The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1899-01-19
abe Mlarietta yDurnal
HON. N. A. NORRIS REPLIES TO
II. HI. f..

last issue of your paper an article
headed Mistakes of Legislature" and
signed "R. III. E." The writer says
the General Assembly really distin-
tinguished themselves by their mas
terly inactivity" in ''leaving undone
those things which they should have
DONE" and "pernicious activity" in
doing those things which they should
not have DONE" and after enumerating
all of his grievances, WHICH I shall
briefly refer to in this article, he closes
his communication in the following
words: "In order to carry out these
reforms which the people demanded.
would it not be well for them to take
the matter in hand and elect no one to
the next General Assembly who will
not pledge himself to vote for them?"
The writer's first complaint is the
failure of the passage of the Brandon
pension bills to put all soldiers on the
INDECENT basis. On November IA, 1898,
the Atlanta Constitution published an
interview from myself on the financial
question:" portion of which reads as
follows: 81 shall vote for radical
change in our present pension laws I'M
der the present system thousands of
poor men are helping to pay rich men
their annual pensions I shall favor
the bill introduced by Hon. Morris
Brandon, of Fulton county, to put
them all under the INDECENT pension
act. If this bill becomes law, it will
save the taxpayers at last 100000 an
nually." When this bill came up in
the House both Mr.. McElreath and
myself voted for it, and / made
speech in favor of it 1t passed the
House by small majority, but the
majority managed the next day to re-
consider the action of the House in
passing it, then it was displaced by the
general tax act and appropriation bills,
and it will come up at the next session,
and have no doubt but what it will
pass.
NhC NAibVl . ACAb COitlDlttlilO is UHe
failure of the General Assembly to pass
an Australian ballot law. AS for my
self, have not given it careful study
and for that reason 1 cannot say wheth-
er l am for or against such a law, but
would certainly have been opposed to
such measure coming before the last
House for consideration, because we
had to deal with the general tax act
and appropriation bills for 1899 and
1900. Those bills took great deal of
time and were of such great Importance
to the tax payers of Georgia, for one
wasn't in favor of displacing them in
order to pass new ballot law when
we have no more elections for two
years and the General Assembly will
be in session again this fall and we can
deal width that question then. AS
long as we can crrry old Georgia DEM
ocratic by 10000 majority, 1 am very
well satisfied with the present system,
anyway, and it will have to be mighty
good law if l vote for any change.
K. H. E's. last complaint is. as he
terms it, "the great injustice done the
poor children of Georgia." and show
they have suffered at the hands of the
Legislature" because of the reduction
of the free school appropriation $780,
200 annually for 1899-1900
| have no apology to make for my po-
sition on this important question. ia
vored reduction of $500 900 for the
following two years, and led the fight
to that effect in the committee room.
and succeeded. l led it again on it's
passage in the House, and / am sorry
to say it was only reduced $2OO,OOO an
nually. If my motion had have carried
we would have had the same amount
OF money for the free schools the next
two years that Te had two years ago.
land in this connection I will say that
voted to cut appropriations to all of the
state institutions and colleges, as we'll
as the free schools.)
Some of the reasons for my position
on the school appropriation are as fol-
lows, to-wit:
LIST. | consider that taxpayers have
some rights in this State as we'll as a
lot of negro vagabonds that pay no tax.
but try to educate themselves to be
better than white people
md The percentage" of illiteracy
IN the colored race has decreased in the
last few years twice as much as it has
in the white race, which shows that the
poorest class of white people are not
taking advantage of the free schools,
while the negro is paying practically no
tax but going to school at the expense
Of the white people.
3D.. Five months in the year is as
much as poor people can attend school
and the increase of $4oO 600 year that
was made two years ago did not length
en- the number of free school days; it
still remained five months, and lit will
still remain five months under the pres
ent appropriation.