Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-04-17


In mingling with drummers and
friends by the wayside, that Their,
is but little enthusiasm for an!
candidate. Terrell's friends seem
confident or careless. 1t may be the
cause of this confidence and care
lessness is the fact. known and read
Of all men in Georgia, that Terrell
belongs to the ring and the ring be-
longs to him. Dupont Query is
getting around slowly but surely.
He is kicking up dust everywhere
he goes, but there are so many rains
to settle the dust these days. Can
didate Estill seems to be a single
bird dog, he has not flushed a covey
yet, but he has pointed several sim
gle birds. 1t will take a long time
to kill all the birds setting them one
at a time. Candidate Smith has de-
clared that he is out of the race,
and now the three candidates in
for the home stretch are Terrell,
Guerry and Estill; all good men
have no doubt, personally, and ali
gentlemen, socially, but the different
gangs they run with is the thing
that makes the difference in the
candidates.
There is a kind Of political dy-
nasty in Georgia, it has been on
ever since Alex Stephens stood for
reelection. When that grand old
statesman died the dynasty came
into the inheritance, and affirm it
as a fact that one hundred men in
Georgia will compose the total num-
Der who have named candidates,
fixed the rings, figured on the states,
and have run the state of Georgia
for twenty-five years without a
break. I could name, I dare say,
fifty of these men. These one hun
dred men are all for Terrell, and If
they were to announce tomorrow in
The Journal that they had all come
over to Guerry, Guerry would be
elected governor OF Georgia as GER
tain as the sun shines.
Georgia has a population of over
two millions. Isn't 1t strange that
more than two millions Of people
will sit idly by and let POLITICAL
dynasty of a HUNDRED men run the
state and never raise a question as
to their pedigree. politics, or prin-
ciples? These one hundred men can .
meet any day and determine when
a primary shall be held and who the
candidates shall be-not so much
because they are the one hundred of
Georgia but because, like the West
ern Union Telegraph wires, they
touch every ether political battery
in the state. AS rule, If you will
tell me who the gang is for / will
tell you who will be elected, and the
only instance in my life where 1
have ever known gang to be de-
feated was when Alex Stephens
stood for governor, and Governor
Sanford, of Alabama, stepped into
the gubernatorial office of that
state, after the gang had fixed
their slate and named their candi-
dates. And DO you know, I am
strongly of the opinion now that
men like Stephens, Sanford and
Query can break states and bust
rings and do some things in spite of
the one hundred and their power to
make governors and other state Of
ficials? The ring candidate of Geor-
gia today is the legitimate successor
Of his predecessor in office, as
much so as any child Of the home
is the legitimate child Of the pa
rents. The ring is hard to beat, for
they have found out long ago that
organization is everything, and the
ring in Georgia has determined that
Guerry shall not have time to or
ganize, for they have brought on
the primary the 5th of June, and
from now until the 5th of June ev-
cry farmer in Georgia will have
move on him, for never in the his
tory Of this state were farmers so
behind with their plows and crops,
but the one hundred said the 5th
of June it must be and 9Th of June
1t is. The one hundred can figure,
they can distribute literature and
funds. They know as we'll how to
run the political machinery Of a
state as any locomotive engineer
ever knew how to run his engine.
But the hope have for Query,
and it is a strong one. is that he will