Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-08-03
Putting the "OrcAard Test" tt
The Senatorial Candidates

The Senatorial Candidates
TT will be commonly agreed, we assume
that fair way to judge candidates in
the United States Senatorial campaign
low developing in Georgia is by what has
)een called the orchard test-that is, "By
heir fruits ye shall know them"
What has he done? is a more searching
question: than what does he say? It goes
deeper into character 1t is at once practical
and profound. Promises may be abandoned
or forgotten; they may be thwarted or rem
dered meaningless by the whirligig of time.
But performances stand firm as the hills of
Habersham; they are the evidence which life
itself leaves ever in it's wake, the untwistable
truth of what the man has thought and
willed. Criticism is largely matter of
words and points of view. But deeds are
living things, positive realities. And who,
after ALL is the wiser and more useful to the
) world-he who stands aloof from the heat
land burden of the day, pointing to the errors
of others and seeking to snatch the pillow
lines from their hands? or he who goes for
ward as best he can, laundering at times, it
may be; misunderstanding and misunder-
stood but who nevertheless labors earnestly
on and brings the harvest home?
For its own part, The Journal has no con-
: FERN whatsoever with the personalities of
his Senatorial. race Nor do we expect the
rank and file of thoughtful citizenry to be
: mpelled by motives other than a wish to
act for the soundest interests of Common
wealth and country. But we are intensely
: concerned, we believe every loyal Geor-
sian to be, that the State shall have the
4blest representation procurable, to the end
E that her traditions may be borne aloft and
Or peoples welfare subserved. If the object
were merely to play out a game of pygmy
politics, we could afford passions and ~preju-
sdices and all manner of things irrelevant
: But the business before us is infinitely more
serious than a political game. It involves
a choosing that will make for Georgia's good
or i'll through years to come, and that will
affect favorably unfavorably the practical
interests of each and every citizen. Does it
mot behoove us, therefore, to view the cam
paign, not as impulsive factionists but as
men and farmers, as wage earners
md investors, as citizens with vital stakes to
: protect and solemn duties to discharge, as a
x:eople who judge thoughtfu11y and justly,
: aging greater store by useful deeds than by
critical or clever words?
: To appreciate the Importance of "the
orchard test" at this juneture, suppose there
we're no regional Reserve bank in Georgia to-
day, no system of rural credits, no Federal
aid for vocational training, none for the re-
habilitation of our wounded soldiers and vic
TINS OF industrial accident, no assistance to
farmers such the Agricultural Extension
act affords, no safeguards to the cotton
grower against INSCRIPTIONS spectators.
Think what these constructive and protective
measures have meant to Georgia's prosperity.
and then remember that her senior Senator
is the author of them every one Consider
too, that the reduction of the normal income
tax rate is a result of his effort in the SEN
nate Finance Committee; and that the freight
tariff equalization, whereby Savannah and
Brunswick, together with the other South At
civ foir
opportunity to develop their rich resources
came largely in response to the arguments
which he presented before the Railroad Adj
mlnlstration and the Shipping Board. Con-
slider, too, that the parcels post, the Federal
aid road plan, the national merchant marine,
the Government nitrogen plant, with it's i'm
portant bearing on the production of cheaper
fertilizers, all bear evidences of his counsel
and support. Consider, finally that for five
years and against odds we'll nigh overwheIm-
Ing, Senator Hoke Smith fought for fair play
for the cotton producer, and won his battle.
Some say that he waxed too jealous in this
cause, but who will deny that he did it all
for what he conceived to be Georgia's and
ene South's best interests? Suppose that
light had not been made. Suppose the de-
pressing and sometimes des1gnedly hostile in
nuences that flung themselves remarkably
against the cotton growers rights had not
been resisted and beaten back. Would all be
as well with Georgia as it is today?
Senator is known, such the evidences of his
ability and devotion. Are services like these
worth retaining? Or shall the helm be given
over to untried and reckless hands? The
4 situation, we repeat, is all too serious for
political fiddling. It is an occasion for sober
judgment, for thrusting aside of all motives
save those that look to tho Commonwealth
greatest good. And this assuredly is the at
. tituds of the thinking rank and file, if ono
may so infer from the host of citizens (among
them numbers of his sharpest opponents in
times gomez who now are urging Senator
Smiths reelection. Some of these doubt
less will differ with him in the future as in
the past, on certain policies but they know
nevertheless that for effective talent and ripe
experience, for vigilance, and industry, for
long tried, full-sinewed seryiceableness, the
State does not afford his superior, nor the
present Senatorial campaign his equal. For
= the good of Georgia, therefore, and of De-
mocracy as well, factional and personal poll
tics should be put aside Fitness for office
and usefulness to the State and nation should
be made the one standard of judgment. And
by that standard, as borne out in his record
-of fruitful service, Senator Hoke Smith de-
serves reelection. ~s5st.vgI