Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-22
The Do-Noth;ng Legislature

ne DO-JVOch7n9 Legislature
TINE melancholy days were come indeed
when the Georgia General Assembly
adjourned with legislation Of most
vital import to the people either defeated
or defaulted or hardly SO much as consider
ed. Bills as plainly essential to the prog
ress of the State as tires are to the running
OF an automobile were voted down. Bills
as needful to the financial integrity of the
State as bookkeeping is to the functioning of
private business were 1ndifferently left to
die. Bills which If passed would have
meant millions of dollars in increased pros
perlty for agriculture and industry and
commerce were banded about in game of
factional politics and at last lost in the scuf-
fle. Bills which because of their peculiarly
important bearing upor the common veal
ought to have been disposed Of in the earlier
part OF the session were put off t. the crowd
ed, irresponsible eleventh hour to expire
between midnight and dawn amid glee-club
melodies and unctuous snores.
All Georgia will find itself the loser,
Especially unfortunate will be the smaller
rural counties, which looked tc the passage
Of adequate highway legislation for i'm
provement Of their roads and for securing
their allotment Of federal funds for that
purpose. The districts most in need of
good roads will suffer worst; and will suffer
not alone in farming and in business but in
schools, in social amenities, and in every
basic interest Of their common life. While
other Southern States stride forward with
splendid plans of highway construction,
made possible by bond issues which the peo-
pie readily voted, Georgia must lag because
Of the Legislatures failure even to submit
bond proposal to the electorate.
Hardly less deplorable is the loss of the
forestry BILL on which depended the pro-
lection and development of invaluable re-
sources. Within five years more than five
million acres Of Georgia timberland have
been overswept by forest fires, with an. i'm
mediate monetary loss which amounts, at
the lowest estimate, to four and a quarter
million dollars. OF the States original area
OF forests less than one-twenteth remains
Her output of lumber had declined within
, cent. Her naval stores industry, if
It's basic resources continue unpro-
, tected, can last but a few years more.
Lands which now. produce annually less than
one and quarter billion board feet of tim
Der, worth on the stump some seven mill
lion dollars, could be brought by simple
measures of conservation to produce up
wards of six billion board feet, worth more
than thirty million dollars. Yet, in the
face of these great needs and great oppor-
tunities, the forestry bill framed to meet
them went unenacted, being lost in the tur-
moil and chaos of the closing hours to
which it was deferred The Legislature
might as reasonably have failed to provide
1Ir0 insurance 1Or the capitol.
Divers other measures involving the in
terests and rights of the rank and file were
either defeated or allowed to go by default.
The port terminal bill, of material concern
to the entire Commonwealth and particular
ly to agriculture, was lost through a con-
troversy which a fair measure of practical
wisdom could have composed. The bill per-
hitting the largst six counties of the State
to decide by popular referendum whether or
not they would abolish the perncious fee
system was defeated in a manner that well
may give anxiety to every Georgian who be-
l1eVes in free. government. The bill look
Ing to effective regulation of pistol toting''
was so obviously right and so imperatively
needed, especially in the rural districts
where the irresponsible element of the popu-
lation is large, that one could scarcely have
conceived beforehand that it would not be
passed.
This being the record on measures which
might well have been expected to pass
speedily and with little or no opposition, it
is not astonishing that the capitally impor-
tant questions of fiscal and tax reform are
no nearer an answer today than when the
General Assembly convened. Justice de-
mands it to be said that Governor Hard
wick urged action upon these pressing mat
tiers with all the cogency at his command.
He lot only produced evidence showing
that unless revenues were increased es-
sential appropriations could not be met, but
he also offered concrete and constructive
suggestions toward ways of escape from the
impasse that now impends. He presented
reports from fiscal specialists of the high
est repute, who had studied the States needs
and who submitted practical ~ecommenda-
tions. But these were virtually ignored. He
pointed out the necessity and advantage of
establishing an audit and budget system.
But no legislative action was taken, not
! withstaSding the testimony of competent
counselors that such measures would save
the State five hundred thousand dollars a
year in present wastes. Yet, while failing
to solve or even to simplify the urgent prob
lem Of inadequate revenues, and while fail
ing to provide efficencies which are indis-
pensable to economy, the General Assembly
passed a pension bill appropriating upwards
Of million two hundred thousand dollars
which there are no funds to meet. A citizen
who would knowingly give dependent Con-
federate veteran worthless check would
not only lay himself liable to prosecution
for a misdemeanor but would also forfeit
the confidence of his community. That
such check is for million two hundred
and one thousand dollars does not mitigate
but rather increases the offense.
The day has come when the people of
Georgia must demand thoughtful, compe-