The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1908-10-29
GOVERNORS CONFER
AND PATTERSON.

ernor of Alabama that wicked persons
were gambling at the Montgomery
State fair, that passionate champion
of innocence and consecrated defender
of all the domestic virtues sits down
and writes to the sheriff in these and
other words:
81 call your attention to these great
violations of the law and tender you
the help of the state in every depart
ment to assist in promptly putting
stop to the same. am sure you will
appreciate the gravity of the situation
and have the violations stopped at
once
This spectacle of Conner rising in his
wrath over few "layouts " of sweat
cloth or shell game, with possibly a
dash of craps on the outside, moves the
esteemed Mobile Register to remark:
"If the governor has rendered the
help of the state to the sheriffs of Con-
ecuh, Montgomery and Jefferson coun-
ties to stop the burning of cotton gins
the fact has escaped attention. AS the
newspapers keep pretty close track of
the governors actions, and the eXecu-
tive would hardly overlook the obtain
ing of adequate publicity for procla-
nation against night riding, there is
every reason to believe that the help of
the state has not been offered to sup
press the lawlessness growing out of
the cotton holding movement.
But just across the line in Tennessee
the Hon. Malcomb r. Patterson is
giving out southern governors an object
lesson in the prompt and adequate
treatment of real lawlessness. He has
cancelled all his campaign engage
ments, left his personal interests in the
hands of the people, repaired to the
scene of the outrages, declared martial
law and in every way inaugurated the
war of organized society upon its would
be assassins. During the great coal
mine strike in the neighborhood of
Birmingham few months ago, Gov
ernor Conner sent a lot of militia to the
scene of action and made vast parade
of theatrical proclamation. But the
strikers and the troops fraternized.
The women folks made pies and cooked
local delicacies for the boomaladdies.
There was neither martial law nor any
discipline; nobody suffered except the
non-union men who ventured TO work
for living, and dynamite and gun
play were winked at in high quarters.
Meanwhile Conner went about county
fairs, telling the farmers and their
families of the iniquities of Federal
Judge Jones-the apostle of law and
order-and calling the mammoth
squash to witness his devotion to the
toiling masses,
So far this red haired clansman,
Patterson, strikes us as a man of fierce
and sudden action under stress. In or.
binary life he is the pink of courtesy
and mildness. In ofiibial life the rep
rcsentative of a state ninety per cent o.
the white inhabitants of which are
descendants of the original English
Scotch and Irish settlers of three cen
turtles ago. Personally man who for
get1 "policy" when the essentials o
civilization are threatened by hostile
hand and requites the onslaught will
bitter and immediate violence. TIL
night riders have ushered in regim,
of anarchy in Tennessee, They hav
fired the train that in the absence Q
stern remedy will lead TO chaos. JUS
here Governor Patterson steps in--no
with ingratiating pronunciamentos an
demagogue demonstrations, but with
heart single for peace.
Conner, next perhaps TO Josephu
Daniels and John w. Tomlinson, is tn
closest friend Mr. Bryan has in ell tn