Newspaper Page Text
TO COLONIZE COFFEE COUNTY
(Continued from First Page)
“The price of lands certainly
ought to be attractive, providing
Ihe clearing of it is not too much
of a job.
“The advertising of the land
opening proposition on a certain
date should command considera
ble attention, and this should
prove a strong drawing card for
your section.
“Will you kindly advise me
whether or not I can see you when
in Atlanta on the above mention
el date, and oblige.
“Yours vqi truly,
“Field Manager.”
The proposition was so striking to
this gentleman that he sent my letter
•gether with a copy of his to me, o
ihe General Manager who writes me
from the home office under date of
the 27th, as follows:
“My Dear Mr. Smith:-
“1 am in receipt of a letter from
Mr. O. O. Blank, at Pittstown, in
which he encloses me a copy of
your letter dated August 23rd,
and a copy of his response to you.
“YOU ARE THE FIRST MAN
IN THE SOUTH who has propos
ed a proposition which 1 HAVE
LONG CONTEMPLATEI) MIGHT
SOME DAY BE PUT INTO
EFFECT WITH VERY GRATI
FYING RESULTS. I am Vice
President of this Development
Company and am in charge of the
colonization work. Mr. Q. M.
Pearson, another Vice President
of the organization, is assistant
ohjactor and has had from the be
ginning, direct charge of the re
cent activities of this organiza
tion in the state of Georgia in or
ganizing the- Georgia Branch.
Mr. Blank is in charge of our field
offi es. Both Mr. Pearson and
Mr. Blank were recently in Geor
gia and 'expect to return about
the lflth of September. I am
shewing all this correspondence
to Mr. Pearson and am asking
Hint when he returns to Georgia,
which will be about the middle of
next week, to keep In dose touch
with you.
“Now, your proposition as put
up to Mr. Blank amounts to this:
You are going to throw open an
“Ring Me Up, Little Girl.'”
(Dedicated to TERESA M. HOFFMAN.)
Sung by JOHN PARK, of Richard Carle's great success, “Mary's Lamb.*
) («'
Words by A. R. BALLINGER. jjSSp***' Music by STANLEY JADWINL
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1. It hurts me to leave jau but don’t let that grieve you, For part-ingsare noth-ing to-day, The
2. Don’t let LYn-tral jol -ly tr cut you off, Mol-ly, The line won’t be bus-y to you, Til
53
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mail bringsa let - ter but there’s a way bet - ter With on -ly a nick-el to pay When
welcome your voice, dear, twill make me re-joice, dear. No mat - ter what I have to do, You
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ev -e» you’re lone -ly and long for me on - iy. Jua' ;et in a booth all a - lone, And the*'
can’t in - ter - fere with my bus -i - ness my dear. My busi-ness is just lov-ing you, And
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Copyright, mcmviii, by MURRAY MUSIC CO., New No. 52.
area of land to settlement and ad
vertise it. You are going to ap
proximate what the United States
did with respect to her public
lands, and most particularly with
respect to her abandoned mili
tary reservations and Indian res
ervations when no longer needed
for or used by the various Indian
tribes in a tribal .manner.
“I was for a number of years
connected with the United States
Public Land Service; a part of
the time as its executive officer,
and am, therefore, familiar with
the laws and with the actual prac
tice of the United States in the
disposition! of her public domain.
This was the method generally
followed n the opening of an In
dian reserfation. When Congress
decided tribal relations should be
severed and each Indian member
of the tribe should, therefore’ be
come an ‘individual,’ so to speak,
it proved for the survey of the
reservation into townships, sec
tions, and sub-divisions into lf»0
acre tracts of ‘four forties.’ It
then arbitrarily allotted each in
dividual allotted each individual
Indian to some particular farm.
All the surplus lands were then
thrown open to entry. In the
early days this used to be done
by what was known as the ‘rush’
method, such as was used in the
opening of what was known as
the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma.
At 12 o’clock noon on a given day,
the army having held out pros
pective settlers, withdrew, and it
was a case of the first man on a
particular property acquiring
rights. This led to so many con
flicts, bloodshed, scandals, etc.,
that it was abandoned, and there
was afterwards substituted the
present method:
“A registry office is opened and
every qualified citizen is entitled
to register himself. When the
registration is closed, each appli
cant’s deserption, name, and data
having been placed in an envel
ope and sealed, all the envelopes
are placed in a ‘wheel’ and are
then drawn by a blindfolded boy
or girl, and the first drawn has
first choice and so on until the
entire sub-divisions are disposed
of. If there he charges upon the
THE DOUGLAS ENTERPRISE, DOUGLAS. GA., SEPTEMBER 4, 1915.
land respiting from treaty made
with the Indians of say, one, two,
or three dollars per acre, this, of
course, has to be met before the
titles can be secured from the
Government, and there is coupled
• with it actual settlement, culti
vation and improvement. There
art always anywhere from five to
fifty applicants for each sub-di
vision.
“When the public lands were
known as ‘straight’ public lands,
of course, these were open to set
tlement at all times. Take for
instance Kansas and Nebraska;
any man qualified could go upon
the ground and pick out what
suited him and enter it in the
proper United States Land Office.
It would cost him 514.00 as a fil
ing fee and he w r as required to
live upon it for a period of five
years and improve it.
“It seems to me that if you
could place an appraised value up
on the various sub-divisions, sur
vey it out, place a price at a fig
ure that would carry the value
of the land and the expense of
disposition, then prescribe your
terms, open a registration office,
advertise it thoroughly, and up
on a given date hold a regular
‘opening,’ that you ought to focus
the attention of the whole nation
upon his. It is certainly a hew
and novel proposition and one that
w'ould be fraught with great ben
efits and one that would focus
nation-wide attention upon your
activities.
“My office, Mr. Pearson, Mr.
Blank and myself are at your ser
vice in an effort to assist you to
work out a plan of this kind as
rapidly as our time and needs and
other engagements before us
would permit.
“Yours very truly,
“CHAS. G. RUCKER,
“Director of Colonization.”
Before going further I wish to say
that all the names except my own are
ficticious and are being used by me
for a purpose. I feel that such a
gigantic scheme as this is worth while
protecting from the general public
in other sections until we get ready
to turn it loose o the world. Should
these names be given out in public
print it would be an easy matter for
another section to start a similar
scheme and in a measure draw from
our work. After our work has been
completed, then we do not mind as-
sisting any section to do likewise.
This is my own idea and is the sole
reason for substituting these names.
The original correspondence is in my
office and is open to any man in the
county for inspection.
Now the idea can be readily seen :
from the foregoing and the intention
of this article is to call for the co
operation of the land owners of this
.section to assist me, if they wish to
dispose of their wild lands and to pop
ulate the county—to develop the lands
ar.d put them in a state of cultivation
without ary cost whatever to the pres
ent owner, and to run the value of
cleared lands up to a hundred dollars
or more per acre.
It is not my desire nor intention to
sell a foot cf cleared lands. I want
every man owning a farm to hold on
to it like grim death, for the time is
not far distant when he will be able
to realize a bonanza for it if he cares
to sell it.
There are tens of thousands of peo
ple in our country and Canada today
who stand ready to stampede to such
an opening as described already. It
is not guess work, but has been prov
en time and again in the past. When
the United States opened up the lands
in Oklahoma there were simply thou
sands who would not get a foot of
land, as there was nothing like en
ough to go around to the crowds.
Hundreds of these settlers would pour
into the sections, days before the
“opening,” and would camp at the
registration office in line and await
the “great day.” Special trains were
run to take the crowds to the regis
tration office, and towns were built
overnight out of tents which later be
came cities. One of them now being
the city of Tulsa, one of the largest
in the state. Enid was another, and
there are scores of other towns equal
ly as large.
There are today and wiil continue
to be thousands of acres of land in
this section lying idle year in and year
out, during all the time, that could
and would be developed if such a
move was made.
Y'ou, the land owner, risk absolute
ly nothing. You own the land and
it will not effect you any way or an
other, unless it is developed. If you
will turn it over to us and let it go
in in this idea it will be cleared and
put into cultivatible condition, at no
cost and possibly sold for you before
the end of the three year clause at a
much higheo figure than you are now
[ offering it at.
jin - gle the bell and love's sto -ry I’ll tell. To you o - ver the tel - e - phone Ring me
I’ll nev -er tire if you keep the wire On fire the whole day through Ring me
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up, lit - tie girl, ring me up Just as soon as you get in -to town, For you'll
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with heart pal-pi- tat- in g, For you to ring up Mol-ly dear Ring me dear.
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Ring Me Up. Little GirL J pp— 2d p. No. 52.
The papers covering each piece of
land will of course be handled by
your attorneys and there will be no
release of any kind on your part ex
cept as herein shown. You will not
have to advance any settler a penny.
On the other hand, should either of
the men drawing your lands fail to
develop fifty percent of it in the first
three years, he would automatically
become dispossessed and the land
would revert to you and that portion
that he did develop would be opened
for you at no cost.
The Chamber of Commerce, since
its organization has not had the moral
support of the farmers of Cocee coun
ty as it should have; the reason is
unknown to the writer, but I sincerely
trust that when this article comes be
fore you that you will wake up to the
siuation, come to see me ami talk it
over with me, so that when I go to
Atlanta on the sixteenth of Septem
ber I can show Mr. Blank that I have
at least a hundred thousand acres of
land that we can put on the market
in this method and let us go into the
project and bring old Cocee into prom
inence and the lands into their true
valuation.
This scheme should have the en
dorsement of every citizen of the
county whther a wild land owner or
a city man. With the development j
of the farming lands, the real estate
in the city will correspondingly rise.
The County Commissioners should!
also take steps to assist the move.
The Board of Education cannot over
look it.
Let me ak you to talk this over
with your attorney, get his legal ad
vice on the matter, reason it out with
yourself, and if you then feel friendly
toward the idea, come to Douglas and
tell me about it, and tell how much
land you would want to enter, and the
location of it.
ROBERT A. SMITH, See.
Douglas Chamber of Commerce.
Douglas, Ga., September, 1915.
SSO. SCHOLARSHIP FREE.
I have a SSO. Scholarship to the
Meridian College—Conservatory of
Meridian, Miss., which I am to'award
to some one in this county. Any
young lady wishing to attend this in
stitution may please advse me if
scholarship is desired.
J. GORDON FLOYD.
ROOMS TO RENT WITH PRIVATE
family. J. M. Jardine, 311 Colum
bia Avenue. 9-4-4 t
UNCLE JIM* FREEMAN
FOR NEXT ORDINARY
Editor Enterprise:
It is a little early, but without his
consent, and without knowing who
all would be in he race for Ordinary
next year, it may be mentioned that
Uncle Jim Freeman would make a
good man for that place. He is old
and needy, but hone t and competent
to fill the office. He has done a great
deal of hard work for us and our
children and has never asked or re
ceived anything from tiie people of
the county at large. His ambition
has been to help others with his work
and counsel, and it seems that vve
should not wait until after he is gone
to show our appreciation, bg do some
thing for him now. HeVan’t live
long, and if there are yj Anger as
pirants for the office they can easily
wait until he is gone.
I have written this letter without
his knowledge, but not until I had
seen influential men in all parts of
the county, who voice my sentiment
and will use their efforts for hfe suc
cess, if he announces.
OLD CITIZENS.
Douglas, Rfd. No. 1.
A REUNION AFTER 41 YEARS.
Forty-one years ago. Wullima Stew
art taught a singing school at old
Bethel church, midway between the
old home of Dunk Douglas and Dan
Lott, about 12 or 13 miles east of
Douglas. Those now in life, who were
members of that old singing school,
so far as I can ascertain, are as fol
lows:
Dr. Jefferson Wilcox and Mrs. D.
E. Gaskin, Willacoochee; Mrs. Law
rence Newbern, Ocilla; Mrs. Rebecca
Thompson, Mr. John M. Lott (Bud),
Mrs. Marjorie Kirkland, Nicholls;
Mrs. Frank Hinson, Hazlehurst; Mrs.
Thomas Davis, Douglas, and W. P.
Ward.
I am quite sure there are others
whom I hope to find and invite to our
reunion at the Singing Convention at
Douglas on the second Sunday in Sep
tember.
We expect to get our friends to help
us sing some “Old Time Songs” for
the Convention. W. P. W.
YOU WANT GOOD AUTO SERVICE
and best rates. You can obtain
same seeing me in front of Sapp’s
Pharmacy, or telephoning 144. J.
Greene Wilson.