Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1925-10-05

Citizenship


classified as CONSTRUCTIVE?
If the truth were known, we
fear they would be surprisingly
few.
Webster defines construct
or constructive" to NEAR. to
build; to put together; to FORM
or the act of building"
With that definition, we may
classify ourselves, and in 50 do
ing we surely will realize that
every citizen is either CON-
structive or DE-strLcUye. Either
is. doing something Tor his com
mu2i,y c. ne is failing, and in
the failure ne is hamperlng
growth and prosperity and
therefore is just that far DE-
structive.
The constructive citizen is a
useful man, both to himself and
his fellows The others are use
less so far as the community is
concerned; they TAKE whatever
they may, returning nothing.
About the office such a one
IS called 'MOOCHER.
Don be a community mooch-
er, and if you are don't fail to
remember that you aren't hiding
your sins under a sheet. The
moocher is always known.
But back to our subject The
sort OF citizen we mean by
constructive one recently was
described as follows in the AL
bany Herald:
A man simply cannot be a con
structive citizen without making
many sacrifices. He must con-
tinually give-give time, give
money, give his services, give his
counsel, give his enthusiasm, give
his interest, give his support to
community enterprises in what
ever form it may be required.
The character of d town.
whether it be large or small, is
determined by the percentage of
its citizens who measure up to
high standards as givers Where
the percentage of those who are
eFer ready 80 put their shoulders
TO Il g w',eel and push; IT, Q, ,,r-
der the load and life. TO ct Le-
hind the job and put it over
when that percentage is small in
a town, the towns moves SLOWLY
It lacks initiative. 1t stays in a
nut 1t imagines it can't do
thlngs-can't make community
projects succeed-and therefore
1t doesn't try. But when the per-
centage of pullers, pushers and
boosters in community is we'll
above the average, that town is
surely going ahead. No CON
spiracy of circumstances can hold
1t back. 1t knows it can put
over its community tasks, and
does it consistently.
The man who wears the public
harness but receives no compen-
satlon-whO holds numerous
'probono publieo" positions and
IS usually being urged to accept +.
another-often feels that he
must lay aside some of the bur
dens he is carrying. Time and
again he must either neglect his
own business or "burn the mid
night oil" while giving it neces-
sary attention, due to work he
has done, in his regular business
hours, for community enterprises.
But he doesn't quit. He and .
lot of other fellows Of his CALDER
and with his sort of vision Just
keep the harness on and continue
to pull. And their town keeps
growing-keeps moving forward,
keeps winning its way over OBJ
stables, keeps charging its COM
unity program and getting the
results it goes after.
They are great community as
sets-the men land not forget
ting the women) who are willing
to work for their town as earn
estly and unselfishly as they
work for their own businesses.
Albany has lots of them. That's
why Albany grows.
Yes, Albany has a lot of them
and it is because of them that
our sister city grows, but that
isn't peculiar to Albany.
Any city will grow which has
among her citizens a large num-
Der of constructive n!en and
women. Neither soil, climate.
scenery, or money brings growth.
No one, nor all of these can OF
themselves promote advance
ment. Without brain and Drawn
to use soil, climate, scenery.
capital or other resources. each
and all are useless. Gold i.
worthless in the center of the Sa.