The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-09-17
PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
4RP WRITES OF MAKING SENATORS
IND RUNNING THE STATE.
Bill Would Have n Eeformatory for Boys
if He Had His Way and Many
Other Needed Things.

|
United States senator. and will have several
| good men to choose from. However they
! may differ on the silver question, the peo-
| ple of Georgia have confidence in their III
| tegrity and Will acquiesce in whatever
| choice may be made. If u choice cannot
be made, then there are some outsiders
equally capable and honest, upon whom
all could agree.
There is Fleming duBignon, of Savannah,
whom We all would delight to honor, ana
who would make an Apollo IN the senate
chamber, and there is the speaker, Charles
Crisp who has proved himself worthy OF
the highest honorS that the state or the
nation can DestOw. and there is Mr.. Blount,
a statesman tried and true. SO need
not give ourselves any great concern about
a senator to succeed the lamented ColqU.tt
There was q time when Georgia boosted
OF seven living and notable statesmen
whose names and fame were national. Iney
were ToCmbs, Stephens Cobb, Ben Hill.
johnson, jenkins and Brown For years
We have been lamenting that this genera
tion has not produced their equals, but of
late the talents of our rising men have been
looming W, and we can even now name
seven, who though not as brlIiiant ana
ELOQUENT. are as safe in counsel and
sincere in patriotism as those who have
I5It our next legislature will have enough
to do ia looking after state affairs. Some
things have got to be done, and a good
many things left undOne. There has got
to be Teformatory for young criminals.
ANY further neglect OF providing such an
institution viii be shameful dlsgraceful,
inhuman. 1t VIII cost money, OF course.
So does the lunatic asylum. We can't at
ford to destroy the lads under sixteen years
of age by putting them in the chainsang
with confirmed and desperate criminals.
There is an Orphanage at Clinton, ). C.,
Whore Tho iitfiq waits are taken and
schooIed and trained to useful occupations,
and almost without exception they have
proved 10 be good men and good women,
and are doing well in the world We sent
two little Ooys there yesterday from our
town. 1t is Il noble charity, and L had
rather stand before my Maker at the JudS.
ment with DT. Jacobs 5 record IMAM tnaJ OF
q president O~ a king. And just 50 the
state can make good citizens of these lads
who are more to be pitied than orphans,
for they have been led astray by bad eX-
ample or dire distress. There Is no need
to arguA the question The argument has
long SINCE been exhausted. Some years
ago Mrs. Lou Gordon visited the reforma-
tory at Eimira, y. Y. and ever since her
impressive letter was publlshed nave leu
that our own great state was SHINING
against heaven in not providing similar
institution
In this connection we would also urge
upon the legislature the necessity of a
board of p2rdons. No need to say the gov
ernor can attend to this. FIe cannot. When
some friend of the convict interests himself
and gets the Judge and the solicitor and
some of the jury 10 sign a petition, the gov
ernor takes the papers and considers the
case as considerably as his time viii per
nit but he cannot investigate thoroughly.
But who lends an ear 20 the poor fellow
who has no frie1dE2 mat time mas lie
commissioner to listen? Is there absolutely
no hope for repertaut man who for y-a-s
and years has worked IN CHAINS ana IS n
work on and on prisoner without hope2
[ believe in my heart that there are many
negroes and some whites in the chaingancs
who while they deserved their sentence.
now deserve a pardon. I believe that n
board Of parlons should investigate every
conviction. and it may prove what John
Howard found to be true, that there were
some cOnyictS who should not have heaG
convicted. 4 friendlesS prisoner whether
white or black. with no money ana no ~
fiuential friends. does not have n f0lr
chance with the power of the state against
him. The solicitors reputation IS at Slahe.
and so IS his fee His small salary Of S223
is not enough TO keep him out of temptation
ana no percllisfte~-no 'fn~oIveut list for
him and the sheriff to divide out OF fines
and fOrfeitures.
And there is another matter concern
ing the courts that demands immediate
attention. The supreme court. with three
judges cannot do the increased and in
creasing work that is put upon them 1t
is simply an outrage to require them 10 DO
it-729 cases in eleven monthSl There IS
no court FL the United States that has
such Il burden. That they cannot do jus
tice to the cases is just as Impossible as
II is Tor a farmer 70 run HNt-hule
crop with three; he is bound to get in the
grass. Some folks VIII say. If they don I
ike their Job. let them resign and some
will say 'WhO are a. be the other two2
Has the ring got them picked out2' Those
are childish objections An honest voter
will rise above such spiteful feelings. Let
us do right though the heavens faIl. me
supreme court is no ring, nor Is the leSIS-
is much a duty ANA a protection 70 the
populist and the republican as 10 the demo-
crat. White ana black are all Interested
in the perfection OF TINS hlSh TRIBUNAL IL
has no politics and has never been even
suspected of favoritism. And there IS that
old veteran. Judge Bleckley, VINO IS uTed.
but will die game. lie had his baDy boy
elected member OF the bar ASSOCIATION
and seeks To defy the scripture edlct o.
three score years and ten. But ammo doi1-
I'M win tell. some OF these GAYS ne VIII
droD To pieces as suddenly as the Ohe-hoss
shay ana there viii pe nothing ieIt OIl =
long Pile of dust. Let ann uie IN the ndt
ness but let Us give him more heip 50 tnat
ne can Gle easy. Let every man vote tor
r Is curious that an old man never gets
SO tired of work as 10 lee Wiling 10 qit.
Habits are ike chains. ana ne = LoI
l,a.,t,y Nuen they are broken lie becomes
50 r,si@ueI 10 them that he Won resign.
tfy friend. EiU Fort was one DAY LoohiAs
at JuGE. Warren when he was old ana
feeble. ard said TO Iae, thous nuuilG, Md
i0r that strand old man ought 70 lie down
ana die. Tor L think that ne IS tlred. ke-
siuu he can't. They never DO Jhdl Anu
INST ;hin5 how much pleasure he would
ssiye by dying. IL would make so much
,,oaY,, for Them. jackson would take his
Mace as chief justice, and some circuit
nudge would get Jackson $ place, ana some
lawyer would get the circuit Judge place
and some other lawyer would get mat law
yar's practice, and SO ON. L wonder If 1t
ever occurred to the ola man how much
GOOD ne could do by dying.
There is another thing that should be done
for the dignity OF that Court-no civil case
that involved less than 500, should be al
lowed consideration by IT, Five hundred
dollars is the limit in the federal courts
eases under 500 are generally carried up
bv Young lawyers out of spite or spleen or
conceit. it is not the client, but the lawyer.
Away back before the war when Judge
Wright was on the bench he refused TO
hear any case on ceTtiOrari from a justice
court. The jurisdiction of that court was
then limited to $50, and the judge declared
il was too small a sum TO make a large
fuss about, and he promulgated the Latin
maxim Sex curat de minimis non
ito not know. but L guess That one-foUrth
of all the cases carried to the supreme
court involve less than $l00 each. The cost
of taking the case up and the additional
fee To ms lawyer would be at least SO. and
if man can't afford to lose that and his
case. too, he had better keep his little case
out of the supreme court.
But there are more things for the legis-
lature 90 not do than 10 do. Some of the
populist leaders are trying To bait the ne
sSroeS with free SchoolboOlls, ana. of course,
this would catch some of THE whites, who
rs bad of as the negroes FOR free things.
This scheme is pateraaliSm run r7ad and
will add another half million annually to
the public debt. Don't do it, And there
VIII be some VINO will want to pension
everybody. Don't do that. 1t is an njus-
tice to the dead TO begin now. thirty years
after the war, to pension the living. Whe.'