Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1906-04-12
The people who stayed at home last sum-

lars, alltho we have given some OF the particulars
of that campaign and the for the failure to
land the New County of Northen at that session.
We have pub lished in the Enterprise and every
BODY interested understands that on the opening
day of the session there was a warm contest on
between twenty three localities 10 Georgia Most
of our readers know that finally after several
weeks of hard work the joint legislative commit
tee decided that sixteen of the competing COM
munities were entitled to new counties-had
overcome opposition and demonstrated to the
committee that they had sufficient area to carve
from and TO include in the New County, aud
that there was sufficient tax values and
population on both sides of the New County line
to Justify the legislature in creating the New
County after considering the g'owtb and pro-
gress of the sections.
Fitzgerald was one of the sixteen commun-
tiles that made the showing ndit is not claimed
that any of them made better statistical show
ing and few of them bad weaker opposition
from within the county.
When the com mittee came to decide which
eight of the 16 should have the counties, the
question of merit was 10 some extent lost sight
of and it became more of matter OF compet1-
ton between friends and politicians 1t was in
sisted often that as the Commute had decided
that there were sixteen worthy applicants that
the question of merit had beed settled. When
the committee came to vote, it is mat
ter of history that it was evenly divided be-
tween Corde1e and Fitzgerald.
Fitzge, AIDS New County had friend who
was absent. Matthews of Houston county
He had been called to the bed side of his sick
mother. The tie vote was dead lock of the
committee We wired for our absent friend
urging him to return to the capital before the
next sitting of the committee. The secret had
leaked out Corde1e was active, Atlanta was full
of her friends and advocates. They had the help
of able and shrewd attorneys, the advantage of
ell planned cam pagn, they had gone to Allan
ia prepared for the fray. Tact, experience and
good judgment as we'll as a means of getting IN
formation were all important. The three of us
who represented Fitzgerald realized that all
that was necessary was to hold our strength
as already expressed in the vote of the commit
tee and secure the presence of the absent COM
mitteemau we had every reason to believe was
favorable to Fitzgerald. The members
could not be approached directly-the greatest
tact was necessary only familiar friends could
members of the committee we're honorable men,
they we're not for sale and arguments and eVl-
dence were not permissible except in open ses-
sion of the committee. Ofcourse, some of them
were almost partisan in their friendship for
Fitzgerald aud others strongly favorable to
Cordele but where the committee was so evenly
divided it can be easily understood how some
of the Committeeman simply favored one place
as against the other recognizing the almost
equal merits of the two, such committeeman, the
friends of Cordele found out, he had been favor
ably impressed with Fitzgeralds proposition
from the start and had stood Loyalty by Us, al
though he had no pre- udice against Cordele. He
believed they were entitled alike to New Coun-
to- Many weeks of the session had been ex-
hausted in the work, the opposition to the New
Counties was predicting that the whole scheme
would fail-that no new counties would be crea-
ted at that session. The committeeman was
not wiling to jeopardize the total result, the
dead lock must be broken He preferred
Fitzgerald to Cordele, to be sure, but he was
persuaded that it was his duty to avoid the dis
astrous results that threatened, and consented
to change his vote. Promised a friend of
Cordele that he would. When the committee
met again Fitzgerald's absent friend had re-
turned from his mothers sick bed and cast his
vote for Fitzgerald, but we had lost one, our
competitors, Corde1e, had gained one, and beat
us by the one vote Nobody was to blame. no
one could be censured, Cordele Observed to win,
she had fought nobly in a righteous cause, the
only chance she had made good.