Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-09-27
Man Has FeudaI Domain Of
$4,000 Acres - Builds
Modern Schools and Oper-
ates. Them at a Deficit

w 4IASOANg al n'1 NOph' ~-' w NA~~~ -
Robert E. Lee Wilson going to do
with his one-man town?
It's getting to be a complex prob
lem, not only here in Wilson, Missis-
sippi county, but for grizzled pio-
neers, railroad magnates, bankers
in surrounding towns and financiers
in st. Louis, Little Rock, Memphis
and Chicago, who wonder just what
Lee Wilson, now sixty-one, is going
to do with a fastgrowing town OF
1000 population and which he owns,
lock, stock and barrel.
Like some feudal land baron of
old, this man owns everything in
sight on a vast expanse of nearly
so, 900 acres. It's all his, personally.
The only thing he doesn't own in
Wilson is a little yellow depot and
a few hundred yards of steel rail,
the property of the Frisco railway
But even the Frisco system hasn't
anything on Mr.. Wilson. He operates
his own little railroad, ruins it to
suit himself, and. it's 150 miles long.
They call it the Jonesboro, Lake City
and Eastern railroad, and it Inks
I'D Wilson with JoneSboro and
and Blytheville, Ark.
One U. S. Official
But even a lti-millionaire, such
as Wilson, with all his business acu-
men, can't be expected to fill the
shoes of a mayor, the chief of po-
lice, the banker, the hotel proprietor,
the merchant, the preacher, the JUS
tice of the peace and all the other
shoes incident to the rule and con-
troll of hustling town like wilson.
There's only one government OF
fetal in toWn-the postmaster. Inc
tax collector drops around once
year, but it's easy to collect taxes
in Wilson. He writes out a memo
randum for Mr.. Wilson and Mr.. VIII
son writes out check Tor Mr.. lax
Collector-and the ordeal is over.
There are $40 residences in VIII
son and Mr.. Wilson owns them all.
His property, including the town
proper, extends twenty-seVen miles
in length one way. eight miles IN an
other and then winds along the
Mississippi river.
Here is some or the property
which Wilson owns personally ana
the thousands Of acres surrounding
ing it:
Eighteen plantations that will pro-
duce this year $500 bales OF cotton.
There are $500 acres planted III
corn. The cotton is produced from
5000 acres. He has LOO acres III
wheat and 500 acres in alfalfa.
Thousands of acres Of virgin TIM
Der. IN
A sawmill that represents an IN
vestment of $250,OOO.
A mill that produces 300 oarrels OIL
flour and meal daily.
A S125,000 box factory.
An eight gin stand, electrlcally
driven. which cost him $4O,O00 ano
has capacity of 80 bales daily.
A model ice plant.
The Rank of Wilson, with a cap
itaI of $4,000 and a surplus or near
ly $4,000.
department store, where one
can buy anything from toothpIch
to a fliVver.
Builds Modern School
A modern school structure MI
Wilson built at cost OF $ZOO,ooo,
He also set aside 100 acres OF lano
surrounding the building. There Is
Nm annual deficit of $4,000 in the
maintenance Of this school with It's
staff of twenty teachers, but check
from Mr.. Wilson's secretary wipes
out the deficit without argument.
T. A drug store, garage and fllilns
station, q, church edifice, a hotel'
cafe, blacksmith shop and meat mar
ket. ,.,z.
A community center building.
Waterworks plant.
Electric light and power plant
Wilson rents from himself. ne
nays himself $45 per month Tor ms
nine.room house and that's the max,
mum rent paid by any citizen o.
| Wilson, The scale of rents run from
| $12. so to 1918 per month, accorolhs
! to the size home. -,
Nobody can live in Wilson with,
| ont renting from Mr.. Wilson, ano
| nobody can work in Wilson Wlthou'
| working for Mr.. Wilson.
| Wilson isn't very laxative with
| strangers. But he's dynamic IN ac'
tion and he doesn't employ laggards:
work hard when you work ana
plav hard when you play" is his
idea of life.
Wilson, Ark, is forty-one miles
vast of Memphis, 125 miles from Lit
tie Rock and 265. miles from st