The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1922-06-30
GEN. HARVEY HANNAH
UNION CITY SPEECH
Little Black Bull Of Roane Stirs
Obion Democracy.

Last Monday at the courthouse IN
Union City General Hannah filed his
appointment to address the people of
Obion County. Harvey Hannah is a
candidate for the Democratic nomi-
nation for Governor of Tennessee,
and he is fairly making the woods
ring Assigning the present State
government for maladministration
and misappropriation of State funds.
He is especially caustic against the
present school organization in the
State for system which has fostered
higher education at the expense of
the elementary schools. Says General
Hannah, twenty years ago only twen-
ty-fiye per cent of the State taxes
were appropriated to the elementary
school fund, and total of two mill
lions of dollars were collected for
school purposes. Then there were
100000 school children attending the
elementary schools. To-day fifty per
cent of the State tax is turned over
to the school fund and total of six
teen millions of dollars is devoted to
our elementary school system. Yet
the elementary shool term and at
tendance is practically the same now
as 1t was twenty years ago. To-day
Tennessee stands from the bottom
fourth in illiteracy in the United
States. The pampered school lobby
has been fattened and fed with the
school fund and the children of Ten
nessee are deprived of the advan-
tages of an elementary education.
When Mynders was s. ste Superinten-
dent of schools in Tennessee he mad a
secretary and a stengrapher. The
Department of Education in Tennes-
see is now manned by an army of Sec
retaries, clerks, typists, etc. Every
State Superintendent since Mynders
has been provided with sinecure po-
sition, not primarily because of his
educational ability, but because he is
a past master in politics. Three State
Normal Schools were established ex-
pressly for three of the superinten-
dents. 1t was the organization of a
political machine, as The Commercial
has heretofore shown in this paper.
Twenty-Five per cent of the school
fund goes to the State Normals n
Tennessee. The presidents of these
institutions are paid liberal salaries
and the teachers in the rural schools
are not paid decent living General
Hannah said that if he is elected Gov
ernor of Tennessee, and he was con-
fident that he would be, ne would un-
dertake to reYise the educational sys-
tenn in Tennessee until every school
district in the State had an eight
months school and a fund sufficient
to pay competent teachers for these
schools.
General Hannah opened his speech
with the statement that Mr.. Peay,
his competitor in the race, had omit
ted in his speeches an Endorsement of
the Wilson administration. General
Hannah stressed the fact also that
Mr. Peay had been interrogated as to
what kind of a Democrat he favored
for the United States Senate should
he ever be called upon to appoint
such mana man who stood by the
Wilson administration and t h
League of Nations OF man who fol-
lowed the lead of Henry Cabot Lodge,
the rankest Republican and the bit
terest enemy of the South in the
United States Senate.
General Hannah said that between
an octogenarian and cold storage
Democrat the people of the State
could not afford to overlook the fact
that they should support man who
could carry the State for the Demo-
cratic ticket. They needed man
who could go out on, The hustings and
battle for the interests of the party
in a crisis when the State is -taxrid-
den and crushing under the weight
of an administration of profiigacy and
waste. No man in the State has
been more loyal to the party than
General Hannah and he insists that
he can win in a campaign against
Governor Taylor in the general cleo
tion. One of the other candidates is
too old to make the campaign and the |
other is too cold and Indifferent to |
the interests of the people.
The speech was nearly two hours |
IN length. General Hannah devoted |
himself to the tax question, the use
less expenditure in State government |
md departments of administration. |
He was listened to with the closest |
attention by fair-sized audience.