The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1917-06-29
Gov. Harris Delivers
His Farewell Address

i Atlanta, Ca, June 2'.-The creation
of state pardon board, the creation
of a state auditor, recommendation
that the new governor be inaugurated
in January instead of in June, the de-
crease in the number of lynchings in
Georgia, a strong plea for increased
appropriations to the Georgia School
of Technology, exemption of college
endowments from taxation, and the
beneficial results of the prohibition
laws enacted in his ADMINISTRATION
these are the outstanding features of
the farewell message of Governor
Harris read today to the general as
sembly in joint session.
The governor says the arduous task
of passing on applications for execu-
tive clemency should be taken off the
shoulders of the prison commission
and placed in the hands of a special
board of three members created for
that purpose.
In recommending the creation of
state auditor he calls attention to the
| deplorable condition of the states f.
nances and the haphazard manner in
which appropriations are made, adm
in this connection he recommends the
adoption of an up-to-date and efficient
budget system.
He recommends an increase in the
governors salary, recommends an ap-
preparation of $4,000 to pay the cost
of conducting the military registration
in this state on June S, and recon-
mends that provision be made for
keeping permanent and official rec
ord of commissions issued to notar-
les public at large.
He recommends that the state ex-
| pertinent station either be merged
with the state college of agriculture,
or else that the trustees of the latter
institution be made majority of the
experiment station trustees, so that
the state of Georgia can secure its
share of the federal appropriation for
the experiment station.
In reviewing the educational work
of the state he urges that county
school authorities be required to dis
count the governors warrants
promptly so as to pay the teachers
their salaries; urges that the Georgia
Normal and Industrial College for
girls at Milledgeville be empowered
to confer degrees; strongly urges in
creased appropriations for Georgia
Tech; urges that provision be made
tor securing the. states share of the
federal appropriation under the
Smlth-Hughes bill for vocational
training, and recommends that college
endowments be exempted from taxa
ton, which all states are now doipn
but two, of which Georgia is one.
He recommends that the state dis
pose OF the governors mansion, which
has now become a valuable piece of
central real estate, and build another
governors mansion in a more suitable
location.
He strongly recommends the estab-
llshnent of a state market bureau in
the department of agriculture.
He recommends a small appropria-
ton to continue the treatment OF drug
addlcts; recommends liberal appropri-
Iations to combat the boil weevil and
other plant insects and diseases; rec
ommends increased provision for the
state insane asylum; recommends the
passage of laws authorizing the or
ganization of home guards during the
war, and giving them power to per-
form riot duty and to permit them the
use of National Guard armories; and
recommends that the legislature pass
unnecessary legislation to aid the fed