resulted in a tie; but Speaker Burwell came to the rescue at this supreme moment, and it was due to his deciding vote that tax equalization was at last written into the statutes of the state. The measure duly received Governor Slaton's executive approval; and to the office of state tax commissioner, Judge John C. Hart, of Greene, was called. This appointment went far toward overcoming opposition to the tax equalization law. There was not in the state a man more widely popular than Judge Hart. He possessed the respect and confidence of all classes of people; and, to quote Governor Slaton, was "a land owner, in sympathy with the people of his state, who could be trusted to execute the laws without harshness and in the full spirit of exact justice."* Contrary to the view entertained by some of its opponents, this act, for the year 1914, resulted in putting upon the digest property hitherto untaxed to the amount of $85,000,000 and in consequence thereof the tax rate was reduced in the midsummer of 1914 from 5 to 42 mills.t Governor Slaton felicitated the General Assembly upon its action in passing this measure and predicted that in the future history of Georgia it would be known as the debt-paying Legislature, a distinction conferring the highest honor. Said he: "Above and beyond all the benefits of this law, its effect will be to produce a loftier and finer thought among the people. The citizens of distant counties will recognize that they are equally interested in the welfare of the entire State. Not a successful enterprise on the Chattahoochee but lessens the taxes of its neighbors on the Savannah. Not a quarry that pours forth its wealth in the mountains of North Georgia but helps the cotton planter of the southern section. Every Georgian will be united for the common good and he who obeys the law is but sharing the burden of his neighbor and following the one other commandment that comprised all the rest: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' "I beg to refer to the able report of Judge Hart, State Tax Commissioner, and commend it to your earnest consideration. Judge Hart has ably served the State as a pure, efficient and upright judge. As Attorney General he wisely counseled her officers and valiantly maintained her causes in the courts. But his highest and most lasting service has been and will be as State Tax Commissioner. His appointment was an inspiration, his service a benediction." Inherited property was also placed under tribute by this Legislature.§ The law provided for a tax levy of one per cent on all property real and personal acquired either by inheritance or by deed of gift, where the value of said property was in excess of $5,000. But in certain cases of remote kinship and in cases not specified in the act, this tax was to be increased to 5 per cent on the property so acquired. More than two-thirds of the states had, up to this time, adopted an inheritance tax; and though the measure was stoutly opposed it was favored quite generally by the masses as a law thoroughly democratic in its character. Continuing the reformatory work of preceding Legislatures an act *Senate Journal, 1914, p. 20. House Journal, 1915, p. 24. § Acts 1913, pp. 91-98. was passed to establish the Georgia Training School for Girls.|| The purpose of this bill was to reclaim women of tender age but wayward inclinations, whose proneness to evil would only be confirmed if made to associate with hardened offenders and criminals. The sum of $10,000 was appropriated for its initial maintenance and support. It was to be located on lands owned by the state at Milledgeville and to be governed by a board of managers, five in number, to be appointed by the governor. Two of these were to be women. Judges of the city and superior courts were authorized in their discretion to commit to this school all girls, under eighteen years of age, found guilty of violating the laws of this state, except for offenses involving death or life imprisonment. There was also an act to reorganize the state board of medical examiners, making its membership composite in character and representative of the various recognized schools of medicine.* This board was to consist of ten members to be appointed by the governor. All of these were to be physicians, appointed as follows: Five regulars, three eclectic, and two homeopathic, each to serve for a term of four years. To protect the public against sharpers an act to better regulate and control corporations doing an industrial, health, life, or accident insurance business in the State of Georgia and to provide penalties for violations of same was passed during this session.† With a like end in view there was also an act passed to regulate the sale of stocks, bonds and other securities, known in popular parlance as the "Blue Sky" law.‡ This act required all dealers in such securities to file a statement under oath in the office of secretary of state setting forth all facts relative to the business, needed for public protection. In the case of a non-resident it was necessary for a power of attorney to be filed. Other laws enacted at this session included an act to provide for a permanent qualification book for the qualified voters of this state; § an act to empower judges of the Superior Court to grant charters to private companies in vacation; ** an act to authorize all courts, having jurisdiction in felony or misdemeanor cases so to mold their sentences as to allow defendants to serve same outside the jail, chain gang or other place of detention, under the supervision of the court ft and finally an act providing for a commission to receive bids for a release of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Due to technical irregularities in the bills creating Wheeler and Bleckley counties, the representatives from these counties were not admitted to full membership at this session but were given seats in the House and paid for the session, as if they had duly qualified. This General Assembly created a new judgeship for the Atlanta Circuit, to which Judge Benjamin H. Hill, Chief Judge of the State Court of Appeals was appointed. §§ At the same time, Judge L. S. Acts 1913, pp. 81-91. *Acts 1913, pp. 101-110. Acts 1913, pp. 98-101. Acts 1913, pp. 117-122. § Acts 1913, pp. 115-117. ** Acts 1913, pp. 100-101. + Acts 1913, pp. 112-114. Acts 1913, pp. 137-138. $$ Acts 1913, pp. 72-75. Vol. II-34 Roan, who had recently presided, over the celebrated Frank case, was transferred from the bench of the Stone Mountain Circuit to the bench of the State Court of Appeals. To succeed Judge Roan on the Stone Mountain Circuit, Governor Slaton appointed Hon. Chas. S. Reid, of Campbell. This occurred in the fall of 1913. But the Appellate bench underwent still further changes. Judge Pottle, having resigned his seat to resume the practice of law at Albany, Georgia, there occurred a vacancy which Governor Slaton filled, on February 5, 1914, by appointing Hon. Peyton L. Wade, of Dublin, Georgia, to the vacant judgeship. This appointment gave wide satisfaction. Judge Wade was one of the state's ablest lawyers, a man of broad culture and of commandingly high character. Judge Roan's tenure of service on the bench was brief. Some injudicious words spoken impulsively by Judge Roan expressing a doubt as to Frank's guilt, at the time of his refusal to grant him a new trial after hearing argument from counsel on both sides, served to impair Judge Roan's standing somewhat with the legal profession. It was seemingly an inconsistent attitude, pleasing neither to the friends nor to the enemies of Leo M. Frank. But Judge Roan was an ill man; and it was probably due to this fact rather than to adverse public sentiment that he declined to be a candidate at the next general election. Within a few months after leaving the bench he died of cancer at a private sanitarium in the City of New York. His death occurred during the month of March, 1915. Judge Nash R. Broyles, for years recorder of the City of Atlanta, an officer of the law whose name was a terror to evil doers and a synonym for law enforcement, succeeded Judge Roan on the bench of this tribunal. On February 14, 1914, U. S. Sen. Augustus O. Bacon died in Washington, District of Columbia, while intent upon his labors as Georgia's senior senator. At the time of his death Senator Bacon was chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The President relied heavily upon his counsels, especially in negotiations with Mexico-then nearing an acute stage; and throughout the nation there was deep sorrow felt on account of his death. Senator Bacon had just been awarded the toga for a fourth term and was the first United States senator to be elected under the new law providing for popular elections. As a parliamentarian he possessed few equals. Nor was he less distinguished as a ready debater, as a safe councillor and as a learned constitutional lawyer. To succeed him in the United States Senate until a regular election could be held to fill the vacancy, Governor Slaton appointed Hon. William S. West, of Valdosta, a former state senator and a man of affairs, then serving as vice chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee. As Congress was then in session, Colonel West immediately repaired to Washington. When the Legislature re-assembled for its summer session in 1914, a new county was created by constitutional amendment in honor of Georgia's deceased senator and called Bacon. It was formed out of Appling, Pierce and Ware counties, in the lower part of the state, with the Village of Alma for its county seat, and was annexed to the Eleventh Congressional District, to the Third Senatorial District and to the Waycross Judicial Circuit. There were three other counties created at this session: Barrow, Candler and Evans. Barrow County was formed out of territory belonging to Gwinnett, Walton and Jackson, and was named for Dr. David C. Barrow, chancellor of the State University, who was still in life. This compliment to Doctor Barrow was most unique and exceptional, demonstrating the high esteem in which he was held. Winder, a progressive town, with a rapidly growing volume of business, was designated as the county seat. Up to this time Winder occupied a somewhat anomalous position. It was located in three counties at a point where these counties cornered, and for more than ten years Winder had been anxious to obviate these conditions by forming out of the territory around it a new county, but it was not until 1914 that a series of organized efforts in this direction finally succeeded. Barrow was annexed to the Ninth Congressional District, to the Thirty-third Senatorial District, and to the Western Judicial Circuit. Candler County, named for the late Gov. Allen D. Candler, was formed out of territory taken from three counties: Emanuel, Bulloch and Tattnall. Metter was named as its county seat. The new County of Candler was annexed to the First Congressional District, to the Seventeenth Senatorial District, and to the Middle Judicial Circuit. Evans County was named for Gen. Clement A. Evans, a much beloved veteran of the Lost Cause, who had served Georgia during the last years of his life on the prison commission. This new county was attached to the First Congressional District, to the Second Senatorial District and to the Atlantic Judicial Circuit. It was formed out of Bulloch and Tattnall counties, and Claxton was designated as its county seat. Governor Slaton, in his annual message to the Legislature in 1914, called attention to acute relations existing between the National Guard of Georgia and the War Department at Washington. Said he: * "Since the last session of your honorable body I have had brought before me in acute form the relation existing between the National Guard of Georgia and the War Department at Washington. By statutes embodied in sections 1361, 1362 and 1363, second volume of the Code of Georgia, the office of Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General are established, each with rank of Brigadier-General. Code sections. 1367 and 1368 give general authority to the Governor as Commanderin-Chief regarding the number and grades of the officers. "The War Department at Washington issued an order requiring in effect that the Quartermaster-General in Georgia should have the rank of Major. The failure to comply with the order was visited with the penalty that the Quartermaster-General would not be recognized for the purpose of receiving arms, equipments, etc., nor would he receive pay during manoeuvers. "I asked if this order could be suspended as to Georgia until the Legislature could meet and deal with the subject, as I maintained that obedience to the laws of Georgia was a superior duty and more binding on me than the orders of the War Department. "This suspension was declined, unless I promised to use my influence as Chief Executive with the Legislature to repeal legislation conflicting with the orders of the War Department. This I declined to * House Journal, 1914, pp. 25-27. do, and hence I designated the Adjutant-General to receipt for equipment until the subject could be brought to your attention. "Perhaps it may be the part of practical wisdom to adapt the office of Quartermaster-General to the grade required in the regular army, in order that our National Guard may receive the support of the Federal Government, as provided by its laws. But I believe it should be with the strict heed that the National Guard of Georgia shall always owe first allegiance to the State and subject to the order of her Governor as paramount authority. The National Guard is ready in time of national peril to perform the duties of a soldier against a foreign enemy, and the Government should be generous with it and liberally support it on these terms. Its members spend time and money and make a disapproval the growing tendency to militarism, with a large standing army under direct control of one man in Washington. It is not difficult to suppose an occasion when such a force under the control of some one possessed of audacity, ambition and courage, might make it a menace to our Government and its institutions.' There was also an act passed at this session authorizing the governor to issue bonds of the state to the amount of $3,679,000, to pay off that portion of the public debt maturing May, 1915, the amount of which was $287,000, and that portion maturing July 1, 1915, the amount of which was $3,392,000.* Said bonds were to bear interest at a rate not to exceed 4 per cent and were to be of such varying denominations as the governor might see proper to fix. The interest was to be paid semi-annually and the principal was to mature serially in successive amounts commencing July 1, 1930, or July 1, 1935, as the governor might elect, and thereafter installments of the same maturing each year successively during the next ten or fifteen years, as the case might be, so that the last installment shall mature July 1, 1945. The manner in which this refunding of the state's bonded indebtedness was handled by Governor Slaton will be discussed later. *Acts 1915, pp. 81-86. |