Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-30
SIDELIGHTS|
ON POLITICS
BY JAMES 8. NEvIN.

BY JAMES 3. NENIN.
The newspapers throughout the
State are commenting nowadays
rather caustically upon the. wretched
and uninhabitable condition of the
/ Governors Mansion in Atlanta.
I Not only is it generally agreed that
the ramshackle old barn is alto
gether out of date. antiquated, and
insanely situated for the purpose it
serves, but besides that it actually is
falling down in spots!
| Long ago the plastering overhead
in one of the bedrooms fell down with
dull and sickening thud, and a short
time before that Governor Brown,
| only by nimbleness of foot and quick
| ness of eye, succeeded in jumping
from under a similar precipitation of
| overhead ceiling in another room.
Just when the dining room may
take a tumble to itself no prophet or
son of a prophet will say. although
| the hope is universal. of course, that
when it does fall, 1t will not bury the
Executive or Mrs. Slaton beneath the
wreck!
The Executive Mansion in Atlanta
is a joke-and not pretty or fas-
cinating joke, at that!
| If a Governor were not sentenced
to live in it, so to speak, few of them
| likely would care to do so.
To be sure, its historic and hon
orable associations are pleasant and
| inspiring things to think upon-if
only one could sit in the Mansion and
| think upon them without being 81
simultaneously in mortal terror that
! something heavy, plastery and not at
] all nice might fall upon him at any
moment and mangle him beyond rec
/ ognitioni
\ The Executive Mansion would
| make a first-rate fourth-rate board
| ing house-maybel
| II certainly isn't much of a place
| for a Governor of Georgia to reside
Anent the Mansion, The Oglethorpe
Echo says:
A fortunate absence probably
| kept Governor and Mrs. Slaton
from being injured by falling
plastering in the Governors Man
! sion a few DAYS since. It's a
shame that as great a State as
Georgia should not have a home
in which her Chief Executive
could at least reside in safety.
And there are others that say the
| same thing-many Of them!
The death of Representative Rod
denbery has brought forth numerous
tentative candidates for his place in
| Congress.
Among them are H. NJ. Mcintosh, of
Albany; Judge Frank Park, of Syl-
vester; w. w. Banks, Of Triton; Ros-
coe Luke and Judge H. W. Hopkins,
of Thomasville; w. A. Covington and
W. c. Vereen, of Moultrie; John P.
Knight, of Nashville; John DonaI-
son, of cambridge, and Jesse Perry,
of Camilla.
And there likely will be more men
toned hereafter, as the game yet is
young!
The recent Mayoralty election in
Macon split the Legislative delega-
tions, present and past, wide open.
Wallace Miller, one of the candi-
dates for Mayor, is a member of the
House, and he was bitterly opposed
by Minter Wimberly, another men,
Der
Senator Mcneil favored and worked
for Miller, while Roland Ellis. a for
mer Senator, favored and worked for
| smith. Walter before, a member of
the last House, was with the Miller
crowd, while Ben Fowler-where was
Ben IN that scrap, anyway?
When the Georgia Prison Commits
sion was first made an advisory board
of pardons, its recommendations gen
| orally were followed rather regularly.
once or twice. perhaps three or four
times, Governor Atkinson, e vernor
Terrell and other Executives turned
down the recommendations of the
! Prison Commission, sitting as a bolri
| of pardons, but not often The luIe
| was to accept the findings of the
Commission as approXimating the cor
| rect adjustment OF the particular
problem submitted, and to let it go
| at that
1t was not until Little Joe" Brown
became Governor that the recommen-
dations of the Commission began to
be looked upon as little more than
suggestive and mildly advisory to the
| Executive. And even Governor Brown
| began by following the line of action
mapped out by the Commissioni
Nowadays, however, a recommen-
dalton from the Prison Commission
| Is a step in the direction the petit
toner desires-presuming it to be IA
Vorable-but nothing more Govern
ors have come to turn down Prison
Commission awards as one of the
easiest things they know!
Only Saturday, for instance, Gov
ernor Slaton turned down a major
ity recommendation for a pardon, and
granted a life Communication instead.
In doing that. he followed the recon-
mendation of a minority opinion. No
| Governor considers any petition for
clemency, nevertheless, unless it first
has been thrashed out by the Com
| mission.
There is no way Of limiting a Geo.
gia Governors discretion in the mat
ter of clemency-the Legislature could
not make the Prison Commissions
recommendations binding upon the
Governor, II it desired to. In the
matter of pardons, combinations. ana
so forth, the Governor is final SUI
preme and altogether an arbitrary
authority, The Constitution of the
State gives him utterly untrammeted
powers in that direction. And it is
for this reason. of course. that most
Governors are careful and discreet in
| granting clemency. in any event.