Newspaper Page Text
Jackson Progress - Argus
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
J. DOYLE JONES
Editor tad PuWiiltor
Eatarcd u second-class matter at
f f ice at Jackson, Ga.
TELEPHONE NO. 166
OFFICIAL ORGAN BUTTS COUN
TY AND CITY OF JACKSON
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
O- V~*
Six tkalka
Sin jU Copies
IN ADVANCE
NOTICE
Cards of thank* will ba charged
at the rata of fifty cent*, minimum
far SC word* and let*; above SO
word* will be charged at the rata of
1 cant a word. Cath mutt accompa
ny -opy in all instances.
One happy result of the cotton
acreage movement was to bring
emileg to the farmers. It has been a
long time since a farmer had any
thing to grin about.
Not all the profiteering is on Wall
Street. Main Street in Podunk has
its share. Unless the government
uses the big stick the people are go
ing to be gouged unmercifully in
the cost of living.
I
I
t
Farmers of the cotton belt can
make a twin strike by planting soil
improvement crops on the land where
cotton is plowed up. Soil fertility is
one of the great needs of this sec
tion and is essential to successful and
profitable farming.
The large daily newspapers profess
to believe that all is needed to
pull Georgia out of the hole is to con
solidate counties. Georgia may have
too many counties but it will be a
long time before the number will be
substantially reduced.
Camp meeting time is at hand.
Crops have been plowed for the last
time, watermelons, juicy and lusci
ous, are on the vine and the Geor
gia peach was never sweeter. It is a
leisure season in rural Georgia and
picnics, watermelon cuttings and
camp meeting will be enjoyed for the
next few weeks.
It is undeniably true that many of
us do opt know “where we are at”
as regards the new deal. Business
codes are being worked out and in
due season business will settle down
to a normal basis. The fact that im
proveemnt. has set in, bringing new
confidence, hope and courage, is the
main factor just now.
The kidnaping racket is about the
■worst of all the crimes of the day.
This racket is spreading and hardly
m day passes without some wealthy
citizen being held for ransom. The
people of America must make an or
ganized fight on crime. The kidnap
ing racket should never be allowed
to gain a foothold in the South.
There is no enterprise in this en
tire section of the state more im
portant than that of a bridge across
the Ocmulgee river between Jackson
atd Monticello. Some of the recently
veted federal funds might well be
used in constructing this bridge. The
present ferry is not in keeping with
present day methods of transporta
tion^
The Dawson News urges patience.
It aptly says: “It isn’t a good idea
to throw up your hat and start cele
brating the disappearance of the de
pression. Take it easy. The world
didn’t get in the mess through which
it has been passing in a single day,
era week nor a month. It went in
by degrees, and it will take a long
time to get out.”
A common sense reduction in the
cast of education will be welcomed,
bat the state should be on guard
against reducing expenses to the
paiat it will impair efficiency. Edu
cation is still the greatest business in
the nation. The schools ani colleges
must be adequately supported, even
if it is necessary to retrench along
other lines.
What Georgia needs in the high
way department is a board who can
think in terms of 'he state as a
whole. If a highway possesses merit
it should be completed as speedily as
possible. It is probably true that we
have been building “political roads”
along with political fences. Asa
consequence there is a patch work
system of highways.
The writer is not an authority on
the weather, but it appears the At
lanta weather bureau chief slipped a
cog when he said it would begin rain
ing Saturday, the first of the dog
days, and rain for forty days. Ac
cording to Grier’s Almanac, the
standard in the South, dog days be
gin on July 28. At any rate we pre
fer to string along with Robert Grier.
That confidence is returning
there can be no doubt. For the first
time in many years people believe
conditions will be better. Without
confidence it is impossible to carry
on business in a normal way. While
much of the new deal is ahead of us
und piuch remains to be done, it is
important to know that people are
more optimistic and have faith in
the future.
The Georgia Bicentennial celebra
tion has resulted in the marking of
many spots of historic interest. This
is good work. Asa rule we do not
properly appreciate our places of his
toric and scenic interest. This year’*
celebration has made all Georgian’s
brush up on their history with the
result there is anew and higher ap
preciation of the state and its splen
did contribution to the making of
the nation.
It has been contended for ages
that farmers of the country could
not be organized, that they would
not co-operate for mutual benefit.
This contention was knocked sky
ward in the cotton acreage reduction
campaign. A fine spirit of mutual
helpfulness was shown and farmers
of the South have set an example that
holds much of promise for co-opera
tion in the future. The cotton move
ment was a big undertaking and it
was put over in a big way.
Multiplied millions have been add
ed to the wealth of the South by
reason of the advance in the price of
cotton. The sante is true of other sec
tions of the nation in gains made by
wheat, the grains, dairy and livestock
products and other farm commodi
ties. This advance will help place the
farmers on their feet and when buy
ing power on the farm is restored the
country will be well on the road to
recovery. The advance had to start
from the bottom.
In the death of Dan G. Bickers,
editor of the Savannah Morning
News and poet laureate of the Geor
gia Press Association and the Geor
gia District of Kiwanis, the state
loses one of its most widely beloved
newspaper men. He grew up in the
newspaper business and had held po
sitions on several of the leading
weekly and daily newspapers of the
state. He was a poet of more than
ordinary ability and was widely be
loved for his genial qualities of char
acter.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
There is more to the cotton acre
age reduction campaign than the
mere taking of three million bales off
the market. Uncle Sam, wise in his
ways and thorough in his methods, is
building for the future.
The campaign is declared a suc
cess and the required acreage was
signed by more than seven hundred
thousand growers in sixteen cotton
states. As has been stated previously
in these columns, the movement was
one of the largest and most impor
tant ever put over in peace times.
A vast amount of information about
the cotton industry was gained dur
ing the two weeks of intensive work.
Facts as to acreage, production, dis
tribution, fertilizer, etc., have been
collected.
Somewhat less than ten per cent
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
of the growers failed to sign con
tracts. They are asked to give their
reasons. Uncle Sam will keep a rec
ord of that, too.
There is basis for the that
the authorities in Washington are
preparing to restrict acreage another
season by a system of licenses or
permits. This plan, if adopted, will
be a help to the eastern cotton belt.
It is the western belt that has been
increasing acreage. The eastern belt
has reduced cotton acreage to the
danger point.
When cotton and wheat production
is regulated in a satisfactory manner
Uncle Sam will be in position to deal
with foreign nations on the tariff. It
was important to regulate production
and get surpluses out of the way.
The United States is preparing to be
self-contained, if the need arises.
Acres released from cotton pro
duction can be used in growing food
and feed crops and for soil improve
ment purposes. Per acre yields in the
South are too low. The fertility needs
to be restored to our soils through
winter and summer legumes and the
keeping of livestock. This is an im
portant by-product of the cotton
acreage reduction campaign. Geor
gia’s per acre yield of corn i3 around
12 bushels. It should easily be 25 to
30 bushels. This can be done by im
proving the land. If a genera lcam
paign of soil improvement is carried
out in the South this will prove quite
as valuable as the destruction of one
feurth of the cotton acreage this
season.
WHAT OF THE SCHOOLS?
Schools and colleges in Georgia
face a rather dismal outlook. The
slate owe.s in past due appropria
tions enough funds to pay all the
debts due the schools and colleges.
But tax payments are slow- and there
is no disposition to sell homes of
property owners to operate the
schools.
It is seriously doubted if all the
back due appropriations will ever be
paid in full. School authorities who
make budgets should take that sit
uation into consideration.
Another thing that will hurt was
the recent order of the governor or
dering a twenty per cent reduction in
the state ad valorem tax levy for
li-33. That saving will amount to
about a million dollars a year. The
schools and colleges will be the first
to feel this reduction.
Some counties in the state owe
the teachers more than 9100,000 in
back salaries. This is caused, in large
part, by failure of the state to pay
past due appropriations. It is a de
plorable situation, with no immediate
relief in sight.
Despite the better feeling and the
outlook for better prices for farm
commodities this fall, taxes will
probably be slow in coming in. Some
boards of education estimate it will
be November before they will have
any money available for payment of
the fall term. City boards are proba
bly up against the same situation.
Readjustments will no doubt have
to be made in salaries. Teachers
have never been accused of being
paid too much, but under the condi
tions it seems likely further cuts will
have to be made to balance budgets
and make it possible to operate tlye
schools at all.
All of these problems will be work
ed out in time. For one thing, most
Georgians are convinced that the ad
valorem tax system has broken
down completely. Anew and fairer
method of taxation will have to bi
devised. The sales tax may be the
answer. A graduated tax on intangi
ble property would help.
The schools and colleges must be
supported and the people of the state
look to the next elgislature to pro
vide the brains and leadership to
work out this matter.
PUT THEM ON A SALARY
The writer has been impressed
with one feature of the hearing be
fore the governor of the ouster pro
ceedings against members of the
Public Service Commission, and that
has been that members of the com
mission are paid out of fees levied
on corporation and utility companies.
We believe this is wrong in princi
pie and practice. The members of
the Public Service Commission ought
to be paid salaries out of the state
treasury. The fee system is wrong
wherever it is found. It is human na
ture not to smite the hand that feeds
you. As long as members of the com
mission are supported by fees levied
against the utilities, railroads and
other corporations it is but natural
for them to be under obligations to
these companies. That is the way
we see it.
It is claimed, of course, that the
Public Service Commission does not
cost the taxpayers of the state any
thing, ii. that no taxes are levied to
pay salaries. On*the other hand, the
Public Service Commission might
cost the citizens of Georgia a great
deal.
It looks bad forVmembers of the
commission to accept passes ' from
the railroads and bus lines.
The old state banking department
was one of the rottenest ever housed
in the capitol. It became a stench
in the nostrils of decent people. Fat
fee* were paid lawyers to assist
ir liquidating banks. Under the re
organization of the state government
during the Russell administration a
special attorney was assigned the
banking department.
The Progress-Argus has no fight
to make against the members of the
Public Service Commission. Many of
them are our personal friends. But
we do insist, in behalf of the tax
payers of Georgia, that the law be
changed and that members of the
commission be paid regular salaries
out of the state treasury and that
the abominable fee system be wiped
out once and for always.
SHOULD HAVE A WHOLESOME
EFFECT
The fact that a Spalding county
grand jury has seen proper to indict
the officers and directors of a re
costly closed bank in Griffin should
have a wholesome effect, not only
in that immediate locality but'
throughout the state.
Concerning the merits of the case
we are not informed. The failure
was one of the largest that has taken
place in one of the state’s smaller
cities in several years. Considerably
more than a million dollars was due
depositors when the bank failed to
open after the national bank holiday.
Georgia, along with the rest of the
country, has been hard hit by bank
failures. Almost every family in the
nation has been affected in one way
or another. The situation became so
grave that President Roosevelt or
dered a moratorium to permit banks
to place their affairs in order. There
are indications that the banking sit
uation is on a cleaner and firmer ba
sis than before in many years.
There has been a lot of juggling
and downright rascality on the part
of responsible heads of closed banks.
Too often the matter has been passed
over. So it is refreshing to see a
giand jury begin an investigation.
If there is nothing wrong the ac
cused persons will have a chance to
prove it in court. If the officers and
directors are guilty of wrong doing
hey should be punished.
In either instance the Spalding
county grand jury has acted to clari
fy the atmosphere.
WITH THE EXCHANGES
Bad, on The Nerve*
Don’t know which the Lord gets
the tiredest of —a long drawn out
wailing song or a long winded pray
er. Some folks sing “We’re Marching
on to Zion” so that it sounds as if
they might be tired on the march
and never would reach there, unless
they picked up considerably, while
some long-winded prayers ask for
more than the Lord knows He has. —
Dahlonega Nugget.
Knows How to Deal Cards
President Roosevelt promised a
“new deal” to the country and he
seems to be a magician at stacking
the cards. Of course, the pessimists
say the*e will be a mis-deal before
the game is over, but it appears that
friend Franklin D. always manages
to produce the trump card.—Monti
cello News.
HOOD COACH LINES, INC.
Enjoy Your
Vacation Trip
By Bus
In SAFETY, in Comfort, Motor Coaches travel
over the Nation’s Scenic Highways by Day and
Night to Vacation Spots—California, Canada, to
Chicago, “The Century of Progress Exposition,”
”A World’s Fair”
There’s a convenient schedule with lower Excur
sion Round Trip Fares.
Tickets and Infoimation at
A Me. N. Pace, Telephone No. 74, Jackson, Ga.
Would Wake Him Up
What would Thomas Jefferson say
if he could return to earth and be
privileged to see every little and big
business in the country trundling to
Washington to obtain a federal li
cense to do business? One of his
chief aims in life was to keep gov
ernment out of business.—Dawson
News.
Some Foolish Official Lapses
Without going into the background
of the charges filed against the mem
bers of the State Public Service Com
mission, or their political aspect, it
must be said that some of the mem
bers of the commission showed poor
judgment in accepting favors for
themselves and their relatives, from
bus lines, and perhaps others over
whom the law gives them jurisdiction.
It may have been very harmless to
ride on bus passes, but the thing does
not look so good.
Perhaps we have been unintention
ally responsible for this condition,
in drafting laws regulating the com
mission. In some states, as a matter
of law, a commission member is en
titled to free service from all the
corporations he regulates. This takes
away the charge of favoritism. It’s
r.ot a bad idea, either.—Nevvnan
Herald.
Looking Backward
Through The Files
News of 50 Years Ago
The peach crop is a failure in this
county.
J. W. Lemon has the finest field
of upland corn in the county.
From a Butts county man who has
just returned from an extended tour
through several counties in north
west Georgia we learn that the
drought is alarming. In many places
they have not had a season in seven
weeks and crops on upland are al
most ruined.
Mr. George Barber, an aged and
prominent citizen of this county, died
at his home near Iron Springs on
Wednesday and was buried with Ma
sonic honors on Thursday, having
been a member of Jackson lodge for
many years.
Jimmie Maddox, son of Mr. Frank
Maddox, was drowned Saturday in
Yellow river near the Allen place in
Newton county. Mr. Maddox lives
near Worthville in this county, his
sen having been away from home at
the time of the occurrence.
Prof. J. W. Beck is visiting his
brother, who is principal of the Ten
nille high school, Tennille, Ga.
News of 15 Years Ago
The tax digest showed property
values returned for taxation of $2,-
413,281, as compared with $2,19 ( 6,-
864 in 1917, an increase of $216,417.
T. J Byars received news that his
sen, Paul Byars,, who is with the
Rainbow Division, Cos. C, 151st Ma
chine Gun Battalian, was wounded
on May 9 “somewhere” in France.
Entries for the primary of Sep
tember 11 were to close on August
15.
The Jackson Presbyterian church
extended a call to Dr. M. McN. Mc-
Kay, pastor for twenty-seven years
•t a church at Fort Smith, Ark.
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1933
Governor Dorsey announced the
appointment of Judge H. M. Flet
cher as appeal agent for Butts coun
ty to handle all claims of Butts
county registrants who wished to
take their cases up with the district
board. The local board was compos
ed of Judge J. H. Ham, ordinary, W.
E. Watkins and Dr. A. F. White.
The residence of Mr. J. W. May
field, of Flovilla, was destroyed by
fire Friday night.
Hotels at Indian Springs reported
the best season in their history.
Stricken while members of the
family were away from home, Mrs.
W. A. Wilson, prominent woman of
the county, died Wednesday at noon.
Hon. G. Ogden Persons, of For
syth, announced as a candidate for
congress from the sixth district.
Fred Early, negro, was arrested
by deputy sheriff W. H. Lavender,
on the charge of stealing an automo
bile from Mrs. D. N. Carmichael.
FARM WOMEN AND 4-H
CLUB GIRLS PLAN CAMP
Acnual Session Will Be Held at
Camp Wilkins, Athens
Athens, Ga.—The state short
course for farm women and 4-H club
girls will be held at Camp Wilkins,
situated on the campus of the Col
lege of Agriculture, during the week
of July 24-29, announces Miss Lur
line Collier, state home demonstra
tion agent.
Present and future rural home
makers from every county in Geor
gia organized for agricultural ex
tension work, will attend this camp.
Miss Collier stated that preparations
were being made to take care of
between 700 and 1,000 campers. The
group making up this year’s short
course camp will be composed of
outstanding leaders from the coun
ties represented. Accompanying these
campers will be 80 home demonstra
tion agents, who will assist in con
ducting the short course in an edu
cational as well as recreational way.
On Thursday during the week the
State Home Demonstration Council
will hold its annual conference, ac
cording to Mrs. Harper Tusker,
Deep Step, president of the council.
FUNERAL SERVICES FOR
MR. CASH AT MACEDONIA
Funeral services for Mr. C. C.
Cash, well known Jackson citizen
whose death occurred at midnight
July 12, were held at Macedonia
church Saturday morning at 10
o’clock, with Rev. Mr. Talmadge, of
Atlanta, and Rev. Neill McGeachy,
i •
of the Jackson Presbyterian church,
officiating. Mr. Cash was a prom
inent Mason and members of Jack
son and Stark lodges had charge of
the services at the grave. Interment
was in the churchyard.
Renew Your Health
By Purification
Any physician will tell you that
“Perfect Purification of the System
is Nature’s Foundation of Perfect
Health.” Why not rid yourself of
chronic ailments that are under
mining your vitality? Purify your
entire system by taking a thorough,
course of Calotabs, —once or twice
a week for several weeks—and see
how Nature rewards you with
health.
Calotabs purify the blood by acti
vating the liver, kidneys, stomach
and bowels. In 10 cts. and 35 eta.
packages. All dealers. (Adv.)