Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1924-06-24
Rotten Politics Geor~
gia' S Trouble

From no less an authority
than Richard H. Edmonds, edi-
tor Of the Manufacturers Rec
ord, comes the statement thai
the trouble with Georgia is hen
rotten politics.
A few days ago we repro
duced a letter from Lee j
Langley, representative in the
Georgia Legislature from Floyd
county, in which he discussed
the question, What's the Mat
ter With Georgia."
Mr.. Edmonds saw a copy oi
MIR. LangIey's article and he
wrote MIR. Langley letter thai
is clear and to the point, If
which he sayO:
81 have occasionally during the
last Ave or six months emphasiz-
ed that what is the matter with
Georgia is too much rotten poll
tics, and too much concentration
of thought even upon what
might be called good politics.
/ do not know of any other
State in the union in which po-
litical rivalry has been so keen
and bitter, and the vilification
of one candidate by another so
Qutrageously bad as in Georgia.
1t has seemed to me for several
years that Georgia thinks in
terms of politics, sleeps in poll
teal beds, eats political food, and
thus pourishes political enmities
to a great extent.
Once far and away the fore
most leader Of the South in in
dnstTy, and in agriculture, and
in Influence in attracting the
nations attention to the South,
Georgia became engrossed in
politics some ten or fifteen years
ago, in some of the hottest po-
htical campaigns which I have
ever seen. Men in the same par
ty denounced each other almost
in an interruptions way. This
spread from high officials all
the way down to petty county Of
ficers. A man seemed to think
more of the election of some
one to a petty county office than
Of the upbuilding Of the State.
Newspapers Of the State, which
once led the South in telling the
story of business activity and of
uphuilding possibilities, largely
concentrated their influence
upon politics.
81 remember a good many
years ago when one of the flour
ishing towns in an adjoining
State was making rapid develop
Inent, which it has since con-
tinued, / spent few days in the
town without learning word
about politics, and somebody
said to me at the time: We are
too busy in this town to think
about politics.
sit is incumbent upon every
citizen to recognize his RESPONSE
bility to think about politics and
help to secure the nomination
and the election Of the very best
man, without regard to affiIia-
tons. The man who votes for
an unworthy candidate when he
knows that that candidate is not
the man or who fails to vote is
Sinking his responsibility for the
maintenance of government and
has no right to expect his coun-
try or his State or his city to be
saved by the votes of others.
Your suggestion of penalizing
every citiben who does not vote
is good in its way, but you do
not in my opinion go far enough.
Your proposition is to deny to
all shirkers the right to vote at
the next election. | am told that
there is a country in South Amer
lea which impose a fine, think
about SIS, upon every citizen
who fails to vote unless he has
a good excuse to justify his
staying away from the polls. Ii
there is no other way to make
men and women, realize their re-
sponsibility to their government
and to civilization itself than by
imposing a monetary penalty up
on them, would favor doing
that; for to deprive a man tenn
porarily of the right vote as you
suggest, would to very large
number Of people be of trifling
importance. They would simp-
w say it gave them an excuse
+. for not voting the next time.
81 agree with you that Geor-
gia has entirely too many coun-
ties: and I think one of the rea-
sons why Georgia has had so
many lynchings is because of the
smallness of its counties. These
small counties have been ere
ated for the purpose of Great
ing political jobs.
IF absorption in politics and
lack of interest on the part of
the business men of the State in
handling this situation, is not
responsible for Georgia trailing
behind some other States, then
what is the reason? Surely
Georgia has as many natural adj
vantages as North Carolina.
Surely it's people are not willing
ii admit that they are inferior
IA energy or initiative 10 the
people Of North Carolina. A1at
Vet. but moment ago --L-zzas
49, .,,ttt, 4 nan xvhn travels