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About Wilkinson County news. (Irwinton, Ga.) 1922-2008 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1925)
The Wilkinson Couniy News IRWINTON, GEORGIA. SLI B. HUBBARD — Editor and Publisher t Official Organ Wilkinson County. drs T. A. Gibbs, Representative for The News, at Gor fon, Georgia. LL. Dean, Authorized Solicitor and Collector of Sub- Criptions, Irwinton, Ga. ntered at the Post Office at Irwinton, Ga., under the Vet of Congress of March 3rd., 1879, as second class nail matter. ^bscription: Ono Do lar per Year Payable in Advance • ■ GORDON AND TOOMSBORO Every time that we go to Gordon and Toomsboro re are impressed with the fact that they are both mak ng great strides towards the future of developing into eal cities. At Toomsboro we see large crowds in the stores pending their money; we hear the buzz of the great laners of Gragg and Lord, and it now comes to our at intion that Mr. Levi Cason, Jr., is to install a large waning mill. Mr. H. C. Fowler has recently established i furniture factory. The large trucks are continually hauling into town or loading large'timbers, and the sidetracks are always all of cars loaded with lumber, bauxite and other ma erials for making pottery and other products. There is not a vacant house in Toomsboro, and th? regressive people of that town are building new houses, iwedings and stores, and warehouses. The farms sur ounding Toomsboro arc all in cultivation, and the pros pects now are for a bumper crop. The people are all msy, prosperous and happy. I At Gordon we see one of the largest pulp mills in he state,- two kaolin manufacturing plants, and a white trick plant, 832 feet long, in which there is now employed .bout 150 men. This great brier plant will be completed ly the first of August and actually making brick. I We visited this great plant last week and were in: ir&Sed with its magnitude and the modern methods ol baking brick. U The ciay is mined, loaded into cars and pulled to the dant by a locomotive; ground and mixed with rock: nade into brick; loaded on a truck; placed in the dr/ dins, dried and run through the lire ki.n by gradua irocess and by the time the car gets to the end of the kilns he brick is burned, cooled and loaded into freight cars eady for shipment to the various markets. We are informed that when this plant is completed hat there will also be erected a large plant for the man sfacture of crockery ware of all descriptions. There is not a vacant house in Gordon, and the town merchants are doing a prosperous business, and new uiidings are being erected. A large brick bui’ding ad oiuing the Masonic Realty Building and the old ice house ml be erected soon and many new merchants have lo ated there. The iniormation now comes to us that an up-to-dit Printing shop will be established there within the next ri days, and the equipment will be sufficient to do all ^nds of printing from a letterhead up to The Wiikinson jounty News. Gordon is fast developing into a real city, and its feopie are prosperous and nappy. | At a recent meeting of the City Council, a resolution las adopted authorizing a survey of the city for water vorks. Mclntyre, which lies between these two prosper-, >us towns, is also doing a fine business. There are .everal of the largest kaolin mines located there, in Wil dnson county, and the sawmill industry is supplying the arge planing mill of H. M. Reid and Co. at that place. Wilkinson county is developing into one of the largest ndustrial counties in this state, Fulton and Bibb not ex septed. PAVED ROADS BILL A publicity campaign has been started for the pro >osed bill that will be introduced in the approaching ses sion of the legislature to establish 12 great trunk lines of >sved roads in the state of Georgia. A map has been published showing the routes of the several trunk lines, and, sad to contemplate, not a single jne of them goes through the good old county of Wil kinson except about one-sixteenth of an inch down in the extreme lower part of the county near Danville or Allen town. The best that we can gather from the article that we lave read is that the state will be divided into zones, and that bonds will be issued by the several zones for long ierms of 30 years, the first issue to be retired within 10 years and so on, the bonds to bear 41-2 per cent in terest, and if the gasoline tax receipts are insufficient to take care of the retirement of those bonds, then in event the property lying in those zones will have to be taxed to raise money to pay off the bonded indebtedness. Each zone, mind you, will have to pay off the bonded ndebtedness of that particular zone. We do not know what zone Wilkinson county will ,e in, but we do know from the statements contained in ;he article that we have read that notwithstanding the [act that Wilkinson county will not have a single one of hose great trunk lines going through its borders, except the one-sixteenth of an inch referred to above, she will have to bear her.part of the expenses in retiring those fends, and will have to bear her part of the loss of the grs --X hat she is now enjoying, to build those roads. The argument that the advocates are using is the sac that the trunk lines w'ill be of such a great advantage to the farmers, and they cits the fact that if a farmer has a carload of cotton (of course, there is not a farmer in Wilkinson that will ever have a carload of cotton at one time) which he desires to market, he can load his trucks with trailers and haul this carload of cotton to the great warehouses, at Savannah and other points and sell, get his money and be back home within 24 hours. Let us suppose that there would be a farmer in Wil kinson county that will have a carload of cotton to sell at one time, and let us suppose that he resides in Bethe’ District, how in the name of common sense will he ever reach one of those great trunk lines going through Twigg: and Laurens counties, or over in Baldwin county? Those counties will be the nearest ones to this coun ty, and those trunk lines running through those counties wiE be the only trunk lines to which the people of this county will have access. We can just imagine our friend, Hatcher, just across Sandy creek, loading up his truck and trailers with one carload of cotton, cranking up his Ford truck and how easy will bs the running of that truck until she reaches the public road connecting with the great trunk line near Allentov.n. We can imagine how deep the wheels of that truck and those trailers will sink into the pure white sand of Sandy swamp, how the water in the radiator wiT boil while the faithful engine is burning the gas of the Standard Oil Refining Co., how the sweat cn the honest face of our friend will run down the stream of Sandy creek, and when the 24 hours have passed and gone into the wee small hours of the following morning we can yet see our friend Hatchsr sitting on his faithful truck and the carload of product of his honest toil has not yet crossed Bell’s bridge, and in his pockets not a single dol lar do we hear jingle. But this great trunk line will be a great advantage to every farmer that resides in those zones through which the great trunk lines traverse! Yes, it v.'ill be a great advantage to the farmers of that zone, and especially when those bonds mature ano he gas tax has not been sufficient to pay off the indebt dness. The levy will ]6e made, and although the advo cates of the law say that the farmer can haul his carloac of cotton to Savannah, sell it and be back home in 24 hours, our friend Hatcher, who undertook to haul his cotton by that method has nexer y'et crossed Bell’s bridge, and th' consequences will be that right where he got stuck there the sheriff will find him and his cotton, and right then and there will that tax fi fa be levied. Yes, it will be a great advantage to the farmer. The sheriff will haul your cotton, not in solid carload lots, but one bale at a time, to the shipping point and then the state’s mighty trucks will carry the several carloads over the great trunk lines on to Savannah and Atlanta tc make the War Lords’ pile of profiteering money invested in the bonds larger and greater than all the profits they realized from the sale of human lives in the world war! , Yes, Mr. Farmer, you will be benefited, and espe cially you farmers of Wilkinson county, across whose borders not a, single great trunk line will traverse. This question of issuing bonds is a mighty large question, and before the legislature passes such a bill 'he members thereof should give the matter their earnest and careful consideration. .. If the gas tax of Wilkinson county is diverted from the course which the board of county commissioners has decided to use it, and applied to building a great trunk line which does not traverse Wilkinson county, it means a great disappointment to the people of this county. It has been our observation that at every session of the Georgia legislature that there are certain bills passed that impose upon the people through additional taxes of come kind; and for the administration of those laws there is invariably created new offices, the occupants of which must be paid large salaries. We believe that this state paved-roads project will mean one of the largest sources of graft that can be “rammed” down the throats of honest people, and all members of the legislature who vote for it should be re- membered in the future years by the people who have honored them with the office. THE POWER TO TAX IS AS DESTRUCTIVE AS THE RED FLAG OR THE LIGHTED TORCH The right of taxation is a sovereign right, inalienable, indestructible and rightly belongs to the people in all re publican forms of government; but this right to tax property and persons can be used to destroy the very life of the most prosperous countries upon the face of Ged’s green earth. The power to tax can be abused by those in official authority, and the money thus raised can be expended in such a manner as to make it necessary to oppress the people who constitute the citizenship of a state or nation. The power of taxation by the federal government has been increased since the original Constitution was adopted, and that increased power to tax and the result ant indiscreet expenditure of money so raised has placed such a load upon the average American citizen that his burden has become almost so great that he cannot live under it much longer. The speech of Honorable Oscar Underwood, member of the United States Senate, and one-time candidate for the Presidency of the United States, .expresses our sen timents on the question in language more forcible than we can command. It is as follows: “Since the very dawn of civilization, taxes and gov- ernment have been almost synonymous terms and govern ment did not exist where tribute was not exacted from the governed,” Senator Underwood stated. “Long ago the most cruel, grasping and avaricious of rulers had learned I’HE WILKINSON COUNTY NEWS, Saturday, June 25 that through the power to tax he he’d the power to de stroy the future productive capacity of his people and that the iaying of an undue burden of taxation inevitably lea< to revolution or death. “There is a school of philiosophy extant in America today that would destroy if they could the private owner ship of all property and mass it all in the hands of the state. Though the avowed advocates of these political heresies are comparatively few in numbers, their satel lites and partial imitators, who deny the faith, but who would destroy those they envy, are approaching numbers .hat may in the near future jeapordize the life of the state. “The very dawning of civilized life was the recogni an of the home unit, father, wife and children, their s’ tenance and their protection. The accumulation of suffi cient property (food and clothing) to carry on and pro vide for the future was necessary that the family unit might persist. The destruction of this property by what ever method has always meant the destruction of the home life and the fabric that rests upon it. For untold’ centuries the ownership or protection of this property, the resultant accumulation of the family effort, has re mained with the family and not with the state primarily. The philosophers of the new school would take it away from the family and give it to the state. In a state where there is no Constitutional inhibition, it may be done by direct legislation. Not so with us. It must be borne in mind that although thAe is a Constitutional prohibi tion in the government of the United States against tak ing private property without just compensation, there is no limited space on the power of taxation, as to amoun in the federal government, and the private owenrship o’ property can be destroyed through the power to tax. “During the great war, in the higher brackets of the revenue bill, taxes were collected as high as 65 per cent of the revenue derived from the citizens estate, and even now, seven years after the conflict is over, our taxes against some men and women are as much as 46 per cent of their entire taxable income. The question naturally arises, is this taxation or is it confiscation? In war time the government may take the life of the citizen and I doubt not his property, if need be, to preserve the life of the nation, but not so in time of peace. The very fabric of our institution cries out against it. Have we forgotten the immortal tea party in Boston Harbor or the speech of Patrick Henry or the ride of Paul Revere that we should become so callous of other men’s rights? Yet if you would follow the school of the Anarchist, why dally with the situation ? The power to tax is just as po tent a factor to use in the destruction of private property, as the red flag or the lighted torch. \ “I am not prepared yet to say that the men possess ing the power of government are conscious of a desire to destroy the property of the rich, but I am willing to say that some of our tax gatherers have become very cal lous of the rights of those who have amassed great for- GEORGIA, Wilkinson county. Will be sold before the courthouse door in said county on the first Tues day in July, 1925, between the legal hours of sale to the highest bidder for cash, the following described prop erty, to-wit: A one-half undivided interest in all that tract or parcel of land, lying and situated in the Bethel District, G. M., DUFFY MERCANTILE CO. Gordon, Georgia WHERE YOUR DOLLAR BRINGS 100 PER CENT RETURNS EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR SINCE ONE EARNS HIS DOL LAR. WHY NOT MAKE IT GO AS FAR AS IT WILL? WE WILL SAVE YOU MONEY IF YOU WILL GIVE US A CHANCE AT YOUR BUSINESS. tunes, overlooking the fact that waara you unjustly throw the top stone from the mounment of our business life one by one the others will inevitably follow until the very foundation is reached. “So it is impossible to consider the task of the reduc tion of taxation without bearing in mind the motives that may lay behind the cause that produces the levy arid to al ways remember that there are some who first of all de sire high taxation that it may destroy private property, then the home life and then the very fabric of our na tural existence. “So much for one angle of the situation that con fronts us. Another angle is the answer to the question, does iEpay to tax until it destroys or even until it hurts ? ici us pause for a minute to adjust our fundamental principles. It is a fundamental canon of taxation that all taxes are paid in the end from the accumulated wealth of the people taxed. Some have said from rent, profit and wages, but in the end all wealth is the accumulation of the asset that grows out of the work of the heads and hands of men and women. So that at the end of the decade or the century the extraordinary burden laid on the body politic must come from the men whe toil and the women who reap or there must be a dimunition of the accumu lated wealth of the country that existed when the burden was laid. The question before us is whether the nation is stronger, safer and more productive with a great store of accumulated wealth or without it. Russia dissipated her wealth for a theory some years ago. We amassed ours. Russia has a larger ter-ritory, a larger population and greater natural resources than we have. Were you uiside both countires and choosing a home, which would you move to ? “The genius of our great development has come through the massing of our dollars on some great enter prise and buying the brains and the labor to put it through. This takes idle money looking for investment and you will not find it at the appointed hour if you tax it to death. “During the Great War the American people accept ed excessive rates of taxation with patience and without complaint, and are entitled to great credit for the sac rifices they made in order that our armies might win th? war. They had the right to believe that after the war was over they would be relieved in large part from the excessive burdens they had borne without complaint. “Many of the war tax burdens have been repealed by the Congress including the so-called excess profits tax and the small taxes on transfers, sales and the like that pro duced more annoyance than they did revenue. The gen eral trend of tax legislation has been downward but nevertheless the burden resting on the larger accumula tion of capital has remained in the confiscatory class. The problem we have to solve is whether it is wise from the standpoint of the whole people to allow the conditions to continue. What I have just said applies to the inher itance tax as well as to the income tax.” said state and county, containing eighty-five acres more or less, and known as part of the Harvel place, and bounded as follows: On the west by Chandler Dennard; on the east by lands of J. W. Brooks, Sr.; on the south by lands of Thurman Sanders, and on the north by lands of Harvey Fountain. Also at the same time and place, one two-horse wagon, thimble skein. Said land and wagon levied on as the property of, and will be sold as the property of Alma Veal to satisfy an execution issued from the County court of said county in favor of the Twiggs County Bank against Alma Veal and Rachel Veal. This the Ist day of June, 1925. L. P. PLAYER, Sheriff W. C., Ga. (4t- June 6)
