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PAGE FOUR
The Dawson News
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‘BY E. L. RAINEY
W
CLEM E. RAINEY, Business Manager.
W
DAWSON, GA., JANUARY 25, 1921.
The scorn of the egotist is as harmless as
the slurs of the ignorant.
This home brew talk is not new. Trouble
has been brewed at home for centuries.
————— g
One of the negative joys of the rural mail
carrier these days is to fish the pennies out
of the mail boxes and stamp the letters.
The officials of Warren, 0., have put a ban
on enthusiastic hugging at public dances.
Why should people hug if they are not en
thusiastic about it?
——— e
There’s a lot of discussion about why wo
men shut their eyes when they are kissed.
One look -at the average masculine map fur
nishes reason enough.
A farmer sold a load of corn and purchas
ed a pair of shoes with the proceeds. He
also sold a beef hide he brought to town on
his load of corn for 92 cents.
"
An investigation says that grown people
in New York city do not know what ham
and bacon come from, and that a lot thought
they were manufactured like chocolates.
BETTER FARM HOMES.
It is encouraging to observe in trips
through rural districts that there is a notice
able improvement in farm homes. During the
war all building material was so high as to
be prohibitive, and since the armistice mate
rials have been so expensive and labor so
hard to obtain that many who desired to im
prove their homes and build barns could not
do so. But the fact remains that one traveling
through the country here in Southwest Geor
gia finds many nice homes and attractive
farmsteads. Even tenant houses are better
than formerly., Conditions generally are be
ing improved, and rural life is better because
of it.
It is hard for children to rise higher than
their environments. Men and women have
difficulties in overcoming handicaps of poor
homes and unwholesome surroundings. Con
trast old buildings, without trees and shrub
bery and flowers, with comfortable and at
tractive homes adorned with flowers, hedged
in with shrubs and sheltered and protected
by trees.
: OBEYING THE LAW.
The News hopes and believes the report
from Washington that Secretary Houstoni
and his associates on the war finance corpo
ration will carry out the spirit of the law as}
enacted by congress and passed over the
president’s veto by overwhelming majorities
in both houses is true. Some of the Wash
ington correspondents have stated in their
dispatches that the secretary would refuse |
to put the machinery of the corporation in
operation, and as there were two vacancies
in the corporation the president would neg
lect to appoint members, leaving the secre
tary of the treasury and his two subordinates,
who are members, in control of the situation
and that they would make no attempt to
o comply with the law. :
The revival of the war corporation may
not accomplish what is expected. But the
majority of the sentiment of the country is
behind the plan, regardless of parties, as the
overriding of the veto shows. It “would be
an impeachable act for the officials charged
with the execution of the law to refuse to
execute it, especially in the brazen manner
in which they were said to be going about
it. The temper of congress is such that a
flagrant and wilful refusal on the part of the
members of the corporation to act would have
brought about impeachment proceedings with
in a few days. If the officials had attempted
to do what they were said in the correspond
ence to contemplate doing they would have
been found guilty on trial for such impeach
ment. It is not for the executive department
of the government to determine whether the
enforcement of a law will accomplish that for
which it was enacted. It is its duty to en
force the law, and if the results are not what
were expected it is not responsible. It must
enforce the law or lay itself open to impeach
ment of the official who refuses or neglects to
do so.
it
' PROHIBITIONS FIRST YEAR.
Despite the fact that considerable liquor,
some of it good but much of it bad, is still
obtainable it is gratifying to note that the
close of ‘the first vear of national prohibition
finds increasing interest in favor of the dry
era. According to Prohibition Commissioner
Kramer the American people are not only re
‘covering from their “hang over,” but the
trend of the public mind toward prohibition
is evidenced by official reports showing fewer
dealers seeking permits to engage in the bus
iness of handling liquor during the present
year.
With the closing of the saloon the social
drinker, the have-another-on-me type of con
sumer, has passed into oblivion. The patent
medicine jag is regarded as part of the na
tion’s “hang over.” Mr. Kramer predicts the
disappearance of the “appetite” of the steady
drinker, and consequently the ultimate end of
the bootlegger. Liquor smuggling and the
manufacture of moonshine has developed into
a business of large profits since the advent
of prohibition, and it probably will be many
years before this is stamped out. Meanwhile
the gradual but steady growth of sentiment
throughout the country in favor of the saloon
_ less era is encouraging.
GAMBLING IN FARM PRODUCTS.
In addressing recently the congressional
committee which is considering pending bills
to abolish stock and cotton exchanges Mr.
Charles S. Barrett, of Georgia, caustically de
nounced these organizations. He declared that
“the great staple crops of this nation are con
trolled by a group of predatory gamblers
who are mercilesslly robbing farmers and city
people alike.”
In this connection the report of the federal
trade commission to the president refative to
gambling in grain is interesting. The commis
sion says all future trades in farm products
are not bad. It is close to the truth in that
'statement. But the difficulty is to separate the
‘evil from the good. Many farmers are spec
lulators in grain or cotton. They are not
gamblers, but insure themselves against loss
in marketing their crops. The general idea
is that if speculators combine to force down
prices their work is evil. If they combine
to make a bull market instead they are bene
factors. The fact is that both are evils. Both
result in artificial prices, and artificial prices
are not healthy business symptoms at any.
time. But where the future prices are based
on all the elements, that enter into an exten
sive business deal, such as crop conditions
in. foreign countries and at home, visible sup
ply and shortage or abundance of stocks in
consuming but non-producing countries, there
is no evil, but much good, in the dealings on
the boards of trade. It is doubtful if the aver
age farmer could afford the time to make a
scientific study of these things, and yet they
are a part of the things which make prices
when prices are regulated by the law of sup
ply and demand. Wheén the farmers become
co-operative in their marketing they will have
to take all the things into consideration which
the operators on the boards of trade do.
But it is said that this feature of dealing is
not gambling; that it is only when fictitious
quantities of farm products are bought and
sold, products which do no exist and which
the dealers do not own, that the process be
comes gambling. This is the objectionable
feature of the operations. The daily prices
are fixed not by the application of business
tfaws to a condition, but by the artificial in
flation or deflation of supplies not in exist
ence. Dealing in artificial cotton or grain
produces artificial prices. That is the obnox
jous principle in trading in futures. That is
what the industrial commission means by evil
influences. That is what the farmers object to.
On the other hand if all the elements which
enter into a business operation indicate
that the supply of cotton or wheat at a cer
tain time will fix certain prices: for these
products at that time it is only insuring
against loss for the owners to sell in advance
at those prices. That is something of a
gamble, but so is every business undertaking,
the success of which is uncertain because of
unknown possibilities. But it is gambling on
possible conditions which may be different
when matured from what they were in mak
ing. Puts and calls are the spirit of gambling.
Futures are all right when based on actual
instead of artificial conditions.
* UNCLE SAM GETS IN.
Uncle Sam was a little late, as usual, but
he got in on the home-stretch with a price
increasing stunt. He now charges approxi
mately 50 per cent more for box rent at the
postoffice than heretofore, making the boost
during these days of readjustment. Box rent
is charged according to the size of the box,
the amount of mail one receives having noth
ing to do with fixing the price. The large
boxes now cost $1.50 a quarter, $6 per year.
The former price was $4 per year, and pro
portionate advances have been made in the
rental of the smaller boxes.
As a business proposition it doesn't seem
sound to deliver mail daily free of charge
to any part of the city at a big expense
and charge the patron who goes to the post
office and gets his mail. The same principle is
practiced on the rural routes. The patron re
siding eight or ten miles in the country has
his mail delivered every day free of charge.
If he went to the postoffice for it he would
have to pay the box rental unless he depend
ed on the general delivery, where a man is
employed to serve the public. The cheapest
method the government has of delivering the
mail is through the rented boxes, and that
is the only delivery service for which it
charges. If it is necessary to increase the re
ceipts of the postoffice department—and it
%should be made to pay its own way—a plan
should be adopted that would reach all pa
itrons instead of only a few of them.
E Dawson is more disappointed than the aver
age town over the announcement from Wash
[ington that there will be no public building
program for a few years. A government
'building here was authorized some years ago
|and a site was purchased, but for various
reasons its erection has been delayed. The
lpresent postoffice quarters are not in keep
'ing with the general development of the
!city. But we must keep waiting, it seems.
I The incident concerning the inauguration
i gives another indication of what may be ex
‘pected from President Harding. It is an echo
Eof his statement about “the great responsi
ibility.” He insists on keeping his feet on the
|ground, and he is governed at all times by
| plain common sense. The new president will
‘be inaugurated with impressive simplicity,
‘and both Mr. Harding and the country are
ito be congratulated.
: AR SR LR S
i Revision of the tax laws by congress will
Enot be an easy matter. It is something like
'adjusting a collar on a mule’s neck after it
has been galded with the weight of the load
iand the ill-fitting of the collar. The adjust
'ment must all be made in the collar, for the
reason that there is no opportunity now to
lighten the load.
The war must have taken the veneer off
the average foreign scion of nobility, for
there has not been a marriage of an Ameri
can girl with one of that breed since the
war closed.
I Is the following a stock or society item?
“Good looking calves will be encased in the
'flimsiest silk during the cold weather. Man
!ufacturers of cotton casing are not discour
aged, however, as there are many scrub
calves in the country.”
e .
Nineteen twenty-one will be _just as good
a year in which to let oil stocks and other
lwildcat securities alone as 1920 was. Those
who got their wings singed need no advice,
lbut there are a lot of other goslings just
learning to fly.
' As a nation we are getting over a debauch.
}For five years we have been running amuck,
‘as it were. We have been spending freely,
ibuying anything and everything at almost
any price. And now we have got to pay.
That’s the story.
Hon. A. J. Perryman is now sole owner
and editor of the Talbotton New Era, and
the paper is showing decided improvement.
Brother Perryman is a good editor as well
as an able and popular legislator.
ST
Fur houses are sending out circulars urging
trappers to catch no furs this winter on ac
count of low prices. When the farmers do
that concerning their products they are
branded as would-be profiteers.
There is a silver lining to the cloud that
taxes are higher this year than they were
last. They are lower this year than they will
be next.
The goose that laid the golden egg had
nothing much on the ordinary biddy that
lays what used to be the common old ev
ery-day hen egg.
It is never fair to judge a man- by his
clothes. Sometimes the shabbily dressed man
is not poor, but has a son or a daughter in
college.
Everybody in Terrell county is busy and
cheerful, and conditions generally are look
ing much brighter hereabouts,
| Can’t Be Downed. I
From the Savannah Press.
The farmers are busy speeding the plow
down here in Southwest Georgia. They have
bravely set out to make another crop and
recoup their fortunes. No matter what mis
fortune overtakes them, they cannot be kept
down.—Dawson News. #
The Georgia farmer is hard to down. We
have heard a lot about his being ruined, but
he refuses to stay ruined. He goes to work
in spite of weather and low prices and is
bravely breaking his ground and preparing his
fields for the next crop.
-Just what that crop is to be we do not
know. He will probably follow the advice of
Dr. Soule of the Georgia state agricultural
college and diminish the acreage in cotton.
He will probably raise his own supplies to a
greater extent than ever. He will probably
watch the markets and organize to improve
his selling ‘facilities. In spite of what the
banks or congress or the rest of the world
may say, he is plowing deep, getting his farm
in good condition and preparing himself for
any fate.
And fate can’t harm a man who shows that
he is indefatigable and industrious, He doesn’t
know when he is whipped and, by the way,
he is a long way from being defeated.
The Albany Herald offers this consolation
in the midst of so much that seems, upon the
surface, to be discouraging:
“The farmer finds comfort in tiie thought
that he will be able to produce this year’s
crops much more cheaply than was pos
sible last year, when the price not only
of labor but of everything else that entered
into the making of crops was unprecedent
edly high.”
The Thomasville Press remarks: “The
farmer gets more advice and less aid and real
assistance and protection than any business
man on the face of the earth.”
Everybody is giving the fafmer advice, be
cause everybody is interested in the farmer’s
work. The farmer feeds us all and the busi~
ness of the country cannot prosper unless
agriculture is upon a high and healthy ground.
And there are in Georgia not only plenty of
counselors, but plenty of workers in the “red
old hills.” He keeps at it in spite of war, pes
tilence and famine. He listens to them all, but
follows his own ideas and fixes his crops ac
cording to his own judgment.
e e e e e e
“ How It Looks Over There. I
e
Correspondence North American Review.
1 The soldier who goes back to his old dug
out in the woods near Grand Pre is likely to
find that only the steady rains have reshaped
it; that the old helmet the shell-hit blew from
his head still lies' where it fell two years ago
and more. The villages of the Meuse, the
Ourcq, the Vesle and Aisne look much as
they did when the American troops trudged
out of them for the last time. It is true that
the rubble is gone from the streets, and the
litter of stone has been reduced to neat piles
of assorted pieces. Here and there a rough,
new cottage has been fashioned from the ma
‘terials of its demolished predecessor. At in
tervals there are unfamiliar shacks and bar
-Iracks. But on the whole Montfaucon and Fere
en-Tardenois and Juvigny—they all look much
as they did when the Yanks started home.
Vaux, that little Marne village which the ar
tillery behind the Ninth infantry blew to bits
in the exictement of June, 1918—Vaux has
only one new building. It is not much of a
building at that—just a shack of wood and
tar paper. And it is not a dwelling at all. It
'is a buvette. .
‘| A Woman of Seoul. |
I From the World Travel.
} There were no women at the docks and
. comparatively few in the streets of Seoul
Most of these clung to the o'd custom of
!covering their faces when out of doors, going
shrouded in voluminous folds of heavy, linen
like, substantial ghosts. We were fortunate,
'however, in getting a “close up” of one on our
train, evidently of -high class and very much
chaperoned by her ‘husband. Hatldss, her
'slick b'ack hair was. parted severely in the
'middle and drawn plainly down at the sides
'of her expressionless face into a hard knot
behind.* Her high-waisted skirt was very long
‘aund full, and above it she wore a tight little
Eton jacket, both of fine quality white grass
linen. (Most peasant mothers of infants, by
the way, wear nothing between these two
garments; unquestiorably convenient for
them, but rather startling to the foreigner.)
Except that she was thickly powdered she
looked as clean ard ritanica’ as. a New
England great-grand other.
THE DAWSON NEWS
Slave Market of Wazzan.
———————————————————————— N —S—————
Moroccan Holy City Last Place on Earth
Deaiing in Human Beings.
L ——————
From the London Mail. ¢
The open slave market in the Holy City
of Wazzan, Morocco, which was recently oc
cupied by the French, is reputed to be the
last of the kind in the world, according to a
French officer who arrived in London yester
day from Fez. :
The slaves are brought to Wazzan by car
avan from parts of the country still unex
plored. The market is held annually during
the pilgrimage season, when pious Moslems
pour into the city from all parts of Morocco
to ask for the shereef’s blessing. At this time
negro and negress slaves are grouped to
gether by their different owners on an open
piece of ground.
The buyers then crowd round and ask ques
tions about the age, health, and, in the case-of
a woman slave, is she is married. The owner
always says that his women slaves are stiil
unmarried, as single women usually fetch
higher prices than married ones. Of course,
there is always haggling over the price, espe
cially if there is some physical defect, which
is invariably the case. The teeth are inspected,
arms are pinched, and a male slave is often
asked to lift heavy loads.
Contrary to the general belief the lot of a
slave in Morocco is a comparatively happy
one. All they have to do is to escort visitors
through the gardens which form part of the
rich Moor’s estate. Another duty is to keep
watch from a minaret for indiscreet strangers
who pry into that part of the ‘garden reserv
ed for the women of the household. Indoors
there are often as many as fifteen slaves all
occupied, say, in preparing tea for their mas
ter’'s guests. In Fez and Marrakesh women
slaves are taught to dance, and their enter
tainment reminds an onlooker of the Arahianl
Nights.
At present traders’ caravans are fighting
shy of Wazzan, and no slaves have entered
the city since the French authorities prohibit
ed their sale. By this means it is hoped to do
away with the slave traffic throughout the
European zones.
I “The Sorrow of Taxes.” |
o e e D
From the Madisonian.
The matter uppermost in the minds of
many of our people at this time is that of
taxes—where they will get the money to pay
them. The problem of popular government is
very largely a problem of taxes, and the
question of taxes is as old as that of govern
ment itself. Many inequalities and injustices
come in the levy and collection of taxes.
The people of Madison and Morgan county
are burdened almost to the breaking point by
last year’s taxes. 3
County taxes seemed high enough last year,
but this vear they are almost doubled—in
creased over 80 per cent. It is not enough to
state that Morgan county gets back from the
state more than she pays into it. State taxes
are too high, and the office of tax commis
sioner seems a high-handed means of exact
ing any amount of tax the commissioner sees
fit to levy, and the-taxpayer has no appeal.
The function of his office seems to-be to
raise taxes, instead of equalizing them. The
equalizaion of taxes carries the idea of lower
ing as well as raising taxes, but the commis
sioner seems to think the only way to equal
ize taxes is to raise them. There are many
honest people in Morgan county who return
their property for the right valuation. A
board of up-right assessors pass on it, and
approve it, and along comes the tax commis
sioner and says its not enough, and -almost
doubles it. There is much dissatisfaction in
Morgan county as well as all over Georgia
over the operation of the tax commissioner’s
office. The Dawson News under the head,
“The Sorrow of Taxes,” prints the following
on this subject: '
“This is the time of the year when the
people are required to meet the burden
some bills of taxation, and the number who
mortgage their homes and in some instan
ces part with their property in order to pay
the demands of the tax-gatherer increases
as this burden mounts higher and higher
vear by year. It is one of the sorrows of
taxes, which are becoming grievously high.
The keeping down of taxes should be a
subject for conscientious study by execu
tives and legislators. If taxation continues
to rise as it has in the last few years the
breaking point will soon be réached. The
continued drain due to exorbitant taxes
will tend to take the vitality out of the
farming and business elements, and when
that it done we will have reached he brink
of the toboggan. City and town people
likewise complain that they are compelled
to pay taxes that are beyond reason.”
HAS A STORY TO TELL.
From Henry Ford’s Independent.
Among the new figures in congress is Dan
iel Sutherland, who comes to Washington
with a message which may well attract the
attention of this nation. It is a story of the
grievous' oppression of a people. It is filled
with tales of shocking injustice, of bureau
cratic stupidity and of downright goverpmen
tal dishonesty. It tells of the processes em
ployed in an effort to stunt and stifle and
finally wipe out a brave and hardy people by
depriving them of their means of livelihood.
It is a story which should attract instant at
tention in a country which professes to be
exceedingly interested in the rights of small
countries—since it is the story of our own
abuse, mismanagement and robbery of the
people of Alaska.
PA’S PRIZE PERFORMANCE.
From the New Orleans Item.
A Miami (Fla.) girl’s latest “crush” sat
in the parlor and played the piano until her
tortured ‘father, gentler means having failed,
phoned for the police. They came and found
he was a petty officer of the marines who
had absconded with $72,000. Irritated papas
sometimes hit the bull’'s eye. Of course, it
may appear hasty on his part to summon the
po'ice, but it takes something like that to
separate a piano from a young man who
thinks he can play it.
INCLUDING CODI_"ISH.
From the Boston Post.
Boston’s supremacy as the leading fishing
port of the world seems to be safe. Her near
est competitor for the honor is Grimsby, Eng.,
but from figures just compiled it is evident
that the title wi'l remain here for some time
to come. The receipts of groundfish here dur
ing 1920 will exceed 125,000,000 pounds, it is
expected; over 30,000,000 pounds more than
came in last year, establishing a new record.
LITTLE OLD NEW YORK.
From the Birmingham News. -
Upper -Madison avenue. The new Ghetto.
Street fi'led with .pushcarts, fat, corsetless
women and smudgy-faced children. Kippered
herring and horseradish. The pungent oddr
of garlic. The hurdy-gurdy hangs on here
until the snow flies. Young orthodox Jews
with silken beards and sorrowful eyes. Egyp
tian girls selling chalk statuettes from bask
ets.
|
i| $175 For His Old Shoes. |
e ——————————
l From the New York Times.
Mayor Carl Mau, of Verona, a suburb .of
Newark, N. J., has living, near Warsaw, in
Poland, a brother, who has just written him
something about the awful conditions there.
The brother was at one time a prosperous
country tradesman, but the war has swept
‘away the little fortune he had accumulated.
When he was in better shape than that to
which the war had reduced him, and he could
afford to be a little particular, the Polish
brother threw into the attic a pair of shoes
that were not just comfortable for him. Not
able to be so particular now, he dragged the
pair from the dust and cobwebs of the loft
and was trying to convince himself that he
might wear them on the pinch whena neigh
bor happened in. The visitor needed foot cov
ering more than Mau, and began to bid for
the castoffs. When his figure reached $175
Mau parted with them—only reluctantly,
however, because he suspected that they
tuight be worth more.
| “Such a thing as a new pair of shoes is not
to be had any place in this vicinity,” he wrote
to the mayor. He said that coffee is worth
}s4o a pound in American dollars, and a spool
of thread cannot be had for less than a fiver.
Folks around him are falling to bits for want
of thread to sew their tatters together.
The mayor filled a box with goodies, not
forgetting the coffee and the thread, and has
forwarded it to Poland.
UP TO DATE.
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Annie had just returned from a party and
telling the family about it she said: “But
Jeanie didn’t want me there at all.” “How do
you know she didn’t?” asked: her mother.
“She told mz so,” said Annie. “Then,” said
her moiher, “you should have come right,
home. That’s what I should have done when
I was a-little girl.” “But mother; times have
changed since then. I just slapped her in the
face—and stayed.”
. HOW SHE LANDED HIM.
From the New York Herald.
The American “heiress to a $25,000,000 es
tate,” who testified in her suit for divorce
that she paid $lOO,OOO to buy off twenty-two
women who claimed prior engagements to
marry the titled foreigner she finally married,
suggests a new international industry which,
pursued with energy, should favorably affect
the foreign exchange market.
SHOULD BE FEDERAL EMPLOYE.
From the Kansas City Times.
The case is reported of a Chicago man who
spent almost his entire fortune of $1,500,000
in a year, and is now brought into court to
have a conservator appointed to manage his
affairs, The question arises, how does it hap
pen this man isn’t in a government job at
Washington where he wouldn’t be interfered
with? .
WHAT WATSON WILL DO.
From the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.
They’re still worrying over what Tom Wat
son will do when he gets in action in the sen
ate. Mr. Watson will disappoint his enemies
and perhaps delight his friends by being a
sane, rational and sensible -representative of
this state.
BEST EDITED.
From the Griffin News and Sun.
One of the best edited newspapers that
comes into the News and Sun office is The
Dawson News, of which E. L. Rainey, a mem
ber of the state prison commission, is editor.
MADE FRESH every day in our Candy
Kitchen by an expert candy maker.
Peanut Roll, =~ .
Peanut Brittle,
Coconut Brittle,
‘ Divinity,
Caramels, -
Nougats. o
" These candies are as good, pure anci high
class as can be made. Equal to the best n
fancy packages. Try them and you will have
no other.
COBB’ CAFE
Main Street Dawson, Ga.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 197
DONT FORGET To
WHEN TO REGISTER.
Sec. 4. That every owner of a motor
vehicle or motorcycle shall, on or pe.
fore the first day of March in each’
year, before he shall operate such mo.
tor vehicle of 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
i
LocKE-MATHIS
PHONE 272. WEST LEE ST.