The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-23

WnO may De SefNlu6 III tiO AAAAS SA navy no matter where they may be- T. to provide for the exemption or soldiers and sailors from the payment of any debt contracted prior to their enlistment while the nation is at war, and for a reasonable time thereafter. 8. To pass a uniform warehouse re- ceipt law.
 In the event that the legislature does not take up matters not suggested py the governor, 1t Is believed they can complete their work in 10 days and re- turn home-but there Is probability or assaults on the tax commission law, of investigations, and a playing Of poll tics that will hold the law-makers here several weeks.
 MAJOR LAMAR FONTAINE | This veteran of the Confederate army spent few days in Jackson | this week, or, rather, at Camp Jack 1 son. He has two sons and three grano- sons now training for service in the war with Germany and Is very proud of them. Everybody in this section or | the country knows Lamar Fonta1ne, | or they have heard of him and his wonderful prowess as sharpshooter l in the war between the states. They I have heard of how he swan the Mis- sissippi river some sixty-odd years ago, carrying thousands of caps to the defenders of the city of Vicksburg; of how he killed so many federal sol diers from a treetop in the Virginia | mountains that General Lee sent him 1 word to quit: of how he has written 1 the Lords Prayer on a silver dime, and so plain as to be read easily; of | how he once ran out of bullets when hunting wild ducks with a rifle.
 pushed his ramrod down the barrel
 and strung dozen through the eye; of how he can roll a barrel down I hill and hit the bunghole every time
 1t comes in view. Major Fontaine is civil engineer by profession and makes his home at Lyon. Miss.
 TEXAS CATTLE NOT CHEAP l Mississippi representatives of the de- partment of agriculture, bureau of animal industry. who went to west ern Texas when 1t was reported cattle were dying for want of grass and where it was supposed a few thou sand head of thin steers might be
 had cheap, report that the thin cattle l are not worth shipping to Mississippi apd that the good cattle cost about as much as they do anywhere. They rec
 ommend that it would be well for Mis-.
 sssippi farmers to buy up few high. | grade cows and heifers for breeding purposes, the price of that class of cattle being very satisfactory. Several
 carloads of such cattle have been 1 transferred to Mississippi pastures, where the grass Is now fine.
 VALUATIONS INCREASED The state tax commissioners are more than pleased at the action of
 the Washington county board of su- pervisors in following their instruc- I tions to fix the valuations of all property at about three times what they were last year. For instance, the value of lands was fixed at $17 500, 900 as against $4,000,000 the year before
 Personal and railroad property was
 raised the same way. If the state should collect mills on this full valu.
 ation from all the counties its coffers would be running over with cash and | that is one of the reasons the gover-
 nor gives for calling an extra session l of the legislature-to reduce the state l levy.
 BOIL WEEVILS BUSY l Reports from all over Mississippi are | that the boil weevils have been getting | in their work to a disastrous extent dur 1 ing the past three or four weeks, and | that in many sections only a bottom crop ] can be counted on. Especially does this seem to be true in the northeastern part
 of the state, where the weevils have been
 known but three or four years and are now at their worst. The delta coun- | ties are also seeing their cotton riddled for the first time. and a great many planters from that part of the state eX-
 press the opinion they are not going tc make near as much cotton as they ex- pected month ago. Corp and all other crops are the best ever known in Mis- sissippi. 1t is said.
 STATE STRIKES SNAG
 The call of the war department for 4 per cent of the certified drafted men all to be white, cannot be answered by the state of Mississippi, for the reason that per cent have already been sent and there are several counties in which 10 per cent more, all white men, are not to be had because of the heavy negro majority. This call meant more than 400(
 men from Mississippi, but w. J. Buck private secretary to Governor Bilbo, wht has attended to all the correspondence on this subject that has come from Gen. 1 eral Crowder, states that he doubts | more than 250O men, all white, can bt had, and does not expect more than that number to go to Camp Pike.
 l AGENTS ARE IN DEMAND
 In the majority of the S1 counties O
 Mississippi a county demonstration agen
 is now employed to guide the farmers ane
 stock raisers to better and brighter thing.
 and more are needed and wanted Th' Agricultural and Mechanical college al i Starkville has been able until the las
 year of two to supply the demand, but it has now grown too strong, and sever--
 al counties are going begging untN thu
 college can turn out a new class of grad uates. Other states have also drawr very heavily on Mississippi for such men and they always get the best as a matte } of course These farm demonstration agents have come to be recognized al necessities.
 r FOUND A PECULIAR WATER While boring an artesan well on tn, convict farm in SunflOwer county few days since, and at depth of 800 feet :. the contractors came to bold stream
 that gushed out the top of the piping The stream was s so dark that it wa believed at first oil had been struck
 The color is about that of crude oil
 but Is thin like water and has a pecu
 liar, suiphur-like taste. Meantime, tn farm management did not like such wa ter and went down a couple of hundre, feet farther. where good, clear water wa found that flows aboveground
 GET READY FOR FAIR One of the very busiest women ir Mississippi is Miss Mabel Stire, secretar, of the state fair. Miss Stire has beer holding this important office for tn past five or six years, and the peop of Jackson have an idea that no stat can boast a more efficient fair secre tary. Just now there Is a great deal Q hustle and activity on the fairgrounds