Newspaper Page Text
Cifton <Ba3ette
PuUukW Weekly .
; »t the Postofflce at Tlfton. Georgia,
». mail matter ef the recontrclaaa
. Editor and Manager
. L. Herring.
Official Organ City of Tift<*i
and Tift County, Georgia.
lim push a bill or two out of the way. Finally,
With a sigh, he drew out a nickle. 'Got change
for five cents?' he asked'. I reluctantly admit
ted 1 had no pennies. He turned over the nickle
SATURDAY NIGHT.
The Preacher’s Fee-
“What is the usual fee the clergyman re
ceives for performing a marriage ceremony?'’
was the question-
** About as varied as the^whims of man,
the minister replied.
We were sitting out near the end of the long
piazza, waiting until things were ready for the
' sacred rites that were to unite two young lives,
perhaps for eternity. Our chairs, of home-turn-
ed % hickory. with cowhide.seats, were tipped
back against the log wall of'the house. A wis
teria vine with .its wealth of purple shut off
the rays of the sun and Woughtreolcomtart^
a cape jessamine in full bloom added beauty
and the freshly filled cedar water bucket, with
its sweet, clean gourd, a sense of homeliness.
In one of the large rooms of the double-pen
house.' across the wide hallway- a bevy of chafe
teriag girl friends were arraying the bride for
the second of life’s greatest events. From the
other main room, behind us. came occasional
bursts of laughter, where the groont’s friends
were teasing, while he feigned indifference
and wondered where his nerve was gone—if
he could remember that he ever had any.
Acrosa the white clean-swept, sanded yard,
the log kitchen was a scene of bustle, as the
work of preparing the feast which had been
for.days under way was reaching ita culmina
tion. Plainly.in sight outside were the large
iron wash pots and kettles, under which fires
■mouldered, each with its steaming contribu
tion ready. Under the big oaks which shaded
the interval between house and. kitchen, deft
hands were spreading cloths on the long tables,
to the accompaniment of rattling dishes and
tinkling cutlery- Hurrying from kitchen to
house and back to the kitchen the anxious-faced
mother divided her mind and time between the
daughter soon to depart from the family circle
and her duty as hostess-
Out by the front gate, "down the lane,
groups about the yard and thronging the far-
Tho cheape«t thing in the world is advici
unless you get it from a lawyer; Missourians
can be convinced hy attending a baseball game-
Next only to the advice hurled at the ball play-
cause they are soon to be candidates for re- er j 8 that given the legislator-—and one is heeded
election, and if they do their full duty in passing about a » muc h as the other- The open season
upon petitions for exemption, thii may react up- j 8 now on f 0 r advice to Georgia’s near-state-.-
"Bn them at the pqlls. | m en. and the Gazette finds itself unable to reil it
Yet, notwithstanding the fact that serving, CU8 tom. and contributes its quota, with no ex-
their epuntry in this respect may cost them their pe ctation as to result- For the first afld only
ALWAYS THE GOAT.
Always, in the scheme of the promoter, when
the negro is implicated, he is the goat. Many
hundreds are now suffering in cities North and
East where they are not wanted and where
they do not want to stay, the victims Of immi
gration agent s who reaped temporary gain by
playing upon the negro's gullibility and .his
optimistic propensity for looking for the prom
ised land- /
The story is half a century old. First after
mistaken zealots'fmd given him a freedom for
which he wa 3 not prepared and a ballot he did
not know how to use. the negro was mad>
victim of the radical and the carpet-bagger
who fattened at his expense.
Next, came the promoters who held Liberia
and a return to Africa ns the negro’s opportuni
ty for independence and easy street. Not so
many year 3 ago, several negro families from
this immediate section were lured to Liberia,
there to perish miserably from want aifd dis
ease, except half a dozen isolated exceptions
who were brought back to South Georgia by
white friend s here to whom they fortunately
had opportunity to appeal.
SHIFT EXEMPTION BOARDS.
Many county officers in Georgia, just as pa
triotic and juat as anxious as any other class of
men to serve their country, are reluctant to
between his finger- two or threb times, and re- _ ko«pho
marked. ’It'll take three cents to mail them pa- «erve on Selectiv. Draft exemption boards bc-
pers back to the Ordinary.’ referring to the
license, as that was during the days of three
cent postage. ‘Yes’, I’said. He turned .the nickle
around once again, and finally in. a burst of
generosity, handed it to me and said. -Well;
mail ’em and keep the change-’ Yet that couple
is living together yet so far as I know.
Two young women came to the door of the
farther room and called the groomsmen- There
was a bustle of preparation and the crowd be
gan gathering in the house- As we rose to join
them, the preacher said:
"It would be much better for us if the brides
gave the fee. They don’t know what they are
getting—and some of them never find put. The
grooms are too one-id ead.” ►
Of course you remember way back in the
past, when you were married. How much did
you give the preacher? And do you still think
you got a bargain?
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
OWN MARSHAL’S SALE.
OT $!? , 2r3? St" 1 the ’ courthouse
Tuesday
is”fours of Ml*, tie following
Pr c?nT y 'o^tory frame dwelling
home and lot In the town of Omegm
■aid State end
block 15 of the *aid town of Omega
positions, the great majority of the county of
ficers ip thi a 8tate are *°ing ahead and making
their preparations to serve, as true citizens
should- This shows the calibre of the men the
people of Georgia counties have elected
serve them, and classes them as true types of
patriotic Americana. A few have made protests
to the Governor, and Gazette has never
garded these protests as either unsound or un
reasonable- The county officers of the state get
their living from them positions; to lose these
means a necessary readjustment, and they
would be less than human did they view a meas-
calculated to bring about such a change
with-equanimity: ~ T
On the other hand, because of their acquain
tance with men jmd affairs these very officers
are best qualified to serve on the exemption
boards, and dubtless this was one of the princi
pal reason actuating Gov- Harris in retaining
them, despite the protest of some, and many
objections by the friends of others.
The suggestion that these exemption boards
rotate, or shift from one' county to another,
that these officers would not be compelled to
paSs upon the petitions of the men on -whose
relatives and friends they must depend for votes
at the next election.- appears to offer a happy
solution to the vexed problem. The move has
been endorsed by several papers of the state,
among them the Macon News and the Ameri
cas Times-Recorder. and"so far no good reason*
have been urged against it.
The officers of Tift, sitting, for instance a:
an exemption board in Irwiri. could receive from
the officers of that county in consultation,
necessary information, and go ahead'with their
work without any fear as to consequences. They
will do that in any event-.b^rtwe would be glad
to See some way arranged by which these men
would not incur punishment for doing their
llrtpse of Chief 'duty. Rotation appears to offer the solution. In
advice we expect to give the General Ass j -.bly
which convenes-today is summed in one line:
Quit, and go home.
It has been a long time since Georgia needed
annual sessions of its General Assembly Yet
\ within the past two years we have had four.
The state i s surfeit with legislation. The peo
ple are tired, and there is not even a pretext
left of necessary things'to be done which should
keep the body in session for the time limit of
fifty days- /
In thi s time of tae nation’s crisis, when the
watchword is conservation—economy of resour:
ces. why should Georgia spend many thousands
of dollars on an assembly uselessly prolonged?
In this time when the institutions of the state-
are handicapped for funds for operating expen
ses and obliged to do without much needed im
provements because of a short-sighted and hap
hazard financial policy, why not have less legis
lation and give the funds to the state’s institu
tions, notably the asylum for the diseased of
mind?
In *this time, when every resource of ‘.he ^ ^ _
citizen is taxed to the limit by cjie increased! SSriof »id
Hd SUM «d COunty locBUd^
- ’ 15 ot th« said town of Omeg.
occupied by D. W HUdntea.
udd lot being a rectangular lot 100
by 150 feet. eituated »t the south-
eLt comer of the interaction of
r^dur street end Misusalppi ave-
nuein ■2d town end being bound
On the north by Mississippi .venue*
tut . dlitance of 160 feet by a
fence end the Unde occupied by J.
D. Roxar, e tenant, bound on the
couth a distance of JOO feet by .
fence and the Unda of S. 3. Baw,
and bound on the weet a distance
of 150 feit by Cedar street.
Said land levied on ai the J
party of Z. C. Green to satis
execution laiued on the 28th d
May. 1917, by J. H. Jenldna,^
of the Town >f Omega, f-
the mn of Omega, agi
Green- for taxea due tha ■
of Omega by the aaidIT
taxes for the year "
This May the- Ef*''"
LIBEL F
J. M. Liph
In Tift SupefB
1917.
To the Defen
You arc I
ally or by at—,
at the Superior
and for said county
Monday in July,
there to aniwer
the above atyled <
the c
ili proceed a
Jidgc of aaid eourt thH the 29th
diqr of May, 1917.
■ T D. W.bb. Clerk.
Tift Superior Court.
Now comes new- of the coll-,-
Sam’s expedition. In 1914. Sam. a black man this respect, the Times-Recorder
of intelligence but not of principle., created
th.r end of the ptau. the weddin* MM*. ^
grouped
and chatted, while only a few elderly
fiat with the preacher, a man of years and
honors, a meek though gen : al soldier who hadl‘ - - .
labored v.ll*ntly in imm&m «nw. It HI 1 ■ ,ron "” d .. to H^blbd. ‘hem on Brnokn
I of semi-religious enthusiasm toy raising
and Virginia to transport Jhem to the
gold coast of Africa, where he claimed to own
sixty-nine square miles of fertile land. on.which
during a lull in the talk thaf the rather personal
question came, which brought the candid re-
Pb"
"like all other preachers. 1 have had some
rather illuminating experiences, which give
true insight into the peculiarities of human na
ture.” he continued. “I have received large
fees and small ones; fees given grudgingly and
fees given freely. Nearly always 1 am asked the
charge, and Invariably reply that no charge is
made. I have been paid in bills, in small change,
in corn, and flour and fodder and wood and hay
And vegetables, even in milk and butter. I think
I speak for ministers of the gospel as a whole
when I say that we appreciate these homely
tAatimonials. products of a man’s own labor, per
haps best of all- Once a groom gave the best
man $ 10 for me: he divided it. kept half and
gave me $5. But that was not so bad as another
best man to whom my fee was intrusted
kept it all- Another groom^put a $20 bill into
an envelope and asked his brother to hand it
to me; he took out the $20 and put in a $10 and
passed it on; guess he thought the fee was too
much and he would keep the money in the
family-
About the largest fee I ever got was $26;
ft came in a check and when I sent it to the
bank it came back unpaid, and never was paid.
they couW-live at ease in a land of milk and
honey. Sam purchased a steamer, the Curityba,
renamed the Liberia, loaded part of his dupes
at New York and the balance at Galveston,
and sailed for Africa, despite the warning giv-
bv the British government that he did not'
•n a fqpt of land on the gold coast and advice
to negroes not to join in the movement.
Sure enough, when the expedition arrived
The suggestion has been made, and it is a
good one, that the exemption boards of each
county be shifted to a. nearby county to pass
upon applications for exemption from military
service presenters bv the registered male citi
zens. In this manner embarassing situations
would not he created and the officials who
the discharge of a patriotic duty would unques
tionably draw upon themselves much unpopu
larity by reason of their unbiased action, woufd
be relieved of a most vexatious problem-
The sheriffs, clerks, ordinaries and county
physicians who comprise the exemption boards
in the various counties are for the most part
making no effort to evade their obligation in
the mnlter Vlaved upon them by the federal
authorities who must have their fullest co-op
eration in the task of gathering the huge array
necessary for the defeat of Germany
It would unquestionably occur, however, that
more tax for legislation that he does not want
and had rather do without?
Perhaps there are a few pleasure^ ot 'local
legislation that «* need—very lev.- however;
much less than their promoters will nature-
Those really necessary shpuld be passed within
ten days.
Perhaps there are a few measures of a gen*
eral nature_of more or less necessity- Why not
pass them and quit?^
As a whole, however. Georgia has a sur
feit of laws- Feyc lawyer* know all of them,
and the average layman knows less than- a
tenth of them. . Why not suspend and give the
people a chance to catch up?
" Why not save the people money by adjourn
ing and goini on a vacation for the balance of
the summer? Both legislators and people will
be better oil the first of September.
However, the above is so much wasted »pace-
The legislator, like the balance of us, i 3 set in
his way4. The Geheral Assembly will fritter
away /forty-five days of this session and set
forward the clock the last night in order tp‘
rush' through necessary bills-
But wi feel better now that thi» b out of our
system. It is good advice, if we do say it, and
the solons won’t heed it.
LIBEL FOR DIVORCE
„. C. Clinton vs. Hattie Clinton.
In Tift Superior Court. July Tens,
1917.
To the Defendant. Hattie Cllntoa:
iu are hereby required person-
or by attorney to be and ap
pear at the Superior Court to be
held in and for aaid county on tha
Second Monday in July. 1917, than
and there to answer the complaint
in the above styled case, as In dc-
fault thereof the said court win
proceed aa to justice shall apper
tain. _ _
Withes, the HonorsMfc R.
Judge of said court. thIFthe 14th
day of. May. 1917.
Henry D Webb. CUrk.
Tift Superior Court
B. C. Williford. Plaintiff's Attorney
LIBEL FOR DIVORCE.
October
THE COMMISSION’S TASK.
am’s land was not to be found. The negroes j — ,
. j . r. j _i. c..„ ...where an exemption board passed on tne ex-
scattered to find work and Sam is reported l em ptions from, its own county, there would/hrise
have drifted to a West Coast native tnbe.l questions w j,j P h if justly settled by the board,
where he wa, made chief- Now the negroes would make the members targets for political
who joined the pilgrimage have petitioned the
Acting Governor of the Gold Coast Colony to
send them back to Texas, and Sir Cecil Spring-
Rice. the British Ambassador, has notified our
State Department that many of them are des-
t’tutc. Perhaps this government may bring
them back; as it has a habit of providing for
those who will not provide for themselves.
Just what will be the next scheme to deprive
the negro of the money of which he has so lit
tle, rests with the future. Melancholy th^fact
remains that alway s can men of his own race
the white be found ready to exploit him to
his own undoing for the sake of even the most
insignificant temporary gain-
reprisals and attacks which, although
ranted and emanating from personal/spleen,
would in some cases result in real injury
officials themselves.
The market for kings is rather depressed-just
now. and if the report is true that the Greeks
got 4.000 ton 3 of wheat for Constantine, they
closed out at a good price.
WHICH ONE?
DOES NOT HIT THE FARMER
Aa usual with preachers, 1 give-these fees to
my wife for houckoeplne expend and I had | About the 8,ll,m,propo„t,on put forward by
to make Qj, one ,eod-otherwm it would the °PP°n™l* <* '“d control, in their publicity
have almost broken her heart. I have had
young people to come to my study, get married,
and the groom give me a handsome fee; I have
been away from home to big weddings where
hundreds of dollath were spent fo^entertain
ment, and never received a cent—not even
traveling expenses. Guess they thought the
preacher’s time belonged to the people anyway.
“One young couple came to me and as soon
aa the ceremony was over, the young fellow—
very nervous, as thqy usually are—pulled a roll
of bills out of his pocket and began peeling off
one; then another, then a third; then he hesi
tated. and catching the loose money in both
hands, cup-shaped, handed it to me saying,
‘here; take it attr He never counted it; neither
did L But that couple didn't stay married a
month; 1 always felt like 1 ought to send some
■ ef-that roil bfcriv *U>'hintp ihe ’knot' Slipped
somehow- I
“The smallest fee I ever got was twq cents-
A young fellow rode up to my gate one^9»F*
came in, and said, ‘Well, parson; Paw wants
you to do a job fur 'im. Inquiry developed that
it was to marry him. It was a long, hot ride,
and after the ceremony was over, the old man,
who had previously handed me the license,
reached down in hia pocket took out an old to-
o-pouch purse and began digging into it
hear sinaH change rattltyg and Saw
campaign which has reached all sections of the
•ountry, is that the measure strikes at the far
mers. :
How much has the speculation in wheat
which doubled the price after the grain passed
out of the producers’ hands, benefitted the
wheat growers? How much has the advance in
cotton, coming after the great bulk of the far
mers had sold their cotton, benefitted the South
ern farmers? And so on. down through the
tire list of production.
Nobody wants to deprive the producers of
; cent of the value of their products. Instead
of doing so, regulated prices would insure'their
receiving the full worth of what they put on
the market- Food control is to prevent specula
tion from doubling the price after the food has
passed out of the producer’s hands. These
specopitfii-R Artu'fhe Immense capital back of
them wield a great power in Washington, and
it is their friends who seek to becloud the issue
by bringing in the “dear farmer" who is always
forgotten until he i 3 wanted to pull somebody’s
roasting chestnuts.
The great mass of farmers, iifcluding the
Southern cotton growers, want to help this gov
ernment to win the war- And they are too in
telligent to let the lobbyists of the speculators
use them to defeat one of the most vital meas
ures necessary to success.
The world-war involving {he two hemispheres
orthe btanet. /
Bounded only by. the blue sky of Heaven, is
A struggle, to death of one, between-
Autocracy. which may have been essential to
the evolution of past ages toward civili
zation, and
Democracy, WHICH SHALL STAND FOR
HUMAN LIBERTY BETWEEN THE,
POLES FOREVER.
Duty is the Hest. A choice is easy. Which
on*? - /
The ascendancy of the wickedness of the one
state responsible for the wprld catacly
sm over the free peoples of the balance
of the world, with the blood of count
less millions on their hands, and ithe
curse Of God and man on their heads, is
unthinkable, but
It’s a guess- Which one shall prevail?
Failure to realize the menace is costing millions,
of lives and billions of treasure.
Evenv day’s hesitation adds to the sacrifice.
A gigantic task confronts the American Com
mission on Transportation, now in Russia. With
resources almost .unlimited, that country has
one of the most inadequate systems of transpor
tation of any of the civilized fiations. In fact, it
was lack of transportation that made fFan easy
victim'for Germany, and poor distribution due
to lack of transportation that brought the food
crisis that made the revolution which over
turned an empire successful-
Many have wondered why. if we are to send
men to the fighting front, they are not sent
across the Pacific, to Vladivostok and thence to
the Russian front, to strike Germany at her
most vulnerable point? The answer to that
question is Russia’s lack of transportation. Al
though the Pacific is free of submarines and
American troops could be landed in Russid
with comparatively little danger, they must
then be transported for 5,000 miles over a sin
gle-track railroad, laidfor the major part
with the thirty pound «Ael rail of half a cen
tury gone. To get an army over this line would
be a task, to bring behind it a steady stream of
munitions and supplies would be almost imp<
sible. Then, shipping is woefully short on the
Pacific.
Last month Russia placed orders in this coun
try for 10.000 freight cars and 500 locomotives
and says she'wants to buy four times as much.
At our Pacific ports are 350,000 tons of w ir
supplies awaiting shipment to Russia, while at
Vladivostok supplies worth hundreds of mil-
In Tift Suparior Court,
Ti-rra. 1917..
Mr*. Roe Harris Holt n. Robert
Holt
To the Defendant. Robert Holt: *
Vo U a re hereby required peraon-
or by attorney to be and ap
pear B t the Superior Court to be
held in and for aaid county on the
Second Monday in October. 1917,
then and there to aniwer the com
plaint in the above styled ease, aa .
default thereof the couii will
cced as to justice shall apper-
Witneas the Honorable R. Eve,
Judge of said court, thia the 14th
day of June, 1917.
Henry D. W.bb.
Clerk Superior Court Tift Co. Ga.
- C Williford. Plaintiff* Attorney
TWENTY-SIX RATTLERS.
Alien Paulk and Dan Fletcher
broke into Dyke Branph’a rattle
make patch out near Waterloo this
weekend made a great killing. *
First the mother rattler, which
wu nearly aix feet long. , and foil
size; then - twenty-five little ratttata |
making a total of twentv-aix. The
young rattlers were only a few inch- '
es long.
Allen killed the ratrler with *
elub_
or drrad should t
Too mnch cannot
wonderful rnuui
expanding and soothes tfc.
The hosts of hell, with the Shiboleth of Sin and
Death, are at the throat of civilization-
God speed the day when we shall have done
with talk and argument, a'nd. girded
for the final test, be ready to die if need
be rather than surrender-
,W/>uW jt jiui .he-batter-to-perish in tfoe last-dying
light of freedom than live another day
in the slavery that would indubitably
enthrall human kind?
The issue is joined. The world will soon make
the choice.
Which one?
Choose ye today, then
Do your best—not “bib"
To do-less than your best would be to give
comfort to the enemy
The enemy of freedom
GET BUSY AT SOMETHING USEFUL.
JESSE E- MERCER.
Washington, June 1917.
■train when baby la
"Mother’s Friend’’ la entirely eaf. a
may be had of your drutcUt. Write tha
bradfleld Regulator Co.
mar BuUdlng. AUanta.
Ureatlng I ' —
Baby". ~
"Motherhood and t
charge, and you will nod It ver
Tears jfttae by thousand. c_ ..
proves beyond all doubt that ''MothsFa ■
certainly should be used by every expect-
ant mother for ah. mould do everything
iu h. r 1 v.. r to help nature In her wnek,
. ...... , , ..In at th. ert*l» la inftntu ,
lions are piled because they cannot; be Carried M
to the front. During Russia’s time of greatest
need last year, the materials for the lack of
which her generals were losing battles were
congested on the wharves at Vladivostok- For
more than four months of the year. Russian
ports are ice-bound. Partial relief was obtained
last year when a railroad was completed from
Petrograd to open.water, but the terminals are
so Xar. totally inadequate for ih« nation 1 * h«ed*.-
If American ingenuity and enterprise solves;
Russia’s transportation problem, while *’Amer ,
ican prestige and diplomacy keeps her revoliw,
tionlsts from making a separate peace with"
Germany, they will have gone far toward 'rin-
ning the war for the Entente. For with vie- Co»t Little-Mak# Big Money
quate transportation and a stable government j™ *»;
Russia will be a giant among nations.
- - quick .run. Mid • tlw. klo.1, In Ul dM.
Somehow, that 100.000 men just panting to
follow the Colonel to France hasn’t shown up drr-cm wd -u mu np$~.
in the enlistment records, M.h.V«fatSwilCi fawh