Newspaper Page Text
The News Cov
ers its Field
Like the Sun
shine.
New Series—Vol. IV — No 9
PUT UP THE
PROPERTY VALUES
Spirited Words From judge Fite, in Charging the
Grand Jury This Week.
“If ,you do nothing more this week
than see that the taxes of this county
are properly returned you will have
don** the county a valuable service.
I wish you would take the tax digest
and begin at A and go all the way to
Z, and raise every man to 75 per
cent of the actual value of his prop
erty. In the city of Cartersville you
have the work of the city board of
assessors to guide you, and I am au
thorized to say that if you raise
the city list to 75 per cent of
the city 'assessment, and any person
objects to the same, the money will
be forthcoming to buy bis property."
These were the spirited words used
by Judge Fite in his charge to the
grand jury Monday.
Judge Fite opened his charge by
saying that he felt that we need a
system of county boards of tax equal
izers and a state board for the sta
and he later added that he hoped the
next legislature would have the nec
essary backbone to pass an act creat
ing such a law.
“The thing which causes more tax
dodging than anything else," ’ said
Judge Fite, “is the feeling that the
burdens are not equally distributed,
and few citizens would feel inclined
to reducy the valuations of their
property if they felt that they had
■only the burden of their own prop
erty to bear, but it is the feeling that
they are being forced to carry the
burdens of some other man's prop
erty, returned for less than its value,
that causes many men to return then
own for less than what they know it
is worth.”
Judgx- Fite told the grand jury that
they were the assessors for the
county, and it was their duty to see
that all proper? y was returned at a
fair valuation. He said that in many
instances property was returned for
not more than one-third of its value,
and that it shoiftd be returned for at
least 75 per cent of what it would
bring if (sold in the ordinary man
ner of selling such property, and not
at forced isale.
The greater port ion of Judge Fite’s
charge was devoted to the question
of tax equalization, and his charge
was listened to w ith much in-tewst
throughout.
The grand jury was organized wifi
L. 8. M unford foreman and H. A.
Chapman clerk, if is expected that
the body wil dispose of considerable
business during the (term.
MISS QUILLIAN DEAD.
Buried Tuesday Afterouwn at Oak fftfl
(Cemetery.
Miss Jennie Quillioa: died at ber
home at Cass Station Monday after
noon, after a : kmg illness, and waa
laid to rest in Oak Hill cemetery,
Cartersvifle, Tuesday, the funeral
services being ee.mductud by Rev.
■O. W. Duval.
Miss Qulllian had been in failing
health for many months, and some
time ago gave tip her position as
agent of the W. & A railroad at Cass
Station and went to Indian Springs,
hoping to improve her health, but
sifter a stay there of several weeks
she returned home without any sub
stantial gain in health, and gradu
ally grew worse, till the end came.
Miss Quillian was the agent of the
W. & A railroad at Cass Station for
many years, and bad many friends
who deeply regret her death.
THE MOV IN GRJ CTU I? ES
Eoiercaisiuent at Ojieot Auspice*
of The Daughiersof Confederacy.
The Greater New York Moving Pic
ture Company will exhibit at the
opera house ©a Tuesday night Jan
uary 17, under the auspices of the
Daughters of Confederacy. The pro
gra me co: * sts,pf num r us lif*-
lmib * > pietujfsGof instruction and
entertaining Subjects also musical
and other entertaining ieatuers,
which will make a programme unsur
passed. The proceeds derived by the
Daughters will be added to the
Monument fund.
Any *> e who desires an evening of
pure wholesome amusement should
not fail to attend.
Announcement Next Sunday.
I have a special announcement to
make to the church next Sunday
morning in which every member of
the church will be interested. I trlist
as many as possible will be present
to hear it.
John 11 Barnakd, Pastor.
The Cartersville News
NEW CARTERSVILLE RANK
Mr. Vivion, Well Known Banker, Invites
Others te Join Bim in New Institution.
To the People of Cartersville and
Bartow County:
About sixteen years ago I came
into your midst, and with some of
your good citizens organized the First
Natioual Bank, which institution has
had my undivided energies ami serv
ires from its organization to the
present time.
It is needless to say that my com
ing and the establishment of the
bank have been of untold benefit to
all the material interests of the
county. Unfortunately a majority
of the stock had to be taken, and
has always been held, by non-resi
dents, although for years past I ha ve
been desirous of having our Bartow
people buy and own the stock be
longing to non-residents, but 1 suc
ceeded in placing but a small part of
it among our citizens.
About eighteen months ago nearly
all the stock held by persons away
from here, and a considerable amount
held by our own citizens, was pur
chased by a non-resident and one of
our citizens, the two thereby secur
ing a majority of the stock of the
bank, and of course the control of its
management passed into their hands.
On November the 17th the new
owners of the majority of the stock
• invited me into the directors’room,
and informed me that they had con
sidered the [subject and talked the
matter over and that bne of them
would take the active official control
and management of the bank. They
then submitted tome a proposition to
sell to me at a stipulated price all
the stock that they had bought up,
or would give me that price for my
stock, giving me a short option,
truth December 1 sffth in which to
decide. Not having arranged in so
short a time to purchase such a large
block of stock at such a price, and
an extension of She optical being re
fused, I decided to let them have my
stock at the price, thereby giving
one man a non-resident,a, majority of
the stock. My connection w ith the
bank will be discontinued today.
Now my friends, I cause from “My
Old Kentucky U ome” to your delight
ful city and county to indent if y my
f svitli your interests-and to remain
here as long as life lasts.
J have spent tuy time in the (bank
ing business since I was quite young,
If 1 luive been so fortunate as to gain
afche confidence ofthe good people ..of
this country, ' propose to them, m
! view* oef what has transpired te join
itiheinun the organization and estab
lishment of a bank owned and con
itrolled by the home people and oper
ated in their interests; Knowing I do
that there is abundant room and
■business here for an institution of
that kind
Now let me say to our farmers, our
business men of every elass, our min
this .country. I now propose to them,
in view of wdiat has transpired, to
join them in the organization and
establishment of a bank owned and
controlled by the home jteople and
operated in tbeir interests, knowing,
as I do, that there is abundant room
a ltd business here for an institution
of that kind.
Jh>w left us say to our farmers, our
bfflftnessmen of every class, our min
ing and Kiamif&cturing plants, our
good women who have some money
1 that they desire to invest safely
where they can got their interest
paid to them twice a year, free ;of
taxes and without any trouble or ex
, pence to them. If you want a bank
1 of that kind, we can start it with but
little delay, and make it a* success
from the very beginning.
Shall we organize it at once? If so,
make ir convenient to see me and
speak to me freely and promptly on
the subject, and subscribe what you
may want to take, of the capital
stock, and let us get to work.
Yours very truly.
Jambs H. Vivion
Election of Officers.
At a regular communicat ion of Car
te rsvil I e Lodge No. 63, F. A' A. M.. an
election of officers for the ensuing
year was held, resulting in the
electior of:
Paul F. Akin-W. M.
j Geo. 8. Crouch —8. W.
E. Matthews—J. W.
G. H. Gilreath—Treas.
£ G. W. W&ldrup—Sec'y.
Jno. J. Calhoun, Jr., —S. I).
J. 8. Calhoun—J. D.
R. W. Landers—Tyler.
M. F. Word and Geo. 8. Cobb were
appo.nted stewards.
CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12. 1905
FIFTY-FIVE YEARS
Capt. M. E. Cooper Tells
of Great Changes.
AN INTERESTING STORY
The Starting Up of Cotton Fac
tory Made Occasion for
Retrospective Glance.
Messrs. Editors: The mailing of
a three-ounce package of cotton
thread from the Cartersville post
office is of itself a small affair, but
when it serves to typify anew era in
tne movement forward of a great
north Georgia county like that of
Battow the incident becomes inter
esting.
On the 21st of December. 1904, after
a trial run of the machinery in the
McLain Cotton mill, in sight of
Cartersville, a small quantity of cot
ton yarn having been produced, the
little three ounce sample indicated
vas mailed to the president, Mr. E.
L. McLain, of the American Pad and
Textile Company, with wishes, no
doubt, for a Merry Christmas.
It is a suggestive fact that this
event lacked but a few days of being
the same time with the effectual
organization of a fully equipped and
fully officered corps of contractors,
laborers, machinists, etc., now en
gaged in the construction of the
Louisville and Nashville railroad ex
tension southward from Wetmore to
Cartersville.
The erection of a roofing frame for
the new* Baptist church here, the
rearing of walls to the new .brick
house designed for the News (your
paper), have likewise been accom
plished at nearly the same date.
Handsome tiling of concrete (in col
ors) has just been laid upon the pave
ments around the new court house.
Where were we fifty-five years ago?
In 1850 Millard Fillmore was presi
■dent of the United states. Cot toft
was-planted and raised but sparingly
in Bartow county,, which was then
■called Cass. fields at harvest
time were loaded with oats, corn,
wheat, grasses and potatoes, the
woods with swine, game and cattle.
Meat w*as cheap and very plentiful.
Thousands of the choicest oak, pop
lar, pine, chestnut and even walnut
trees (first-growth timber) were in
the woods uncut, and the streams
were alive with fine fish. The W. &
A. railroad had been operating trains
as tar as Chattanooga for only two
years, and its managers were making
desperate efforts to keep up a track
of wooden stringers, lined with prim
itive flat rails, and make it firm and
smooth enough Coir their cars to keep
the track. The engineers were doing
unusually w*ell when they aocom
plished this while moving the trains
at the rate of eighteen to twenty
miles per hour. The leading trunk
lines, and no others, exhibited a suc
cession of slender cedar poles holding
a single wire. Over these wires all
the telegraphing in this part of t. e
land was effected for a term of years.
The photographer’s art was then
unknown. The takiug of likenesses
was expensive, so much so that only
those who were wall to do could af
ford it to any extent. Envelopes for
mailing letters were matin, use except
in a few families. The few sold were
made mostly of brown paper—had
do gum upon them, and were 20 to
25 -cents per package of twenty-five.
Fraction matches were scarce, very
Inferior in quality and dear. In
places away from the towns the trav
eler could still see fires started by
using flint and steel, supplemented
by a dry* cotton wick, the wick hav
ing received a solution, first, of
dampened powder or other combus
tiole substance.
Hogs Mere carried to market in
large droves, on foot, over wagon
ways, not any in cars.
In Bartovr, then Cass county, the
old Cooper Iron Works on the Eto
wall river were approaching, but had
not yet attained, the zenith of their
development. As the business of
manufacturing iron, flour, nails, wag
ons, hollow-ware, etc., swelled and
multiplied, purchases of grain and
every imaginable form of farm prod
uct at these works greatly increased;
so that in a short time it became a
very common thing to discover pro
cessions of teams going in or start
ing home from the works, either buy
ing, selling oi bartering beeves, grain,
forage, homespuns, bacon or other
things for iron, flour, money, nails or
store goods. Many such caravans
came from Alabama and the Caroii- j
nax since large flouring mills and
HOME FROM AFRICA
Bartow Young Man Re
turns from East.
ORANGE RIVER'COLONY
Lewis Pratt on a Visit to His
Horr.a People at the Village
of Cassville-
Mr. Lewis Pratt returned home
Sunday after an absence of nine
years in south Africa. He is a son
of Mr. James Pratt, of Cassville, and
was warmly welcomed by his old
friends and relatives.
Mr. Pratt has traveled extensively
in various countries, and has spent
nine years in south Africa, working
most of the time for an English
mining company at Blomfontein.
Mr. Pmttwas here on a visit to home
folks three years ago. He was in
south Africa all through the Boe r
war, but took no part in it. For
-more than two years his people at
Cassy.itle were unable to communi
cate with him on account of the war.
He soys he has had enough of Africa,
and now means to settle down in
Georgia.
The Chris m is Offering.
Tie Christmas offering to the Bap
tist Church Building Fund was very
flattering indeed, the entire amount
being $806.19. Of this amount the
Ladies’ Aid Society gave S2OO. I take
great pleasure in giving this notice,
and I am proudly thankful to God
for a membership w hich responds so
nobly to the appeals and request of
their pastor. Several families gave
moy* than the amount suggested by
t:. astor. John E. Barnard.
1
r > works in t hose days were very
fev, and far between in Georgia.
Trie Cartersville depot handled
grain and other things, but no cot
tr - worth naming The, old Triou
factory, with some 2,500 or 8,000
spindksat work in Chattooga county,
was then the only cotton mill in
upper Georgia, lying north of a right
line that may be conceived of and
drawn so as to cross the state through
Gainesville, Hall county, and Cedar
town in Polk.
It would prove tedious to go
through a description of one-half
the large cotton had grain mills,
mining enterprises, railroad tracks,
fruit orchards, the scores of modern
buildings an 4 other proofs of an ad
vanet <1 Civilization, as well as a vastly
inci eased population, that have
spread themselves over Bartow and
neighboring counties during the past
*55 years. sor is it requisite to the
objects of this article, to do this.
Their existence is known to the intel
ligent reader of the new- year, 1905.
On a handsome, conspicuous site near
the W. & A. railroad,, west of Cart
ersville, the new cotton mill of the
American Textile Company, with
their paved streets and row-s oj well
built dwellings, store, offices, etc.,
present an imposing scene. J
The bhilding for spinning and cloth
making is calculated to operate 700
looms, 500 of which are said to he in
and set up. The mill house is built
6f pressed brick (reddish brown) and
the motive power wnll be steam. A
full water supply , frqm the Carters
ville water worjcs has been supple
mented by an independent supply
through a pump system belonging
to tjie mjjl owners by which water is
utilized from a near-by creek.
It is alleged that a Mill No. 2 will
at onee be erected of a capacity equal
to that now r standing. It is not pre
sumable that this particular climate
and locality w'ould have been settled
on without adequate and sufficient
reasons. There w r ere no bonuses >n
land gifts made to this company.
Bartow is moving up. but none too
soon. With 28 United States post
offices in her own limits, 14 rural
mail routes, 6 railroads or parts of
roads, the picture is changed from
that of 55 years ago. The popula
tion. rated for 1900 at near 21,000.
has turned out a number of notable
persons. Her square miles of area
are bet down at 485.
The grave and complex race prob
lem now presenting itself to the cit
izenship of Bartow and all other
Georgia counties is w to evolve
from the somewhat incongruous and
variant humanity that is fast idling
them up a typi of manhood and a
trend of aspiration that can reflect
honor and lustre upon the best days
of the south, showing up in bold re
lief their virtue .'patriotism and heart
culture. .. M. E. Coopkr.
January, 18<>5.
AN UGLY CRIME
IS SUSPECTED
Two Negro Children are Burned in Home, Where
They, Were Left Alone,
NOTES WILL IDS EXTENDED 1
Virginia-Caroliaa Chemical Company Show
Liberality Towards the Farmers.
The Virginia-Carolina Chemical
company has written a letter to all
its managers, authorizing them to
extend the guano notes of the farm
ers, who wish such notes extended.
The only security to be required will
be a sufficient amount of cotton to
pay tlie note. This is done by tin*
company to assist the farmers in hold
ing their cotton. The letter from the
President S. T. Morgan is as follows:
Yirgiuia-Carnlina < Chemical Company
Richmond, Virginia.
Office of the President.
Richmond, Ya., January sth. 1905.
To the division sales managers
Yirginia-C’arolina Chemical Com
pany, (Mr. F. B. Dancy, Mgr. Geor
gia sales Division Atlanta, Georgia.)
Gentlmen: The treasurer of this
c mipany is having so many requests
to extend the notes of some of our
customers and patrons, who have not
finished paying their bills, and who
desire to hold their cotton—stating
t hat they believe they will get more
for the cotton later on— that this
company has concluded to issue a
general letter on the subject, as
follows:
In tiie case of any farmer or mer
chant ivho may be owing vour and i vision
money, and who has cotton which he
desires to hold, you are at liberty to
extend his note for him for six months
from January Ist, with interest at
the rate of 6 per cent per annum, pro
viding lie will deposit in any reliable
warehouse sufficient cotton to pay
the note, and will turn over to you
warehouse receipts for same. You
are authorized to pay the insurance
on said cotton aril!’ make mV charge
against your customer for this iteifl.
We do not pretend to offer advice
to our customers to hold cotton, but
we and > intend to offer them every
facility and accommodation in our
power to hold their cotton, if in their
good judgment it is best. Whatever
inures to the benefit of the agricul
tural classes in the south is to our
benefit; our interest is identical with
theirs. We are more closely and
intimately connected with the cotton
growers of the south than any dozen
other concerns combined. They are
our custodiers in the purchase of
fertilizers and we are their customers
in the purchase of cottonseed. We
both sell and buy of them and deal in
every cotton growing county from
Texas to Virginia. Therefore, any
thing that will improve the agricul
tural conditions or help the farmers
mu it necessarily benefit us, and, if
holding their cotton will be a benefit
to them, it is our desire to aid them
in this as far as we can.
Other farm products, aside from
cotton, appear to us to be selling at
very full values, and we believe it
would be wise in the farmers to sell
any of their other surplus’ farm
products which would materially aid
them in holding their cotton.
We also are of the opinion that the
acreage last year devoted to cotton
was too large, and that it never could
have been cultivated in a normal
season. The good weather during
the spring enabled the farmers to
cultivate every acre they planted;
consequently the tremendous big
crop of this year. As, ordinarily, it
would be impossible to cultivate
such an enormous acreage, we believe
it would be wise in them this year to
materially decrease the acreage, if
it was decreased 10 per cent it would
mean a reduction of more than a null
ion bales next year, even if the crop
should yield as much per acre as it
does this year.
It strikes us that what the farmer
wants is to make his cotton at the
lowest possible cost. The profit
derived from growing cotton is not
so much the price of cotton as the
cost at which the crop has been
grown. Mules and horses are high
much higher than a few years ago
and the price of farm iabor is high
and scarce. Therefore every acre
cultivated means a large expenditure
It costs more to cultivate an acre of.
land growing a quarter of a bale of
cotton than one growing a bale. In
the hitter instance the plant soon
grows up and shades the land aud
consequently the grass does not grow
so rapidly or luxuriantly.
The cheapest item that can be used;
in the production of cotton is com
meeial fertilizers, used liberally. With
a liberal application of fertilizer the
formers can grow a baU> oL cott o
Pa b 1 ished in
the Best Coun
ty in Georgia.
Old Series—2sth Year
J The charred trunks, representing
the bodies of two grandchildren of
i John Robinson, colored, discovered
I am id the smouldering ruins of the
j latter’s little house, burned last Tues-
S day, gives rise to common specula
tion of the intenser sort, and it is the
unshakeable belief of many that a
great and dastardly crime has been
committed, embracing at least arson,
murder and robbery as prominent
phases.
John Robinson is a negro up in tin*
sixties, and lived on the place of Mr.
<’. V. Genies, near Gillam Spring.
He came to town Tuesday, leaving
his two grandchildren, Mary, a girl,
17 years old, and John, a boy 7 years
old, at the house to care for it until
his return. At a little after one
o’clock in the afternoon people in tin*
neighborhood saw smoke ascend
ing in the locality, and hurried to the
house, but the first to arrive, a,
white mah, found * the house
consumed by the flames when he got
there.
As soon as an examination of the
ruins could be "had it was discovered
that the two children had been
burned in the house, the bodies in it
charred state showing up amid the
unsightly mass.
'The remains of a gun moved far
from where it was left was found; an
axe lay beside the body of the girl
and the iron trappings of a trunk,
found showed that the trunk had
been moved. A large knife was
also found near the two bodies.
Spots resembling blood spots, it is
said, were seen on the rock luiuei*--
pinning beneath the door.
Mr. Dunahoo, the rural mail car
rier, remembered that in passing the
house about one o'clock and just a
little before the fire, that the doors
were closed. The supposition is
general that the chi'dr<*n were mur
dered. the house was set on fire and
robbery was committed. One arrest
Inis been made, that of Jog, Wofford,
a young negro aboi/t thirty. He is
in jail.
Judge George 8. Cobb, acting coro
ner. held an inquest over the bodies
and the jury affirmed it'as their opin
ion that it was a case of murder and
robbery committed by some unknown
person They recommended that
Wofford be held for an investigation
before the grand jury now in session.
Rank Officers Elected.
At a meeting of the stockholders
of the First National Bank on the
10th instant, the following officers
were elected for the ensuing year;
George. 8. Crouch—President.
Bob H. McGinnis —Vice-President.
J. 8. Calhoun —Cashier.
George 8. Crouch. W. B. Crouch,
Sam P. Jones, U S. Munford, Bob
H. McGinnis—Directors.
These are the same officers as last
year, w*ith the exception of cashier,
Mr. Calhoun succeeding Mr. J. H.
Vivion.
Mr. Vivion has been with the bank
since its organization, and during
In's residence of ovPT sixteen years
here lias made many friends. He is
a refined gentleman, a capable
banker and possesses paramount
business and personal probity. In
whatever field he enters he will carry
the best wishes of his host of friends.
Mr. Calhoun has won his promo
tion by sheer merit within a few
years, and is worthy the mark of
confidence his associates have shown
in choosing him for the responsible
position he holds.
The First National is one of Cart
ersville’s prized institutions and de
serves the success attendin'.** it.
where he has heretofore grown a naif
a bale, and do it with the same co-t
of mules and labor, and the addi
tional quantity of seed will more than
pay for the extra amount of fertilizer
used. Tiierefore encourage vour cus
tomers to reduce their acreage and
to increase the amount of coinmer-.
cial fertilizers per acre, believing, as
we do, that this is the way, and the
only way, to raise cheap cotton.
The south must continue to pro
duce around eleven million bales of
cotton or she will find, in a year or
two, the balance of the world com
peting with iter in growing the staple,
and our foreign market largely sup
plied from sources that now produce
but a limited quantity.
Washing for you a happy and pros
perous New "Year, and also for our
customers and patrons. I am,
1 ' Yours truly,
. S. T. Morgan, President,
I Virginia- arolir a Chemical Compan