Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....McCarthy, Joseph 1868 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 13, 2004, 12:04 am

Author: William Harden
p. 561-564

   HON. JOSEPH MCCARTHY. It is safe to say that few men in the south are as well
known in the labor world as Hon. Joseph McCarthy, the prominent Georgia
legislator, fighter and friend of organized labor. An advanced student of
philosophy, his mental power is for the most part directed toward the solution
of problems affecting the whole of society. He is an inspiration to the class
whose cause he champions, for he is of humble birth and has risen to his present
high position through his own efforts. Besides being a member of the state
legislature and a specialist in labor legislation, he is general foreman of the
Central of Georgia Railroad shops and he is also the father of the county police
bill of Chatham county. He is a particularly striking figure in Georgia affairs
and a notable exponent of a great cause.

   The Hon. Mr. McCarthy was born in Savannah in 1868, the son of Thomas and
Eliza (Kehoe) McCarthy, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They followed the
beckoning finger of opportunity from the shores of the New World and located in
Savannah previous to the Civil war. Both are now deceased. The father's
occupation was that of a blacksmith. Mr. McCarthy was reared in this city and
received the greater part of his education in St. Patrick's parochial school. He
learned the trade of machinist in the foundry and machine shops of the late J.
W. Tynan, a prominent and well-known character of Savannah of former years. In
1890, the subject entered the employ of the Central of Georgia Railroad as a
machinist in the Savannah shops and through his skill and efficiency was
promoted to his present position. He is general foreman for the company in
Savannah which includes both the locomotive and car departments, this being a
position of importance and responsibility.

   Mr. McCarthy has always been a strong union labor man and an ardent supporter
of all measures of beneficence for the laboring classes. He is the leading
exponent of union labor principles in the Georgia state legislature, in which he
has served three terms: 1907-08; 1909-10, and 1911-12.

   The record of Mr. McCarthy's achievements in the work to which he has devoted
heart and hand can not be told more truly and concisely than in his own words,
the account which follows having been published in the Savannah Press.

   "When I was first elected to the legislature in 1907 and 1908, I met the
father of the child labor bill, Hon. Madison Bell, of Fulton county, and before
any committees were appointed he asked me to let him remain chairman of the
labor committee, which I gladly consented to do on account of his experience and
I was made vice-chairman of the labor committee of Georgia. We drafted the
bureau of labor bill and introduced it in the house and when it came before the
committee the Textile Manufacturers' Association appeared against it and finally
defeated it in the committee room. In 1908 he modified the bill a little and
introduced it again only to be defeated by the Textile Manufacturers'
Association in the committee room. The Hon. Madison Bell, father of the child
labor bill, declined to stand for reelection to the legislature in 1909-1910. I
was reelected to the legislature and at that time Joe Brown was elected governor
of Georgia. A committee of the working class appeared before Governor Brown and
asked him to write the bureau of labor bill as a plank in his platform, which he
did. I was then placed at the head of the labor committee of Georgia and in
looking over the bill on which we had been defeated twice, I called on the Hon.
J. Randolph Anderson who was the recognized leader of the Brown forces and he
called a meeting in his room at the Piedmont Hotel. The gentlemen present were
the Hon. J. Randolph Anderson, United States Senator Terrell, Representative
Evans, who was representing the working people of Bibb county, C. T. Ladson,
attorney of the Georgia state federation of labor and myself. We discussed the
bureau of labor bill and the committee left it to myself, Mr. Ladson and Mr.
Evans to draw the present bill, which is now a law, and introduce it in the
house. But it was again defeated in the committee room by the Textile
Manufacturers' Association.

   “The following year I introduced the bill again and, finally, after a hard
fight, got it out of the committee room, only to be defeated on the floor of the
house by those who were bitterly opposed to the bureau of labor. I was again
elected to the legislature and Gov. Hoke Smith was reelected, after being
defeated for one term. I made a trip to Atlanta and waiting on him, asked him to
write the bureau of labor bill as a plank in his platform, which he did. When
the Georgia legislature convened in 1910 I was again appointed chairman of the
labor committee, with a new committee composed of members who had just been
elected as representatives. This was composed of twenty-seven members of the
house and all but a few were strangers to me. I seriously canvassed my committee
to find if they were favorable to the people. I organized my committee and
called a meeting. I was then notified by Hon. Henry Alexander, of Atlanta, an
ex-member of the Georgia legislature and at one time on my committee, that he
had been employed by the Atlanta Builders' Exchange, an association organized
for the special purpose of defeating any labor legislation in the state. I
notified Mr. Alexander of the date of the meeting and he appeared before the
committee to fight the bill, but with all his power and the power of the Atlanta
Builders' Association, he could not do a thing with the committee. The committee
then recommended the favorable passage of the bill. The bill was so reported to
the house, with recommendation that it do pass. It passed July 25, 1911, ayes,
one hundred and eight, nays, thirty-five. The bill was immediately transmitted
to the senate and there read the first time, July 31, and then referred to the
senate committee on immigration and labor.

   "The Textile Manufacturers' Association sent representatives before that
committee and plead for it to be postponed for one week, so that they could have
a hearing. I knew that this was the first move to try to defeat the bill. On the
date set by the committee one hundred Textile Manufacturers' Association
representatives appeared in a body. There was not a committee room large enough
to hold these representatives, so the committee adjourned to the house. When the
roll was called for the committee both sides answered ready. Mr. Anderson was
allowed five minutes to speak for the bill. The gentleman in favor of the bill
to follow Mr. Anderson was Mr. Ladson of Atlanta, and when he finished, Jerome
Jones of Atlanta, who also favored the bill, spoke, which closed our side. Mr.
Alexander, representing the Atlanta Builders' Exchange, was allowed to speak
twenty-five minutes. He made one of the most telling speeches I have ever heard
against the bill and this I saw, had terrible influence upon the senate
committee. He told the senate committee that he voted against the bureau of
labor bill while a member of the house, and that organized labor defeated him
when he ran for reelection, one thousand to fifteen hundred votes. After he got
through I knew that I could kill the influence and asked permission to speak
five minutes in answer to Mr. Anderson's speech.

   "I told the senate committee that I had been a member of the house when Mr.
Anderson was a representative and that he was placed on my labor committee, was
in favor of my bureau of labor bill and voted for it. I told the senate
committee that what defeated him was the fact that the citizens of Atlanta were
knocking at the legislature's door and demanding the passage of a local bill to
elect their recorder by the vote of the people. Mr. Anderson took sides against
the other three representatives and fought the bill viciously on the floor of
the house, but was defeated and the bill was passed to elect the recorder by the
vote of the people. There were members of the senate who could corroborate this
and I completely destroyed the force of Mr. Alexander's speech. Senator Shingler
of the tenth district, who fought the bill so vigorously, demanded of me if
there were bureaus of labor in other states and I proved to him that thirty-five
states had commissioners of labor.

   "The committee went into executive session and I waited patiently until 7:30
o 'clock, when they came out of executive session. Senator Morris, of the
committee, told me that they could not agree and would have a meeting next
morning. I then feared there was no hope for my bill and that they were playing
for time to defeat its passage. The committee met again and did not agree and
again Senator Morris came to me and asked if I would agree to an amendment to
leave the office to be elected by the people. I told him it was one of the
cardinal principles of the masses to elect to office by the vote of the people
and that they could make no fight against it. The committee met and agreed and
reported the bill to the senate with the recommendation that it do pass as
amended. On the floor the next day, Senator Shingler, who fought every inch
against the passage of the bill, asked that the bill be recommitted, but it was
voted down and read the second time August 7, 1911. It was read the third time
on August 15, 1911, and passed, ayes, twenty-three and nays, sixteen. I had
finally seen the passage of my bureau of labor bill."

   Mr. McCarthy also gives the following enumeration of the achievements of
organized labor.

   "Organized labor has been a potent factor in the passage of the child labor
law, the law in reference to headlights on engines, in reference to requirements
of safety appliances, in providing regulation in reference to the convenience of
female employes, and limiting the hours of employment. Organized labor was also
an effective factor in the passage of the bill providing that administrators may
recover in case of homicide and in rendering recovery possible even though the
employe was to some extent negligent. Organized labor has also favored in
legislative halls the protection of the indigent borrower from the excessive
demands of the extortionate money lender. In the general sum total, the trend of
influence of organized labor upon the Georgia legislature has been in favor of
the amelioration of the burdens of the unfortunate and the exaltation of the
individual into a higher and broader life. Organized labor has generally been
favorable to education, and its representatives have encouraged the
dissemination of knowledge everywhere. This is to be expected of any order whose
purpose is to elevate mankind.

   "I further state that when the whole state of Georgia was in a turmoil over
the convict lease system, it was organized labor that wrote the clause to
protect free labor and was one of the greatest factors in passing the bill which
is now a law. I am eternally and forever opposed to child labor as a blight on
civilization and I am tooth and nail for state-wide compulsory education and for
furnishing free books to every child in Georgia. If wise heads and kind hearts
continue to control the federation of labor so that the rights of both employer
and employe will be recognized and the absolute necessity of aiding the welfare
of both be accepted, the result will be beneficial to everybody. The best and
noblest ideals of the individual of the organization are comprehended in the
effort to uplift humanity and render it aid."

   Mr. McCarthy was married in Savannah to Miss Minnie Baker, a native of
Augusta, Georgia. Into their household have been horn four children—Thomas,
Minnie, Joseph, Jr., and Helen. The eldest son, Thomas, has charge of his
father's interest in the grocery store of Greenfield & McCarthy on West Broad
street. In May, 1912, Miss Minnie was married to Clarence L. Harris of Atlanta,
son of C. L. Harris, a prominent insurance man of Atlanta. Mr. and Mrs. Harris
reside at Atlanta.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913


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