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THE PROGRESS
VAN WILHITE,
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
Subscription $i oo Per Yr.
Advertising Rates Furnished
On Application.
Published Cberv Clmrsday.
Entered as necond-clann matter, Novem
ber 8, 1907, at the jioHtotHce at Jack non, Gu.
under act of Congrm of March H, 1879.
TELEPHONE NUMBER 166
THE DEHOCRATIC CONVENTION
The Progress editor was one
among Georgia’s array of one
gallused weekly editors who at
tended the state convention in
Atlanta Tuesday.
The work of the convention, as
it could only be under the new
primary ruling, was harmonious
from the beginning, excepting
one slight hitch in the conven
tion’s refusal to endorse Hon.
Thomas E. Watson for vice presi
dent. While it is probable that
the honor would not have been
accepted by Mr. Watson, we
could not do otherwise than be
lieve that, under the circum
stances, Mr. Watson was entitled
to at least an offer of a piece of
the democratic pie. But he got
the lemon nevertheless.
Hoke Smith supporters no
doubt rejoice with their oppo
nents in the latter’s unqualified
endorsement of prohibition and
disfranchisement. There are other
things to be admired in the work
of the convention and in the
platform which it adopted. But
while this is true we of course
still believe along with 9?,000
other citizens of Georgia that
a change of administration was
absolutely useless and which the
future will yet prove to have
been a mistake.
However, we are going to have
better things in Georgia, and if
Mr. Brown can hasten their com
ing, let him do it!
MR. POWERS ON STATE EXEC
UTIVE COM/HTTEE.
The new state democratic ex
ecutive committee which was
appointed at the recent demo
cratic convention contains the
name of our clever local towns
man, Mr. W. T. Powers.
Congratulations to Butts coun
ty as well as Mr. Powers!
Not to mention other reasons,
no political candidate or party
could have a better supporter
other things being equal than
Mr. Powers when it comes to
pushing a political race to vic
tory.
Of course Mr. Powers was
wrong in the recent political con
tent, just as were 109,000 other
citizens- from our point of view
but one cannot help admiring
the enthusiasm of support and
intense sincerity of conviction as
shown by this supporter of the
opposing force.
The convention could not have
made a better choice from the
Sixth.
The other appointees from the
sixth congressional district are
John T. Allen, of Baldwin; T. J.
Harden, of Monroe and J. W.
Culpepper, of Fayette.
RAISE THE SCHOOL TEACHER’S SALARY.
We hope our readers are deeply interested in the pres
ent movement for a better system of rural schools for Geoigia
and therefore for Butts counny. And we as truly hope that
they realize our teachers must be paid better salaries before
we shall ever have a sufficient number of teachers and of the
right kind.
Georgia’s crying need at the present is more teachers and
better teachers for the public schools of the state. There is
hardly a section of the state in which this need is not seriously
felt State School Commissioner Pound, in his annual report
to the legislature, says:
“If Georgia utilized every teacher turned out by the
normal schools of the South there would still be a big de
ficiency in the number of needed instructors for the youth
of the state.
After deploring the low salaries paid to the teachers Mr.
Pound sounds a dangerous warning for the future of our pub
lic school system. He says:
“If some remedy is not provided and if better salaries
are not paid promptly, the effect upon the schools will be
disastrous. Already the signs are ominous. It is becom
ing increasingly difficult to supply schools with proper or
acceptable teachers, or even with teachers at all.
• The shamefully low salaries paid the school teachers
this state, of course, is the fundamental cause of this scarcity
of instructors. When a manufacturer offers high salaries for
positions demanding skilled men, for such positions he knows
there will be many applications out of which he can select the
most skilled workmen. So it is with teachers; offer more
money for teachers and you get more applications; raise the
standard of the teachers’ examination and you get more teach
ers and better teachers. This is the only means by which our
poorly equipped schools and inefficient teachers can be im
proved, and such a fact should lead the people to action.
This is an age in which the Dollar reigns and any move
ment. whatever, that fails to appreciate the influence and
power of pecuniary gain is based on a misunderstanding of
human nature and will fail. Men and women are not yet all
sacrifice and philanthropy. Our system of schools need money
behind it just as badly as a ship needs its rudder.
About $29 is the average salary of the Georgia school
teacher. Prices for articles of necessity leap higher and high
er and higher until they are almost doubled and the salary of
the overworked, brain-fagged school teacher remains the same
pitiful amount. When you are sick you want the best physi
cian, even though he charges you more; when you want a
brickmason you pay him $4.00 per day or SIOO per month;
when you want a mechanic you pay him from $1.50 to $4.00 per
day or an average of about S6O per month. A plain black
negro you will pay from $1.25 to $2.00 per day. And yet
when it comes to preparing your children, bone of your bone,
flesh of your flesh, for the awful struggle of life; when it
comes to shaping their little soft, plastic brains, and directing
their minds into lifelong channels, you are willing to pay only
$25 or S3O per month, and that to almost anybody who comes
along.
What is the result? Population is increasing, children
are increasing in numbers, and the ranks of the school teacher
are thinning, because they can get more money for a different
kind of service. Only about a dozen men have graduated from
the State Normal School in the last four years, and there is
many a woman "who would be teaching school today were they
not forced to wear out their lives in, a noisy, over-crowded
school room for a mere pittance.
While Wfe insist on the present session of the legislature
acting favorably upon Mr. Pound’s plea for higher salaries, we
do not forget that the state is unable to sufficiently reward her
teachers, and would insist, therefore, on local taxation as a
supplement to state aid. The more schools and better schools
which Butts county wilfi* take the trouble to have, the more
taxable property and prosperity she will enjoy, saying nothing
of the advance along intellectual and moral lines.
AN EDUCATIONAL RALLY.
The Progress and other citizens of Butts county, who are
interested in the education of our young, will be pleased to
learn that arrangements are being made for an educational
rally to be held somewhere in this county at some convenient
time the present summer. Our county superintendent of schools,
Mr. Maddox, has already invited State School Commis
sioner Pound to be present with an address and Mr. Pound has
accepted the invitation.
The Progress would make just one suggestion—that this edu
cational rally be a big occasion. Let the addresses be made in
the open air and shade and comfortable seats be provided for
everybody.
Invite some other speaker of note to assist Mr. Pound in
entertaining and instructing the audience along educational
lines.
For the second speaker The Progress would suggest the
name of Henry R. Hunt, a former school teacher of Jackson,
and a man who by the natural force of a big intellect and pure
character, has pushed rapidly to the front rank of educational
work in Georgia. Mr. Hunt is an eloquent speaker and would
entertain as well as instruct his audience.
Here’s hoping grand success for the educational rally.
A CORRECTION.
Our subscribers doubtless re
cognized the mistake which ap
peared in last week’s Progress,
the mistake being the statement
that Mr. Bartlett named Butts
county’s delegates to the congres
sional convention. As Mr. Blood
worth carried the county, he of
course, named the delegates in
stead of his opponent.
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Jackson Banking Cos.
NOW 20 YEARS OLD
J. E. Edwards
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Sharpens v
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j
Vinegar
Caution
Vinegar, may be vinegar, or it may be some
thing else; and due regard for health demands
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I refund full purchase price if any pack
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S. H. Thornton