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THE GEORGIAN RUNS AMUCK—DECLARES DRINK DOES NOT CAUSE POVERTY-Page Four 'wSWt IN Tjifc—- ’*’ \o. VOLUME EIGHT NUMBER THIRTY -NIN E HON. W. C. VEREEN—“FIRST CITIZEN” of MOULTRIE “Big-Hearted, Big-Brained, “Big-Ideaded” Mayor of the Colquitt County Metropolis That Will Entertain the Georgia Baptist Convention Nov. 19-23 —Inspiring Illustration of the Crown Which Plucky Manhood Wears. ANHOOD—“elemental manhood,” as Tom Dixon calls it—and that manhood cabled to the Rock of Ages—that is the kind of Presby terian ''Mayor Who presides over Moultrie, the happy host this week of the Georgia Baptist Convention. I measure my words when I say it —I have known few towns of five % thousand people in all the South that can boast as large a percentage of active, working Chris tian men, in their citizenship as the town of Moultrie, and it is only natural that such a community of meaningful men should call to be their chief executive a man of such lofty type of Christian manhood and superb business ability as W. C. Vereen. A Democrat—But Not a Sabbath Breaker. A prominent member of the Presbyterian Church and a most liberal contributor to all of its enterprises, with its beautiful new building and its several representatives in foreign lands, Moultrie’s popular and beloved Mayor not only lives his religion in his home town, but he lives it when he goes off to a national Dem ocratic convention —and that is saying lots! As a wholesome illustration: when it was announced that the Georgia delegation to the Baltimore convention would leave Atlanta on Sunday, Moultrie’s sturdy Mayor, who was a Congressional delegate, quietly announced that he would leave on Friday before, so he could be in Baltimore well rested and ready to at tend worship on Sunday. Don’t say, young man, that —“He had plenty of money, and could well afford to spare the time.” To be sure he is a man of large means, but his wealth only brings added responsibilities, and there is hardly a busier business man in all Georgia. Simple enough is the solution —W. C. Vereen being a Christian man he simply means busi ness with his religion, and he did not propose to desecrate the Sabbath day talking politics and turning “the Lord’s Day” into a political revelry such as would have been almost inevi table on a crowded train of politicians. Like "Woodrow Wilson his Presbyterian brother whom that convention nominated for the glory of our Southland and the blessing of our nation, Moultrie’s modest but masterful Mayor “eschews politics on Sunday.” Thank God for the growing prominence of such men in the councils of our country. Came From Palmetto State. Born in the “Palmetto State” and coming from Cheraw, S. C., in young manhood, W. C. Vereen began his Georgia career as a merchant in Atlanta, but seeing the great opportunities for fortune-building in the naval stores busi- ATLANTA, GA., NOVEMBER 21, ness, he went to Coffee county to operate his first “turpentine farm”; then he moved to “the State of Colquitt” to continue the same busi ness, and for twenty-one years he has been building about his present home, not only his magnificent fortune, but a vast constituency of commercial and personal friends until there is but one answer now if you ask: “Who is the first citizen of Moultrie?” “W. C. Vereen, of course!” Young Vereen didn’t “ride the woods” in his turepntine business for naught—up early W jSliPf' WSHIi HON. W. C. VEREEN. and going late, not commanding so much as he was showing his men how to work, he learn ed that early and easy mastery over men, which enabled him to build them while building him self into the best success. Successful In the “Son-in-Law Business” Character building and fortune building went hand in hand with him, and so forceful and formative has been his influence that his sons are “chips off of the same pine tree”—all heart, with worthy purpose and winning pluck; and, smile if you will—but this practical “cap tain of industry” has managed what many men of means have never learned to enjoy—to be a rousing success in the son-in-law business. The common sense and character ideals that By WILLIAM D. UPSHAW, Editor. reign in the Vereen home-life have eventuated thus far in those most delectable and desirable articles —sons-in-law that are nobly making good. It is my good fortune to count two of them as friends. Col. 0. A. Bell, a rising young lawyer, of Cairo, has just been elected solicitor-general of his circuit, while my old friend, Col. J. H. Smithwick of Pensacola, Fla., disports and displays a “red-headed” whisky-fighting man hood that makes his name a synonym of vigor and victory in all that section of Florida. President of Many Things. Mr. Vereen is President of the Moultrie Cot ton Mills, the Poulan Cotton Mills, the Moultrie Banking Co., the Colquitt Cooperage Co., the Yellow Pine Land Co., of Pensacola, Fla., a large stockholder in the famous Downing Co. of Brunswick—and goodness knows what else! But none of these things nor all of these things keep him from making it his chief business to look after the building of the Kingdom of God in Moultrie and “the regions beyond.” Modest But Masterful. Zach Clarke, himself, a citizen of no mean proportions—brave, and masterful, vigorous, cultured and consecrated, said of Air. Vereen: “He has been a brother —nay more —a Father to me. I love him and honor him as Ido few men that have ever touched elbows and hearts with me on the strenuous march of life.” The Mayoralty race, in which Air. Vereen made his debut as a politician presented the unique, and these days, unusual spectacle of the office seeking the man. Air. Vereen is a man of reserve and almost shrinking modesty, and has never asked or sought political honors. But a crisis—civic and political—threatened the fair and honorable name that Moultrie has so long borne. The wave of license and loose mor ality that seems to be sweeping in a tidal wave in many parts of the country, surged around her gates. Brave men and true looked for a leader to step out of the ranks and lead the forces of righteousness onward. Naturally, and almost to a man the real, red-blooded, virile manhood of the community turned to Air. Ver een, and he, hearing the call of duty and see ing the path of public service laid open to his feet, stepped bravely and unselfishly out of his counting rooms and manifold personal calls to shoulder the responsibilities of a public ser vant. And truly he is “to the manner born,” for with a consecration that keeps him humble and serviceful at the foot of the Cross, and a strict Presbyterianism that makes him just and impartial to "all, he is capacitated to be the Gov ernor of the State, or to rule the Nation with honor and credit to Her great fame. ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS A YEAR :: FIVE CENTS A COPY