The Augusta Courier

STRICTLY PERSONAL
BY ROY V. HARRIS

State politics has been going as usual since April 29th when the entries closed.

While it has been going on as usual the situation has been most unusual.

It is unusual because there seems to be generally a lack of interest in any of the campaigns.

This is probably due to the fact that people over the State do not consider that either Governor Talmadge or Senator George has any opposition worth considering.

Ex-Governor Thompson has been speaking from two to five times a day.

He has covered a lot of the State, and so far a close check behind his meetings show that he has developed practically no interest.

His own close supporters in the places where he has been are frank to say he has no chance to win.

As a matter of fact, so far I have found only one man who thinks Thompson has a chance to win, and there is grave doubt that this one man has the ability to judge the situation. Most of the leaders on a state-wide level who supported Thompson last time are having nothing to do with his campaign this time. They say that he has no chance and they are having nothing to do with him.

Down in the counties, most of Thompson's leaders of two years ago are now openly supporting Talmadge or else have announced that they are going fishing on election day.

Most of them are sorely disappointed in Thompson. They think he has failed them as a leader. They are of the opinion that he does not have the ability to conduct a campaign or to handle himself in the event he should be elected.

As a matter of fact most of them are saying some right disrespectful things about their former candidate.

Governor Talmadge has only been speaking on Saturday and has only made three speeches. These speeches have been widely scattered over the State. He has had large crowds at each of these meetings and most observers believe that even though he has made only three speeches that he has spoken to as many people as Thompson has spoken to in his numerous speeches.

About the only attraction of the Thompson campaign is a calliope.

His speeches are not well advertised and they are not organized at all.

He depends upon the calliope players to circle around town and gather up his crowd.

A few nights ago, the boys who operate his calliope were stopped in a little town and asked why they were making so much noise. Their answer was that they were paid to do it and they were voting for Talmadge themselves. So it seems that he hasn't even impressed the calliope players. Since they have a job and are getting paid for making a lot of noise, they ought to at least vote for the man who is paying the bill.

It reminds me of a story a newspaper reporter wrote a few years ago about a candidate.

This reporter said that everybody had left this candidate except his fiddler.

The reporter claimed that he found the fiddler on the candidate's platform a few minutes before the speaking was supposed to begin, fiddling a tune called "Everybody Done Left Me But My Ole Houn' Dawg."

It looks like this time the calliope players done left Thompson. So far we haven't been able to get an accurate report on the position of the houn' dawg. (Continued On Page Three)

In the Senate race there seems to be practically no activity. Senator George has not opened any headquarters and is staying on the job in Washington.

His opponent has made two radio speeches out of Atlanta. So far we have noticed no effort on the part of McLennan to attempt to stump the State.

Indications point to the fact that McLennan is afraid to try to stump the State. Evidently the small crowds which are being attracted by Thompson are very discouraging to McLennan.

And then up to now McLennan doesn't even have a calliope or a "houn' dawg" to take around with him.

Then too, McLennan has been getting some very discouraging reports from over the State and he will have extreme difficulty in getting an organization in more than 15 or 20 counties.

You can't overlook the concerted efforts of a organized drive in a political campaign. Without an organization there is confusion and a candidate is scattering his shots.

Senator George will have an organized effort in every county in Georgia whether he comes to Georgia or not, and whether he opens any headquarters or not.

There are enough people in every county in Georgia interested in Senator George's campaign to perfect and work out a local organization on their own efforts.

As a matter of fact the average business man and farmer over Georgia believes that it is absolutely necessary to keep Senator George in Washington at the present time.

The average business man and farmer is worried. He is confused. He doesn't understand all that is happening in Washington, and he doesn't like most of what is happening.

They feel that Senator George is safe. They feel that he can be depended upon and they feel that his ideas are more like their ideas than his opponent.

Then too, the fight over the F.E.P.C. Bill is helping the cause of both Governor Talmadge and Senator George.

The publicity about the FEPC Bill and the fight to pass it into law is playing right into the hands of both Talmadge and George.

Talmadge and George are known to be against it. They are both fighting against it. They are both doing everything in their power to prevent its passage and to keep the pattern of segregation in the South.

The opponents of both George and Talmadge are utterly silent about the President's Civil Rights Program and about the FEPC Bill.

Both Thompson and McLennan are hoping to get the negro vote. Both are hoping to get the C.I.O. vote and to get the votes of the radicals who believe in the President's Civil Rights Program and the F.E.P.C. Bill.

The business man and the farmer are opposed to the Civil Rights Program. They are opposed to the F.E.P.C. Bill.

The farmers who live in middle and south Georgia live among a large rural negro population.

These farmers in middle and south Georgia must leave their families at various times in isolated sections in the midst of a lot of negroes.

These white farmers fear what might happen to their families if the pattern of segregation is destroyed.

They also believe that if the pattern is destroyed in one place that it will be destroyed in another and that their daughters and sons will be required to attend the same schools as the negro children.

They fear these conditions with a holy fear and they believe that the FEPC Bill is an entering wedge to bring about this condition.

The average business man in Georgia literally hates the idea of the FEPC Bill. He knows that if he is required to employ negro clerks in his store, in his office and in his bank it would practically ruin his business.

He knows that if negro men and women and white men and women are required to work side by side in his factory or mill, that it will destroy the efficiency of his plant and will produce violence and racial trouble the like of which we haven't seen in Georgia since the days of Reconstruction.

Then the average business man has a perfect hatred of the idea of a bunch of bureaucrats sitting in Washington or in Atlanta or anywhere else and telling him whom he must employ or whom he must fire.

STRICTLY PERSONAL
(Continued from Page Three)

Consequently, the Civil Rights issue and the F.E.P.C. Bill is forcing the farmer and business man into the Talmadge and George ranks.

There is no other place they can possibly go.

They want somebody who will stand up and fight in the open against this damnable Civil Rights Program and the nefarious FEPC Bill.

They know where George stands. They know where Talmadge stands.

They know that the other side straddles the fence, bids for the negro vote and bids for the vote of the Civil Rights crowd.

They feel as I do that there can be no compromise on the FEPC Bill and there can be no compromise on the Civil Rights Program.

The old Civil Rights Program was designed for the sole purpose of destroying the pattern of segregation.

There are those who would like to see a mongrelized mulatto race in the south. There are those who would like to see the white man in the south pulled down to the same condition and the same standard as that of the negro. There are those who are in competition with the business of the south who would like to handicap southern business and industry.

The people of the South have had a most difficult time waging this fight. They have had a most difficult time keeping this damnable program from being saddled on their necks.

1.

The best way we can let the nation know how we stand is to elect men like Talmadge and George.

It is known from one end of the nation to the other how Talmadge and George stand. The politicans in Washington know where they stand.

The election of Talmadge and George would let the Washington politicians know in no uncertain terms that the people of Georgia are standing fast behind their position and that we will stand for no monkey business on the question of the segregation of the white and the negro races.

This is a fight on the part of southern white people for their very existence. This is a fight by southern white people for the preservation of their most cherished customs and traditions.

As a matter of fact it is a fight on the part of the southern white people to preserve even the civilization of the people of the south.

To destroy segregation would not help the negro or contribute to his advancement. It will create confusion and lead to violence. It would destroy the very opportunities which the negro now enjoys in the south.

Under our pattern of segregation, under our customs the negro has made the greatest progress in America he has ever made in all of the world's history. And he has made this progress in a little over 80 years.

To destroy this pattern would destroy his opportunities and would destroy the white man at the same time. We have got something at stake in the gubernatorial race. We have got something at stake in th senate race.

This something is the most valuable right and the most precious thing to southern people.

In these kind of times evry white man and every white woman in Georgia ought to be interested in both the campaign of Governor Talmadge and Senator George.

Every white man and every white woman in Georgia ought to get interested in these campaigns. They ought to be willing to give of their time and their money whatever is necessary to give to both Governor Talmadge and Senator George the biggest landslide vote any candidate has ever received in Georgia.

It means everything to us and a big landslide vote would let the radicals in Washington and the radicals over the nation know that we cannot be defeated, that we cannot be destroyed'and that we are determined that this terrible thing shall never happen to us.