The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-11-20
nc MACHINE NUS 60.

Present conditions in Tennessee
are intoIerable. That this proud State
should be ruled by a desperate gang
Of political freebooters, ofhce-brokers
and assassins is so utterly repugnant
to every decent. law-abiding citizen
that there must be reform. Unless
the people shall rise in their might
and by the force of public opinion
compel change our civilization will
be threatened and the lives of honest
men will not be safe.
Those now in control of the des-
TIMES of the State of Jackson and
Polk and Harris and Carmack would
be unworthy to administer the affairs
of every true Tennessean must boil
with indignation when he contem-
plates the shame, the sorrow and the
humiliation which the brigands and
outlaws have brought upon this fair
commonwealth.
There was time and it was not
long ago when gentlemen and pa
triots and not towards and ward poll
ticians, were the dominant factors in
the affairs of our State But to so
low an estate have we fallen that this
State is now a reproach and a by
word in every commonwealth where
Truth reigns and Justice is enthroned
And it has all been brought about by
the machine that despises every
decent element of the State and that
knows no law but that of might and is
deaf to every appeal for decency.
Never was Kentucky or Pennsyl-
vania or Delaware cursed with a po-
litical machine so foul, SO destitute of
high purpose, or unmindful of the peo- ,
pies interests and so devoid of pa ,
triotism as that which now holds Ten
nessee,-poor, bleeding, heart-broken, 8
grief-stricken Tennessee in its death :
like grip.
The dominant factor of the machine, :
its guiding star, its master hand, has :
assassinated in cold blood the truest, r
the purest and the greatest son Of
Tennessee and yet the Governor of .
the State, the chief law officer of the +
commonwealth, has not one word to Il
say in condemnation of the crime,
Not only does the Governor fail to "
condemn the assassination, but cold q
blooded cruel heartless and unmind- a.
full of the office that he holds, false to -
the people whose commission he n
bears, he seeks to palate or excuse Ia
that foulest crime that ever blackened
the annals of this State. 1t is true
that the Governor obtained his Office
by fraud and misrepresentation: it
IS true that he obtained his high sta m
ion by an appeal to the lowest and CT
1asest elements of the States citizen sc
ship; it is true that he was elected al
Governor by making public pledges of al
me character while at the same time SO
entering into secret compacts to VIC in
ate them,-but with all this can 1t be he
possible that he is Indifferent to co
lecency and wholly devoid of princi- tn
lie? Even his bitterest enemy would Or
lot have predicted that the Governor tn
you'd have fallen to such depths. it..
s conditions are The Herald counsels TO
gainst violence of action or Of speech. sh
What is says will be written more in pu
orrow and shame and humiliation da
han in anger. 1t would not have no
riend of the departed statesman, TIL
HON 1t loved as brother and whose
cath was to it a personal loss, do eff
ne act or say one word that the laws ca
the State, of Justice and of God We
'ould not justify. op
There is but one remedy for present He
but one legitimate remedy. er
hat is the force of an aroused public EFT
and the power of the ballot cui
OA. btBlH inc DdtIle hoW anu Wy me
lie time the next elections come such Co
storm of indignation Will sweep over ori
lis State that the last vestige of the s
,tton machine will have been swept a
utter humiliation. In the mean thr
me the Legislature can UNNECESSARILY to
lprove matters by the abolition OF VIII
e infamous liquor traffic, which sup she
'rts and sustains the machine. Cut Wa
I the corrupt head of the machine she
ID 1t will writhe and die in agony. nov
die