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About Wilkinson County news. (Irwinton, Ga.) 1922-2008 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1925)
VOLUME IV. Are Our Counties Doing Their Duty? Statistics Show That Forty Georgia Counties Are Spending Less than They Should for Education of Their Future Citizens. (Prepared by the Georgia Citizens’ Education Movmeent, 249 Ivy Street, Atlanta, Ga.) The training of the child is prob ably the most important thing which we spend cur public money for. Up on it depends the future of the race and the commonwealth. We know that where there is proper educational opportunity, there is more progress and less crime; more happiness and less poverty; more enjoyment of the better things of life; and, which is important in these days, more oppor tunity. If this is our most important ex penditure, it looks as though a large proportion of our wealth should be spent for this purpose—some would say the largest proportion. So let us look into what we spend on our children’s training in the various Georgia counties. • Fulton, our richest county, with an assessed valuation of $203,990,265.00, spends $5,478,941.69 on educating her children. This amounts to $26.90 on every thousand dollars valuation. That looks as though Fulton’s 65,000 pupils were being fairly well cared for but there is nothing excessive about it. Chicago, with a property valuation of nearly two billions, as sesses a school tax of $26.50 a thou sand; Des Moines assesses $63 96 per thousand tax. Now we will turn to the other end of the list. The county with the low est assessed valuation is Quitman, with $627,058.00. She spends sll,- 417.84 on her schools—or $18.20 per thousand. Is that enough? We will take it from another view point—that of proportion of taxes spent. Looking into this we find that one little county way down in the southwestern corner of the state is doing her full duty and leading them all. Seminole county spends $92,- 250.48 on schools from an assessed valuation of $2,235,656.00 —$41.30 per thousand. The county at. the otljer end of the list is also at the other end of the state —Towns county, up in the moun tains of North Georgia. Towns has an assessed valuation of $779,744 and spends $5,998.82 on her children’s ed ucation—the munificent sum of $7.70 per thousand. There is a long distance between that s4l 30 which little Seminole spends and the $7.70 of under-devel oped Towns, and there are 158 coun ties between, so let us see what they are doing. Investigation shows that 38 of them spend oniy $15.00 or less per thou sand on their schools. This is a pret ty poor showing against what Sem inole is doing for her children, isn’t it? If our counties expect to develop themselves instead of being exploited by strangers; if they expect their citizens to be prosperous; if they ex pect their people to stay in them in stead of seeking the large cities, they MUST do better than most of them are doing. With conditions like these existing in her borders it is little wonder that Georgia lags behind the south and the nation in education. Let us get busy and change it! Atlanta.—St. Luke’s church pur chases $25,000 brick residence on Peachtree Circle, for rectory. Macon.—3,ooo,ooo-gallon capacitv reservoir to be constructed as addi tion to Macon’s waterworks ' stem at cost of approximately §IOO,OOO I j cat am J I >•—- For Saie By BUTTS DRUG STORE Gordon, Ga. FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK Gordon, Georgia. For the many patrons that we have we are operating in which to deposit funds. We have combined safety this bank to give them something more than a safe place with courtsey and survice. SAFETY—COURTSEY—SERVICE. DEPOSITS INSURED. I. B. STINSON PRES. F. S ENGLISH CASHIER The Willimson County News NEW M. D. ADDED ASSET TO DANVILLE COMMUNITY Danville, July 22. —Danville now has access to the services of an able physician, Dr. W. B. Felger, recently of Atlanta* who has opene 1 an office here. Dr. Felger is a young man, well equipped to take care of the medical needs of the community. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois. From 1918 to 1920 he saw overseas service with the A. E. F., being on ac tive duty at the front. He received his M. H. degree from Emory Uni versity Medical school in 1924, and has had extensive hospital training in Baltimore, Md., Georgia Baptist Hospital, and Grady hospital in At lanta. Dr. Felger has installed here ade quate office and laboratory equip ment for complete medical and sur gical service. Birthday Parly. Gordon, July 20. —Among the mer ry events of last week was the party given Thursday, when little Miss Annie Belle Branan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Branan, celebrated her birthday anniversary at her home here. The invitations issued were in the fallowing form. Will be pleased to have you call at my home Thursday evening at five, In the year nineteen twenty-five on the ninth date. It will be toe event ‘of my birth day, this I would have you see, But I am going to leave it for you to guess just how old I will be. Will while the pleasant hours away and until seven will be glad to have you stay. A number of games, on the lawn, supervised by Mrs. H. R. Bowles, formed the entertainment for the youngsters.. After this they were invited into the dining-room, where in the center of the table was placed a beautiful emoossed birthday cake in pink and white, holding eight pink tapers, which revealed the hostess’ age. Refreshments of pink and white ice cream and cake further carried out the color scheme. In a corner of the room was a huge “Jack Horner” pie, from which each child pulled a cute present tha. brought forth much pleasure. The little hostess received many lovely gifts. The invited guests were Mrs. H. R Bowles, Miss Hazelie Powell, of A lanta, Miss Ola Mae Branan, of Nash ville, Tenn.; Misses A. She.-her. , Mary Paul Lee, Mary Jane DuPrec Dorothy Wright, Thelm Hodges, M x tha Adda Johnson, Agusta Davis, Sr< Harden, Maurine Ryle, Annie Roy Owen, Margaret McDaniel, Sarah- Gibbs, Nell Stokes, Margaret Gibbs and Masters Zed Downs, Jr., Edward DuPree, Bill Wright, H. R. Bowles, Jr., Fred Harden, Sydney Miller and Alton Branan. DEEP CULTIVATION WILL INJURE CORN CROP The soil should be stirred as shal low as possible when cultivating corn, say soil specialists at the State Col lege of Agriculture. Results of re cent investigational work shows that deep cultivation of corn injures the roots and reduces the yield of the crop. In wet seasons when the weeds get a start deep cultivation may be I necessary in order to kill them, but I the corn roots are cut out and the ' growth of the corn is held back i The theory that the soil mulch was a great moisture saver which was , another reason for deep cultivation is only partly true. It is only in the very dry seasons that a soil mulch conserves moisture with Georgia’s normal rainfall. । Cultivation before planting is the • most effective, soil men advise, and ■ it can be done more cheaply and eas ier than at any time’ later. -Proper preparation of the seed bed is neces sary for later cultivation to be the i most effective. If the seed bed has been properly worked, shallow < ulti | vation should be the business laU r on : whep the crop gets above the grtund. | Wet weather may interfere, but the ! same rule still holds, that the best cultivation is that which injures the roots least and still kills the weeds. These principles apply to all rowei crops, such as potatoes, beans and cabbage. IRWINTON, WILKINSON COU NTY, JULY 25, 1925 NINE DENOMINATIONS REPRESENTED AT MERCER Macon.—Nine denominations are represented in the student body ol the Mercer University summer school, maintained and operated by the Bap tists of Georgia. Os course, the Bap tist church has,an overwhelming ma jority of the students as members. Out of the 368 now in the summer school, according to a recent census of the student religious beliefs, on y nine registered as not holding mem cership in any church. Members of the Baptist church in .he university number 245. These represent Baptists, not only from Georgia, but from ail parts of the south. This number of Jesse Mer cer’s religious followers leaves only 123 students to be divided up among the other nine denominations here. The Methodist church follows with he next highest number, with a to tal of 76 members. Next are Presbyterians vfith 15, hen Episcopalians with eight Sum ner school students. The Christians nave six. Four Catholics, three Lutherans, one Nazarene and one Primitive Bap tist make up the representatives from the other churches, which are represented here. PLAY GREAT SUCCESS Rosetime, played by exclusive lo cal talent last Tuesday night, was a great s a<ess, and all those who at tended were entertained with a high class musical play. The play was under the auspices of the Ladies Club of Irwinton. It was staged at the new courthouse, and all the young people who took part were residents of Wiikinson county. The proceeds of the play are to be used for the benefit of the Irwinton high school. Pa and Ma Perkins played their parts so perfectly one would have thought they really were the old folks back home. In fact, each and every one who took part played his part well WHEN YOU DRIVE EAST Spend the night on Lake Erie. You can put your car aboard the Great Ship “Seeandbee” or sister ships, the oi ^uitam” or the “City of Ji.e,” at Cleve—nd, have a 50u..,, ix teshing sleep and be farther ahead n your journey than if you drive d’rough. I '. and B. Line S’earners leave E. 9th Street Pier, Cleveland, daily at 9:00 p.m. and arrive at Buffalo the following morning at 7:00. (All Eastern-Standard Time). For free automobile route maps of the East and West, write the Cleve land and Buffalo Transit Company, Cleveland, Ohio. EXHORBITANT FEES (From the Richmond, Va., Times dispatch?) From time to time recently and in common with ether Virginia news papers, The Times-Dispatch has cited specific instances where seemingly exhorbitant fees had been collected from minor offenders against the peace and dignity of the commonwealth. In every case cited the costs have ex ceeded by far the amount of the fines; in several instances they have been more than double. These concrete il lustrations of the high “costs” of transgressing the law have been re lated not to convince the doubters— if there be any outside the circle of fee officers themselves—that the fee system is basically unsound, but to uncover to the public how it is being greviously wronged and robbed through the constant abuse of that ystem. Bad as it is, the fee system does not necessitate the outrageous cost items levied by the fee officers, and it is the personal pockets of these officers and not the state treasury that are enriched thereby. Another specific instance of fee gouging comes up from the south west. There, four young men were arrested for a violation of the pro hibition laws. They were guilty and admitted it.. Three were fined $lO each and the fourth was fined SIOO. These fines were moderate in amount; there was no complaint on that score. But, aS our correspondent recites it, the costs in the case—all were tried in common—amounted to $157. The justice of the peace received $3 for each defendant, the arresting of ficer got $lO in each case, the com monwealth’s attorney received $25 sen while the court clerk charged .’our fees of $1.25 each. More than, chat, the offenders had to give bond in the sum of SI,OOO, presumably with more, fees attached, for appearance charges growing out of the same act at the next term of court to answer for which they had just been fined. It is a dangerous system which per mits such abuses in the adminstration of justice, and u is such auuses that are driving the people to a contempt of all laws and their enforcement machinery. These instances are not sporadic; they are general to Virgin ia’s system of law enforcement, and so long as the people are quiescent and permit themselves to be robbed by the fee officers for their own financial aggrandizement the system will con tinue to operate. PROTRACTED MEETING CLOSES AT SALEM The protracted meeting at Salem closed last Sunday. The meeting was a great success, there being 17 ad ditions to the church by baptism and five infants baptized. The preaching was by Rev. Lewis Spivey. Mr. Spivey is an excellent yoiftg preacher and made a very great impression on his hearers. The next piace of meeting will be at Oakdale church. Come and hear him. Preaching is now going on at Poplar Head, and much interest is being manifested. GORDON LOCAL NEWS T. P. Drake left Saturday night for Miami, Fla. Clarence Floyd left Saturday night for Orlando, Fla. P. F. Beck, wife and children of Miami, Fla., were in Gordon Mon day and Tuesday, having been calied home on account of the illness ox Beck’s mother. Mrs. Orin Massey returned Monday at noon from the clinic. She is do ing very nicely at this time. Mrs. Girgin Prossor and daughter, Mrs. Erie Garret, of Deep Step, Ga., visited Mrs. R. L. Wood last week. Mrs. J. W. Bowles, Jr., and daugh ter, Miss Leila May, are spending several days this week with Mrs. Hicks of Savannah. Among those going to Tybee Sun day were, Mrs. J. W. Brooks, Jr., Misses Leila May Brooks, Betty Eth eridge, Mary Alice Stinson, and Al ma Lindsey and Mr. Charlie Moore. Miss Mabel Dennard of Macon is visiting Miss Myrtle Dennard this week. Mrs. J. B. Green and two little daughters, Laura Frances and Mary, and Miss May Green of Allentown spent Sunday with Mrs. T. A. Gibbs. Mrs. T. N. Fitchett spent the week end in Dublin as the guest of the family of J. S. Fitchett. Mrs. Jim Wood and children are the guests of Mrs. C. C. Johnson this week. , Mrs. Newman is spending several days this week in Macon on business. or. Brookins and daughter, Louise, were called to Milledgeville Tuesday on account of the illness of the Doc tor’s mother. Among those attending quarterly C-—- crence ac Asbu.. xveune-x*. were the following from Gordon: Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Johnson, Mrs. T. A. Gibbs, Mrs. J. E. Stokes, Miss Myrtle Stokes and Mr. J. A. Stokes. The Woman’s Club gave a silver tea at the home of Mrs. J. W. Hooks Wednesday ^r the benefit of Tallulah Falls school. Mrs. T. B. Dennard and Miss Louise Brookins motored to Macon Tuesday. Work on Georgia White Face Brick plant is rapidly being finished and before many weeks brick will be made. Gordon Methodist Auxiliary Has Study Class. On Monday, July 20th, the Mission ary society of the M. E. church met in the Johnson grove for an afternoon study of “China’s Real Revolution.” Each lady had been assigned a chapter to report on and each came well prepared so that an interesting afternoon followed. Our eyes were opened to the real China and we found that we had only China’s black side and that there is a better side. After the study a spread of sand wiches, tea, melons and peaches was enjoyed. A Junior Gordon Auxiliary Is Organized. On Friday afternoon, July, 17th. the Junior girls of Gordon Baptist church met at the home of Mrs. W E. Ward and organized an auxiliary A goodly number were present, con sidering the short notice and we ar. looking forward with much interes. to the success of the G. A. work ii Gordon. The meeting was planned and presided over by the leader, Mrs. W. E. Ward, and her assistants Misses Leila May Brooks and Clara Carswell and Clara Sowell. Grace Shepherd was elected pres ident; Evelyn Sanders, secretary; Sara Walden, treasurer; Miss Lib lian Jackson, counselor. After an interesting program dainty refresh ments were served. The Jr. G. A.’s will meet every Thursday afternoon at 4 o’clock at the church. We urge all girls be tween 9 and 13 to join with us. The county policeman, recently em ployed by the county, has arrested three violators for having whiskey in their possession, and one is now in jail. He says that he is getting a line-up on several large ones, and that it will not be long before he will make a real raid. WOMEN’S CLUB ENTERTAINED BY MRS. R. L. SANDERS Nine members of the Wimodausis club, of Gordon, motored out to the lovely country home of Mrs. R. L. Sanders, Thursday afternoon where the July meeting was held. Plans were made for a “Silver Tea” to be given Wednesday afternoon, July 22, from 5 to 7 o’clock, at the home of Mrs. J. W. Hooks. A visit to the county poor farm was planned for Friday afternoon, to carry a churn of ice cream, cakes and “good cheer.” This is to be a repe tition of a visit made there last year which, seemed to be so much appre ciated by the inmates. " A picnic, to be held Thursday aft ernoon, July 30, at Coates Mill, was also planned. Other business of importance was dispensed, including the marking of the Gordon-Macon highway, the plac ing of more benches and a water pipe and spigot in “Sunset Park.” After adjournment, the ladies were Invited to the spacious rear piazza where many delicious peaches, can taloups and watermelons were greatly enjoyed. The specially invited guests on this occasion were Mrs. F. J. Hall and Miss Mabel Hall. The ladies reluctantly left at a late hour, after voting to Mrs. Sanders that it w-as one of the best meetings held this year. IN MEMORY On May 11, 1925, the death angel visited the home of Robert M. San ders and took away his beloved wife. Although loving hands did all that could be done, her body could not be raised and her soul was borne into the Heavenly mansions above to meet those loved ones gone on before. It was so sad to part with her and to see the dear husband and children, who are so lonely since mother has gone. four children, Mrs. Bernice Luther, Velma Vinson, J. B. Vinson and Doris Sanders; also her ~ mother, four brothers, four sisters and a host of other relatives and friends to mourn the loss. Oh, the happy moments we have spent in the home when dear sister was in good health and how* w*e de miss her presence everywhere. She was a devoted member of Clear Creek Baptist church. Although she had been in declining health for several years, she was sick only a short while before the dear Master called -.er away. We know not the suffer ing of our loved one but feel that all was done for her that loving hands could do. She was laid to rest in Clear Creek cemetery near her home. Weep not dear ones, Daisy is not gone, although we miss her. She is resting in her peaceful home. A precious one from us is gone, A voice we loved is stilled, A place is vacant in the home Which never can be filled. A Loving Sister. What About The 98? (From the Macon Telegraph.) Various gentlement have taken oc casion to deny the statements that have been made by the Georgia Cit izens Education Movement, whicn was eg- -d to present our educational conditions to the people of the state n the hope that they might be recti .kd. It has been denied that Geor gia is contributing little, in compari son, to her common schools and it has been said that we are the “Em pire State of the South,” even in the educational facilities we provide. Yet we find the state superintendent of schools, who is to relinquish his posi tion Saturday to Fort E. Land, of Macon, saying in his last official re port to the governor, these things: Too many teachers of the entire state are lacking in scholarship. That these teachers who are lacking in scholarship are teaching the majority of the children. That the untrained teachers are teaching a majority of the children. That 882 additional teachers are needed in the schools of the state, . That one-half of the children do ' not ro to school beyond the fourth grade. mat only 1.8 per cent of the children who enter the first grade reach the eleventh. (Which means, of course, that we are giving high school education, which all of us acknowledge as a standard that should be set, to less than two out of every 100 students who enter the schools.) That the greatest amount of re tardation is found in those coun ties whose terms are shortest, sal aries lowest, and teachers lacking in scholarship and professional training. For the first time in the history of the state the educational leaders are ; n accord upon a program to remedy he conditions which have been set out. Back in 1837, Governor Schley, in a message to the general assembly, said: "None but an educated people can preserve the liberty and happiness vouchsafed to us by the blood and treasure expended by our forefathers, ‘Hughes County’ Act Takes First Hurdle Only One Member of Senate Consti tutional Amendments Committee Casts Vote Adverse to Bill at the Hearing Monday. Atlanta, Ga.—With only one dis senting vote, the senate committee ion constitutional amendments voted , favorably on Monday of this week, on 1 the bill by Senator Hughes, to create a new county, to be known as “Hughes county,” from parts^ of Twiggs, Wilkinson and Laurens. The action of the committee came as a surprise to members of both houses, it having been the almost uni versal beaef that there was no pos sibie chance of the measure passing However, observers who attended the committee hearing expressed th^ opinion that the favorable committed vote was largely a matter of com! pliment to Senator Hughes and that the bill wouid stand but slight chance of passage on the floor of either house. ; ;JI ; It is at least certain that the ex pressed opinion of a majority of tha members is against the creation o any new counties and if they stiel Ito this position the Hughes count; ’ bill is doomed to defeat when it come up for final vote. The vote on the bill in committe< I was taken in executive session, bu at a public hearing preceding this a hot fight was waged before the com mittee by speakers both for and against the measure. Among those who spoke in its favoi were W. S. Williams, of Montrose; F F. Land, of Danville; W. W. Howell of Danville; J. A. Hogan, of Dudley E ; C. Adams of Danville, and W. F Linder of Danville. Opponents of the measure include* Senator A. M. Rountree of the oa\ J. D. Shannon and IL F. Griffin, Jr. of Twiggs; Representative b:oaa worth, of Wilkinson; L. Q. Stubus, 1 Dublin and Former Governor Tbj_id । W. Hardwick. Progressing on Orthodox Lines. The 1925 session of the general as sembly is progressing on orthodox lines to date. Present indications ar* that progress on the important meas ures in committee is further advancet than usual at this stage. 1 Undecurrent indications tend t« show that the governor’s program o: tax reform—which embraces a clas silication tax and an income tax— have little chance of success. Then seems to be a growing sentiment if favor of a general sales tax as < means of raising new revenue in tW state and experienced leaders of bit houses have intimated their convie tion that if new revenue is to b< raised it will have to be through somi other channels than those suggest?*, by Governor Walker. In fact, Senator Collier gave ou a statement on Monday of this week in which he said that he proposed ti introduce, at an early date, a Pill provide for the formation of a com mission to investigate what tax rati would be necessary to raise all tin revenue the state needs by means c; a general sales tax. Half a dozen proposals for bon issues, mostly for -i >ad building pur pises, stand "-ile chance of success it appears, while another bond pro posal for a state owned port has no advanced far enough since its inti 4 duction last week to give my defi nite indication of its chances of pas Gut bond issue, however, will profl ably pass. That is the proposal, enl dorsed by the governor and by- ! citizen tax committee headed bj Eugene R. Black of Atlanta, for 1 bend issue of $15,000,000 for wlw-J tional purposes. a And in the meantime the approprial tions committee and the ways an! means committee are working stea<M ily at their hard tasks of working ouS the general appropriations and genl eral tax act. The appropriation! i committee is now in the' midst o! I hearings, at which heads of stafl i departments and institutions tell o! | their financial needs. As soon fl these are finished the committee will get down to the work of filling il the amounts in the general approprial tions bill. An idea of the magnitud! of their task nlay be arrived at wh ! it is known that the estimated stafl revenue for 1926 is only $10,500 Off! and already, in general appropriation! and special appropriation bi’ls intro! duced, over $21,000,000 has be! asked. ■ The ways and means committee h- ! ibeen largely marking tim^ on isl general tax act, waiting to see wha! the constitutional amendments com! mittee would do on the proposed nev| tax laws. But now they are be^in! ning to realize that there’is litUe hop! of new revenue from this sourc:-! even in the unlikely event f class! fication and income tax amendment! being approved they would have to isl ratified by the people, which wou'! postpone their effectiveness for tw! years—and are considering what nef! special or luxury taxes may be im! posed to raise some additional refl enue at once. ] The coming week, which passes th! half-way mark of the 60-day sessioi! should witness developments wm! will show pretty clearly what the nnfl solution of many problems will be. and therefore the Legislature sboul! extend, as far as possible, the meat! of intellectual improvement to th! whole mass of the community.” S Almost a whole century has passfl since a wise governor uttered thofl words, yet they are as true today fl they were when he spoke them. fl NUMBER
