Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-06-24
GOVERNOR BROWN SENDS
MESSAGE To- LEGISLATURE
Document Is in Many Respects
a Repetition of Last Years
Recommendations

Il
| in both branches of the general assem-
bly, on wednesday shortly after the SEN
ate and house convened at 10 o'clock.
In many respects the governors recon-
mendations are repetitions of those he
made last year. He argos change In
the present registration law, allowing the
books to be kept open until within 81
| days of the primary; he wants the pub
| lie school teachers of the state more
| promptly paid, suggesting a bond issue,
/ II necessary; he favors a better taxing
| system; wants the inheritance tax; would
j establish a labor bureau; suggests an
| appropriation for the Improvement OF
the cotton plant; urges that the present
| number of members of the railroad COM
mission be reduced, and urges biennial
| sessions.
With the desire to protect, therefore,
| the rights OF the people Of Georgia,
| respectfully call your attention to the
serious defects and unnecessary barriers
in the registration law passed by your
| immediate predecessor, and repeat the
recommendation made in my first mes
sage regarding the provision which
| closes the books six months before cleo
| tons ..
In addition to the reasons 1 advanced
in that message, 1 will add others that
| have been demonstrated to beyvalid, to-
gether with data that have been col
| lected. The operation of the above pro-
vision of this law, when taken in con-
| nection with the registration and subse-
| quent elections in various municipalities
| in the state, proves that il directly and
| hagrantly discriminates against the res
| idents of the country districts and in IA
| vor of the residents of the cities and
| towns. .....
1t is well known that the avowed pur-
pose in fixing the excessive time limit
| of six months between the closing of the
registration books and the date of the
election was to purify the ballot by shut
ting out the "venal voter" the hobo"
| the "ward-heeler," and the like. These
nefarious classes were represented as be-
ing mainly residents of the large cities.
Yet, we find Atlanta closing her regis
| tration books only eleven days before
voting on the question of binding herself
! to the payment of So 600, 900 in bonds, an
amount equal to almost half of the pub
| lie debt of the state. And we find Ma
con, Columbus, Granville and Rome
closing their registration books from
eight to eleven days before the dates of
elections of momentous interest to their
| citizens, while Gainesville and Athens
voted without requiring any registration
| this year.
| So, too, at Lafayette the time-limit be-
tween the registration and the election
was only five days and IN the other
municipalities named this limit was in
each case less than thirty days. Again,
| 1t has recently been decided that At
! lanta for her election OF city officials on
Wednesday, December Z, will not close
| her registration books until November
2S. Yet, in the same counties wherein
all the foregoing cities and towns are
| located, and in other counties. the resi-
dents of the country districts, in cleo
| lions in which they take part, must
J register six months before the date of
! casting the ballot or they are debarred
| from the power to vote, that power
which was once held to be the right of
freemen inalienable save by the COM
| mission of crime.
Therefore, while 1t has been the cur
rent belief that the "venai voters and
| other obnoxious classes, whom this law
| would debar from the ballot box, are the
jewellers in the city sfums, or are tenn
porary importations thereto, the law
| itself, by it's operation, says that these
| 'venal voters" and the like are con-
| fined almost entirely to the country dis
tricts; for, as 1 have shown. one great
city can vote an enormous issue Of bonds
and another can transform country peo-
pie into city people-the most radical of
|
| a few days notice, while the country
man must register six months before
| election day so as to give the registrars
sufficient time in which to ;examine care
] fully each individuals status, to purge
| the lists and throw out all who are
| ''yenal voters or ''ward-heelers or
! ''hoboes."
! respectfully submit that this inev-
| liable logic of the law is an uncalled
/ q III hx-
| far the greater portion of the electorate
of Georgia.; and it places them under a
discrimination as needless as it Is I'M
merited. =1--
1t is a constitutional requirement that
all taxes must be paid six months be
| fore the election in order that the voter
may be qualified to exercise the fran
chise. Is not this a sufficiently drastic
| requirement. is it not in itself an ade-
! quate safeguard against padding with
out the additional prerequisite that the
voter must go in person to the tax col
lector's office, at least six months be-
! fore the election, and sign the voters
| list without recourse in, case sickness
business necessity, absence from the
| state or even excusable negligence pre-
vent him from so doing? Should not the
payment of taxes six months in advance
of the election in itself be indicative OF
| the voters integrity, in itself 1ndlcate
| that he is no ''venal voter no hobo no
Immigrant" but a good citizen?
! hold that the white citizenry of Geor-
gia is honest, intelligent and responsible.
and that each unit of 1t should have
available the power to protect his rights
| by the freeman's weapon, the ballot.
| I, therefore, recommend that the limit
| between the close of the registration
books and the date of elections be re-
| duced't to 30 days.
Finally, as proving that the present
registration law has inflicted a blow TO
! the white electorate of Georgia which is
| truly appalling in it's magnitude, 1 call
attention to the fact that by the federal
/ census of 1900 after reducing the non
naturalized foreigners, there were in this
! state 274,797 white males 81 years of
age and upwards.
! If during the past decade the popula-
ton has increased proportionately as rap
idly as IL did during the previous one,
viz: 20 per cent, we can estimate the
present number of white males of voting
age in Georgia at 1856.
The reports of the registration In the
state under the present law, as publish
ed in the daily press, indicate that
there are now registered about 212'OOO
white voters.
Hence, by the operation of this law
in effect, even after making liberal al