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THE TIMES-RECORDER
DAILY AND WEEKLY
The Americus Recorder, Established
1879.
The Americus Times, Established 1890
, Consolidated April, 1891.
THOMAS GAMBLE, JR.,
Editor and Manager.
C. W. CORNFORTH,
Associate Editor and Assistant
Manager.
J. W. FURLOW, City Editor.
W. L. DUPREE,
Assistant Business Dept.
Editorial Room Telephone 99.
The Times-Reeorder is the
Official Organ of the City of Americus
Official Organ of Sumter County.
Official Organ of Webster County.
Official Organ of Railroad Commis
sion of Georgia for the 3rd Congres
sional District.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Daily,, one. year $6.00
Daily, one month 50c
Weekly, one year SI.OO
Weekly, six months 50c
Address all letters and make remit
tance payable to * - •
THE TIMES-RECORDER,
Americus, Gr
Americus, Ga., February 8, 1908.
War between Russia and Turkey .*
the latest. How are the mighty fall
en, to get into the Sultan's class.
Since the assassination of the King
of Portugal the Imperial guard at
Washington has doubtless been doub
led.
Graves is missed in Atlanta and not
particularly felt in New York. Come
back to the old home tripod, John
Temple.
•
Thaw’s sister, the Countess of Yar
mouth, has secured a divorce from
the Count. The Pittsburg family has
its full share of troubles.
Bryan is quoted as saying that free
silver is a dead issue. There was a
time when the Peerless thought it
was the greatest hobby-horse of the
age.
A blind man is running for the po
sition of coroner of Fulton county.
Perhaps its just as well, as many of
fice holders go blind after being el
ected anyway.
Out in the West they cali the idle
locomotives “Teddy Bears.” That
does not look as though Roosevelt
were overwhelmingly popular in that
vicinity just now.
Portugal, with a population of about
six millions, has a debt of nine
hundred millions. The trouble with
Portugal is that it waited too long
to stamp out royalty.
The tariff is the one sacred thing
that President Roosevelt is afraid to
tackle with his big stick and vitrolic
pen. Even Bryan fights shy of going
up against it with might and main.
Public Printer Stillings has been
suspended by the President. If his
successor were taken from one of the
“yellows” the daily Congressional
Record might become more readable.
A New Jersey lover gave his sweet
heart a check for a thousand kisses.
She is now trying to cash it in the
divorce court at the rate of $lO per
kiss. Love comes high but we must
have it.
Bryan says the gravest objection
against Governor Johnson of Minneso
ta is that the New York World favors
him. But he adds that the World’s
support in an unfair reflection on
Johnson.
“Big Tim” Sullivan distributed five
thousand pairs of shoes among his
Bow'ery constituents the other day.
Shoes beat constitutional speeches as
vote getters. “Big Tim” is a states
man with a job.
And now' the Pullman porters are
to get a bonus from the company each
year. The Georgia Railroad Commis
sion had better look into this in
crease among the officials who are
already earning big pay.
#— ■
Editor Ridder, of the New York
Zeitung, feels aggrieved because
President Roosevelt is said to have
termed him “the limburger envoy.”
Ridder has been trying to line up the
Germans against Taft .and Bryan.
Automobilists of the Quaker City
will endow a hospital bed for victims.
If the people would set apart a few
penitentiary cells for reckless auto
ists perhaps there wouldn’t be so
much need for the hospital endow
ment.
The Pennsylvania capitol grafters
remind one very much of Warren
Hastings who was surprised at his
own moderation. The grafters be
lieve that they treated the public with
unusual indulgence in putting in any
furniture at all. Some men would
simply have stolen the money and
given nothing for it.
Bryan is probably not far from
correct when he says that the amount
of money fleeced from the lambs who
invade Wall street in a year is great
er than all that is stolen throughout
the country in the same time. But
the lambs will continue to go blithe
ly up to the fleecing as soon as good
times return.
It is claimed that 235,000 negroes
will be registered in Georgia to vote
against disfranchisement. The Times-
Recorder, in common with many
other papers of the State, does not
believe in this scheme of disfranchise
ment and regards it as unnecessary
and believes it will be productive, in
the end, of more evil than good.
SUMTER A COUNTY THAT IS BLESSED.
In probably no other county of Georgia has the business depression
of the fall and winter been felt as lightly as it has been in Sumter.
To be sure it has been impossible for this or any other community
not to realize some of the results of a condition that was widespread
and affected every trade and industry to some extent.
But Sumter was blessed with one of the best cotton crops it has
ever had. It is true that it was not the bumper crop that was looked
for, that it was cut down by bad weather conditions, and the inabil
ity to secure labor when needed, but at the same time it has averaged
well up to the best years the county has had.
The crop for Sumter will probably reach well toward 35,000 bales,
if it does not pass that figure. The price has been a good one, an
excellent one considering the business conditions generally.
Other crops have also done well in this county. Corn and cane
met expectations. It is true the peach crop was a failure, but Sumter
is just developing into a peach county- and the absence of a crop was ac
cordingly not felt to the extent that it must have been in some other
counties where peach growing has developed into a most important indus
try.
The people of Sumter have for years been recognized as among the
most prosperous in the whole state of Georgia, or anywhere in the South
for that matter. Their farms are as fine as can be found in the state,
their output second to none, and a healthier, happier and better satis
fied folk it would be hard to find’, travel where one will.
All in all old Sumter is a county that one may fairly call “blessed
of God.”
It has never had, as far as recorded, a crop failure that was dis
astrous. Year after year has found it coming smilingly up with its
quota of cotton and an increasing supply of other products of its
fertile fields. Its schools have been improved, its highways hardened
and leveled, its facilities for shipping its products have grown to meet the
needs of the country, life has become broadened and fuller with the pas
sage of time, until today the man who is seeking a home can travel very
far, over many states, and find no place that offers to him the advantages
and opportunities that can be found here in Sumter.
AN ASTOUNDING PROPOSITION.
The revolutionary, one is almost tempted to say anarchistic, atti
tude of the Georgia Railroad Commission under the dictation of the
present incumbent of the gubernatorial office, was never more strikingly
or alarmingly displayed than in the answer filed by the commission to
the suit brought by the Central railroad against the 2 1-2 cent rate. •
The Railroad Commission positively declares in its answer, if the
statements of the Atlanta Georgian are correct, that the railroad is
not entitled to any more than a fiveper cent earning on its capital, ard
that on the franchise valuations there should be no earnings allowed.
One almost loses patience in reading such a declaration as this.
Why should tne earnings of the stockholders in the railroads of Georgia
be restricted to 5 per cent? Governor Smith never raised any hullabaloo
when the Atlanta Stove Works paid 100 per cent, one year. Nor is there
any evidence that his earnings as a large stockholder in the Piedmont
Hotel, with the fancy and highly attractive bar as a great money
earner, were ever restricted to five per cent. Nor does any one
believe that his stock in the Atlanta Journal in its best days ever failed
to net him considerably more than five per cent. And it is doubtful if
the governor holds bank stock that does not net him six to ten per cent,
let alone any stock he may hold in cotton mills or other enterprises.
And it is safe to say that if the governor owns, real estate he is not con
tent with a five per cent, return.
What has been said as to the governor and five per cent earnings
applies with equaf force to Chairman McLendon or any other member
of the Railroad Commission in their private business capacities. If it
were proposed to restrict all of their investments to five per cent a
year, with no insurance that in off years they would even get that, they
would be the very first to raise a loud, prolonged, and a desper
ate howl that they were being robbed of their God-given rights and
their freedom as American citizens being taken from them.
Why are the stockholders in the various railroads of Georgia to
be denied the right to earn more than five per cent a year upon their
investments in them? If this sort of thing goes, if Gov. Smith is to
make his canvass for a second term as Governor on such a platform as
this, Georgia can well bid good by to railroad building for the next
ten years, or until the Smith regime has been relegated into history and
forgotten.
Five per cent for railroad investments, but everything that you can
earn on other investments! But how long before some demagogue will
come up and propose that cotton mills and iron mills and coal mines, and
other industries dealing with articles of every day necessity to the
people, shall likewise be restricted in their net earnings to five per
cent? Hoke Smith got to be Governor on a campaign of some such
nature, why not go him one better and attack the whole system of
net earnings and hold all men down to the same level as to what they
shall receive as a return on their investments?
But there are signs of an awakening that will probably send the re
formers to the rear after the next two years, perhaps before then.
It is only some such thing that will save Georgia from a period of
absolute inactivity in enterprises that are held to be subject to the con
trol of the present commission or any public utilities commission that may
hereafter be created.
THE SYSTEM NEEDS (HANGING
The statement of State Treasurer
Park lays bare the weak point in the
present system of state examination
of banks chartered by the common
wealth.
According to the report of Capt.
Park under the present* system the
income from the banks, by the me
thod of assessments, is totally inade
quate to pay for a proper, systematic,
inspection.
With the amount of money available
Capt. Park has done the best he
could with several hundred banks
scattered over the state to be exam
ined.
The system is decidedly wrong. If
there is to be a state banking s>s
tem the banks should be rigidly ex
amined in the interest of the public.
If they cannot be examined the sooner
the state banks are wiped out the
better.
The great root of the trouble is the
false economy that prevails at times
in the legislature. The idea was to I
throw the expense of the examination
Soda Crackers with crack to them
Soda Crackers with snap to them
Soda Crackers with taste to them
Uneeda Biscuit
Oven-fresh —Oven-crisp—Oven-clean —
/« dust tight,
moisture proof packages.
'Neper sold in bulk.
NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY
i on the banks but the system provided
i for this purpose has been so defec
i tive, apparently, that the income
is far from sufficient for this purpose.
The present system should undoubt
i • •
j edly be abolished. An adequate corps
of bank examiners should be appointed
not from among the politicians, but
from competent auditors. Their salar
ies should be paid out of the state
treasury monthly and should' be ade
quate to secure the services of compe
tent men. The fees charged to the
banks for regular examination of
their affairs should be turned into
the state treasury.
With a system that is radically
wrong at the base little can be hoped
for in the shape of thorough, satis
factory work. We do not see how
Capt. Park can be held responsible
for a false policy established by the
legislature, although it may be quite
possible that the examiners have fail
ed to do thorough work. At the same
time the real trouble undoubtedly lies
in the method of pawment and the in
adequate compensation prevailing un
der the system as it now stands.
REVISION AND DEPRESSION
There is some sound business sense
in the argument, of Chairman Payne,
of the House Committee on Ways and
Means, that a period of depression,
following what threatened to be the
country’s most acute panic, is not the
proper moment to agitate for a re
vision of the tariff,'with all of the
unsettling of industrial life that nec
essarily accompanies such changes in
the schedules as will be proposed.
The tariff needs revision. No one
seems to doubt that. But just now
the country -needs a little rest from
distributing elements of any kind, an
opportunity to get its nervous sys
tem quieted, to inflate its lungs with
some oxygen, look around, take its
bearings and prepare to go on with
its old time vigor.
If the revision of the tariff should
be begun at this time it is pretty
safe to say that industries staggering
along, working part time, or not at
all, would be put in a worse position
than they are at present. The tariff
may be the mother and father of all
of the ills that afflict the country, from
trusts up and down the scale,, but
common sense would seem to dictate
that it be left alone temporarily un
til business conditions, not only in
this country but the world over, get
more stable.
Chairman Payne does not take much
stock in the proposed appointment of
a commission of so-called experts to
get together information as to what
schedules should be changed. He
says:
“My position is That when it shall
be best for the interests of the Am
erican people to undertake a revis
ion of the tariff, that is the time when
I shall favor a revision, and I should
urge a minimum and maximum tariff,
coupled with the exisiting law em
powering the United States to make
trade agreements with other coun
tries; and 1 would follow France,
Germany and Russia in the provision
that the minimum tariff should afford
a fair protection to home products.
“I think that the signs of the times
are that next winter this Congress
will undertake a revision of the tar
iff. Shall we get our working in
formation at first hand from the pro
ducers themselves?
“Or shall we content ourselves with
getting it second hand from a body
of men appointed as a tariff investigat
ing commission? From what 1 have
seen of the formation of tariff bills—
and I have been eighteen years a
member of the Ways and Means Com
mittee and for the last nine years
its chairman—l should by all means
seek it at first hand. You cannot
convince men, gentlemen, of the wis
dom of appointing such a commis
sion.”
RISE' AND FALL OF MORSE
Few business careers have been so
spectacular as that of Charles W.
Morse, the former multi-millionaire
and steamboat king. Almost in a day
he saw his fortune swept away and
himself execrated by the people and
hounded by his creditors.
Search is being made for M u se,
but he can't be found. Among the
troubles which confront him are a
judgment for $155,753, a suit for $243,-
321. by the receiver of the Bank of
North America, a mortgage on his
home, accounts in banks attached,
steamship company in the hands of
receivers, and two grand juries in
vestigating his relations with Lhe
banks.
The scheme worked by Morse, as
well as other financiers now dis
credited, was to get control of the
funds of one bank and then use them
to buy another, using the second
bank’s funds to buy a third, and so
on. When the day of reckoning came
all his wildcat schemes tumbled about
his ears.
Mr. Morse began his career as a
banker and promoter, the American
Ice Company and the stemaship com
pany being the outgrowth of his am
bition to become an important factor
in finacial circles. His methods of
satisfying his ambition were what
got him into trouble.
Many lessons could be drawn from
the rise and quick fall of Morse. Old
maxims which were rusting away in
the business world will be refurbish
ed. There mere fact that a man has
control of a financial institution will
not be enough to satisfy depositors
that all his right. Old time honesty
has been vindicated. Schemes to get
rich-quick by any method have re
ceived a severe jolt.
Morse was but a type of the dan
gerous operator in business. His
downfall leaves a clearer fiejd for re
putable business method*.
EARLY PRIMARY -
The executive committee has spok
en, and the state Democratic primary
is to be held June 4. A few members
of the committee were in favor of a
later election, but were overruled.
No doubt the date fixed will be re
ceived with general satisfaction over
the state, the only exceptions being
those who had an axe to grind which
could not be whettled in so short a
space of time.
To have a campaign which drag
ged through the summer would be
little short of a calamity. The hot
weather will be enough to contend
with, without having to listen to the
spellbinders. No use to pile on
troubles when such a course can be
avoided.
One convention will also be enough,
and then with the state convention
held and the candidates officially nom
inated, the citizenship can get down
to hard work.
Os course it will be al walk-over for
Senator Clay. _ For Gov. Smith the
same conditions exist . It is custom
ary in Georgia to give a Governor
two terms.
So the principal excitement will
be in the selection of county and
municipal officers. In Americus it
is said that the number of aspirants
outnumber the offices by a good mar
gin and it will be necessary for the
voters to give the pink slip to quite
a number of excellent gentlemen.
Candidates have already announced
in some instances, and no doubt in a
few days the list will be greatly add
ed to. Americus and Sumter county
have an abundance of good material
for executive positions ~ Almost any
of the candidates offering will no
doubt be worthy and capable of fill
ing the position which they seek.
Graft Losing Out,
(Philadelphia Press)
There is an unknown man in New
York whose name should go ringing
down the corridors ‘of time. ,He is
George R. Wakefield, a lieutenant of
police. Wakefield was sent to Bel
gium to buy dogs for police work. The
success of the eßlgian authorities in
using canine police had been so phe
nomenal that it was decided to make
the experiment in New York. Wake
field returned with several fine speci
mens, trained and capable. Up to this
point he had done nothing that any
one else would not have done, and
done, perhaps, as well.
But there was still something to do.
He sent in his bill. Including the cost
of his voyage across the ocean, his
hotel bills for nearly a month, the pur
chase price of the dogs and their
freight charges over to this country,
his bill was $364.80.
'“Why,'’ said the Controller of New
York, “there are officials in the em
ploy of the administration that, would
charge mor e than that for a trip to
Washington.”
The custom officers Couldn't believe
their ears when Wakefield declared
that he paid $lO apiece for the dogs.
As the duty on imported canines is
20 per cent, the officials thought the
Government was being mulcted. They
appraised the four-footed police at
SIOOO each, but Wakefield held to his
statement that $lO was their price.
So the custom men quietly arrang
ed with the Controller of New York
to see the police lieutenant's bill. They
saw it. The dogs were charged at
$lO each. What they said then is not
recorded.
But that is why George R. Wake
field should be remembered. He is a
hopeful sign of tlie times. He would
have been lonely five years ago. He
will be one of many in days to come.
For graft is not as fashionable as it
was.
YOUNG
MOTHERS
A mother who is in good physical
condition transmits to her cliiid the
blessing of a good constitution;
sickly, ailing mothers, the reverse.
The tiny babe brings to her a liv
ing responsibility. At such a time
too great care cannot be taken to
build up the mother’s general con
stitution, and restore her feminine
system to a healthy, normal con
dition. The greatest assistance that
any woman ean have in accomplish
ing this all-important work is
LYDIA E.PINKHAM’S
VEGETABLE COMPOUND
Mrs. M. Gilmer, of West Union,
S C., writes to Mrs. Pinkham,
Lynn, Mass.
“I was, greatly rrm down iu health,
suffering from a weakness peculiar to
my sex. I began to take Lydia E.
Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, and
I was not only restored to health but
am the proud mother of a fine baby
girl. I wish every sick and ailing
woman would give Lydia E. Pinkham’s
Vegetable Compound a trial.”
Mrs. Paul Oliver, of >St. Martin
ville, La., writes to Mrs. Pinkham: 1
“ For years I suffered from the worst
form of female troubles, and the doctor
said I could not get well without an!
operation. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vege-j
table Compound restored me to perfect
health, and L have the sweetest little (
baby girl. I will never cease to j
praise Lydia E. Pinkham’s medicine. ,: i
FACTS FOR SICK WOMEN. \
For thirty years Lydia E. Pink-j
ham’s Vegetable Compound, made'
from roots and herbs, has been the
standard remedy for female ills,?
and has positively cured thousands of j
women who have been troubled with
the worst forms. Why don’t you
try it? • I
, XW-- *
WHAT TO DO WITH THE HOLIDAY BOOKS!
Just now this is a leading question in many thousand
American homes. , * ♦
How can all the new books, with their attractive bindings
be displayed to the best advantage, arranged and classified
so as to always be accessible. -a '- < r , *.
Now is the most propitious moment of the entire year to settle
this question for all time to come, by procuring
** Elastic" Book Cases which are graded as to height to fit the
books of any library, and in lengths to fit most any room. y
- Made in dull and polish finish, quartered oak and mahogany
—with plain, leaded and plate glass doors —controlled by the
only patent equalizer that absolutely prevents binding.
Three different styles are described in the catalogue —
Standard, Mission and Ideal —each one a distinctive type.
We carry the goods in stock and sell at catalogue prices.
A. W. Smith Furniture Co.
•v _ ' '
Next to having money, the most
important thing is how to take care
of it—how best to invest it.
A Banking Institution of this kind
cannot only care for your financial
interests in a careful, conservative
way—giving you abundant banking
•facilities in every department of fin
ance—but can also give you valuable
aid and advice about investments and
securities. Open an account with
the Bank of South Western Georgia’s
Savings Department and enjoy the
advantages that accrue.
TO DEPOSIT
Money in your children’s name
at Our Savings Department.
Many parents strive to teach their
children to do right, yet often neg
lect so teach them the saving habi!
Give them a Bank Book they can
call their own and it will encourage
them to save. .
Give them one of our Bank Books.
4 per cent paid on Savings.
The Planters Bank of Americus
r*vj').
STICKING TO A CONTRACT
Is one of our good points. We do
not repudiate figures on estimates,
and we follow every detail closely.
We do only work of the very high
est class, and we charge only rea
sonable prices for first class work.
We find that this policy paya ■ us.
You’ll find that it will pay you to have
us do your work.
C. P. PAYNE.
If you want good home made Har
ness buv.from
W. O. BARNETT,
Manufacturer of all kinds of Harness.
CAPUMNE
CURES GOLDS
ft RI P P i< Removes
_ E xhe Cause.
Relieves the aches ar t feverishness.
Contains Na AcatanlSide
u G. Council, Front. R. J. Pekkv, \'h«-Ti«h. I . M (< i Mil, Cashier.
Ihe Planters Bank
(WiflfeSlHli of Americus
ffl 'ijj| Mjl'l |j l Total Resources, 3500,000
jjjfejpF'egg jag ffiHflll iß.i-U-i vVItL bll hid connect'(><-, our
SpfiDjgj || .Mg jyagjQp gj m yyifSi large res- uries. u*.d everv attf t Hoc cop.
< slstent wth sound bankli jt. v-e solicit
A. IV. Smith, Pres. G. M. Eltlridge, V. P. N. Dudley, Cashier
Bank of South-Western Ga.,
Americus Ga.
Security, Liberality and Courtesy Accorded Its Patrons.
DIRECTORS:
C«L. Aasley, G. M. Eldridge, K. J. Perry
W. A. Dodson, Thos. Hnrrold, A. YV. Smith,
N. I. Dudley, H. R. Johnson.
L. A. LOTVREY, President. M. M. LOIYKEY, (ashier.
CRAWFORD WHEATLEY, Vice. Pres. R. E. McNTLTY, Asst, (ashier.
AMERICUS NATIONAL BANK
g~ The Only National Bank in This Section.
CAPITAL $100,000.00. V. S. BONDS $100,000.00.
, Under the supervision of the
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
Accounts of firms, individuals and coporations invited. Certilicatei of
deposit issued hearing interest.
J. W. SHEFFIELD, President, FRANK* SH FT Fi HI) Vi.. -
E. D. SHEFFIELD, Cashier.
BANK OF COMMERCE,
Americus, Ga.
A general banking business transacted and all conMSteflj
courtesies extended patrons. Certificates of deposit issue
earning interest.
G. M. Bragg’s Market
’PHONE No. 94.
Choice Beef and Pork,
Brains, Ribs and Back Bones.
Fresh Shad Fish and Oysters.
Pork Sausage a Specialty-
Mutton for Saturday and Sunday.
G. C. HALL
CONTRACTOR AND BUILDER
BRICK WORK A SPECIALTY f
Contract work solicited in Americus and surrounding > CfofC
All Work Guaranteed. Office B. C. Hodge 4l g.
Forsyth St. Phone
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