Don't Shove!

At 11:20 a.m., the female clerk of Georgia's Supreme Court stepped out into the mob of newsmen and politicos milling in a dark hallway of the State Capitol. Trembling with excitement, she squeaked: "No shoving, please." When the mob shoved anyway, a man shouted anxiously: "Don't shove. It's 5-to-2 for Thompson."

With that, two reporters ran for the executive office to break the news of Lieut. Governor Melvin E. Thompson's court victory to narrow-eyed, young Herman ("Hummon") Talmadge, the "Pretender." Hummon looked dignified in a grey chalk-stripe suit and red tie, but when he heard the news he blurted: "What judges voted against me?" When the reporter shrugged, Hummon told his secretary to find out. Then he picked up the phone and snapped: "Get me Mrs. Talmadge."

Before Hummon had finished telling his wife to start moving out of the executive mansion, his office was jammed with snorting, stomping Talmadge backers. Hulking Representative Jimmy Dykes, the ex-black-marketeer who had likened former Governor Ellis Arnall to a "hawg," bellowed: "We'll get a court of our own." Then, putting on his own boar-like dignity: "You know what MacArthur said --I shall return." Hummon just smiled. Within 15 minutes, he vacated the office --as he had said he would--and Georgia's 63-day fling at two-headed government was over.

Calm & Slow. In ruling Hummon out, the court had pooh-poohed his contention that it had no jurisdiction in the case. Georgia law, said the court, states plainly that the legislature may elect a governor only when no candidate has a majority. Gene Talmadge and Thompson, elected with him as lieutenant governor,. had had majorities in the November election. Thus, said the court, the legislature had had no legal grounds for electing Hummon, and Thompson, the ex-schoolteacher son of a tenant farmer, had every legal right to the governorship.

Acting Governor Thompson ("I look better just plain M. E.") was delighted. "I plan to take it calm and slow," he said. "I don't like rowdyism."

His first official act was to void the appointment of 21 state officers installed by Hummon. Then he began looking over the laws, including the white-primary bill, which Hummon had got the legislature to pass. When it was rumored that M. E. might veto the white-primary bill, the word got to the legislature. At week's end, the legislators quietly adjourned the session without passing the 3% sales-tax bill that would pay for M. E.'s road, hospital, education and old-age benefit program. A new legislature would not convene until after the general election in 1948.

Everybody in Georgia--except Hummon's "wool-hat" boys--was relieved that the comic opera was over. But the respite would not last long. Hummon was sure to try a comeback in 1948.

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