The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1922-12-12
ONE MAN OWNS TOWN
OF 1900 POPULATION
RENTS TO ALL CITIZENS. HE
WRITES CHECK FOR TAXES
COVERING VILLAGE.

! Wilson, IN MISSISSIPPI county, NIk''
is a one-man town. 1t has no court
house or city hall, no ordinances no
police force. When taxes fall due the
| collector has only to go to Robert +.
Lee Wilson and say: Mr.. Wilson,
give me a check for taxes on every
thing in sight"
Wilson writes the check, covering
all of the land and physical assets in
a town of 1900 population and enough
of the surrounding farm and lumber
country to total more than 10000
acres Of territory, said to be rivaled in
productiveness only by the valley OF
the Nile
The town OF Wilson has only one
law and that is unwritten. 1t is that
everybody must work. There are no
idle men in the town and Migrants
are not tolerated. There can be no I'M
desirable citizens because Wilson, who
owns all the houses, will not rent
homes to undeSirables.
Homes Are Modern.
Everybody in Wilson is renter.
Even the one man who owns and runs
the town writes a check, payable to
himself, every month for $45. That is
the highest rent paid, and only two
other citizens pay that much Other
tenants pay $3.50 to $3.50 month,
ais are $50 to $40
Every home in Wilson, whether it is
a three-rOom cottage or a mansion IS
equipped with electric lights, tub and
shower baths, hot and cold water, tele
phone, hedge, flower garden, truck
patch and chicken yard.
Industries Worth Million.
Wilson has industries that represent
a total investment OF $1,000,000 These
produce annually nearly S20000O0
worth OF manufactured hardwood lum-
Der, ginned cotton, flour, meal and
mixed feed. The raw material for these
products come from a 40,O0O-acre tract
OF cultivated and timbered land, all
owned by Wilson. The principal agri
cultural products are cotton, corn, oats,
wheat and alfalfa
Wilson's l8 cotton plantations, with
a total area of 5000 acres, produced
this year 5000 bales of cotton. Corn
was harvested from 5000 acres, wheat
from 1900 acres, and alfalfa from 800
acres. The farm is so big that Wilson
employees his own agricultural expert
and a general plantation manager who
has supervision over Is zone managers.
Got Start in Sawmill.
There is no season OF idleness in the
town. When the harvest is over the
farm hands are put to clearing land or
working in the logging and timber in
dustry Wilson is now reputed to have
a fortune of more than $10000,000. He
began operations with a small saw
mill on the site of the town which
bears his name.
With the profits from the sawmill
he bought up land parcel at a time.
Now, at 81 years old, he owns timber
ed and cultivated land enough to make
a fairs sized county. His territory is
u miles long and miles wide.
Makes His Own Flour.
In this section of the country Will
son was one of the first to take up
diversified farming When his mana
gers suggested that it would be hard
to find a market for his wheat Wilson
asked them to obtain an estimate on
the cost of building and installing a
built at a cost OF 100000. 1t is now
running full capacity and turning out
800 barrels of flour and meal daily.
The sawmill is the one-man towns
biggest plant. 1t represents an invest
ment of $250,000 Manufactured hard
woods from this mill are sold all over
the United States and in foreign coun-
tries. Another Wilson industry is a
box factory which cost $125,000 and
has big output. Wilson also operates
a big cotton ginning plant.