Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1910-10-13

The machine raised loud hosan.
mas of praise and said behold, what
patriot! Let us substitute hale
for the crown and canonize him or
the spot But the independent
Democrats cautiously proceeded tc
lift the chip to get a good look al
the bug that they knew was en-
sconsced there. To make a long
story short, they refused to swal-
low the hook. Having failed to
confound or demoralize the indie
pendents, the machine is now busy
trying to collect its own shattered
fragments.
PLAYING SOLITAIRE.
For the time being, am the
lonesome candidate, playing a game
of political solitaire, but the Patter-
Sonites have called a convention for
October 8, and will then attempt to
dlnd a victim to bear the burden of
the machine. The question they
are up against seems to be whether
1t is best to anoint an old part of
the machine as the head or to seek
a new member - a new cog, to be
incorporated for the purpose.
Whether a new part is added on an
old one oiled and rubbed off, the
result will be that the same old ma
chine will be put in action. 1t will
be a distinction without a differ
ence. Any man they can use now,
they could use after he might be
elected. But, if it become so evil
dent to the machine that the people
would not eat the devil, it will like
wise be made manifest in Novem-
Der that they will not drink his
broth.
That plank in the Republican
platform which sounds the key
note of this contest is the one de-
handing the enforcement of the
laws and condemning the abuse of
the pardoning power of the Gov
ernor. So far as the temperance
legislation on our statute books is
concerned, there has been a DELHI
crate, systematic and powerful eff
fort to bring it into discredit and
disrepute, in order that the original
opponents of this legislation might
be able to exclaim, Il told you SOP
There may be room for an honest
difference of opinion as to whether
the anti-saloon laws can be success
fully enforced in a few of the
larger cities of this State, but there
can be no serious contention that an
honest effort has yet been made to
enforce them.
To begin with, the Governor
himself was violently opposed to-
the enactment of these laws, and
this was his right, if his action rep
resented his personal convictions
and not the behests of the power
from which he derives his cam
paign funds. But, after these laws
were placed upon the statute books
the Governor, as the chief law Of
fcer of this State, stultified himself
when he publicly proclaimed that
they could not be enforced. Com
ing from the Governor, this was
almost equivalent to saying they
should not be enforced. He put
himself in the attitude of encourag-
ing lawlessness. He has further
aided and abetted the violation of
these statutes by allowing it to be-
come universally understood that
every convicted violator stands a
strong chance of pardon. He has
promiscuously and recklessly ex-
tended executive clemency to this
class of violators. No table of sta
tistics is required to sustain the
truth of this allegation. 1t is a mat
ter of common knowledge in prac-
tically every county of the State.
AS matter of course, the Gov
ernor has not pardoned every man
convicted of violating the temper
ance law, but | venture the asser-
ton that every man who has vio-
lated those laws has done so with
the belief that the Governors par
don would ultimately stand between
him and punishment. This has
been powerful influence against
the observance and enforcement of
these laws. 1t has gone long way
toward the complete notification of
them.
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR LAW
BREAKERS.
This influence has been exerted
not only in those cities where
the Governor says these laws can
not be enforced, but also in those
rural communities where an honest
effort was being made to enforce
them. 1t is but fair to say that the
Governor is not the only public of
fetal who has sought to discredit
these laws by non-enforcement, but
some local officials influenced, per-
haps, by his example, have pursued
a similar course. The Governor