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Land Grabbers and Tax
Dodgers.
This nation is fast 'becoming the home of
the large landowner, who is always the worst
tax-dodger to be found anywhere.
There was a time when the small farmer,
who used to be a land renter, could buy him
a small tract of land, some implements, a mule,
and donate a few dollars to the guano trust,
and start a farm and a home of his own.
The infamous policy of the Federal Re¬
serve System in destroying our money was a
scheme hatched by big land owners, who are
in close touch with the big 'bankers, _who are
Ihe local agents of Wall Street thieves. The
local land hog wanted more dirt; the small
land owner owed the local bank a mortgage,
and his only chance to pay was to produce
enough on his land, and when production fell
short everywhere, the little fellow was at the
mercy of his creditor, the local bank. The lo¬
cal hank could not get money without consult¬
ing W. F. G. Harding. Harding and his sys¬
tem, to carry out the scheme, deflated every¬
thing, destroyed millions of your money with¬
out lawful authority, and the word was passed
down the line, beginning in Wall Street, to
cut short the money of the little banks and
force them to foreclose all mortgages.
This order had to be obeyed, and when the
mortgage was foreclosed, and the land sold at
public outcry, the .small home owuer saw his
little piece of dirt fall into the greedy hands of
the Big Land Grabber of the community.
You can see for yourself that W. P. G.
Harding is one of the worst men that ever
lived.
You have read enough of the speeches and
writings of Senators Watson and Heflin t<
i have learned that the Federal Reserve Systen
jis the worst curse ever put upon any people oi
this earth.
j , The system is controlled by Wall Street
money kings, who have no soul, no conscience,
and they are the money changers of this nation.
During deflation, the people, especially the
little fellow, lost their earnings and their ac
cumulated properties.
Where did these losses go and who were
the beneficiaries?
The High-ups, of course.
Therefore, the Federal Reserve System
is, as everybody should know, an instrument
with which the Big Rich rob and oppress the
under dog. i.
L ♦
There are few small home owners in this
country today; they lvave lost their homes, and
were thrown out, to face, and to feel, the suf¬
fering inflicted upon them by organized
wealth.
It is a dangerous condition for any nation
when the small home-owner returns to the
class called “tenants.”
When a man owns his home he has a pride
in public institutions and in his government;
but the poverty-stricken tenant has no interest
in public institutions, and it is not hard to
understand why he feels as he does; lie is a
victim of class oppression!
Some day, I will tell you about the Single
Tax, and try to show the reason why it is a
sound doctrine; but for the present, I will re
cite the conditions confronting the British Em¬
pire, when the land-grabbers and tax-dodgers
hogged up all the land in England, and T will
show how this condition was destroyed, the big
estates sub-divided, and the tenants given an
opportunity to own their homes, and the im¬
proved conditions following this change.
The Empire is never happy unless Eug
land is prosperous, and when the aristocraie
land-owners, who owned millions of acres in
single tracts, attempted to establish penal ser¬
vitude, in other words peonage, and reduce
their tenants to pauperism, the tenants quit
producing. The aristocrats controlled the
House of Lords, and, in those days, the House
of Lords bossed everything, and when the big
land-hogs appealed to the House of Lords for
.assistance in the way of reducing taxes, the
request was granted.
They paid little taxes then, and the High
ups and the Lords generally got together and
agreed on a policy of relief, and they virtually
exempted the land owners from all taxes.
A little Welshman came out of the back
woods with a head filled with sense and a
heart that beat in sympathy for the under¬
dog, and decided that he would become a poli¬
tician, and in those days, a politician was a
pretty respectable man. This politician an
nounced a creed, which amazed the ruling class
of the British Empire. His creed was this:
that each man be allowed so many acres, and
above that stipulated amount, the government
(Continued on Page Two.)
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Price $2.00 Per Year
AS IT IS, AND AS IT MAY BE.
By Thos. E. Watson.
I was very tired, for the work I had been
doing was hard; and now that the room grew
warm and the long task was finished, I fell
asleep.
No one in the house had been awake but
me, while I had for many hours gone over the
dreary record of the poor, the patient poor,
the suffering poor,—God's unprovided poor.
The hours had stolen by, like slippered monks,,
and it was far into the night when the heavi¬
ness fe)l upon my eyes, and I was asleep.
Many a whirling fiction passed through my
heated fancy before there was order in my
Dream, hut after a while all was clear—cruelly
shockingly clear.
A universe unfolded, spreading out, like a
map." Every grade and class and condition of
human life was there before me, at once—wit,;
■no mist before my eyes and no distance to con¬
fuse the outline.
What I saw was this: A magnificent world
of land and sea; of river and lake and forest
and fertile fields, mountains seamed with hid¬
den wealth; valleys rich with grain.
To this world its Maker had given the
name of “A home for the human family.”
But the human family had grown very
large. Its footprints were thick upon every
stretch of hard ground, and its vessels moved
upon all the waters of all the seas.
But the earth was no longer a family
home, and men were no longer brothers. With
furious enmity, they hated each other. They
worshipped God, but none of them regarded
His law. They cried Peace, and loosed the
war dogs. They rose from prayer, and went
to rifle-practice.
Churches flourished—so did crime. Schools
flourished—-so did ignorance. Charities flour¬
ished—and paupers died in the streets. I won¬
dered what it all meant.
There was land enough for all. They said
that Go,d had made it for all. But the few had
taken, possession of it, and the many had no
homes. There was food enough for all; hut
the few had seized it, and the many had not
enough to eat.
I tried to discover how the human family
kept itself alive. I found it was by Work.
There were many kinds of work. Some
labored to produce food: some labored to pro¬
duce clothing. Some labored to make houses,
others to make deadly weapons, only. Some
labored to teach the people the laws of God;
others to expound and enforce the laws which
men had made for themselves. Others still la¬
bored (or pretended to labor) to make just
laws, by which God’s will should be dome hrthe
affairs of men. *
In my dream, I saw clearly a most, singu¬
lar thing—those whose work was most impor¬
tant to the world, were paid less for their la¬
bor than anybody else.. Those who merely
amused the world got higher wages than those
who fed and clothed it. Those who played and
danced, got higher pay than the man who built
the house thfcy played and danced in. Those
who labored to amuse the idle, drew entfrmous
salaries and r ore the pets of the powerful;
while Close who kept the powerful clothed and
fed, lacked food and clothing for themselves.
In my dream, the cause of this cruel state
of things became clearer. Those who had made
the lay- had' so cunningly done it, that the
strong man was master of the weak. The
strong man became the ruler, and out of the
GROVER C. EDMONDSON RETURNS TO SENTINEL STAFF.
After an absence of several months, Grover C. Edmondson again becomes a member of
The Sentinel Force.
With,this issue, Mr. Edmondson presents in his forceful manner the veiws and opin¬
ions which he learned to express under our late Chief.
It was currently reported at one time that “strained relations” existed- between the
Chief and Mr. Edmondson, when the latter resigned to take a more lucrative position on
“The Flying Prohibition Squadron.”
As said “flying” consisted of spending the week on the ocean, chasing “flying boot¬
leggers’ squadron,” it didn’t appeal to'Mr. Edmondson very strongly, after he had
“gone down to sea” in various sorts of boats. -> *
When be wrote a letter to Senator Watson under date of August 24, 1922 (just a
month before his death), the Senator replied in part:
“My Dear Grover: I hope yon are doing well, and will get a position that suits you
better. Very truly yours,
T. E. W.” .
Frequently the Senator had referred to Mr. Edmondson as the one young man who had
ever worked with him and absorbed his ideas.
So—The Sentinel will continue to express the opinions of our late Chief, through the
medium of Mr. Edmondson. •» .
Alice Louise Lytle.
Thomson, Georgia, Monday, l\lov. 20, 1922 .
weak man’s own produce,’ gave him whatever
he chose. This made the strong man stronger,
and the weak man weaker.
■ I thought I heard a great heart-breaking
go up from those poor producers of wealth
but their task-masters heard it not—so deaf
are they who will not hear.
1 thought that, now and then, these work¬
ers and producers grew furious against their
oppressors, and rose in revolt. But they were
put down again—some shot and some impris¬
oned.
I thought that, now and then, Leaders
spiting up among those suffering people and
promised to go to the Great House of Council,
where the laws were made, and to change these
bad laws into good ones. But either, such Lead¬
ers were too few, or the strong men would take
those Leaders aside into some safe and secret
place, and, by some unknown charms and per¬
suasions, entice those Leaders into forgetful¬
ness of the miseries of the People.
So passed the first day of my dream—the
Dream of Today— of the world as it is. /
T Like a vanishing . landscape, . . T I saw the .. great
Palaces of the Rich, and the wretched huts of
the poor; the fine raiment of the one, and the
rags of the other; the well-spread tables of the
one and the cold hearth and empty dish of the
other. The factories went whirling into space
—but through the windows I could see the pale,
thin features of the children who toiled there,
The mine opened one brief moment, and I
could see the pitiful serf of the Coal King.
The garret sped by, and it made the tears
come, to see the shivering needle-woman sew¬
ing there. The streets swam by with their
squalor, their hunger, their ceaseless vice and
crime and suffering—and Christianity spoke
in these streets through the mouths of the Po¬
liceman, and what she said to the ragged out¬
cast was: “ Move on”; what she said to the
starving child was, “Move on ”
And it strangely got. into my Dream, some
how, that, the cause of all the sorrow was that
ffoe Order of the world was a mistake —a dread
ful misunderstanding. The unnatural had be
come the rule. A feverish haste had taken pos¬
session of mankind; and the race was madh
run for things which men really did not need.
One man rushed because another rushed,
cheated because others cheated, hoarded be¬
cause others hoarded— was cruel because he
thought the Same measure would be meted out
to him, were situations reversed.
But the troubled nightmare passed, and I
fell into the Dream of Tomorrow—a gorgeous
Dream, a Spirit-lifting Dream—of the world
as it may he. I seemed to look upon the same
world, but it was filled with harmony, and
bathed in light.
The great rush and worry had passed
away. The fever and the pain were gone. Tin
vast machinery of production moved like the
stars, “never resting, hut never hasting ”
There was room for all, and food for all. The
Earth was dedicated anew as a Home for God’s
Children—its products their food. Religion
hurst out from the cold churches, and abode in
the lives of men—that high Religion which
loves mercy, does good and seeks the Right.
Law was no longer frittered away among
wrangling advocates and stupid Judges; She
took her broad principles into the walks of life,
(Continued on Page Two.)
Issued Weekly
Notes and Comments on
Georgia Affairs.
The Legislature and Governor elected in
the last election, are committed to repealing
the so-called equalization law and to providing
free books for the schools of tin's State- Those
were the two outstanding features of the cam¬
paign, made so on account of Gov. Hardwick’s
indifference about both, when he used them, as
arguments, why he should be made Governor,
Governor-elect Walker, in his speech of
Acceptance, said that his administration,---am1
that term includes the Legislature,.....-was “sa
credly committed’’ to the above propositions,
The State of Georgia has neglected her
children for nearly fifty years, since the i
fication of the present Constitution, in 1877.
This Constitution distinctly provides free
books for the common schools, free training in
the elementary branches of an English educa¬
tion. When General Toombs, Charles J. Jen¬
kins, Judge Hansell, and other good Georgians,
wrote the Constitution under which we live;
they took it for granted that the succeeding
Legislatures would be willing to write enforce¬
ment laws for each of the provisions in the
Constitution, but the Legislature has been, for
tHis half century, indifferent, about frtec books
for the common schools.
The people of Georgia pay taxes to the
Federal Government and the Government uses
this money to furnish free books to the whites
and blacks of the District of Columbia. What
,do you think of such statesmanship and leader
sliip—taxing you to furnish free books to the
negroes time of Washington City, and at the same
denying your own flesh and blood the
same benefits?
For forty years, Thos. E. Watson, the la¬
mented statesman who passed away in Wash¬
ington, a few weeks ago, after making a brave
fight in behalf of democratic principles, fought
for free hooks here in Georgia; he urged it in
speeches and editorials and in personal letters
to Legislators; but the School Book Trust of
Michigan, in which the corrupt Newberry is a
controlling stockholder, lias been strong enough
here in Georgia, to defeat free books, bv pick
mg up weaklings and.electing them to the Leg
islature, w lie re they worked for the Trust and
drew salaries for their work,
As a member of the Legislature, in 1913, I
exposed one of their hirelings.
Now is the time for yon, the people, to
confer with your Representatives and Senators
from your home Counties, and urge them, in
the name of a square deal for the children of
the State, the seed corn of the future, to see
that this next Legislature provides free books
for the common schools, at least.
We come next to the Equalization law; it
is a fraud and humbug, and equalizes nothing
except the salaries of the equalizers. It was
passed by resorting to fraud; it went upon the
statute hooks; the child of a fraudulent deal
made ’by the Governor of the State, and this
Governor has been able to handle his successors
and prevent them from repealing this iniqui¬
tous and dangerous and fraudulent tax law.
Gov. Hardwick was defeated for not re¬
pealing it; and this should be a warning to
others.
We have great faith in the new crowd, but
this faith can, and will he destroyed, if the
next/administration follows the footsteps of
Governor Hardwick and yields to the demands
of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
This law lias oppressed the people of our
State in thousands of instances; it has ruined
many a home and many a farmer; it has put
the Big Rich in the saddle, while the poor have
grown poorer.
The law furnishes every known avenue for
corruption; the local equalizers virtually elect
themselves and re-appoint themselves; and it
seems that the rich city folks have been well
provided for in the decisions rendered by some
of these misnamed equalizers.
It is time to repeal this law, and yon, the
people, owe it to your own repealing family, to speak to
your legislators about the present
tax law..
Governor Hardwick announced, a few days
ago, that the present County Unit system is to
be abolished. Who will abolish it! Governor
Hardwick cannot, and if his successor abolishes
it, it will turn the Country Counties against
him in his next race.
The Watson folks have defended this svs
tem for many years, and they defeated Hoke
Smith, in his second race for Governor, because
he threatened to tamper with the County Unit
system. Hardwick
It seems that Gov. and ex-Sena
tor Hoke Smith have formed a combination to
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