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THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS
D. T. ESPY Editor & Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
One Year $1.50
Six Months . -
Published Every Thursday by
THE NEWS PUBLISHING CO.
Entered at the Post Office at
Summerville, Ga.. as Second-
Class Mail Matter.
Card of Thanks, In Memoriam
or any notice where there is an
for at the rate of a cent a word.
The Summerville News here
after will not accept any ad
vertising which will reflect in
any way on our city or county,
or any other public officials.
It is our belief that we should
all co-operate with our offi
cials. If a majority of the
voters do not approve oi the
present public officials, it is
their right and privilege as an
American citizen to go to the
polls and elect the persons of
their choice.
Considering these facts and
realizing that progress can
only be attained through co
operation, we have made the
above decision.
PEOPLE TAKE HARRY
The people of the United
States have decided, by a fair
majority, that they want Harry
S. Truman for their President
during the next four years.
This is the simple explanation
of what happened at the polls.
The same people, by their
votes, gave a solid Democratic
majority in both houses of
Congress. They thus endorsed
the bitter attacks launched
against the 80th Congress by
President Truman.
Another result of the election
is the discrediting of the so
called polls which, without ex
ception, accorded the man
from Missouri little chance of
winning. The poll-takers, it
seems, knew no more about the
popular mind than the masters
of Republican strategy.
Gov. Dewey, making his sec
ond bid or the presidency,
waged a safe and conservative
battle. He was persuaded, early
in the campaign, that the elec
tion was in the bag. All that
he attempted to do was tto
coast to victory by not making
any misakes in his speeches.
There was, in reality, little
difference in the positions tak
en by the candidates of the
major parties. The bi-partisan
foreign policy was endorsed by
both, on domestic issues there
was little difference in princi
ples and on civil rights they
differed only in degree and
method.
Mi-. Truman, in his open ap
peal to minority groups, did
much to introduce the question
of race and religion into presi
dential races. Seeking the votes
of Negroes, Catholics, Jews and
foreign-born the Democratic
candidate was without decep
tion as he outbid his opponents
for their support.
A powerful factor in the vic
tory scored by Mr. Truman was
the active support of his candi
dancy by organized labor, bat
tling to secure the repeal of the
Taft-Hartley labor law. Early
in the campaign it was assum
ed that Mr. Wallace would sec
ure considerable support from
the labor group but the Presi
dent met this challenge by his
forthright advocacy of the
WANTEDK BUY
Pine Railroad Tracking
In the Following Sizes
2x6 10 Ft. 2*2x6 10 Ft.
2xß 10 Ft. 21/2xß 10 Ft.
2xlo 10 Ft. 21/ 2 xlo 10 Ft.
ALSO ONE-INCH BOARDS
Robertson-Y arbrongh
Lumber Company
p. O. Box 1102 Rome, Ga.
prompt repeal of the Taft-
Hartley act.
While intelligent students of
presidential election cam
paigns assert that most voters
have their minds made up long
before the campaigning begins
it is hard to escape the con
clusion that President Truman
gained much strength by his
forceful campaigning. Attacks
upon the Republican-controll
ed Congress paid dividends in
votes and the crowds that
greeted the hard-fighting cam
paigner attested to his popu
larity among the so - called
masses.
Letters Io the Editor
Dear Editor:
As a new subscriber to the
News and being an old Chattoga
County boy would like to say
over fifty years ago the News
came to our home at Trion, Ga.,
was then the Chattooga News.
Mr. John Cain was editor, later
it was owned and operated by
Rev. J. G. Hunt and Rev. J. W.
McWhorter. The Espy brothers,
Oscar and Dayton, came next.
I went to school at Trion ■with O.
J. and D. T. when their father
was pastor at Trion. The News
to be is a treat from the old
home county.
Very respectively,
W. M. ROSE.
102 Phifer Street.
Monroe, N. C.
Editor, Summerville News:
The Georgia Power Company
has made answer to the equit
able suit brought against it by
the City of Summerville.
We are advised by counsel and
believe that the answer is prob
ably the most preposterous
pleading ever made by compe
tent attorneys against a politi
cal subdivision of the State of
Georgia. We quote from para
graph nine of the answer:
“Petitioner (City of Summer
ville) has made exorbitant de
mands which defendant (Geor
gia Power Company) believes
amounts to virtually blackmail
and threat of confiscation, de
manding both a percentage of
income on an annual basis and
the sum of 50,000.00 to settle this
case.”
Blackmail is regarded by up
right citizens as one of the most
contemptible crimes known. In
asmuch as a municipality could
not be chargeable with black
mail, we interpret the quoted
statement to be an effort on the
part of counsel for the Georgia
Power Company to place the
compromise offer of settlement
made or suggested by the City of
Summerville on as low and con
temptible a level as blackmail.
We are further advised by
counsel that the answer violated
the law of pleading and prac
tice, for the reason that a com
promise offer of settlement is
never admissible in the trial of
a case. At any rate, there can
be no excuse for the unkind
statement quoted above.
In matters of this kind, com
parison is a logical way to arrive
at the truth. When compared
with the earnings from the sale
of electricity by the City of Cal
houn. the above quoted suggest
ed offer of compromise settle
ment was. indeed, one of com
promise.
The answer is fraught with un
tenable statements. It avers that
the City of Summerville’s de
mands amount to a threat of
confiscation. Yet it admits that
it has refused to sell its distribu
tion System to the City. Confis
cation means that property is
taken by government without
any compensation whatever to
the owner. Any intimation that
the City wants to confiscate the
property of the Georgia Power
Company is absurd. On the con
trary, the City has refrained
from demanding what the deci
sions of the Supreme Court have
held it is entitled to demand. In
Mayor and Aidermen of Savan
nah v. Markowitz, 155 Supreme
Court Report, page 870, the
Court states:
“A municipality can not grant
to any person the right to erect
or maintain a structure or ob
struction in a public street,
without express legislative auth
ority.”
The words “erect or maintain”
keep the matter ever in the
present tense. So the plea of
’laches and other would-be legal
barriers sought to be made by
the answer are meaningless. And
the above stated case quoted
from and approved a previous
case which had affirmed a trial
Court judgment which had ap
proved the acts of officials who
destroyed property in a public
street. It not being the kind of
property the city could utilize.
We construe previous state
ments made in our presence by
officials of the Georgia Power
Company as an admission that
the purported franchise is in
valid. They stated that after the
suit by the City of Summerville
to declare the franchise void was
filed, shortly thereafter, the
Georgia Power Company began
paying other Cities which had
granted it a franchise of the
same form and substance as the
one attacked in the suit three
per cent of the gross annual in
come from residential and com
mercial users of electricity in
such Cities. The stated percent
age payments doubtless amount
to more than $500,000.00 annual
ly. This is the second year they
have been paid; that is, the of
ficials stated such payments be
gan early in 1947. It is not un
derstandable why the Georgia
Power Company would voluntar
ily give municipalities so huge a
sum of money unless it was con
sidered to be in payment of the
use of their streets for the dis
tribution of electricity. So the
payments to other municipalities
of the amounts stated above
seem to be an admission that the
franchise-claim of the Georgia
Power Company here is baseless,
because the purported franchise
here not only has the fatal pro
vision which caused the Georgia
Power Company to begin paying
other cities a large sum of
money annually for the privilege
to use their streets, the franch
ise here is void for the reason
that no attempt was made to
comply with the charter provi
sion of the City respecting the
granting of franchises before it
was purportedly but illegally
granted.
The City of Summerville has
sought no unfair advantage of
the Georgia Power Company rel
ative to the franchise matter. It
first sought a reasonable settle
ment of the question out of court.
It has been earnest in its efforts
to have the controversy quickly
decided in the courts. It has not
requested a postponement of any
hearing or trial of the case or
cases. On the other hand, the
Georgia Power Company repeat
edly refused to negotiate with
the City of Summerville for any
reasonable settlement. It has
requested and obtained continu
ance of hearings of the cases. It
pays other cities the three per
cent above mentioned, and it has
refused to suspend collection of
City’s light and power bills pend
ing adjudication of the matter.
Furthermore, the Georgia Power
Company presently seeks the
powre to eliminate the discount
to its customers here as well as
to customers in other parts of
the State. To say the least, it
seems queer that it would volun
tarily give many cities the men
tioned three per cent in 1947, and
in 1948 request what amounts to
an increase df ten per cent in
its favor.
This Bth of November, 1948.
WILLIS JAMES,
Mayor
JOE R. GAINES.
ANDREW WILLIAMS,
H. L. ALEXANDER
DENNIS COX,
COUNCILMEN.
Editor The Summerville News,
Summerville, Ga.
Dear Sir:
I would like to make a few re
marks in regard to some of the
charges made about the Mill
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS
IN THE NEWS OFFICE
For some time now there has
been some discussion as to the
early history of the News.
Mr. Ed Megginson has been
kind enough to give us some :
insight into this interesting I
and important item.
“The Summerville Gazette,” '
he declares, “in the early I
eighties, was edited and print- j
ed as a weekly paper by Prof, i
J. C. Lumis and afterward by ■
Ed Simington for a short per- >
iod.
“The Gazette” and “The |
Chattooga News” were issued [
simultaneously for a time. The ■
“News” was established by Joe ‘
Cain and Brown Coleman, with
Mat Neal, bolored, to turn the
large wheel of the press.
"Mr. John W. Cain,” Mr.
Megginson continues, “acquir- '
ed the ownership of the paper
, after Brown Coleman gave it
up. One section of the double
village and against the mill and
mill officials.
As the sewace line and garb- !
age service seem to be the sorest I
spot, I will begin with that in
i the first place the village nor
the mill asked to be put in the
city imits but as we are why
shouldn’t we have the sewage
lines or garbage service? We pay
the same rates as anyone else
$2.00 for water and 50c sewage
per month to the,, city and not
to the mill.
The sewage line is the only ■
'thing that the city ever put in
for the village as we have no ,
street lights and about the worst
streets in town and should the j
city scrape th® streets the city'
or certain officials would ba
charged with favoring the mill
village.
I venture to say that there is'
the least garbage to be picked
up in the village than any other
section of town as most of the
village people burn their own
trash and garbage.
Now about being told how to
vote, I have worked for the mill
althogether about 20 years, and
lived in the village 7 years from
choice and I nor anyone else has
ever been told how to vote,
or do anything else except con
cerning our job. So as to that
part it is a pure falsehood, and
would make up appear as slaves
and not people who work for a ‘
living and have a mind of our j
own.
If some of the critics woilfd j
spend some time about the mill,!
or in it they would find there i
are no “yes” men or women in I
the mill but people who do their :
job and tend to their own busi
ness and that includes the offi
cilas which is more than might
be said of some.
Now as to the police force be
ing underpaid. I notice that it
attracts a find bunch of young
men and I ame sure none of'
them would change places with
the high paid sweepers in the j
mill for they couldn’t go neat'
and well groomed at all times!
for the sweepers have to work'
and you can’t work and stay neat!
and dressed up and they could do
as the sweepers can do if they are
mistreated and under paid they i
could quit for have no dict
i tators here at the mill or in town j
, regardless of what some may say.
About the cast iron pipes a
: resident of up town told me he
had seen roots as large as his
legs pulled out of the old sewage
' line so why shouldn’t the city j
officials wapj. to put in some
! thing that would give good servi
ce and not be clogged up half of
I the time.
Now as to some df the officals
I have known some of them
since they were boys, I lived next
house to some of their parentsi
and have not known before now'
that they were so bad, in fact I
have never known them to do a
mean or underhanded deal or say \
an unkind word to or about any
one including the other writer’s.
I admit they may have made
mistakes but don’t we all?
So wouldn’t it be better to try
to help if we could and not knock
all the time for there are lots of
things could be done to clean
up the streets and build up the
town.
I have written this on my own.
not even my wife knows about it
I say this just in case someone
might think that other’s had it
done.
I Jike to see everyone get a
square deal and don’t like to hear
charges against anyone when I
know they are not true.
I I know this isn’t written ac
cording to Emily Post but it gets
! something off my chest that has
been there for some time and
i there are plenty more feel about
as I do. I heard a man say last
j night that some people must
think we were foils down here.
Just one more thing and I am
j done. For the last forty years who
has hired the most people and
had the largest payroll in the
I city. ? So don’t you think the
mill has had a small nart in
i helping Summerville grow from a
'small city and at least deserves
some of the improvements that
have taken place.
I Remain. Sincerely
G. L. (Lindsey) Elsberry
house (rolled back when Cleg
horn’s store was built) was of
fice and pressroom of the
“News.” The press and other
equipment burned, together
with the “file” at the time the
Cleghorn livery stable burned
in 1892 or 1893.
Mr. Megginson said that af
ter the fire, the “News” set up
for operation at the present
site of the Summerville News.
“After J. W. Caln moved to
Quitman, the paper was owned
and published by Revs. J. G.
Hunt and J. W. McWhorter;
McWhorter moved to middle
Georgia and O. J. Espy, father
of the present publisher, who
learned the printing business
at Trion, became partner with
the Rev. J. G. Hunt, and after
ward the owner and publisher.
We thank Mr. Megginson for
this enlightening information
about our history. It is some
thing we should keep on record
at all times.
A letter from his brother,
William Megginson, of Staun
ton, Va., is also most interest
ing and we are passing it on
to you.
“If I remember right, it was
originally called Chattooga
News and was established by
Joe Cain, the Gazette being
published at the time. The
editor of this paper was named
Loomis, and a man named
Clement was typesetter.
“At the News a young man
named Webb was doing the
type setting. I was employed
about 1887 or 88 and bright in
those days. I soon learned to
set type and did so for more
than two years. Mr. Cain did
the editing and reporting,
reading proof, etc.
“We used a good deal of
‘plate matter’ in those days,
which helped us to fill in what
was lacking in local and county
news.”
Thank you, Mr. William Meg
ginson.
We had a nice letter from
Mr. W. M. Rose, of Monroe,
N. C., this week. It is reprinted
in full under letters to the
Editor.
Have you renewed your sub
scription yet? A lot of people
have been coming in this week
and bringing their “reminder”
cards. If you haven’t done so,
bring yours and $1.50 and re
new your subscription right
away.
Mr. Robert L. Parker, of
Summerville, Route 1, was
among those who paid us a
visit last week. He tells us that
his family has been taking the
paper ever since he can re
memner, and when he estab
lished a family of his own in
1933 he (of course) subscribed
to The Summerville News.
Mr. Joe Cromer came in and
renewed his subscription and
he informs us that his grand
mother took the paper when
he was a little boy. Now we
know’ that Mr. Cromer isn’t an
old man. but it does show that
the News, just like other family
items, is passed from genera
tion to generation.
Remember, if it happens,
you’ll see it in the News.
Lyerly Loses 2 Games
To Cassville Friday
Lyerly High School had the
distinction of playing the first
high school basketball game in
the county Friday night as they
lost to a strong Cassville team.
The girls lost by a score of 41-
21, with Bonnie Peppers pacing
the losers with 10 points, Kirby
was runner-up with 9. For the
winners, Bearden hit for 15,
Keith 14 and Guyton 10.
The boys’ game was a hard
fought affair, the Lyerly team
being on the short end of a 48-
37 score. Johnny Brady paced
the losers and was high for the
night with 19 points, Cook was
runner-up with 8. For Cassville
Arnold hit for 16, Cox added 15
and Lpomy hit for 12.
Rev. M. W. Frye
Calls Scalf's
"Miracle Medicine"
“I suffered ten
T"?* years f rom spells
of acid indiges
lion, smothering
y W* ® as Pressure
■ y XShir >pains, restless
” 1? I sleep. First bot-
/•Jr C;1 11 e of Scalf’s
jjs: brought relief,”
> happily declares
JI Rev - M w - Frye
/W Knoxville Tenn.,
üßf & as spent
- ■ ovpr forty years
MNi.L. mi "i!— -as minister in
the
Church. Scalf’s Indian River
Medicine has been tested over a
million times. Try it. On sale at
all good drug stores. (adv.X-
ATTENTION
COAL! COAL! COAL!
WE'RE IN THE COAL BLACK BUSINESS, BUT
WE'LL TREAT YOU WHITE
—Get Our Prices Before You Buy—
BUY NOW’
SAVE MONEY—MORE HEAT—LESS ASH
Golden Eagle—Kentucky Coal Stoker, Lump, Egg
ALEXANDER BROS. COAL YARD
DONT
) FROST THEA
ER HALF, MA?J
WOMEN DON'T STOP frosting a cake when they
hit the half-way mark ... it just doesn't make
sense.
But some folks only half cover their prop
erty with insurance . . . and that makes for less
sense. They could lose plenty!
Make sure of your insurance protection’
Call on
Summerville Insurance Agency
B. W. and J. L. FARRAR. Agents
Office: 109 N. Commerce St.
This Agency Has Represented the Hartford Fire
Insurance Company Since 1908
, ..r nnQriiirciii’.-.-^fnrTiqr-nnnr-
DOORNS
iTL ’"s’aHed and J
j-F !' ! ■ ■■ yjh. Guaranteed
_ _
• LOW IN PRICE . FEATHER-TOUCH OPERATION • MADE TO YOUR EXACT SIZE
. FHA APPROVED • FREE ESTIMATES •NO RUSTING—NO DETERIORATION ‘
Summerville-Trion Highway at Bulman Oil Co.
Revival
REGINNING SUNDAY,
| NOV. 14 THROUGH NOV. 28
at the
Spring Creek Baptist Church
(Turn right at Williams Store on Mt.
View Highway. The Church is 2
miles from the store)
The Pastor, Rev. Frank B. Lewis, Will
Be Speaking Each Evening
SERVICES BEGIN AT 7:30
Everyone Is Invited to Attend These
Services. Come and come Praying that
lost souls might find God and be saved.
Bomans 1:16. For I am not ashamed of
the Gosncl of Christ: for it is the now er
of God unto salvation to evfervone that
believeth.
Thursday, November 11, 1948