Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-09-21

pie had come in. and as everybody IN
the house was standing up, he could
not count Georgias vote, and that he
would not call the roll. We demanded
and insisted that he call the roll. name
for name. Then he said he would not
do so, saying: Il rule that Georgia's
vote shall not be recorded. There can
be no election in this confusion" II
was then about II O'clock. | asked him
what he would do about it, He said
| Il VIII hold over. The title | secured
at Baltimore is better than any / can
secure here. There is no question on
| that title of its legality. l shall hold
the session few hours longer and adj
| journ without date, and by the au-
| thority in me vested, 1 declare that the
| present S. c, NJ. shall hold over two
years / said then that there was no
need of our insisting upon a square
| deal. He said: mo square deal or
anything else appeals to me. l am go
| ing to be grand master. / am grand
master. and by the authority in me
vested l SO declare myself"
Then the Georgia delegation gathered
together in the middle of the house,
more than five hundred strong, and for
an hour made. the welllin ring-"Rol1
call; call the roll! Roll call; call the
roll! Roll CALL call the roll!"-but our
| appeals fell upon deaf ears His mind
had been made up. The conspiracy was
| complete. Headed by few mercena-
ries, he was determined to perpetuate
| the greatest outrage ever perpetrated
against the order and the honor of d
man. This, too, was done in the teeth
of a gentleman's agreement entered
into two years ago and repeated and
confirmed just a few hours before the
election occurred.
In addition to pledging his LOYALTY
/ a nd 40 nf
member of the incoming s. C. M to
vote for him for chief justice next Jan
uary. He pledged me to nominate him,
as it was his ambition. and he wanted
to serve out my unexpired term of two
years as his final bit of service to the
order, and pledged, namely, e. H. Nc
Kissack, G. A. Sheehy, w. David
Brown, j. S. Noel. w. l.. Houston. G,
W. Hayes and c. A. Howe to vote for
| his election when / nominated him next
January for chief justice.
| This is the story of how ii all hap
| pened. Then there was no chance for
US to provide against this catastrophe,
| We had a right to rely upon the grand
masters word. He was at the head OF
the order and we had a right to think
| him incapable of lying or practicing a
! deception. All this rot about Georgias
roll being padded is untrue and with
out foundation, for the reason we did
not feel the necessity, as | expected no
opposition was agreed upon as the ad-
mlnstrations candidate, and the grand
master himself was to nominate me,
| and there would be no earthly reason
| why we should cheat.
| | am neither dismayed nor diScour-
| aged. ! am a man. and will fight for
| my rights inside of the order. There
will be no split or. revolt led against
the constituted authority. | shall again
| submit my claims to the brethren and
abide by their decision. l have rendered
| the order the best years of my life in
| the shape of services. | think | may
| say with pardonable pride that l have
! contributed more character, more prog
ress and more material to the order in
one year of my life than Morris has
during his 80 years. | have not been
| defeated. ! have been robbed. | have
| been held up and my pockets gone
| through. | have been deceived. l have
| been misled. ! have been betrayed and
murdered in the house of my friends. T.
made Morris master. AT Baltimore
there was an uprising against him. The
order split because | made him master,
| and yet ! carry no malice, no i'll will
| have not been hurt personally, because
| | was the choice of my brethren but
| the integrity of the order has been as
! saulted, and the expressed win of the
! people has been defeated and a man
| has arrogantly and arbitrarily declared
| himself to be master for two years. 1t
| stands to reason If he can declare him
| self master one time and the people
| fail to rebuke him, he can declare him.
] self Grand Master a second time, and il
| he can declare himself Grand Master
| for two years why can he not declare
| himself Grand Master for FIVE, twenty
| or for a lifetime? That's the PROPOSE
ton that the order is up against 1t is
not my fight; 1t is not my personal am
bition that l should seek vindication,
| but the honor and integrity of the or
| der. | wanted to render the order
| service. | had no desire to be Grand
Master Georgia is big enough. good
enough and great enough for me. But
was confident that | could render the
order a service that no man in America
could render; that ! could build up an
order in America worth millions, just az
| | had built up one in Georgia worth
one-haf million. No. there is nothing
selfish on my part. but simply a desire
to serve my brother, and through my
order as an instrumentality serve the
race with a view of raising 1t in char
acter and responsibility in the eyes Of
the American people
| | have not been defeated l have
been robbed. and in Gods own way and
in His own time. WILL serve the peo-
pie. The orders disappointment will
only be temporary, and they win rise
up in their might and rebuke the tyrant
;Nho arrogated to himself authority de
MED him by their votes
(Signed) b. ]. DAVIS.
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