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THE JACKSON HERALD
Published Weekly
$1.50 A Year—ln Advance
Entered at The Jefferson Postoffice
as Second-Class Mail Matter
Official Organ of Jackion County
JOHN N. HOLDER Editor
W. *H. WILLIAMSON Bus. M g r.
Jefferson, Ga., May 19, 1927.
Why The Mississippi
Gees On A Rampage
Why does each succeeding great
flood in the Mississippi river break
all records?
Why the menace to life and
property on this stream grow great
er each year?
Perhaps the mo % important fac
tor, according to a bulletin from the
Washington, D. C., headquarters of
the National Georgraphic Society, is
the usually laudable effort of Amer
icans to develop and build up their
country.
Fewer Forests, Higher Waters
Aride from the fact that several
decades ago there were fewer people
living and fewer dollars invested in
the regions subject to overflow in
the lower Mississippi valley, the
flood stages were actually lower in
those days. They were lower, to
consider or.e important fact, for the
very good reason that then less
water was fed into the Mississippi’s
100,000 tributaries in a given space
of time. Forests and woodlands that
do not now exist held a large part of
the rainfall and fed it slowly into
brooks and creeks and rivers. Ir
regularities in the lie of the land
formed puddles that later evaporat
ed, or sent rills in tourtuous paths
that slowed up the run-off.
In late years a constantly increas
ing population has been busy chang
ing these conditions. Every tree cut,
every roof built, every street paved,
every drainage ditch dug, and every
culvert constructed in the vast area
drained by the Mississippi river sys
tem has done its bit toward pouring
rainfall mere quickly into the great
river.
Sometimes W 40 Mile* Wide
Not only has man helped to put
more water into the Mississippi; his
works have helped to confine it
there. When De Soto and his fol
lowers first knew the Mississippi it
spread out at each flood season over
a wide area. Sometimes in its lower
reaches it was 20, 30, and even 40
miles wide. It was truly the “Fath
er of Waters.”
The fact that the flood waters
spilled away at numerous places into
swamps and lowlands kept the flood
crest down into the lower river. In
1917 three-foot levees protected New
Orleans. Now they rise 25 feet or
more above the city. Even as late
at 1882 the highest flood stage at
£ie\v Orleans was 16 feet. In 1922 it
was above 22 feet; and the present
rise threatens to exceed that figure.
One reason, at ldfcst, for this, is that
move efficient levee, maintenance for
many hundreds of miles along the
river has banked the flood waters
past New Orleans as well as other
lower river points in the regular
channel.
Levee* Affect Wide Area
More intensive development of the
lowlands has made this levee system
necessary. Now some 29.000 square
miles are dependent on the levees
for protection. Breaks still occur,
and when the do they drain off
nome of the flood waters and so re
lieve in some measure the strain on
the banks farther down stream. But
it is not the innocuous affair that it
was in the days of De Soto. New
towns and plantations, railways and
industrial plants lie in the lowlands,
and any “relief” that a levee break
may occasion to down-river points is
at a cost of many lives and much
valuable property.
On the whole a considerable quan
tity of Water finds its way from the 1
lower Mississippi through levee 1
breaks and bayous. The most im- 1
portant naturnl safety valve is the'
Atehafalaya river or bayou which
flows away from the Mississippi at
the mouth of the Red river, and
finds its way directly to the Gulf of
■Mexico some 50 miles west of New
Orleans. In flood times this out
flowing stream takes from the swol
len “Father of Waters” as much as
350,000 cubic feet of water each
second—an amount equal to more
than half the average flow of the
Mississippi. It is because of such
losses as this, coupled with the much
greater depth of the channel in the
lower river, that the flood stage can
be between 50 and 60 feet at Mem
phis and Vicksburg, and only a little
more than 20 at New Orleans.
Thirty State* Swell Its Water*
The Mississippi river system is
truly a continental feature, draining
a million and a quarter of the three [
million odd square miles of the
United States. Thirty of the 46 j
states send a greater or less con- J
tribution of water to this great
stream. Even New York, Pennsyl
jvanai, Virginia, Carolina and
Georgia, with frontages on the At
lantic, are tapped by its tributaries.
•Of the inland states only five—
! Idaho, Utah, Nevada. Arizona and
j Vermont—do not pay drainage trib
ute to the “Father of Waters.”
The main Mississippi river is more
[than 2,500 miles long, while the
| Mississippi-Missouri is 4,200 miles in
i length—the longest river system in [
I the world. The great scale on which'
the Mississippi is built becomes evi-[
jdent when one considers the time re
quired for floods to pass down its
course. About 30 days are required
.for the surging flood crest to pass
from the mouth of the Ohio to New (
.Orleans, and from 10 days to two
I weeks from Greenville, Miss., to New
[Orleans.
Vindication Of Pay-As-You-
Go Plan
(From Augusta Chronicle)
A > Georgia builds peVmanent high
jWays with a steadiness, and also a
rapidity that must please the moat
ardent champion of permanent con
nected highways, The Chronicle
wishes to call the attention of the
people of* the state to the fact that
we shall have within the next five
years 2,500 miles of paved highways
in this state and we shall not owe
a single dollar for them. Thus is
the pay-as-you-go policy of Chair
man John N. Holder and his associ
ates completely vindicated and the
clamor for a huge bond issue of $70,-
000,000 to $100,000,000 will, un
doubtedly, cease and never be heard
from again. Even the pro bond advo
cates, many of whom were absolute
ly sincere in their beliefs that we
needed a vast sum of money to pave
[ our highways, must stand convinced
.of the soundness of the Holder poli-1
cy in the light of the results that
are being accomplished, and here they [
are:
| On or before January 1, 1928, '
paved highways will have been com- j
pleted or contracts let for the com
pletion of paving from Tennessee to i
the Florida line, through Atlanta and
Macon, from Augusta to the Florida 1
[line via Waycross, from Savannah
to Jacksonville, from Atlanta to the
North Carolina line. The total will
aggregate several hundred miles, to
say nothing of paving projects start
ed on a dozen or more other trunk
lines, which will be completed beforo
the end of 1928.
It was in the spring of 1926 when
Mr, Holder, backed up by his asso
ciates, Hon. John R. Phillips and
Hon. Stanley Bennett, wrote to the
governor that Georgia did not need
a huge bond issue with which to
pave her highways. The clamor for
bonds at that time was terrific, and
the highway department was charg
ed with building a patch-work system
of highways which led nowhere, and
there was an immense amount of
propaganda to force a bond issue to
“tuke Georgia out of the mud.”
Mr. Holder and his colleagues
knew what they were doing, and
stood as firm as a rock against the
onslaught of pro bond advocates.
They knew that millions of dollars
had been expended in grading high
ways preparatory to paving, and
that when paving was once started
in earnest that the roads would be
ready and the paving would progress
with a rapidity which would seem
almost uncanny to those who could
not visualize the highway depart
ment's plans and policies. Of course,
there were some critics of the high
way commission who could not have
been convinced as to the soundness
of the pay-as-you-go policy because
they did not wish to be convinced
and wanted to discredit the highway
department all they could.
Now, with our highways being con
nected up and the great trunk lines
being completed, even the harshest
critic of the highway department
who wants to be fair, must admit
that the Holder policy is the right
policy. We shall have 2,500 miles
of paving in the next five years,
t which will be connected, linking ev
ery important town in Georgia, and
we shall not owe a dollar. While
2,500 miles will not be sufficient to
, connect every single county seat
, with the other, still the county-seat
to county-seat program should be
completed in the next eight to ten
years.
To build the trunk lines first, and
to follow as rapidly as possible with
other state highways, is a policy
which was agreed upon by both the
anti bond and the pro bond people.
Therefore, in building the trunk
lines first, the highway commission
is following a universally approved
course of action.
Georgia has, after years of pre
paration through grading, gotten
ready to pave, and she is paving with
a speed that must bring satisfaction
to all Georgians who wish to see
our state keep step in the march of
progress.
And The Chronicle believes Geor
gians owe, and will acknowledge, a
debt of gratitude to John N. Holder
I
and his able associates on the hirh
. way board for their wisdom, their
coolness under fire, and their splen
did ability. One of his associates on
the highway board has said of Mr.
I Holder that he is one of the best
road ‘authorities not only in the
I South, but in the entire country
This is, indeed, a high tribute, and
we feel that the members of the high
way commission and the soundness
of their policy are making thousands
of additional friends for them in
Georgia every day. And we are
proud, that John N. Holder, whose
sterling honesty, fixedness of pur
pose, clarity of vision and superb
ability as an administrative officer
have been known all along to those
who knew him best, is vindicated be
fore the people of our commonweakh
on his sound policy of paying for
our highways as we build them, in
stead of mortgaging the state’s fu
ture under the load of a bonded debt
without any excuse, whatever, for
such a liability. That such a road
building policy as the commission has
[fixed will not be disturbed by the
next legislature goes without saying.
POTATO SLIPS
(From Commerce News)
Here comes the potato slips by the
thousands, coming from Middle Geor
gia, coming from Florida, coming by
. almost every express train, and ev
ery one of them coming to people
who could .grow them if they would
ar.d save the money they are paying
( for them. A few dollars for potato
, slips will not force anybody into
I bankruptcy, but a dollar saved is a
I dollar made. Our fathers grew their
i own potato slips. It is an easy thing
to do. Does not require an expert.
.Some potatoes and a seed bed is all
! that’s necessary. They can be
grown at home, and be there when
they are needed. But if they must
be bought; if potato growers have
made up their minds that they will
not grow them and they will buy
them, then why is it that some per
son or persons in this community
does not grow them for sale? We
see no reason why a potato slip grown
iin South Georgia should be any bet
ter than a potato slip grown in North
Georgia. If they are worth $2 per
thousand in South Georgia, they are
worth $2 here. If the South Georgia
man can make money growing slips,
| why can’t a grower here make money
|at it? The trouble is that we have
; bought and bought until we do not
[Want to produce anything that can
be bought.
WATCHING EVERY YOUNG
MAN
Every young man should under
stand that he is being watched by
many eyes, and often when he least
suspects it.
“Scouts,” the baseball word for
men who search out promising ma
terial for the professional leagues,
are everywhere.
Old men and middle-aged men,
bankers and lawyers, manufacturers
and merchants, editors and publish
ers, hold this thought uppermost in
their minds at all times: Where can
I find young men with the right stuff
in them, the right habits, the right
temper, the right balance? These
veterans have money that needs
watching, that must be put to work.
They control enterprises that are
floundering, and need the energy of
youth in the management.
Let a young man demonstrate that
he has the qualities required for
| success in medern enterprise, and
someone will make him an offer if
he exposes himself to opportunity.
Only those who are compelled to
depend upon others for the execu
tion of their plans and dream can
lever know how persistent and re
lentless is the search for youth of
I high spirit and capacity. It is going
on day and night. At many times in
our life we all come under the ap
praising eye of a scout.—Type Metal
Magazine.
BATTLING HEN SITTING ON
BATCH OF CROW’S EGGS
Cedar Rapids, lowa.—Ten days
hence, an obstreperous hen on the
farm of Walter Ellsworth, near Cog
gon, is due to get the surprise of her
life and create barnyard scandal,
for she is sitting on a batch of crow’s
eggs.
The hen had responded to the call
of spring and started out to lay the
foundations for her own flock. Mr.
Ellsworth, however, purloined her
eggs from the nest as fast as they
were laid.
Finally, in disgust, the hen flew
to the top of a tree, whipped a lady
crow, drove her from her nest and
started in to hatch out the appropri
ated eggs. Twice each day the hen
makes the twenty-foot flight to and
from the nest, but in about a week
she is due for a rude awakening.
HINTS TO FARMERS
A prize was offered to pupils of ru
ral schools in each Congressional Dis- j
irict for the best suggestion of f ,rm .
ing methods.
The offer created great interest, (
and although announcemen ha. no
been made of the winners, e
of the prize winner in the Sixt is
trict had some interesting sugges
tionx:
“Raise something to sell every.
month for ready cash. The Lord helps
those who helps themselves. Double]
your poultry and dairy income. Do
without most things you can’t buy
for cash. Gather in more young
pigs for the winter smokehouse. I
think that one of the best remedies
that a-farmer can have is to raise
something to sell for cash, every
month of the year. For, during the
spring and summer months, most of
the farmers haven’t much cash on
hand to buy the food or to run the
crops for the year. If any farmer
will get three or four cows, five or
six hogs, forty or fifty chickens, and j
about one acre of truck every month
of the year he would make a good
profit. With the eggs from the
chickens, a few hogs to sell, and the
butter and miTE from the cows, he.
can pay cash for most of the things
he buys during the year.”
CLUB GIRLS LOOK BETTER
i
At a state fair last fall, while
watching a bevy of beautiful girls
demonstrating the preparation and
serving of dainty and nutritious
morsels of food, a gentleman at our
elbow remarked to his wife: “Just
compare the figures, the carriage and
beautiful skin of these club girls with
those of any equal number of girls
of the same age out where we are.
See the difference?”
We could not refrain from asking
this gentleman if he were not a
physician. He was, or as he put it:
“I am a country doctor, and firmly
believe that ouj- home demonsira
tion agent is doing as much as the
doctors are doing to keep our young
people well.”
We shook hands and parted. This
was an unusual endorsement of
home demonstration work and one
that we had not fully appreciated.
We feel sure many of us do over
look the fact that our home agents
are making our young people bet
ter physical, (and mental) exhibits
in the home, as well as at the fairs.
Let’s put more girls in club work
this year and so give them the bene
fit of all the fine knowledge the
home agents are ready and willing
to impart!—The Progressive Farm
er.
SPRING FEVER
Some philosophers say that “spring
fever” used to be called just plain
laziness. But, however that may be,
on the bright and warm days of
spring, a feeling of listlinoss comes
over us. The sunlight and the spring
sights and sounds seem so cheerful
and inviting, that it seems as if one
could hardly force himself to keep
digging at the old job. i
! It is only a temporary mood, and
most of us after lying around a few
'days would wish to get back to
work. That is the American temp
'erament, we were born to activity.
But these feelings of unrest have
power over us for a time. One often
'feels in spring he would like to go
on a long tramp, without care for
the future, or any more hurry or
l worry, but just enjoying the soft
ness of the season. These feelings
'are a sign that the majority of us
do not spend time enough out of
'doors. We need more hours under
the sunshine, following those open
[air pursuits that make people healthy
and normal.—Lavonia Times.
NO DANGER OF OVERPRODUC
TION IN EGG MARKET
Atlanta, Ga.—Prices for eggs at
this season are said to be more reas
onable than at any time during the
year, and for health, according to
the recent sponsors of National Egg
Week, “there is no more nutritious
food than fresh eggs.”
With the egg laying plant estab
lished at the Georgia State College
of Agriculture, at Athens, much in
terest has been created in the poultry
business throughout the state.
“Eggs and poultry are two pro
ducts that never will reach an over
production in this state,” says a
statement of the agricultural depart
ment of the Atlanta, Birmingham
and Coast railroad. “If more than
enough is produced for home con
sumption, a market always can be
found for the surplus and at profit
able prices. There need be no fear
of overloading the market with eggs
and chickens, the demand is increas
ing and producers should increase
rather than curtail their output.”
CULTIVATING COUNTRY IDEALS'
The greatest heritage of a peo
ple is not material, but spiritual. It j
is in the country that we find the
homely, old-fashioned virtues that
landed with the Pilgrams at Ply- .
mouth Rock and that have been the
source of America’s greatness. Re
spect for law and ten command
ments; neighborliness, love of fami
ly and friends are still things that
are dear to the hearts of country
people.
These arc things we should cherish
and hand down to our children —a
legacy whose value far exceeds the
value of lands and bank accounts.
Perhaps we have been thinking too
much in terms of bushels and dollars,
and too little in terms of those things
which are much more fundamental in
human happiness. We need to cul
tivate the love of beauty, to strive
for a deep appreciation of the glory
of the sunset behind the hilltops and
the beauty of the shadows in the
valley.
Most important of all, our ideals
must be country ideals. We must
develop a country civilization that
is far more than an imitation of the
city;—Prairie Farmer.
I
THE MONTH OF PROMISE
May is a month of prpmise. It
holds out its beckoning hand to man
and bids him engage in the fruitful
activities of the season. It assures
him that if he will plant his crops
and cultivate them faithftdly, the
autumn shall bring an abundant
harvest. Like human promises, this
assurance is not always fulfilled.
Those that accept it and devote
thereto their earnest labor, usually
reap a harvest.
May is said not to be a good month
jto get married in. But many prom
ises of love are made in May in
Georgia. The young man’s fancy
is said to turn in that direction in
the spring. What could be more ef
fective in inciting such declarations?
With the birds mating and nesting
and raising their little families, na
jture seems to call out to young life.
But the lovers would better wait a
little, and determine whether their
passion is a mere spring time breeze
of fancy, or a strong wind of af
fection that will keep on blowing
through life.—Lavonia Times.
FLOOD FUGITIVES DESCRIBE
NARROW ESCAPE
Atlanta.-—Fugitives from the rag
ing Mississippi that two weeks ago j
swept away their farm home near i
Greenville., and buffeted them for j
perilous hours until a rescue boat.
picked them off floating wreckage, 1
Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Stokes and 8-
year-old son, Harry, spent Thursday
night in Atlanta as guests of the Sal
vation Army on their way to the
home of relatives of Mrs. Stokes in
Macon, Ga.
The little family escaped coatless
and hatless from their home at
breakfast time just as a wall of
roaring water, bursting through the
levee, wrenched the house from 'its
fundations and sent it spinning
'through the fields. They were swept
with the current for several miles
before a cruising relief boat answ
ered their calls for help.
| Clothing and food were supplied
by the Salvation Army at Greenville
and they started afoot to find tem
porary harbor with Mrs. Stokes’ re
latives in Georgia, walking and catch
ing rides with passing motorists.
I Mr. and Mrs. Stokes were cordial
in praise for the Salvation Army,
from which they have secured lodg
ing for the night at points along
their route from Greenville to At
lanta, and which provided the cloth
ing they are wearing.
BLIND AND GUIDE
MAY RIDE TRAINS
ON SINGLE TICKET
Atlanta.—The state public service
commission Thursday approved anew
rule submitted to that body which
will permit all carriers in Georgia to
carry a totally blind person and an
other person accompanying as guide,
on one ticket. The rule will permit
all carriers to take this course should
they desire, according to James A.
Perry, chairman.
Mr. Perry said in some states rail
roads will not accept a passenger
who is totally blind unless another
person accompanies him as guide.
In such instances two tickets would
be required. The new rule will per
mit the railroads to carry the two
passengers on one ticket which will
grant much relief to many blind per
sons who are required, in their busi
ness, to travel from place to place.
I Mr. and Mrs. 11. W. Guest of Jack
son, and Mr. Key Holliday of Ath
ens, were guests at the home of Mr.
J. M. Holliday for the week-end.
FLOODS RAVAGE 6,000,000
ACRES
New Orleans.—More than 6,000,-
000 acres in seven states have been
submerged by the greatest flood in
the history of the Mississippi river
valley.
Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee,
Arkansas, Mississippi, Illinois and
Louisiana each have felt the fury of
the angry Mississippi and its tribu
taries as the streams, fed by rains
and melting winter’s snows turned
their waters toward the Gulf of Mexi
co.
Arkansas, in the floods of the St.
Francis, the White, the Cache, the
Black and the Arkansas and Little
1 rivers, added to the backwaters of
the Mississippi itself, was hardest hit
with 3,477,000 acres inundated.
Thirty-nine thousands, three hun
dred acres were submerged in Ken
tucky.
[ Tennessee saw 466,000 acres dis
appear beneath the muddy current.
| In Missouri 772,500 acres were in
undated by the Mississippi, the St.
Francis, the Black and Little rivers.
I Almost another million acres were
covered in Louisiana as the Missis
sippi, fed by the water draining
from the lowlands of other states
burst through levees to met the
flood water of the Arkansas river in
northeastern Louisiana, covering the
1 greater part of eleven parishes.
Still other thousands of acres
were flooded in Mississippi and Illi
i
nois.
LAWRENCEVILLE ROAD
NEAR COMPLETION
Lawrenceville, Ga. Only two
miles on the Lawrenceville-Decatur
highway in Gwinnett county are in
complete and the county officials are
rushing the work on that stretch to
complete it by June 1. There are 12
miles of hard surfaced road which is
being traveled without a detour to
Carroll’s store. Until the two re
maining miles are complete cars de
tour at Carroll’s store and come back
into the highway at Tucker.
The state highway department let
the contract for top-surfacing from
the Gwinnett county line to Decatur
Friday and it is said the DeKalb of
ficials hope to get their stretch fin
ished in the near future. This will
be a source of delight to the tourist
in this section, as it will give them a
hard surfaced road into Atlanta.
GEORGIA DOCTORS TO GO
TO FLOOD STRICKEN AREA
Atlanta, Ga.—The Georgia State
Board of Health will send six phy
sicians into the Mississippi flood
area, Dr. M. E. Winchester, director,
announced Monday.
* The physicians will leave their
homes Tuesday for Memphis to re
port to Red Cross headquarters there.
They will remain in the flooded
area for thirty days, and at the end
of that time they will be replaced
!by other doctors, if necessary, Dr.
Winchester said.
The physicians to go are: Dr.
M. E. Winchester, Atlanta, director
of county health work of the State
Board of Health; Dr. Sam A. Ander
'son, Mjlledgeville; Dr. B. V. Elmore,
[Rome; Dr. H. L. Adridge, Brunswick;
Dr. G. T. Grodier, Valdosta.
CONWELL RE-ELECTED
The re-election of J. E. Conwell of
Lavonia, to the presidency and gen
eral management of the Georgia
Cotton Growers Co-operative Associ
ation, is another tribute—paid many
times before—to a notable Georgian
who has given faithful, efficient,
courageous and tireless services to
the upbuilding of this great cooper
ative marketing organization.
Mr. Conwell, because of his un
impeachable integrity, and his earn
est and capable efforts for farm
development, and because of his
heart-interest in the cause, has made
one of the most valuable cooperative
executives in America. -
A strong board of directors, re
presenting a large number of the
most substantial farmers and busi
ness men in Georgia, will cooperate
with Mr. Conwell in association di
rection.
WOULD BE GLAD TO HAVE
YOUR CHANCES
When y’ fail t’ make a “home run
in th’ puzzlin’ game o’ life
An’ yer strength seems all to little
fer to battle ’gainst th’ strife;
When yer feelin’ blue an’ lonely, an
y’ don’t know where t’ steer
Fer t’ find some true companion "h >
will drive away yer fear —
Jest remember there are fellers 'vho
are ridin’ in a hearse
Who’d be glad t’ have yer chances
—Conditions might be worse.
* —Anon, j