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4 L. & .,1 .tv.*v- V [fj In2r F C Williams A PI * A 747 M tk k ' A* - f ?■ i m •L -i • . -\V' * 1 1 k e % r r VOL. XV. EDITORIAL NOTES. The Columbus Enquirer is very much improved under its new man agement. It is one of the most readable and reliable journals in the state and is doing a great good for Columbus. Mr. John King, of Columbus, a gentleman well known to our readers died very suddenly at Birmingham Tuesday while on a visit to relatives in that city. He was a public spirit ed man, generous and kind, and his death is greatly regretted by a wide circle of friends. The safe ot Mr. Tom Williams was burglarized Wednesday night at Greenville %nd about $1,500 in cash : and several watches taken from t The Vindicator says that opin ions differ as to whether it was the work of experts or not, Hamil ton’s experience last night will prob¬ ably settle the doubt. The South Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South meets on the 14th at Sandcrsville. It will be a very interesting session as many changes will hav; to be r made in the present appointment of preach¬ ers under the rule of the conference that forbids the return of a pastor to a church after a service of four years. Speaker Carlisle in his address to the house last Monday, upon assu romg the speakership, outlined the present demands of the country very clearly. The present congress may by acting promptly upon his suggest¬ ions save the country from impend¬ ing trouble and insure the success of the democratic ticket next fall. Let us hope that legislation looking to a reduction of the present protective tariff will meet with no opposition from democratic ranks. The Macon Telegraph has discov ered the gui t of Tom Woolfolk in the nervousness of his finger tips. This is a very little thing to convict one of murder on, but the Telegraph some time since pronounced Tom guilty and it seems bent now on do- JOSEPH L.DENNIS, PROPRIETOR. ; ing all in its power to assist the state’s attorney in proving him so. The I Telegraph is far too good a paper to cater to public clamor in such style, A P ut,l ic gazette should be as free from bias . as the judge upon the bench, if it would achieve the lnfla ence to which it is entitled and main¬ tain that dignity which an unbiased public requires of it. Until farmers make their farms self supporting; until they can raise a crop without the yea or nay of the banker or the merchant, they may band togerher and form all sorts of alliances, but they will find when these have vanished like the mist be¬ fore the morning sun that they are no better off than they were before. If you cannot produce corn, oats, wheat, hay, pork and a dozen other farm products for less money than you can buy them you have missed your calling, or you need to join some organization to teach you. Any organization that offers to teach more than this in the primary department is to be avoided. The message of President Cleveland seems to have struck a tender spot somewhere in the anatomy of the At¬ lanta Constitution. That journal has not one word of praise for the very able document and would evidently review it in no. complimentary terms if there was a possibility of approval ^ rom ils mal1 )' readers. But there s the rub. Its readers generally are democrats and the message is true democratic doctrine, so that it now realizes what a lonesome business it is to preach republican doctrine to an honest lot of democrats. We as¬ sure the Constitution of our esteem ed consideration and beg to assure it that the front gate is not even latch¬ ed, and a cordial welcome and a front seajt await it upon its return to the fold it has forsaken. This last met aphor is a little mixed, but our es teemed contemporary knows how easy it is to get things mixed some times and it is allowed to go in as a sort of assurance that the first fellow to step on our erring brother’s corn when he gets back will not be one that has never strayed off himself. HAMILTON, GA„ DECEMBER 9,1887. THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, The message of President Cleve land laid before congress last Tues day is short, but able and pointed. He has an honest way always#f go¬ ing directly to the subject in hand and as he thinks the condition of the federal treasury deserving of serious and early consideration, he devotes his message to that end. The revenues of the government are largely in excess of all demands upon it. The surplus in the treasury by the end of the present fiscal year will be upwards of $i 5 o,ooo,ooofrom the present sources of revenue and such an amount withdrawn from the channels of commerce and hoarded uselessly in the treasury vaults would bring serious financial trouble if not disaster to our whole people. He suggests the two ways of over¬ coming such a calamity. The first by increasing the annual appropria¬ tions he deems fraught with much danger. Already the expenses of the government are too heavy for the welfare of the people and to increase them would be to tax the common people too heavily. The reduction of the government revenues is the other and the safer way to overcome the impending trouble. One source of revenue is from internal taxes. T 1 ese are upon articles of general consumption, it is true, but upon articles that cannot be classed as necessities. To remove the tax from these articles would in no way improve the condition of the great masses of the people. The better way will be to reduce the im¬ port tax upon articles that enter into every day needs of the people. This reduction should be made in such a way as to do as little harm to the home manufacturer as possible, but it should be made at once to relieve a people overburdened with taxes. The message elaborates these points and must challenge the admiration of every one who is opposed to monop¬ olies that build up the rich and op¬ press the poor. AS YOU LIKE IT. The way to build up a town is to talk it up and the way to pull it down is to talk it down. You can do eith- ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. er just as you please. The recent whiskey fight in Atlanta shows noth ing more clearly than that the man who is disposed to talk up his city or run it down can find plenty of mate¬ rial at hand to suit his purpofe. The speeches made during the Atlanta campaign on one side showed the city very prosperous; those made up¬ on the other just as clearly establish¬ ed the fact that it was not prospering as it should. So it is with every place. The chronic growler will alwas und plenty of cause to keep him always growl ing, while the hopeful citizen will a: ways tiptoe till he gets a glimpse of the silver lining to the darkest cloud. It is for you to determine which po¬ sition is the most profitable. There are in every community but these two classes—those who would build up and those who pull down. The former predominating, the communi¬ ty improves; the latter getting the more powerful a retrogade movement is inevitable. It’s not going to pay you to growl about hard times unless you want more property than you have now in Hamilton and we doubt its paying you even then. For the Hamilton Journal. CURRENT EVENTS. Rev. Dr. Martin, of Columbia, S. C., in a letter to Re*. G. G. Smith, published in the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, relating to the Broad Riv¬ er circuit, in 1828, has this to say of Sunday Schools : And now, my dear George, can you believe it! that in all this large circuit of 875 members there was not one Sunday-school, nor do I remem¬ ber to have heard the subject of S. S. mentioned during the year, In fact, up to that time I had never seen a S. S. The first I ever saw, I, aided by a Presbyterian layman, organized in the court house at Hamilton, Har¬ ris county, Georgia, in 1829. It is gratifying that Harris county action in the great Sunday work at such an early date has maintained her position to day. The failure of Messrs Forbes & NO. 78.