The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-07-01
SETTLE CAPITOL LOCATION
BY VOTE, ONCE AND FOR ALL
Even Those Opposed To Removal Are Anxious To See
The Agitation Ended In The Only Way Possible
By Vote Of The People.


opposite the capitol in which to house
me state military department. The con,
gestlon in the capitol had to be relieved
# aiu mere re- was no other way to r sit1S
H. ~ AT the time it was said this bulld-
M mi would afford ample room for the
Iniintary department and several com
ny 1Ittee rooms for the Legislature. (By
lhe way, there is no such thing in the
present capitol as a legislative commit
zee room Of any kind When the mill
oaIy establishment moved in it required
building
More recently, when the legislature ere
aued the state department of archives
anu me time came to classify and re-
found the department had nowhere to
70 ana there has had to be erected
u, hinI 'oboy on the top floor of the
, DIiP series of stalls and shelves
open
In the past few months the unsani
5 tary and congested condition of the
basement under the capitol became such
that the state health department, which
mas been housed there for years had to
T rioEt. 10 provide a place for them
If9IiV.erhor Dorsey. on his own responsi-
ollity' rented another residence building
the jackson property which the Legis-
lature had twice refused to buy-and
mat IS wholly devoted to the use of this
one department.
A portion of the state agricultural de-
partment has had to be transferred from
the first floor into the basement of the
capltol building because of lack of other
and when the state bu-
reau OF markets was created and offices
We're required. it became necessary to
eliminate and tear out one of the tot
let's on the first floor overhaul that space
ana make of it an office for the state
director
And still there is not one legislative
committee room in the entire building,
nor sufficient no IN for the appellate
courts, since in at least one instance a
bhnd 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
Why the Governor Says Settle It
These are the conditions at the capitol
as they stand today.
Al the mansion there is an even worse
state sta of affairs. During the admins
tratlon of Governor Harris, and his oc-
cupancy of the mansion, it's unsanitary
and dilapidated condition caused him to
make complaint to the Legislature, and
EFFORT Effort men was made to make other pro
VISIONS, but the effort was stalled by
capitol removal" as an issue to be
settled first
Last winter, during Governor Dorsey's
occupancy of the mansion-he is still Iiv-
ing there because the state provides no
Where else for him to Metaphysical and
sanitary conditions at the mansion grew
sui worse The plastering fell from the
walls, the water pipes froze and burst;
the mouse was uncomfortable and wholly
unsatisfactory.
Toward the end of last year Governor
that the point was reached when this
capitol removal issue must be settled
one way or the other" He said, as he
mas since repeated, that it has become
1T is voted on by the people and gotten
out OF the way; that it is standing in
tne way OF development, repair and ex-
pansion of the state properties to meet
the actual pressing mands.
While these are bly, not his exact
words. this is the ance of his com
as it has been pr" ID and repeated by
him, since: TT is issue that must
pc brought to an. end. 1t appears that
II VIII 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
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
and intention. He is an Albanian and
quite naturally is opposed to removal of
the capitol from Atlanta; so much SO
that he has made it known when the vote
on 1T comes he will go to the ballot box
end register by his vote his desire that
ut remain here-but he has been suf-
ficiently broad not to side-step the IS
sue; he has been big enough to say clear
ly that he wants to see it settled; set
tied now.
Here Is What Is Needeu
AS an outline of what the future con-
terminates: There is TO he a
sion somewhere in or ne 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 governors mansion There
must be an annex building sufficiently
large to house the entire department of
agriculture and its 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
departments To provide that property
will have to be bought adjoining the pres
ent capitol, on the opposite side of the
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
no little rubbing up and repairing
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
to move the capitol to Macon, then pro-
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 when the question is submitted
| for popular vote. 1t will be then thar
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 ara
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
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 legislatu re is con-
cerned, there is but one point to be Gov
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 peonIe
If in future (after the sitting of that