Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-10-24

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| that the election of a legislature is all
| important, and the election OF governor
matter of secondary consideration.
| would not minimize the extreme impor-
lance Of eleeting a good legislature, but
/ that man stultifies himself who argues
that it is matter of indifference who
is elected governor, on what sort OF a
| platform and under what sort OF inilu-
ences.
Governors Influence.
The Governor of the state eNerts
| tremendous legitimate influence upon
| legislation, and when the power, pres
| tige and patronage of his office are i'm
properly used to influence legislators
and control legislation, he can easily
make himself the balance of power in
well-divided general assembly.
Had it not been tor my veto, the IN
famous back tax jobbery of Dibrell and
Cox would now be a law.
Had it nto been for my refusal to
sign the appropriation bills, the credit
of the state would have been wrecked
and the treasury bankrupted.
Had it not been for my veto, the great
masses of the people VINO believe in the
principles embodied in my platforms
would today be without the hope Of an
honest election.
Had Benton McMillin been your Gov
ernor in 1911 the Baxter election bill
would have been law, and the lawless
saloons and election crooks of the cities
would have counted your votes and the
| friends of decent government would
have stood about the same cnance that
Preston did in the Memphis primary.
| The illustration is both fresh and force
full.
Let me say, also, that no man can
maintain the position that the McMillin
| platform is not fit to elect a member of
the legislature on, but is good enough
to elect Governor on.
The sensible, honorable, patriotic
course for every man who believes in the
principles of the Republican and INDIE
| pendent Democratic platform, is to get
! behind both the state and legislative
| tickets that represent those principles.
Platforms are like religious creeds-
they are valuable only as they are
transpanted into action.
Faces Crisis.
In my judgment Tennessee faces today
the greatest crisis in her history. Think
| not that | make this strong statement
on account of my personal interest in the
outcome My interest is much less than
| you think. | have he'd the governor
| ship without the hope of financial gain.
l have labored day and night for the
welfare of Tennessee. I have borne
many times more than the burden of
one man. As token that self-aggran-
| dizement is not my sole motive, when the
United States senatorship lay at my
| finger tips, to be had at the cost of turn
ing the state over to those from whom
my friends had won it at the polls, l
would not pick it up. Politically, l have
contended for two years with the world,
the flesh and the devil, and have fought
the wild beasts at Ephesus. My oppo-
sition has been unfair, implacable and
dishonest. The liquor press of the state
have violated every rule of civilized war
fare ana journalistic ethics in their
fight upon me. Other public men have
| been permitted to become sick, and even
to die without criticism, but when my
strength failed me under the weight of
work, they misrepresented and ridiculed
my illness. They pictured the cobwebs
in my office chair. They were merely
mistaken in the chair. The chair in
my office which is festooned by eobweb5
is the one formerly occupied by Duncan
Il. Cooper, Prime Minister to Patterson
Nor have the agents of the whiskey in
terests and the pimps of the pardon
bureau busted off chair in the exec
utive office for about twenty months.
| might also drop the thought just
here that | have never been absent from
executive office one hour engaged in
drunkenness and debauchery.
While blazing light of publicity has
been turned on my administration day
and night, no fault of any magnitude has
ever been found, and the criticisms have
been either false or frivolous.
Moving Pictures.
A fair specime of the weighty attacks
made upon me by the liquor press and
echoed by McMillin is their much-ado
in regard to taking the moving pictures
of the state prison and prisoners. Now,
isn't that hefty issue? The pictures
were not taken at the request of myself
or any of the prison authorities, but
upon the earnest request of the picture
makers, and entirely for their accommo-
dation. These pictures are educational
to the public, and harmless to the pris-
oners. Thousands of people have seen
them who will never have chance to
see the prison. People have always
paid gate fee of ten cents to go through
the prison and see just what these pic
lures show. Does that humiliate the
prisoners? 1t is certainly great deal
worse than the moving pictures, for no
body will ever recognize one of the men
in those pictures. The former prison
authorities took this very same picture
OF the convicts entering the dining room
and put it in their published prison re-
port. Wasn't that awful? McMillin
says that he wants to work some of the
convicts on the public roads. | wonder
how he will do that without having them
seen?
Workhouse Gang.
l wish that had moving picture of
the Davidson county workhouse gang on
the public roads, with their. foul cages
and the brutal guard in the act of beat
ing to death a sick and defenseless negro
because he could not work; and then,
to complete the picture, | would want
the court and his hand-picked grand jury
that would not return true bill against
a member of the gang for this cowardly
murder. Perhaps | might cap the climax
by adding the picture of this great law
enforcement judge introducing McMillin
as his candidate for Governor.