Wednesday, 3rd June 1914: Daily Grist From The State’s Political Grind Hugh Dorsey Will Make Statement By Sunday, June Fourteenth, The Atlanta Constitution

It can be stated with certainty that Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey will give out a statement by June 14 regarding the effort of his friends to induce him to run for governor. Just what this statement will contain, it is impossible to state at this time, but he has decided to make a statement and has set June 14 as the day. Mr. Dorsey will be very busy with his legal duties all this week and will be unable to give the matter any consideration, but he will be able to go over the situation with his friends in this city and other parts of the State.

THERE WILL BE NO LACK OF HEAT IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS THIS YEAR. Those carping critics who were loudly complaining that there was a lack of interest in politics, despite the many offices to be filled those who thought there was not enough ginger in the campaign, are beginning to realize that they reckoned without their host. From this time on, as the mercury steadily mounts in the tube, the campaign can be expected to grow more and more heated until about August 1. The very mention of politics will cause the average citizen to shuck his coat and hunt an electric fan. It is going to be so hot that the inside of a pepper mill will be as a cold storage plant by comparison. There will be charges and counter-charges, and criminations and recriminations and challenges to talkfests and letter and card writings until you can't rest. There will, above all, be explanations that don't explain and denials and counter-denials until the very air is lurid.

Witness just two evidences: Governor John M. Slaton thought it a pretty good policy to go serenely on his way conducting the affairs of the office to which he was elected and incidentally sending out letters to his friends asking for their support. He went to work systematically and has organized one of the largest campaign committees ever formed in this State. Then, after Mr. Felder and Mr. Hardwick had attacked him vigorously in speeches, he addressed a communication to the people of Georgia in which he came back with a force which seemed to take these gentlemen completely by surprise. They hurried into print to reply and they replied at length. They had sought a fight and they got it a fight which will know no let or stay until after August 18. Those persons who thought Governor Slaton would sit idly by and let his opponents push the fight were agreeably surprised to see him wading into the camp of the enemy and becoming the aggressor. His card proved him a good, two-fisted fighter, who could be depended on when the occasion arose. It was the first gun of a campaign which will pass into history as one of the warmest ever known.

And the Joe Brown incident! Little Joe Brown was attending strictly to his own business up in Marietta. He was writing cards on the labor situation and saying not one word about politics. Other folks were doing the talking from him. Suddenly, Little Joe, tiring of some of the talk that was going the rounds, elected to state that he would not oppose Governor Slaton for the Senate that he had never entertained any such notion. Scarcely had the article appeared in print than his erstwhile friend and loyal supporter, J. R. Smith, wrote one of the most remarkable communications, which has ever appeared in the papers of the State. Plainly he was sore on Little Joe. The situation was simply this: Mr. Smith thought Mr. Brown would oppose Governor Slaton and so stated. The former governor had no intention of so doing, and so stated. That was all there was to it except the rumpus it raised. A little thing to kick up a fuss about, you say? Yes, but it only goes to show just how hot things are going to be.

J. RANDOLPH ANDERSON OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN IN MARIETTA. J. Randolph Anderson, candidate for governor, will open his campaign in Marietta June 6. The situation in Marietta and Cobb County is rather peculiar. Should Hugh Dorsey decide to run there is little question that he would sweep the County, according to all reports. Mr. Anderson also is very strong in Cobb, as he has a farm in that County and has spent his summers there for the past ten years. Colonel Nat E. Harris, of Macon, has great strength in the County. His son-in-law, Campbell Wallace, Secretary of the Railroad Commission, is a resident of Marietta and there is no more popular man in the Community.

HUGH DORSEY COULD BE ELECTED CORONER OF COBB, SAY FRIENDS. Speaking of Cobb County, one of Hugh Dorsey's strong supporters assured him some days ago in all seriousness that he could be elected coroner of Cobb County without opposition. "That," said Mr. Dorsey, "is the most gratifying piece of news I have received. Anyone who knows anything about Cobb County politics will tell you just how strong a statement that is."

R. O. COCHRAN PAYS ENTRY FEE: IS IN SENATORIAL RACE TO STAY. R. O. Chochran, candidate for the Senate against Hoke Smith, has written the following: "I have mailed today to the Secretary of the Democratic Executive Committee a check to cover my entrance fee of $250 as a candidate for the United States Senate to succeed Senator Hoke Smith." "I was the first candidate to announce for any position for which all the people of Georgia are to vote. I probably am the first candidate to pay my entrance fee." "And in this connection, I want to say that I am liberal in my views as concerns all religious, moral, and political questions. If elected to the United States Senate, I will endeavor to serve all the people of Georgia alike, and will always be in favor of legislation that will promote the material and business interests of all of the people of this country, and especially those of our Southland."

MANY CANDIDATES WILL GATHER TODAY AT FORT GAINES BARBECUE. One of the most interesting meetings of the State campaign held so far takes place today at Fort Gaines, when a number of candidates will address the voters of several Counties at a monster barbecue to be held at that place. Those who have been announced as speakers are Judge Nat E. Harris, of Macon, Candidate for Governor; Hon. T. S. Felder, Candidate for the United States Senate, and Thomas E. Watson. Besides these, there will probably be a number of other political addresses. An interesting feature of the occasion is the fact that Mr. Felder in going to Fort Gaines will go to the Home County of a man whose opposition to him has been outspoken for many years, and whose influence in Clay and surrounding counties has had a marked effect on the result of political contests in the past. This is none other than Hon. Emmet R. Shaw, one of the most picturesque political figures in Georgia for many years. Mr. Shaw has a reputation for talking right out in meeting, and Mr. Felder's invasion of his own Home County may result in an interesting meeting between the two.

SLATON SURE TO CARRY PICKENS, SAY POLITICAL LEADERS OF COUNTY. Reports from Pickens say that it has the largest registered vote on record in the neighborhood of 1,800. The best political wiseacres give it as their best judgment that Governor Slaton will get practically all the votes in the County. His majority in this County in his race for the Governorship was nearly 1,000. Very little is being said politically of any other race than that of Senator for the unexpired term of the late Senator Bacon. As Pickens holds no primary for County Officers, very little is said of local affairs politically. It is pretty generally thought that Colonel W. T. Day, of Jasper, will be in the race for State Senator from the forty-first district. Colonel Day is now, in his 5th year, but is hale and hearty. The district is composed of Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin.

HUTCHENS CONDUCTING QUIET CAMPAIGN FOR U. S. SENATE. Rome, Ga., June 2. (Special.) Judge G. R. Hutchens, who is a candidate for the unexpired term of the late U. S. Senator A. O. Bacon, is conducting a quiet but persistent campaign. He states that he is gaining ground daily, and appears optimistic as to his chances.He is receiving the backing of Thomas E. Watson. Rome people read with interest copies of the last issue of The Jeffersonian, in which Hutchens' candidacy was vigorously indorsed. Additional interest has been given to the race for representatives from Floyd County by the statement of Dr. A. W. Findley, of Cave Spring, a physician and former mayor of that place, that he will probably be in the race. The only announced candidate is R. H. Copeland, a farmer and justice of the peace of the Etowah district. Three other probable entries are John W. Bale, former Solicitor General of the Rome Circuit; Barry Wright, one of the members of the present delegation from Floyd, and Judge George D. Anderson, who was one of the representatives in 1911-1912.

MASSINGALE CONTINUES TO URGE THAT DORSEY ANNOUNCE FOR GOVERNOR

Hon. T. E. Massingale, veteran legislator from Warren County, continues to urge Hugh M. Dorsey to announce for governor, writing: Editor Constitution: I predict that Hugh Dorsey will run for Governor, and will be elected by the biggest majority ever received by any one running for Governor in Georgia. The common people are going to force Dorsey to announce. Now, I don't even personally know Dorsey, but I do know that he is the greatest criminal lawyer of his age in Georgia to date. He is the most fearless advocate that ever presented a Case to a jury. He is the most convincing pleader that ever handled evidence. And he is as fair as he is fearless and honest. I am not for Dorsey because he handled the Frank Case so successfully against two of the biggest lawyers in Georgia, but simply because it brought into the limelight a man who is an honor to his State, a man full of civic righteousness, and a man you could trust without making a platform for him to stand on. I claim to be the first man in Georgia to mention Dorsey's name for Governor, and I published it in The Augusta Chronicle, Atlanta Constitution, The Jeffersonian and Warrenton Clipper. His announcement will take like a prairie fire on a dry day. I have had some political experience, and the political weather vane points to Dorsey, and he has not said he was a candidate. T. E. MASSINGALE. Norwood, Ga., June 1, 1914.