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THE TIFTON GAZETTE Published Weekly ■pttnd «t the Postofflce ot Tifton, Georgiy ll Second Clt Hatter, Act ot March 3,1879. Gazette Publishing Company, Proprietor*. J. L. Herring Editor and Manager. Official Organ City of Tifton and Tift County, Georgia. SUBSCRIPTION RATESt Twelve months Six Months Four Months — ..... $1.60 76 60 SATURDAY NIGHT. '• sr ifp TIFTON, GA. FRIDAY, OCTOBER The Pauing of the Wagon-Yard. News from Macon that the last of the wagon- yards of that city is to give place to a garage marks a new era in South Georgia. The wagon-yard was a great place in its day It was the main artery of trade; a com mon meeting place for the people for nearly one hundred miles around, and a place where many commercial and political questions were settled. . , . .. Thev arrived at the wiiK^ibyard during the early morning hours, having camped a few miles outside the city the night before; broke camp and drove into town in time for a day’s trade. They formed a typical Cracker crowd —a few old men, perhaps, many bearded men of middle age in the prime of life; young men just entering its threshold, and a scatter ing of big-eyed boys, brought in for their first sight of the city and its ways. They came in horse-carts, the bearded man astride the horse, a bale of cotton evenly bal anced in the cart behind; the store of feed and provisions packed in the spare places, with per haps a bundle of hides, a few dozen eggs, and mayhap a half-dozen chickens in a coop made of home-rived boards. If there was a boy, he was perched in such spare space as he could find on the bale. There were ox-wagons, ox carts, and later in the day came the two- and four-horse wagons from the more pretentious plantations near by, with their couplet, triplet or quadruplet of bales, according to the condi tion of the road. But the horse-carts and ox carts were the ones that had made the long journeys, some of them taking three days for the trip, and these came six to twelve or even twenty in a row, making the journey together for companionship and protection. First to the warehouse, where the bale was thrown off, weighed and sampled. Then to the wagon-yard, where the animals were un hitched and fed. Ample provision had been made for both man and beast, for the ware house with the best-equipped wagon-yard got the best trade from the .outlying districts. There were stalls and watering-troughs tint! a well for the stock, and a roomy house with a large fireplace for the men. The stock cared for, the rounds of the cotton buyers was made, each owner of a bale—the product of a year’s work, perhaps, thought 1-e did not get a top price until every buyer had opportunity to bid on the sample he carried, At last the sale, and the rounds of the stores * with the day’s trading. Here the supplies for the year were purchased: A sack, or if he was opulent, a barrel of flour; a caddy of tobacco a supply of coffee, and most difficult of all, the list of. things the housewife needed—calico, needles, pins, a card of white buttons, a box of black horn buttons for the men’s clothes, a bunch of factory thread, and ad infinitum, ac cording to the means. There was also a pound of stick caniiy for the kiddies, a special gift for the wife, and Inst but not least, a little brown jug of the stuff now contraband. Perhaps the older men wanted to start home before nightfall, but the younger ones would want to stay and “see the town,” so they camp ed that night around the fire in the wagon-yard house, sleeping on bedding brought in from the vehicles. Around that campfire they lived again the doings of the day. The hard bar gains they had driven—or thought they drove the price cotton had sold for; the purchases made; and then back to neighborhood gossip and finally to politics. It was a characteristic Georgia group of the middle part of the last ' century that gathered around that fire. The supper of sardines, cove oysters, cheese and crackers and sweetbreads, washed down with slugs of rye or com from the brown quart flasks set apart for use on the homeward trip A few had invested extravagantly and hilari ously in nickel cigars, which were smoked with gusto and difficulty. These men slept early, and soon the older ones were on their pallets, while the younger wont out in trio's or quartettes to . Bee the sights of the city—and incidentally to spend the mon ey earned under many blazing suns of late spring and early summer. With the coming of dawn the older men had the crowd up; the packing was soon over, teams were hitched and the homeward trip begun. The wagon-yard would not see them again for a year, but the one .day there had afforded sub jects for conversation for many weeks to come. Gone are the wagon-yards with their asso ciations and the people who made them possi ble. A new day has come, with electricity, allways and motor cars, and the wagon-yard ^oes because it, like so many things of the old (tys, is po longer needed.. But each leaves refreshing memories among those who l a past day and still live to remember it By some means, the impression got abroad that the change of time, under the Daylight Saving law went into effect Tuesday night. Believers therein were rather surprised the next morning when they found nothing of 'the change in the papers and the same old time go ing on. Under Act of Congress of March 16, 1918, approved by the President March 19, “time throughout the United States and Alaska was advanced one hour for the period in each year beginning at 2 a. m. on the last Sunday in March, and ending at 2 a. .m. on the last Sun day in October.” It is rather interesting to trace the history of the daylight saving movement. It was the idea of an Englishman named Willett, and was originally designed to cover the summer months from the first of May to the first of October. Willett published a book on the subject in 1907. A daylight saving bill was introduced in the House of Commons in 1907 but failed of passage. Germany thought it a good idea and enacted it into a law in 1916, and in less than three months twelve European countries, including England and France followed suit. France liked it so well that when it was put on again in the spring of 1917, the change was made a month earlier on March 24. The same year the law was adopted in Australia and Ice land. Friends of the measure claim that it saved the British people twelve million dollars in gas and electric light bills in one geason and that in the United States the saving in coal alone amounted to forty million dollars a year. The measure was never popular in this coun try as a whole, and was enacted primarily for the purpose of conserving coal. When the war ended, so strong was the pressure on Con gress that the law was repealed, over the Presi dent’s veto. In some sections, the results of the law were highly gratifying. New York liked it so well that the city contemplates a daylight saving law of its own, and several other cities along the'Atlantic coast share in this prefer ence, including Savannah, which wanted a lo cal law similar to the one New York-proposed. The law served a good purpose and would have been more popular had it been better un derstood and had not had so many doctors. CARING FOR WHAT WE HAVE. Secretary Houston, of the National Depart ment of Agriculture, is quoted in a news special from Washington as suggesting dairying, hog- raising and general stock farming to the people of Georgia after a conference with Senator Harris. The National Department of Agriculture and Secretary Houston can do Valuable service by helping those who have already embarked in hog and general live stock raising—hog rais ing in particular. Tift county invested some thing like a quarter of a milion dollars in a packing plant, *and the farmers of the section surrounding invested perhaps an equal amount in hogs and cattle—especially hogs. Before this, the Government had sent an agent here to inaugurate a campaign for the eradication of hog cholera. About the time the packing plant was under good headway, this agent was re moved to ahother locality. We do not know whether the removal of the agent during the spring months was the cause, or Whether it was due to the weather, or per haps to other conditions, but the past summer and the early fall were disastrous to hog-rais- crs. There has been a heavy mortality al ready and this mortality continues. Reports of sick hogs and reports of dead hogs have been common for'several months, and the total loss will be an immense one. Perhaps the owners were in part to blame. Probably the proper precautions were not tak en. But this work is a matter of education and development. The people must be advised and assisted until hog chdlera is stamped out. We can never hope to make hog raising a success so long as cholera prevails. For that-reason, we are constrained to the belief that the Gov ernment can do better service by helping those who are already engaged in hog raising than by advising others to take it up. Make the business a sifccess, and there will be no need to urge people to engage in it. WHY ENIGMA. “Puzzling postoffice robbery is reported in South Georgia. Name of the jostoffice, how ever, was Enigma. The safe was riddled,” says the Savannah Press. Which recalls an interestnig bit of history. Many years ago, when the saw mill df Weston & Gunn was located at that point on the old Brunswick & Albany railroad which is now the pretty little town of Enigma, the late John B. Gunn made application for a postoffice. The application was grantee}, and several names were sent in to the Department for the office’s christening. All were rejected, fdr various rea sons, and after awhile' Mr. Gunn said; "Nam ing this town seems to ben an enigma.” “Make it that,” said Mr. Weston, and the town was named. In this connection it is interesting to note that the beginning and the end of Uncle Sam’s postofflees were once located in Worth county. Alpha was four miles east of Sumner, and Ome ga was south of Ty Ty. Alpha saw its end many years ago when the patrons of thei .office. on can yell at the crowds in his moved away, and Omega was cut off into Tift not getting any' votes county and like every other good thing over : in .the Senate, {here is growing like a green l>ay tree. including Georgia peaches, pears, apples, berries, preserves, marmalade, pineapples, tomatoes, corn, beans, okra, spinach, kraut, big grain hominy, sweet potatoes, pork and beans, pickles, peanut butter, salted peanuts, pimentos, sauces and ketchup. Capitalization $300,000.00 6,000 shares at $50.00 per share will be issued. No bonds or preferred stock. Officers of the corporation will be R. F. Willingham, president, who is now president of the Shippers’ Bonded Compress, president of Willingham’s Warehouse, president of Spinners’ Cot ton Con Jno. A. Streyer, vice president, who will resign as general manager of the Macon, Dublin & Savannah Railroad, to give all of his services to our corporation. T. E. Fugate, secretary and treasurer, formerly secretary and treasurer and general manager of the Macon Bonded Warehouse. Chas. M. Grier, cashier, formerly manager of the Postal and Western Union Telegraph Com panies, recently returned from overseas service, with the 151st Machine Gun Battalion. We summarize from the president’s letter, Mr. R. F. Willingham, as follows: Holdings: The corporation, through the purchase of the Camp Wheeler warehouse area and Quartermaster Hill, with .the subsequent purchases of the pumping station at Wheeler, the 2 VS mile 10-inch iron water pipe line connecting with the city water main, together with the lease secured for 50 years on the 50 acres of land embracing all of the warehouse area, and al- sd a lease for 90 years with an option to buy the 230 acres, including the Quartermaster Hill and all contiguous land, gives the corporation a complete manufacturing and storage plant ready for operation as soon as the canning machinery is installed. Embraced in our holdings are 11 mill-constructed warehouse buildings of 10,00(1 square feet each, a magnificent concrete refrigerating and cold storage plant with 5 capacity of 20 carloads of fruit or vegetables, also five additional concrete buildings which will be utilized for -potato curing and storage ware houses, also a general office building and store building for our commissary and general mer chandising business, and 40 additional large buildings will be used for dwellings. This will comfortably house a village of six hundred people. Electric lights, city water and sewerage will afford every modern convenience. ■ jgjr f , _ Business: The business of the corporation will consist of two distinct departments, namely: Canning^uad General Storage. -■ Canning: This will include all of the above enumerated fruits and vegetables. Contracts are now being made daily with the farmers of Middle Georgia; they are agreeing on their part to plant a specified acreage of various crops of vegetables desired and we are agreeing on our part to buy same from them at a fair market price. This will prove a tremendous help to the farmers in giving them an opportunity of growing crops which the boll weevil will not destroy. General Storage: Macon's facilities for a general storage business are entirely inadequate and -undeveloped. We have had applications in the past 30 days for space to store hay, grain, automobiles, machinery of all kinds, cotton seed meal, cotton seed hulls, cottonseed, and many other items of merchandise, totalling an enormous tonnage. Application^ of this kind in the past were necessarily turned down, as there was no place in or near Macon which could, han dle the volume of business ready and waiting for a storage warehouse. We are now installing a sprinkler equipment in all of our warehouses, which gives us the lowest insurance rate in Macon. Values: It is conservatively estimated that our holdings are worth more than twice what they cost and subscribers to stock will get the benefit of this reduced cost in acquiring our properties. Profits: Our initial installation of machinery will handle 20,000 cans of fruit or vegetables per day, which is 600,000 per month, or 6,000,000 cans per year. A conservative net profit on this business is two cents per can, or $120,000 per year from our canning department. We ex pect to double the capacity of our plant before next summer, which will double our profits: From our storage department we are already assured enough business to warrant net earnings ejf $60,000 per annum. Based on the above earnings total net income would be $180,000 per annum, or 60 per cent on $300,000, or $30.00 per share profit on each $60.00 share. Of the 6,000 shares to be issued, 3,600 have already been subscribed, leaving a balance of 2,400 to be taken. Subscriptions will be booked in the order received, arid after the 2,400 are sold no more subscriptions will be accepted. Liberty Bonds in payment of stock will be accepted at current market quotations; stock to be paid for, 10 per. cent cash with subscription, 80 per cent in 30 days, 30 per cent in 60 days, 30 per cent in 90 days. Farmers are especially invited to participate with us in view of the’large volume of busi ness we will have with them. Phone, telegraph or call on R. F., Willingham at Willingfcam’f V^rah^use, phone 400, cor- ner Third and Pine Streets, Macod, Ga. . '• - o-bh .