The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-05-08

clALr LJmAllLct- NO Governor ever
made Il a more slavish instrument Of
MS own will No Governor ever
abused It's functions more hagrantly
70 override the viii Of the people and
70 strengthen the power Of q 'dOminat-
ing and merciless machine. OF the
nineteen members Of that committee,
nine Of them are bound TO the Cover
nor's fortunes by Official appointment
| OF the i've members who framed this
plan of nomination, four OF them are
so bound. and of the two men into
whose hands is given the control Of
the party machinery in every voting
precinct OF the State, both Of them are
under a like obligation Of Official APP
pointment. | charge upon Gov. Pat
terson that through his influence and
solicitation he induced members OF
that committee to vote against the di-
rect primary contrary to their own
i judgment.
How stands the account with him
/ upon this issue and this promise OF
/ the campaign?
"He inveighed against the enormous
power of appointment vested in the
| Governor as a power incompatible
with popular government. He speci-
| fed the various officers at the Capitol
who received their appointment from
the Governor as an illustration of the
awful condition to which the State had
been brought under the domination
of the machine He declared that
as a direct result of these vast pow
ers given to the Governor there had
ceased to be a rule of the people in
Tennessee One of his admirers, his
present Adjutant-General, paid a glow
ing tribute to the splendid and mag
unanimous patriotism of the man be-
cause he proposed to strip the office
he sought of three-fourths of it's
power Here was the promise-what
has been the performance?
NO SURRENDER OF PAT
RONAGE BY THE GOVERNOR.
From the very outset of his adj
ministration, instead of giving up
power, he has been crying with the
voice of the horse-leech's daughters,
and clamoring, like Oliver Twist for
more There was not a bill passed,
not a bill recommended by the Gov
ernor, not a bill proposed with the
sanction of the administration to sur
render one jot or title of it's power.
There was not bill passed or pro-
posed with it's sanction creating, or
seeking to create, a new office, that
did not vest the power of appointment
in the Governors hands. In the Audi
tors and the Roads bills, it was pro-
vided that he should control the APP
pointment even of the clerks and sub
ordinatcs and they were made remov-
able by him. The Bank Examiners
bill, which he had urgently recon-
mended, went down under his angry
veto when it vested the appointment
in the Comptroller instead of himself.
measure of great Importance to all |
the people had to die because it's
trainers did not minister to the Gov
ernor's hunger for the spoils of Office.
So far from surrendering power, he |
urged the passage of the Auditors bill |
to strip the Comptroller's office of its |
natural and proper functions in order
to increase the patronage of his own
office, and to make it a part of his
machine. So eager was he for power
that in the Toilet road bill, an ad-
measure, as it passed the
Senate, the location of every public
road in the county that might be con-
structed under this law, was placed
under his control or that of
his appointees. Neither the County
Court, nor any county official, nor any
citizen of the county was permitted
to have any voice whatever in the mat
ter. You may see at glance what a
tremendous opportunity for favorit-
ism and of political control would go
with such vast concentration of
power.
HIS GREED FOR POWER.
So eager was he for power, so far
10 hn |
people, that in the Memphis charter
bill he sought to nullify the powers
already exercised by the people of his
own city by legislating out of office,
n the midst of their first term, their
awfully elected officials, denying to
he people the right to elect their sue
and taking the power of ap-
continent in his own hands. 1t was
% feed his hunger for power that his
representative In the Senate, Speaker
Tollett, had an amendment added to
he Chestnut bill which puts the en-
ire school fund of the State under his
and control.
He threatened to defeat the bill re-
ating to the Herbert domain until
lie was pacified by an amendment
which made all further proceedings
ubject to his discretion and control.
For some irrefutable reason Gov.
Patterson was intensely hostile to this
Measure. The property had been pur.
hased by the State after careful ex-
mination by mining experts and a
most favorable report as to the quail
ty and quantity of it's coal measures.
he Nashville, Chattanooga and St
.ouis Railroad had satisfied itself so
thoroughly on this point that it was ..
Wiling to enter into an obligation to
pend something like a million dol. I