USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 2 > Part 18
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The Republicans in convention at Macon, Aug. 16, 1876, nominated Jonathan Norcross for Governor, and for electors, D. A. Walker, E. C. Wade, J. T. Collins, C. W. Arnold, B. F. Bell, R. D. Locke, J. A. Holtzclaw, Jeff. Long, Z. B. Hargrove, V. M. Barnes and M. R. Archer. The whole Democratic ticket for State officers, electors and congress- men was easily elected. Mr. Norcross was an odd, grizzly person, an intense, double-dyed Republican, unskilled in party management, regarded as possessing very cranky political theories, and an impracti- cable public man, but personally honest, a successful business man, one of the earliest settlers of Atlanta, though of northern birth, and enjoy- ing the respect of all who knew his undoubted personal worth. He was the last man in the State to lead the party. Some idea of his party management may be gleaned from a maneuver of his in the last cam- paign, when with nine-tenths of his party organization colored, he deliberately inaugurated the policy of establishing a white man's Republican concern, and ignoring the colored brethren. This would have been simply to have wiped out at one stroke the Republican party in Georgia.
The Georgia elections of 1876 resulted in easy and overwhelming Democratic victories. The State election took place in October. Gov. Colquitt's majority over Mr. Norcross was unprecedented, running to 77,854, and the largest ever given in the State. The whole vote was 144,839, of which Gov. Colquitt received 111,297, Norcross 33,443, scattering 99. The popular Colquitt swept in to the Executive office on a flood tide of public favor. Amid universal acclaim and a flatter- ing expectancy he took his seat. The Republican party was crushed as by the hand of a giant. Swollen to invincible proportions, the Democracy had no opposition whatever. Unified, with every wandering element gathered to the fold, compact and resistless, it led the Demo- cratic hosts of the Union. Some Democratic Clubs in Dallas, Texas, challenged the States of the Union to roll up a heavier majority than the Lone Star commonwealth, the trophy to be a silken banner. Espe- cial dares were given to Georgia and Kentucky.
The enormous majority given to Gov. Colquitt was duplicated for Tilden and Hendricks in November, and in due time there came from Dallas to Gov. Colquitt a magnificent banner, the badge of Georgia's Democratic superiority. Gen. Lawton was elected President of the Electoral college, which assembled in Atlanta on the Sth of December,
520
GREGG WRIGHT ON GOVERNOR BROWN.
and cast the State's vote for Tilden and Hendricks. The most extraor- dinary result of the November election was the return to Congress of the entire Representatives elected in 1874, something that has never happened before or since. The members thus re-elected without an exception, were Julian Hartridge, Wm. E. Smith, Phil. Cook, Henry R. Harris, Milton A. Candler, Jas. H. Blount, Wmn. H. Felton, Alex. H. Stephens and Benjamin H. Hill.
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During the past years, Gov. Brown had, after a series of long and hard conflicts in the Legislatures and before the people, established irrefutably the integrity and validity of the State Road lease, and his company was firmly fixed in its occupancy of the road. But during these years, though out of politics, and devoting his extraordinary energies and sense to material enterprises, his powerful personality was, in the public imagination, a persuasive and irrepressible influence. No man has ever been accredited with so much mysterious and potential manipulation of political affairs. It was a strange tribute to both his past power and still existing domination.
That witty and sparkling young journalist, Gregg Wright, editor of the Augusta Chronicle, who died so young, and yet so marked in his calling, happily expressed the remarkable estimate the public placed upon Gov. Brown, and the repute that attached to him in political mat- ters, in this sketch.
" Mr. William Dugas Trammell was not far wrong in the description which he gave of ex-Gov. Brown in his communistic romance, Ca Ira. Under the name of 'Mr. Malcomb,' he speaks of him as a man universally feared and admired, who was believed to be always engaged with the Governors, Legislatures, City Councils, railroad officials and great speculators, in certain mysteries. If he was on speaking terms with the Governor, there were those to swear that he was the real Executive and was running the government; if his carriage stopped in front of a printing office, the editor was bought up ; if he whispered in the ear of a member of the General Assembly, the Leg- islature was bribed; if a newspaper said a good word of him, it was paid to do it. If it was consistently friendly, he owned an interest in the establishment. No one who has lived in Georgia since the close of the war can doubt the fidelity of the portrait by the communist artist. If the ex-Governor be a man of any humor whatever, he must be as much amused as offended by the manifold and conflicting charges brought against him, and the multiplicity of schemes which he is declared to have originated. The evil spirit of the Indians was never an object of more fear to the ignorant children of the forest than this man is to the people of Georgia, nor were the stories of the power of and designs of the one a whit more wild than some of the fables which have been set afloat concerning the Cherokee chieftain. Nothing, it would seem, has been too extra- ordinary or improbable for the imagination of writers or the credulity of readers. If the man did a tithe of what he is accused of doing, he is a mental and physical phe- nomenon -- an eighth wonder of the world, more wonderful than the other seven com-
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521
GOVERNOR BROWN IN FLORIDA.
bined. He is everywhere at the same time-irrepressible, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. He ' runs ' the city of Atlanta, he ' runs ' the State of Georgia, he ' runs' railroads, coal mines, iron furnaces, steamship companies, newspapers, job offices, churches, free schools, colleges, universities, the farmers, the democratic party, the lib- erals, the conservatives, the negroes and the whites, and between whiles engages in . banquets, difficulties and duels. One day we are informed that he is intriguing ener- getically, adroitly and with good chances for success for the Vice-Presidency. The next he is plotting to prevent any Atlanta man from warming his feet or cooking his food with coal which does not come from his mines. The next he is at the head of a ring which has control of the whole State; and is parceling out the offices to his friends and adherents. The next he is manipulating a congressional convention by telegraph. The . next he is dictating to the Georgia Legislature. The next he is heading a faction and waging war with the lessees of the Western and Atlantic railroad. The next he selects a chancellor for the university, etc. If he speaks, every word is sifted to discover a meaning which it does not bear on its face. If he remains quiet, he is plotting-giving away such trifles as governorships, seats in Congress, on the Supreme Bench and in the United States Senate.
"Last Wednesday the Atlanta News sounded a long 'note of warning ' to the people of Georgia. The ex-Governor is 'caucussing' and making up slates-this time in the inter- est of the holders of the bogus bonds. 'It is reported that the political slate includes the candidature of Mr. James Brown, a brother of ex-Gov Brown, for Governor, and the appointment of certain parties to judgeships, besides the running of candidates for the Legislature in all the counties.' This is the programme for 1876. Such a man is dangerous to the country and the people. With the lamp of Aladdin, the purse of Fortunatus, the pass word of Ali Baba, the helmet of Pluto, the armor of Achilles, the genius of Napoleon, the diplomacy of Talleyrand and the pertinacity of the devil, there is no withstanding him. Can we not make him a respectable kingdom either in Mexico or South America and induce him to emigrate ? The experiment is certainly worth trying."
Gov. Brown had come into full accord with the Democratic party. Supporting Gov. Smith for Governor against his life-time friend, Judge D. A. Walker; and Greeley for president against Grant, he had aligned himself squarely with the Democracy. He gave in connection with the Tilden-Hayes presidential contest, a demonstration of his Democratic fealty and individual value to the party, that drew upon him national attention. Florida was one of the States whose vote for President afforded the chance for thwarting the election of Mr. Tilden. It was one of the three battle-fields of that novel conflict, which it is to be hoped may never be again witnessed in this Union, and which involved the defeat of the people's will by the abominable mechanism of party returning boards.
Gov. Brown, though sick and unfit for duty, yielded to a general public desire, and went to Florida to give his great abilities to protect- ing the purity of the ballot, and ensuring a fair count of the Tilden vote. Through the wearisome phases of this vital conflict he remained,
522
JAMES JACKSON AND LOGAN E. BLECKLEY.
contesting fraud at every step, and finally made an argument of unex- ampled power in the cause. This episode of valuable service strength- ened Gov. Brown's advancing restoration to the public confidence, due to his large measure of public usefulness.
During Gov. Smith's term some changes had taken place upon the supreme bench that require notice. The Hon. R. P. Trippe was appointed to succeed Judge Montgomery, February 17th, 1873. Judge Trippe and Judge McCay resigned from the supreme bench in 1875, and in their places Gov. Smith appointed, July 27th and 29th, Hon. James Jackson and Hon. Logan E. Bleckley. Two more fitting appointments could not have been made. Both were singularly pure and simple-man- nered men, both of scholarly culture, both lawyers of the first ability, and both persons of unusually sincere conviction and unbending integ- rity. Judge Jackson had filled many public trusts, and Judge Bleckley very few. As Congressman and Judge, Hon. James Jackson had won an enviable reputation. Judge Bleckley had been supreme court reporter, and was noted for accuracy, and a certain indescribable style of original thought and sententious polished expression.
Two higher types of men we have never had upon our supreme bench -men more thoroughly representative of the manliest grade of South- ern character-men gentle, unpretentious, gifted, resolute, and yet learned in the law. Judge Jackson added to his high qualities the grace of a Christian piety, holding up in his strong life the cause of practical religion. Judge Bleckley has had some interesting peculiarities. A certain vein of witty singularity ran through his nature and cropped out in all sorts of curious ways, carrying an odd conception of a not unpleasant quaintness. It was a thing that few men could do, for him to signalize his resignation from the supreme bench with a poem, that stands to-day upon the grim records of the court. Yet he did it with a touching effect, and in utter relief of the seeming incongruity of such a proceeding. It may show the honorable eccentricity of his character, running to a sort of refined Quixotism of good, to recall an incident.
Judge Bleckley called to renew his subscription to the Atlanta IIer- ald. He found that his paper had been delivered several weeks beyond the time for which the subscription was paid. He was very much dis- pleased, and said the running over must not happen again : that when his time was out his paper must be stopped : that it was a rule of his life to go to bed owing no man anything and he had been made to vio- late his rule. There is a strata of poesy in Judge Bleckley's nature,
A. O. BACON,
SPEAKER OF THE GEORGIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
523
THE PRESENT SUPREME BENCII.
and an irrepressible tendency to quaint conceits of thought, that find vent even in the iron formularies of a Supreme Court decision.
Judge Bleckley was re-appointed Judge in January, 15th, 1877, by Gov. Colquitt. He resigned in 1880, and Hon. Martin J. Crawford was appointed and qualified in his place, February 9th, 1880, by Gov. Colquitt. Chief Justice Hiram Warner resigning in 1880, Judge Jack- son was appointed Chief Justice, September 3, 1880, and IIon. Willis A. Hawkins was selected for the vacancy occasioned by Judge Jackson's promotion. On the 17th of November, 1880, the General Assembly elected James Jackson Chief Justice, and Martin J. Crawford and Alex. M. Speer Associate Justices, and this is the present status of the Supreme Court. It is an able, a strong and a learned bench,-such an appellate tribunal of final resort as graces the jurisprudence of a great commonwealth, gives guarantee of an exalted administration of justice, and exalts the dignity and vitalizes the influence of an august judiciary:
Judge Speer, the junior member of the court, has been an honored citizen of Georgia, repeatedly elected to positions of trust, and filling, before his merited elevation to the Supreme Bench, the high place of Judge of the Superior Courts of the Flint Circuit with an ability and dignity not surpassed in the judicial annals of Georgia. Judge Craw- ford has been distinguished as a statesman and jurist for a quarter of a century, he and Judge Jackson both illustrating the State in the national councils as well as in the judiciary of the commonwealth.
The legislature of 1877 was organized by the election of Hon. A. O. Bacon as Speaker of the House, and Hon. R. E. Lester as President of the Senate. Major Bacon had evinced such extraordinary qualities for a presiding officer that he was chosen Speaker without opposition. Clear, rapid, prompt, polite, with a loud, distinct enunciation, always audible in every part of the hall, thoroughly versed in parliamentary law, using wonderful dispatch in the business of the body, with an imposing manner and uniform dignity, and with an unvarying courtesy of manner, Mr. Bacon was a model Speaker, and his superiority for gov- erning the deliberations of the House so unquestionable, that he was elected by a sort of involuntary and common consent. The same com- plimentary distinction was conferred upon him by the legislatures of 1878-9 and 1880-1, to both of which he was elected a Representative, the Assembly of 1880-1 being now in session and Major Bacon presiding with his accustomed grace and efficiency.
Col. Lester was also a fine presiding officer, directing the delibera- tions of a much smaller body, the Senate, and one easier to handle,
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524
E. P. HOWELL AND PATRICK WALSH.
but his parliamentary qualities were none the less thorough than those of Speaker Bacon. Col. Lester was also elected President of the Sen- ate of 1878-9. Hon. Evan P. Howell was chosen President of the Senate pro tem., during both of Col. Lester's terms. Mr. Howell succeeded Mr. George Hillyer as the Senator from the Atlanta Dis- trict. He had been for years chosen as one of the city fathers of Atlanta. He had signal capacity for public affairs, uniting in a marked degree unusual power of party management to a bold, shrewd, practi- cal judgment. He had an exceptional poise of cool sense, and a singu- larly direct way of going to the marrow of things. In 1876 Mr. Howell bought an interest in the Atlanta Constitution, and has since then been one of the proprietors and editors of that powerful paper, and his enter- · prise and wisdom have been controlling qualities in its wonderful success. Mr. Howell will be an influential factor in Georgia politics in the future.
Among the notable men of the legislature of 1877 was another mem- ber of the Georgia press, Hon. Patrick Walsh, one of the Representa- tives from Richmond county, and one of the proprietors and editors of the Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, now the Chronicle and Con- stitutionalist. Mr. Walsh has a solid, stoutly-built, medium-sized fig- ure that gives token of the man, and his substantial momentum of character. A grave, impassive face, and a steady, deliberate manner, increase the idea of strength that attaches to him. Of Irish blood, Mr. Walsh has a good deal of the sturdy combativeness that belongs to that race, and yet he is free from the excitability that leavens largely the Irish nature.
Mr. Walsh is a person of unusual force, direct, simple, truthful, positive, and with an irrepressible rising quality in him that will carry the man very high. He is daring and yet methodical and self-poised. He is a true and earnest person, a faithful friend and an open opponent, striking hard but honorably. He is both a forcible writer and an impressive speaker. One of the colleagues of Mr. Walsh, from Richmond county, was Col. J. C. C. Black, a gentleman of earnest and effective oratory, who made some speeches of uncommon power in the campaign of 1SS0. There were some very bright men in this body, who have since steadily risen in public esteem. Among these were A. P. Adams, A. H. Gray, H. H. Carlton, Henry Hillyer, N. L. Hutchins, A. D. Candler, W. J. Northern, J. T. Jordan, A. L. Miller, J. H. Polhill, J. A. Reid, J. D. Stewart, W. M. Hammond, A. H. Cox, F. H. Colley. Among the older members were P. M. Russell, W. P. Price, R. J. Moses, Jas. M. Smith, W. W. Paine, Wm. Phillips.
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GOV. COLQUITT'S FINE FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION. 525
Gov. Colquitt was called upon for suggestions in regard to the financial matters of the State and sent in a message showing a most thorough investigation of every point connected with the management of the finances, and suggesting a comprehensive system of retrench- ment and reform. The ideas advanced by him covered the ground of the reform afterwards instituted by the Convention and legislatures. This message is a remarkable document, and Gov. Colquitt may well plume himself upon its practicality and comprehensiveness. He dis- cussed ably the saving by a more exact return of property for taxation, a more rigid collection of taxes, a more economical collection of taxes, reduction in the cost of legislation and legislative clerk hire, decrease in the outlay of the contingent, printing and building funds, reduction in the number of clerks in the various departments, lessening the num- ber of judicial circuits, the cutting off of superfluous offices, and the inauguration of small economies.
Gov. Colquitt put in practical operation the economies he suggested as far as lay in his power. He immediately imposed the duties of the Keeper of Public Buildings on a clerk in the Executive office without extra pay. He made considerable savings in the contingent, printing and building funds. Every expenditure for the State was scrutinized as closely as a private account. Gas, coal, labor, stationery, postage, printing, advertising, clerk hire and incidental expenses were all reduced in cost to the State. The extraordinary financial fruits of Gov. Col- quitt's administration will be shown hereafter.
Among the legacies of burden left from previous administrations to Gov. Colquitt were several bankrupt railroads, whose bonds the State had endorsed. These were the Macon and Brunswick, the North and South, and the Memphis Branch railroads. The Brunswick and Albany railroad had received State aid in Gov. Jenkins' term to the amount of $1,950,000, and subsequently $600,000 in Gov. Bullock's term. The $600,000 had been thrown over. The $1,950,000 were recognized, and in July, 1813, Gov. Smith seized the road for non-payment of interest. In May, 1874, Gov. Smith endorsed the bonds of the Memphis Branch railroad for $34,000, and seized the road in May, 1876, for non-payment of interest in January and July, 1875. In December, 1872, Gov. Smith endorsed the bonds of the North and South railroad for $240,000, and in April, 1814, he seized the road for non-payment of interest. These three roads were placed in the hands of receivers, were sold, and all came into the ownership of the State. The Macon and Brunswick rail- road was sold at public outery and bought in, June, 1875, by Gov.
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526
GOV. COLQUITT AND THE SEIZED RAILROADS.
Smith for the State, and put under the management of E. A. Flewellen, W. A. Lofton and George S. Jones.
In 1876, the Macon and Brunswick railroad showed $28,000 paid into the treasury. From December 1, 1876, to September 30, 1848, under Gov. Colquitt, 865,000 was paid into the treasury, and $164,608.12 from September 30, 1878, to February 29, 1880, showing the increased pay- ments to the State. The iron and property of the 'Memphis Branch railroad was sold in August, 1817, for $9,000, to the Marietta and North Georgia railroad. The North and South railroad was sold to Louis F. Garrard and others for $40,500, and the money is now in the treasury. The Macon and Brunswick railroad was sold, conveyance made and the property transferred on the 28th day of February, 1880, for $1,125,000, of which $250,000 was paid down, and the balance is to be paid in payments of 8250,000 in two years from that date, and $625,000 in four years. The company is under obligation to extend the road in five years from date of sale to Atlanta, and is building such extension.
In 1876, the sum of $542,000 of bonds was issued and sold, and the proceeds used to pay the accrued back interest on the Macon and Bruns- wick, and North and South railroad bonds. In 1877, the sum of $2,298,000 of six per cent. bonds were issued to exchange for the seven per cent. endorsed bonds of these railroads, and the Memphis Branch railroad. The aggregate bonded liability of the State on these railway enterprises is $2,842,000. Under Gov. Colquitt's administration the sum of $1,174,500, principal, will be realized from them, leaving the balance against former administrations of $1,667,500 of loss from unfor- tunate endorsements.
The General Assembly of 1817 elected a successor to Hon. Thomas M. Norwood, United States Senator. The contest was quite an ani- mated one, and continued for several days. The first day's joint ballot on Wednesday, January 24th, 1877, resulted : T. M. Norwood, 96 votes, B. H. Hill 78, Jas. M. Smith 27, H. V. Johnson 11, D. A. Walker 4 ; total 216, needed to elect 109. Mr. Norwood was the strongest can- didate on this vote, but lacked 13 ballots to elect him. The struggle was between Mr. Norwood and Mr. Hill. The under-current of strategy was active and interesting, and gossip gave to Gov. Brown the direction of the final result. On Thursday the joint ballot stood: Norwood 95, Hill 77, Smith 29, Johnson 10, Walker -. The coquetting of both the Norwood and Hill managers with the Smith men was ardent. Rumor, the jade, put it that Dr. Carlton was very instrumental in some clever work for Mr. Hill. The gossip ran that some of Mr. Hill's men had been
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527
STATE HOUSE OFFICERS ELECTED.
detailed to vote for Gov. Smith, and at the proper time initiated the movement that carried Hill through. Be this as it may, on Friday, on a single joint ballot, the vote stood, Hill 114, Norwood 85, Smith 5, Johnson 5, not voting 4, and Mr. Hill was transferred from the House to the Senate for the six years beginning March 4, 1877, and ending March 4, 1883.
The same legislature elected N. C. Barnett, Secretary of State, J. W. Renfroe, Treasurer, and W. L. Goldsmith, Comptroller General.
CHAPTER XLVI.
GOVERNOR COLQUITT'S BRILLIANT FINANCIAL ADMIN- ISTRATION.
Grumbling at the State Constitution of 1868 .- The Legislature of 1877 Inaugurates a Convention Movement .- The Constitutional Convention of 1877 .- Its Personelle .- Ex-Gov. C. J. Jenkins its President .- The Work of the Convention .- Gen. Toombs and Railroad Restriction .- The Capital Question Settled .- A lively Battlo between Milledgeville aud Atlanta .- New Judges .-- C. D. Mccutchen .- Henry Tompkins .- President R. B. Hayes' Visit to Atlanta .- Gov. Colquitt's Memorable Speech of Welcome .- Gov. Colquitt's Splendid Financial Administration .- The Growling over Financial Success .- The State Road Droppings .- The Tuggle Picking .-- Bo- nanzas and Grumbling .- The Railroad Back Taxes .- The Macon and Brunswick Railroad Earnings .- Floating Debt Knocked Out .- Public Debt Reduced a Million and a half .- Taxation Cut Down nearly one-half .- Tax Burdens Halved .- Small Economies .- Every Expense Decreased .- Noisy Minorities and Quiet but Over- whelming Majorities .- The International Sunday School Convention. Gov. Col- quitt made President .- A Great Compliment .- Chatauqua and Brooklyn .- Gov. Colquitt as a National Harmonizer, and Georgia a Foremost Agent of Moral Civilization.
THE State Constitution of 1868 was in the main a good one, and in ordinary times would have been cherished by the people. It contained some minor defects, that could have been remedied. It was, as a whole, a document of organic law, well suited to the changed condition of public affairs, progressive, liberal, and yet conservative. But unfor- tunately the method of its formation and imposition upon the State was a standing shock to the public sentiment of a free people. It was the creature of bayonet reconstruction, and had been forced upon the commonwealth. Whatever merits it had were ignored in the resent- ment born of its origin and the manner of its enforcement.
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