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Jackson Prcgress-Argus
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
J. DOYLE JONES
Editor and Publisher
Entered as second-class matter a
the Post Office at Jackson, Ga.
TELEPHONE NO. 166
OFFICIAL ORGAN BUTTS COUN
TY AND CITY OF JACKSON
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
IN ADVANCE
One year 51.50
Six Months -75
Bingii Copies -05
Put your best effort behind Jack
son and Butts county tms year.
Community co-operation is the on
ly way to community prosperity and
growth.
The legislature is determined to
save the state if it takes to the
Fourth of July to do it.
The poll tax goes to the support
of the schools and the man or wom
jin not willing to pay this tax ought
not to be entitled to a vote anyway.
Extra sessions of the legislature,
as well as political appointments, do
not usually help the administration.
They are more of a liability than an
asset.
Free cancer treatment will be pro
vided for those unable to pay for it.
Georgia is making strides under the
State Board of Health since ade
quate funds were provided.
The new illustrated highway maps
to be put out should serve to adver
tise Georgia’s many beauty spots in
a striking and effective manner. It
will be good advertising.
Georgia bankers offer to aid the
state’s swine industry. It’s a gen
erous gesture and ought to be snap
. ped up. Georgia has never suffered
from too much hog and hYnniny.
The average legislator is looking
for a loophole and when one is pre
sented he jumps through it like
Bre’r Rabbit scooting for a bramble
tangle. The woods are full of buck
passers.
Brother Farley reported the post
office department ended the year
with another big deficit. Much of
that is due to the trainloads of free
mail. The flunking privilege is a
national scandal.
First soil conservation checks have
been mailed from Athens. These
checks should be speeded and help
the people who need financial aid at
this season. Uncle Sam is a trifle
slow when paying out but very
prompt when collecting.
Less than half of Georgia’s aged
persons, needy blind and dependent
children, who have applied for finan
cial assistance, can be paid until ad
ditional funds become available. It
is a situation that needs correcting
as speedily as possible.
Quimby Melton observes in The
Griffin News that when a letter is
received addressed "Honorable,” it
usually means a favor is to be asked.
That is the observation of most of
us. All the rest of the year a fellow
can serve in the rear ranks but when
somebody wants something done they
begin to sling titles. Right now, it
seems, Georgia has as many “Hon
orables” as Kentucky has Colonels.
The rank and file of Georgians
will be glad to do a g*od part in
the campaign to raise funds for the
Warm Springs Foundation. The
cause is a deserving one. Georgia
is the part time home of President
Roosevelt and this is another reason
why it will be a privilege to help fight
infantile paralysis. The Fourth
Congressional District, in which
Warm Springs is located, should lead
the state in this campaign.
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
By J. D. JONES
Stressing the recreational facili
ties of Georgia and other southern
states, a speaker at a meeting in At
lanta last week pointed out there is
a $200,000,000 tourist business
awaiting development in the south
east. The tourist business, outside
of Florida, has not received much at
tention in the South. Of all states
in the union, California and Florida
have capitalized on their sunshine
and climate and these states are reap
ing a rich reward in growth and de
velopment and the steady stream of
visitors. The southeast is a country
rich in scenic beauty. Mountains
are here, lakes, watering places,
hunting, fishing, a well rounded cli
mate, state parks, battlefields, his
toric spots. The South has been con-
tent to sit by and let the tourists-go
to other states. The tourist trade is
well worth cultivating. Tourists
bring new money into a community.
!
They bring new vision, new outlook,
new ideas. And if there is anything
Georgia and the South needs above
all others it is an influx of new pop
ulation, new thought, new vision and
a broader outlook on life. Georgia
is peculiarly well adapted to become
one of the great tourist centers of
America. Intelligent thought and
planning and well directed advertis
ing, plus friendly co-operation, will
bring in millions of dollars each year.
| In line with what this column
wrote last week relative to keeping
j its young men and women at home
to build and develop Georgia, it is
announced that Polk county, Florida,
lias 25,000 former Georgians within
its borders. These ex-Georgians liv
ing in Polk county have formed an
organization. This is a population
twice that of Butts and Jasper coun
ties combined. Georgia has always
been generous with her manpower.
Alabama and Mississippi were settled
largely by Georgians. Texas has
hundreds of thousands of Georgians
and now comes one Florida county
with 25,000 former Georgians. How
can the state develop and build its
resources when so many of the
brightest and best young men and
women are going to other states?
lln the War Between the States Geor
gia contributed more men to the
Confederacy than any other state.
That was a drain on its manpower
that has never been completely over
come. But the call to arms was noth
ing compared to the steady depletion
that is gfeing on day after day, year
after year. When will Georgia wake
up and build industries and develop
its resources and keep its best brains
and talent at home? Until that prob
lem is answered it is useless to con
vene the legislature in special ses
sion. Georgia’s big problem now is
one of human resources —of keeping
at home its best and most capable
women and men.
That was an interesting sugges
tion made by a University of Geor
gia professor that the state build
small industries as the means of keep
ing wealth within the state. When
the average person thinks of an in
dustrial enterprise, he thinks of
something big, costing into the mil
lions or hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Asa matter of fact small
industries are more desirable. There
is not now and never has been any
valid reason why Jackson should not
have a bakery, a laundry, small hos
iery mills, knitting mills, garment
factories, furniture factories, overall
factories and so on. None of these
I enterprises would involve a large
j out lay of cash. They would entail
lots of co-opreation, friendly support
and a spirit of good will. It is so
much easier to rear back and dream
| about giant enterprises than to get
busy and put in the small plants that
j the community can finance and op
erate. College professors, as a rule,
are rather vague in some of their
j ideas, but Professor Coutu has hit
;upon a sensible plan when he talks
of small state-built industrial plants.
Certainly Georgia needs to develop
its resources and the suggestion made
would be a movement in that direc
tion.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
The United Georgia Farmers held
the first annual meeting in Macon
last week. Among the objectives of
| the organization is one to ban poli
tics. No politician, it is declared,
[ will be allowed to become a member,
j Another further desirable aim is to
keep out all but actual dirt farmers.
Whether the actual dirt farmers of
Georgia and the nation can be or
ganized remains to be seen. There
is need for such an organization. The
voice of the farmer should be heard
in Washington. Other groups are
there. Most of the farmer organiza
tions have been scuttled by politics.
It is refreshing to know that this is
one group that will ban politics and
the politicians.
Butts county might well profit by
having a “Live-at-home’’ club. None
except those who produce their liv
ing on the farms would be entitled
to join. At first such an organiza
tion might have a small membership,
but ultimately the club should num
! ber as a member* every man and
woman who resides on a farm. Geor
gia has gone a long way since Civil
War days in the direction of deplet
ed soil and farm tenancy. Prior to
the war of 1861, Georgia had some
real farmers. Every farm was self
sustaining and self-supporting. Then
the state strayed off after the false
god of too much cotton and condi
tions have not improved but grown
worse. The state at this time needs
to stress more fruits and vgetables,
more livestock, more dairy farming,
more butter and eggs. Washington
cannot do very much for people who
refuse to do something for them
selves. Would you like to enroll in
the “Live-at-home” club?
Butts county 4-H club members
will have an Achievement Day meet
ing in Jackson Saturday. At that
time the 4-H Club Council will be
organized for the year. The county
is proud of the boys and girls en
rolled in club work. These young
sters have always given a good ac
count of themselves and have won a
liberal share of honors in county,
state and national contests. The en
rollment this year should be larger
than that of 1937, especially since
the county now has a capable Home
Demonstration Agent to direct activ
ities of girls and farm women. The
county has no organization that is
doing better work than the 4-H clubs
and every bit of support and co-
operation you can give these young
people will help.
Friends will extend sincere con
gratulations to the Kiwanis club on
observance of its sixteenth anniver
sary this week. Sixteen years is no
long period, but for an organization
to hold together that long, through
good times and bad, Florida booms,
wars and rumors of wars, depressions
and recessions, proves at least that
it is founded on merit. The Kiwanis
club has been worth much to the
county and surrounding territory.
Firjst of all it has served to keep the
community morale up, has developed
better relations and friendship among
the members and people of the coun
ty and has worked earnestly and un
tiringly for county-wide progress. In
{Tie field of material accomplish
ments may be mentioned the pimien
to pepper factory, which was a di
rect effort of the Kiwanis club, the
support of county agent work, addi
tional land donated to the state for
park purposes, paved highways
through Butts county, street paving
in Jackson, support of better health
conditions and sponsoring of clinics
for unfortunate children. The list
might be multiplied, but that is
enough to prove the Kiwanis club
has not been asleep and refutes the
complaint of critis that the club has
“never done nothing.” Kiwanis, in
common with the other civic clubs,
is a power for good in America and
Kiwanis International is now strong
er and better than ever before.
Very few of the organizations are
free of debt. This goes for the
j churches also. When one is asked
to join an organization he is usually
asked to take upon himself the yoke
;of additional debt. One debt-free
organization or institution would be
something of a curiosity.
NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES
Two editors, whose publications
are an honor to Georgia journalism,
celebrated anniversaries last week.
They are Charles E. Benns, of the
Butler Herald, and J. Doyle Jones,
of the Jackson Progress-Argus.
Mr. Benns begins his thiity-seventh
year as owner and director of the
paper which has led in every forward
move made in Taylor County since
the turn of the century, when he
began, as he says, “imbued with
courage, faith and enthusiasm.”
Now he announces that his only son,
Charles E. Benns, Jr., will be asso
ciated with him as managing editor,
after serving an apprenticeship in the
mechanical department and at the
editorial desk.
The Jackson paper begins its sixty
sixth year and its twenty-ninth under
the direction of Mr. Jones. He prom
ises, as in the past, every resource
always at the service of the commu
nity, to which the Progress-Argus has
been dedicated. Viewing the scene,
he writes: “Many new and untried
things are taking place in government
and society,” he says, “and what
the future has in store is only a
guess. In twenty-nine years the edi
tor has seen transportation complete
ly changed. New ideas in govern
ment are being advanced, new ser
vices are being rendered and new
programs are being attempted. The
rights of states are being taken over
by the government, which more and
more is being centralized. Public
welfare and social security are new
things in this country. Crop control
is as radical as anything yet attempt
ed. Schools are being operated by
a central agency. The automotive
industry came from nowhere to be
the nation’s largest industry. All of
this—and more—has happened since
the present editor assumed charge
of the paper.’’
In the social and economic revo
lution or evolution that may be tak
ing place, Georgia may find assur
ance on the wisdom, justiec and mod
eration of its weekly press. Of that
press no members have more loyal
ly met the obligation to their com
munities than the Butler Herald and
the Jackson Progress-Argus. Many
more years of useful service under
such able leadership!—Atlanta Jour
nal.
ONE TAX-FREE COUNTY
Lumpkin county, in the mountains
of North Georgia, announces through
its commissioners of roads and rev
enues that no taxes will be levied
this year. Lumpkin county is No.
1 on the Honor Roll this year.
Clay county, in southwest Georgia,
went for one or two years without
levying any taxes. As we recall it
now, Wheeler county joined that se
lect group last year.
Lumpkin county, with Dahlonega
as the county seat, has $16,000 in
the bank and finds taxes unneces
sary. Soil conservation and other
activities will not be neglected and
Lumpkin will continue to be known
as a progressive county.
How do these counties do it?
Probably the first and best reason
is, good management, an absence of
politics in public affairs and all
forces working together.
The example of Lumpkin county
should stimulate other counties to
abolish or substantially reduce their
levies. The state gasoline taxes, plus
taxes paid by corporations, will en
able most of the counties to operate
at a small levy. Tax levies in prac
tically all counties of the state should
be cut in half.
Gasoline taxes are now paid
monthly, instead of quarterly, and
this is a big help in financing county
government.
The local levies have always been
burdensome, while state taxes have
hurt nobody.
There is great need for further
pruning of taxes by the counties and
cities of Georgia.
Georgia doesn't need new tax
raising laws as much as it needs to
enforce the laws already passed. The
average tax gatherer's books resem
bles Webster's dictionary. The pop-
IDENTIFICATION
AND
REFERENCES
Your personal check serves both these purposes.
When your check is drawn on Jackson National
Bank, moreover, the man with whom you deal knows
that you have an established relationship with an
institution that has served this county and adjacent
territory continuously since 1908.
Indeed, an account here has come to be recog
nized as a recommendation rather than just pref
erence.
JACKSON NATIONAL BANK
JACKSON, GEORGIA.
ulation is divided into two main class
es—taxpayers and those who refuse
to pay. Until that situation is
changed why pass new tax laws?
WITH THE EXCHANGES
Thanks, Editor Benns
One of the greatest pleasures we
get out of life is reading the excel
lent Georgia weeklies that come to
our desk. Among them we know
of none with a better editorial page
than the Tri-County News, Americus,
edited by Lovelace Eve, and the
Jackson Progress-Argus edited by J.
Doyle Jones. Both are highlights in
journalism. Their opinions are al
ways backed by undeniable facts, in
telligently and forcefully expressed.
—Butler Herald.
We Thank You Sincerely
Hearty congratulations to Editor
J. Doyle Jones, who is now entering
his twenty-ninth year as publisher of
the Jackson Progress-Argus. This
newspaper, which is sixty-six years
>f age, is one of Georgia’s best edi
ed weeklies.—Dawson News.
Little Enterprises Help
It’s the small enterprises that add
nuch wealth to any community. Why
lot encourage more of them?—Pel
ham Journal.
Both Sides Expectant
One half of the country is looking
to Congress for relief and the other
half wants to be relieved of congress.
—Greensboro Herald-Journal.
Looks Like a Big Year
Already, opposition is assured for
woof Georgia’s ten congressmen in
the primary this year, and there
probably will be more before closing
time arrives. Also, it is expected
that a good many of the state offi
cers will have opposition, possibly in
cluding Governor Rivers. A dozen
names are being mentioned as possi
ble candidates, and there is some
speculation over the possibility of
Gene Talmadge opposing Senator
George.—Tifton Gazette.
The Old Fire Still Burns
The New Year finds the editors of
The News at the same old stand,
plodding along, willingly, gladly and
hopefully that Monticello and Jasper
county may continue to go forward
in every way.—Monticello News.
In The Unusual Class
Nineteen thirty seven brought to
pass many strange and unusual
things, but about the strangest, cer
tainly most unusual, was the refusal
of a town to accept anew post office
building from the government as an
unnecessary expense. It is the un
necessary extravagance which makes
taxes so high, and while this town
seems to stand alone, it is an indica
tion that there is yet hope for the
country.—Elberton Star.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1938
But The Sexton Is Faithful
One thing the matter with Monroe
county is that there are too few
Methodists, Baptists and Presbyte
rians within her borders. One would
occasionally get that impression by
attending the church services at
night.—Monroe Advertiser.
HUSKS INTO FENDERS
Increasingly an enthusiast over
chemurgy, Henry Ford, announced
the other day that his experiments
with the utilization of farm by-pro
ducts, such as wheat and soy bean
chaff and corn husks, were approach
ing the stage where a considerable'
portion of an automobile could be
“grown” on the farm. In the labora
tory he is making from chaff a ma
terial which can be fashioned into
fenders, doors, panels and other
body parts.
Asa corollary, the Ford
are almost ready with a low-price
tractor which will enable the farmer
to raise at lower cost and in greater
abundance the crops which he is con
fident will constitute an increasingly"
important proportion of the raw ma
terials of industry. Substance is lent
to the vision by the fact that soy
bean products already are being
used in finishes applied to many
Ford cars and in the manufacture
of such parts as steering wheel rims
and interior trim.
In brief, Mr. Ford is undertaking
to substitute a product of the soil
for steel. But what is steel? Techni
cally, it is a refinement of iron oxide
by the use of coal (in the form of
coke) and limestone. In the last anal
ysis, however, iron and coal and
limestone actually are mineral or
vegetable substances, of earthly
igin, which have been processed by
the passing of incalculable millions
of years.
The difference between the steel
now used for automobile bodies aim
the chemurgic material with which
Mr.Ford is experimenting is one of
time, not of origin. What he really
proposes to do is to shorten the cycle
from soil to fender from millions of
years to a few months. In other
words, intelligence, not time, would
become the converter of nature’s
bounty into the service of mankind.
—Christian Science Monitor.
KINSMAN MADE MANAGER OF
MACON DISTRICT BELL CO.
Friends here were interested to
know that Mr. G. L. Kinsman, who
has been connected with the Atlan
ta office of the Southern Bell
phone Company for many years, has
been made manager of the Macon
i district. Mr. Kinsman is considered
jone of the most efficient of
, younger officials of the company,
jHe is a son of Mr. G. W. Kinsman
lof Jackson. Mr. Walker Kinsman
ialso holds a responsible position with
: the Bell Telephone Company.