Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-07-23
THE GEORGIA CLUB"--WHAT
1T is AND WHAT 1T DOES.


ITO know that which about us lies in daily life
is the prime WISDOM" said a man who great
teacher because he a great poet and great
patriot. 1t is doubtful If his philosophy ever
turned to better account than by me State Normal
School at Athens. Some time ago this school or
ganzed among it's students and faculty a club de-
voted to detailed study of economic and social
conditions in Georgia-"the Georgia club" it is
called It's purpose is in the first place, to gather
many facts as possible concerning the divers prob
lens of agriculture. manufacturing, education and
all other common interests and then to apply the
knowledge thus gained to the practical betterment
of each county and of the state whole It's aim
is not only to learn but also to 40 and in both re-
spects it's work is proving luminous and potent
These investigations are rendered all the more
fruitful by the fact that the students either indi-
vidually or in groups specialize upon their home
counties Turning the reports of the bureau,
of statehouse officials and to every other available
of accurate information. they learn all that
is to be known about the community in which they
were reared. They study its shortcomings as we'll
its achievements, they inquire into the causes of
its progress or its backwardness and seek to find
how the be quickened and the other over
come. Having completed their notes. they put them
into readable form and this is sent home to some
alert member of the community for revision and
suggestions Finally pamphlet, embodying all the
information gained, is published and upon request,
is mailed to representative citizens.
Just here it should be noted that the membership
of the club is confined the students and facul
ty In each county there is an AFFILIATED" member,
so that the interest and influence of the central
ganization is radiated through every nook of the
1t is thus that the facts and the ideas gather
ed by the students given productive and ever
widening power.
Just how definite this service becomes is illus
trated by the following incident cited in account
of the Georgia Club which appeared in recent
issue of the Worlds Work magazine:
"one of the superior coeft Judges of the state
wrote for the report upon his county He was so
amazed and alarmed by it that he at once had it
published in the home paper He found that during
the last period his county had lost II cent
in horses, 26 per cent in hogs and Ga per cent in
sheep; 90 per cent. in corn and SS per cent. in
wheat acreage; that the average yield of per
only IL bushels, loss of IL per cent in
ten years; that the county suffered decrease of rs
per cent in the number Of farms cultivated by
ers and that the number of fliterate white children
729, increase OF AZ per cent in five years. In
his opening addresses to his courts in that end of
the state he has since been stirring UP the peo-
pie about vital matters of economic and social
import ~ '
1.-THE counties in the judicial district of this judge
are now being organized into what are called Help
ers Associations, their purpose being to stir into
activity the preachers and church authorities, the
teachers and school authorities the physicians and
business men, the club women and the farmwives,
and to bring them together for concerted action in
behalf of better rural life."
What stimulus and what blessing is such a
work both the students and to the state. To the
former it brings vital contact with those social and
human springs from which. after all, true wisdom
must fow and to the latter it brings keener and
wider vision and, hence greater power to progress.
In many ways has the State Normal School shown
its priceless value to this commonwealth but in
more impressiye1y than through its Georgia Club"
1t has set an example of social service which other
institutions throughout the nation are following, 1t
has done better than hitch it's wagon to star,
for has harnessed its ideal to the everyday needs
of everyday folk to draw them onward and upward
President E. G. Branson apy phrased the purpose of
this school and at the same time declared a standard
which all others will do well to seek when he said
"The State Normal School considers that
as public institution It's duty is to knotO thor
ou0h1y the state it l0as cfeated to SerUe. The
authorities beEeUe that the school cannot serve
Georgia effectively 1oithoat Fnotoing ultimately
the problems to be solued. And so the loork of
the school has been a steady advance upon the
economic and social conditions and demands of
the state a Saner consideration of means and
ends better adjustment, day By day. to the
realities of life as they ertst in Georgia"