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Jackson TrngrESs-^rgus J. D. Jones Publisher 0908 1955) Doyle Jones Jr. Editor and Publisher (1955-1975) MRS. MARTHA G. JONES PUBLISHER VINCENT JONES EDITOR OFFICIAL ORGAN BUTTS COUNTY AND CITY OF JACKSON Published every Thursday at 129 South Mulberry Street, Jackson, Georgia 30233 by The Progress-Argus Printing Cos., Inc. Second Class Postage paid at Jackson, Georgia 30233. Address notice of undeliverable copies and other correspondence to The Jackson Progress-Argus, P.O. Box 249, Jackson, Georgia 30233. {) 1 'nr yCar. in Georgia s<>.24 s >>\ Mon, is. in Georgia $3.91 Editorials The National Debt : A Sober Appraisal One of the least-read figures on the financial pages of your daily newspaper is a small item with a large impact, the daily recording of the national public debt. If you will check it after you read this it will be much higher but as of a few days ago it stood at $670,448,000,000. Every child born in this country inherits as his share a $3,000 debt of the federal government and, instead of being paid off as most private debts are, the debt spiral grows at a much faster rate than the child’s body. By the time he reaches maturity his share of the national debt will be double or treble what it was at his birth. Tax rates are set on, bound to and indissolubly tied to, govern ment expenditures and the retire ment of government debt. There can be no delivered promise of substantial reductions in federal tax rates for so long as the public debt continues to mount at its frenzied pace. Political chicanery may give tax relief to certain favored groups but the tax burden will only be increased on others or we will continue the present folly of mortgaging future generations for today’s fiscal indiscretions. Unfortunately, the public’s conception of deficit spending policies and the meaning of a $670 billion federal debt seems rather hazy, especially as long as the government is the “giver” and not the “taker.” These misconceptions often times give vent to alarming suggestions, such as, why doesn’t the government declare itself bankrupt and void its debt? Or, it’s just a paper debt, anyway, why not just wipe it out and start all over? The average American family has squirreled away over SI,OOO in Savings Bonds, War Bonds, or Liberty Bonds as they have been called. They are instruments of the U. S. Treasury, redeemable upon demand in currency and part of the $670 billion debt of this country. If you have such Bonds, and you advocate Uncle Sam reneging on his debt obligations, then you must be willing to burn your SI,OOO, $5,000, $50,000 or whatever amount you may own of this particular Treasury series. The U. S. government doesn’t owe $670 billion to itself; it owes it to banks and to wealthy individuals who buy Treasury bills and notes; to retirement and pension funds that seek Treasury obligations for security reasons, and to the little fellows like us who bought Savings Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included: TELEPHONE 775-3107 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER tisocuiißw nniu ins' fr..Fnsgl NNASUSTAIMNG l==!S MEMBER ~ 1977 <•' Yr.ir. O a-uf-State ~.57.28 I• >i n ■■. Out-of-Stale $1.16 Bonds out of patriotism and, lately, for their better yield. The answer, obviously, lies in curbing federal expenditures, in the country living within its income except under most extenuating circumstances such as a major war, and beginning the slow and painful process of retiring the mammoth debt that has accumu lated. There is no sensible pattern to federal spending. In 1970, for instance, at the height of the Vietnam War, the nation occurred a deficit of only $2.8 billion and yet the federal deficit this fiscal year, with the nation at peace, is estimated at from S4B -to- S6O billion. Not since 1969, when Lyndon Johnson was leaving office and Richard Nixon succeeded him, has there been a federal surplus, and that of only $3.2 billion. During the Nixon years, deficit spending was in vogue, reaching its zenith in 1972 when the government spent $23.4 billion more than it took in. Under President Ford, the federal bureaucrats had a holiday, spending in fiscal year 1976 over $66.5 billion more than came into the federal Treasury. Much of the blame for the present uncontrolled federal fiscal policy is often laid at the feet of the late President Franklin D. Roose velt and his New Deal. For the first time, the doctrine was preached and followed that the federal government should spend more money than it took in, to give people payments, programs and benefits so that they could purchase more and, theoretically, pay more in taxes. The name of the game has changed but it is still being played in the same ball park, with the same blind umpires and the same sad spectators who sit out in the bleachers and cry for more. Georgia Senators Herman Talmadge and Sam Nunn are trying to restore some sanity to the situation by passing a resolution calling for a constitutional amend ment that would require the country to live within its income. But the mad foxes still go on chasing the rabbits, throwing good money at bad programs in the delusion that every problem and every ill in society can be solved by money. If President Jimmy Carter can balance the federal budget during his first term as promised, he will be entitled to, and receive, an endorsement term. THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA The Last Straw BY VINCENT JONES Pity poor Jimmy Who. The black cat has been doing an adagio pattern across his path the last few days and he must wonder if the atmos phere was not more friendly in the Atlantic depths which he plumbed in an atomic submarine recently. His troubles began when he sent the First Lady to South America to get some cheap coffee but there is no real assurance that she will remember his favorite brand. While making her selection, she listened to all kinds of demands from her hosts, all of whom presented their wish list to the great Santa Claus that has moved his domicile from the North Pole to the White House. By the time he could get his feet on the desk and spin two classical records, the Intern al Revenue Service advised him they were auditing his 1975 federal tax return. Perhaps he and Billy were using the wrong make of farm vehicles on their peanut plantation. Had they stuck with Ford, probably their troubles would be lightened considerably. To top it all off, the administration's champion insult-hurler, Andy Young, returns from another of his whirlwind missions after managing to castigate this time both the living and the dead. At least five former presidents were racists, he said, Lincoln, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. Even Old Abe, the Great Emancipator, who freed the Negroes from the bonds of physical slavery. That’s like charging your own father with non-support after he has reared you from a babe to a master’s degree at age 24. Trying to understand Young is like trying to figure out a prospective father-in law, who low rates you as an individual but still permits you to wed his daughter. You don’t know whether to curse him for his poor judgement or thank him for his great gift. The Republicans are howl ing like banshees, crying for Young’s scalp and that of anyone else who tries to hide his shortcomings under a peanut hull. Traditionally, one major party lends a deaf ear to the platitudes of another, but this time the Republicans have public opinion on their side. A recent poll showed that less than 30 per cent of the voters thought Andrew Young was doing a good job ’ as U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. An expert poll watcher such as Presi dent Carter, who takes great stock in public opinion testers, cannot ignore such unpopularity and must move to counteract it. After a recent confronta tion with the President, both Young and the White House press said that the Ambassa dor was in no trouble with the boss. If he were not in any trouble, then why deny it? When he speaks of human rights, social and political equality, equal treatment for all men, then Andy Young is probably voicing the aspira tions of literally millions of oppressed people throughout the world. But in this country, where daily all of us are beginning to assess our fellow man more on his worth and less on his color, the public is tired of hearing of racists and of black and white frictions. That is the reason Andrew Young’s popularity reading is so low here, although it may be much higher abroad with the developing nations. Perhaps our people are trying to tell the President and the Ambassador, hey, wait just a minute, we’ve been through the turbulent and violent 50’s and 60’s and we have conquered much of our racial animosity and misunderstanding and we just don’t want to get involved with somebody elses. And such a message, if indeed it is what our people \j -*r- PA laF'l l -Tv (Us A Stroll Down Memory Lane NEWS OF 10 YEARS AGO The Jackson Light Depart ment has removed the last of the incandescent light fix tures and replaced them with the newer mercury vapor lamps. Miss Laurelee Hawkins, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hawkins of Bergen field, N. J., has received a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy. Miss Hawkins is the granddaugh ter of Mrs. W. M. Redman. The Social Security Admin istration reveals that at the end of 1966, a total of 1,372 Butts County recipients were receiving aid in the amount of $75,704 monthly. Rev. Don Harp and Hugh Glidewell, Jr. spoke to the Jackson Kiwanis on the Fellowship of Christian Ath letes’ program. Linda Jean Parrish, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene A. Parrish, was capped at the Hall School of Nursing in Gainesville on Friday. The Mimosa Garden Club held its June luncheon meeting at the Elder Hotel. Deaths during the week: Julian David Swint, 65; Mrs. Felicia Carter Wise, 88; Johnny Daniel Long, 14; James Millard English, 49. NEWS OF 20 YEARS AGO The staff of the Jackson Elementary School honored its two retiring members, Miss Annie Lou McCord and Mrs. A. C. Freeman, with an outing at Jackson Lake. A. R. Kimbell was the lucky winner of an Admiral refrigerator at Jackson Hardware Company’s open house last weekend. The grand opening of Polk's Tire and Service Cos. will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week. Miss Ann Adams celebrat ed her llth birthday Satur day with a hay ride to Indian Springs and a picnic for 10 of her friends. Butts County law officers have destroyed a large still about two miles west of Indian Springs with a capacity of approximately 1,200 gallons. First officers to serve the recently-incorporated Butts County Chamber of. Com merce, Inc. were named Tuesday by the board of directors and include Vincent Jones, president; L. C. Webb, vice president; Richard Watkins, treasurer, and Miss Elizabeth McMichael, secre tary. Deaths during the week: Jenous Monroe Maddox, 78. NEWS OF 30 YEARS AGO Mrs. L. C. Webb, chair man, reports that Butts County has over subscribed its cancer drive quota by 200 per cent, raising a total of $305.62. Gov. M. E. Thompson has assured a Bibb County delegation that the portion of the Jackson-Macon Short Route in Bibb County will be paved immediately. Members of the board of trustees of the Indian Springs Holiness Camp Ground are studying plans for a modern sewerage system to serve that immediate area. Mrs. Myrtle Whittimore, of Jackson and Boston, Mass., will have three of her poems published in anew 600-page anthology of American verse and song. The Jackson Home Demon are thinking, would make sense to many of us. THURSDAY, JUNE 16. 1977 stration Club was organized Thursday with Mrs. James Payne, president; Mrs. Roy Prosser, vice president; Mrs. Doyle Jones, Jr., secretary reporter; and Mrs. R. P. Harrison, treasurer. Representatives from all the garden clubs in the County joined Thursday in an all-day pilgrimage to the beautiful gardens of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Matthews in Thomaston. Deaths during the week: Mrs. C. L. Thaxton, 36; Ernest L. Adams, 73. NEWS OF 40 YEARS AGO Sidewalk paving from Carmichael Drug Cos. to the new post office building on Mulberry Street was begun this week. Mr. V. Weyman Cole, recently returned to Jackson from Orlando, Fla., has purchased the Jackson Mill ing Company, located in the Thurston shop building. The Central Georgia Elec tricity Membership Corpora tion has had approved a loan of $202,000 to construct 202 miles of line to serve 852 farm families. The County Commission ers have named as members of the Butts County Welfare Board James G. Childs, P. H. Weaver, John W. Welch, S. H. Thornton and J. D. Jones. Another summer dance at Indian Springs sponsored by. Spec Brooks, will be held Wednesday. Lester Dick son’s Dixie Dames, of Macon, will provide the music. The marriage of Miss Elizabeth Merritt to Mr. Candler Webb was an event of Sunday at the First Baptist Church. Deaths during the week: Mrs. H. C. Pulliam, 22. NEWS OF 50 YEARS AGO Robert H. Freeman is a member of the 1927 graduat ing class of the University of Georgia, receiving the de gree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce. Prof. Van Fletcher, super intendent of Butts County schools, will teach in the Sixth District A. & M. summer school in Barnes ville. Governor Clifford Walker has appointed Sam A. Nunn, well known attorney of Perry, to succeed the late Judge T. E. Patterson on the Prison Commission. Friends of William Jamer son will be interested to know that he was one of two students at the state Univer sity selected by a committee of theatrical people to train for the movies. It is said that the features of these two boys are almost the exact counter part of those of the late Rudolph Valentino and they were invited to go at once to the studios near Los Angeles. Mrs. El wood Robison was hostess to the Garden Club at its June meeting. Mrs. Victor Carmichael was program chairman and Mrs. Hugh Mallet, Mrs. George Head and Mrs. David Settle all read interesting papers. Miss Joe Varner celebrat ed her 90th birthday Friday. She was born June 17, 1837 near Monticello in Jasper County but has been a resident of Indian Springs for almost 80 years. Pen Mightier? On at least one occasion, the pen has proved mightier than the sword. Scholars believe that Julius Caesar was stabbed to death with the pointed metal styluses that Roman senators used to write on waxed slates. B ‘Whatsoever Things' By Donald E. Wildmon INTEGRITY During the Korean War, a very well-known American general by the name of Dean was captured by the communists. In a Korean town by the name of Chong-ju, General Dean was told by the communists that he had a few minutes in which he could write a farewell note to his family. General Dean figured that he had about thirty minutes, at the most, before he would be taken out and shot. In such a situation, no man would waste words. General Dean did not waste words. In his letter to his family, very short, he had one sentence that told the whole of his character. The sentence was directed to General Dean's son. Here's what he wrote: “Tell Bill the word is integrity.” The most important word this father could find to pass along to his son spoke so much. Not popularity, or success, or fame, or happiness —but integrity. How desperately our world needs that—integrity. Integrity means a man is true to himself and to His Maker. Integrity means a man puts truth above all else. He is not willing to sell his manhood for a few dollars, or a cheap thrill. No! He sets his standards high and they will not come down. A man can afford to lose his position, his income, his prestige. These things are dispensable, they can be replaced. But not his integrity. A man can live with truth—though it be difficult and trying. But no man can live with a lie and remain a man—in the highest and truest sense of the word. We are tempted today to compromise our values, to call a little wrong nearly right. But one cannot do it without losing that which is most important to him—his integrity. A man must stand for the truth even if it means a loss of job, or prestige, or scorn and rejection by those who call him friend. “Tell Bill the word is integrity.” Yes, that is the word. How very much we need to hear it, believe it, live by it. Not success. Not popularity. Not position. But integrity! The word means uprightness. That’s the way the Creator intended that mankind should walk—upright. Not only in physical structure, but more precisely in his spiritual and moral structure. We are not only to live with truth, but we are to live by it. What the world needs today is not more men of wealth. Not even more men of wisdom. What the world needs today is more men of integrity, men who are willing to plant their feet solidly on the truth and refuse to budge when faced by the temptations of the world. Yes, we need men, big men, men of solid character, men who will not compromise with less than truth, men who will not retreat from the best they know. “The word.is integrity.” Please pass the word. OfctM/ June 8,1977 To The Citizens of Butts County We, the undersigned mem bers of the Butts County Recreation Authority Com mission, do hereby present this letter to the editor to inform the citizens of Butts County that the Board of Commission has resigned in its entirety. It is with regret BUPPYRUFF AZE VoO REAU-V ) GOING To SpAHtc cGL T N ME WHEN WE / ( lEr) GET Home f I must tUiNkl j 1 op SOMETHING < ruth at random By Ruth Bryant ODE TO GREEN TREES Do you remember when Your limbs were dark and dead Clothed in their garments red? Now trees are green again! Do you remember when Your limbs were white with snow Not very long ago? Now trees are green again! Do you remember when Your limbs were almost bare But tiny leaves were there? Now trees are green again! <). Changing Mortals, when You're clothed in garments new Let happiness greet you. For trees are green again! that the Boaru feels that it cannot function properly under the present operating conditions as set forth by the present City and County officials. Joseph Davis J. H. Brown, Sr. Bailey Crockarell Ernest Battle Loy T. Hutcheson Harold E. McMichael Freddie R. Dodson ... BECAUSE TM LA-Te) for supper anp you ) , —v MAP TO LOOK ALL / v eo/\ OVER. TOIMV FOR. J, 1 J we ? i ' mi?*'