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PAGE FOUR
The Dawson News
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fi
BY E. L. RAINEY
R
CLEM E. RAINEY, Business Manager.
%
BAWSON. GA. JANUARY 18, 1921
The most difficult things to convert into
cash are ideals.
The government continues (0 insist that
prices are coming down. But not at the speed
at which they went up.
S B R R e
Congressmen and senators who arrange the
income tax legislation this year should not
fail to look around first and see whether there
is going to be any incomes to tax.
;———_:——_—_———_———_—:_———-_—
I we could only enter the new year with
a new state of mind. Have you ever thought
that our afflictions are, to a great extent,
mental ones? Have we not almost everything
else except peace of mind?
_—:—_fi
SHAKING THE MOUNTAINS.
Recent earthquakes in South America
changed the face of the earth. Huge moun
tains sank down. Lakes and rivers disappear
ed. Scientists have not studied the results,
but the simple people living in the region of
the convulsion know what took place. They
have no instruments for recording the earth
moves: none for measuring the changes in
the mountains. But they know they can see
the tops of mountains now from the same
point from which they could not see them
before, the sunken mountains having been
the intervening object. No better evidences
could be had. The simple natives are not con
cerned in scientific controversies or record
ing scientific facts, for they know nothing of
cither. But they see the changes made and
know how great they are.
The surface of the earth has been chang
ed by two processes. One is slow evolution,
of which the advance southward of the bor
der of the glacial zone and its retreat when
it disappeared are illustrative. The other is
convulsive, and is illustrated by the tilting of
the earth’s stratas by volcanic forces which
convert level plains into mountains like Jor
rello in Mexico, which rose in a brief time
from a plain to a burning volcano. Few of
these convulsions have taken place in the
memory of man. Fewer have occurred within
the life of the present generation. That gives
a special interest to the convulsion which
changed the Andes in their heights and
shook them on their foundations. The earth
has been looked upon as fixed in its develop
ments. Yet, the final changes in its crust
have not taken place.
THE “CRIME WAVE.” '
Neither life nor property seem to be safe
anywhere in the country. One is as readilyl
taken as the other by the criminals now mak
ing war on society. A “crime wave” it is call
ed. The situation calls less for the inquiry'
as to the cause of it and more for measures to
meet it. The criminals seem to have society%
on the defensive. It is time that society be-!
came the aggressor, before it finds itself in the|
situation of fighting with its back to the wall.
The industry of crime is altogether too safe'
in this country, it is apparent. Too many
murders, burglaries and robberies go unpun
ished. Something is wrong with the ma
chinery of the law, or with the spirit of the’
people toward the enforcement of the law,
when criminals have so little fear of the law'
and when so many of them escape apprehen- |
sion and punishment. Society is altogether
too tolerant when it bears with patience the‘
situation as to crime that exists at present.
It is a time when patience ceases to be a vir
tue. There is no good reason why any com
community should be terrorized and preyed
upon by the evil element, which is the mi
nority. It would not thus be imposed upon
were it not more or less asquiescent. There
is too much of the spirit of “let George do it.”
But as desperate measures breed desperate
meastires, so in time patience may become ex
hausted and then the devil will be fought with
his own weapons. It would be possible for
any community to exterminate its thugs and
murderers if it were to. unite and exert itself
to -that end. Our cities afford altogether too
safe harbor for criminals. The notion that
the law is for the law-abiding is altogether
too prevalent. The law is not so much for
the law-abiding as for the law-breaker. We
are committed to justice and law processes,
and to doing things in an orderly way, and
while we are so engaged the criminal, taking
advantage of -our preoccupation and having no
such respect for law and order, gets away
with the “swag.” It may become necessary for
us to arouse ourselves out of our preoccupa
tion, take a leaf from the criminal’s book and
adopt some of his method and spirit of ag
gression, In any event, the present evil con
dition will not cure itself. Neither will talk
cure it. We will have to bestir ourselves and
*do something about it, if we expect relief or
betterment.
A MARKETING SYSTEM.
Governor-elect Hardwick has given his
approval to a farm advancement program
of the State College of Agriculture which
will put Georgia Yorward more than she
has progressed in a decade.—Rome News.
What really is needed is a system for
marketing the products of the farm.
The country has spent millions of dollars
and fifty years of investigation to popularize
scientific farming. Thhe result has been great
ly to increase productions But much of this
gain is lost by inefficient marketing. If equal
enterprise is manifested in constructing new
systems of marketing an even greater benefit
'can be secured.
WHY NOT ECONOMY?
Why does not some statesman take a short
cut to fame by proposing economy or a re
duction of expenditures instead of seeking to
invent new forms of taxation? That is not
a new thought, but it is worth considering at
;this time when new ways of spending the pub
lic’'s money are being devised daily. The
concern of nearly every one who has anything
to do with legislation seems to be how to get
more money and spend it. Many times plans
for spending money are laid without any
plans being formulated for getting the money
that is to be spent. The national treasury
has recently incurred a tremendous debt, a
debt so large that unborn generations will
be called upon to pay part of it. Prudence
would suggest that before we make any large
new expenditures an effort be made to reduce
already large debts and their burden of in
terest.
Taxes and more taxes, revenue and more
revenue, is the cry and urge. All the cunning
and ingenuity of man is brought into play
to find means to impose taxes. The need of
the statesman’s hour is painless taxation.
Just gs though any scheme of taxation might
be devised that would enable the consumer
to escape. As in our national government so
it is in our state and lesser goverrments. The
demand is for more revenue, more money to
spend, all along the line. States and cities
have the utmost difficulty in living within
their incomes, and most of them are far from
successful in doing so. We are the richest
people in the world, and yet we have munic
ipal, state and national treasuries barren of
current funds and overburdened with strang
gling debts. Occasionally some one talks
about. the necessity of economy and retrench
ment in the management of the public’s mon
eys, but likely as not he is rebuked as a moss
back, a reactionary, a back number or some
thing worse. We used _to have “watch dogs
of the treasury,” in a former day when pub
lic expenditures did not begin to approach the
staggering figures of “today. They were not
popular at that time, and were anathematiz
ed. But “watch dogs of the treasury” appear
to have gone out of fashion. Who ever hears
of one in a present day congress or legisla
ture? s
“Other sources of revenue might be devel
oped.” That is the short cut to renown in leg
islative halls just row. But how long can
the dear people stand the upward trend of
taxation? How long can they endure the ex
isting burdensome taxes? There must be a
limit somewhere beyond which it will not be
safe to go. .
Why should not all governments, of low
and high degree, shorten their programs a
bit, or at least hold them in abeyance, and
give the Humble taxpayer a chance to catch
up with the procession?
MUZZLING THE SENATE. |
Washington correspondents intimate that
the emergency tariff measure passed by the
house to aid the farmers in the present period
of declining prices will be talked to death in
the senate. Attempts to do so may be made.
If the public pressure is sufficiently strong it
will not. The large democratic vote the bill
received in the house proves that it is a bus
iness instead of a partisan matter. The rural
interests of the -south are as much concerned
in the farmer’s salvation as those of the west
are. -
The News has no respect for organized
propaganda to influence legislative action,
such as loading up congressmen with stock
telegrams and letters which are nothing more
than formal ideas of a general central body.
But it does believe the honest and individual
presentation of their case to the senators op
posing the pending legislation, written by
farmers from their viewpoint, would receive
aftention. It is useless to send such communi
cations to senators from agricultural states,
for, as a rule, they are for the mecasure. The
opposition from northern republican senators
is entirely selfish. The support of democratic
southern representatives indicates like sup
port from many of the democratic senators of
this section. But if influence is to be brought
‘to bear upon senators to shut off debate and
vote on .he measure it must be applied to all
Ewho vote on the bill, and must consist of facts
Eand be devoid of formal and organized propa
ganda.
' The complaint used to be that women
ruined their health by wearing corsets, and
;now the complaint, at least in some of the
| larger cities, is that the girls are ruining their
Imorals by leaving them off for their up-to
date dances. The girls are frank to inform
their mamas that the boys do not like the
old “ironsides;” but when their grandmothers
were young—well, in those days even when
they danced they did not find it necessary for
lthe boys to know whether they wore corsets
lor hair cloth or prickly pears.
Those who want to borrow money and
find they cannot do so often ask what has
become of the money? We know what was
done, with some of it. Millions of dollars
have been sent from Georgia for things that
turned out to be worthless—stock in oil and
mining companies and other concerns that
had nothing behind them except the “hot
air” of the promoters. And then there are
other millions that have been put in automo
biles by people who are not able to afford a
good horse and buggy. -
It seems that the reduced tax rate did not
help the Tift county taxpayers, after all. The
assessments on property were increased,
which in all probability made the tax burden
just as heavy as ever. It is a camouflage
which is being generally resorted to by state,
county and municipality after the tax levies
have reached the constitutional limits. It s
generall the case that the increased assess
ments more than offset the reduction in the
tax rate, and the burden on the taxpayer is
often made heavier.
Lots of men who enter upon careers when
they. leave college would be more successful
in life if they hunted jobs. \
’ There is a great deal of strike nomsense
talked about what the farmers are now do
ing—holding their cotton and grain. They are
not striking. They are simply doing what ev
ery business man in the land does—trying to
‘have something to say about the price at
'which they sell their wares. Is there a man
ufacturer or a business man who sells his
goods at what he is offered? Does he not in
sist on at least being a party to the price that
is to be paid?
—_—
~ Shorty Kelso, of Horse Creek, Wyo, is
the champion steer thrower in all the land.
Shorty threw a rambunctious steer in nine
and two-fifth seconds. It may occur to you
that the throwing of a steer in the fewest
number of seconds isn’t a matter to become
wildly excited about. The fact remains that
when a man does anything better, or more
quickly, than it was ever done before he is en
titled to credit.
The action of both the senate and the house
in passing over Wilson’s veto the bill restor
ing the war finance corporation to power has
been enthusiastically approved by the farm
ing interests of this section. Whether or not
the war finance corporation can do anything
to relieve the situation remains to be seen, but
the action of congress indicates a desire to
do all it can to aid the embarrassed farmer.
In the retirement of C. M. Furlow as editor
of The Madisonian the newspaper fraternity
of Georgia has sustained a distinct loss. For
many years he was associated with Mr.
W. T. Bacon, the proprietor, and their team
work made The Madisonian attain an en
viable place among the newspapers. of Geor
gia. The News wishes Mr. Furlow mighty
well.
On the price question all are pretty much
alike. Every fellow is trying to slide down
as easily and as softly as possible. Each one
is waiting for the other to absorb the shrink
which must come from squeezing out the
wind and water. In the end every one has
got to take a loss and then balance it against
his gains of the past years, if he has any.
s
“Uncle Joe” Cannon has rounded out a
record of nearly 44 years as a member of con
gress. Still, he vaunteth not himself, is not
puffed up, but takes his honors modestly with
his cigar tilted at the same angle.
The government paid a net profit of $6.00
a ton to the coal operators on the supplies
it bought. And the government hired an “ex
pert” to do the buying for which he received
a commission.
Postmaster General Burleson announces
that he expects to take several weeks to make
the tripofrom Washington to his home when
he retires from office. A contemporary mean
ly remarks that he evidently expects to travel
by mail. !
The Jackson Progress-Argus has just cele
brated its forty-eighth anniversary. Editor
Jones is making it one of Georgia’s best
weeklies, and it is destined to grow and pros
per under his able management.
gt odee o oSI
No tax levying body should add to the bur
den of taxation the present year. With falling
prices the levies should be lowered, not raised.
Public funds should be handled with reduced
taxes in view. %
Congress has stricken from the appropria
tion bill $1,200,000 for the aerial mail service—
a government extravagance which has been
of no benefit whatever to the public.
The statement is made that the railroads
will not ask for further increases in rates.
We should hope not. The rates now are all
the public can stand.
“When the cold waves come the man who
wears a close fitting collar has the advantage
of the woman who wears the open neck
dress.
| ITEMIZED BILL. l
An aritst who was employed to retouch a
large painting in an old’ church in Belgium
rendered a hill for $lOO.
The church trustees, however, required an
itemized bill and the following was duly pre
sented, audited and paid:
Correcting the Ten Commandments..s 7.10
Embellishing Pontius Pilate and put
ting new ribbon on his bonnet..... 3.02
Putting new tail on the rooster of St.
Bty o e s %18
Regilding left wing of guardian angel 2.02
‘Washing the servant of the High
Priest and putting carmine on his
chesle ol iR gt T
Renewing Heaven s. i vy ovoivne. 100
lAdTEHnE - SEBTS o s i e BB
IGleaning: MAO .. e N e .10
'Restoring fost gouls -.o 2500
Rebordering the robes of Herod—ad-
Jasting Bl wiz - o 0 amiiiiin 0 288
Cleaning Balaam’s ass and putting new
shom o B 0 i . 208
Putting earrings in Sarah’s ear 5...... 20.00
Putting new stone in David’s sling... 110
Enlarging the head of G01iath....... 1.03
Exteoding Swis legs .- ........... "2
Decorating Noah's ark ............. 650
Mending the shirt of the Prodigal Son 6.35
Brightening up the flames of he 11..... .60
Putting new tail on the devi1........ 150
Putting a silver coin over the poor box .80
Doing several odd jobs for the damned 5.00
$lOO.OO
e —————————————————————————————————————————
| Cost and Upkeep.
From the New York Mail
A New York jury recently awarded a wo
man $£40,000 for the loss of a leg. The latest
court decisions, as assembled by “Case and-
Comment,” show the value of a woman, com
pletely assembled, as:
Legs, at 340000 ... ............ 9 80,000
AWe ot $A2500 o . oo S5O
Mo e R
NSt e e T 5 O
Bres at $lOOOO . . . ~.... ..« 20080
Broken healft .. .- 0. v 250008
eSR e e R RYL
This teaches us that a first-class wife should
be given at least as much care and attention
as an automobile.
THE DAWSON NEWS
4 GOOD RESOLUTION FOR GEORGIA
CONSUMERS TO ADOPT FOR YEAR 1921
“If every Georgia consumer during this
year were to follow the habit of calling for
Georgia-made goods who can estimate the
enormous encouragement and benefit to those
manufacturers who have cast their lot in the
state?
The foregoing question which has just been
propounded by a business man, not a manu
facturer, is calculated to start the average
Georgian, who loves his home state, along a
new line of thought,
The question might be put differently with
good effect.
Why should Georgia people purchase else
where‘the same kind of goods as are manu
factured in Georgia when they can be bought
just as cheaply in the state, and when the
state needs the work and also the business?
And if every merchant selling goods in
Georgia were not only to co-operate with
manuiacturers of the state in exhibiting their
goods, but in informing their clientele that
they handle Georgia made goods, who can
NS e
FINDS LONESOMEST PLACE
e Vel RO S SRR T T
Traveler Says It Is on Island Off the
South American Coast.
o oaniie eet o e e e
From the Milwaukee Journal.
Asked to name the lonesomest place in the
world a traveler once answered, “The island
of Tristan d’Acunba, far off from the coast of
South America. Its population is seventy-six,
and it is visited by a vessel only once in two
years.” %
But the traveler was all wrong. Isolated,
remote, limited in society, the island may be?
But why lonesome? The last thing-we heard
from it was that all the inhabitants were
working ‘together to fight a dangerous plague
of rats. When people can get together for
a common purpose they aren’t lonesome.
A man told us the other day that the lone
somest place he ever found was New York
city, where he didn’t know a soul and his be
ing there didn’t matter to any one. And he
was right, but he set about changing that
condition, and he didn’t find evenn New York
lonesome very long.
For the lonesomest place:is no question of
geography or population or economics. You
don't have to be lonesome in a little town if
vou care enough about any one to be friend
lv. And New York and London are only the
world’s biggest “little towns.” And you don’t
have to be lonesome on Tristan d’Acunha
when there are people there ready to welcome
an addition to their little society. The lone
somest place is always the human heart’
which hasn’t learned how to rearch out to oth
er human hearts in the sure knowledge that
there will be something in common, that if
it has affection to spend and loyalty and truth
and friendliness there are these things in re
turn waiting to welcome it.
———— A ——————— R R g
l The Cotton Situation. l
From the Greenville (Ala.) Advocate. .
There is so much that could be said with
reference to the cotton situation, and so much
of what could be said that would be mere
conjecture, that it is difficult to know or fore
cast the outcome of the present emefgency.
There are too many “ifs” in the matter.
“ The biggest “if” is the farmer himself—
the man who raised the cotton.
He made a comparatively average crop this
year, but he made it at a greater cost than
in the history of the staple. It cost him
around thirty to thirty-five cents a pound to
raise.
Will the farmer sell his cotton at half what
it cost him and go broke doing it, to start
off again with everything mortgaged and the
old uphiil fight all over again, or will he hold
it and by main strength and grit force the
man with the purse strings to give him what
it is worth?
1f the farmer is determined to make cotton
bring him at least enough to break even he
can. If he is weak kneed and loses his faith
in the eventual equalizing of prices and sells
his cotton it is his own fault, for the banks
and merchants are anxious and willing to ad
vance him money on his cotton receipts until
the price comes back to a fair one.
There are two reasons for the low price of
cotton now. One is that the mills are in
their slack season, not running full time and
have much cotton from the last crop bought
at high prices. Another is that the foreign
demand has not yet come in. Germany is out
of the running as a factor until she can get
straight at home, for the German mark, worth
in normal times twenty cents, is worth now
about one cent, ‘'so it would take now 60,000
marks to buy a bale at 20 cents a pound,
where before the war only 400 marks would
have bought it at the same price.
The American Cotton-Association is trying
to do for the cotton farmer what the fruit
associations of the west have done for them.
There is a story in this week’s Saturday
Evening Post every farmer ought to read. It
is the storv of the raisin growers of Califor
nia. Until 1914 they were paid from two and
a half down as low as one and a quarter cents
a pound for their raisins and most of the time
had a big part of their crop left on their
hands whi¢h they had to feed to their hogs.
Their land was worth around forty to fifty
dollars an acre in vineyards and they went
broke. In 1914 they formed their association
and stuck to it and today land in the raisin
belt is worth from a thousand to twenty-five
hundred dollars an acre and raisins are bring
iing]dthe growers ten cents'a pound -cash in the
elds.
The organge growers, the lemon and lime
growers, and every one of them have done
the same. They have something that is far
less important to the world than cotton and
yet they have put it over by banding to
gether. The cotton farmer can do the same.
Of course, there is going to be a time of
stress and storm. There has been talk that
the alliance busted and never amounted to
anything. That is true, and there is but one
big difference in that and the present asso
ciation. In this one the bankers, the mer
chants and the farmers are banded together
to sink or swim together. That is he one big
point—they are and will be mutually help
ful. It is up to the farmer to stick and keep
sticking. He doesn’t HAVE to sell.
COULD NOT HAPPEN HERE.
From the Detroit News. .
You never hear of any one in this country
walking off and leaving a satchel with $2,000,-
000 in it like the man did in Paris. In this
country the owner of a satchel containing
$2,000,000 would be quite sure to put a flask
in it so that he wouldn’'t walk away and for
get it.
HE'LL PULL THROUGH.
From the Savannah Press.
The Lyons Progress notés that the. poli
ticians are very anxious to help the farm
ers just now, after he’s been ruined.—Daw
son News.
Farmers in Georgia are not ruined. “Agri
;:ultixre may be ailing, but the attack is not
atal.” ; -
say how great would be the stimulation to
other manufacturers in distant and nearby
st.at?es to come and grow and prosper in Geor
gia?
It is a popular and pleasing thing to hear
a newspaper or a citizen boosting his city and
state. But unless that faith and loving kind
ness and lip-loyalty be converted into concrete
support what shall it profit the state?
Georgia cannot live unto herself alone.
There must always be a.great interchange
with outside manufacturers. But it is amaz
ing that any merchant should be constrained
for an instant to go to distant markets for
goods, such as dry goods, boots, shoes, hats,
meats, feeds and grains, corn meal, macaroni
when the same can be bought of the nearest
wholesaler at prices as cheap, and probably
cheaper.
Why not begin now tor form the habit of
asking for Georgia-made goods, or goods
handled by those who are doing business in
Georgia?
| Why the Tax Rate Is Lower. l
From the Tifton Gazette.
Says The Dawson News: “The News re
cently noted that Monroe county had done
the unheard of thing of reducing its tax
rate, and now ccmes the Tifton Gazette
with the information that Tift county did
the same thing, the reduction being $4 on
the $l,OOO. That’s remarkable in these times
of governmental extravagance and tax op
pression, and our Tift county neighbors
have almost wrought a miracle. We felici
tate them, and beseech them to pass the
word around how they did it.” »
That is easy. The board of tax assessors
for Tift did their best to comply with the re
quirements of the state tax commissioner, and
bring tax values in this county up to the
average fixed for the whole state. This was
done for two reasons: Because it was right
and just that the property owners in Tift
should pay their proportion of the state’s
taxes, and because the values in Tift, as in
ninety per cent of the other counties of the
state, were too low. The average returns of
property for taxation in Tift county in 1919
were 26 per cent of the value of the property;
in 1920 they were 36 per cent of the value of
the property—the state’s average: was fixed
at 35 per cent. Because of this increase in
returns it was possible for the county com
missioners, in making the tax IRvy, to reduce
the rate. The increase in Monroe county was
28 per cent, and that probably accounts for the
reduction’ in the rate there, although Monroe
is not yet up with the state average. We
note that in Terrell values were increased
from 25 to 28 per cent; had the board of as
sessors there gone to 35 per cent, as request
ed, we are sure a reduction in the tax rate
would have been possible.
FOR THE OTHER FELLOWS.
From the Kansas City Times.
The United States treasury has a new
thrift plan, but examination shows the thrift
planned is for the public practice and not the
treasury. *
INTREPID THING!
From the London Answers. i
Naughty Man (fiercely)—l'm certainly go
ing to kiss you before I go.
Miss Prim—Sir, leave this house at once!
MADE FRESH every day i our Candy
Kitchen by an expert candy maker.
- Peanut Roll,
Peanut Brittle,
Coconut Brittle,
Divinity,
: Caramels, *
Nougats. -
These candies are as 'good, pure and high
class as can be made. Equal to the best in
fancy packages. Try them and you will have
no other. LR
, COBB’ CAFE
Main Street Dawson, Ga.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 19
WHEN TO REGISTER.
Sec. 4. That every owner of a motor
vehicle or motorcycle shall, on or he
fore the first day of March in each
year, before he shall operate such mo
tor vehicle or motorcycle, register
such vehicle in the office of the Secre.
tary of State, and obtain a license to
operate the same for the ensuing year;
and every chauffeur employed to oper
ate motor vehicles shall likewise regis
ter and obtain a license, as hereinaf
ter provided.
Equip Your Car
with
BRUNSWICK TIRES.
Locke-MATHIS
MOTOR COMPANY