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About The Butts County progress. (Jackson, Ga.) 18??-1915 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 1910)
BUTTS COUNTY PROGRESS VOLUME 28 BUTTS COUNTY WILL HAVE BUT ONE COMMISSIONER UNDER NEW LAW HIS SALARY TO BE A THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR House Bill Passed By Substitute in Senate And Con curred in By House Provides for One Commission er of Roads And Revenues in The County of Butts—Will Have A Secretary at A Sala ry of Three Hundred Dollars —Bill to Become Effective on January First One commissioner at a salary of a thousand dollars per annum, elected by the people for a term of four years, a clerk at a salary of three hundred dollars a year. These are the salient points in the bill creating one commissioner of roads and revenues in the county of Butts. But here is the bill and you can read it yourself: House bill 493, passed by sub stitute in senate and concurred in by the house, a bill To be entitled an act to create the office of Commissioner of Roads and Revenues for the coun ty of Butts, to provide for an e lection to fill said office, to pre scribe the qualifications, duties, and power of such officer, fix his salary, and for other purposes. Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, that from and after the passage of this act, the office of Commissioner of Roads and Rev enues for the county of Butts, shall be and is hereby created. Section 2. Be it further enac ted by the authority aforesaid that from the qualified voters of said county there shall be elected every four years a Commissioner of Roads and Revenues for said county, whose term of office shall commence on the first Monday in January, 1911 and continue for four years' and until his successor is elected and qualified. Section 3. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that said Commissioner shall be elect ed at the same time and in the manner and by the same electors as county officers are elected. Section 4. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that if there should be a vacancy in said office from death, resignation, removal from the county or othei cause, the ordinary of said coun ty shall order an election to fill such vacancy for the unexpired term, of which election he shall give twenty days notice in the newspaper wherein the sheriff s advertisements are published, which election shall be held as e lections for county officers, and until the vacancy is filled, said or dinary shall perform the duties of such commissioner. Section 5. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that before entering upon thedischarge of his duties, said commissioner shallgivebcniandsurety before the ordinary of said county, payable to the Governor and his success ors in office, in the sum of five thousand dollors, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the du ties of his office, and to account for all moneys that may come in- to his hands as such commission er and must take and subscribe the oath required of all civil offi cers and also the following oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of commissioner of Roads and Revenues for the county of Carroll during my continuance in office, according to the law, to the best of my ability, without favor or affection to any party, so help me God.” Section 6. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that said Commissioner of Roads and Revenues shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over the subject matters mentioned and embraced in section 4238 of the civil code of 1895; and over such other county matters as have by law been placed under the juris diction of ordinaries or other au thorities having control of coun ty matters; and over the levying and collection road taxes, commu ting taxes, and the working of the public roads, and the building of bridges, and the appointment and employment of such person for specific purposes appertaining to roads and bridges as are au thorized by law; and over allstch county matters as was held and exercised by the inferior court when sitting for county purposes prior to the adoption of the Con stitution of 1868. Section 7. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that said Commissioner shall sit spe cially on the first Mondays and Tuesdays in each month at the courthouse in said county as a court for county purposes, and for the exercise of such powers as he has as a quasi-corporation, contra distinguished from his powers as a court, and he shall also keep his office open on all Saturdays for the transaction of the business of his office, and at such other times as may be nec essary, At all other times, when the duties of his office and the condition of the weather will per mit, it shall be his his duty to personally inspect the public roads and bridges of said county, su pervise and, so far as practica ble, superintedend and direct the work on, and those in charge of the working of, the public roads and building of bridges. Section 8. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that said Commissioner shall receive for his services as such a salary of one thousand dollars per an num, to be paid monthly out of the treasuary of said county. He shall also be authorized to employ a clerk at a salarv not exceeding three hundred dollars per annum to be paid monthly out of said treasury. Said commissioner shall receive no fees. JACKSON, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 1910 Section 9. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that said commissioner shall keep such records of county matters as are now required by law to be kept by ordinaries where they have ju risdiction of county matters, and to make such reports to the grand juries as such ordinaries or other authorities having control of coun ty matters are required to make, showing an itemized statement of all receipts and expenditures, the source from which received, and tne Durpose for which ex pended, also voucher therefor and the number of persons subject to road duty; the smount of com mutation taxes received; number of persons who worked their time on public roads; also amount of taxes uncollected and what ac tion, if any, has been taken to enforce the law and collection of the commutat on tax. Section 10. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that in case of the disqualification of said commissioner, in any matter that may come before him, the or dinary of said county shall have power and authority to act in his place and stead. Section 11. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that said commissioner shall collect a commutation tax from all persons in said county, subject to road duty, said tax shall not be more than four dollars nor less than two dollars per annum and if said amount is not paid he shall be re quired to work on the public roads of Butts county not more than eight nor less than four days in any one year. If any person, subject to road duty in said coun ty shall fail to pay the amount requested by said commissioner or shall fail to work the number of days required, then and in that event he shall be fined for con tempt of court to work on the public roads in said county in the discretion of said commissioner not longer than thirty days. Section 12. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that if said commissioner shall fail to do his duty, in performing his work, or shall prove to be unfit, or incompetent, for said position, then and in that event, upon the majority vote of two successive grand juries of said county, said office shall be declared vacant and under the above prescribed rules, another person shall be e lected to fill said office. Section 13. Be it further enact ed by the authority aforesaid that all laws and parts of laws in con flict with this act be and the same are hereby repealed. The commissioner will be elec ted in the general election in Oc tober, as the state primary has closed. TOTAL GAIN IN BUTTS IS A GRATIFYING ONE The total tax returns in Butts county for the year 1910 amount to $2,115,536, a gain over last year of $130,210. The whites show a gain of $106,484, and the colored a gain of $23,729. The whites returned 1031 polls and the colored 547, a total for the county of 1578. The whites returned 365 dogs for taxation and the colored 304, making a to tal of 669. The total number of acres of land returned for taxation is 106,- 125. BATTLE OF BALLOTS WILL BE WAGED ON TUESDAY THE 23 IMPORTANT ISSUES FACE THE PEOPLE Governor’s Race The Absorbing Topic Among Vo ters of Georgia—With So Many Candidates in The Field And Interest at Fever Heat It Is Thought A Heavy Vote Will Be Cast on Next Tuesday—Local Politics Have Warmed up Considerably in Last Few Days—Official Ballot A Long One The ballots will fall Tuesday, the 23, in the state democratic primary after a short though ex citing and memorable campaign. The campaign has been one of the shortest in a number of de cades. Interest from the begin ning has centered around the race for governor. It is now and has been an issue of Joe Brown against Hoke Smith. The people of Georgia are called on to decide between these two men. Two years ago Governor Brown carried the state by a majority of more than ten thousand votes in a campaign marked by bitterness and factional feeling. He asks for an indorsement of his admin istration by being reelected to the first office in the state. This year the majority vote has given way to the county unit system and the candidate with the largest number of votes in the convention will be declared the nominee of the party. The great question is can Hoke Smith “come back” and reverse the re sult of two years ago? This is a matter for the people to pass on at the polls. The candidate that carries the big counties with six votes in the convention is going to have an advantage that will be hard to overcome. The “big six” com prises Bibb, Chatham, Fulton, Richmond, Floyd and Thomas. Of these it is claimed Brown will carry all but one, Thomas. Ful ton is a battle ground and both sides claim it. A county has twice the num ber of votes in the convention as it has representatives. Butts, with one representative, will (Concluded on page 3) J. THREATT MOORE, WHO IS A CANDIDATE FOR LEGISLATURE JOE BROWN RALLY WAS ENTHUSIASTIC AFFAIR HIS SUPPORTERS ENCOURAGED Brown Men Think Butts Safe For Little Joe —The Club Has A Large Mem bership in Every District in The County—Effort to Get Out Full Vote The enthusiastic crowd of “re actionists” and “hoboes” that met here Saturday afternoon un der the auspices of the Butts County Joe Brown Club was well pleased at the outlook and feel more than ever that Butts will in crease the majority she gave Mr. Brown in the last election. Reports were had from all the districts in the county and mem bers of the executive committee invariably brought encouraging news. The reports scaled down to a most conservative estimate leads one to believe that Govern or Brown will have a comforta ble majority here this year. No guess work was engaged in but after a cool and calculating survey of the county and a thor ough analysis of the vote two years ago the officers of the club made the announcement that Joe Brown would carry the county without doubt. It must be remembered that Brown carried Butts before with out a club or organixation of any kind and without a newspaper to keep his candidacy before the people. This year with the coun ty thoroughly organized and with newspaper support his friends think the county will give him a large majority. The size of Governor Brown’s majority in this county is estima ted all the way from 50 to 150. Vice President B. C. Ward of the Joe Brown Club says Govern or Brown will carry the county by 150 majority. It is a signifi cant fact that he has never miss ed a single guess made on the way Butts county would go in any e lection. In a party of four, three Brown men and one Smith man, guesses were taken last Sa.urday night on the result in this county. The first Brown man guessed Little Joe would carry the county by 122 votes; the second 63; the third 85 and the Smith guessed that Brown would carry Butts by 50 votes. The situation never looked as favorable bofore and the Brown forces feel extremely optomistic. NUMBER 33
