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About The Henry County weekly. (McDonough, GA.) 18??-1934 | View Entire Issue (June 29, 1923)
Uncle Fed Takes A Shot At J. J. Brown Editor News: If reports from Atlanta cor rectly outline Governor Hard wick’s views on state matters his final message to the Geor gia legislature will point the way to reduce taxes and better government. * Georgia has too man)’ hoards atid burdens says the retiring executive. Hardwick is right, and the farmers commend the governor for his state-manlike program for the relief of our sorely burdened tax payers. The mere fact that the farmers and Governor Hardwick are not running together, political ly speaking, does not prevent us from giving the governor our full endorsement in this in stance. Up is entitled to every man’s support in this effort to persuade the incoming general assembly to abolish useless boards and bureaus, and the fact that the governor names the useless salary-grabbers, and reccomend their divorcement from the state’s treasury, speaks well for the retiring governor, because it shows that he is not intimidated by the powerful political machine commonly called the depart ment of agriculture, which costs the tax payers of (ieorgia near ly four hundred thousand dol lars each time the legislature makes appopriations for the running expenses of the state’s government. In yesterday’s Xews from Atlanta Josephine Brown says that his department can’t sur- Wanted, Wanted. Two hundred bushels good sound com free from weevils and with out the shuck. We are shippers of Green snap Beans and Green shell Lima Beans. Let us have them. Have you tried our Purina Feeds for Chickens, Cows and horses? Do not fail to use our Hess’s Dip and Lice Powders, with Poultry Panacea and Stock Tonic. See us for anything you have to sell or that you want to buy. Copeland=Turner Merc. Company render any of its men. He claims that farmers are de manding increased appropria tions for the department of ag riculture. Of course that state ment is utterly false for far mers have learned that the present department of agricul ture is not a farmer serving institutions, it is a vast politi cal machine, and our people would be willing for the legis lature to abolish it outright Instead of serving the farmers the department of agriculture has been converted into a state agency for the guano trust and the oil companies. Commis sioner Brown boasts that the incoming governor fears the strength of the Brown machine. Brown emissaries are circulat ing through the state of Geor gia spreading propaganda that Governor-elect Clifford Walker will throw his support to the department of agriculture if an attempt is made by the legisla ture to investigate that thor oughly rotten machine. There is * no surer way for Governor Walker to kill him self and wreck his administra tion than for him to attempt to shield J. J. Brown. Governor Walker’s fight against Clayt Robson Kimball House lobby is commendable. Decency de mands that lobbydom be out lawed. But there are two kinds of lobbies in the state of Geor gia and public policy and poli tical consistency demand that the incoming chief executive train his guns on all offensive lobbyists. The private lobby is supported by the special inter ests, the public lobby is the in- HENRY COUNTY WEEKLY. McDONOUGH GEORGIA. sidious agent used by the Browns, the Soules, and the highwaymen and this public lobby is financed by the state of Georgia. Taxes will continue to climb skyward until the legislature abo lishes useless oftices, the publ c schools will continue to lag be hind until the legislature trims the dead limbs frem the department of agriculture, the highway de partment and the public service commission. Our Confederate Veterans wi'l not receive their pensions and our people will not be given free school books until the Georgia legislature adopts this platform: Not a dollar for the boards, bureaus and salary-grab bers until the common schoo's and the Vets are taken care of. There is no legal obligation upon the legislature to appropri ate running expenses for the de partment of agricu ture. Toe fact that the present commissioner has diverted the department from its original course absolves the legis lature of all moral duty to provide funds for its maintenance. Let the legislature adjourn sine die without voting one dollar to Brown’s political machine. The farmer,-, are willing, the tax payers can’t kick and the onlv disastrous result possible would be the en largement of the armv of unem ployed. J. J. Brown himself is not a farmer, he is a guano agent. The men holding office under Brown are not farmers, they are as a rule sappers and minows who feed at the public crib, while their neighbors and fellow citizens toil the year round to porvide support for their own household and for the drones as well. Now Mr. Editor, please read and print this letter in your grand old county paper. I feel deeply in terested in some adjustments along these lines. Your Unc'e Fed, W. B. F. A STATE PORT - WHAT IT MEANS WHOM IT WILL SERVE—HOW GEORGIA PRODUCERS CAN SECURE SUCH FACILITIES. (By GORDON 9AUOSY) Transportation Is sufficiently com prehensive to Include what we mean by "Highways,” also “Gateways." The writer contends, that a State owned and State operated Assembling, Grading, Storing and Marketing Ter minal at deep water on the Coast of Georgia, is necessary to complete her transportation and marketing system and to insure future economic inde pendence for her producers. With modern economical Port facil ities at Savannah, Georgia, the pres ent transportation facilities that highly organized tremendous system, rail and water, already in existence and now hinged upon the Port of Sa vannah —and present day conditions, would favor heavy movement from the following areas: Georgia, the entire State. South Carolina, one-half of the State. Tennessee, one-half of the State. Kentucky, one-half of the State. Ohio, one-quarter of the State. Indiana, one-half of the State. Illinois, one-half of the State. lowa, one-quarter of the State. Arkansas, one-quarter of the State. Mississippi, one-quarter of the State. Alabama, one-quarter of the State. ENORMOUS COMMODITIES AVAILABLE: .According to an esti mate based on the census of 1920, the value of farm crops In this area is Three Billion Two Hundred and Eighty • four Million Dollars. The above territory and production there in are what we mean by the term Southeast when used in connection with natural markets open for sur plus production in the above territo ries. p The chief problems of the produc ers and shippers of the South and Middle West are: First: Transportation between in terior production points and the Port. Second: Port facilities and costs. Third: Markets. Fourth: Ocean Freights. Our markets beyond home consump tion lie on this* Continent North of Virginia, and East of the Appalachian Mountains, the Antilles, Central and South America, and the West Coast of Europe. In 1914, it cost eight times more to transport by rail than by water. Dur ing the World War, and immediately thereafter, water borne commerce paid approximately the, same rate as all rail. There has bpen for the last throe years steadily, a decline in the rates for water-borne commerce, and water-borne commerce today, 1s cost ing easily one-third less than all rail, and there will bs a further cheapen ing of the cost of transportation by water. CREATED BY NATURE FOR A STATE PORT: When Nature bit off a mouthful of the Southeastern part of the United States, and thus made it possible fpr the Port of Savannah to be established at a point on the South Atlantic Coast, naturally lessen ing the rail haul and increasing the distance by water, forward-looking Transportation men were quick to see and take advantage of this physical condition, hence the, .hinging upon the Port of Savannah of its present highly organized transportation sys tem. These transportation organiza tions are now prepared, and will con tinue, to fight for every pound of commerce from the above territory capable of moving into world mar kets through the Port of Savannah. A modern publicly owned and oper ated Terminal at deep water must as sure producers and shippers of easy, cheap and sure handling and storage of perishables as well as non-perish abies. The Terminals proposed to be established, owned and operated by the State of Georgia, as presently out lined contemplate a balanced propor tion of each of the comprehensive units sufficient for the present, but so designated that additions may be added to any or all of the units as required, without interruption as to what may then bo traffic conditions. This facility for producers must be publicly operated and managed, to be in accord with the public policy of the National Congress, as expressed in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1919, and in accord with the recommenda tions of the Engineering Corps of the War Department for “unless owned and operated by the public, and pro gressively developed in pursuance of an intelligent policy based on the promotion of the general growth and prosperity, It Is probable that the pub llc interest will not be properly serv ed, and that private methods or ad vantages of one kind or another will serve to prevent the Port from achiev ing its highest usefulness.” FARMERS MUST HAVE A VOICE: The farmers of Georgia well know and fully realize the importance of State ownership. State operation and management of this facility, for the simple reason, that no other owner ship, opera‘ion or management will fit* them a voice in its affairs, and a hand in or n -*tlng and managing it. ( The farmer* of Georgia xvfff not new consent that this institution be ereat* ed, owned and operated by any agQre* gatlon of private capital, any parti> ular City or County. The project includes in-bound and out-bound railway yards. The out bound receiving yard will hold seven sixty car trains. The classification yard for the same service, will pro cide ten forty-car tracks-, all directly connected with dock facilities. A storage yard with a capacity of seven hundred cars. A supporting warehouse five hun dred (500) feet long by Two Hundred (200) feet wide, and six (6) stories high. A grain elevator system, two mil lion (2,000,000) bushel capacity. FACILITIES FOR PERISHABLES: A cold storage warehouse, two hun dred (200) feet long by one hundred twenty-five (126) feet wide, seven (7) stories high; five (5) stories being for sold storage, approximately one million (1,000,000) cubic feet of refrig erator capacity. On each cold stor age floor will be well ventilated corri dors in which sampling, exhibitions and sales may be taking place. The ground floor constructed for offices, to be rented to Jobbers for cold stor age, and for the main offices of the Co-operative Selling Organizations of the State of Georgia. Ample storage and handling of Naval Stores, and other bulk non perishable products. A modern plant for the unloading and shipping of Fertilizer products. Ample facilities for the storage and handling of Cotton. The site of Georgia’s State Port will surely become an all-the-year market for cotton, and will very likely be come the chief market for cotton in America. Docking facilities will provide ac commodations for from eight (8) to twenty (20) ships, taking general cargo at one berthing. It was estimated that a compre hensive Terminal based upon con struction costs for the Spring of 1922, would cost approximately, allowing One Million ($1,000,000.00) Dollars for unforeseen items, and One Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand ($1,250,000.00) Dollars interest during construction,—Fifteen Million (516,- 000,000.00) Dollars. The site required of Savannah by the Harbor, Port and Terminal Com mission is valued at Two and One half Million Dollars. This site is to be a gift to the State. The proposed Constitutional amendment provides that the entire plant and the site are to secure the bonds. WITHOUT COST TO THE TAX PAYERS: Georgia can build and maintain a State Port without cost to the taxyers of the State. Practical demonstrations ,elsewhere have prov ed conclusively that this use of pub lic credit does not necessitate In any way the levying of any taxes upon the people. Louisiana, for instance, has permitted the use of its State credit up to thirty-five million dollars for such a plant at New Orleans. Of this credit less than twenty millipn dol lar have been used during the past fifteen years and the peopie of Louis iana have not been caiied upon to con tribute one cent. The great State Port at New Orleans has met all ex penses, including interest and bonds, and made a handsome net profit in addition. Is there any reason to be lieve the great wealth-producing State of Georgia could not duplicate this ex perience while its producers at the same time were enjoying the vast benefits accruing from diversification and increased production end up to date marketing methods? The fifteen million dollars includes the cost of construction, and interest on the bonds until the entire plant is con structed and in operation. Thereafter, the plant, as a going concern, will pay its operation, interest and create a sinking fund to retire the bonds. The proposed State owned and op erated Terminal Is to be built by the State of Georgia, under the direction of the State, to be j paid for by the State of Georgia,—no City or County of Georgia being Interested in the slightest particular in the cost of con struction, or in t any way concerned, or participating in the expenditure of the cost of construction. The pro ceeds from the bonds as sold, will be placed In Banks-in different parts of the state, and draw interest until ex pended. The state will run no risk of either losing its money, or of having to pay interest on the bonds from other sources of income. IF THE PRODUCERS OF GEOR GIA WANT THESE SUPERB MAR KETING AND SHIPPING FACILI TIES. CREATED FOR THEM, MAN AGED AND OPERATED BY THEM, THEY CAN HAVE THEM. at.t, THAT 18 NEEDED IS FOR THEM TO BRING THFTR INFLUENCE TO REAR DIRECTLY UPON THEIR LEC'SLATORS TO SUBMIT YHa MAI TER TO THEM THROUGH £ CON STJTUTIONAIi -AMKNDMiaiifc NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT. T!*?
