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GROWING RETURNS
KEEP GA. SOLVENT
GAIN IN PROPERTY VALUES IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR ABILITY
TO MEET APPROPRIATIONS.
$136,976,916 IN FOUR YEARS
Comptroller Recommends Longer
Terms of Office for Tax Col
lectors and Receivers.
—Atlanta.
That the state has made an abnor
mal increase in taxable values, amount
ing to $136,976,917, in the last four
years, thus increasing the revenue of
the state $684,882, will be shown by
Comptroller General William A.
Wright in his annual report to the
governor.
On this account, only has the state
treasury been able to meet the large
ly increased appropriations made by
the last legislature. As it was, it was
found necessary to resort? to the usual
expedient of a temporary loan
That this condition of just playing
even is not likely to continue is shown
by the comptroller in a carefully pre
pared statement indicating that the
appropriations from all sources will
exceed the expected revenue for 1912
by $231,562. The comptroller figures
that the income of the state from all
aources for the current year will be
$5,673,005. There has been appropri
ated by the legislature for this year
$5,904,567. The appropriation for pub
lic schools is as usual the largest
item, being $2,500,000. Pensions come ।
next with $1,800,000. Other importantl
items are: Eleemosynary institu-.
tions, $640,000; higher education, $470,-
414; interest on the public debt and
sinking fund, $383,000.
The comptroller points out that of
the estimated revenue of the state for
1913, $3,958984 are raised from ad va
lorem taxes, and $1,714,021 from spe
cial taxes and all other sources. Con
tinuing, the report says:
“It will also be observed that the ;
appropriations for public schools
($2,500,000) and for pensions ($1,180,-;
000) amount to $3,680,000, leaving a |
balance from ad valorem taxes of i
$278,984. Thus it would appear that
with this small balance of $278,984,
plus the state's revenue from other
sources than ad valorem taxes, of
$1,714,021, all appropriations for high- '
er eduaction ($470,414), eleemosynary
institutions (640,000), interest on the .
public debt (383,000) and all adminis
trative expenses of the state govern
ment are appropriations for 1913, ex
clusive of public schools and pensions,"
could be met with a tax rate on prop
erty of about one-third of a mill. Ap-1
propriations, therefore, should be .
held down in future until our revenue i
is increased from other than present i
sources. /
The comptroller recommends that
the terms of office of tax collectors
and tax receivers be increased from
two to four years. He believes that
the efficiency of both would be mate
rially increased by the extension of
their terms of office.
"Way of the Transgressor) Is Hard.” .
Thoughtless people who make a
joke of the solemn warning that the i
“Way of the Transgressor Is Hard,” I
will never hear from any pulpit a'
more striking illustration of that;
truth than is presented to the world
by the person of J. Wylie Smith, who '
has come back to Atlanta a living j
skeleton after having suffered terribly ’
hardships a fugitive from justice for i
more than two years. Two years ago |
Wylie Smith was a prosperous and
respected Atlanta business man. He
had a happy family and was prosper
ous among his friends. But he yield
ed to the temptation to get money ;
faster than it could be made honest
ly, and wrecked the Commercial Loan ,
& Discount company, of which he
was president. His thefts were im- '
mediately discovered, and he fled to ■
Mexico. Since that moment to this ’
his life has been a hell on earth. For '
a while he rotted in a Mexican jail.
Later he was impressed into the army .
of Orosco. Broken in body and spirit
by privations and disease, with the
shadow of death hovering over him,
he finally crawled back to American
territory and surrendered. Today,
he occupies a cell in the hospital ward
in the Fulton county jail, a mental
and physical wreck. His wife, a brok
en hearted woman, unable to live in
this city where her husband is accus
ed of betraying the trust of some of
his best friends, has disappeared from '
Atlanta, to live with relatives in
another part of the country.
Governor Favors Sterilization Law. 1
In an interview Governor Brown
went on record as favoring legisla- ’
tion for the sterilization . of persons '
criminally insane or of criminal in- .
stincts. That a law authorizing this .
should be passed by the legislature ,
was urged by the board of the state ■
sanitarium in its annual repoi
Southern Companies Stand High.
Chas. A. Bickerstaff, secretary and
treasurer of the association of South
ern Fire Insurance companies, has
received the absolute assurance that
the southern companies will not be
discriminated against by the big Eas
tern companies which loan large sums
of money for building and other pur
poses. IJfe insurance companies and
some financial organizations which
make large building loans customar
ily have the right to specify where
the fire insurance on the building
shall be placed. After writing to some
three score of the big life insurance
companies, Mr. Bickerstaff has receiv
ed the assurance that southern fire
insurance companies are to be con
sidered on exactly the same basis as
the eastern ones. The only qualifi
cations required of a company is that
it shall be a joint stock company, sol
vent and in a prosperous condition.
Writing to Mr. Bickerstaff, the heads
of the big life insurance companies
said: “We wish you to place us on
record in the most unqualified man
ner as being willing to accept the poli
cies of your companies composing the
association. This means, of course,
that southern fire insurance compan
ies have won exactly the same high
standing in the financial world as the
old eastern companies. It means that
when a million dollar sky scraper Is
put up in Atlanta, or any other sou
thern city, the fire insurance can be
carried with a southen company, no
matter how much of the money to
build the structure has been borrow
ed from the north. The Association
of Southern Fire Insurance compan
ies was organized in 1910 by several
of the leading companies of this sec
tion, its object being to promote and
encourage wise building and tax laws
and the reduction of file waste and
other matters of vital interest. It
was influential in securing the enact
ment'of the new Georgia insurance
i law, which is conceded to be the best
I that has been put on the statute
books of any state in many years.
To Pension Telephone Employees.
The remarkable pension, disability
and insurance plan inaugurated by
the Southern Bell and Cumberland
Telephone cornpanw for ft's employes
is now in actual operation in this seo
j tion and is being watched with keen
• interest. A number of employes have
i already received pensions and acci
! dent berefits, while insurance has
| been paid on the death of others. The
■ unusual feature of the arrangement is
that the funds are provided by the
company and that no employe Is per
mitted to contribute. The benefits
do not affect the salary or wages of
’ those who are eligible under the plan,
■ and beneficial. Recently two line
men were killed at Birmingham, /Lia.,
while in the discharge of their duty,
and the beneficiaries of each were
paid $2,535.30, which equalled three
’ years wages. The manager at Athens,
Ga., H. C. Conway, died on April 25,
j and his widow received a check for
$1,680 from the Southern Bell on
I April 29. Mr. Conway had been in
। the service of the company 25 years
and the insurance paid him was based
on his term of service. The first pen
sion became effective May 1. The
first one was awarded to an operator
of the Cumberland company, who will
receive S2O per month for the balance
of her life. A negro janitor who had
been in the service of the Southern
I Bell for 34 years was also awarded a
■ pension.
i Ministers May Smoke.
The big Presbyterian Assembly has
■ not barred the use of tobacco by its
i ministers, and Presbyterian preachers
can continue to smoke here without
' any danger of having to smoke here
after, so far as the tenets of the
I church are concerned. A good sized
I majority of the Presbyterian minis
i ters, who have been in attendance on
■ the big convention, smoke. Among
। that majority are included probably
' three fourths of the foremost men,
1 the real leaders in the denomination,
i Mr. Wm. H.- Ridgeway, who writes
i the international Sunday School Les
। sons and who is regarded as one of
the foremost laymen in the Presby
! terian church, says that while the use
: of tobacco is a human weakness, it Is
J not a sin. Too many are guilty for
' the assembly to ever bar its use.
School Girls in Harem Skirts.
The impropriety of high school
’girls in Atlanta wearing the new slit
skirts lias caused some comment.
’ Quite a number of the more stylishly
dressed school girls have been flirt-;
' Ing to and from school along the
street, with their ankles twinkling
' through the vents at the bottom of
their skirts. The slits are not very
high, and there has never been any
’ scandal about them, but they are a
little extreme, to say the least, for
* school girl attire. The girls, however,
1 are only coping the models
, Asks Increase of Efficiency.
Commissioner of Labor H. M. Stan
' ley, it is understood, will be very like
' ly tb ask the legislature to increase
! the efficiency of his department. He
. thinks he should have the facility to
take up the matter of friendly inter
; vention in all disputes between labor
‘ and capital when called upon to do
j so.
The Main
Issue
B r REV. J. H. RALSTON
Secretary of Cotrapondrnee Depeitment
Moody Bible Inetitute. Chk-ago
TEXT—Rev. 5:9— For thou wast slain
and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood.
For decades aft
er Luther’s refor
mation, in Eng
land after the Wes
ley revival, and In
this land and
Great Britain just
after the Moody
evangelistic cam
paigns, it would
not have been dif
ficult td answer
the question:
“What is it to be
saved?" for the an
swer would have
. been uniformly:
“To be redeemed
from sin through the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ.” But In this day
that answer is not given by many, and
because of this we believe It Important
to consider the question, which Is
vital.
The goal of salvation with very
many, and Indeed, with almost all, is
getting to heaven —if a man gets to
heaven he is saved. Presuming that
the answer is correct, and barring the
advent of Jesus Christ, which will pre
clude the necessity of the Christian
dying and his soul going to heaven as
they now do, we may endorse that po
sition. Let us note here some of the
conceptions of salvation that men now
hold, and of which we hear them
speak, but are a part of personal con
viction; in some cases, however, noth
ing more than feeling. In speaking
of this we would not impugn the sin
cerity of those who hold them, but
we are convinced that many of them
are fatally mistaken. We have only
space to note three of these excep
tions.
I. One man says: "Man Is saved
through the inevitable operation of
evolution. Man has been placed upon
earth for the purpose of development,
and if he exists beyond this life that
development will continue until he
reaches perfection.” That is a widely
received view, and the recent revival
of the evolutionary theory as devel
oped in scientific investigations, has
largely strengthened it. Such writers
as Alfred Tennyson, who speaks of
that period "Far off, at last, to all,”
etc., have largely strengthened the
idea, and it is known that evolution
ary preachers, if they do not general
ly deny the salvation taught by Paul,
as some do, so emphasize evolution
that the salvation of man is involved
In the principle, and consequently
nothing else is needed.
11. Many indulge the conception
that man is saved by right living, but
just at this'polnt of right living there
Is difference of opinion as to what
we mean. Many promptly say it
means doing what is right, but do not
define the word right. We must have
some criterion of judgment, and we
inquire for that. Many, if pressed,
will say, it is acting in accordance
with the teachings of the Bible, but
here again there is difficulty, for many
only consider the teachings of the
Bible with reference to their relation
ship to their fellow men, and they
claim that if they act honestly tn their
dealings with their fellow men, or as
has been recently said, give every
man a square deal, they are acting In
accordance with the teachings of the
Scripture. But, if a man is honest,
must he not consider more than his
fellow men? Does he not have God,
who is the author of the Bible, to
“He Goeth Before You.”
And the angel said: “He is not here.
... He is risen. . . . And 10, he goeth
before you.” Christ left us messages
from heaven. Persistently the human
heart cried out for these? With quak-
Ings and fear, the children of men
have faced the end of life. With
doubting perplexity, they have spoken
of “the great unknown," the “undis
covered bourne,” and “the silent land."
Then Christ entered into it, and came
back to his friends and brought mes
sages. Now it is no longer unknown,
nor undiscovered, nor silent, but the
well known and greatly beloved fath
erland. From forth the grave he
went, and the world blossomed and
became beautiful, and the beauty and I
fragrance thereof have ravished our
hearts.—Rev. T. P. Bollinger.
“Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth to Do.”
All work conscientiously and faith
fully performed —duty well done, great :
or humble though it may be Is in a i
certain sense true worship. But our ;
work is only the outward expression |
of our life and charater. What life ■
and character and conduct are, that |
deal with? Is there nothing owing to
him, aside from honesty in our deal
ings with our fellow men? What
about high morals that are really per
sonal, and what about the demands
that are made upon men as to the
worship of God, the dissemination of
religious truth, the individual religious
life, Involving the study of God’s
word, prayer, etc.? It must be re
membered that God has presented us
a complete chain of obligations, and
if there is a single link missing, the
chain’s strength is gone.
111. In these days there is a wide
spread conception that a church con
nection, or church life, is the essence
of salvation, consequently multitudes
are easily persuaded to connect with
the church, and to adopt a more or
less faithful church life. We have no
time to call attention to the master’s
well-known denunciations of the
churchism of his day, of the tithing of
mint, anise and cummin, or Paul’s
teachings touching mere churchism in
his day. The religion of Christ and
the apostles was the religion that must
have not only the shell of profession,
but it must have the kernel of reality
before God. At the Easter season,
through which we have recently
passed, there is much need for care
at this point, profession must means
performance. The religion of the
street corner, and the public place,
must have the counterpart of the se
cret closet, the hour of communion
with God in the study of his word and
prayer.
As the recent Good Friday passed
the thoughts of multitudes went to
the scenes of Calvary, to the death of
Jesus Christ, to the shedding of his
blood. What did that mean? Chiefly
this, in that death and blood-shedding
is the only ground of man’s salvation.
Sin is the trouble of the natural man,
and it is only by the shedding of
blood that sin can be removed?'- By
sin man is In bondage and must have
redemption, and we are plainly taught
in the word that this is only by the
blood. So abandoning the false con
ceptions of salvation through evolu
tion, moral or religious living, man
must come at last to the humiliating
position of letting himself be re
deemed by the great price of the life
of the Son of God, and from slavery
to sin.
Here is the main Issue, and a re
cent writer has in true and beautiful
lines presented the thought in connec
tion with holy communion:
"Savior divine! O evermore Abide
In my cold heart! Redeemer, blessed
Lord!
By all the powers In heaven and earth
adored;
When flowed the near blood from Thy
’ wounded side
By God forsaken and by man denied—
Why was the crimson stream thus free
ly poured.
If man by love was not to be restored?
O! mighty theinel that doth debase my
pride;
And cast contempt on all the things of
earth;
If angels are not faultless in Uis sight.
Os what account are we, who, from our
birth,
Wander afar from heaven, and heaven’s
dear light?
Yet It was not tor them, but us He
died,
And with Ulm all our sins are cruci
fied!"
—Rockwell.
Resolution.
Resolved, to live with all my might
while I do live: Resolved, never to lose
one moment of time, but improve it
In the most profitable way I possibly
can; Resolved, never to do anything
which I should despise or think mean
ly of in another; Resolved, never to do
anything out of revenge; Resolved,
never to do anything which I should
be afraid to do if it were the last hour
of my life.—Jonathan Edwards.
The Path Before You.
The best things are nearest —breath
in your nostrils, light in your eyes,
flowers at your feet, duties at your
hand, the path of God just before you.
Then do not grasp at the stars, but
do life's plain, common work as it
comes, certain that daily duties and
dally bread are the sweetest things
of life.-—Dean Farrar.
will our work be, for it will bear the
ineffaceable impress of it. It remains
for us then to take to heart the words
of a wise thinker who wrote: “Make
thy life better than thy work, that will
add merit to thy work, and momentum
to Its influence and benediction. The
character of the toiler has much to do
with the character and permanence of
the work. ‘Whatsoever thy hand flnd
eth to d'j, do it with thy might.’ ”
God In the Newspaper.
Tue daily press is as full of spiritual
teaching of a kind as the Bible. It does
not preach sermons, ft is true, or tag
on morals to Its news, but the lessons
are so plain that he that runs may
i read. Shining behind the tragic facts
i of multitudes of front page articles one
may read such terrible texts as "What
soever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap;" “He that soweth to the
flesh shall of the flesh reap corrup
tion,” and "The wages of sin is
death.”
God 1b speaking loudly in every
newspaper in the country. The bush
is aflame, yet men pass by unseeing.—
Christian Endeavor World.
HUBBY WAS LEFT GUESSING
And at This Date He Still Is Wonder
ing Just Who Was the Unkissed
Female.
Mr. Brown issued forth from Fair
bank Terrace and wended his way
toward the village inn. An insurance
agent named Dawson was holding
forth.
“Do you know Fairbank Terrace?”
Several nodded assent, and Mr.
Brown became more deeply interested.
“Well, believe me, gents, I’ve kissed
every woman In that terrace except
one.”
Mr. Brown’s face assumed a purple
hue, and hurriedly quaffing his ale he
quitted the barroom. Rushing home,
he burst in at the door.
“Mary,” he shouted, “do you know
that Insurance chap, Dawson?” Mary
nodded assent. “Well,” he continued,
“I’ve just heard him say he’s kissed
every woman in this terrace except
one.”
Mary was silent for a moment, and
then with a look of womanly curios
ity said: 1
“I wonder which one that is?"
Time I* Sometimes Kind.
Father Time is not always a hard
parent, and, though he tarries for
none of his children, often lays his
hand lightly upon those who have
used him well, making them old men
and women Inexorably enough, but
leaving their hearts and spirits young
and in full vigor. With such people
the gray head 1b but the Impression
of the old fellow’s hand in giving
them bls blessing, and every wrinkle
but a notch in the quiet calendar
of a well-spent life. —From Barnaby
Rudge.
How to Acquire More Self Control.
To acquire more self control and
confidence perhaps the best step is to
make yourself face disagreeable tasks
with courage.
Do not be easily routed when you
have determined on a course of action.
Perhaps the most disagreeable thing
one meets in the course of a business
day is the occasion for tactful yielding
what one desires to say to be agree
able to people who do not appeal to us,
to give a pleasant answer when we
are more inclined to give a curt one—
in brief, to act according to the dic
tates of conscience on any and every
occasion.
Generous Reformer.
Miss Augusta De Peyster is a
charming young lady of Knicker
bocker descent w'ho does noble mis
sionary work among New York’s float
ing sailor population.
Miss De Peyster's work is unique in
that she believes in helping the sailor,
no matter how prodigal or dissipated
or nonconforming he may be. She
also believes In a very generous, very
liberal type of charity.
Often her views are expressed In
epigram, as:
“Don’t Beold a reprobate, for men
are like eggs —left in hot water they
harden.”
Or again:
“As long as virtue Is its own re
ward, it Is apt to be spasmodic.”
HER “BEST FRIEND”
A Woman Thus Speaks of Pestum.
We usually consider our best friends
those who treat us best.
Some persons think coffee a real
friend, but watch it carefully awhile
and observe that it is one of the
meanest of all enemies, for it stabs
one while professing friendship.
Coffee contains a poisonous drug—
caffeine —which Injures the delicate
nervous system and frequently sets
up disease in one or more organs of
the body, if Its use is persisted. in.-
“I had heart palpitation and nerv
ousness for four years and the doctor
told me the trouble was caused by
coffee. He advised me to leave it off,
but I thought I could not,” writes a
Wls. lady.
“On the advice of a friend I tried
Postum and it so satisfied me I did not
care for coffee after a few days’ triaij
of Postum.
“As weeks went by and I continued
to use Postum my weight Increased
from 98 to 118 pounds, and the heart
trouble left me. I have used it a year
now and am stronger than I ever was.
I can hustle up stairs without any
heart palpitation, and I am free from
nervousness.
“My children are very fond of Post
um and it agrees with them. My sister
liked it when she drank it at my house;
now she has Postum at home and has
become very fond of it. You may usd
my name if you wish, as I am not
ashamed of praising my best friend —
Postum.” Name given by Pustum Co.,
Battle Creek, Mich.
Postum now comes In new concen
trated form called Instant Postum. It
is regular Postum, so processed at the
factory that only the soluble portions
are retained.
A spoonful of Instant Postum with
hot water, and sugar and eream to
taste, produce Instantly a delicious
beverage.
/ Write for the little book, "The Road
to Well ville.”
“There’s a Reason” for Postum.-*