The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-21
Little Joe And Big Hoke.

NeW 1ork Giop6.
 Georgia is soon to nave a new gov- ernor--"Little Joe" Brown. who wrest- led with and overthrow Big Hoke" Smith. And having been elected gov ernor. Little Joe" is engaged in the commendable work of revealing to the people over whom he Is to be the chief magistrate what IS in his mind. He is stating what he thinks. and his reasons for so thinking. Big Hoke" deemed that day lost whose descend- ing sun did not disclose him whoop- ing 1t up against the railroads and the vicious corporations. but his sue cessor has other notions of states manship.
 Talking to the business men of Au- gusta the other day, he laid down certain propositions. concerning the relations of the people Of Georeia to ward the railroads doing business there. Proposition one is that the general business men of the state are more interested in having the ratl- road companies provide adequate fac- ilities for expediting commerce than they are in fractional reductions in freight rates which seldom. if ever, are shared by the consumer. Propo- sition two is that the laboring men of Georgia are more interested in secur- ing employment at remunerative wages through the industrial devei- opment that would come from railway improvement than In fractional re- auctions in freight rates. PropoSi- ton three is that the farmers Of Geor- eta are .nore interested in getting larger number of consumers for their nroducts than in reductions of freight rates as to which experience has shown they get not penny. Having laid down these propositions. Cover nor-elect Brown declared that Tor tho railroads to provide the facilities and betterments which the welfare Of the state demands they must have that which the agitation of the last three years has largely deprived them of@, namely a basis of credit. "The sword of DamocIes," says Hoke Smiths suc- cessor, "being withdrawn from over their earning powers, they could as- sure the money holders that their income on railroad investment in Georgia was practically guaranteed. I connot doulI that the money would then come.
 These are the deliberate utterances, not of a man with the taint of Wall Street on his clothes. but of citizen of Georgia who probably has never owned A share of railway stock or railway bond in his life. Not only does he say such things. but says them te, the apparent satlsractlon or his hearers. Man1IeStly a cnNnEc nus come over Georgia since the days when Hoke Smith roared and ragged amid great applause; Georgia is tlFt ed of pursuing will-o'-the-w -wisps-it has discovered, not through sympathy for railroads. but through sympathy for itself. that there is a seamv side of the program of smash. Education. has occurred. and it is seen that to cut down railroad rates hundredth of a cent a pound on cotton. with the foreign buyer of cotton getting the whole benefit thereof. is not good political economy when it means poor CT railway facilities and general | slackening of all business. The con stitution of Georgia, defining the func- tion of person and property is the paramount duty of government, and shall be impartial and complete" Fon- dering this passage, Governor -elect Brown is persuaded that 1t Is wise to respect 1t In spirit as in letter. even though to do so he is not able to fol- low in the footsteps of his predeces- | Eor.