The morning news., 1899-03-02
GLESSNER IS OUT OF A JOB.
THE PRISON COMMISSIONER ELECT
4 NEW SECRETARY.

His Political EaVoriteS-He IeAis
WHY. in His Opinion. 80 Abrupt n
Change Was Made.
Atlanta. March 1.-The penitentary end
of The capital was the center of an up
teavaI to-day that is likely to keep the
tongues bf officials and politicians wag-
eing for some days TO come.
When Col Douglas Glessner, secretary OF
the prison commission. came TO town TO-
day he found himself without a job.
The prison commissioners. after having
formally requested his resignation three
weeks ago and this not being fortheom-
ing. had quietly chosen another man Tor
the place and installed him.
Col. Goodloe Yancey of Athens IS the
new incumbent Col. Glessner found MIN
in charge when he left off editing mis- pa
per at Griffin long enough this morning
TO come 10 town TO be secretary Of the
prison board.
After sizing up the situation, which was
hardly a surprise TO him, as he must have
anticipated such a move. Col. Giessner re-
tired TO a quiet corner of the capitol and
prepared an interview with himself. This
Interview is a warm roast for the prison
commissioners, who are accused Of haV-
ing ousted him for political purposes, ana
states in fact that Gov. Gambler brought
the commissioners 70 their knees and forc-'
ed them to put Col. Yancey, one Of his
friends in The position, although two out
of the three commissioners have been re-
garded as out and out friends of Gov
Atkinson, VINO put Glessner in office.
on the other hand the prison commits
eioners say that Col. Glessner has not
been able. by reason of his newspaper
business in Griffin, 90 give the proper time
40 the duties of his office. Col. Yancey,
1t is announced will move to Atlanta and
be in the office every day, instead of
few hours a day for three or four days
a week which was the time Col Glessner
gave in return for the $1,000 paid by the
state.
There have been rumors of the change
for several months. In fact, the commits
sioners have been expecting Secretary
Glessner to resign in consequence Of these
reports. and under the pressure Of criti-
cism but he has steadily declined to yield
up his job. Three weeks ago Chairman
Turner made a formal request for his
resignation, but Col. Glessner fatty refus-
ed TO accede. If he had to quit against
his will, he wanted 10 be fired bodily"
and he was so fired, TO all intents and
purposes.
Done for Political Purposes.
Col. Glessner's interview. which is in
the nature of an expose of the political
soft snap, makes interesting reading.
Among other things. he says:
THE secretaryship of the prison COM
mission was created and the salary fixed
for political office like many of the 9TH
er offices in the state, and, having oppos-
ed the present state administration to the
very best of my ability, perhaps l should
have expected what has just taken place,
though Gov. Gambler must have indulged
in one of his quiet chuckles as he bent
like wax the last three appointees of Gov.
Atkinson, two of whom were opposed to
his nomination, for the purpose of getting
even with one of his own opponents and
rewarding one of his supporters. l say this
because 1t is not only morally certain that
il is the Governors work, but well under
stood that soon after his Inauguration he
called each of the commissioners into his
office separately, and arranged the deal
with them. Just so prone is the true Of
fee holder TO worship the rising and turn
his back on the setting sun.
What do l mean by calling my recent
position a political snap? Why, 1 mean
that il is an office created not so much
because of any actual necessity In the
department to which ID is assigned, as be-
cause II was needed to pay off political
obligations, the three newly created Of
fees of commissioners in place of the one
man heretofore accustomed to fill the light
duties of experimenting the penitentiary,
not being sufficient to go around.
work of Four Politicians.
-Four prominent politicians of the state,
outside of the commissioners who had eth
er received or expected to receive my fee
BILE support, endeavored to impress me that
to each one of them alone l was Indebted
for this position Four prominent polite
fans, including the present commissioners,
seem to have been equally unanimous for
forcing me out of it. Politics hath given
and politics hath taken away; blessed be
the name of the politicians. and let us re-
joice that one small place has already been
so useful in compromising SO many pofiti
cal debts.
Ever since the Inauguration of Gov.
Gambler interviews have appeared, OBJ
viously coming from the commission. TO
the effect that / was not in my Office long
enough and not attending to my work
properly and would soon resign. Yet at no
time has word been said TO me to in
dicate that my work has not
been perfectly satisfactory; so that when
L received written request from Chair-
man Turner three weeks ago for my res
ignation, to avoid unjust and unfair crit
ieism, ! decided that as a good deal of
criticism had already come 1 would sim
ply wait and see how much more un-
fair the rest of it could be.
Says He Kept Up With the Work.
Il very easily kept up with all the work
by working less than three hours a
day for four days a week, coming up on
the last train in the morning from Grif-
fin and leaving on the first one in the af-
ternoon. No office hours were assigned to
me and none ever had been, and / follow
ed the former rule of the principal keeper
which Is still his existing rule as chairman
of the commission, and left on Friday
evenings not 10 return until Tuesday morn
ing. In a word, l easily kept up with the
business of the office in a way with which
the commission have frequently express
ed their satisfaction to me, and never
criticised me before until this day. by
working between ten and twelve hours a
week, some times much less.
The fact Is that while the salary is not
laree-though more than good book keep
s1F1 gRfx Fr.r l.