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The Fitzgerald Leader
ENTERPRISE AND PRESS |
PUBLISHED DAILY BY
THE LEADER PUBLISHING CO.
Isidor Gelders ........... «. . Hditor
S F Gelders .......... . Mang BEd
—Official Organ City of Fitzgerald—
Entered at the Post Office at Fitzger
ald as Second Class Mail Matter
Under Act of Congress,
March 18, 1897,
Subscription Price—Daily
One Week . o.ivivvivcivos e 20
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Six Weeks: .. ...... ... 9100
Four Months ... +..... ...:9200
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OHe Year ... 0 8000
Tri-Weekly, Year ... ..........$5.00
Si% Months .. ... .. ... 3150
Rates for display advertising fur
nished on application. Local readers,
10 cents per line for each insertion.
No ad taken for less than 30 cents.
Foreign Advertising >R’c-presentati;"¢7:'
THEAMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION
ANOTHER OPEN LETTER—
Mrs. S. M. Whitchard,
Mr. Wesley R. Walker,
Dear Friends:—
We understand that you both
have had a great deal to say
about the connection of a Carni
val with a Fair—and in a dis
tinctly personal and caustic man
ner, as if the Fitzgerald Fair had
been the only one so “commer
cialized”, while the fact is that
you can name few, if any Fairs
at all that have been managed
without such.
The Fair management, last
year on learning that the South
castern Fair in Atlanta would
have no carnival ‘“‘concessions”,
immediately investigated to see
how it could be done. They
learned that a few wealthy and
high minded moral men of At
lanta had, by private donations
to the Fair Association funds,
made it possible to eliminate
the “concessions’ feature of the
carnival for the first time in its
history. The statement that there
was no carnival is a mistake, {
Also, we would like to remind
you that there were many, many
years without any kind of a Fair
Association in our community
when any of you public spirited
and conscientious citizens could
with dencency and honor have
inaugurated a splendid Fair—
had you been willing to take the
first steps at your own personal
inconvenience and hazard and
not, as the lady has well said,
“ILach look to the other.”
Speaking of the part that the
rural school children might have
it has been a matter of exceed
ing regret to the management
that the school terms are not
opened at Fair time, making it
well nigh impossible to get on
the contest features that would
be so desirable ane valuable,
While mentioning this feature,
we might well pertinently ask
the lady and the pubic in general
if they forget that positively
the only large co-operative rural
school commencements and exhi
bit ever staged in Ben Hill Coun
ty were instituted and carried
out by Isidor Gelders, as stated
by the County Superintendent,
Mr. R. J. Prentiss at the time
and well known by all partici
pants. Because other organiza
tions could not be brought to sce
the value of shoutdering part of
the burden in so large a public
undertaking, and, because the
usual jealousy stirred the usual
carping and criticisms from the
usual sources, Isidor Gelders was
forced to give up the rural school
commencement. No one else in
Ben Hill county has taken his
place, have they? Ask the farm
er boys and girls. They aren't
afraid to let Isidor Gelders man
age the County Fair anyway he
sees fit,
The same beautiful theorizing
of the Fair's present critics was
applied to the annual Christmas
offering that Isidor Gelders
staged for several years before
the outbreak of the " world war.
“Gelders is able to manage this
Christmas offering so let's some
one clse do it and get credit for
it,” they said, and instead of co
operating they held economical
ly aloof and Isidor Gelders and
his friends who contributed were
forced to discontinue the annual
Christmas offering of fruit, gro
ceries and fuel to the poor of
the city. Has anyone else takcn‘
up, even attempted to take up!
the beautiful idea of giving all
the poor of the city something
to be merry over? Ask the boys
and girls. Some of the railruadl
boys who weren’t as prosperous
before the war as they are now,
can tell you. They aren’t afraid
to let Isidor Gelders manage the
county fair, or anyone else that
works with him.
The Elks Club and Woman’s
Club took up the Christmas phil
anthropy on a smaller scale and
merit gencrous support from
others in enlarging their work.
A few yecars ago there weren’t
any hogs in this county, four
footed ones we mean. The farm
ers were raising cotton and did
not know very much about hogs.
Someone had to introduce hogs,
four-footed hogs, to the farmers.
Isidor Gelders started the first
"‘chain pig” in South Georgia,
buying “Mother Leader” and
“Lady Enterprise,” as the sows
were named, and giving away
the pigs to country boys and
girls on condition that one of
cach litter should be passed on
to some other boy or girl who
had no pig. The young men and
Iyoung women who got those
pigs are not afraid that Isidor
Gelders will “commercialize” the
Ben Hill county fair to their
injury. .
A few years ago Fitzgerald
needed a Carnegie Library and
didn’t have one. The ladies of
the Woman’s Club said the city
needed a Carnegie Library and
looked around to find someone
to help them get it. Isidor Gel
ders had plenty of burdens of his
own at that time without shoul
dering those of the people of
Fitzgerald who liked books and
couldn’t afford to buy all they
wanted, or of the Woman’s Club
which was growing rapi'' -d
needed a new meeting place, or
of the musically inclinea «. ... | .-
erarily inclined and biblically in
clined people who needed a new
mecting place in which to hold
recitals and hear lectures and
hold bible classes. But no one
clse offered to shoulder the bur
den of getting a Carnegie Libra
ry for Fitzgerald, :
And Tlsidor Gelders threw all
the influence of the Fitzgerald
Leader behind the movement,
got out among the people and
solicited subscriptions for the
library fund, when he could bet
ter have afforded to have been
solicting advertising. W hen
every dollar that public spirited
citizens of Fitzgerald could af
ford to give was turned in, and
ninety per cent of it secured and
collected by Isidor Gelders, it
was found there still was not
enough to provide a Woman's
Club room or an auditorium.
The good ladies were disappoin
ted.
They wanted a new club room
badly. Other people who wanted
an auditorium were dissappo:
ed. So Isidor Gelders gave, in
addition to his labor and support
of his newspaper, a piece of land
worth about $5OO at that time, and
much more now, in order to make
it possible to carry out the orig
inal library plans.
People who want education,
musical, biblical, and literary,
and who are being assisted in
getting it by the use of the Li
brary that Andrew Carnegie and
Isidor Gelders gave Fitzgerald
should not be afraid that Isidor
Gelders will “commercialize” the
Ben Hill County Fair to their in
jury or will make it any less ed
ucational, and moral and alto
gether worth while, than it is
within the power of the fair man
agers to make it.
Mrs. Whitchard and Mr. Walk
cr are estimable and public spirit
ed people. The Leader thinks a
great deal of them and has a full
mcasure of appreciation for the
work Mrs. Whitchard has done
in the Ben Hill Farm Bureau and
Ben Hill Civie League and that
Mr. Walker has done in the
Farmer’s Union and the State
legislature. The management of
the Ben Hill County Fair would
welcome those public spirited in
dividuals into the ranks of those
who are striving to give the farm
ers of Ben Hill and the citizens of
Fitzgerald a good, moral, uplift
ing and popular farr
1 But the Leader does believe,
and the Fair mapnagement does
know that Mrs. Whitchard and
Mr. Walker would accomplish a
much more valuable work for
morality and agriculture if they
would put their shoulders to the
wheel and work with those who
are working in a constructive way
than by standing afar off and
thinking how much better some
one else could do it.
Respectfully vours,
Stewart F. Gelders,
Managing Fditor.
eLS e
LEADER IDEAS SPREAD
ING—It is with a great deal of
satisfaction that the Leader re
produces the following editorial
from the Moultrie Observor in
THE LEADER-ENTERPRISE AND PRESS SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1921.
regard to an educational tour ofl
Colquitt farmers and Moultrie
business men to Alabama to see
how things are done in Ala
bama’s banner county and learn
to do likewise. The Leader sug
gested and agitated such tours
for Ben Hill farmers and Fitz
gerald business men and two
such have been made, one tc
North Georgia and one which
included Colquitt, South Geor
gia’s banner county. While the
details of the tours were engin
eered by others, the Leader made
the first suggestion years ago
and is proud of the way its theo
ries are working out in fact. The
Moultrie Observor says:
A PARTY OF COLQUITT
COUNTY farmers and business
men are going on an education
al tour in Alabama next week.
Alabama is credited with having
accomplished some things in di-‘
versified farming and live stock
raising that we have not yet ac
complished and we are going to
see what has been done and how
it has been done.
Last year Dallas county, the
county in which Selma is located
made a fine record, producing
crops valued at ten million dol
lars. One third of this was live
stock and live stock products.
This is better than we have done
though we have the oldest and the
largest packing house in the
south-east, and one of the oldest
creameries in the south Not on
dy has live stock led the way to
profits in Alabama, and particu
larly in Dallas county, but we are
told that live stock has led to a
greater diversification of crops,
better soil, a reduction in ferti
lizer costs and an increased pro
duction.
\We cannot learn too much
aboiit these things. And the best
way to learn is to go and sece.
Colquitt county farmers will want
to get the information first hand.
They will want to talk with the
Alabama farmers and hear from
them what milch cows havel
meant to them; what profit there
is in selling cream and feeding
milk to pigs. Colquitt county
bankers want to know the truth
first hand from Selma bankers.
They will learn something about
live stock credits.,Moultrie mer-‘
chants will be interested to talk
with Selma merchants and hear
from them what has resulted in
the way of trade from the new
methods of farming.
Colquitt county has some ideas
of her own. We have accomp
lished' some things worth while.
We have entertained scores of
such parties as that which goes
from here to Alabama.
We do not claim to know it all,
however. There is much yet to
learn. There is much remaining
to be accomplished in developing
the agricultural and live stock in
terests of this county and sec
tion. = Some of the best men of
the .county will be among those
who visit Selma and Dallas coun
ty. They will go with their ears
open, their mind open, and their
note books open. They go ex
pecting to bring back something.
THE FITZGERALD DAILY—
It is probable that the daily edi
tion of the Fitzgerald Leader will
be discontinued next week until
such a time that pusiness condi
tions generally warrant its publi
cation. The daily has been a
heavy financial drain during the
seven weeks ot has been issued
and the publishers do not feel
justified in continuing to publish
it at a heavy loss.
The publishers believe that
Fitzgerald should have a daily
newspaper. Dublin, Tifton, Cor
dele, Waycross, Moultrie, Val
dosta, and other cities no larger
than Fitzgerald, nor more pros
perous normally, support daily
newspapers. Unusual business
conditions in Fitzgerald at the
present time make any sort of
expansion in any line of business
rather difficult and until * these
conditions are adjusted, any ex
pansion that involves as great an
expense as a daily newspaper
seems unwise,
| The Leader Publishing Com
pany is determined to establish a
daily newspaper some time before
the end of the year and the pub
lishefs are confident that within
the course of a few months busi
ness will warrant the expansion.
Until then, Fitzgerald people will
have to be content with the news
the Leader-Enterprise and Press
can supply in thrice-a-week in
stallments. If the daily edition
is discontinued the publishers will
be able to make the thrice-a-week
ledcr a more comprehensive lo
cal news organ afthough tele
graphic service will be discontin
ued. U
The publishers are highly an
preciative of the cordial and gen
erous support accorded the
daily from many sources, not on
ly of the material support it has
been given but of the large meas
ure of good will that could not
be translated into the “stuff that
makes the mare go.”
The plant has been adapted to
handling a daily newspaper and
at any time that it seems advisa
ble, a daily can be started on
twenty-four hours notice and just
as soon as it does seem advisable
it will be done. Fitzgerald can
never take its proper place in the
ranks of progressive South Geor
gia cities until it has a daily news
paper, permanently and substan
tially established, and the people
of Fitzgerald may look 'to the
Leader Publishing Company to
give them such a daily newspaper
just as soon as practicable to do
so.
Until then, the thrice-a-weel
Leader-Enterprise and Press will
continue to publish all the néw:
interests and to labor dilligently
for everything that will help to
build Fitzgerald and its surround
ing rural section into a hap
pier and more prosperous place
for people to make their homes
and to work out their destinies
in this uncertain life.
LOST—GoId fountain pen with ini
tials D. J. T. lost on West Palm be
tween Main St. and High School.
Finder please return to Leader office.
t
The Leader
Publishing Co.,
Is Prepared to Serve Your
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Kind of Printing.
Many Teachers Forcedl
To Diet To Conserve
Their Funds ‘
(By International News Service)
CHICAGO, April 23.—A special
cult of vegetarians is growing up
among the university instructors of\
the United States.
- Not only is meat absent from the
‘daily fare, but the good old-fashioned
’butter is also missing—oleo and other
substitutes replacing it. This peni
tential fare is eaten, not. fromchoice,
but because many university instruc
tors cannot pay for better food for‘
themselves and families, |
These statements are based upon a
study made by the Better Schools
Service of the American Federation
of Teachers and the survey has re
vealed according to Miss Josephine
Colby, field secretary, that a third of
the professors cannot live adequately
upon the salaries paid them.
Only 516 of all the school teachers
in the United States, the survey
shows, receive more than $4,200 per
year and only 92 receive more than
$6,000. :
Resoling and cobbling of shoes, cut
ting of children’s hair at home, living
in rooms without heat, kerosene
lights, refraining from marriage for
lack of funds, taking no vacations and
foregoing all social life are a few of
the economies practised by the peda
gogues, according to the report.
NOTICE!
All persons, firms and corporations.
doing business in the city of Fitz
gerald, Ga. and have not paid their
1921 occupation taxes are hereby re
quested to pay same and by the Ist
day of May. After this date cases.
will be made,
DAI €. B DIXON,
Chief of Police.
Phone 359
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