Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-10


M public servant appears before the
w people of his home city to give ar
account of his stewardship and reason 1ol
tho fai1b that is in him he is entitled, tt
saw the least, to an open-minded and liberal
hearing. It was to be expected, then, tha'
Senator Hoke Smith would be greetee by
large audience at the Auditorium THURSDAY
evening and listened to with peculiarly Keen
interest And that expectation was abundant
Iv fu1flled For however one may regard his
present candidacy, whether with REAR OF
disapproval with settled or uncertain opln'
ion, none will gainsay that citizen who mas
done as much for his CommonWealtn--lts
business, agricultural and educational inter
ests-as Senator Smith as done for Georgia
has 8 right to be heard in answer to his
critics and in exposition of any phase of his
record which may have been called into
question. Particularly is this true when po
litical spite and SANDER go to the extremes
they are now going in onslaughts against q
Georgian who has given his best years and
labors in service to his people
Let it be said at the outset that many who
stand with Senator Smith on the policies
which he represents at this Crucial juncture
of the party's and the nations affairs have
differed with him On previous occasions
and count themselves entirely free to differ
with him again. But was there ever man
who grappled public problems and issues for
more than quarter of a century with whom
divers elements of his constituency did not
differ from time to time? If it were by
occasional disagreements rather than by the
larger standards of service and dependability
that public men were measured, there would
never have been the life work of a Wash
ington.sor a Jefferson, John B. Gordon or
a Benjamin H. HILL ~ c.;
Judged by these larger Standards, Sena!
tor Smiths record ,attests him one of the
most useful Georgians of his generation and
one of the ablest Americans Of his time
The facts of his career speak so plainly and
SO splendidly that all the calumny which
malice rains against him can never obscure
or tarnish them. His traducers can concoct
all manner of falsehoods, just as they did
against woodrow Wilson in the Georgia
Presidential primary of 1912. (And the
public can hardly have failed to notice thai
the bitterest slanderers of Hoke Smith now
were the bitterest slanderers of Mr.. Wilson
them But they can point to no act of his
in substantiation of their blanket indictment
They can specify no vote of his, no in.
stance of omission or commission, to show
that he did not work unreservedly, whole
heartedly and with a patriots tireless zeal
for the triumph of American arms and
American ideals in the World war.
What military or diplomatic measure die
he fail to support? Was it the resolution
passed while we were yet at peace with Ger
many providing for the arming of our mer
chant vessels against U-boat attacks and pro
claiming every Americans right to travel the
high seas unmolested? For that measure
Hoke Smith did more than vote; in the open
Senate he pleaded for it's passage, and with
such warmth that he came near having
personal difficulty with Senator La Toilette
who led the opposition. Was it the declara
ton of war or the army and navy bills i'm
mediately following? The record shows no
only that Senator Smith supported them all
but that long before the emergency came HI
drged full-sinewed preparation, foreseeins
as he did the inevitable crisis. Was it thu
6elective Service bill? His defamers know
well enough, If they have taken any pains t,
inquire, that he was urging the passage O
that measure when some of their own mum
Der were approaching it as timid apoogist
or standing sheepishly non-commital The,
know that while Democratic leaders Iik
I, speaker Clark aLd Congressman Kitchin, to
setner with number of Senators, were work
ing Vehemently against the Selective Service
bill, Hoke Smith was working earnestly fo
1t, although he had good reason to susnec
tnat IN SO doing he was hazarding his no
ntlcal Hfe Yet, today we hear enviou
Dabblers, who were hiding in a norman
land "nen that supreme question was a
issue, denouncing Georgia's senior Senate
as dlsIoyaP' and "un-American."
Ii there Is anything which the neon1o y
This commonwealth detest more deenIv tba,
eltner un1alrness or cowardice, it is unfair
ness ana cowardice combined. Just such i
the combination of the slanderous onse
now directed against Georgia's senior Sena
tor. Let those who oppose him as foemen O
honor use their weapons as they will. Rn
no opponent with a spark of good snorte
manship will deny the Senator's rich service
TO his State; and none with a spark of NOR
al courage will seek to assassinate his char
acter under cover of a political campaign
Hoke Smith has done more for Georgi
through any one Of the great agricultural o
educational bills which he has pressed t
enactment than the entire clique of his dc
famers could accomplish in a lifetime. H
did more toward winning the war throug
single month Of his activity as member @
the Military Affairs Committee and throug
a single day of fearless advocacy of the Sc
ective Service act than the whole tribe G
his traducers ever dreamed of undertaking
They know, il they have SO much as glance
at the record, that he supported every wa
measure, most Of them in their original form
some with clarifying amendments, but a
hal al on1o