Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-01
Il Plain, UnUarnished Record
Versus Ridiculous abuse

TO Georgian to the manner born will be
nj deceived by partisan efforts to divert
~ attention from the vital issues in the
Presidential primary through ranting abuse
of Senator Hoke Smith. That robustious
school of politics has torn passion to tatters
all too often to draw more than fatigued
smile from the informed and native public.
Late corners to the Commonwealth, however,
may be puzzled to account for the melodra-
matte stride the air-sawing gesture, the pea
nut gallery gaze, the hoarsely DelloWeo
Courses on We" that instantly became the role
in certain quarters when Senator Smith en-
tered the primary. If such beW1ldered on
lockers there are, we beg of them not to Judge
all Georgia. nor even the little company OF
PLAYERS now stamping the stage, by this mo-
ments outburst The State is in no wise hys-
terical; and after while our vltuperatlv,e i've
friends themselves will lay aside the tragic
mask and admit that, although there was
method in their madness, they decidedly over
played the part.
What the foes of the senior Senator may
saw against him or what his friends may say
for him is not so important as what the record
itself decIares-that indisputable record OF
Georgia and American history whose aim it
is. .snothing to extenuate, nor set down aught
in malice" Whoever cares TO consult THIS I'M
PARTIAL witness will find that Hoke smith mas
done many a. serviceable deed Tor MS COM
him as a youth Of twenty-one defending the
integrity of the ballot against carpet oag IN
yasion defying the bayonet rule under WHICH
the South then 1abored. They Will flnd MIN
as chairman of the Fulton Democratic EAecu-
five Committee a leader in the hard, grim
battles of Reconstruction, and later pioneer
in the larger fields of Southern educatlon.
They will see him in 1898 called to the 1ore-
front of President Cleveland's ADMINISTRATOR
the Youngest Cabinet member ever known,
oY1d
Georgian to be honored in that capacity since
tho breach between the States. They WILL
see him as Secretary Of the Interior puttlng
an end to Federal pension nauds tnaC
were costing the people millions, and at the
same time fully protecting the interests ol
every rightful beneficiary.
Looking further, they will recognize him
as an outstanding exponent Of liberal as OPP
posed to reactionary thought in Georgia pol
itics and will judge of his appeal TO the pub
lie mind by the fact that in the memorable
Governors race of 1906 he carried one hun
dred and twenty-five of the one hundred and
forty-eight counties, carried tnem over
whelmingly a gainst four of the most distin-
guished and personally popular opponents
that ever a candidate faced. Two years later
they see him defeated for reelection; but
with the cooling lapse of still another two
years, they see him returned to the Gov
ernor's chair his constructive policies vindi-
Gated Next they will note his selection by
a decisive majority to fill the unexpired term
of the lamented Senator Clay, and will OBJ
serve that in his subsequent race before the
people he was elected, receiving one hundred
and thirty thousand votes-one of the most
emphatic tributes in the States annals
This is the man and this the record that
1nsensate partisanship now attacks as though
he were guilty of high crimes and misde-
meanors. To what specific acts do the wagers
of this wild war against character and achieve
ment refer? Is it the Smith-Lever law, that
monumental measure which has done more
for the agricultural interests of the South and
of the common country than any other one
piece of legislation-is it this that they so
bitterly resent in Senator Smiths record? Or
is it the Smith Hughes Vocational Educa-
ton law, or the Smith-Feares act for the re-
Mobilization of disabled soldiers, or the pend
ing Sm1th-Towner bill, providing for, a Secre-
tary of Education in the Presidents cabinet
and for fund of 500, 100000 to promote
public educational interests? Do they de-
nounce the senior Senator for his persistent
and fruitful labors in behalf of Georgia
schools, Georgia farms and Georgia ports? Or
are they bursting with indignation because
as one of the leading trainers of the Federal
Reserve law he stood out for amendments
which made it possible for three regional
banks to be established in the Cotton
States, whereas none might have been
here as the measure was originally proposed
Or are they incensed because, largely throu oh
his endeavors, the Reserve Bank for the Sixth
district was allotted to Georgia instead OF
to Alabama or Louisiana? Do they consider
it traitorous in Senator Smith to have saved
Camp Gordon and Camp Benning from being
blotted from the map as Republican partisans
of the House and Senate had DESIGNED and
well-nigh accomplished? Can they deny fol-
moment that in all which pertains to the
business, the agricultural and the educationa al
interests of Georgia, and of the common coun-
try, he has been unfailingly vigilant and con.
structive? Or can they pretend that work
like this deserves no better appreciation than
headlong abuse?
AS to the senior Senator's wartime serv.
ices, the record again is the one fair court
of appeal. Not even his intensest political en-
envy can gainsay that in the winter of 1915
16 he urged immediate and full-sinewed prem.
aration for the emergency which broke upon
us the following spring, and that long ere this
he pleaded for army and navy expansion in
spite of pronounced opposition to that policy
on the part of number of other Democratic
leaders. 1t cannot be gainsaid that he spoke
and voted for the arming of our merchant
ships, his warmth of argument in that con