Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-13
Labor Leaders Declare Former
Governor Is Endeavoring to Ar
ray Country Against City to Fur
Their His Political Ambitions.
Address on Supremacy Of Law in
Connection With Augusta Strike
Is Called a Studied Effort to
Discredit Workingmen's Cause.

The Georgia Federation OF Labor is
out in a statement ITO the Public In
which It bitterly condemns former
Governor Joseph NJ. Brown for
speech he delivered last year and for
his recent message to the General AS
sembly. Both utteranCes Of the Gov
ernor had blamed striking employees
Of the Georgia Railroad Company and
Of the Augusta street car system for
acts of disorder and the first utter
ance. the Augusta speech of October
20. 1912, voiced the Governors inten-
ton to deal summarily, through an
exercise Of military power, with Of
lending strikers of the future.
To-day's statement of the labor
anions which was authorized at the
AFecent convention of union men.
charges Governor Brown with poIiti-
cal insincerity in his declarations, in
that he attempted, it is said, to array
the country voters against the work.
fngmen Of the city; charges him with
preiudicas favorable to the railroads,
and with partial responsibility for the
> death Of several persons who were
shot by troops in Augusta during the
strike there. The charge of the labor
men is that the action of the troops
was without legal basis.
Question Legality Of Act.
The statement was prepared by an
empowered committee, consisting of
Jerome Jones, editor of The Journal
of Labor; W c. Pickett, third vice
president of the State Federation. and
Louie P Marquardt labor organizer
for Atlanta. The three called to their
aid c. T. Ladson, attorney for the
State Federation. for the discussion
of the legality of the act of 1912, I'M
der which the troops were rushed to
Augusta. The statement in part, fol-
lows:
To the Public:
The speech delivered by the then
Governor, Joseph NJ. Brown, on Oc-
tober %, 1912, at a banquet given
Supremacy of the Law" was full of
venom and misstatements of facts
concerning the recent Georgia Rail
road strike and the previous street
car strike at Augusta, and particu-
larry directed against organized la
Dor.
In his message to the General
Assembly last week the Governor
rehashed his diatribe against or
\ ganized labor.
That he. in such a speech, at
tempted to array the country voter
against the town and city voter is
demonstrably true A more cruel
vet clumsy effort to arouse the
( preiudces of the rural voter against
his brothers who toll upon the rail-
roads, in factories and in work.
ishops has never been exhibited.
While parts Of his fiamboyant adj
dress breathed noble platitudinal
sentiments, other parts were filled
with anarchistic, inflammatory ut
terances. with decided tendency to
subvert law and order.
CHARGE Political Purpose.
The Governor took as his text the
then recent strike upon the Georgia
Railroad The strike had been Vir-
tuallv settled by arbitration, and it
seems the Governor wanted to no.
rirv all and singular, the union rail-
way employees of Georgia that he,
Toseph MaCkey Brown, would not
stand for any more strikes upon the
,a,Ir,ads of the State; and, as We
have calmly stated above, he seems
to have used this subject as pre-