Look Away

For some time, Georgians have been expecting their Commissioner of Agriculture, Tom Linder, 66, to go after the nomination for governor, since Governor Herman Talmadge cannot succeed himself. Last week Tom began to qualify for the governorship by delivering an oration at the Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery, where 4,000 Confederate soldiers lie buried. For roaring bombast of a style almost lost to U.S. politics, Tom Linder set a standard that the five other eager aspirants will find hard to match.

"The principles for which the Confederates fought did not begin with secession . . ." thundered Tom. "[They] come down to us from the heroic pages of antiquity. They may be read in the history of ... the Roman Empire and the defeat of the Roman Legion before the birth of Christ in the mountain passes of northern Europe by the Germanic people whom the Romans were never able to conquer . . . The Confederate cause is not lost and will never be lost so long as there are free and patriotic men and women . . .

"We people of the South and millions of others throughout the nation should be thankful that we belong to a race of man whose most outstanding characteristic is a genius for self-government . . . Never in all history has any Republic form of government, nor any Democratic form of government, been established and made to endure . . . except by men who came from the Caucasian and Germanic races . . . The men and women of the Confederacy held these traditions and principles in their purity to a much greater extent than the peoples of a number of northern states who had been subjected to the influx of immigration of people of lower standards . . ."

Sweating in the hot sunshine, Linder pointed toward heaven and let the Shenandoah of cliches roll. "Four score and nine years ago, the Men in Grey ceased to resist oppression on the battlefield . . . Four score and nine times Old Father Time has completed his yearly cycle since the last bugle call was sounded and the last rebel yell was heard fighting under the Stars and Bars . . . Four score and nine times the shrinking violets have timidly raised their heads from their winter hiding place to gladden the hearts of mankind. The rosebuds have sprung into new life and flaunted their wanton beauty to delight the discerning eye. The honeysuckles have saturated the balmy air with the odor of the nectar of the gods, and the songbirds have awakened the echoes of music with their renewed message of light and love and life . . ."

Orator Linder was so pleased with his speech that he bought time on three local radio stations for recorded broadcasts and a black-bordered ad in the Atlanta Constitution to spread the word. Said Herman Talmadge: "Tom would not be spending his money unless he was figuring on being a candidate.''*

Sure enough, this week Shrinking Violet Linder raised his head and said that he would run for governor of Georgia.

-Herman, whose father, the late Governor Eugene Talmadge, was agriculture commissioner for six years before he became governor, would like to swap jobs with Linder, take over the influential Agriculture Department until a Senate seat becomes available.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.