Evening star., 1947-02-16
Second Court Victory
Won by IaImadge, but
Judge Is Critical
sy Ind A,.etiafed Eros,


McDONOUGH, Ga. Feb. 15.--
Herman Talnadge won . second
consecutive victory in the courts TO-
day in litigation. over the governor
ship OF Georgia, but the judge who
sustained him criticized his election
by the legislature as a relic OF "the
stage-coach era"
Superior Judge Bond Almand
concurring In an earlier decision By
colleague, Judge Walter Hendrix
held the legislature was constitu.
tionally correct when 1t named Mr.
Talmadge to the four-year term oi
his late father, Eugene Talmadge
The ruling came three days after
Judge Hendrix had dismissed the
suit OF Mr.. Talmadge's rival, 1t. Gov
M. E. Thompson, who sought to oust
Mr.. Talmadge from ofice.
Both the Hendrix decision and
today's ruling by Judge Almand
were appealed TO the Georgia Su-
preme Court where q third superior
court decision awaits review. The
latter, to which Mr.. Talmadge was
not q party. but which involved the
governorship, was ruling by Judge
Claude Porter at Rome, Ga, last
week. Judge Porter held Mr.. Thomp-
son to be legal acting governor" and
declared the legislature exceeded It's
authority when 1t voided Mr.. Tai
madge,s 143,000 votes after his death
and elected his son on the basis OF
only CTS write-in ballots.
Judge Alrnaud's decision today
was on q petition by the Fulton Ma
tional Bank OF Atlanta, which asked
direction as to which claimant was
entitled to draw on $95,682 which
remained in the executive depart
ment fund when Gov. Ellis Arnall
resigned. Judge Almand held Mr..
Talmadge was legal governor, but
the bank immediately filed bill of
exceptions and appealed to the su-
preme Court.
Deverealx McClatchy, chief coun-
sci for the bank, explained the bank
would have no recourse If 1t paid out
funds to Mr.. Talmadge under the
lower court ruling and the Supreme
Court later reversed Judge Almand.
The attorney general of Georgia,
Eugene Cook, earlier filed a similar
appeal of Judge Hendrix's decision
against Mr.. Thompson.
. r. H. Daniel, clerk Of the Hendry
County Superior Court. said both
appeals would be in the Supreme
Court Monday, where they will be
set for argument the week OF March
10. Possibility of an earlier hearing
was indicated by Mr.. Talmadge's
chief counsel, B. D. Murphy. who
said he had told the attorney gen.
eral informally that he would like
the earliest possible review.
Judge Almand observed that Mr..
Thompson's counsel had contended
that it was absurd for the legislature
to ignore $4,000 valid votes, cast
for white-supremacy advocate Eu-
gene Talmadge, and to elect . man
who had 675 write-in votes.
(The legislature held that Mr..
vi sTalmadges death had resulted
in no candidate receiving clear
majority, and thus required the
assembly to name a governor
from the two highest alternates3
The court said:
Is 1.-THE trouble lies with the people
and their representatives for their
failure to make their own consti-
tuition conform to changes In pub
lie thinking and democratic ideas.
The provision, of the present con-
stitution dealing with the election
of governor by the General AS
sembly had its origin in an amend
ment to the constitution Of 1924,
and though we have had five new
constitutions since that time, the
provision that was adopted by the
people living in the stage-coach era
remains without change In this,
the atomic age
In conclusion the judge said:
sThe answer seems to be that gov
ernments, like human beings, have
frailties and imperfections, but that
when popular elections do not
achieve a result, representative gov
ernment steps in to prevent COM
plete breakdown.
Government, like life, must
on m