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The Camilla
VOLUME XXIV.
Bill WIN BE INlRODUCfl) TO ABOUSH COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED ACT IS SAID TO HAVE SUPPORT
OF BOTH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THIS
COUNTY IN THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
New Bill Provides for Three Members of Board
From Three Separate Districts But Who Will
Be Voted On By the Entire County. Act
& To Cure “Log Rolling” System.
A bill abolishing the present board of Commissioners of Roads
and Revenues of Mitchell County and providing for the redistrict
%
rrg of the county into three districts and for the election of one
commissioner from each of said districts in a special election in
which all of the voters of the county will vote on all of the commis¬
sioners, will be introduced at the present session of the legisla¬
ture, according to information received by The Enterprise Wed¬
nesday night in a conversation over the telephone with Dr. J. M.
Spence, one of the representatives from Mitchell County, who is
now in Atlanta.
The news of the proposed change in the County Board and in
the manner of electing the members thereof, “broke” here when
a notice of local legislation was sent to this paper for publicity.
It is understood that the proposed bill will have the support
of both of Mitchell county’s representatives who are acting in res¬
ponse to a rapidly growing public sentiment in this county to do
away with the present system of electing commissioners by dis¬
tricts and the “log rolling” tactics the members of the board are
forced to adopt in order to secure for their respective districts a
fair share of the county improvements, which results in a wasteful
expenditure of public funds and an ever increasing burden on the
taxpayers of the county. It is argued for the new bill that the
cutting of the membership of the board to three members will
serve to concentrate responsibility for the proper management of
the county’s affairs, and the provision that these members be
nominated and elected by all of the voters of the county will make
each member responsible to all of the people for his acts and will
make him in fact and in truth a county commissioner, and not a
representative of a small district of the county and interested in
securing the maximum of improvements for his own district and
disregarding, largely, the needs of the other districts.
The Enterprise does not under¬
stand, however, that this new biii is
intended in any way as a reflection
upon the present members of the
board of County Commissioners, or
that they are being singled out for
condemnation for inefficient practices
which have grown up under a law
they are not responsible for. On the !
other hand those who have sponsored 1
the new bill and who have brought'
pressure tShear upon our represen
tatives to secure its passage have
contended that its adoption should be
followed by a wide open election in
which any citizen may become a can
didate for membership on the board
and which will give the old members
the to enter same the right contest. as any The other reduction citizen j j
of the membership of the board to!
three that three members members will mean, of the of present course,j I
board will be eliminated, but they
will "have the opportunity of putting
it up to the voters of the county to
say which three are to be eliminated.
The three districts provided for in
^the bill will be composed as follows:
District No. 1.—Camilla, Eleventh
and Twelfth districts.
District No. 2.—^Pelham, Cotton and
Hinsonton districts.
District No. 3.—Sale City, Pebble
City, Baconton and Raiford districts.
The bill provides that no person
shall be eligible as a candidate for
commissioner unless he resides with¬
in the district he seeks to represent
and in case there are two or more can- i
didates from any one district the can¬
didate receiving the highest number
of vote# from the county at large
shall be declared to be elected from
that district.
The bill further provides that With¬
in ten days after the passage of the
act it shall be the duty of the Ordi¬
nary to call a special election to be
held not later than October 1, 1925, in
which three commissioners will be
elected to succeed the present board.
Or. Spence stated to the writer
Wednesday night that he had been
besieged by hundreds of voters from
all parts of the county, farmers, busi¬
ness and professional men, asking
him to do something to change the
present system of electing county
commissioners and especially so that
they will be elected by the voters all
over the county. The demand for
a change. Dr. Spence stated, comes
from people who are convinced that
if the present system is continued
the county will become involved
in serious financial difficulties and
that the tax burdens of the people
will be increased to the point where
they can not bear them. The pur¬
pose of the bill Dr. Spence stated, is
to reduce the personel of the board
to a point where efficient management
can be secured and to make these
members responsible to the entire
county; to do away with the compe
tition between districts of the county
for road and other improvements,
which is the source of constant dis
satisfaction and litigation, besides en
tailing a waste of public funds, every
dollar of which has been raised with
the greatest difficulty by the patient
and long-suffering taxpayers of the
county, many of whom have been sore
]y neglected under'the present system
of distributing county improvements.
This bill, the representative pointed
out, will give the people of the county
an opportunity to correct the situa¬
tion themselves, which is in accord¬
ance with democratic government and
against which no just complaint can
be made by any one.
While the announcement that the
present board of commissioners is to
be abolished will come as a surprise
to many people, something like the
present move has been talked in the
county for several years and to those
who watch the trend of public senti¬
ment, some move to correct the pres¬
en * unsatisfactory system has been
expected. This bill will, no doubt,
fail to meet the approval of some
in tlie county, for it is known
that more radical and drastic changes
than this measure provides have
been suggested, while others would
have followed a more conservative
course, but the bill, apparently, con¬
tains all the elements of fairness and
justice to the entire county and is
not in conflict with the spirit of dem¬
ocratic government.
Other South Georgia counties are
taking similar action to that proposed
in the Mitchell county bill. The deve¬
lopment of the public road system of
Georgia and the heavy expenditures
of public funds required for this work
has enormously increased the respon¬
sibility of those who manage the fi¬
nancial affairs of the county and
nothing less than the very best busi-
CAMILLA, GA., FRIDA Y, JULY 17,
First Open Cotton
Is Reported Here
From a good many quarters we
hear reports of open cotton, but Mr.
Bennett Butler brought the first open
boll to The Enterprise office Monday.
He expects to have a good deal of cot¬
ton open in a few days. Mr. Ashley
Bush has what is said to be the oldest
field of cotton in the county and we
are informed that he has had open
cotton for the past ten days. The
report was current here this week
that a negro near Camilla—we were
unable to learn his name—is expect¬
ing to have a bale out next week. A
spell of hot, dry weather would start
the crop to opening rapidly.
SALE CITY CAMP
MEETING BEGINS
OPENING SERVICE THURSDAY
NIGHT. REV. BUD ROBINSON
DOING THE PREACHING.
The annual Sale City Camp Meet'
ing opened Thursday night with Rev.
Bud Robinson, the famous Western
evangelist, preaching. The fame of
Rev. Mr. Robinson as a preacher cou¬
pled with the fact that hundreds of
people in this section heard him sev¬
eral years ago when he attended the
Sale City meeting, were expected to
draw a large audience to the opening
service and to augment the attend¬
ance at each succeeding service until
the close of the meeting on the night
of Sunday, July 26th. Rev. Mr. Rob
inson is a wonderful preacher and his
ministry has been attended with re¬
markable success in all parts of this
country. Those who heard him on
his previous visit to Sale City will be
anxious to hear him again and those
who failed to hear him before will
not miss this opportunity.
Rev. W. W. McCord, president of
the Sale City Camp Meeting Associa¬
tion, has been in the far west for
several months conducting meetings.
He closed his last meeting several
days ago and started at once for
home. He was expected to arrive in
Sale City before the meeting opened.
Every preparation has been made for
a successful meeting. A number of
workers will assist in the services, in
eluding song leaders and musicians.
All who like to sing are invited to
join the big choir and attend the ser¬
vices regularly.
An interesting feature of this meet
ing which will no doubt attract hun¬
dreds of people will be the services of
Divine healing of the afflicted which
will be held each day. An invitation
has been extended by Rev. Mr. Mc¬
Cord to bring the sick, blind, lame,
halt, paralyzed, dumb and people suf¬
fering from all kinds of afflictions to
these services to be healed. Rev. Mr.
McCord has been conducting services
of this character for several years and
it is reported that many remarkable
cures have been effected through his
ministry.
Fine Field of Cotton
On the Acree Farm
Messrs. T. A. Acree and J. D. Whit¬
ing are getting credit for the finest
field of cotton in this whole section
of the state. The field is located on
the Dixie Highway, just north of Ca¬
milla, and everybody who passes it
pronounces it to be the best cotton
seen anywhere. The cotton is plant¬
ed thick in the drill, with rows wide
apart, but it is now locked solidly ov¬
er the entire field and is loaded with
fruit. Experienced cotton farmers
predict that this particular field will
make considerably over a bale of cot¬
ton to an acre. Messrs. Acree and
Whiting plant around 300 acres in cot¬
ton every year and it is thoir ambi¬
tion to make an average of a bale to
the acre on the entire farm. -The
present prospects are that this year
they will not miss this mark very far.
Mr. R. S. Hutcheson, of Sylvester,
was in the city Friday.
ness system and the best business
brains obtainable to carry out the sys¬
tem is required in order that the
terest of the taxpayers may be safe
guarded.
COMMISSIONERS IN
REGULAR SESSION
RESOLUTION ADOPTED OFFER¬
ING COUNTY AID TO ANY
TOWN IN COUNTY.
The regular monthly meeting of the
Board of County Commissioners of
Roads and Revenues of Mitchell Coun¬
ty was held here Tuesday with a full
board present.
Several citizens appeared before
the board to ask for refunds on taxes
in cases where errors occurred in mak¬
ing returns. These matters were ad¬
justed according to the usual policy
of the board. In this connection the
question was raised as to what would
be the policy of the board in reconvey¬
ing lands, bought in by the county
at tax sales and to which the county
has acquired title by holding same
for twelve months. It was decided
that the county would exact the pay¬
ment of the amount involved, plus all
costs and interest and an additional
penalty of twenty-five per cent to
take care of attorney’s fees.
Mr. White, of Cotton, appeared be¬
fore the board and asked that he be
paid in cash for right-of-way and
damages to his property incurred by
the crossing of his land by the new
Cotton-Pelham public road, in lieu of
certain work the county had agreed
to do. His claim against the county
amounted to about $600. Commis¬
sioners Jones, Wilkies, and Harrell
and Superintendent A. A. Maples
were appointed on a committee to go
into this matter and make settle¬
ment.
A lengthy discussion was indulged
in by the members of the board as to
whether the next paving project
should begin at the Dougherty county
line or at the north end of the pres¬
ent paving, near Camilla. Commis¬
sioner Miller contended that under an
agreement made with him and re¬
corded in a resolution adopted two
months ago, and which resolution was
rescinded at a called meeting of the
board last Tuesday, the commissioners
were under obligation to his district
to start the paving at the Dougherty
county line and insisted that this ar¬
rangement be carried out. The other
members of the board took the same
position they did at the meeting last
week, which was that in view of the
demand by the State Highway Depart¬
ment that the county put up $15,000
additional to make up for the excess
cost of the paving over the two miles
of gravel road at Baconton it would
not be to the best interest of the
county to start the paving at the
Dougherty county line.
The following resolution, in regard
to the county’s participating in road
and street paving within the limits
of incorporated towns, was adopted:
“Resolved that this Board go on
record as being in sympathy with and
favorable to paving in any munici¬
pality in the county, in co-operation
with said municipalities, upon the
same basis and under the same condi¬
tions so far as expenditure of county
funds is concerned, as paving was
’done in Camilla and Pelham, where
said-muniaipalities will raise suffi¬
cient funds by taxation and assess¬
ment against abutting property own¬
ers or otherwise, to pave, curb and
gutter the full width of any street so
to be paved, provided, however, that
the cost to the county shall in no
event exceed one-third of the cost of
any such paving (exclusive of the' cost
of guttering, curbing and draining)
on any such highway or street; and
provided further that the cost to the
county shall not include cost of drain¬
age, guttering or curbing; and provid¬
ed further that the cost to the county
shall ih no event exceed the cost of
a strip of paving not exceeding eigh¬
teen feet in width; and provided fur¬
ther that this aid by the county shall
in no case be extended to any' such
municipalities except upon a street
or streets forming a part or portion
of a public road of this county. The.
purpose of this resolution is to en¬
courage the building of permanent
paved roads in said county.”
Miss Ella Foy, County Home Econo¬
mics Agent, appeared before the board
and asked for. a contribution of $50.00
to cover the cost of equipment needed
in the club work m some of the rural
Two White Convicts
Escape From Gang
George Swain and Stanley Ayler,
white convicts serving life sen¬
tences on the Mitchell county chain
gang, escaped Tuesday night and had
not been loeated by the officers at
last accounts. Both men were trus¬
ties and had good records at the lo¬
cal camp, one of them being employed
on the yard anil the other on the farm.
Being trusties the guards did not keep
a very close watch on them and they
were enabled to slip off and were gone
for an hour or two before suspicion
was aroused.
GREAT CROWD AT
TOBACCO JUBILEE
PELHAM CELEBRATES OPENING
OF TOBACCO SEASON WITH
BIG BARBECUE.
As The Enterprise goes to press
(Thursday at noon) our sister city
of Pelham is entertaining a great
crowd that gathered there from
Mitchell and adjoining counties to at¬
tend the mammoth barbecue and to¬
bacco jubilee arranged by the citi¬
zens of that enterprising city as a
fitting opening of the tobacco season
and the new warehouse at Pelham.
Preparations were made for enter¬
taining' 10,000 people and reports
reaching this paper at the press hour
indicated that the attendance would
not miss the anticipated figure very
far.
Besides a big barbecue dinner,
cooked with utmost care and served
by a' hundred or more of Pelham’s
fairest young ladies, an interesting
program of speeches and sporting
events was arranged that kept the
crowd entertained from the time of
arrival to departure. Chief among
the orators on the program was Mr.
Eugene R. Black, president of the
Atlanta Trust Company, a business
man and. financial expert of state¬
wide renown and who has recently
been promiently mentioned as a candi¬
date for governor, provided he can be
drafted into the service of the state.
He is not a politician, however, and
is stoutly resisting all efforts to get
him into politics and his visit to Pel¬
ham had no connection with this ef¬
fort. As the head of a large banking
institution which has large interests
in this and other counties in South
Georgia, Mr. Black is in close touch
with the agricultural situation and is
very much interested in the tobacco
industry. His speech was devoted al¬
most entirely to a discussion of farm
problems and the possibility of the
future development in this section.
Other speakers of note from this and,
other South Georgia counties were-fm
the program* the principal theme
touched on by each being the possi¬
bilities of the tobacco industry and
the opportunity this section has for
a quick return to prosperity with the
addition of this important crop to our
already large variety of money crops.
A big baseball game in’ the after¬
noon was a feature in which all the
fans of this section were interested
and which was scheduled to close the
day’s festivities.
Pelham did herself proud in the ex¬
cellent manner in which this magni¬
ficent event was planned and carried
through and all who attended the jub¬
ilee were impressed with the cordial¬
ity and good fellowship that was ev¬
erywhere in evidence.
Hearing On Paving
Injunction Saturday
The hearing on the Pelham paving
injunction will probably be had Sat¬
urday in Bainbridge before Judge W.
V. Custer, according to information
received in Camilla. Judge Custer
has been out of the circuit for several
days and it is understood that he has
notified attorneys that he will return
to Bainbridge Friday and all post¬
poned hearings will be heard Satur¬
day.
communities. The board expressed
sympathy for this work but held that
the Board of Education should take
care of the expense connected with it
NUMBER 14.
COUNTY SCHOOL
MEETING MONDAY
COUNTY TRUSTEES WILL MEET
WITH COUNTY BOARD OF
EDUCATION.
On next Monday, July 20th, there
will be held at the court house in Ca¬
milla, a joint meeting of the County
Board of Education, the City Boards
of Education, and the various Boards
of Trustees of the schools of the
county. Anyone else who is inter¬
ested in the educational development
of the county is invited to be present
at this meeting.
The purpose of the meeting /s to
discuss plans for the future develop¬
ment of our county school system and
ways and means of improving the sys¬
tem that we now have.
Give this matter some earnest
thought. Then come to the meeting
and let us have the benefit of this
thought. There are many ways in
which our system should be improved. t
But when we make a change we want
to adopt the best plan possible. Think
it over, then come and we will all talk
it over.
J. R. SLOAN,
1 . County Superintendent
of Schools.
The above call for a joint meeting
of the school officials of the county,
as well as all citizens who are inter¬
ested in improving the educational
system of the county, is issued by Sup¬
erintendent Sloan in pursuance of an
agreement reached by the Board of
Education at the regular May meet¬
ing. At that time the question arose
as to the advisability of further con¬
solidation of the schools of the coun¬
ty, with the purpose of obtaining
greater economy in operation and at
the same time increasing the efficiency
of the schools. The members of the
County Board of Education were
agreed that there is much room for
improvement in our present school
system, especially in the country dis¬
tricts, but they were all disinclined to
order any radical change in the pres¬
ent system without the advice and
consent of the officials and patrons of
the schools concerned. It was point¬
ed out that many districts have local
problems that must be, taken into con¬
sideration and the Board of Education
is not in possession of the informa¬
tion that would enable it to act wisely
in undertaking to solve these prob¬
lems.
The meeting to be held here Mon¬
day has been called for the purpose of
discussing these questions and if pos¬
sible to arrive at a satisfactory so¬
lution. It is important that the at¬
tendance at this meeting should be as
large as possible, and the school of¬
ficials, especially should be in atten¬
dance.
Camilla Girls Are
Grading Tobacco
Mr. Ashley Bush, of Hinsonton,
who is storing his tobacco crop in the
Georgia Manufacturing Co. ware¬
house, has solved the labor problems
so far as the grading of his tobacco
is concerned by enlisting the aid of
about a dozen of the prettiest girls
in town, who have donned overalls
and gone at the job in earnest. The
young ladies quickly learned the art
of selecting the various grades of to¬
bacco under the instruction of Mrs.
Bush, who is working with them, and
apparently they do not find the work
unpleasant. Among those who are
working with Mrs. Bush are:
Misses Vera Cochran, Eleanor Join¬
er, Floy Crow, Lucy Palmer, Dorothy
Swindle, Fay Crow, Florence Crow,
Emma Kate Hilliard, Elma Wade,
Christine Einstein, Hilda Cochran,
Emily Lewis and Annie Lark Luke.
Mr. Bush has had a number of ap¬
plications for jobs from certain young
men around town who profess to be
anxious for emplojjment, but they are
being turned away on account of the
strict rules of the union.
News has been received here of
the birth of a fine baby boy to Mr. and
Mrs. Roy D. Bailey, of Tampa, Fla.
Mr. J. H. Bailey, Sr., the proud grand¬
father, received the message and is
being congratulated by his friends.