312 



GEORGIA. 



dale, 69 miles below Macon, and has changed its 

 mime to Missler. 



Fruithurst, Ala., and Tallapoosa, Ga., are two colo- 

 nies which are not exactly new, but they are mak- 

 ing a steady growth. Eight hundred farmers, me- 

 chanics, and capitalists are known to have gone 

 from Atlanta to Tallapoosa and Fruitliurst since 

 the exposition opened. 



Legislature. The Legislature convened Oct. 28. 

 R. L. Berner was elected President of the Senate, 

 and II. A. Jenkins Speaker of the House. 



A United States Senator was to be chosen in place 

 of John B. Gordon, whose term will expire in 1897. 

 Among the names presented to the Democratic 

 caucus, Nov. 6, were those of Gov. Atkinson, Alex- 

 ander S. Clay, J. W. Robertson, and H. T. Lewis. 

 Much opposition was manifested to the candidacy 

 of the Governor, as that would involve another 

 election, in which it was feared the Democratic 

 party might be beaten by a combination of Repub- 

 licans and Populists. 



H. G. Turner, L. F. Garrard, Evan P. Howell, 

 and Gen. Evans were also among the candidates. 

 The Populists voted for Gen. William Phillips. On 

 the twenty-fifth ballot, in Democratic caucus, Nov. 

 12, the vote stood : Clay, 61 ; Howell, 57 ; Atkinson, 

 52 ; scattering, 3. The twenty-sixth ballot resulted : 

 Clay, 74; Howell, 51 ; Atkinson, 47. At length the 

 Governor withdrew from the contest, and on Nov. 

 16 Alexander Stephens Clay was nominated, re- 

 ceiving 95 votes, and he was elected Nov. 17. The 

 number of votes cast was 198, of which 161 were 

 for Clay, 34 for Phillips, the candidate of the Popu- 

 lists, and 3 for Major J. F. Hanson, the Republican 

 candidate. 



The (icneral Assembly adjourned Dec. 19. 



Among the bills passed was a so-called antitrust 

 bill, providing that "all arrangements, contracts, 

 agreements, trusts, or combinations between persons 

 or corporations made with a view to lessen, or which 

 tend to lessen, full and free competition in the im- 

 portation or sale of articles imported into this State, 

 or in the manufacture or sale of articles of domestic 

 growth or of domestic raw material, and all ar- 

 rangements, contracts, agreements, trusts, or com- 

 binations between persons or corporations designed 

 or which tend to advance, reduce, or control the 

 price or the cost to the producer or to the consumer 

 of any such product or article, are hereby declared 

 to be against public policy, unlawful, and void." 

 Any corporation, chartered under the laws of the 

 State, found violating the provisions of the act 

 shall forfeit its charter and franchise, and any for- 

 eign corporation so violating shall be prohibited 

 from doing business in the State. A penalty is 

 added of a fine from $100 to $500, and imprison- 

 ment one to ten years. It is provided that the pro- 

 visions of this act shall not apply to agricultural 

 products or live stock while in the possession of the 

 producer or raiser. 



Both houses passed a bill authorizing the Gov- 

 ernor to advertise for sale the Northeastern Rail- 

 road, at a price to be not less than $287,000, the 

 purchaser to pay $50,000 cash and the remainder 

 in five years in equal annual payments, interest at 

 'H per cent. Each bidder is to be required to de- 

 posit $10,000 as a guarantee of good faith. 



The following concurrent resolution was adopted : 



" That the Senate of Georgia, the House of Repre- 

 sentatives concurring, requests the Representatives 

 of this State to use their influence in Congress to 

 obtain belligerent rights for the Cubans." 



The office of Commissioner of Pensions was 

 created, and the Governor appointed Richard John- 

 son to the office. 



For the support of common schools the Assembly 

 appropriated $600,000 for 1897 and $1,000,000 for 



1898; for the School for the Deaf, $36,000 for 1897 

 and $25.000 for 1898 ; for the Lunatic Asylum, $280,- 

 000 for 1897 and $290,000 for 1898 ; to pay interest 

 maturing, $350,630 in 1897 and $346.130 in 1898. 



The total appropriations for the two years amount 

 to $5,232,528. In addition to the items" given above, 

 about $545,000 will be set aside for the common- 

 school fund, which will be raised by rental of the 

 Western and Atlantic Railroad and other sources. 



The funds necessary to meet the appropriations 

 are to be raised by taxation as follow : General tax 

 on each $1,000 worth of property, $3.45; special 

 tax for educational purposes on each $1,000 worth 

 of property, $2.50; special tax to create a sinking 

 fund, - 26 mill on each $100 worth of property : in 

 addition to the general and special taxes mentioned, 

 the State will raise revenue from special taxes on 

 the usual lines of business, 



Political. Political agitation began early in the 

 year with the contest in the Democratic party be- 

 tween the silver and the antisilver advocates. In 

 March Hon. Hoke Smith and Hon. Charles F. 

 Crisp began a series of debates on the question in 

 different parts of the State. 



In March Hon. C. F. Crisp, who had announced 

 his candidacy for the office of United States Sena- 

 tor, requested the State Democratic Committee to 

 recommend that voters at the June primaries indi- 

 cate their choice for United States Senator, but 

 this the committee declined to do. Then Mr. Crisp 

 addressed a letter to the Democratic executive com- 

 mit tees of all the counties, asking that they adopt 

 this plan. The refusal of the committee was un- 

 derstood to be inspired by opposition to the choice 

 of Judge Crisp, and in favor of Mr. Du Bignon, 

 whose candidacy was announced at about the same 

 time that the State committee's chairman declared 

 in favor of holding the senatorial primaries on the 

 same day with the October election. About half 

 the counties acted upon the senatorial question 

 June 6, and Judge Crisp received the suffrages of 

 so many that his selection as the popular choice 

 was practically assured. The primaries at this 

 time showed that the Democratic party in the 

 State was overwhelmingly in favor of free coinage. 

 The State Central Committee decided to hold but 

 one convention, though there were strong protests 

 against such action. It was held at Macon, June 

 25. The ticket nominated was : For Governor, 

 W. Y. Atkinson (renominated) ; Secretary of State, 

 A. D. Candler ; State Treasurer, W. G. Spcer ; At- 

 torney-General, J. M. Terrell; Comptroller, W. A. 

 Wright ; Commissioner of Agriculture, Robert T. 

 Nesbitt. 



The delegates to the Chicago convention were 

 instructed to cast the vote of the State as a unit, 

 according to the decision of the majority of the 

 delegation. The platform commended Gov. Atkin- 

 son's administration ; favored a law to prevent 

 lynchings ; demanded the free and unlimited coin- 

 a'ge of both gold and silver, independent of the .-'f 1 - 

 tion of any other government, at the ratio of 16 to 

 1, and the making of both legal tender for the pay- 

 ment of all debts ; condemned the issuing of bonds 

 and the policy of retiring the greenbacks and Treas- 

 ury notes; favored payment of the public debt as 

 rapidly as possible, a tariff for revenue only, repeal 

 of the tax upon State bank issues, and a constitu- 

 tional amendment authorizing the collection of a 

 graduated income tax. A resolution commending 

 Treasurer Ilardeman's work was adopted. 



The Republican State Convention met at Atlanta 

 April 29. There had been a lively contest for the 

 control of the convention between those that fa- 

 vored and those that opposed the nomination of 

 McKinley, and this was continued in the conven- 

 tion. The delegates were left uninstructed. 



