Originally published at the Georgia State University News Hub, July 15, 2015. Archived at https://newsarchive.gsu.edu/2015/07/15/government-incivility-2/.
By Jeremy Craig
Georgia’s summer heat can drive men to madness.
These days, the state legislature meets in the winter for 40 days. Things may get intense, but despite the shouting and dirty looks, things are pretty dignified.
In 1907 it was a different story, when a fistfight broke out on the floor of the state House of Representatives.
At that time, the Georgia General Assembly met in the summer, undoubtedly the worst time of year in a society without air conditioning.
“They met after the planting season and before the harvesting season,” said Tim Crimmins, Georgia State professor emeritus and co-author of “Democracy Restored,” a history of the Georgia state capitol. “A lot of them were farmers.”
In July of that year, Prohibition was the heated issue.
Since the 1880s, each county in the state could choose whether to prohibit the sale of alcohol, but this time, a bill came to the floor to ban alcohol sales across the entire state.
The ladies of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), who for years favored Prohibition, were politically astute even though they could not vote or hold office.
“The [WCTU], with its male legislative allies in the General Assembly, were able to advance that cause,” Crimmins said.
To keep an eye on the proceedings that July 24, the women of the WCTU filled the legislative gallery.
“They had tables in the atrium where they had fried chicken and lemonade,” he said.. “They were going to witness this historic vote.”
The legislators were in two camps. The “drys” supported Prohibition and were mostly rural representatives, and the “wets” opposed it and were from urban areas.
The “wets” decided to drag out the proceedings through the legislative tactic known as the filibuster, which is basically endless talking
“The session that began at nine in the morning was still in session at 10 o’clock that evening,” Crimmins said. “Keep in mind, it’s a hot, humid July day, and women were dressed in long dresses and sleeves and hats.
“They were hot and uncomfortable as the day wore on, less and less tolerant of the voices of opposition that were holding up the vote.”
At 10 p.m., Rep. Seaborn Wright, a supporter of the bill, asked the Speaker of the House, John Slaton, to put the bloviation to an end.
“All of the women up in the gallery then erupted in cheers,” Crimmins said. “The Speaker had warned the gallery earlier that if there were any outbursts, he would clear the gallery, so he ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to clear the gallery.”
Even with the WCTU supporters out in the hall, the ruckus continued.
With the noise, the heat and the fatigue, Rep. Joe Hill Hall, a “wet,” had had enough and demanded the Speaker get things under control.
Wright lost his temper and demanded the bill come up for a vote then and there.
“Hall addressed Wright directly and said, “’After the outburst that you prompted earlier to disrupt these proceedings, you have no right to speak,’” Crimmins said. “Wright then took that personally and said, ‘How dare you. I have every right.’”
Wright marched down to the lectern, and the fight between him and Hall ensued. According to a Chicago Tribune story from July 25, 1907, “They had battered each other’s faces pretty freely before they were separated.”
The bill eventually passed after the Speaker shut down the house for a week for everybody to cool off. Nobody was hurt, but the entertainment value for the public was high.
“Of course, neither was injured, so there was not going to be any long-term repercussion from it,” Crimmins said. “[The newspapers] just treated that as part of the theater of politics.”
Politics today can be heated, though not quite as literally. And since 1907, even through the turbulence of the Civil Rights era and numerous other times of controversy, nobody’s tried to slug it out in the Georgia legislature.
“There have been shouting matches in the General Assembly, in committees and on the floor, but not a shouting match that actually leads to a fight,” Crimmins said.