Newspaper Page Text
The Jackson Herald
By Holder & Williamson
When The Legislature Meets
Th , governor will call an extra
• on 0 f the Georgia Legislature,
L h w ill convene on Thanksgiving
! Ho can call it together, but he
" adjourn it. He hopes it will
omplet*' its work by the first of the
The questions which will be
nsidered will be named by the
, t . n ., r in this special call. For
1 time he has been holding each
’ k conferences with groups of
• i at ors, and he and the members
j tht . General Assembly are work
oUt a program to be submitted
(hl , Legislature. The Governor
, s |„. will request consideration
B ly ~i emergency matters. Espe
. jl v will some of the amendments
• and on in June be questions which
ail dint attention.
tt t t
Yj, en . is exemption of personal
iro pci'l y and homesteads. To the
ornu .,' there is no opposition, but
0 tht latter there is much sentiment
v at i s unfavorable. The amend
nent provides exemption from
we lvt hundred to two thousand dol
ar? oil homesteads. County com
aissioners, who have given expres
j on to their views, are unanimously
n favor of the exemption of the
ninimum amount. This exemption,
whether for the larger or smaller
imount, will have little effect on
itate appropriations, but will reduce
■ounty funds to such an extent that
county taxes will have to be in
creased, expenses curtailed, or the
money to replace the loss of income
have to be supplied from some
other source. It has been suggested
that counties be given the revenue
from an additional one cent of gas
tax to be taken away from the
state’s six cents a galon. Any effort
to have counties surrender all coun
ty roads and county road money to
the state will meet with stubborn re
sistance.
tt t t
The greatest question before the
General Assembly will be taxation.
Already two mills of advalorem have
keen added to the state tax rate for
1937; but will this present system
of taxation be abolished? Sugges
tions have heen made that this be
done. The amendment adopted laat
June providing for classification does
Dot indicate that the advalorem sys
tem be discontinued. Classification
Day mean one tax rate for real
state, merchandise, etc., and an
ther for money, notes and choses
in action. The argument is that the
personal property is not now re
tamed for taxes, but to impose a
small rate will bring to the tax
books millions of dollars now pay
ing nothing whatever to the coffers
of the state. In other words, the
property that can be seen and can
not escape the tax gatherer, will bear
a higher rate of taxation, and the
property that eannot be seen will
have a lower rate.
Only recently the statement has
tan published in the Atlanta Jour-
Balthat lion. Alex Stephens said that
At' most ready and powerful debat-
and one of the greatest statesmen
’horn he had ever known or who had
ever been a representative in con
was the Hon. Robert Toombs.
Robert Toombs wrote the pres
{nt Constitution of Georgia, which
Provides that the rate of taxation on
*ll property shall be uniform. Those
*h° oppose classification as above
declare that Mr. Toombs,
bad made the most careful
stud .v "t taxation ver a period of
,ears . would not write in the Con
titutiun a provision taxing the farm-
land five mills, for instance, and
jj e money lenders notes one mill.
an y believe this part of the Con
dition, written by General
D °mbs, to be just and wise.
The land proprietor does not re
rn his land at its full value.
e 'ther does the owner of money,
totes ar| d other invisible holdings;
0 e ach has been paying the same
** rate on the amount placed on
e Pax books. Besides the appar
v °r of the owner of invisible pro
/Pi. another question is whether
i Plication or a lower tax rate on
visible holdings will bring the
J".® ° U P of hiding and make it
■JJ 1 ab! c for taxation. If it does
d ° this, then this whole plan
Pscs, and is a failure. These
will be thoroughly discuss
when the General Assembly con-
SINGLE COPY 5c
venes in extra session. While the
amendment for classification has
been approved by the people, It re
quires a law passed by the Legisla
ture to put it in operation.
tt t t
Some insist that advalorem taxes
be entirely abolished, and other
forms of raising revenue be substi
tuted. One suggestion is to amend
the income tax law, so that all funds
hitherto raised by advalorem and in
come be paid by income taxes. This
can be done by lowering the amount
of exemption, and increasing the
rate. Under the advalorem system,
the owner of certain kinds of prop
erty must pay taxes, whether the
property makes anything or not.
I here have been years, for instance,
when a farmer made no dividend on
his investment, but he had to pay
taxes, dividend or no dividend. This
has been a great hardship on these
property owners. Now, under the
income tax system, a person pays no
taxes unless he has a certain amount
of income. Under this plan, he pays
when he has made the money, and
does not pay when he has not earn
ed a certain amount of income. But
many think the income tax rate is
already high enough in Georgia, as
this same income payer must also
pay tax to the federal government.
Some declare for a sales tax. It
is claimed under this system, every
body helps bear the burden of gov
ernment. At one time Governor
Rivers was an earnest advocate of
a sales tax, but in the last campaign
for Governor he did not have this
as a part of his platform. In some
states it has been tried, and the peo
ple seem fairly well pleased with it.
In other states where this law has
been in operation, it has been re
pealed. The present Governor of
Kentucky was elected on the issue
of the repeal of the sales tax. Asa
rule, merchants oppose this plan of
raising revenue. They say it is not
only troublesome to handle, but
quite expensive when the merchant
has to absorb it. There are those
who favor a modified form of sales
tax by a levy on soft drinks, candy,
shows, checks, etc. This is called
the nuisance tax. Its opponents say
if a sales tax is levied, not just have
it apply to a few things, but to all
sales made except farmers produce
and food used for the table. The
nuisance tax this far has never made
much headway in Georgia, or many
other states. South Carolina has
had the best success with it of any
state about which any information
has been published. A nuisance tax
bill would have a rocky road in the
Legislature, as it would encounter
not only the powerful opposition of
the manufacturers, but soda founts,
filling stations and other places
where soft drinks are sold by the
glass or bottle.
There is no painless method of
taking tax money from the people.
All plans cause hurt and complaint.
One of the great questions of all
time has been the question of tax
ation, how to get money to run the
government. It has caused in our
own country political battles, and
has been the subject of some of the
greatest debates ever heard in con
gress. It will ever be a live ques
tion, and the Legislature has an im
portant task in producing enough
money to pay expenses of the new
program in Georgia. Other import
ant matters will be considered by
the Legislature, but raising revenue
will be the greatest of all questions
before the General Assembly.
NEWSPAPERS BEST MEDIUM FOR
ADS, SAYS FILM MAN
Newspapers are the best advertis
ing medium, it was disclosed by
Oscar A. Dobb, advertising director
of a nation-wide theatrical circuit,
after a month’s survey conducted
throughout the circuit.
“Newspaper policy is always a di
rect reflection on reader interests.
This increase of space devoted to
movie news by the more alert and
progressive publishers reflects an in
crease in interest on the part of
newspaper readers,” said Doob.
“In my opinion it is a further as
surance that the newspapers are still
the most effective means of reaching
the theater-going millions of Ameri
ca.”
JEFFERSON, Jackson County, Georgia.
RIVERS CONSIDERS
REVENUE CHANGES
Atlanta.—Governor Rivers Satur
day had under consideration a nine
point program made by the special
legislative tax committee.
The program recommends drastic
changes in the state’s revenue
gathering machinery and stresses
economy in government. Under the
program recommended, the state
would assume all responsibility for
road building, thus relieving the
counties of that expense.
No provision was made for taking
care of the loss of revenue by the
counties through the homestead
and personal property exemptions
voted June 8.
However, the committee recom
mended the State Highway Depart
ment purchase all the road-building
machinery now owned by the coun
ties. It was estimated this cost
would be 12 million dollars. The
counties also would be relieved of
the necessity of purchasing any
further road equipment.
The nine points of the program
follow:
First—Creation of a state tax
commission to make all tax collec
tions and abolition of the present
State Revenue Commission.
Second—Purchase of all licenses,
stamps, tags and other revenue de
vices through the State Treasurer.
Third—Abolition of county tax
assessors, changing county tax re
ceivers to tax assessors and creation
of a state board of tax appeals.
Fourth—Until additional revenue
is in sight, retention of the ad valo
rem tax.
Fifth—Discontinuance of arbitra
tion of public utility ad valorem
taxes, leaving this function to the
board of tax appeals.
Sixth—Abolition of all occupa
tional taxes except those of a regu
latory nature.
Seventh—Merging the bus and
truck maintenance tax with the li
cense tax on automobiles.
Eighth—Enactment of an intangi
bles tax law as authorized by the
tax classification amendment adopt
ed June 8.
Ninth—Setting at $2,000 the ex
emption from all state taxation of
homesteads as allowed by an amend
ment adopted June 8. This is the
maximum figure possible under the
amendment.
GRAVES SEEKS COTTON
PLAN
Montgomery, Ala. —Governor Bibb
Graves, moved by the decline of cot
ton, awaited the answers to tele
grams to Governors of Southeastern
States “asking for suggestions as to
plans of action” to bring assistance
to farmers.
“The report of the Department of
Agriculture of more than 17 million
bales and the resultant drop in
prices impresses on us the necessity
of doing—not drifting—and doing
now,” he said.
Governor Graves suggested that
perhaps the Governors of the cotton
producing states could get together
and discuss some plan of action.
He suggested that the Governors
consider a resolution unanimously
adopted by members of the Alabama
Congx-essional delegation at a meet
ing in Birmingham recently.
One portion of the resolution re
quested that the cotton loan plan
provide that any loan may be con
sidered at the election of the borrow
er prior to June 30, 1938, as sale of
the cotton to the Commodity Credit
Corporation at the loan price plus
the carrying charges. This action
was taken to relieve borrowers from
any anxiety about the trend in the
price of cotton and would put them
in position to qualify for the adjust
ment payment on the ground that
the cotton had been sold.
Oil Purchase Sought
The resolution also asked “that
the Federal Surplus Commodities
Corporation and other similar gov
ernment agencies be importuned to
purchase cottonseed oil to the ex
tent of 500 million pounds if neces
sary to increase and stabilize at a
fair, reasonable level the price of
cottonseed.”
The old belief that farms “wore
out” because of the removal of plant
food from the soil by growing crops,
isn’t even a half truth. Investiga
tion has shown that erosion removes
21 times as much plant food as
growing plants take from the soil.
Jefferson Merchants Putting
On Good Will Campaign,
Great Crowds Coming
Every Saturday
Jefferson is proving she is one of
the best cotton markets by paying
the very top of the market for cot
ton.
Farmers are selling cotton here
this year who huve not been steady
patrons of the Jefferson cotton
market. It is a good town in which
to sell or store cotton.
It is the right place, also, in which
to buy goods. Jefferson merchants
seek business. In order to get it,
they want the good will of the peo
ple. They want every person who
trades in Jefferson to feel and know
their business* is appreciated. In
the next place,'they know they must
have merchandise before they can
sell it. They have it. All kinds of
merchandise dry goods, shoes,
clothing, groceries, meats, drugs,
cars, money, banking facilities,
furniture, gas, oil, accessories, hard
ware, and a country newspaper that
should be in every home in the coun
ty. The same are all here/to supply
and please the public.
Merchants realize! the prices must
be right, and that is the case with
Jefferson merchants. They have right
prices.
Now, listen, Jefferson merchants
invite the trading public here every
day; but on next Saturday a special
invitation is extended to all the peo
ple, young and old, m£n and women,
white and colored, to be here Satur
day, October 16, and every other
Saturday until December 24.
When these Jefferson merchants
say “Come one, come all, we have
something good for you,” they don’t
mean may be, either. They mean
just what they say.
COSTS 28.6 PERCENT
MORE TO FEED FAMILY
THAN FIVE YEARS AGO
Washington.—lt costs exactly 28.-
6 per cent more to feed a family
now than it did five years ago, the
labor department said.
Department statisticians reported
meat prices led the increase, jumping
46.9 per cent over comparative fig
ures for 1932.
They took the 1932-25 three-year
average to get a comparison with
normal times. With this average as
100, food prices rose generally from
66.7 on September 15, 1932 to 85.8
last September 15. The butcher’s
charges leaped from 75.8 to 111.14.
In the last two years, dairy pro
ducts rose 14.5 per cent and meat in
creased 8.5 per cent as the general
level of foodstuffs increased 7 per
cent.
The department said the average
price of sliced bacon last September
14 — 44.8 cents a pound—was 90 per
cent higher than in 1932 and almost
10 per cent higher than last year.
The statistics showed that pork
chops, figured at 41.2 cents a pound,
cost 69.5 per cent more than in 1932
and were 4.5 per cent up from last
year.
Other increases over 1932 prices
were sirloin steaks, 36.5 per cent;
round steak, 41.7 per cent; rib
roast, 42.7 per cent; chuch roast,
49.5 per cent; sliced ham, 47.3 per
cent; leg of lamb, 34.5 per cent;
roasting chickens, 47.8 per cent.
Butter cost 48.1 per cent more
last month than in 1932, cheese was
up 20.7 per cent, and delivered fresh
milk was 20 per cent higher.
BAPTIST REVIVAL CLOSES
Revival services at the Baptist
church came to a close Sunday night.
Interest in the services increased
each day and night until every seat
in the church auditorium was filled
and extra chairs had to be secured.
Several new members were added
to the church roll.
Rev. Hoke Shirley of the Elber
ton Baptist church, who did the
preaching, made a deep and favor
able impression on the Jefferson con
gregations. He spoke with fervor
and with knowledge of the Script
ures, and with a deep consecration.
His interest in soul saving was mani
fested in his spiritual messages, and
his hearers were brought to a closer
realization of their religious obliga
tions. He won the admiration and
esteem of all those who attended the
services.
Thursday, October 14, 1937.
Refusal To Salute Flag
Stumps State Officers
There was a greatly puzzled At
torney General in Georgia Saturday.
Judge M. J. Yeomans can’t under
stand why anyone shouldn’t want to
salute the American flag.
“Our flag is simply the emblem
of our Constitution and our statutes,
which gives us protection and under
which our state and our nation are
operated,” he said. “In saluting the
flag, we are simply paying a tri
bute to ourselves and to our union
for mutual protection. In refusing
to salute it, a person is doing noth
ing more than ‘biting the hand that
is feeding him.’ ”
Judge Yeomans’ comment came in
making public an opinion he render
ed to Superintendent B. E. Faust, of
Lexington, of Oglethorpe County
schools. Mr. Faust had written him
saying some pupils of that county
had refused to salute the flag as
ordered recently by the State Board
of Education.
“I am surprised that anyone in
Oglethorpe County would prompt
children to refuse to salute the flag,”
wrote Judge Yeomans. “That coun
ty has produced more great men
than probably any other county in
the state. I would think that their
lives would produce a most patriotic
influence upon every man, woman
and child within Oglethorpe Coun
ty.”
In his opinion, Judge Yeomans
cited the recent Supreme Court de
cision in the Leoles case which up
held the right of the Atlanta Board
of Education to expel from school
any child who refused, for any cause,
to salute the flag. In this decision,
rendered May 13, 1937, the Supreme
Court said:
“The salute to the United States
flag by pupils as required by regu
lation was not a religious rite, as
contended by pupil, but a gesture
of patriotism, and pupil refusing to
salute flag was properly expelled
from school.”
MRS. J. E. HAYES VISITS
JEFFERSON
A distinguished visitor, Mrs. J. E.
Hayes, State Custodian of Histori
cal , Records, was in Jefferson Fri
day. In an effort to locate historical
sites and gather historical data, Mrs.
Hayes is making trips throughout
Georgia, and in her itinerary came
to Jeffersop particularly to visit the
burial place of William D. Martin,
who endowed Martin Institute, and
the room in the Turner home, where
Dr. Crawford W. Long resided at
the time he performed the first oper
ation in which ether was used as an
anaesthetic.
Mrs. Hayes is a past president of
the State Federation of Women’s
Clubs, is past director from Georgia
of the National Federation, and is
a former secretary of the National
Federation. Her office is in the
Rhodes Home, on Peachtree street,
Atlanta, which handsome building
was donated the State of Georgia
by the heirs of the Rhodes estate, to
be used as a depository of historical
records. ,
LARGE EAGLE KILLED NEAR
NICHOLSON
(From Commerce News)
Herman Smith, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Curtis Smith, who lives near
Nicholson, was in town Wednesday
morning with a large eagle attached
to the radiator of his car. He had
killed the bird the previous after
noon in the woods near his home.
He stated that he was in the field
when the bird swished over his head
and flew into the nearby forest. He
went to the house, secured his 22
rifle and came back to kill what he
thought was a large hawk. He shot
it and found it to be something dif
ferent to anything he had ever
seen. The eagle measured seven
feet from wing tip to wing tip. It
had a large head and feet, but was
to all appearance a young bird.
The eagle was purchased from
Smith by Mrs. Cleve Hood who will
have it stuffed.
COTTON GINNED IN JACKSON
Census report shows that there
were 7,633 bales of cotton ginned in
Jackson county from the crop of
1937, prior to October Ist, as com
pared with 2,547 bales ginned to
October Ist, 1936, crop of 1936.
Vol. 62. No. 11.
1937 COTTON CROP
IN GEORGIA IS PUT
AT 1,430,000 BALES
The crop reporting board of the
United States Department of Agri
culture, in a report based on infor
mation ns of October 1, placed the
indicated production of the Georgia
cottop crop at 1,430,000 bales.
The forecast yield per acre should
approximate about 260 pounds of
lint, as compared with the final yield
last year of 228 pounds and with
176 pounds for the 10-year period
ending in 1932, the report states.
“This yield, if realized,” the re
port continues, “will be next to the
largest in the history of the state,
exceeded only by that of 267 in
1911.”
Weevil damage has been confined
to the upper crop of early cotton
and to late plantings.
Some complaints have been made
of damage from the rains (of early
and late September), hut this was
to quality rather than quantity of
the crop,” the report states.
Picking is reported nearly com
pleted in south Georgia, about three
fourths finished in the mid-state
area, and nearly half-yay completed
in the northern section of the state.
COLLINS FEARS CUT
IN TEACHERS’ PAY
FOR THREE MONTHS
Atlanta.—A possible reduction of
15 percent in state salaries faces ap
proximately 20,000 Georgia school
teachers for the next three months,
Superintendent M. D. Collins re
vealed Saturday.
The announcement followed the
fixing of budgets for all state de
partments on an 85 percent basis
for the fiscal quarter from October
through December. \
The allocation for paying mini
mum salaries to teachers was re
duced from $1,230,000 to $1,033,000
per month, Dr. Collins explained, in
the budget commission’s apportion
ment of available funds to carry on
the $20,000,000 appropriation bill.
The extent of necessary reduction
in each teacher’s pay, Dr. Collins ex
plained, can not be determined un
til budgets are set up for. county
and city school systems affected by
the new seven-month program of
state support of common schools.
The $9,256,000 appropriation
made by the legislature to support
the program, he continued, was
worked out on estimates of the edu
cation department of the number of
teachers who would be employed in
each system, and the salary each
would draw under a sliding scale
adopted by the state board.
The salary scale for white teach
ers starts at S4O per month and goes
to SBO, depending on the length of
service and the amount of special
training of the teacher.
The department is awaiting re
ports from all superintendents be
fore being able to determine how
much money will be needed, and how
much can be paid during each of the
next three months.
MRS. C. F. HUNT, OF THOMSON,
HEADS U. D. C.
Macon, Ga. —Mrs. Clyde F. Hunt,
of Thomson, for the past two years
first vice president of the Georgia
Division of the United Daughters of
the Confederacy, was elected presi
dent of the organization for next
year at the closing business session
of the forty-second annual conven
tion here Thursday afternoon.
Gainesville was selected for the
1938 annual convention. A board
of directors meeting is scheduled for
Buena Vista in January.
The following resolution was
adopted:
“Pensions have never been grant
ed as alms or charity. It is now
proposed to put Southern soldiers
and their widows in the class of"
those who are receiving donations
of a charitable character, therefore
we protest the shifting of the Con
federate pensions into the Old-Age
Pension Department of the state wel
fare organization and ask that a
Confederate Pension and Record
Department be set up to continue
operations in the future as has been
done in the past. We do not wish
our pensioners subjected to the
humiliation and stigma of being re
corded as recipients of relief.”