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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 RATES
IN ADVANCE
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Every governmental ofiicial 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 government.
THE AMERICAN’S
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 j to
obey its laws; to respect its
flag; and to defend it against
all enemies.—William Tyler
Page.
Lindbergh as a private in the
ranks is in his proper place. No
toriety seems to have gone to his
head.
For the man who is unable to fight
in the armed forces the next best
thing is to buy defense bonds and
stamps.
Georgia has come a long ways and
done pretty well with two year terms
for its statehouse officers. Why
change now?
This country may be able to hold
all its social gains with one hand and
fight a war wth the other hand, but
that remains to be proved.
Two divisions of the state high
way department have been abolish
ed in the interest of economy. May
be the saving will be reflected in
more paving.
Georgia peach growers look for
wrad with confidence to a large crop
this season. It will be desirable if
the entire crop can be sold and
processed for future use.
Defense stamps and bonds make
it possible for the small investor to
help the country in a time of grave
crisis. Everybody should have a
part in financing national defense.
What our statesmen in Washing
ton need to realize is that we can’t
oat our cake and have it too, that
we can't carry on nor Vial spending
and defense spending at the same
time. More backbone in Washing
ton would be a hopeful sign of the
times.
Got a cow, grab a pig and have
some chickens. The Farm Security
Administration is setting a whole
some example in increasing the
number of livestock and poultry on
frrms served by that agency. Oth
er* should do likewise. and soon
there will be farm prosperity in
the state.
“I’m a 16 to 1 man. free and
unlimited." said Sorghum Sam of
Rock Bottom Farm as he came to
the county seat and went into a
huddle with his grocer for proven
der for Mrs. Sam and the nine lit
tle Samites. “Yea, sir," he ex
plained, “I believe in 16 benefits
for 1 part of work."
Take It Or
Leave It
By J. D. JONES
Publication by the Statesman of
the old age pension list, aid to de
pendent children and the needy
blind did not reveal many, if any,
inequalities in Butts county, in the
opinion of informed persons who an
alyzed the list. For the month of
April, the report of the Welfare
office showed 242 old age pension
ers received $1,402.00; seven blind
received $52.00 and 7 families—l 4
children —received aid to depen
dent children, of $130.00, a total
of 263 beneficiaries who were paid
$1,51*3.00. That is an average of
$6.06 per person, one of the lowest
averages in the state. The Butts
County Welfare Board after it was
organized July 1, 1937, took the
position it is better to have a lot
of people receiving small amounts
rather than a few people receiving
large sums. That position, then
scoffed at by the state department,
has now come to be an accepted
policy of the state welfare depart
ment, because the funds are not
sufficient to give every beneficiary
a large check. Progress is being
made in caring for the state’s un
fortunate wards, and the politicians
are not finding human distress as
popular an issue as they once did.
The goal is to give every deserving
aged person in Georgia a benefit,
and to take care of the needy blind
and dependent children. To do this
requires money and plenty of it.
At best public assistance is only
a temporary arrangement, an effort
to take care of those beyond the
years of usefulness and to make
their declining years as comfortable
as meager funds will permit. Soon
those on the roll will pass from the
stage of action. By that time regu
lar social security, insured workers
who are required to contribute from
their earnings, to be matched by
their employers, will be in opera
tion on a scale sufficient to absorb
the shock. Insured workers attain
ing the age of 65 will be paid ac
cording to amounts they have con
tributed. Some of the best blood
in Georgia will be found on the old
age pension rolls. Those who
achieved success and failed, cap
tains of industry, men who gripped
the plow with horny hands, busy
housewives, those who lost their life
savings through fraudulent schemes
and bank failures —they are all rep
i
resented on the list. God forbid
that any should gloat over the mis
fortunes of these aged people who
spent their lives in constructive ef
fort and come now to the end of the
trail beaten, helpless, hopeless ex
cept for the bounty of the govern
ment.
Probably the reason the govern
ment is stimulating the production
of food crops, livestock ami poultry
is because it takes an enormous
amount of food for the armed
forces. In a current release of
“This \Veek in Defense,” the Office
of Production Management an
nounced the American soldier and
sailor is better fed than at least
sixty per cent of the U. S. popula
tion and better than any other
fighting man in the world. Every
man receives 5,000 calories a day.
thl agency said. The Army alone
uses daily 1.000.000 pounds of moat.
600.000 pounds of potatoes. 700.-
000 quarts of milk, 125.000 pounds
of butter and $50,000 worth of
bread. To feed the American sol
diers and sailors, plus something
for export to England, will require
extra effort on the part of Ameri
can farmers. The man who trifles
with food under war conditions will
get atung. The big thing for 1941
is to make every Georgia farm self
sustaining for man and beast.
It is a principle in natural science
that when an irrestible force meets
an immovable object something is
bound to happen. That seems to
be the situation with regard to the
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS. JACKSON. GEORGIA
European war. President Roosevelt
has called for all-out effort, full
day's work, 7 days a week, every
man on the job and has emphatic*!
ly declared the United State-- will
fight. Hitler boasts that he can
whip the world and scoffs at United
States aid to Great Britain. That
seems to make the issue. One of
these ideas will prevail. The Uni
ted States has never courted a fight
nor run from a fight when there
was no honorable way out. Uncle
Sam is girding his loins for a tre
mendous effort at national defense
and given a few months will be
ready for anything that happens. A
democracy moves slowly and often
it seems there is lost motion and
many of us get impatient at the
lack of speed. But the country is
doing a thorough job of creating a
mighty army and navy and air
force, and munitions of war are be
ing manufactured at a rate the
dictator nations cannot match. Free
men cannot be bluffed nor driven.
The big thing for the nation now
is to build up its morale, support
those in authority and trust to final
victory in a righteous cause.
Those who have been timid
about increasing food, poultry and
livestock will find comfort in the'
announcement that the price of
eggs will be guaranteed for two
years at approximately 22 cents per
dozen and hogs at 9 cents per
pound. Cotton farmers will get a
boost in the price of that staple but
the price under the new legislation
is still too low to return growers
a profit. Parity for cotton world
not be far from 20 cents a pound.
Probably southern congressmen and
senators have done the best they
could. The livestock belt and the
wheat and com belt congressmen
had to be reckoned with and the new
legislation was a compromise. Sen
ator Richard B. Russell Jr. has made
a hard and determined fight for
justice for cotton growers. In this
he has had the backing of other
southern congressmen, including the
Fourth District representative, A.
Sidney Camp. In his weekly letter
in this edition of the Progress-Ar
gus Mr. Camp writes of efforts to
improve the farm status.
The revival meetings just conclud
ed at the First Baptist church and
those to begin at the Methodist
church May 11 should make Jack
son a better town. The purpose of
these meetings was to arouse great
er interest in spiritual values. No
city ever gets too large to need a
revival, and po village is ever too
small to be helped by a revival. In
these stressful days it is important
that the nation look well to its
moral and spiritual condition. For
years some of the nation’s outstand
ing leaders have pointed out that
what the country needs above all
else is a revival of the old time re
ligion. Europe is in awful turmoil.
Studied efforts are being made to
blot out the Christian religion.
Lands where Christ lived and taught
are much in the current news. The
early church grew by persecution.
That may prove true in the present
instance. If the w-Qrld is to have
enduring peace it will be built on
the teachings of the Sermon on the
Mount. .
Pimiento pepper growers of Butts
county are beginning to set their
plants and if seasons are favorable
the pepper crop will bring in sub
stantial cash income. For the last
two years pepper did not yield good
returns and growers were disap
pointed. Maybe the 1941 crop will
turn out better. If this should be
true, plus operation of the canning
plant in Jackson, the pimiento crop
would be one of the main sources
of cash income. The crop matures
earlier than cotton and this will give
cash in a dull season and will be a
factor in county-wide activity.
The attitdue of the American pub
lic at the moment regarding the war
is to let “George do it.” Poor old
George is overworked. There must
be more sweat and sacrifice before
Uncle Sam will be prepared to fight
a first class war.
THE LAST STRAW
By VINCENT JONES
That the United States is rapidly
approaching a crisis in the present
war may be gathered from the
President's latest word that we arc
"ready to fight" for the existence
of "democracy in the world.”
Tins nation, in 1917, fought for
the same nebulous, unattainable
ideal. \\ e arc the only great
democracy in the world and that in
telligent men can beat their war
drums and cry for an extension of
democracy into Europe—the same
cause for which we fought, and
List, in the Great War—that men
endowed with great trust can insti
gate such ideas is preposterous, and
dangerous.
Ask any man on the street today
if the Great War was not in vain
and he will answer affirmatively.
And yet we are confronted with the
same situation today. Many of the
same Senators are in Congress now
who were there in ’l7, pleading for
sanity- and asking indulgence in a
time when the whole future of this
nation as we know it may rest in
the balance.
History may or may not repeat
itself but should we fight now, our
sons 20 years hence, will probably
mock our ignorance and gullibility
even as we do those who perpetra
ted the Great War. All of the great
mistakes of civilization have a way
of falling into the laps of the sons
of the fathers who made them.
The foreign policy of the admin
istration had much to do with the
starting of this war. Great men,
excluding Lindbergh, testify that
the sentiment in France and Britain
before the war began was that the
United States would fight and fight
instantly should the Nazi hordes
threaten their sovereignty. United
States diplomats are responsible for
the snug feeling of utter complac
ence, of sitting back and letting Un
cle Sam do it that accounted for
the paucity of armaments these
countries had when the war started.
Germany and England in 1939,
after Munich, signed the Dusseldorf
treaty—which in effect was a trade
agreement between the two coun
tries to gang up on America and
drive our interests out of South
America. And yet we say if Britain
falls, all is lost. If this war serves
nothing else, God grant that it will
serve at least one noteworthy pur
pose—that the people of America
will at last awaken to the fact that
certain well-meaning countries in
Europe are as much our enemies as
friends.
If this is our war, we should fight
it. If not, we should quit playing
baseball with cans of nitro-glycerin.
No country who depended upon an
other for its defense has ever walk
ed away unscarred.
We say we are buying time with
English blood, waiting a year or two
until we are prepared to aid Britain
effectively and possibly go in and
win the war. The President says
we are “ready to fight.” Somebody
seems over anxious.
I.indberg’s negotiated peace is a
idyllic dream, possessing no basis
whatsoever of reality. But France
sold out. Other nations might go
the same way. And with our de
fenses denuded, our bombers, and
destroyers and tanks in Britain, we
would be helpless at the hands of
an aggressor.
Aid to Britain means war. The
lease-lend bill meant war and all
who doubted it. were either ignorant
or gullible. The administration
succeeded in making the people
swallow a war. The people, inci
dentally. being the ones to pay for
it. Not a little war like the Great
War but a war estimated in bil
lions.
We are “ready to fight,” says our
leader. We await only the incident.
It should not be long in coming.
The government is behind the
movement for greater food produc
tion. Food may be the deciding fac
tor in winning the war. Georgia
fanners cannot go too strongly on
food and feed this year.
• *
BUTTS COUNTY IS READY
TO DO ITS SHARE
In financing the Defense Program through
liberal investment m
DEFENSE SAVINGS BONDS
which the United States Government arranged to
issue May 1.
Every citizen and every business house will
wish to participate in this program to keep America
strong financially.
Jackson National Bank is prepared to accept
subscriptions and offers its facilities to all interest
ed in investing in these securities.
JACKSON NATIONAL BANK
JACKSON, GEORGIA.
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
■A
OBSERVATIONS
and
Hip SPECULATIONS
By MADAM ROAMER
In roaming around I found out:
That Trudie Moore and Lucile
Akin at the reception to Lord and
Lady Halifax were confused as to
how to address them. The honor
guests chatted informally with many
of the guests, and Trudie declares
’Cile said “Mistress” Halifax instead
of Lady Halifax. Just so she didn’t
forget and tell them all “to go to
Halifax.” .... Addie Pound
has joined a garden club. She has
two cedar trees in her front yard
and four pot plants on the front
porch just waiting to die for lack
of water, which reminds me that
one white spirea bush in her back
yard is responsible for Gertrude
Wright’s ten year membership in a
garden club. Telling other lolks
how to raise flowers may be one of
the prerequisites to membership.
.... In watching the fisher
men’s parade each Wednesday af
ternoon we wonder who has the most
and longest fishing poles, Dan
Thurston, Clyde Walker, L. J.
Brown Jr., Arthur Stodghill or Joe
Edwards Mrs. John O.
Minter had the Bibb County Flow
er Show as an excuse to visit “Mar
ion at Mercer” a few days ago. . .
To be strictly cosmopolitan and keep
up with New York Jackson should
by all means be on Eastern Daylight
Saving Time. Then we’d all go to
work at five in the mornings and
quit at two in the afternoons. And
on Wednesday we’d just take out
at old Central Time ten o’clock for
the rest of the day. Oh, boy, what
a world. How we are PROGRESS
ING—backward.
A lot of present day spending can
wait until national defense is com
pleted. It seems hard for official
Washington to understand this, and
politically - minded representatives
and senators are moving heaven and
earth to have Cat Creek dredged
and anew federal building at Squat
and a canal across the northwest
corner of Pine Ridge district.
The Fulton county grand jury
comes nearer to discharging its du
ty in a fearless and intelligent man
ner than any grand jury in the
state. The Fulton county grand
jury really probes into county and
state affairs. Too often grand juries
take things for granted, and as a
consequence there is a lot of incom
petence, rottenness and craft in
high places.
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1941
The cooking school held in Jack
son last week appears to have been
entirely successful. The session!*
were largely attended and new ideas
were demonstrated to the assembled
throngs of housewives. The city of
Jackson and the Georgia Powe#
Company co-operated in the school.
The government never did a more
sensible thing than when it took
the shackles off production. Farm
ers will produce crops in abundance
for peace and war needs, but this
can’t be done by restricting acreage
and drowning pigs and other foolish
things fostered by the high-brows
in Washington. What American
farmers have needed all along is a
fair price for their products. They
will attend to production.
It will probably cost the state of
Georgia $75,000 to SIOO,OOO to ad
vertise constitutional amendments
that nobody reads, nobody under
stands and don’t give a dang. A
short synopsis of the amendments
printed in all newspapers would give
the reading public an intelligent
idea of what it is all about. Maybe
some day the public will be intelli
gent enough to elect legislators who
place the public good above petty
and selfish motives.
AMERICA’S URGENT NEED
From a recent booklelt entitled
“You Can Defend America,” pub
lished without profit by Judd 4b
Detweiler of Washington, D. C.,
and endorsed in a foreword by
General Pershing, the following sig
nificant paragraphs are taken:
“America needs guts as well as
guns.
“National character is the core
of national defense. Congress can’t
vote it. Dollars won’t buy it. It’s
your job to build it.
“We need anew spirit in the
country. But to get it we must
start with anew spirit in every cit
izen. And that means you.
“Either you sacrifice your per
sonal selfishness for the nation, or
you sacrifice the nation for your
personal selfishness.
“Musket and powder-horn once
hung over'the door of every Amer
ican home. Our fathers were not
afraid to use them. The Minute
Men at Lexington and Concord
seized them and ran to defied
their country.
“But fear, hate and greed have
slipped into our homes, our indus
tries, our communities. Like ty
mites they are eating away our
national character. The fight is
on.
“The fight against our softness,
graft, laziness, extravagance, buck
passing, materialism—allies of the
Fifth Column.
“Fight to bring teamwork in in
dustry. Fight to unite the nation.
Then America will have what an
cient China lacked. What modern
France lacked. She will hare U*F>
defense.”