Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-25
REFORMS CARRY
BUT CHARTERS
DEFEATED
Mayor Woodward Declares De-
feat of New Plan Is Death
Blow to the "Ring,"
Continued from Page l..

come now. and with it that little
ring that has been trying to domi-
nate every phase Of politics here will
disappear from the face Of Atlanta.
The people have thoroughly repu-
dated them
The adoption Of the initiative, ref
! Crcndum and recall provisions is liza
Bile to play a significant part in future
/ politics of Atlanta. BY the signing of
"a petition by 25 per cent Of the reg
! istered voters citizens may call an
/ election on the recall Of any Council
man. board member or head Of de
/ partment If a majority of the voters
! declare tor his recall he is recalled
/ and his successor is elected BY the
same method provided for the filing
| of vacancies in any other instance.
| All such vacancies win be filed either
/ by Council or the board in charge OF
the department affected.
People Can Call Election.
The initiative provision gives the
! people the right to call an election to
pass any ordnance that may be de-
sired by getting up a petition signed
by 10 per cent of the registered
voters
II Council passes an unpopular act
Of legislation the people can call an
election TO determine whether it shall
| be sustained or declared void by get
ting up a petition Of Is per cent O.
the registered voters This is the
| referendum
Marks Entrance of Reform.
The action of the voters yesterday
In adopting these measures that have
become 50 popular in many of the
Western states marks the entrance Of
'Hls reform into Georgia government.
Mayor Woodward pointed out that
with the recall provision Councilman
who refused to allow the people to
vote on genuine charter reforms could
be Withdrawn from office. ..
II was expected that there would
| be light vote Wednesday but the
fact that only 300 ballots were cast
was surprise to leaders of both
Factions. The election managers al
| lowed only 1851 votes to countf "a
tickets being Improperly marked
After the noon hour charter advo-
Gates admitted privately that the doc
ument would be defeated. But they
] would not admit the adverse vote was
due to the bitter fight made on II
| by Woodward
We educated the people SO we'll
against new charter during the last
two commission government agita-
lions that they are afraid of anv new
| charter said Alderman James r
Nutting. They would have voted
| against commission government
Wednesday just as readily as they did
| against the new charter
No Credit Given Attacks.
Mayor Woodward's charges that
! this new charter was the instrument
! of ring has had little to do with
/ the voting. l don't believe the intel
ligent people of Atlanta take that
] 'lI'Ai Sc seriously.
If there is any real significance in
the election Of Wednesday. it is thar
! the people of Atlanta are satisfied
! with the present form of government
They don't want any sort of A now
charter. The very small vote proves
that"
Though politician generally are
greatly disappointed by the result Of
the election, the general opinion IS
that they will continue to stand firm
/ against any radical charter reforms
Like Alderman Nutting. they do not
interpret the election as reputation
! Of their stand against the sort OF
charter urged by Mayor Woodward
and his supporters.
Judge George Hil1ver, chairman o.
! the campaign committee that SUD
ported the charter, gave out unique
/ and interesting interview on the re-
suit. He said:
Judge HiIIyer's Comment.
/ The proposed charter did not 20
| far enough, and l think the result is
due to the fact that the people are o.
| posed to the commission form of gov
| eminent. They ar against making
the changes suggested, even though
! an Improvement, for fear it might
open the way to another fight for
Dlacing despotic power in the hands
Of a few. So they preferred to let the
! DraSpDt Char+ar stand
If it had been proposed to in
I crease the membership Of the Council
so that about every 800 voters could
have their own Councilman. locally
! elected by them, without dictation
/ from the outside or by anyone bIt
! themselves, and thus make the form
! Of government even lore represen-
tatIve and democratic than it is. then
/ the result might have been different.
! But the city is tired of charter agi-
tation. The despotic commission form
! of government VIII be defeated. in nv
opinion, worse than il was two years
ago. if the misguided factions who