Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-08
ROME AUDIENCE WON BY
SENATOR IN GREAT SPEECH
BY ROGERS WINTER
The Journals staff Correspondent


ROME, Ga, April 6.-Althcugh
Senator Smith exhausted MS
strength and was forced to stop be
fore he finished his speech in Rome
last night, his friends were satisfied
that he said enough and more than
enough to meet the requirements OF
the situation.
That is to say, his audience was
With him long before he closed. They
had not been against him when ne
started. but before he closed they
were plainly for him, outspokeniy for
him. They had voted voted with II MN IN on ma
Tesgue o OF Il @a Aa5zoie
voted with him on the article relat-
ing to manufactures; had emphat1cal-
ly approved by their applause the
senator's position on various other
issues in controversy in the present
campaign.
So it did not matter if he was
forced to stop before he finished. His
audience saw that his strength was
planned that the day had been hard,
with a speech at Dalton in the fore
noon followed by ride In an a,utomo-
bic. over fierce mountain roads in a
ize before he did that he had reach
ed the end of his strength. although
not the end Of his argument. And
when he asked for Barry Wight to
fix hin. a spoonful Of aromatic
spirits of ammonia in glass of wa
ter, and drank this stimulant and
still was unable to go on with his
speech. the audience gave him q
laundering round of Whole-hearted
applause, as much as to say: you
with you. Take care of your strength
and don't worry yourself about Floyd
county" And then they got up and
filed slowly out Of the auditorium,
and see how the senator seemed to
be feeling as he sat upon the stage
with many around him expressing
sol1c1tude, congratulating and ring
| ing assurances that they were going
l. Taxing Els Strength
+ The truth Of the matter is that
/ Senator Smith has lions fighting
heart but not lions fighting
strength. The attacks made upon
him by his enemies in this campaign
have reused him to a pitch of in
tense indignation.
He stood up in the senate five
Years ago and fought for the right
Of his constituents to sell their cot
ton without interference in the mar
Wilson sided with him in that fight,
land the fight was won. Yet now his
enemies make the charge against him
4 that he was pro-German, when if
Isuch a thing be true then it neces-
sarily follows that President Wilson
and Secretary Lansing were likewise
pro-German, for Mr.. Lansing wrote
the note at the presidents direction
that forced Great Britain in the fall
lof 1914, and again in the spring of
1915, to permit our cotton to be ship
lped to the ports Of northern Europe,
4 or to compensate us for it when the
II shipments were stopped.
II And Senator Smith stood up in
Il the senate after the war ended and
u fought for the right Of the American
IIpeople to determine for themselves
II whether they should take part in the
L worlds future wars, when an inf
nitely easier political course was to
{ do what was asked by President Will
t son in his demand for ratification of
t the League of Nations covenant
: enemies would cruelty him because
cIhe asks for his own country and his
4 own people a similar right Of self
Il determination which the president
II declared in his Paris speech that ev-
Z cry nation and people must have be-
II fore permanent peace could ever be
II established in a war-weary world.
II When Senator Smith gets into
t these issues in his speeches, there
Il rises up in him the same hot flame
Of indignation that rises in the heart
Il Of every true American whose right
! Of opinion is taken from him. And
with his. lions fighting heart he
plunges into combat But then his
strength fails him, for though he has
4 the lions lighting heart he has not
4 the lions fighting endurance.
And that was the reason he was
| forced last night to stop before he
II finished. That was the reason why
his speech in Dalton yesterday ex-
I hausted his strength. That was the
! reason why his speech in Gainesville
Al Saturday afternoon Slapped the last
-lounce of his endurance.
Enemies Batting Him
He may have to stop and make no
! more speeches. Two physicians IN
Dalton yesterday two physicians in
81 Rome last night, solemnly warned
him that he must not exert himself
/ too much. But whether he stops or
! does not stop, he will not surrender
t to his enemies. They forced the fight
t upon him and have kept up their
{ aght from every angle except the
Not one of them has offered to
H meet him on the stump and look
II MIN in the eye and make the charge
4 that he was pro-German in his fight
4 for cotton. Not one of them has Of
4 fered to confront him on the plat
I form and make the charge that, he
Il IS d1sloyal because, forsooth, he diff
il ferS with the president on the Lea que
II of Nations 1t is easy to stand out
H side of the cage and bait the lion,
and there are some persons who seem
\ to think it sport, but the time has
Il not come and never will come in
4 Georgia or the nation when men
4 whose instincts are those~of real men
] enjoy that particular form of com.
a bat.
And whether the senator makes
Il his fight upon the hustingS or is
VI compelled to make it through the
4 medium of printed statements one
d tning is certain-he will fight his
|. battle as the lion fights, and not as