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THE AMERICUS WEEKL Y TIMES-RECORDER. FRIDAY. IUNE 19. 1908.
THE TIMES-RECORDER
DAILY AND WEEKLY
The Americui Recorder, Established
1879.
The Americus Times, Established 1890
Consolidated April, 1811.
Entered at the postoffice at Ameri
cas as second-class mall matter.
THOMAS GAMBLE, JR.,
Editor and Manager.
C. W. CORNFORTH,
Associate Editor and Assistant
Manager.
J. W. FURLOW, City Editor.
W. b. DUPREE,
Assistant Business Dept
Editorial Room Telephone *9.
The Tlmes-Becorder Is the
Official Organ ot the City of Americui
Official Organ of Sumter County.
Official Organ of Webster County.
Jfflclal Organ of Railroad Commis
sion of Georgia for the 3rd Congres
sional District
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Daily,, one. year 36.00
Daily, one month 60°
Weekly, one year 31-00
Weekly, six months 60c
Address all letters and make remit
tance payable to
THE TIMES-RECORDER,
• Americus, Gt
AMERICUS THREE YEARS FROM NOW
Americas, (la.. June 19th.
Women have two souls, according
o a Bostonese professor. This Is an
-asy explanation of feminine phen-
imena.
i —
Bryan's manager figures it out that
it-’needs but 45 more votes to make
he necessary two thirds. Will Geor-'
;ia's delegation be in the 45?
Says the Atlanta Constitution: "The
neiody of reopening mills is the
iweeteat music borne to the listening
iars of thousands of Georgians since
he dawn of 1908.
Louisian's legislature could not get
up to the submission of the prohibi
tion question to the people, but com
promised on a high license act. Not
this time, but soon, perhaps.
Ten cent cotton next fall will res
tore Georgia to her position before
the panic, thinks the Dublin Times.
Sumter county growers will hardly
be contented with 19 cent cotton.
Eight thousand men have gone
ack to work in the Birmingham dis-
-ict. Brown wasn't elected governor
f Alabama but the good effects spread
ut like the ripples on a mill pond.
‘•Will Joe Terrell Get Senator Ba
rn's seat," Is the headline of a
^temporary. As the primary will
at be due until 1912, the average
>ter will not worry over the proposl-
on jusf yet.
Atlanta married women are re
ceiving anonymous letters telling of
the alleged misdeeds of the! r hus
bands. Both parties are on the
warpath for the guilty one, aided
by the postofflce department.
The Augusta Herald is sure that
e large crop ot June brides is one
thu surest evidences that the panic
is passed.—Columbus Ledger.
Not necessarily. The poor men
ay have become worn out in the
irsuit. This is leap year.
eorgia got the Commander-In-
ef of the Confederate Veterans in
election of Gen. Clement A. Ev-
to succeed the late Gen. Stephen
Lee, but Memphis snatched the
t Reunion from Atlanta by a ma
lty of 76.
One of the most unique things in
story is the alliance of the brewers
Id the prohibitionists in some of the
ates to put the bad saloon out of
islness. It takes a serious danger
wake some men up to an evil, and
e brewers have got several shocks
ong that line in the past year.
Three years from now Americus will be a larger, more prosperous,
more beautiful, and in every way more desirable, city than it Is now, just as
today it is in every one of these respects ahead of what is was three years
ago. But the rate of development the next three years will be vastly greater
than it has been the past three, greater than it has been in probably any
three years of the seventy-six years history of the city.
It is not difficult to look ahead and see some of the changes, some of the
improvements, that will make the Americus of 1911. It does not take a
nrophetic eye, at all, simply a common sense faith in things that we know
are as much assured as anything on this earth is assured.
To begin with, on the large lot on Jackson street where the frame library
building now stands, which has done service for so many years and become
a weather-worn veteran, will be a handsome Carnegie library building, one
that would adorn a city of 36,000 people, a building probably the equal of
the one now standing in Columbus. This is no matter of fancy. AVe all
know that the money has been deposited subject to the order of Americus
and that within sixty to ninety days work will be under way. This building
will be ready for occupancy in about a year. By that time the frame struc
ture now used by the Christian Science church will have been sold and
probably removed. The erection of the library building will immeasurably
increase the value of the adjacent lot for business purposes, and within the
coming two or three years a fine, modern, and handsome business edifice
will undoubtedly occupy this lot. AVe shall also expect, and not without
■ cason, to see the adjoining Presbyterian church enlarged and Improved. On
the opposite side of the street there is hardly a doubt that the one story-
frame buildings will have disappeared by the time Uncle Sam takes the
census in 1910 and business buildings of brick, that will vastly improve the
appearance of the block, will stand where they now are. In other words,
three years from now the whole appearance of the upper
half of the block on Jackson street between Lamar and Church
will have been materially changed and vastly improved. The trend of busi
ness is in this direction and such betterments arc sure to come.
Already on Lamar street the past year and a half has seen wonderful
changes for the better. No one would recognize' the street now from- a
photograph of ! t taken two years ago, the improvements in the way of new
and handsome buildings, betterments of old properties, and removal of
unsightly awnings and other encumbrances having absolutely transformed
the appearance of what is undoubtedly to be, for many years, the principal
retail street of the city. But Lamar street is only beginning this work of
progress. Before three years have passed the magnificent government
postofflce building will have been erected at Lamar and Lee streets. This
will inaugurate an era of betterments in the vicinity of the building that
■will change the entire appearance of that section. The old rookeries on the
corners will come down and up-to-date business buildings will succeed
them. The spirit of Improvement will spread along the entire throughfare
and Lamar street from Lee to Cotton avenue will be lined with attractive
stores and present an appearance of business life and brightness thai will
astonish vlsltms who have not kept pace with the progress ot Americus.
Somewhere, just where one cannot predict, by 1911 there will stand a
fine opera house. It will be a building worthy of a city of 25,000 people,
for that is what Americus is aiming for. It will be one of the greatest
adjuncts to the city that has yet been planned. It will be a centre of social
life and afford what the city now' sadly lacks, a place where the best attrac
tions of the stage can lie seen with pleasure.
Along Lamar and Jackson and Cotton Avenue and probably 'other
business streets-trolley cars will be running In 1911. Sonjewhere In the
suburbs there will be an electric park, such as have been established in
other cities, where amusements that are popular and cheap will be found,
r.nd where the people of Americus can pass pleasant hours amid surround
ings that meet every requirement as Jo comfort and character. Lee street
will have many more handsome homes upon It, and will be one of the most
attractive residence boulevards in the state. Already It has won recognl-
Uon In this respect. Other streets will have numerous new mouses upon
them, for the next three years are going to see a decided activity In building
operations in Americus to meet the actual pressing needs of its growing
population. The work of renovating and beautifying old homes will also
have continued and many will have been modernized by that time. ,
In the business sections the streets will have been paved with vitrified
bricks or some other good material by 1911. That is a foregone conclu
sion. The work ot laying sidewalks of tiling, of whiSh so much has been
done in the pist two or three years, will have been continued and several
miles more of .the handsomest sidewalks in Georgia will have been laid.
Many fences now around dwellings will have been taken down and an un
broken vista of lawns and flowers and trees presented. The fame of Ameri
cus for progre-.s and beauty will have Bpread throughout this and adjoining
states and Its development will bo intensified by the advertising the
city will have brought upon Itself. At work on this line will be the Board
of Trade-then with five hundred jnstead of 150 members,-through whose
instrumentality by that time several important new industries will have
been added to the city’s wealth earning and wage employing agencies. One
or more new canneries will have been added to the one now In operation,
and several large new orchards will be in process ot development.
This is no fairy dream It is the actual results that must come from
rhe developing spirit of the city. Practically all of these things, if not
every one. will be apparent three years hence. And the good work will not
rtop then, but go on and on, for Americus is destined to thrive and grow in
wealth, In business, In industries, in population, in beauty, in everything
that makes a city desirable as a place for the ambitious, for the home seeker,
for the man who judges the future by the past and realizes that a city that has
gone forward as Americus his done cannot be stopped but must continue to
progress in every line of development.
end otherwise do its best to break up illicit traffic in liquor.
AVithout regard to the situation in Savannah, or any other Georgia
city, we do not believe that public sentiment in this state will justify such
a course as some of the mere extreme prohibitionists advocate. Georgians
love iibertv too much to \v:sh to stfe the self-government of their cities
and towns taken from them to the extent that is desired by those who are
rabid on the liquor question. The appointment of a commission to control
some of the affairs of Savannah might—probably would—be the entering
wedge for similar commissions to regulate other cities or counties on other
lines. There Is no telling to what extreme a zealot will go in his enthu
siastic desire *c carry bis views into effect. If Savannah is to be put under
a commission because it does not enforce one law to suit certain people,
then Americus could be put under a commission because it did not do
likewise in another direction. The idea' is repellant to the average mind,
and we can hardly believe if it is seriously presented that this, or the
next, legislature.‘would seriously consider it. Liquor may be all of the
curse the extreme probis assert it to be, but an assault on the liberties of
Georgia cities and counties in the guise of an enforcement of this, or any
other, law holds possibilities of evil that no sane mind can contemplate with
any feeling save that of utter disapprobation.
TRIBUTE TO THE PEACH
Americus has reason to be exceed
ingly proud of its debut as a peach
raising center. While it is true that
last j'ear a number of cars of peaches
were shipped, yet the present season
really marks the entrance of Americus
into the very front rank of the peach i t ernl< f\yg wish he had ' been
producing sections of Georgia, and
that means of the whole country. |
Many cars of luscious fruit have
already been shipped to the northern
and eastern markets, to the delight of
the fortunate purchaser at that end
of the line, and to the profit of the
growers in Sumter. In a few days
more the shipments will be in full
tide,and jingle of coin will be heard
in the pockets of the orchard-owners
and of workers as well.
As a direct result of the great
stride made by Americus as the cen
ter ot a big peach raising territory,
a large canning factory has just been
started, and is now giving employment
to considerably more than a . hundred
hands. This corps of workers will
be increased as the supply of peaches
tendered becomes more voluminous.
TheTnoney paid in wages will find its
way* largely into.the tills of the mer
chants, to be disseminated by them
in turn into a hundred channels.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars
will be turned loose in this immediate
section this year by the peach crop,
which would otherwise not have come
here, or in fact gone anywhere. And
the thousands who will this season
find enjoyment In devouring Sum
ter county's juicy and most tempting
peach would have gone unsatisfied. By
making two peaches grow where one
grew before, Sumter county has con
ferred a distinct blessing on mankind,
not to be measured in the mould of
dollars and cents.
And one beauty of the situation is
that next year bids fair to surpass
this season very materially, new
trees coming into bearing, while
practically all of the present trees
will be at work. Marketed at a sea
son of the year when general busi
ness is quiet, the value of the
turns are enhanced.
Sumter county is most fortunate in
having landed heavily this peach
season. Here’s to her prosperity at
all seasons, whether it be the time
of cotton, fruit?, melons, "garden
truck,” or whatever it may be .
he bitterness of politics, the chagrins
and'*dlscomfitures of every-day exis
tence, will mar the serene spirt that
has a warm hand grasp for every
Georgian and a willing ear to hear
his troubles.
Here’s to Steve Clay, a Georgian to
the core and senator for the next
for
rhe AA’ashington Post is of the
nion that mere bread will not be
>ugh when Brown is Governor of
orgia, saying: “‘Brown ad Bread’
s the slogan of the winners in
orgia, but as soon as Brown goes
o office there will be a rush for the
i counter."
t’he Albany Herald desires to call
lalt in “boot-licking” in honor of
itson. It says:
loke Smith and his supporters slop-
1 over and made themselves dls-
silng in soft-soaping Tom AVatson
d years ago, and now It looks like
» ijrown And his crowd have start-
out to do the same thing.
Joe Brown's committee has made
t a statement of expenses, which
s been forwarded to Chairman Mil-
r, the statement showing that the
m of $21,469 has been expended in
s race for the nomination for Gov-
nor. Postage, telegraph and rental
instituted a large part ot the total.
SAVANNAH UNDER A COMMISSION
Elsewhere we reprint a very pointed editorial from the AVaycross
Journal, relative to the non-enforcement of the prohibition law in Savan
nah. Recently other comments along this line have appeared in some
Georgia papers, leading one to infer that almost an organized movement
has been begun to concentrate the public attention on the failure of the
law, so far as Its rigid enforcement goes, in Georgia's chief port.
Some days ago a prominent prohibition worker, the president of a
county Anti-Saioon League, informed the Tlmes-Itecorder that he had been
approached by the president of another county association, with a view to
securing his support for a movement to place the city of Savannah under a
State Commission charged with the especial duty of enforcing the prohibi
tory law. From what he had learned he inferred that a movement was
auletly being organized looking to that end. Not only Savannah, but any
other city that refused or signally failed to enforce the law, it was proposed
should have its liberty of aelf government curtailed to a sufficient extent
to permit the State controlling the enforcement of this particular statute. _
The idea, it is stated, has been taken from another State—presumably
Maine—where the faUure of cities to obey the law led to the establishment
ot a State commission with ample police powers to raid suspected places
Brown, but that don't count much, af
ter all. Good nien sometimes go as
tray. and Clay's conscience no doubt
acquits him of the error into which he
fell. He is a good man where he
and Georgia does well to keep him
there.
Why .Should Savannah Be Independent
(AVaycross Journal.)
AS TO SENATOR STEVE CLAY
AVith nearly six months ot trlaljof
the state prohibition law to judge
from, the rest of the state is still
wondering why the city of Savannah
should,be the "spoiled child" of our
commonwealth and should pay little
or no attention to the laws passed on
this subject by the last general as
sembly. simply because she “does
not want to" obey them.
It is a matter of record that
April in a spasm of virtue, Savannah
notified the public that she was going
to ferret out and punish those blind
tigers who were making the city
notorious by their flagrant violations
of the law. The police made a raid,
the tigers were brought to the bar
of justice, the cases of the state
against the parties were (so far as
an outsider can judge) fully and
clearly proved. And yet the juries
brought in verdicts of “not guilty.”
It is a matter of common comment
that intoxicants are now sold openly
in and about Savannah and that no
attempt is made to stop this viola
tion of law. The offenders pursue
their trade as secure from justice as
if there were no state prohibition law
in existence and authorities seem to
find no cause for diligence in their
part in this open resistence of law.
It would appear that Savannah
takes the ground that the state pro
hibition law was a violation of her
rights and privileges and that as she
did not approve of its passage, she
may be excused from obeying it. Tht
same sort of reasoning that makes a
moonshiner think he has a perfect
right to keep his “still” going. The
same sort of reasoning that leads peo
ple to indulge their little fancy foi
smuggling, and other acts contrary
to the law—they simply don't want to
obey the law, it is in their opinion a
bad law, therefore they will Ignore
It. •
But Is the reasoning sound? Is
Savannah's position in line with
the Republican form of government
which makes the will of the majority
the rule of the people? Since the
great majority of the people of Geor
gia want prohibition and have had
their will enacted into law, is it not
Savannah’s duty to at least make a
respectable effort to enforce the law
within her limits? As matters stand
at present. Savannah’s position can
not be justified by any course of reas-
Tlte Spread of Disenchantment
^ (New York Sun.)
An interesting question arising
of the Georgia primaries is, “How f-,1
does the popular dissatisfaction wM,
the Roosevelt policies extend?"
must be evident that Brown's victory
over Hoke Smith was animated en
tlrely by the people's recognition o‘
the evil effects of those policies. Ilote
Smith, a shrewd, unscrupulous p 0 !p
tician, found the ferment in active op
eration and used it for the purpose of
his own promotion. He did not or
would not see that the hysteria had
fallen flat and he ignored the oppor
tunity to desert a losing cause. Smith
was not an honest fanatic. He did not
believe in prohibition or assaults on
property. His failure, therefore, to
get upon the other side in time was
a clear case of stupidity or mistaken
bravado, and the Georgians displaced
him without a qualm. For themselves
they had tried the experiment and
were done with It. Hoke Smith was
not alert enough to stay with them. s 0
they left him behind and no questions
asked.
But does this self-evident disgust
witsh the “policies" extend beyond
Georgflia, and if so how far? Surely
it is not in the State of Georgia alone
that thinking men perceive the ernpti
ness of Rooseveltian reforms adopt
ed with such eager haste in different
part3 of the South and pushed to
equally forlorn conclusions. The
pinch has been felt in Alabama, North
Carolina and elsewhere. Corpora
tions have been crippled, public con
venience curtailed, luxuries obliterat
ed and good men in great numbers
thrown out of employment. By this
time the people must be wonderimr
what they gain by it. Smith of Geor
gia, Comer of Alabama, and others
exploiting private grievances against
other people’s property on the impel us
furnished by the prince of agitators
at AVashington have done their best
with the material at their disposal,
but one State has at last repudiated
the barebrained enterprise together
with all its vicious and destructive
collaries, and now it would be interest
ing to know how far the restoration
of sanity has extended. Are Alabama,
North Carolina, etc., convinced by
this time that the true way to public
welfare is not over the wreck of
corpora! ions, and that the door to
universal happiness is not framed by
the skulls and bones of capitalists?
For an answer to this Interrogatory
we shall perhaps to wait a while, l'u
the meantime we can find Borne hope
in the spectacle recently presnted in
Georgia. Nobody imagines for a
moment that Joe Brown won over
Hoke Smith upon his individual mer
its. The South loves oratory and
personal presence. Hoke Is big,
handsome, and vociferous. He stump
ed, the State, alluring, melodious,
fraught with gesture. Joe Brown is
small, unpleasant to look upon, with
few personal friends and an ingrain
ed objection to display. As a nlatter
of fact he didn’t make a speech or
appear upon a platform from the be
ginning to the end. He stayed at
home and kept his mouth shut. The
reaction from Roosevelt and Hoke
Smith must have been bitter indeed
when eGorgia took Joe Brown into
her arms and made of him a protest
and a refuge.
Now, what of Alabama. North Caro
lina and the rest of them?
There Is some tendency to crit
icise the stand taken by Senator A.
S. Clay In the recent state election.
Some ot tje more intense Brown
partisans are inclined to severely con
demn the senator because he announc- oning. That her situation as a large
. i,i r ... q - what- i seaport would make the enforcement
ed his support of Gov. Smith. AVhat I Qf th , g , aw more dlfflcu | t ln savan-
ever may have been the motive that
prompted Senator Clay in~giving his
support to the Smith ticket, we do not
deem it a cuffleient justification for
more than a passing dissent. AVe
couldn't expect all* of the public men
of the state to line up on the side of
Brown, and In what he said and did
Senator Clay was moderate and en
tirely decent as he Is In all things.
Senator Clay will be renominated at
the approaching convention at Atlan
ta for his third term In the Senate,
and will, of course, be overwhelmingly
elected at the fall election. He has
given the state twelve years of good
service, and, it he lives can be relied
upou to give It six years more of effi
cient and faithful work. He is always
at his post, Is attentive, to his duties,
small as wel las great, and is the
champion and advocate of Georgia in
terests at all times. It is not belit
tling Senator Bacon to say that Sena
tor Steve Clay Is Invaluable to Geor
gians who want things done at AVash
ington. He is not afraid to work, no
matter how humble the constituent
who apenls to him, or how apparently
insignificant the cause in which i he
is enlisted.
Candidly, we like Steve Clay. He
lias something that tells more pow
erfully than great intellect in the ong
run, a sound heart full of kindly sen
timent toward his fellow men. Some
one has described him as a great big
school boy, overflowing with good
feeling toward everybody. He can be
proud of such a criticism. It is the
finest sort of praise. We hope the
time will never come In his life whe..
nah than In any other part of Geor
gia was to have been expected. But
that she should calmly Ignore the law
and content herself with its open vio
lation, puts her out of harmony with
the law abiding people of the rest
ot Georgia and makes her position
one for which the rest of the state
can render no excuse.
The Georgia Election.
(Washington Post.)
The defeat of Hoke Smith for gov
ernor of Georgia is a flaming beacon
of warning to overzealous politicians
who try to make capital out of the
persecution of corporations. It Is a
signal, direct from the people, giving
notice that the clever game of coun
terfeiting Theodore Roosevelt ts play
ed out. The people of Georgia are as
honest as the people of any other
State; they are just as much oppos
ed to corporation control; they are
just as anxious to have cheap rail
road rates; they are fully as much' In
earnest ln the warfare against polit
ical corruption, but they evidently
know how to distinguish genuine re
form from demagogy, and they refuse
to pull down their house'in order to
kill the rats.
The Georgia election Is well worth
the study of political leaders every
where. The craze for radical legisla-
tion as a cure for human iils is rapid
ly passing away, and it is not safe for
aspiring office BeekerB to work the
game any longer.
Some of the Georgia cities are set
ting their pegs high for the census
of 1910, ln some Instances a gain of
50 to 75 per cent being necessary in
the next two years to reach the mark.
Numerous population claims will be
punctured when Uncle Sam gets
through with bis count
The Prohibition Movement
(Washington Post)
There is a disposition in some
quarters to regard the prohibition
movement as one of a temporary na
ture, and one that like many others
that have entered Into the political
arena, will be of short duration In
its Influence and effect
It may not always display the re
markable Intensity shown in recent
months In widely separated portions
of the country, but it promises to be
an active, prevailing force. The advo
cates of prohibition are lfnbued with
ail the fervor, zeal, and optimism ot
the early advocates of the abolition of
slavery. They worked and hoped for
years without much realization of
results. They “voted for decades know
ing they faced defeat ln each cam
paign, but confident of ultimate vic
tory, That the seed they sowed did
not fall upon barren ground is at
tested by tbe Increased public senti
ment In their favor.'
It is folly for their- opponents to
assert that the establishment of pro
hibition Increases consumption of li
quor. If that assertion were correct,
those who manufacture and sell liquor
would undoubtedly favor prohibition.
The future of prohibition la certainly
more promising of ultimate success
than was the prospect of the anti
slavery movement in the '40's and
'50's of the last century.
No constitutional provision stands
In the way. No political party, as a
party, dares oppose. Ail the great re
ligious bodies arc distinctly more fav
orable than they were to abolition ot
human slavery. Tbe recent action oi
railway companies demanding elimi-
nation of employes addicted to the use
of alcoholic stimulants, tbe rulings o:
similar nature by Important commer
cial and manufacturing firms ana
corporations, the firmly fixed opinion
of managers and directors of financ'd
and fiduciary institutions as to the de
sirability of sober clerks and asst«'
ants—all these are powerful a!"'’"
the prohibition movement.
An Atlanta man who was talking
to his sweetheart over a party tele
phone line called a woman
who but
ted Into the conversation an old P" at -
For this he was heavily fined b> llu
judge. People who cut ln on telephone
messages are liable to bear things
not very complimentary, though
is not often that they are revenge
by tbe court
The Johnson headquarters have sunt
five reasons for the selection of
son as the democratic candidate. B
an says there Is one reason
it, the fact that he expects to
himself on the first ballot.