The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1913-10-03
MANY WORDS OF
APPRECIATION
From Leading Papers of
the Public Service of
Gen. G. 7. Gates

has resigned his office. His friends
have known that for two years ht
contemplated this step. He ha'
postponed action only because Lii
friends have insisted that the STATE
could i'll afford to lose his valuable
services. He feels now, however
that since the death of one of his
law partners, Hon. r. E L. Mount.
castle, he cannot longer postpone
his retirement to private life.
We regret very much that General
Gates has determined to resign
The state needs men of his caliber,
his integrity and his patriotism in
office. 1t needs them more now
than it has ever Leeded them. 1t
will be very difficult task, probably
impossible, to find as General Gates
successor one of his great legal and
forensic abilities, one of his studious
mind and one who will so whole
heartedly devote himself to the best
interests of the state
General Gates has made a great
attorney.general. He has made
the office a great dt ps rtment Of the
state. Before he was elected. eleven
years ago, the general of
Tennessee was little more than the
reporter of the deci ions of the su-
preme court and the state prosecutor
before that tribunal. He leaves the
Office as high In the esteem of the
people as any in the whole scheme
of government. He has been the
trusted and the safe adviser of all
the other departments of the state.
He has successfully conducted to a
final conclusion some of the greatest
legal contests Tennessee has ever
had. He has been courageous
enough to do his duty at all times
REGARDLESS of the consequences.
Gates II cord for the past eleven
years has been a brilliant one. He
successfully prosecuted to the su-
preme court of the United States
the celebrated steel wire case, involv-
ing construction of the revenue
laws of the state. He was success
ful representative of the state before
the same august tribunal in a nums
Der of boundary disputes He sue
cessfully prosecuted the first corpora.
ton custer suit in Tennessee. In
only one important case was his
opinion ever overruled by the su-
preme court, and that was upon the
question of the assessment of local
lied railroad property. He won
the case three years ago for an
honest election law. He defended
with success all of the temperance
acts during his term of office. He
drafted the act that forbids race
track gambling in Tennessee and
successfully prosecuted test case to
the supreme court of the state He
forfeited the charter of an East
Tennessee brewery that persisted in
its defiance of the laws of the state.
He recovered for the state a vast
tract OF land in the Mis-, issippi val
ley This is but brief and hurried
Of the record in office that
will ever be the pride of all Tenn
AS prosecutor of crime before
the supreme court General Gates |
has been highly successful. He has
the details of the cases /
that he has tried. His argument in s
,he celebrated Cooper, case marks J
lim one of the ablest advocates the
state has ever produced. His speech 6
n that case was revelation even t
% his ardent friends, accustomed. |
g they were. to expect prodigies of c
york and effort from his brain.
Charles T. Gates should be in the :
enate. He is admirably equipped
or service in that great dpliberative