Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-05
|SIDEL1GHTS on 81
GEORGIA 4|
POLITICS.
| AW JANIS B. NEYN XIV

The failure of the National House
of Representatives to provide for a
standing committee on woman suf-
frage is largely credited TO the sin
Hardwick, Of Georgia. to such an in
novation.
The proposal, it seems, first went to
the Committee on Rules, of which Mr..
Hardwick is an influential member,
and that committee divided evenly on
a favorable recommendation, but
without the vote of the gentleman
from Georgia. Mr.. Hardwick cast his
vote before a rule was reported, how
ever, and he voted against the crea-
ton Of the rev committee, thus
making it a practical certainty that
the issue on the floor of the House
could not be favorable to those advo
eating the proposed new committee.
Mr.. Hardwick has deep seated con-
, victlons against woman suffrage, and
no doubt his misgivings as to the
merits of the same are shared by
many of his constituents; at the same
time there are in Augusta, which is
in Mr.. Hardwicks district, as well as
elsewhere in Georgia, a large number
OF persons who do believe. quite as
ardently as Mr.. Hardwick disbelieves,
in that very thing.
Curiously enough, too, in the mat
ter of woman suffrage, Mr.. Hardwick
and his Nemesis, the sage O. Thomp-
son-otherwise known as Thomas E.
Watson-are in complete accord. Mr..
Watson has no patience whatever
with the votes for women idea.
If isn't often that HardWlCk and
Watson get together on anything, but
that they are ogether in this partlCu-
lar regard shows conclusively that
they CAN get together, anyway.
The question of woman suffrage
never has become an acute issue in
Georgia. and the interest displayed In
it thus far Is scattering, and, for the
most part. passive. At the same time
it is fact that the question is COM
ing more and more into the pubic
eye every day, and those who observe
political events closest in the State
are free in their predictions that 1t
will become an issue to be reckoned
with sincerely before many more
years have passed. Just as it has be-
come an issue-and a victorious is
sue, too-in very many States in
other parts of the Union
The Columbus Enquirer Sun notes
growing tendency in Georgia to OPP
pose capital punishment, and the OBJ
servations of the Columbus paper are
noted with a measure of cautious APP
prevail by The Augusta Chronicle.
The Enquirer Sun, in recent is
sue, said
Quite a good deal of discus
sion is INDUCED in these days
concerning the adjustment OF
capital punishment. Sentiment
in favor OF doing so appears to
be growing. Many who formerly
believed that it should be inflict-
eG upon persons guilty of certain
crimes now take different view.
They doubt whether or not men
have right to make a law that
deprives man of his life.
A recent hanging in Gaines
vile furnishes an illustration of
the morbid curiosity of human
beings There was q man who
had been condemned to death. A
thousand people left their daily
tasks and went to the scene in
order to witness the SrewSone
spectacle of 2 mans life being
taken. The inference is that they
took pleasure in seeing this man
Ole. else tneN WOuid not nave
been present.
Noting this. The Aueusta'Chronicle
comments after this fashion:
In Augusta when, in court, the
business of selecting a jury to
try a capital case is entered
upon. numbers Of men go Off
for the reason that they are con-
scientiously opposed 70 capital
punishment And il is fact that
the number so declining to serve
on such cases is increasing each
year.
All of which shows that the senti
ment against capital punishment, for
one reason and another. is spreading
in Georgia, healthily and surely
Judge Payton 5. Wade, named to
succeed Judge Robert Pottle on the
bench of the State Court of Appeals,
Is one of the most scholarly men in