The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-07-01
Speech of Honorable
William M. Howard


against war until it became inevita-
BILE. did not despair of honorable
peace until resolutions had passed
both houses, either of which meant
war. | voted, as l believed, for the
best interest of that people across
whose every home the black shadow
of war has lain for 80 years, one on
whose business interests for the last
third of century grim visaged war
has sat like the Old Man of the Sea,
consuming our energies, blocking
our enterprise and sapping our
strength The people of Georgia
were opposed TO war. 1t was not
from fear of war that they opposed
! it. A hundred battlefields made red
with the blood of her sons freely
poured out testify in language more
eloquent than words their courage
Gus devotion to a cause in which they
believed" On March 81, 1898,
when Grosvenor of Ohio was advo-
eating the annexation of Cuba Judge
Griggs, interrupting his speech, de-
clared against annexation, but insist
ed that the United States should con-
tent herself with assuring Cuban in
dependence by the maintenance of
the Monroe doctrine, practically the
solution congress finally adopted. He
voted against the permanent reten-
ton of the Philippine islands on the
well supported ground that we did
not owe it to the Filipino to guaran-
tee his independence or to civilize
him by Western standards. He pro-
tested against appropriating twenty
millions of the money of his people
to violate the liberty of another peo
pie and to impose upon them against
their will an alien government. He
voted against the annexation of the
Sandwich Islands for these reasons
and BECAUSE he did not believe theml
to be necessary to the defense of the
country. Isolated as they were in /.
the Pacific, he maintained that their
defense must always be equal to and
greater than the power of attack or
they would be lost to our flag, and
were thus a useless burden upon our
blood and treasure.
Turning to the problems of domes-
tic affairs we find him introducing
resolution in the first year Of his
service so to amend the constitution
of the United States as to make an
income tax constitutional. This res
olutien sprang from his strong sense
of injustice in our federal system of
taxation whereby wealth escaped the
burdens of government and at the
same time was usurping its powers
to enrich itself. An income tax will
be one of the chief benefits to the
people resulting from democratic
control of the government. In jan
uary, 1898, he introduced a bill to
continue experiments with free rural
mail delivery. The money then ex-
pended amounted to some 100000,
and the service now requires some
$4,000, 900 And to no man in this
country is more credit due for the
rapid extension of this most valuable
service than Judge Griggs. He was
in the thick of the fight to reform the
laws regulating second class mail
matter, lessen the cost to the govern
ment, diminish the enormous deficit
in the postal revenues and thereby
extend rural delivery and hasten the
day of penny postage on letter mail.
In this he was opposed by many dem
ocrats, notably Champ Clark, who
urged that the existing system was
an educatiVe force in the lives of the
people, and l give you his reply to
Clark as showing the sense of justice
in the man and his many-sided mind
Here, too, we get a glimpse Of his
creed as to men; here he makes
worth in the individual the supreme
test and the only rightful basis of
distinction between men. He said:
II am not in favor of anything which
cuts off the opportunity of the people
to be educated and benefited in any
way by reading matter sent to them
in legitimate way. I am not in ia
vor of cutting down the rights of the
country newspaper. l have as great
an admiration for the country news
paper editor as my friend from Mis-
scuri (Champ Clark, but I do not
think that the country newspaper ed
itor is any better than the country
lawyer. / know he is no better than
the country doctor, the farmer and
the merchant. He does his duty in
the sphere selected by himself, and
every other man who does the same
thing is as good a citizen and de-
serves no special privilege because
he does his duty"
The war tariff bill of 1898 to meet
the expenses of the Spanish war con-
tanned a provision imposing a tax OF
% cents a bale on cotton. Judge
Griggs fought this successfully and
saved the tax, amounting to $780,
600 to the cotton farmers of the