The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1912-08-09
WASHINGTON LETTER.

Hon. Guyt McLendon, who was re-
moved from the Railroad Commission
by Governor Smith, is seeking vindica-
ton by running against Judge George |
Hillyer.
He evidently thinks he can do what
Governor Brown did, come back"
after being removed.
There is a Offence in the men 1t is |
not fair to the Governor to assume that |
their cases are alike. Governor Brown |
has been consistent and has never been /
mixed up in a fifteen hundred dollar |
bond deal with the Athens street car
company, nor was he ever connected |
with any other shady transaction. He
is above that sort of thing.
If the people of Georgia want to
elect Mr.. McLendon they certainly
ought not to make a factional line up
and credit him to Governor Brown.
There is no discountng Mr.. McLen-
dons ability and he is a genial and en-
PERTAINING man. The defect in his
makeup that resulted in his downfall
was inherent. He couldn't stand with
out hitChing.
Mr.. McLendon was for years rail
road lawyer, connected with the Coast
Line. When the ownership of the road
changed hands and he ceased to be
connected with it he joined in the Re-
form movement Of 1906. will do him
the justice to say he declined a sinecure
position offered him by the road. He
threw himself into the thickest of the
anti-railroad fight and when he was
placed on the Commission it was he
who chewed up a railroad for breakfast
every morning and did more than any
other man to create the impression
that Governor Smiths administration
was extreme on the railroad question.
1t was not until Governor Smith was
defeated that Mr. McLendon showed a
change of heart. When the ship was
sinking, no Titanic heroism for him.
He hunted a lifeboat His hostility to-
ward the passing administration assum-
ed the shape of cards in the news
papers. He said Port Rates was a
gold brick
Governor Smith had heard some Gu
r'ors stories but he could not run them
all down. He was lawyer enough how
ever to know there was something
dead up the branch and he fired Nc
Tendon. 1t was then that the fact
came out that McLendon had received
fifteen hundred dollars as his part of a
bond deal between the Athens street
car company and bond purchasers. The
money was paid him by well known
broker, of Atlanta 1t is my recolec-
ton that an issue of bonds was tenn
porarily placed in Mr.. McLendon s
name and the fifteen hundred dollars
was the profit, Mr.. McLendon nego-
tiating the deal or recommending, the
bonds.
You ask. what the harm? Simply
this: The Railroad Commission, under
the law passed during Governor Smith s
term has the right to say whether
stocks and bonds shall be issued and to
what amount. The law prohibits the
members from holding stocks and
bonds in corporations over which they
have control. Were this not the law
the opportunity for graft would be un-
limited. Commissioners could say I'VE
will allow this stock issue if YOU will
let us handle the sale " They could
make rates that would depress stocks
so that they could buy and then make
rates that would enhance the value. 1t
was in violation of the spirit if not the
letter of that law that McLendon made
the 81, 500 that was paid him. All this
came out at the hearing before the
legislature that sustained Governor
Smith, who was also sustained by the
Supreme Court when the case went to
that tribunal.
The above is a brief statement of
the McLendon case. If the people of
Georgia approve his course and approve
him they have it within their power to
put him back in office. But such a result
would not be reflection on Governor
Smith. 1t would only show that he had
set higher standard of official conduct
than the public required.
JOSIAH CARTER.
- -,