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About The Gibson record. (Gibson, Ga.) 1891-1954 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1933)
VOL. XXXIX. No. 15 Economic Highlights Happenings that affect the din ner pails, dividend checks and tax bills of every individual. National and international prob lems inseparable from local welfare, as reported by The In dustrial News Review: As is usual at this time of year, business sentiment is somewhat mixed. Reports from various parts of the country point to a change for the better in industrial activity, always an encuraging sign. Financial ob servers seem to be a trifle more optimistic. Even the high per centage of commercial failures impresses many as having a fa vorable side — elimination of weak units in the industrial ma chine is essential to getting it going again at full speed. At the recent retailers’ tion, it was forecast that sales would drop 20 per cent the first quarter of 1933 with improvement in the second quarter. A majority of retail authorities believe that prices are gradually being stabilized. To many, one of the good events of 1932 was a decline in the cost of living of 9.4 per cent. This, too, has its other side— the continued decline is com modity costs is one of the most stubborn influences in prolong ing depression. Another bar rier to industrial rehabilitation is the growing fear of heavier taxation and the possibility of a general sales tax that will fur ther damage purchasing power. The state of the public finances continues to be unhappy, with the deficit hovering around the ,200,000,000 mark. Federal re ceipts are below expectations, due principally to the lost po tency of the income tax. Consumption of electricity, like car loadings and bank clear ings, always plays an important part in the making of business barometers. It is, therefore, cheering to know that since Ju ly sales of power have been con stantly increasing and in greater proportion than the normal sea sonal increase. The December advance marked a greater per centage gain than did the in crease in the same month 1930—a year of extraordinary electric consumption. Latest reports v u majut indus tries show: uuilding—-Improved, with con tracts ahead of same period last year. Lumber — New business con tinues to exceed production, and in southern pine district is 13 per eent ahead of last year. Steel—Fell off after moderate expansion; consensus of opinion looks to improvement in next few months. Gopper—Profitless at present 5c Price; best side is that domes tic consumption leads produc tion. Wool—(Sales close to normal so far this year. Oil—The drop in crude from 63c to 38c a barrel, in the face of proration agreements, and be cause of overproduction, is one of the most discouraging of re cent events. Newsprint — Price-cutting has lead to losses. Shoes, Silk and Automobiles show definite improvement. Employment declined 4 per cent in December, with four out of seventeen major industrial groups marking increase. White collar workers constitute 28 per cent of those out of work. Even slightest change upward in pur chasing power should be imme diately reflected in employment statistics, as stocks of finished goods of all kinds are now at an irreducible minimnm and only demand is needed to make fac- GIBSON RECORD Published to Furnish the People ot Glascock Coun ty a Weekly Newspaper atnd as a Medium for the Advancement of the Public Good of the County. Imperative Need of Georgia Cotton Farmers i>uiiKeis, iJuMue–s men, pi uic^iuiiui men, lUiiiicis, lauoicia, \JL\ja 0 iU A-.Cfciaiat.UiC . Hi«ti oa.ii cars lu near rel non near. 1 UbiUtUj illOJi uiAUVtu OUoAUUA CVCi C^/iiilvmlUifc liAC C.OUOU * «* tUv i ** » l!*»d VCA^r UiUiUCiU, Ulku UlUChh SU1UC“ 1U1U 0 1 * UVUC I'J Gut «-tUlC t.au iNiUioUUi VAO\ Cl tllliCiii i.U.Ulii/l" AAl-cl U*C aiUtOSl dlUiklUfc UollOll nuiiicr Will COlUiilUC lO DC u>e srasc or rue muucj po\.cr ror years to come, uany lanu owjucis comrltuc lo ioac uretr miiumgs, outers ine-luac savings u«u uomes io me mortgagee, tuven our o. s. uovernment is suit lureciosing reat estate mortgages anu in most instances taKing over me acreage, or trausiermg irom one farmer to another rea-iy getting nowhere. i ne National Government should have assumed leadership in discontinuing loreclosures, declaring a two or three year mora torium. Many Insurance Companies have already agreed to such procedure, by so doing this will have a soothing effect and in some measure quell the anarchical feeling that now pervades many sections oi our country. With twenty million people on the bread line and thousands more losing their homes by mort gage foreclosures, thereby daily creating a bigger breadline, of course ciiaotic conditions will continue to reign. Hungry men with responsibility ol the care of wives and children with no work and no promise of a job, brings about unrest, crime and eventually anarchy, unless the Government, of which they are a part, lends a helping hand. Now as to the SERIOUS, DANGEROUS conditions of the Cot ton Farmer it behooves the Georgia Legislature, every business man, professional man, banker, farmer and laborer to contend for and urge a cotton holiday for the year 1933. If this can be had by a gentlemanly agreement, all okay, hut if jt cannot, then lets have it by law. We do not want to take away the constitu tional rights of any farmer, hut we do want to protect the small helpless cotton farmer from the unscrupulous rich farmer. If the Government and bankers forced the small cotton farmer to curtail cotton acreage where they make loans, this will positive ly accomplish nothing for the reason many large farmers who have money to finance their own crop will double their cotton acreage thinking he will cash in on the decreased acreage of the smalt farmer. What the South wants is to REDUCE THE BIG COTTON SURPLUS and it must he done or we as cotton farmers will con tinue in slavery. Yes, slavery is the right word. It’s nothing short ol a terrible tragedy or suicide to produce this year a 15, 000,003 bale crop ot cotton. Let the Georgia Legislature enact a cotton holiday law with provision that it does not become operative unless the other large cotton growing states enact a similar law. Then further let the National Government pm*– the actual DIRT FARMER to purchase the number of bales of cotton he would produce under normal conditions with the money furnished by the Seed Loan, using said cotton as a collateral. HOLD THIS COTTON oil the market lor a year and GROW NO COTTON THIS YEAR and the entire South will he happy and on the road to prosperity. It this plan had become operative a year ago when the cotton farmer, donned in blue overalls, begged for it with all his soul, today the larmers, the hankers and business men w'ould all be wearing a smile instead of a look of despair. Yes, take the thir (teen million bales of cotton we made last year at a heavy loss from the already large surplus and the price of cotton this min ute would he selling for not less than 15c or 20c per pound. Anybody with half sense should know this is true. Then why don’t those in power rescue the drowning cotton farmer when the remedy is at their command? Why permit the filibusters, those “feeches” who thrive on the life blood of the slaving cotton farmer, those enemies and gamb lers who name the price of cotton to argue “it can’t be done by taking away their constitutional rights” and other silly stero typed phrases. Let every red blooded American farmer contin ms to beg, plead and urge those in power for protection from the enemy who would have u s continue making cotton indefinitely much below the actual cost of production for their selfish ends. DON’T WAIT—let’s plead for IMMEDIATE ACTION, for when the cotton crop is planted eight weeks from now it will then he too late. Am I right or am I wrong? J. W. Whiteley. Warrenton, Ga., February 17th, 1933. lories hum. VUuie larm conditions show litue tnaiige, a goou sign is tfiat tue lunuaiuentai supply and de mand situation in regard to wb|at is steadily improving, thus warranting the opinion that price improvement will come in the future. There have been some farm price setbacks, with cat tle and hides holding tenaciously to the upward trend. Foreign demand for cotton has been moderately good. Of national interest is the fact that forced farm sales totaled 9.5 per cent of all the farms in the country during the five years ending March 1, 1932. Tax de linquencies were responsible for 3.5 per cent of these. A rise in prices—probably temporary — recently \ occurred in Bolivia, with but little change in the South American countries. Basic British industries are re ported to be more active. For the first time in 30 years the Nationalist Government in China has succeeded in balancing its GIBSON, GA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1933. Timely Topics Talks^ Mrs. A. R .Shivers County School Superintendents over the State are urging the legislature to make some provis ion, other than has been pro posed by the governor, lor the common schools of Georgia. They are clamoring for a gen eral sales tax; the diversion of lrom allocated funds, and a bill taxing intangible prop el ty. f To be plain, they want it all.' Your columnist has not stinted Oil paper and stamps hi the fight against the sales tax or any oth er, as for that, and in endeavor ing to show legislators that schools, teachers and their up keep is far beyond the service we are getting! 1 did not have to go out of my own county to find an example. When the U. S. Senate “fired” I Sergeaiit-at-Arins, Mr. D. S. Bar ry for saying Congressmen ac cept bribes, it was the worst thing Senators could do—for we are'believing now that it is true. Barry sure can’t be handled for “misprision . of treason.” I would be a traitor to my country if I should seal my mouth against disloyalty in high places. 1 often .wonder what will be the cqnsequencels when the itop is off, and the filthy doings of men are exposed! The Scriptures say “there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” We-read the opinions of peo [ pie on repeal of the 18th amend iment. Some are silly of course, but I notice with peculiar inter jest the ones who favor present Conditions. Some one remarked recently that the sheriffs and lawyers were getting more out of the liquor business than the one that makes it. Well, the “middle men,” whoever and wherever they are, have always done that! If one have an inventive mind; a bright idea; a good in tention; an optimistic view, there is always some one of evil designs, right ready to “snatch” them away. We may well say, “He who steals my purse, steals trash.” But Whitney had his invention stolen, but when one steals another’s thoughts, they are at once detected, and are goats in the sheep-fold! There were not enough mem bers in the House Friday to make up a quorum, and the Speaker said he would have to wait another week and see if budget. Rumania showed a large favorable foreign trade bal ance for the first nine months of x932. Canadian business con tinues low. {Smilin' Chariie Saw * (I -J w i ^ , ✓ \ *4 •Many 4 man’? pr ide has bein' Kept afle him f afford from a little pride! * Dnm’I Always Work A woman doctor says that a child should be made to face reality. But It would be very annoying for mother If she had to remove her make-up ev ery time she kissed the tittle one good night.—London Humorist. attendance improved. Whose business is it if the members of Georgia’s legislature stay away from its sessions and continue to draw their per diem? It is everybody’s business! Whose business is it when the schools persist in keeping “sap heads” as teachers, and you pass the school building at any hour of the day, and the chil t|ren—some standing in the windows, some playing ball, and others in silly conversation with the teacher? It is your business, Mr. 'lax Bayer! If you sleep much longer, there will be no need to wake up; lor the thing will be done! We are to have a bill to pro hibit banks from breaking “over night;” a hill lo amend the bank rupt law, prohibiting bankrupt cy to avoid payment of debts. We need these in Georgia right now! How would you like to never be allowed to read your newspa per or Bible, but always have some read to you, and only such portions as the readei wished to read? We don’t need and “spir itual leaders” and priests in Georgia and in Warren county. Better get your eyes open! And see and read for yourself! (Continued on last page) SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 PER YEAR CAN THERE POSSIBLY BE ANYTHING IN THESE STATEMENTS? While we do not agree with or endorse all their conclusions we have noticed recently articles relative to the educational sys tem of America published in The Saturday Evening Post 1,written by Edwin Lefevre) and in The American Mercury (written by H. L. Mencken) and are reproducing below parts of both articles because there is food for thought in them for the average citizen in these troublous times and we pass them on for the considera tion of all who read them: By Edwin Lefevre in The Saturday Evening Post: “We all clamor for reduced governmental expenses, but where is the voter who will take the trouble to fight politicians? “Legislatures look for sugar-coated, revenue-raising bills. “In New York state, the average teacher’s yearly salary is equal to the annual profit of ten farms. “The cost of education has been increased twenty-two times since 1890. “The present educational system could be made not only less expensive hut MORE USEFUL to the nation. Boards of educa tion cannot conceive of improvements in any direction that do not entail still greater expenditures. “The obligations of American public-school teachers toward the nation have been ignored by many of them and by the legis lators in all the agitation for reduction of salaries. The accept ance of pay cuts is to be rewurded by applause! There is some thing wrong with an educational system when the most striking result of the expenditure of stupendous sums on it is that today it is hard to Had anywhere in the United States first-class carpen ters or first-class masons or first-class cabinet-makers under for ty years of age who are American born. A white-collared Amer ica has educated itself out of first-class mechanics and crafts men. We turn out college graduates—dentists and doctors, law yers and clerks, bond salesmen and advertising experts—far in excess of any possible demand. The American white collar is the most expensive article of wearing apparel in the history of humanity.” By H. L. Mencken in The American Mercury: “in 1880 education look $5.'iA) per clmd per annum ... in 1914 $21.04, lour limes us mueii nut slut wiiiun tne means ol a rieu anu gallant people . . . nut in 1933 tfiey are matting ott wna donut'tiling like $100. t uk mrny tusw o*a\y, proteeuus. cost only oue-ioutttt as inucn. "in no other held oi government nave expenditures leaped iorwaru at any sucit rate. "me putme scuoois nave gone on a joy ride. "Tnere is, inueed, very lime eviuence, that they have actually earned the money tney have demanded and got. “if their lunuamenlai aim is to provide the country with an enlightened electorate, iney have failed completely and misera bly. “On the contrary, there is plausible reason tor believing that it has gone backward in intelligence, for it handles its business, not with increasing prudence, but with increasing imbecility. “'ilie American people of a hundred years ago, when public schools were still lew and meagre, might have been described plausibly as notably political-minded, hut today they are so lethargic that it takes a calamity to rouse them, at all, and so stu pid that it becomes more nearly impossible every year for intelli gent und self-respecting men to aspire for public office among them. i “The public school has been largely “In all ages the pedagogues have been the bitterest enemies of all genuine intellectual enterprise. “More than any other class of blind leaders of the blind they are responsible for the degradation and standardization which now afflicts American people. “So long as the public schools confined themselves to teaching the three R’s there was little chance for them to do any serious damage . . . “Each swarms with experts to harrass and terrorize the ma’ams, and super-experts to inspire and inflame the experts. And out ot each is vomited the standard product of the New Pedagogy—an endless procession of adolescents who have been taught everything save that which is true, and outfitted with ev ery trick save those that are sociably useful. “Let any rasli fellow challenge it (their racket) and he is de nounced at once as an enemy to the true, the good and the beau tiful. “It has deluded the great majority of Americans into believ ing the superstition that if the public schools were shut down the country would at once go to pot. “It becomes an insult to remind them that their main business is tsill to teach the children reading, writing and arithmetic. “The child is now a guinea pig in a low comedy laboratory, and there is no end to the indignities it must endure. “Let them heave out their bogus experts, and return to the three R’s and their days will be longer in the land which the Lord their God has given them. “The public is under no more obligation to provide for the teaching of everything to everyone than it is to furnish everyone with forty acres and a mule. “The notion that they (the teachers) have done and are doing any ponderable good is mainly a delusion. What they have act ually done is a lot of harm. They are responsible, more than any other agency, for the present pathetic hopelessness of the American people. The United States has been going down hill since the pedagogues grabbed their first hHlion. “The newspapers are all with them. Any publicist bold enough to flout them would be posted distantly as an agent of the Pope, if not, indeed, of Belzebub. “They are being hoisted by their own petard, hexed by their own magic, drowned in their own juices.”
