The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1916-05-07
coRB's HERO TO THE FRONT.

Of all youngsters capable of grand
stand play at the right time, Herbert
Clay, of Marietta, right now heads
the list. Cobb county in late years
has seldom had a bit of excitement
that was not capped by this youngster
in an act or utterance that hit the
bulls eye.
We remember Herbert as loud
noise in all the big Hoke steam roller
conventions of the past few years. But
he never got quite as far on previous
occasion as he did in Macon last week
when the state democrats were in con-
vention.
This same young man was always on
hand, and if you will believe us, he
can make noise. There is not man
in Georgia who can better fill the Ma
con auditorium with convention up
roar. And he always had fussy
crowd with him. That crowd repre-
sents Cobb county at all political con-
ventions. When Hoke spoke, the echo
always came back with Herbert Clay
and Old Cobb's bunch in the van of
glorious shout and hullabaloo. Her
bert and his friends. it seemed to US,
formed part of the steam roller, that
put Hoke's wishes right into the
Threats of all the people whether
Hokes wishes suit or not.
Now listen at Herbert if you WILL
he found quite different crowd in
Macon this time and it must not have
taken long for him to get on to the
way things were going:
81 don't think there is man in
Georgia who will question my de-
mocracy or my loyalty to the DOM
ocratic party; that stands for it's
elf. But am too much of demo-
crat to submit to any two men
coming down here-or any three
or four men, for that matter-and
going into room and making out
a list to be handed to us to vote
for because they say so; am too
much of a democrat to submit to
any two or three men getting into
a room and compiling a set of re-
strictions and handing them out to
us for adoption, under which the
white people of this state shall be
permitted to vote, whether they
be democrats or republicans, or
what not | resent it, Mr.. Chair
man, and for that reason | want to
be recorded as voting against it.
To one who is used to seeing Her
bert Clay and his Cobb county friends
with their shoulders to the wheels of
the steam roller, this is thing almost
unbelievable This is evidence of the
work of powerful influence some
where. There can never be steam
roller in Georgia political convention
without Herbert Clay and the Cobb
delegation at the wheel. Is this meth
cd of doing things politically dead?
What hopeful sign This utter
ance of Clay at our recent democrat
ic convention, if it is representative,
is one of the most fitting funerals a
great political regime ever had Tom
Hardwick and Hoke Smith are not
used to the ways of convention like
that in Macon last week.
If we have the right information, it
was convention over which steam
roller methods could not have pre-
vailed The representative methods
employed, the evenness of procedue
and the real sober minded democracy
that filled the convention, was moth
ing short of marvellous. 1t was a con-
vention whose every act came nea:
pleasing all Georgia democracy. 1t
is now ten years since Georgia had
such a convention and the state has
cause to be proud of the good beha-
vior of its politicians.
A HDANE cITIIATInM