The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1921-03-02
Started as Poor Boy; Studied
While Teaching School;
Overcame Eandicaps
Senator-Elect Fathered r. F. D.
Local Railroad Tax, and
Other Measures
BY Frank c. Gilreath
Special Correspondent to
Leader Enterprise and Press

the gilt OF the people; Sandersville
being the home of Governor Elect
Thomas w. Hardwick and Thomson
the home of U. S. Senator Elect Thos-
E. Watson. Mr.. Watson takes office
with the incoming national admins
tration March 4th and Mr.. Hardwick
assumes his duties the latter part OF
June.
Incidents in the life of Senator Wat
son relative to his rise from a plain
freckled-faced country boy to the U.
S. senatorship will prove interesting
Being one of several in a family of
children whose parents began at the
bottom of the ladder, to climb to pros
perity, his boyhood days were full of
hardships barely known to the youth
OF today; hardships best known to
those who lived through the dark
days of the sixties. 1t is only few
miles from the humble abode of his
childhood to the beautiful home that
now stands on the spacious grounds
of Hickory Hill at Thomson.
Forced to Leave College
MIR. Watson was born at the old
plantation home near Thomson, Sept.
9TH, 1856, hence is now in his 65th
year. He attended the high school of
Thomson several years, and from
there went to Mercer University at
Macon, in 1872. At an early age he
developed fondness for books, es-
pecially for historical works. AT the
age OF fifteen he practiced original
composition, both in prose and poetry.
He was compelled, on account of fin
anclal conditions to leave Mercer in
1874. His family was living in Angus
ia at that time and he sought work in
that city, but finding no work to do
he went to Lawton in Burke county,
and after despairing of securing en-
ployment there, he went to Screven
county, where he succeeded in max
ing up small school at Little Horse
Creek Church. While teaching school
he read law at night, the blaze of the
llghtwood knots lighting the pages
OF the Blackstone which a good old
farmer friend had given him.
While he was teaching there in
Screven county he made his first pub
lie speech, the subject being "Tem-
perance".
Mr.. Watson returned to his old
home at Thompson in 1876, and en-
tered the practice of law. His first
years practice yielded him S212
gross, and the second and third wears
OF hard work and assiduous attention
to business doubled his income each
year, his practice increasing until his
annual income reached $4,000. In a
few years he was able to command
larger fees, and in this way was able
to gain comfort and independence,
investing the surplus in farm lands
which he now owns.
Got Railroads Taxed
In 1882, Mr.. Watson was elected 70
the Georgia Legislature where he
served one term. During this term in
the Legislature he aided in the pass
age of an act to tax railroad corpor-
atoms in each county where thew
owned property, and was chosen bv
the committee on Temperance to close
the debate on the Local Option Bill,
which became law In 1883 he was
elector for the State at large on the
Democratic ticket and stumped the
State for Cleveland and tariff re
form. The next year Mr.. Watson
led the fight in Georgia against the
jute-bagging. trust. The success of
this movement so gratified the farm
ers that it created a demand that he
should run for congress, which he
did, and was Overwhelmingly elected.
During his one term in Congress,
he worked and voted for the eight
hour law. He led the debate on the
bill which required railroads to put
automatic couplers on their freight
cars. On Feb. II, 1893, he introduced
into the House and secured the pass-
age of the first resolution which was
ever passed in this country for the
free delivery of mail to the country
people, outside of the limits of cities
towns and villages. This resolution,
carrying an appropriation for expert
mental free delivery, was the founda-
ton of the present system, which has
been declared to be one of the great
est civilizing agencies of this century.
Passed r. F. D. Law
Mr.. Watson's loyalty to the prin-
ciples of the Farmers Alliance plat
form, which he felt had put him in
Congress, rather than adhering to the
name of Democrat, caused his posi-
ton to be severely denounced by or
gained democratic leaders and a most
bitter and determined warfare against
him was declared. 1t was during the
campaign of 1892 for reelection to
Congress in opposition to the Hon. J.
c. c. Black that one of the bitterest
campaigns in the political history of