The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1910-02-04
COL. MOSS REVIEWS
RECORD IN HOUSE.
Tells People What Efe Did
AS a Member of the
Legislature.
Marietta, Ga, Jan. 25th, 1910.

ally of Cobb County:
Since the people are entitled to
know what their agents do, and since
contemplate asking the honor of rep
resenting them again, it is but right
that | should give an account of what
| did and what | tried to do in the
Legislature last summer.
First. l prepared and introduced
in the name of myself and my col
league all the local bills that were
wanted by the different towns in the
county. One was to take the sewer
funds out of the hands of the City
Council of Marietta and put them into
the hands of the Water and Light
Commission and to require a bonded
treasurer. Another to so amend the
laws of the Town of Austell, as to
authorize that town to tax railroad
property within its limits, and still an
other to allow the people of Roswell
to vote tax to build a school house.
There was no opposition to any one
of these bills and it was no trouble
except just the plain work of seeing
them through. l simply did my duty
in introducing them and seeing them
passed.
On matters of Importance to the
State at large, the first thing of in
terest that came up was the McLen-
don case, as to whether or not we
would vote to permanently suspend
him as railroat commissioner The
law in his Cast vas and is doubtful
He may be abe to reverse the vote
of the Legislature, but looking at the
situation as | saw it, it appeared to
me that he had entirely changed front
from the cause of the people to that
of the railroads, and | voted in favor
of his permanent suspension
openly fought the bills to increase
the salaries of the Supreme Court and
Appellate Court judges from four to
six thousand dollars per annum, and,
not necessarily by my effort, the in.
crease was defeated-a saving eigh-
teen thousand dollars per annum to
the people of the State
Next in order was a bill to furnish
each Supreme Court and Appellate
Court judge with lawyer" stenog-
rapher at a salary of two thousand
dollars per annum l openly opposed
this measure. The increase was de-
feated at a saving of five hundred
dollars on each of the nine stenog-
raphers making saving of forty-five
hundred dollars per annum since each
judge already had stenographer at
a salary of fifteen hundred dollars
per annum.
| was strongly in favor of exempt
ing farm products in the hands of the
producer for one year after the same
are produced, but the bill was lost.
| voted against the tax of one dol
lar each on all dogs because thought
that each household ought to be al
lowed one dog free of taxation, and
levy tax on all dogs over and above
this number Next summer | intend
yet trying to have this taxation modi-
fed to that extent.
| introduced a bill which is now
pending, and which will be acted upon
at the next session of the legislature,
to put coca-cola in the list of poison
Gus drugs In my opinion this drug
is the twin of cigarettes and should
be placed beyond the reach of chill
dren, and grown people, too, unless
prescribed by a physician.
Upon investigating the disburse-
ment of the funds arising from the
sale of law-books by the state library.
| found that about four years ago
resolution was passed authorizing the
expenditure of all of the income to the
state brought in by the sale of law
books by man appointed by the then
Governor in hunting up Revolution
airy, Colonial and Confederate Rec
ords. This expenditure has been 60
ing on for four years at a cost of
something over twelve thousand dol
lars per annum In round numbers,
| in June of the year 1909, fifty-two
thousand dollars had been spent on
this monumental job. There is no
use for it on earth-and it is entirely
non-productive and always will be.
| introduced resolution to suspend
this work or at least to stop the pub
LEGATION until the State could afford
such luxury. Most of the members
agreed privately that this leak ought
to be stopped, but the two opposing
factions were both afraid of the polit-
ical result of stopping this drain on
the peoples money and the resolution
was lost. 1t is fact that we main
tain the state library, pay the public
printer out of the peoples money, and
that every dollar that comes into the
state from the sale of law-books is
turned over to one man to take out
his salary and spend the balance in
scribbling out Revolutionary, Colonial
and Confederate Records-dead his
tory that nobody will ever read. in
tend to re-introduce this resolution
and to work at it until this worthless