Newspaper Page Text
R TR
pUY AT HOME
AND HELP
pAWSON PROSPER
gy E. L. RAINEY
New Plan
PROSPERITY FOLLOWS
THEROTATION OF GROPS
BANKERS AND BUSINESS
CO.OPERATE \WITH FARM
ERS AND DEFEAT WEEVIL.
(ROPPERS BECOME OWNERS
Balanced Agriculture and Co-Opera
tive Marketing Have Worked Rev
olution in Agricultural Conditions.
New Leasing Plan for Tenants.
A special article in the Sunday
American, written by R. E. White, a
staff correspondent, tells how diversi
fied farming and co-operative mark
eting are rapidly emancipating Deca
tur county from cotton bondage, set
ting it in its _“'place in the sun” and
giving it position in the front rank
of thriving, prosperous and forward
jooking rural Georgia communities.
A lcading cotton producer in the
vears antedating the advent of the
holl weevil—years in which practical
ly its entire tilled acreage was cul
sivated with an eye single to cotton
production only—Decatur county was
pard hit, indeed, when the pest came
to Georgia, and its farmers and farm
dependent business men alike, after a
series of crop failures, were left stunn
ed. discouraged and many of theml
hopeless.
HOPEFUL OUTLOOK.
But. declares the American corre
spondent, Decatur county has lifted
itseli irom the “slough of despond”
to the plateau of hopefulness simply
by the tardy adoption of the Georgia
Association’s so-called “Turner Coun
ty Plan” of balanced agriculture and
the allied approved plan of co-opera
tive dealings between the producers,
distributors and consumers of the es
sential commodities grown or requir
ed by the farmers. Continuing, he
says:
Briefly, the plan is nothing more
nor less than a common-sense scheme
of agriculture embracing the time
honored principles of crop rotation
and diversification, with the dairy
cow and her essential side partners,
the hog and the hen, at the bottom
of it
And now in this county another
progressive. rural plan, a companion
to that bearing the name of Turner
and probably destined to go down in
history as the “Decatur County
Plan’ has been put into operation. It
is a plan likewise evolved, approved
and recommended by the guiding
spirits of the Georgia Association, cal
wlated, in a large measure, at least,
to solve the moot problem of farm
tenantry in Georgia. The positive ne
cessity of a solution of that problem
also is directly attributable to the boll
weevil, for the reason \that the ancient
“cotton cropper” one-year leasing sys
tem that was followed for so many
vears with varying success in the cot
ton districts of Georgia absolutely
will not “work,” and can not be made
to work successfully under boll wee
vil conditions. .
NEW LEASING PLAN.
This new leasing plan simply con
templates, instead of a one-year lease
of land cultivated in accordance with
the fixed “Cow, Hog and Hen” pro
gram, a lease extending over a period
of three or five years with the lessee
holding an option either to renew his
lease at its expiration or to buy and
acquire outright personal ownership,
on a long-time payment basis, of the
land he occupies.
Under the terms of this contract
the lessor agrees to match his. land
against the lessee’s manpower and
farm management ability; to stock
the farm with 10 head of good Jer
sey cows, a proportionate number—
according to the 'Turner county pro
gram—of pure-bred brood sows and
of pure-bred hens. The lessee is to
provide all the lapor recessary to
operate the farm and dairy; .both par
ties are to share equally in the pro
vision of work animals and in the
cost of seed, whatever commercial fer
tilizer that may be put upon the land,
and the proceeds from the entire oper
ations, including the increase from
the live stock, will be divided between
them on a 50-50 basis. In_addition to
this the lessee is to have for his fam
ily use 600 popnds of meat from the
jointlv-owned swine herd each year,
ample garden space upon which to
produce vegetables for his family
table, and his wife is to be permitted
to own, manage and feed as many
as 50 chickens that are to be all her
own and for which there is to be no
accounting to the lessor.
“And the contract contains a pro
viso that at the expiration of the lease
the lessee is to have the option to re
new it or to purchase the land on
long-term payments, with low rate of
interest on deferred payments.
INTENSIVE CULTIVATION.
This does not contemplate the
complete elimination of cotton pro
duction, but simply its curtailment to
a point where cotton—five acres to
the plow—can be grown on a basis
of intensive cultivation, in addition to
the production of feed crops to be
marketed in the form of meat, poul
try-yard and dairy products. It con
templates for a one-horse farm of 10
‘(‘f*"‘_ot corn, velvet beans and North
t-arolina peanuts; five acres of oats,
iollowed by peas or other hay crop;
gxnr.acrcs of wheat, followed with
Spanish peanuts; five acres of Spanish
peanuts, or watermelons, or divided
with tobacco; five acres of cotton; 12
icres of permanent pasture sown to
f,"r?‘“ grass, Dallas grass andwlespl-
Geza clover; the maintenance of three
0 six good producing milch cows.
;\‘:f‘ good brood sows and 20 to 40
r.ood hens, the poultry, hogs and
('}l‘g preferably to be purebred stock
hat is the substance of the pro
gram under which the farnfers of
(Continued on Page 5, Column 1)
THE DAWSON NEWS
Emancipates Decatur County Farmers From Cotton Slavery
Judge Defines Three
[ 99 - .
L’s” Menacing America
ATLANTA, Ga.—‘“Larceny, lib
ertineism and liquor are threaten
# BpAmerica at the present time,”
Weg . ayel H. Sibley, of the
United “SSlgießdistrict court for the
Northern distiics ¥ Georgia, warn
ed many prominefit Georgians as
semhled at a Kiwanis club lunch
eon here.
“Disaffection with the fundamen
tal laws of the land constitutes one
of the gravest menaces in the coun
try today,” Judge Sibley declared.
“People are taking the law into
their own hands—not only the
youths are defying the law, but
their elders as well are heedless of
their responsibility. Must we say
today that the American can not
obey his own laws.”
RAISES HOGS, GRAIN, CATTLE,
ETC., TO LIQUIDATE MORT
GAGE. NO “HARD TIMES.”
Seven years ago Mrs. J. E. Ford, of
Sanford, Kan., was suddenly left a
widow with a 400-acre farm, a seven
year-old boy, a $6,000 mortgage and
no experience as a farmer.
She got right out in the field and
did as much physical work as a man.
She cut wheat and looked after the
plowing. When hogs were up she
raised hogs. When hogs went down
she raised cattle. |
Found Chickens Pay. ‘
In between times she milked cows
and took care of her 300 thorough
bred chickens. Now she is ‘sitting
pretty” while most of her neighbors
are sitting around talking ‘“hard
times.” |
She has paid off that $6,000 mort
gage, has her farm clear of debt, with
the whole 400 acres under cultivation,
has a herd of cattle and a number
of hogs, milch cows and a lot of
chickens. ‘
Keeps Yard Pretty.
And in addition to all this farm
work Mrs. Ford, who was once a
school teacher, keeps up her yard
just like it was a city lawn. She has
roses and all sorts of other flowers,
shade trees and ornamental shrubs
and trees.
“I'm going to raise less wheat in
the future and more beef cattle,"hens
and hogs,” says Mrs. Ford. “My sev
en vears’ experience has taught me
that in those three items is the secret
of success.” :
AMERICA GIVES FREELY
TO STRICKEN PEOPLE
SUSCRIBES TEN MILLION DOL
LARS FOR RELIEF OF JAPS.
TYPHOON KILLS 5,000.
Reports from Washington state that
America has subscribed the sum of
$10,000,000 for the relief of the Japa
nese people, double the amount ask
ed by the American Red Cross when
the ecarthquake, fire and tidal wave
leveled the cities of Tokyo and Yoko
hama and played havoc with sur
rounding towns in Japan about three
weeks ago.
“Tt has been, in truth, a gift from
the hearts of the American people,”
said John Barton Payne, chairman of
the American Red Cross.
It is learned that 5,000 persons lost
their lives in the floods which follow
ed the typhoon at Tottodi, northwest
of Koke, Japan, a week ago. The
rivers Rukure, Chiyo and Takimi
burst their banks, destroying many
villages.
Tax Collector Keeps His Grip. High Cost of Government Shows Increase.
S ——————————————CEU
The Savannah Morning News prints
a copyright article from Washington
which shows a ‘“new hand grips the
brake on business enterprise through
out the nation, the hand of the local
tax collector.” Continuing, the writer
says:
No longer does the federal govern
ment claim the lion’s share of the tax
payer’s money. The state, the county
and the city have increased their
claims for governmental cost, accord
ing to census bureau returns recently
gathered and now being made public,
to an appalling extent within the past
five or six years and business men
throughout the country, one hears
here, are alarmed at the trend and
are preparing actively to curb it.
Some Census Figures.
The cénsus bureau rceently obtain
ed returns from all the states and from
several thousand villages, towns and
‘cities showing comparative govern
'mental costs of 1922, 1917 and 1914
As fast as these returns are tabulat
ed they are released for publication.
Thus far the bureau has made public
figures covering the cost of maintain
ing nine state governments and about
100 city governments.
According to the bureau’s figures,
the cost of maintaining the nine state
governments in 1922 was 336 per cent
of the cost in 1914, Within the period
of five years, or from 1917 to 1922,
the cost of government, in these states
rose 165 per cent, amounting to more
than two and one-half times as much
at the end of that period as it did at
the beginning.
The bureau’s figures cover the state
govemments-—exclusive of the cities,
towns and villages—of Delaware, Ne
braska, West Virginia, Kentucky,
b.O.P. SLASHES VOTE
OF SOUTH INCONVENTION
NATIONAL COMMITTEE LOPS
OFF 32 DELEGATES FROM ‘
FIVE SOUTHERN STATES.
\
\
EIGHT ARE LOST BY GEORGIAi
Revision Framed to Give Encourage
ment to States Where Republicans
Show Progress. Black and Tan Fac
tion Dissatisfied With New Rule.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—The man
who wins the nomination at the next
republican npational convention must
command a total of at least 519 dele
gates, a larger block than ever be
fore was necessary. |
The north, east and west, where
republicanism is on a sure foundation,
will nominate the candidate, and the
influence of the easily-manipulated,
will-’o-the-wisp delegations from the
solid south will be less than it has
ever been because their numbers will
be fewer. s
Congressional districts casting less
than 2,500 republican votes will not
be allowed representation, and those
casting less than 10,000 votes will on
ly be alléwed one delegate instead ofi
the customary two.
These are the outstanding results‘
of the republican national eommit
tee’s revision of the system of appor
tioning delegates, a task that has oc
cupied three years. In the opinion of
party leaders a substantial step has
been taken toward remedying condi
tions that in the past have been pro
ductive of scandal and trickery. The
proportion of power held by the
southern delegates has long been a
source of trouble making.
Cut 32 Delegates.
Thirty-two delegates were Ilopped
off the representation of five of the
most solid states of the solid south.
Georgia was cut down from 17 to 9;
South Carolina from 11 to 4; Missis-‘
sippi from 12 to 4; Texas from 23 to
17, and Louisiana from 12 to 9.
In this revision the republican man
agers virtually admit that there is no
republican party in South Carolina or
in Mississippi, for their representation‘
is cut down to four delegates each.
These will be allowed only because of
the general rule that four delegates
can be elected at large from each state.
If the republicans of these states
want greater representation they will
have to get out and hustle 2,500 re
publican votes in each congressional
district, whereupon they will be al
lowed an additional delegate for each
district.
The revision has been so framed
as to lend encouragement to those
states of the south where republican
progress is being made. Tennessee,
for instance, which three years ago
broke away from the solid south and
cast its electoral vote for Harding, had
its quota of delegates increased from
20 to 26.
Florida Gains.
Florida, where the republican man
agers apparently consider some prog
ress is being made, gained two addi
tional delegates. These were the only
incpeases in southern states, despite
the fact that 1924 convention will be
the largest in history.
The votes that were taken away
from the south and 52 new ones pro
vided: for in the revision plan have
been distributed throughout the
country generally, most states getting
an increase of two deélegates over
their 1920 apportionment,
New York, as usual, will have the
largest delegation with 92. Pennsyl
vania follows with 78, then come Illi
nois with 60, and Ohio with 50, Mas
‘sachusetts and Missouri with 38 each,
Indiana and Michigan with 32 each,
and New Jersey with 30. All other
states are below this figure. The to
,tal number of delegates will be 1,036.
New Jersey,, Illinois, Michigan, Wy
oming and Rhode Island. The 1914
cost of government in those jurisdic
tions was slightly in excess of $78.-
000,000. By 1937 the cost had risen
to $99,000,000. In 1922 it was $262,-
400,000.
In no single state was there a de
crease. The smallest rate of increase
between 1917 and 1922, in Kentucky, |
was almost 80 per cent. The largest
increase was shown in Michigan, or
from $24,700,000 in 1917 to $92,500,-
000 in 1922. This is at the rate of
about 300 per cent increase. The per
centage was exceeded in the smaller
state of Delaware where costs increas
ed from $1,385,000 in 1917 to $5,683,-
000 in 1922, or at the rate of about
320 per cent.
JUDGE SCORED ALLEGED “TRAFFIC IN SENTENCES” BY LAWYERS
ATLANTA, Ga.—Resenting what
he characterized as an attempt to
“traffic in sentences,” Judge John D.
Humphries, of the Fuljon superior
court, reprimanded Solicitor John A.
Boykin and Attorney Paul Carpenter
for their “agreement” regarding the
sentence to be passed on J. L. (Lem)
Gleason, a confessed “spieler” for the
Floyd Woodward “bunco syndicate.”
Attorney Carpenter represented
Gleason, who, on Monday, entered a
plea to an indictment charging lar
ceny after trust in connection with
the swindling operations of the Wood
ward gang.
Gleason came up to receive sen—l
tence. Solicitor Boykin arose and rec
ommended him to the mercy of the
court, urging that sentence be sus
DAWSON, GA., TUESDAY EVENING, SEPT. 25, 1923
6 "
Please Send for Me,
He Wires From North
5 SAVANNAH, Ga—l Leave home
in haste and repent at leisure ap
pears to be the experience of a
number of negroes who have left
Savannah and surrounding sections
for the north, with the idea of bet
tering themselves. §
An example of it is found in the
case of Tom Brown, a negro em
ployed by Lee Roy Lovenstein. He
was the fifth negro employed by
Mr. Lovenstein who gave up his
job here and went to New York.
Yesterday his former employer re
ceived a telegram reading:
“Am broke. Want to come home.
Please send for me.”
It is believed that many negroes
who go north with a rose-colored
view of what they are going to
find there are disappointed of their
hopes. All of them, however, do
not have friends to wire their re
turn fare when they ‘“go broke.”
Tom Brown will probably be a
happy man when his feet touch
Georgia soil once more, and a wis
er one,
i
IS EXCEEDED ONLY BY TEX
AS IN RURAL POPULATION,
SAYS CENSUS REPORT.
Texas has the largest rural popula-}
tion of any of the 48 states and in the
past 30 years has increased its popu
lation 67 per cent, according to data
from records of the department of
agriculture, at Washington, D. C.
The five states having the largest
rural population in other than cities
of 2,500 population arc Texas, Penn
sylvania, Georgia, Ohio and Illinois.
Since 1890 Texas shows the largest
gain of any of these five. In Illinois
and Ohio there were small declines.
In the 30-year period rural popula
tions increased in all states except 11.
In nine states, mainly in the west, the
increase has been two-fold. Among
these nine there are four in which the
rural population has trebled, :and one
other, Oklahoma, in which the num
ber of country dwellers in 1923 was
six times the total for 1890.
TEXAS HAS PLAN TO
ELIMINATE RETAILER
CONSUMER WATCHING WITH
INTEREST EXPERIMMENT
BY FARM LABOR UNION.
DALLAS, Tex.—The worried “ul
timate consumer” and his good wife,
who have to make a small salary
spread over the largest possible area,
are going to watch with interest, the
experiment in producer to consumer,
which is to be conducted here by the
Farm, Labor Union of America. Their
waning hope is being revived by
promises of cheaper food products.
The organization is to construct a
co-operative warehouse and cold stor
age plant here to purchase from the
farmer direct and sell to the consum
er just as direct. Elimination of the
middle men will mean the saving of
many dollars both to the farmer and
the purchaser, backers of the scheme
contend.
The new plant will cost not to ex
ceed $50,000. Dallas county farmers
will bring their produce—vegetables,
eggs, butter and milk—to the cold
storage plant where Mr. Average Cit
izen may go and select what he wants
and pay much less than he would at
retail stores, it is claimed.
The experiment will be given a
tryout here and if successful will be
extended, officials of the Farm Labor
Union said.
The cost of government in Nebras
ka more than doubled. In West Vir-'
ginia it more than trebled within the
five year period. In New Jersey it rose.
from $21,000,000 to upwards of $55,-
000,000 annually. In_lllinois the in
crease was from $35,400,000 to $52,-
100,000. In Wyoming it jumped from
tess than $2,000,000 to almost $5,000,-
000 and in conservative Rhode Island
I)tOOShOt up from $4,278,000 to $7,343,-
The states appear to be running in
to higher proportionate costs than the
cities. In New York city the increase
within the five year period was about
65 per cent or from $238,000,000 to
$389,000,000. In thirty other cities the
total cost of government increased 95
per cent., or virtually doubled within
pended on the ground that Gleason
could aid in rounding up the remain
der of the Woodward gang.
Judge Irritated.
Judge Humphries was visibly irri
tated. He indicated his unwillingness
to be governed by such a request, and
Attorney Carpenter forthwith ex
pressed his “desire to withdraw the
plea of guilty.
He declared he had agreed with
Solicitor Boykin that Gleason should
plead guilty, should be senteced to
twelve months in the penitentiary
and to pay a $5OO fine, and that the
prison term should be suspended on
payment of the fine. Then Gleason
was to plead guilty in the federal
court, Attorney Carpenter said, and
was to receive a sentence of a year
SUGKERS LOSE BILLION
DOLLARS EVERY YEAR
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT
REVEALS WILES OF SLICK
ERS WHO PREY ON FOLK.
EASY MARKS ARE PLENTIFUL
Inspectors Find That Thousands of
Americans Fall for the Schemes of
Those Who Want to Get Rich
Without Working.
“There’s a sucker born every min
ute,” is a saying that has been dis
proved by the United States postoffice
department. According to its findings
there is a sucker born about every
ten seconds.
The postoffice department is engag
ed m a never-ending war on swin
dlers. Postmaster General Harry S.
New estimates that the American peo
ple are swindled out of $1,000,000,000
every year by one class of fraudulent
schemes alone.
Six hundred inspectors are engaged
Vin running down the criminals who
seek to diminish the purses of the
American ‘people, or rather those
hundreds of thousands who are pop
ularly known as ‘suckers,” through
schemes, some of which are so clever
that even wise and sober business
men are fooled.
Selling Oil Stock.
Many persons part with their hard
earned savings in the belief that sud
den rickes is to be gained by invest
ing in oil. This belief is fostered by
the literature of fake oil companies,
whose sole purpose is to extract the
dollars from the pockets of the gulli
ble. “Own your own home,” and
“Take a trip to Europe,” and “Buy
yourself a car” are some of the flat
tering hopes held out by the promo
ters.
The overworked bookkepeer and the
school teacher with dreams fall for
this stuff and remit thefr savings of‘
a life time. In New York, or Chica
go, or San Francisco some fat per-‘
son, with a diamond stick pin in his‘
necktie, pockets the remittance and
the bookkeeper and school teacher!
start to save all over again.
The inspectors arrested a swindler
in the south who sold a medicine that
could cure about every known ail
ment and disease afflicting the human
race. The man was asked on the wit
ness stand | whether his “medicine
could bring back the dead to life.”
He admitted that it couldn’t restore
the dead, but it gave him an idea.
Shortly after being released from
prison he began peddling a medicine.
that had the power to bring back the
dead to life. He is again doing time.‘
“Lovers—for 10 cents you get $1.75
free package patent lovine perfumed
powder to win lovers.” Dimes from
all over the country poured into the
coffers of the slicker who sold the
labove powder, guaranteed to win the
!love of unwilling male or female if
sprinkled on the person in sufficient
quantities. |
The inspectors found that the pow
der was ordinary baking soda satur
latcd with a cheap perfume.
Mexican Retired.
| The effrontery of the Mexican, who
sold 100 cigars, of the 10 cent brand,
for $l, was amazing to the inspectors.
Many Americans sent $1 apiece to the
Mexican, who, in turn, sent a form
letter saying that he had retired from
business and would be unable to for
ward the cigards. He kept the dollars.
Foreign concerns are flooding this
country with literature concerning
pure concentrations of “Sherry, Rhine
Port, Madeira or Malaga wines.” The
department found that the extracts
were not what waseclaimed for them,
|though thousands’ of dollars went
iacross the Atlantic in the hope that
lthirst would be satisfied in due course
lOf time;
five vears. These cities include San
Francisco, - Providence, R. 1., Jersey
City, Birmingham, Albany, Portland,
Maine; Oklahoma City, Charleston,
S. C.: Norfolk, Harrisburg, Louisville,
Berkeley, Cal.; Knoxville, Trenton,
Flint, Pueblo, Springfield, Ill; Spring
field, Mo.; Roanoke, Va.; Johnstown,
Pa.: Lansing, Mich.; Lexington, Ky.,
and several smaller communities, all
of which, however, exceeded 30,000 in
population.
Total governmental costs for these
thirty cities in 1917 were $87,000,000.
In 1922 they lacked a few thousands
of $170,000,000.
Ten Billion a Year.
Statisticians here estimate in the
light of these returns that the cost
and a day in the federal prison.
Apparently this was all news to
Judge Humphries, whose irritation in
creased as Attorney Carpenter pro
ceeded with his statement.
When the attorney had finished
Judge Humphries remarked that no
such agreement would be tolerated;
that the court would not countenance
any attempt to “traffic in sentences,”
and that he would not allow the plea
of guilty to be withdrawn.
“If you want to carry this case to
the higher courts, Mr. Carpenter, it
is _ayour privilege,” Judge Humphries
said.
“I am going to sentence this man
to the same term Abe Powers is now
serving: let him serve from two to
five years in the state penitentiary.”
Birds Get by On China
Berry Jag, But Pigs Can't
VALDOSTA, Ga.—That the or
dinary chinaberry will cause the
death of pigs is the statement made
by J. S. Cone, a farmer. Mr. Cone
came to Valdosta today and report
ed the loss of six fine pigs from
this cause and seeking information
regarding the probable remedy for
poisoning of ‘that kind.
He said that six pigs six weks
old got into a lot where the ground
was covered with the first shower
of chinaßerries. The pigs immedi
ately ate of them and in two hours
four of them were dead and the
other two died later. He said that
during the interval between the
eating and death the pigs were
apparently drunk and staggered
around, finally expiring in appar
ent agony.
18,000 BARRELS BEER
A WEEK IN CHICAGO
SUPPLY INCREASES DESPITE
~ EFFORTS OF POLICE. SALES
~ REACH $30,000,000 A YEAR.
CHICAGO, Ill+Despite the ef
forts of federal prohibition forces and
the Chicago police force the supply
of booze, chiefly beer, has not been
shut off or even diminished. The beer
industry alone in Chicago has been
developed to sales of almost $30,000,-
000 a year, and where there is much
money the business will continue.
At the time Mayor Dever attempt
ed to clamp down the lid Chicago
breweries were putting out 18,000 bar
rels of real beer every week. At $3O a
barrel, which was the lowest figure,
that meant a business of $540,000 a
week, or sales at the rate of $28,000,-
000 a year, |
On every barrel put out there was!
$lO graft—this sum being collected
regularly at the source. This slush
fund of $lBO,OOO a week, or $10,000,-
000 a year, was big enough to bring
in powerful politicians, police officials,
all the crooked lawyers needed, gangs
of sluggers and to generally “grease”
the ways for the illegal traffice. l
Although policemen are stationed at
every brewery, they are constantly
tricked. They are permitted to seize
truck loads of what appears to be
beer, and while they are conducting
their “catch” to the nearest station
other trucks, carrying the real stuff,
slip out and distribute it. Analysis of
seized beer invariably shows it is of
legal content and that it was made
up to be seized.
THE COLLECTION OF
INCOME TAX LARGE
REPORTS FOR PERIOD END
ING AUG. 31 SHOW §1,358,917
HAS BEEN COLLECTED.
Income tax collections for the three
month period ending August 31, 1922,
and collected prior to September 15,
1923, amounted to $1,358,917 in the
state of Georgia, according to figures
given out Friday.
This amount 1s the largest that has
been collected in any three-month pe
riod since Collector 'J. T. Rose wasg
named collector in 1920, and is con
sidered by Mr. Rose one of the most
accurate indices of a steady trend to
ward better financial conditions
throughout the state.
Thirty deputy collectors of Georgia
and the same number from Alabama
have just spent one week in Atlanta
attending a school at which they were
given special instruction in income
tax work. The deputy collectors were
called to Atlanta by Commissioner
David H, Blair on September 13, for
‘the special instruction,
of governing the people of the Unit
ed States has increased from $8,500,-
000,000 in 1921 to about $10,000,000,-
000 a year at the present time, not
withstanding the decrease of about
one-third in the cost of maintaining
the federal government. The increase
is attributed to the rapidly rising costs
of local government, ‘
It is estimated that one-sixth of the
income of all the workers in the coun
try—if taxes were averaged——is taken
by the hand of the government. If the
present rate of increase continues the
amount demanded by government will
be one-fith, instead of one-sixth, with
in from two to three years.
Trade associations and other busi
ness organizations in Washington are
taking a lively interest in the census
disclosures. Leading the movemnent
looking to a curb' on local costs of
government is the National Associa
tion of Manufacturers with branches
in about forty states. The organization
recently adopted resolutions com
mending the federal government’s re
duction in cost effected by the opera
tion of the budget and urging “iipon
our extravagant states and municipal
ities a practical imitation of the fed
eral system.”
Hurting Business.
As the census bureau makes public
its returns the association places them
before the manufacturers in the stafes
and cities affected - with the sugges
tion that the figures be studied and
appropriate action be taken.
“We believe,” said Nathan B. Wil
tiams, of counsel for the association,
“that the high rates of local taxation
are hurting business, that we spend
far too much for local government
‘and that time has come to call a halt
and get back to a reasonable basis.”
A NEWSPAPER
DEVOTED TO
PUBLIC SERVICE
VOL. 41.—N0. 4
MISSISSIPPI SHOWS DECLINE
OF 75,000 IN BLACK POPULA
TION BY MIGRATION.
GEORGIA’S LOSS PUT AT 80,000
Exodus Laid to Social Conditions and
Attraction of the Dollar, Result May
Be the Solution of the So-Called
Race Problem in South.
JACKSON, Miss.—The old south
is changing. Negro migration, if it
continues at its present rate, means
the disintegration of the “solid south.”
This is a prevalent view among lead
ing planters, business men ang close
observers in Mississippi, which has
the greatest density of all the states,
52 per cent .of its population being
black—in the Yazoo delta it runs as
high as 80 per cent colored.
The ancient plantation system is on
its way, getting ready to vanish, as
has the frontier cowboy in the west.
The negro, like the white, is becoming
urbanized. The trend from the cotton
fields to the small southern cities,
thence from these communities to the
industrial centers of the north. Omne
feature of the present wave is that
it draws directly from farm to north
ern mill. Mississippi had a decline of
75,000 in its negro population from
1910 to 1920, but it registered an urb
an negro increase of 34 per cent. In
‘the last three years it has lost at least
40,000 negroes. The boll weevil has
brokeén up whole comimunities—in
some sections three-fourths of the old
cotton land is now lying idle—and
the industrial vacuum of the north
has pulled the agricultural workers in
masses. With them have gone many
negro professional and business men,
preachers, lawyers, doctors, barbers,
merchants, undertakers, etc.
Old Attachments Broken.
“The old attachments, in the main,
have been broken,” said the foremost
authority on the race question in the
delta the other day. “The old anchor
age is gone.”
' The Natchez region, for example,
was one where ever since slave days
the relation between the two races
were ideal. A dozen years ago the
boll weevil appeared and the planters,
could not cope with it; negro families
by economic necessity were impelled
to abandon homes where they had
lived for generations; the old life was
disrupted.
“The old ‘reliable” type of negro is
fast disappearing. And the banjo now
exists only in the sentimental ballad
and the minstrel show—for a week
we have driven through the cotton
regions and the only music from the
cabins has been from phonographs
and pianos, relics of the peak period.
Despite the crop failure the field
hands all seem happy and gay, smil
ing and laughing as ever, but the
banjo went out when the flivver came
in,”
Migration From Mississippi.
Meanwhile Mississippi is scouting
for white immigrants, north, west and
south, and is trying to combat mi
gration of the more stable negroes by
better school facilities. In 1920 the
state had 161,000 negro families, which
was a decrease of 3,500 in 10 years,
and in the last three years the de
crease is 3set at 15,000 at the lowest.
Of the negro farmers 137,000 are ten
ants and 35,000 are farm owners.
Commercial organizations are prepar
ing campaigns to attract white set
tlers from the debt laden exclusive
wheat regions of Kansas, Nebraska
and the Dakotas and from the Scan
‘dinavian countries if possible.
“It means the shifting of the race
problem to the north. The belief is
growing that within a decade or two
the blacks will be pretty well diffused
throughout the country. In 1860 over
92 per cent of the negro population
was in the south and in 1910 89 per
cent was still in the south. Then came
the industrializing migration and in
1920 the south had 85 per cent of the
negroes. If dispersion keeps up 20 or
30 years from now half the negroes
may be in the north.
GEORGIA HARDEST HIT.
Georgia has been hardest hit by the
exodus of negroes from the south to
the north. Much study is being given
by leaders of both races to the causes
of the migration and what can be
done to stem the rush to the “prom
ised land” overflowing with 16-cents
a-quart milk and 10-cents-a-spoon
honey.
Several estimates of the exodus have
been made; none of them agree. A
government bureau some months aio
reported 32,000 had migrated north
ward from Georgia in the last year,
The state college of agriculture re
cently reported that in six months
100,000 persons had left Georgia farms,
of which 90,000 were negroes, and
that 11,840 farms had been abandoned.
Not all these went north—there has
been much shifting of population
within the state itselfi—but it appears
that to this shift from 40,000 to 5%,0@
farmers, mainly negroes, went north,
about 35,000 moving through Chicage
as a distributing point.’
A resume of migration has alse
been given by the State Bankers’' As
sociation and by the City club, esti
mating that 80,000 have left Georgia
since January 1, that the number will
reach 100,000 by Christmas, that 46,-
674 farm houses are vacant and 56,-
524 plows are idle.
The loss to Georgia is set down at
$27,000,000 and the exodus, sqme say,
is causing more loss than Sherman’s
march to the sea. Of course, not all
these 55,000 plows are idle because
of the migraticn. The boll weevil ,has
been the great cause of abandoned
farms and the hard straits to which
cotton growing has been put has been
a principal cause of the migration.