The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-07-20
GOV. PATTERSON, 7ACTLESS, IS LOVED AND HATED

-Uu, III LUELU hNU IlhlLU
''In the name of temperance I re-
fuse assent to an Incorporate meas
ure which will cause more evils than
it pTetends to cure, and in the name
of morality l will not sanction a law
that will foster hypocrisy and invite
evasion and deceit in the people
For the manhood of Tennessee,
proved on every field of war, and eX-
emplified in all her glorious history
of peace, l do not approve of legis-
tive guardianship which would make
weaklings of her men instead of leav-
ing them unhampered and unfettered
by onerous and sumptuary laws in
terfering with their personal rights
and privileges -+-
Courage Is Shown.
The courage of the man was
shown by the fact that his inaugural
was due to take place within ten
days On January 9th he took the
oath of office for the second time,
and, as his prohibition veto had in
famed the popular mind in Tennes-
see, he took occasion to make a dra-
matte appeal to the people, inviting
them to put him on trial in the
courts or in the senate sitting as a
court Of Impeachment, if they
thought him guilty of the SANDERS
that had been circulated about him.
He was never tried.
10 tLo rrO,yorpOy, yY-oc 70
his administration ran on for more
than year, and things were becom-
ing comparatively quiet in Tennes-
see when the supreme court handed
down a long decision granting Robin
Cooper a new trial, but affirming the
guilt of Col. Cooper.
Gov Patterson did not wait to read
the decision. No sooner did he learn
it's purport than he seized a pardon
form and signed it. This set Col.
Cooper free, and made it practically
certain that Robin would never come
to trial.
1t was = piece of impulsiveness,
and it might we'll have been post
poned few days to give the APP
pearance of respect for the court.
But that was not PattersOn's way.
He felt that he was right, and he
felt it so strongly that he wanted to
show it, no matter whom he hit.
The Cooper pardon caused the gov
ernOr's enemies to look up his rec
ord along this line. They found that
he had pardoned more people than
any other governor, namely, $50 in
thrnn
these 1852 were murdererS, 1913 were
Illicit liquor sellers, 175 had been
convicted of carrying weapons, 124
had committed larceny and 402 had
been sent to prison for other INSIDE
meanOrs. Ham Patterson's heart"
was the explanation given by his
friends.
The governor himself did not seem
to think that he had done anything
unusual.
Has His Worshipers.
The Tennessee "game-cock," stung
into running a third time to discon-
cert his enemies, is the sort of man
who is interesting chiefly for his foes.
In Tennessee he is either worshiped
or hated. How his worshipers see
him is told wildly in the following
passage from the Nashville Ameri-
can:
HE is more than an ordinary man
who can survive wholesale villifica-
ton, SANDER and falsehood, and all
the while enlarge the circle of his
He is the best hated man in
the public life of Tennessee since the
days of reconstruction. AS tactIess
as a bear in a beehive, as fearless
as any knight who ever entered the
lists with lance in rest and visor
down, with the courage of convic-
tons and consistency, the gift of
great common sense, a sublime faith
in the justice of his course and
cause, and an unfaltering belief that
the heart of humanity is in the right
place, and that, when adequately in
formed, its judgment is not going far
astray, he is the beau ideal of the
militant Tennessee democracy. He
is a power whose influence will be
overwhelming in the pending con-
tests ,..
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