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THANK YOU
To every one of our good, kind friends and customers throughout this entire com
munity and section, we want to take this occasion to thank you. Would that we could
thank each one of you with a good old hand shake, to thank you for your kind patronage
that you have given our store through the past year and years gone by.
What our store has done and what it will continue to do we owe to you, and our
earnest and greatest desire and hope has been to be able to plan and give you our very best
in service, not only service, but the very best and most that money could buy.
We hope that the past year, 1922, has given you many, many blessings and with the
New Year, 1923, just over the hill, we wish for each and every one of you the very best
that 1923 has.
Again thanking you and assuring you of our every appreciation,and with the promise
of doing business in the future as done in the past by our store, we solicit your further
favored patronage.
L. A. COLLIER
“All The New Ones All The Time”
BARNESVILLE, GEORGIA
A STATEMENT SOME
WHAT PERSONAL
Every now anti then I feci like
talking in somewhat of. a personal
vein to the readers of the News-Gn-;
zette and the people of Lamar coun
ty and especially has this been truej
at this Christmas season, when our
hearts are stirrud with emotions as
we think of those whom we love and
in whom we are particularly inter
ested. It is, therefore, rather in the
dual capacity of editor of the paper
and Ordinary of the county that 1
want to say some things informally
as they come to me about whatever
1 think may be of interest or which
may be profitable to think about at
this time.
As I have come along during; the
year, realizing how hard pressed and
discouraged many people were, I have
written freely and often those things
which I thought would be helpful to
those who were in that condition. I
have tried to say those things which
would keep our people cheerful and
in good spirits and 1 have tried to
encourage them to keep up their
fight against the adverse conditions
which, in a measure, were upon us
all alike. 1 have firmly believed in
what I have said along these lines
because 1 know myself exactly what
it means to stick to a hard task in
spite of difficulties and heavy odds.
With the proper spirit nnd deter*
mination anyone can almost certainly
win against overwhelming odds and
it is equally true that if you lose
your spirit and purpose you have al
ready failed. Hence, I have urged
everybody to keep fighting until vic
tory rewards us. 1 have wondered
at times, as I have repeated these
statements, if I was creating the im
pression that I was a fanatic or
whether anybody was being in
fluenced and helped. Whatever the
result, I do not regret having ex
erted myself in this direction and
1 believe it is still a good course to
pursue. 1 can only hope that some
good has been accomplished and that
other good results will follow in the
days and years to come, for it has
been solely for this puropse that I
have so written week after week.
There is no doubt that genetod con
ditions have improved considerably
throughout the country during V*22,
but where the crops have failed as
they have in middle Georgia it is
impossible to note much improve
ment, for people 'must make some
thing- to sell to bring money from
elsewhere and put in circulation here
before they can prosper. If we can
just have favorable crop conditions
in 1923, with the purpose and de
termination being manifested now by
farmers and business men, we will
go a long ways toward getting
“through the woods" before another
Christmas gets around. Let’s all
work together and bear with each
other and'deal honestly with one an
other throughout the coming year in
order that we may make the most ad
vancement possible for the general
good of all. Let’s try to be better
men and women and better friends
and neighbors and just as certain as
the sun shines all of us will be hap
pier and more prosperous, too.
—o —
What a fine thing it would be if
we would think less about making
money and accumulating a fortune
and think more about how we could
help our friends and neighbors and
our country. Of course, we are
obliged to have money and it is right
and proper tliat we make enough,
with proper economy, to lay aside a
surplus for emergencies and old age
but most of us have an exaggerated
j idea of the value of money. We can
' not afford to allow ourselves to love
money too much for it will hurt us
and make us unhappy it does not
1 matter how successful we may be in
' accumulating it. We should be will
| ing to contribute from time to time
' as the need arises toward the relief
| of the unfortunate who may bo in
; distress, often for the actual necessi-
I ties of life, and we should cheerfully
gi\e our time and energy and money
to support the churches and schools
and to help in maintaining organisa
j tions looking to the progress and
j welfare of our town and community
!or county. The excuses people fre
quently give for failure to do their
duty along these lines are worse than
childish —they are selfish and un
worthy and nobody accepts them, for
it is not possible to fool the public.
Let’s stand for and by the institu
tions which are always trying to pro
mote our educational, moral and re
ligious well being. One of the evils,
notwithstanding our splendid prohi
bition laws, y is the whisky traffic and
every citizen, without any exception,
should obey and help to enforce these
laws. There is no good in making,
selling or drinking whisky and it
should be, and really is, a disgrace
to do either. There are other evils
also which should be eliminated from
public and private life. Resolve to
be honest, clean, upright and ready,
so far as it is possible, to go to the
judgment bar of God any day. \our
life will then not be in vain, however
poor in this world’s goods you may
be.
Two years ago next Monday La- j
mar county went into existence, since
which time I have very largely given \
my life to the service of its citizens.'
Nobody will ever know how com-,
pletely 1 have been absorbed in and,
given over to its affairs and interests, j
The distressing financial conditions;
have made the problems and tasks all i
the more delicate and difficult. NeC-j
essarily the organizing expenses of
the county and setting in motion the
machinery for operating the county
in its various departments, with the
depressed financial conditions, have
demanded the most careful consider
ation of every question, in order that
just as few mistakes as possible be
made. Probably not a citizen of the
county has known quite so much
about the financial condition of the
citizens of the county as a whole, as
it has been revealed to me in various
ways, and I have not made a decision
involving the expenditures of county
funds without thinking of the effect
it would have on the people who had
to pay the taxes to provide these
j funds. In the next place, I have
j tried hal’d to do the right thing in
every instance, regardless of wheth
er it offended a friend or pleased an
opponent. It is often hard to decide
questions which come up for decis
ion. Some times there is no prece
dent to guide and then again it often
happens that no one knows the out
come of a proposition until it is tried
out. I know one thing and that is
that I have an absolutely clear con
science in the discharge of every
duty whatever mistakes I may have
made and when I go out of office I
am going to take a clear conscience
with me.
-v — o —
In spite of the arduous duties and
the unceasing labor which the office
has brought to me and the financial
loss which I have perhaps sustained
by holding the office there is a source
of satisfaction to me, in which I re
joice at this Christmas time, in feel
ing and believing that I have been
able to render to the citizens of La
mar county a real worth-while ser
vice during these two years. I think
it is probably true that some other
man or men, equally as good or bet
ter than I, might not have been so
conservative and might have expend
ed much more money in various de-
partments of the county administra
tion, probably into the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, which would
have been an extreme hardship to the
tax payers under the adverse condi
tions which have existed. Whatever
others may think there is no .doubt
in my own mind that the county has
obtained good valoe for the money
which has been spent these two years.
I have thought far more about what
the county was getting through what
1 was doing than what I might or
might r.ot get. I did not in the be
ginning think and I have not since
thought that the county wanted my
services for nothing but I have felt
so keenly the situation that to this
good hour I have not received one
cent from county funds, in any
I shape, form or fashion, not even for
i any expense to which I have been,
' which I have paid out of my own
| pocket. 1 got into the office without
wanting it and I determined that I
would give to the people of the coun
ty the best there was in me while I
was in it. As I have said before,
many phases of public office and
political life are distasteful to me
and when 1 think that I can not fur
ther render helpful service to the
citizens of the county I am certainly
going to immediately get out from
under the
joy, however, to feel that in some
measure, at least, my administration
has met with the endorsement and
approval of a majority of the citizens
of the county.
The record for 1922 is practically
completed. It has been a hard year
for Lamar county, particularly in
road work. The first of the year
brought much damage to roads ar.d
bridges by the constant and heavy
rains. We were called on to do
much special work, which was done
under unfavorable circumstances.
All this called far unusual outlay of
money, much more than expect
ed, but it seemed to be demanded.
The latter part of' the year much
good work was accomplished, so that
the year’s work as a whofe, in my
opinion, will make a very creditable
showing, comparing favorably with
what has been done in other coun
ties, in many of which the tax rate
is much higher than Lamar’s. One
seventh of Lamar’s rate this year was
expended in providing our excellent
jail facilities, which is an impoi’tant
item. We could have spent the
whole of the present tax rate for
jail facilities and not been any bet
ter off. The county, it appears to
me, has done mighty well for tha
money expended.
-—o —
With the close of December Mr.
W r . H. Moore, who has been road
superintendent since the county had
a road force, severs his connection
with the county. It is with the keen
est regret that I have yielded my
judgment as to his services and al
lowed him to retire. Mr. Moore and
I have worked in perfect harmony
and with the one purpose to expend
the county’s road funds to the very
best advantage. We have had due
regard to everybody’s interests and
have gone out into the byways and
side roads and worked roads which
ordinarily are neglected. I have
found Mr. Moore to be honest, faith
ful and industrious. Whenever I
have told him to do anything I knew
that he was going to try to do it.
With the force he has had and for
the money we have expended Mr.
Moore has unquestionably, to my
mind, given the county excellent ser
vice and he has earned my hearty
commendation and gratitude. Per
sonally, I am very sorry that he re
tires as our road superintendent.
—o —
I have employed Mr. T. G. Brown
as Lamar’s new road superintendent
and he will report for duty January
Ist. Mr. Brown has been with Mon
roe county’s road force for many
years and I have been very favorably
impressed with him and the recom
mendations which many people have
given him. He is known to many
Lamar county citizens and has had
long experience in road work. He
is coming into the county to do his
utmost not only to improve our high
ways hut to advance the county’s in
terests in every other way. He has
rented the Speigle place and he and
his family will live there. Mr.
Brown should have the cooperation
and assistance of all the people of
the county in his work and I earn
estly solicit it for him. Let’s help
him to “make good” as road super
intendent and as a citizen of the
county.
—o —
For 1923 I am going into the year
with the avowed determination to
make the county’s record the best
it has yet made, in all departments.
I am going to strive diligently to run
the county, and do all that really
needs to be done, on a tax rate not
to exceed SB.OO per SI,OOO, and I
believe it can be done. I am going
to work night and day, as I have
been doing, in the various things
which call for my services, but I do
not mind work, as I have been doing
that all my life and want and expect
to keep it up. ' Here is the best I
have for the readers of the News-
Gazette and all the citizens of La
*
mar county.
B. H. HARDY.
o
To Cure a Cold in One Day
Take LAXATIVE BROMO QUININE (Tablets.) It
atops the Cough and Headache and works off the
Cold. E. W. GROVE'S signature on each box. 30c.
o
India has an elephant artillery,
where the animals haul the guns over
and that tanks and horses cannot
traverse.
<i
The American forces in Goblenz,
Germany, represent a 100 per cent
jij, the American Red
Cross.
o
vision, is priceless. Consult
us 'for ’ optical work.—J. H. Bate &
Cos., Optical Specialists.
■ o
When microbes attack, the produc
tion or non-production of a disease
depends upon the low or high state
of the victim’s vitality.
—
Nurses in Moscow hospitals are
paid 1,500,000 rubles a month, which
amounts in American money to little
more than one dollar.
o
Diamonds represent 943 per cent
ot the $80,696,000 worth of rough
gems which the world produces in
normal years.
—— o
Thomas Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of Independence, discov
ered the remains of a giant sloth in
Virginia.