Newspaper Page Text
Cotton Following Market: was yesterday; ruling I
prints here:
)Iiddliug, 1.3 cts
Good mid. 12 1-4 cts.
' VOL. 1. NO. 33
“LET US REASON TOGETHER”
John H. Echols, ol this City, Gets Ijp Against the Road
Question and Gives Some Timely Facts and “Reasoning.”
n y ou ask the every-day-in-the-week
what he considers the greatest
man enjoyed by citizenry;
Privileges our
he will tell you the right to worship
God in our own way, according to
our own creeds, and to give our chil¬
dren the necessary education to equip
them for the battles of life.
If you ask the same man what par¬
ticular public improvement will be of
the greatest material benefit to the
greatest number of people; he will
answer GOOD ROADS.
In the rurals districts of Georgia,
the education of the children and the
worship of Ood are dependable to a
great extent upon the highways lead¬
ing to our churches and schools.
The absolute necessity for good
roads is not a debatable question with
the practical, unselfish and public
spirited citizen; the only question in
his mind is the manner of procedure
to obtain them.
Now, with nearly five thousand
convicts on the hands of the state,
equally distributed over it, to the
counties thereof, the question for us
to finally determine is this: ARE WE
TO CONTINUE TO WASTE OUR
MONEY IN MAINTAINING A
CIIAINOANG AND RECEIVE NO
PERMANENT BENEFIT.
It is readily admitted by the people
of our county that the building of
main public thoroughfares without a
view to permanency is a useless con¬
sumption of time and money.
The building of permanent high¬
ways is not a new proposition. The
greatest monument today to the
greatness of ancient Rome, and the
wisdom and intelligence of her peo¬
ple, is the great Appian Way leading
from Rome through Capua to Brun
dusium, this road is in as good condi¬
tion today as it was when constructed
before the birth of Christ.
The necessity, the wisdom, the con¬
venience and the benefit of good and
permanent roads in this and all other
counties of Georgia must be admitted;
therefore for evidence, argument and
conviction let us take a retrospective
view of conditions in our county.
Refer to the records kept in your
County Commissioners office since
I here Are a Few People in Every
Locality Who Are Getting
Ahead in the World
They are better off than they were a year or more ago ; they
are spending less than they earn, in other words THE\
ARE SAVING SOMETHING some way. There are
°lhers in the same locality who are falling behind. This is
sometimes due to misfortune, but more often to lack of the
proper care in spending their money.
9
No Matter What Date is Stamped
Dn It, A Dollar Is Not Old
Enough to -Take Care
of Itself.
- fiv not do business on a safe basis and be one of the "get
akeadr BRING YOUR DOLLARS TO US FOR
S Y 1 KEEPING. When make first de-osit we
you your
prosent you with a deposit book and check book, these are
without cost to you ; the check with which you pay
>°ur account is a receipt for it and we always have a record
'l in case you fail to be properly credited—in other words
a hank account with us guarantees you safety to your funds
Wfihout cost to you.
^ You Wish to Succeed Deposit
Your Money With The
First National Bank
Covington, Georgia.
@flyg @wimmm Mm
1898, and you will discover that New¬
ton county has expended for the
maintenance of a chaingang the sum
of $126,949.36. The chaingang was
established in 1892, and no record of
expenditures from that date to 1892
are obtainable; but it would not be
aggressive to fix the expenditures for
roads and bridges since the establish¬
ment of the chaingang in this county
at $150,000. For this expenditure it
will be acknowledged that we have
not one single mile of permanent road
in the county. When we use the
permanent, we mean to place the lit¬
eral construction on the word; just by
way of illustration we will use an
every-day expression: “Put there to
stay.’’ This word permanent can
carry with it another construction as
applied to road building, and that is
this: that the road bed is as good for
travel in bad wintry weather as it is
in balmy spring.
Why should your children have to
pay a debt that you made for them,
when by the exercise of good busi¬
ness judgment you could have left
them free from debt, and practically
from taxation for county purposes,
by expending the funds coming into
your hands judiciously?
The best road builders in the United
States have figured the macadamized
road, which is the best road possible
for the use of -native material, at
about $2,500.00 per mile, for a road
bed thirty feet wide. So if Newton
county had started out on the system
of permanent road building, she would
today have with the money expended
sixty seven miles of good and perma¬
nent road as a testimonial of her good
business judgment.
As we have seen it takes money to
build gook roads, then the question
is, how can this money be secured so
that the burden will be evenly dis¬
tributed, and the rate of taxation re¬
main the same?
Prom 1898 to 1909 it cost Newton
county an average of $12,000.00 per
year to maintain her chaingang and
carry on her road building, with an
average of twelve convicts during that
period. The county now has at this
(Concluded on second page.)
COVINGTON, GEORGIA, JULY 28, 1909
LARGEST EVENT IN HISTORY OF
COUNTY WILL RE HELD AUG. 18
The Big Good Roads Convention Will
Full of Good Speakers and Information
Will Be Given the People on the
Best Method of Road Work.
As has already been announced the
biggest convention of its kind ever
held in this county is scheduled for
August 18, at which time every phase
of the problem of Good Roads work
will be taken up and analyzed by men
who know- the methods, maintenance
and cost of permanent highways.
The point that is interesting every
man in the county is the best method
of securing them and the cost to them
of the roads built up to the standard.
Many ways have been suggested by
which we can secure them, but each
plan will be gone over and the best
one will on that day be selected as a
working basis, and there will be a
strong effort made in this county to
get the people as good roads as there
are in Georgia. There is one ques¬
tion that is particularly interesting to
Newton county, and that is, “Will the
Commissioners be able to keep the
felony convicts after this year, unless
financial assistance is received other
than the amount they now have as a
working fund?” We have been told
that in would be impossible to keep
them at the cost they are unless some
method is devised by which more
money can be placed to that fund.
That being true, it looks as if some¬
thing wili have to be done and it will
be for that purpose that the meeting
is called and every citizen it the coun¬
ty is urged to come to it.
Many speakers are on the program,
and although it is not complete/it is
positive that Hon. L. F. Livingstoe
will be here. An effort is being mad e
to get Solicitor General Wm. S. How¬
ard of this circuit, and Hon. Fred L.
White, President of the Good Roads
Club of Georgia, to make speeches,
citing the advantages of good roads,
the cost of building and the best plan
to work on. Mr. White is a recogniz¬
ed accurate authority on the subject
and we have no doubt but that his
talk w-ill be full of information.
The program will be published jnst
as soon as the committee in charge
finishes the details.
Come to the Big Convention and
make your neighbors come with you.
You owe it to yourself and to your
children.
-—-
Sunday School Celebration
At Snapping Shoals.
Tne annual Sunday school celebra¬
tion will be held August fourth at
Snapping Shoals, and one of the most
interesting programs ever arranged
has been planned and the day will
lack no detail to make it a most pleas¬
ant one for all those who attend.
One of the best features of the day
will be the address by Ex-Gov. Hoke
Smith, which will be along educational
lines and will be full of information
and good hard common sense. Mr.
Smith has long made a study of edu¬
cational work and is possibly the best
informed man in the south today.
The News is requested to extend a
cordial welcome to everyone in the
county to meet with the people there
on that date and enjoy the day with
them. A number of other interesting
features have been arranged and in
all the day will be replete with ex¬
cellent numbers.
Recital at Opera House August 6th.
Miss Fradie Berman, who has just
graduated from Brenau with the high¬
est mark ever made by a student at
that school, is in the city the guest of
Mr. and Mrs. W T . Cohen. Miss Ber¬
man is a talented young woman, and
is one of the best musicians in the
state. She will give a recital at the
opera house on Friday evening, Au¬
gust 6th, and the people of the city
who love good music will have a treat
if they hear her on that evening.
Miss Berman will teach a music
class here and from her recommenda
tions she possesses thegiftof not only
playing herself, but also the art of im¬
parting her knowledge to others.
The News extends to Miss Berman
a hearty welcome to the city with the
wish that her class will prove a large
one and that her success will be com¬
plete.
As we are usually interested in what
our neighbors are doing, the follow¬
ing communication jnst received by
County School Commissioner Foster
from Prof. Frank Florence, County
School Commissioner of Morgan coun¬
ty, and is well worth reading, espe¬
cially from the fact that the people
of Newton will soon have an oppor¬
tunity to vote for the measure that
has given Morgan County her splen¬
did school system:
“Before the adoption of the local
tax we operated our schools only five
months of the year, except in a few
communities where by private sub¬
scription we could maintain a school
for a session or two from one to two
months longer. It was rarely the
case, except in the towns, that a
school would run longer than the
“public term” for more than one year.
Now all our schools run seven months
and the enrollment and attendance
the past year shows an average for
the seven months about equal to that
of former years for five months.
When we take into consideration
the fact that our too heavy curricu¬
lum was being forced upon the child¬
ren and teachers during the five
months’ session, that is now being
distributed throughout a seven
months’ course, one can readily see
that the work should be much more
thorough, and I can truthfully claim
this to be the case in Morgan county
schools.
The teachers are encouraged and
can and do work more hopefully, be¬
cause in the first place they have
more time in which to accomplish the
work assigned. They can see better
results from their own efforts and
from this fact are better satisfied.
They have a longer term of employ¬
ment, which must be a source of sat¬
isfaction to those in the profession.
This fact also gives us an opportunity
of securing competent teachers.
There was some very determined
opposition to our efforts to secure lo¬
cal taxation in this county, so much
that a determined effort to frustrate
us was made through the grand jury
by electing successors to several
members of the Board of Education
Mr. Middlebrook a Candidate.
Col. L. L. Middlebrook, as we stated
last week, will in all probability be a
candidate for the next Congress. He
stated to a News man that his inten¬
tion was to make the race if Congress
HON. L. L. MIDDLEBROOK.
man Livingston did not offer for re
election.
Mr. Middlebrook has a host of friends
throughout the district who are urg¬
ing him to get in the race and stay
there to the finish.
This is a picture made from his last
photograph.
Revival Services.
The revival services now in progress
at Salem church are being largely at¬
tended and much interest is being
manifested, especially amgng the
young men and young ladies of that
community.
The meetings are in charge of the
pastor, Rev. W. O. Butler, assisted
by Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Hays, of Mis¬
souri. These meetings will continue
through next Sunday and the public
generally is invited to attend.
Sunday School Rally Program.
Austin Chapel will hold its first ar.r
nual Sunday School Celebration at
that church on Saturday, July31, and
the program as has been arranged is
a good one. Below we publish it in
full:
Master of Ceremonies, P. J. Rogers.
Open 10 a.'m. Song by all.
Prayer, Rev. J. S. Bridges.
Song of Welcome by the school.
Address of Welcome, P. J. Rogers.
Response, Rev. H. M. Quillian.
Song.
Address—The Sunday School and
its relation to the church, Rev. J. C.
Patrick.
Dinner.
Re-assembe at 1:30 o’clock.
Two songs each by the following
Sunday Schools: Lovejoy, Newton
Factory and Austin Chapel. Stewart
is also expected.
Address—Col. A. D. Meador.
Address—Col. L. L. Middlebrook.
Porterdale Sunday school contest,
led by various leaders.
Hulsey Brothers, of Atlanta, are ex¬
pected to be among the leaders, and
the Porterdale band will be there with
the music.
The Majestic Manufacturing Co., of
St. Louis, Mo., will have a man at
Jas. R. Stephenson’s Hardware store
all next week who will show- you how
to bake biscuits, brown top and bot¬
tom, in three minutes. Don’t miss
this chance of seeing the great cook¬
ing wonder.
FOR SALE.—One of the best in¬
vestments in city property in Coving¬
ton. Lot 100x200 feet, with five good
tenant houses on it. Will sell at a
bargain. See me at the Flowers Ho¬
tel. R. L. BROWN. tf.
—Why buy a cat in a sack? At our
exhibit next week we will show you a
Majestic in actual operation. Jas. R.
Stephenson.
{In New Home
The News is now lo—
cated in it’s new
quarters o n Pace
street. Come to see
us for good printing.
$1. A Year In Advance.
LOCAL TAXATION IN MORGAN
County School Commissioner Florence Writes Strong Letter
On What Local Taxation Has Done In That County.
that had been instrumental in carry¬
ing our county for local taxation,
thus securing control of the Board of
Education and holding the tax rate
down to an almost insignificant sum
—Only three-fourths of one mill.
Fortunately we had carried over a
balance from the year 1907, which en¬
abled us to pull through the year
1908 for a seven months’ term. And
so satisfactory were the results that
our Board, composed of the same
men who had opposed local taxation,
have now increased the levy to two
mills for the present year, the sum
that I originally asked for.
Yes, a longer term is not only feas
able, it is necessary. It is a fact that
most of the children who get a com¬
mon school education, get it before
they are fourteen years old, and what
is embraced in our common school
course requires a term of eight
months per year for seven years to he
properly taught. Our people seem
slow the fact, but fact it is, and they
will all eventually realize it. The
sooner a community avails itself of
the opportunity the better for it.
I close this communication with the
following quotation from my report to
the grand jury of this March term
Superior court of 1909:
“We have accomplished this, how¬
ever, we have proved that school con¬
ditions were such as to require a
longer term, and that local taxation
was the only means by which suffi¬
cient funds could be derived to make
the term longer. We have proved
also—which hitherto has been denied
—that a term of seven months public
schools can be successfully operated,
and that our schools are better at¬
tended and are more thprough than
they were before the adoption of lo¬
cal taxation. Except in the month
of November the schools have been
fuller than at any time in the past.
The enormous cotton crop of 1908 and
its late maturity, kept many childri n
out of the schools in the fall. The
attendance was smaller during the
months of October and November
than ever before for these months.
Had we operated more of the schools
(Concluded on next page.)
Can handle your business after a fashion, when
times are good and money easy. When times
are hard and money tight you feel the
need of a business connection with a
Big, Strong and Reliable Bank
Do your banking business and make your credit
good with the strongest Bank in
' ' Newton County
The
Bank of Covington
Covington, Ga.
W