Newspaper Page Text
Official Newspaper
of Coweta County.
-Che f'fcvman JVews
Official Newspaper
of Coweta County.
VOL. VI.
NEWNAN, GA., FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 1. 1905.
NO. 21
IF YOU SAW IT IN
THE NEWS-TELL THE ADVERTISER YOU
DID!
EAST TO WEST
AND BACK AGAIN
Sights Seen in the Great
West toy a Georgia Mem*
ber of the National
Editorial Ass’n.
NUMBliK VI.
Last week the reader was left at
the western border of the great
California desert.
Admittedly it is an uninviting
place to remain even for a week.
But it takes all sorts of country to
make up a glorious domain like
that of the United States. And in
the trip toward sunset the Nation
al Editorial Association most as
suredly surveyed every «kind of
country and all sorts of • climate.
For instance the thermometer was
as high as 1 ‘20 degrees in the Death
Valley, 354 feet below sea level,
and a few days later, when Pike’s
Peak was ascended, an altitude of
.14,147 feet was reached, encoun
tering a temperature of only 23
degrees al>ove zero, or 10 degrees
below the freezing point, at 0:30 in
the morning.
But the purpose of this article,
as per promise, is to describe
briefly the garden regions of south
ern California. An insight to
these was beheld at Indio, as we
passed out of the desiccating des
ert, and the waving palms, gorge
ous fruit trees and pretty vistas of
orchard and field, made out of des
ert by irrigation, were a sombre
and satisfactory relief, after the
long run with so little in sight save
sand duiies, parched sage brush,
giant cacti, or bare mountains—
such a relief that many
awake to view the scenes
late hour, when at last tired na
ture’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep,
suffused us each and all to awake
next morning in charming River
side.
Riverside has been well named
the garden city of southern Cali
fornia. The city proper covers
twenty-live thousand acres of land,
with some five or six thousand in-
’ habitants. But for twenty-five
miles or more it reaches out into
a lofty hill, whose uame we have
now torgotten. It affords the best
view to lie obtained of the city and
the beautiful vicinity. Outlying
for many miles are the beautiful
orange groves and orchards, bear
ing almost every conceivable fruit,
the lower mountain sides covered
with new-mown hay or waving
fields of grain. We imagine the
orange groves of lllyssus of which
Bnlwer so often alluded, would
pah* into insignificance before such
a scene. And yet all around was
formerly a desert. Money, irriga
tion and climate have made it all.
And such climate! It is never too
hot to wear winter clothes if you
desire and never eold enough to
produce a killing frost. The trees
are green the year round, and the
flowers that bloom in the spring”
have no time to rest, but scent the
balmy and bracing air every day
in the year. We picked flowers
and fruits ad libitum, and not
only at Riverside, but at nearly
every stop the train made in Cali
fornia and in Oregon the ladies
were supplied with georgeons bou
quets, while the gentlemen’s lapels
were adorned with bouton neires of
rare flowers pinned on by humls
most fair, and each car was ever
and anon packed with luscious
fruits of many varieties.
To Riverside belongs the honor
of propogating the first navel
orange planted in the state. Three
of the trees were brought to Amer
ica in 1874. One was planted in
Florida and two in California; one
of the latter died and from the one
transplanted and growing in an nr
tistic casement to preserve it from
vandals or ’souvenir hunters in
front of the famous and palatial
remained | Hotel Gleuwood have been budded
until a ! a»d grown many thousands of the
trees which produce these delici
ous and popular seedless oranges.
And, loo, Riverside claims
have the completest and most sci
entific irrigation system in the
world. The whole country is
network of little canals, and wate
is too precious to allow scarcely a
drop of it to go to waste. In fact,
irrigation is the key that unlocks
the door of southern California.
Its plenty and its beauty depend
upon irrigation. . Ail its latent and
More
Money for Schools,
But —.
Supt. B. F. Plokett Writes of
Need of New School
Building.
to
shower of rain, and these little
canals are to the thirsty orchards
what the rain clouds are to the
Georgia fields of cotton and corn.
every direction a bower of attrac .... ... , ,
J .. , visible wealth would not buy a
tive fruit culture and fanciful i ^
farming. Its climate is that of
perpetual summer, and uo eye ever
beheld, we dare say, a more beau
tiful sight than this orchard city, . , . . .
• .u • , . Every acre of ground is as clean as
reclining in the midst of orange l , . , ,
. ! a floor, and they have no hedges of
groves, its magnificent avenuesi ’ . & , ... e
. , .... , , , ugliness or unsightly stubbles of
lined with ornamental trees, h , ,, J
..... , . . • weeds and brush; they keep them
among which the oriental palm is * . ,
s ., .... awav by failing to put water where
most conspicuous, its artistic villa J 3 6
. , _ . . h \ they don’t want anything to grow ,
surrounded with;
We have been repeatedly asked
residences
grounds in which the care of the
Landscape gardener can be sedu,
its fine business blocks of brick and
stone, its handsome hotels, and its
surrounding vineyards and orange
groves and orchards making it a
veritable dreamland and a visit to
it a joyous memory forever. The
city is girdled by lofty mountains,
on some of which the snow never
entirely melts, and the irrigation
canals as well as the city’s water
supply are garnered from streams
which have their origin in the
melting snow on the outlying
mountain jpeaks. The county of
which it is the capital is as large
about the price of these lands.
And that is a problem- Riverside
orange lands, with water right,
sell as follows: Unimproved, from
$150 to $300 per acre; orange
groves not yet in bearing, from
$300 to $500 per acre; bearing
groves, from $500 to $1,500 per
acre. Many are supposed to be
for sale, but it would be cheaper to
buy a gold mine and raise a differ
ent species of-yellow, stuff.
From Riverside to Los Angeles,
a distance of about sixty miles, a
daytime trip proved one of pecul
iar interest. The country abounds
The gratifying statement is made
by the Atlanta Constitution that
with the increase in the liquor tax
from $200 to $300, made at the re-
cut session of the general assem
bly, and added income from other
sources of taxation, Georgia’s
school fund this year will reach
$2,000,000, if it does not. run over
that figure, the largest in the his
tory of the State.
Going somewhat into details the
Constitution says:
“.lust half of this sum, $1,000,-
000, comes from direct taxation,
while the balance will come from
various sources prescribed by law
rhe increase in the liquor tax bill
makes the income from that source
nearly $275,000, all of which goes
to schools. Then there is half the
rental of the Western & Atlantic
Railroad, amounting to $210,000,
which goes every year to the com
mon school system. The poll taxes,
all of which go to schools, aggre
gate some $275,000, and the net
convict hire comes to something
over $200,000. Here then is a to
tal of $1,960,000, which the fertil
izer and oil inspection fees, the
show tax and other minor sourcus
of income given by law to public
schools, will carry the total con
siderably beyond the $2,000,000
mark. This will be equivalent to
about $3 for every child of school
age in the entire state, a larger pe
capita appropriation for education
than the State has ever before
made.”
All this looks good lo the friends
of education and seems to mark an
other step forward in the educa
tional policy of our state, but there
is still one thing lacking—provi
sion by thfi legislature for the
prompt payment of the teachers,
Under the present system, in
cluding a lot of red tape requiring
that all the money shall be con
centrated in Atlanta and then
doled out to the county boards af
ter itemized statements have been
rendered to the State School Com
missioner, the teachers do not get
their money promptly, unless the
county boards make arrangement
to.borrow it, and. in this event in
terest must be puid.
The board of education of
Dougherty county paid out about
$300 for interest last year, in or
der to keep the teachers paid up.
Of course this had to come out of
the school fund, and if the other
counties of the state paid their
teachers promptly they, too, ha<^
to borrow money, and the interest
account cut a considerable hole in
the school fund.
It was hoped that the legislature
at its recent session would provide
for the prompt payment of the
teachers of the state, , but it failed
to do so.—Albany Herald.
In view of the approaching bond
election for the establishing of a
branch of the public school system
in south Newnan, there are some
facts concerning the crowded con
dition of the Temple Avenue
school upon Which the public
should be informed.
To go back to the school year of
1898-’If, the school records show an
enrollment during that year of 343
pupils in tile Temple Avenue
school. The enrollment in the
same school for the year 1904-’5
was 509, an increase of 48 percent,
in seven years. The records of en
rollment from year to year during
this period reveal the fact that this
increase has been very uniform, no
year falling below 5 per cent., and
none rising above 10 per cent.
This is a fair index of the growth
of Newnan during the same period.
While this increase has been going
on, there has not been the increase
of a square foot in the floor space
of this school, but from time to
time more desks have lieen crowd
ed into the rooms to seat the new
pupils.
Below are given the total enroll
ment and average attendance of
the first six grades of the Temple
Avenue school for the year 1904-’5:
UN KOI,’I)
A. V’It’UK
First Grade,
104
78
Second Grade.
(Hi
60
Third Grade,
59
51
Fourth Grade,
58
50
Fifth Grade,
57 j
47
Sixth Grade,
51 ,
50
Totals,
398
330
. ,, . .. Kllf in groves of oranges, lemons and
as the state of Massachusetts, but; . .
, ^ , , .,/ W .nn > olives, waving fields of grain, and
has a popu ation of only 20,000, or; ’ B ... ’ ,
F 1 j ! extended areas of English walnuts
5,000 less than Coweta. River ! , • • , , .
’ , . . , ., . . . i and almonds, and occasional desert
side also claims to be the richest , , . . .
. spots. All productive land is lrri-
citv per capita in the United” 1 ” ‘ . ..
y 'gated—must be—for in southern
States, and a tour o i seven ] Oalifornia there is no wealth where
miles-long Magnolia «ve.,oe alone; fa |i0 ^
will lead one to conclude that the
claim may be a true one. . I The party spent three days in
With four other gentlemen, each ; k° s Angeles and vicinity, ihe
hailin" from a different state, the | chief attractions of the stay was a left the service of the A. & W.
writer tou red the Riverside region ascent to the summit of Mt. ; and has accepted the position of Is
: After Viewintr : a, thirty-mile voyage on j ni(;ht operator at the Central Rail- t
the Pacific to
Changes at A. A W.P. Depot
Changes in the personnel of the
force at the A. & W.P. depot have
placed new men in all positions
except that of chief. Mr. G. B
Barr, a fixture in this position, re
mains in charge of the office. L.
8, Sewell, cashier, goes to Grant
ville to engage in the mercantile
business. He is succeeded by John
Seay, of Montgomery, Ala. \V
W. Breedlove, ticket agent, who
resigned on account of his health,
is succeeded by B. K. Pace, also
from Montgomery. In the freight
department, C. M. Hill is succeed
ed by G. T. Shackleford... Mr
Hill resigned to accept a position
in the office of the new oil mil!
company. Jack Conyers has also
in an automobile. After viewing Pacific to the famous Santa
the famous orange groves which <j a talina Islands. Next week we
surround the palaces of wealth and shall write of these.
* splendor, we returned by way of l P. T. McC.
night operator
way depot.
Ehl Yes, we do job printing.
Average attendance Is given for
the information and satisfaction of
those who are inclined to attach
more importance to it than to the
total enrollment. But it should be
borne in mind that the usual at
tendance is materially more than
the average attendance. The. usu
al attendance is the attendance
under normal w e a t; h e r con-
conditions and normal condi
tions of health in the community;
while the average attendance is
computed from the attendance of
the entire year, and is very much
lessened by extraordinarily severe
weather, such as a temperature of
freezing, a sleet-covered ground, a
great downpour of rain just at as
sembling time, and by epidemics
among the children. All these
conditions prevailed at one time yr
another during the year 1904-J5.
This matter of average attendance
is dwelt upon at some length here,
because it may be said, as it was
said in council when these figures
were given to the council, that the
average attendance shows that the
school is not so badly crowded af
ter all. It might as well Ik; said
that a church should accommodate
only the average yearly attendance.
It is the concensus of opinion
among schoolmen that no teacher
should have more than forty pu
pils,—that from thirty to thirty-
five is the ideal number. At school
conventions and in school periodi
cals i have observed that the num
ber forty has almost invariably
been fixed upon as the maximum.
I have just received the 1904-’5 re
port of the superintendent of the
Athens, Ga., public schools,—a
system which, in my opinion, is
the very best in Georgia in two or
three essential.respects. Accord
ing to this report the enrollment in
the Athens public schools was 980
white children; the total white
teaching force, 27; an average ofJ
30 enrolled pupils to the teacher. I
Then, if 40 be considered as the
| maximum, the Temple Avenue
school had last year an excess
above the maximum of J18 pupils.
If there should lie an increase of 7
per cent, in the attendance this
fall, the excess will tie 154 pupils.
The consequences of such a condi
tion are far-reaching. The teach
ers cannot possibly do excellent
work; the little ones of the pri
mary grades, who should receive in
dividual instruction, must instead
lie taught; in mass; the scholarship
of the whole school will deterio
rate; the health of children, crowd
ed together in masses of (10 and 70
in school rooms built for 10, will
be seriously endangered.
In this connection, 1 wish to say
that the plan, which has beyn sug
gested, that the first and second
grades each lie divided into two
sections, one being taught in tlio
forenoon and the other in the af
ternoon, is impracticable; and, if
contemplated ns a permanent ar
rangement, could not have been
made by a friend of the public
schools. This plan has been aban
doned, and that quickly, wherever
tried, so far as I know, except in
the negro public schools of Atlunta.
It seems from the above state
ment of facts that everyone should
bo convinced of the urgency of the
need of new school rooms. As to
the location, the board of educa
tion, nine members lieing present
and all voting affirmatively on a
HiHiNii ballot, has decided that a
branch of the public school system
should be established in south
Newnan at once. It is thought
that the creation of a three-grade
primary school, with two teachers,
is as much as can be effected tin
first year.
It is true that the grounds sur
rounding the Temple Avenue
school house are large. An annex
to that building could be built.
But there are m»w more than four
hundred pupils in daily atten
dance at that school. At recess
the children fairly swarm over the
grounds. Largo boys and little
ones are so crowded together on
their playground .that it is impos
sible to prevent accidents. In
spite of the vigilance of the teach
ers, small boys are occasionally
seriously hurt, though usually un
intentionally, by the larger Imys.
But a better reason for building
in south Newnan is that the Tem
ple Avenue school is too far away
for the little ones of south New
nan in the winter time and in hot
weather. If I were a resident of
south Newnan, I could have no pa
tience with a gentleman Vho would
argue that because he walked two
or three miles to school in his ls>y
hood, therefore my two delicate
little girls, one six, the other
eight, Isith very susceptible to
cold, could not be hurt by the
daily (or twice daily) walk of a
mile from south Newnan to Ten.
pie avenue. City-bred child re.
today are of a different fibei i
their country-bred fathers an.,
grandfathers. This must be recog
nized.
And we have reason daily to
thank God that, in many ways,
life is not so hard for our children
as for the children of the preceding
generations, whose parents, how
ever, got no joy from the Spar
tan hardships and deprivations to
which they hail to subject them.
In conclusion, permit ini: to re
fer again to the Athens system.
With taxable property of $5,900,-
000; with a population of 12,000;
with a white school population of
1,400 and an actual enrollment of
980 white children, Athens has
four good public school houses for
white pupils, in different sections
of the city, thus bringing every
child within reasonable walking
distance of a school. In addition,
she has in Lucy Cobb Institute
and the Home School private in
stitutions that do intermediate and
high school work.
B. F. PlOKKTT,
Superintendent Schools.
NEWNAN-GREENE-
VILLE LINE SURE
Central Railway Will Buiidi
the Line Between This
City and Greene-
ville.
Savannah, August 23.—The
Central Railway is asking for bids
on the widening of its narrow
gunge line between Columbus and
Greeneville, in Meriwether county,
and the building of a line 24 miles
in length from Greeneville to a
point on the Cliuttanooga, Rome
and Columbus line, 0 miles east of
Newnan, to be known as Newnan
Junction, The last of the rights
of way were secured Saturday.
It is the intention of the Central
to have the line completed and
ready for business a year hence
It will make the distance between
Atlanta and Columbus 119 miles.
When the widening of the line
has been completed it will remove
the last narrow guage from the
Centra) system.
Seventy pound rails have al
ready been bought for this track.
The contract will be let within ten
days.
Columbus, August 28.—All in
dicutions point to the broadening
of the gauge of the Columbus und
Rome branch of the Central of
Georgia Railway and filling in the
gap between Greenville and New
nan at. an early date, thus giving
Columbus a short line to Atlunta.
The road is at present narrow
gauge all the way from Columbus
to Greenville. Several shipments
of long cross ties have been made,
up the road during the past few
days to lie used in the broadening
of the gauge. Ail repairs on this
road in recent years have been
with crossties of standard length
and size.
Engineers are at work on the
problem of broadening the gauge
over Pine mountain. The present
grade is not too steep for a narrow-
gauge road, but is said to be itn-
praeticable for a road of standard
gauge.
Options for the right of way for
the extension for practically the
entire distance from Greenville to
Newnan have been seertred. From
Newnan the Central of Georgia
trains will go into Atlanta over the
Atlanta and West Point tracks.
This route to Atlanta will lie con
siderably shorter than either of the
present railway routes from Co
lumbus to Atlanta.
It is understood from authorita
ve sources that the work of
Leadening the gauge and making
mo extension will iiegin atari early
date—probably within sixty days’
time.
W. C. T. U. Officers.
Read The News for the news.
The members of the W. C. T. U.
had a called meeting last Monday
afternoon and elected officers for
the ensuing year. The officers
elected were:
Mrs. E. O. Iteese, President;
Mrs. It. A. Field, Vice President;
Mrs. W. C. Black, Secretary; Mrs.
J. E. Smith, Treasurer; Mrs. J. H.
Suminers,Corresponding Secretary.
Mrs. It. J. Barnett was appointed
lady manager for the L. T. L. and
Mrs. Clarence Hollis assistant
manager.
Let us try by faithful and
earnest prayer to make 1905 the
most prosperous year this grand
old cause has ever had in Newnan.
Let us pray and talk for the tem
perance cause at all times and un
der all circumstances.
Mrs. E. O. iteese was appointed
delegate and Mrs. Hollis alternate
to the State Convention which will
meet in Amei icus, embracing the
9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of September.
Mrs. E, O. Reese, Pres.