The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1910-12-30
OUR FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY

+iAeRN Wt~h 800 ~Oh&AAs~N~ ~ ~~ - G--~~ - M
milestone, and embarks upon it's sixteenth with strength
ened endeayor. It's owner enjoys the further distinc-
ton Of twenty-five years spent in journalistic work.
Our long experience in newspaper work, and almost
ltwenty-oney years OF it spent here in Greenwood, oui
readers are assured that we are . permanent fixture
and that they can impose dependence upon 1T least one
lliye-wire paper and job printery. Coming to Greenwood
when a scanty strip of business shanties fronted the
placid waters Of the sun-kissed Yazoo, the majority d
them being saloons, with q few cottages in the rear
scattered here and there, we have tugged it out with
the oldest of it's citizenship, and we find it not the least
bit difficult to single out those with whom our paper en-
joyed its infancy. Nursing only the better interests d
the thriving village and county that adopted the name
LOT the last and most famous chieftan Of the brave Choc-
taws, we have strained every atom Of earnest endeavor
to edit a weekly in proportion to the appreciative con-
stituency that has homed us. Contrasting every inch
for conservative improvements and material expansion,
we per force have concerned ourselves with the adj
ministration Of our city, town and state. Other papers
have existed and have passed, while we have kept on in
the even tenor Of our way, striving at all time to sub
serve those agencies that have resulted in the upbuild-
ling Of a great and better metropolis. To promote the
moral and material advancement Of our city, county and
state, to encourage it's material growth and prosperity,
and to give spirited backing to every movement for
their upbuilding, was, is, and shall always be the chief
END Of The Commonwealth. Ii we have accomplished
anything in either Of directions, the result is q sufficient
reward for our efforts.
We want to see Greenwood grow and prosper; we
want it to enjoy the forefront in the march OF progress.
We want the world to know Of the latent richness Of the
soil that supports us, and the many magnificent oppor-
~tunities for the investment Of capital that win earn
splendid dividends for the investors. And at the same
time we want to bring about a thorough awakening Of
our people to the seriousness of the problems that con
front them, the vital necessity Of adopting new methods
of tilling the soil, of producing at home . larger supply
of the necessaries Of life, and Of having q more stable
foundation for every form Of commercial and industrial
activity. Diversifcation is our slogan from now on un-
It'll our people solve the problem Of reducing the high
cost Of living.
First Of all we want to see Greenwood the lead
ing mandatory of the state. Having confidence that
Greenwood is destined to become q leader in this line,
we wand to encourage every movement launched in be-
half of this happy ~consummation. And, just IS much,
we want TO see, instead or empty wagons coming in from
the country each day and returning to the farm laden
with necessaries Of life, vending their way to Green
wood 0verbrimming with fruits, vegetables, poultry,
hay, corn, cotton, returning home humping over the
same roads with a neat bank book in their jeans.
Another sight upon which we we wish to feast our
eyes is a stretch of factories along the railroads and be-
side the river. We have the field for such, and they
are coming just as rapidly as capitalists are awakening
to the opportunities here presented. Another railroad
or two will mean great progress. We want to see more
engines putting and toiling at cars being carried away
from our industries, and our streets more congestedl
with brawny and contentcd workmen who are earning
good wages in our beehives of industry, for it is upon
this class Of citizenry that the prosperity Of every COM
munity vitality depends.
The pictures we have drawn are not impossible, orr
are they improbable. The achievements pictured for
the future are no greater than those we have accom-
plished in the past, and il the same spirit OF civic PRIDE,
energy and determination prevails during the next de-
cade that has existed during the past ten years, our
will be recognized as the greatest wealth-prodncing
town in the State. City after city has done as much
and it's not Greenwood-like to fall short of the achiev-
ment. The man, the company, or the corporation who
does not aid in this laudable endeavor, iii due proper
70 the obligations they owe the community, and the
interest they have therein, are going to be forgotten BY
the Greater Greenwood of tomorrow.
Our s~quib-box is chucked full Of these hobbies-more
factories, diversified crops, opera house, street railway
better streets and roads, municipal improvements In thel
Of water, lights and sewerage, library. new rail
roads, and IN general, everything that will conduce to !
bigger and better Greenwood. Its columns are open toll
every story pa these topics and we are going to keep
our feet to the fire on these propositions. Politics haveI
been showed just q little to the background and all our
energies have been cranked up ii this direction.