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B. IP mn Pursuant to the resolution introduc- that no auii mi'. vViggs, by said quarry, could make It return on two hundred dollars ($200,000). Mr. Insisted on selling the quarry state and Mr. Crossland then to Mr. Wlggs that he could anything to the state, as ho was a United States road official as signed to work in Georgia. Mr. Wlggs then purchased Mr. Crossland’s In terests in the quarry for the sum of $16,000. Mr. Wiggs then sold the f£ p p !!!L^tfttive at B th H 1 McMldiaeL ! quarry to the Btate for the sum of of Marion, and concurred in by the Senate, providing for an Investigation th ® position that the state only ac- of the State Highway Department, a t Quired the mineral interests ip the committee of five members from the j property and that this would be es- Senate and ten from the House was — W '‘ ,J " appointed, with authority to subpoena witnesses and an authorized expendi ture of $760.00. At public hearings held in the Sen ate Chamber, every .criticism which Jiad been made of the Department through the press or otherwise, which WAB brought to the Committee, includ ing those listed in the Resolution, was thoroughly investigated, special atten tion being given to the Elbert Quarry, the Equipment Depot at East Point, likewise to the titles and leases cover ing land on which buildings are erect ed. The entire committee visited and made searching inspection of the State Highway Department’s property and shops at East Point. At conclusion of hearings the com mittee appointed a sub-committee composed of Mr. G. W. Lankford from the 16th District, Messrs. J. B. Moore pf Appling county, and C. M. Head pf Cobb county, to draw up tentative report for consideration by entire com mittee. Following this plan, the sub-commit tee’s report was road to the Commit tee at its final meeting and with but one dissenting vote, that of Mr. Mc- * Michael of Marlon, was adopted. Tills report was adopted in the Sen ate unanimously and in the House by g*vote of 95 to 17. Following Is full report of findings by committee as approved by 1923 General Assembly: '’To the President of the Senate, "The Speaker of tho House, "The General Assembly: ’’Your committee appointed under the terms of house resolution No. 15 by Mr. E. H. McMicliael, of Marion, respectfully Bubmlt tho 'following re port: I. "The Hon. Stephen Pace acted as chairman and D. P. McClatchey acted as secretary of the committee. Your committee held various meetings and alBO inspected the highway depart ment’s headquarters at East Point. Your eoinmitttee had before it officials of tho highway department and all bookB and papers and reports for Which your committee called. Every request made for information by your committee waB promptly complied with by the highway department, and exhaustive hearings of witnesses were conducted. II. "Your committee under the resolu tion were instructed ‘to investigate irregularities, mismanagement, ineffi ciency, extravagance and burdensome overhead expenses, which were alleg ed to have consumed the greater part of tho state fundB, leaving a small percentage of the said state funds for the actual maintenance of tho state system of highways.’ Your committee finds that the highway department of Georgia has been managed honeBtly, intelligently and efficiently. Your com mittee failed to discover any irregu larities, mismanagement, extrava gance, or burdensome overhead ex pense. On the contrary, your commit tee reports that the Georgia highway department has a smaller percentage of overhead expense than the depart ments of mauy of the other states* and is conducted in as economically a manner as is consistent with tho beBt results. III. "Your committee finds that the State highway board has invested the proceeds of some of the war materials given to the state in warehouses and general headquarters In East Point, Ga. That the state highway depart ment has a most excellent and effi cient plant and one absolutely essen tlal to carrying out its work and by building said plant In a suburb of At lanta the board is Baving in office rents alone more than enough to pay the state 10 per cent on such build ings, not eyen considering the ma chine Bhops and storage acreage. Your committee commends the action of the statp highway department in refer ence to the East Point headquarters. IV. "Your committe finds that the titles of the real estate on which said build ings are erected are in good shape and that the interests of the state are fully protected. V. "Your committee made a full and complete Investigation of the pur chase of the granite quarry in Elbert county, and found the following to he the facts in reference thereto: "Negotiations for. the purchase of this property were made by Dr. Charles M. Strahn, then chairman the highway board, and Mr. H. L. Wiggs, of Elbert county, Ga. Mr. H. L. Wiggs and W. A. Crossland, a United States officer, never in the employment, of the state highway board, had employed Mr. R. C. Alston, of Atlanta, to procure for them a charter for a company to be known as Granite Products company. While Mr. Alston was preparing the papers for this charter negotiations for the sale of the Elbert county quarry be- . gun between Dr. strahn and Mr. Wlggs. When Mr. Wiggs informed uls associate, Mr, Crossland, that he desired to sell said quarry. Mr. Gross- sential for the Btate to hold a fee Bimple to the agricultural and all other interests in the land. Dr. Strahn’s reason at the time was that under the terms of the law abolishing the convict lease system convicts could not be worked In Georgia on privately owned property. "Mr. Wiggs was called upon by Dr. Strahn to furnish a deed to seventy acres of this land and Mr. Wiggs tes tified that his relations with owners of the land were such that they would not knowingly sell to him, that ho employed Judge W. D. Tutt, of Elber* ton, Ga., to buy the title In this seven ty acres of land In the name of W. A. Crossland. That Judge Tutt succeed ing In buying this seventy acres of land for thirty-five hundred dollars and took a deed to same to be held in escrow by an Atlanta bank till the sum of thirty-five hundred dollars should have been paid. Mr. Alston testified that he loaned thirty-five hundred dollars to H. L. Wiggs with which to take up said deed and which money paid for Bald seventy acres. That after the thirty-five hundred dol lars was paid tho title to this seventy acreB was in W. A. Crossland, and that W. A. Crossland deeded the said seventy acres to the highway hoard for a consideration of one 'dollar ($1.00); the members of the state high way commission at that time to-wit: Dr. C. M. Strahn, Judge S. S. Bennett, and R. C. Neely, testified that the title papers were taken and passed upon by Mr. Quincy, then the attorney for the highway board, and that no member of the state highway board had any dealings with Mr. Crossland, or any knowledge of his connection with the matter as they did not read the deeds, but left that matter entirely in the hands of their attorney. "There was no evidence before the committee to show, that any member of the highway hoard had any knowl edge of Mr. CroBsland’s connection with the transaction. Mr. Crossland In the meantime tendered his resigna tion as a United States engineer, but this resignation was not accepted and Mr. Crossland remained continuously in the service of the United States government and 13 now in the United States service as its road engineer in Georgia. These are the facts as pro duced at the hearing in reference to the purchase of this quarry. VI. "Your committee is convinced that the quarry was well worth the money which the state paid for it and from evidence your committee is of the opinion that same is now worth con siderably more than the price paid. It was brought out in the evidence that all the dealers in crushed stone in the state were holding up the price and as soon as it became known that the state had bought a quarry they immediately materially reduced their prices, thereby saving the state large sumB of mohey. Your committee finds that the purchase of the quarry was at a fair price, and that the state highway department was wise in ac quiring this property, as the holding of it absolutely protects the state against any possible combination of dealers in crushed stone. VII. "Your committee carefully investi gated all the charges of discrepancies in the bookkeeping department of the state highway department and the board furnished your committee the information requested at great labor costs on its part. The highway de partment furnished a list of the names of every employee of the whole de partment, in every county of the state covering every cent which every em ployee had received, and this list con tained between five and six thousand names, covering all positions from the humblest laborers to the chairman of the state highway board. Your com mittee finds that the books of the state highway department had been carefully audited by Dawson & Edi son, appointed by the governor of the state so to do. And that report of the said auditors showed no discrepancies. Your committe further finds that all moneys received by the state highway board and expended by them are audit ed by the United States government as the state highway department uses federal funds along with state fundB. The audit of the United States gov ernment shows that the books of the state highway board are kept in a manner entirely satisfactory to the United States government and with out discrepancies. "Your committee finds that in ad dition to the two audits the state highway department has its own hooks audited and the report of the state highway department auditors demon strates no discrepancies. “In view of these three reputable audits your committee did not feel justified in putting the state to the expense of having still another audit made, deeming the same superfluous. VIII. "Your committee finds that the State Highway department covers tho entire state of Georgia in its opera tions, and that its chairman, the Hon- John N. Holder, last year visited ev ery Hbunty in the state and many of -—-Ow ahu m scouring proper co-operation of the various county au thorities, IX. “Your committee finds that wonder ful progress has been made by the State Highway department in consid eration of the fact that it is less than fivb years old. Its system of book keeping has always been well balanc ed and correct, and the State High way department has now adopted the same system of bookkeeping as requir ed by the Interstate Commerce com mission in its reports. An Immense department like the highway depart ment must go through a certain form of evolution before it reaches perfec tion. Your committee believes that it has make remarkable progress and has no suggestions to make to the officials at the head of the same. X. ."Your committee finds that an earnest effort 1b being made to re duce the number of expert employees to a minimum, compatible with full efficiency. The “Impress’’ system of bookkeeping 1b coordinate with the budget system and every possible ef fort is made to prevent any financial irregularities. All employees are be ing put upon positive limits as to ex pense accounts and every effort is be ing made by the State Highway board to cut expenses in every possible way. From carefully listening to all the evidence your committee „is unable to reach any conclusion other than this. "Although everything covered in this investigation was investigated by a legislative committee two years ago, Mr. Holder, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Neely and Mr. Neel, tliroir>.li their attorney, raised no objections whatsoever to the second investigation, but iu fact urged same, and insisted that it be conduct ed in the most thorough manner, further stating that if anything irregu lar could be discovered they were ex tremely anxious to ascertain and cor rect it. The committee was given full, hearty and courteous co-operation by every one connected with the State Highway department with whom they came in contact, throughout the in vestigation. -v "Your committee recommends that a vote of confidence and co-operation he given this department which is un doubtedly doing a magnificent work for the state of Georgia. "In the opinion of your committee the co-operation between the chief em ployees of the State Highway depart ment is as complete as ctluld be wanted and your committee feels that it would be remiss in its duty if it did not give full commendation to the SJate Highway department. "Respectfully submitted, "STEPHEN PACE, ! « "13th District, * "Chairman, -H. H. ELDERS, “Tattnall County, “Vice Chairman, "GEO. W. LANKFORD, "16th District, “C. D. REDWINE, "26th District, “H. E. COATES, "14th District, "E. M. SMITH, “35th District, •^FORMER BARRETT, "Stephens County, "TOOMBS DuBOSE, “Clarke County, “J. H. WRIGHT, "Jones County, -O. M. HEAD, “Cobb County, V> B. MOORE, "Appling County, -BEN. J. FOWLER, ■'.~l ' "Bibb County, -G. F. WORTHY, "Quitman County, "L. L, GRIN R, “Ben Hill County." ■ >.y. ft m Sleep Potion Cau Her To Lose-Life Toronto, Onta -Mrs. James Mc Nally, wife of t " cago publisher, missing in the f: h destroyed the Wawa hotel at P-ays, met her death because a powder she had taken rendr lumbers so deep that she fa. ar rescuers, it has been discur irs. McIntyre, a friend of the eldcily Mrs. McNally, told the story. Mrs. McIntyre, who arrived on the refuge train from, the scene of the fire, said she had pound ed vainly on Mrs. McNally’s door, but was forced to flee be tore the flames, Shipping Board Offers A New Plan Washington.—Operation of the ship ping board fleet through a number of subsidiary corporations owned by the board is proposed in the government’s alternative operation plan as outlined by Chairman Farley at a conference with ship owners. It would be put into effect in case present efforts to place the ships under private owner ship. fail. The corporations each would operate one or more lines, and would have the commercial form of organization and operation that will be followed by a private purchase. Dramatic Finis Comes To Gang Leader New York.—A stripling, with a gun took the law out of the hands of tho New York police and wrote a dramatic finis to the career of Jack Kaplan, alias “Kid Dropper," notorious gunman and leader of the East Side “dropper gang.’’ The wily gangster chief, on whom the police had been trying to tasten something for months, swagger ed at noon from Essex market court, where he had just defeated the latesi eEfort to connect him with the shoot ing of two members belonging to a rival gang. land ^itLquarry, Mr. Gross- jthem several times, in general super- land objected to, the salmon, the ■ vision.....swfitl The first starting battery (1911) was an Exide, and today more new cars leave the manufacturers’ hands equipped with Exides than with any other battery. We have the right size Exide for you, and the right kind of repair service for all makes of batteries# * McLendon Auto Co., Perry, Ga. We handle only genuine Exide parts \ BUILDING not only looks complete when it is covered with a Carey Roofing, but it is complete — perfectly protected, finished in appearance — a structure built economically and sure to prove economical to maintain. There is a superior Carey Roofing for every type of building. Let us tell you about the one for your building. , BY H. ANDREW Bt SON PERRY, GA. mi Subscribe for the HOME JOURNAL an< keep up with the affairs of the county.