Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-09

"HE state primary through which
we have just passed showed how
marked a difference there is
between the present methods Of
conducting our political campaigns and
those which were formerly in vogue.
Politics are more on a business basis
than they were in the time of our fathers.
A political campaign to have any pros
pect of success now must be planned as
carefully and with as much attention to
details, must be watched at every point
as closely as a campaign on the field of
actual war;
Personal popularity always counts for
much, but its effect when the contest is
before a large constituency is not COM
parable with that of thorough organiza-
ton. Throw into the scale with larger
personal popularity, superior ability,
greater readiness and power of speech
and in most cases better organization will
still be the heavier quantity. Mr.. Hockey
said 1t would be as foolish to send an
army for an invasion along the Rhine
without the latest designs of armament,
offensive and defensive, as to put a man
in the great conflicts of modern thought
without thorough technical training and
expect him to be victorious. Politics In
their evolution to their present intensely
practical character have only followed the
trend of industry, commerce, agriculture,
and even religion.
Romance has not gone out of life en-
tirely, but a great deal OF it has been
lost,
The old style of seeking the suffrages
of the people possessed a charm which
the new has nothing to match, and we
shall never see 1t return.
The practical politician Is the man of the
present and his sway is likely to grow
rather than decline.
The Politicians Art Not New.
But there were masters of the art, OF
politics long before the exact science of
political organization and management,
as we now know 1t, was invented.
In those, times. however. the personal
factor was proportionately stronger than.
1t is now. because communities were
smaller and their members closer to each
other.
John Clark was the first Georgia poll
tician who demonstrated the force and
effect of organization. To 1t he owed
great part of his success and influence.
but when he seemed TO be at the height
of his power he was Overwhelmingly de-
feated BY his famous antagonist. George
M. Troup, whom Alexander H. Stephens
considered the greatest man Georgia had
produced. Troup depended little upon or
ganization and proved more than a match
for the est political organizer of his time
in this STATE.
The great quartette. Robert Too1nbs.
Alexander H. Stephens, Benjamin H. Hill
an Joseph E. Brown, lived in the transit
ton periou of Georgia politics.
During their lives ana in the period of
their public service the most important
issues that have divided the state and the
country were settled or laid aside and new
issues arose to provoke a long and fierce
contention that has not yet passed entire
ly away.
These great men also lived under the
regime of both the old and the new
political methods.
When they were youngsters honors and
offices were contended for mainly on the
hastings There was no other way to
reach the masses of the people. News
papers were few in number and the aver
age citizen rarely ever saw one
The custom of nominations and plat
form declaration by party conventions
was well established, but the complexion
of those conventions was often very un-
certain until they met. and even until
they had organized and ballotted. Such
a thing as a primary was not dreamed
Of Delegates TO conventions were chosen
at courthouse mass meetings, a system
that during the two decades succeeding
the civil war came to be so grossly abused