Newspaper Page Text
ATLANTA
Population 1 JO, 000
Homos 26.000
Telephones
Main lines of ratlromis....,
The Atlanta Georgian.
• railway*.''
i 13'>. snlji.lN
Mndleg.,
Bales cotton consnmen In 1905.
Value of 1906 cotton crop. uoo.6>jd
VOL. 1. NO. 110.
ATLANTA, GA., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1906.
PRICE: {MftJKJIWSHI
CRY FOR MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
OF THE ELECTRIC AND GAS PLANTS
IS GROWING IN CITY OF ATLANTA
The City Has Already
Voted in Favor of
Proposition.
MOVEMENT BEGINS
TO TAKE SHAPE
GEORGIA DEMOCRATS
SPLIT ON QUESTION
OF GOV’T. OWNERSHIP
Fight To Be Carried to Of
ficials and Put Square
ly Up To City
Council.
Municipal ownership and Bn*
nicipal control is the slogan which
is going to be uspd by several cit
izens and city officials for the next
two years.
They are going to tell the people
of Atlanta that they ought to own
their gas plant.
They are going to tell the people
that they ought to own their elec
tric lighting plant.
They are going to tell the peo
ple that they ought to control the
street railway system.
And to back up their assertions
these citizens ana city officials are
prepared to give facts and figures
which are going to carry weight.
They are going to tell the peo
ple that Atlanta has already voted
for municipal ownership of an
electric lighting plant.
They arc going to refer to the
records and show where commit
tee after committee of the city
council has recommended the very
thing for which they are contend
ing.
They are going to insist on mak
ing a fight to disprove the claims
of the Georgia Railway and Elec
tric Company people that the
franchise under which they are
operating the gas company was
granted in perpetuity.
They are going to present rea
sons for municipal control of the
street railways of the city.
They are going to show the pen
pie where the tax rate cbii be re
duced materially, and instead of
the profits going into the pockets
of the men who get these favors
from the people that the people
themselves will get the profits.
Corporations Not Philanthropists.
These are facts which cannot be
denied. The city of Atlanta is a
more powerful corporation than
any of the corporations which op
erate within its corporate limits.
It has properties which are worth
thousands of dollars to the corpor
ations. These properties are
worth just as many thousands of
dollars to the people themselves.
Operated in behalf of tho people
these properties will yield the
profits to the people. It is a well
known fact that the average cor
poration is anything but an elee
mosynary concern. They arc in
business in Atlanta for the money
they can make out of the people of
Atlanta. To help themselves they
have got to help the city to an ex
tent. But if the city went to
work to help itself just ns much
as the corporations help them
selves the city would be benefited
as much as it is already being ben
efited and in addition be benefited
as much as the corporations are
benefited.
There are a lot of people in At
lanta who have lost faith in the
present system. Thomas II. Good
win is a young man who has
brought that evidence to light. A
lot of people know Goodwin per
sonally. Many do not know him
personally. But every man, wo
man and child knows him now by
reputation. He ran for mayor re
cently; ran against a man whom
every one believed to be the most
popular man in the city. Mr. Good
win was not so popular. He had
been in the public eye only in the
capacity of councilman. His rec
ord was good but ordinary. When
he started out to run for mayor
he told the people what he stood
for.
People Voted for Principle.
Municipal ownership was the
strongest plank in his platform. A
great majority of the people smil
ed at Goodwin—at first. Then
■oine of that great majority got to
thinking. Then' the> .got serious.
When election day roiled around
MR. BRYAN MAINTAINED
THE VIEWS AS PERSONAL
No part of Bryan’s New York speech created such widespread com
ment, adverse and favorable, as his utterances relative to government
ownership of railroads.
Mr. Bryan's remarks along that line were worded with all the con
summate skill for which he Is famed. While he commits himself person
ally to government ownership, nowhere does It appear that he commits
his party to It, or will he Insist that It be one of the great Issues of the
campaign Just ahead.
In order to clarify the atmosphere and place before the public Mr.
Bryan’s exact position, his utterances relative to this matter are here
with reproduced: #
”1 have already reached the conclusion that railroads partake so much
of the nature of a monopoly that they must ultimately become public
property and be managed by public officials in the Interest of the whole
community, In accordance with the well defined theory that public owner
ship Is necessary where competition Is Impossible.
“I do not know whether a majority of the members of the party to
which I have the honor to belong believe In the government ownership of
railroads, but my theory Is that no man can call a mass convention to
decide what he himself shall think. 1 have reached the conclusion that
there will be no permanent relief on the railroad question from discrim
ination between Individuals and between places, and from extortknate
rates, until the railroads are the property of the government and operated
by the government In the Interests of the people.
"And I believe—1 believe that there Is a growing belief In all parties
that this solution, be It far or near, Is the ultimate solution. But, my
friends, to me the dangerous centralization Is a danger that can not be
brushed aside. The greatest danger of a republic Is the consolidation of
all power at the capltol remote from the people, and because I believe
that the ownership of all the railroads by the Federal government would
so centralize power as to virtually obliterate state line, instead of favor
ing the Federal ownership of all railroads, I favor the Federal ownership
of trunk lines only, and the state ownership of all the rest of the rail
roads."
Many of Local Party
Leaders Too Dazed
To Discuss It.
Continued on Pago
Throo,
Governor Joseph M. Terrell favors
government ownership of railroads,
along the lines laid down by Bryan In
his New York speech.
So does Secretary of State Phil Cook.
Comptroller General William A.
Wright and State Treasurer R. E
Park are opposed to It. Attorney Gen
eral Hart was out of the city Saturday
and no expression of opinion could be
obtained from hlpi.
But many* of-the meh prominent In
the political affairs of the state shy
when approached for any expression of
opinion along this line.
Most of them meet the query for an
expression of opinion with the state
ment: »
"I do not care to be quoted. It Is j
big question, and one which I hav<
not had time to thoroughly digest. I
Is too vital a matter to give an off
hand opinion on."
Watson Strangely 8ilent.
Even Thomas Watson, who reached
Atlanta Friday evening from Thomson,
en route to Afton, Virginia, to visit his
son for several days, when seen Satur
day morning at the Piedmont, declined
absolutely to express any view on that
question, or, In fact, any other.
"My views on government ownership
of railroads are too well known for me
to say anything further," was all he
would say to persistent questioning.
Government ownership of the rail
ways was one of the leading planks In
Mr. Watson’s presidential platform in
1904.
Editor James R. Gray, of The Jour
nal, and Speaker John M. 81aton de
dined to express any view on the sub
ject.
have not had an opportunity to
digest the matter In my own mind
yet," said Mr. Gray.
1 do not care to make any state
ment now, because it Is too big a ques
tion for an off-hand ’opinion," said
8peaker Slaton.
Clark Howell, editor of The Atlanta
Constitution and national committee
man for Georgia, said:
"Give Commission a Chance."
Unless the Inter-state commerce
commission, by authority recently
vested in It by congress, meets every
demand of the public as to railroad
rate re-adjustment, government own
ership of railroads will be the dominat
ing political Issue In the near future.
What the people want Is results, and
they are not so particular as to how
they are brought ubout.
"If private yontrol Is absolute and
satisfactory, and the Interstate com
merce commission meets the demand of
the people by establishing satisfactory
rates, then the question of government
ownership will be postponed, and per
haps entirely eliminated as un Issue.
The matter Is largely In the hands of
the Interstate commerce commission/’
A Republican'* View*.
Colonel Robert J. Lowry, president
of the Lowry National Bank, and one
of the leading Southern Republicans,
said:
I do not believe this country Is yet
ripe for government ownership of rail
roads, telegraphs, telephones and other
great public utilities, for the one leads
Inevitably to the other. In my mind
there Is doubt as to whether we shall
ever reach that stage. Such centrali
zation of enormous power Is a question
that should be approached with great
care and caution.
"To my mind government ownership
of railroads would mean the placing
of too much power In the hands of
any political party. It would mean I
practically the |>erpetuatlon of the |
party that might he In power when t
such a law became effective. I think It
Is purely visionary now to talk of such
a thing."
An effort was made to see Judge J.
K. Hines former candidate for the)
governorship ot Georgia, pa Popu
list ticket, but he was out of the city.
Four years before he ran for governor,
Judge Hines In an open letter declared
for ownership of railroads by the gov
ernment.
Are the leaders In matters political
In Georgia stunned by this great prob
lem suddenly thrust by Mr. Bryan Into
public altalrs? Reticence to speak In
dicates that most of them are chary
of leaping Into the arena with any
opinion on the matter, pro or con.
Opinion Differs Among Leaders.
Colonel John Temple Graves’ dis
patch to The Georgian Friday Indicates
that a wide divergence of opinion ex
ists within the Democratic party on
the question of railroad ownership.
The conservatives, led by such men
as Congressman John Sharp Williams,
of Mississippi, minority leader In the
national house, Senators Daniel and
Martin, of Virginia; Senators Bailey
and Culberson, of Texas: Congress
man L. F. Livingston, ,ot Georgia, and
others, shake their heads ominously at
the Idea.
What Is designated on the other
hand as the radicals applauded Mr.
Bryan’s utterances along this line?
What significance attaches to Tom
Watson’s declination to express an
opinion? Usunully he Is free about
expressing his views on such funda
mental Issues. That he has favored
for some years government ownership
Is well known. Why, then, does he
now decline to say anything relative
to Mr. Bryan’s views along that line?
Who has the answer?
This picture, which was taken in New York expressly for The At
lanta Georgian, shows Mr. and Mrs. William Jennings Bryari with the
members of the reception committee on board the yacht mini. Lewis
Nixon Is the man wearing glasses and who stands behind Mr. Bryan.
7HE POST SA YS SOUTHERN
DEMOCRATS ARE DIVIDED
OVER W. J. BRYAN'S SPEECH
By Private Leased Wire.
Washington, Sept. 1.—The Post to
day publishes as apparently authorita
tive the following dispatch from New
York:
"The greatest dissatisfaction was ex
pressed today by Southern Democrats
over Bryan’s dramatic declaration for
government ownership of railroads. Yet
not a Democrat from the South would
give an Individual Interview express
ing disfavor with Bryan's utterances
"The Southerners simply contented
themselves by Individually and collect
ively declaring that If Bryan persisted
on thrusting his views on this subject
upon the Democratic national conven
tion of 1908 the Southern delegates
would be opposed to him to a man, and
should Brr ti, overcoming all objec
tions, become the candidate of
Democrats for president In that con
vent Ion, a number of Southern Demo
cratlc states would go over to the Re
publican columns.
“The Southern Democrats went on
to say that government ownership of
railroads would cause an upheaval In
all states below the Mason and Dixon
line.
"Several Democratic national com
mltteeinen said that a majority of the
committee who had come on from dif
ferent states to welcome Bryan were
much dissatisfied with his speech. They
not only objected to the government
ownership of railroads, but It
stated by these committeemen that
there was a llavor of Socialism about
It which was undemocratic and which
has caused dissatisfaction In the
minds of a majority of the commit
tee." V
2,000 ARE ARRESTED
BY A GENTS OF CZAR
8pec!sl Cable—Copyright.
Wnrsaw, Poland, Sept. 1.—New out
rages on the part of the Russian police
threw the city Into a turmoil today and
a revolutionary outbreak is expected to
follow.
In a wild raid through the city last
night the police officials of the czar
seized 2,000 persons, most of whom
were Innocent of offense, and cast them
PAST WEEK’S EVENTS TOLD IN PICTURES
CARTOONI8T £ncWERTON TAKE8 A STAB AT SIX DAYS’ DOINGS.
7
PEACHTREE
The City Engineer To
Advertise For
Bids.
pm in
WHATTD M.
Declares Government^
Ownership Is Not
Paramount Issue
NO DECISION YET
AS TO MATERIAL
Street Committee Finally
Makes Move in Much-
Talked Matter.
At last the city has decided to ad
vertise for bids on paving Peachtree
street, and after twelve years of con
tinuous annoyance the supreme court
will be annoyed no more by the rumble
of passing wagons, as Capitol Square
will also be paved.
These two Important matters v
settled at the meeting of the street
committee, James L. Key, chairman,
Friday afternoon, and there Is rejoicing
In two camps.
The Peachtree paving proposition has
been before the public for the past six
months, and its every feature Is well
known. Friday, after a few mlnutfes’
deliberation, It was decided to adver
tise for bids and City Englner Clayton
was so Instructed. The nsphalt-bltu-
llthlc duel is not yet settled.
The paving of Capitol Square Is a
smaller matter, but one which has been
brought before the general assembly
consecutively for over a decade, and
has as regularly been turned down. The
state is a part owner of the street and
the city has refused to pay the state's
share of a new paving. The poor con
dition of the street and the annoyance
It has caused to the supreme court has
at lost compelled that body to take a
hand, with the result that the court
will stand thq state’s portion of the ex
pense.
Dr. J. B. Baird appeared for the citi
zens living Mi the street and laid the
fools before the committee. Logan
Bleckley, clerk of the supreme court.
appeared tor the state.
WARE & LELAND MAY
DEC! TO CONTEST.
Managers Confer with Coira
sel Saturday Aft- J
u
ernoon.
Whether nr not n tight Is to he made
on the Boykin "anti-bucket shop bill,"
panned by the lant general annembly,
III he definitely determined here Sat
urday nfternoon.
Ware & Leland, who nun a chain
if the hirgrnt exchangee In the coun
try, will consult with prominent local
attorneyn during the afternoon to see If
light, with ponslbllltlen of success,
a be made on the new law, which be
comes effective on January 1. 1907.
J. H. Ware and F. T. Dlakemore, of
Chicago, heads of tho Ware Sc Le-
land firm, are In Atlanta attending a
convention of Southern managers of
the tlrm. It ts given out that the
meeting Is to promote closar relations
between the local managers over the
Southern circuit, and to dlncusn gen
eral brokerage conditions In the South.
The plan to combat the antl-hucket
Shop low has bepn kepi as Millet as
possible, nn the exchange people do
not want It known until the opinion of
their legal experts la obtained. Upon
that opinion will depend the course of
events In tills state as regards the
brokerage business In the next few
onths.
Nineteen men are attending the con-
entlon. which will continue through
Tuesday. The first business session
111 be' held In the assembly hall of
Piedmont hotel Saturday afternoon
at 4 o’clock. Saturday evening In the
Piedmont the visitors will enjoy a ban-
for which some twenty covers
ill he laid.
Those in attendance here are:
George L. Bacon. Louisville, Ky.: E.
McGinnis, Nashville, Tenn.: J. R.
Stevens. Huntsville. Ala.; t\ H. <’oth-
rftn. Birmingham. Ala.; J. If. Aid worth,
Opelika, Ala.; DtLany, Mont
gomery. Ala.; J. W. Moore, Selma, Ala.;
J. S. Robbins, Mobile. Ala.; E. \V. Arm
strong, Tupelo, Miss.; R. G. Strain,
Tupelo, Miss.; K. R. Owen, New Or
leans. La.; C. W. Blau. Columbus, Ga.;
Kalnion. Albany, Ga.; W. C. Wim-
sfc, Ainerjcus, Ga.; P. H. Watson.
Macon, Ga.; J. H. Ware, Chicago, III.;
F. T. Blakemore, Chicago, III.; B. C.
Cothran, Atlanta, Ga.; J. J. Smith,
West Point, Ga.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooot
o o
o
After Receiving Welcome in
Connecticut, Nebraskan
Returns to New
York.
OO0OOOO000OOOOO000OO0O0000
O BRYAN AND HEAR8T a
O WILL VI8IT VIRGINIA, a
O o
O By Private Leased Wire. O
O East Radford, Va., Sept. 1 O
O William J. Bryan and William O
O Randolph Hearst have accepted O
O Invitations to attend the district O
O fair to be held at Radford the see- O
O ond week in September. • O
O 0
oooooooooooooooooowoooooa
By Private Lensed Wire.
New York, Sept. 1.—William J. Bry
an Is back In New York. He arrived
at the Grand Central station at 10
o’clock from Bridgeport, Conn., where
he had made a speech and afterwards
was entertained at the home of Sena
tor McNeill. There were few people
on hand to greet the Nebraskan when
he arrived, as there had been no an
nouncement of the train he-would take.>
But the "home folks" made up for '
this when the Hotel Victoria was
reached. They greeted their neighbor
and leader with loud yells of welcome,
and made the corridors look like tho
late hours of Thursday once more
Mr. Bryan went tp his rooms as soon
aa he could get away from, fils boys
from Nebraska and there was grated
by his wife and daughter. Later h*«
prepared to go to Jeraey City where*
he la to speak and be the guest of Rob-a
ert Davis, the Democratic leadeT of th#\
town across the North river.
BRYAN TELL8 DEMOCRATS
WHAT PARTY MUST DO
By Private Leased Wire.
Bridgeport, Conn., Sept. 1.—After be
ing heartily welcomed In New Haven
and In this city, William J. Bryan s
the night at Senator McNeill’s h
and took an early train today for ;
York to begin the final day olj
tlons In honor of his returt
At New Haven Mr.
tlon was particularly cordial
strong contrast to the rece^
received ten years ago. Three ll
Jlrere delivered by Mr. Bryan in
■ Haven—the first, an absolutely
partisan discourse; the second
strongly .partisan utterance at a co
ference of Democratic leaders fr<
New England, and the third alao a p
lit leal speech to the big crowd oi
common.
Bryan Talk*,, Bluntly.
At the conference in the New
tine, which was called for the purpose
of taking steps to spread through ju
New England Mr. Bryan’s views c
what he believes should be the party
policy, he was harsh to bluntnesi- In
the expression of opinion aa to tho|
party needs.
Mr. Bryan dwelt principally on tin
question of the public ownership o:
railroads, which he said was on*
of the most Important to be consider'd
by the party, though he did not
Continued on Page Two.
O IF IT I8N'8 ONE THING,
O WHY, THEN IT’S ANOTHER.
SooOOUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
ly
/
0 By Private Leased Wire. 0
0 Neiv York, Sept. 1.—A flutter of 0
O exrltement wiur cauxed shortly !>e- 0
0 fore noon hv a rumor to the effect 0
O that President Roosevelt had been 0
O ehot. Prealdent R.roxevelt wnx xur- O
O prised to hear of the report, aa O
O there had been nothin* out of the O
0 ordinary with him today. t O
Stoves are going up Ju.t u the O I
O weather begins to get cooler. The O I
0 poor public sure catchea It com- 0 |
O Ing and going. In season and out.
O For one has not yet forgotten the
O ralee In the price of Ice last June.
O The fostenst:
O Partly cloudy Saturday night
O and Sunday; not ao
0 day night.
O Saturday temperatures
O 7 o'clock a.m 74,
O 8
O 9
0 HI
0 11
O 12
O
O
O
'a
