The Portland daily press., 1898-03-18
GEoRGIA's COLONIES.
The Evil Considered by Citizen of the
State who is Only Major.
(From the Atlanta Journal.)

(From the Atlanta Journal.)
Major Joseph B. Cummings of Augusa,
one of the States leading lawyers and
most polished orators, at the recent ban
quet of the Sons of the Revolution in
Savannah, responded to the toast
Georgia In his remarks he said:
~ take as my text for short discourse
the Georgia Colonel. I do not claim
that in doing this I am assailing the
greatest evil that raises it's head in Geor-
gia, but do say that it ia the one which
affiicts a proud and sensitive Georgian
most. We can stand abuse, we can en-
dure poverty, ws can survive oppres-
sion, we can tolerate wickedness of various
grades and species, but to be laughed at,
to be the object of ridicule, to be the SUBJ
ject of perennial derision to have per-
petual horse laugh maintained at our ex-
pense, roaring in our ears-this is an evil
the removal of which is we'll worth the
effort of the Sons Of the Revolution or
anybody else's sons. Whence comes this
particular affection? That is the first
division of my discourse. What is the re-
medye That is the second division
81 am unable to find satisfactory an
swer to my first question. am sorely
puzzled 1t ia to me a most insorutaple
psyche social problem. / rack my brain
in vain for an explanation of the mad
passion of our people to call and be called
Colonel. 1t is form of mild dementia
sinking to the grade of imbecility and
idiocy which battles explanation. If the
fact did not surely live before our eyes
we.should not be able to believe that some
thousands of the white male citizens OF
Georgia, who know nothing OF the man.
ual of arms, who cannot even keep step,
who never ente rtained for moment the
idea of following a military career, de-
light in being called Colonel.
TtNay. more; the withholding OF this
title from any public or quasi public
man, legislator, lawyer, tax collector,
Mayor, Councilman, Coroner-indeed, any
man who stands out ever SO little from
the mass of the little community in which
he lives, is looked upon in many parts OF
the State of Georgia as nothing less than
a slight. Attend any State court, at
least outside of the cities, and in what
an army OF Colonels you find yourself.
Every lawyer, from the youngest to the
Oldest, has left his regiment somewh ere
the Lord only knows where-to atten
the court. Read in our papers of any In
however little occasion for the service OF
the military arm, and you will find that
all the actors In it are-Colonels. The
Judge on the bench, the editor In his
sanctum, contribute their aid to keep this
strange folly going. The future pains
taking historian will be greatly perplexed
and probably misled when he comes to
deal with this period In his history OF the
People of Georgia Like every conscien-
tious and judicious writer of history, he
will to the fullest extent, consult con-
tenn poraneous documents and the current
everyday literal ure of the people he is de-
scribing. How very reasonable 1t will be
in him to write such passages as this:
" At that period there was for more
than generation an epoch OF unrest and
anxiety, the causes of which are very
difficult to discover at this day by the most
diliqent research. but for some reason
the people Of Georgia lived throughout
this period under martial law. All the
usual civil functions were performed by
military officers. Indeed, civilians seem
for many years not to have been eligible
to office. From these data an estimate
may be made by the careful and Judioious
historian Of the vast military establish
mont of this people at that period and
also of the density OF the population neces
sary to sustain such an establishment, for
a careful consideration Of temporary
documents will show that apparently even
military officers were not eligible TO civil
Office until they had attained the rank of
Colonel. AS it is we'll known that in the
military organization of that age Col
onel was the leader of / 200 men, and MS
there were not less than 5000 Colonies,
we can safely conclude that the standing
army of the State WAS 5000, O0O-Which,
of course, implies corresponding popu-
lation.'
$50 things will appear-and naturally,
too-to our judicious historian. But we,
who live in the time of this remarkable
folly, know that If the whole normal
arms bearing population were distributed
equally among the Coionels, each would
have following of about five men.
Falstaff was asham ed to march through
Coventry with his scarecrow company,
| but it was a martial host that assembled
under his banner compared with the
mu ster of each of our Georgia CoIonels.
eff it were possible to be serious in
dealing with this unspeakable. ridiculous
folly, I would note the injustice which is
| done the officers of our organized militia
by this indiscriminate bestowal of the
title of Colonel. To the officers of our
organized State Guard must we look Tor
the preservation of the military spirit so
essential to the safety of the State, and 1t
is not fair to them to have to share the
titles, which are legally their due, with a
lot of usurpers. Unfair, too, If indeed
the ludiorous feature of the thing did not
swallow up every other aspect of it, to the
veteran soldier, whose title OF Captain,
for instance won by service and wounds
and blood, is outranked on every side by
whipper snapper lawyer Colonies.
"We have many things to deplore in
| Georgia. Frequent homicides, the COW
| ardly practice of the concealed but ever
alert pistol, the increasing lynchings. All
these are bad. very bad. They det'r i'm
migration and check our growth. But
these tragedies are more endurable than
this roaring farce. Oh, that resoundina
horse laugh! Oh, that ringing shout OF
derision that echoes drought the land at
the expense of the Georgia Colonels
Cannot something be done? Can we not
have constitutional amendment on the
subject? Will not the legislature at least
| intervene with some measure OF relief
| May not at least an act be passed for the
benefit of the small oppressed minority
who do not want to be called Colonel,
making it justifiable homicide to kill a
man who fixes that title on an unoffend-
| ing citizen in the peace of tho state? II