Newspaper Page Text
r
Douglas county sentinel
DOVGLASVILLE, DOUGLAS COUNTY. GAM Mar 3, 1917.
No. 47
Miss Opal Duncan Eeter•
tains the D. D. Club
On last Monday afternoon
Miss Opal Duncan delightfully
entertained the 0. D. girls.
It wasn’t supposed to be a
pickle party, but that’s just what
it turned out to be when several
heavily laden travs of pickle:
and wafei'3 were serv a.
While fingers were busily ply
ing the needle, minds were rap
idly formating plans by which
the D. D. girls could aid the
ladies in getting up a library.
As each departing guest
waived a fa-well, the beautiful
caranations in the hall seemed to
nod. sway, whisper and sav:
‘‘The girls are as lovely and gay
as we, but whv in the world
shouldn’t they be?”
- The next meeting will be at
the home of Miss Irene Edwards
next Saturday afternoon.
Civic Club News.
Douglasville Civic Club met
at the home of Mis. J. J. Kirby
for the regular monthly meeting
Tuesday afternoon.
One of the first among the
Klub’s active plans for this year
will be to raise monev and build
a Pavilion in the cemetery. We
are sure this will be an easy
task, for every individual .is, or
should re vitally interested. in
improving and making beautiful
the spot where their loved ones
are laid to rest. Every ceme
tery needs a shelter of some
kind for the convenience of
those who art" compelled to bury
their loved ones in rainy or other
bad weather.
Another undertaking of im-
portan e and certainly, a great
one, is our Library. The chair
man of the Library Committee
was not present to report, but
active plans are being perfected
for establishing and maintaining
a fine Library for the town.
This is one of the Club's grand
est undertakings and his the
enthusiastic co-operation of
every member, and of every
loyal citizen in our little city.
Splendid Lectures.
The lectures at the Court
House the past week by Dr. Wm.
Lioyd Clark have been excellent.
He is dea'ing some sledge ham-
‘mer blows to Catholicism and
has proven himself an orator of
unusual ability.
While it has not been our
privi ege to hear all his lectures,
we have greatly enjoyed the
ones we have heard and heartily
endorse his statement relative to
the corruption and po itieal-trand
of the Roman church.
He will deliver a special lec
ture to men only on Friday
night and will doubtless have a
large crowd.
Special Notice
Mr. T. .1. Barrett, who was
for a number of years a citizen
of Douglasville, died at his home
in Birmingham Tuesday night
' at the age of 51).
Mr. Barrett was cashier of the
Douglasville Banking Co. for 11
years and Superintendent of the
Methodist S. S. here.
His remains were brought to
Douglasville on Southern train
No. 40 Thursday and interred in
Douglasville cemetery.
The funeral services were con
ducted attbe home in Birming
ham. A number of friends ai d
relatives accompanied the re
mains here and a large concourse
of his local friends were present.
The bereaved family has the
sympathy of a large circle of
friends here.
[ We want the co-operation of
k all the patrons of the school in
getting rid of the measles in our
town. Some do not seem to un
derstand the ruling of the School
Board. It is that any pupil who
lias measles must stay out of
r&chool twenty-one days from the
time he takes measles. Any
pupil who has been exposed to
measles and has not had the de-
seasv must stay out sixteen days
from the time he is exposed.
Douglasville SchocJJitoard,
I homas J. Barrett Bur-
riedHere Thursday.
Neal’s Academy
(Last Week’s Letter.)
The school at this place is pro
gressing very nicely, although
several pupils have been out for
some time on account of sickness.
Two of the pupils, Mr. Petty’s
little boy and Mr. White’s little
boy have bee.i very ill with Pneu
monia, We are glad to report
that they are both about well.
The measles have sirueh us in
full force. Clyde Morris baa
been confined to his room for
over a week with them. He is
getting on very well at this
writing. Also Clifford Hudson
Hs if ^ulea, .and several- others
have be.n exposed.
The Sunday school at this
place is holding up well, consid
ering the ' ad weather.
Mrs, Ethel D. Poole visited
homefolks at Happy Valley re
cently.
Mrs. J. T. Jones of Whites-
burg, is spending a few days
with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
J. N. Moi ris.
Esther Reynolds accidently got
one of his feet mashed at the
saw mill one day last week, when
the carriage with a heavy log
upon it rolled upon his foot.
Ephriam Reynolds expects to
install a shingle mill at his saw
mill soon.
The creek near this place and
the Chattahoochee river are on a
boom again, on account of the
heavy rains.
Subscriber.
Who Tied the Hands
of the Tax Equalizers?
My friend L. K. W. of big A, I The State Tax Commissioner,
in his article last week asks the| who is a fine man, gets a hand-
Just as We Predicted
The Supreme Court of Georgia
has decided the Anti Parallelling
law unconstitutional, but for
tunately the decision came after
a 50-year lease of the W, & A.
Railroad had been made.
The North Georgia Mineral
Railroad whose application for a
charter was held in abeyance
pending the action of the legis
lature and was denied after the
passage of the act, has renewed
its applies ion for a charter-
The Supreme Court’s decision
was based on a writ of man
damus to compel the Secretary
of State to issue a charter to the
North Georgia Mineral Road,
which will parallell the W. & A.
from Cartersville to Atlanta.
Chairman Candler of the R.
R. Commission, states that the
decision will not affect the lease
which has just been made,
)^Boa
Dally Thought.
Life, with all Its fields of joy and
woe, Is just our chance of the irflze of
learning love—how love might be, hath
been Indeed, and Is.—Browning.
following question: ‘‘How can
a man or set of men do anything
with their hands tied?,,
Let us examine the law and
see how bad the tax assessors’
hands are tied.
Go to St c. 5 page 126 of the
Acts of 1913 and you will find
the following provision: ‘‘The
said hoard (meaning County
Board of Tax Assessors) shall
have authority to employ an
agent o seek out all tinretured
property in the county and bring
it to the attention of ihe board,
and for such services they may
allow said agent a commissi; n of
ten per cent of the amount of
taxes arising to the county from
such unreturned property so
discovered and placed on the
books by his efforts. The com
mission allowed said agent shall
be paid from the County Treas
ury as a part of the expenses of
said board. ”
Why not send out the agent
and let him see if he can find the
lost land?
Let us quote Sec, 8 of the Tax
Equalization law and seo what
power it gives the tax;.-assessors.
Sec 8. Be it i'urti)i*llfnact< d
bv the authority aforesaid, That
the County Beard'or Tax Asses
sors, may, by rule or regulation,
provide the manner of assertain-
ing the value for tax..ho i of nnv
property, real or personel not
appealing on the digest of the
preceding year, and in cases
where there has been a change
of ownership, from any cause;
it being the purpose and intent
of this Act to confer upon said
board full power and authority
to ha; e placed upon the digest of
the current year an assessment
or valuation of all property of
every character in the county
that is subject to taxation; pro
vided, that nothing contained in
this A.ct shall apply to those per
sons, firms or corporations who
are required by existing laws to
make their returns to the Comp
troller General.”
Ho j much more power do&3
the tax assessors need to find
that lost land?
Douglas county short 3,215
acres of land, Cobb short 3,035
acres of land and Carroll short
9,231 acres of land, and the as
sessors powerless to find and tax
it. Too bad.
Here are three counties, not
to mention many others that are
fully as bad, that are short 15,481
acres of improved land—all vis-
able property.
All this shortage under three
years of tax equlization does not
speak well for the law.
What has the State Tax Com
missioner dene about the short
age? I have heard nothing.
They tell us the equalizers’
some salary just to help the
Comptroller General look oyer
the tax returns and ride around
and make a few talks to the
county assessors, while within a
radius of fifty miles of his
majesty’s office thousands of
acres of improved farm lands
are escaping taxation, to say
nothing of the millions of dollars
worth of personal property that
has never been on the digest and
never will he under the present
law.
Our • County Board of Tax
equalizers arc good honest men
who want to do the fair tiling, I
believe, h it have not fully real
ized the enormity of the task
they have undertaken.
My friend L, K. W. says: ‘‘I
am persuaded to believe that
these men (t ,e tax equalizers)
are in no condition to help us in
finding this lost land.” If they
are not they should give up th
job and let the grand jury do
the assessing. There’s more to
do than meet, look over the land
that’s returned, raise it, draw
pay and go home.
He goes fimther and says:
‘‘They are handicaped by inade
quate laws or the non inforce-
Tient of laws,” and further,
‘ Thu taxes -i.ro given in in turn
ways as are very confusing and
almost impossible to tell how
much land a man has if he has
land in more than one lot.”
L. K. W. illustrates what he
mea ;s by the e hove by the fol
lowing example: “Now, to show
you what I mean, Jones owns
land in 1 t.-iNos. 47-48-57-58, He
owns 400 acres. It is shown on
the digest that he has land 'in
four lots and the amount is 400
acres, Out does not show how
much ot each lot he owns.”
My friend don’t say how much
land Jones owns, but he says he
returned 400 acres from 4 lots
The presumption is that Jones
owns more land in 4 lots than
he returned for taxation. Now,
if tlie 4 lots contain 810 acres
(which the county map will
show) and the digest shows that
no one else has returned any
part of Nos. 47-48-57-58, send
for Jones, and if he can’t tell
you who owns the balance, p'ace
it on the digest as unreturned
property, and if no one appears
and pays the taxes let the tax
collector issue a fifa against the
land and sell it for its laexs. If
it is Jones’ land and this method
don’t bring Jones around, I am
a Dutchman.
Th tax assessors have unlim
ited power to find and tax 'and if
they follow the law. They can
take the map of the county and
compare it with the digest and
if they find one single acre in
any lot that has not boen re
turned they have a right to as
Lois Mills
hands are tied ana that they canj sess it am] place it on the digest
do nothing towards placing this
unreturned property on the di
gest. Much worse than the old
law.
How do vou suppose the honest
farmers feel who have made
honest returns of their property
and have had the pleasure of
having it raised every year by
the tax equalizers, when they
ore told that the hands of the
equalizers are tied and that they
are powerless to find and place
the 3,215 acres on the digest.
as unreturned prop rty.
We want an honest, fair and
efficient system of tax equal
ization lhat will so equalize the
burden that a man will feel when
he pays his tax that r.e Inis per
formed a duty hcoyv stheStete.
Well, L. K. W., tell the boys
to try arid get in all the land
this time before they go to rais
ing it, so that we will have more
sympathisers.
Now, if Jones don’t return all
Mesdames Mary Camp of
Cedartow.i, and Florenco Ches-
tain of Powder Springs, visited
their sister, Mrs. C. A. Keoun,
the past week.
Supt. J. F. Long spent Wed
nesday in Atlanta on business.
Larry, the young son of Mr.
and Mrs. C. A. Keoun, happened
to a very painful accident last
week by having his leg broker*
just above the knee.
Mr. and Mis. W. O. Craton
of Dallas, have accepted a po
sition in. tha mill.
President M. E. Ceer has been
on the sick list for several days.
Mrs. J. S Ware has been real
sick the past weel .
Dr. J. T. Gibson preached two
very able sermons at the East
D uglasville Church Sunday and
Sunday night. His sermon Sun
day nignt was one of the best
we have ever heard on the sub
ject. (David and Goliih) The
life of David as a shepherd lad
is inspiring and becomes doubly
so when so beautifully brought
out as Dr. Gibson did Sunday
night. This would certainly be
a grand old world if every man
would live so he would not object
io u strong serch light being
turned on his auto number at
night.
Geer’s Concert Band furnished
the music for the “Deeslrict
Schule” atid spelling bee Mon
day night. We hope to Le able
to announce the date of the
concert to be given by the “fe&tui
soon. Lois C.
Local Boy is U. S. Ma-
vine Sharpshooter
By hitting the bulls-eye with
unerring skill from the standing,
kneeling, or sitting position,
William M. Lang of Douglasville,
has qualified as a sharpshooter
in the United States Marine
Co ps. winning the medal of u.
sharpshooter and an increase of
pay, according to an oftic'ai bul
letin from Washington.
This keen eyed young man Is
with the U. 3. Marines who ate
busily engaged in re-goring order
in the little Republic of Haiti.
While peace has been established
throughout the greater part of
the island, an occasional blush
with bandits and other lively
happenings provide plenty of ex
citement and adventure for the
local boy.
William, who is a brother of
Carl Lang and grandson of J. F,
Lang of Douglasville, enlisted
the United States Marine
Corps at its Atlanta recruiting
station on Oct. 13. 1916.
Cooper
We are sorry to report the
death of Mr. Nestlehut on last.
Monday morning at five o’clock.
He was sick only an hour.
The teachers Institute was;
held at this place last Friday,
but on account of rain there was
not a very large attendance.
Miss Mamie Hill is visiting
relatives in Atlanta.
Mrs. Dodgen of Nicker jack,
spent the weel; end with her
sister, Mrs. M. A. ,T. Landers,
at this place.
Several from here attended!
the singing at Union Grove Sun
day evening.
There will be a singing at
Cooper next Sunday evening.
his personal property, tell them | Every body invited to come ancS
they will have to let Jones go. i bring their books.
W. I. D. *