The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-03
STATE OFFICIALS
 RATHER MIXED UP
GeOrgia's Governor Has Row
 With Prison Commission
TREASURER HOLDS MONEY
Governor Smith Wants To Pay Out {. Convict Lease Money to Schools and Treasurer Refuses To
 Let 1t Go.

Atlanta. May -(special.)-There are several interesting little "rows' on be- tween various state officials with of fees in the capitol. on the one hand, and Governor Smith on the other.
 The differences between the governor and the prison commission over the ques- ton of the purchase of a state farm are now past history. The indications are 1 that the restoration of harmony between them is not on the list of things possible, and until the governor goes out Of office fl is likely that there will be scant com ] munication between the prison comnlis- 1 sion and the executive office.
 There has recently arisen another ques- ton between them in which the state treasurer is also involved. Governor Smith wants to pay out for school pur- poses the convict hire for the last quar- ter of the lease system, which was the first quarter of the present year, amount ing to about S9S,00O. Now the prison com mission claims that this money should be held to meet the necessary expenses of the prison department since the legisa- ture gave the department its appropria- tion to come out of the funds arising from convict hire. The governor thinks the commission can use part of the proceeds of the near-beer tax. Between these two opinions the state treasurer declines to pay out the money to the counties for school purposes, and will continue to de- cline until harmony of view has been restored or the attorney general renders an opinion sanctioning that course.
 Another Dispute.
 But there is another cause of dispute between the governor and State Treas urer Park, wholly aside from the ques- ton of paying out this convict money. The state treasurer, who is also state bank examiner, in the spring of 1908 mail ed out a large number of his annual re- ports. In so doing he ran up stamp bin of somewhere between $500 and s40O. The funds available for paying salaries and expenses of the state bank exami- ner's department were not sufficient to pay the all the salaries and meet this stamp bill; wherefore, the treasurer ask ed the governor to pay 1t out of the con- tingent fund.
 This the governor has, recently, with some emphasis, declined to do, despite the fact, which the treasurer points out, that the attorney general says the contingent fund can be lawfully used for this pur- pose
 While it has not appeared in the cor respondence, 1t is current capitol gossip that one reason at least why the gov ernor refused to pay the treasurer's stamp bill Is that he believes the treas- urers report was written in part as a campaign document and was sent out for campaign purposes Therefore. the gov ernor thinks the treasurer should bear this expense personally. It is probable now that the treasurer will lay the mat ter before the legislature this summer.
 McLendon and Smith.
 But perhaps the most interesting of all the differences between the governor and other state officials is that in which he and Chairman s. G. McLendon of the state railroad commission are involved
 When the governor went into office and appointed MT. McLendon to the railroad commission to succeed Joseph M. Brown, whom he kicked out of office," and thus made governor, the views of Governor Smith and the chairman of the commits sion on the railroad question were beauti- fully harmonious and co-incident
 But since he went into office Chairman McLendon has been studying the rail road situation some" And now, possibly as a result of that study, his views and those of the governor. in some respects at least, have become almost directly di- vergent
 Governor Smith wanted the commission to take a hand in the fight against the grain and provision rate increases from Ohio river points last August. The com mission, after much delay, decided to join the Georgia merchants in this fight, but, it is said,l over the protest and against the vote of Chairman McLendon.
 Then the governor wrote to the commits sion requesting 1t to lower the rate on cotton from all interior points to the ports of Georgia cents per 100 pounds. While he has expressed no direct opinion on this subject, Chairman McLendon has written 8 statement strongly indicative of his at- titude against what the governor seeks to have done.
 A Stumbling Block.
 It looks very much as if Chairman Me Lendon were going to prove the stumbling block in the way of Governor Smiths | exit from office with flourish of achieve ment of some of the things he talked 1 about during his first campaign. 1 And this is the same Chairman McLen- don of whom 1t used to be said humor-. ously two years ago that he was in the habit of eating a railroad for breakfast | every morning.
 l The ohairnan's attitude in evident an tagonism to the governors views has, not unnaturally raised the question as to | whether Governor Smith would consider suspending him from the commission. To friend who is said to have talked over this phase of the matter with him the governor Is reported to have replied