The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1919-06-27

mittee rooms for the Legislature. By
the way. there is no such thing in the
present capitol as a legislative commit
tee room Of any kind.) When the mill
tary establishment moved in it required,
and Is now using, the entire residence
building.
ated the state department of archives,
and the time came to classify and re-
move the records of the state, it was
found the department had nowhere to
| go, and there has had to be erected
In the lobby on the top floor of the
building series of stalls and shelves
where these records are stored in the
| open.
In the past few months the unsani-
| tary and congested condition of the
basement under the capitol became such
| that the state health department, which
has been housed there for years, had to
move. To provide place for them
Governor Dorsey, on his own RESPONSE
bility, rented another residence building
the jackson property which the Legis-
lature had twice refused to buy-and
that is wholly devoted to the use Of this
| one department.
A portion of the state agricultural de-
the first floor into the basement of the
capitol building because Of lack of other
accommodations and, when the state bu
reau of markets was created and Offices
were required, it became necessary to
eliminate and tear out one of the tot
| lets on the first floor, overhaul that space
director
And still there is not one legislative
committee room in the entire building,
nor sufficient room for the appellate
courts, since in at least one instance a
| blind flooring has had to be run in half
way down from the ceiling in one of the
rooms, in order to make it into two
rooms.
Why the Governor Says Settle It
These are the conditions at the capitol
! AT the mansion there is an even worse
state of affairs. During the admins
tration of Governor Harris, and his oc-
cupancy of the mansion, its unsanitary
and dilapidated condition caused him to
make complaint to the Legislature, and
effort then was made to make other pro-
capitol removal as an issue to be
settled first
Last winter, during Governor Dorsey's
occupancy of the mansion-he is still liv-
ing there because the state provides no.
where else for him to live-physical and
sanitary conditions at the mansion grew
still worse The plastering fell from the
walls the water pipes froze ard burst;
unsatisfactory.
Toward the end of last year Governor
Dorsey made the flat statement
capitol removal issue must be settled
one way or the other" He said, as he
has since repeated, that it has become
it is voted on by the people and gotten
out of the way; that it is standing in
the way of development, repair and ex-
pansion of the states properties to meet
the actual pressing demands.
While these are probably not his exact
words, this is the substance of his COM
ment on the situation at that time, and
as it has been printed and repeated by
him since: 1T is an issue that must
be brought to an end 1t appears that
it will keep coming, up and getting in
about the mansion or an annex to the
capitol until the people have ended it.
Therefore, it ought to be submitted to
the people as quickly as possible, and
to Macon, let's know it and go ahead
and build adequate facilities down there.
If they are not going to move it, then
let them unite our hands and let's go
ahead and do the things that are neces-
Sary here"
1t is not by any means to be taken for
granted, either, that the governor hasn't
a future interest in what the people
of the state do on that score for in his
conversation on the subject, he has left
no room for mistake as to his sentiment
quite naturally is opposed to removal of
, the capitol from Atlanta; so much SO
that he has made it known when the vote
on it he he T go to the ballot box
lit remain here-but he has been suf-
ficiently broad not to side-Step the is
sue; he has been big enough to say clear
y that he wants to see it settled; set
tied now.
Here Is What Is Needed
AS an outline of what the future con-
sion somewhere in or near Atlanta, if
the people vote that way. 1t will likely
be somewhere in the Druid Hills, and
will be a building COMFORTING with the
dignity of d governors mansion. There
must be an annex building sufficiently
large to house the entire department of
agriculture and it's sub-branches; the
state board of health; the state military
department; the state geological depart
ment; the state department of archives,
and possibly some of the other smaller
will have to be bought adjoining the pres
ent capitol, on the opposite side of the
street. the buildings now thereon will
have to be wrecked and a new structure
must go up. When this is done the pres
ent capitol needs and will have to have
These are the necessities. They are
why the governor has taken the demo-
cratic view he holds in respect to ter
mination of the issue.
On the other hand if the people vote
vision must be made down there, in a
manner satisfactory to the people of the
state, for the erection of a handsome
Georgia marble state building sufficiently
large to meet all those requirements the
present capitol doesn't meet now and for
the future, and a suitable mansion for
the governor will have to be provided
Those, however, are the things which
the two factions will have to present
to the satisfaction of the people of the
state whea the question is submitted
for q popular vote. 1t will be then that
the comparative advantages to the state
will have to be drawn and the business
trade with the people of Georgia will
have to be made.
In middle and north Georgia there are
state officials who have been consult
ed, men familiar with the situation as
it exists and with the status of the
states property here and the hopeless
ness of improving it until there is a
popular vote, who view the situation in
the identical light as does the governor
that the issue must be settled and the
handicap removed, one way or the other,
so that the state. may move forward.
Only One Legislative Point
Insofar as the state legislature is con-
cerned, there is but one point to be COW
cred: Is there an issue involved?
The highest constituted body in state
government has fixed the manner of
disposing of such an issue, when the
constitutional convention said by ordi-
nance it must be settled by the people,
if in future (after the sitting of that
convention) the location of the capitol
should be brought into issue. The con-
vention did not say, nor can the state leg
isIature say, that the capitol must be |
moved, or must stay where it is. The !
people of Georgia are sole judges of !
that. What they say at the next gen |
eral election is the verdict under which |
the state must proceed. And then i'm |
on, or new building can be provided. |
The measure submitting it to the |
people is expected to pass through the |
legislature before the middle OF the ses- |