The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-05-14
MIR. NESBITT in UGLY LIGHT.
MS THREE AND A HALF CENTS DE-
NAL BRINGS OUT PROOF: aSsa
Statement of the Former Commissioner oil
Agriculture Now Haunts Him. A
Lively Newspaper Article.

| ne Orlmn news prlnbS Lne IOllOR-
ing interesting article on the race for
commissioner of agriculture:
AS the campaign for commissioner of
agriculture nears it close Colonel
Nesbitt, who from the beginning
never had ghost of a showing of beat
ing Commissioner Stevens, grows
more desperate and reckless in his
statements. After the clear and con-
vincing statement made by MIR. Stew
ems of his fine record in Office, show
ing the vast improvements in the
methods and economy in operation,
nobody paid any attention to the jun
bic OF figures and misstatements issue
by his opponent, while some people
were cruel enough to again bring to
the front that famous statement of Mr..
Nesbitt, made while commissioner,
that cotton could be proftably raised
in Georgia for three and half cents a
pound.
This statement of Mr.. Nesbitt,
which raised such storm of indigna-
tion from the farmers at.the time and
has ever since tended to keep down
the price of Georgia's leading agricul-
tural product, since no buyer wants to
pay two or three prices for a thing,
was used all during the campaign of
| 1898 and met with no denial Butnow,
goaded by impending defeat and judg-
ing this issue to be largely the cause
| of m nd io
are making bold and open assertions
that he never said any such thing. 1t
seems almost impossible to believe
that, with the proof so readily access.
ible, a man of Mr. Nesbitt's high
standing should so stultify himself;
yet it is a fact that he recently wrote
letter to the Irwinton Bulletin in
which he said: st has been said that
| stated cotton could be raised at three
and a half cents per pound, but the re-
port is a campaign lie and has been
used in every campaign for the last
ten years." Mr.. Nesbitt also made
/ the same denial at Columbus, and
| his speech at Statesboro on the last
day of April he said that he never
said cotton could be raised at three
and a half cents pound.
Now, we remember very distinct
| ly the cutlery that was made at the
time over the statement, and the re-
| futations that were made by practical
| farmers; and doubtless it is fresh in
the minds ofmany of our readers. But
to refresh the memory of Col. Nesbitt,
and that of his few friends and connec-
tions who have endeavored to bolster
up his tentative reproduce the exact
| language used in an interview given
by shim to the Atlanta Constitution
and printed ia its issue of March 18th,
1892, as follows:
"Or shall we pause in our insane
career and listen to the advice of sober
sense and judgment? Let me il
lustrate my meaning by referring to
few experiments, which have come
under my observation, and also some
tests which have made.
COTTON RAISED AT 81 CENTS.
"Recent experiments at the Georgia
station show that where land has been
properly treated yield of one bale to
the acre can be made at a cost of 81
cents per pound. Col. Corrupt, OF
Floyd, careful accountant, showed
me his estimate also, and he made a
profit of q cents per pound where
the yield was bale per acre.
"Another experiment of which
have the details was on land which
seemed nearly exhausted. Protecting
and paying crops of peas, clover and
grass were planted which brought
! the land to the condition where high
| fertilization was both feasible and
profitaol and in 1890 the crops
averaged one and half bales to the
acre at a cost of fraction over three
cents per pound. 1t was marketed at
| 81 cents, thus giving clear profit
of 81 cents per pound to the producer.
Comment on such matter is almost
worse than useless; the mental gross
ness of the error in making the state
ment is only equaled by tne moral
grossness of the author in denying 1t,
and neither can be we'll characterized
in fitting language. In all our eX-
perience :of two decades in Georgia
politics, we have seen nothing equal
to it. That man holding for years
the high and responsible position OF
commissioner of agriculculture in a
great state like Georgia, and again
seeking that Office, should make such
a criminally absurd statement as TO
the cost of its leading product Is
hardly conceivable; but that he should
orazenly deny it when he must have
known how readily he would be con-
fronted with the proof shows degree
of moral obliquity that must be APP
palling to his best friends.
Certainly Mr.. Nesbitt has shown
now, if never before, that he is In no
way fit to be Georgia's commissioner OF
agriculture. He may have shown
more than this, but this is all we set
out to prove.