Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-01-29
STATE REED BOOM
BEGUN WITH FIGHT
ON LEAGUE PLANK


without reservation or equivocatton,"
ten Democratic leaders in Georgia
Saturday issued an appeal for the
voters Of this state to rally to the
support Of Senator James A. Reed,
of Missouri, "as the man who has
done more than any other statesman
to keep the United States out Of the
league"
The statement predicts that the
popular majority of President Har-
ding over Mr.. Cox, amounting to
more than 100000, will be doubled
in the forthcoming election if the
Democrats adopt a platform support
ing the league.
The statement was given out by
former State Senator James H. Boy
kin, Of LincolntOn, editor of the Lin
coin Journal and recognized as one
of the leaders of the Watson wing
Of the Democratic party in Georgia.
Senator Boykin denied reports that
the organization supporting Senator
Reed would also put a ticket in the
field fer state offices, declaring that
he was pledged to no candidate for
a state office, but is interested solely
in Senator Reeds campaign at the
PRESENT time.
Those who signed the statement
were: ThC-las w. Hardwick, former
United States senator and governor
o. Georgia; Richard B. Russell chief
| justice of the Georgia suprc ne court
| Walter A. Smis, mayor Of Atlanta;
Senator Boykin, Judge James J.
| Flynt, of Griffin; Representative J.
B. Daniel, of Troup county; Judge B.
f. Walker, of Gibson, former state
senator; John T. Kelley, Of Lawrence.
Vile; Benjamin M. Blackburn and
Geor } w. Scales, Of Atlanta.
Formal Statement
| The statement follows:
| Inc present situation, with re-
spect to the presidential primary of
March 10, is so alarming, in one re-
spect, as to be the occasion of deep
concern to all who believe in the
free and untrammeled expression of
the popular will.
IF no candidates, except the two
who are already suggested in Geor-
gla, are to be entered, then more
than one hundred thousand Georgia
democrats will be virtually disfran-
chlsed, so far as this primary is
concerned, and left absolutely with
out an opportunity to vote their
honest convictions. There men are
real Democrats-of the old school
and they constitute, according to the
election returns Of four years ago,
a majority Of our total vote. They
are Democrats who do not believe
IN 1nternationalism, and who reso-
government in the interest of inter-
national bankers.
They will be denied, in GEORGIA.
the opportunity to cast their votes
IN accordance with their honest con-
VIctions, unless they arouse them
selves and insist that such an op-
portunity be afforded.
Eternal vigilance Is the price of
liberty
-Four years ago the Democratic
national convention adopted a plat
form indOrsing the Wilson admins
tration and declaring for the League
of Nations. That convention nonni-
mated candidate for president. who
insisted on making the League Of Ma
tlons the leading issue in the cam
paign.
League DecisiveIy Beaten
From a Democratic standpoint
the result was most disastrous. The
Democratic party sustained the most
crushing defeat in it's history. The
| popular majority of Mr.. Harding
| over Mr.. Cox was more than seven
million votes, and the Democratic
! party did not carry a single state
in the north, east or west. and
even in the hitherto solid south
Tennessee and Oklahoma went Re
publican. Practically the entire in
dependent vote Of the country, and
many hundreds Of thousands Of
Democrats had refused to accept the
platform and candidate of the Dem
ocratic rarity
ut would seem that so crushing
a defeat so recent in its occurrence,
! would have taught some wisdom to
Democratic leadership, but the evi
| dence Is both abundant and multi
| plying that such is not the case. at
| least with q powerful faction in the
| Democratic party.
The recent past has afforded the
! spectacle Of Mr.. Wilson denouncing
in the most vicious terms those Of
his fellow citizens who do not agree
with him, and demanding in no I'M
certain words that the United States
reverse its traditional policy in or
der to join the League of Nations.
only last week, Hon. Newton D.
| Baker, of Ohio. secretary Of war
IN the Wilson cabinet, denying the
| rumor that he was an aspirant for
| the Democratic presidential nomina.
| ton, declared that he was devoting
himself to the task of Inducing the
United States to join the League
of Nations.
Issue Means Suicide"
THE two candidates for president
| so far suggested for the support of
Democrats in Georgia are Mr.. Nc
| AdOO and Senator Underwood. Both
Of these gentlemen are now and
| have been all the time for the
| League Of Nations without reserva-
ton and without equivocation. Mr..
! MCAdoo is the sOn-in-law Of Mr.
! Wilson, and he was secretary Of the.
| treasury in the Wilson cabinet. In
at least a dozen public speeches
| and public interviews he has de.
clared himself emphatically for the
! League Of Nations. Senator I'm
! derWoOd is in the same boat. He
voted to ratify the treaty. including
! the league. without reserva tons,
| and in several recent speeches and
interviews he has indicated that he
has had no change of heart on this
| great question.
! For the Democratic party to
| nominate either Of these gentlemen
with their views and declarations
on this question, would be political
/ suicide. The Republican majority
of seven million in 1920 would be
probably doubled in 1929. The Dem.
ocratic party, led by such a nomi.
nee, standing on such a platform.
/ would be ruined, and could not re
! cover in fifty wears