Newspaper Page Text
NO. 51.
an
3,000 Pcople Gather io Do Honor
| To The Birthdav of The Republic
© To the rhythmi straius of the Fitzgerald Brass Band, Ben Hill
“County’s best ¢itizens, about 3,000 strong, gathered at the Blue and
Gray Park vesterday to commemorate the birth of the Awerican
Nation,
The Malitia had pitched sheir tents at the Park the day befere,
and with plenty of tables and seats, and the grand stand decorated,
the Park appeared in gala attire.
The procession formed at the Post Office and marched to the Park
where the ceremonies began at ten o’clock.
Hon. D. L. Martin, master of ceremonies, intraduced Rev. Lewk
«C. Hammond, whose beautiful prayer in his decided Engtish brogue
sbespoke the universality of the meaning to all the people of the
Natal Dav of this Great Republic.
Mayor Ansel B. Cook was next introduced and weicomed the
wathered hosts in the name of the City and Blue ana Gray reaniza
tion. Mr. Cook said in part: “The Day we celebrate is Independence
Day. We glory in the patriotism and independence of our people.
- The average man is the backbone of the Nation and the independence
.of the Nation (Jepends upois the mmdependence of the average citizen.]
«ur public men, regardless of party lines, are becoming more inde
pendent, adveeating these fundamental principles of gm‘ernment!
eontial to the welfare and hnpwiness of all people. We welcome
yuu on this auspicious day in commemoraticn of the clories of the
past und of the fruituitous prospects of the futuce. :
Hon. A. O. Blalock, eandidate for Commissioner of Agriculture,
was present and also addressedthe gathering.
Hou. John R. Mercer, of Dawson, candidate for coungress
from this district, was among the illustrious visitors present. Hon.
Charley Crisp’s friends were yreatly disappointed that he was not able
{o be present.
The Blue and Gray Association had ample supplies in the way of
dioner to accomodate the large crowd, which was enjoyed by the
multitude. The swimming pool was also in great favor. and
while the grown-ups were listening to the speaking, the children were
in the water.
Hon. Emmett R. Shaw, of Fort (7aines, ecaadidate for Con
gress. was the principal orator of the Day, and his splendid elo
quence and strong logic won for him many friendsand admirers.
After being introduced by Hon, D. L. Martina, Mr, Shaw spoke
in part as follows:
Gentlemen of the Blue and Gray, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It was a pleasure to receive and accept the kind invitation to be here
today, and it is @ privilege to be able to participate in the celebration of
the Glorious Fourth in Titzgerald. :
This day is the anniversary of the dreatest act of courage ever per
formed by any people in human history. The Declaration of Independence
that was signed 136 years ago was something more than a mere defiance
of the power of England and her armies. If we consider it merely as a
- marvelous act of physical courage it was startling enough. The men
who wrote it and signed it did so with the knowledge that the hangman’s
halter vas around their necks. The people whom they represented and
whose hardy resolution nerved to their duty knew that it meant war, and
war against the finest armies in the world, backed by the limitless re
sources of the richest pation on the globe. And they knew, too, the des
perate situation of their own affairs. To the south of them were the
colonies of Spain, their ancient enemy, with whom they had waged cen
turies of war. To the north of them were the French with whom they
had but recently grappled in deadly battle and who were their heredi
tary competitors for the rich prize of the American continent. Back of
them were the unmeasured miles of the wilderness, peopled with savage
legions ready to raise the warwhoop whenever occasion invited.
In the midst of perils like these, a thin and scattered people with no
resources but a pioneer agriculture, dared defy the arms of Great Britain
in a war that was obliged to be long and deadly, and their leaders pub
lished the proclamation of their freedom with full warning that failure
meant the hangman’s noose. :
In such conditions lam well justified in deciaring that from the
standpoint of mere physical courage alone it was a most remarkable per
formance.
But there was more in it than mere physical courage. It repre
sented a moral and intellectual courage that it never displayed except
by those whose separation from customary luxuries and the ordinary
usages of government, and whose daily exposure to peril, have equipped
them with the ability to think on new lines and blaze out new paths for
themselves.
Separation from the government of England meant that they must
~ geparate from all the things they and their fathers for hundreds of years
-had looked upon as the necessary defenses of civilization. At that time
there was no nation in Europe that was not governed by kings and nobles.
Such a thing as the common people making laws for tlhiemselves and
_administering their own affairs was not only unknown, but was undream
ed of. A hereditary nobility had always ruled in England. An hered
“jtary king had always been her chief executive. True they had a parlia
-ment where the representatives of the people were supposed to have some
voice in the affairs of the Kingdom. But who were these representatives?
They were themselves limited to the circle of the landed families and
wholly in sympathy with an aristocracy of which they were themselves
the fringe and into which they alllooked some day to enter. The people,
the masses of the common toiling and producing people, had no part or
lot in it.
From this time honored and customary system the fathers of the
American Republic were proposing to cut loose. When they solemnly
p üblished to the startled nations of the world that these united colonies
are and of right ought to be free and independent states, and declared
themselves absolved from all connection with or allegiance to the
British crown, they not only defied the armies of that great power, but
they had also too build up a new government and a new system of gov
ernment for themselves. And they had to start at the bottom
without precedent t 0 study or experience to guide. Out of the
raw material of a sparse and scattered population of pioneers, largely
' SUPPLEMENT TO
THE LEADER--ENTERPRISE
FITZGERALD, GEORCGIA, JULY 5, 1912
' destitute of weation,alth or educthey must nreeds build a government,
and build it in the midst of war.
| I sometimes doubt whether in this day, with all the v@st wealth and
jimricate business ramifications of this day, the peeple of this country
' would have the courage and the mental resolution to cut loose from the
!crown and establish a Republic. It takes a poor and self-denying people
'to undergo the saerifices that are involved in the struggle for liberty.
Even in that day tliere were seme rich commuupities and powerful com
mercial houses whosefinfluence held back the masses and sought to per
suade them that independense would hury busimess, and that it was bet
ter to bear the ills of slavery andftyranny than interfere with prosperity.
| It was against such as tiese that Patrick Heary tomed the fires of
his eloquemee when ke exclaimed before] the Virginia burgesses, “Gentle
men may c3y peace, peace, but there is no peace.” [t was to inspire the
hearts of the people agaiust the:eraven pratings of the prosperous, preach
ing the doetdine of subkmission, that he asked.is life so dear and peace
80 sweet as to be purclsased at the price of chains and slawery.” It was
the inspiratien of the patriot, supperted by the resolute masses off the
people behind him, when he exelaimed: “forbid it, Almighty God™ "l
know what course others may take, but as for me giveme liberty or give
me death.”
~ And whas a lesson,.my friends;, is there in all this:for us:. Have we
no orders of nebility anédino hereditary abuses among us to draw us -
gether in: organized and determined: pesistance te» tyranay agear fathers
were drawn? Is there no trumpet: call to arms for us against abuses and
wrongs that have grown and strengthiened with the years? umtil today
the issue is upon us to make our deelaration of independence. even with
peril faeing us as it facediour fathers, if we fail, aod' in spite of craven
conservatives who would eounsel us 5% submit rather thaa: disgurb busi
ness.
I say to you that thepe is. [ saw to you that just as much is deman~
ded of American manhood if they would preserve their rights and libez
ties todtay as there was one hundred and thirty-six years ago. I say to
you that the simister influence is amsong us, just as it was ameng our
forefathers before the Deelaration was signed.
We have a system which is buitded upon favoratism, and if we are
true men as our fathers were true men, we will tear down this system
established and maintained by the eveoked politicians for the criminal
corporations. Qur fight ean be whipped now at the ballet box, instead
of upon the battlefield, but if we allow this government to be controlled
much longer by those who would break upon the wheels of eommerce the
poor, the time will be and is not leng distance when history will repeat
herself, and persecuted humanity will cause this government to shake
from center to circumference. This government rua for the favored few
at the expense of the unprivileged many, with its robber system erected
upon the corner stone of favoritism must be builded upon another basis
and that basis must be social justice.
What is the situation today when we instead of the lonely three mil
lions of people we now have nearly one hundred millions? To-day, fel
low countrymen, w® have more cildren being offered up te the gods of
gold than we had populatian on the Fourth of July, 1776. - w
Today we-have more women with tired backs and bleeding hearts,
wearing their lives away in the sweat shops of the eountry at an average
wage of 39 cents than we had at that time.
Today we have more men working six days in the week to keep
'a]ive a hungry and ragged family than our cause had soldiers when we
fought for liberty.
| What is the matter? Why this condition?
| It is because through a system which is in vogue the special few
are allowed to lay tribute upon the special privileged many. Because
our extravagant government raises its revenues through an indirect tax
ing system which makes penal want, hunger misery and rags.
‘ Because our government run by crooks for thieves are allowed to
rob the citizen who toils. Iwish to;God I could speak with the impressive
ness today that Paul did when he spoke before Agrippa, for I know today
I am speaking in the main to men who represent men wno do or have
lived by the sweat of their face. If I don’t impress you it will not be my
fault—l will have tried. Look at these figures for a moment. Mr. Farmer.
In 1850, just 62 years ago, the agricultura'ists of these United States
owned more than sixty percent of the wealth of the country. In 1910
this same class who had produced everything to keep off hunger and
keep out cold, owned what? They. owned less than 20 per cent of the
wealth of this nation.
New York and the East where nothing worth while can be grown, in
a section where they have to depend on the outside country because they
live among rocky reefs, own more than half of the entire wealth of the
nation and why? Because they are allowed to plunder the rest of the
country through an iniquitous system which is a shame on our manhood
and a disgrace to our civilization. ’
Why Salt and Icc
Can Freeze Cream
Why salt makes ice colder some
times and wormer at others, is thus
explained in the current issue of the
Housefurnishing Review:
“Freezing ice cream is done by
means of a freezing mixture, ice and
salt in certain proportions, Any wo
man knows that salt of itself is not
cold, and it seems strange that they
should not more often question why
we put it with ice to produce cold, or
a lower temperature. A thermom
eter put in a bowl of ice will register
30 or 32, but mix salt with it and it
may go down to zero. Yet we put
salt on ice on the sidewalk to melt
it where there is an unsafe, slippery
place.
“We put this mixture of salt and
ice in a pail in which is a revolving
cylinder holding the mixture to be
frozen. How is it frozen? By tak
ing the cold from the ice and salt?
No, it could not do that. Cold is
negative; it is the absence of heat.
Temperature seek to equalize, but by
the distribution of heat, not of cold.
So what must happen is that the
freezing mixture takes the heat from
the cream or material inside the
cylinder in order to melt the ice
that the salt may dissolve in the
water. If the heat can more readily
be taken up from the outside atmos
phere than from the material in the
can, of course, that is what will
will happen.”
No man tives without jostling
and being jostled; in all ways he
has to elbow himself through tae
world, giving and receiving of
fense,
He who bas lost contidence cen
lose nothing more. ;
Agricultural Seciety
Met Yesterday
r The Ben Hill County Agricultural
Society held a meeting at the court
’htouse yesterday, President D. L
Martin presiding. :
' A committee of three, consisting
of . M. Warren, J. J. White and E.
J. Griffin, was elected to nominate a
delegation of six members and six
alternates to the State Conmvention
to be held at Imblin. The commit
mittee selected the following: D.L.
Martin, C. W. Kmmball, I. Gelders, G.
L. Tayler, A J. Swords, M. Dixon;
and altesnates, Fi. M. Warren, J. M.
Griffin, E. T. James, George Drexler,
J. A. Butts and L. Robitzsch.
A committee,. consisting of J. A.
Griffin, D. L. Martin,. C. W. Kimball,
E. M. Whiteheand 1.. Gelders, was ap
pointed to draft by-laws.
\ i
- Gov. Brown Issues Call
i
To Cotton: States Chief Ex
i ecutives.
~ Atlanta, July s.—Gowernor Brown
Inas issued a call to the: governors of
the cotton growing states for a con
vention to be held in. Atlanta en
July 12. The call, addressed to the
SOvernors, is:
“A responsible body of citizens of
Georgia having presented me with a
request that I call a meeting of gov
ernors of the cotton-growing states
for the purpose of conselidating and
either condemning or approving the
plan of the Southern States Corpor
ation for marketing the eotton grown
in the South, and realizing the ex
treme importance the question has
for everyone living in the South, I
twish to extend te you an invitation
'to be present, or if this is’impossible,
to be represented by an accredited
fagem, at a conference te be held in
Atlanta, Ga., on July 12 next, and
to urge on your attention the far
reaching effects a through and im
partial investigation of this plan may
have on the prices to be obtained
for the approaching crop of cotton.”
Won’t Put Lid On
- (Games at School
Atlanta, July 3—When the bill
by Mr. Gastley of Habersham, pro
hibiting the playing of baseball and
football at the agricultural and in
dustrial scheools of the state came
in the house today for final action,
not a voice was raised in its behalf.
The measure did not even provoke
debate and a motion to postpone in
definitely, which means its death,
was carried by practically unani
mous viva voice vote,
The house passed the bill by Mr.
Christopher of Hall, providing that
justices of the peace and constables
shall be elected at the same time;
also the bill by Mr. Burwell of Han
cock, to require that all county ad
vertising shall be published at the
county seat.
Several bills of minor consequence
were killed, and one or two local bills
went through.
'WORMS WIPE OUT
l CANTALOPE CROP
Americus, Ga., Julv 3—The de
struction of practically the entire
cantalope crop was reported today
by local growers who declare that
within an incredibly short time
worms have devoured the entire
crop, even eating the small melons
no larger than hickory nuts. Elton
Parker, the largest grower here, who
had fifty acres from which he ex
pected to market twenty car
loads of cantalopes, asserts that
he will not gather tweuty crates, so
thoroughly have the worms devas
tated his fields. Other growers here
about report similar conditions. ]
Tribe of Ben Hur Organizes
With 56 Members -
A new Court of the Tribe of
Ben-Hur was orgonized Monday
evening Tuly Ist with 55 Charter
members in the P. S. of A. Hall
The installation, obligation and
rank of sflice was conferred upon
the members and newly elected
officers by Sidpey M. Cowa%,
Deputy Supreme Chief of Georgia}
assisted by Deputy T. D. Boothe.
The officers vlected for the cur
rent term are:
Past Chief-Niles N. Lit#lefield.
Chief, Paul GGungle.
Judge, Willis L, Smith.
Leader, Emmms L. Boney,
Scribe, Robers L., King.
Keeper of Tribate, Frank Thur
mond.
~ Captain, Thomas Taylor,
Guide, John G.. Bradley,
- K. O, G, Yancey M. Bowles.
- K. L. K., MichaelD, McFarland.
.~ Medical Emaminer, Dr. Thomas
1. White,
- Ben Hur, R. L, Higgs.
- Master of Ceri monies, Wilbar
F. Jones.
Mother of Hur, Nera E. Steph
ens.
Tirzah, Viola M, Boothe,
Ben Hur is a new Order in this
part of the country, but the new
Court bids fair to have a large
membership on account of the or
gamzation and for this reason the
charter is being kept open for the
month of July to give a chance te
the members to get their friends
to join and become charter wem
bers at the reduced rate of $%.80.
The next meeting of the above
Cowmt will be held Monday even
ing, July the Bth in the P. S, of A.
Hall at which time a glad surprize
will be in store and an euvjoyable
evening for all those that will at
tend this meeting,
R. L. King, Scribs,
Wants Georgia te: Have
Lieutenant-Governer
Atlanta, July 2—The constitu
tional amendment propesing to cre
ate the office of lieutenant-governor
came up in the house today, but at
the request of Mr. Hall, of Bibb, it
went back to the committee with
instructions to report tomorrow. The
house will then take it up, and it i 8
considered probable it will be pass
ed. The bill provides that while the
licutenant-governor is serving as
president of the senate, he shall re
ceive the salary attached to that
office, and he shall receive the gov
ernor’s salary whenever it is neces
sary for him to take the excutive
chair. He is to be elected by the
people. b
Would Put Bar On
Deteriorated Cereals
Atlanta, July 2.—The state
Board of Health to-day in speeial
session, passed a resolution wrging
(zovernor Brown to send a special
message to the Legislature urging
the enactment of laws which wiki
prevent the importation of deteri
orated corn and other cereals inte
Georgia. It is stated that bad
corn is the cause of pellagra, and
it is known that it will kill animals.
The board, however, did not ge
into the pellagra feature, bus bas
ed its request upon the ground of
health generallv. |
The board also gave its endorse
ment to the pending bill by Repr. -
sentative Ellis of Tift to provide &
system of sanitation for the ensire
state. ‘This measure provides for
a health offieer and the enfores=-
ment of health laws in each coun
ty in the state, upon recommenda~
tion of the grand jury. R
Wanted—To buy a cheap horse
and buggy for cash, Apply 118 K.
Pine. ' Sa
VOL. XVII
