Signs of the Times (1935)

Two federal relief organizations were replaced by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. The Social Security Act became law the same year. The federal government authorized the states to administer their own relief programs. The states set up local agencies to get the job done. The dis­tribution of surplus commodities to destitute persons, for instance, became a responsibility of Liberty County in 1935.

It was in 1935 that the Union Bag and Paper Corporation of New York, New York, established the Union Bag Plant in Savannah, Georgia. It took almost a year to build the facility. Employment at the plant began at the 500 to 600 level with an annual payment of $1 million. It provided em­ployment for Liberty County people at the plant and in the pulpwood industry.

It was on February 5, 1935, that J.E. Groover introduced a resolution during a regular meeting of the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce asking the Georgia Highway Depart­ment to build and pave a road from Hinesville to Tattnall County. The resolution was adopted and Groover took it to highway officials in the state capitol. It was accepted and the highway was built and designated Georgia Highway 196.

The Liberty County Chamber of Commerce in 1935 petitioned the federal government to establish Fort Morris as a national monument and build a paved road from Midway to it and the Sunbury Cemetery. Nothing came of their efforts. The road from Midway to Sunbury was later paved largely through the efforts of Sheriff Paul H. Sikes.

By autumn of 1935 it was feared in Liberty County that the CCC Camp at the National Guard Armory in Hinesville would be discontinued. A group of Liberty County business­men went to the state capitol, had conferences with officials there, and were told the camp would continue for at least six more months.

The General Assembly in 1935 abolished the 1918 law pertaining to the Liberty County Board of Commissioners. It established new guidelines for their actions when it estab­lished three road districts for Liberty County.

The new law stipulated that the commissioners could be paid for not more than 25 days of service a year, and author­ized them to fix the salary of their clerk. It also made some of their actions subject to approval by the Grand Jury of the Liberty County Superior Court.