79 6 GEORGIA 



The powers of the state inspector of drugs were enlarged (1911). An application for an 

 internal revenue tax receipt or the possession of such a receipt is prima facie evidence of the 

 violation of the state prohibition law. A bill, the Tippins law, to close "near-beer" saloons, 

 was vetoed by the governor and could not be passed over the veto. Newspapers published 

 in the state are forbidden to print the names of any victims of criminal assault. 



A quasi-commission charter for Atlanta provided by the 1911 legislature was defeated 

 by the electors of the city on September 27, 1911. In 191 1 Summerville (pop. 4,361 in 1910) 

 was annexed to Augusta; a commission form of government was provided for Marietta; 

 Macon was authorised to own and operate water works and a civil service system for the 

 police and fire departments was added to its charter. 



The cities of Baxley, Fayetteville, Glennville and Lilly (August 1911) and Albany, 

 Lawrenceville, Springfield, Statesboro, Stone Mountain, Sycamore and Villa Rica (August 

 1912), received new charters and the cities of Blackshear, Bostwick, Folkston, Odum, and 

 YVoodville were incorporated in 1911, and Rex in 1912. The governor was authorised in 



1912 to bring suit to test the state's claim to a part of Tallulah river, Tallulah Falls and 

 adjacent country as unsurveyed and not legally granted by the state. 



Finance. A joint committee of the house and the senate was appointed in 1911 to codify 

 the state banking laws and the state insurance laws; but the bill which it drafted failed to 

 pass in 1912. The maximum number of directors of any bank was increased from 15 to 25 

 (1912). The state debt (Jan. I, 1913) was $6,734,202 and the annual appropriation for 

 interest on the state debt was $287,945 for 1912 and $2-83,445 f r I 9 I 3- The treasurer's 

 report shows a balance on hand December 31, 1911, of $727,076; receipts of $6,014,109; 

 expenditures of $5,627,668; leaving a balance on December 31, 1912, of $1,113,517. 



Education. In 1911 the school law of the state was revised by a remarkably brief and 

 clear act, which however does not apply to Atlanta, to a few county districts or in most 

 respects to especially incorporated local districts. The title of the chief executive officer 

 has been changed from superintendent of schools to school commissioner. The state board 

 of education is now professional rather than political in its character. An appropriation 

 of $25,000 a year and $5,000 for equipment was made for the agricultural industrial normal 

 school of South Georgia at Valdosta, which was to open early in 1913; and one of $25,000 

 (1912) for an industrial building for the North Georgia agricultural college at Dahlonega. 

 At Clarkston near Atlanta, Lamar College, under the auspices of the Christian Church, will 

 be opened early in 1913. The University of Georgia received in 1912 a gift of $12,500 from 

 the Phelps Stokes Fund to found a permanent fellowship for the study of the negro. 



For the year ending December 31, 1911, the enrollment was 565,071 (222,942 of whom 

 were negroes), the attendance 352,059 (130,678 negroes), and the average length of the free 1 

 school year was 118 days for whites and 107 for negroes. The number of teachers was 

 13,024 (4,070 negroes) and their average monthly salary ranged from $118.70 for white male 

 teachers in cities to $20.56 for negro female teachers in counties. 



The percentage of illiteracy in the white population IO years of age and over in 1910 was 

 20.7 (30.5 in 1900); among whites 7.8 (11.9 in 1900) and among negroes, 36.5 (52.4 in 1900). 



Penal and Charitable Institutions. In January 1912 of the 2,708 convicts serving time in 

 the state prison, 1,487 had been convicted of crimes against life (812 for murder, 365 for 

 manslaughter, 1,310 for attempted murder). Among the appropriations for 1912 and for 



1913 each were: $530,000 for the Georgia state sanitarium; $20,000 for consumptive patients 

 in the sanitarium; $515,000 to Confederate soldiers; $145,000 to the indigent widows of 

 Confederate soldiers; $100,000 to widows of Confederate soldiers who died in action and 

 $300,000 to Confederate soldiers and their widows; and $30,000 for the soldiers' home. The 

 act of 1910 pensioning Confederate soldiers and their widows was amended in 1912 so as to 

 make the requirements for pensions less difficult; the pension of blind soldiers was increased 

 from $60 to $100 a year. 



History. Hoke Smith (b. 1855), Secretary of. the Interior in President Cleveland's 

 cabinet in 1893-96, and governor in 1907-09, was again inaugurated governor July i, 

 1 91 1. On July 1 2th he was chosen United States senator to succeed Joseph Meriwether 

 Terrell, who was in bad health and who immediately resigned. Governor Smith refused 

 to accept Senator Terrell's resignation, as he wished to remain governor for a time at 

 least; but Senator Terrell 2 refused to return to Washington and for the remainder of the 

 session of the 6ist Congress Georgia was represented in the United States Senate by 



1 In special systems where there was no local tax teachers were paid by patrons for addi- 

 tional teaching in some cases, so that the average for these special systems was 170 days 

 (175 for white and 164 for negro), making the average for all 'schools, 140 days. 



2 Terrell, born in Greenville in 1861, died in Atlanta November 17, 1912. He served in 

 the state legislature, was attorney-general 1892-1902; governor 1902-07, and, after his 

 political ally Joseph M. Brown succeeded Hoke Smith, his opponent, as governor, United 

 States senator, being appointed November 1910 by Governor Brown for the unexpired term 

 of Senator Alexander Stephens Clay (1853-1910). 



