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November 5, 2014
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^Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
On the Porch
‘Git out and git it!’
BY WILL DAVIS
publisher@mymcr. net
n his classic book
“Remembering
Forward” about
growing up in
Forsyth in the
early 20t,h century, the
late Harold Clarke tells
a story I have not for
gotten.
Clarke introduces
Robert Persons, owner
of the Farmers Bank, to
readers by noting that,
he was small in stature
but big in assertiveness.
Persons, after all, gained
fame by standing up to
Franklin Roosevelt when
the president ordered a
bank holiday to relieve
runs on deposits.
Mr. Bob, as he
was known, said
“no”. If his custom
ers wanted their
deposits, they
could come get
them. Few did.
Anyway,
Clarke recalls
that, one day he
and his friend
Banks Worsham walked
toward the bank where
Mr. Bob sat on a curb.
Waving them over, he
asked the boys what, they
were going to do when
they finished school.
“I want, to be a lawyer,”
said Clarke.
“That’s all right.. My
brother Ogden and I
practiced law for a long
time and had lots of fun
until I decided time had
come to start, making
some money.”
That got Banks’ atten
tion, wrote Clarke.
‘That’s what I want to
do, Mr. Bob. How do you
go about, making money?”
Mr. Bob sprang to his
feet, and arms waving
said, ‘You just. got. to git.
out and git it.”
Clarke deadpanned
that. it. was probably the
best, personal economics
advice he ever got..
The national economy
of the past, six years has
got. many wondering if
Mr. Bob’s counsel really
works anymore. It’s hard
to get. out. and get. it. when
it. seems there’s not. much
to get..
We all have known or
heard of bright, young
college graduates moving
back in with their par
ents. It. shouldn’t, surprise
us, I suppose. We have
elected and re-elected a
president, who said that,
when he took a job in the
private sector, he felt, like
he’d gone behind enemy
lines. He also blasted
business owners in his
2012 campaign, infa
mously chastising them
that: ‘You didn’t build
that,!”
I hope and pray this
week’s election will begin
the end of Obama lib
eralism that, owns the
Democrat, Party and the
federal government,. But,
if we are wise enough
to roll back an onerous
federal government, to
allow Americans to “git,
out, and git, it,” again, we
will also have to convince
Americans once again
that, they can “git, out, and
git, it,.”
For this week’s
Veterans Day edition
I interviewed our own
Hoot, Gibson of
Forsyth, who
served in three
wars (see front,
page). Gibson’s
father was a
coal miner and a
moonshiner,
and died when
he was just,
four. Hoot
used whiskey
to bribe his way into the
Army at, age 16. He knew
mostly poverty and hard
ship growing up, but, he
learned how to “git, out,
and git, it”, and had a
successful career first, in
the Army and then in the
propane gas business.
We need to convince
each other, and ourselves
of what Bob Persons
and Hoot, Gibson have
shown. Persons, the son
of a single mother, a
Confederate widow, had
the capitalist, urge to “git,
out, and git, it,” and built,
lasting institutions in
this town like Farmers
Bank.
In an 1856 speech
at Kalamazoo, Mich.,
Abraham Lincoln said
of the United States:
“We stand at, once the
wonder and admiration
of the whole world, and
we must, enquire what,
it, is that, has given us so
much prosperity, and we
shall understand that to
give up that, one thing,
would be to give up all
future prosperity. This
cause is that, every man
can make himself.”
The greatness of
America has always been
that, we were free to take
ourselves as far as our
hard work and creativity
will take us. Bob Persons
knew that. Harold
Clarke knew that,. Hoot,
Gibson knows that,. If the
federal government, will
get, out, of the way, we
shall again know it too.
is published every week by
The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
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News Editor
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Advertising
Manager
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Business Manager
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Community Editor
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WWW.MYMCR.NET POLLS
For whom will you vote for U.S. senate?
Michelle Nunn (D)
29 votes,
32 percent
David Perdue (R)
59 votes
65 percent
Amanda Swafford (L)
3 votes
3 percent
What do you think of the federal gov
ernment shutting down the Juliette dam
for failing to build a fish ladder?
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help the shad.
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It’s absurd, shad are al
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Carolyn’s Corner
You have been warned
BY CAROLYN MARTEL
ads@mymcr.net
ave you noticed how
many times we hear
or read the word
“warning”?
Watch a com
mercial on TV about, a new
drug to treat, a disease or
serious health problem, and
the report, is glowing until
they casually warn you
about, the dangers of the
side effect,s-which could
be suicidal thoughts,
heart, attack or death!
Good grief the cure is worse than
the disease! How many times
have you received a call warning
about, the threat, of a tornado or
severe lightning? You are admon
ished to seek immediate shelter.
WHAT ELSE pray tell? Your
engine light, comes on and you
are warned that, it, is time to
change your oil, your engine is
over-heating or you need
to add water to your radia
tor. And of course, let’s not,
forget, the possibility of
an Ebola epidemic in the
United States and the per
ilous consequences of
global warming (that
will make A1 Gore’s
day)! And last,, but, not,
least,-the possibility of
a stock market, crash. Yikes!
I CAME across a warning the
other day that, took me by sur
prise. I thought, I would share it,
with you in case you haven’t seen
this one. WARNING: Reading
God’s Word can become habit,
forming. Regular doses taken on
a daily basis will cause loss of
anxiety, and a decreased appe
tite for lying, cheating, steal
ing, hatred, jealousy and envy.
Continued use may produce the
following side effects: love, joy,
peace, gentleness, patience, good
ness, faith, meekness and self-
control. Occasionally there may
be the desire to hug people you
don’t, even know and bless them.
You have been warned.
Carolyn Martel writes encour
aging columns each week in the
Reporter’s Carolyn’s Corner. She’s
also the advertising manager for
the Reporter. E-mail her at ads@
mymcr.net.
Civil War in Monroe County - 150 Years
Monroe courts said no to liquor
BY RALPH BASS
ralphbassjr@gmail.com
ne hundred and fifty
years ago the justices
of the Inferior Court,
of Monroe County
confronted the issue
of distilling.
Since early in the war there
had been a concern in the state
that, grains were going into the
production of alcohol instead of
being used for food for men in
Confederate service. In early
1863, the state legislature passed
a law that, prohibited the use of
foodstuffs in making liquor.
Citizens were now asking the
justices if it, were lawful to “distill
sugarcane seed, the skimmings
of the syrup kettle, &c.” These
citizens were doubtlessly aware
that, earlier in the year
the grand jury in Forsyth
had indicted a number of
men for making whiskey
illegally and they did not,
want, to face similar crimi
nal charges.
In their decision, the
justices reaffirmed the
position of Gov. Joseph
E. Brown, a teetotailing
Baptist,. In April 1864, Gov.
Brown had issued a proclama
tion that, the justices quoted. The
governor noted that, the laws
of the state prohibited, without,
a license, the making within
Georgia “of any whiskey, or alco
hol, or other spirituous, or malt,
liquors, from the articles of corn,
wheat,, rye, barley, oats, millet,,
rice, or other grain, or from the
articles of sugar, molasses, syrup,
sugar-cane, honey, sweet, pota
toes, pumpkins, peas, Irish pota
toes, or dried fruit,, in any form or
condition...or from any mixture
thereof.”
The justices of the Inferior
Court, in Georgia had varied
responsibilities that, had evolved
since the creation of that, court, in
the late 18t,h century. At, times,
their function was judicial, for
they heard cases at, common law,
unless these involved land titles.
They could also serve as a small
claims court,.
Other responsibilities of the jus
tices were executive. They were
responsible for the buildings of
the county, its courthouse, and
its jail. The law placed in their
hands the care for indigent, per
sons as well as for those desig
nated “lunatics.”
Some of their functions were
legislative. They could levy a tax
in order to provide care for the
poor.
Not, until 1851 did the state
legislature create the Court, of
Ordinary, now Probate, with
responsibility for registering
wills, granting letters of adminis
tration, issuing marriage licenses,
and similar functions.
The citizens who
wished to distill “sug
arcane seed and the
skimmings of the syrup
kettles, &c.” were obvi
ously in desperation
to get, alcohol. These
enterprising (and frugal)
citizens in the county
saw the possibility of
using these byproducts of syrup
making to distill alcohol without,
depriving civilians or soldiers of
food. In ordinary times, the seed
and skimmings would have been
discarded, but, these were not,
ordinary times.
These citizens were law abid
ing enough so that, they wanted
to know if “sugarcane seed and
skimmings” passed the test, of
legality.
“No” said the four justices 150
years ago.
These four were men of sub
stance in the community. They
included A. Middlebrooks, most,
likely Alfred Middlebrooks,
Edmund Dumas, W. R.
Hardin, and Monroe Clower.
Middlebrooks, the reputed father
of 22 children, was a wealthy
farmer. Edmund Dumas was
politically an independent and
thoughtful thinker and as a
preacher, a powerful religious
influence in the Primitive Baptist,
movement, in the area. He also
wrote songs for the Sacred Harp
hymnal. W. R. Hardin from
Russellville was the second
generation of his family in the
county. Monroe Clower was a
planter whose marriage to Dr.
John Shannon’s daughter, Annie,
brought, him into that, large fam
ily in New Market,. [Later, during
reconstruction, Monroe Clower
served in the state legislature,
as did George Clower, his former
slave.]
These four justices of the
Inferior Court, 150 years ago
clearly decided with the law
against, the thirsty citizens who
wished to use their scraps to
make liquor.
Note: Today we have easy
access to evidence for this story.
In 1864 the justices issued a
statement establishing their
position, which was published
in a local newspaper. There are
no extant, copies of that, Forsyth
newspaper but newspapers
through the state picked up the
Monroe County story and repub
lished it,.
Using newspapers in the
University of Georgia’s Digital
Library, one can quickly see that,
the Countryman in Eatonton ran
the story, probably after having
read it, in the Forsyth newspaper,
and then the Confederate Union
in Milledgeville picked the story
up from the Countryman.
Ordinarily one could consult, the
minutes of the Inferior Court, for
information. Unfortunately, while
the county has older minutes of
this court,, over 50 years ago it,
lost, the minutes for the period
covering the 1850s and most, of
the 1860s.
Ralph Bass Jr. writes about
Monroe County history for the
Reporter. E-mail him at ralph-
bassjr@gma,il. com.
BASS
GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST
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