The Tifton gazette. (Tifton, Berrien County, Ga.) 1891-1974, October 20, 1916, Image 2

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i ., • V THE TIFTON GAZETTE, TIiFTON, GA., . FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1916. Ube Litton ©alette Published Weekly Entered at the Postoffice at Tifton, Georgia, as mail matter of the second class. jno. L. Herring Editor and Manager Official Organ City of Tifton and Tift County, Georgia. SATURDAY NIGHT. An Old Time Circus Day. “Boom !-ta-rara-Boom-de-ay! Boom!-ta-rara-Boom!" • The motley crowd lining the sidewalks cran ed necks; youngsters ventured a few steps out to look down the street Eureka! they were coming! With roll of drum and blare of horn, the band led. Mounted high on a chariot of crim son, silver and gold (drawn by eight prancing horses of glistening white, feathery plumes waving in the sunshine), clad in uniforms princely regal, the musicians with inspiring strains opened a day filled with wonderful things. For six weeks, since first the marvelous post ers had appeared, magnifying the wonders of the animal kingdom and feats of derring-do, the Boy had counted the days—even the hours, and waited with the impatience of childhood. Just a few days before the date emblazoned in gilded letters on his mind, one of the circus’ advertising men, traveling through the country in a buggy on last call work, spent the night at the family homestead and generously volun teered to carry th e Boy to the circus city, where he could await the day of days with a relative. On the way, the Boy came near having one illusion dispelled. For this fast-talking repre sentative of the riches of the world was out of .money; naively confessing that he did not have the wherewith to pay the bridge toll at the riv er at the city’s gates. The Boy thought how this same man had, with princely mien, insisted that morning on his father’s acceptance of a dollar bill for his night’s lodging, a thing un heard of then. And on the father’s persistent refusal he had thrust the bill into the Boy’s hand and would not b e gainsaid. And the Boy wondered; but the tender of the same bill now as a loan was refused. "I’ll get the money,”, the man said; and he did. Underneath the buggy seat were a lot of left-over circus posters. It was fall tim e am! the negroes had money. Soon the plantations along the river bottoms were at hand, and on either side of the road negro cabins. It only took a brief display of the gaudy-colored litho graphs and the offer of them at five and ten cents each to bring eager purchasers, and when two stops had been made the bridge fare and the price of a night’s lodging was in the treas ure chest The days passed, as days must, and Circus Day was here. With the first beam of morn ing light, the Boy and his cousins were up, and down by the railroad yards, where the circus was unloading. They watched the dirt thrown out for the ring, the driving of the stakes and the hoisting of the big tent—all by labor of man and horse, for there were none of the devices of the present day. Now, all was ready the parade was passing. After the band, John Robinson himself, in beaver hat and jim-swinger coat, drove in state followed beautiful ladies in dazzling costumes handsome men in blue and scarlet; then the massive elephants, th e awkward Camels, the long-necked giraffes; cage after cage, gilded and fantastic, with closed doors telling of the fearful man-eaters that could not be trusted even to iron bars alone. An occasional roar at the proper time blanched cheeks ar sent hearts pounding. And then, of crow ing wonder, the steam piano! Call it calliop if you will, but piano it was, and when steam could b e kept up (which was at rare intervals) the ears were smitten, as with a board, with “The Last Rose of Summer.” Into the big tent the procession passed, ,.nd we were left outside to walk the lane of won ders and view the dread posters before the sice shows. The depths of mythology; the scope 'J natural history, the store of nature’s freaks and monstrosities, had been plumbed to gather the aggregation that now tempted from the pocket the precious dime—precious because it could buy so much. But the Boy’s dimes were few and »oon he passed, perforce with the surging crowd of white and black into the big tent som e time before the performance began. Until today he has never understood what the reserved seat at a circus was for. Sufficient for him was the narrow plank, high up near the canvass roof, where like a king in state he sat; and the marvelous things of earth passed be fore him. Oh, that excruciatingly funny clown! With bis painted face that sent a nearby babe into hysterics; his side-splitting jokes; his wonderful faculty of doing the right thing at the right time. His witticisms treasured and carried * home, to furnish anecdotes for a year to come. There was only one ring and only one clown ’then, but, as Mereutio remarked, they were sufficient. And to boyhood, the tinsel was all •Over and gold ; the glass, jewels of first water; the paint and powder rare work of nature. Never b prancing horse, was Queen Titania of Fairy land, but come for a brief hour to feast the mor tal eye. For Youth takes what it sees and be lieves; disillusion only comes with experience. T.he trapeze performers, the high jumpers, the somersaulters, as each came, the Boy’s jaw dropped, and eyes stuck out in wonderment. Passing along the seats now were the peanut venders, and of a sudden appetite conquered curiosity. Followed the boys with glasses of lemonade, in pink and blue—and thirst suc ceeded appetite. Not even did disillusionment come when one of the peddlers of liquid was seen underneath the seats filling his empty glasses from parts of those remaining, and a few minutes later a peanut seller replenishing his stock by similar methods. At last it was over. No us e to say concert, for nothing could eclipse what had been seen, and tired but not surfeited with great things the homeward way was wended, what had been witnessed still furnishing ample topics for pro gressive conversation. Perhaps least of all things has the circus changed in forty years. There is more to it now; things have come and gone since the days of John Robinson; but the essential features re main the same. The circus has not changed be- ;iuse human nature is the same, for after all the circus is a part of the human man. If there was no youth or old age with the heart of youth, there would be no circus; for ith youth and its illusions the circus is a part. With the coming of age and the iconoclastic knowledge that age brings, happy is he who can still retain that part of the heart of youth and its imaginations that make the circus still possible thing. A big new discovery cigarette blending The big thing about Chesterfields is their unique 1 Vod. The Chesterfield blend is an entirely new com- 1 ution of tobaccos. Thisblend is the most important new development in cigarette making in 20 years. A? a result, Chesterfields produce a totally new kind of cigarette enjoyment—they satisfy l Just like a “bite’’ before bedtime satisfies when you’re hungry. Del with all that, Chesterfields are MILD, too! '.11s new enjoyment (satisfy', yet mild) cornea ONLY in Chesterfields because no cigarette maker can cony the Chesterfield blend. cJSyyo"tt*jKiftMi£sff<zccoCbr. rv a package of those cigarettes that SATISFY 1 g) ^3 (Si GARBTTES EVIDENCE FROM ALABAMA. From the Opelika, Ala., News we publish story told by an Alabama farmer which throws light on the partidge-boll weevil proposition. This farmer killed a partridge and found its crop so full of weevils that it did not look pos sible for another to get in. Last fall the Gazette and a number of other Georgia newspapers suggested that farmers prohibit hunting on their lands in order to save the birds against the boll weevil’s coming.) Georgia’s Game Warden hurried into print! with the statement that the partridge did not eat the boll weevil; the bird stayed on the ground and the weevil in the air, and they did not meet, so to speak. Indeed, so positive was the Warden’s statement that you might almost imagine it would be better to kill out as many birds as possible, to give the weevils room to get away. Many did not take into account that while the State Warden is on salary, the revenues from his office depend on the number of hunt ing license sold, and if there is no hunting, no body will want a license—and gave their birds over to th e slaughter. Now comes the same evidence from Alabama that has been published from time to time in the news from Texas, in government bulletins and Audubon reports. The farmers of Geor gia will do well to heed it. They have already lost one year’s time by listening to bad advice. 10 tov Sc Also uacLcd20 ZbrlQc & J OTHER CROPS—BUT COTTON, TOO. TEN PER CENT. BITE. From the Savannah Morning News. At a mass meeting at Tifton the other day H. H. Tift expressed the hope that the farmers will not give up planting cotton altogether in Tift county, and gave as a reason that $500,000 is in vested in a compress, gins, warehouses and oth er things there, the value of which almost en tirely depends upon the bringing in of the an nual cotton crop. Surely the Tift county farm qrs are not thinking of giving up cotton alto gether. The boll weevil may very properly make Georgia farmers do a lot of thinking, but if they get panicky and decide that cotton can not be produced at all in weevil territory, and so quit planting it. the state soon will bo in the dumps as much as it was in the first few months of the war period. There is too much capital invested in provid ing means of handling the cotton crop for Geor gia farmers to let the weevil scare them clear out of sight of cotton. They would be most un wise to surrender to the invading pest without giving the hardest fight that is in them. What they must do, because it is the only sensible thing to do, is to raise some cotton in spite of the weevil, and to raise other crops, too. If they should quit raising cotton, the other states of the cotton belt would likely profit enormous ly on that account because with Georgia out of the statistics the cotton crop would b t > sure to be far short of the world’s demands and the price would jump to staggering hights, with a huge profit in which Georgia would not share, while Georgia farmers would he trying to raise crops with which many of them ar e unfamiliar and for whic.h marketing arrangements have not yet reached the half way point toward per fection. Other states raise cotton in spite of the wee vil and of course are so mindful of their own interest that they would he very grateful to Georgia farmers if this state should be cut off the list of cotton growing states. Perhaps it is all mere moonshine to fear that Georgia’s cot ton crop will be reduced to a negligible number of hales, hut ther,> evidently is too much dread of the weevil. The pest is an enemy worthy of highest respect, worthy of being fought with all the skill and energy that can be brought to bear against it, but if the farmers become pan icky and quit planting cotton they will not only kill the weevil, so far as Georgia is concerned, but hit the state and themselves a tremendous financial blow. The Georgia farmer's program should be: To learn all he can about how to BROOKFIELD NEWS. In the timely editorial from the Savannah Morning News, republished in the Gazette Sat urday, sonic excellent advice is given in com ment on Mr. II. H. Tift’s statement that we have too much invested in enterprises depend ing entirely on cotton to think of the total abandonment of that crop. Incidentally, the w hole text of the article bears out Mr. Savely’s much criticised statement that, with proper effort, the boll weevil in Georgia can be made ninety per cent, scare and ten per cent, bite.” The farmers of Tift county are not thinking of giving up cotton altogether. But they know, from what they have seen in other sections, • hat for two ot three years at least something nust be found to replsce it as a principal m nev crop. To aid them in this, the business men of Tifton are preparing to offer them a market for peanuts, corn, velvet beans and live stock. With these serving for a few years as lead ing money crops, all familiar with the situation are sure that true crop diversification, that which for fifty years the South has needed to make it rich, will come. With the raising of live stock will come the production of ferti iizers at home, and thus a great leak in the South’s money crop will be stopped. When we raise enough in Georgia to feed the people of Georgia, we will stop the annual outflow from the state of $140,000,000. and we will not need so much cotton. With live stock, pasturage, grain and cover crops, will come richer soil and a higher state of cultivation. When all our cotton lands will produce a bale to the acre, as was said at Fri day night's meting, then we can raise cotton despite the weevil—by means of early fruitage and more intensive cultivation. No, the people of this section have no idea of abandoning cotton—the only trouble is to persuade many of them to avoid ruin by not planting a full crop next year. But by diversi fication and soil improvement they are prepar ing to raise it at a profit under weevil condi tions. This cannot be done when the weevils must he kept picked from three or four acre: in order to produce a bale. After all, cotton is the South's great natural money crop; the only one which the great ma jority of her farmers know how to grow, and the only one in which she has a monopoly What we ar e trying to do here is to make ii possible to grow cotton under new and changed conditions. And when that is done, the production of feed crops and the rais ing of live stock will have such a firm hold on our people that the peanut and feed mills, the packing plant and the industries dependent on cotton will he working here side by side, with a common interest, and all filling an important mission in South Georgia’s industrial develop ment. $60 an acre for their peanut crop, and hav e a good crop of hay besides.” : „ , , , _ , „ ,, , The Ford fever is still raging hej Peanuts are one of the crops the farmers Messrs. R. H. McMillan and J., of the territory around Tifton will try next year Parrish are the latest victims, bo as a substitute for cotton. While we do not be- huvi n I-' L piirchased ry a n car y ’esch 6 U- lieve there is as much money in peanuts as-week. there is in corn and velvet beans for feed, and; tlu ; attracti^guest 1 of^Mkses’ H liv e stock as a side line, yet a good acreage j Vorte and Hazel Haisten a few da should be tried in connection with the other - th M* C °H oua ton Overby, fron crops. The farmers in this section should not | Ridge, is visiting relatives ' put all their eggs into one basket, and by try ing all three of the crops are almost certain of a profit. So long as the pric e of cotton seed is so high, and this due to the high price of cotton seed products, there ought to be -good money in peanuts, for th e oil men will bp able to pay a fair price for them. And so long as the cot ton crop is limited there is little doubt of the price of seed staying up. week. Mr. Henry Sumner, of spent a few hours in Brookflej day. Mrs. Odie L. Taylor day in Enigma with Mrs., mond. Mr. and Mrs. W. , family, went over _ Tuesday to attend union. There ’ relatives present^ tioas of the . fight the weevil, and to grow cotton in spite of such beautiffil things as those! t * ie P e *t; and then to raise other crops in in breathed. lady horseback riders (one aii"in silver, another' crc t 8 , in f < *1 a " tities fr °T I. e!lr to year.'building in crir-e.- hnd wni.i \ s 1M i„ «P “hi land by crop rotation and the cattle m- I i. JL /E S ui' \ thc ‘fK,dustry. Let him becom c more prosperous with f nabit g. steturg with each Step of her cotton as one of his crops, despite the weevil. isjlfei “NOT A GUN FIRED.” Georgia is soon to have a game preserve so well stocked that it can spare plenty of game animals and birds for less fortunate localities. It is Blackboard Island, near Savannah, and the story is told in the simple statement of the war den in charge: “Not a gun is allowed fired on the island.” How much would it contribute toward check ing the progress of the boll weevil if not a gun was allowed fired in Georgia’s woods and fields this fall and winter? ly iUs cn<l cl’ builulr.j ur * nature la < „ have bo much er» that they tnr my n*J] for t'-t cf tei A«!!: if. J.i Mrs. C. W.j Sunday for. In a little over a month the sound of the guns KUest in the woods will remind one of a tiny battle, for several It is a pity that our State General Assembly could not see far enough ahead last summer to stop the killing of birds this winter. But it jj ow did not, and the matter is left to the individual The hun farmer and land owner. tSfun If those who want to stop the weevil will stop an average I the killing of birds on their farms and then in- Jhe'mlnSS / crease their (locks of chickens and turkeys, put- this slight i ting in a few guineas if they can be had, they 1 will find they have valuable helpers in the fight, becomei who will work for their board. only"star “Not a gun fired” would be a fine report from Georgia” woods and fields this fall. which i pure I liig; PROFIT IN PEANUTS. PARTRIDGES DEVOUR BOLL WEEVILS. From the Opelika (Ala.) News. Russell Cole, former game warden of this county, while at the News office Tuesday told of an occurrence which shows we have a bless ing in our midst, if we only take advantage of m it. He says that while sitting on his porch with with his family a few days ago a covey of back, partridges flew into his yard. One bird allight- ed in the hall of his home, which Mr. Cole caught alive. He said he examined the bird and found its craw full of boll weevils. Mr. Cole says he didn’t see how that bird could pos sibly have eaten another weevil, as its craw was crammed with them. He says this assur- e'dlv Indicates that we have a blessing in our midst if w e ..nly realized it. He said that while he was county warden the state game warden wrote h'm repeatedly and urged that hunters hold down as much as possible in killing part- A former citizen if Tift county now livingi ridges, as they were the best boll weevil de nt Arlington, where the boljwee'il got in itsj ft* hie’outoion Vwouiil be theVsf thing that^ worn this year, writes to a rient tore: ^ ! ever happened for onr section if everyone “Growers of peam is in !his section mad ; j bR j wo n1d prohibit trespassing or si money this year. T. ■ received from $-'if to in r, so that the partridges might be protecti nearly I Medical serlptlon. I better and neighborhood. 1‘leree's i one thus all cal Dlscorerj’_ lion.' I ah lets' with | -I I and kind i from 1