Newspaper Page Text
The Peach County Program
By Homer J. Avera
In the planning and execution of a
program for our new county, concentra¬
tion of effort should be made on one or
two things at a time. This is absolutely
jiecessary in order to produce definite ro
Ymlts. However, in this program con¬
sideration shall be given to four ob¬
jectives, all of which are
fundamental to the prog¬
ress and prosperity of our
WONDER COUNTY.
Our attitude towards
BETTER SCHOOLS, GOOD
ROADS, INDUSTRIAL and
AGRICULTURAL DEVEL
OPMENT, and COMMON
SENSE COUNTY GOV¬
ERNMENT will determine
our career as a county.
Generally, we are judged
by the standards we set in
respect to these four com¬
mon causes. A common de¬
sire and a united sacrificial
effort upon the part of the
people shall ultimately re
suit in a truly WONDER
COUNTY. This spirit was
manifest in our determina¬
tion to create Peach Coun
ty. It should not die.
'
BETTER SCHOOLS. Our
schools rank with the best,
but they must be better.
Vocational courses must be
added, to afford to those
who desire it an oppor¬
tunity to fit themselves for
life’s battles. Serious con¬
sideration should bo given
to tho addition to the regu¬
lar High School course of
a two-year post-graduate
course. This course should
be the equal of the Fresh¬
man and courses
or classes of any A grade wish for
college. Many parents who
their children something better than a
High School course, but who are un¬
able to send their boys and girls to
expensive boarding schools, would avail
themselves of this opportunity. If,
after thorough investigation, this is found
A to be practical, it should be adopted as a
regular course in our schools. This would
set a precedent in America’s public schools.
So far as I know, it would be unusual and
original. It would certainly be the means
of attracting to our community many
people. It would be a clever advertising
scheme which, if properly utilized, would
rebound to the glory of Peach Countians
! and Georgians in general.
GOOD ROADS. All communities are
judged more or less by their roads, Good
roads, good community; bad roads, bad
community; these are synonymous. We
must sooner or later build hard surfaced
roads. Paved roads are necessities of
the times. We should get our share of
State and Federal funds while these are
available. After the expiration of a few
years dirt roads will be inexcusable. We
must not disappoint 70,000 Georgians who
went to the polls on the fourth of Novem¬
ber to give you and me this opportunity.
In the very near future we must build a
bridge across Flint River for the expan¬
sion of our trade into Taylor County, and
^ for a better understanding with these good
™ people.
INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT. Our whole-hearted sup¬
port of the proposed Chamber of Commerce
and our excellent newspaper will in a large
measure take care of this feature of our
development. A water and power supply
commensurate with the demands of any
factory seeking a location should be avail¬
able to such industries. We can offer
free sites and free taxes. We sorely need
an immense canning and preserving plant
of the type operated by Gibbs, Libby and
other leading American canners. In the
adjacent County of Crawford we should
establish a tremendous glass factory to
utilize the enormous supply of sand for
. such purposes. Our big preserving plant
would provide a market for the wares of
this glass factory, thereby saving enormous
freight charges to both. We need to
utilize our position as an important rail¬
road center in endeavoring to induce fac¬
tories to locate here. Our car loadings
in numbers with leading cities, and
THE LEADER-TRIBUNE
The Diversified Agricultural Development of the
Peach County Territory
By Lynwood W. Gray
wo are entitled to the co-operation of the
railroads in this work. Many Northern
concerns are seeking Southern locations
and we must get our share. In the im¬
mediate future wo should make every ef¬
fort to build a new hotel.
Florida lias her sunshine cities and her
I
i
V
mm
“THE SUREST PLAN TO PLEASE A MAN. » »
One of the Many Sections of Barbecue Pits for Feeding the Tens of Thousands of Festival Visitors.
master suburbs, the advertisement of
which has produced marvelous results.
We must develop and advertise our own
resources in order to keep our young men
at home. Therefore, an urgent need for
a building and loan association. A Pro¬
gram of “Own Your Own Homes,” backed
up with practical assistance, will keep our
own and bring others. We need the sub¬
division of some of our large farms, and
the settlement thereon of high-type farm¬
ers. Among other things we must adopt
a slogan. We should print this slogan upon
all of our stationery and letter heads and
proclaim to the world OUR BELIEF, 1
suggest as a slogan, PEACH COUNTY,
AMERICA’S WONDER COUNTY, 1
think, however, this slogan can be im
proved on, and I suggest that the Chamber
of Commerce offer a prize for tho best
slogan offered.
COMMON SENSE COUNTY GOVERN
MENT. Peach County is a small county,
and for this reason serious consideration
should be given to the consolidation of
city and county governments, with a view
to economy and efficiency in administra¬
tion. As the offices are now constituted,
it is doubtful if some of the officers can
earn a living. Furthermore, the work
overlaps, and the officers can not do their
full duty because of the restriction of the
scope of their work. This is particularly
true with the Chief of Police of Fort
Valley and the Sheriff of Peach County.
The County can save money and the of¬
ficers earn a living by the consolidation
of the offices of County School Commis¬
sioner and Superintendent of Fort Valley
Public Schools; of the Tax Collector and
Tax Receiver; of the Sheriff and Chief of
Police of Fort Valley. We want economy,
but not false economy. Better schools and
good roads are economy, but maintenance
of useless offices is extravagance. In the
past our community has received very little
for its tax money. A repetition of such
conduct, upon the part of our officers and
people, will ultimately result in despair
and ruin for our new county. We need
an administration of Common Sense, by
Common Sense People, with a Common
Purpose of ECONOMY, WITH PROG¬
RESS.
OF MOST IMPORTANCE, in this time
of joy, let us, as we view the indescrib¬
able beauty of our vast orchards in blos¬
som time, make this God-given picture
(Continued on page 24)
For a number of years tho reputation
of this section has been sustained largely
upon the peach industry. It has made
magnificent strides and built up groat re¬
serves. Tho inevitable was to come—the
fate of the one-crop system was doomed.
Tho one-crop system with its disastrous
effects has for a long time been tho pre¬
dominating system of agriculture in this
section. It seems to have peculiarly em¬
braced the efforts of the people in many
areas. It is true that some seem to be
fortunate in the operation of this system,
it seems to smile generously upon them,
but upon a majority it reaps its toll in a
measure that is unaccounted. The ways
of nature are not such that the seasons
are always favorable to any ono com¬
modity, the fortunes of the market are not
always favorable. The law of supply
and demand is a fixed ratio—we can not
govern the supply nor can we control the
demand.
We are told t a better balanced sys¬
tem of agriculture is the solution and those
who have tried it seem to have materially
prospered and reaped a reward worthy of
their efforts.
The signs of the times are conclusive
in the evidence that a change in the agri¬
cultural program of the section has been
manifestly towards the diversified. There
are large areas planted to peaches and it
is but right that it should be. Large sums
are invested in equipment for peach cul¬
ture. The peach will continue to be tho
principal product of the section.
Experience does not justify the hand¬
ling of one product to the practical exclu¬
sion of all else, nor does it recommend
that too much capital investment be placed
upon one commodity, silbject to the natural
fluctuations that it is heir to.
The peach has played an important role
in the agricultural development of this
section and it will continue to reign as
monarch, but when wo como to consider
the bank deposits built upon cotton and
watermelons we know that a diversified
program is beginning to prominently oc¬
cupy tho attention of those interested.
The agricultural development of the sec¬
tion has already begun to progress rapidly
upon diversified lines. The tendency to
reduce the acreage planted to trees for the
benefit of other crops is perceptibly notice¬
able. Large fields of cotton and corn can
be seen again. Truck crops, sweet pota¬
toes and pecans are largely on the in¬
crease. Small grains, soy beans and hay
crops are to be reckoned with. Asparagus
and watermelons are proving their real
worth. Live stock, dairy cows and poultry
each are contributing towards the success
of a diversified agricultural development.
11
Tho farmers have not advanced blindly
into a system that they know nothing of,
tho consequences of which would be as
disastrous as the former system. They
have advanced cautiously, planning of
which they are to some extent familiar,
increasing tho crops from which a mone¬
tary income may bo ex¬
pected. Once upon a sound
basis and under proper
management a system of
agriculture is being built '
up that will stand the
severest strains that could
be placed upon it.
Two maps were displayed,
one by tho vice-president
of the Intermediate Credit
Bank, located at St. Paul,
and one by the receiver of
closed banks of North
Dakota. Both maps show r ed
dotted over the State of
North Dakota large num¬
bers of loans and a great
many bank failures, except
one territory in the state
about forty miles wido and
seventy five miles long,
where no loans wore want¬
ed, and no bank failures
reported. Investigation dis¬
closed that the first dairy
region of North Dakota had
been built up. The cow
had invaded the territory
of King Wheat and had be
come supreme.
So it is with Peach Coun¬
ty; a number of carefully
chosen commodities have
been accepted to invado
the peach precincts and are
making very formidable
strides towards conquering
the Tho
but allied poach will remain supreme
with a balanced agricultural
program, will become more powerful in
its endeavors to servo the people.
1 he balanced system will serve to re¬
duce the oversupply, reducing to below
ihe saturation point tho markets using
any be one product to where shipments will
profitable to those engaged in it. A
steady flow of cash should pour into the
hands of the producers from many sources,
reducing _
to a minimum at all times the
dangers that arise from a dissipated mar¬
ket that refuses from time to time to con
sumo the various agricultural products
that are offered to it.
Fort Valley, the county seat of Peach
County, t and tho adjacent territory with
its variety of soils, are situated in the
midst of the South’s most productive area,
among tho finest agricultural lands that
can be found, adequately equipped with
ample railway facilities, and peopled with
a people that are intelligent and ambitious,
who strive to contribute their best towards
the advancement of a program that will
materially add to their own comfort and
the general welfare of their fellowmen.
Endowed with the grandest .gifts of
nature, tho diversified agricultural develop¬
ment of tho section is founded upon a basis
that means permanent prosperity. It is
evidenced on every hand by a general
feeling of optimism for the future, We
have better distributed revenues that en¬
able better individual operation and pro¬
mote moro economical administration.
The passing of tho time price, the ap¬
proach of a cash basis, marks another mile
stone on the road to permanent prosperity.
Tho general measure of this prosperity
reflects a larger per capita wealth, a
greater taxable property valuation, a civic
arrangement for beauty and playgrounds,
a bettor and finer school system, a system
of public roads that are equal to any to
be found; and an atmosphere of culture
and refinement that creates a section of
better social and educational advantages—
a general poise and contentment that can
be had based upon a balanced system of
diversified agriculture.
Georgia’s increased percentage in pro¬
duction of butter has been unequaled by
any state. In 3920, production of cream¬
ery butter amounted to 12,000 pounds; in
1924 production surpassed 5,000,000 pounds.