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The Americus Times-Recorder
THE WEATHER— Fair Today.
IHFMTY-FOFETH TEAR.
YEAR iN POLITICS BRISTLES WITH
PRIMARIES, ELECTIONS, CONVENTIONS
Municipal, County, State and National Politics Are Mingled in the Political Battles
That Are to Be Fought Here Ouring the Year.-Three Conventions Are On the
Program to Add Zest to the Menu
With today's balloting for the de
cision as to whether the city is to
have an issue of bonds for the build
ing of an electric lighting plant, the
political year as regards elections s«*r|
primaries, opens up in Americus. A
notable year it promises to be, from
indications already manifest.
Today's election is one of a series
ot elections and primaries that wp.l
keep the voters busy throughout the
year. After today’s battle comes the
county primary tomorrow, close ot
the heels of the first. At the county
primary are to be chosen all the
county officers for the ensuing term.
Xext in order is the presidential,
primary in May, the date for this
primary to be held in every county in
the state having been fixed as May 1.
At this primary the voters will ex
press their choice for a presidential
nominee. After the May primary there
is to be a state primary sixty days be
fore the regular state election in Oc
tober, which will make this primary
come in August. At this primary will
be nominated a governor, state house
officers, congressmen and members of
the general assembly.
But this is not all of the political
activity that is on the schedule for
the year, as there are three political
conventions that are to be held. One
is the state convention that is to offi
chilly nominate the officers whose
nan i s will he fixed upon as the nomi
nees of the party as the result of the
primary to be held in August. Those
"ho will be nominated by this con
vention include the governor, judges,
solicitors general and all the state
house officials.
Another convention that is to meet
after the primary in August is the
district congressional convention to
nominate the representative to th-
T nited States congress who will be
named as a result of that primary.
This i, like many others ot
these conventions, seems to be large
ly a formal meeting, but the neces
sity for it exists as much as it does
tor the others.
A third convention is the senatorial
nvceoiuion, which will meet after the
August primary to name a senator
rnm this state senatorial district,
"hich embraces three counties, Sum
er, Schley and Macon. It is Macon
county s time to name a senator for
'be district under the rotation system
now in usp, so that this convention
"'ll merely ratify the nomination that
" H be made by the primary when it
names a candidate from Macon coun
ty for the state senate.
■'ill another convention is the one
'hut will meet to name delegates to
'be national convention as a result of
'presidential primary, unless this
convention is combined with some
! ‘ r convention, which, it seems, will
11, 11 he convenient or expedient, it
111, 1 y he seen from this that there is
" !| hout doubt a plethora of primaries,
1111 °n.s and conventions this year,
"'bracing matters pertaining to city,
'"‘"ty, state and national politics
f ' 1 ' the voters will be kept in a
and turmoil all the while goes
saying, as that is the inevita
h “suit of such conditions.
it'tns K VELT IIEADQUARTEUS
BUSIEST IN CAPITAL
Washington, D. C„ March 19.—Up in
big Munsey building on Pensyl
■"m avenue Col. Roosevelt’s head
l,ir ers has a force of a hundred or
/ s ''“ em ldoyes—men and women —
' lag like beavers and tearing
r,l ""d like mad. They are getting out
r,ir > dope” as the matter is called
’■ and judging by the heavy mail
bat go out of the building at all
\' s ot day and night, the Colonel is
fi, , lU< " l * an< F office business. His
. '"i makes enough noise every day
' tie w, ’ e h to nominate him not only
j-'l I,le Republican ticket but on the
moctatic one also if that, governed.
REAR ADMIRAL TEMPLW POTTS |
Rear Admiral Templin Potts, the popular naval officer who was Adiyiiai
Togo's personal escort during his recent visit to this country, has just been
promoted to his new rank and succeeds Rear Admiral Potter as aid for per
sonnel to the secretary of the navy.
MAY PRIMARY
TO WARM IIP
LEE POLITICS
MANY CANDIDATES IN FIELD
While Primary is More Than
a Month Distant
(Special to The Times-Recorder.)
Leesburg, Ga., March 19.—With the
Axin'" of the date of the county prim
ary as May 1 politics has begun to
warm up here perceptibly, and it
now seems manifest that there will be
many candidates to try their fortunes
on the political field.
With the retirement of Sheriff Sid
ney B. Smith from the position which
he has filled so faithfully and accept
ably for many years, a vancancy has
been created for which there are sev
eral aspirants. Among those who
have either announced their intention
of running for this office or whose
names have been suggested in that
particular are Fort Hines, Roy More
land, H. E. Laramore and Flint Ford,
so that the race promises to be a lively
one, as other candidates may enter the
field. Sheriff Smith will retire at the
end of his present term to devote his |
time to farming.
The race for tax collector gives
promise of being a warm’one, also, as
there are now three candidates in the
field. These are J. H. Randall, Sr., of
Smithville; D. W. Tison and Ji. E.
Fouche. Tax Collector Frank King,
who has filled this position in a
thoroughly creditable and efficient
maner for years, will retire at the
close of his present term to re-enter
the mercantile business.
The retirement of Lee county’s ven
erable and capable ordinary, George
C. Edwards, of Smithville, leaves this
. position vacant, also. So rar only one
| candidate has announced for the place,
: George H. Collier, of Leesburg. There
| Eire five county commissioners to be
elected. Os this number four of the
old commissioners. Jack Powell, W. C.
Laramore, Jack Fleetwood and W. H.
| Turner will offer for re-election and
have no opposition. D. J. Mims, the
fifth commissioner, has moved from
1 the county, which necessitates the
AMERICUS. GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY MORNING,MARCH 20, 1912.
LAW PERMITS OF
SINGLE-SHOTTING
IN THE PRIMARY
THOUGH NOT IN THE ELECTION
It May Be Employed in the
Primary Thursday
According to the laws of Georgia
there is nothing to prohibit the prac
tice of “single-shotting” in the coun
ty primary to be held Thursday. There
is likewise no provision against sin
gle-shotting made by the county dem
ocratic executive committee, so that
the practice may be indulged in at the
primary by all who see fit to employ
it.
In this connection investigation has
shown that, though there is a state
law to prevent single-shotting in elec
tion, there is no provision against its
use in primaries. The regulations of
the county democratic executive com
mittee for the primary Thursday are
very explicit in allowing a voter to
cast his ballot for any one of a num
ber of candidates for a given position
where more than one candidate is to
be elected, in case the voter sees fit
to do so.
n. A. K. WILL MEET
AT THE LIBRARY TODAY
Council of Safety Chapter, D. A. R.
will hold an important meeting this
morning at 11 o'clock at the Carnegie
Library. Members are requested to
attend promptly.
election of a commissioner to take his
place. For this vacancy there are two
candidates E. J. Stocks and Nathan
, Minchew, both of the Red-bone dis
| trict, from which district this cominis
. sioner is to be chosen. None of the
other county officials have opposition
at this time.
From the number of older officials
who are voluntarily retiring and from
the number of younger men who are
candidates for the vacancies, it may be
seen that Lee county is to have an in
fusion of ned blood after the May
primary.
FINAL RALLY
WAS HELD AT
ARMORY HALL
WITH A GOOD ATTENDANCE
Victory is Claimed at the
Polls Totay
In a final rally at the armory hall
last night those favoring the bond
issue held an enthusiastic meeting,
which was more in the nature of a
business meeting for tlje completion of
final arrangements for,the election to
day than a political rllly. Mr. J. E.
Sheppard presided ovef the meeting.
Responding to a request for infor
mation, Mr. Prank Sheffield gave a re
sume of the history of the city of Al
bany in regard to the assumption by
that city of the ownership and con
trol of its electric light plant and wa
terworks system. I n regard to the
waterworks, Mr. Sheffield showed that
as artesian wells came into use, only
the wealthier citizens of the city se
cured wells and began to furnish wa
ter. Later it became necessary to
wrest this authority from these pri
vate citizens, and it was necessary to
hold an election for that purpose sev
eral times before the people won the
fight.
The getting of control by the city of
Albany over the lighting plant, ac
cording to Mr. Sheffield, was not op
posed by the citizens who owned the
plant, so that it was readily effected.
In regard to the claim that the city
of Albany is buying its power from a
corporation, Mr. Sheffield admitted
that this is true, but he said that the
city has its plant kept in readiness so
that it is getting a favorable rate from
the power company.
Mr. Sheppard was the next speaker
and he opened his talk by saying that
for ten years a nation-wide fight has
been under way to wrest the control
of municipal plants from the owner
ship of corporations and to place them
in control of the people. Dawson and
Columbus were referred to by Mr.
Sheppard as two examples of cities
which had been under the control of
corporations and had freed themselves
by coming to own their own plants.
The main objections offered by Mr.
Sheppard to corporation ownership
were that the people are forced to
pay interest on watered stocks and
bonds, and that the corporations are
continually thrusting themselves into
municipal politics.
Mr. Lee Allen, also, was one of the
speakers, and he answered several
cards and circulars that have been is
sued recently. With reference to the
charge that he had at first asked for
$15,000 bonds for a lighting plant and
now advocates the issuance of $50,-
000 for the same purpose, Mr. Allen
said that the first estimate was not
upon a complete lighting plant, hut for
a small generator and poles and wires
to furnish the city’s buildings and the
streets with lights. Mr. Allen also
charged that figures for municipally
owned and operated plants published
recently had been garbled and mis
represented.
Among other speakers were Messrs.
M. K. Ford, Carroll J. Clark, George
M. Bragg. J. L. William, Thomas L.
Bell and George Oliver.
RATTLER RATTLES AS
HARBINGER OF SPRING
Small Boy Killed First of the
Season Here
If a lingering doubt existed that
spring had “sprung” it was dispelled
yesterday in the exhibition of the first
rattlesnake, which a party of small
boys killed on the branch beyond
Muckalee hill and dragged to Americus
in triumph.
Several of the candidates have seen
snakes, the common grass species, and
patrons of the blind tigers here have
doubtless beheld boa constrictors and
anacondas in terrible contortions, but
the real, genuine, built-at-home rattle
snake has just crawled into the lime
light as a forerunner of spring, and
the picnic period.
Strange coincidence is that of the
killing of the first snake of the season
in Americus on the same day as re
ports from the Artesian City show his
snakeship made his first vernal ap
pearance on the banks of the Flint on
the same day that the boys brought in
the first rattler. Unless snake signs
are misleading and the prophet of
snakedom is in error, there will be
snakes in abundance, if the present
warm weather keeps driving the rep
tiles from their holes.
GREAT DEARTH IN EARLY
VEGETABLES FELT HERE
Only a Few Sweet Potatoes and Shallots Are Offered to
Please the Palate of the Vegetarian.—Promise of
Good Sopply is Held Oot, However.
Those who love early spring vege
tables have visited the grocery stores
in vain this spring, for there haven’t
been any early spring vegetables
worth mentioning. The dearth of this
particular kind of produce is more
marked, perhaps, this year than in
many seasons.
Inquiry at several local grocery
stores reveals the fact that the sup
ply of spring vegetables upto date is
limited largely to a few sweet pota
toes and shallots. The supply of
these is none too plentiful, however,
so that the lot of the consumer of
spring “truck” is. indeed, pathetic, as
he imagines he is about to have scur
vy, or some other dire disease, on ac
count of the fact that there is noth
ing “green” to eat.
The supply of sweet potatoes, usu
ally plentiful at this period of the
year, is very low at this time. There
are very few sweet potatoes to be had
now in comparison to the abundance
that is usually available at this time
of the year to tide the vegetarian over
until the time when spinach, turnip
salad, lettuce, mustard and other sim
ilar vegetables come in to vary the
monotony of the diet, his is cer
tainly the “closed season” for the
vegetarian, unless he resort to ce
reals, etc., like unto the horse.
A hard blow is dealt the vegetarian
now when he learns that not even a
supply of turnip salad is available, be
ANGLERS ARE
ALREADY OUT
AFTER SPORT
SPRING WEATHER STIRS ’EM
Americus Fishing Club Sunn
tn Be in Action
« .
Americus anglers hail with delight
the opening of the fishing season, as
brought about by the fine warm weath
er recently, and are preparing for the
campaign against the finny tribe in
the Wells’ Mill district. A meeting of
the Americus Fishing Club, an old and
honored organization and duly char
tered as well, is to be held in a day or
two and officers elected for the cur
rent year.
The club has for several years past
held a lease upon the fishing privil
eges at Wells’ Mill, and expects to
continue the lease this season, dat
ing from May Ist. Mr. Arthur Ry
lander is president of the local club,
while Col. Ed Littleton, the veteran
fisherman and major domo of the club
holds forth in his bungalow there to
welcome the chib members and point
out the spots where the bream bite
best.
Will Green Turpin, a charter club
member and’ expert pole-wielder, de
clares the fishing this spring will be
the best in years, all signs pointing
to that end.
NEW FIRM PIUS
ON BIG SALE
Walker & Britton Gives Pa
trons Fine Bargains
Beginning tomorrow morning, Wal
ker & Britton begin a special sale at
their store on Forsyth street which
will continue until Monday, April 1.
This is the first big sale this new
and enterprising firm has had and it
is determined to make it a pronounc
ed success by offering exceptional bar
gains. Being sagacious buyers who
thoroughly appreciate the demands of
the trade here, Messrs. Walker and
Britton are in position to offer a fine
line of goods that will appeal strong
ly to the ladies.
In a page notice elsewhere they tell
of some of the many bargains offered.
Call and inspect the goods and study
the trade here, Messrs. Walker &
Britton ask.
cause this is one vegetable that is us
ually abundant at this time of the
year. The late freezes, however, and
the excessively wet weather have both
conspired to keep the turnip crop in
lash, so that there is nothing doing in
this line, except in a few favored gar
dens, where the supply of this vegeta
ble is eagerly consumed as a general
tiling by the owner of the crop so
that there is nothing left for the mar
ket.
A peep at the gardens about the city
shows that they are hopelessly left
behind in the way of early gardening
so that the prospect for green things
to eat is not anything like as good as
>t is in an average year. Hope is
held out by the truck growers, how
ever, that there will soon be a supply
of at least a few of these vegetables
on the market, as turnips and a few
other vegetables grow very rapidly
this kind of weather after the heavy
rains that have been experienced her"
recently.
Strange to say, there is only a limit
ed supply of vegetables being shipped
in from Florida. The scarcity of the
Florida products makes the price of
them so high that it is almost prohibi
tive. This is the straw that breaks
the camel’s back- viewed from the
standpoint of the lover of vegetables;
as the Florida crop is usually the sal
vation of the vegetarian throughout
the winter and the early spring sea
son.
MANAGERS HAVE
BEEN SELEGTEB
FORELECTION
ID DETERMINE OHIO ISSUE
Polls Will Opes al 0 i M,
Close el s P. M.
Managers and clerks were chosen
yesterday for the bond election to be
held here today and all the arrange
ments for the election have been com
pleted. The fact that the polls will
open at 8 o’clock in the morning and
close at 5 o’clock in the afternoon
will serve to bring out the vote early
and insure the speedy counting of
the votes after they have been poll
ed.
The managers for the election are
Mr. J. I. Hudson, justice of the peace;
Mr. A. C. Crockett and Mr. J. T. Cott
ney. The clerks are Messrs. Ed Ev
erett, T. L. Caruthers and Lee Hud
son. These men will have charge of
the general management of the elec
tion and the supervision of the elec
tion from the time of the opening of
the polls this morning until the clos3
this afternoon and the votes have been
counted.
Indications are that a very heavy
vote will be polled early in the day,
while, of course, a heavy vote will
be polled during the entire election,
as the registration is the largest that
has been known in the history of the
municipality. The fact that many au
tomobiles and other conveyances will
be employed by each side in getting
out the voters would seem to indi
cate that there will be no tardiness
in getting out all the registered vot
ers who will vote in the election.
COMMISSION PUT
OFF ITS DECISION
Spent Two House Yesterday
Talking it Over
Atlanta, Ga., March 19.—The Geor
gia Railroad Commission spent two
hours today deliberating on the Amer
icus Gas and Electric case, but reach
ed no decision. The commission will
take it up again tomorrow when i;'
will probably be decided.
cm Bonnots
Monty io pat
NEWJXPENSES
SIMM LOAN AUTHORIZED
Extra Hems Eake Expens
es Very Heavy
At a special session of city council
held yesterday afternoon, a resolution
was passed to the effect that the city
borrow the sum of SIO,OOO to pay ad
ditional expenses that have been in
curred out df the ordinary lately.
These expenses are such that they
are not met with often in the routine
of the city’s expense account. Among
the items that are Included are the
paving in front of the postoffice, the
proposed repairs on the city hail, the
lot recently bought from Big; Bethel
colored church, the additional ground
for the cemetery and other items.
Os these items the cost of the par
ing in front of the postofflee is $2,000;
the Big Bethel property, $2,000, and
the cemetery annex, $360. The cost
of the city hall renovating and re
modeling will approximate at least sl,-
000, so that it may readily be seen that
the loan as estimated is very much
needed at this time. Last month the
city borrowed $5,000 from the loest
banks, so that the total indebtedness
of the city in this particular will ba
$15,000 since the books were cleaned
and accounts balanced earlier in tha
year.
STRAY BULLET
STRUCK BODY
OFPOLICEMAN
HE WOUND IS NOT SERIOUS
Policeman Summerford Ac
cidentally Shot Last Night
Policeman Perry Summerford was
shot last night on Cotton avenue by
Gus Anglin, near the latter’s place of
business, and while the bullet was not
intended for the policeman, but rather
for Boykiii Glover, who was under ar
rest at the moment, inflicted a very
painful flesh wound in Policeman
Summerford’s left shoulder.
The pistol ball entered on the
shoulder and striking the collarbone
it glanced and came out probably six
inches below' the shoulder. The fact
that Summerford’s arm was raised
high at the moment probably prevent
ed a much more dangerous, if not fa
tal, wound. Policeman Summerford
went immediately to his home on La
mar street, where Dr. Douglas Mayes
dressed the wound. Dr. Mayes ex
pressed the belief that the wound was
not a very dangerous one.
To those about him Polieeipan Sum
merford told the story of the shooting
affray as follows; Gus and Dude An
glin, John Venable and Boykin Glover
were fighting. Policeman Summerford
rushed in and seized Glover and Ven
able, one with either hand, and called
upon Sandy Hill, acting extra police
man, to take the Anglin brothers.
Summerford then started with his two
prisoners to the police barracks. Glov
er then cursed Anglin, applying an
epithet which resulted in the latter
drawing his pistol. Seeing that he
was about to shoot Glover, the police
man thrust his prisoner partly behind
him, just as the pistol fired, and was
wounded by the bullet intended for
Glover.
This is Policeman Summerford’s
shipment of the shooting affray. Gus
Anglin was taken In custody by Dep
uty Sheriff Fuller, who was near the
scene. The policeman declares that
his wound was accidentally inflicted.
That it was not more serious is due to
the fact that his arm was raised at the
moment. The shooting produced con
siderable excitement until the exact
1 condition ot Officer Summerford b«-
| came known later. The wound will
incapacitate him for duty for som«
time.
IfOIBER ««
