Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-09-01

Judge r. A. Davis, reported Il
Humanite and lie Monde had de-
voted much space to the Athens
revolution. A son of Athens serv-
ing on Gen. MacArthur's staff in
Japan sent an air mail letter home
containing clipping from Asahi
and translation showing it to be
an account of the CT outbreak.
There was much discussion among
the veterans about how it all had
started until one arrived at a con-
cluSion with which many agreed. He
said:
Why it all started in Fred Puetts
civics class"
Fred Puett, who is IS, was a CT
himself. He served as a naval lieu
tenant on the LISTS in Admiral Kelly
Turner's amphibious forces and had
put men and equipment ashore at
Saipan and Two Jima
Fred, who is a native of Athens,
had started teaching civics in the
high school in 1896 when he returned
from Nashville with his lawyer
license, for which he had attended
school nights while working IN the
State Capital He had the civics
class from 1886 to 1910 and most of
the boys who were active in the Gil
Nonpartisan League, the group
which campaigned against the
county political machine, had been
in his classes.
A slight man with narrow, deep
set eyes and prominent nose, Fred
is given to analyzing and getting to
the bottom of things. When he
talked there was no hokum about
it. The boys liked him. Civics had
never been anything but one of those
must courses in the high school, like
hygiene The man who taught it
before it was the football coach and
he used to skip his own classes.
Fred taught the boys the pattern of
county government and then ap-
piled it to the local situation. They
all could see that it didn't fit.
The county has been called the
jungle of American politics, and
county government has been aptly
characterized as 'ramshackle gov
ernment,'" says Prof. J. B. Mat
thews' textbook. Fred Puett showed
how deep in the jungle they were
in this East Tennessee county,
where the government machinery
remained the same as that impro-
yised in frontier DAYS
Fred went beyond theory and
taught fact. The controlling county
officers were in the fee business. +"
The sheriff runs the Jail as his pri-
vate business. He hires jailer and
cook out of his fees He buys
the food 1t is good business if
the Jail is kept full.
The justices of the peace, who
form the governing board of the
county, are also paid in fees. The
result is that the justices cooperate
in keeping the Jail full.
Fines Are Split.
The standard fine for minor Of
lenses, drunkenness, traffic viola
tons and simple assault-after the
violator has been Jailed by the ar
resting officer-is s16.O5. This breaks
down as follows: IS to the arresting
officer; S455 to the justice of the
peace; 81 turnkey charge for letting
the man in the Jail and 81 for let
ting him out; $3.50 for two days
meals at IS cents day, and 81 for
the county.
Especially profitable are DRINKS
arrested after supper and let out
before breakfast AS every lawyer
would agree, that means the pris-
oner spends two legal days in the
jail and the sheriff is entitled to
the $3.50 for feeding him.
The Sc for the arresting officer is
arrived at in this way: 81 for serv-
ing warrant, 50 for hauling the
prisoner to the Jail If the distance
is more than 6 miles, 50 for sub
poenaing four witnesses at so cents
a witness. Of course the arresting
officer usually does none of these
things He does not serve q war
rant and he summons no witnesses
and there often is no haulage. He
may make the arrest block from
the Jail. But it had become estab-
lished that the officer got Sc for
any arrest. Ten arrests OF Sat-