The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1918-12-31
Unjust to Senator Smith.
From Newman Herald and Advertiser.

In its investigation of alleged agencies
and activities for the spread of German
propaganda in this country the department
of justice, through its secret service, has
been making some interesting disclosures re-
Gently. These revelations, brought out in
hearings the past few days before the SEN
| ate judiciary committee, have reflected I'M
pleasantly upon number of American citi-
zens prominent in public life. Among them
| are Senator Hitchcock, of Nebraska, and
Senator Smith, of Georgia, who are accused
| by implication of giving aid and comfort to
| the enemy the specific complaint being that
| they had affiliated at the outbreak of the
war with propaganda organization whose
object was to prevent shipments of NUM-
| lions and supplies to the allied nations at
war with Germany.
| Senator Hitchcock frankly admits that,
| at the time mentioned, he did favor such
| a policy and that he made no concealment
| of his views upon the question; that he had,
| IN fact proposed a resolution to this effect
in the senate, but when the United States
entered the war his convictions upon the
| subject underwent a change, and thereafter
| his loyalty to the government and to the
| American cause was outspOken and sincere.
Senator Smith resents with Indignation
| the intimation that he had any connection
whatever with the movement referred to, or
that he sympathized in the remotest degree
| with its purposes. Smarting under the in
| justice of this imputation he sought a hear
| ing before the senate committee, and made
the following statement
81 know nothing of the American embar-
go conference or its purposes. l never had
relations, dealings or communication of any
character with it or its members. l never
gave the organization support of any kind,
and when the Hitchcock amendment, for
! bidding the expectation of war supplies to
the allies, was before the senate | voted to
| low +ho +oI1 e,,11o a+ e
barge on war supplies was not before any
committee upon which served. and the only
| time-sO far as | can recall-it was before
the senate | voted to lay it on the table.
| Again let me say l never had any connection
| with this association, and | never gave it any
support at any time"
! 'DO you not suppose, senator that that
| is a mere inference on account of the fight
you made in the senate in behelf Of the ship
| ment of cotton abroad?" asked Chairman
| Overman.
Senator Smith replied: "Wel, was con-
scious of the fact that for a while in 1915.
! when / was seeking to enforce the right of
American citizens to ship non-contraband
goods through neutral ports into Germany
and Austria, it was supposed and even
charged by some, that | was seeking to help
Germany. | was entirely Indifferent to the
! Germans. | was moved solely by the fact
| that rights of American citizens were being
| fact that my own constituents who raised
cotton bad been cut off from a large market,
many of them ruined in the fall of 1914 and
! the winter of 1914-15 by the low price of
cotton, caused in large part by the loss of
! their markets. | was conscious of the fact
| that the fight | was making in favor of my
constituents was misjudged in some quarters,
but considered it my duty to secure for them,
| if possible, the right to sell their cotton in
any market to which they were entitled"
| It will be recalled that in the spring of
| 1915 Great Britain placed an embargo on
| shipments of cotton to Germany and Austria,
as we'll as to neutral European ports through
| which consgnments might find their way
! into those countries She enforced this order
/ by selling upon the high seas all cotton-laden
! ships destined for other ports than her own.
! The effect was to tie up in British hands
! thousands of bales of cotton, payment for
which had to wait many weeks upon the slow
processes of the British prize court which
arrogated to itself authority to appraise its
value Naturally this had a depressing eff
| feet upon the home market, already par
! alyzed by the war, and the farmers of the
south suffered losses that amounted almost to
disaster. 1t was at this juncture that Sena-
| tor Smith raised a protest in the senate
against the action of Great Britain in placing
cotton on the cOntraband list, and made
strong speech in support of his position. It
| is only fair to say that his attitude at that
time was warmly approved throughout the
| south, and there were no stronger indorse-
ments of his course than were given by the
people of his own state
| If this is the worst that the secret serv-
ice agents of the department of Justice can
bring against Senator Smith it will not hurt
him in Georgia, On the contrary, it will
help him whole lot