & A. rentals at any reasonable rate
6
of interest, in a time of financial unrest and depression,
without having that question finally settled by our Supreme
Court. Consequently, I brought Mandamus Proceedings in
the Superior Court of Fulton County to compel the Comp-
troller General to sign these warrants, upon his refusal to
do so. The question thus raised was finally adjudicated on
the 7th day of December, 1921, by the Supreme Court of
Georgia, in the case of Wright, Comptroller vs. Hardwick,
Governor, in favor of the Constitutionality of the W. & A.
Rental Funding Act. After the decision was rendered and
after due advertisement thereof, and competitive bidding
therefor, the rental above referred to was sold to the Citi-
zens & Southern Bank, of this State, and the National Park
Bank, of New York City, at a discount rate of 5.95%, net-
ting $2,297,586.21 to the State, after the discount had been
deducted from the principal sum of $2,700,000, which is the
aggregate of five years’ rental on the W. & A. Railroad, at
$540,000 per annum.
The proceeds of the rental were used entirely for two pur-
poses. First, the larger part of the same, $1,960,408, for the
payment of all past due pensions to the Confederate veterans
in the discharge of all arrears due them, of every class,
up to and including December 31, 1921. Second, the re-
mainder of same, $337,178.21, was appropriated to the pay-
ment of teachers in the common schools of the State, for
arrears due them during the year 1921. As a necessary part
of the fiscal policy of last year adopted by your body and re-
commended by myself, a tax of one cent per gallon, imposed
at the Source, was levied on all gasoline consumed in the
State, it being the intention of the Legislature and myself
that this tax should make up the loss in revenues occasioned
by the discount of the W. & A. rental, for the purposes above
recited. This tax will, I am confident, produce fully $800,000
per. annum, fully 50% more than the W. & A. rental. - . The
returns by quarters up to date are as follows: . . . . . .
7
From August 10, 1921, to October 1, 1921
(1 month and 20 days) ............... --~~~~ $113,662.87
For quarter ending December 31, 1921 ................ 188,884.32
For quarter ending March 31, 1922 ........ -------------- 151,305.65
For period of 7 months and 20 days, total
sum of ~~~~~~~~~ $453,812.84
The quarters not embraced in the above figures are the
the summer quarters, in which the consumption of gas is
largest.
I submit that this tax, borne in large part by those best
able to stand it, is the most just and equitable tax that could
be imposed in order to replace the W. & A. rentals, and that
it more than accomplishes that purpose. By this fiscal pol-
icy, which was the only one that could be suggested by any
thoughtful person in the Legislature, or out of it, we were
enabled to “pull the ox out of the ditch” and to restore the
finances of the State to a sound and stable basis.
We come next to deal with the question of revenues and
appropriations for the years 1922 and 1923. The total ap-
propriations for these years were greatly reduced below the
total of those made for the year 1921. The appropriations
made for the year 1921 at the session of the General Assem-
bly in 1919 totaled $9,845,000. The deficiency appropria-
tions for 1921, authorized by law and made at the last ses-
sion of the General Assembly, amounted to $1,141,884.61,
making a grand total of appropriations for the year 1921 of
$10,886,884.61, whereas the total appropriations made by
you last Summer for the year 1922 amount to $9,452,317.15,
a reduction in appropriations for 1922 under appropriations
for 1921 of $1,434,567.37. This figure is within the revenues
of the State and can be met and defrayed by them, unless
at the present session deficiency appropriations should be
passed by your body to destroy the balance, and create a
deficit. I am sure that you will heartily agree with me that
8 r
that is impossible and impracticable, unless additional reve-
nue should be provided by you to meet such appropriations.
Because of the necessity for making this drastic cut in
appropriations, your body was not able to deal as gener-
ously as you would liked, or as their merits justify, and
in some cases demand, with many of the institutions of
the State and many of the different objects for which ap-
propriations were made, because you were unable to get a
single inch away from the proposition, applicable alike to
sound finances and good, common sense, that income and
outgo must be carefully and accurately balanced against
each other. However worthy the appropriation may be, it
cannot and must not be made unless we have the money to
pay it with. “Pay as you go” is the only safe motto for
either an individual or the State, and that the present Leg-
islature for the first time in many years has had the cour-
age to apply this doctrine to our State's affairs and to live
up to it, should be, as I believe it is, a source of real en-
couragement and of profound gratification to all of the sen-
sible people of this State. The application of the doctrine
“Live within your means” to the affairs of either an individ-
ual or a government, is never a pleasant operation; mutter-
ings and growlings, many of them low and deep, nearly al-
ways result from it, but as certain as we live, it is the only
plan by which permanent safety and enduring happiness can
come either to an individual or to a State. In obedience to
this great principle of sound business and of common sense,
we have been compelled, whatever our desires and wishes,
to “fashion our garment according to the cloth,” to appro-
priate whatever our revenues would pay, and no more; and
if the financial affairs of this State are to be placed and
kept on a sound and stable basis, this great principle must
be vigilantly adhered to in the future, and you may rest
assured that so long as I am Governor of Georgia, it will be
adhered to; and I earnestly hope and sincerely believe that
in the effort to maintain it, I shall have your hearty co-opera-
tion and your undivided support. No appropriation greater
9.
than can be paid by the revenues of the State should be
made by you, or can be approved by me. -
Let me next invite your attention to the condition of our
budget at the present time. We owe on undrawn balances
on 1921 appropriations the sum of $63,740.81. We have not
failed to pay this amount because of any inability of the
treasury to pay it, but because requisitions therefor have
not yet been duly and properly presented to the Governor.
In due course these undrawn balances will be paid on proper
requisitions and warrants. We also owe certain State De-
positories in Atlanta the sum of $500,000 borrowed by the
Governor on February 27, 1922, under authority of law, to
supply casual deficiencies in revenue, and used to pay 1921
common school appropriations. The interest up to Septem-
ber 9, 1922, on this loan will amount to $13,472, the rate of
interest being 5%. This makes a total of $577,212.81 due on
1921 obligations. To meet these obligations, we have the
following revenue from 1921 not yet collected:
Ad valorem taxes for 1921 uncollected on June
10, 1922 …~~~~ $572,504.51
1919, 1920 and 1921 railroad taxes uncollected
On June 10, 1922 -------------------------------------------- 66,268.53
Total --------------------------------------------------------- $638,863.04
This amount, if collected, will over-pay our past due ob-
ligations by the sum of $61,650.23, and it is fair to assume
that even in hard times like the present, we will collect at
least enough past due revenue to pay these undrawn bal-
ances of 1921. - . - - -
We come next to the budget for the year 1922. The ap-
propriations, exclusive of automobile license taxes, ap-
propriated to highway construction, made for 1922
total $9,438,845.15. In this connection, I submit to you
a table marked Table A, from the Treasurer's office, showing
10
these appropriations in detail, showing those of them al-
ready paid, and showing those that are not yet paid. We
have so far collected of the revenues for 1922, from all
sources except ad valorem taxes, $1,248,049.03. A close and
accurate estimate of the amount of revenues for the year
1922 yet uncollected, from sources other than ad valorem
taxes, shows a total of $3,784,140.13, making a total of
revenue for the year 1922, from all sources except ad valor-
em taxes, of $5,032,189.16. (See statement in detail from
Comptroller’s office, marked Table B, hereto attached).
In addition to the above, it is estimated by the State Tax
Commissioner (See Exhibit D) that the net revenue from ad
valorem taxes of this year will be $4,600,000, consequently
the total revenue, exclusive of license taxes appropriated to
highway board, for the State for the year 1922 will be
$9,632,189.15. This must be compared with the total ap-
propriations of $9,452,317.52, and when so compared it will
be seen that the revenues for the year will exceed its appro-
priations by a comparatively small sum of $179,872. This,
I submit, is only a reasonable margin when the difficulty
of collecting taxes up to the last dollar in times like these
is considered. & - -
In this connection, I feel it my imperative duty to call
your attention to the following language of the General Ap-
propriation Act of August 15, 1921 (Acts of 1921, Page 10,
Sub-section C):
“For the support and maintenance of the Common or
Public Schools of the State, Four Million Two Hundred
and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($4,250,000) for each of
the years 1922 and 1923, and should the revenue of the
State exceed the sum of Eight Million Five Hundred
Thousand Dollars ($8,500,000), then one-half of the
excess of each year to be applied to said Common or
Public Schools.” -
As I said to you last year: “I yield to no man in this
State in my devotion to the Common Schools of this
11
State; at a later and more happy period when readjust-
ment comes, it is my earnest hope and my confident
belief that we will be able to further increase the efficiency
of our common schools in this State. The education of the
masses means much to me. I long to see the day when we
can pay the Georgia School teacher a living wage, pay it in
cash every month, without resorting to discount processes.
But until that day comes, until the State is provided with
a revenue system that will meet its growing demands in
this direction, it is useless, worse than useless, to make ap-
propriations even for the common schools which the treas-
ury cannot pay.” One-half of the revenue of the State for
1922 will amount to $4,800,000, in round figures. This will in-
volve an increased appropriation for the common schools of
$550,000, over the sum fixed in the General Appropriation
Act, if the second clause thereof is to remain in force. If we
could collect every cent of taxes due the State from every
possible source, we would not have one-third enough money
to pay this additional amount to the common schools, conse-
Quently it seems to me to be an absolute necessity to repeal
the concluding paragraph of the Section of the Appropria-
tion Act to which I refer, unless the Legislature can pro-
vide, and can provide at Once, the funds with which to meet
this great increase. In concluding this discussion of our
fiscal affairs, I cannot too strongly impress upon you the
necessity for economy and retrenchment. The condition of
Our people in every walk of life and in every section of the
State demands it. Agriculture is practically prostrate; busi-
ness languishes; commerce is halted; the people everywhere,
in city, in town and in the rural sections, are forced to apply
the most rigid economy to their personal affairs. Certainly
they have the right to expect of their governments, both
national and State, the application of the same principle in
the expenditure of public money. -
12
RETRENCHMENT AND ECONOMIES IN ADMINIS-
* . TRATION.
I repeat my recommendation of last year regarding Bu-
reaus, Boards, and Commissions, and urge upon the Legis-
lature a thorough and careful examination into the affairs
and operations of every department of our State govern-
ment, of every Board, Bureau and Commission that exists
by virtue of State law or State authority, with a view to
determine, first, whether such agency of the government
performs any essential function for the State or not; if not,
it ought to be abolished and the expense of its maintenance
saved; second, even if such agency of the government per-
forms a useful and necessary function, then its operations
ought to be examined into with a view to determine what
reduction can be made, in so critical a time as this, in the
expense of such department or commission; and what eco-
nomies can be effected in the administration of its affairs.
It is not my purpose to impair useful public service in any
line of legitimate and proper governmental activity. I do
not intend to be so understood either by the members of
the General Assembly or by the public ; but I insist in times
like these that it is imperatively necessary that we abolish
every useless place, purge the pay roll of every useless of
ficial, and cut out extravagance and waste wherever we find
it. I urge upon the Legislature, and especially upon the ap-
propriation committees of the two houses, a careful and ex-
haustive examination into the matters herein suggested,
with a view to carrying out the will of the people of this
State, and of ridding the State and the treasury of all un-
necessary encumbrances upon both. -
In my opinion, the Department of Archives and History
should be abolished. It performs no necessary function to
the State and its records can be well kept in the State Li-
brary. If the work of indexing is to be completed, it can be
just as well performed there by a clerk at $1,500 per annum.
13
I unhesitatingly recommend the reduction of the number
of the Railroad Commissioners from five to three.
The Railroad Commission has very little to do with the fix-
ing of railroad rates within the State, since recent federal
statutes as construed by the Supreme Court of the United
States have deprived it of that power. The federal
statute in question is in plain derogation of the right of
the States to control their local affairs, and so far as it con-
fers upon the Interstate Commerce Commission the right to
fix rates wholly within a state, it should be repealed. Until
it is, however, there is no necessity for the present com-
mission of five members on the theory that they are
needed to perform any considerable amount of work in fix-
ing railroad rates. Besides, it will be remembered
this Commission for many year functioned with three
members, and it was only after the conclusion of
a political campaign that it was necessary to increase its
number to carry out the policy of a new administration and
to carry into effect the will of the people of Georgia, as
expressed at the ballot box in that campaign. No such
situation now exists, and it seems to me, in a time like this,
the people of Georgia can well dispense with the two rail-
road commissioners that were then added to that body and
can well reduce its number from five to three, thus effect-
ing a saving of $7,200 per annum. In this connection, it
is worthy of note that thirty-eight of the States of the
Union have only three Railroad Commissioners. No South-
ern State, except Georgia, has more than three.
I recommend to the General Assembly of Georgia the re-
peal of the law providing for an attorney for the Highway
Commission of Georgia. In my opinion, the duties per- *
formed by the attorney for the Highway Commission can
be well attended to by the Attorney-General of the State,
With the aid of the various county attorneys handling
road matters; and thus a saving of the Salary and expense
of the legal department of the Highway Commission can be
effected. *
14
I repeat my statement to you of last year, to the effect
that we are board-ridden, commission-ridden and trustee-rid-
den in this State. It can probably be said with truth that
no one of these boards or commissions represents an ac-
tivity that is wholly bad or for which some good things
cannot be said. Yet, I think it can be said with even more
truth that many of them represent activities more or less
paternalistic, which are not really essential to the proper
conduct of our State Government, and with which we can
well dispense, especially in hard times like these.
As far back as June 25, 1919, Governor Dorsey, heading a
board called the Budget Investigation Commission reported
that Georgia was trustee-ridden. This Board pointed out
that the University system alone had 277 trustees and it
made the following recommendation: -
“We are decidedly of the opinion that it would be
for the best interest of our higher institutions if a small
board of control or State Board of Regents should re-
place the army of trustees now appointed largely by
reason of political support. Either an ex-officio or a
separate board of three to five, whose duty it should
be to become familiar with the needs and operations of
these higher institutions, present fully to the Legisla-
ture, to direct the purchase of supplies, give active
supervision to the work generally, to so avoid the pres-
ent rivalry and friction of the different boards, would
be a great improvement over the present plan. The
per diem and expenses now paid to these hundreds of
trustees would pay for the services of a small board of
regents that could become familiar with all the needs
of our higher educational institutions and aid them
effectively as well as help the Legislature to see ac-
curately as to the appropriations needed each year.”
This recommendation I heartly endorse and approve. In-
deed, I am of the opinion that a board of regents for the
entire higher educational system of our State might be well
15
provided to take the place of the present boards of
trustees of the University of Georgia, and of all of its
branches, and of every other institution of learning Support-
ed by the State. In my judgment, economy in the admin-
istration of the affairs of these institutions, economy in the
purchase of supplies needed by them, and a systematic cor-
rellation of the work of each one of them with the other,
would be obtained by the adoption of such a plan, and as a
result we would have a systematized, coherent and compre-
hensive educational system, beginning with the common
schools and ending with the University and our various
normal and technical schools.
I unhesitatingly urge upon you a careful consideration of
this plan, not only in the interest of real economy, not only
for the purpose of ridding the State of a number of un-
necessary office-holders, not only to relieve the Legislature
of political importunities from these trustees, who annually
come seeking money at your hands, but also to broaden and
deepen and strengthen our educational system itself.
This step is not a new one in this country. Many of our
more important and progressive States have adopted it. Not
one that has ever adopted the regency system for educa-
tion, in whole or in part, has ever been willing to abandon
it or to return to the antiquated, disjointed and expensive
system we maintain.
At the last session of the General Assembly a joint com-
mittee from the two houses was appointed to consider this
question. I understand that committee will report to you
during the present Session, and I earnestly bespeak for its
report that careful consideration and wise action to which
the importance of this subject entitles it.
Auditing System for the State of Georgia.
I strongly urge upon you the establishment for the State
of Georgia of a complete, modern and up-to-date business
16
system in the operation of its fiscal affairs. I am anxious
to apply to the business of our State the same Sound busi-
ness methods which are applied to the affairs of great cor-
porations and large businesses, whenever they are success-
ful, throughout the country. It must be understood that
in making this recommendation, I have no intent to reflect,
and do not in fact reflect, upon the integrity and ability, the
high character and splendid services, of our distinguished
Treasurer, the Hon. Wm. J. Speer, and of our distinguished
Comptroller-General, the Hon. Wm. A. Wright. Two better,
purer and truer men never served Georgia at any period of
her history, and if the State were searched from end to
end, with the purpose of finding faithful and efficient serv-
ants to fill the places occupied by these gentlemen, it is
not probable that the equal of either of them, in
either efficiency or fidelity, could be found. My asso-
ciation with them has been in every way pleasant, and to
them I am indebted for many acts of personal courtesy, for
strong and wise advice in the conduct of the State’s affairs,
and unfailing aid in the administration of those affairs.
What I have to recommend in regard to these matters no
more reflects upon them or upon the conduct of their offices
than it does upon the present Governor or upon the conduct
of his office. Nor is it my purpose to change the structural
base of the State's fiscal administration, except insofar as
it be necessary to bring our present machinery up to date
and to provide modern business methods and necessary safe-
guards for the conduct of the State’s fiscal affairs.
In my opinion, the State of Georgia unnnecessarily spends
hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, because of the
lack of planning by departmental and institutional heads,
because of poor appropriating methods, and because of
an inadequate system of auditing collections and expendi-
tures.
The present system has been continued without mate-
rial change from the date when appropriations were small
17
and when the appropriating authorities were personally
acquainted with almost all State officers and had first hand
knowledge of practically all State activities. As the State
government has grown in size and complexity and as the
amounts of money collected and spent every year have in-
creased, the old system, which was sufficient in simpler days,
has not been changed and extended to meet the new con-
ditions. The State’s financial affairs are in theory centered
largely in the operations of the office of the Governor, the
Comptroller-General and the Treasurer, whereas, in practice
most of them center in the offices of the large outside ex-
pending and collecting agencies, such as the State Sani-
tarium, the State Highway Department, and the De-
partment of Agriculture. The . . only effective way to
work the necessary reforms and to apply to Our
present system modern business methods, so that re-
sponsible central officers will again be able to exercise a
controlling influence upon the collecting and spending of
moneys, is to change the appropriating machinery of the
Legislature, so as to force careful planning on the part of
departmental and institutional heads, and to require that
the appropriation acts shall be drawn in such form that
no expenditures can be made unless authorized by the act,
and to provide that an auditing staff shall enforce the in-
tent of the General Assembly. The work being done by the
Comptroller-General, the additional auditing now done
through the Governor’s office under the provision of the
last Appropriation Bill, providing that “That the Governor
shall require of the Superintendent or official having charge
of the finances of any institution or department a
monthly statement of all expenses, itemized and sworn
to, before issuing and warrants,” has been effective
in making Some saving and preventing some extravagance.
It is to be noted, however, that the law does not give to the
Governor, or to the Comptroller, or to any officer of the
State any authority to pass upon the correctness or rea-
sonableness of the items, or to reject any item because the
Same appears unnecessary or extravagant. Besides, a cleri-
18
cal force much larger than that of the Governor’s Office
or the Comptroller’s Office would be required to exercise any
such supervision; a central auditing staff is necessary. I
urge and recommend the establishment of an auditing staff
for the State, with a State Auditor and Accountant at its
head. The expense of such an office, with all the necessary
assistants, will not exceed the sum of $30,000 per
annum; and government experts, who have carefully
investigated the situation estimate that such an office
would easily effect a saving of from two hundred to
three hundred thousand dollars per annum, the amount of
the saving depending upon the provisions of the law es-
tablishing the office, the promptness with which the work
is begun, and the thoroughness with which it is done. As
an offset to the expense, it is pointed out that perhaps $15,-
000 a year is now paid for the annual audit of a few in-
stitutions and departments; and when a State Department
of Auditing is established these payments will be no longer
necessary and can be saved. Consequently, the net expense
to the State for the establishment of this department, will
not exceed $15,000 per annum over the amount already spent
in a desultory and haphazard manner for auditing some
departments and institutions of the State, and will, in my
judgment, effect a saving in expenditure amounting to hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars annually.
The first large expense to the State under the present
fiscal system results from the failure of the departments
and institutions to plan their work. In the reports made to
me by expert investigators of several agencies examples
are given of large expenditures made without any definite
plan on the part of the responsible officers. To remedy this
condition, it is recommended that one of the duties of the
State Auditor and Accountant shall be to secure both plans
and estimates of cost, and these plans and estimates shall be
reviewed by the Governor and then submitted to the Gen-
eral Assembly with his recommendation thereon.
The largest single source of loss, according to the inves-
tigation I have made, results from failure to audit expenses
19
before payments are made. The futility of audits made at
the end of the year or at irregular times when there is no
system of current control is perfectly apparent. After the
money is spent, it is impossible to take any effective action
with regard to such matters as irregular attendance of em-
ployees, excessive salaries, high prices paid for supplies and
equipment, or expenditures for goods or services which have
not been received. The only way to prevent this kind of
losses is to hold up payment until the expending officers
can show that the services or goods are needed, that author-
ity for the purchase has been granted, that money for the
payment has been appropriated, that the goods or services
have been received, and that the prices it is proposed to pay
are reasonable. * -
In my judgment, the auditing of collections by the State
agencies outside of the Capitol is even looser than the au-
diting of expenditures. The treasury is practically com-
pelled to accept without question whatever money is turned
over to it by many of the collecting agencies. It has no
means whatever of knowing whether all the money due the
State has been collected, whether all the amount collected
has been turned into the State treasury, or whether all
measures have been taken to protect the State's interests.
It is known that in many cases the methods used by these
collecting agencies are lax. Some of them admit that money
which ought to be paid to the State is never collected. Few
State agencies outside of the Treasury Department receive
any interest on large deposits they make in the local banks.
In Some cases, departments and institutions collect and ex-
pend considerable sums without taking the trouble to re-
port the facts to the State's central financial officers. This
action on their part is sometime authorized by law, and is
sometimes taken without express legal sanction. The Treas-
urer and Comptroller are largely helpless in the matter, and
only in exceptional cases can the Governor take effective
action. *
20
The practice of making continuous statutory appropria-
tions year after year without bi-ennial review by the Gen-
eral Assembly is a pernicious one, which encourages admin-
istrative officers not to plan their work and which leads to
extravagance and loss. Most of the appropriations made
in this manner are not so important or for such worthy
causes that they should take precedence over others, and
the review of every proposal should be made annually
or bi-ennially. Such a review, annually or bi-ennially, cou-
pled with the turning into the State Treasury of every dollar
collected by any State agency or received from outside
sources (such as the Federal Government) is a prerequisite
to any serious attempt to effect economies in the fiscal mat-
ters of this State.
The powers and duties that ought to be conferred upon
the State auditor and accountant, would make this office
one of the most important in the State government. Sub-
ject to the approval of the Governor, he would install in
the various departments and institutions such forms and
procedure as might be necessary to safeguard the collec-
tion and handling of money, and take all proper steps to
insure the proper use and protection of stores, equipment
and other property. He would review currently all the
financial transactions of the departments and institutions
and if he found them in accordance with the law and regu-
lations, approve them for payment. Without such approval,
it would be unlawful for any disbursing officer to pay any
claim for goods or services. He would also assist the Gov-
ernor and General Assembly, as required in securing esti-
mates and plans for State agencies, in reviewing such esti-
mates and plans, and in gathering data as to operating, ef-
ficiency, and costs. He would report to the Governor and
General Assembly such facts and conditions as he might
consider significant, and particularly all irregularities and
excessive costs which ought to be prevented. In my judg-
ment, the creation by the General Assembly of an auditing
committee to review the report of the State auditor and
21
accountant and to direct special investigations and audits,
whenever the same are deemed necessary, is also of consid-
erable importance.
In connection with the work of the proposed auditing de-
partment, I unhesitatingly recommend a change in Our SyS-
tem of making general appropriation bills and some modifi-
cation of the existing law in relation to the Budget Commis-
sion. I do not believe that an executive budget commission
can ever be practicable or effective. My opinion is that the
real Budget Commission must be the appropriating com- .
mittees of the two houses of the General Assembly. There
are two systems of making appropriations, especially where
large amounts and many interests are involved. For in-
stance, the Federal Government appropriates thousands of
millions of dollars annually on the plan of requiring, as a
rule, itemizations of all appropriations, by every department
of the government. On the other hand, the State of Geor-
gia follows the plan of making lump sum appropriations.
There are some difficulties inherent in both systems. Under
the system of appropriating by item, there is not enough
elasticity to secure the best practical results in the opera-
tion of governmental service. At the same time, it tends
towards economy and keeps down extravagance, and is, on
the whole, preferable to the lump sum system of appro-
priating money. The latter system allows too much lati-
tude to the administrative departments and agencies of the
government and tends to encourage both extravagance and
graft. If we should establish an auditing system of the
kind that I have recommended to you, I should also recom-
mend that in the law establishing the department of State
auditing, provision should be made for a change in our sys-
tem of making appropriations, particularly with reference
to our general appropriations bills.
The auditing department should require of the head of
each department and institution of the State government,
a statement, item by item, of each appropriation, and what
funds are desired by such department or institution. The
22
auditing department should then, in turn, submit such plans
and estimates of the department or institution to the Gov-
ernor who, in turn, would submit them to the General As-
sembly for reference to the appropriate committees, and
for final action by the two houses themselves upon each
item of appropriation. The judgment of the General As-
sembly would be final, both upon the total amount of the
appropriation to be made and the various items thereof.
After the appropriations are once made by item, there should
be no transfers between different items, except by the ex-
press approval of the Governor, whenever unforeseen con-
ditions have made such transfers necessary or desirable,
and whenever such transfers are made, the Governor should
be required to report them to the Legislature on the first
day of the next session thereafter. It seems to me that
a budget and auditing plan along this line, which will be
laid before you with more explicitness and clearness in a
report made to me by an expert government engineer em-
ployed for that purpose, will combine the strong points of
the federal system of making appropriations with the strong
points of our present State system of making them, will
make for economy and honesty in the expenditure of public
money, will provide against extravagance and dishonesty
in expenditure, and, finally, will give sufficient elasticity to
the operation of institutions and departments so as not to
unduly hamper them when unforeseen contingencies shall
require the transfer of funds from one item of appropria-
tion to another. .
It is my keenest ambition to have you install a thorough
and up to date business system for the transaction of the
State's fiscal affairs and in the collection and expenditure
of its moneys. I wish above all things to see the establish-
ment of an auditing system which shall check up in detail
every item of expenditure before the money therefor is
drawn out of the State treasury, so far as practicable, and
which shall, in its “follow-up check,” show with absolute
and unerring accuracy, how each and every penny of the
23
tax money of the people is spent, for what it was spent,
and whether it was wisely spent or foolishly spent. I be-
lieve we can install such a system, and by doing it save
hundreds of thousands of dollars for the tax payers of Geor-
gia, besides giving them better service in every direction.
I earnestly hope that you may co-operate with me in this
endeavor, and feel sure that you will do so.
In pursuance of my purpose to give the State a business
administration and in an endeavor to investigate as care-
fully and accurately as I could into the operations of its
various departments and institutions, with a view to effect-
ing economy and improvement in the service, wherever
practicable, on April 10, 1922, I employed the firm of Grif-
fenhagen and Associates of Chicago, who are, in my opin-
ion, the greatest governmental engineering experts in this
country, to make a preliminary survey of the various depart-
ments and institutions of the State government and particu-
larly of the fiscal machinery of the State government, with
a view to determine what economies could be effected and
what service improved, and what kind of an adequate and
up-to-date fiscal machinery could be provided for the State.
The reputation of the firm employed is high. They sent me
two of their strongest men, Messrs. Fred Telford and Hugh
J. Reber, the former being a member of the firm. This
firm has done a great deal of good work in the way of mak-
ing surveys as to governmental departments and activities
for the Congress of the United States, for the government
of the Dominion of Canada, for the States of Illinois, Mary-
land and South Carolina, and for the great cities of Chicago,
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Montreal. My attention was
particularly attracted to their work by the very satisfac-
tory results they have accomplished in South Carolina for
the government of that State. They have prepared and
submitted to me thirteen separate reports as follows:
1—Auditing and Fiscal System of the State.
2—Department of Agriculture. -
24
3—Department of Printing.
4—Department of Public Health.
5—Department of Public Welfare.
6—Training School for Boys.
7—Confederate Soldiers Home.
8—Confederate Roster Commission.
9—Department of Archives and History.
10—Academy for the Blind.
11—State Library.
12—State Library Commission.
13—A report on office space in the Capitol Building.
These reports, in my opinion, contain invaluable informa-
tion for the use of the General Assembly and all of them
will be transmitted to the General Assembly, by special
message, for its information and consideration. All of these
reports except the latter relate to matters concerning which
the Legislature is clothed with both responsibility and
power.
The last report relates to office space in the Capitol Build-
ing and indicates that by a proper adjustment of offices in
the Capitol Building ample provision can be made for all of
the officers of the State and their clerical forces, without
the necessity of building a Capitol Annex and without the
necessity of renting outside quarters for any department of
the State, which is now being done at an expense of $3,000
per annum.
These reports show that in the Department of Agriculture
alone one hundred to two hundred thousand dollars per year
can be saved by cutting off useless and unnecessary office-
holders and by other economies. They indicate that from
three to four thousand dollars per annum can be saved at the
Academy for the Blind, where 30 employees are required to
look after 65 white inmates. They indicate that $6,000 per
year can be saved by transferring the records of the Depart-
ment of Archives and History to the State Library and that
25
from $20,000 to $25,000 per annum can be saved by reforms
and economies in the Department of Public Printing. These
reports show that $1,500 per annum can be saved in the State
Library by avoiding the unnecessary purchase of duplicate
law books.
I shall submit these reports to you with the utmost con-
fidence that, in the main, the facts stated are true and the
conclusions drawn therefrom are correct, and the reforms
advocated and the retrenchments planned are wise, and in
the interest of honesty and economy. These investigators
were instructed by me to go into each of these matters as
much as they could in a preliminary report, showing neither
favor nor hostility to any official or to any department, but
to report the facts truly and without favor, and to fearlessly
recommend whatever changes and improvements they
thought desirable or necessary. It is quite probable that
neither your body nor I will agree to all of their recommen-
dations, but the investigations have been honestly made and
are entitled to your very serious consideration. Undoubted-
ly many intrenchments and many improvements in service
are suggested in these reports and I submit to you for your
careful consideration the question as to whether or not it
would not be wise for this State to follow the example of
South Carolina in this matter and have a full and compre-
hensive survey of the State government, all of its depart-
ments, all of its institutions and all of its agencies made
on a larger and more comprehensive scale, for the use of
the General Assembly at its next Session.
AUSTRALIAN BALLOT LAW AND BI-ENNIAL SES-
SIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
I again urge the enactment of a real and rigid Australian
Ballot Law, to be applicable to primary and general elec-
tions alike and to be installed at every precinct in Georgia,
to the end that every voter in the State, however poor and
humble, may have the opportunity to cast a free and un-
26
trammeled ballot, and to the end that vote-buying in our
elections shall be rendered difficult and impracticable.
I again urge you to submit an amendment to the Consti-
tution of Georgia to provide for Bi-ennial Sessions, instead
of Annual Sessions, of the General Assembly. I make this
recommendation for the following reasons:
1st: I do so in the interest of economy. If we should
have bi-ennial, instead of annual, sessions of the General
Assembly, the expense would be cut in two and a Saving to
the State of from $55,000 to $60,000 per annum would be
effected. In times like these it behooves us to effect every
reasonable economy in the spending of the money of the
people.
2nd: Bi-ennial sessions of the General Assembly would
be an improvement over annual meetings for another and,
if possible, even stronger reason; under the annual system
we have too many unnecessary changes in the laws and too
many amendments to the laws. In other words, too much
legislation. If we had bi-ennial, instead of annual sessions,
the tendency would be to have fewer changes in the law
and the disturbances of both business and the people inci-
dent to the annual tinkering with the laws would be avoid-
ed.
A great majority of the States of the Union have bi-en-
nial sessions of the General Assembly, and the experience
of the several States, on the whole, seems to establish the
proposition that bi-ennial sessions of the General Assembly
are preferable to annual sessions, or to sessions every four
years.
TAXATION.
In presenting to you my views on the difficult and com-
plicated subject of taxation, I wish to assure you that I do
so without either pride or obstinacy of opinion. I do so be-
27
cause my sense of duty to the State and to its people impels
me to give you my views on this question, and I do so with
the utmost deference to those of you, and to those of my fel-
low citizens elsewhere who do not agree with me about it,
and who may entertain different views on the subject; I do
SO in the earnest hope that this body, on whom rests the re-
Sponsibility for action, may approach the consideration of
this most important and most difficult question in the spirit
of mutual tolerance and of common counsel, out of which
may come wise and conservative action.
I am afraid that the average man does not realize how
small a percentage of the taxes that he pays is imposed or
collected by the State for State purposes. To say nothing
of Federal taxes, the proportion of the tax burdens occa-
sioned by expenditures of the State is relatively small and is
comparatively negligible. In Georgia the total bonded debt
of the State is only $5,486,202. On the other hand, the total
bonded indebtedness of all Georgia counties is $12,714,000,
and the total floating indebtedness of all counties is $779,000,
and the total bonded debt of Gerogia towns and cities is
$37,940,000, and the total floating debts of such towns and
cities are $1,181,200. When these figures are consolidated,
it will be seen that Georgia counties and cities have a total
bonded indebtedness of $50,654,000, and a total floating in-
debtedness of $1,960,200, or a total debt of $52,614,200,
against a total bonded debt of the State of $5,486,202.
In addition to the above, it is worth while to remember
and consider that the average rate of the Georgia county
(including local School tax) is 18.3 mills, as against a State
rate of 5 mills; in other words, the State only gets 21.1%
of the amount of State and County taxes that the taxpayer
pays to the Tax Collector each year. Next, let us take the
case of the Georgia taxpayer who lives in a city, or in an
incorporated town, however small; first, he must pay 5
mills to the State; next, 10 mills, on the average, for city
taxes; next, 18.3 mills, on the average, for the county tax.
28
So the taxpayer living in a city or town pays on the average
33.3 mills, of which only 5 mills, or 15% goes to the State
of Georgia.
The figures above cited are taken from the Financial
Chronicle of December, 1921. Annexed to this address is
Table C, showing by the details of these figures, by counties
and by cities.
They are presented for the purpose of showing to you and
to the public how relatively small a part of the tax burden
is really occasioned by State expenditures and how com-
paratively negligible a proportion of our total taxes is
really paid for State purposes. The figures prove that we
can never get a satisfactory distribution of the burden of
taxation and a satisfactory system of taxation which will
give a correct and a proper distribution of the burden, until
we apply the correct fundamental principles to County and
City taxation, as well as to State taxation.
The Constitution of 1877, in establishing the present tax
system of Georgia (Paragraph 1, Sec. 2, Art. 7), provided:
“All taxation shall be uniform upon the same classes of
subjects, and ad valorem on all property subject to be taxed
within the territorial limits of the authority levying the
tax.”
It will be observed that no limit upon the tax rate was
contained in the Constitution. One of the greatest of Ameri-
can jurists has stated, with great terseness and truth: “The
power to tax is the power to destroy.” The framers of
our Constitution of 1877 evidently believed, SC far as the
government is concerned, that the power to tax is the power
to live. In support of that doctrine, it can be cited that even
up to the present day, the power to tax (except as to a few
special taxes) is not limited, so far as the rate or amount
29
of the tax to be levied is concerned, in any one of the forty-
eight states of the Republic or in the United States Govern-
ment itself, or in the government of any civilized country
on earth, except in Georgia.
The doctrine that the legislative body of the State is not
to be limited, generally speaking, in the tax rate it may im-
pose, stood unchallenged in Georgia, as well as in the rest
of the world, up to the year 1902. It stood unchallenged in
this State even when the Constitution of 1877 was adopted,
at the very close of the reconstruction era.
In 1902, Governor Terrell, in the contest for election as
Governor, advocated an amendment of the Constitution of
the State, imposing a limit of five mills upon ad valorem
taxes. After his election in 1902, the General Assembly, at
its 1903 session, submitted such an amendment to the elec-
torate of the State and the same was ratified by it at the
general election of 1904.
It is not my purpose, in calling attention to these histori-
cal facts, to challenge the wisdom of the decision the people
then made. It is a departure in the science of government,
and while the State stands practically alone in making it, I
am not prepared to declare that the decision was an unwise
one, and I do not seek to re-open the question. It is necessary,
however, to keep the historical facts in mind in order to
understand the reasons for the present situation and to in-
telligently consider proposed remedies.
Prior to the adoption of the amendment of 1904, the tax
rate on property was fixed under the law by the Governor
and the Comptroller-General, after the Legislature had made
its appropriations and after the digests were made up in the
several counties, at whatever figure was necessary in order
to meet the appropriations and to discharge the obligations
of the State. Consequently, under this system there could
be no treasury deficit. It was, merely a matter of mathe-
matics. The Legislature and the Governor were responsible
30
for the rate, whether high or low, because of their action in
passing and approving appropriation measures. The sys-
tem established direct responsibility and strict accountabil-
ity to the people, and if the Legislature or the Governor
spent too much money or spent it for purposes of which
the people did not approve, the remedy was in the hands
of the people themselves.
After the adoption of the amendment of 1904, however,
the situation completely changed. The Constitutional limit
of taxation, 5 mills, was soon reached and a great tendency
developed among members of the General Assembly to make
liberal appropriations, since the tax rate could not exceed
5 mills, in any event, and the General Assembly could not
be charged with increasing taxes. In such a situation, how
easy and pleasant it was for members of the General As-
sembly to vote for appropriations urged with so much elo-
quence and zeal and persistence, year after year, by bene-
ficiaries who urgently pressed their claims, particularly so
when in most cases where the objects for which the appro-
priation were sought were just and meritorious !
The inevitable result of such a system was that appro-
priations should gradually exceed the revenue. On January
1, 1913, according to the table presented by Governor Dor-
sey in his message of last year (page 4) the “Deficit or
amount not on hand to complete payment of ‘Undrawn Bal-
ances,’ amounted to $979,277.48.”
It then became apparent that something must be done to
secure more revenue for the State, in order to meet its in-
creasing needs, to pay its growing appropriations.
In such a situation, two plans and only two plans were
feasible. One was to devise other and additional methods
of taxation, to force classes of property then notoriously es-
caping taxation, to bear their just proportion of the tax
burden; the other was to provide additional machinery by
31
which the property then on the digest could be raised in
value, so that, while the tax rate remained unaltered, the
increased valuation would produce greater revenues for the
State to pay increasing appropriations.
The latter plan was followed by the Legislature in 1913,
and the result was our present so-called Tax Equalization or
Tax Assessment law, whichever you choose to term it.
I have always thought that the former plan should have
been followed. I thought so then, and made the first public
attack on the Equalization Law. I think so yet, strongly
and unalterably. I contend that if additional revenue was
a necessity, as it appeared to be, that such additional reve-
nue should have been raised from classes of property then
wholly or practically untaxed, instead of simply increasing
the burden of the holders of visible and tangible property, by
forcing up the values on their property, and forcing them to
bear practically all of the burden of taxation.
I still maintain that position, and maintain it as strongly
and earnestly as possible.
Never in my life, however, have I advocated the destruc-
tion of one piece of necessary governmental machinery,
unless and until I was prepared to submit a plan to provide
another and more efficient or equally efficient piece of ma-
chinery in place of it. Charged with solemn responsibility,
in this crisis, of our affairs, I am not now prepared to advo-
cate the destruction of our present tax machinery, without
proposing a reasonable and efficient substitute for it. That,
however, I am prepared to do.
For your part, Gentlemen of the General Assembly, charg—
ed as you are with the primary responsibility in this mat-
ter, you cannot afford, as men of honor, true to your oaths
of office, faithful to the trust imposed in you by the people,
to throw away our present tax machinery, unless and until
32
you are prepared to adopt a reasonable and efficient sub-
stitute therefor. I hope that you are so prepared, that
you may be able to agree upon such a substitute for our
present tax system; but unless you are and until you are,
you cannot afford to destroy the present assessment sys-
tems, in the present critical condition of the State's finances
and in the present distressing financial condition of the
people themselves. If you destroy it without providing an
adequate substitute for it, or if you destroy it, and simply re-
turn, in times like these, to the old system of voluntary tax
returns, without providing machinery for collecting an ade-
quate amount of revenue from corporations, individuals and
classes of property now practically untaxed by the State,
you will lock the wheels of Government in this State. If
you permit every corporation and individual in this State,
in times like these, to pay just as much and only just as
much as he or it elects to pay, then the State cannot operate,
it cannot meet its obligations already assumed, it cannot pay
its appropriations already made, it cannot educate its chil-
dren, it cannot open and maintain its schools, it cannot give
even a meager support to its higher institutions of learning.
In short, it simply cannot function, and must and will be set
back more than fifty years.
These consequences are so unavoidable, so inescapable and
so terrible to contemplate, that I cannot believe that the
General Assembly of Georgia could possibly contemplate
such a procedure. Even if irresponsible persons, upon whom,
fortunately, responsibility in this matter does not rest, sug-
gest the repeal of the tax laws and oppose every substitute
therefor that is suggested and offer none themselves, surely
there can be no serious excuse for the chosen representa-
tives of the people of Georgia to entertain so demagogical
a proposition. It is easy for self-seeking politicians to op-
pose all taxes, since all taxes are more or less unpopular, and
to advocate all appropriations, since all appropriations are
more or less popular, but the General Assembly of this State
can never seriously contemplate such a program. The com-
33
mon sense of the people of Georgia may be relied upon to
deal effectively with those of its public men who take such
an absurd position.
I now wish to present to you what I think is a reasonable
and efficient substitute for our present system, and what
I recommend to you as such. Let me repeat to you, as I
said last year: “I realize that a sudden change of system
at a moment like the present, when business is so heavily
burdened, might prove disastrous; but it must be recalled
that the proposal I make cannot be put in effect unless the
people of the State amend the Constitution of Georgia, and
that the proposition to do so cannot be submitted to them
prior to the general election of 1922, and consequently the
Legislature could not put a new system in operation, in all
probability, before the calendar year of 1924. By that time,
even the pessimist may reasonably expect a return to nor-
mal conditions.”
In the next place, let me say that at the present moment,
and especially in the present hard times, I am not so much
concerned about raising more revenue as I am concerned to
secure a just and equal distribution of the present burdens
of taxation. In hard times, like these, by rigid economy and
by drastic retrenchment, the General Assembly can, as you
demonstrated last year, make the absolutely necessary ap-
propriations within the revenues as at present provided.
But when average times and normal prosperity return, the
present revenue system is inadequate to produce sufficient
revenue, unless we are prepared to starve our schools and
to permanently deny to the Confederate Veterans pensions
that the people of this State, at the ballot box, have already
given us authority to make as soon as the finances of this
State will permit. The old system has broken down, unless
we are prepared to take backward steps in almost every di-
rection in the administration of our State government, and
in providing for those institutions and objects which have
34
been the subjects of our care and attention in the past and
at the present time. -
The great fundamental trouble, outside of its inadequacy,
about our present tax system as applied to State, County and
City Taxes alike, is that there is neither justice nor fair-
ness in the manner in which the burden is distributed.
It bears hardest, and especially in times like these, upon
the shoulders that are weakest, and lightest upon the shoul-
ders that are strongest. -
Under the Act of August 20, 1918, the last Special Tax
Commission for Georgia was organized. It began its labors
in September, 1918, and ended them in June, 1919. It was
composed of many able and upright men; it made a careful
and exhaustive investigation into tax matters, and made
an able and comprehensive report. I agree with many but
not all of its conclusions. I take pleasure in saying to you,
for the second time within the year, that its report is a most
valuable one, and one well worthy of the most serious con-
sideration. Its report condemns our present tax system
and it denounces it, for three reasons:
1st. Because it does not bring to the digest a reasonable
part of the actual value of property of the State.
2nd. Because the property returns are not equitably ap-
portioned between the various classes of property.
3rd. Because it does not provide adequate support and
proper maintenance, on a reasonable basis for the State's
various departments and activities.
In elaboration of this view, let me submit the following,
with particular reference to the second and, in my opinion,
the most vital of the objections urged by the Commission:
In 1920, according to the reports of the Comptroller-Gen-
eral, real estate (including city property) was assessed for
taxation at a valuation of $714,151,382, while money and
35
solvent debts were valued at only $81,500,073, merchandise
at $77,515,231, stocks and bonds at $4,807,964. According to
that same report, household and kitchen furniture, practi-
cally all of it except that of the very rich being without any
real cash value, paid taxes on a valuation of $41,435,377, as
against a $4,807,964 valuation of stocks and bonds. Horses,
mules and cattle in this State were assessed at $63,427,932,
against a little over $4,800,000 for stocks and bonds.
Plantation and mechanical tools, implements with which
the poor and lowly make their daily bread, were valued at
$15,480,349, or more than three times as much as all of the
stocks and bonds of this State.
Again, under our present delightful tax system, while the
value of all property was increasing from $261,000,000
(round figures) in 1875, to $1,347,000,000 in 1920, about 416
per cent, the taxable value of money, notes, accounts and
solvent debts only increased in the same period from
$37,000,000 to $81,000,000, or about 119 per cent; in other
words, money, notes, accounts and solvent debts increased
for taxation purposes only one-third of the general increase
of all property in the State.
Let me quote you, next, from the report of our State Tax
Commission of 1919:
“Again, we are unable to form any well grounded conclu-
sion as to the value of money, notes and accounts, bonds and
taxable stocks of the State. It appears, however, that there
was $322,000.00 on deposit in the banks of the State in Sep-
tember, 1918, according to the Bankers’ Encyclopedia. We
know from the tax digest that there was returned last year,
in round numbers, in money, notes, mortgages, accounts,
bonds and taxable stocks, $65,000,000. This condition would
be ludicrous if it was not absolutely distressing to all fair-
minded citizens.” -
36
Again: “Money, notes, accounts and solvent debts” were
returned for taxation for the year 1920 at $81,500,073.
The report of our State Bank Examiner as of date Decem-
ber 2, 1921, showed at that time on deposit in the State
Banks of Georgia alone $261,653,393.00.
As a rule, in this State the deposits in our National Banks
located in Georgia amount to a little more than half of those
in our State banks, so that in 1920 the deposits in all our
banks was approximately $400,000,000. When it is recalled
that the item of $81,500,000 covered the returns not only on
money, but on notes, accounts and solvent debts, and that
according to the best estimates that are obtainable, the ag-
gregate of these notes, accounts and debts is greater than
the amount of money on hand, it is perfectly evident that not
ten per cent of the actual money on hand in the State was
returned for taxation in the year 1920.
But why multiply instances of these glaring injustices and
inequalities? It could be done almost indefinitely, but I
shall not tax your patience with further detail. Yes, there
is just one more I shall cite, because it is particularly signifi-
cant. In the face of the deflation in values that is now upon
us, property returns, on the whole, shrunk seven per cent
in Georgia between 1920 and 1921, and yet in this same
period money, notes and accounts shrunk from $81,500,000
in 1920, to $64,906,000 in 1921, or more than twenty per
cent.
In the light of these facts, I submit a substantive, concrete
proposal. I propose that the State shall abandon the field
of property taxation on the ad valorem basis, leaving that
field to the exclusive possession of the local authorities,
county and city, subject to such limitations as may be placed
by law on the exercise of that power by them. In lieu of
the property tax for State purposes and as a substitute for
it, I propose a graduated income tax, and I urge the General
Assembly to submit to the people in the election this Fall
37
a constitutional amendment to that effect.
If the people should authorize such a change in our taxing
system, then the tax machinery of the Federal Government
could be largely utilized, if not entirely utilized, for State
purposes. Thus we would effect a saving of the expense
involved in the creation and maintenance of an extensive
and expensive tax machinery of our own and would avoid
the necessity for burdening the taxpayer with a double set
of returns, one to the Federal and another to the State gov-
ernment. - -
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1919, the Federal gov-
ernment collected from Georgia, in income tax, $25,062,-
149.50. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, $33,731,–
768.04. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, $32,000,-
000.00. This average for these three years is slightly in
excess of $30,000,000.00 per annum, and when it is recalled
that the greatest amount of revenue that we can hope to ob-
tain for the present year from all ad valorem taxes, including
property on the digest and public corporation taxes, will be
only about $5,500,000, it is perfectly apparent that a very
reasonable percentage of the tax now collected by the Fed-
eral Government in Georgia would produce revenue equal to
the amount produced by our present system, and with a very
slight increase of that percentage, we will be enabled to raise
sufficient revenue to supply all the necessities of the State.
I repeat my recommendation to you of last year in favor
of an income tax. It should be a tax on net incomes, in the
same sense that such a tax is levied and collected by the
Federal Government. It should not contain a tax on the
gross output of manufacturing and industrial concerns.
Georgia needs too much development along this line to per-
mit of such a drastic tax; besides, such a tax is inherently
unjust and unfair. Under a proper income tax, we could
give adequate support to our common schools, and continue
with even greater success our present campaign for the
38
eradication of illiteracy in Georgia. We could give to our
Confederate pensioners and to our great institutions of learn-
ing, to our great humanitarian and charitable institutions,
to our common schools, and to other departments of the
State government that adequate and just support to which
they are entitled, after the principles of real economy and
scrupulous honesty are applied to their operation.
If the people will make the change I have suggested, it -
will secure many advantages. Let me endeavor to enumer-
ate some of them:
1st. We will be able to do away with our present tax a S-
sessment system.
2nd. We will be able to collect our revenue quarterly and
in that way to pay as we go and to meet our appropriations
as they come due.
3rd. In that way it will put upon the intangible and in-
visible property of this State that fair and just proportion of
the burden of the government which it ought to bear and
which it now almost wholly escapes. If the question be
raised as to how an income tax will do more towards forcing
intangible and invisible property to bear some proportion of
the burdens of the State Government than our present sys-
tem of taxation, then the reply is three-fold:
a. We will eventually be able to utilize the tremendeus
machinery of the Federal Government, with its thousands of
inspectors and agents who are constantly examining into
tax matters and forcing the return on a great percentage of
all incomes. l,
b. The question of value is one of opinion, and One
about which there may be honest differences of opinion. The
Question of income is one of fact, about which there can be
no honest difference of opinion. It is only necessary to as-
39
certain the facts.
c. The income tax law applies only to the income on
such intangible and invisible property, and not to its princi-
pal value.
This is the principle that has induced many of our lead-
ing States to adopt the income tax plan of reaching this
property, rather than rely upon clumsy and impractical ma-
chinery under an ad valorem system. Since most of the
larger States have adopted the income tax plan of reaching
these classes of property, it is a safe plan for Georgia
to follow, since we do not wish to tighten credits in this State
or to drive this class of property, that can easily be removed,
into other States. Besides, it must be remembered that
whatever amount of income tax is paid by the corpora-
tion or individual to the State can be deducted from his or its
income tax return to the Federal Government.
4th. It will distribute the burden more equally and more
equitably, and will place it upon the shoulders of those who
are strongest and best able to bear it. Agriculture is practi-
cally prostrate in this State. For two years a vast number of
our people who follow this means of livelihood have made
nothing and have sustained frightful losses. For the second
year now they have been practically unable to pay their taxes.
Tens of thousands of tax fi fas against farmers have been
taken up by relatives, friends or creditors, and are awaiting
payment if that ever becomes possible. Thousands of farms
have been legally advertised and other thousands sold for
taxes in Georgia. The same thing is true as to homes held
by the masses of people, in cities, towns and villages. These
people are entitled to some relief, to some lessening, if possi-
ble, of the burdens of taxation upon them. So long as agri-
culture languishes, every other industry and business in the
State languishes. When it revives, every other business and
every other industry will revive with it.
40
The State Tax Commissioner informs me that the prop-
erty returns this year will fall to practically $1,000,000,000,
and this reduction is from the high-water mark of 1920,
when the property returns were $1,346,882,000. Of the $1,-
000,000,000 tax values in Georgia for the present year, Sub-
stantially $600,000,000 represents land and real estate.
When to this great class of property is added every other
class of tangible and visible property, the demonstration is
complete that more than 90 per cent of the burdens of State
taxation are borne and carried by the holders and owners of
tangible and visible property. These men cannot bear the
burden any longer, and are entitled to relief. If you will
adopt the propositon I present to you, and the people shall
ratify it, every single one of them will get relief from the
whole of the five mills of State tax, and while this by no
means is the larger part of the burdens of taxation which
they must carry, for they will still be left to bear the expense
of county and city governments, it is some relief and is
most necessary and important in the present crisis.
For the above reasons, and for other reasons fully elabo-
rated in my message to you last summer, I reiterate the rec-
ommendation I then made to you, which is that we substitute
a State income tax for our present system of ad valorem
taxation for State purposes.
As I stated in the outset of my discussion of this subject,
I have no pride of opinion about this matter, and merely give
you my views upon it because of the duty imposed upon me
by law to do so, because of my of my honest, earnest and
unshakable convictions upon the subject.
Since, however, the subject is acute and every
possible angle of it ought to be considered, it is my
duty to call to your attention certain alternative proposals
on this question that are entitled to serious consideration at
your hands.
In the first place, I deem it my duty to invite your atten-
tion to the report and recommendation of the Tax Commis-
41
sion of 1919. That body as a substitute for Paragraph 1,
Section 2, Article 7 of the Constitution of 1877, recommended
the following:
“All taxes shall be levied and collected under general laws
and for public purposes only. The General Assembly shall
have the power to classify property for taxation and to adopt
different rates and methods for different classes of prop-
erty and to segregate different cases of property for State
and local taxation. But all taxation shall be uniform upon
the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the
authority levying the tax. Taxes may be levied ad valorem
upon any given class of property without regard to the
method used in levying taxes on any other class of property.
Taxes may be imposed upon incomes, inheritances, privi-
leges and occupations, which classes of taxes may be grad-
uated, and when levied may contain provisons for reason-
able exemptions.” .
Another proposal which deserves serious consideration at
your hands is as follows:
Substitute for Paragraph 1, Section 2, Article 7 of the
Constitution of 1877 the following language:
“All taxes shall be uniform upon the same classes of sub-
jects, and when ad valorem, assessed on all property within
the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and
shall be levied and collected under general laws, and for the
purposes only, authorized by this Constitution. The Gen-
eral Assembly may impose taxes not to exceed 6 per centum
upon incomes, also tax upon inheritances, privileges and Oc-
cupations, all of which taxes may be graduated and the laws
under which they are levied may contain provisons for rea-
sonable exemptions. The General Assembly shall exempt all
property, real and personal, except that of public Service cor-
porations, from ad valorem taxes for State purposes in each
year in which the revenues from other sources are sufficient
to meet the legal obligations of the State maturing during
42
the year and to pay the appropriations made by the General
Assembly for that year. In the event, however, such reve-
nues are insufficient for those purposes, then an ad valorem
tax not to exceed 2 1-2 mills upon each dollar of the value of
all property, real and personal, may be levied.” -
In support of this propositon many strong arguments can
be advanced. It has many merits, many checks and counter-
checks. In the first place, it guarantees some affirmative
relief by remitting at least 50 per cent of the amount of State
taxes now paid on the ad valorem basis by property holders
of this State. In addition to that, if the times are normally
prosperous, it means, in all probability, there will be no ne–
cessity for levying a State property tax in Georgia, provided
the Legislature is reasonably economical in its appropria-
tions. In the next place, by the impositon of a limit upon
the income tax rate, it guarantees the corporation and indi-
viduals who will pay the income tax against excessive bur-
den; and in the next place, it gives to the Legislature strong
reasons for economy in its expenditures, because otherwise
the collection of a general property tax will be necessary
throughout the State, and that would be quite likely to prove
unpopular. Then, again, it leaves the great masses of the
citizens and taxpayers of Georgia in a position where they
are the guardians of economical appropriations and expendi-
tures. If the appropriations are too large to be met by the
limited income tax, they must foot the bill. It is only fair
to mention that under a system very much like this, no State
property tax has been levied for two years past in the State
of North Carolina.
In presenting to you not only my own views on this great
question, but the various views and plans that have been
Suggested and considered, I feel that I am only discharging
my Constitutional duty to you and to the public. Taxation
is the most complex and complicated of all questions that
legislative bodies are called upon to consider, and I know
that at your hands it will have the thoughtful and careful
43
consideration that is imperatively demanded. If the present
taxing system of Georgia is to be abolished, then it is your
duty to provide an efficient and adequate substitute there-
for, and one that will distribute the burden of taxation just-
ly and equitably among all citizens and among all classes of
property.
If we are to educate our children, improve our highways,
maintain our charitable and humanitarian institutions, and
sustain the proud position of Georgia as the Empire State of
the South, the wealth of the State must foot the bill, and not
its poverty. The taxing system of the State should be re-
vised with wisdom and with justice to all persons and to all
classes of property.
Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS W. HARDWICK,
Governor.
44
TABLE A.
Undrawn appropriations of 1921 brought for- ©
ward to 1922, unpaid ........... --------------------------- $4,261,446.54
Last quarter of 1921 Civil Establishment ........ 109,825.00
Total -------------------------------------------------------------------- $4,371,271.54
By amount paid on same to June
10th -------------------------------------------- $4,197,705.73
By amount paid on Civil Estab- -
lishment for last q’rt’r of 1921 109,825.00
*- * 4,307,530.73
Total 1921 appropriations unpaid on June 10.3, 63,740.81
Appropriations for 1922 ...................................... $9,438,845.15
Less 1922 appropriations paid by warrants to
June 10, 1922 ---------------------------------------------------- * 2,469,650.86
Total unpaid 1922 appropriations June 10,
1922 …~~~~~~~~ $6,969,194.29
Paid on 1921 appropriations ................................ $4,197,705.73
Paid of Civil Establishment 4th quarter of 1921 109,825.00
Paid on 1922 appropriations ................................ 2,469,650.86
Total --~~~~~~~~~ $6,777,181.59
Amount of 1921 appropriations yet unpaid as
above --~~~~~~~~ $ 63,740.81
Amount of 1922 appropriations yet unpaid, as
above …~~~~ **6,969,194.29
Aggregate unpaid June 10, 1922 .................... $7,032,935.10
*Summary of disbursements by warrants since January 1,
1922, exclusive of Highway funds and refunds of W. & A.
rental warrants.
**Note—The amount of unpaid 1922 appropriations does
not include Temporary Loan of $500,000.00 and interest of
$13,472.00, due September 9, 1922, borrowed on February
27, 1922, and used to pay 1921 school appropriation. This is
an obligation to become due and not an appropriation.
Schedule of 1922 appropriations and estimates attached.
45
By Academy for Blind
& 4
. (e) Hog Cholera Serum
APPROPRIATIONS AND ESTIMATES 1922.
- - - - * * * * - - - - - * * * * - - - - - - * * * * - - - - - - - as * * - - - $
Agricultural Schools &
Albany Normal School (for Colored)
Binding Journals
Board Of Health
Board Of Public Welfare
Bowdon State N. and I. College ....................
Civil Establishment ........................................
Coastal Plains Experiment Station
College for Colored
Contingent Fund
Contingent Fund Commerce and Labor
Contingent Fund Railroad Commission ........
Contingent Fund, Supreme Court
Contingent Fund, Court of Appeals
Department of Agriculture:
(a) Maintenance
(b) Pure Food
(c) Chemicals ..................................................
(d) Contagious Diseases ................................
* * * * * * - - - * * * * * * * * * - - - as * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* - - - - - - * * * * * - - - - - - - -º an º- - - - - - «º º ºs º- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - tº me tº - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= • - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * * * - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(f) Inspectors' Salary, etc. ...................... E
(g) Tick Eradication ......................................
(h) Veterinarian Expenses
Department of Archives and History
Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Salaries........
Department of Public Printing, Salaries ....
Experiment Station
Furniture and Replacement (H. & S.)
Game Protection Fund, Salary ......................
Geological Fund
Georgia Normal and Industrial College ........
Horticultural Fund ..........................................
Incidental Expense General Assembly
Indexing House and Senate Journal
Indian Springs Fund ....................................
Inspection of Fertilizers
36 000.00
180,000.00
15,000.00
550.00°
91,431.00
15,000.00
15,000.00
439,300.00
22,500.00
10,000.00
25,000.00
1,800.00
3,000.00
3,000.00
3,000.00
18,000.00
10,000.00
15,500.00
5,000.00
10,000.00
29,999.13
25,000.00
1,618.00
6,000.00
8,100.00
3,000.00
8,000.00
700.00
3,600.00
15,000.00
102,500.00
63,000.00
250.00
250.00
105.00
41,941.03
6
&
& 4
& 4
& 4
& &
& 4
«
& &
& 4
Inspection of Oils— -
Salaries --------85,100.50
Expenses ...... 1,000.50 º
- - 6,100.00
Insurance Public Buildings, etc. .................... 105,000.00
Insurance Department Fund -------------------------- 9,200.00
Land Script Fund Interest ............ -------------- 6,314.14
Legislative Committees ............---------------------- 7,500.00
Legislative Pay Roll ------------------------------------ E 117,174.56
Library Commission ...................................... . 6,000.00
Library Fund -------------------------------------------------- 4,250.00
Library Fund Reference Bureau ------------------ 1,400.00
Library Fund Court of Appeals .................... 1,000.00
Market Bureau ------------------------------------------------ 103,000.00
Military Fund .................................................. 25,000.00
North Georgia A. & M. College ...................... 27,000.00
Overpayment Taxes Refunded .................... E 8,448.54
Pension Fund -------------------------------------------------- 1,250,000.00
Printing Fund -------------------------------------------------- 40,000.00
Printing Fund, Railroad Commission ............ 2,000.00
Prison Fund ---------------------------------------------------. 107,500.00
Public Buildings and Grounds ........... ----------- 35,000.00
Publishing Georgia Reports .......................... 10,000.00
Public Debt: -
(a) Interest ............................ $226,030.00
Interest at 4% per cent .... 4,108.75— 230,138.75
(b) Sinking Fund .........................~ 100,000.00
(c) Refunding Bonds ..... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -... 207,000.00
Rate Expert Fund ............................................ 4,000.00
Reward Fund .................................................. 3,000.00
Roster Fund .................................................... . 3,600.00
School for the Deaf .......................................... 70,000.00
School Fund ...................................................... 4,250,000.00
School for Mental Defectives ....................... 25,000.00
School of Technology .................................... 112,500.00
Soldiers’ Home ........................................ - - - - - - - - 45,000.00
Solicitors Generals' Fees ............................ E 9,825.00
South Georgia A. & M. College, Val. ............ 31,500.00
47
Special Appropriation, Legislative Comm. 7,500.00
State Medical College ...................................... 49,500.00
State Normal School --------................................ 63,000.00
State Sanitarium --------------------........................ 800,000.00
State University, Support Fund .................... 93,000.00
State University, for Agri. College .............. 117,250.00
State University, for Summer School ---------. 6,000.00
Summer School Colored Teachers ------------------ 2,500.00
Training School for Boys .............................. 27,000.00
Training School for Girls .............................. 31,500.00
Tuberculosis Sanitarium ................................ 50,000.00
$9,438,845.15
48
TABLE B.
As of date June 10th, 1922.
Estimated revenue from all sources except ad
valorem taxes:
Railroad and other public service corporations...} 828,508.16
Rental of State's property located at Chatta-
nooga, Tenn -------------------------------------------------------- 8,340.00
Income tax from railroads .................................... 2,044.00
Insurance tax and insurance fees ------------------------ 700,000.00
Inheritance tax ...................----------------------------------- 330,000.00
Interest from depositories .......................... ------------ 15,000.00
Fertilizer fees -------------------------------------------------------- 200,000.00
Pure food fees -------------------------------------------------------. 30,000.00
Oil fees …~~~~~~ 400,000.00
Oil fees due from United States Court ................ 275,597.00
Game protection fees ............................................ 5,000.00
Office fees ------------------------------------------------------------- 8,000.00
Fuel oil tax -------------------------------------------------------------. 800,000.00
Occupation tax ...................................................... 250,000.00
Carbonic Acid Gas ................................................ 20,000.00
All other special or Occupation taxes .................. 550,000.00
Sale of Acts, Codes and Court of App. Reports 5,000.00
Poll tax …~~~~~~~~~~~ 392,000.00
Professional tax .................................................... 62,700.00
Taxes collected not on digest ----------- ~~~~ 100,000.00
Miscellaneous (back taxes, etc.) .......................... 50,000.00
Total ......'…~ $5,032,189.16
Revenue collected, see list attached .................... 1,248,049.03
Balance ~~~~… $3,784,140.13
1921 ad valorem taxes uncollected June 10, 1922.8572,594.51
1919, 1920 and 1921 railroad taxes uncollected
June 10th … 66,268.53
& Total …~~~~~~~~ $638.863.04 .
This estimate of revenue due and revenue collected does
not contain any receipts from Motor Vehicle Fees, Rental of
W. & A. Railroad or borrowed money.
1922 TAXES COLLECTED IN 1922 THROUGH JUNE
TO
& &
& &
& &
Abstract Companies Tax
Adding Machine Companies
Advertisng Agents
10, 1922.
& &
& 4
& &
& &
& 4
& &
4 &
& 4
& &
Agencies
Auto Accessories
Artists --~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Athletic Clubs
Auctioneers
Automobile Agents
Auto Assembling Plants
Awning and Tent Makers
Adjustment Bureaus
Back Taxes
Bill Distributors
Barbers’ Shops
Barbers’ Supplies
Beauty Parlors
Bee License Tax ..............................................
Bicycles
Billiards and Pool
Bill POSters
Book Agents
Bond Makers
“ Bottlers
Brokers (S. & B.)
Cafes and Restaurants
Carbonic Acid Gas
Cars for Hire
Cash Registers
Cemetery Agents
Cigar Dealers (W. & R.)
* * * * * * * * * = * = * = e s - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * = =
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * = * * * * * * * * * * * * * = -
45.00
1,080.00
792.00
1,597.50
3,150.00
414.00
90.00
810.00
14,377.05
270.00
135.00
45.00
12,953.77
22.50
8,325.63
180.00
216.00
375.00
513.00
18,630.00
540.90
4.50
180.00
405.00
3,150.00
1,552.50
5,704.92
2,394.00
540.00
198.00
1,777.50
Cigarette Dealers ............--------------------------------
Coal and Wood Dealers ...............-------------------
Cold Storage Tax --------------------------------------------
Construction Companies --------------------------------
Contractors
Cost on Fi Fas ------------------------------------------------
Detective Agents ...........................-----------------
Directory Tax ......................----------------------------
Dividends from Stocks ..................................
Dry Cleaners .........................................-----------
Electrical Contractors and Electricians ........
Electric Shows
Electric Shows Supplies .......................... ------
Employment Agencies ....................................
Fees from Fertilizers
Fees from Pure Food ....................................
Forest Reserve Fund
68,672.30
2,322.00
8,370.00
209.14
1,250.68
8.00
585.00
112.50
1,391.00
450.00
144.00
3,205.64
1,350.00
495.00
159,000.00
- - - - - - * * * * * * * - - - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - - - - - * *
Game Protection Fees ....................................
Garages
Hotels …~~~~~~~
Ice Cream Dealers, wholesale ........................
Inheritance Tax ................................................
Insolvent General Tax ....................................
Insolvent Poll Tax ............................................
Insurance Agents ............................................
Insurance Fees ................................................
Insurance Tax by Companies ........................
Implement and Machinery Mfrs. and Agents
Interest from Depositories ............................
Junk Dealers ....................................................
Land Title Registration Fees ........................
Laundries ….....…..............................
Lease Indian Spring ........................................
Lenders on Wages ..........................................
Lighting Plants
Live Stock Dealers ..........................................
14,000.00
6.10
151,137.21
112.50
5,000.00
3,165.75
4,027.95
274.50
147,321.73
19,210.34
416.23
22,423.50
52,186.00
106,485.97
430.00
695.59
918.00
80.97
562.50
110.00
3,510.00
67.50
1,165.50
& &
& &
& &
& &
& 4
& 4
& &
& &
& 4
& &
& &
& 4
& &
& 4
Loan Agents
Lumber Dealers
Manufacturers Soft Drinks
Merchandise Brokers
Money Refunded
Monument Dealers
Motorcycle Dealers
Musical Dealers
Occupation Tax (Capital)
Office Fees ................................................... -----
Oil Fees
Oyster and Shrimp Packers
Palmists
Pawnbrokers
Peddlers
Pensions Refunded
Picture Frame Dealers
Pistols and Cartridges
Playing Card Dealers
Patented Articles
Pumping Systems
Railroad News Companies
Real Estate Agents
Rental Public Property
Safes and Vaults
Sale of Public Property
Sale of Acts
Sale of Codes
Sale of Court of Appeal Reports
Sale of Supreme Court Reports
Sanitariums
Sewing Machine Agents
Sewing Machine Companies
Show Tax
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * = * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
693.00
193.50
1,495.39
1,957.50
1,794.26
468.00
112.50
3,924.00
208,180.04
150.25
26,426.02
315.00
810.00
5,490.00
4,590.00
83,782.03
9.00
7,600.50
2,079.00
22.50
90.00
1,350.00
3,393.00
8,475.00
360.00
1,049.07
213.58
391.64
698.70
1,076.87
1,057.50
870.00
& 400.00
- 776.71
859.50
3,424.50
270.00
90.00
“ Teachers’ Agencies ........................................ 135.00
" Traders … 22.50
“ Trucks (G. & O.) ............................................ 3,699.00
“ Typewriter Agents ................... ~ 1,440.00
“ Undertakers .................................................... 3,460.50
“ Used Car Dealers .............................................. 270.00
“ Warehouses ...................................................... 2,380.50
“ Weighing Scales .............................................. 367.20
Total receipts during January 1st-June 10th,
1922 …~~~~~~~~~~~ $1,248,049.03
53
TABLE “C”.
TAX RATE OF
CITIES 1921.
Abbeville ........................ 20 Bethlehem ...................... 2%
Acworth .......................... 12% Bibb City ........................ 0
Adel …~~~~ 25 Bishop .............................. 5
Adairsville ----------............ 15 Blackshear ...................... 20
Adrian ............................ 7% Blakely --------------.............. 15
Ailey … 0 Blue Ridge ...................... 22.1%
Alapaha ---------------------------- 9% Bogart ---------------............. 7%
Albany ............................ 19 Boston .............................. 15
Alma … 171% Bowersville .................... 17.1/3
Alto ~~~~~~~ 3 Bowman .......................... 8
Americus ........................ 20 Braswell .......................... 0
Apalachee ........................ 3 Bremen ............................ 15
Arabi ….. 6%. Brewton .......................... 0
Arlington ........................ 17% Bristol .............................. 0
Ashburn .......................... 17 . Bronwood ........................ 10
Athens ............................ 17 Brooklet .......................... 5
Atlanta ............................ 15 Broxton ------------.............. 25
Auburn … 3 Brunswick ........................ 20
Augusta............................ 191% Buchanan ........................ 0
Austell ............................. 1.11% Buena Vista .................... 21
Avera …...................... 5 Buford ............................ 20
Aberdeen ........................ I Bullochville .................... 2%
Alamo .....…...................... 12 Butler .............................. 0
Arcade ............................ 5 Byromville ...................... 5
Avalon ............................ 2 Byron .............................. 3%
Argyle ............................ 3 Bowden ............................ 10
Baconton .......................... 15 Bridgeboro ...................... ()
Bainbridge ...................... 15 BOX Springs .................... 0
Baldwin ............................ 5 Bostwick .......................... 0
Ball Ground .................... 5 Belmont .......................... 6
Barnesville ...................... 10 Brooks ............................ 5
Bartow ............................ 10 Berlin 5 ........................ 5
Baxley ............................ 1714, Brinson ............................ 5
Bellton ............................ 3 Cadwell ............................ 14
54
Cairo … 15
Calhoun 20
Camak .. 10
Camilla ............................ 15
Canon ------------------------------ 2%
Canton -----------------------------. 11
Carlton ............................ 8
Carrollton ---------------------- 17.1%
Cartersville -------------------- 18
Cave Springs .................. 9
Cecil -------------------------------- 5
Cedartown ---------------------. I71/2
Chalybeate Springs ...... 5
Chauncey ------------------------ 5
Chatsworth ...............------- 5
Chester … 5
Chickamauga ------------------ 12%
Chipley ---------------------------- 10.1
Clarkesville -------------------- 10
Claxton ---------------------------- 8
Clayton ---------------------------- 15
Climax ...------------------------- 10
Cobbtown ........................ 5
Cochran -------------------------- 161%
Colbert ............................ 3
Coleman -------------------------. 5
College Park .................. 20
Collins ....…...................... 8
Colquitt -------------------------- 9
Columbus ------------------...... 18
Comer -----------------------------. 5
Commerce ...................... 15
Concord .......................... 71%
Conyers ..........................18%
Cooledge -------------------------- 10
Cordele ---------------------------. 16.6
Cornelia -------------------------. 17.1%
Covington ...................... 15%.
Crawfordville ----------........ 11
Crossland ........................ 10
Culloden .......................... 4
Cusseta .......................... 4
Cuthbert ........................ 22%
Center ------------------............ 2
Clarkston ........................ 3.7
Dallas .............................. 8%
Dalton .............................. 15
Danville .......................... 5
Dawson ---------................. 18
Decatur .......................... 15
Douglas .......................... 181%
Douglasville .................... 12.1%
Dublin .............................. 15
Dahlonega ...................... 8.3
Eastman .......................... 15
Eatonton ........................ 15
Elberton .......................... 15%
Ellaville .......................... 10
Ellijay .............................. 9
Fairburn .......................... 20
Fayetteville .................... 5
Fitzgerald ........................ 15.7
Forsyth ...... -------------------- 9
Fort Gaines .................... 15
Fort Valley .................... 15
Franklin ............-------------- 2%
Gainesville ...................... 17.1%
Garfield .......................... 5
Gay … 5.
Geneva ............................ 0
Georgetown .................... 0
Gibson ............................ 5
Gillsville .......................... 2
Glennville ...................... 15
Glenwood ........................ 5
Godfrey ------------------------ 5
Gordon
Grantville ------------------------ 10
Grayson -------------------------- 2%
Greensboro -------------------- 15
Greenville - 10
Griffin - 18%
Guysie ---------------. ~ 0
Guyton ---- 10
Graham º 0
Gray 0
Graysville ------------------------ 0
Hagan ------------------------------ 2%
Hahira ---------------------------- 201/2
Hamilton ------------------------ 5
Hampton -----------------------. 81/2
Hapeville ........................ 15
Haralson -------------------------- 0
Harrison -------------------------. 0
Hartwell -----------------......... 20
Hawkinsville .................. 20
Hazlehurst --------.............. 17.1%
Helena ---------------------------. 101/3
Higgstown ---------------------- O
Hillsboro .......................... 0
Hiram …........................... 0
Hogansville .................... 15
Homeland ........................ 5
Homerville ---------------------. 5
Hoschton ........................ 12%
Holly Springs ................ 2
Hickox ---------------------------. ()
Hilltonia .......................... 0
Helen -------------------------------. 8
Hoboken .......................... 4
Ideal -------------------------------- 11
Iron City -----------------------4---- 10
Inman ------------------------------ () ,
* * * * * * sº s ºr me as sº * * * * * * *m, am, sº sº sº me as am 16
Jasper -----------------------------. 3%
Jefferson ........................ 17
Jenkinsburg --------------...... 5
Jesup -----------------------------. 15
Jonesboro ------------------------ 10
Junction City ................ 5
Jakin -------------------------------- 5
Keysville -------------........... 5
Kingsland ------------------------ 4
Kingston ...................... 2%
Kirkwood ........................ 171/3
Kite …~~~~ 8
LaFayette ...................... 12.
Lawson ............................ 3
LaGrange ........................ 121/2 .
Lake Park ...................... 5
Lavonia .......................... 17.1%
Lawrenceville ................ 19
Leary …......... 5
Leesburg ........................ 10
Lenox ........ ---------------------- 5
Leslie ..…. 5
Lexington ---------------------- 0
Lilburn --------------------------. 5
Lithia Springs ................ 3
Lithonia .......................... 25
Locust Grove .................. 31%
Logansville .................... 10
Louisville ........................ 16
Lovejoy .......................... 2
Lovett .............................. 5
Ludowici ........................ 5
Lula --~~~~ 6
Lumber City .................. 12.1%
Lumpkin .......................... 22
Luthersville .................... 4
Lyerly …..................... 4
Lyons ----------------------------. 161/3
56
Lily ---------------------------------- 20
Linwood -------------------------- 5
*Lincolnton -------------------- 15
Macon ------------------------------ 15
Madison -------------------------- 18
Manchester ---------------------- 10
Mansfield -----------------------. 15
Mapleton ...........................:0
Marietta ------------------------ 14
Marshallville ------------------ 0
Martin ---------------------------- 5%
Maysville ------------------------ 15
*Meigs ---------------------------- 10
Menlo ...--------------------------- 4
Merrillville ...................... 0
Metcalf ---------------------------- 5
Metter … 23
Midville -------------------------- 15
*Milan ........-------------------- 5
Milledgeville .................. 12%
Millen ------------------------------ 10
Milner ------------------------------ 71%
Mineral Bluff .................. 5
Mitchell -------------------------- 2%
Molena ---------------------------- 4%
Monroe -------------------------- 12.1%
Montezuma ..............------ 15
Monticello ...................... 6
Moreland .........--------------- 5
*Morven .......................... 8
Moultrie -------------------------. 21
Mountville ...................... 1.
Mountain City ................ 5
Mount Airy .................... 10
*Mystic .....................------- 5
Modoc -----------------------------. 0
Middleton ........................ 0
Mauk ------------------------------ 5
Morgan ---------------------------.
Mount Vernon ................ 0
*Milltown ........................ 30
Meansville ..........g- - - - - - - - - - - - 5
Montrose ........................ 0
Manassas ........................ 5
McCaysville .................... 25
McDonough .................... 10
McRae .............................. 8
Nashville ........................ 27.1%
*Naylor ----------.................. 5
Newborn ........................ 12
Newman ----------................ 12%
*Nicholls ........................ 20
Nicholson ........................ 1
Norcross .......................... 9
Norman Park .................. 7%
Nunez .............................. 5
Newington ...................... 5
Oakfield .......................... 5
Ocilla .....….................. 22
Ochlocknee ...................... 0
Odessadale ...................... 5
Odum -------------................. 71/3
*Oglethorpe .................... 21
Oliver ---------..................... 5
Omega .........…................. 5
Oxford ............................ 0
Palmetto .......................... 15
Parrott ........................... 8
Patterson ........................ 0
Pavo ..…. 12
Pearson .......................... 12.1%
Pelham ............................ 15
Pembroke ........................ 10
Pepperton ........................ 4
Perry .............................. 18
Pinehurst ........................ 20
57
Pine Park 7
Pineview 5
Pltts 9
Plains ------------------------------ 10
Plainville ------------------------ 3%
Pooler ------------------------------ 5
Poulan ---------------------------- 8%
Powder Springs -------------- 5
Primrose ------------------------ 6.---
PendergraSS -------------------- 2%
Preston 71/3
Planfield -------------------------. 2%
Portal -- 0
Quitman -- 19
Ray City .. 5
Rebecca .10
Reidsville ------------------------ 10
Rentz ------------------------------ 20
Reynolds -------------------------- 5
Rhine - 5
Richland 20
Ringgold -------------------------- 2%
Roberta -------------------------- 5
Rochelle -------------------------- 15
Rockmart ------------------------ 12%
Rocky Ford -------------------- 5
Rome -------------------------------- 15
Rossville -------------------------- 5
Roswell ---------------------------- 10.6
Royston ---------------------------- 171/3
Ranger ---------------------------- 10
Riverdale ------------------------ 0
Rockledge -----------------------. 10
Reno -------------------------------- 0
Sale City -------------------------- 10
Sandersville -------------------- 17.1%
Sasser ------------------------------ 5
Savannah ------------------------ 16.6
Scott 5
Screven -------------------------- 5
Senoia ------------------------------ 13%
*Seville ---------------------------. 5
Shady Dale ---------------------. 6
Sharon ---------------------------- 5
Sharpsburg -------------------- 5
Shellman ------------------------ 15
Smithville ------------------------ 5
Smyrna ---------------------------. 7%
Social Circle -------------------- 16
Soperton -------------------------- 10
Sparks ---------------------------. 20
Sparta -----------------------------. 12
*Stapleton ...................... 10
Springfield ...................... 3
Statesboro ...................... 19
Statham .......................... 10
Stillmore ........................ 12
Stockbridge .................... 8%,
Stone Mountain .............. 14
St. Charles ---------------------- 5
St. George -----------........... 5
*Summertown ---------------- 6
Summerville .................. 15
*Sumner -------------------------. 5
Sunny Side ...................... ()
Suwanee .......................... 4
Swainsboro .................... 10
Sylvania .......................... 10
Sycamore ........................ 71/3
Sylvester ........................ 18
Scotland .......................... 14
Stonewall ........................ 0
Sugar Valley .................. 5
Shingler ............-------------- 3
Talbotton ..............---------. 10
Tallapoosa ...................... 14
Tallulah Falls .................. 4
Tarrytown ...................... 20
Temple ............................ 5
Tennille .......................... 17%
Thomaston ...................... 17
Thomasville .................... 14
Thomson ........................ 15
Tifton -----------................... 18
Tiger … 5
Toccoa ------...................... 16.7
Toomsboro ...................... 5
Trenton .......................... ()
Turin ...…...................... 2%
Tybee .............................. 10
*Ty-Ty ............................ 10
Tyrone ............................ 3
Tennga ............................ O
Talking Rock .................. 4
Tignall ............................ 8
Twin City ........................ 20
Unadilla .......................... 20
Union City ...................... 20
*Union Point .................. 61%
Uvalda ............................ 3
Uptonville ...................... 0
Valdosta .......................... 16.7
Vidalia ............................ 15
Vienna ............................ 16
Villa Rica ........................ 71/3
Vanna .............................. !/?
*Vidette .......................... 5
Waco ................................ 7%
Wadley ............................ 10
Waresboro ...................... 4
*Warrenton .................... 15
Warsaw .......................... 3
Warwick .......................... 5
Washington .................... 13
Watkinsville ............-------. 5
WaycroSS ........................ 18
Waynesboro -------------------. 6
West Point .................... 17.1%
Whigham -----------------------. 8
White Plains ------------------ 0
Whitesburg .................... 5
*Willacoochee ................ 17.1%
Winder ---------------------------. 15
Winokur -------------------------- 0
Woodbury ...................... 7
Woodland ........................ 3%
Woodstock ...................... 2%
Worth .............................. 0
Wrens ......................... ... 8
*Wrightsville .................. 10
Woolsey .......................... 0
Weston .......................... 71/3
Woodbine ........................ 5
Wesley ............................ 2%
Waverly Hall .................. 2
Yatesville ........................ 4
White .............................. 3%
Zebulon .......................... 71%
Average rate 10.1 mills.
*Denotes tax rate levied in
1920.
.59
Bonded
CG) UNTY - Debt
Floating
Debt
Appling ..................... ...; 40,000 $ 20,000
Atkinson ...................... 72,500
Bacon ............................ 100,000
Banks .......... --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Barrow ........................ 250,000
Bartow ........................ ................
Ben Hill ...................... 42,500
Berrien ........................ ................
Bibb .............................. 1,440,000
Bleckley ........................ 65,000
Brantley .................. . --------------------
Brooks .......................... 125,000
Bryan …....... ….... - - - - -
Bulloch ------------............ ................
Burke .............…..... ................
Butts -----------------------...- …
Calhoun ........................ ................
Camden ........................ ................
Candler ….................... ................
Campbell ...................... ................
Carroll ........................... ----------------
Catoosa ........................ ................
Charlton ...................... 50,000
Chatham ...................... 2,583,000
Chattahoochee ............ ................
Chattooga .................... 33,000
Cherokee ...................... ................
20,000
150,000
TOtal Tax State's
Rate Proportion
(Mills) (Per Cent)
20
32%.
30
31
24%
23
23.1%
25
221/3
22
19
24%
16
21
24
22
16
27
40
1834.
35
22.1%
221/3
211/3
22.8
221/3
20
23
20. . .
17
22.1%
21.1%
17.1%
22.1%
23.1%
22
25
15.5
16.6
16.1
20.4
21.7
21.2
20
22.2
22.7
26.3
20.4
31.2
23.8
20.8
22.7
31.2
18.5
12.5
26.6
14.3
22.2
22.4
23.2
21.9
22.4
25 :
21.7
25
- - - - - - - * * *
- * * * * * * * * *
- - - - - - - sº sº sº.
- - - - * * * * * *
29.4
22.2
23.2
28.5
22.2
21.2
22.7
60
* Bonded
COUNTY - Debt
Columbia .................... , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cook ............................ 240,000
Coweta ........................ 500,000
DeKalb ........................ 500,000
Dodge -------------------------. 94,000
Dooly … …
Dougherty .................. 460,000
Douglas ---------------------. ----- -----------
Early … --~~~~
Echols -------------------------. …
Effingham -----------------. ----------------
Elbert .......................... ................
Emanuel ........................ ..... - - - - - - - - - - -
Evans … …
Fannin .......................... ................
Fayette ........................ ---------------.
Floyd ............................ 704,000
Forsyth ........................ ................
Franklin ...................... 30,000
Fulton ....…........... …
Gilmer -----------…- …
Glascock .................. --> ----------------
Glynn .......................... 310,000
Gordon … … - - -
Grady … …
Greene .......................... --~~
Gwinnett ...................... ----------------
Habersham .................. ................
Hall ------------------------------ 60,000
Hancock '...................... 44,000
Haralson ...................... ----------------
Floating
Debt
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * = -
* * * * * * * * * *
* - ºr * * * * * * *
sº me • * * * * * * *
Total Tax State's.
Rate Proportion
(Mills) (Per Cent)
20
25
221/2
25
20
19.3
24
25
22%
221/3
23
18
27
27
24
191/3
30
37
30
25%
19
261/3
25
22%
17.1%
27
23
23
27
21
22.1%
18
22%
20
18.
25
20
22.2
20
25
25.9
20.8
20
22.2
22.2
21.7
27.7
18
18.5
18.5
20.8
25.5
16.6
13.8
16.6
19.5
26.3
18.8
20
22.2
28.5
18.5
21.7
21.7
18.5
23.8
22.2
27.7
22.2
25.
27.7
Bonded Floating
COUNTY Debt Debt
Harris -------------------------- 35,000 ..........
Henry … … --~~~~
Irwin … … …*- - - - - -
Jasper -------------------------- ~~~~~. … * -
Jeff Davis -------------------. ---------------. ----------
Jefferson ...................... 50,000 100,000
Jenkins … … …
Johnson … … …
Jones … … …~
Lamar … … …
Lanier … … Y----------
Lee …~~~~ 80,000 ----------
Liberty -----------------------. ---------------- ----------
Lincoln ........................ 30,000 ----------
Long ~ --~~~~. …
Lowndes ...................... 100,000 88,000
Lumpkin ...................... 76,000 ..........
Macon .......................... 190,000 ----------
Madison -----------------------. … ----------
Marison … … …
McDuffie .................. ................ ..........
McIntosh ...................... 76,000 ----------
Meriwether .................. ................ ..........
Miller ................. --------- ---------------- ----------
Milton … … …
Mitchell ................….... ................ ..........
Monroe … ---------------- ~~~~
Montgomery ................ ................ ..........
Morgan … … …
Murray … … … --
Muscogee -------------------- ................ ..........
Total Tax State’s
Rate Proportion
(Mills) (Per Cent)
23%
25
30
30
24
24%
20
22
26
20
281/2
18
24
20
2012
22
21
18
27
19
201/2
20
30
18
24
18
27
22
28.1%
28
25
20
30
17.1/3
23
151/2
21.2
20
16.7
16.7
20.8
20.4
25
22.7
19.2
25
17.5
27.7
20.8
25
24.4
22.7
23.8
27.7
18.5
26.3
24.4
25
16.7
27.7
20.8
27.7
18.5
22.7
17.5
17.8
20
25
16.7
28.5
21.7
32.2
Bonded
COUNTY Debt
Newton ........................ ................
Oconee … …
Oglethorpe .................. ................
Paulding ...................... -------------. ,- -
Pickens ........................ ----------------
Pierce -------------------------- 45,000 .
Pike ~~~~~… --~~~~~
Polk ------------------------------ 200,000
Putnam ........................ 2,000
Quitman …............... ---------------.
Rabun … …
Randolph -------------------. ................
Richmond .................... 62,000
Rockdale ...................... ................
Schley -------------------------- ~~~~~
Screven --------------------...- …
Seminole ...................... ................
Spalding ---------------------- 406,000
Stephens ...................... ----------------
Stewart -- * * * * tº º ºs º ºs m = m, ºg - º sº º sº º º º
Sumter ------------------------ 224,000
Talbot -------------------------- 46,000
Taliaferro -------------------- ----------------
Tattnall ........................ ---------------.
Taylor … …
Telfair .......................... .---------------
Terrell … …
Thomas ------------------------ 76,000
Tift ------------------------------ 346,000
Toombs ----------------........ …----------
Towns … …
Troup -------------------------- 615,000
Turner ------------------------ 70,000
Twiggs … ----------------
Floating
Debt
* * * * * * * * * *
s sº sº mº m = * * * *
* = m, sº sº me • * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
gº me • * * * * * * *
* = * * * * * * * *
ge s m º ºs º ºs ºs - as
tº º ſº º E. E. & ºr ºn º
* = * * * * := * * *-
tº º º º ºs º is ºr * *
Total Tax State’s
Rate Proportion
(Mills) (Per Cent)
18
23
17
18
181/3
26
T 24
19
30
22
25.4
.25%
20
221/3
26
16
40
30
231/3
26
23
27.7
21.7
29.4
27.7
27
19.2
20.8
26.3
16.6
22.7
19.7
19.6
25
22.2
19.2
31.2
12.5
16.6
21.2
19.2
21.7
25
22.2
21.7
22.2
25
22.7
20
27.7
17.8
20.8
26.3
14.3
21.2
20.8
Total Tax State’s
- - Bonded Floating Rate Proportion
COUNTY - Debt Debt (Mills) (Per Cent)
Union ~~~~~~~. --~~~~. --~~~~ 20 25
Upson .......~. 150,000 ---------- 171/2 28.5
Walker ------------------------ 400,000 ---------- 18 27.7
Walton ........................ 200,000 .......... 20 25
Ware ---------------------------. 500,000 ---------. 23 21.7 .
Warren ----------'• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---------- 25 20
Washington ---------------. ---------------. ---------- 25 20
Wayne .......................... 200,000 .......... 20 25
Webster ---------------------. ................ .......... 23.32 21.4
Wheeler ........................ ................ .......... 40 12.5
White -------------------------. ---------------. ---------- 19 26.3
Whitfield .................... ................ .......... 20 25 ..
Wilcox .......................... 140,000 ---------- 27 18.5
Wilkes ..............-----------. 125,000 ---------- 19 26.3
Wilkerson -------------------. ................ .......... 30 16.7
Worth ..........---------------- 400,000 ---------- 33 15.1
$12,714,000 $779,000 3715.32 21.1
64
CITY
Albany …
Americus …....................................
Ashburn …...................................
Athens …~
*Atlanta ----------------------------------------.
Augusta ................ --------------------------
Bainbridge --------------------------------------
Barnesville ......................................
Blackshear ......................................
Blakely ........ ** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * =
Boston ºr
Buford ................... ~
Cairo ~~~~~~~~~~
Calhoun -----------------------------------------.
Canton ~~~~~~~~~~
Debt
Bonded
57,500
447,000
289,000
67,000
669,000
14,400,000
3,175,000
172,000
130,500
56,000
80,000
34,500
242,000
35,000
69,000
53,000
59,500
288,000
Debt
Floating
* - ºr gº º º sº º ºs º 'º º mº m sº º
* * * * = * * * * * * * * * * *
127,000
1,000
12,000
17,400
3,100
Cedartown ------------------------................
College Park ....................................
Columbus -------------------------------.........
Commerce ........................................
Cordele ------------------------------------------
Covington ........................................
Dalton ~.
Dawson -------------------------------------------.
Decatur ---------------------------…........
Doerun ---------------------….
Douglas …
Douglasville ....................................
Dublin …
Eatonton …
Fitzgerald -----------------------.................
172,000
275,500
48,000
1,628,000
70,000
227,000
70,000
115,000
114,000
182,000
34,000
120,000
48,000
382,000
.65,000
116,000
65,000
224,000
130,000
500
8,500
CITY
Forsyth ...................* * * * * * * * * - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fort Gaines ....................................
Fort Valley -------------------------------------.
Gainesville ......................................
Grantville -------------------------------------.
Griffin --------------------------------------------.
Hapeville ........................................ -
Hartwell --------------------......................
Hawkinsville ....................................
Hogansville -------------------------------------.
Jesup --~~~~~~~~~~
Kirkwood ----------------------------------------
LaFayette ........................................
LaGrange ----------------------------------------
Lawrenceville ..................................
Lithonia -----------------------------------------.
Louisville ........................................
McDonough ........................................
McRae ---------------------------------------------
Macon ---------------------------------'-------------
Madison -----------------------------------------.
Manchester ........................................
Marietta ..........................................
Milledgeville ....................................
Millen ------------------------------------------------
Monroe -------------------------------------------.
Montezuma ....................................
Monticello ........................................
Moultrie ..........................................
Nashville -------------------.....................
Newman ............................................
Ocilla --~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quitman ….................…......
Reynolds ..........................................
Rockmart ........................................
Debt
Bonded
38,600
46,000
77,000
235,500
500,000
286,000
40,000
106,500
105,000
43,500
62,000
140,000
59,000
915,000
51,100
35,000
42,000
40,500
73,000
1,993,000
135,000
85,000
165,000
172,000
51,000
130,000
31,000
47,000
143,000
47,000
204,000
56,000
110,000
Debt
Floating
- - - - - - * * * * * * * * * *
Rome …
Royston ............................................
Sandersville ....................................
Savannah ........................................
Sparta ---------------------------------------------.
Statesboro ........................................
Swainsboro ......................................
Sylvania ..........................................
Sylvester ........................................
Tallapoosa ......................................
Tennille ……......…...........
Thomaston ......................................
Thomasville ....................................
Tifton …
Toccoa …
Unadilla ….........................................
Valdosta ..........................................
Vidalia ..............................................
Vienna …~~~~
Washington ....................................
Waycross .......................................---
Waynesboro ....................................
West Point ......................................
Winder ............................................
Woodbury ........................................
500,000
70,000
75,000
3,524,000
66,500
195,000
125,000
35,000
100,000
67,000
53,000
96,000
285,000
123,000
152,000
49,000
471,000
129,000
52,000
116,000
368,000
71,500
77,500
116,000
35,000
$37,940,000
5,000
220,000
23,000
15,000
$1,181,200
* Atlanta's authorized bond issue of $8,900,000 included.
67
EXHIBIT D.
OFFICE STATE TAx COMMISSIONER
Atlanta, Georgia, June 14, 1922.
Hon. Thomas W. Hardwick, Governor,
State Capitol, Atlanta.
Dear Sir :
As requested by you on yesterday, I am furnishing you
an estimate of the revenues for the present year from ad
valorem taxes. *
During the early part of the year I held tax conferences
throughout the State and from the information furnished
me in these conferences by tax officials, there will be a re-
duction in the value of country real estate of about ten per
cent average for the whole State. There will be practi-
cally no reduction in city property, while there will be in
live stock and other personal property a reduction of pos-
sibly twenty per cent. This will mean an average loss of
the total digest values of about ten per cent.
This will mean an aggregate return from all of the coun-
ties of about One Billion Dollars, and the net revenues after
expense of collection, will run about Four Million, Six Hun-
dred Thousand ($4,600,000) Dollars. The inheritance taxes
for the year will probably run about the same as last year,
Or, around Three Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand ($325,-
.000) Dollars. * -
These being , the only two classes of taxes which come
immediately under the supervision of this office, I am not
in position to make you an estimate of the probable reve-
nues arising from the special license taxes, fees, and taxes
on fuel oils. The Comptroller-General’s office could furnish
you an estimate of these revenues.
Very truly yours,
H. J. FULLBRIGHT,
State Tax Commissioner.
HJE/A
68
y
% 7
(2 4/4
sièRači
a 3"
MESSAGE
Af OF
GOVERNOR THOMAS W. HARDWICK
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
JUNE 29, 1923
MESSAGE
GOVERNOR THOMAS W. HARDWICK
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
GEORGIA
JUNE 29, 1923
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA :
In accordance with practice, and in obedience to law, it
now becomes my duty, for the last time, to give you “infor-
mation on the state of the commonwealth” and to recom-
mend for your consideration such measures as may seem
necessary or expedient.
I wish to assure you, at the outset, that in the perform-
ance of this high duty I am inspired by no other motive ex-
cept the good of the State and the well being of its people.
Retiring as I shall in a few days from public station, I shall
carry with me into private life and into such other public
duties of a very different character as await me a deep and
real love for the people of Georgia, a sincere and grateful
appreciation of the many marks of confidence and esteem
that they have at various times bestowed upon me, and a
real and anxious solicitude for their prosperity and happi-
ness, and it is in this spirit that I address you in the per-
formance of the last public duty that rests upon me as
Governor of Georgia.
As I attempt to give you information on the state of
the commonwealth, I am conscious of a feeling of deep so-
licitude and of keen anxiety respecting the immediate fu-
ture of the State, which I cannot conceal and to which I
feel obligated to give frank and candid expression.
In Georgia and throughout the country public opinion is
now and has been for some years in an uncertain and un-
settled condition. We are barely beginning to emerge from
that unrest and dissatisfaction that always accompanies
and characterizes the reconstruction periods that inevitably
and inescapably come in the wake of a great war. In such
a period restlessness and instability seem inseparable from
necessary readjustment. I have every confidence, how-
ever, that in Georgia and throughout the country reaction
to normal sanity and to the great fundamentals upon which
2
both our society and our government rest is rapidly replac-
ing that restless spirit of mobocracy and lawlessness that
seeks and tends to destroy respect for and confidence in
all governments, national, state and local, and in the men
who administer them, to undermine and destroy all re-
spect for and confidence in the courts and the men who
administer the law therein, and to substitute for the order-
ly processes of representative government, both in the mak-
ing of the laws and in their administration, the reckless
passions and seething prejudices of an unsettled hour. In
such a period one of the most powerful and irritating of the
forces that make for restlessness is financial depression, and
no thoughtful or informed person can doubt that much of
the radicalism and unrest that has marked our present
reconstruction period comes from that source.
A deflation of both currency and credits that, in my
judgment, was entirely too drastic and too sudden, closely
followed the armistice and cost this country in lowered
values, dropping prices and contracting business many times
more than the great war itself cost us, even if we include
in that cost the billions we lent to our late associates in that
War". -
In the country as a whole the marvelous vitality and re-
cuperative power of American business seems to have with-
stood the shock and weathered the storm so well that as a
rule recovery to normal prosperity is general and is at hand,
but it is also a fact to which we would be foolish to shut
our eyes that certain sections of our country and certain
classes of our citizens have not as yet shared to any ap-
preciable degree in the improvement to which I have al-
luded.
Throughout the nation the agricultural masses have suf-
fered most and have recovered most slowly. The prices of
their staple products have, as a rule, dropped far below the
high prices of the war period and that without any com-
pensating reduction in their costs of production or in their
O
• X
cost of living. How to meet and cure this trouble is the
greatest problem that confronts the real statesmanship of
the day, for no real statesman can fail to apprehend that
this country, as a whole, can have no real and permanent
prosperity so long as agricultural production languishes, or
is profitless. f
The Southern farmer has not only shared in the general
distress that has come to the farmers of all sections, but
just at this juncture he has been burdened and cursed with
the boll weevil pest that has threatened the destruction of
his great money crop and that cannot be fought with any
measure of success without a great increase in the cost of
producing cotton. The farmers of Georgia have been among
the heaviest, if not the very heaviest, sufferers from this
combination of falling prices and the boll weevil, for in
Georgia the climax of boll weevil troubles and of the sudden
deflation to which I have alluded came together, hit hardest
and bit deepest. The Georgia farmer, however, comes of
stern and fighting stock. He has no “cry-baby” spirit, and
the word ‘quit” is not to be found in his old-fashioned dic-
tionary. He inherited this indomitable spirit from his
fathers. That spirit has been in splendid evidence this
year in Georgia. Inspired by it, the debt-burdened Georgia
farmer has sold his timber down to its smallest trees and
has skimped and scraped in every posible and conceivable
way to raise money to buy fertilizer and calcium arsenate
and to employ labor, in a herculean effort to produce one
more good crop, in the hope that he could thereby reduce
the burden of his debts. He has exhausted every source of
credit and strained every nerve in one supreme effort to
“come back.” Weather and crop conditions since the plant-
ing time, and continuing up to the very moment that this
message is being prepared, have been so untoward and so
unfavorable as to cause the gravest concern and to make it
extremely doubtful, whether, regardless of the boll-weevil
or financial difficulties, anything like a full and profitable
4
crop of either cottom or any one of our other great staples
can be produced in Georgia this year. There is, of course,
the hope still remaining that continued hot and dry weather
for the balance of the summer may, to some extent, repair
the damage that has already been done, but I have a very
great and a very real fear that we are actually facing not
only a possible but a probable crop failure in Georgia this
year, and so deep is my concern Over this situation that I
regard it as my solemn duty to invite the attention of the
General Assembly to it, so that the General Assembly may
proceed with great caution and extreme prudence just at
this juncture and may apply to the fiscal affairs of the
State and to the appropriations it must make the most rigid
and ruthless economy.
FISCAL AFFAIRS.
This brings me directly to a brief discussion of the fiscal
affairs of the State, which are, just at this juncture, of para-
mount importance. In presenting to you what I shall en-
deavor to say on this subject I shall not follow the custom
that I have hitherto followed on similar occasions—present
you with a mass of figures and a wealth of detail. On the
contrary, for details and figures I shall refer you to the very
able and comprehensive reports of the Comptroller-General
of Georgia and of the State Tax Commissioner of Georgia.
for this year and to my message to the General Assembly
of Georgia of date June 29, 1922. By omitting details and
figures as much as possible, and merely referring you to
the sources from which accurate and reliable figures may
be obtained, I hope to be able to add force as well as terse-
ness and comparative brevity to what I shall have to say
on this subject. .
The report of the Budget Commission created under the
Act of August 15, 1922, is or will be before you. It cor-
rectly states the condition of the State's finances and gives
you what I believe to be the only wise and safe course to
5
follow in making the appropriations for the years 1924 and
1925, except that I shall recommend in another part of this
message certain special economies and retrenchments in
various departments of the State government which are
not touched upon, except in a very general way, in the re-
port of the Budget Commission.
I now wish to present to you a very brief review of the
fiscal history of the State since the beginning of the pres–
ent administration and up to the present time. This is not
done with a view of either defending the fiscal policies of
my administration or praising them, but merely for the
purpose of enabling you to see exactly what the true con-
dition of the State's fiscal affairs is at the present moment,
so that you may enter upon the discharge of your duties
at this critical juncture with a fair understanding of what
the real situation is.
When I was inaugurated Governor of Georgia, two years
ago, the State of Georgia faced a deficit of more than $2,-
000,000; (See message of 1921, page 7). In large measure
this deficit came from increased appropriations for pen-
Sions authorized by the Acts of 1918 and 1919. To make
up this deficit the General Assembly of 1921 authorized
the Governor to discount the rental due the State for a
period of five years for the W. & A. Railroad, and to ap-
ply the same to the current appropriations that were due
and unpaid. After a heated controversy, this legislation
was challenged in the courts and was finally held to be con-
stitutional by our Supreme Court; and of the sum of $2,297,-
586.21 realized from this railroad rent discountal (at the
discount rate of 5.95%) the greater part of $1,960,408.00
was employed to pay off all arrears in pensions due the
Confederate veterans and their widows up to January 1,
1922. The remainder of the sum realized by the discount,
$337,178.21, was paid on the appropriations for the com-
mon schools. At the same session of the Legislature, in
1921, in order to replace the rentals thus discounted, a
6
Special tax of one cent per gallon was levied on gasoline, and
as that tax has actually produced a net revenue of about
$750,000 per annum, it has more than replaced the dis-
counted railroad rental, which amounts to $540,000 per
2.Ill lullT1.
By this major Operation and by cutting all other appro-
priations ten per cent, where a cut was possible, the Gen-
eral Assembly, in 1921, restored the balance to our fiscal
affairs and left income and outgo balanced, with a reason-
able margin to cover expected and unavoidable deficiencies,
except that it made, of course, no provisions for increases
in either the classes of pensioners or the amount of pen-
sions for the year 1922 and 1923, and except that it made
an unfortunate and impracticable appropriation to the com-
mon schools of one-half of the excess of the revenues of
the State above $8,500,000 for the years 1922 and 1923,
to both of which matters I shall now call your attention,
with some particularity and concerning both of which I
shall have certain definite and specific recommendations to
make. Before I undertake to do this, however, permit me
to say that the deficiency appropriations made by the Gen-
eral Assembly in 1922, and approved by the Governor in
1922, did not destroy the balance between revenues and ap-
propriations, between income and outgo, though they did
wipe out substantially all surplus, and left the budget with-
in $10,000 or $15,000 of a balance. When the General As-
sembly met in 1922, however, great pressure came on the
question of pensions. It now becomes my duty to call your
attention to what has happened so that you may under-
stand the present situation with respect to this matter and
may fairly and intelligently discharge your duty to the
State. By the legislation of 1918 and 1919 and by the con-
stitutional amendment approved by the people in 1918, im-
portant changes were authorized in our pension system,
both in the classification of pensioners and in the amount of
the pensions to be paid. Prior to 1918, no Confederate vet-
7
eran who returned property valued at more than $1,500
was permitted to draw a pension, and no widow could draw
a pension unless she had been married to the veteran, for
whose service she drew a pension, prior to January 1, 1870,
and the amount of each pension was fixed at $100 per
annum. By the legislation to which I have alluded, passed
in 1918 and 1919, the property qualification of $1,500, to
which I have referred, was eliminated from the law and the
time limit within which the widows must have married the
veterans, for whose service they drew, was raised from
January 1, 1970, to January 1, 1881. It was also provided
in this legislation that all the pensions should be increased
from $100 per year so as to be $125 per annum in
1921; $150 per annum in 1922; and $175 per annum
in 1923, and $200 per annum in 1924. It must be re-
membered, however, that these changes in the law merely
conferred upon the General Assembly the bare power and
authority to make appropriations in these amounts and to
these classes, without making it either the legal or moral
duty of the General Assembly to make such appropriations
unless and until that body could provide sufficient revenues
with which to meet and pay the same. On the contrary,
it is, I think, indisputable that, whatever the legal power.
and authority of the Legislature was to make these appro-
priations, it had no moral right to do so unless it also pro-
vided, in some way, the revenue with which the appropria-
tions could be paid. At the session of 1921, it will be re-
called that the General Assembly provided for all arrears.
in pensions to both old and new classes up to January 1,
1922, and then provided, in the general appropriations bill,
for an appropriation of $1,250,000 in order to pay the old
classes, namely: veterans who did not posses property of
more than $1,500 in value, according to their tax returns,
and widows who had married prior to January 1, 1870, and
to pay only these classes at the old rate of $100 per an-
num. At the session of 1922, the General Assembly under-
8
took to appropriate for 1922 and 1923 to all classes of the
veterans, new and old alike, and at the rate of $150 for
1922, and $175 for 1923. Because the Legislature pro-
vided no additional revenue and because it was, in my opin-
ion, useless, and worse than uselss, to make these appro-
priations when to pay them was impossible with the reve-
nues of the State as they were and without increased reve-
nues, I was forced to withhold my approval from this leg-
islation. I
Income and outgo must be kept balanced in Georgia.
Pay as you go, is the motto of common sense which ought
to apply to and govern public and private business alike,
and I was utterly unable to give my approval to any legis-
lation that sought to appropriate money for any purpose,
when I knew that the revenues of the State could not meet
and pay the appropriation and when the body making the
appropriation, also clothed with the power to levy taxes,
failed and refused to provide any adequate additional reve-
nue out of which to pay the appropriations.
Now, let us see briefly and fairly what the situation is
with respect to this pension matter: In round figures, there
are about 10,000 names of veterans and widows of the old
classes on the pension rolls, and about 7,000 in the new
classes. To pay what the law authorized to old and new
classes alike would require, in round figures, $2,500,000 for
the year 1922, instead of 1,250,000, or an increase of $1,–
250,000 for 1922. In like manner, to pay all classes $175
per annum for the year 1923 would require, in round figures,
$3,000,000, instead of $1,250,000, or an increase of $1,750,-
000. And in like manner, to pay all classes, old and new
alike, $200 per annum for the year 1924 will require $3,-
400,000, or an increase of $2,150,000 for the year 1924. In
other words, to proceed on the theory that if the Legislature
is either legally or morally bound to appropriate this money
simply because it has authority of law to do so, and to pay
to all classes, old and new alike, pensions according to the
9
ascending scale fixed in the Act of 1918, and to appropri-
ate for arrears as well as for the future, means that over
$5,000,000 additional must be found to meet our pension
bill up to and including the year 1924, at the new rates, in
addition to the $1,250,000 that we have been annually ap-
propriating for this purpose. I submit to you, in all can-
dor and sincerity, that this is financially impossible, under
the present fiscal system of the State. You can not, in my
judgment, find the money, under the constitutional limita-
tions under which you labor, and the practical situation
that confronts you is that all pension legislation since 1918
should be repealed and the pensioners of the old classes be
paid at the old rates, as they were prior to 1918. Nothing
else is possible, under the present revenue and fiscal affairs
of Georgia; and, besides, I doubt very much whether it is
either wise or just to pay pensioners without regard to
their wealth, for I believe that if the toiling masses of the
State can stand more taxation for this purpose, that larger
pensions should be paid to those of our Confederate veterans
and widows who are poor and needy, and nothing to those
who are very wealthy or well off.
In the general appropriation bill of August 15, 1921, there
is the following provision:
“For the support and maintenance of the com-
mon or public schools of the State, $4,250,000 for
each of the years 1922 and 1923, and should the
revenue of the State exceed the sum of $8,500,000,
then one-half of the excess of each year to be ap-
plied to said common or public schools.”
The final provision above quoted rests, of course, upon
the basis that the total appropriations made by the Legis-
lature for 1922 were not to exceed $8,500,000, for if they
were in excess of that figure then, necessarily, either other
Specific and certain appropriations or this conditional ap-
propriation would be nullified to the extent of such excess
I ()
Over the sum of $8,500,000. But the general appropriation
bill referred to, and the very one that contains this pro-
vision, carried appropriations amounting to $9,452,237.15;
and at the 1922 session the General Assembly increased
these appropriations for the year 1922, by deficiency and
special appropriations, to the sum of $9,736,047. In my
annual mesage to the General Assembly of Georgia of date
June 29, 1922, (See pages 11 and 12), I pointed out this
situation to the General Assembly and urged that this pro-
vision be repealed, since to pay the conditional appropri-
ation therein caried was impossible and impracticable.
The Legislature did not repeal the provision; it made
other appropriations for 1922 that I approved, amounting
to almost $300,000, and others that I could not approve,
amounting into millions. It provided not one cent of addi-
tional revenues to met the appropriation contained in the
provision, or to meet the appropriations I was forced to
veto. The deficiency appropriations approved by me carried
us dangerously close to a balanced budget, leaving an ex-
cess of only about $14,000 of revenue aboxe expenditures
for the year 1922, even if all tax collections are made as esti-
mated. -
Under our fiscal system all property taxes are returned in
the Spring of One year, collected in the Winter of the
same year, or more generally in the early months of the
following year, and sometimes, in hard times like the pres–
ent, where some leniency in tax collection must be shown,
not until Spring of the year following that when they are
due.
The two largest items of our State budget are for Com-
morf Schools and for Pensions. These items are so large
that they can not be paid without due regard to when the
State actually receives the bulk of its revenues.
Consequently, following the law in part, as in the case of
School appropriations, and unbroken executive precedent
and practice as regards the pensions and other appropria-
11
tions, the School appropriation is paid after the bulk of
the State property tax comes into the Treasury, in the early
Spring, and in the meantime a system of discounting the
school warrants established in the Act of 1915 is maintained.
One-half of the Pension appropriation is paid in the Spring,
when the property taxes come in, and the other half in
the Fall, when certain special taxes on corporations are
collected. All other appropriations for all departments and
institutions of the State are paid monthly, the appropria-
tion being in each case, so far as possible and practicable,
divided into twelve equal installments and paid to these de-
partments and institutions at monthly intervals. Naturally
and necessarily while and so long as the State must spend
the bulk of its money the year before it is collected, there
is a constant over-lapping both of receipts and expenditures
from one year into another. It is unavoidable and inescap-
able. This system has obtained for many years, is au-
thorized by law and exists under the executive discretion
vested by law in the Governor and other fiscal officers of
the State. Under it the appropriations for all departments
and institutions for 1922 have been paid. Under it, the
$4,250,000 appropriation for the common schools has been
paid, under it the obligations for 1922, except the appro-
priation made by this provision, have been met and paid.
If this State and all of its various departments and in-
stitutions, was to continue to function, it was my impera-
tive duty to make provision for monthly payments to these
various departments and institutions, during the year 1922,
especially since each of these appropriations was positive
and certain, and I had no right, as Governor, to deny the
payment of these positive and certain appropriations in
order to await the ascertaining of a fact which could not
be known until June, 1923, particularly as the schools were
being operated-on the basis of the $4,250,000 appropriation,
and contracts with the teachers for the year 1922 had al-
ready been made and were being executed on that basis in
12
conjunction with whatever support the common Schools were
receiving in any given county or community from local tax-
ation. Before the time arrives when the amount of the
revenues of the State for the year 1922 can be officially and
accurately determined, for any payment at all on this un-
certain and conditional appropriation, the entire revenues
of the State will have been lawfully and necessarily ex-
pended to pay certain and definite appropriations.
Do not, I beg you, misunderstand me on that question.
I yield to no man in Georgia in my devotion to the Common
Schools of the State. No man sees more clearly than I do
the imperative necessity for their liberal support and rapid
advancement. No man believes more strongly than I do in
them, and in the absolute necessity for them.
To them, as well as to pensioners and to every one else,
we must, however, apply the same fundamental fiscal prin-
ciples. Income and outgo must be kept balanced in Georgia.
It is useless, and worse than useless, for the Legislature to
make appropriations, even for the common Schools, with-
out also providing the revenue with which to meet and pay
such appropriations.
I, therefore, unhesitatingly advise you to repeal that
part of the appropriation bill to which I have alluded, and
not to make future appropriations of that character, for
it is both impossible and impracticable to pay such an ap-
propriation, under the present fiscal system of Georgia.
The present revenues of Georgia are just about adequate
to pay the general expenses of the State, providing the
pensions are kept down to the old basis and providing the
unfortunate blanket provision for common schools is re-
pealed. Without these two policies being maintained, the
revenues of the State will be inadequate and insufficient.
If you will repeal the school provision referred to the books
of the State of Georgia will show income and outgo in
balance, both for the years 1922 and 1923. If the State is
to undertake larger and more ambitious schemes for the
13
appropriation of money, then it must have a new and a
larger revenue producing system, but I urge upon this
body the absolute necessity, at a critical time like this, of
going slowly before attempting any radical change, apply-
ing to our present System the principles of a real and rigid
economy in all the branches and departments and institu-
tions of the government.
RETRENCHMENTS AND ECONOMICS IN ADMINIs.
TRATION.
I unhesitatingly repeat my previous recommendations,
consistently and persistently made since my service as Gov-
ernor began, regarding the various State bureaus, boards
and commissions, and I unhesitatingly urge upon the Gen-
eral Assembly of Georgia a very careful examination into
the operations and expense accounts of every part of our
State government, and of every board, bureau and commis-
sion that exists by virtue of State law or State authority,
with a view to determining:
1st. Whether such agency of the State government per-
forms any useful or necessary function or not. If not, it
Ought to be abolished and the expense of its maintenance
ought to be saved.
2nd. Even if such agency of the government performs
a useful and necessary function, then its operations ought
to be examined into with a view to determining what eco-
nomies can be effected, without impairing its efficiency.
It is not my purpose to impair useful public service in
any line of legitimate or proper governmental activity, but
I do insist again, as I have always insisted, that in times
like these it is imperatively necessary that we abolish every
useless place, purge the payroll of every unnecessary offi-
cial and cut out extravagancies and waste wherever we
find it.
No Governor can accomplish this kind of retrenchment
by executive action alone. Whenever sinecures and use-
14
less places exist, they exist by virtue of law, and can only
be abolished by the General Assembly, which alone has the
power to repeal the laws under which they exist.
I unhesitatingly recommend the abolishment of the so-
called State Department of Archives and History. It is
neither useful nor ornamental. It performs no necessary
function for the State, and its records can well be kept in
the State Library. If the work of indexing is to be com-
pleted, it can just as well be performed by a Library clerk,
at a salary of not more than $1,500.00 per annum. -
I unhesitatingly recommend the reduction of the Public
Service Commission from five to three. This Commission
has very little to do with fixing of railroad rates within
the State, since recent Federal statutes, as construed by
the Supreme Court of ſhe United States, have virtually
deprived it if much of its power. The Federal statute in
question is in plain derogation of the right of the states
to control their local affairs, and so far as it confers upon
the Interstate Commerce Commission any right to fix rates
wholly within the State, it should be repealed. Until it is
repealed, however, there is no necessity of maintaining a
Commission of five members on the theory that they are
needed to perform any considerable amount of work in
the fixing of railroad rates. Besides, it will be remembered
that this Commission functioned for many years in Geor-
gia with only three members, and it was only after the
conclusion of a political campaign that it was necessary to
increase its number, to carry out the policy of a new ad-
ministration and to carry into effect the will of the people
of Georgia as expressed at the ballot box in that campaign.
No such situation now exists, and it seems to me, in a time
like this, that the people of Georgia can well dispense with
two of the Commissioners that have been added to the body,
and can well reduce its number from five to three, thus af-
fecting a saving of $7,200.00 per annum. Nor is it, in my
judgment, a sufficient reply for the advocates of keeping
15
the number of the Commission at its present figure, to
say that the railroads and other public service corporations
now defray the expenses of the Commission, including the
salaries of all of its members, under the provisions of the
law passed last year—for, after all, while the expenses of
this Commission does not come directly out of the Treasury,
it comes out of the public service corporations, who must
be allowed, in their rates and charges, to recoup for this
expense, and they can only do so out of the consuming pub-
lic. In this connection, it is worthy of note that thirty-
eight of the states of the Union have only three railroad
commissioners and that no Southern state except Georgia
has more than three.
The State of Georgia is board-ridden, commission-ridden
and trustee-ridden. I concede that it can probably be said
with truth that very few of these boards or commissions
represent activities that are wholly bad or for which some
good things cannot be said, but I believe it can be said with
even more truth that many of them represent activities
more or less paternalistic, that they are not essential to
the proper conduct of our State Government, and with which
we can well dispense, especially in hard times like these.
The University of Georgia system alone has 277 trustees.
Of course, I mean by that, the University of Georgia and
all of its branches.
I am of the opinion that a board of regents or of control
for the entire higher educational system of our State should
be provided to take the place of the present board of trus-
tees of the University of Georgia and of all of its branches,
and of every other institution of learning or education sup-
ported by the State. In my judgment, economy in the ad-
ministration of the affairs of these institutions—economy
in the purchase of the supplies needed by them, and a sys-
tematic corellation of the work of each one of them with
the other would be obtained by the adoption of such a plan,
and as a result we would have a systematized, coherent and
16
comprehensive educational system. Many of the more im–
portant and progressive states of the Union have adopted
this plan, and not one of them that has ever adopted it, in
whole or in part, has ever been willing to abandon it or to
return to the antiquated, disjointed and expensive system
that we maintain.
In my opinion, the Department of Agriculture has many
unnecessary employees, is far more of a political machine
than an agricultural department, and is conducted at far too
great an expense, both direct and indirect, to the taxpayers
of Georgia. A careful summary and recapitulation of the
appropriations, fees, etc., received by the Department of
Agriculture for the year 1922, made by the expert account-
ant employed by the Budget Commission, shows that the
Department of Agriculture, in the year 1922, employed 472
persons, largely as inspectors and traveling agents, and
paid these persons, for salaries and expenses, a total of
$451,631.28, a part of which was paid by direct appropri–
ation from the Treasury of the State, and a part of which
was paid by the special taxes on Oils and gasoline and fer-
tilizers. The inspection tax on oils and gasoline, from
which more than $400,000 annually is realized, is not inc
any sense a special burden on the agricultural interests as
such, but is a burden on all consumers of gasoline and oils
in the State, in whatever pursuit or calling engaged.
A careful examination into this subject will show that
we have in Georgia two hundred oil inspectors, who are paid
a total annual compensation of $99,319.72. As I shall en-
deavor to demonstrate to you, even under a proper system
of oil and gasoline inspection, the employment of so large
a number of persons for that purpose can only be ac-
counted for on the ground of political, rather than busi-
ness, necessity; and it is particularly unfortunate that such
a condition should continue to subsist and exist at the ex-
pense of the consumers of oils and gasoline, when the law
under which the inspections of oils and gasoline is made
17
in Georgia, is so antiquated, old-fashioned and obsolete that
the tests provided by it afford no real protection to gaso-
line consumers, and confer no real benefits whatever. The
inspection used in the tests of oils and gasoline is common-
ly known as the specific gravity test, and was established
by the Act of 1889, and will be found in Section 1809 of
the Code of Georgia, Volume 1, 1911. This test was adopted
at a period when there was little if any use of gasoline
throughout our State, especially for the purpose of furn-
ishing motive power for automobiles and trucks. For that
purpose it is antiquated, obsolete, old-fashioned and use-
less.
In the adjoining State of South Carolina, the Government
Navy specifications have been adopted by the State and
made a part of the State law. Without undertaking to
state to you in detail the provisions of that tests, I will
say that it secures the use, by the people of South Carolina,
of the very highest grade of gasoline, and protects the con-
Sumers of gasoline in that State. Under this oil inspection
law, I am informed by the authorities of South Carolina
that two oil inspectors are kept exclusively on the work of
oil inspection all of their time, in addition to one resident
inspector in Charleston, who gives a part of his time to
other duties in other departments of the State government.
These are the only three men regularly employed in the
inspection work for the entire State of South Carolina,
under its new and modern test laws.
In the neighboring State of Florida the tests adopted for
testing gasoline, kerosene and similar oils are those pro-
mulgated by the United tSates Bureau of Mines, and the
same will be found fully stated in Technical Paper 323, De-
partment of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, officially adopted
February 3, 1922, and revised October 31, 1922. The speci-
fications for gasoline will be found on page 3 of this Report
and the method of procedure for the testing of gasoline and
kerosene on pages 43 to 58, inclusive. As I understand this
18
somewhat technical matter, the test employed in Florida
is of the same general nature as that employed by South
Carolina, and both are largely combustion or distillation
tests and United States Government tests—modern and up-
to-date—and afford effective protection to the consumer.
In this connection, I do not think it will be inappropriate
to quote from a letter written to me by the Honorable
William A. McRae, Commissioner of Agriculture for the
State of Florida, under date of June 11, 1923:
“We have three State Inspectors and they give par-
ticular attention to taking samples from shipments com-
ing in by boat or otherwise, carefully inspect pumps at
dispensing stations, and do anything else that may be re-
quired of them for the good of the Department.
“The State of Florida has the best and simplest inspec-
tion law of any State, so far as I know, and the various oil
companies doing business in this State will verify this state-
ment. They have been very strong advocates for law, and
have at all time done their best to comply with its pro-
visions.” -
“The inspection work in Georgia could be done with not to
exceed six inspectors, with an expense account of $150
per month. Your laboratory should be well equipped for
the work and all samples as received from the inspectors
should be promptly anlyzed.”
“You will note from my report that our overhead expense
has all the way through been very small, considering the
fact that we have taken care of every penny of the ex-
pense attached to the Office—that is, one analyst, the labora-
tory costs, one clerk in the Department, three inspectors,
with their salaries and traveling expenses, and all other
costs incident to the running of the office.”
“When our Oil Division was established, our Inspectors
found fifty per cent of the dispensing pumps were giving
short measure anywhere from a quart to one gallon on a
five gallon purchase. It would be safe to say that the Sav-
19
ing to the consumers of gasoline in this State, since the In-
Spection Law was established, has saved the State many
times what the Law has cost. It will be safe to say that
Georgia will get the same results. To know that you are:
getting a standard that is high enough to be fair to the con-
Sumer and low enough not to put extra cost on the refiners,
and to know that you are getting the quantity of oil you
desire to purchase is something to be desired.”
“Gravity tests alone are worth nothing in determining the
quality of oil. No mention of gravity is made in the Bu-
reau of Mines specifications. In this connection you will
note that the Florida law permits the Commissioner of Ag-
riculture to promulgate a standard and I have accepted
the standard of the U. S. Bureau of Mines as the State’s
standard. This was done for two reasons; first, because
the Bureau of Mines is furnished every facility for mak-
ing tests and for the employment of the best equipped
analysts and for the further reason that there will be no
clash between the State and National Government on inter-
state shipments. We have found this to work well and we
believe the standard as promulgated by the Bureau of
Mines to be sufficiently high.”
I have no doubt that the Commissioner of Agriculture
of the State of Florida speaks advisedly and accurately
in this matter. I do not hesitate to state that I believe
that by following the example of either Florida or South
Carolina, we can Secure a real and adequate inspection of
both gasoline and kerosene oil, with a force of not more
than six inspectors, and can save to the public the expense
of maintaining and paying a force of two hundred inspectors,
whose appointments are made for political reasons and
whose services, if any, are purely of that character. -
If this course is adopted, the entire expense of gasoline
and kerosene inspection can be borne by the State Treasury,
and the present tax of one-half cent per gallon for inspec-
tion purposes can be abolished, and that amount can be
20
added to the gasoline tax levied by the General Assembly
in 1921, without any additional burden upon the consumer,
with the result of giving to the consumer of both gasoline
and kerosene real, adequate and modern tests of both qual.
ity and quantity of the products they consume in such vast
quantities, and at the same time saving to Treasury of
the State nearly one hundred thousand dollars per annum.
In my opinion, several economies and retrenchments can
be affected in connection with the State Prison Commission.
I recommend the abolishment of that Commission, and
the substitution therefor of a State Warden, to administer
the penal system of the State, and the employment of an
efficient pardon clerk, with adequate compensation, to fully
examine into all applications for executive clemency and
to make proper recommendations thereon to the Governor.
I believe that by pursuing this method very important .
economy can be effected in the State's budget, and that a
more efficient administration of the fiscal affairs of the
State can be obtained. Of course, the General Assembly
will understand that in making these recommendations, I
am not making any attack either upon the efficiency
or character of any of the individuals who now hold office
in any of the departments concerned. I am merely advising
the General Assembly of the reforms and retrenchments I
think can be accomplished in the government of the State,
and am seeking to urge upon it the consideration of these
questions, to the end that unnecessary offices may be abol-
ished, and real and substantial savings be affected.
TAXATION.
It is not my intention in this message to undertake again
a general discussion of taxation. I have never been either
a champion or apologist for our present equalization law.
My own belief, consistently and fully expressed in all of
my public messages and speeches, has been and is that the
State could, with profit, follow the example of North Caro-
21
lina, and impose an adequate income tax sufficient for all
State purposes, remitting the State tax on property. If
this is done, the present Equalization law could be repealed
without damage to the State, provided the date of repeal
were postponed until the proposed change in our revenue
system could become effective. If this is done invisible
wealth now escaping taxation can be forced to bear its
proper share of the burdens of government, for practically
all invisible wealth is income producing.
If this is done there would be no necessity for the present
State Tax Equalization law, for the reason that the State
would derive its revenue from sources other than property
taxes, and could leave to the counties and the cities the
undisputed field of property taxation. The valuations and
assessments could be adjusted locally and without regard
to the valuations, or assessments employed in other locali-
ties. -
I do not believe that it would be fair for me to fail to
call your attention to the fact that it is neither sensible nor
safe for the State to destroy or abolish its present revenue
system unless and until it shall provide another and ade-
quate revenue system, to take the place of the System so
destroyed. Indeed, I am of the opinion that in hard times
like the present it is both difficult and dangerous to under-
take a complete change in the fiscal system, and it may
be the course of wisdom not to undertake that change until
normal prosperity has come again in Georgia. Certainly,
you should proceed with great caution in this matter, and
take no step that is not based upon prudence and Sound
common sense, and destroy no piece of governmental ma-
chinery necessary to produce revenue until you have con-
structed something better to take its place.
AUDITING SYSTEM FOR THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
I strongly and emphatically urge the creation of a com-
plete and adequate auditing system for the State of Geor-
22
gia. It is folly to continue to administer the fiscal affairs
of the State, under our present antiquated system. It in-
Vites gratfing and waste. Every account should be audited
before it is paid, and not afterwards. We are already spend-
ing $15,000 a year, in round figures, on audits of the va-
rious departments of the State, and it will require but little
additional expense to establish and maintain a complete and
efficient auditing system. . g
Since I do not know that I could add anything to what I
said in my message of 1922 on this subject, I merely de-
sire to repeat the recommendation that I made, and to do
so with all possible emphasis and force. I invite your at-
tention to that recommendation, which will be found on
pages 16 to 24, inclusive, in my message to the General As-
sembly of June 29, 1922.
AUSTRALIAN BALLOT LAW.
I urgently recommend that Section 18 of the Act of
August 21, 1921, providing for a secret ballot in Georgia
be stricken therefrom. This law is a great step forward
in the effort to secure fair and honest elections in Georgia,
but in order to make it accomplish its highest and best pur-
poses, it should be effective uniformly throughout the
State, and should not depend for its operation on the grand-
jury action of the respective counties. If the ballot be
made secret, and secret all over Georgia, the temptation to
use money in our elections will be destroyed, and the right
Of the individual to vote his own convictions, without let or
hindrance or influence, will be established and safe-guarded.
EXECUTIVE MANSION.
Acting under the authority of the Act approved August
15, 1921 (Acts of 1921, Page 194), the Commissions ap-
pointed under the provisions of that Act, effected a lease
for a period of fifty years of the property known as The
23
Governor’s Mansion, located in Atlanta, at the intersection
of Peachtree and Cain Strets. A report of the acts and
doings of that Commission was submitted to the General
Assembly at its 1922 session. The average rental through
the period of fifty years for whichthe lease was effected,
amounts to $30,000 per annum. I invite your attention to
this subject again for the purpose of recommending that
suitable provision be now made for the purpose of furnish-
ing a suitable residence for the Governors of Georgia. It
is my opinion that the annual rental for a period of years
can be easily discounted and the proceeds of the discount
be employed to provide a suitable residence for the Gov-
ernors of Georgia, and I recommend that this course be fol-
lowed.
In making this recommendation, I also suggest that it
would, in my judgment, be appropriate and fitting for a
mansion to be erected which should be made a replica, as
far as possible, of the old Governor’s Mansion at Milledge-
ville, both because of the suitableness of that structure for
the purposes for which it was employed, and because of
the many historic and sentimental associations that at-
tach themselves to the old alyſinsion. I believe that if such a
Mansion could be constructed out of Georgia marble and
granite, at a reasonable cost, that it would be not only his-
torical in its significance, but appropriately commemorative
of two of Georgia's greatest products. - * .
I recommend that a Commission be appointed by the
present General Assembly to consider this matter and to
give it appropriate direction. :
FORESTRY.
I desire to call your attention to the report of the State
Board of Forestry. Within the last two years increase in
lumber production has been so great throughout the State
as to make it imperative that the State should take such
steps as are necessary to protect its forests against wanton
24
and useless destruction, and to provide, as far as possible,
for reforestation. -
I unhesitatingly repeat my recommendation of last year
On this subject and urge you to give favorable consideration
to the very moderate and reasonable request of the Forestry
Board on this subject.
REFORMS IN our PENAL SYSTEM.
In addition to the changes that I have recommended re-
specting the Prison Commission, I desire to recommend the
passage of a law prohibiting the appearance of any mem-
ber of the General Assembly, during the term for which
he was elected, as the hired agent or attorney for any ap-
plicant for executive clemency, either before the Prison
Board, the Pardon Clerk, or the Governor; and I desire to
recommend, further, the passage of a law prohibiting the
appearance in any matter, for compensation, before any
department of the State Government, of any member of
the General Assembly, during the term for which he has
been elected.
In the very careful and earnest consideration of the many
matters that have been brought to my attention in which
executive clemency is asked, I have been forced to con-
sider, in many cases, the deplorable suffering and poverty
that is sometimes inflicted upon innocent and helpless de-
pendents of the man who commits crime and is punished
therefor. In many cases the loss of the bread-winner of
the family has brought his innocent and helpless dependents
to poverty and almost to starvation. It seems to me that
it would be a wise and humane policy for the State of
Georgia to provide that, after a person is convicted of
crime and sent to its penitentiary, that such person shall
be allowed to have a part of the proceeds of his labor
to be devoted to the support of his innocent and help-
less dependents. Of course, no such provision should
be made until the convict shall repay to the State from
25
the proceeds of his labor the cost of his up-keep, in-
cluding guarding and every other element that enters
into such cost, and no such provision should be made ex-
cept in cases where the value of such labor is in excess of
the cost of such upkeep. The value of the convict’s labor,
whether he is engaged in public work or is employed on the
State Farm, or elsewhere, should be carefully appraised by
competent State authority, which should also determine the
cost of his upkeep, as defined above. The law should then
determine what percentage of the excess of the value of his
labor above his upkeep should be devoted to the support of
his dependents; and in determining that question the good
or bad conduct of the convict should be carefully consid-
ered, and in that way additional methods of enforcing dis-
cipline can be provided. In like manner, the same princi-
ples should be applied, in some degree even to convicts with-
out dependents for if one of the objects of penal punish-
ment is to reform the convict and restore the citizen, then
it can be readily seen how important it is when the con-
vict emerges from a term of servitude he should have some
financial resources, however comparatively small, with
which to begin life anew that he may thus have a better
chance to become a useful citizen, rather than to deteriorate
into a hardened, confirmed criminal.
Other states have applied these principles with great
success. It seems to me that the voice of humanity and
wisdom demands that an effort should be made to apply
them in Georgia to our penal system. If objection is made
—as it doubtless will—by the county authorities, that if
the counties are to employ the convicts on public roads, then
the sums of money necessary for the establishment and
maintenance of this system will come out of the counties,
then my reply is that the object is not good, for neither the
State nor the counties should have any right to expect to
make a profit out of crime. Humane and wise provision
for the reformation of criminals and for the protection of
26
Society, rise far above mere financial consideration in a
matter of this kind.
Acting under the authority of law, which requires me
to approve or disapprove all rules and regulations that may
be promulgated by the Prison Commission as to the gov-
ernment of convicts in our penitentiary system, on the 24th
day of February, 1923, I disapproved the rule of the Prison
Commission permitting flogging as a part of prison dis-
cipline. I am glad to report to you that, from the best of
my observation and information, the prison system is being
operated even more satisfactorily and efficiently, as a
whole, since the abolition of flogging. I was impelled to
take the action above referred to by reason of the fact that
our Constitution prohibits flogging as a punishment for
crime. It seems to me that the Constitutional provision,
fairly construed, also prohibits flogging as one of the means
for enforcing discipline in the prison camps, in order to
enforce the penalties imposed by the courts. If the courts
could not directly sentence a man to be flogged, then it must
follow that the Prison authorities have no Constitutional
right to inflict flogging, in Order to execute the sentence
Of the court. If that were to be permitted, we should be
doing indirectly what our Constitution prohibits us from
doing directly.
OTHER STATE REFORMS.
I recommend that a Constitutional amendment be sub-
mitted to the people, fixing the term of Governor of this
State at four years, instead of two.
Experience has demonstrated that a Governor can
hardly hope to carry out any important administrative re-
forms or to accomplish any real and substantial results, if
he is given a term of only two years and is to face a cam-
paign for re-election before his work can be half done.
In like manner, I believe that the term of the members
27
of the General Assembly should be made four years, in-
stead of two, and that we should have bi-ennial instead of
annual sessions of the General Assembly.
If this System is adopted, we can elect a Governor and
the members of the General Assembly and all other offi-
cers, State and Federal, on one and the same election day,
and have but one election every four yars and in which we
would vote for all officers from President to Coroner.
I believe that this step will serve to secure a larger and
more representative vote of our people, and will giv us a
more stable and responsive government.
In this connection, I recommend that the annual ses-
sions of the General Assembly be changed from the fourth
Wednesday in June of each year, until the first Wednesday
of January in each year. I believe that when the Governor
and the General Assembly elected in November of the pre-
ceding year are installed at the first of January following,
our government willbe more immediate responsive to the
will of the people, and without unnecessary delay or long
hang-over terms. Once the Legislature has met in January,
it is my judgment that it should both organize and trans-
act all of its business without wasting either time or energy
in an adjournment over to the Summer period.
The Constitution provides that the Governor “shall
take care that the laws are faithfully executed and shall be
the conservator of the peace.” The fact is, however, that
while the Governor is clothed with Constitutional respon-
sibility in this respect, he has very little power. He can
do nothing, no matter how outrageously the peace is in
danger or the laws are violated, except to call out the State
Militia, under proper request being made therefor by cer-
tain civil authorities. In order that the Governor may be
enabled to perform his duties, under his oath of Office and
under the Constitutional provision above referred to, I
make the following specific recommendations:
1st. That a small body of State constables or police-
28
men, to be appointed by the Governor and subject to his
authority alone, shall be provided for and that the Governor
shall be given broad power to use the police force so estab-
lished in any section of the State where, in his judgment,
it is necessary to employ them in order to conserve the
peace or executive laws of the State.
I make this recommendation without any intention or
purpose to reflect upon our present Military forces. The
National Guard as at present constituted is an exception-
ally fine body and is, in my opinion, in the most efficient
and serviceable condition that it has ever been in the his–
tory of the State. But there are many acts of lawlessness
and violence which the National Guard cannot be employed
to prevent and there are many occasions when conservation
of the peace requires the employment of a much smaller
and more mobile force than the troops of the State.
2nd. I recommend that the Governor of the State be
given the same power as is given to the Governor of many
Of the States to suspend or remove a Sheriff or peace of-
ficer who, in the judgment of the Governor, is guilty of
such breach of duty as to require such action.
In this connection, I invite your particular attention to
the laws of Florida on this subject, and submit for your
consideration the system employed by that State, which is
worthy of your close attention.
INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT.
We have no room in Georgia for invisible government
of any kind or character.
Government in Georgia should be in the open and
above-board. I have no objection to the existence of secret
fraternal organizations, whose sole purpose and practice
is the cultivation of civic virtues and social relations; but
I do object, with all of the force and emphasis of which I
am capable, to any secret organization that assumes to cen-
29
SOr the conduct of other persons or to sit in judgment upon
their actions. Men who follow such practices are them–
selves the worst of criminals, and strike at the very foun-
dation of all governments. They would subvert the courts,
and enthrone the mob.
Men who are trying to walk right, in the sight of God
and man, do not need to cover up their faces, in this State,
while they are doing it. ©
The General Assembly of this State should pass a
statute making it unlawful, under heavy penalty, for any
man or woman in Georgia to wear a mask over their faces.
on the public streets or the roads of the State, or in any
other public place.
The General Assembly should also pass a law requiring
every secret order in Georgia, Gentile or Jew, Protestant or
Catholic, white or black, to file with the Clerk of the Supe-
rior Court of each county in which such organization main-
tains a lodge or local unit, a full list of all the Officers and
members of such local lodge or unit, and the list of Officers
and members should be kept by the Clerk of the Superior
Court for purposes of inspection and public information at
all times.
LAW AN ORDER AND CITIZENSHIP.
In a period of unrest like that of the immediate past,
and to some extent the present, it has been difficult for the
civil authorities of the State to maintain perfect order at
all times, or to secure the prompt and general enforcement
of all the laws. I think I can say to you, with candor and
with truth, that from the Governor down, the civil authori-
ties of Georgia have done their utmost to prevent and check
lawlessness and to maintain and preserve peace and good
Order, and I have the earnest hope that in their effort to
do so they have received and will continue to receive, the
approbation and support of all right-thinking men and
women in Georgia.
30
We have no room in Georgia for petty hates and for
either political or religious bigotry. The right of free
Speech and thought is fundamental to American and to
Georgia institutions. The right of every man and woman
and child to worship God as he or she pleases, is funda-
mental and basic. The separation of church and state is
decreed in Order to secure and maintain freedom of re-
ligion. I trust the time will soon return in Georgia when
no man or woman will incur ill will or suffer persecution
in the exercise of his or her religious belief or faith. Bigot-
ry and religious intolerance are the two forces that always
destroy freedom. If Georgia is to remain a land of free-
dom, we have no room for these forces in our State.
. Governments were not ordained and established in
order to transact the ordinary affairs that each individual
citizen should attend to. Paternalism is not only destruc-
tive to individualism, but also of free government. Against
the false doctrines that lead us more and more into pater-
nalism I would put the immortal doctrines of the fathers
that strengthen and preserve the self respect and self
reliance of the citizen.
Too much government and too much regulation tends
to destroy the sturdy individuality and the splendid self
reliance of the citizen ; and to teach our people that they
can be expected to be supported by manna that rains
either from Washington or Atlanta, is so foolish as to be
difficult of characterization, and so destructive of the fun-
damentals of real American citizenship as to occasion the
greatest alarm to every lover of our country and every
thoughtful student of the principles of free government.
May the powers above us that control and shape the des-
tinies of states and of people lead the people of Georgia
back from bigotry to liberality and tolerance, from pater-
nalism to individualism, from narrowness of Soul and Spirit
to breadth of vision and purity of purpose.
May the best interests of the State of Georgia be en-
31
throned in your hearts and minds during this momentous
session of the General Assembly.
Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS W. HARDWICK,
Governor.
Atlanta, Ga., June 29, 1923.
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Message
OF
GOVERNOR CLIFFORD WALKER
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
NOVEMBER 8, 1923
MESSAGE
OF
GOVERNOR CLIFFORD WALKER
TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF
GEORGIA
NOVEMBER 8, 1923
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA :
Students of taxation in Georgia have openly asserted
for months that less than half of the people and less than
half of the property of the state are bearing all of the bur-
den of taxation. Though the matter has been actively agi-
tated by the people I have seen no sustained denial of this
contention. It was this condition which formed the main
issue in the general election. In that election and in the
convention of the people which followed, the voters of Geor-
gia clearly registered their will. They directed that the
burdens of taxation be more fairly distributed. They di-
rected that the manner of effecting such fair distribution
be decided by a Commission composed of farmers, business
men, bankers and manufacturers, representing all classes
of people and all sections of the state. In sacred compli-
ance with this mandate of the people, such a Commission
has been appointed, has functioned in the manner directed
by the people and has returned its findings to the Governor
to be transmitted to the General Assembly.
This report does not pretend to present a perfect sys-
tem of taxation. Taxation deals with humans and, there-
fore, cannot be made perfect. The report is not my report.
In some respects I would have altered it. I would have
approached the solution of the problem by first repealing
the Tax Equalization Law. Faced by a clear majority
with opposing views in the Senate I can do nothing but
urge the passage of the reform bills approved by the Tax
Commission and the repeal of the Tax Equalization Law
upon the adoption of these reform measures. The Com-
mission’s report is the best report and suggests the best
system that could be presented under the terms fixed by
the people of the State. It represents the combined views
Of all classes and sections. It was arrived at through a
Spirit of “give and take”—a process which marks the
passage of all great constructive legislative programs—the
only process known by which such programs may be en-
2
acted into law and finally perfected by experience and by
amendment from year to year. .
The members of this Commission have served at a
great personal sacrifice, without compensation and entirely
at their own expense. No word or thought of personal
aggrandisement or selfish political interest has manifested
itself in any member of this Commission. Its report
should, therefore, be considered with the utmost respect.
Personally, I approve every word, every line and every
paragraph of this report and I shall place back of the re-
port every power and every influence which the executive
office may properly employ until its recommendations are
finally enacted into law. I urge every friend of the admin-
istration and every patriotic Georgian to get back of this
report and use every influence in its support. If you disa-
gree with any part of the program or any minor detail, I
beg of you to urge amendments in a spirit of constructive
criticism. If any member can suggest a better system or
improve the system here offered, it will have my cordial
support. I earnestly urge the enactment of the laws rec-
Ommended in the knowledge that after a fair trial any
part of the legislation can be and will be amended in the
succeeding years.
I need say very little as to the suggestions themselves,
keeping in mind always that the mandate of the people
directs that the expense of Government be more fairly dis-
tributed, and the problem is the transfer of some of the bur-
den of taxation from the owners of tangible property to
the owners of intangible property. Many of the other
states have wrestled with this problem for years. Their
records show that they have succeeded in reaching the in-
tangibles only through an income tax. Hundreds of citi-
zens are enjoying large Salaries and all the blessings of
Government at the expense of other citizens, paying prac-
tically no taxes themselves. These can be reached only
through an income tax. While sharp and well merited
criticism has been visited upon the unwise and unjust
3
method of enforcing the Federal income tax, the Commis-
sion in its travels over the state have met with almost no
opposition to the principle of the income tax. With only
rare exceptions, even large tax payers have admitted that
in principle the income tax is the fairest and most economi-
cal method of taxation. They assume, therefore, that as to
this item the only serious difficulty will be as to detail and
I can confidently rely on the patriotic members of the Gen-
eral Assembly to adjust any differences of opinion on that
score. I earnestly recommend the passage of a Constitu-
tional amendment permitting the Legislature to levy an
income tax for state purposes upon net incomes as the same
may be defined by the General Assembly, which tax may be
graduated, the rate in no case, to exceed 5%—the same to
contain reasonable exemptions. If such amendment is of-
fered by the General Assembly and ratified by the people,
I pledge the influence of this office to the adoption of the
scale of income taxation suggested by the Tax Commission.
I further pledge the calling of an extra session of the pres-
ent General Assembly in Order that you may fix the rate
of taxation and put the law into effect at the earliest pos-
sible date.
2. REDUCE AD VALOREM TAX
I recommend that the Constitutional limitation of five
mills for such taxes be reduced to such figure as the Leg-
islature may deem safe in preserving the credit and in
maintaining the institutions of the state, in no event to be
larger than four mills.
3. CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY
I earnestly recommend a Constitutional amendment
permitting the Legislature to classify property for taxation.
Such a law would reduce the burdens now carried by own-
ers of tangible property from one to two million dollars
annually. The owners of intangible property producing
4.
an income of from 5 per cent to 8 per cent will dodge taxa-
tion, sell their intangibles or move out of the state before
they will pay a tax of from 3 per cent to 4 per cent. Such
a tax is an income tax of over 50 per cent which, of course,
is unfair, unreasonable and confiscatory. Even the income
tax has failed to reach all intangibles. The classified prop-
erty tax system has succeeded in all the states in which it
has been tried. A system combining the income tax with
the classification tax meets the approval of students of tax-
ation. It has been given the approval of the people of
the states which have tried the combined system and the
Tax Commission urges your body to add the classification
law to the income tax. I earnestly join in this recom-
mendation.
4. BUDGET SYSTEM
Modern business heartily approves a budget system.
Its adoption by the Federal Government has met the ap-
proval of business men throughout the nation. Up-to-date
states have also incorporated this system. I do not hesi-
tate to say that this suggestion has met practically the
unanimous approval of the people of the state and I cor-
dially urge the General Assembly to enact such a law.
5. STATE AUDITOR
Separate from the Budget System, but supplementing
its work, and a necessary adjunct thereto, is a State Audi-
tor. The work of an Auditor is not intended alone to dis-
courage dishonesty, although this feature is incorporated
in every modern business plan. It is intended to suggest
modern systems of bookkeeping, checking and auditing; to
suggest overlapping in endeavor in transacting the busi-
ness of the state; the reduction of overhead and all other
expenses and the adoption of every modern economy and
other business methods. I do not hesitate to say that if
provided I shall endeavor to make this office at least the
5
foundation for a purchasing system for the state which,
while giving preference to merchants in the local vicinity
of the different state institutions, will save annually sev-
eral hundred thousand dollars. I cordially commend the
passage of this legislation. •
6. ENFORCE COLLECTION OF TAXES
The State Tax Commissioner in an open meeting as-
serted his official opinion that a reasonable force of field
inspectors charged with enforcing all tax laws would net
in the treasury a minimum of one million dollars additional
income annually. I sincerely share this opinion and I
earnestly ask that such a force be provided. Even the es-
tablishment of a new department would be economical and
wise. However, I have suggested that this force be pro-
vided as a division of the Comptroller General’s Office—
thus obviating the establishment of a new department.
This suggestion has the approval of the Tax Commission
and I confidently trust it will be endorsed by the General
Assembly. Not only the dire need of the institutions of the
state, but common honesty demands that tax laws be re-
pealed or be uniformly enforced. It tends towards disre-
spect of the laws to permit a tax law to be enforced against
one citizen while it is disregarded and defied by another
citizen. Respect for the law, as well as the needs of the
State, demand the passage of Some such law and I hope
that it will be enacted without delay. -
I approve the reference of the Tax Commission to lim-
itation upon the rate of county and local taxation and trust
that some relief may be granted by the Legislature.
I recommend that the Tax Equalization Law be re-
pealed and that the old law as to equalization be reenacted.
7. FREE SCHOOL BOOKS
- For seventy years States, counties and municipalities
have furnished school books for the free use of the pupils
6
of the elementary grades. Experience has shown this
practice to be safe, sanitary, economical and wise. Many
sub-divisions of this state have tried the system and found
it most advantageous. The people unmistakably declared
for the adoption of this system in Georgia. It has the ap-
proval of the State Superintendent of Schools. Its expense
will amount to only 2 per cent of the amount appropriated
to the schools. If no means can be provided for the year
1924, I earnestly ask that enabling legislation be adopted
providing for the foundation of the system, appropriations
to be made in later years when the means are in sight. This
could be provided by directing that that portion of the to-
bacco tax appropriated to the tuberculosis sanitarium at
Alto for the years 1924 and 1925 be appropriated to this
fund for the years following 1925. This, or some other
plan can be arranged following the reformation of the tax
laws. I earnestly ask that enabling legislation at least be
passed at this extra session. I consider this legislation of
secondary importance to tax reformation and suggest that
the tax measures be given the right of way. I remind the
General Assembly that the people of the state in convention
have declared for the system of furnishing school books to
the elementary grades and I ask that this legislation be
enacted before the special session is adjourned.
I have exercised the constitutional right in the execu-
tive to call you into an extraordinary session in the firm
conviction that no great constructive reformation of the
intricate and complicated tax system could be enacted in a
regular session, flooded with measures of special personal
interest to the members, at a time when the state will be
charged with political unrest, in the midst of national,
state, county and municipal political campaigns. This view
accords with the legislative history of other states and even
of our own state. Certainly constructive legislation can
be considered with greater calmness and deliberation. Such
atmosphere should surround the consideration of this most
vital question affecting the future of our state. I confi-
7
dently believe that patriotic members of the General As-
sembly will approach the solution of this problem in the
spirit of love for the state and patriotic devotion to the
welfare of the people.
CLIFFORD WALKER,
e Governor.
Atlanta, Georgia,
November 8, 1923.
MESSAGE
OF
| Governor Clifford Walker
DELIVERED TO
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF GEORGIA
JUNE 27, 1924


77
& # /ø
MESSAGE
OF
Governor Clifford Walker
DELIVERED TO
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF GEORGIA --

JUNE 27, 1924
Governor's Message
To the Members of the General Assembly:
I have called your attention on several occasions to the
fact that this administration is Sacredly pledged by the
mandate of the people expressed at the ballot box to:
1. The exercise of strict economy in the expenses of
the state government and—
2. An equitable system of taxation providing a fair
distribution of the expenses of the State government.
ECONOMIY
To the appeal for the exercise of strict economy, you
have responded by limiting your appropriations to those
objects only which appeared absolutely necessary. In
the name of the people of the State I commend you for
such action. I trust that during this session you will
find time to go further by making a survey of all the
expenses of the State government, cutting off every item
of expense which is not necessary for the proper con-
duct of the business of the State. I have earnestly urg-
ed the head of every department to exercise every
possible economy and have been consistent by reducing
the expenses of the Executive Department by cutting out
one of the clerks in that Department. I have also urged
the newly created Department of Audits to indicate
any possible economy and I earnestly commend that
Department for the suggestion made in its report, to
which I call your especial attention. In the interest of
economy, I ask your careful consideration of the sugges-
3
tions therein made. In an effort to reduce the large
sums paid out by the State for rent, I have taken the
liberty to have fitted up on the ground floor of the Cap-
itol building rooms sufficient to care for two departments
of the State government. I ask that the General Assem-
bly examine these rooms and determine if it would not be
economical to make provision for the development of
the entire ground floor of the Capitol building, thus pro-
viding a saving of large rents now being paid out by the
State. I call your attention to the fact that this ground
floor is not in fact a basement. Its physical condition
indicates that it was intended for a full story and was
left undeveloped simply because the room was not need-
ed when the Capitol was built.
I shall be pleased to cooperate with the General As-
sembly, or any committee thereof, in an effort to reduce
the expenses of the government in any other way consis-
tent with the best interests of the people of the State.
Perhaps the greatest contribution to the spirit of
economy which the Legislature could make would be the
passage of the bill providing for bi-ennial sessions of
the General Assembly. This would affect a saving, di-
rectly and indirectly, of hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars. Only four other states have annual sessions. Un-
der the Constitution and in cases of real emergency, the
Governor can call the General Assembly in extraordi-
nary session to consider only matters of emergency. The
vast majority of the people favor this suggestion of econ-
omy and I earnestly urge the adoption of this legislation.
In line with the policy of economy pledged by this ad-
ministration and tending to the wisest of all economies,
is the incorporation of modern business methods in the
conduct of the affairs of the government. To this end I
earnestly direct your attention to an early favorable ac-
tion upon the suggestions of the State Auditor. Perhaps
the wisest of these I quote here:
4
“We find that we have many different agencies col-
lecting money for the State of Georgia; some of these
funds being paid into the State Treasury, other funds
being disbursed by the different departments with very
little check and authority over such departments. The
Auditor is firmly convinced that all moneys of every na-
ture, character and kind which is collected under the au-
thority of the State of Georgia, should be paid at frequent
intervals into the State Treasury, and there be disbursed
under the general plan of the State.”
Certainly this State is committed by its Constitution
and by its laws as well as by good business principles to
Such methods and I earnestly urge that legislative pro-
vision be made looking to that end. Every dollar of the
income of the State should be covered into the Treasury
and proper records thereof made. Only thus can we de-
termine what is the real income of the State and make a
proper accounting and checking in the disbursements
of the State.
In the interest of further economy and in line with
suggestions of business principles, I call your attention
to the fact that for a number of years the number of de-
ficiency appropriations has grown alarmingly large until
now the State is practically operating upon a system of
deficiency appropriations. Indeed, the present Appro-
priation Committees have operated practically entirely
on that basis, being governed by the patriotic determina-
tion that only such appropriations would be authorized
as could be met by the income of the State then in sight.
Within the limits of this paper I could not discuss the
unscientific and unbusiness-like element involved in this
plan of financing the State. It is unspeakably violative
of every business principle and extremely dangerous in
its tendency. There must be a check and a curb of the
expenditures of every institution, no matter how Worthy
*
3)
the cause and however honest and patriotic the officials
in charge. If any deficiency is allowed, then there is no
limit upon the amount of the deficiency. I do not ques-
tion the patriotic motives of the present Appropriation
Committees. I know that their action was based upon
the determination to keep down additional appropria-
tions during this period of depression in the finances of
the State. Indeed, this determination met the expressed
approval of the Executive in personal conferences. I do
not know of any material advantages which have been
taken of the system up to this time. It is true, however,
that such a system provides an opening for the gravest
abuse of the privilege of overdrawing accounts. What
is needed is economy in eacpenditures and a financial sys-
tem, which will obviate any temptation to overdraw.
I earnestly urge the General Assembly to give careful
consideration to the adoption of a plan which will abso-
lutely prevent deficiency appropriations save only in
cases of real emergency.
Suggesting further economy by the adoption of busi-
ness methods, I also ask leave to call your attention to
that part of the report of the Auditor which calls atten-
tion to the unscientific and unbusiness-like habit of mak-
ing appropriations in lump sums, with no budget or de-
tails of expenditures.
As the Auditor points out appropriations are frequent-
ly made, as, for instance, $50,000.00 for the support of a
certain department or institution and the entire spend-
ing of the $50,000.00 is left to the discretion of the head
of the department or institution. Many states require in
each instance an itemized, detailed request, showing the
necessity for each item. Appropriations are made in
this form and monies so appropriated can be applied only
to the purposes authorized. The wisdom of this sugges-
tion is so apparent as to need no elaborate discussion. J.
commend it to your consideration. -
6
TAXATION
I would again direct the attention of the General As-
sembly to the matter of repeal of the so-called Tax Equal-
ization Illaw. This question has been twice passed upon,
by the people of the State at the ballot box and it is yet
undisposed of by the legislature. A bill is pending in one
branch of the General Assembly, having been passed by
the other. I would earnestly urge that this bill be placed
upon the calendar, brought to a vote and finally disposed
of without further delay. It is my judgment that the
people of the State expect that action at the hands of
their representatives and in compliance with the express-
ed will of the people, and consistent with past declara-
tions, I ask that this be done.
In respect to an equitable system of taxation to take
the place of the Tax Equalization Taw, I would respect-
fully again direct your attention to messages from the
Governor to previous sessions of the present General As-
sembly. It is not my purpose to harrass the members
of the Legislature by the continuous expressions of my
own views. This General Assembly is entitled to com-
mendation for careful consideration and a more earnest
study of the problems brought about by need for tax
revision than has characterized the general assemblies
for many years. I trust that the result of such study
may bring about a solution of this problem, upon which
the future progress and prosperity of the state so vi-
tally depends.
FOUR-YEAR TERM FOR STATE HOUSE OFFICERS
Next to matters of economy and the enactment of an
equitable system of taxation, I am clearly and earnestly
of the opinion that legislation providing for a four-year
term for Governor and other State House Officers is of
most vital importance to the people of this State.
T
Continuous political agitation and factional bitterness
among the people must stop if Georgia is really to pro-
gress. The people should be given a rest. It is univer-
sally recognized in commercial circles that even the as-
sembly of the Legislature affects business interests.
There is always a great unrest when Congress is in ses-
sion. When added to this unrest is the agitation inci-
dent to extended and bitter political campaigns, either
state or national, the effect upon business is most mark-
ed. Under conditions peculiar to Georgia, the governor
is elected practically ten months before he takes office.
He is projected into a campaign for re-election before he
takes his seat. The Legislature has already convened
when he is inaugurated and he has had no opportunity to
obtain first-hand information as to the fiscal conditions of
the State. He has no opportunity to get acquainted with
his official family. Before he can get well into the op-
eration of the affairs of State, the first term of the Leg-
islature has been concluded and on the results of that
term he is forced to enter into a campaign for an en-
dorsement term. He has had little opportunity to render
effective or statesmanlike service and the people of the
State are the sufferers. There are other most vitally
important arguments in favor of a four-year term but it
is not necessary here to multiply words. I trust that
there will be no serious differences of opinion on this
question. It will be understood, of course, that the en-
actment of this law cannot affect, in any way, the present
Governor. It cannot go into effect until ratified by the
people and proper enabling acts passed, thus preventing
even the possibility of an extention of the term of the
present incumbent. I am making the suggestion only in
the interest of the State. Indeed, I have indicated a will-
ingness to sacrifice a part of my term, if I should be in
office, if the Legislature should see fit to provide for the
inauguration of the Governor in January, as has been
urged with much force.
8
ABSENT VOTERs BILL
A substantial number of the citizens of this State are
engaged in occupations which carry them away from
home. To many of them it is most inconvenient and often
impossible to return home on election day. Traveling
men, railroad employees and others engaged in similar
business should not be penalized by being deprived of
the right and privilege of exercising the franchise. Other
states have successfully remedied this situation by the
passage of absent voters bill. The integrity of the bal-
lot box can easily be safeguarded by proper restrictions
and I earnestly ask that such legislation be enacted as
Will grant relief to the worthy class of citizens referred
to in this paragraph.
REFORESTATION
I respectfully call your attention to the report of the
Georgia Forestry Association and ask your earnest con-
sideration of the question of reforestation. While, of
course, the interests of the owners of timber land and of
the saw mill interests must be safeguarded, it is time to
wake up to the fact that the forests of the State are in
great danger from Waste, by fire, improper handling by
saw mills and other careless methods now in use. The
denuding of our forests would be a calamity unspeak-
able. I shall not undertake at this time to enter upon a
discussion of this question but ask your earnest consid-
eration of the matters touching reforestation which will
be brought to your attention.
|FREE SCHOOL BOOKS
In as much as this State expends millions of dollars an-
nually furnishing school buildings, supplying school
teachers and every other necessary equipment, I cannot
see that it is logical to withhold the necessary tools to be
9
employed in such schools. For seventy years many other
states, counties and municipalities have proved that the
furnishing of school books is practical, profitable and
safe, and I trust that this General Assembly will at least
adopt the policy in Georgia providing for such appropria-
tions in the future as the state of the Treasury will per-
mit.
ENFORCEMENT OF COLLECTION OF TAXES
I respectfully call your especial attention to the report
of the head of the New Revenue Department. The es-
tablishment of this Department has been amply justified
by the collection of many thousands of dollars which
would not have been collected, some of which appears on
the books of the Department while many other thousands
have been turned into the Treasury through the regular
channels, through the influence of this Department. For
example, the report of the Secretary of State shows an
increase for less than six months, of $325,000.00 in
amount of automobile tag taxes over the same time last
year. This magnificent sum going directly to improved
roads is largely attributed to the influence of the enforce-
ment laws. The Tax Collector of Richmond County in
one week reported the collection of $10,000.00 special
taxes which had escaped taxation prior to the passage
of this law. While many other instances in smaller
amounts could be cited, it is also true that because of the
limited force at its disposal, the Department has been un-
able to cover the entire State. As a result, many thou-
sands of dollars of taxes are still escaping. The nor-
mal difficulties of this Department have been greatly
intensified by litigation involving the right of the State
to levy certain cigarette and cigar taxes which engaged
the attention of the Department at its inception. I trust
that you will give careful attention to the recommenda-
10
tion for putting teeth into the law looking to the more
efficient operation of this Department.
INHERITANCE TAXES
I respectfully ask your earnest consideration of the
report of the Tax Commissioner as to the collection of in-
heritance taxes. The State is being deprived of many
thousands of dollars annually in income by subterfuges
intended to defeat the collection of inheritance taxes
through gifts made in contemplation of death. The Fed-
eral Government makes provision to meet such cases and
it would be very easy for this State to do likewise. I
earnestly urge an amendment to the law which will pro-
vide for the uniform collection of inheritance taxes.
SPECIAL, EMERGENCIES
I regret the necessity to call attention to one or two
cases of real emergencies which must receive the atten-
tion of the General Assembly at this session. The most
vital of these is the necessity to provide for the contin-
uance of what is known as the Morril Fund to the Uni-
versity of Georgia. For many years the government of
the United States has appropriated $50,000.00 annually
to the support of the University of Georgia under that
fund, one-third of the amount being designated to the
Georgia Industrial College for Colored Youths at Sa-
vannah. The conditions of this appropriation relating
to the negro college have not been complied with and offi-
cial notice has been given by the Federal Government
that the fund will be withdrawn unless these conditions
are met promptly. Details will be presented to your
proper committees. This matter is not only urgent but
vital and must be given the attention of the Legislature at
this session.
11
Almost as vital is the maintenance fund for the Uni-
versity proper. The attendance has grown in the past
few years from 406 to 1,720. Necessarily this growth has
called for a large increase in the number of teachers in
the University. For the past three years these have been
maintained largely by a fund of $40,000.00 annually ap-
propriated by the General Educational Board in New
York. This fund has been withdrawn and an emergency
appropriation must be provided or the additional teach-
ers must be discharged and the work of the University
largely suspended. I urge careful consideration of this
great emergency.
REPAIRS TO CAPITOI,
Your Committee on Repairs to the Capitol will report
to you that certain repairs are necessary to the preserva-
tion of the building. In this connection I call your atten-
tion to the fact that from time to time frame storage
rooms have been constructed on the ground floor of the
building without regard to the fire hazard, turning a
practically fire-proof building into a very dangerous men-
ace from fire. I cannot too urgently insist that this
menace be removed as the loss to life and property by the
destruction of the Capitol by fire would be an unspeak-
able calamity.
I shall detain you but a moment longer. My thought
is that the time has come when Georgia must turn from
the business gloom and commercial despair of the past
four years. I would not for a moment minimize the suf-
fering undergone by the farmers and business men in
that period. I would rather pause to pay tribute to the
average farmer. While there is room for criticism of
his system or rather lack of system, his unscientific mar-
keting, his failure to diversify and other unbusiness-
like methods, it is just as true that in all the economic
12
history of the world no gamer fight was ever waged than
that by this same average farmer as through frugality
and economy and sacrifice he has toiled and struggled to
retain his credit and maintain his honor by meeting his
obligations as and when they matured. Many of them
have lived for months on peas and buttermilk, cornbread
and syrup. Along with him I, too, have suffered as have
all my people; we have sweated drops of blood as we have
seen the limited savings of a life-time dwindle in value
by half and more. But while all this is true, we have tar-
ried in the wilderness long enough. I remind you that
our fathers of the Sixties suffered as we have suffered.
They lived for days on parched corn alone! None of us
suffered such privations! They had no money, no seed,
their stock was gone, they had no labor—their slaves
were freed—and far worse than all this—they had be-
fore them and about them the unspeakably dark cloud of
negro domination—the danger to white supremacy under
the leadership of the scalawag and the carpet-bagger.
These gallant fathers of ours suffered in body as they
suffered in pride but they mever failed nor faltered!
They fought as we must fight and they won as we must
win! I congratulate myself as I congratulate Georgia
that I can look for leadership in thought and sentiment
and action to you intrepid sons of those glorious fathers,
blood of their blood and bone of their bone, as I point
to the dawn of a new and brighter day in Georgia, while
Ibid you turn your eyes to the East. The hour has struck
when we must let the dead past bury its dead; fight free
from the slough of despond of the past four years, join
hands as patriots of peace in a fight for the progress of
our State and the uplift of our people. Since we have
now passed the darkest hour of industrial and commer-
cial despair, may God grant that we may be embued with
a spirit of patriotism, a spirit of constructive Service,
that we may lay aside any former misunderstandings or
13
partisanship, as the executive and the legislative branch-
es work hand in hand speeding the day which I firmly
believe is now dawning—a day of unparallelled indus-
trial activity, of great agricultural development—a day
when prosperity and contentment shall rest on the farm,
in the hamlet, in the village, in the city—the day of a
brighter and a better Georgia
CLIFFORD WALKER,
Governor.
June 26, 1924.
14
MESSAGE
OF
Governor Clifford Walker
DELIVERED TO
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF GEORGIA
JULY 7, 1925.



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Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen
of the General Assembly:
In behalf of the State, permit me to express the thanks of
the people to your honored President of the Senate and Speaker
of the House for their strong appeals for serious concentration
of mind and close application to the duties so vital to the future
of Georgia which are now to engage your attention. In thor-
ough accord with this spirit, I shall address myself directly to
the problems to be solved.
The Constitution requires the Governor to advise with the
Legislature. I come with no desire to dictate; my only pur-
pose is to aid you, if I may, in laying the foundation for the
building of a great State. I conceive that the hour has come for
plain speaking and courageous acting; I shall not hesitate to
bear my own part today; I have every confidence that you, on
your part, will act courageously tomorrow. In the economy
of time and that I may not be misunderstood or erroneously
quoted, I shall speak largely from notes and I beg of you your
careful and sympathetic hearing. First, let us consider briefly
the
HISTORY OF TAXATION IN GEORGIA.
The present tax laws, which levy one uniform rate ad va-
lorem on all classes of properties, were enacted many years ago;
they were fairly satisfactory at that time because practically
all property was tangible. It consisted mainly of farm lands,
live stock and farm implements. Cities were few, towns were
small. There were no railroads, no banks, no factories. There
were a few stores; the store-houses and the stocks of merchan-
dise were visible and could be fairly valued and assessed for
taxation. It is true that in rare instances there would be found
in the rear of the store a little iron safe and that safe contained
a few notes and mortgages which were invisible and probably
were not fairly returned for taxation. But these intangibles
were so small in proportion to tangible property that the ad
valorem system was accepted as reasonably satisfactory. How-
ever, from that day to this, the proportion of these invisibles
and intangibles has grown to an amazing degree; indeed they
have grown to be from one-half to two-thirds of all the prop-
erty of the State. The little iron safe in the back corner of an
occasional store grew to a big safe in every store and then to a
bank vault and now to great safety-deposit storage vaults cov-
ering basement floors of great office-buildings. In the mean-
time the people have required more and more of the State; the
functions of government have been rapidly and steadily en-
larged; the people have demanded that it enter almost every so-
ciological field till there has arisen a cry against paternalism
and not without reason. Millions and more millions have
been exacted of the people for war, for pensions, for crime, for
jails, for penitentiaries, for the insane, for the feeble-minded—
so many millions that only a miserly fraction has been left for
education, for highways, and for other uplifting and inspiring
agencies of the State. And yet as the years have gone by and
functions of government have increased, the necessary addi-
tional taxes to meet these mounting millions have been levied
upon real estate and other tangible property while tax-re-
ceivers and sheriffs have failed to find the intangibles. So
they have added and continued to add to the burden of the
tangible property owner till the end has come; the limit has
been reached. If you add another dollar to the taxes on real
estate you will confiscate that real estate: you will sell the
homes of law abiding citizens who have been paying practically
all of the taxes in the past while the owners of notes, mort-
gages and other intangibles flourish with their hidden wealth
exempted from taxation by our worn-out tax laws.
Having studied together the history of taxation and, I trust,
fairly demonstrated that our present laws have utterly broken
down, let us next consider the history of the efforts to relieve
the over-burdened owners of real estate and other tangibles.
THE HISTORY OF EFFORTS FOR TAX REFORMS
For twenty years, as conditions have grown more and more
unbearable, conscientious governors and patriotic legislators
have persisted in efforts to right these wrongs; for these twenty
years every angle of the question has been studied. We have
had available the experiences of other states. Legislatures have
given it extended consideration in sessions both regular and ex-
traordinary. We have had our budget and investigating com-
missions, our tax commissions, our state survey commissions.
They were made up from our brainiest minds, our safest and
Sanest business men and our successful farmers. Not once has
the charge of playing politics been lodged against a member of
these commissions. They have traveled over the State on their
Own expense; they have had first-hand conferences with the
people of all classes. They have personally inspected and sur-
veyed the needs of every state institution. Their conclusions
are recorded in reports filed and preserved in the archives of
the State available to any citizen.
And what have been the results of all these studies? All
of these commissions have unanimously reached the following
conclusions: • . * *
1. That the present ad valorem tax system, placing practi-
cally all the burdens of taxation on tangible property, has ab-
solutely broken down in Georgia as in every other state.
2. That intangible property has grown to be one-half or
more of all property and is now practically escaping taxation.
3. That the unequal and unjust proportion of expense of
government borne by tangible property has reached the limit
and any additional levies must be placed upon intangible prop-
erties.
4. That the people seem unable to understand that the real
burden is not state tax, but county, city and special taxes, the
former averaging only one-seventh of the whole.
5. That, in spite of wild and wanton charges of waste even
assuming that certain economies may yet be practiced, the State
government is still economically administered, being only one-
half that of Virginia, and less than any state in the South save
tWO.
6. That Georgia spends less on education per inhabitant
3
than any of the southern states.
7. That Georgia invests less in public school property and
college plants and appropriates less for maintenance of her col-
leges than any other southern state.
8. That, as the survey commission reports the plant of the
State University, the oldest in the Union, is “out of date,” with
a "lack of even the most ordinary living conveniences, not to
mention average comfort.” Over 1,000 acres of campus and
almost all of the plant was donated to the State. Not one
penny has been appropriated by the State for buildings in the
last twenty years.
9. That every other educational and eleemosynary institu-
tion is suffering from growing pains, showing vital need of en-
larged plants and increased maintenance funds.
10. That the only means of supplying the necessary new
funds is bringing to the taxbooks invisible and intangible prop-
erties now escaping taxation.
11. That the one controversial problem to be solved by the
Legislature is that of the best method of reaching these intan-
gibles. -
That job you have now tackled and that job I confidently
believe you will finish like brave men. If I may aid you in
that task, in compliance with my obligation under the Consti-
tution to assist and advise with you in your deliberations, I
now say to you that my studies have satisfied me that the best
if not the only plan to reach intangibles for taxation is a com-
bination of (1) The Classification System and (2) The In-
come Tax System.
PLAN TO REACH INTANGIBLE PROPERTY.
Tax experts agree that a combination of two systems is most
satisfactory. The Tax Commission of 1918 appointed by
Governor Dorsey made up of non-partisan, non-political, highly
intelligent and patriotic citizens reported as best suited to the
peculiar needs of Georgia a combination of the Classification
and Income System. I have been unable to find any better Sug-
gestion.
1. The Classification Tax System. This is no new thing.
It was in effect in England when America was founded and
was brought over by our Colonial Fathers. As its name im-
plies, it recognizes that as properties differ in income producing
character they should be classified and different rates fixed ac-
cordingly. So a hundred years ago our fathers fixed a much
lower rate of taxes per acre on forest lands which bear a crop,
say, every twenty years, than on cultivated lands which bear
from one to three crops a year. So wild lands and pasture lands
should bear a smaller rate than improved lands. An illustration
of greater present interest, since we are dealing with intangibles,
is its application in that field. As already indicated, over one-
half of the property in the State is intangible. Practically none
of it is taxed. The explanation is simple. The income from
intangibles, notes, mortgages, stocks, bonds, will average not
more than 7% per annum. Under our present system they
are taxable at full value for State, County, City, School and
Special Taxes averaging not less than 3% 96, or a tax of 50%
of the income. This is so manifestly unfair, being in effect con-
fiscatory, that by common consent we simply do not return in-
tangibles for taxation. If the present laws should be enforced
owners of intangibles would either sell them or move out of
the State. The common sense course is to place a fair rate, say
% of 1% on intangibles and then place such machinery in
motion as would invalidate these intangibles if taxes are not
paid, or otherwise force them upon the tax books. This system
will repeal the present uniform tax laws and well it may for
the only real uniformity about our present system is the uni-
formity with which all men owning invisible property succeed
in escaping taxation. It is true that this system will furnish
a fine field for the demagogue as he can quite forcefully en-
gender prejudice by pointing out a higher rate on one class of
property and a lower on another. The complete answer is
that we are now getting no taxes on intangibles and any sum
we may raise in the future at whatever rate will be just that
much of relief off the shoulders of the tax payers. The effect
of the Classification Tax, as successfully tested in Maryland,
Kentucky and other states, would be to raise around one-half
million dollars from citizens and property heretofore escaping
taxation entirely. This in turn means that the owners of real
estate and tangible property will be relieved of burdens of what-
ever sum may be raised from intangibles. This General As-
Sembly will be asked only to submit a Constitutional Amend-
ment permitting the people to say whether they will approve
the new system. Since the people in the overwhelming en-
dorsement of this administration have decreed that the anti-
quated uniform system must be reformed, it is difficult to see
how any member can object to allowing the people a vote on
the question.
If the Classification Tax is incorporated in our laws its
friends concede that it will realize probably one-half million,
certainly not more than one million dollars, even if carefully
enforced. The history of new tax laws in Georgia is a suc-
cession of litigation, delay, default and defiance. In my judg-
ment, new monies actually collected would no more than pro-
vide funds to cover projects to which the state is already com-
mitted with no provision for an educational equalization or
building program or a constructive highway program. Thor-
oughly convinced that patriotic citizens in large majority not
only wish but demand constructive educational and highway
progress, I know of no better method of raising additional
necessary funds than the
2. Net Income Tax. Little argument has been adduced
against the justice of this system. Many even of those who
will pay the largest additional taxes openly assert that it is the
fairest tax on earth, placing the burden upon those most able
to pay it, viz.: those who for the current year are blessed with
large net profits while relieving those not so fortunate. Against
the tax are urged, by a small minority, four points worthy of
notice:
: (1) The danger of constantly increasing rates or surtaxes.
I favor a limitation in the Constitution to a maximum of 5%
and any other safeguard against undue increases or other un-
sound or unfair provisions. .
(2) The inquisitorial method of enforcement by the Fed-
eral Government. The Legislature in prescribing necessary reg-
ulations can be trusted to see that our own people are fairly
and courteously treated.
(3) . Cost of Administration. If the Assembly sees fit it
can provide that the tax payer shall simply swear to an exact
copy of his return to the Federal Government and provide that
he shall pay to the State a certain proportion of the amount
fixed for Federal taxes. The State would thus get the benefit
of the inspection, the checking and every other method of en-
forcement by the Federal authorities with minimum expense
to the State. South Carolina has found this plan satisfactory.
(4) Keeping Out New Industries. Much will be heard on
this score. Let it be remembered that the greatest manufac-
turing state in the Union, Massachusetts, has had an income
tax for Over a hundred years. Such industries as have left the
North to come South have largely located in North Carolina,
a state which also has had an income tax. The Federal Gov-
ernment made a material reduction in its income tax this year
and wiſ! make another next year. If the State should fix its
rate at a figure equal only to these reductions, it would raise
funds amply sufficient to meet our needs. What industry de-
mands is not so much low taxes as stabilized taxes; it prefers
a settled unfavorable system to an unsettled favorable system.
Certainly those most interested in the betterment of industrial
conditions as well as those who appreciate the need of an
increased income for the State should be most active in secur-
ing early and final settlement of the tax questions.
Having discussed the history of taxation, the history of ef-
forts to reform the tax laws, and having given you my plan to
obtain relief, let us see if there is any real
NECESSITY FOR TAX REFORMS
If we do not need any new money we should still pass these
reform laws to equalize the burdens by distributing them among
all classes; we should still take measures to tax the intangibles
and reduce the ad valorem tax on the tangibles since equality
is the basis of fair taxation. But must we raise additional
monies? What is the real condition of affairs in Georgia to-
day?
I discussed at great length in my inaugural address our obli-
gations to the under-privileged boys and girls who live outside
the incorporated towns and cities. Public conscience has at last
been aroused to the fact that it is unmoral and unfair to pen-
alize a child by depriving it of practically every educational
advantage because it happens to be born in a remote section.
Enlightened thought now demands that we equalize the advan-
tages or lack of advantages heretofore offered such remote Sec-
tions by supplementing on a fifty-fifty basis such local taxes
as the limited taxable values will stand through a part of the
common school fund to be known as the Equalization Fund and
I propose that a minimum of One Million Dollars annually of
new monies be levied upon intangibles for this purpose.
The development of the agricultural resources of the State
is now, and will be in the future, of prime importance to prog-
ress. We must train our youth to lower the cost and increase
the production through our Agricultural Institutions, while we
train our boys at the Technological School to develop the other
natural resources of the State to provide the funds necessary to
maintain a greater State. I propose one half million dollars
annually additional investment in this field.
If we establish the consolidated school system in the coun-
ties which I deliberately say is the hope of the State and which
under God I believe we will establish, we will be wasting mil-
lions if we do not furnish these schools with trained competent
and consecrated teachers. It is a crime to penalize helpless youth
by placing them under a seventh or eighth grade teacher. I as-
sert without fear of successful contradiction that there can be
found in all he world no more economical, no more conse-
crated, no more worthy service than that now being rendered
by the Normal Schools at Milledgeville, at Athens and at Val-
dosta. Let us, once for all, forever crystallize the thought that
we are not spending money on these great institutions, we are
investing money; investing money not only in the hearts and
lives of these students but in the hearts and lives of the millions
of boys and girls whom they are to reach later as teachers in the
common schools of the State. And since this is a day for plain
speaking, I want to say as Governor of this State that it is a
8
shame, nay, is nothing less than a disgrace to the imperial State
of Georgia, that men like Dr. Parks and Dr. Pound and Dr.
Powell have to spend the summers climbing up this Capitol Hill,
wearing out their physical strength already depleted by over-
conscientious effort in their college work, on salaries less than
those paid deputy sheriffs or professional base-ball players in
Atlanta, humiliating themselves begging for a miserly pittance
on which to train teachers to teach your children and mine, and
persuading legislators to realize the folly of spending millions
On criminals and insane and thousands on education, rather than
millions on education and thousands on decreased crime and
insanity. One third of all the teachers resign each year; one-
third of all the teachers are under the eleventh grade. To
properly train competent teachers for our schools we need three
times the buildings, three times the equipment and three times
the maintenance now furnished our Normal Schools. Let us for-
ever forget the thought of any expenditure for such purpose and
talk only of how much money we can invest in the hearts and
minds and souls of the children of Georgia. These Normal
Schools should have a minimum maintenance fund of a half
million dollars annually.
For a hundred years the State appropriated nothing to the
maintenance of the University. While for twenty years our
neighboring states have appropriated millions for building uni-
versity plants equipped for modern needs, Georgia has approp-
riated not one cent! Every dollar appropriated by the State
for 130 years for buildings, for equipment and for maintenance,
for 130 years I say, totals less than is appropriated annually
by each of the several of the new Western states for mainten-
ance of their universities alone! The consequence is that the
present physical condition of the University is disgraceful as
is apparent to even the most casual observer whether measured
by the equipment of other State Universities or by the actual
needs to provide efficient service. Over three hundred girls now
attend. the University without a single dormitory, being scat-
tered all over the city. The recent report of the Board of Visi-
tors, selected from the State at large without any reference to
personal interest in the Universiy, says:
“We desire to commend unreservedly the character of work
Q
that is being done by the various departments under present
conditions. On every hand we find evidence of careful man-
agement and of thorough and competent instruction. We are
glad to report that apparently every precaution is taken to safe-
guard the physical, moral and spiritual welfare of the univer-
sity student. There is evident a marked improvement in the
morale of the student body. We commend the recent Pastors'
and Parents' day as worthy of being continued.
"However, we find that many departments are overcrowded
with students, that the student body is constantly increasing,
that the present teaching force is inadequate to give proper in-
struction to the large number of students enrolled, that the
equipment is for the most part insufficient and that in a number
of cases the quarters assigned to various departments are entirely
too limited. It is quite possible, if not probable, that our state
university will soon lose its standing as a class A college unless
prompt relief is given. It is unthinkable that loyal Georgians
should permit an institution which ought to be the pride of
the state to meet with such a fate. In our opinion, a crisis has
been reached. The time has come when Georgia can no longer
afford to starve its educational institutions.
The State Survey Committee of which Hon. C. Murphy
Candler was Chairman, selected as a non-partisan, non-political
committee to make a survey of the needs of the State's institu-
tions, without reference to any personal interest in any of
them, reported on the higher educational institutions as fol-
lows: & -
"Your Committee has given very careful consideration to
the needs of the higher ranking educational institutions of the
State, that is: the University proper, at Athens; the College of
Agriculture; the School of Technology; the State Normal
School; the College for Women at Milledgeville; the Woman's
College at Valdosta, and the Medical Department of the Uni-
versity at Augusta.
“In our opinion the State has never adequately equipped or
maintained one of these institutions. They have all had to
pinch and economize and appeal for outside help in order to
10
meet, even partially, the demands of a large portion of the youth
of the State for higher educational opportunity in State insti-
tutions. Georgia has some outstanding non-State institutions,
ranking with the best in the South; these are filled to their ca-
pacities, but they cannot meet the State's needs. The State
has very properly relieved them of the burden of taxation on
their school properties and Endowment Funds and this is about
as far as it can constitutionally go, so that the large body of
youth seeking college education in other than denominational
or private institutions must look to the State or attend insti-
tutions outside the State.”
The University at Athens is, as already stated, the oldest
State University in the United States. One of its dormitories
in use today was erected in 1806 and a second in 1823. The
present chapel was erected in 1831. Any one who will go
through them will be impressed with their lack of even the most
ordinary living conveniences, not to mention average com-
fort. Other buildings upon the campus are only a little less
antiquated and lacking in adaptability to their uses: Every
modern structure on the campus, and they are few, has been
financed and built and donated to the State by friends and
Alumni of the University. The original campus was do-
nated to the State by Governor Milledge and every acre since
added thereto has been purchased and donated by the Alum-
ni until now it embraces over one thousands acres, not one
of which was purchased by the State. The State has not
appropriated a penny to the erection of any building for this
institution in over twenty years. Less than ten per cent of the
value of the present plant has been contributed by the State
and yet this is the State's University. The buildings on the
campus because of their age and lack of proper repairs and main-
tenance, are probably less suited for their present uses than are
those of any of the branches of the University above mentioned.
Those other institutions, however, are in pressing need of addi-
tional buildings.
“If the University proper, the College of Agriculture, the
School of Technology, and the Normal School and the Colleges
for Women are to continue to rank with like institutions in
ll
neighboring states; if they are to do work that will entitle
their diplomas to recognition beyond the borders of the State,
Georgia must provide adequate plants, equipment and mainten-
ance, or else as our forefathers declared in 1784, we will be
forced "to humiliating acknowledgment of the ignorance or in-
feriority of our own.’” . -
I propose a bond issue of from ten to fifteen million dollars
for buildings and equipment, as a foundation for a fifty-fifty
equalization fund, for consolidated schools in the remote sec-
tions of the counties, and for buildings and equipment for our
higher educational institutions which will place them on a par
in physical plant and facilities to train our boys and girls with
those of our sister states.
At the University is a plant which cost over a million dol-
lars including over one thousand acres in and near the center
of the city. The State has appropriated on that plant $180,000
while all the rest has been given to the State. The same is
true at Georgia Tech and at the Milledgeville College. The
Tech plant is valued at nearly two millions of dollars yet
less than two hundred thousand has been appropriated by the
State. The Milledgeville College plant is worth over a million
with less than two hundred thousand from the State and yet
the boys at Georgia Tech have had no religious services, no
chapel exercises for years because no adequate chapel has been
supplied. Their graduation exercises must be held out of
doors and frequently are interrupted by rains. At Milledge-
ville the chapel holds only the students—not one of the parents
of the graduates can see their daughters graduate because of a
lack of chapel room. At Tech last year two hundred and fifty
ambitious, Anglo-Saxon, Georgia boys, too poor to pay their
way through college were turned away even from the Co-opera-
tive department which is equipped for such boys to work a
month and study a month—because of lack of dormitory and
laboratory and class room and equipment. Two-thirds of the
sickness of the State, causing an economic loss of millions an-
nually, could be prevented if ample provision could be made
for the State Health Department. Out at the Training School
for Delinquent Girls is the spectacle of a well-constructed build-
I2
ing vacant for the want of a few thousand dollars for mainten-
ance. The Courts and Special Agencies are begging for ad-
mission of such girls there and of wayward boys at the Train-
ing School for Delinquent Boys at Milledgeville which is in
practically the same condition. At Gracewood School for the
feeble-minded children I saw twenty girls sleeping in one small
dormitory room with their little beds jammed so tight that
One could not get in between them to make them up. There was
not a particle of adornment on the walls of the rooms save a
Small fragment of glass improvised for the use as a mirror and no
provision for their comfort save one old broken-down rocking
chair with broken arms while the only piece of play-ground
equipment for their amusement was one old, frazzled rope
swing. I am told that only slightly better conditions exist in
the dormitory for our unfortunate deaf children at Cave Springs.
These eleemosynary institutions and secondary schools act-
ually need one-half million dollars additional with annual main-
tenan Ce.
And yet with a record of illiteracy that is humiliating, con-
ditions all but disgraceful in practically every uplifting and
inspiring institution of this imperial State—this State imperial
in territory, this State imperial in natural resources, in the
fertility of her soil and the variety of climatic conditions, this
State imperial in the character and the ability of her citizenry—
with all this, every year for twenty years when patriotic Geor-
gians, have come here to plead that such disgraceful conditions be
bettered, that humane treatment be accorded the wards of the
State, that the one-half of the underprivileged boys and girls
in the country be given a fair chance in life, and suggesting that
the necessary new funds be raised by forcing the owners of in-
tangible and invisible property to pay a just share of the ex-
penses of government; with all this, professional opponents of
reform and misguided though honest men come here to say
that conditions are well enough. They have been perfectly will-
ing for Georgia to stand still or lag behind while Empires are
being builded to the North of us and to the South of us.
I trust, therefore, that we may all agree that the tax ques-
tion should be settled, right now, in this session. Heartened
13
by the sincere assurance of your presiding officers and the evi-
dent determination of the members to serve the people by
buckling down to enact constructive legislation I feel that
it is unnecessary to dwell further upon an appeal that tax
reforms be no longer delayed. Industries prefer a stable un-
favorable tax system to an unsettled favorable system. Our
State will never prosper as it should so long as there is un-
rest and bitterness over this matter. The common people are
not in a frame of mind and will not be to enter upon a great
educational and highway program even if the means were avail-
able so long as they believe and have good ground to believe
that practically all of the burdens are being borne by one-half
of the people while the other half are practically escaping taxa-
tion. We have fifty days yet available in which to finish the
job. So my first proposition is that we settle this question
promptly at this session.
We have all the data, all the information we may need.
We have available the experience of other states. At the
last convention of Governors I found that practically every
state which had the income tax was pleased with it and prac-
tically every state which did not have it was endeavoring to
secure it. In Georgia we have studied the question for twenty
years; during my first administration we gave especial and al-
most exclusive study to it in both regular and extraordinary
sessions, the latter called for that purpose only.
For the benefit of the large number of new members in the
Assembly who are not so familiar with tax legislation, I feel
that I should add that this history of taxation and efforts to-
ward reform would not be complete without reference to spe-
cious arguments which have always been and doubtless will now
be urged against any measure of relief. For these same twenty
years, as inequalities in taxation have grown worse and worse,
tax payers' leagues and representatives of special interests have
appeared with arguments which have confused the minds of
over-careful members into doing nothing while the people con-
tinued to suffer, absolutely blocking all reform legislation. In
the meantime these expert blockers have never made a single
constructive suggestion which would relieve the suffering, prop-
14
erly distribute the burden, or make any contribution to the ma-
terial development of the State.
These special interests always work in conjunction with good
men who are confused or are misled into seeing dangers which
do not exist or into advoctaing other measures—the effect of
which, however pure the motive or patriotic the purpose, is to
defeat all relief. I realize that while I speak there are those in
this body and outside this body, good men and true, who on
principle and in good faith, do not agree with some of the
views here expressed. For their honest views I have of
course, the highest respect. I come to appeal to all of
these to approach the solution of these problems in a con-
structive spirit of “give and take,” looking to the adjustment
of differences of opinion so that we may not longer withhold
relief from our suffering people. Permit me to warn again the
newer members of this body who are not familiar with the op-
erations of the professional outside tax reform blockers. Some
of these engage in such work on a salary for a living. Some act
from pride of authorship of other tax measures, some act be-
cause real reform will result in reaching some of their hidden
wealth. Most of them are men who have enjoyed all the priv-
ileges and protection of government, whose wealth has been
accumulated largely by enhancement of values through civic
growth and improvements to which they have contributed lit-
tle—men over-privileged and over-fortunate who have no feel-
ing for the under-privileged child; men who have little idea
how the other half, the under-privileged half, live; men who
hold College diplomas and whose sons hold College diplomas
but who have no sympathy for the poor boys who would find
the doors of the Colleges barred for lack of room if they could
knock for entrance. If such men come before you deploring
agitation for additional state taxes remember that state taxes
are just a small fraction averaging only one-seventh of all taxes.
If they raise the “man of straw” of the income tax driving
away industry, ask them what is the greatest industrial state
in the Union? It is Massachusetts, and Massachusetts has had an
income tax for over a hundred years. New York collects hun-
dreds of millions annually in income taxes without complaint
from business or industry. Ask them if an income tax will
15
keep industry out, why those which have come South have not
located in Georgia which has no income tax but have located in
North Carolina which has an income tax? If they say that the
Constitutional Amendment in Florida prohibiting inheritance
and income tax has brought millions of people to that state—
and I understand that that argument has influenced some of your
good members—ask them in all fairness if it is not a fact that
this amendment was passed only a few months ago while the
current of people going to Florida started long before that
amendment was ever proposed. Ask them if, on the contrary,
it is not true that people have gone to Florida to invest their
money in real estate while the taxes on real estate in that state
are over twice as high as in Georgia.
It may be true that a few owners of intangible property have
established their citizenship in Florida to escape income or
inheritance taxes. If so we have lost nothing as they have paid
no such tax in Georgia. While I would welcome any man
who might come here to escape a confiscatory tax, that man
who seeks to escape a fair tax on his hidden wealth while he
sends his children to state schools and enjoys the protection of
state courts and other blessings of government which add to the
burdens of tangible property owner, is not a good citizen and
his coming will add little if anything to the civic character of
the state—it will not contribute toward the ideals of good cit-
izenship, upon which moral foundation the ultimate wealth
of any state must finally rest. The spiritual state towers about
and above the physical state and the two must advance in pro-
portionate ratio if the structure is to remain. We must take
care, gentlemen of the Assembly, that we do not teach our sons
and daughters to place a premium upon wealth and at the same
time a discount upon the moral obligation of civic brotherhood
at any price. “The majesty of the State must find and kindle
a Spiritual majesty in the soul of every citizen, or the State it-
self will rest on the shifting sands of personal desires, personal
profits and personal ends and when on such a house the rain
descends and the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon
it, that house will fall and great will be the fall thereof.”
Two years ago we were stirred to envy by the industrial
16
progress of North Carolina. Industry went there in spite of
an income tax. People went there because of its progress as
manifested in a great educational program and a great highway
program. Today we are stirred to envy by the real estate prog-
ress of Florida. People are going there in spite of an 11 mill
tax on real estate. . The eyes of the world are centered on the
South. People are coming through Georgia by the million.
Wealth has gone to Florida and men have gone to Florida be-
cause Floridians have opened their natural playground to pleas-
ure-seeking people through the inestimable service of good
roads. I challenge you to open North Georgia's wonderful
scenic beauty to the world by good roads and it will become
the summer playground for all people to the South of us. Give
us a fair tax on intangibles that will finance a great educational
program and a great highway program which will arrest the at-
tention of tourists as they pass until they awake to the supe-
rior advantages of our wonderful State. Enthusiasm will be
aroused in our people and Georgia will prosper as North Caro-
lina and Florida have done. I weigh my words when I say that
in my judgment the 75 million dollars invested in a modern
highway system in North Carolina has been worth 75 millions
in advertising the state in the outside world, has increased values
more than the cost and has been a fine investment if the high-
way system had not been worth a cent in intrinsic value to the
people of the state. It will be worse than a calamity, it will
be a crime if we even hesitate to go forward—certainly if we
allow petty politics or personal interests to defeat this progres-
sive program and thus doom Georgia to a place as a second-rate
State.
I trust that I have now fairly demonstrated that this state
has urgent need of an increased income of not less than three
million dollars annually; that this sum would be no undue
burden upon the intangible property of the State. Tangibles
are paying around nine millions in taxes. Can it be said that
three millions levied upon an equal value in intangibles is con-
fiscatory or unfair or unjust? Six millions would be its full
share. If one half of the property of the state—tangible prop-
erty—is paying nine millions of taxes can any one fairly say
that the other half of the property—intangible property—
17
should not pay at least three millions? Would it drive any
patriotic citizen away from Georgia, would it keep any legiti-
mately managed industry out of Georgia to ask one-half of the
property now escaping taxation entirely—the notes, the mort-
gages, the bonds, the stocks, the property owned in large meas-
ure by people of wealth who are able to pay their full share of
taxes, whose incomes justify and good morals demand the pay-
ment of that full share—to pay these three millions which
would approximate only one-fourth of the expenses of the State?
How will we raise the three millions from intangibles? I
propose that we raise it by a combination of first—The Classi-
fication of Tax and second—The Income Tax. I apprehend
that there will be little opposition to the Classification Tax.
If from principle or from prejudice against the method of ad-
ministration of the Federal System or for any other reason you
are opposed to the income tax, then will you not admit that
it is incumbent on you to suggest some other better substitute
method to reach these intangibles in the amount of the three
millions? So far as I am concerned with all the influence of the
Executive I pledge you my aid in securing the adoption of any
conservative substitute plan which any opponent of the Income
Tax Plan will suggest if the Comptroller General and the State
Auditor will certify that in their opinion the substitute plan
will actually cover into the State Treasury Three Million Dol-
lars annually of new taxes upon the invisible and intangible
property.
In the face of such a proposition, do you not think it
equally fair that if no such substitute plan is suggested it is
proof sufficient that no better or fairer plan is known? You
should join me in a constructive spirit in framing the Classi-
fication Amendment and the Income Tax Amendment throw-
ing about it in the Constitution itself such limitations and safe-
guards as will protect all the interests of all the people of the
State.
I trust, indeed I sincerely believe, that after mature delibera-
tions the vast majority of you will agree that my suggestions
are reasonable and fair. -
18
Though it involve a number of personal pronouns, which
I trust you will pardon, I feel that you are entitled to know
that for three years, since the day I was nominated I have taken
every possible opportunity to make every possible appeal to the
business men of this State to aid me and the legislature in a con-
structive spirit to work out a sane and a safe and conservative
tax system for Georgia. I have told them plainly that every
hope of a great state was a challenge to enact a tax system
which would reach the intangibles; that the best system I could
suggest was a combination of the Classification and Income
Taxes. I have implored them to co-operate with me in a con-
structive spirit to work out a better and safer plan if there were
in fact any danger or any injustice in the plan I suggested. Now
after three years of such persistent entreaty I earnestly submit
that you should give very little if any heed to the critic of the
other man's plan if that critic has no better plan of his own
to submit.
There is yet time, if thoughtful business men care to make
real constructive contributions to the solution of the problem.
Again and finally I sound the call to patriotic Georgians to sug-
gest and help us to adopt a better plan to reach intangibles than
the Classification plan plus the Income Tax plan. If such a
plan is suggested within a reasonable time and you believe it
feasible, adopt it and I will take great pleasure in approving it.
If no such plan is brought to your attention, in the name of
the under-privileged boys and girls of Georgia, born and to be
born, in the name of a greater state, I here call upon all of you,
advocates and opponents of the plan here submitted, to com-
pose your differences, agree upon proper limitations and safe-
guards, and then in the statesmanlike spirit of "give and take,"
enact such a law.
I commend as the highest type of statesmanship the spirit of
the declaration of an honored member of your body, a new
member whose family name has always stood for integrity of
character and conservatism in thought, who after my inaug-
ural address said to me '"I am with you cordially in three-
fourths of your program and I will be with you in the other
fourth unless some better suggestion is made.”
19
I could say more but I must not detain you longer. I have
spoken in very plain language today. I have not hesitated to
lay bare our weaknesses. One-half the battle against disease
is a proper diagnosis of the case. If our loved one is ill we
want the full truth and nothing but the truth so that we can
prepare to combat the dangers. I have sought to tell you the
full truth as to Georgia's needs today so that we may face this
serious crisis in her history squarely and fight for her future
as only Southern men can fight for their State. Having diag-
nosed the case it is now up to you to provide the remedy, it is
up to you to place and preserve Georgia in that high position
which she should now hold and forever maintain. Wisdom
justifies this effort; Justice demands it; and in Moderation of
expense, through equal distribution of burdens, it can be done.
CLIFFORD WALKER.
July 7, 1925.
20
MESSAGE
OF
Governor Clifford Walker
DELIVERED TO
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 24, 1926















Ladies and Gentlemen of the General Assembly:
Business men of America are a unit in the thought that
the next great current of population and commercial de-
velopment will be toward the South. As a matter of fact
that current has already set in with tremendous forct
presenting an opportunity to the South unequalled in ale
its history. While many speculative and some otherwisel
undesirable people have followed in its wake, many thousands
of good citizens, realizing our unequalled natural resources
and seeking our favorable climate, are coming South to
make their homes. Other states are capitalizing this
psychological situation and I have been unable to escape
the conviction that without delay Georgia should adopt a
forward-looking constructive program which will attract
the favorable attention of these investors and home-seekers,
and, at the same time, give to our own home people the
advantages and comforts of modern life. Therefore, I
have called this extraordinary session of the General
Assembly and now submit to your consideration, in terms
provided by the Constitution, the matters which I believe
to be of vital importance in the future of our State.
1. Payment of pensions to the Confederate Peterans.
Fortunately upon the first item of the legislative program
I have found no material difference of opinion. Both by
Constitutional provision and by statutory enactment
the people of the State have voluntarily assumed addi-
tional obligations to the Confederate heroes. If they
are to enjoy these pensions, provision for payment must be
made without a moment's delay. I have taken the liberty
of suggesting for your consideration a bill providing for
discounting the income from the State's railroad, the
same to be refunded from future proceeds of the Cigar
and Cigarette tax. The discounting of future income is
not sound financing and should be resorted to only in ex-
treme emergencies. Certainly if there ever was an emer-
gency, one is presented here. The issuance of bonds or
other processes of ordinary legislation would involve a
delay of from two to three years when those most in need
would not be in life. So far no better plan has been
l
suggested. If in your deliberation a better plan is present-
ed, I will be very happy to approve it.
2. A modern twelve-months, dependable State Highway
System. As I made plain to you in the regular session,
for many years Georgia has endured and suffered from an
intolerable favoritism, a system of aristocracy in taxation,
a system under which one-half of the people owning one-
half of the property enjoy all the blessings of government
and escape taxation while the other half of the people
who own the other half of the property pay all the ex-
penses of government. I also assert that Georgia has
at the same time endured and suffered from a like system
of favoritism and aristocracy in education under which
one-half of the boys and girls of the State enjoy practic-
ally every educational opportunity while the other half
are given practically no educational opportunity.
The present plan of road building is strikingly similar
in sectional favoritism, aristocratic by inequality in
location and by injustice in the distribution of its
benefits. Under the present plan of road building,
exactly as in the case of our schools, the favored few have
secured their paved roads, a favored few more will secure
their paved roads within a reasonable time while
the unfavored majority of counties, those counties
not on the main highways, those not blessed with un-
limited resources and high taxable values for county bond
issues must be content with indefinite delay, with no well-
defined, dependable, business-like system on which they
can base a hope at any fixed time in the future. In the
meantime the entire State is paying the price of good
roads while receiving the worst possible advertisement
through the present patch-work system or lack of system.
We have had an aristocracy in education; let us have
no aristocracy in highways.
I approach this discussion with no desire to criticise the
Highway Department. In the actual construction of
roads it is probable that members of the Board could now
profit by their past experiences. It is also true that bricks
cannot be made of straw. We have not provided sufficient
2
funds for paved highways. Our roads are greatly im-
proved as compared with those of fifteen years ago. But
we still have no dependable system to which we can look
with confidence for state-wide, fairly distributed paved
highways within a reasonable time.
Such a system we must have if we secure the nine-months,
high-grade consolidated schools, and such a system we
must have if we capitalize the current of development in the
South. It is this that the people of the State are demand-
ing and for this I appeal at the hands of this session. So
strong is this demand in every section of the State that
whenever given an opportunity the people have voted to
bond themselves so overwhelmingly as to be practically
unanimous. We are agreed that we must have paved
roads on our main-traveled highways. How are we to
secure them?
Unfortunately there are two schools of thought; the
one urging the continuation of the present pay-as-you-go
plan of construction; the other urging the issuance of bonds
to be retired by the present income from gasoline and tag
taxes with no addition to ad valorem taxes. The issue
is thus sharply drawn:
Assuming that we all favor paved roads at the earliest
possible moment consistent with economy, what plan of
financing will procure that end most satisfactorily? As I
have given serious thought to the subject every passing
hour has strengthened the conviction that the bond issue
is the only feasible plan.
It is claimed that we can complete the paved system as
rapidly with the present income of the State allocated
to construction work as we could with bonds and yet
simple calculation will demonstrate that an income suffi-
cient to pave the State system in twenty years will amortize
or retire an issue of bonds (both interest and principal)
sufficient to pave the State system in five years and not
add a dollar of ad valorem taxes.
But we are told that we can not spend more than ten
to twelve millions a year economically. Yet in a signed
3
statement Governor McLean tells you that the State of
North Carolina, much smaller in area, with far less
population, than Georgia, is spending 28 millions a year
with no complaint of lack of economy. It is likewise
claimed that such construction would interfere with labor
conditions and yet we have no complaint of labor condi-
tions in North Carolina.
The State of Illinois paved every primary road and of
greater width than Georgia’s standard in 7 years. The
construction road record shows: 1923, 1085 miles; 1924,
1230 miles; 1925, 906 miles, a total of 3221 miles in 3 years.
Again the pay-as-you-go plan contemplates that the
cost of roads shall be paid as follows: 50% by Federal aid,
25% by State aid and 25% by the counties. I am advised
that in the recent past 21 counties have voted a total of
$7,580,000 for road purposes on the above plan. I am
further advised that hundreds of thousands of dollars are
now in the treasuries of other counties previously voted
on the same plan to be matched by Federal and State aid.
These favored counties will exhaust the Federal aid of two
millions annually for eight to ten years! What will become
of paving for the other 140 counties?
With these favored counties under this aristocratic
system of favorites exhausting the State aid funds for years
to come what will the other hundred or more unfavored
counties do for State aid?
Will the counties which have already provided the
money by voting bonds be satisfied to wait four or five
or six or seven years for Federal or State aid necessary
to build the roads which they are expecting in the next
year or two? If so, will the other counties which are
paying gasoline and tag taxes every day be willing to
wait twelve, fifteen, seventeen or nineteen years for their
paved roads? What assurance has your particular county
under the present system that you will get paved roads
in four, fourteen or nineteen years?
If your county is unable to bond itself to meet State
and Federal aid, every time you drive in a filling station
4
you pay to pave some county which is able to bond itself.
an any one seriously defend any such aristocracy as that?
If you are one of the favored few, if you are on a main
highway and have the assurance that you are to get pave-
ments this year or next, do you want to live in a land, do
you want to be a party to a system, under which your
neighbor county must wait fourteen years to get its pave-
ment? . - -
I can interpret this falling all over themselves of these
21 favored counties to bond themselves and voluntarily
subjecting their people to advalorem taxes, counties who
need their own money to pave their 93 per cent of other
roads and to build consolidated schools and high schools, I
can see in it only a race to qualify for the 75 per cent
State aid and Federal aid before other counties recognize
the good pickings and exhaust these funds, leaving out in
the cold the poor counties which cannot match. Any such
system is nauseatingly aristocratic, unspeakably discredita-
ble to those who, after proper reflection upon the effect of
their position, are willing to take the first monies thus
allocated and then fight the issuance of bonds necessary to
equalize the benefit with their less fortunate neighbors.
In God's name, men and women of Georgia, hasn’t
the time come when we should cultivate a state conscious-
ness, develop a state-wide vision? For once let's set the pace
by cutting out selfish sectionalism and petty provincialism
and rise to heights of State pride worthy of this imperial
State! -
Up to October 15th last, under the pay-as-you-go plan,
only 332 miles had been paved in the entire State. While our
laws provide that the roads shall be paved from county
site to county site, to date only five county sites are con-
nected and of these only three have been connected by the
State Department alone. This is not said to discredit the
Highway Department but to demonstrate the unreason-
able time when a State system can be completed under the
present system. Up to this date not one continuous con-
nected road has been paved. Only one such highway is pro-
mised for the next year, perhaps the most important, the
5
Macon-Atlanta highway and yet we are informed that even
this highway could not be built until Bibb county had
financed Monroe county's portion of the cost! What is to
become of the large number of helpless counties which have
no Bibb county to act as their Good Samaritan?
I do not even intimate that there will be corruption
in the allocation of funds or the adoption of an order of
construction as between the counties of the State under
the present plan. I do not charge that there will be undue
favoritism, the favoring of friends or sectional interests.
But I do say that any system or lack of system under
which one county is to secure paved highways this year
while another and an adjoining county must wait from
twelve to twenty years is wrong in principle. It is a rule
in all branches of government that each county shall par-
ticipate proportionately in the blessings of government. Yet
every month funds are now being drawn from the State
Treasury for the benefit of a few favored counties, while
the others who pay their equal share of taxes receive no
benefits. The system is unjust, it is unfair and it should
be so amended as to provide equal benefits to all counties.
I realize that even under the bond plan a road must be
built in some counties before others but that which the
people of the State demand is a carefully worked out de-
pendable State plan of connected paved roads which will
give to each county in the State a guaranty on which it
can rely of its full share of highway construction within
a reasonable length of time. The smaller state of North
Carolina built 1,544 miles of road last year. The smaller
state of Illinois built 3221 miles in 3 years. Georgia can do
the same and more and complete her system in five years.
There are many other considerations leading to the
adoption of the bond plan. Time will not permit even
the cataloguing of all these. Highway engineers tell us
that sand-clay roads wear out at the rate of one to two
inches a year. If the pay-as-you-go plan takes 20 years
to complete—and eminent engineers advise me it will
take twenty-five years—two-thirds of the sand-clay roads
will be worn out before they are reached for paving and
millions of dollars of the counties' monies will be wasted.
6
Authorities tell us that the saving in the cost of the main-
tenance of a paved highway over the cost of the main-
tenance of an unpaved road will pay the interest on bonds
necessary for paving. When you add to this saving the
saving on wear-and-tear of vehicles, gasoline, oil and re-
pairs, time and human nerve, hundreds of millions will
be lost while waiting for the paving under the pay-as-
you-go plan. The State bonds have always been floated
at a much lower rate of interest than county bonds and
other millions will be saved to the people in interest charges.
Objection is made that the provision to refund to coun-
ties which have bonded themselves in the past will largely
increase the amount of bonds. Only such sums as have
been expended in good faith on State aid roads under the
supervision of the State Highway Board will be refunded
and these sums under terms which the Legislature is to
define as equitable and fair and this only after the entire
State system is completed. These amounts can be refunded
exactly as the original paving funds are provided by amort-
izing the gasoline and tag tax income after the State sys-
tem is completed. As a matter of fact few counties can
complain for with only five or six exceptions every county
will share in these refunds. The big city counties will
participate only as to their two State aid roads and some
of these counties received no State aid. The actual amounts
will be much less than indicated. To any objection which
may continue to exist I would say that both by provi-
sions of the law and by moral obligations to refund these
monies the people of these counties have been induced
to bond themselves and construct these roads to be en-
joyed by all the counties of the State. Personally I had
rather continue in the mud, let Georgia become back-
ward—even the laughing stock of the nation in its lack
of progress, if this be necessary to maintain the honor
of the State. As a matter of fact there will be no great
loss, if any at all, in refunding these monies. It will but
place all the counties on an equality. Much of the monies
will be immediately expended in more and better paving
and schools. Some apprehension is felt that the big city
counties will receive an undue portion of these refunds.
7
There are only five or six of these counties. Most of these
have regularly used their gasoline income in building roads
for their less fortunate neighboring counties. All of them
have expended millions in paving not the two State aid
roads alone but all of their highways. The people of every
other county enjoy these paved roads every day in the year.
Moreover, these big counties bear a very large proportion
of the tax monies which go into the State Treasury from
every source. For these and other reasons I feel that this
apprehension is not well founded. º
The “pay-as-you-go” plan is predicated upon the in-
definite continuation of Federal aid. It is known that the
President is opposed to the further continuance of this
fund and there is no assurance that it will not be discon-
tinued. Notice has been given to Georgia that it will be
discontinued if a State system of connected highways is not
projected.
In a recent public address State Highway Engineer
Neel earnestly advocated the issuance of State bonds to
complete the connected State system and said: “It is
not fair to other counties to use State funds to build roads
in only those counties that are able to issue bonds to match
State and Federal funds. The State should build its own
system and the money the counties are now using to aid
construction of State roads should be used to build the
93 per cent of the highways which are known as ‘feeders.’”
He estimated that fully 60 counties lack sufficient funds
to match State and Federal funds for highways and stated
that those who oppose issuance of State bonds should
remember that the bond system is being used now by the
counties to furnish money for the system and at higher
interest rates than the State would have to pay. He as-
serted that if the present plan— the “pay-as-you-go”
plan—is followed it will take 20 years to build a connected
paved road system.
Mr. Thos. H. MacDonald, Chief of Bureau of Public
Roads at Washington, the highest authority on the sub-
ject under consideration, after extended study of the
experience of all states, makes a statement of conclusions
8
indicating the necessity for drastic changes in legislative
and administrative highway policies. Among these con-
clusions I quote:
4. There is a direct relation between bonds and progress
in the construction of durable roads evidenced by the fact
that only those states which have issued bonds have made
any considerable progress in the mileage of durable pave-
ments built. At the end of 1924 of the surfaced highways
reported 66% were of low type, 24% medium and only
10% of more durable form of pavement.
5. The pay-as-you-go policy is having two principal
effects. First, they tend to an increase of inadequate types
of surfacing and second they force upon the counties bond
issues. In 24 states which have no state bond issues upwards
of one-half billion of county bonds have been issued in
five years.
7. The financing of the State Highway program through
contribution from the counties is wrong in principle and
will cost the public more in the end.
10. The State Highway Department should be financed
without recourse to county contributions and a greater
percentage of highway funds should be expended in more
durable construction.
Mr. McDonald's views are perfectly reflected by a road
map of Georgia which demonstrates absolutely that the
contribution—from—counties system does not provide a
connected system which Georgia laws require. Up to
1925 no two county sites were connected.
Illinois is considered the standard for State system of
paved highways. That State completed 3,221 miles of
primary paving in three years. Mr. Frank I. Sheets,
Chief Highway Engineer, in a letter dated February 10,
1925, says: “Rapidity of construction makes possible
cheaper price per mile than if only a small program were
built each year.”
Surely no more reliable authority can be found on
the questions at issue. * .
And now, finally, what is the General Assembly to do
with this vital matter? What is the logical, common-
sense, statesmanlike position to take? What is
involved in this question? What is the record?
In the past few months the people of 21 counties have
been given a chance to express themselves on the ques-
tion of voting bonds to build roads, of bonding them-
selves, involving ad valorem taxes. With a single excep-
tion they voted bonds so overwhelmingly as to be prac-
tically unanimous. The distinguished representative of
the one exceptional county advises me that his people
were not opposed to bonds but decided to await the State
bond issue. So we can say that the people are overwhelm-
ingly for road bonds. Again, I have made public addresses
to citizens representative of the towns and the country
in 25 counties. In 20 of these a poll was taken and the
program I have submitted to you was approved by rising
votes, practically unanimous—in a majority of instances
not a man failing to endorse it. I haven’t the slightest
doubt that when it is explained that no taxes ad valorem
is involved in this State issue of bonds, that they are to be
retired from gasoline and tag taxes only, an overwhelm-
ing majority of the people of the State will be recorded
in its favor. Then why should not the General Assembly
allow the sovereign people of this State to vote on this
state-wide question? You would by this act vindicate
the democratic majority rule which is the foundation of
our government. The ballot would be taken at the reg-
ular November election and would involve practically
no expense. You are not asked to saddle a new system
upon the people. You are asked simply to let the people
speak for themselves declaring by their own voice whether
they wish to adopt a new system. This is the only way
under our law that the people can be given an opportunity
to speak. Having in mass meetings in 20 counties and in
elections in 21 counties spoken so ominously and so unan-
imously approved the principle of bonds for roads, how
can a refusal to submit the matter to the people be justi-
fied, living as we do under a government based upon the
majority rule? If back home you should feel con-
10
strained to oppose bonds you can with perfect con-
sistency vote here to submit the issue to a vote of the
majority of the people. I am not asking you to vote for
bonds here and against bonds back home as a critic of
mine by an unfair deduction has charged. I am asking
you here as a representative of the people to vote simply
and solely to submit the matter to a majority vote of the
sovereign people of this State under the democratic rule
leaving you perfectly free as a citizen to vote your own
convictions back home. If this matter involved a moral
issue or if a vicious proposition were suggested the situa-
tion would be different. The plan can not justly be termed
vicious in principle when good people in every county
where they have been given an opportunity to express
themselves have practically unanimously approved the
principle. The plan is almost identical with that now
in force in North Carolina working such unprecedented
wonders in that great State and therefore it could not be
vicious, and if not vicious why not let the people settle
it? Year by year more and more people advocate bonds.
More and more they see governmental units and com-
mercial enterprises use their credit for great constructive
programs by voting bonds. As a matter of fact this ques-
tion arises every year and it will continue to arise. No
question is ever settled until it is settled right and a vote
expressive of the majority will is the only way it ever
can be settled. Why not settle it now, once for all? If
bonds are not voted then we can proceed finally to estab-
lish and perfect the pay-as-you-go plan or some other plan.
Much confusion has arisen over this matter. Records,
figures and deductions therefrom sharply conflicting in
nature have been quoted. Unfortunately division of
thought in some instances has followed the lines of past
partisan and political alignments. The issues involved
are far too vital in importance to be determined by any
such narrow measure. The patriotic representative of the
people will not become a party thereto. Eight months will
elapse before the people will be called upon to vote. They
can thoroughly inform themselves in the meantime. They
can hear arguments of representatives of both sides of the
ll
issue. They will be given full opportunity to clear up the
maze of conflicting figures, to advise with those who are
really informed and make their own deductions. Then
why should you deprive them of this democratic right?
In the meantime no harm can come to the advocates of
the pay-as-you-go plan. That system is in effect and
will continue unless and until the majority of the people
ordain a new system. Then can the advocates of the present
plan justly complain that you propose to leave the whole
matter to the people themselves? To do so would be
undemocratic in principle. If in fact roads can be graded
and paved as efficiently and as rapidly under the pay-as-
you-go plan as under the bond plan, the proponents of
the pay-as-you-go plan will have the amplest opportunity
to demonstrate the fact by November. If they can, I will
gladly lead the fight to reject the constitutional amend-
ment providing for bonds. There should be no bonds if
the roads can be built as rapidly and as efficiently without
bonds. But by the same token, by every principle of
democracy, if it can be demonstrated that a more satisfac-
tory system fair to every county, efficiently and economi-
cally constructed, can be provided within reasonable time
limits, then the people should be given a chance to ratify
the bonds. They cannot have that chance unless you by
your vote here submit to them the constitutional amend-
ment now under consideration. -
3. A System of Universal Education. I have presented
to you the present system of highway building, a system
of favoritism, a system aristocratic in sectional advantage,
by inequality of location and injustice in the distribution
of its benefits. We now, finally proceed to a realization
that we have also endured and suffered from a system
of education peculiarly alike in favoritism, a system of
aristocracy as to one-half of the territory and one-half of
the people of the State.
You can best approach the proper consideration of this
third proposition to establish a system of universal educa-
tion by providing equal educational opportunities to every
boy and girl in the State by a 'study of the historical back-
ground, the conditions existing through the years leading
12
up to the present educational state in Georgia. For a
hundred years our people submitted to a system almost
solidly aristocratic. In the seventeen eighties provision
was made for a State University. The only other legi-
lative enactment—in the eighteen thirties, establishing
a meager foundation for high schools—was repealed three
years later. In those first hundred years the rich man em-
ployed a tutor or a governess who became a member of the
family and taught the children of the home. No pro-
vision was made even for children of the tenants on the
same farm. Later high schools were established but these
were located in widely distributed centers. The favored
few who happened to live in these centers had access to
these schools. Only the other favored few, whose parents
were able to send them to board in those distant schools,
had a real chance of an education.
In 1877 the first step was taken to democratize the
schools when under General Bob Toombs the Constitution
provided for teaching the elementary grades. It will
be noted, however, that even this constructive and demo-
cratic constitutional provision left two grievous weaknesses
in the State educational system:
First, a great hiatus, a material gap, between the elem-
entary grades and the University which was bridged only
in the last ten to fifteen years by the present incomplete
but highly creditable high school system, the development
of which will mark the history of Georgia for the past
decade. But unfortunately the second great weakness yet
exists and Georgia is still handicapped by that remnant,
far too potent, of the original aristocratic system. Today,
with isolated exceptions, we are operating our State schools
under a system which provides practically every educa-
tional opportunity to one-half of the boys and girls who
live in the towns and cities while practically no educational
opportunity is given to the other one-half of the boys and
girls who live outside the towns and cities. I propose to
you that this session correct this aristocratic, unfair, un-
just and undemocratic system with the least possible
delay by providing equal educational advantages for
the children in the country. *.
13
From the mountains of North Georgia, from the most
modest of homes, from the humblest surroundings, have
come down our Bleckleys, our Browns, our Bells, our
Millers, our Reeds, our Wellborns, and our Truitts.
From the middle section of the State, from the same
modest, humble circumstances, have come out William
Henry Crawford, our John C. Fremont, our Sidney Lanier,
Our John B. Gordon, our Joel Chandler Harris, our Cobbs
and Our Lamars.
From the sandy slopes and coastal plains to the south,
from like humble surroundings, have come up our Le Contes,
our Troupes, our Berriens, our Brantleys, our Turners,
our Estills, our Pendletons and our McIntoshs.
With a record of such illustrious heroes of war and heroes
of peace, coming from humble homes, from the body of the
common people, what right has any man to place his impious
hand upon the tousled head of any boy anywhere in Geor-
gia, however humble his circumstances, and say that that
boy has not in him the making of a great man?
If education is the bringing out—the literal meaning
of the word is “the drawing out”—of the good which God
Almighty saw fit to put into a boy, what right have we,
what code of morals can justify us, to continue to submit
one moment longer to a system of laws which gives to one-
half of the boys and girls who live in the towns and cities
practically every educational opportunity to develop but
which gives to the other one-half of the boys and girls who
happen to live outside the municipalities practically no
opportunity to develop the good which Almighty God saw
fit to put into them?
Speak in terms as extravagant as you will of the untold
physical wealth, the unlimited natural resources or the
unequalled climatic advantages of Georgia, our greatest
assets are still the brains and hearts of our Anglo-Saxon
children, the man power of the future, one-half of which
like our natural resources are undeveloped, going to waste!
If there be found one Georgian to whom these humani-
tarian sentiments, these spiritual values do not appeal, let
14
me say to him that even the lowest, the meanest, the mer-
cenary, the dollars and cents values should lead him to
support this proposition of universal education.
Recently I had an opportunity which I long had sought,
to drive with a friend through New England. I had wanted
to know how those down-east Yankees live. I need not
remind you that those people are not only intelligent
but they are practical and successful in business,
Do you know what was the most significant obser-
vation of that entire trip? It was that without ex-
ception, in every municipality, village, town, Small
city and large city, the best located, the best built, the
best equipped and the best maintained buildings were
the school buildings. An eminent industrial leader of
New England is quoted by a reliable authority as saying
that the manufacturers of the North recognize the tre-
mendous natural advantages enjoyed by the South and
realize that their only hope of competing successfully
with the South in the future is to educate the coming
generation a step ahead of the people of the South.
Still addressing ourselves to the man of mercenary motives,
let us carry him up to the North and let him find the line
separating Georgia from North Carolina. South of that
line is a series of towns, Blue Ridge, Blairsville, Young
Harris, Hiawassee and Clayton, towns of good people—
the best in the world–brave, patriotic, hopeful people—
towns which will come but now small and with few civic
improvements. Go to the North only a few miles and what
do you find? Murphy, Franklin, Hendersonville, Asheville,
cities more remote from centers of population and commerce,
but thriving, prospering, glowing with electric lights,
paving, sewers, every modern civic improvements, with
farm lands selling five times as high as the same type of
lands south of the State line. And how is the difference
explained? With the Georgia side far better located, in
one-day auto drive of the millions of wealthy pleasure
seekers of Florida, with the same marvellous scenic beauty
with the same unequalled mountain climate, with
purest water, the most invigorating atmosphere, with every
15
natural advantage—there can be but one answer—the
difference is good schools and paved roads!
The representative of a large insurance company reports
only one foreclosure out of loans of millions on farm lands
in North Carolina in 1925.
Let our mercenary friend make a map of any county;
call in the Solicitor General; have him place a painted
pin at the site of the crime represented by each bill of
indictment pending in that county and invariably
those pins will clutter about that section of the county
where the schools and the churches are least efficient.
Go to the source of crime; drive out ignorance and super-
Stition and prejudice; train the youth to think straight, to
respect the churches, the courts, the law; then you will
reduce crime; you will reduce your court trials, you will
reduce your expenses and you will reduce your taxes!
In this hour which should be freighted with the most
serious solemnity for us all, I hear ringing down the cen-
turies that age old question: “Where is thy brother?”
To our forefathers, who pledged in blood an equal oppor-
tunity for all, this body of Georgians in legislative assem-
bly today must answer as representatives of our people.
Far too many sons of our State are in the coves of the
mountains of North Georgia, hemmed in by mud-bound
roads with little or no school advantages; far too many
others are sluggishly existing on the slopes and plains
below with undeveloped brains of unknown potentiality
going to waste; some have recently mounted the gallows—
sent into the beyond, ignorant specimens of humanity,
unreached and untaught. Others are filling our jails,
clogging our courts, straining the walls of our detention
homes, and over-crowding our penitentiary system. From
the executive branch of the State I appeal to the legisla-
tive body of my fellow Georgians and beg that you do
not evade this momentous question with the age-old shift-
ing of responsibility: “Am I my brother's keeper?” In-
stead may you treat with scorn any attempt to further
delay the march of educational progress in our great State.
16
We must provide this universal system of education,
we must have high class schools in the country as well as
in the towns, if we save Georgia! While the development
of our hydro-electric power promises the very brightest
industrial future for Georgia, this State is still, and, in my
judgment, will continue to be essentially and primarily
an agricultural state. If developed to its destined place
we must preserve its agricultural interests. If I would build
up any town in Georgia I would first go out and build up the
agricultural interests of the territory around that town.
To be more specific I would first go to the County School
Superintendent and ask for a map of the county. I would
ask him to draw the lines of the districts already provided
with efficient schools; I would then ask him to locate on the
map lines of districts where consolidated schools were
needed and I would go out of that office and never rest
till those consolidated schools were established, until
every boy and every girl in that county were given access
to one of those nine-months high grade schools.
Again I say if Georgia is to remain the “Empire State
of the South” without a moment's delay we must set about
reversing the current which started some years ago, that
current of education of the boys and girls from the farm
to the town and city. And how is this to be done? Let
us examine present conditions of average farm life. What ad-
vantages are enjoyed by the farmer of today? He has
at least a chance of a daily mail— if it does not rain and
the mail-carrier is not stuck in the mud. He has a chance
of a telephone, of the radio, of some kind of lighting sys-
tem and some kind of water system. Now add to these
the two modern conveniences, the two essentials to mod-
ern home-life for which I am appealing and you will per-
manently reverse that false current and begin to educate
the children from the cities and the towns back to the farm.
And now we come to the moral and the spiritual
values—the soul of the man-power of the future.
With supreme reverence I assert that God established
civilization upon the foundation of the home and when
he founded that sacred shrine, the home, he ordained
that a Christian mother and a godly father could raise
17
their own children in the curtilage of their own homes
by their own fireside better than in any boarding school
or in any home of relative or friend in any town or city. I
submit that it is the inalienable right, the right ordained of
God, of every child to be raised in its own home, around
the knees and under the inspiring hands and the sacred
touch of its own mother about her own hearth-stone with-
out penalizing that child by depriving it of a fair chance
of an education. I assert with all the earnestness of my
soul that any system of laws which robs any child of that
natural right of living in its own home, deprives it of the en-
joyment and the inspiration of the sacred sentiments and
traditions of home life and sends that child out into the
world of boarding life or imprisons that child for life in the
shackles of ignorance, superstition and prejudice, is an
unjust, undemocratic, aristocratic and poisonous system
which every patriotic citizen should join in correcting
without another hour's delay.
Then give to farm life access to a school system, the equal
of that of the towns, place every boy and every girl in
reasonable walking distance of a consolidated school or a
bus-line to that school; let them live at home and get an
education, give them the modern, twelve months depend-
able highway system over which they can be carried safely
and economically to those centralized schools, giving them
reasonable access to and contact with their friends more
favorably located, contact with inspirational addresses, ele-
vating lectures, uplifting musical concerts, informative mov-
ing pictures, recreational games and contests—in other
words, give them a chance to live in a modern progressive at-
mosphere and enjoy the comforts, the conveniences and in-
spiring blessings of modern life—give them such a chance
and you’ll start the current from the city and the town
back to the country and you’ll save the country, you’ll
save the town, you’ll save the city and you’ll save the
State! *
Ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, I could
multiply the argument till sundown but to add another
word would insult your intelligence.
18
Many of you are Master Masons. In all the realms of
literature, aye, in all the sphere of imagination, no more
striking spectacle, no more impressive lesson can be found
than that first lesson in that first degree of Masonry which
teaches that all mankind comes into this world on a level
plane. The spirit of Masonry demand an equal chance for
every boy and every girl. g
And call the roll of all other fraternal orders, Rotary,
Kiwanis, Civitan, Lions, Exchange and the rest—all with
mottoes in different words but with the same substantial
objective—the service of the underprivileged fellowman.
The spirit of every such club and every other fraternal organiza-
tion demands an equal chance for every boy and girl!
The law of our land was founded on the Constitution
and that Constitution was founded on the Declaration of
Independence. The first expression of that immortal
charter of human liberty, declares that “all men are, and
of right ought to be, free and equal.” The spirit of the law
demands an equal chance for every boy and girl!
The Church of God, to which most of us belong and for
which I trust all of us have supreme respect, the religion
of Jesus Christ, is founded on the golden rule. “That
which ye would that others should do unto you, do ye like-
wise unto them.” The spirit of Almighty God demands an
equal chance for every boy and girl. .
Any man blessed with unusual advantages who is un-
willing to share those advantages with his underprivileged
brother is unworthy even the name of man!
Along with this system of consolidated schools must
go the other elements of equal importance in the well-
rounded educational program. We would be wasting millions
of money if we establish the system of centralized schools
and do not provide for an adequate supply of competent,
trained and consecrated teachers for these schools. This
means that we must enlarge and better equip our Normal
colleges. We must train our boys to develop the untold
natural resources of the State and that means that we must
enlarge and better equip our great School of Technology in
19
Atlanta and the technical departments of other schools.
We must build a great university at Athens to train and
develop leaders of thought and public sentiment to main-
tain a great State after we have builded it. We must foster
the agricultural interests, the foundation of our business
system, by training our farm boys to combat and conquer
the modern enemies of modern agricultural and that means
that we must enlarge and better equip the State Agricul-
tural College and the District Agricultural schools. We must
train our girls in the cultural arts as well as in
domestic science and home economics for true woman-
hood in modern life and this means that we must make
ample provision for the girls’ colleges. Thus we approach
the scientific, unified, well-rounded educational system from
the public schools to the university, and for such a unified
system, with its preservation of American ideals, every
loyal son of this Southern State should bend his highest
efforts to-day, now! Shame, shame upon the voice that
cries “delay!”
The establishment of better schools and better roads will
inevitably be followed by a demand for better health. The
efficiency of the man-power of the State is reduced one-
third by sickness, two-thirds of which is preventable;
malaria, dengue, hook-worm, typhoid, tuberculosis must
be reduced to a minimum. The economic loss from pre-
ventable diseases measured in dollars is stupendous—mount-
ing into millions annually.
Will you follow me in this last argument as I present
to you the deliberate conclusion of the best thought of
which I have been capable, the profoundest thought of
my official life. I ask that you do not commit yourself
now on this; Sleep over it; give it the maturest reflection
and make your response as the roll is called on the several
items of the program.
The eyes of the world are on the South; the current of
population and business development is now running this
way. The business world is a unit on that score; thousands
of good people are coming to the South each week. Then
consider the effect if you could truthfully advertise to
20
the world that Georgia had actually adopted the con-
structive program now submitted, if we could cap-
italize this opportunity of opportunities for Geor-
gia, this the psychological hour in all its history, if
we could challenge the attention and arrest the interest
of the world in Georgia’s unequalled advantages. Let's
see just what we could now truthfully advertise. First, that
Georgia is the greatest in area of any State in the Union;
that Georgia has the very finest climate of any State in the
Union; a State free from the extremes of heat to the South
and the extremes of cold to the North; a State which on
the hills to the north raises apples which take the prize
at the Spokane Washington apple shows; which on the
coastal plains to the south raises Satsuma oranges and
other tropical fruits and which on all the slopes between
raises every agricultural product in profusion unequalled
even by California; with a practically twelve-months agri-
cultural and pasturage year; a State with 23 of the 26
types of soil, more than any other State; with 45 of the 52
merchantable minerals, more than any other State; with
hydro-electric power going to waste; with a long coastal
shore line of unparalleled beauty and unexcelled utilitarian
potentialities of fish and oyster and other industries of the
sea; with scenic beauty in the mountains to the north
majestic and sublime, with the most salubrious atmosphere,
the best water, and above all and over all, the purest Anglo-
Saxon blood of any State in the Union! Now, ladies and
gentlemen, in the calmest deliberation, assume that we
could truthfully add to these glories of a land blessed of
God as no other land the three elements of the program
you have before you; suppose that it should be announced
to the world that Georgia, the State which has been sland-
ered in the four-quarters of the earth as a State benighted,
a State of narrow provincialism, that that Georgia, through
its General Assembly in the good month of March, 1926,
had made ample provision for a system of education under
which a settler could establish a home even in the remotest
section of the remotest county with a nine-months high grade
school accessible to his children and a unified well-rounded
educational system from the public school to the univer-
sity for their further advancement; that the same general
21
assembly had made ample provision for a modern, depend-
able state-wide system of connected paved highways to
be completed in from five to seven years and laid the foun-
dation for a modern health department reducing disease
and sickness to a minimum—tell the world that Georgia
had adopted that constructive and progressive program
and no power on earth could keep an army of good citi-
zens from other far less favored states from coming here
to make their homes and to join us in making Georgia the
greatest State in the Union! I measure my words when I
state as a deliberate conclusion that the same program
announced by North Carolina five years ago has been
worth in advertisement to that State the 85 millions of
dollars involved in its first bond issue. I state without
hesitation as the profoundest conviction of my life that
the announcement within the next thirty days of such
a program of construction in Georgia would be worth
85 millions to this State even if the expenditure of that
sum carried no other intrinsic value and no class of men
would profit more by this advertisement than would the
farmers of Georgia! -
Georgia is grievously handicapped by an aristocratic
system of laws covering the three great governmental
elements of taxation, highways and education, those
civic subjects of more potential possibilities than all others
combined. We suffer from a system of favoritism, an
aristocracy in taxation, under which one-half of the peo-
ple and one-half of the property pay all the taxes, while the
other half of the people and the other half of the property,
the privileged half, enjoy all the privileges of government
but escape taxation entirely. I call you all to witness
that this administration has exhausted all honorable means,
has exerted every possible effort to induce this legislative
body to relieve the suffering people of this burden.
No one questions the aristocracy of an educational
system, a system of favoritism, under which one-half of
the boys and one-half of the girls, the privileged half, are
given almost every educational opportunity, while the
other half are given practically none.
22
And just as perfect an aristocracy of transportation is
our system of favoritism in highway construction under
which the favored few counties, whose wealth and taxable
values will stand local bond issues are hastening into line
to qualify for the 75 per cent aid in the cost of construction
of paved highways from Federal and State aid funds,
making no provision for the less fortunate counties, the
un-favored majority of counties, which have not quali-
fied and which from lack of taxable values never can qualify,
to share equally these funds.
So clear is this aristocracy of favoritism, so marked, so
unjust are these governmental inequalities, that as year by
year legislatures come and turn deaf ears to the pleas
of governors who are sincerely interested in the progress of
the State; as well-meaning and honest representatives of
the very people and the very counties which suffer most,
and in number sufficient to carry the balance of power,
allow themselves to be confused by the studied tac-
tics of the enemy, the big tax-payers and special interests
with their highly-trained, soft-speaking and alluringly
amiable legislative agents, by the multiplied amendments
of over-zealous friends—confused by the specious argu-
ments of over-eager partisans, with their pride of author-
ship, jealous of their political fences—partisans who re-
fuse to “give and take” with statesmanlike regard for the
views of others, confused by the jealousy between the
House and Senate, almost continuous and highly discred-
itable—as year by year this well-meaning balance of power
allows itself to be thus confused and thus fails to give relief
to the underprivileged half of the people who continue to
bear the burdens of an aristocratic government, many
men of thought are losing respect for the legislative branch
of that government. Most of the opposition to the calling
of an extra session was based upon this idea—the oft re-
peated thought that the Legislature would do nothing if it
were assembled. More and more is heard the expression
that representative government is falling down; that
if this general assembly, convened at a period of perfect
tranquility, when no local, partisan or political issues
should confuse, with only three subjects to consider, with
23
only three problems to solve, should fail to give relief to the
suffering people; if the brain and the patriotism of this
legislature, unequalled, as it is, in personel by any of its
predecessors, is incapable of solving these three prob-
lems and of working out a plan of relief, then it should
Solemnly resolve to go back home with an open confession,
that representative government had in fact broken down.
Relying only on the power of logical reasoning, of co-
operative and constructive advice, I approached your body
in the regular session with an appeal for the abolition
of the aristocracy in taxation, presenting for your con-
sideration the views of the leaders in business and industry,
successful men of affairs whose counsel I believed would
be of material assistance to you. In approaching your body
with this last appeal for the abolition of the aristocracy
in education and the aristocracy in highway construction,
I have been mindful that the people must ratify both
measures of reform and I have therefore been constrained
to confer directly with the people. I have gone out in per-
son to every section of the State and discussed this pro-
gram of universal education and fairly distributed modern
highways to be built in every county within the earliest
possible time consistent with economy and good business
judgment. Wherever I have gone, with the exception of
four or five places where embarrassing political or other
peculiar conditions exists, I have polled the people present
and without a single exception when given an opportunity.
the people have endorsed this program by a practically
unanimous vote, in most cases the vote being absolutely
unanimous. In 21 counties the people have voted prac-
tically as overwhelmingly to bond themselves for paved
highways.
I have no hesitancy in concluding that when given an
opportunity the people of the entire State will vote over-
whelmingly to endorse the program of universal education
and highways. Are you willing to give them that oppor-
tunity? Can you afford not to give them that chance?
Personally I have not the slightest doubt that the re-
forms submitted to you will be enacted into law. The
24
only question is shall they be delayed while Georgia loses
the golden opportunity to capitalize the psychological
conditions so gloriously favorable at this moment, those
conditions which our neighboring States are capitalizing
every hour? Is it possible that there is a single Georgian
here who amid these God-given opportunities of develop-
ment and progress will consent to leave here without
capitalizing these wonderful opportunities simply because
the suggestion comes from the present Governor? If so, as
another has said, the tragic joke will be upon the people of
Georgia, upon the children, born and unborn, for this pro-
gram presents no plan of mine; it is a program born twenty-
five years ago in the mind and heart of that great educational
governor of North Carolina, Governor Aycock, in whose
administration a new, modern schoolhouse was built for
each day of that administration; it is the program which
in 25 years has brought North Carolina from the most
backward, darkened State, the “Tar Heel State,” to
be the most enlightened, the most progressive and the
most prosperous State in all the South; it is the program
which in substance was approved by the Georgia State
Teachers Association before the present executive was
thought of for Governor. £3
My confidence in the coming of a day of real democracy
in Georgia, a democracy of equality in education, in trans-
portation and in taxation, is not disturbed by carping
criticisms. I recall that Governor Aycock too was de-
nounced as visionary, as a Don Quixote, as the Mussolini
of his day. And yet to day the most prominent monument
in all Carolina standing on the crest of the Capitol Hill
at Raleigh, honors the name of Aycock, the best beloved
name in the old North State and as in North Carolina
along with his the names of those educational leaders,
McIver and Alderman, have gone and will go sounding
down the annals of time so in Georgia the names of those
educational statesmen and progressive teachers who have
fixed the ideal and established the goal of a unified well-
rounded educational system with a foundation in a con-
solidated high-grade nine-months school in reach of every
boy and girl in Georgia, their names will be honored and
25
revered in this great State when the names of carping
critics and technical objectors have long been forgotten!
Yes, the day of democracy is coming! I have seen the
dawn of that day as I have gone about over the State!
If carping critics and re-actionary objectors will leave
their steam-heated offices and their comfortably appointed
homes, enjoying the blessings which followed their college
diplomas, forego for a time their closed cars on their paved
highways, and go with me, they too will catch a vision of
that dawning day! They may be disturbed by the sight
of women and children in distress along the road-side
while their less favored fellow man struggles to get out
of the mud; their aristocratic habits may possibly be shaken
for a moment at least by a view of the other half of the
world, that half living in the remoter sections with no
highways, with one-room three months schoolhouses and
little if any real educational advantages for their children.
But I’ll show them a vision! Go with me to the most dis-
tant counties, Camden and Charlton, with the smallest
taxable values, with inadequate buildings and insufficient
equipment, yet with all their schools consolidated, with
a high-grade nine-months school in reach of every boy
and girl. Go with me to that other distant county, De-
catur, that royal county of real democracy, which has
already builded and equipped a brick, modern, up-to-
date, nine-months high-grade school in every militia dis-
trict of that county. Go to Hart county and to Sum-
ter and to Glynn and to Bibb and to Troupe and to Lee
and to Bulloch and to other counties which are rap-
idly approximating that goal; go with me over the
State and catch the vision of the army of tens of thousands
of sons and daughters of patriotic Georgians, already
mustered in for future service in the battle against aris–
tocracy; listen to the ominous foot fall of that army already
on the march from the one-and-two-room schoolhouses to
the consolidated school and from the consolidated school
to the high school. In five years that army will begin to
reach college and burst asunder the walls of every college
building in this State, now already crowded. In ten years
or less that army will reach this building, it will storm these
26
walls; in grateful acknowledgment of the opportuniti
they have enjoyed, in the name of the Democracy w
profess, they will demand that equal opportunities of an
education be given their less fortunate under-privileged
neighbors back home, that equal rights be accorded every
class and every section in taxation, in highways and in
education. No carping critic will be here then. Truth
will be here and justice will be here and victory will be here,
for “thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel just.” The
people of Georgia are rapidly coming to see that no com-
munity is stronger than its weakest home; that no county
is stronger than its weakest community; that no State is
stronger than its weakest county. Our people are de-
veloping a State pride.
Yes, the day of democracy, of real democracy, has dawned.
The question of this hour and the only question which dis-
turbs me is, shall this legislature, shall you have a part in
that glorious consummation? Shall that day come in full
meridian in our administration or a later?
If it does not, I call High Heaven to witness it will not
be my fault!
Yes, that day is coming. May it come in your day and
mine! Full opportunity will be given each of you to make
your contribution to its early coming as after a few days
you will be privileged to vote for constructive measures
which will finally break the shackles of aristocracy which
have long fettered our beloved State. The list of those so
voting will be a list of immortals! It will constitute a roll of
honor, a roll of duty, a roll of freedom! In the name of Geor-
gia, in the name of a greater Georgia, in the name of the Geor-
gia of Hill and Toombs and Stephens and Grady, in the name
of the unborn children of Georgia, I call you, each one of
you, to inscribe your name upon it!
Atlanta, Ga., February 24, 1926.
CLIFFORD WALKER.
27
37
&#/~
|. - -
|| 1 , 7 -- 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 consid-
eration 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 plat-
form 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- 2. For the elimination of the poli-
cultural Depart- tical power of the Agricultural De-
Innent. 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 be removed from politics and made the best busi-
ness organization that it is possible to construct. The large
amount of money handled and expended by this department
demands that this be 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 be 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 be eligible to elective office until after a sub-
stantial period from the expiration of his term of office on that
board. •
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 bur-
dening 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 banking 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 banking and financial world in the solution of these
problems. Recommendations in detail will be 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 be 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 policy 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 that 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 best 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 influences the welfare
of the people than any other business. In its regulation of the
ownership, use and disposition of property, the regulation of in-
'dustry, 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 gov-
ernment, receiving their authority from the legislature. The
federal government is limited to specific powers which are enu-
merated 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 than 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 execu-
tive. His powers and responsibilities are entirely too circum-
Scribed, 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 stupendous and all important staté
government. I would have them realize that, in spite of inef-
ficiency, 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, con-
structive and critical public opinion will do more to increase the
happiness and prosperity of our people than any other citizen
activity. X- -
Control Wested 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
opinion. 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 de-
teriorate 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 preponder-
ance 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 statesman-
ship. -
Progress Due to Mobilized Citizens Under
Aggressive Leaders.
I am gratified to report that one of the outstanding develop-
ments 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 Education 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-op-
eratives, 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 La-
bor, and you will understand that public health and social wel-
fare 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 evi-
dence 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 citi-
zens, 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 le-
gion 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 establish-
ment of credit unions.
7
The tax on fuel oil for highway construction was raised from 1
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 ren-
dered 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 objective. Under 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 institu-
tions 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 oppor-
tunity. 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 in-
telligent citizens recognize that true progress can come only when
ways and means of finding facts and measuring results are de-
vised. 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 re-
search, study, laboratory work and investigation by our business
interests. It is even more necessary that the state government—
Georgia'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 re-
search and the dissemination of scientific information are
the most important basic elements in progressive gov-
ernment. I emphasize them because they are so little appre-
ciated 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 de-
partment, and our state school of technology.
Educational methods are being revolutionized as the result of
the research work of the educational departments in our univer-
sity and women’s college and are carried to thousands of teachers
in summer schools and institutes.
I0
Standards of organization, supervision and finances of our pub-
lic 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 equali-
zation by which the state will equalize the educational opportu-
nities 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 recog-
nized 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 af-
fairs 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, dis-
couraged 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
II
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 educa-
tional 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 thous-
ands 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 ca-
pacity of the sanitarium. This institution needs appropriations
for remodeling and equipment, but there should be also an in-
vestment 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 gov-
ernment. 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 govern-
mental 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, de-
posited in a common treasury, budgeted scientifically and ex-
actly and disbursed through one officer with the wise safeguards
now provided by the constitution.
13
Budget System (2). The absence of a scientific system
Needed. of budget of the state's expenditures
is equally 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 workin 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. e
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 great-
ly 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 senti-
ment 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, dispassionate 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
I6
any state along its course. The problem challenges the
sanest thought and the most statesmanlike action, for the
damage wrought is not only financial, but 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, uni-
versity men, and specialists in public administration, and laying
a substantial 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-
18
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 com-
mission 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 im-
provement of the law and its administration. Its first duty
would be to devise and by appropriate legislation to set up ade-
quate 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 legisla-
ture immediately establish a permanent state crime com-
mission with the responsibilities outffned 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 the curable
delinquent. The longer his term in our present day prison, the
In OTé dangerous ha 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.
20
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 pre-
vented 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
be 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 ap-
plication 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 revo-
lutionize 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 equalizing educational opportu-
nities 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 served 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-
22
ties become poorer each year, losing in both wealth and popu-
lation? •
I am in full sympathy with every effort to decentralize industry
and distribute new factories throughout the state. But the ad-
vance 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 de-
velopment 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 com-
munity. 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 construc-
tive 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 everything,
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 equalization 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 per-
fect work in Georgia.
The Heart of the Government
The state department of public welfare has been described a.S
“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 reducing
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 de-
pendent 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 child-
ren, 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—pre-
vented from becoming a perpetual public expense by the expendi-
ture of a little money and effort. All of the difficulties of the un-
fortunates were blamed upon their own evil 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 be 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 pris-
ons, 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 edu-
cation and public health in a full rounded program of study and
prevention which challenges the laissez faire attitude of govern-
ment, and presents the only hope for the maintenance of civiliza-
tion 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 carry-
ing 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 op-
tional, and subject to the enlightened will of the county authori-
ties. Most of them will be 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 citi-
zen 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 bold trio of fundamentals they
felt that actual physical life could be 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 pre-
ventable. “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 means to
assure to its citizens the right to life but withholds 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 con-
stitution.
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 continue
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-
€8,S62.
In spite of the attainments of preventive medicine the majority
of the people of Georgia and a large percentage of the people 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 mal-
nourished children, maternity care and even tuberculosis clinics
are sporadic, affect only a limited clentele 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 bear 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 pre-
mature death of these thousands is incalculable. Even the mone-
tary 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 pop-
ulation of the United States and one-tenth of all the cases of ty-
phoid 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 can-
not be attributed to poverty. As long as we spend $2.1 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. - -
28
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 health.mobile. It
has kept up the fight with bravery that should shame the rest of
UIS. -
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 board
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 tech-
nique of the builder. A new renaissance must depend upon en-
gineers 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 build-
ing 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, but to educate, to make not laws but
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 re-
strictions 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
value 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 con-
solidated 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 gov-
ernor 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.
Yet another obstruction in the road of public education needs
to be removed before the track will be entirely clear. The se-
lecton of state and county school officials must be taken out of
politics, and placed in the hands of competent boards of educa-
tion. We are indeed fortunate in the present personnel of our state
department of education, and in the heads of many county sys-
31
tems, but their efficiency is diminished by the constantly im-
pending 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 distri-
bution 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 appro-
priate five millions from state funds for education, failing to re-
alize 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 appro-
priations for education. We must prepare ourselves not only to
equalize the educational opportunities as between the children of
the different counties of Georgia, but we must bring these op-
portunities up to the standard set by our sister states.
The strengthening of the staff of our state department of educa-
tion is not an unimportant feature in this program. The ex-
penditure 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 educa-
tion.
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 intoxican Us 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 abun-
dant life we must look to our institutions of higher learning to
develop not only an inspired intelligent leadership but a popu-
lation permeated with the ideals of democracy and embued 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 char-
acters 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-
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 institu-
tions. 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 chan-
cellor 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 re-
sult of a careful unbiased survey of the situation. This has been
recommended by the trustees and by every commission and or-
ganization 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. Gov-
ernment 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 sug-
gested the following agencies of research:
1 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 ac-
tivities of an hundred state agencies into a few departments,
correct the defects in the legislature branch, and establish a re-
sponsible executive department.
34
The problems here suggested are not easily solved. The
general assembly has grown so increasingly in size that it is doubt-
ful 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 encroach-
ments 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 commis-
sions 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 ad-
ministration 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 treas-
ury, and their disbursement under a scientific budget.
3. The reorganization of the state highway department
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 ade-
quate protection for dependent, neglected and delinquent
children. º
7. The reorganization of the state agricultural depart-
ment, the immediate adoption of efficient tests for gasoline, and
the reduction of the expensive army of fertilizer and gasoline in-
spectors. -
More Money Needed
I am convinced that great economies may be achieved imme-
diately, 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 ab-
sorbed 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 main-
tenance 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, sanitorium for the tubercu-
lar—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 revenue which the legislature must find.
36
The people of Georgia have deliberately chosen a business
man for governor. They are expecting a business adminis-
tration—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 abdi-
cation.
LET US RENEW OUR PLEDGE TO OLD GEORGIA. WE
CAN FIND UNITY IN OUR FAITH IN HER, BROTHER-
HOOD 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
Miscellaneous 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-
38
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 hand 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. Mean-
while, 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 in-
stallation of a modern heating plan and this has been installed in
highly satisfactory manner. The need of repairs to the plaster-
ing and restoration to the painting and other decoration is per-
fectly 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 wir-
ing systems. I urge that the question of installing a complete
new modern electric lighting system be given most careful con-
sideration. The State is now renting additional outside build-
ings for the housing of such department and ecomomy and busi-
ness judgment will dictate the immediate reclamation of the re-
maining portion of the ground floor of the Capitol building not
heretofore developed. I estimate that additional offices of ac-
ceptable 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 ac-
complished and recommendation for completing the work has been
filed with the incoming Governor for consideration of the Execu-
tive and General Assembly. In the meantime even casual con-
sideration 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 chem-
ical 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 con-
sideration 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 indication 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 would 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.
Moreover, the experience of the State, both in the city of Chat-
tanooga and in the city of Atlanta impeaches the judgment to
voluntarily dispose of any part of the real estate holdings con-
nected with 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 condi-
tions 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 inconvenienced 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 Game Under its present management most nota-
Department. ble 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 present.
Geological With its meager appropriation the State Geo-
Department. logical Survey is unable to carry out the ob-
jective set forth in the bill establishing the Department, name y,
a complete geological, mineralogical and physical Survey of the
state. The Department now has in preparation two important
42
reports, namely, a report on the marble and one on the clay de-
posits 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 use 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
43
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 credit-
able showing made. I recommend that the scope of the depart-
ment be enlarged by requiring every agency of the State to re-
port 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 ad-
valorem taxes have been lost to the State by delay and failure
to report and check delinquent collections. I earnestly recom-
mend that authority and adequate force be given the Auditing
and Revenue Departments to co-operate in checking and en-
forcing collection of delinquent ad-valorem as well as all other
taxes. I predict that these measures will largely increase 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 pro-
vide 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 presentation 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 Print-
ing 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 a-
mended penalizing the contracting of a debt for which no appro-
priation 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-
Interat. 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 check-
ing 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. .
47
sº
J
37
(2 +/4
! 0R4G6 SECOND MESSAGE
L 1 g 7
of
LAMARTINE GRIFFIN HARD MAN
Governor of Georgia
to the
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
July 17th, 1929
Atlanta, Georgia

SECOND MESSAGE
TO
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
July 17, 1929.
MR. PRESIDENT, MR. SPEAKER, MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL
- - ASSEMBLY:
First: I desire to call your attention to the plans of simplifi-
cation and coordination of the departments, boards, commissions,
and institutions of the State Government of Georgia, as pre-
sented by the Governor's Commission, created for the study of
the simplification and coordination of the operations of govern-
mental departments. - -
You will notice that our present operations of State Govern-
ment are presented in a chart furnished by your Commission and
gotten out by the State Auditor.
You will also notice a chart in the first of this report, as recom-
mended by the Commission. This Commission has done a
great deal of work and investigation to bring to you an intelligent
report concerning the operation and coordination of State Govern-
ment, Boards, and Institutions, as provided by other states and
now in operation, which has been very effective.
I call especial attention to the fact that with the plan now
presented by your Commission, that $800,000.00, or possibly
$1,000,000.00 can be saved annually in the operation of govern-
mental state boards and institutions, as recommended by your
Commission.
This plan provides for the interest and simplification of
all the departments, boards and institutions, also efficiency and
economy; and I recommend that the presentation, as provided
by this Commission, have your very best consideration and, if
possible, that you enact into law, or pass the Bill presented to
you by this Commission.
Some of the very best lawyers have gone over this matter
and have presented it to you in a legal form, which provides for
the amendment of the laws now in operation, but which will not
require any Constitutional Amendment.
STATE CAPITOL
Your Capitol has been occupied for forty years on the 15th
of June past, and the deterioration is plain to be seen by
everyone who will inspect it; and very little attention, com-
paratively speaking, has been given to the upkeep of the building.
The Governor has secured two expert architects to inspect and
provide plans and statements for your information, which has
cost the State nothing; and they state that the present Capitol
building, if constructed new today, would cost from $2,500,000.00
to $2,650,000.00 and with the deterioration going on, it would be
of little value in ten years more.
Today they estimate that this building, completing the first
story and putting it into first-class condition, would cost from
$200,000.00 to $250,000.00, which would then give to the State a
building that would easily be worth Two and One-half Million
Dollars, and would also provide for the necessary departments
under the new plan of coordination, as recommended by the
Governor's Commission on State Government.
It must be apparent to you that we are paying the interest of
$200,000.00 a year in rents for the departments outside of the
Capitol. With the saving in the new plan of cooperation, one- .
fourth of which would give sufficient funds to properly improve
and equip the present Capitol, there would be left at least a
2
Half Million Dollars to go to other uses of our departments—
to education, buildings, or other purposes; and I recommend that
you provide revenue and secure such legislation as will put our
Capitol in good condition.
GIFT OF THE RHODES PROPERTY
The heirs of the A. G. Rhodes estate, Mr. Joseph D. Rhodes
and Mrs. Louana Rhodes Bricker, have made a wonderful gift
to the State of Georgia, in what is known as the Rhodes residence,
at Peachtree and 17th Streets, through the State Historical
Commission, and has been accepted Subject to your approval.
This building, which has been named the Rhodes Memorial Hall,
has already beautiful memorial windows portraying the history
of the War Between the States; and it is donated for the purpose
of the keeping of records of Archives and History of this State,
which will relieve some of the congested space in the Capitol at
present.
With the use of this building and the improvements suggested
to be made on the Capitol, we would have sufficient room, under
the new plan of coordination, to take care of our needs for several
years. - -
After the investigation of the building, and the titles to the
property, if the same is satisfactory, I recommend the acceptance
of this building for the uses as above named.
THE OPPORTUNE TIME
It appeals to the Chief Executive of this State that it is
especially fitting at this time that you enact into law a bill, or
such modification, as you find wise, that is presented to you by
the Governor's Commission on State Government; and at the
same time complete and improve the Capitol, that it will be
suitable for the departments suggested to you by this Commission.
It seems also that the magnificent gift that has come to the
State from the Rhodes heirs would also give us space that could
properly be used for the State Library; that the library and the
Department of Archives and History could be removed to the
Rhodes building during the improvements at the Capitol.
What a contribution it would be for Georgia to provide the
new organization—to complete and renovate our Capitol, and
to come into possession of this Magnificent stone Rhodes building
for our Department of Archives and History.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
Second: It is necessary and very important in order that
the Highway Department may function, and pay for the con-
tracts already let, that you provide revenue that will be im-
mediately available.
It is also necessary that you provide revenue immediately
available for the paying of the deficit of the Highway Department
of $1,730,000.00 s
It is further necessary that revenue be provided that we may
secure from the Federal Government the Two Million Dollars that
will be available when the necessary funds from the State are
provided.
In view of the needs above mentioned I recommend that you
create a tax on gasoline of Six Cents per gallon for the remainder
of 1929, to become effective at once; and all above the amount
on gasoline for the year 1929 that has not already been provided
for, go to the highways, which will give an increase of Two Cents
for immediate use on highways.
I recommend further that in 1930 and 1931 the gasoline tax
be made Five Cents, and that one-cent go to the Counties, as here-
tofore provided; also that as soon as you make provision for the
revenue, that all of the remainder of the gasoline tax, the motor
vehicle tag tax, the bus tax and truck tax, as may be provided by
you, shall all go to the building and maintaining of the highways
of the State of Georgia.
I suggest further that it would not be wise to have a retro-
active law which would provide for a change in the distribution
of the revenue from gasoline, from which one-half cent goes to
the Common Schools, and one cent on kerosene, which has already
been allocated for the year 1929. -
BUS AND TRUCK TRANSPORTATION
The Chief Executive of the State recommends that such
legislation be enacted as will provide for the necessary protection
of human life in handling of transportation of busses and trucks;
and that same be handled by the Public Service Commission
in a way that you may deem wise and safe.
COMMON SCHOOLS
Third: I recommend to you that all of the monies, from
whatsoever source, shall be placed in the State Treasury.
I recommend that you provide revenue and appropriate
Five Million Dollars for the Common Schools, Two Million Dollars
for the Equalization Fund, and Four Hundred Thousand Dollars
for the Barrett-Rogers Fund; and that you provide sufficient
revenue to take care of these appropriations which shall be made,
to be paid at a definite time. (See Acts 1927, page 157.)
I call your attention to the fact that the present sources of
revenue which are provided by law, which go to the Common
Schools, are complicated and unsatisfactory.
Your law provides that one-half of all the revenue from all
sources of income, or taxation, shall be used for the maintenance
of the Common Schools of Georgia.
Your law also provides for direct appropriation of One Mil-
lion Dollars for the Equalization Fund, to be paid out of the
one-cent on kerosene and one-half cent on gasoline (See Acts 1927,
page 106), and all over and above One Million Dollars from this
Source shall also go to the Common Schools. (Appro. Bill 1927,
page 17.) This constitutes a part of the Common School Fund.
Your law also provides under Acts of 1925, page 307, that
after paying all expenses of the Game and Fish Board, salaries
of Commissioner, wardens and deputies and propagation of Game
and Fish, “all such monies not used for this purpose shall be paid
over to the State Treasurer for the benefit of the Common Schools
of Georgia as now provided by law.”
Your Constitutional Amendment of 1926 authorized the
Governor to borrow $3,500,000.00 for the purpose of paying
school teachers only. The enabling act of 1927 provides as
follows: “And the principal amount so borrowed shall be re-
paid each year out of the common school appropriation of that
year; and the amount appropriated for paying interest is to be
paid from the General Treasury, which is appropriated for each
year.”
You provided for $100,000.00 for 1928 and $100,000.00 for
1929 to pay the interest on the borrowed money.
There is no relief to the taxpayer to have to pay borrowed
money, and interest. It is far better business to provide revenue
to pay appropriations for the educational interests, than it is
to provide for the Governor to borrow money which the State
must pay back with interest.
May I call your attention to the fact that almost one-third
of our session is passed, and the responsibility of taking care of
deficits and providing revenue for the next two years has not
been provided. However, the Governor of this State confi-
dently believes that this splendid body of legislators is equal
to the task.
Respectfully submitted,
L. G. HARDMAN, GOVERNOR.
6
J
; 7 -
**** MESSAGE
\,.\ of
GOVERNOR L. G. HARDMAN
to the
EXTRAORDINARY SESSION
- of the
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
of
GEORGIA

JANUARY 6, 1931
MESSAGE (, ºf jø
of
GOVERNOR L. G. HARDMAN
to the -
EXTRAORDINARY SESSION
of the
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
of -
GEORGIA

JANUARY 6, 1931
MESSAGE TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
GEORGIA IN SPECIAL EXTRA SESSION
January 6, 1931.
MR. PRESIDENT, MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY:
The subject of an extraordinary session was considered and
discussed by the public and through the press in May, 1930.
However, in order that the expense of an extra session might
be avoided, the Governor of this State reached the conclusion
and made the following statement to the public : “In view of
the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the State of
Georgia in approving the income tax, on Wednesday, April 16,
and the desire of the Governor to make further investigation
into the act creating this tax, to determine the revenue that
would likely be derived from this source in 1929, payable in
1930 and 1931; further, in order that we may ascertain whether
it is possible for the educational interests and the operation of
the eleemosynary institutions and other state interests to operate
on an 85 per cent basis paid out on a monthly percentage—the
revenue coming into the state treasury having to be prorated
on the basis of appropriation made in 1929; further, in view of
the fact that the Governor has now completed plans by which
a survey can be made without any expense to the State of Geor-
gia to study the state government and state finances by experts,
the Governor of the State postpones for the present the extra-
Ordinary session which was to meet on May 1, 1930, at the Capi-
tol in the city of Atlanta.”
During the year 1930 the State, from its revenue, was able
to exceed the 85 per cent to be distributed on a prorata basis
for the year 1930, and reached the amount of 90 per cent, which
was paid to the Department of Education and eleemosynary
institutions. This is an encouraging condition, compared with
the depression in business activities in the State of Georgia and
in the Nation as a whole. •
Now, in view of the fact that the State was not provided with
sufficient revenue to meet the total amount of appropriation for
1930, and to make no payments on the excessive appropriations
made for 1928 and for 1929; and in view of the serious condi-
tions of the unfortunate at Milledgeville, Alto, Gracewood, Cave
Springs, the cancer hospital, the blind at Macon, as well as the
very urgent need of the common schools and the higher educa-
tional institutions, and in view of the further fact that the Gov-
ernor had no authority to provide revenue for meeting these
excessive and unpaid appropriations, which was necessary to
meet the emergencies in the State of Georgia ; and further that
there were no other departments of state authorized to create
revenue and to provide for the payment of the excessive unpaid
3
appropriations; and further that delay would bring to the State
criticism and great suffering at the institutions, especially at
Milledgeville and Alto, the conclusion was reached that nothing
else could be done except to convoke the General Assembly in
extraordinary session to relieve the emergencies upon the State
—and yet I would not have you believe that the State of Georgia
is in a worse condition than other states and cities of this Union.
Compared with other States I believe her condition is most
encouraging, in spite of the emergency needs.
With this prelude, I wish to quote that “a public office is a
public trust,” and the responsibility is placed upon you as well
as the Governor of this State to make provisions to meet these
emergencies—and I have confidence and faith in the representa-
tives of the respective counties and districts of this State to
provide and meet the emergencies heretofore suggested.
Before bringing to you the methods or plans or measures or
means from which the revenue may be secured without mate-
rially increasing the burden upon the taxpayers of Georgia, I
wish to present to you how and for what purpose some of the
appropriations made by you in 1929 have been used, and the
property that has been acquired by the State under your direc-
tion and under the authority heretofore given; also the purchase
of property by the Highway Department in the City of Atlanta—
the removal of their headquarters to the City causing a saving
of $14,400.00 per annum, besides the convenience to the public,
which cannot be estimated.
You appropriated for the years 1930 and 1931, $65,000.00 for
the upkeep of public property, viz.: the Mansion and grounds
and the Capitol and grounds; as well as the sum for the care of
the cemetery for Confederate soldiers at Marietta, and other
property that has been purchased under your direction and is
now being utilized.
MANSION PROPERTY
The Mansion was purchased by a former Legislature at a
cost of $74,000.00, to be paid for out of the revenue of the
rental of the old Mansion property, the final payment of $308.98
being made on June 11, 1930, and the title held in escrow by
Mr. J. N. McEachern, has been delivered to the Governor of the
State and is recorded in Fulton County, as well as placed on
record in the office of the Secretary of State. When the prop-
erty was purchased and the deed placed in escrow, there was no
plat accompanying it, and the Governor secured the service of
a civil engineer and had a plat of the property made, which has
been placed on file in Fulton County. A copy also has been
framed and placed in the Mansion. In this service it was dis-
covered there was an error in the deed of 23-ft. On the southwest
line, which was corrected in the plat and so recorded.
The heating plant of the Mansion was useless, due to the fact
that the boiler had burst and could not be used when the Mansion
was first occupied by the present Governor. You have today a
4
Quiet-May Oil heating plant, which is fairly satisfactory. You
have also improvements on the inside of your Mansion, in the
way of repapering and replastering, plastering having fallen in
two of the rooms. Your grounds at the Mansion have been im-
proved. They have been sodded and ever-greens put out—fur-
nished by the various Congressmen from the State of Georgia;
and the entire Mansion property is now in first-class condition,
so that the expense of upkeep of this property will be very
small in the next few years.
CAPITOL
Under the appropriation of $250,000.00 made by the Legisla-
ture in 1929 for Capitol improvement and authorizing the pur-
chase of the Jackson-Martin property, I submit the following:
This property, facing 210 feet on Capitol Square and running
back 373 feet, was purchased for $55,000.00, with a guaranteed
title, which has been secured and recorded in the Clerk’s Office
of Fulton County and in the office of the Secretary of State.
This property is being used, partly for the State Military offices,
partly for the Architect drawing plans for the public schools
of the State of Georgia, partly for the Chemist of the Geological
Department, and partly for the Tax Commission. The other
part of the property is rented and a small revenue is coming
into the State from that source, which is $90.00 per month.
The Capitol improvements, under contract, have been made,
all of which have been within the appropriation made by the
General Assembly. These improvements will provide ample room
for the caring for of the departments which have heretofore
been greatly crowded, thus making it possible to do much more
efficient and satisfactory work. The Department of Chemistry,
under the Department of Agriculture, is moved from the Capi-
tol. This was an objectionable department, due to the odors
of the fertilizers and the chemical agents, which damaged the
interior of the building . . . and other improvements over the
Capitol, which must be apparent to every representative; and
I recommend that you appoint a committee to inspect the prop-
erty purchased and the improvements made in your Capitol.
Your Capitol grounds have been improved and sodded also.
During the year 1930 the State has come into possession of
the Rhodes property, known as the Rhodes Memorial Building
for the Department of Archives and History, which, under your
appropriation, has been improved within the limit of your ap-
propriation, and is now being used for the housing of the De-
partment of Archives and History, leaving in the Library of
the State Capitol the much needed room ; and I recommend to
you that an inspection also be made of this building, known as
the Department of Archives and History.
These purchases and improvements have all been paid for
under your appropriation made in 1929.
In the Capitol improvements there will be a rebate on insur-
ance. Discarding the old wiring and rewiring, as well as the
5
protection given by reason of the plastering over the old steel
beams, has added much in the way of fire-proofing; and the
amount of rebate on insurance from all of the buildings is
$1,750.00, due the State—$1,250.00 is the rebate on the improve-
ments recently provided in the Capitol. The improvements will
reduce the insurance 40 per cent. In 1927 it was $10,000.00
on a Million-Dollar basis. Today, on the same basis, it will be
$5,844.00; and for a Million and a Half Dollars it will be $8,-
766.00. The basis, with the improvements and with the addition
of the A. D. T. per hundred will be $14.61. Today, without any
other additional improvements, it is 20c. By reason of these
improvements, your Capitol is safe, as compared to the condition
that existed before. You may have noted that a few days ago
the North Dakota Capitol was burned, which was built in 1884,
the same date that the Georgia Capitol was begun. There was
a Small fire in one of the rooms of your Capitol recently, but
it was promptly extinguished and handled by your fire equip-
ment inside the building at present, and with very little loss.
FINANCES
Under the appropriations made by the Legislature in 1929,
the State of Georgia during the year 1930 has paid an hundred
per cent for the following purposes: One hundred per cent of
the Sinking Fund, and the interest on the public debt; one hun-
dred per cent on the Operation of the civil establishment of the
State of Georgia ; one hundred per cent on Capitol improvements,
and one hundred per cent to the Confederate Veterans, as the
law was interpreted by the Attorney General, including the Or-
dinary fees and burial expenses; and ninety per cent on all other
appropriations, including maintenance, building and improve-
ments. The excessive and unpaid appropriations made in 1927
for 1928 and 1929 are as follows: 1928, $2,706,945.92; 1929,
$2,367,361.53, and for 1930, $2,102,067.88, making a total of
$7,458,545.43 to January 1, 1931.
Now, it was for this purpose, in part, that the General Assem-
bly was called in extra session. The details will be furnished
you by the State Auditor as to the total amount of appropriations
unpaid, and the total amount unpaid to each institution, both
eleemosynary, penal and educational.
The serious problem which confronts you is the emergency
need and how you will be able to provide the revenue to meet
the unpaid appropriations. I submit for your consideration the
additional sale of the W. & A. Warrants, which could begin only
on the first day of January, 1936. I attach hereto the detailed
basis on which these sales could be made, and the revenue that
would come into the State by the same. Suffice it to say that if
these warrants were sold on a basis of discount of 4% per cent,
the State for ten years would receive practically only one-half
the amount of warrants sold on a cash basis.
W. & A. WARRANTS
It is assumed that—
(a) The State can secure their money at 4% 9%.
(b) The State will receive interest at the rate of 11/29% on
their money.
(c) The lessee will meet their obligation promptly.
(d) The rentals will start January 1, 1936, and continue for
a period of ten years.
The value of an annuity of $540,000 a year running for a pe-
riod of ten years has a discount value of $4,286,220.51 on Jan-
uary 1, 1936. The interest necessary to carry this amount for
a period of five years is $964,399.60, less $43,397.85 (this amount
is the interest the State will receive on their credit balance.) The
present value of this annuity is the gross amount of $4,286,-
220.51 less $921,001.75, or a net amount of $3,365,218.71.
These calculations do not take into consideration any expenses
whatsoever.
— A —
Balance Due Interest 4% 9% Rent Principal Repaid
$4,272,867.83 $ 192,279.04 $ 540,000.00 $ 347,720.96
3,925,146.87 176,631.62 540,000.00 363,368.38
3,561,778.49 160,280.05 540,000.00 379,719.95
3,182,058.54 143,192.61 540,000.00 396,807.39
2,785,251.15 125,336.31 540,000.00 414,663.69
2,370,587.46 106,676.46 540,000.00 433,323.54
1,937,263.92 87,176.90 540,000.00 452,823.10
1,484,440.82 66,799.84 540,000.00 473,200.16
1,011,240.66 45,505.80 540,000.00 494,494.20
516,746.26 23,253.59 540,000.00 516,746.41
$1,127,132.22 $5,400,000.00 $4,272,867.78
Interest paid –––––––––––––––––––– $1,127,132.22
Principal paid ––––––––––––––––––– 4,272,867.78
$5,400,000.00
Rent of $540,000 for 10 years______ 5,400,000.00
$516,746.41 Amount available to repay last payment.
516,746.26 Balance to be repaid on last payment.
.15 Error in calculations occasioned by using only a 7-
place table.
— B —
Ealance Due Interest @ 4%% *Annuity Principal Repaid
$13,352.68 $ 600.88 $ 1,687.50 $ 1,086.62
12,266.06 551.98. 1,687.50 1,135.52
11,130.54 500.87 1,687.50 1,186.63
9,945.91 447.48 1,687.50 1,240.02
8,703.89 391.68 1,687.50 1,295.82
7,408.07 333.37 1,687.50 1,354.13
6,053.94 272.45 1,687.50 1,415.07
4,638.87 208.75 1,687.50 1,478.75
3,160.13 142.21 1,687.50 1,545.29
1,614.83 . 72.67 1,687.50 1,614.83
. $ 3,522.32 $16,875.00 $13,352.68
Interest paid ––––––––––––––––––– $ 3,522.32
Principal repaid ---------------- 13,352.68
$16,875.00
*Annuity 16,875.00
* mam, am ºmºs sm ºmºs m. * * *ms sºme mºm, sºme
*Annuity=Interest @ .015 on rent of $45,000.00 paid monthly.
Month Amount
January ––––––– $45,000.00
February ______ 45,000.00
March ––––––––– 45,000.00
April ––––––––– 45,000.00
May –––––––––– 45,000.00
June ---------- 45,000.00
July ---------- 45,000.00
August –––––––– 45,000.00
September ----- 45,000.00
October ––––––– 45,000.00
November ----- 45,000.00
December ---__ 45,000.00
#Six months’ interest.
Rate
5/12 of 11/3%
4/12 of 11% 9%
3/12 of 11% 9%
2/12 of 11% 9%
1/12 of 11/3%
5/12 of 11/29%
4/12 of 11% 9%
3/12 of 11/3%
2/12 of 11/29%
1/12 of 11% 9%
Interest
Received
$281.25
225.00
168.75
112.50
56.25
281.25
225.00
168.75
112.50
56.25
$843.75+
843.75f
$1,687.50
Consolidating A and B
(Annual)
Balance Due Interest @ 4%%
$4,286,220.51 $ 192,879.92
3,937,412.93 177,183.60
3,572,909.05 160,780.92
3,192,002.45 143,640.09
2,793,955.04 125,727.99
2,377,995.53 107,009.83
1,943,317.86 87,449.33
1,489,079.69 67,008.59
1,014,400.79 45,648.01
518,361.09 23,326.26
Interest paid ––––
Principal repaid
Interest annuity
Rent annuity ––––
Rent and
Interest Recol.
$ 541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
541,687.50
Principal
Repaid
$ 348,807.58
364,503.90
380,906.58
398,047.41
415,959.51
434,677.67
454,238.17
474,678.91
496,039.49
518,361.24
$1,130,654.54
$5,416,875.00
$1,130,654.54
4,286,220.46
$5,416,875.00
16,875.00
5,400,000.00
$5,416,875.00
$4,286,220.46
518,361.09 Last payment
518,361.24 Available for last payment
.05 Error
— D —
January 1, 1931—January 1, 1936
Interest Account
Interest
Principal Interest @ 4%% Rate Time Received
$4,286,220.46 $192,879.92 .015 1 year $ 2,893.19
4,286,220.46 192,879.92 .015 2 years 5,786.38
4,286,220.46 . 192,879.92 .015 3 years 8,679.57
4,286,220.46 192,879.92 .015 4 years 11,572.76
4,286,220.46 192,879.92 .015 5 years 14,465.95
$964,399.60 $43,397.85
$964,399.60—Interest necessary to carry 5 years
43,397.85—Interest received on deduction
$921,001.75—Net interest for 5-year dead Space.
Gross Interest Interest
Deduction JRequirements Received Balance
$921,001.75 §192,879.92 $14,465.95 $742,587.78 $921,001.75*
192,879.92 11,572.76 561,280.62 43,397.85:
192,879.92 8,679.57 377,080.27 : —
192,879.92 5,786.38 189,986.73 $964,399.60
192,879.92 2,893.19 --------- 964,399.60+
$964,399.60 $43,397.85
*Deduction. FInterest received. #Interest requirements.
— E —
$4,286,220.51 Certificate of indebtedness to be issued by State
921,001.75 Deductions to be deposited with Trustee for in-
terest for five years
$3,365,218.71 Cash value to the State.
I wish to call your attention to the lease contract of the old
Mansion which is $1,375,000.00, to be paid annually, terminating
in 1972, which on a basis of 6 per cent, would bring to the State
$431,260.77, which seems to be prohibitive. The details of the
study of this sale are also attached hereto, neither of which plan
meets with the approval of the Governor.
THE MANSION SITE LEASE
The Mansion Site lease has a total value of $1,375,000.00,
made up as follows:
1. Two years at $20,000.00–––––––––––––– $ 40,000.00
2. Ten years at $25,000.00–––––––––––––– 250,000.00
3. Ten years at $30,000.00–––––––––––––– 300,000.00
4. Ten years at $35,000.00–––––––––––––– 350,000.00
5. Ten years at $43,500.00–––––––––––––– 435,000.00
Total ---------------------------$1,375,000.00
This lease, if discounted, has a present worth of $431,260.77
If we discount the first four sections the lease
will have a present value of $381,647.01. If the first three items
are discounted, the lease will have a present value of $310,161.44.
It would seem from the above that it could hardly pay the
State to discount for any longer period than the twenty-two
On a 6% basis.
years, as the price is so prohibitive after we pass that point.
Attached hereto is an itemized schedule for the discount of
this lease for 22 years.
$
40,000.00
250,000.00
300,000.00
350,000.00
435,000.00
$1,375,000.00 Present value, $431,260.77
$
40,000.00
250,000.00
300,000.00
350,000.00
940,000.00
40,000.00
250,000.00
300,000.00
Present value, $381,647.01
$ 590,000.00 Present value, $310,161.44
Lease Income
Interest
Principal Repaid
|Balance
$308,771.13
$20,000.00
20,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
25,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
30,000.00
$18,609.69
18,526.27
18,437.84
18,044.11
17,626.76
17,184.37
16,715.43
16,218.35
15,691.45
15,132.94
14,540.92
13,913.37
13,248.18
12,243.07
11,177.65
10,048.31
8,851.21
7,582.28
6,237.22
4,811.45
3,300.14
1,697.55
$279,838.56
$ 1,390.31
1,473.73
6,562.16
6,955.89
7,373.24
7,815.63
8,284.57
8,781.65
9,308.55
9,867.06
10,459.08
11,086.63
16,751.82
17,756.93
18,822.35
19,951.69
21,148.79
22,417.72
23,762.78
25,188.55
26,699.86
28,302.45
$310,161.44
307,297.40
300,735.24
293,779.35
286,406.11
278,590.48
270,305.91
261,324.26
252,215.71
242,348.65
231,889.57
220,802.94
204,051.12.
186,294.19
167,471.84
147,520.15
126,371.36
103,953.64
80,190.86
55,002.31
28,302.45
The next is the reduction in the exemption on the sales tax,
bringing that exemption as low as $5,000.00, or $10,000.00 as
suggested by Mr. Norman, the Tax Commissioner, which would
furnish the State, as estimated, $500,000.00 of revenue, in addi-
tion to what she is now receiving from the sales tax, which would
bring to the first quarter, $1,250,000.00.
I also suggest that a tax be placed on Smoking tobacco, in
connection with the cigar and cigarette tax; (By the enforce-
ment of the law on cigars and cigarettes, there has been an in-
crease for the year 1930 over 1929 of $230,971.77); also on the
luxuries, as will be provided in a detail presented to you by the
Ways and Means Committee. The lack of enforcement of law
requiring the payment to the State of our taxes gives us in de-
linquent and unpaid taxes $30,000.00 (delinquent) and $80,-
000.00 (unpaid taxes). I suggest that this be remedied by
creating a Tax Commission, which measure will also be pre-
sented to this body.
I suggest further that in case you find no other immediate
source from which you can supply to the State, without further
additional taxes, that one-half of the tag tax, which sum is Four
and One-half Million, be utilized for meeting the emergencies of
the eleemosynary institutions of the State. The United States
Government has recently made available $2,077,000.00, which
does not have to be matched and will not in any way cripple
the road activities of the State, which could not have been
done had not this sum of money been authorized by the United
States Government. This emergency fund from the road tax
should be applied only to sale of the tag tax of the present year;
and whatever remains unpaid of the appropriations by the Act
of 1927 and 1929 to be gradually paid from other taxes that you
may see fit to provide. The total sum to be derived from the
sources suggested will be approximately Five Million Dollars.
It is the opinion and judgment of the Governor of this State
that with these revenues properly handled and distributed, there
will be added very little, if any, to the burden of the tax payers,
Since it comes from sales tax and luxury taxes, which is a matter
entirely with the consumer as to whether he uses these luxuries
or not.
Next, how can such a condition as now exists in the State of
Georgia be prevented again? In view of this statement I recom-
mend that an executive budget be created, with the authority
that will provide the handling of the income and disbursement
of the revenues of the State. Our present Budget Commission
and our Budget and Investigating Commission, enacted in 1918
and 1922, are ineffective and worthless, so far as handling the
income and disbursement on a budget basis of the State is con-
cerned ; and I recommend that those two laws be repealed and
that an executive budget be enacted; and the measure is hereby
presented for your consideration. s
The Budget Commission recommended in 1927 that your ap-
propriations should not exceed $10,667,018.42 for 1928 and $10,-
813,518.42 for 1929, and in 1929 that it should not exceed $10,-
12
122,162.47 for 1930 and $10,272,762.47 for 1931, which had no
influence and was not regarded seriously by the General Assem-
bly of Georgia—their appropriation for each year, 1928, 1929
and 1930, being as follows: $12,330,438.85 (1928), $12,246,-
082.19 (1929), and $13,202,067.88, estimated, (1930).
Now, in order that our revenue from all sources may be prop-
erly coordinated and handled, I recommend that you create a
Tax Commission. A bill is also offered for your consideration
from that standpoint. With a proper Executive Budget regula-
tion and with a proper collection of the revenues of the State
under a Tax Commission, there will be kept in balance any def-
icit in the future of the State if proper legislation is provided.
CONVICTS AND PROBLEMS
In response to a letter addressed to the Prison Commission
of Georgia, requesting that some provisions be made for the care
of the convicts who will be turned over to the Prison Commis-
sion, without any building provided for them or any work Or
service that can be rendered the State, I quote as follows: “Hon.
L. G. Hardman, Governor, State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia . . .
Dear Governor: Referring to your request of recent date for
certain data as to the penal population of Georgia and for Sug-
gestion as to the kind of work at which ‘idle convicts at the
State Farm could be employed and not interfere with free labor
or the law pertaining thereto,” and ‘what can be manufactured
for the use of convicts and for uses at the State Sanitarium,'
I respectfully submit the following: 1. There are now in the
jails of the counties 101 convicts the Prison Commission has
been unable to assign for the reason that all counties which
employ convict labor now have more than their quotas and are
not prepared to receive more. 2. The number of counties not
working convicts is 42. 3. The Prison Commission has been
notified by the authorities of 13 counties that they will abandon
the use of convicts on January 1st, 1931, and urging the re-
moval of all State convicts by that date. 4. The number of con-
victs awaiting transfer from these counties is 343 felonies. 5.
There are in the jails of the State 101 convicts for which there
are no accommodations at the State Farm, and the counties
working convicts will not receive them. 6 and 7. Section 18 of
an act of the General Assembly, approved September 19, 1908,
says: ‘The Commission may in connection with the farm
work use said convicts in such industrial enterprises as they
may deem advisable, and to this end may employ the convicts in
manufacturing such implements and equipments or other articles
as may be needed for use on the State Farm or road, bridge or
other public works and in making shoes and clothing and other
articles for the use of convicts and inmates of other State in-
stitutions, but the Commission shall not sell or offer for sale
articles so manufactured to the public.’ This act greatly re-
stricts the use of convicts in industrial work. They could, how-
ever, be employed in the manufacture, for State use only, of
concrete pipe for highways, all kinds of signs for highways, fur-
13
niture for various State institutions, shoes for inmates of the
State Hospital for Insane, the State Prison Farm and the re-
formatories for boys and girls, and a small textile mill for the
manufacture of cloth for uniforms and other uses in these in-
Stitutions. Several states are manufacturing these articles with
large saving in the expense of maintaining their convicts and
with much benefit to prisoners so employed. Georgia could use
300 or 400 prisoners in labor of this kind. For two years motor
vehicle tags have been manufactured at the State Prison Farm
at a large profit to the State, and there is no reason why the ar-
ticles above mentioned could not be produced with like result.
8. The per capita cost of the state of maintaining convicts at the
State Farm is approximately 24.4c for men, and 23.7c for women,
per day. 9. See paragraph 8. 10. Convicts now in jails and
those that are to be returned by the counties to the State on Jan-
uary 1st would increase the number to be supported at the State
Farm by 444 felonies. 11. There are now at the State Farm
742 convicts. 12. There are now at the State Farm 461 men.
13. The women at the State Farm now number 281. 14. The
number of male convicts in the various county camps is 3,578
felons and 3,993 misdemeanors. 15. The number of women in
these camps is 148 misdemeanor negro women. There are at
the State Farm unable to work 228 men and 40 women. Trust-
ing this gives you the information you desire, and assuring you
of appreciation of your interest and cooperation in an effort to
Solve the problem of what shall be done with the excess of pris-
Oners that now confronts this department and the State, I am,
Sincerely yours, E. L. Rainey, Chairman.”
There are 70 men and 20 women, making a total of 90 in the
tubercular hospital at the State Farm. Two years ago there were
Only 50 tubercular criminals in the hospital, but this number
has increased to 70. The capacity has been almost doubled, and
the improvements inside the building and the grounds are very
noticeable. From a number of these tubercular criminals I am
having studied the finger prints of ten, to determine the rela-
tionship between finger prints, mentality and character; and, if
possible, to ascertain the strength of the mental and moral
tendency toward crime, with a view of pardoning these diseased
Criminals if it is discovered by the study of the loops, angles and
whorls that they are not primarily criminals, but that their
physical condition is the main factor that has led them to com-
mit crime.
I also addressed a letter to the Chairman of the Highway
Board, whose reply is as follows: “December 19, 1930. Gov-
ernor L. G. Hardman, State Capitol, Atlanta, Ga. My dear Sir :
In response to your inquiry of the 17th inst., as to the attitude
of the State Highway Board regarding the employment of con-
victs in highway construction, beg to advise that the Department
has at present three camps located in Stewart, Murray and
Union Counties. When I assumed the duties of this office little
definite information was available as to the performance of these
forces and no conclusion could be reached as to the value of such
14
an organization to the Department. It was very evident from the
information available at that time that the camps were being
operated at a loss when compared with prevailing contract
prices. With the view of improving conditions in these several
camps and securing information of a tangible nature, the Board
decided to place the three camps under the direction of a compe-
tent person, one acquainted with modern methods of construc-
tion and accounting. As a consequence, we have secured definite
information extending over a period of five months, which infor-
mation marked Exhibit A, I am pleased to submit herewith. Over
the period of time indicated a profitable operation is shown in
such case. This to my mind is not a conclusive test since the
period of observation extended over a fractional part of year,
when in reality it should include twelve months of the year in
order that effect Of all weather conditions could be observed.
Nevertheless, I am constrained to believe that if the forces are
properly equipped and employed exclusively in grading Opera-
tions, they could be used to advantage and at a profit in highway
construction. As to the number of camps that could be employed,
I am unable at this time to say. That would depend largely on
the funds available for equipping and maintaining outfits. In
Order that you may form an opinion as to the cost of prepar-
ing each camp for operation, I am enclosing herewith an estimate
marked Exhibit B as to the cost of the equipment required for
one camp. The Board has been greatly concerned about the
convict situation, realizing the difficulties under which the Prison
Commission is laboring and has endeavored to ascertain our
attitude in the premises. Our attorney has made a careful study
Of the existing laws and advises that the matter of employing
convicts is left to the discretion of the Board. A copy of the
attorney’s opinion marked Exhibit C is enclosed for your con-
sideration. In conclusion, I beg to report that the Board has
reached no decision as to the course to be pursued in the matter.
Awaiting your further command, I have the honor to be, Re-
Spectfully yours, State Highway Board of Georgia, By J. W.
Barnett, Chairman.”

STATE HIGHWAY BOARD OF GEORGIA
Cost Statement—Convict Work
EXHIBIT A
Camp No. 1. County Union. Project F-984 Consolidated Report Period, July 1 to Dec. 1, Inc.
EST. ACTUAL | ESTIMATED | TOTAL | EQUIPMENT TOTAL NET
ITEM |UNIT QUANTITY | UNIT | UNIT TOTAL EXPENDI- | DEPRECIA- COST UNDERRUN
COST | COST COST TURES TION
Clearing and Grubbing Acres 8.5 75.00 | 73.07 637.50 |$ 621.10 $ 621.10 || $ 16.40
Com. and Bor. Excv.–––. Cu. Yols. | 33,744 .30 .2676 || 10,123.20 9,030.86|| $ 715.40 9,746.32 376.88
Ditch Excv. –––––––––– 3 x 35 402 .35 .2635 140.70 105.95 4.00 109.95 30.75
Pipe G. I. 18"–-------- Feet 102 1.90 1.68 193.80 171.36 | ––––– 171.36 22.44
” ” ” 30” ---______ 3 y 102 3.85 3.46 392.70 352.92 || ----- 352.92 39.78
” ” ” 24”--_______ 33 118 2.85 2.65 336.30 312.70 || ----- 312.70 23.60
” ” ” 15” . . . . . . . . 3 y 138 1.35 1.125 186.30 155.25 | ----- 155.25 81.05
Sta. Yas. Overhaul___ Sta. Yols. 9,000 0.015 0.015 135.00 135.00 12.93 147.95 Over 12.93
Crushed Stone ------- Cu. Yols. 824.43 3.00 1.94 2,473.29 1,599.86 45.20 1,645.06 828.23
C1. A Conc. Culvert___| ’’ ” 815.389 || 21.00 || 14.26 17,123.17 | 11,627.37 70.30 | 11,697.67 5,425.50
Billet Reinf. Steel----| Lbs. 59,553 .05 0.0320 2,977.65 1,908.11 177.41 2,085.52 892.13
Rail Reinf. Steel ------ yy 4,520 .05 .0268 226.00 121.13 8.20 129.33 96.67
TOTALS ––––––––––––. ---------|------------------|-------- $34,945.61 |$26,141.61| $1,033.50 | $27,175.11 || $7,770.50
PROFIT
5.
STATE HIGHWAY BOARD OF GEORGIA
STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES CONWICT WORK
Camp No. 1, County Union, Proj. F-984, Consolidated Report.
Period, July 1 to December 1
DIRECT COST_SALARIES :
Warden, Foremen, Clerk ______________ $ 2,779.00
Equipment Operators ----------------- 105.00
Shop Employes, Field ----------------- 3,456.16
Other Skilled Labor------------------- 139.81
Common Labor ----------------------- 670.96
EQUIPMENT EXPENSE
Automobile Maintenance :
Tires and Tubes–––––––––––––––––––––– _$
Accessories, Parts, Repairs-------------
Miscellaneous Expense --------------- 5.40
Road Equipment Expense:
Gas and Oil-------------------------- $ 2,215.98
Tires and Tubes–––––––––––––––––––––– 137.98
Accessories—Parts, Repairs ----------- 1,466.55
Miscellaneous Expense ---------------- 47.08
COMMUNICATION SERVICES
Telephone and Telegraph ------------------
Postage ---------------------------------
HEAT, LIGHTS, POWER, WATER
RENTS
Road Equipment ------------------------- $ 23.50
Warehouse—Blue Ridge, Ga. -------------- 40.00
TRAVELING EXPENSES
Subsistence ------------------------------
Transportation:
Gas and Oil --------------------------
Mileage and Auto Hire---------------- $ 51.60
Other Transportation ----------------- 62.00
$ 7,150.93
5.40
$ 3,867.59
$ 3.98
17.00
$ 63.50
$ 41.35
$ 113.60
SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS
Office Supplies:
Printed Forms and Stationery_________ $ 26.99 -
Sundry --------------------- ––––––––– 10.54 $ 37.53
Camp Supplies: s
Forage and Supplies, Animals-------- $ 3,047.88
Provisions --------------------------- 2,735.39
Other Camp Supplies----------------- 1,669.39 $ 7,452.66
Tools --------------------------------------------- 209.96
Fuel --------------------------------------------- 136.90
Materials—Roads and Bridges----------------------- 6,506.60
Explosives ---------------------------------------- --------
General Supplies ---------------------------------- 316.68
SPECIAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
Incidentals ---------------------------------------- $ 164.15
Equipment Depreciation 5 Months------------------ 1,033.50
º $27,175.11
Total Estimate for Period.----------------------------- $34,945.61
Total Expenditure for Period.------------------------- 27,175.11
Net Underrun for Period––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 7,770.50
Average Cost Per Man Feeding 52%. Convicts Per Day--- .32666
Average Cost Per Man Working 52%. Convicts Per Day_-_1.2645
Average Cost Per Mule Feeding 26% Animals Per Day_____ .91925
Average Cost Per Mule Working 26% Animals Per Day_-__1.008
18
:
i
i
EQUIPMENT INVENTORY AS OF JUNE 30, 1930
CONVICT CAMP NO. 1, UNION COUNTY
Ford Touring Car, Model T----------------------- $ 100.00
Caterpillar 60 Tractor No. PA760_________________ 1,500.00
Ford Truck No. 15045340 ------------------------- 100.00
White Truck No. 6192–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 280.00
White Truck No. 5012B-------------------------- 400.00
Anvils—Crescent 200 lbs., 100 lbs.--_______________ 23.00
Compressor—Chicago Pheu. ---------------------- 300.00
Cages-Convict ---------------------------------- 2,100.00
Chairs—Cane Bottom --------------------- , - - - - - - 4.00
Porge BS --------------------------------------- 8.00
Grader—Adams Road King No. 12---------------- 400.00
Guns—Automatic 12 Ga.---------------------- 60.00
Heating Stoves --------------------------------- 72.00
Sets Harness, Double ----------------- ----------- 280.00
Mules—17 Good, 10 Unserviceable_-_______________ 3,900.00
Plows ------------------------------------------ 45.00
Rock Crusher—Champion No. 3.------------------- 1,700.00
Range No. 8 Imperial -------------------------- 25.00
Revolvers, S. & W. Spec. 38---------------------- 50.00
Stove w/ Covers—Centers and Water Box. No. 0-24-C 181.00
Saddles–Horse ---------------------------------- 40.00
Shot Guns—E-70-12-32" -------------------------- 29.00
Vises, 6" --------------------------------------- 10.00
Wagon-One-Horse –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 15.00
Wagons—Army Escort ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 100.00
Wheelers T. & M.-------------------------------- 680.00
TOTAL ---------------------------------------- $12,402.00
Depreciation on equipment based on 20 per cent per year.
Total for period of five months.----------------------- $1,033.50
19

º
STATE HIGHWAY BOARD OF GEORGIA
Cost Statement—Convict Work
EXIHIBIT A
Camp No. 2. County Stewart. Project F-947. Consolidated Report. 4 Months’
Period, July 1 to Dec. 1, 1930
EST. ACTUAL | ESTIMATED TOTAL | EQUIPMENT TOTAL NET
ITEM UNIT QUANTITY | UNIT | UNIT TOTAL EXPENDI-I DEPRECIA- COST UNDERRUN
COST COST COST TURES TION
Clearing and Grubbing Acres 9.733 || 75.00 49.98 || $ 729.97 |$ 482.63| $ 482.63 $ 247.34
Com. and Bor. Excv.--| Cu. Yas. 43044.0 .30 .211| 12,913.20 8,397.42|| $ 912.96 9,310.38 3,602.82
Ditch Excv. --------- 3 2 5 y 512.0 .35 ,275 179.20 121.10 20.10 141.20 38.00
15" G. I. Pipe-------- Lin. Ft. 82.0 1.50 .95 123.00 78.17 | ––––– 78.17 44.83
” ” ” ” . . . . . . . y 3 y 3 330.0 2.00 1.30 660.00 428.73| ----- 428.73 231.27
4” ” ” ” -------- ?? 5.3 256.0 3.00 1,890 768.00 485.66 — — — — — 485.66 282.34
30” ” ” ” . . . . . .___ 3 y 75 3.10.0 4.00 2,630 1,240.00 815.84 | –––– 815.84 424.16
S. C. Surfacing------- Cu. Yas. 1833.3 .50 .346 916.65 591.30 43.11 634.41 282.24
Grassing Slopes ------ Sq. " 16680.0 .05 .035 834.00 536.55 40.75 577.30 256.70
Rip Rap ------------ 2 y 53 630.0 1.00 .701 630.00 405.15 36.68 441.83 188.17
Overhaul Excv. ------ |Unit Yols. 61886.0 .015 .014 928.29 602.25 43.12 645.37 282.92
Force Account ------- 447.25 284.70 284.70 162.55
TOTALS ---------------------|----------|--------------- $20,369.56 |$13,229.50 | $1,096.72 || $14,326.22 || $ 6,043.34
PROFIT
Š
I
2
4
2
EQUIPMENT INVENTORY AS OF JUNE 30, 1930
CONVICT CAMP NO. 2, BROOKLYN, GA.
Ford Touring Car, Mod. A–2027972._______________ $ 400.00
Ford Touring Car, Mod. T-14286071--___________ 100.00
Caterpillar 30 Tractor PS3130–-__________________ 1,900.00
FWD Truck No. 13193--------------------------- 800.00
White Truck No. GK 91.116----------------------- 400.00
Anvils 100 lbs., 97 lbs.--------------------------- 12.00
Cages Convict ---------------------------------- 1,350.00
Concrete Buggies ------------------------------- 50.00
Chairs ------------------------------------------ 15.00
Concrete Mixer—Rex No. 10426––––––––––––––––––– 800.00
Delco Light Plant ------------------------------ 200.00
Drill-Post ------------------------------------- 15.00
Engine Hoist Machine---------------------------- 40.00
Forge–BS Portable ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 15.00
Grader-Adams, 8' ------------------------------ 300.00
Grader—Leaning Wheel No. 2937_________________ 700.00
Shot Guns, 4 Good, 1 Broken---------------------- 60.00
Sets Harness–Lump ---------------------------- 20.00
Sets Harness—Complete, Good ------------------- 286.00
Heaters—Small --------------------------------- 21.00
Horse ------------------------------------------ 100.00
Mules—20 Good, 25 Bad-------------------------- 6,824.00
Plows ------------------------------------------ 90.00
Range-Majestic -------------------------------- 10.00
Saddles—Horse -------------------------------- - 20.00
Trailer ----------------------------------------- 20.00
Vises, 4" --------------------------------------- 6.00
Wagon—One-horse ------------------------------ 16.00
Wagons—Thornhill –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 400.00
Wagons—Army Escort ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 30.00
Wheelers, 9 Western, 4 T. & M., 8 Yancey-------__ 1,451.00
TOTAL---------------------------------------- $16,451.00
Depreciation of equipment based on 20 per cent per year.
Total for five months–––––––––––––––––––––––––– $ 1,096.72
21

STATE HIGHWAY BOARD OF GEORGIA
Cost Statement—Convict Work
Camp No. 3. County Murray. Project Various. Consolidated Report. 5 Months’ Period, July 1 to Nov. 30, 1930
* - EST. ACTUAL |ESTIMATED TOTAL | EQUIPMENT TOTAL NET
ITEM UNIT | QUANTITY | UNIT |UNIT TOTAL | EXPENDI-| DEPRECIA- COST |UNDERRUN
COST COST CosT TURES TION -
Clearing and Grubbing Acres 2.5 90.00 75.00 $ 225.00|$ 187.50|| ------ $ 187.50 $ 37.50
Com, and Bor. Excv.-- Cu. Yd. | 13,184.0 .30 .221296 3,955.20, 2,917.57| $ 228.28 3,145.85 809.35
Solid Rock Excv.----- 33 y 3 13,171.0 .90 .57392 || 11,853.90| 7,559.12 531.40 8,090.52 3,763.38
Ditch Excv. --------- 35 y 3 990.0 .50 .292 495.00 277.20 12.10 289.30 205.70
Shoulder Constr. ----- Miles 2.5 |250.00 205.47 625.00 489.47 24.21 513.68 111.32
Chert Surfacing ––––– Cu. Yols. 1,163.0 .70 .50075 814.10 582.37 28.24 610.61 203.49
Chert Surfacing ----- y 3 x 3 14,438.5 .60 .44483 8,663.10| 6,422.70 583.17 7,005.87 1,657.23
Chert Overhaul ------ Sta. Yūs. 1,200.0 .08 .07 96.00 84.00| –––––– 84.00 12.00
Class A Concrete----| Cu. Yas. 56.39 || 20.00 15.6823 1,127.80 884.33 15.00 899.33 228.47
Class B Concrete ----- y 3 y 3 288.0 20.00 15.6196 5,760.00 || 4,498.45 38.00 4,536.45 1,223.55
18" G. I. Pipe-------- Lin. Ft. 76.0 1.80 1.66 136.80 126.16|| ------ 126.16 10.64
24” ” ” ” . . . . . . . . 33 y 3 141.0 3.00 2.59 423.00 365.16|| ------ 365.16 57.84
Reinforcing Steel ----| Lbs. 41,687.0 .06 .04216 2,501.22| 1,757.50|| ------ 1,757.50 743.72
Structural Steel ––––– y? 124,800.0 .05 .038766 6,240.00 4,838.00 || ------ 4,838.00 1,402.00
16 Lb. Tr. Piling_-____ Lin. Ft. 2,067.5 1.10 1.03 2,274.21 | 2,127.98 || ------ 2,127.98 146.23
16 Lb. Tr. Timber____| F. B. M. 12,500.0 |100.00 90.16 1,250.00 | 1,127.00 || --____ 1,127.00 123.00
Cut-Off Piling ------- Lin. Ft. 263.0 .50 .50 131.50 131.50 | ------ 131.50 || ------
No. 1 Excv. --------- Cu. Yol. 39.0 3.00 2.282 117.00 90.00 || ------ 90.00 27.00
TOTALS----------------|-----------------|---------- $46,688.83|$34,466.01 || $ 1,460.40 || $35,926.41 || $10,762.42
PROFIT
§
STATE HIGHWAY BOARD OF GEORGIA
STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES CONVICT WORK
Camp No. 2, County Murray, Project Various, Monthly Consolidated
Report. Five Months' Period, July 1 to November 30.
DIRECT COST SALARIES : *:
Warden, Foremen, Clerk ______________ $ 3,322.88
Equipment Operators ----------------- 125.80
Shop Employes, Field ––––––––––––––––– ––––––
Other Skilled Labor ------------------ 4,761.90
Common Labor ---------------------- 399.50 $ 8,610.08
EQUIPMENT EXPENSE
Automobile Maintenance:
Tires and Tubes----------------------- $ 19.76
Accessories, Parts, Repairs------------- 100.73
Miscellaneous Expense ---------------- –––––– $ 120.49
Road Equipment Expense:
Gas and Oil ------------------------- $ 2,566.52
Tires and Tubes---------------------- 58,07
Accessories—Parts, Repairs ------------ 1,116.45
Miscellaneous Expense ---------------- 36.56 $ 3,777.60
COMMUNICATION SERVICES
Telephone and Telegraph ––––––––– — — — — — — — — $ 11.1.23
Postage ---------------------------------- 2.00
SUPPLIES AND MATERLALS
Office Supplies:
Printed Forms and Stationery_________ $ 4.85
Sundry ------------------------------ ------ $ 4.85
Camp Supplies:
Forage and Supplies, Animals--------- $ 4,507.25
Provisions --------------------------- 3,596.90
Other Camp Supplies––––––––––––––––– – 2,190.74 $10,294.89
Tools ------------------------------------ $ 151.60
Fuel ------------------------------------ ------
Materials—Roads and Bridges------------- 11,346.77
Explosives ------------------------------- 46.50
General Supplies ------------------------- ––––––
SPECIAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
Incidentals—Equip., Depreciation, 5 Months–- $ 1,460.40
Total Estimate for Period.------------------ $46,688.83 $35,926.41
Total Expenditure for Period--------------- 35,926.41
Net Underrun for Period.----------------- 10,762.42
Average Cost Per Man Feeding 69 Convicts Per Day________ .308
Average Cost Per Man Working 69 Convicts Per Day______ .920
Average Cost Per Mule Feeding 37 Animals Per Day______ .850
23
EQUIPMENT INVENTORY As of JUNE 30, 1930, CONVICT
1.
I
I
1
1
1.
1
1.
1
l
1.
2
I
2
6
1.
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
3
9
1
6
7
1
4
3
4
3
CAMP NO. 3–CHATSWORTH, GA.
Ford Tudor Sedan No. AIZ3547 (W. M. Harris) –$ 300.00
Ford Phaeton No. A52389 (Jno. A. Carlock) ---- 225.00
Best 60 Tractor No. 4665-A1739________________ 1,200.00
Caterpillar 30 Tractor No. PS6549______________ 2,000.00
Chevrolet Truck No. 20831-------------------- 400.00
Chevrolet Truck No. 20830–------------------- 400.00
Mack Truck No. 539-37––––––––––––––––––––––– 1,300.00
Packard Truck No. 22626––––––––––––––––––––– 580.00
Air Compressor—Portable Air Hose and Drill--- 200.00
Attachment—BackSloper ---------------------- 30.00
Attachment—Scarifier –––––––––––––––––––––––– 60.00
Anvils, 100 lbs., 80 lbs.----------------------- 16.00
BlackSmith Outfit Complete-------------------- 61.00
Camp Cars Mounted on Trailer Wheels__________ 50.00
Chairs—Cane Bottom------------------------- 6.00
Concrete Mixer—Rex 2-Cylinder Eng. No. 237____ 200.00
Delco Light Plants–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 400.00
Forge Hand Bellows–––––––––––––––––––––––––– 10.00
Forge, BlackSmith–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 40.00
Grader—Russell 8" Spec.----------------------- 200.00
Grader—Russell Super-Mogul 12'--------------- 200.00
Heaters—Coal ––––––: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 40.00
Sets Harness, Double, Complete---------------- 600.00
Horseshoeing Set, complete-------------------- 15.00
Plows, Miscellaneous–––––––––––––––––––––––––– 140.00
Mules -------------------------------------- 5,000.00
Range, Large-------------------------------- 35.00
Scrapers—Slip ------------------------------ 26.00
Wagons–Hagy 1%-Yd.----------------------- 300.00
Wheelers, T. & M. and Western________________ 1,091.00
Sub-total -------------------------------- $15,125.00
Equipment located at Cass Station and Assigned to
1
1
Jno. A. Carlock:
Farquhar Boiler No. 17970_____________________ 300.00
Rock Crusher, Russell Portable with rollers_____ 2,100.00
*====º mºmsºmºsº
TOTAL ------------------------------- $17,525.00
Depreciation based on 20% for year. For a period
of five months––––––––––––––––––––– $1,460.40
24
:
220
3
3
100
16
12
10
10
10
10
%
10
%
EXPHIBIT B -
ROAD EQUIPMENT
Caterpillar “60” Tractor_____________________ $ 4,325.00
Caterpillar “30” Tractors at $2,448.00 each_____ 9,792.00
4-Yard Hydraulic Dump Trucks at $4,641.00 each 18,564.00
Light Truck, cab and Stake body_______________ 752.76
Ford or Chevrolet Coach for Warden ---______ 750.00
Trains (3) 1-Yard Wheeled Scoops at $2,355 each 9,420.00
12' Road Grader with Back Sloper and Scarifier 2,462.00
7-Point Heavy Road Ripper-------____________ 630.00
No. 69 Wiard Heavy Rooter Plow----__________ 64.35
Sub-total -------------------------------- $46,760.11
CAMP EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
Steel Convict Cages at $960.00---_____________ $ 4,800.00
28'x40' Tarpaulins at $91.00 ––––––––––––––––– 182.00
16'x16' Tents and Flies --------------------- 348.00
Cooking Range and Utensils ------------------ 300.00
10 H. P. Upright Boiler Heating Unit ----____ 105.00
500 Gallon Water Tanks at $96.24_____________ 192.48
250-pound Ice Box –––––––––––––––––––––––––– 150.00
12-gauge Shot Guns at $39.40 –––––––––––––––– 315.20
S. & W. Revolvers at $26.00––––––––––––––––––– 104.00
Delco Light Plant and Water Pump___________ 650.00
Typewriter (office) ––––––––––––––––––––––––– - 97.00
Tables ------------------------------------- 8.00
Field Desk --------------------------------- 65.00
Set BlackSmith Tools ----------------------- 200.00
Dozen Chairs ------------------------------ 6.00
Small Heaters ------------------------------- 9.00
Cot Pads at $3.20 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 288.00
Steel Cots at $3.75––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 37.50
Mattresses at $15.00 ------------------------ 150.00
Blankets at $3.50 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 770.00
Dozen Sheets at $9.96 ----------------------- 328.68
Pillows at $ 75 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 75.00
DOZen Pillow Slips at $3.48 –––––––––––––––––– 55.68
Dozen Water Buckets ----------------------- 12.00
Fire Extinguishers at $10.50 ----------------- 31.50
Grindstones -------------------------------- 5.00
Dozen Spoons at $1.50 ---------------------- 18.00
Dozen Forks at $1.50 ------------------------ 15.00
Dozen Knives at $1.50 ---------------------- 15.00
Dozen Cups at $1.50 –––––––––––––––––––––––– 15.00
Dozen Pie Plates at $1.50 ––––––––––––––––––––– 15.00
Dozen Lanterns ---------------------------- 6.00
Dozen Towels at $1.65 ----------------------- 16.50
Dozen Wash Tubs ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 12.00
Dozen Wash Boards ------------------------ 9.00
Dozen Wash Pots, 30 Gal., at $7.30 each________ 43.80
Sub-total -------------------------------- $ 9,450.34
90
15
15
15
10
15
15
90
20
I
1
CONVICT SUPPLIES
Sets Chain Shackles at $ .50 ––––––––––––––––– $ 45.00
Dozen Striped Pants at $20.00 ––––––––––––––– 300.00
Dozen Striped Jackets at $20.00 ––––––––––––– 300.00
Dozen Union Suits at $8.25 ––––––––––––––––––– 123.75
Dozen Pairs Gloves at $4.00 –––––––––––––––––– 40.00
Dozen Pairs Socks at $1.10 ––––––––––––––––––– 16.50
Dozen Top Shirts at $20.00 –––––––––––––––––– 300.00
Dozen Belts a $4.00 –––––––––––––––––––––––– 36.00
Dozen Hats at $16.50 ––––––––––––––––––––––– 132.00
Pairs Shoes at $2.65 ––––––––––––––––––––––––– 238.50
Dozen Raincoats at $36.00 -------------------- 288.00
Pairs Rubber Boots at $5.25 ––––––––––––––––– 105.00
Sub-total --------------------------------- $ 1,924.75
- TOOLS
Dozen 5-lb. Axes with handles, at $33.00–––––––– $ 66.00
Dozen Picks with handles, at $12.00 ––––––––––– 24.00
Dozen S. H. Shovels with handles, at $16.50_____ 99.00
Dozen L. H. Shovels with handles, at $16.50_____ 33.00
Dozen Mattocks with handles, at $18.00________ 36.00
Hand Axes at $1.50 –––––––––––––––––––––––– - 9.00
6' Cross-Cut Saws at $7.50 –––––––––––––––––– 45.00
Hand Saws at $3.50 ––––––––––––––––––––––––– 7.00
Saw Set ----------------------------------- 2.00
Post Hole Diggers at $1.50 ––––––––––––––––––– 3.00
Small Set Carpenter Tools –––––––––––––––––– 100.00
Pinch Bars at $1.00 –––––––––––––––––––––––– 3.00
Crow Bars at $1.00 ––––––––––––––––––––––––– 3.00
18" Stilson Wrenches at $3.50________________ 7.00
12" Stilson Wrenches at $3.50 ----------______ 7.00
12" Monkey Wrenches at $1.50 ----------______ 3.00
6" Monkey Wrenches at $1.50 -----____________ 3.00
Dozen Wheelbarrows at $95.00 ---_____________ 47.50
Pair V3" Bolt Cutters ------------------------ 7.00
Wrecking Bars ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 1.00
Bush Hooks at $1.75 ––––––––––––––––––––––– 21.00
Claw Hammers at $1.00 -------------------- 6.00
10-lb. Sledges with handles at $1.00----_______ 6.00
50 Metallic Tapes in case at $2.25 ---_________ 6.75
50 Steel Tape in case ----------------------- 3.25
100 Chain --------------------------------- 4.00
Sub-total -------------------------------- $ 552.50
Gas Shovel (1 yard) –––––––––––––––––––––––– $ 8,000.00
TOTAL ---------------------------------- $66,687.70
EXHIBIT C
“November 4th, 1930. Subject—Convicts—Legal Opinions.
“Hon. J. W. Barnett, Chairman, State Highway Board of
Georgia, State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia. Dear Captain Barnett :
26
Pursuant to your request as to law on the use of convicts by the
Prison Commission, and as to whether or not the State High-
way Board is under any obligation to use convict labor, I beg to
make the following report which embodies my understanding of
the law. The Prison Commission was created by the Georgia
Legislature in the year 1897. Under the Acts of 1903, page 65,
all convicts, whether sentenced for felony or misdemeanor
crimes, and all convict camps were placed under the direct su-
pervision of the Prison Commission. Under the Acts of 1908,
all male felony convicts were required to be apportioned among
the several counties of the State according to population of such
counties, said apportionment to be made annually and based
upon the latest United States census. This law was subsequently
changed, in the year 1916, to provide for the apportionment on
the basis of the total number of miles in length of all public
roads existing in the several counties respectively on Janu-
ary 1, 1916 (See Section 1207 of the Penal Code of Georgia).
There could be no doubt about the fact that the management of
the convicts was left entirely with the Prison Commission, and
there is no duty on a county to use its convicts or to use any
convicts unless it so elects. In Section 1207 of the Penal Code
Of the State of Georgia is to be found the following provision:
‘The Prison Commission shall communicate with the county
authorities of the State and ascertain those counties desiring to
use convict labor upon their public roads and said counties shall,
through their proper authorities, advise the Prison Commission,
in writing, whether they desire to use such labor upon their roads,
and the number desired.’ It is my understanding that this law
was passed in 1916. The same law applies to misdemeanor
convicts with reference to disposition by the Prison Commission,
as applied to felony convicts (See Section 1216 of the Penal
Code). Section 1209 of the Penal Code contains the following
provision: ‘The Prison Commission is hereby authorized, when
in funds, to purchase road-working machinery, appliances, and
teams, and to equip and Organize road-Working forces, the same
to be used for the construction and repair of public roads,
bridges, or other public works in the counties not using their
convicts under the foregoing Sections, when requested by the
authorities of such counties so to do; the work to be done, as far
as practicable, in proportion to the convicts which would have
been assigned to each county in case the county had worked its
convicts.” There is also a provision whereby the Prison Commis-
sion may hire its convicts to municipalities in case any convicts
should be left on the hands of the Prison Commission, the price
stated in the law being $100.00 per capita per annum (see Sec-
tion 1211 of the Penal Code). From the above references, it is
very clear that the whole duty for working convicts rests upon
the Prison Commission and there is no duty upon any county to
use its quota of convicts. Under Section 1217 of the Penal Code,
it is provided that the net proceeds arising from the disposition
of convicts to municipalities, or otherwise, shall be used by the
Prison Commission either in working roads in counties which
27
have no convicts or, in case the Prison Commission does not de-
sire to work convicts in certain counties of that kind, then the
duty is on the Prison Commission to pay the pro rata part of said
net proceeds to the counties on the basis of their quota of con-
victs. In the year 1924, the Georgia Legislature passed the fol-
lowing law: ‘ALLOTMENT OF CONVICTS BY PRISON COM-
MISSION. The said Highway Board is authorized to apply to the
Prison Commission of Georgia for the quota of convicts that
any county may be entitled to, which is not working its convicts
on its public roads, the said convicts to be worked as far as pos-
sible in the Senatorial District in which the county is located for
whose convicts request may be made by the State Highway
Board, and it shall be the duty of the Prison Commissioner to
allot said convicts to the Highway Department for the purpose
of constructing said public roads and to appoint such wardens,
physicians and guards as may be necessary to carry out this
purpose. Acts 1924, page 119. Michie's Code, 1926, Sec. 828 (24).’
‘CONTRACTS OF COUNTIES WITH HIGHWAY BOARD
FOR USE OF CONVICTS. Any one or more counties may
contract with the Highway Board to use their quota of convicts
to which such counties may be entitled in the construction of
any portion of the State-Aid Road System and the State High-
way Board is hereby authorized to purchase such machinery and
equipment as may be necessary for the purpose of equipping
such road gangs as they may organize, and to pay the salaries
of the wardens, physicians and guards as may be necessary to
carry into effect the provisions of this Act. Acts 1924, page
119.’ You will note that the above two sections are permissible
only in so far as the State Highway Board is concerned. These
facts certainly do not place any legal duty on the Highway De-
partment to use these convicts unless they see fit to do so. This
duty is placed on the Prison Commission of Georgia, and the
law specifically designates ways in which convicts may be used
by municipalities, by counties, or by the State Highway Board.
Under Section 1214 of the Penal Code, the very broadest author-
ity is given to the Prison Commission to organize and equip any
industrial enterprise that they may deem advisable for manu-
facturing implements for use on the State Farm or on the roads
of the State, or for making shoes or clothing for the inmates of
State Institutions or convicts; but the provision is placed in this
Section that none of these articles shall be offered for sale to the
public. I, therefore, beg to advise that it is my very decided
Opinion that the State Highway Board is under no legal duty
to employ convict labor unless they see fit to do so. Very truly
yours, State Highway Board of Georgia, By S. M. Mathews,
Secretary-Counsel.”
A conference is being had between the Prison Board and the
Highway Board to see if it is possible to make some definite
arrangements in regard to the matter, the thought being to
Create two additional camps to those already provided by the
Highway Board.
28
A request was also made of Mr. George A. Fisher, Superin-
tendent of the Auto Tag Plant at the State Farm at Milledge-
ville, which plant was established two years ago, to ascertain, if
possible, what line of work the convicts who would be in posses-
sion of the Prison Commission and held on the Farm could do,
in keeping with the law, and at the same time serve the institu-
tion and save the expense of the upkeep of these convicts by the
State, and also bring a profit. His reply, under date of December
27th, is as follows: “Hon. L. G. Hardman, Governor of Geor—
gia, Atlanta, Ga. Dear Sir : At your request I am hereby re-
spectfully submitting various suggestions in connection with the
establishment of industrial plants at the Georgia State Prison
Farm. These suggestions are based upon my twelve years' ex-
perience in installing and operating similar plants in various
state penitentiaries throughout the United States. 1. Funds
should be available and set aside sufficient to install and operate
such plants as deemed advisable at the State Prison Farm in
Milledgeville, Ga. One-half of this appropriation should be
made available as soon as possible and the other half six months
thereafter. 2. The automobile license tag plant now in opera-
tion at the Georgia State Prison Farm should be transferred
from the Department of the Secretary of State to the new In-
dustrial Department. 3. The Industrial Department should pay
to the Prison Commission of Georgia a suitable sum per day for
all convict labor used in the various plants. 4. The Prison Com-
mission of Georgia is expected at all times to furnish the Indus-
trial Department an adequate amount and suitable type of
convicts so that the various plants may be operated to the best
advantage. Industrial workers when trained in their duties
shall so far as possible be kept permanently assigned to such
and not transferred to other units of the prison system
except when deemed advisable and is agreeable to both
the prison officials and the Superintendent of Industries. 5. The
Industrial Department shall furnish all the material needed
to remodel old buildings and erect new buildings for the pur-
pose of housing the industrial plants contemplated. The labor
for such construction work shall be furnished by the Prison
Commission of Georgia free of charge. 6. That the various
industrial plants shall be conducted strictly under the ‘State Use'
plan. Products are to be manufactured for use of the other
departments and institutions of the State and that these depart-
ments and institutions shall be required to purchase same. 7.
The Industrial Department should be allowed to use the revenue
derived from its products to such an extent that it will be enabled
to make itself and the Georgia State Prison System self-support-
ing. Respectfully submitted, Geo. A. Fisher, Superintendent,
Auto Tag Plant.”
I shall submit to you a study of the various lines of work
which it is possible for the convicts at Milledgeville to engage
in—in keeping with the Georgia law, which it seems will save a
considerable sum of money to the State of Georgia in such things
as road signs, concrete culverts, shoe industry, textile industry,
29
machine shops and furniture department, which can be operated
with a saving to the State of approximately 15 to 40% on the
various lines of activity. Detailed information of each of these
is here with attached and will be furnished to you during your
study of a better handling of the convicts of the State. It is
encouraging to note that your present Tag Plant is saving to the
state $17,000.00 a year; and it is believed with the new tags—
saving in metal and in the method in which they are required
to be placed on the car, there will come to the State of Georgia
an additional sum over what has been received of approximately
$200,000.00 per year. I might mention in this connection that
on account of the method of the request for tags, which has been
gotten out by the Secretary of State, there will be saved the ex-
pense of something like 150 operatives for three months, which
will be quite a saving to the State in the sale and distribution of
these tags.
STATE OF GEORGIA
SUMMARY OF INDUSTRIES FOR STATE FARM
Approximate
Building Employs Saving or
Industry Cost Size Men Profit
Road Sign ––––––– $15,250.00 25x 40 10 25%
Concrete Culvert__ 35,000.00 20x 40 20 35%
Shoe Industry –––– 15,000.00 40x100 65 20%
Textile Industry -- 40,000.00 40x150 60 15%
Machine Shop –––– 8,000.00 30x 40 10 40%
Furniture Dept. -- 35,000.00 40x200 80 30%
Amt. Paid
Men Em- Prison Com. Net Revenue
Cost Installed ployed for Labor for State
Per Year
Road Signs ------------- $ 23,250.00 10 $ 3,000.00 $ 10,000.00
Concrete Culvert -------- 35,000.00 20 6,000.00 18,000.00
Shoe Industry ----------- 15,000.00 65 19,500.00 21,000.00
Textile Industry -------- 40,000.00 60 18,000.00 10,000.00
Furniture Industry ------ 35,000.00 80 24,000.00 15,000.00
Machine Shop ----------- 8,000.00 10 3,000.00 3,000.00
Tag Plant -------------- 30,000.00 25 7,000.00 17,000.00
Envelope Plant --------- 3,000.00 15 4,500.00 10,000.00
$156,250.00 285 $85,000.00 $104,000.00
Running capital --------- 93,750.00 85,000.00
Appropriation ---------- $250,000.00 Total revenue --------- $189,000.00
3()
REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT TO MEETING OF EASTERN-
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE ON STATE INSTITUTIONAL
LABOR, DECEMBER 15, 1930, HELD AT SIR WALTER
HOTEL, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
In approaching the subject of the expansion and realignment
of industries, it is necessary to take into account, certain fac-
tors which are inherent in a prison and industrial system. It
is well to have in mind the objective for which the prison sys-
tem was created. It is obvious that the good of the community
is the prime object. Its purpose is to retain those in custody
who are a perpetual or continuing menace to their community.
Its purpose also is to correct the man and woman who have been
convicted of crime with the purpose of sending them back into
the community with at least a fighting chance to earn an honest
livelihood. In the endeavor to carry out these missions, the
state official must always remember that it is his duty to keep
down the expense to the already over-burdened tax-payer.
Administrative Control:
We have taken the subject, first, from the standpoint of busi-
ness administration. Without a business control, it is impossible
to effectively or economically administer the institutions. Con-
trol and responsibility are necessary if your institutional system,
both in penal and charitable institutions, are to meet the purpose
for which they were designated.
A study is under way which will give you the data on central-
ized control as it is now used in various states with notations
as to advantages of each of the systems used. The National
Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor has assembled the ma-
jority of this data. Its revision to date in compliance with recent
laws and its success or non-success is being studied. This ma-
terial should be available for each of the states within a com-
paratively short period of time.
Classifications:
It is the belief of the officials of those states that have classi-
fied the prisoners on their admission to the institution, that large
Savings, both in human beings and in further expenditures of
money, can be effected. In fact, this has proved to be true where
i. phase of prison management has been under way for some-
IIYle.
Types of Prisons:
It appears that there are five types of prisons, which are as
follows:
(1) The Maximum Security Prison for the hardened of-
fender, the defective, the drug addict, the chronic alcoholic, the
repeater, and for those with long terms.
(2) The Minimum Security Prison, for those who are men-
tally and physically sound or comparatively so, and who, in the
31
opinion of the officials, the psychologists, and psychiatrists, are
sufficiently trustworthy to be housed in this type of prison.
(3) There is also a middle institution where men can be
housed securely at night and allowed to work out in the open
during the day. This is known as the Medium Security Prison.
(4) The fourth type is a combination to be used in smaller
states or where it is advisable to have a combined industrial
and farm prison.
(5) Temporary barracks and road-camps.
A very large amount of material has been gathered and will
be checked with the officials of various states where some formu-
lated form of classification is now in evidence. This data will
be supplied to you as it is definitized and verified to the point
where it will be of actual use to you.
Prison. Buildings:
A study was completed by the Architectural Record last spring
in cooperation with the National Committee on Prisons and
Prison Labor. This study laid the foundation for the work that
is being undertaken. The National Committee on Prisons and
Prison Labor, and a number of people are working on this sub-
ject and a full report is promised by April which will give you
suggestive data for prison construction at a minimum cost. This
material should be of great value to your prison administrators
and state consulting architects in the construction of prison
buildings. -
Maintenance Industries:
A study is under way in regard to the maintenance industries
or services which go to make up the conduct of the prison. Re-
liable data is being secured from a number of states with the
purpose of making available to you better methods of conduct-
ing institutions at the minimum cost together with a tye-up of
your work program. It is possible through such industries to
give a large amount of valuable training to the prisoners in
such industries or services without increased cost and in many
institutions a marked saving.
These subjects have been brought to your attention, first as
they are all a part of the plan to be developed in several states,
Since with the growth of the prison and industrial population, it
is necessary that they be handled in a business-like way, and to
meet the unusual and unnatural conditions which come from
incarceration or residence in an institution. They merit your
very careful consideration. -
You have received a number of questionnaires. We know
what a difficult task it is to answer the questionnaires and to
get institutions to answer them. The fact that many of you
have not been able to secure the information should illustrate to
you or bring home to you the necessity for a greater control.
Some of the questionnaires which have been asked for, may be
difficult to answer, but it is our belief that they all tend to secure
the basis on which we must work. The purpose has been to find
32
Out: (1) The institutional population which you might supply
with goods. (2) The commodities which were actually pur-
chased by your State which might be manufactured in prisons
and raised on prison farms. (3) The amount of available prison
labor for which you must find work and which would be avail-
able for some phase of productive occupation.
From the questionnaire which you have been receiving, it is
evident that in many states, that a large farm expansion is pos-
sible and advisable. It has been clearly demonstrated that there
are large fields for work in such enterprises as reforestation,
the improving, clearing and draining of public lands and in many
cases, increased highway construction. These matters all take
ingenuity, courage and perseverance, but in them is an excellent
field for prison labor. *
Centralized Purchase:
Those of you who have had the questionnaires in regard to the
commodities which have been raised and produced, and who do
not have a strong centralized purchasing department, will realize
that you are paying all sorts of prices for commodities. One
need only compare the table of one institution and another to
find that the divergence in price is marked and unreasonable.
When you were dealing with a few prisoners and a few people
in your insane, epileptic and tubercular hospitals, the matter
was not so serious, but with the great increase of institutional
population, you can readily realize that a more business-like
system will have to be adopted than the ones under which many
of you are working.
The Eastern-Southern Conference on State Institutional La-
bor has the cooperation of a special committee of the National
Association of Governmental Purchasing Agents of which Mr.
Walter Kirkman, of Maryland, is chairman. Mr. Kirkman has
been at our previous meetings and would be with us today if it
were not for the necessity of remaining in Baltimore to complete
the budgets to be presented to the coming legislature. It is our
belief that, with the material available and to be gathered by
Mr. Kirkman, we will be able to give you the results of the best
experience in the country. We trust that you realize the magni-
tude of the task which is being undertaken by the Eastern-South-
ern Conference, the New England Conference and those other
States which have signified their desire to join in this endeavor.
We are all primarily interested in finding more work for prison-
ers. The Office of the National Committee on Prisons and Prison
Labor has in process of compilation lists of all kinds of goods
which are used by institutions throughout the United States.
This list is being broken down into shop functions and should
be a guide to what sort of products may now or later be manu-
factured in our penal institutions. *
. This office knows today certain of the products which are used
in large quantities. You have geographic and climatic and in-
dustrial conditions which enter into the decisions which you
are to make for the kind of products you wish to produce and
33
manufacture. If this gathering can at least formulate in rough
the particular products which in your wisdom you believe can
be manufactured to advantage in your state, you will be able to
make rapid progress in finding out whether those industrial arti-
cles and farm products can be economically produced and dis-
posed of. -
Mapping of Industries for States and Localities:
In order to forecast adequately the kinds and amounts of man-
factured produced goods, a questionnaire has been sent to the
various states. Certain states have replied in whole or in part.
Certain others have not made out these questionnaires. The
office has been tabulating the returns and is making progress
available. This is a very large job. The results obtained are of
very considerable value. In addition to the value which this
material will have for this conference is the bringing to light of
certain things in regard to state purchasing which has been most
interesting to the states making out the questionnaire. It has
been in effect, taking stock of the situation. As we receive
more of these questionnaires, we will be able to better forecast
what may be undertaken. This is in reality a finding of a prob-
able and possible market for institutional manufactured and pro-
duced goods. We are dealing with large units, and if accurate
results are to be obtained, we must have the data from the sev-
eral states. -
Standards: .
For the benefit of the institutions who are purchasing goods
from any source, standards are vital. If you are purchasing in
large quantities and are ordering hospital beds of fifty different
varieties, the price that you pay for each variety is high. If on
the other hand your penal institution is manufacturing these
beds, your productive schedule and your various industrial prob-
lems are of a most difficult solution. There is no reason why
standards cannot be adopted covering the various lines of ma-
terial you use and manufacture. Your office in cooperation with
the Associates for Government Service, Inc., will undertake the
development of standards as funds will permit. Proper stand-
ardization of goods is most important to your state as it is to
all others. Again it should be realized that this is a vast under-
taking and reports will be sent to you as soon as the data neces-
sary can be compiled in whole or in part.
Disposal of Goods: -
A state in undertaking the manufacture of goods for consump-
tion by state institutions must keep in mind that the goods
produced must be disposed of. This is true whether or not there
is a mandatory legislation compelling other institutions to buy,
as a release is always necessary for goods which cannot be man-
ufactured in penal institutions. The product manufactured must
be of good quality and style; the price must be right and then
someone must bring this to the attention of the buyer whether
it is in your state or another. The Associates for Government
34
Services, Inc., as you know, is a non-profit making organization.
This organization should be developed to assist you in your sales
problems within your State and also for the selling to institu-
tions in other states. This is a most important function and a
necessary part of your industrial program.
Individual State Surveys:
This office is gathering data in regard to each of the States
in the Eastern-Southern Conference. This data will form the
foundation of a state survey which will be sent you for revision
and correction as funds are available. A representative of the
Eastern-Southern Conference should be sent to your State to
amplify and complete such a survey. It is believed that the
summation of the information contained will be of great value
to you in the presentation of data to your legislature with possi-
ble plans as to what you can do under the given set of conditions
ºnted in your state. This is one of the eventual aims of this
OTT1Cé. -
Legislation:
It is presumed that, if the facts are before you, you will desire
to work out a plan for your own locality and introduce certain
legislative measures to carry out such a program. Legislation
enacted by the several states should be placed at your disposal
in order that you may have the successful experience of others
to assist you in making your own plans.
The purpose of this report is to cover the work which is under
way and to indicate the plans for the future. A great task is
before us and work will be carried out as rapidly as funds avail-
able will permit.
STATE OF GEORGIA SHOE INDUSTRY
December 26, 1930.
The size of this industry depends entirely upon the possible
market for the finished product, and inasmuch as we do not have
sufficient information on which to base our suggestions and
recommendations accurately, we are assuming that your re-
quirements would be similar to those of other States with ap-
proximately the same institutional population. We would
recommend equipment designed to produce the nailed or McKay
shoes, inasmuch as this would not require the complicated equip-
ment necessary for the more fancy shoes, such as Goodyear
Welt, and similar types of footwear.
The shoe industry would employ approximately sixty-five
(65) men, and would require a building approximately 40'x100'
Or equal floor space. The building, should be well lighted and
ventilated, but otherwise the requirements for this industry can
be very satisfactorily obtained in any present building.
The trade school value of the shoe industry has proven to
be very high, and at the same time the savings or profits to be
derived from the operation will amount to at least twenty per
cent. This makes the shoe industry of particular value for
35
institutional operation due to the fact that it serves a twofold
purpose, and that is, of giving vocational training, and at the
same time being self-supporting.
The approximate cost of installation of a complete shoe fac-
tory would be in the neighborhood of fifteen thousand dollars
($15,000.00), which price includes complete erection and super-
vision, but does not include the cost of building. Where the
market for the finished product will keep the plant busy the
year around this original installation cost can be absorbed in a
short time from the profits derived from the sales of the shoes
to various institutions.
A shoe industry of the size and type that we suggest would
take care of the State's requirements to a large extent, and if
it is found that more equipment is required in order to manu-
facture a more elaborate shoe, this can very readily be purchased
and added to the original installation. However, we have found
it to be advisable to start this industry on a relatively small
Scale, and expand to meet the exact requirements of the various
departments with whom this business will be carried on.
.* r Respectfully submitted,
GR :PM. JOHN R. WALD COMPANY.
STATE OF GEORGIA ROAD SIGN INDUSTRY
December 26, 1930
The attached sheet covering equipment required for a road
sign department suggested for the Georgia State Prison Farm
at Milledgeville describes the machines necessary in order to
manufacture highway markers and similar signs. The Power
Squaring Shear, and the small Punch Press now being used for
the manufacture of automobile license plates can be used for
road signs as well, and therefore the road sign department could
be installed in the same building, or convenient to the present
auto tag department, so as to utilize the above mentioned ma-
chines to advantage.
The equipment suggested for this department will produce
approximately seven hundred and fifty (750) to one thousand
(1,000) signs per day, depending upon the size of the markers,
as Small signs can be produced in larger quantities than the
larger markers, due to the bulkiness and space required to bake
the signs. The road sign department will employ approximately
eight to ten men, and all of the equipment can be installed in a
floor space approximately 25'x30'. The only requirements for
the room or building in which this equipment would be installed
are that a good substantial foundation should be had for the
large press, together with sufficient head room for this machine,
which would be approximately 15 feet.
This industry can be operated profitably in an institution, and
the fact that so many States are now engaged in this work, as
well as the fact that a great number are seriously considering
the installation of the necessary equipment, bears out the state-
ment that the road sign department is a profitable installation.
36
The institution can manufacture the signs and obtain a very
good financial return, and at the same time the State is assured
of receiving a first-class product due to the absolute control
which they have over the raw materials which go into the fin-
ished signs. This assures them of receiving signs which will
remain on the highway the maximum length of time before it
is necessary to take them in for refinishing. In this connection
we feel the most important feature about the road sign indus-
try is the fact that the State can refinish their own signs, sav-
ing the transportation charges to distant factories, and guar-
anteeing the use of only high-grade enamels for the coatings.
Finally, the road sign industry will give employment to in-
mates who otherwise would be idle, which, after all, is the prime
factor to be considered when prison industries are contem-
plated. The manufacture of highway markers is a fascinating
work for any young man, and the trade school value of the
press operations, baking and coating operations should not be
lost sight of.
Referring to the cost sheet attached, which was compiled by
the officials of the Indiana State Prison, covering the manufac-
ture of highway markers at that institution, will demonstrate
the revenue to be derived from the operation of this depart-
ment. The total cost of signs should be compared with the prices
now being paid by the Highway Department, bearing in mind
that the Indiana signs are manufactured from the very best
materials obtainable. The cost sheet includes signs manufactured
from galvannealed Steel, as well as black steel, and in this con-
nection we have found that the galvannealed steel signs are
much more economical in the long run due to the rust-resisting
qualities of the steel, which enables the signs to be refinished
a number of times before they have reached their limit of use-
fulness. The cost of installing the necessary equipment for the
manufacture of road signs at the Georgia State Prison Farm
will be approximately fifteen thousand, two hundred and fifty
dollars ($15,250.00). This price includes complete erection, to-
gether with necessary Supervision at the institution. -
You will note that we have not included dies for the manu-
facture of road signs on the list of equipment. The cost of the
dies will depend entirely upon the type of signs to be manu-
factured, and therefore it is difficult to quote accurate prices
On this item. However, a number of the States have adopted the
policy of classifying the die cost as material cost, and charging
this expense directly to the cost of producing the markers. A
very complete set-up of dies can be purchased at a cost of ap-
proximately seven thousand dollars ($7,000.00) to eight thous-
and dollars ($8,000.00), and this would include the main border
dies for the majority of standard Federal Route markers, to-
gether with a quantity of inserts and small directional markers,
So that your plant would be equipped to produce a fair portion
of the Highway Department’s yearly requirements.
In addition to the highway markers there are a large number
of steel stampings, such as steel school desk sides, metal serving
37
trays, and other similar articles, which can be manufactured
with this equipment. A careful investigation of the possible mar-
ket within the State would reveal a large number of items which
could be manufactured at a profit to the institution, and a sav-
ing to the department that purchased them.
Respectfully submitted,
GR :PM JOHN R. WALD COMPANY.
Enclosures
EQUIPMEN T REQUIRED FOR ROAD SIGN DEPARTMENT -
Georgia State Prison Farm, Milledgeville, Georgia.
ITEM 1
1. Straight Sided, Single Crank Power Press, double back
geared, with four piece steel tie rod frame construction, with
hand operated friction clutch, with automatic stop. Distance
bed to slide, stroke down and adjustment up 19.1/3". Bolster
thickness 4". Special slide plate 7” thick. Area front to back,
right to left 34"x30". Press to be arranged for individual
belted motor drive, including bracket for the motor, with self-
adjusting ball-bearing idler, including 15 H. P., 220-volt, D. C.
motor, motor pulley, belt and remote control starter. Weight
approximately 37,000 lbs.
ITEM 2
1. Complete Spray Outfit, to include compressor, spray booth,
spray gun and all necessary hose and attachments.
ITEM 3
1. Special Road Sign Numeral Coating Machine. Equipped
with individual motor drive, electro-magnetic chuck and one
set of rubber rolls. Weight approximately 2,500 lbs.
ITEM 4
6. Special Oven Trucks. Malleable Iron Fingers for supporting
all sizes of signs and markers. Equipped with two solid and
two swivel wheels. All wheels are roller-bearing mounted.
ITEM 5
1. Indirect Gas Heated Oven for baking road sign finishes at
temperatures up to 350 degrees. Walls, doors and roof will
be of Standard insulated steel panel construction with pat-
ented binding and finishing members. Oven to be equipped
with gas heating chambers with vertical radiators and upper
manifolds. Intake of fresh air will be through standard air
inlets through combustion chambers. Exhaust will be through
main top outlet equipped with swinging damper. Positive
movement of air through oven will be provided for by means.
of a 24" disc fan mounted at rear of oven. Oven to be
equipped with thermostat for automatically controlling the
burners, so as to maintain a constant and uniform tempera-
ture at all times.
38
Galvan- Galvannealed Black
- Black nealed Steel Steel
Name Size Gauge Steel Steel Paint Packing Labor TOTAL TOTAL
Federal Route Markers__16% "X16” 18 $0.0.12% $0.0.199 $00.055 $00.009 $00.008 $00.271 $0.0.197
Federal R. & L. Markers__ 9” x9.5%;" 18 .03.25 .059 .017 .0044 .0065 .0869 .06
Single Arrow ----------- 16” x8%" 18 .0629 .10 .028 .007 .007 .142 .1049
Double Arrow ----------- 16” x8%" 18 .0629 .10 .028 .007 .007 .142 .1049
Detour & Temp. Shield {
Marker ------------- 16” x16%" 18 .12% .199 .055 .009 .008 .271 .197
ACTUAL COST OF PRODUCING ROAD SIGNS BASED ON PRODUCTION PERIOD OF NINE MONTHS
AT INDIANA STATE PRISON, MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA. LABOR COST FIGURED AT ONE
DOLLAR PER DAY PER MAN, ALL SIGINS MADE ACCORDING TO U. S. STAND-
- ARD SPECIFICATIONS
Number Plaques -------- 8%"x10%" 18 .052 .085 .018 - .0045 .0065 .114 .081
24” Square, Round and -
Octagon Markers ---_24” x24” 16 .28 .451 .116 .02 .012 .599 .428
§
December 26, 1980.
STATE OF GEORGIA TEXTILE INDUSTRY
The Textile Industry would be the most profitable installation
for Georgia due to the fact that the raw material is so readily
available. This Department would employ approximately sixty
(60) to seventy-five (75) men, when operated on a small scale
which we would recommend as an initial installation, and would
produce woven fabrics at a saving of at least fifteen per cent to
the State.
A small Textile Plant including a Weaving Department and
Finishing Department would cost approximately forty thousand
dollars ($40,000.00), and we estimate the floor space required
to be about 40' x 150'. The plant would include sufficient looms
to take care of a variety of widths of cloth, and would be de-
signed to weave sheeting, denim, muslin, and other similar cotton
fabrics. We would not include slasher equipment with a small
installation of this kind, but would recommend that the yarn
be purchased, sized, and dyed from a reliable source. After the
Textile Plant had been installed and in operation for a short
time, so as to demonstrate the merits of this work, slasher equip-
ment could be installed, so that the institution could size their
yarns and effect a greater saving in this manner. For your
information a small slasher costs approximately twenty-five thou-
sand ($25,000.00), and therefore, we do not recommend this
large outlay of money for a new industry of this size.
We would suggest a small Weaving Plant, which would cost
in the neighborhood of forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00), in-
cluded erection and supervision at the institution, but not in-
cluded the cost of building. The building size 40' x 150' or
building of equal floor space should have a good wood floor, and
be well lighted and ventilated. The equipment is not so large
but that it can be very readily installed on the second floor of
a building, and therefore, no doubt, could be included in the
building with some other industry on the ground floor.
An investigation of the purchases made by the various State
Departments covering cotton fabric would reveal the fact that
a very large amount of money is spent annually for this type
of material, and inasmuch as the yearly purchases will not vary
a great deal the institution would have a uniform market for
the product, and can operate the plant at a uniform production
the year around. -
Respectfully submitted,
GR :PM - JOHN R. WALD COMPANY.
- December 26, 1930.
STATE OF GEORGIA MACHINE SHOP DEPARTMENT
A Machine Shop and Repair Shop is a very essential Depart-
ment for an Institution whether they have a large number of
industries operating or not. It is especially essential where a
building program is under way, as there are always Small re-
40
pairs and new parts to be made up during the erection and
construction work.
With this thought in mind we are recommending a small
Machine Shop Department designed for repair work (general),
as well as automotive repairs. The vocational value of this De-
partment cannot be stressed too strongly, and at the same time
the financial savings, or profits, to be derived will soon pay for
the original cost of the equipment required. We would suggest
a room or building approximately thirty feet by forty feet with
a good concrete floor, and ample lighting facilities. -
. This Department could employ about ten men, and is very
valuable from an educational standpoint, as it gives the men
employed a splendid opportunity to learn a trade which is much
in demand at the present time. -
A small Machine Shop suitable for institutional installation
would cost approximately eight thousand dollars ($8,000.00).
There are quite a number of small machines which could be in-
cluded in this Department for tinsmith work, automotive repair
work, general machine shop, welding department, and various
other similar machines which will increase the usefulness and
revenue of this industry. .* n
- - Respectfully submitted, -
GR:PM JOHN R. WALD COMPANY.
STATE OF GEORGIA FURNITURE DEPARTMENT
December 26, 1930.
A number of State Institutions in various sections of the
Country have installed equipment for furniture factories, and
several States are now contemplating this type of installation.
It seems to be the consensus of opinion that the trade school
value of a furniture department is very great in comparison to
other industries, and therefore the furniture industry meets
with greatest favor among prison officials.
The type of furniture factory to be installed depends largely
upon the kind of furniture to be manufactured, and the possible
market for the finished product. Where a high grade product
is desired, and same should be produced on a production basis,
it is essential that modern equipment be installed. However,
where this industry is to be operated on a smaller Scale, and the
furniture to be turned out will be relatively simple, it is not
necessary to purchase high-speed production machinery.
Our recommendations in this direction are based on investiga-
tions which we have made in a number of State Institutions
throughout the Country where this industry is now being oper-
ated successfully. However, it would be our suggestion that a
survey be made of the possible market for the finished product
before definite action is taken on this industry, so as to determine
more accurately what class of furniture will be most in demand
by the various Departments who will purchase the finished
product. - -
41
A small furniture factory designed especially for institutional
Operation, and included equipment for the manufacture of desks
and tables, straight back chair, and other similar articles, would
cost approximately thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000.00).
This includes all of the equipment necessary, together with kiln
for curing the wood, completely erected at the institution, to-
gether with expert supervision. The building required would
be approximately 40' x 200' exclusive of the store house for un-
finished lumber, and the drying kiln. The furniture plant would
employ approximately eighty (80) men, and judging from the
experience of other institutions, we estimate that the product
turned out can be manufactured at a saving, or profit, of ap-
proximately thirty per cent. The plant we have suggested is
designed to produce a very high quality veneered desks and
tables, and the equipment which would be included is especially
suitable for institutional operation.
Respectfully submitted,
GR :PM JOHN R. WALD COMPANY.
* - December 26, 1930.
STATE OF GEORGIA CONCRETE CULVERT PIPE PLANT
The Concrete Culvert Pipe Industry is particularly well
adapted for prison installation. The finished product is con-
sumed by the Highway Department, which creates a ready mar-
ket for the finished material, and simplifies the distribution
problem. Concrete pipe can be made at a great saving with
inmate labor, and by the use of a modern machine the State is
assured of receiving a high quality product. -
A large item in the cost of concrete culvert pipe is the freight
cost when transporting pipe any great distance, and therefore
a very large saving can be effected by having the plant located
in the central part of the State, so that the pipe can be trans-
ported economically to the various road building projects. Where
the raw materials are readily available the Concrete Culvert
Pipe Plant will pay for itself within a very short time, and at
the same time enable the Highway Department to obtain a high
quality concrete pipe at a very much lower figure than is pos-
sible on the open market. In addition to the savings to be ac-
complished the Highway Department would have absolute con-
trol over the raw materials entering into the manufacture of
the pipe, which fact should not be lost sight of when contem-
plating this industry. It is very reasonable to expect an inferior
product when the raw materials used do not come up to standard,
and therefore, it naturally follows that the Department can in-
sure against a poor grade of concrete culvert pipe by keeping
tabs on the raw materials purchased.
A complete concrete culvert pipe plant installed at the State
Prison Farm at Milledgeville would cost approximately thirty-
five thousand dollars ($35,000.00). This figure does not include
the cost of building required, but includes complete erection of
42
the machinery at the Institution, together with expert super-
vision covering a period sufficient to thoroughly instruct the
operators covering the proper methods to employ in running the
plant. The building required for this industry is relatively in-
expensive, and the floor space required should be approximately
20’ x 40'. -
A number of other items can be manufactured in conjunction
with this equipment, such as concrete posts for highways, which
is oftentimes a large item where new road projects are under
Way. -
Respectfully submitted,
GR :PM JOHN R. WALD COMPANY.
STATE OF---------------
CONCRETE CULVERT PIPE PLANT EQUIPMENT
1, Hydraulic Lift Concrete Pipe Making Machine with 40 H. P.
motor and drag link elevator for making pipes in diameters
from 12" to 30", inclusive.
1 Paddle type concrete mixer.
3 Special off bearing carts.
3 Sets Reducing Plates (one hopper and two turntable plates to
each set) 31" to 25", 25" to 17”, and 25" to 21”.
1 Ringturning device for use with Hydraulic Lift Concrete Pipe
Making Machine.
Spiders for 12", 15", 18", 24” and 30".
43
BELL AND SPIGOT. EQUIPMENT FOR MAKING CONCRETE CULVERT PIPES
- ... Wall Packer-Head Bell Aluminum WEARING PARTS IN QUANTITIES INDICATED
SIZE Thickness Unit | End Rino Pattern w - º -
in Complete With With One Casings Bushing
Inches Push Ring Jackets Gauge Ring Wings Trowlers (6” High) Rimmers
12” 1%" 1. 4 1 100 100 6 6
15” 134” 1 4 1. 150 50 6 6
18” 2” 1 4 * 1 150 50 6 6
24” 2%." 1 4 1 100 50 4 4
30” 3” 1. 4. 1. 100 50 3 3
These wall thicknesses are usual for reinforced pipe when “Cage” reinforcing is employed.
§
CONCRETE CULVERT PIPE PLANT, STATE OF GEORGIA
The attached general catalogue covering the Martin Concrete
Pipe Machine describes the process of making concrete culvert
pipe, and also shows a number of cuts of the various operations
of this equipment. All of the tabulations shown in this cata-
logue are based on outside labor which fact should be taken into
consideration when comparing same with conditions existing
in the Institution.
The attached ledger sheets are actual figures obtained from
the Concrete Culvert Pipe Plant in operation at the State’s
Prison at Raleigh, North Carolina. At this point we want to
bring to your attention the fact that these figures are based
upon thicknesses and net length of pipe greater than is specified
as a general rule, and therefore, the cost per yard as well as the
cost per foot of pipe will be somewhat higher than would be the
case if general wall thicknesses were used. This variation can
be shown by comparing the ledger sheets with the tabulation
showing the manufacturing cost on the outside market, as the
weight per lineal foot of pipe is given in each case, and the
resultant increase in cost per linear foot shown as well. If the
customer does not require the extra wall thickness or extra
length of joint the cost of the equipment is not much lower, but
it is generally conceded that the wall thickness as used by the
State of North Carolina is more satisfactory and will give re-
sults which justify the extra expense of the original pipe.
Again referring to the ledger sheets, the net profit from opera-
tion of this Industry in the State Prison at North Carolina was
fourteen thousand dollars ($14,000.00) last. year. As you will
note this profit was obtained from the manufacture of only ap-
proximately sixty thousand (60,000) linear feet of pipe together
with the sale of a small quantity of pipe on hand at the beginning
of the year. Naturally this net profit would be increased by any
production greater than that shown on the ledger sheets. In
this connection also please note the average market price on
which the selling price of the institution-made pipe was based.
No doubt these prices are low in comparison to the prices being
paid by the majority of the States. The profit of fourteen thou-
sand dollars ($14,000.00) would pay for the equipment within a
short period, and if the Plant could be run at full capacity con-
tinuously this time would be decreased considerably as the aver-
age production possible on the machine is one thousand (1,000)
linear feet a day on sizes from 18" to 30" in diameter.
Referring to the list of equipment to be furnished with this
Plant, the item Ring Turning Device puts the finishing touches
on the inside of the bell during the process of manufacture. Al-
though some users of this machine do not employ this device, it
is suggested generally that it insures a perfect joint, and there-
fore improves the product considerably. -
The attached blueprint is a suggested lay-out of the machines
which shows the very small space required and the relatively
inexpensive structure necessary for this Industry. A founda-
tion for the Concrete Pipe Machine and one for the Mixer will
45
constitute all the foundation work necessary. Provision should
also be made for storing the cement and attachments for the
machines. With the exception of the above items no other build-
ing construction is necessary, as the lengths of pipe can be cured
in the open, and for this purpose any relatively level yard space
can be utilized.
For the curing process we employ rings or pilots on which
the pipe is supported during the curing process. This means
not only that level cement floor is not required for the stripping
of this pipe, but that no loss due to falling bells will result,
and most important of all, due to the length of the pilot be-
ing in the female end of the pipe during the spreading period,
each pipe will be absolutely true in dimension. This means a
great deal to the contractor in installing the pipe, as nothing is
more disconcerting possibly, and generally unnecessary, than
to have pipe delivered on the job and set down in the ditches to
be laid before it is discovered that the pipe is eliptical and out
of round in some way.
There is one point that should not be lost sight of, and that
is the uniform density of product from start to finish when using
the equipment we propose to furnish. From the start of the
joint to the finish of the joint the density of the pipe is abso-
lutely uniform. This is due to the fact that the machine is
equipped with the hydraulic lift, which permits the packer head,
during the process of making the pipe, to be raised at a constant
rate of speed while it is revolving at a constant rate of speed,
the result is that the ends are as dense as the center.
On the fourth page of the North Carolina ledger sheets at-
tached, giving average cost per linear foot for year ending June
30, 1930, the cost is shown for the old and the new. These
headings refer to the old type of concrete pipe machine, and
the new machine which was installed at the State’s Prison last
year. This machine being the same type as we propose to in-
stall. It is interesting to note the saving incurred by using a
modern type of machine.
The equipment listed is for culvert pipe of wall thickness as
indicated, and in net length of joints of four feet.
46
MANUFACTURING ACCOUNT
Year Ending June 30, 1930
SCHEDULE “1”
COSTS
MATERIAL:
Purchases ----------------------- $32,274.65
Plus Inventory 6/30/29___________ 4,958.52
$37,233.17
Less Inventory 6/30/30––––––––––– $ 4,642.68
$32,590.49
Less Raw Material Sold --------- 861.25
Raw Material Consumed ------------------ $31,729.24
DIRECT LABOR: --------------------------------- 6,696.50
OVERHEAD :
Supervision (Supt.) ––––––––––––– $ 2,401.59
Supplies ------------------------ 2,815.46
Repairs ------------------------- 1,895.70
General, Expense ---------------- 2,117.46
Depreciation on Plant and Equip-
ment ------------------------- 6,000.00
Defective Pipe ------------------ 91.07
$15,321.28
Manufacturing Cost of Pipe Produced__________ $53,747.02
PRODUCED
2,524–12" Pipe ſ Wght. 73 lbs.
2,248'—15" Pipe “ 109 “
31,866’—18" Pipe “ 162 “
13,356’—18" Pipe “ 152 “ Per foot
10,116’—24" Pipe “ 264 “ ( Per Too
7,576"—24" Pipe “ 243 “
4,569–30" Pipe “ 390 “
1,564"–30" Pipe “ 370 “
69,819.
214,542 Tons Pipe (without Steel—12" & 15")
© 6.1755 ---------------------------- $ 1,325.51
7,032,293 Tons Pipe (with Steel—18", 24” & 30")
© 7.4544 ---------------------------- 52,421.51
$53,747.02
TRADING AND PROFIT AND Loss STATEMENT
Year Ending June 30, 1930
SCHEDULE “2”
SALES—Allowance for Pipe Shipped-------________ $85,696.46
COST OF SALES: -
Cost of Pipe Manufactured________ $53,747.02
Plus Pipe on Hand 6/30/29 ------- 24,766.97
- $78,513.99
Less Pipe on Hand 6/30/30-------- 23,291.52
w $55,222.47
Less Defective Pipe Charged to Man-
ufacturing Account ––––––––––––– 586.52
Manufacturing Cost of Sales –––––– 54,635.95
Plus freight on Pipe Shipped--_____ 16,285.81
Total Cost of Sales ––––––––––––––––––––– $70,921.76
NET PROFIT FOR 1930 . . . . . . – — — — — — $14,774.70
NOTE: Net profit shown above represents the difference between cost
and the amount allowed plant for pipe shipped during the year 1930. Al-
lowance to plant which is shown above as sales is based on estimated
AVERAGE MARKET PRICE, DELIVERED, which is as follows:
18"–90e, 24"–$1.50; 30°–$2.20 per foot.
-- (All pipe shipped to projects let since April 21, 1930, Sold at Cost prices,
therefore there is no profit anticipated for the coming year.)
48
BALANCE SHEET
June 30, 1930
SCHEDULE “3”
ASSETS
Plant & Equipment ------- $48,517.06
Less Depreciation ––––––––– 28,500.00
$20,017.06
Raw Material Inventory ------------------------- $ 4,642.68
Finished Goods Inventory ------------------------ 23,291.52
$47,951.26
LIABILITIES
DUE MAINTENANCE FUND :
Plant & Equipment Account_______ $20,017.06
OPERATING ACCOUNT:
General Ledger Balance,
6/30/30 ––––––––––– $ 6,397.89
Accrued Depreciation —- 6,000.00
Accounts Payable ––––– 761.61
$13,159.50
$33,176.56
SURPLUS ----------------------- $14,774.70
$47,951.26
49
AVERAGE COST PIER, LINEAR FOOT
Year Ending June 30, 1930
5,200.06
Material -------------
Labor ----------------
-
- - - - - - - = = * * * -
Overhead
Manufacturing Cost --__
COSt COSt
per Ton per TOn
12” & 15” 18"–24”-30”
_-_3.1373 4.4162
— — .9240 .9240
__2.1142 2.1142
__6.1755 7.4544
AVerage Freight Cost ---2.0309 2.0309
Delivered Cost -------
PIPE SHIPPED
84.’—12”
580’—15”
56526’—18” (old)
2760’—18” (new)
15600'—24” (old)
40'—24” (new)
5805’—30” (old)
S1395'
Cost of Sales as per Profit and Loss Statement
Plus difference in cost of pipe on hand 6/30/29
__8.2064 9.4853
.2995 25.16
.4473 259.43
.7682 43,423.27
.7208 1,989.41
1.2521 19,532.76
1.1525 46.10
1.8496 10,736.93
12”
.1145
.0337
.0772
.2254
.0741
.2995
Less difference in price of defective pipe 6/30/30
15”
.1710
.0504
.1152
.3366
.1107
.4473
PRO OF.
EXHIBIT “A.”
18”
(Old)
.3577
.0748
.1712
.6037
.1645
.7682
- - - - - - * * = * * *- - - - - - - - * * * * *
- - - - - - - sºme as mºus m - - - - - - -- * * * * *-
18”
(new)
.3356
.0702
.1607
.5665
.1543
.7208
$70,921.75
24”
(old)
.5829
.1220
.2791
.9840
.2681
1.2521
$76,013.06
$76,121.81
105.00
24”
(new)
.5365
.1123
.2569
.9057
.2468
1.1525
$76,016.81
30” 30”
(old) (new)
.8612 .8170
.1802 .1709
.4122 .3911
1.4536 1.3790
.3960 .3757
1.8496 1.7547
Fractional
difference
$3.75
#
EXHIBIT B
ITEIMIZED STATEMENT OF MATERLALS
Year Ending June 30, 1930
Cement
Disbursements ---------------------- $12,754.06
Less Amount Due 6-30-29–––––––––––– ––––––––
Net Disbursements ----------------- $12,754.06
Plus Amount Due 6-30-30------------ --------
Purchases for Year 1930------------ $12,754.06
Plus Inventory 6-30-29––––––––––––––– 1,054.90
$13,808.96
Less Inventory 6-30-30--------------- 1,003.60
$12,805.36
Less Raw Material Sold-------------- 758.25
Material Consumed ----------------- $12,047.11
MATERIAL COST PER, TON OF PIPE
12" & 15” 18"–24"–30"
Cement ------------- 1.6624 1.6624
Sand ---------------- .4640 .4640
Stone --------------- 1.0109 1.0109
Steel ---------------- * * * * 1.2789
3.1373 4.4.162
PROOF 214,642 Tons Pipe (Without Steel)
7,032,293 Tons Pipe (With Steel)
$3,402.52
Sand
3,168.84
25.54
$3,143.30
21.72
$3,165.02
300.00
$3,465.02
62.50
40.00
$3,362.52
@ 3.1373
(d) 4.4.162
Stone
7,377.90
$7,377.90
111.88
$7,489.78
557.50
$8,047.28
698.50
$7,348.78
22.50
$7,326.28
Steel
10,215.26
1,349.47
$ 8,865.79
$ 8,865.79
3,046.12
$11,911.91
2,878.08
$ 9,033.83
40.50
$ 8,993.33
673.40
31.056.01
31.729.41 (Dif, due to fractions)
Total
33,516.06
1,375.01
$32,141.05
133.60
$32,274.65
4,958.52
$37,233.17
4,642.68
$32,590.49
861.25
$31,729.24
§
PUBLIC PRINTING:
In reply to a communication addressed to the Department of
Public Printing of the State of Georgia, I submit the following
from Mr. Josephus Camp, Superintendent: “Total net amount
due and unpaid for publication of constitutional amendments
during September and October, 1930–$16,120.00. Amounts
due, to be paid from 1930 printing fund:
Stein Printing Company-------------------------- $18,586.49
Georgia Baptist Publishers----------------------- 1,747.12
Wylie Loose-Leaf Company----------------------- 703.62
Adamson Printing Company---------------------- 67.75
Walter W. Brown Publishing Company____________ 361.50
Miscellaneous ----------------------------------- 100.00
$21,566.48
In consideration of the publication of the Constitutional
Amendments provided by the General Assembly in 1929, which
General Assembly directed the Governor to publish these Con-
stitutional Amendments in “one or more of the newspapers in
each Congressional District for two months immediately pre-
ceeding the next general election,” for which Constitutional
Amendments there was no appropriation made, only the usual
appropriations made for the Contingent Fund, which was en-
tirely inadequate to pay for the publication of the Constitutional
Amendments, as provided by the General Assembly of 1929.
Therefore, the Governor recommends that the Legislature pro-
vide revenue to pay the $16,120.00 due for these publications,
as well as the $21,566.48 shown in the Public Printer’s report.
CONFEDERATE PENSIONS:
I would like again to call attention to the Confederate Pension
payment during the year 1930. According to the ruling by the
Attorney General of the State, which provides for $50.00 a quar-
ter, this sum has been paid promptly each quarter; and in the
4th quarter it was paid early in the quarter, and the Confederate
Veterans have received every dollar for 1930, under the ruling
as above stated. Further, the burial expenses and Ordinary fees
have also been paid in full, thereby leaving nothing unpaid as
relates to Confederate Pensions, in accordance with the ruling
of the Attorney General. At no other time in the history of
Georgia has a more prompt payment been made to the Confed-
erate Veterans. The following is a statement furnished the
Governor by General Lawrence, Pension Commissioner:
Number of Pensioners paid for 1929:
Soldiers ---------------------------- 2,190
Widows ---------------------- ..— — — — — — 4,084
- Total------------------------— — — —6,994
Number of Blind Veterans paid in 1929–––––––––––––––––– 52
Number of Disabled Veterans paid in 1929_______________ 31
52
APPROVALS FOR YEAR 1929:
Widows whose husbands never drew a pension___________ 26
Widows succeeding their husbands on roll________________ 109
Soldiers --------------------------------------------- 18
DEATHS: Soldiers, 540; Widows 676. Total 1,216.
STATE SANITARIUM AT MILLEDGEVILLE
Perhaps one of the most urgent needs of the State today is
caring for the unfortunate at the State Sanitarium at Milledge-
ville; and in response to a letter addressed to Dr. Swint, Super-
intendent of that institution, I herewith submit to you his report,
and the conditions and needs:
“Milledgeville, Ga., 12–15–30—Governor L. G. Hardman, At-
lanta, Ga.-Dear Governor Hardman: In compliance with your
request of Saturday, will state that the present population of
the Hospital is 5,360, composed as follows: White males, 1,553;
White females, 1,938; Total whites, 3,488; Colored males, 837;
Colored females, 1,035; Total colored, 1,872. The total patient
capacity of the Hospital is about 4,000, and this is estimated on
the basis of allowing 80 square feet of floor space per patient,
vix., 40 square feet for sleeping and 40 square feet per patient
for day-room service. Therefore, this gives the Hospital an
Overcrowding of about 900 patients actually on the wards. That
is why we have to refuse admission to new applicants. Up to
December 1st, we have had to refuse admission to 459 appli-
cants during the current year from January 1st.
“The new psychopathic hospital building, completed several
months ago, has about enough equipment for us to open as soon
as funds are available for its operation. This building has 48,100
square feet of floor space including basement that contains many
treatment rooms. The building was completed and opened on
February 18, 1929. It has a floor space of 62,580 square feet
and 450 beds. The total balance due the Hospital on main-
tenance is $432,000.00, composed of $250,000.00 due on 1929 ap-
propriation and $182,000.00 due on 1930 appropriation. Total
balance due on 1927 and 1929 special appropriation for new
buildings is $572,253.58 and $34,881.99 due on 1927 special ap-
propriation for waterworks, making a total of $607,135.57 due
on special appropriations, or a grand total of $1,039,135.57 due
on maintenance and special appropriations. I am enclosing
financial statement sheet (attached) of the Steward that gives
a detailed explanation. If there is additional information you
would like to have, we will gladly and promptly give it. Very
sincerely, R. C. Swint, Superintendent.”
There are approximately 150 insane persons in the jails of
the State at present.
53
MILLEDGEVILLE STATE HOSPITAL, MILLEDGEVILLE, GA.
STATEMENT MAINTENANCE AND SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS WITH PAYMENTS MADE AND
- BALANCES DUE As of DECEMBER 15, 1930 -
EXPLANATORY - Maintenance New Buildings Water Works Total
Appropriated in 1927 for 1929 Maintenance -------------- $1,200,000.00 - $1,200,000.00
Appropriated in 1927 for New Buildings ----------------- $ 500,000.00 500,000.00
Appropriated in 1927 for Water Works ----------------- $80,000.00 80,000.00
Appropriated in 1929 for Completion and Equipment -
New Buildings ------------------------------------ 50,000.00 50,000.00
Appropriated in 1929 for 1930 Maintenance ------------- 1,300,000.00 - 1,300,000.00
Appropriated in 1929 for Additional New Buildings, En- * :
largement Storehouse, Extension Water Works, etc.---- 500,000.00 500,000.00
TOTALS----------------------------------------- $2,500,000.00 $1,050,000.00 $80,000.00 $3,630,000.00
LESS
Payments during 1928 on 1927 Appropriations------------ $ 202,185.63 $45,019.72 $ 247,205.35
Payments during 1929 on 1927 Appropriations------------ $ 950,000.00 60,560.79 98.29 1,010,659.08
Payments during 1930 on 1929 Appropriations------------ 1,118,000.00 195,000.00 1,313,000.00
Payments during 1930 on 1929 Appropriations------------
For Completion and Equipment New Buildings------------ 20,000.00 20,000.00
BALANCE DUE BY STATE AND UNPAID
On 1929 Maintenance ---------------------------------- $ 250,000.00 $ 250,000.00
On 1930 Maintenance ---------------------------------- 182,000.00 182,000.00
On 1927 Appropriation for New Buildings.---------------- $ 287,253.58 287,253.58
On 1927 Appropriation for Water Works---------------- $34,881.99 34,881.99
On 1929 Appropriation for New Buildings---------------- 285,000.00 285,000.00
TOTALS ------------------------------------------ $2,500,000.00 $1,050,000.00 $80,000.00 $3,630,000.00
SUMMARY
Total Balance Due on 1929-1930 Maintenance Appropriations ------------------------------------- $ 432,000.00
Total Balance Due on 1927-1929 Special Appropriation for New Buildings.-------------------------- 572,253.58
Total Balance Due On 1927 Special Appropriation for Water Works ------------------------------ 34,881.99
GRAND TOTAL ------------------------------------- '* = ** = = = * = = - eas - - - -- * * * = ** = = ** = – = - * = asse = e− = <= = ** = * =s – = - $1,039,135.57
§
STATE SANATORIUM AT ALTO
Another urgent need is the State Sanatorium at Alto. A letter
was addressed to Dr. Haygood, Superintendent of this institu-
tion, whose report is here with submitted: “His Excellency
L. G. Hardman, Governor of Georgia, Atlanta, Ga., 12-17-30—
The capacity and present case load of the sanatorium are set
forth in the following table:
White Colored
Beds for Men Women Children Men Women Children Total
Total 75 75 75 31 30 29 315
Occupied 90 57 72 22 28 17 256
The per patient-day is approximately $2.35. From previous
and current years appropriations the State still owes the sana-
torium balances as follows:
Balance Due on 1929 Maintenance Appropriation___$58,458.06
Balance Due on 1930 Maintenance Appropriation___ 35,000.00
$93,458.05
UNPAID 1929 SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS
For: Nurses’ Home ----------------- $20,000.00
For: Central Heating Plant___________ 10,000.00 30,000.00
$123,458.05
“From the current special appropriations the sanatorium has
not received $10,000.00 for the development of a central heating
plant nor $20,000.00 for the building of a Nurses’ Home. These
appropriations fall short by 50% or more of the fund required
for these projects. However, such facilities constitute grave
needs of the institution. When we are financially able to in-
crease our census to the capacity of the hospital, we will be
faced with the problems of housing an additional number of
nurses and attendants for which we now have no quarters for
so doing. On our waiting list of applicants are many who are
in urgent need of our service. At present, due to the large
number, it is impossible for us to admit adult whites in less
than from six to eight months after applications are accepted.
On our waiting list at this time there are 81 white men, 93
white women, 8 white children, 5 colored men, 9 colored women,
but no colored children.”
The Sanatorium at Alto, erected for the treatment and cure
of tuberculosis and for distributing information over the State
for the proper care of those affected with tuberculosis—and the
prevention of the spread of the disease to those who might come
in contact with them, has to the amount of about 60 vacant beds;
and there is on the waiting list 196. Many of these if they are
unable to get proper treatment at an early date will advance to
55
the stage where they would be incurable. The State has her
investments in building, equipment, nurses and doctors to take
care of these, with the addition of nurses home to care for the
nurses who look after and serve the sick. Delay in the opera-
tion of this institution would mean the death of some of her
citizens. This institution, the State Sanatorium at Alto, for
treating tuberculosis, is a most valuable unit to the State, and
a most valuable contribution for the treatment and cure of tuber-
culosis; and through this institution and organization, by the
expenditure of a reasonable sum to her units to canvas the State
for the discovery of the tubercular—by cooperation with the
Health Departments of the Counties and the local doctors, we
will be able to meet the need in the State at a much lower cost
in the treatment of these tubercular cases than could possibly
be done by erecting another building at Alto. With these ad-
ditional units and the cooperation of County Boards of Health
and local physicians—and cooperation with the Department of
Agriculture in the testing for tubercular animals over the State;
and with a new hospital at Alto for the treatment of the early
cases of tuberculosis in children, the State would in a few years
be able to eliminate largely the tubercular infection of its va-
rious types, both the bovine and the human types. No greater
work can be done, and on a more economic basis, than is thus
proposed. There are but few States that have a more modern
equipped central plant for the treatment, cure and dissemina-
tion of information, than Georgia. A number of the states have
plants or units to be operated for the discovery—with the co-
operation of the County Board of Health and local physicians,
but Georgia has the advantage of both a central and units, and
has now started one unit for the discovery and location of the
tubercular—and with the cooperation of local health authori-
ties, there can be no greater service rendered the State than this.
I therefore, recommend that the necessary funds be provided for
utilizing the central plant at Alto and the other additional units
as referred to above.
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH
This department of the State was removed from across the
street on Capitol Square into the State Capitol, where it now has
the most modern-equipped laboratories, an increased capacity
for the manufacture of the serums for the prevention of typhoid
fever, diptheritic anti toxin, toxin-anti toxin, and treatment for
rabies; it furnishes the distribution of yeast for the prevention
and treatment of pellagra ; also the analyses of the water Sup-
plies of the respective sections of the State; and by reason of
the new quarters that have been built for the laboratories, there
has been an increase in the manufacture and distribution of
typhoid vaccine of over 25%. With the manufacture and dis-
tribution of these serums, the time will be when typhoid and
diptheria will be, it seems, a thing of the past, which heretofore
were two of the most horrible diseases attacking the human or—
ganism. The Administration Department has also splendid
quarters and equipment. No State now has a better administra-
56
tive or laboratory equipment than has Georgia. A most wonder-
ful advancement has come to our citizens along this line in the
last 20 years. In addition to these splendid quarters, which pro-
vides ample room for the filing of the registration of births and
deaths, there will be sufficient room to supply all the needs along
that line for ten years. The Secretary of the State Board of
Health also has supervision of the Administrative and Laboratory
Departments, as well as the State Sanatorium at Alto and the in-
stitution for mental defectives at Gracewood. This latter insti-
tutions is to be moved—there has already been purchased the
Phinizy property near Augusta, a most valuable contribution for
the handling of the mentally defective children of our State.
This acquisition was completed in the year just past, 1930.
The Department of Health cooperates with the Department of
Education and the Department of Public Welfare (which has
also been moved into very delightful new quarters), looking to
a proper sanitary condition of the educational institutions, espe-
cially the common schools of Georgia, whose suggestions and
helps are of material benefit to the children of our State attend-
ing our common schools. One of the financial advantages in
moving the State Board of Health into the State Capitol is that
it relieves that department of rental. It also relieves them of
an insurance, which was formerly paid, before they moved into
the State Capitol, on $12,000.00 of equipment, which is now
cared for without any expense to them.
We have in Georgia the Steiner Clinic for the treatment of
cancer, for which the State appropriated $100,000.00 for the
year 1929 to better equip for the treatment of a greater number
of our citizens, and to provide for the State as a whole to have
the advantage of the treatment of cancer at this Clinic; and in
view of the great malignancy of all forms of cancer, it is of im-
perative need that the appropriation made in 1929 be made
available as quickly as possible for the erection of a building and
equipment to give an opportunity to the citizens to be relieved,
or cured, of cancer, who are now dying over our State for the
lack of early treatment. -
It is also important that the Academy for the Blind at Macon,
one of the most terrible afflictions coming to mankind, should
have every consideration that it is possible for the State to
give it.
The School for the Deaf at Cave Spring is in need of a hospital
to care for their students and to better equip their plant. By
reason of the lack of sufficient appropriation, they closed earlier
in the year 1930 than heretofore.
In answer to a request of Dr. Bowdoin, Deputy Commissioner
of the State Board of Health, I attach hereto his letter.
DR. BOWDOIN'S LETTER
“December 19, 1930. Hon. L. G. Hardman, Governor of Geor-
gia, Atlanta, Georgia. Dear Governor Hardman: In compli-
ance with my promise I am writing you about the results ob-
tained in our State in the reduction of deaths of mothers and
infants. As you recall, in 1924 the State Medical Association
57
requested that the State Board of Health take charge of the
midwife situation in our State, and to adopt such rules and reg-
ulations as thought best to bring about better control. This was
done. That year we had 658 mothers to die in child bed. Through
the Federal aid given we were enabled to put on twenty-seven
nurses to work among our mothers, and the result has been
most gratifying. In 1929 we lost only 549 mothers, and the first
ten months of 1930 compared with the first ten months of 1929
show 72 fewer deaths of mothers. In 1924 only one state in
the Union had more deaths from puerperal causes than Georgia;
now there are four. The deaths in 1924 were 657; in 1929, 549,
a Saving of 108 mothers, and to this number may be added
72, making a total of 180 mothers. The effects of health work
and the application of scientific preventive medicine in the sav-
ing of babies’ lives in Georgia are still more striking. You will
recall that our death rate has always been high. This rate, of
course, is influenced by our larger negro population, but the
figures just released by the Census Bureau show that only five
states in our Union showed reduction in the deaths of children
last year, and Georgia was one of them. Work among mothers
for mothers and their babies is effective; money spent in this
field yields the largest dividends. The investment for the entire
health work in Georgia is about four cents per capita. No Fed-
eral funds are available now, having been withdrawn over a year
ago. We now have only four nurses. Will you pardon me, Gov-
ernor Hardman, if I mention another result of preventive work
among our people in 1918? In our insane asylum records an
item shows that 15.8% of new admissions were due to brain
syphilis. The Federal Government assisted the states by mak-
ing an appropriation to fight the veneral diseases, with the result
that in 1927 the new admissions giving positive Wassermans had
dropped to 9.5%, a saving in maintenance alone of about $18,000.
Federal aid was withdrawn, and the last report shows an in-
crease of syphilis in the cases admitted last year to 12.8%, cost-
ing the tax payers of Georgia. $33,515.76 to take care of them.
There is no reason for brain syhilis with our knowledge of the
disease, as it is only in the advanced stage of the disease that
the brain is affected. If we had the funds to educate the people
to seek early treatment, and when they were unable to pay for
it, to furnish it free through cooperation with our medical so-
cieties, we could eliminate almost entirely this expense to our
taxpayers, save the individual from illness and thereby preserve
our manpower. You might also be interested to know that
through the stimulus given the work by . Federal appropriation
in the war work the Wassermann Department of the State Board
of Health was established, that in 1918 there were 789 Wasser-
manns, and last year 32,760. I hope that this data is what you
requested me to furnish you. Yours very truly, Joe P. Bow-
doin, M. D., Deputy Commissioner of Health.”
58
SUMIMARY
DEFICITS-In the beginning of this Summary I wish to urge
upon you the reading and study of the Summary presented to
the General Assembly in 1927, given below, as well as the Mes-
Sage of 1929. “I recommend that deficits should be discontinued
Or provisions made by which the State can legally create them.
REORGANIZATION OF BOARDS AND INSTITUTIONS
“I recommend a reorganization for economy and efficiency and
a reduction in Some of the departments, boards and institutions.
STATE GOVERNMENT AND STATE FINANCES “I rec-
Ommend to you a study of our State government and State financ-
ing with an idea of reducing the expenses in State Government
and if possible, increase the efficiency. There is a considerable
demand in the State government for support as well as institu-
tions, and I recommend a study of the tax question, and if pos-
sible make provisions for increasing revenues and new sources
of revenue looking to the support, maintenance and improve-
ment of the institutions of Georgia.
BANKING DEPARTMENT—“I recommend to you a thor-
Ough study of the Banking situation and that all taxes which
Support the Banking Department go through the State Treasury,
and that they be paid out by appropriation and vouchers as other
departments of the State. I further suggest that the expense
of liquidating banks be reduced.
STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT—“Since this depart-
ment consumes the largest sum of money that comes to the
State of Georgia, and since good roads are most desirable and
one of the greatest assets to the State, I recommend a reorgani-
zation of this Department for the purpose of reducing expenses
and increasing efficiency and economy of this Department.
(Which has been done.)
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE–“As the Department
of Agriculture, as well as the Department of Roads is a matter
that has been extensively discussed before the people of Geor-
gia and they having expressed their views on the two Depart-
ments, I recommend a reorganization of the Department of Agri-
culture and that such changes in the Department as may appeal
to your judgment as being best, be made and reductions in its
operations be provided as in your judgment is wise.
SINKING FUND OR INSURANCE DEPARTMENT—
“Since it is desirable that the property of the State, as well as
the property of the public institutions of the State, be safe-
guarded and protected by insurance, I recommend that a depart-
ment or provision be made under some other department, look-
ing to the safety and saving of insurance to the State of Georgia.
EDUCATION.—“I have called your attention more or less in
detail to the condition of our educational institutions, and I rec-
ommend that a thorough study and sufficient appropriation be
59
made to put them on a basis of service and efficency. I recom-
mend that we better equip these institutions for the service
they are required to render the State.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT—“No subject that comes before
you touches more directly every citizen of the State, than does the
Health and Welfare Department, and I recommend to your con-
sideration an investigation and the necessary investment to place
this Department of your State on a basis that will provide better
service in every element that it fosters. (This has been done.)
FORESTRY-‘‘I suggest to you the very great need of the
Forestry Department and such provisions be made as will put
that Department on a higher and better basis than it has here-
tofore enjoyed.
STATE CAPITOL–“I recommend to you an improvement of
the conditions so as to better utilize the space now housed by
the State Capitol.
MOTOR VIEHICLE TAGS AND TAXES “I recommend that
the matter of motor vehicle tags and taxes be thoroughly consid-
ered in order that we may arrive at a more efficient and less ex-
pensive method of handling tags than we do today. (This has
been done, saving the State $17,000.00 per annum.)
LAWS-"We cannot hope to maintain the highest state of our
government unless we enforce our laws, and I call your attention
and ask your helpful consideration of this Department.”
MESSAGES OF 1927 AND 1929
I would also urge you to read the items on State Government
and State Finances, as presented on pages 4 and 5 of the Mes-
sage of 1927; also the item on Deficits of this same Message.
On page 14 of the Message of 1929 I would ask that you read the
item of “Interest Paid on Borrowed Money.”
INTEREST
The estimated total amount of interest paid, as presented by
the Auditor, including the discounts on W. & A. Warrants, is $2,-
196,539.33, based on reports from institutions and schools as of
February 21, 1930.
ALLOCATION OF FUNDS AND REVENUE RECEIVED BY
THE STATE TREASURY
& There was allocated in 1928, $13,955,668.22; in 1929, $16,764,-
405.11; in 1930, $20,264,025.57. This includes the $540,000.00
each year for the W. & A. Rental, making a total for the three
years of allocation, $50,984,098.90; and in the General Fund for
the three years, 1928–29-30, $30,000,000.00, making a total of
$80,951,657.40. In the year 1930 on an estimate of $20,264,-
025.67, allocation, and $11,100,000.00 to the General Fund, you
have received from all sources, revenue amounting to $31,346,-
801.00. So far as I am informed, the largest revenue ever re-
ceived in one year into the State of Georgia for distribution.
60
ADEQUATE SUPPORT
It is the opinion of the Governor of Georgia that this sum of
money if properly administered and distributed, according to the
needs of the various interests of the State, should take care of
and furnish adequate support.
In addition to the above sum, under the reorganization pro-
gram as recommended by the Commission appointed by the Gov-
ernor—saving $800,000.00 as estimated, you would receive $32,-
146,801.00 for distribution.
PLACING OF REVENUE IN STATE TREASURY
It seems to me the only method by which this could be done
is to place all the revenue in the State Treasury and have it
properly distributed to all the interests of the State.
APPROPRIATIONS
There will be the sum appropriated which was appropriated
in 1929 for the purchase of land and Capitol improvement, $250,-
000.00, and $20,000.00 which will be paid during the year 1931
from the lease of the old Mansion property; $1,750.00 for reim-
bursement on the fire insurance projects of the State, making a
total of $271,750.00. There will also be available in 1931 the
sum that has been used for the Mansion improvements. These
amounts will be available to check from the Treasury for other
purposes in the year 1931.
COMMON SCHOOLS
According to the report of the State Treasurer, the common
schools received in 1926, $4,934,189.65; in 1927, $5,438,313.67;
in 1928, $4,708,633.47; in 1929, $5,387,290.66; in 1930, $6,853,-
320.73. The 1930 payment to the common schools was by far
the largest in any one year. The percentage of increase paid to
the common schools for the year 1930 is 27%.
PUBLIC ROADS
The largest sum that has ever been paid during one year to
public roads was in 1930, the sum being $15,569,651.60, a per-
centage of increase of 22%. The next largest sum paid out to
any interest fostered by the State was to the common schools—
$6,852,322.73. -
ALLOCATED FUNDS
The allocated funds in 1926 were $22,642,209.42; in 1927, $23,-
668,791.48; in 1928, $24,252,361.43; in 1929, $24,607,255.88; in
1930, $31,346,801.00, making the largest sum of allocated funds
paid out in the history of the State.
PAYMENTS FOR ALL PURPOSES
The total payments to all purposes for the year 1926 was $26,-
406,211.10; in 1927, $27,008,211.48; in 1928, $26,849,853.63; in
1929, $29,615,607.25; in 1930, $34,960,806.28. The total percent-
age of increase of payments for all purposes in 1930 was 27%.
61
GIFTS
1. The property acquired by the purchase and gifts during
the present administration is as follows: Gift by the Rhodes
family of the Rhodes Building for the Archives and History of
the State, known as the Rhodes Archives and History Memorial
Building.
2. The building for the treatment of tuberculosis in children
given by the Masons of Georgia, located at Alto, Georgia.
PURCHASES
1. Purchased by the State the Jackson-Martin property at
a cost of $55,000.00—paid for out of the appropriation made
for Capitol improvement and lands.
2. The Highway building on Capitol Avenue and Capitol
§ºre at a cost of $55,000.00—paid for out of the Highway
UIIlCl.
3. The Flint Building at Experiment, Ga.--paid for out of
the appropriation made by the Legislature.
4. Two buildings at Milledgeville at the Sanitarium, which
are completed and equipped—one of which is housing 400 pa-
tients. The other building will house 300 patients, but having
no money to maintain these patients, it is unoccupied.
5. The Phinizy property near Augusta, Ga., for the mental
defectives on which $25,000.00 has been paid, leaving $25,000.00
unpaid.
6. The enlargement of the tubercular hospital for criminals
at the State Farm, which has been completed and paid for.
7. Two other buildings for which money was appropriated .
but not available, are the Hospital for the Deaf, and the Cancer
Hospital in Atlanta.
Now, with the sum of $31,346,801.00 for all purposes paid out
by the State, is shown as percentage increase of 27%.
The unpaid appropriations for the years 1928 and 1929 amount
to $7,458,545.43, which is in excess of the revenue provided. The
Attorney-General ruled that an unpaid appropriation made either
by the State or institutions is unconstitutional and illegal, and is
not a legal obligation of the State, but a moral one.
Now, should you provide revenue for the payment of $7,458,-
545.43, added to the total sum of $80,984,098.80 would make
$88,443,644.23, you would have paid out for the years 1928,
1929 and 1930. - . . -
The question now before you is, what disposition you will make
of these unpaid appropriations? Will you provide revenue for
the payment, or will you decline the payment?
L. G. HARDMAN,
Governor of Georgia.
62
5 7 B 460251
44/4

| LI ..] MESSAGE
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY
GOVERNOR
EUGENE TALMADGE
TO THE
LEGISLATURE
OF GEORGIA
JANUARY 13, 1933
500 1496 ... stEin PRINTing co., ATLANTA, GA.
º
January 13, 1933.
Message
To The
Legislature of Georgia
MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF GEORGIA:
I know that you realize that this session of the Legis-
lature is facing the gravest financial and economical crisis
that has ever been faced by any Legislature, at least since
the adoption of our present constitution.
Indeed a parallel of conditions to-day can hardly be
found.
We have had financial panics in the past but the re-
serve wealth and resources of the people were never before
exhausted as they are to-day.
I realize that you, who constitute the legislative branch
of our Government, are directly responsible to the people
and the burden is on you to enact such legislation as will
enable the executive branch of the Government to carry
out the mandates of the people when you have adjourned
and gone home.
Campaign promises and pledges are sacred and every
official who comes in office should give his first considera–
tion to carrying out the promises made to the people of the
State.
There is dire need and suffering among the people of
our State. Their homes, furniture and other property is
being sold under tax fi, fas. and mortgages.
One of the quickest possible remedies from a part of
these taxes, which would be enjoyed by people generally
of the whole State, is the reduction of the cost of automobile
tags. This was one of the principal issues advocated by
2
me in my campaign before the people of the State last sum-
mer and bears the endorsement of the people. They expect
to buy their tags this year for $3.00, and you can give this
to them in a few days. This will allow a poor farmer to drive
a $12.00 car without having to pay $11.25 for a tag. The
reduction of the automobile tag to $3.00 would leave with
our people over three million dollars to supply their needs,
to help buy gasoline, to help buy school books, to buy
clothing and other absolute necessities of life. I do not
know of anything that would help the people of Georgia
more and help business more than to put three million
dollars in the pockets of the people of the State.
g It has been the policy of the Revenue Department to
extend the time for buying tags each year until the first of
March. If you will give us this $3.00 tag this emergency
will be met and the automobile owners can get their tags
at the reduced price before many days have passed.
There is another emergency I wish to call to your atten-
tion: -
The county officers of this State are in trouble about
their guaranty bonds; treasurer's bonds, tax-collector's
bonds, county school superintendent's bonds and other bonds
that they are required to give by statute. This trouble arose
because of the failure of so many banks over the State.
When the banks failed with county funds in them the officials
and their bondsmen were held responsible for this money.
We had a meeting of county officers recently at the Cap-
itol. This meeting was attended by many of the county offi-
cers and members of the General Assembly, and a committee
was appointed at that time to draft legislation to definitely
define and limit the liability of officer's bonds. This is
another matter of especial importance. . -
I think if a county designates a bank as a depository
and if the State designates a bank as a depository and the
county officials keep their money in such bank and it fails,
that the county officials should not be held accountable for
that money. w 3.
Under the present law the ordinary of a county can de-
clare the office void if an official has not given bond by the
10th of January. I think pending legislation will defer action
of the ordinaries and give the General Assembly of the State
time to act in this emergency.
Teeth should be put into the law that will force in-
visible wealth to pay its fair part of the cost of Government
and in this way the tax rate on both tangible and intangible
property can be lowered. The present high rate of the com-
bined State, county, municipal and local school district
ad valorem taxes is confiscatory and is resulting in the loss
of thousands of homes in the State. In order for this to be
effective for the year 1933, it is necessary that you enact
legislation as quickly as possible. This is another reason
for my request that you remain in regular session at this
t] In e. -
I think in such an emergency the legislature should pass
legislation this spring that will help the taxpayers and not
wait until August or September when it will not protect the
taxpayers for the year 1933.
My countrymen, there is another emergency in this
State that needs attention before the winter is over. Ad
valorem taxes in a great many instances are not being paid
and in a great many instances the county officers whose
duty it is to sell the pi operty for taxes are not doing it.
Why are they not doing it? Because they know that they
can not sell it and if the county bids it in they will have the
property on their hands and will be out the advertising fees.
This is a wise business precaution they are exercising.
Due to the non-payment of taxes our schools are in
danger, especially is this true in our rural schools. A great
many of them are faced with the problem of shortening their
terms and closing their doors. We all know that there is
scrip in the hands of the teachers in some parts of Georgia
where the teachers have been doing their work and have not
received their pay.
The first duty of the State as I see it, after protecting
a man in making an honest living, is to provide for Our
4
schools and give our children the opportunity of a “common
school education in the elementary branches of the English
language.” Watch our common schools and protect them.
During the war when the price of cotton was forty cents
a pound, and they paid $3.00 for a bushel of corn meal and
everything else was high, the cost of government increased,
salaries were raised, bureaus and boards were enlarged to
give the people jobs because we had plenty of money and
taxes were easily paid.
We must cut the cost of our Government. The only
way I know to do it is to abolish every Department that we
can do without. After you do this, start with the Governor
and cut his salary, and follow this all the way through.
The people of Georgia unqualifiedly and almost unani-
mously demand substantial reductions in the cost of Govern-
ment. I recommend that you give close study to determine
what activities of the State Government can be discontinued
entirely, or continued on a smaller scale.
I also wish to call your attention to the State's un-
fulfilled obligations to her Confederate pensioners. From
what I hear they are very much in need of their pensions and
this General Assembly should pass measure providing for
the payment of these past due obligations promptly. Lee
surrendered at Appomatox in April, 1865, nearly 68 years
ago. You will see from this that even the boys who fought
in the Confederate Army at fourteen years of age would be
82 years old now. There are very few surviving Confederate
Veteran S.
I recommend the enactment of legislation, if possible,
that will insure the prompt payment of these pensions in
the future.
I also want to call your attention to the fact that in our
State Government there are positions of a subordinate
nature where the subordinates working under elective
heads have terms extending over and beyond the terms of
the elective heads of the Departments. This should be cor-
rected. No commission of a subordinate should extend be-
5
yond that of the elective head of the Department appointing
him. The head of any Department should be given the right
to dismiss a subordinate employee of his particular Depart-
ment for cause. -
I wish to call your attention to the agitation for a general
sales tax. Recently the State of Mississippi placed on a 2%
sales tax with a $1,200 exemption. I am also informed that
they have not reduced the ad valorem taxes in Mississippi
but the sales tax comes as an additional tax. Any sales tax
should be approached with extreme caution, as it taxes the
bare necessities of life—the coffin, the plow point, the
widow’s bonnet and the corn meal of hungry children, are
not exempt from the general sales tax.
The present State deficit, as of December 31st, 1932,
(and all figures used are as of December 31st, 1932), accord-
ing to the State Auditor, is $7,575,231.87 on a cash basis.
It is important to note that the actual collection of
ad valorem taxes by the State decreased in round figures
one million dollars from 1931 to 1932.
There is due to the common schools on the Barrett
Rogers fund $932,500.00 and under the general appropria-
tion to the common schools $2,189,817.28.
There are unpaid pensions to Confederate veterans
and their widows, on years prior to 1932, the sum of $659,-
520.00. There is also due these pensioners the December
1932 check. There is $99,000.00 available to pay the De-
cember pensions, and there is also available $63,000.00 to
pay on the indebtedness to these Confederate pensioners
prior to 1932.
The State is due our charitable institutions for main-
tenance for 1932 $663,190.55, and for buildings $547,-
164.15.
The State is due the University system $1,232,018.28.
The total amount of money expended by the State
for all purposes in 1932, was around $30,000,000.00. This
is too much. The entire cotton crop of the State for the
6
same year, at the prevailing price, was around $23,000,-
000.00. In other words the expense of our State Govern-
ment last year was $7,000,000.00 more than our entire
cotton crop in Georgia for that year at prevailing prices.
Appropriations made in prior years which have not
been expended, and against which no contracts have been
made, are not a logical debt, nor a moral obligation. And,
I recommend that all unpaid appropriations of prior years,
against which no contracts are outstanding, be cancelled.
During the year 1931, the State Highway Department
expended $20,776,450.90. During the year 1932, the
State Highway Department expended $15,477,367.97. The
outstanding indebtedness of the Highway Department
on December 31st, 1932, was $10,961,000.00. Of this
amount $9,000,000.00 was for contracts let in advance.
A partial audit of the State Highway books shows
that they have anticipated their revenue until June 30,
1933. Of course this anticipation of revenue can only be
speculative.
I am of the opinion that the anticipated revenue by
the officials of the Highway Department has been over-
estimated.
To anticipate revenue and make contracts from six
to twelve months before the money is in the Treasury is
bad practice and should be discontinued. In fact, it is a
violation of the budget law that was passed by this body
at the extra session of 1931.
My interpretation of this law is that no department
can act without first submitting its proposed expenses to
the budget commission and this can not be approved for
amounts in excess of their income for 90 days. This is a
guarantee that the Department will have cash on hand to
pay for the contract when it is completed.
The people of the State expect as nearly 100 cents
out of a dollar of Highway money as possible to go into
road construction and road maintenance.
7
I respectfully recommend that your serious attention
be given to the laws controlling the Highway Department,
which branch of our Government expends over half of the
revenue of the State.
The members of the Highway Board are appointed
for terms of six years and the people of the State have no
direct control over them.
The Governor must be elected by the people every two
years and is directly accountable to them. Under our law
it is the duty of the Chief Executive to see that all laws of
the State are carried out.
I recommend the enactment of clear provisions of law
giving the Governor the authority to put a stop to extrav-
agance and waste of the State's money in any and all
Departments and to see that the State's money is ex-
pended in accordance with the wishes of the Legislature.
Another thing I wish to call to your attention, and I
am sorry that our General Assembly can not control this.
To my mind the gravest danger which confronts us is the
war time freight rates and transportation rates in this
country. In other words the railroads are persisting in
charging the war time rates when everything else has gone
down.
They are charging as high rate on a forty cent bushel
of meal as they charged when meal was $3.00 a bushel.
They are charging as much for hauling a $35.00 mule as
they charged for hauling a $300.00 mule. -
Exorbitant transportation rates stifle production. Ex-
orbitant transportation rates in the long run will put the
railroads out of business if this is not corrected.
During my term of office as Governor of Georgia, I
pledge the people of the commonwealth my efforts, not
only in Georgia, but in the Convention of Governors of
the whole United States, to have our Interstate Commerce
Commission and our Public Service Commissions wake
up to the fact that railroad rates must be proportionate to
other things.
With the building of paved highways there has de-
veloped in this State transportation by trucks and busses.
We need legislation regulating the size and weight of busses
and trucks that go over our public highways. This is
needed for a two fold purpose, to protect the road-bed and
to protect the safety of travelers on the highway.
It has been called to my attention that the State Board
of Education has held the adoption of text books and has
entered into contracts for new text books that will make it
necessary to discard nearly all of the books now being used
in the elementary schools of the State and will force patrons
of the school to purchase new books almost entirely.
I think this is very unwise, considering the present
financial distress of the people.
I understand there is a resolution concerning this now
before you.
It is useless for me to dwell at length upon the condi-
tion of this State at this time. I am sure you members
of the Assembly, fresh from the country, have left behind
you women and children, barefooted, ragged, ashamed
to go to church and ashamed to go to school. Farms are
being offered for sale with no bidders. Honest, God-fear-
ing white people are walking the roads looking for jobs
and finding none. There are ever increasing bread lines
in our cities. -
We need patriotism to-day as much as we did in the
days of the sixties or in the Revolutionary War.
In every crisis that has confronted the people of this
State in the past we have risen to the emergency.
The people have placed upon you and me the grave
responsibility at this time to save the ship of State from
foundering in the storm.
While men who think are prone to differ in their ideas,
I am sure that calm deliberation on the problems we face
will result in an agreement on the vital questions and the
course to be pursued.
In the interest of the State I am willing to make every
sacrifice necessary, and I know that you are actuated by
the same spirit.
In these unusual times it is impossible to be guided by
principles of conservatism to the extent that it is wise to
be under normal conditions. Let us face conditions as
they are and look for the truth as to the remedy. We can
not then go far wrong because “Truth cuts through the
clouds, shines like the sun and like the sun it can not be
hid.”
(Signed) EUGENE TALMADGE
10