Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-05
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|GEORGIA,{m
.POLITICS*Y
\ 4W JANIS B. NEYN EU

The failure of the National House
of Representatives to provide for a
standing committee on woman suf-
frage is largely credited to the sin
cere hostility of Representative
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
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 practical certainty that
the issue on the floor of the House
could not be favora BILE to those advo-
eating the proposed new committee.
Mr.. Hardwick has deep seated con-
Victtons 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.. Hardwick's district, as we'll as
elsewhere in Georgia, 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 Ha r6 wick and
Watson get together on anything, but
that they are ogether in this particu
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
1t is a 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 il
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
a 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 a 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 inf1ict-
ed upon persons guilty of certain
crimes, now take a 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
willie furnishes an illustration of
the morbid curiosity of human
beings. There was man who
had been condemned to death. A
thousand people left their daily
tasks and went to the scene in
order to witness the grewsome
spectacle of mans life being
taken. The inference is that they
took plea sure in seeing this man
die, else tney would not nave
been present.
Noting this, The Augusta 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 to capital
punishment. And il is a 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 S. Wade. named to
succeed Judge Robert Pottle on the
bench of the State Court of Appeals,