Newspaper Page Text
Jackson Progress-Argus
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
J. DOYLE JONES
Editor and Publisher
Entered as second-class matter at
the Post Office at Jackson, Ga.
TELEPHONE NO. 166
OFFICIAL ORGAN BUTTS COUN
TY AND CITY OF JACKSON
—— -■ -■ ■ ■ ■ —'
SUBSCRIPTION KATES
IN ADVANCE
One year $1.60
Six months .. _ . .76
Singe Copies 06
Every governmental official or
board whose duties include the han
dling of public funds should pub
lish at regular intervals an account
ing of it, showing where and how
each dollar was spent. This is be
lieved to be a fundamental princi
ple of Democratic goverhment.
THE AMERICANS
CREED
I believe in the United
States of America as a govern
ment of the people, by the
people, for the people whose
just powers are derived from
the consent of the governed;
a democracy in a Republic; a
soverign Nation of many sov
ereign States; a perfect Un
ion, one and inseparable, es
tablished upon those principles
of freedom, equality, justice
and humanity for which Amer
ican patriots sacrificed their
lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my
duty to my Country to love it;
to support its Constitution; to
obey its laws; to respect ita
flag; and to defend it agßinst
all enemies.—William Tyler
Page.
Another pertinent question: Have
you bought your 1941 automobile
tag?
Mussolini is so busy watching his
armies run that he hasn't any time
for fireside chats.
Governor Talmadge recently add
ed anew bull to his herd. That
ought to mow 'em down.
Radio music these days is terri
ble. The public is likely to call a
strike of its own before long.
W hatever became of those super
highways the war department was
to build for national defense?
Conley, with the construction
promised in that section, will be one
of the state’s fastest growing towns.
One of the most effective ways
to break up the pardoning racket is
to take away the authority to par
don.
A publicity tax is one that Geor
gians will be glad to pay. They are
entitled to know how their affairs
are conducted.
They are remaking the map of Eu
rope and remaking office holders in
Georgia. All of us will have to
learn a lot of new names.
Anew chant around the capitol
recently went like this: "I am re
signing, you are resigning, they are
resigning, all are resigned.”
War saving stamps and small de
nominations of bonds may return to
help finance national defense. In
that way most of us can help.
The man who would strike in a
time of national crisis isn’t much
ahead of Hitler and Mussolini, in the
opinion of most honest Americans.
It seems that all Georgia rural
families will soon have comfortable
mattresses. The mattress project is
a meritorious one and is serving
several needs.
The present epidemic of influen
za appears to be the most widespread
since 1918. Schools in some com
munities are closing because of the
disease and army camps have their
share of the contagion.
Take It Or
Leave It
By J. D. JONES
The statement made by Jackson
National Bank in its last published
report has been the subject of fav
orable comment. It was a good
statement, showing solid and sub
stantial growth. Deposits increased
materially over the last report. It
should not he long before total as
sets of the bank reach a million dol
lars. All citizens should be inter
ested in having a bank with a mil
lion dollars resources in Butts coun
ty.
The Atlanta Journal is doing a
9
fine service for people of Georgia
by publishing the state auditor's re
port. Beginning with the Agricul
tural Department, the Journal is pub
lishing in sections a list of employees
and salaries. It is a revealing stu
dy. Georgia taxpayers want to know
more about their public affairs but
under the present law there is no
method provided for publishing fi
nancial reports. The present Gen
eral Assembly should enact a law
to require all officials to publish
monthly or quarterly a report of
receipts and disbursements, showing
all salaried employees. Such a law
will be a far-reaching step toward
honest and efficient government.
Under the spur of national de
fense schools of the nation are pre
pared to teach practical subjects,
such as surveying, mechanics, radio
and automobile repairing, welding,
riveting and kindred subjects. This
is something that has long been
needed. If the war does nothing
else it is going to shake the schools
to their foundation. Much of the
present curriculum never was in
tended to train any boy or girl for
the everyday duties of life, but was
fashioned to “prepare” them to en-
ter some institution of higher learn
ing. It is a smattering of this and
that, and nothing is as thorough as
it should be in the average school.
All that has been necessary for the
last fifty years was to cry educa
tion and everybody goes wild. There
is a waste of time, effort and pre
cious money in trying to stuff Latin,
Greek and science into the heads of
many students. Vocational agricul
ture should be taught in every jun
ior and senior high school in Geor-
gia. Girls should be taught to be
come good homemakers. Boys should
be trained in the subjects for which
they are fitted. The demand all
over the country today is for train
ed men and women - men and wom
en who know how to work with their
hands as well as use their brains.
National defense is being held back
because there is a scarcity of train
ed workers. The schools must adapt
themselves to the new conditions.
They must give the sort of training
the age demands. It is time to
eliminate the frills, cut out the waste
in education and get down to a com
mon sense method of training boys
and girls for everyday life.
Defense spending is reaching
breath-taking figures and what the
end will be nobody knows. A ten
or fifteen billion dollar defense bud
get is presented the country and
nobody bats an eye. Whatever the
cost the nation must go through
with its program of adequate nation
al defense. How the money is to be
repaid the average man does not
know. The money is being spent at
home, to build up vital defense pro
jects, American labor and American
industry’ will share in the spending.
As yet the purse strings have not
been loosed to advance billions to
European nations, as was done in
the other war. Distribution of such
large amounts will aid directly and
indirectly every citizen of the na
tion. That is one bright aide of the
picture, if there is a bright side, the
money will be circulated in every,
nook and corner of the nation and
all will share in the benefits. It is
equally certain that all will have a
part in repaying the huge sums now
going for national defense.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
The Rivers administration, which
came to a close this week, did some
good things for the state. Social se
curity will endure and undoubtedly
will be perfected on a business ba
sis, divorced of politics. Tax ex
emption is tn encouragement to home
ownership and in proper limits is a
step in the right direction. It is
not likely the tax exemption law
will be repealed. Free text books
and state operation of all schools
probably has not had a fair trial be
cause of a lack of finances. Devel
opment of the state’s natural re
sources is something that should be
continued. Schools, colleges. the
Tattnall Prison and the State Sani
tarium at Milledgeville have profit
ed as the result of a needed building
program. The state patrol has done
effective work and has been free of
politics, as far as one can see. The
good should be retained. The use
less should be cut out in the interest
of economy.
It is going to require a lot of pa
tience, business ability and devotion
to the best interests of the state for
the Talmadge administration to solve
Georgia's present financial prob
lems. The state owes large sums
of money, how much nobody seems
to know exactly. There is and will
be the usual amount of hiring and
firing incident to a change in ad
ministration. The faithful will be
rewarded; opponents will get the
axe. Taxpayers want to see their
state affairs put on a business ba
sis. They want appropriations paid
when due. They want a reduction
in taxes, if possible. Local and
state agencies, in view of national
j defense spending, should operate on
! the smallest possible budget. The
new administration and the General
Assembly faces a complicated prob
lem. In trying to bring system out
of chaos, those in authority should
have our full support, our under
standing and our patient co-opera
■ tion.
If Butts county farmers are to
realize needed income from new cash
crops this year they should meet at
once and make plans. There are
several crops that can be planted to
take the place of cotton. No more
cotton is needed, experts advise, un
der war conditions. Army camps
in Macon and Atlanta and the new
project at Conley will make markets
for more butter and milk, eggs,
chickens, field peas, sweet potatoes,
tomatoes, roasting ears and other
crops that can be grown in this sec
tion. A new’ and larger farmers’
market is being built in Atlanta.
All of this means something to farm
ers who think and plan. It means
a distribution of cash all months in
the year. Butts county producers
should get their share of this bus
iness. Why not go about meeting
the need in a systematic manner?
Will Georgia farmers raise the pro
duce needed for the army camps and
projects or will we play along with
cotton and let producers of other
states reap the rewards of their
vision?
There appears to be no scarcity of
money. Two banks in New York
have total assets of almost six bil
lion dollars. That’s chicken change
in any man’s country.
The optimist is a man who has
connected with a good state job for
the next few years. He is convinced
his predecessor was a crook and that
he is a man of destiny.
The average fellow has worry
enough trying to balance his own
petty budget without worrying over
the national budget of forty-five
billion—or is it fifty-eight billion?
The Progress-Argus wants to see
the rural housing program put over
in Butts county. A great need of
the state is a better type of housing,
especially in rural sections.
The disposition of the Georgia
press and the at large is to
give the Talmadge administration
one hundred per cent support in an
effort to improve the situation in
Georgia. That's fair enough and
nobody could ask for more.
THE LAST STRAW
By VINCENT JONES
In the Spring a young man's fan
cy lightly turns to thoughts of love
—the following winter his fancy is
occupied with furniture installments
and the coal bill.
Love is so blind according to one
authority that if a couple were put
face to face in the midst of the
most brilliant searchlights, they
could not see each other as they
really were. They don’t seem to
have any trouble in the park.
There has been a lot said about
the ex-Governor and the pardons
racket but it remained for James
Cox, editor of the Atlanta Journal,
in discussing pardons in general and
the Gallogly case in particular, to
say it the best.
i
Eugene Talmadge, in inheriting
the Governor’s chair from one whom
so many believe has misguided the
state's destinies, has the opportuni
ty to become one of Georgia’s best
loved governors.
With the nations armed forces
claiming so many young men, an ap
portunist these days is a single man
at home surrounded by beautiful
girls.
The American and National
League managers and players are
fighting the pennant race now al
most as hot as they will in August.
Cupid’s dart is like a dog’s bite,
except love is more deadly than hy
drophobia.
You’ve all heard the gossip mon
gers chirping over why such a hand
some brute marry such a dried up
shrimp or why such a lucious lass
shrimp or why such a luscious lass
ad infinitum. Although there is no
established reason, we advance the
theory that love is not only accom
panied by an increased palpitation
of the heart, as the scientists agree,
but by a preponderant lessening of
the mental faculties as well.
All marriages may not be made in
Heaven but when one sees the by
products of divorce, homeless and
lovesick children, one doesn’t have to
wonder in which place they are
made.
If we could all pay our bills, drive
Rolls Royces, and live in air castles,
poet Browming would not have had
to ask the question, while writing
of things his eyes could not see nor
his fingers touch, “What’s a Hea
ven for?”
Heaven is the place all people go
who have been too good on earth,
that they may have a little fun,
and the other place is where all folks
go who have had so much fun on
earth, they are willing to pay an
eternity for it.
Old folks think the automobile
and shady country lanes have com
bined to threaten the extinction of
moral values, but the country lanes
haven’t changed and who will argue
that Ole Dobbin was not much slow
er than the motor car.
A sentimentalist is an optimist
who has been given a dirty deal.
A prayer is a talk with God.
There are some things in Georgia
that ought to be above politics,
building highways for instance.
Highway work has suffered because
the highway department has been
kicked about by the politicians.
If Geox-gia is not made a better
state in which to live it will be no
fault of the many civic oi-ganiza
tions. Chambers of commerce, Civ
itans. Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, Bus
iness Men's clubs. Civic Clubs and
others have outlined ambitious pro
grams for improvement of condi
tions. And what’s more, they’ll get
results.
PREPAREDNESS
Front page news these clays are the furious ef
forts of our Nation to get ready for any event after
many years of neglect.
PREPAREDNESS for emergencies is the foun
dation on which our bank has been built.
We invite new accounts and welcome all busi
ness on our foundation of preparedness. All ac
counts insured up to and including SSOOO in the
FDIC.
JACKSON NATIONAL BANK
JACKSON, GEORGIA.
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
LOOKING BACKWARD
THROUGH THE FILES
News of 40 Years Ago
The Standard Oil Cos. is erecting
its large reservoir with a view of
making Jackson a bulk station.
Miss Hattie O’Rear and Dr. Wil
son Smith were married Tuesday
afternoon.
Van Fletcher is now a member
of the Jenkinsburg Mercantile Cos.
Arrangements are being perfected
for the opening of the First Nation
al Bank.
“The various courthouse offices
are taking on a lot of tone recently.
The ordinary is assisted in his work
occassionally by one of his lovely
daughtei’s. Likewise the clerk of
the superior court is helped out by
his daughter, who makes a valuable
assistant, and Mr. Jolly, the clerk of
the board of commissioners, has
splendid help in the person of his
daughter, Miss Tally. The girls have
added dignity and respectability to
the offices when they are present.”
New* of 30 Years Ago
Butts county’s quota of 1911 Con
federate pension funds was $8,310.
On the roll were 14 old class widows,
17 indigent widows, 14 disabled sol
diers, 73 indigent soldiers, 16 new
class widows, 6 new class soldiex-s.
Machinery at the Georgia Power
plant on the Ocmulgee river was be
ing tested.
Announcement was made of the
engagement of Miss Katherine Head
and Rogers Strickland, the marriage
to take place February 14 at High
Falls.
Market quotations showed cotton
at 14 cents pound; corn 72 Ms cents
bushel; eggs 25 cents dozen; butter
20 cents pound.
New* of 20 Years Ago
Charles Samuel Maddox, son of
Mr. and Mrs. D. F. Maddox, was
tendered an appointment to the Uni
ted Statqs Military Academy at
West Point.
A meeting was scheduled in Jack
son Saturday to consider building a
sweet potato curing plant.
The Jackson Ice Corpoiation paid
a 10 per cent dividend and elected
S. P. Nichols, president; R. N. Ether
idge, vice president, and W. E.
Merck, geneial manager.
The marriage of Miss Lucile Elder
and T. A. Nutt took place Thursday
afternoon, with Dr. Robert Van-
Deventer officiating.
The death of E. Henry Giant, 92,
Confederate veteran, occurred Wed
nesday night at the home of his
son, D. V. Grant.
A meeting was called at the
Methodist church Sunday afternoon
for Near East relief.
Showing the mild winter M. C.
Johnson brought to the Progress-
Argus a fig as laxge as the end of
one’s thumb. Flowers were in
bloom.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1941
News of 10 Years Ago
Butts county schools won manjf'
prizes in the state Health Garden
contest. Pepperton school placed
first in group 2 and was awarded a
cash prize of $100; Cork school#
placed third in group 1 and was
awarded $25 cash, and Flovilla won
fifth prize and was awarded an at
las valued at $35.
The state department of educa
tion owed Butts county schools
$18,598, state superintendent M. L.
Duggan said.
A net profit of $287.09 on his
flock of hens was reported by C.
L. Maddox for 1930.
Four candidates announced for
ordinary in the special election Jan
uaiy 20. They were: C. M. Comp
ton, W. M. Andrews, Joel B. Mallet
and E. W. O’Neal.
LONGER DAYS
The midnight of the year is past.
And, as the rain falls on the just
and on the unjust, so the lengthen
ing afternoons bless alike the savant
who knows why the light lingers and
the child who knows only that he
can stay later at his play.
We call them longer days. We
know, though, that they hold no
more opportunity than those we cal)’
short. We know they can be as
swiftly wasted. “I have lost a day,”
sighs one of the classical writers—.
not a long day or a shoi’t one, but
a day.
We do not dread the added dark
ness Winter biings. We can find
compensations in nearly all seasonal
conditions. The rain that drives us
indoors makes music on the roof.
Warm sunshine teaches us the prac
tical friendliness of trees. Shorter
daylight is longer firelight. But we
welcome instinctively the turn of
darkness’ tide.
We are, after all, children of
light. We want to know. We want
to see clearly. Night envelops us
in quiet hiding. But we do not ac
cept its superficial peace without re-
serve. The caveman drew a circle
of fitful firelight in the primeval
gloom. We moderns build highways
of light from city to glowing city.
We do not fear darkness as did some
superstitious ancients. We try to
master it, and in some measure suc
ceed. But when the days begin
lengthen we grow glad, feeling our
selves in step again with the rhythm
of the planets.—Exchange.
>
Georgia has able, safe and con
scientious representatives in the
United States Senate and in the
lower house of Congress. The state's
Interests are in safe hands and these
men want to do what is best for
the state and nation. It is probably
the ablest delegation the state has
had in many years.
The inauguration is over. Now
let the state get down to business.