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PAGE FOUR
Taxing Soft Drinks,
and Compulsory
Education.
Editor Jeffersonian:
IERE will it end? When will
our law-makers realize that
the common people of Geor
gia are taxed enough al
ready?
1
1 notice that it is proposed now, in
the General Assembly, to tax soft
drinks, provided they shall put the
i:( ar-beeries. locker clubs* and bar
rooms out of business, in order to
make up the deficiency in the State’s
revenue that would not be forthcom
ing were the aforesaid liquor shops
knocked out„
I do not run a cold drink stand,
and seldom buy cold drinks; but I
do take the position that the pro
prietors are already taxed enough,
and should be let alone. And I take
the further position, that soft drinks
go a long way toward solving the
liquor question in our State, for
folks are just going to drink some
thing. anyway.
It occurs to me that the present
Assembly could immortalize them
selves. and get much glory, by refus
ing to create additional offices, and
I '• refusing to vote larger salaries to
those who now hold office.
If I know my own heart, I am a
f if!:d to the common people of Geor
? >a. cue of whom I am; ahd I most
respectfully submit that the time has
arrived when they, the ones least
rblo to bear the burdens of taxation,
s' ould be entitled to recognition at
1 he hands of the law-making body of
our State.
It costs the State of Georgia about
seventy thousand dollars per year for
the Legislature to hold a session of
fifty days, and what good is accom
plished? Why do not the common
people,, upon whom the burden of
so great an expenditure falls most
heavily, rise in their might, and de
mand that the law be changed so that
they would meet only once in four
years? Why do not the common
people demand that instead of them
having an hour’s session each day,
that they be required to spend eight
hours each day in legislating for the
dear tax-rdden people? Are legisla
tors any better than ordinary folks
made out of the same material? It
is a well known fact that if the Gen
t -al Assembly would get down to
work, and spend even four hours per
<\.v in their official capacity, they
< ild do all the work they do and
adjourn within twenty days from the
opening day. The employees of
1 anks. steres, farmers and others
work from seven to ten hours per
day for far less wages than the
waacs given our law-makers. The
toiling farmer feeds us all; he can
r arc el y pay the taxes now levied
upon him. Why not have some re
form along these lines, and ease his
burden? No wonder the State’s tax
levy must be 5 mills’ But to my
mird ti e greatest wonder is that the
reel de have for all these years stood
for it.
Referring again to the beer and
liquor question, T just wish to say,
that the way I view the situation, the
prohibition, or so-called prohibiton,
law in Georgia, is one of the most
palpable frauds and farces that has
ever disgraced any State. The idea
of having a prohibition law, and then
permitting locker clubs (to say noth
ing of beeries) to sell liquid damna
tion to any and all comers’ Why,
even a preacher could go there and
buy it, ’f he desired to do so. Gen
tlemen of the Legislature, give us
absolute prohibition, go the whole
bog, or fix the law so that folks
across the Georgia line cannot point
to us and say. “They have a prohibi
tion law on their statute books, but
it's the biggest kind of a farce!”
Now. a word or two at to compul
sory education in Georgia.
Gentlemen of the Legislature, for
God's sake don't saddle this law on
THE JEFFERSONIAN
the people of the State, unless you
are going to find means whereby you
can curtail the State’s expenses, and
use the money saved thereby in buy
ing great loads of school books for
the children of the men and women
who cannot buy them. And, last, but
not least, for God's sake choke the
School Book Trust loose from the
throats of Georgia’s citizens. They
have bled us long enough! And
while you are at it, let the good work
go farther, and provide, by enact
ment, that one man in Georgia shall
no longer say what books our chil
dren shal study, whose erroneous
ideas taxes us to the limit from the
time school opens until it closes. An.l
for heaven’s sake give the common
people the right to say to Mr. Teach
er what books his child shall study,
or let him get a job somewhere else
in a different locality, • a different
avocation. Should a little tot 6or 7
years old be required to carry all the
books he can wag with when he at
tends school?
Gentlemen of the Legislature, the
common people are looking to you
for relief. Will you not come to
their rescue? Do this, and you, or
at least some of you, will live to see
the day that not only those of this
generation, but those yet unborn will
rise up and call you blessed.
A. F. BYRD,
Ordinary, Appling County, Ga.
NATIONAL CONVENTION OB’ 1 PRO
TESTANTS.
We beg to announce thrt Dayton,
Ohio, has finally been selected as the
place for the Great National Protest
ant Demonstration and Convention,
under the. auspices of the American
Federation of Patriotic Societies,
dates being fixed for September 16th,
17th and 18th, 1915.
It is fresh in the memory of our
readers how the Exposition authori
ties at San Francisco solicited “The
Federation” at their last annual con
vention, assembled in Chicago, to
hold our next convention in the main
Exposition Auditorium, and how six
months later, after advertising had
been done all over the country in
numerous papers and magazines, and
literature sent out, we received no
tice that our contract with them had
been cancelled, and learned later
that they had granted the privilege
that was withdrawn from us to the
Romanists, to hold a great show, the
proceeds to go towards the building
of a home in San Francisco for the
Jesuit fathers. Nothing could have
happened to better illustrate Rome’s
political activities, coersive methods,
and intolerant attitude toward free
assembly and free speech, nor better
calculated to prove the necessity of
this very convention.
Every Lodge, Court and Castle
should make earnest efforts to be
well represented on this great oc
casion. Also all our patriotic friends
of any other or no organization
whatsoever should know that this in
vitation and call is extended to them.
You should make some sacrifice, if
necessary, to be on hand to help
swell the marching multitudes, and
by your presence show that you
stand with the friends of the flag.
There will be in attendance at this
great convention and harmony meet
ing the most noted orators and
prominent patriotic workers in the
United States, all of whom it would
be a great privilege and pleasure to
meet and hear.
Dayton is in every way a fine con
vention city, with a splendid, com
modious auditorium, and amply pre
pared to entertain at reasonable
rates such large delegations, also
provided with first-class railroad fa
cilities and connections. It is lo
cated near the center of population
in the United States, having within
a night's ride a population of 28,000,-
000. It also has many local attrac
tions for the entertainment of vis
itors. not the least of w’hich is the
great aeroplane factory of the
Wright Brothers.
If further particulars are desired
send postage for reply to D. J. Reyn
olds, President. 42 4 Plymouth Build
ing, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
f-■ - $
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Marx, Bebel, LaSalle, Engel, &c., would annihilate
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Mr. Watson proves that /STZV7ZTZ PRIVILEGE,
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been, the Great Enemy of the Human Race.
PRICE, 25 CENTS
THE JEFFERSONIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
THOMSON. GEORGIA
<
! “ ----- -
did vou M/voiy - ■ - =
That in every city in the United States
there are hundreds of children whose
parents are too poor to send them to pub
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DSD YOU KNOW =-■ - ■ =
That, the people of the United States lead
the world in sending money to foreign
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eigners?
READ WATSON’S BOOK:
Foreign Missions Exposed
And learn what we are doing for the FOREIGNER,
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Price 30 Cents.
THE JEFFERSONIIIN PUBLISHING CO.
Thomson, Ga.
I
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I The Jeffersonian
JOB WORK
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Write for Estimates of what you need.
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