Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-12
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BY JAMES 3. NEV.N,

fees paid officers in Georgia, advo-
Gates of reform In that manner Of
compromising public servants are
now able to quote some substantial
ana significant figureE.
For instance, John p Ross. Solicit
tor General of the Macon circuit re-
ceived a net compensation of approx
nlatelY $4,000 during the year 1913
according to his sworn statements to
the Comptroller General This is the
latest" record IL re history OF that
office and is attributable largely &c
he number OF heavy fines in prohibi-
ton cases. The Solicitor. under the
fee system made $3.50 in the Macon
and $4,000 In the Houston and CraN
ford superior courts
The income OF other Bibb County
officers on the fec system, as now
disclosed for the first time by the
Law requiring quarterly statements,
was as follows: Sheriff, $3.50; Clerk
OF Superior Court, $500; Clerk OF
CITY Court, s640o; Tax Collector,
$500; Tax Receiver, $4,000; Ordi-
merry, $4,000.
Figures throughout the entire State
may now be had bearing upon the
operation of the fee system, and those
cited from Bib are merely set forth
as an example. In very many coun-
ties the fees run far short of those
quoted, of course. while in some few
others they run higher.
The figures quoted from Bibb,
moreover, are by no means conclu-
sive, save az they affect one side Of
the argument for and against fees.
There are many expenses attached TO
the various offices concerned, and
they must be set off, In fairness
against the total figures returned. It
Is the net income OF the offices, prop
erly conducted, that finally will settle
the controversy.
There is much division of opinion
among members Of the Legislature as
TO the fee question, and It likely will
be a long time before salary systems
are generally substituted At the
same time, the figures being returned
from the various counties are ex-
tremely interesting. and when the
entire State Is made up, those who
oppose the present system likely will
be heard from again in the Legisla
tive halls, most emphatically!
Representative Robert n. Harde-
man of Jefferson County, a veteran
member Of the General Assembly, and
by long odds the best dressed man
therein, is in Atlanta for a day or so.
Mr.. Hardeman bedazzled his ru-
merous friends and admirers in Al
lanta this trip with a lovely checked
gray suit. elegantly backsrounded by
a vince oored vest of striped silk.
The tout ensem ble--includins Mr..
Hardeman, of course-was most en-
gaging.
There once was a Legislature away
back Wonder wherein somebody dis
puted Bob" Hardeman's sartorial su-
premacy. but the disputing party
didn't get by with il. and since that
time Hardeman's right to be known
as the champion best dressed man in
the Georgia Legislature has gone I'M
challenged.
The race for Congress in the First
District between Representative
Charles G. Edwards and former Rep
resentative J. w. Overstreet is said
to be more than warm and decidedly
uncertain as to outcome
Overstreet served part of term
in the House several years ago, as
the successor to Judge Rufus Lester,
and has been possessed of a more or
less rampant ambition ever since to
return. Edwards went into Congress
originally by a rather narrow margin
of votes, and after a long convention
deadlock; and, while he has been re-
turned continuously since his first
election, he never has had exactly
"cinch" on the Office. He is good
fighter, however. and has managed to
keep his fences in pretty fair shape,
and it will be no child's play to beat
him.
Mr.. Overstreet is a tireless cam
paigner has decidedly winning way
with voters, and his friends are very
aggressive in their claims for victory
to his banners this time. And it is
fact that he is showing very fine
form, indeed, in some of the counties,
notably Bulloch, Screven and Bryan.
Whether he will defeat Mr.. Ed
wards is, Of course, problematical, but
that he will give him the race of his
life, and perhaps defeat him, seems
abundantly assured.
Already tie approaching com
mencement and sweet girl graduate
season has been brought to the at
tention of the Governor, and he has
received half a dozen or more invi-
tations to be the Orator of the day"
upon as many such occasions in June.
AS the Governor can not possibly
attend more than four or five COM
mencements, II is likely that those
who ask first and early will get what
they wish.
Not that this department OF uplift
in The Georgian is undertaking to
start something" in the Governors
direction, however,
If anybody had any doubts as to
Judge Augustus W. Fite's perfect
Willingness to rush in where angels
fear to tread now and then, ii will
be noted that recently in a charge to
jury he gave it as his deliberate
opinion that "all school children
should be kept in until in the aft
ernoon, at least. and maybe longer."
The judge will have to square that
up with a lot Of those kids somehow
" hen, after while, he awakes some
fine day to find they have grown to
be voters
Ordinary Harry Johnson, of FLOYD
County, is in Atlanta for day or So
looking after some details OF the forth
coming pension distribution through his
office