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Grand Jury Presentments Feb
ruary Term 1909.
We the grand jury, drawn and
sworn, for February term, 1909, <f
J?utt Superior tipurl, begleave to sul>-
mit these our general presentments:
We, through our various commit
tees, have examined the books of all
the county officers, and so far a s we
are able to ascertain, in the limited
tifne'given, they are kept as the law
directs.
The Ordinary, Clerk of Superior
court and sheriff, report to us that no
county funds have passed through
their hands since the August term of
court. It>oß.
We have received a report from the
county commissioners, county school
commissioner, tax collector and the
old and new county tereasurers, which
is hereunto attached as part of these
presentments.
We approve of the wise and econom
ical method the board of education and
county school commissioner of our
county have adopted in the manage
ment of our schools, and note, with
pleasure the progress made all along
the line.
We regret, however, that owing to
our financial out look, the steady pro
gress they have been making will Ih.*
seriously obstructed unless the people
render substantial aid by recouping
the prospective loss mentioned in the
county school commissioner's rc|s>rt.
Among the many ways this may he
done, we lx*lie\ e the county system,
under the McMichael hill, the most
equitable and the only way that we can
have anything like a uniform system
of graded schools in <Hir county,
rrm’.ic nrn.iun<;h.
We find the county jail very neatly
kept and the prisoners well cared for,
tint the jail needs some repairs, and w e
recommend that the doors to the mis
demeanor cells be fixed ut once sons
to make the cells safe. And that the
old water tank Ik* torn away, as we
consider it dangerous. We find the
court house very well kept, but some
repairs are needed. The window sash
on the solitli side and the blinds in the
court room should he repaired; the sill
under the liell in the lower should be
replaced with anew one, and the holes
in the basement lloor should he tilled.
We find that the tax collector has
collected .1,171 not on the digest, and
that he has. also received over 1,100
acres of land which was not returned
on the digest for 1908, and we are satis
lied there are yet several thousand
acres of land unaccounted for. And
we therefore recommend that the
lioafd of county commissioners devise
a 1 tetter plan of getting an accurate
list of the lapds and tax payers of the
county.
We recommend that the road leading
from the Iroq Spring road to (dies’
ferry road, by the home of Robert
Prestou, also the road leading from .).
M. Wright’s residence to the Indian
Spring road l>e worked out and made
passible, also the road near the Wig
wam at Indian Spring be widened, as
we consider it dangerous. We also
recommend that a bridge be built
across Sandy Creek on w est side of the
residence of S. J. Smith, and that the
bridges at Indian Spring and Hen
drick’s mill be repaired.
We find the roads generally inlaid
condition throughout the county and
do not see much prospects of improve
ment under the present system of
working.
Through our committee we have in
spected the county poor farm, ami
it in a very good condition. There are
the inmates—four colored and one
white, whom we think are well eared
for on the poor farm.
We have examined the pension list
and do not tind any one drawing a
pension who is not entitled to the
same.
Two vacancies have occurred on the
county Itoanl of education, one by the
death of Judge T. S. Hammond and
the other by the resignation of Hon. 1.
H. Maddox. We recommend that Mr.
W. 11. Hammond to till the place of
T. s*. Hammond and Mr. 11. R
Haughtry to till the place of 1. H.
Maddox, be appointed.
We recoin mend that V. K. t'arter Ik 1
appointed Notary Public Kx-otlieio
Justice of the Peace for the 613 district
G. M. as successor to J. R. Hammond.
We request our representative in the
Georgia legislature to have a bill pass
ed changing the commissions paid the
couuty tax collector and tax receiver
and county treasurer to a salary, the
county treasurer and tax receiver to
receive $300,00 each and the tax collec
tor $400.00 i*er annum.
We extend our thanks to his Honor,
Judge R J. Ragan, for his able charge
iigd courtesies extended us, also to ou*r
BUTTS COUNTY PROGRESS, JACKSON, GA., FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1909.
new and efficient Solicitor Gen. J. W.
Wise, for his able assistance in lerril
ing out crime and the many courtesies
shown us:
We feel that our county and the
Flint Judicial circuit is to be congrat
ulated upon securing the services of
one so well fitted in every way to dis
charge the duties of this responsible
office.
We recommend that these present
ments lx* placed on the minutes of the
court and also published in the two
local papers, and Jhat said papers he
paid .*IO.OO each fbr same. All <>f
which is respectfully submitted.
If, [j. Daughtry, Foreman.
B. F. Moon, Clerk.
kki’oi: cor s. j. smith, tkkasukku.
To the Honorable Grand Jury, now in
session: This Feb. 15, 1909.
January IK, 1900.
Deceived of G. It. Ridgeway,
former Treasurer, Contin
gent fund - $1,859 SO
Paid out to date on the above 1711 13
Contingent fund on hand $1 IK 4.5
Received on road account to
date sIF, 751
Paid out on road to date 110 30
Road fund on hand
Sum TOTAL on hand Feb
ruary 15, 1909 - ?hi3 SO
(i FORGI A—Putts County.
Personally appeared before the un
dersigned, an officer authorized to ad
minister oaths, S. J. Smith, who, on
oath, says the above statement is true.
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
tliis February 15, 1900.
J. li. 11A M, < Irdinnrv.
S. J. Smith, Treasurer.
To the Honorable Grand Jury of Butts
County, February Term 1909.
Final statement of G. R. Ridgeway,
treasurer of Butts county, Georgia,
from February 15, 1908 to January 18,
1909.
Bat. on hand Feb., 15, 15108.. ? 1,007 98
Received from all sources to
Jan., 18, 1909 24,780 27
Total f $25,741 20
msm'KSKM'KNTs:
Bridgeand public Bl’dg fund $5,584 .”>2
Pauper account 987 98
Coroner account _ 112 oO
Superior court account 4,052 70
Public Road account . 0,980 80
Jail account 1,098 11
Litigation account _ 681,56
Contingent, sheriff and other
officers fees . 8,185 72
Bui of treasurer’s commission 799 78
To S. J. Smith new treasurer 1,859 80
x ill—ran. tLummrc
Total $25,744 20
(; KOUG lA—Mutts ('onilly.
Personally appeared before the un
dersigned, an officer authorized to ad
minister oaths, G. li. Ridgeway, who
on oath says the above statement is
just, true and correct. Sworn to and
subscribed before me, this Feb., 15, 1909
J. 11. IIAM, Ordinary.
(!. R. Ridgeway, Treasurer.
UKI’OKT Ol TAX I'OI.I.KI'TOK
Butts county for the year 1908.
To the Honorable Grand Jury of
Butts county, Fob., Term, 1909:
liKCKirrs and nisnrusKMKXTS.
kkckipts
Ree’d for State General Tax 89,229 84
“ “ “ Polls on digest 1,881 00
“ “ “ Polls not ort “ 205 00
“ “ “ Profesn’l tax 240 00
Total . 811,005 84
DISm'KSKM KNTS
r l\> tax Collector’s
eom'sn $812.01
Receiver’s com ’so 805.46 618 07
Ain’t sent State Treasurer $10,887 77
kkikipts.
Rec’d for county Gen’l. tax $18,475 18
“ “ “ Railroad tax 8,608 17
Total $22,188 85
IHSi US KM KNTS.
To Collector’s eom’sn $444.95
Oole’ts.eom'n R R tax 78.26
Reeeiv’s eom’sn 222.17 740 68
Amount paid treasurer ... $21,397 07
G KORGlA—lUitts County.
Personally appeared before the un
ersigned, an officer to administer oath,
C. R. Carter, who, on oath says that
the above is a t rue and correct report
taken from his books for the year 1908.
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
this the 15 day of February, 15)09.
J. H. HAM. Ordinary.
C. R. Carter, T. C. 15. C.
To the Honorable foreman and gen
tlemen of the Grand Jury, February
term 1!>09, of Butts Superior court:
In compliance with law we herewith
hand you a statement of condition
of things as they are now in Butts
couuty.
During the year 15)08 we issued war
rants on the public road funds to the
amount $7,567.83. The advalorum
road tax ami the commutation road
tax that we levied for the year 1908
enabled us to pay up all of these war
rants and a small amount over. Me
try to have the roads worked the best
we can with the limited means at our
control. Fearing to go beyond that,
and involve our county in <lelt, we
issued w arrants on all the other funds
except the roads to the amount of
$13,680.14, all of which has been paid
off'from the out-going treasurer repoit
to the county commissioners on Janu
ary 25, 19*>9 he turned over to the new
treasurer $ 1,817.21, so you see our coun
ty is not in debt for any work done
last year. We issued last year on the
pauper funds warrants to the amount
of $1,040.10, and from treasurer’s report
January 25, 1909, received from pauper
farm and other sources $1,496,28, The
expeiise of the jail last year $1,191.05.
The expense account charged up to the
superior court for last year $1,532.92.
The treasurer’s books show that the
jurors of the superior court for last
year was paid $2,700.00, adding the
last three items together we have* the
sum of $5,423.97, so you will discover
the greatest expense account we have
is the superior court. And unless there
is some way provided to reduce the ex
penses of the court our taxes Will nec
essarily remain high. We have recent
ly had some repairing done on the
court house and jail, both of which we
think are in good shape,, at least en
tirely secure from leaks. We have a
contract with Austin Brothers io build
a steel bridge across Yellow Water
creek at McCord’s Mill at a cost of
sl,3(K).oojf> be completed by the 4th
day of May, 1909. Some time during
the spring we expect to have all our
steel bridges painted, so as to protect
and preserve them.
J. O. Cast on, Chaiaman.
Joseph Jolly, Clerk.
Feb. 1(5, 1909.
Annual Report of County
School Commissioner
To the Foreman and Gentlemen of
the Grand Jury of Butts County:
In compliance with the law, I he:e
by submit to your honorable body my
annual report as Oountv School Com
mi iSioaer for the year 1908.
In addition to the usual statistics'
and financial report I am required to
make, I am requested by the State
School Commissioner to matte men
tion of whatever achievements or
failures the schools made in the yea
1908, and to lay before your body
whatever plans have been mapped
out. for the present year, and to ask
\our body to make such recommend
ations as you deem wise.
To comply fully w ith this reques*
would necessitate a very voluaiinous
report. I shall, therefore, make men
tion of such matters as we are all vi
tally interested in with as little elab
oration as possible.
Some of our achievements are, we
have had more experienced and better
equipped teachers; we have had a
longer term a larger enrollment of
pupils, a larger average attendance,
more enthusiasm on the part of the
patrons, all school houses have been
supplied with patent desks and good
b'ackboar ls. Two new 7 school houses
were built, one each for white and
colored. Nearly every school house
has been remodeled by ceiling them
and giving proper ventilation, light
and heat and by adding additional
rooms, so that now v> e have one school
house with eight rooms, three houses
each with three room6and seven with
two rooms.
So far as I have been able to ascer
tain every white boy and girl within
school age, except three, was enrolled
some time during last year. Our
census returns show that there were
only twenty boys and girls over ten
s eats of age in the entire county or
the first day of last May who could
not read and write. *
Some of our failures are, we have
failed to employ a teaching force suf
fieient to get the very best results
Time lost never returns. We have
failed to remunerate teachers suffi
ciently to keep them in the profess
ion ; we have failed to paint our
school houses and set out trees and
flowers; in short, to make our school
houses the most attractive place in
’the neighborhood; we have failed to
see to it that our teachers are paid
promptly, and for that reason they
are often humiliated.
Now, in order that our achieve- 1
meats in the future may be greater j
and our failures less I would suggest
the same solution that I did to a
question propounded by I)r. G. R
Glenn, former State School Commis
sioner, when he asked the various
County School Commissioners this
question , “ What is n> edert to better
the school sy-t mof Georgia? In
my reply I said: * The one thing
needful to better the schuol system of
Georgia is more tnor ey Give to the
B ardi of Education money enough
to operate th* schools at least eight
months in the y* ar and you will cease
to he ir the penp e cond mn our pub
lic school pyst.-m. Then compete! t
, achers will he in demand and th y
will b • found.” 1 li rthermore -aid :
•‘Nr oompet nt man or woman can
afford to teach school four or fiv
months in the < ear at the meager
salaries now offered and then he turn
ed out to graze the remaind. r of the
year ”
ihe right to tax the citizens of
Jackson to support the schools in
Jackson, the fines and forfeitures
!,,f the City Court of Flovilla which
go to the support of the schools in
Indian Spring district, local taxanon
in Jenkinsburg, Stark and Union
P,,int school districts and the large
i"crease in our State fund for the last
f w years and by the great liberality
.f the patrons in supporting most of
the remaining schools by supplement
mg the school fund, have not oply
been the means of bringing our
schools up to the present standard,
but they have saved them from retro-
gration.
Now, while these conditions are
encouraging, they simply show pro
gress. Much is to be done to bring
ur schools up to the idealistic point.
Indeed, much is to be done to keep
<>ur schools from retrogration.
The Board of Education had plan
ed to increase the public term to
s vt n months, but recent develop
ments in our financial resources sug
gested the abandonment of that idea.
These developments came from three
| sources First, our loss of 244 chil
dren of school age entailed a loss of
$741 in school fund annually. Sec-
I oi and, the repeal of the convict system
has taken from our fund $1,709
Third, the State School Commissioner
informs me chat it is more than proba
ble that the State will not be able to
meet the appropriation made for this
year, and for that reason we will ap
proximately lose $1 000 from this
year’s apportionment, making a fcotai
of $2,450 loss to our school fund.
Now 7 , it is evident that something
must be done at once to recoup this
loss, or oar schools will suffer. Now,
I am one who believes that where
there is a wi'l there is a way. There
are three ways: fust, private sub
son; tion ; second, local tax under
the district system; third, local tax
under the countv system.
In my judgment private subscrip
tion is all right, but too uncertain
Tne district system is unequal, there
fore vfnfair and unjust, because tne
more property in the district the less
the tax rate, and the less property in
the district the higher the tax rate
Let me illustrate this thought:
Districts having large corporations
located in them would get all the tax
derived from these corporations,while
those districts remote frcm these cor
porations would not receive a penny
from them. Under the district sys
tem only four out of the eighteen
school districts would be benefited
out of all the corporations in sight in
Butts county. Uhdhr the county sys
tem the tax rate would be uniform,
and hence fair aud just.
Bet us see what amount of school
fund Butts county would raise if the
county should levy a school tyx at
the same rate now levied by the city
of Jackson. We have a digest of sl,
, 800,000. This would give us a schoo,
fund of $9,900. The railroads, tele
graphs and telephones, which are
now paying only $214, would be re
quired to pay $2,014, making a total
from these sources of $11,914. Now
our school fund from the State is
$11,291. This would make a grand
total of $28,205. This is several
thousand dollars more than was raised
for school purposes from all sources
last year.
Now add to this sum the taxes that
would be derived from plants now in
nrocess of erection and contempla
>io , then we wouid have a school
fund sufficient for any purpose I
wish to say, just here, that I believe
uider the countv system we could
cut Jackson’s rate one-half and then
raise a sufficient fu•. d to operate the
schools of the county nine months u
the yeur. Then we could have a per
fect system of graded common scho Is
throughout the county and hi_h
schools to which everv boy or g r i
who passes the oxami ation could
enter without, fee or friction. Talk
about developing the Cripple cr. ek
god mines in Idaho, and the devel
opment ot the great water powers of
the Ocmulgee river, boost the ) .cr
son and Butts County Chamber of
Commerce, agitate the building of
good roads, urge (he building of in
terurban railroads as much as y. u
piea-e, gentlemen; t hese are all
right, per se, but I wish to call vour
attention to the richest mines and
most wonderful powers in the world.
They are lying hid in the brains of
our chldren—the children of Butts
county
, Develop them and the Chamber of
Commerce will praise you. Develop
them and iou will not only see the
water powers of the Ocmulgee river
developed, but you will discover pos
sibilities even in its tributaries.
Develop them and you will see a
network of trolley cars through Butts
county; you. will see telephones in
every residence in the county; you
will, see a spire upon every church
and a belfry upon every school house.
Develop them and you will see
roads wide enough to accommodate
the traveling .public without) incon
venience, and so level that we will
imagine that it is down grade either
going or coming. Am last, but not
least, you will see a happy .contented
and prosperous rural population.
In closing this part of my report,
permit me to say the recommenda
tions of grand juries hava a great
deal to do with molding sentiment
and preparing the way for public mil
provemants when wisely made. *
Two vacancies exist on the Board
-of Education at this tune, one caused
by tiie death ot .Judge T. S. Ham
mond and the other by the resigna
tion of v Hon. I. H. Maddox. The va
cancy caused by 7 the death of Judge
Hammond lias been, temporarily
filled bv tlie appointment of Hon. J.
B. Childs.
Statistical Report.
JThere were 42 schools in operation
in tiie county during the year, 21
each for white and colored. There
were six county line schools attended
hy the children from this county,
three each, white and colored. Every
white boy and girl of school age, so
far as I have been able to ascertain,
was enrolled during the year, and
1,589 colored, this being 80 percent
of the colored school, population. Tire
public term was sixunonMis and the
average attendance was 68% for the
whiie and 80 per cent for the colored.
There were 79 teachers employed
during the year; 87 of these were
white and 32 colored. Five teachers
held permanent licenses, 4 white and
1 colored. Thirty-six h°kl first-grade
licenses. 84 white 'and 2 colored.
Thirteen held second-grade, 8 white
; nd 5 col ired, and 23 third-grade, 1
white and 22 colored.
Financial Statement.
To bal. 6n Imn i Feb. 12, 1908 6 35
Rec’d from S. S. C. Mar 9 1,786 44
Rec’d from state 'Treasurer
March 9, on convict hire... 486 59
Rec’d from S. S. C. March 28 864 00
“ Henry Co.„Mar. 28 363
“ S. S. C. April 11 964 64
“■ “ May 15 500 00
“ State Treas., July
14, convict hire 407 77
Rec’d from State Treas., Au
gust 24, convict hire 407 7”
Rec’d from State Treas., No
vember 14, convict hire 407 77"
Rec’d from S. S. C. Dec. 22... 1,900 31
“ “ Dec. 31... 8.069 87
“ “ Jan. 20, 1909 1,916 96
Total received $12,722 10
disbursements.
Paid C. S. C. salary $ 575 00
“ M. B. E * * 82 00
“ White teachers 10,073 97
“ Colored teachers 1,672 18
“ For school desks and
&eats 121 65
“ H. G. Gilmore for book
case 8 00
“ Census enumerators 134 00
“ C. S. Maddox, postage
and exchange 13 00
“ C. S. Maddox, expenses
attending con 12 00
Conductor Col. Inst 10 00
“ Jackson Argus, ad 685
“ Jackson Progress, ad.... 335
“ W. F.Adams, station’ry 160
“ Book and Novelty Cos.,
stationery and boofc„ 2"f?>
“ F. F. Walthall, Ass’t C.
S. C 6 00
Total disbursements $12,722 10
All of which is respectfully sub
mitted. C. S. Maddox, C. S. C.