Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

ZCbc ZEtfton (Sasette Published Weekly (Georgia* Entered at the Postoffice at Tifton, as mall matter of the second class. fao. L. Herring.. .Editor and Manager Official Organ City of Tifton end Tift County, Georgia. SATURDAY NIGHT Beside the Road. An August sun beat down with a pitiless heat t" that penetrated clothing, drove in perspiration and scorched the skin. Even the pines, usually evergreen of bough, had a dull grey cast, and what wind occasionally came was as a furnace breath. For many days no rain had fallen and the wire graSs was as rolled steel, dusty, and rustled dismally. Along the road, a three-path trail which led for miles seemingly endless over gently rolling hills and waterless vales, a man and his family slowly trudged their wdy. He carried a valise once of black oil-cloth but now worn to a dull brown wrhich contained their earthl> possessions; two tiny children dragged their , tired feet behind while the woman carried third in her arms. All, man. woman and children, had sallow complexions, like tallow that has yellowed in rendering. The man's face war pinched,-shew ing signs of recent suffering, and his mouth, to bacco-stained. drooped despondenth. It was apparent that the woman had long since part ed with health, for her lips, snuff-stained, were swollen with fever blisters and her thin hair lay in damp strands under her cloth bonnet. The two children who were able to walk- emaciated nnd pitiful-looking, alternately in creasing their pace to catch up. then dropping baffk and crying for those ahead to wait. The babe the mother carried gasped weakly, -with eyes closed. This , family had been to Florida, then the land of-promise. Malaria followed by chills and fever had worked havoc with them, and with what money they could raise they had ■tarted for home and relatives in Georgia. The railway had brought them as far as it reached, and they were making the balanch of the way on foot The night before they had spent with a hospitable stockman and started in the early morning with twenty miles between them and their old home. As they journeyed, stopping for frequent rests, for both father^nd mother were weak, the sun climbed—but needs must and hunger drove, so they kept their way. Just after noon they came to a cleared tract, where a few years ago a tornado had passed. A path a mile and a half wide had been cleaned of every standing thing, leaving only fallen timber and desola tion. As far as the eye could see in either di rection the path extended. It could not be sur rounded. so the only alternative wns to cross it. The woodman s axe had cleared the road of logs, but for all that mile and a half there wa not even a bush to give shelter from the sun' rays, in the hottest part of the day. when all nature gasped. There was nothing to do but to cross it. and ■o they did,- with what expenditure of effort on ly the pitying Father who looks on could know. A* last they were across, the latter part of the struggle lightened by the sight of the bushes of a small stream at the edge of the woods, which looked c^ol and inviting by contrast! When at last they reached this, and the mother sank exhausted upon a small log beside the road in the shade, she removed the ragged Cloth with which she had shade.! the the babe from the sun nnd screamed in horror when she saw that it was gasping its last. And there, in the loneliness of desolation, father and mother looked on and saw their,ba- by die, helpless, with no! even the most common . resource of medicine, and not even a drop of wafer with which to cool its fever-parched lips except a slimy, tepid, reddish-stained ' mud- puddle where the stream formerly ran. And when It breathed its last they could only grieve * in helpless sorrow, even ns the rich must grieve helplessly, although surrounded bv every re- soi-. e of wealth, when the Death Angel ho THE TIFTON GAZETTE, TIFTON, GA, thataa me afternoon, now came in oyer gener- ous plenty, drenching the living and running in rh-ulets from the box containing the coffin of tie dead. A sordid story, with neither.humor nor mor- a ‘ I but to teach that the poor must suffer and *aut; that out of suffering may come chasten- in *l that out of the travail of sorrow a peopli ace made; that it was possible even in a land of plenty and of hospitality for death to come from want, and from exposure in a salubrious dime; that sometimes it would seem that even the heavens and the elements of nature con- 8 Pire to add to the burdens of those who al- ready have ever more than it seems they can be ar. An impossible story? Not so; I saw. RIGHT AS USUAL The test has developed that President Wil son Was right as usual when hejisked Congress -o_make the age for the first cal! for men un der selective draft 18 to 2.1 years. And Con cessional muddling has forced the country to Pay a big price for not following advice that w as dictated by the opinions of men of experi ence and by sound common-sense. In the South especially a very large percent age of men over 21 are married. Early mar riages ih this country are the rule and of those railed before the examining boards 3 out of 5 have wives or families dependent, and occas ionally the percentage is larger than that. As a consequence, there is a large percent age of applications for exemption. Not be cause these young men are lacking in loyalty to their country and. reluctant to fight for it, if fighting is necessary, but because they hav wives and perhaps children dependent upon them for support, to whom they owe first alle giance. Had Congress followed Mr. Wilsosn’s sug gestion and fixed the ago at from 18 tb 23. the percentage of unmarried young men called rould have been much larger, at least 3 to nd perhaps. I to 5. It would not have been necessary to call nor examine so many of them ;n order to secure the required number; the work of the examining boards would have been shortened and simplified, and a class of young soldiers secured who would have been rpbre anxious to enter sen-ice because they h^d less ties binding them at^home. * It is. this sort of bungling that has hindered progress of preparation for war. It is or. Cop- gress and not on the President or tlie War De partment that the blame rests for the caljhig of such a large percentage of young married men out for examination. These are not the ones the War Department wants for boll Weevils in sea island , AUGUST 1C LAND COtVo From the fiat, those acquainted with the sit uation have'been very apprehensive concern ing the Sea Island cotton crop, once the boll weevil reached this territory. Few of the usual precauticifis that have been found more-or less effective against the Weevil are practical with Sea Island cotton. It matures late, is slow to open, and begins to take on fruit about the time he weevil starts to get in his work, thus mak ing it an easy victory. The following from the Valdosta Times show-s that apprehension as to the state of thus ar-,8 Sea Island crop was not misplaced: ♦u M u\. Wa,te M T> Lane is a con 'ert regarding he boll weevils and the damage~they are capa- bie of doing. Up to ten days/agb he had his doubts about the stories that have been pub lished. but the weevils have convinced him. * e . n . da >'a ago there were a few scouts in the news. I hey came so easily that the farmers began to think they would do no harm. They looked as if they were going to be extra good— eat out of the farmers' hand.” so to speak. But 8,n ~? *" a * the main army has arrived. • ij . weevils are migrating, moving form one field t« another and from woods and swamps to the cotton fields. Mr. Lane says that he has never .seen anything to compare with the man ner in which the weevils have multiplied in the past two weeks. One colored farmer declares that he saw a swarm of insects flying out of the woods to ward his cotton field. He did not know what they were, but they were so thick that they looked like a cloud. He ripped into the swarm witty his hat and caught several. Examining them he found that they were weevils. Mr. Jim O. Wisenak’er says that he has acres of cotto n that he expected to get three bales of cotton from ten days ago. but he will gladly take one bale for the crop now. Reports indicate that the weevils are migrating from the fields that haven’t been picked of infected squares to fields that were picked. Even the crop at the. experiment station is said to be suffering from pests that have swooped down upon it from other fields. THE NEILL PRIMARY LAW The farmers are learning bv experience re garding the boll weevils. They have heard much about his peculiarities—his uncertainties and his treachery, but they are finding out more about them than thev dreamed of from mere, hearsay. In this connection it is interesting to recall the adviefe given the grower? i n the Sea Island belt a few months ago (when it became evident that a heavy acreage of this cotton had been planted) to plow up a large portion of it and put in feed crops. Had this been doneii.would be possible now to wage a more successful fight against the weevil, because if the cotton fields were isolated it would not be easy for the weevils to migrate . .... . . . afn ? y ser ‘ f r«»ni one to the other there would be a fightimr vice, and to call them slackers is as unjust to -i • . * ,n * hem as it is to the country as a whole, and its spirit of loyalty and patriotism. It is had enough as it is: just think what it would have been had the age limit gone to 45, as was at one time proposed PROVISION FOR FAMILIES The Tift County Exemption Board has been instructed by Provost Marshal Crowder to not ify all men who passed the physical examina tion under Selective Draft that any one de pendent upon them can be provided for. A soldier’s pay is $30 a month" with every necessity, including medical attendance, fur nished. This lea\/«r^iim little to spend money $5 a month should provide him-with to bacco. cold drinks, or such luxuries and if he so desires he could easily set aside $25 each month, or even retaining one-third for luxu ries, appply $20 a month towards the support of loved ones dependent upon him. If instructions are given, the War Depart ment will set aside whatevcr.sum may be nam ed monthly and it will be remitted directly to the family or dependents of the enlisted man. Thus there would be no chance for it miscar rying. In not many callings can the average i-oung man earn $80 a month clear of all ex penses. Many who have only one or two de pendents can insure these being in part taken of should they be called under selective draft by haring a certain, sum^ set aside for them every month out of their wages. Besides this, the government is working out a plan to insure enlisted men for the benefit of their families or dependents. It is expect- eefthat this will be in operation chance to harvest small crops of the staple which is now so valuable. The Times’ news article indicates that the Sea Island growers are i n danger of losing the greater part of their crops. This with the high price for which the staple is selling would be CTeat calamity. If the worst comes it would be interesting to know what-growers think of the men posing for experts on boll weevil conditions who were insisting early in the season that ras unnecessary to plow up cotton. HWI a few weeks. And while they «r.i and wondered what to do! ^ ut pr * v '* e ^ e of having a part of their hext. the unexpected happened. A man pass- 1 ' vaces set aside for the folks at home is open ed i n one of the old-fashioned buggies of that! now ' ■' Promptly he stopped, and i n the buggy 1 We welcome Irwin county to the Tifton it. Without discounting anyone, we think this circuit has offic.’als far above the average and a man on the bench with whom our neigh bors will be highly pleased. The chang. quite a convenience to the people of Ocilla am. Irwin county who have business before the pre siding Judge, and the Tifton circuit was so small that a few more counties were needed. The :hange should be entirely satisfactory ALL FOR THE COUNTRY with him took the mother and the corpse of, the babe to the nearest house, two miles A CHANGE NEEDED uiuco an*;, A bill is before the General Assembly . to lather and other children following. Once in change the law which requires that a Confed- toncu with others of their kind, relief wasi erate Veteran’s widow, to be entitled to a speedy. A boy o n a hqrse was sent galloping i pension from the ijtate. must have married over the ten miles to nod(y,their relatives; an- P nor 4870. other was sent to the nearest country store for Many of the soldiers of the Confederacy materials, and from a store of lumber, a tiny ' veTe b °y* in their- t-ens when thev enlist .d u° i "kL™ B ° 0n faahionpd and ready for thej du ”“f th « »a«t two years of the war‘.and wore little body, -which in the meantime had lieen^-^m 'young men wHe n VKev married during the prepared in due order and lay on a cooling- j e ®rfy '70’s. The woman of 20 who married a board on the piazza. soldier in 1871 is 61 ye-.ra 0 M now; many A few hours later. l n a two-horse Conccrd widows who mnrried between 1870 and 1880 |VWon, the grandfather of the babe came, ahd are now approa-hing 70. and the great major- i were loaded for the trip to the Jitjr of them need the money. I'M} fond b ?Pe» and buoyant 11 ifl sffid ^ change contemplates moving b only the year be- U P the date limit from 1870 to 1880. The s change pray- change should be made, and at this session From the Atlanta Constitution: The editor of the Tifton GaC Gazette giv expression to the feeling of the fathers—and’ no less patriotic mothers—of the country, in this personal wdrd of a son who has enlisted for srmy service: "Gerald Herring ha s enlisted in the aviation co-^ and left for Atlanta Monday night. We wuuiu itot. by word, or deed, stand between him and his duty, as he sees it. Had it been possi- ble. we would have been in the service our- To say that because we have seven sons e one to spare, is to speak foolishly. Af fection is individual; it knows not numerals. To us each of our boys stand alone, as If he were an only son: it could not be otherwise. Yet. while we have no boys to spare, we stand ready to surrender any. or all. even life, when duty calls or their country needs.” That i 8 the truest test of patriotism—the And the real, self-sacrificing patriotic spirit peaks everywhere, and there is consecration Had it been possible, we would have been in the service .ourself is no less the sentiment of a million than it is of one; for the regret of the veterans of other wars Is that they cannot aTTTn line” now. as of old. s,d ” N.orth and South it is the sami, and the voice of the veteran is— “It may be that my hair is whjte— ^ Such things, you know, must be; F.-.* if this old Union’s in for war. Make one more gu n for me!” It is the battle-winning spirit, handed down The Gazette does not like the Neill primary law. This not especially because of the county unit plan which is written into it* but.because we already have too many elections and this law nearly doubles them. Georgia has got along very well with her primaries for about thirty years without a law calling for a second primary in event a candi date does, not receive a majority vote. True, old county unUJed to a regrettable fiasco in the state Convention of 1914, but conditions which made that possible could have been remedied without saddling the double primary system on the people of the state. Cases in which there are only two candi dates for an office will be the exception and hen there are more than two it will be rare instance when one of threp-df more candi dates receives a majority pp'the popular vote. With a long string of offices to fill, we will have a second primary for some of them be fore nearly every election. There is much objection to the county unit plan, in some of which the Gazette shares and in some of which it does not share. Under county unit, representation in the Convention is based on the counties as organized bodies and not on popular vote. It is true that it is possible for a man to be nominated under the county unit plan who did not receive a major ity vote but -such cases would be very rar,^ A second primary we regard'is an evil far ou reaching any possibilities of the county unlit. The people of Georgia have been sorely af flicted with a multiplicity of elections. One office after another has been brought to- the polling precincts until now we vote for prm “ • everything from a militia district bailiff Supreme Court judge. Under the primary plan we > vote twice for them at each election under the Neill act we will probably vote thre« times. * iItiplicity' of elections is a multiplicity of evils. There is very little about politics that is refining, elevating or ennobling. As a rule, the less politics a people have the more prog ress they make along lines of development and industrial activity. Therefore, because^the Neill act gives us more politics, we regard It as a bad law. We believe that the people of the state will grow tired of the second primary plan before it has been in operation many years. If they do. the result will probably he that primaries will be abolished altogether. In this event the Neill law will be worth while, because it will have accomplished good. w There is only one dominant party in Geor gia. and even wert there two or three all white men. irrespective of party affiliations, vote in the primaries of the dominant party. The only possible excuse there can be for a primary is to keep the negro out and this the disfranchise ment law should accomplish. If we need the primary we do not need the disfranchisement law; if the disfranchisement law is efficient and worth the paper it was written on. we do not need a primary in Georgia at all. And because the Neill law gives us two pri maries where we do not need one, we consider- it a bad law. Naitkar I Cattla Movad From Farm. Atlanta, Aug. 14.—A i steer infested with n cattle tick ia going to have a hard time in Geor gia in the future, aa the result of a bill which has just passed both the House and the Senate prohibiting the movement or (hipping of tick-in fested cattie from plac, to place within the state. In other words, if a fanner has ticks on his cattle, he not °>dy cannot ship them to market to be slaugh tered, but cannot even move them off his hand. They will be useless to han so far aa their market value is concerned. He can slaughter them himself and take his chances o dling the beef before it spoils, and ' that is all-be can do. The object aad purpose of the i measure is obvious. When farmers aannot mov, tick-infested cattle, t presumption is that they will ri the ticks, and that is exactly b the legislature wants to compalj AFTER THREE WEEKS’ Worth Saturday. Docket Almost Cli Judge Eve and Stenographer McNicholas returned Saturday from Sylvester -where Worth Superior Court was adjourned at noon, * term convened on the fourth Morday in July and there was a three weeks siege of it—two full weeks, the ilrst and third, adjourn ment being '.taken on "Wednesday of th. second 'seek. The docket was as ear cleured as was possible with prevailing conditions. i of c Monday was a red letter day on the criminal docket, about 25 cases being disposed of. These were near ly all for operating slot machine* id a majority plead guilty. The principal ca«e of interest was that against G. O. Smitn, charged ith cattle stealing. It resulted in conviction and a sentence of three Fernando Hicks, colored, was charged with th c murder of a negTO woman in 1912. He had been gone until last year, when he was brought back' for trial. Hicks claimed that ind th e wonjan were scuffling a pistol when it was discharg ed with fatal results and the jury evidently believed him, for a ver dict of iacquital was returned. For the tomach and bowel disor ders of/babies McGEE'S BABY EL IXIR is a remedy of genuine merit. It acts, quickly, is pure, wholesoma- and pleasant to take. Price 25* and 5ft c per, bottle. Sold by Con ger Drug Company. ! Mr. Rog/er W. Babson writes an article that should be very encouraging to the men enlisting under selective draft. He ' thinks that the chances are about-4 jo 1 that these me n will ry little active fighting in Europe. These chances were materially decreased when Con gress passed the aeroplane appropriation. He sees no reason for Germany to stop until w> actually in Europe with self-supporting bases prepared to strike hard, but he sees every reason wRy Germany should be anxious to 'ettle with us at that time before we do strike. -Mr. Babson regards the men drawn who make the ' :o France as being fortunate, as it will ^e beneficial to them. Even for those who go into the fighting, the risk is not so great as many believe. According to the most reliable figures to he had. the percentage of casualties has so far decreased that only about 60 men per thousand going into battle are killed and only about 150 men out of each thousand are wounded; most of the latter soon return to the '.rcnches. With the exception of the one more days a month that it will be his turn to take part ia a charge! the ma n in the ranks up at the front is about as safe as on the streets of the average city. Modern medical science hps brought the number of fatal wounds down to minimum. TIFT ON THE FIRING LINE Tifton and Tift county are'well represented every branch of Uncle Sam’s fighting forces. On the Army Board at Washington; with the Marines in France; on the warships on both the ocean; in thq Coast Artillery; in the Signal Corps; i„ the Aviatibp Corps; in ‘Officers’ Training Camp No. 1, Fort McPher son; in Officers’ Training Camp No. 2 at Ft. Oglethorpe; in the National Guard and .in many regiments, of the regular army. This already, and others are going every week. the morning tbe General Assembly, that many of these fro*n f.nther to son. If the country demands all, I " ben tbe Sammies get into the real fighting, let it take it all; for its "All for the Country!’.’ i Tifton and Tift county will be right in the mid- from the companions of dead heroes who need the mon- e rain ey flUX get it next year. The intent of the law brok- ff° od but th « date goes too far back; thOre drops are inatances of the hardship it works in this From the Savannah Press: Idle of it, whether it be on land or s HeTrinir in by - f ditor I Waycross and Blackshear have joined Ma rl erring in the Tifton Gazette are so interest- ... ; , -, ... , , > . ing we feel very much like the lady who ^ ’ n Prohibiting ^nU-draft meeting Thk signed an apartment with a most attractive- fte wa >' t0 deal y itb the white feathers; bathroom. We can scarcely wait for Saturday ‘ 8‘ Ve tbem to understand their presencfNis not ni»>.+ to come. ' wanted.