Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-06-28

\ a WOrO WIFI reference W LnS dBII~
| cultural interests of the state; it
seems to me to be especially neces--
sary in this most trying period Of
reimbursement Without the farmer
we cannot feed the state; without
him we cannot clothe it; upon him,
in both war and peace. depends
| both the prosperity and well-being
o. the state When be prospers,. a.
| other business and all other indus
| tries prosper and thrive; when he
suffers, all other business and in
| dustry suffers; if the weeds grow in
| the country lanes, it is not long be-
fore the grass begins to grow in
| the city streets, and that the farmer,
! in this trying neriod of RECONSTRUCT
| ton, has had to carry the brunt of
| the load no we'll informed person
| can deny.
eff may say just word to him to-
| day, I would say Feed yourself first,
before you undertake to clothe the
world Nature has given to the
southern states of the republic a
great monopoly on the production of
cotton, but the financial reward THAI
should follow such a situation can
never be fully realized until the
southern cotton farmer makes his
cotton his surplus crop. When he
does that he will be the financial king
of the world. Until he does it he is
Its slave. So, to the Georgia farm
| err I say today, make your hog and
| hominy' at home and make it first;
| if you do that, and when you do it,
you can then clothe the world on
your own terms. 1t is my purpose to
suggest to the legislature. at an early
date, legislation to assist the farmer
| to find and reach a ready cash mar
yet for all other crops that this state
can and does produce other than cot
| ton. When that is done we will have
real diversifcation in Georgia, and
| cotton will really become it's sur
plus crop. Until some action along
this line is taken either by govern
mental authority, or by organization
| of the farmers themselves, or by a
combination of both. it is both use
less and futile to preach crop diver
sification.
"Just word in conclusion: When I
speak of the farmer 1 think of the
state. Georgia has recently been in
dicted, most unfortunately, and
think unjustly, in the forum of pub
| lie opinion for mistreating the negro,
crimes. 1t is source of deep and
real regret to me that this indictment
comes from quarters that are both
responsible and respectable, and it is
| for that reason alone that I feel i'm
PEELED to say a few words in regard
to it. There has been no year since
| the negro was freed in which the
farmers of this state have done more
for the negro than they have done
this year. No farmer in Georgia
knows whether world conditions,
when the cotton crop is marketed,
will give him back fifty cents of each
| dollar he has put into the ground
this year. Last year he did not do
even that well, and yet the Geor-
gia farmer bravely and manfully has
gone theoretically about his business
and is now cultivating a crop to
help clothe the world, a crop that
may cost him twice as much as it
brings on the market. He has taken
care of the negro, fed him, clothed
him, sheltered him. doctored him, and
now, in a year like this, when he has
| made every imaginable sacrifice to
help the negro. to be charged on high
authority with holding the negro in
! peonage. IS almost more than he can
| bear.
Such a burden at this particular
time. above all others, should not
| have been imposed upon him: it is
| an outrageous, unjustified, and I'M
real basis, in truth and in fact, upon
| which the accusation can rest. 1 as
| sert, measuring and weighing my
| words, that there is no state in this
| "OTlQ,
having within it's limits anything
| like an even division of it's popula-
| ton between the white and black
races, in which the relations between
| the two races are more harmonious
| than right here in the state of
| Georgia.
Not TO Write Pamphlets
| There is no state or country in the
world in which a good, iaw-abiding,
| peaceable negro can live with more
security to his life, his property and
| his rights, than the state Of Geor-
gia. Georgia, Of course, is not free
from crime; throughout the world
there is that seething unrest that al
ways follows in the wake Of great
| war, but I believe and venture to as
sert that the increase in criminality,
that is general throughout the world
is less in this state than it is in
practically all of the others. We of
course have our criminals, both white
| and black, but the percentage of
crime directed by members of the
white race against negroes is exceed
ingly small. The indictment brought
| against the state is untrue, and it
is matter of deep regret to me
| that such a monstrous charge should
have been circulated just at this
| juncture, so calculated to impair the
4 the friendly relations between the
races in our state, and so calculated
| to prejudice the good name of the
state of Georgia in other sections of
the country. Georgia has substan-
TALLY three million people; the usual
and unacceptable percentage of crime
| is unfortunately present among
them, but the indictment of the
whole state, and all of it's people, for
mistreating the black race is an I'M
| speakable SANDER upon our state and
her people, and to the indictment SO
preferred, in the name and behalf of
the state of Georgia L plead Not
guilty
During my service as governor of
this state, so far as the constitution
| and laws of the commonwealth con-
fer any power or authority on me to
act, I solemnly promise to enforce
and uphold the laws of the state: to
| protect all law-abiding citizens,
white and black alike: to vindicate
the majesty and impartiality of the
law, and not to write any Ipamph-
| let's