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YORKVILLE ENQUIRER. ISSUED SKMI-WBKHLT. l. m. oeist s sons. pnbiuhers. } % 4ami,3 deicspapei;: ^or th$ promotion of the ?otiti<at( gonial, ggrieuilurjil and commercial interests of th< |eopt<. ) established 1855. york,^7ctfridayrselptl^oglsr s, 1915^ >to. 71. lhpV\ &mm HIlBIMTIONSi CHAPTER XX. Broken Links. It was on the second day after the pistol-buying incident in Simmons & Kleifurt's that Broffln, wishful for solitude and a chance to think in perspective, took to the woods. A letter from the New Orleans of flee hed re-opened the account or tne Bayou State Security robbery'. The mail communication was significant but inconclusive. One Patrick Sheehan, a St Louis cab driver, dying, had made confession to his priest For a bribe of two hundred dollars he had aided and abbeted the escape of a criminal on a day and date corresponding to the mid-April arrival of W the steamer Belle Julie at St Louis. Afterward he had driven the man to an uptown hotel (name not given). He could not recall the man's name. I But the destination address, "Wahaska, Minnesota," was submitted with the confession. Broffin felt himself short-sighted from the very nearness of things. The single necessity now was for absolute and unshakable identification. To establish this, three witnesses and three only, could be called upon. Of the three, two had failed signally?Miss Farnham because she had her own reasons for blocking the game, and President Galbraith . . . That was another chapter in the book of failure. Broffin had learned that the president was stopping at the De Soto Inn, and he had maneuvered to bring Mr. Galbraith face to face with Griswold in the Grierson bank on the day after the pistol-buying. To his astonishment and disgust the president had shaken his head Irritably, adding a rebuke. "Xa, na, man; your trade makes ye ^ over-suspicions. That's Mr. Griswold, the writer-man and a friend of the Grierson. Miss Madge was telling me about him last week. He's no more like the robber than you are. Haven't I told ye the man was bearded like a tyke?" With two of the three eye-witnesses refusing to testify, there remained only Johnson, the paying teller of the Bayou State Security. Broffin was considering the advisability of wiring for Johnson when he passed the last of the houses on the lakeside drive and struck into the country road which led by cool and shaded forest windings to the resort hotel at the head of the southern bay. Presently a vehicle overtook and passed him. It was Miss Grierson's trap, drawn by the big English trap-horse, with Miss Grierson herself holding the reins and Raymer lounging comfortably in the spare seat. Half an hour later Broffin had followed the huge hoof-prints of the great English trap-horse to the driveway portal of the De Soto grounds, where they were lost on the pebbled carriage approach. Strolling on through the grounds into the lakefronting lobby of the inn, he went in i search of Miss Grierson. He found her on the broad veranda, alone, and for the moment unoccupied. How to make the attack so direct and so overwhelming that it could not be withstood was the only remaining ques# "There Wasn't the Littlest Thing." tion; and BrofTln had answered it to his own satisfaction, and was advancing through an open French window directly behind Miss Grierson's chair ^ to put the answer into effect, when the opportunity was snatched away. Raymer, his business apparently concluded. came down to the veranda and took the chair next to Miss Grierson's. Broffln dropped back into the writing-room alcove for which the French window was the outlet and sat down to bide his time. "It's a shame to make you wait this way. Miss Madge. McMurty said he had an appointment with Mr. Galbraith for 3 o'clock, and he had to keep it. But he ought to be down again by this time. Don't wait for me if you want to go back to town. I can get a lift from somebody." "That would be nice, wouldn't it?" was the good-natured retort. "To make you tie up your own horse in town and then leave you stranded away out here three miles from nowhere! I think I see myself doing such a thing! Besides. I haven't ? thing to do but wait." Brnffln shifted the Extinct cigar he I was chewing from one corner of his mouth to the other and pulled his soft hat lower over his eyes. He. too, could wait. There was a little stir on the veranda; a rustle of silk petticoats t and the click of small heels on the hardwood floor. Brnffln could not forbear the peering peep around the sheltering window draperies. Miss Grier DICC HSLYNDE rCDMIOKS I covy/PAwrarowKj-j jomwvy JO#S son had left her seat and was pacing a slow march up and down. That she had not seen him became a fact sufficiently well-assured when she sat down again and began to speak to Griswold. "How is the new partnership going by this time?" she asked, after the manner of one who rewinnows the chaff of tha commonplaces in the hope of finding grain enough for the immedi ate need. "So far as Grlerson is concerned you wouldn't notice that there is a partnership," laughed tho iron founder. "I can't make him galvanize an atom of interest in his investment. All I can get out of him Is, 'Don't bother me; I'm busy.'" "Mr. Griswold is in a class by himself, don't you think?" was the questioning comment. "He is all kinds of a good fellow; that's all I know, and all I ask to know," answered Raymer loyally. "I believe that?now," said his companion, with the faintest possible emphasis upon the time-word. Broffln marked the emphasis and the pause that preceded it, and leaned forward to miss no word. "Meaning that there was a time when you didn't believe it?" Raymer asked. "Meaning that there was a time when he had me scared half to death," confessed the one who seemed always to say the confidential things as if it were the most trivial. "Do you remember one day in the library, when you found me looking'over the file of the newspapers for the story of the robbery of the Bayou State Security bank In New Orleans?'* Raymer remembered it very well, and admitted it. "Yes; I remember it all very clearly. Also I recollect how the second newsi paper notice told how the robber escaped from the officers at St. Louis. But you haven't told me how you were scared," R ?er suggested. "I'm con to that. This escape w read al ?. happened on a certain day in April. It was the very day on which poppa met me on my way back from Florida, and we took the eleventhirty train north that night You haven't forgotten that Mr. Grlerson was a passenger on th*t.4M8e train?" "But, goodness gracious, Miss Margery! any number of people were passengers on that train. You surely wouldn't?" "Hush!" she said, and through the lace window hangings Broffln saw her lift a warning finger. "What I am telling you, Mr. Raymer, is in the strictest confidence; we mustn't let a breath of It get out. But that wasn't all. Mr. Orierson was dreadfully sick and, of course, he couldn't tell us anything about himself. But while he was delirious he was always muttering something about money, money; money that he had lost and couldn't find, or money that he had found and couldn't lose. Then when we thought he couldn't possibly get well, Doctor Bertie and I ransacked his suitcases for cards or letters or something that would tell us who he was and where he came from. There wasn't the littlest thing!" "And that was when you began to suspect?" queried Raymer. "That was when the suspicion began to torture me. I fought it; oh, you don't know how hard I fought it! There he was, lying sick and helpless; utterly unable to do a thing or say a word in his own defense; and yet, if he were the robber, of course, we should have given him up. It was terrible!" "I should say so," was Raymer's sympathetic comment. "How did you get it straightened out, at last?" "It hasn't been altogether straightened out until just lately?within the past few days," she went on gravely. "After he began to get well, I made him talk to me?about himself, you know. There didn't seem to be anything to conceal. At different times he told me all about his home, and his mother, whom he barely remembers, and the big-hearted, open-handed father who made money so easily in his profession?he was the Griswold, the great architect, you know?that he gave it to anybody who wanted it? but I suppose he has told you all this?" "No; at least, not very much of it." Miss Orierson went on smoothly, falling sympathetically into the reminiscent vein. "Kenneth went to college without ever having known what it was to lack anything in reason that money could buy. A little while after he was graduated his father died." lifuving rvenneiii poor, l suppose, lie has intimated as much to me, once or twice," said Raymer. "Leaving him awfully poor. He wanted to learn to write, and for a long time he stayed on in New York, living just any old way, and having a dreadfully hard time of it, I imagine, though he would never say much about that part of it. That is why he thinks he is a socialist. At last I felt that I just must know, at whatever cost. One day when we were driving, I brought him here and?and introduced him to Mr. Galbraith. I was so scared that I could taste it?but I did it!" Raymer laughed. "Of course nothing came of it ?" "Nothing at all. And then, right out of a clear sky came another proof that was even more convincing. Do you happen to know who the young woman was who discovered the bank robber ' on the steamboat?'* "1?" How should I know?" "1 didn't know but she had told you," 1 was the demure rejoinder. "It was 1 Charlotte Farnham." i "What!" ejaculated Raymer. Rut 1 he was not more deeply moved than was the man behind the window curtains. If Broffln's dead cigar had not been already reduced to shapeless in utility, Misj Grierson's cool announce- ' ment, carrying with it the assurance that his secret was no secret, would have settled it. < "It's so," she was adding calmly. "1 1 found out. How do I know? Because her father bought the draft at poppa's bank, and in the course of time it came back with the Bayou State Se- 1 curity's dated paying stamp on it. See how easy it was!" Raymer's laugh was not altogether mirthful. "You are a witch," he said. "Is there anything you don't know?" "Not very many things that I really need to know," was the mildly boastful retort. "But you see, now, how foolish my suspicions were." Raymer nodded. Though he would not have admitted it under torture, the entire matter figured somewhat as a mountain constructed out of a rather small molehill to a man for whom the subtleties lay in a region unexplored. He wondered that the clear-minded little "social climber." as his sister called her, had ever bothered her nimble brain about such an abstruse and far-fetched question of identities. "You said a few minutes ago that Griswold calls himself a socialist. That isn't quite the word. He is a sociolo- , gist." Miss Grierson ignored the nice dis- . tlnction in names. , "Socialism goes with being poor, , doesn't it?'' she remarked. "Since Mr. , Griswold's ship has come in, I suppose he finds it easier, and pleasanter, to , be a theoretical leveler than a practi- j cal one." , "That is another thing I have never } been quite able to understand," said , the iron founder. "You say his father . left him poor; where did he get his , money?" ( "Why, don't you know?" was the in- , nocent query. And then, with a pretty ] affectation of embarrassment, real or , perfectly simulated: "If he hasn't told i you, I mustn't." ] "Of course, I don't want to pry," j said Raymer, loyal again. j "I can give you a hint, and that is ( all. Don't you remember 'My Lady j Jezebel,' the unsigned novel that made ] such a hit last summer?" ( "Why, bless goodness, yes! Did he < write that?" 1 "He has never admitted it In so j many words. But I'll divide a little \ secret with you. He has been reading j bits of his new book to me, and pshaw! , a blind person could tell! I asked him t once if he could guess how much the ( author of 'My Lady Jezebel' has been paid, and he said, with the most perfectly transparent carelessness: 'Oh, about a hundred thousand, I suppose.'" "Tally!" said Raymer, laughing. "Griswold has put an even ninety thousand into my little egg basket out at the plant. But, of course you knew that, everybody in Wahaska knows it by this time." Miss Grierson did not reply, and for a little while they were both silent. Then Raymer said: "I wonder if McMurtry doesn't think I've dropped out on him. I guess I'd better go and see. Don't wait any longer on my motions, unless you want to, Misa Margery." When Raymer had gone, the opportunity which Broffln had so lately craved was his. Miss Grierson was left alone on the big veranda, and he l had only to step out and confront her. * Instead, he got up quietly and went! back through the lobby with his head down and his hands in his pockets, and the surviving bit of the dead cigar disappeared between his strong teeth and became a cud of chagrin. There had been a goal in sight, but Miss Grierson had beat him to it. And the winner of the small handicap? With a deep breath-drawing that was almost a sob, Miss Grierson sprang up, stole a swift confirming glance at the empty chair behind the window hangings, and crossed the veranda to stand with one arm around a supporting pillar. And since the battle was fought and won, and the friendly pillar gave its stay and shelter, the velvety eyes filled suddenly and the ripe red lips were trembling like the lips of a frightened child. (To be Continued.) Monkey Died Like a Man.?The death of "Bill Snyder," the veteran baboon of the Central Park Zoo, from acute indigestion, is chronicled in the day's news. Bill was not one of the higher order of the monkey family; his kinship to the human race, if he had any, was very remote. Yet surely in the manner of his death he displayed a simian resemblance to man. He died as hundreds of thousands of beings higher in the scale of evolution die, as countless numbers of our ' "best citizens" die?from overeating. 1 He was reckless in the indulgence of 1 his appetite for food as the most cul tivated member of the human family. : and if the circumstances of his death excite surprise, it is that his natural instincts did not preserve him from the fate of vhe most intelligent human beings Bill's death points a dletetie moral for monkeys that exchange nuts and roots of the jungle for the richer food of Zoo captivity and idleness. The application of the moral to mankind need not be considered. A vastly greater number of men die from overeating than from starvation and the death of a humble simian in the circumstances from this characteristically human ailment may serve to emphasize the facts.?New York World. ? The American flag now floats over more ships in the foreign trade than at any time since 1863. Figures made public yesterday by the department of commerce show a record increase in American shipping for the year ended June 30. On that date there were registered in the foreign trade 2,768 ships totalling 1,813,775 gross tons, an increase of 363 ships and 737,623 tons for the year. Practically all the increase is due to the new American registry law. Assistant Secretary Sweet of the department of commerce, said in a statement yesterday: "This is about triple the increase in registered tonnage for any previous year In American history. Our registered tonnage is now much greater than at any time since 1X63, < when we had 2.026,114 gross tons in i foreign trade. It is many times more , efficient, however, as the steam tonnage now amounts to 1,273,067 gross ' tons, while in 1S63 it amounted to ] only 133.215 tons. The Increase from j the ship registry act of August IX, 1914, to June 13. 1915, was so rapid that tonnage under the American tlag ' now employed in foreign trade is < nearly equal to such tonnage under the \ French or Norwegian flags. British tonnage, of course, is more than tenfold greater." 1 TOE FINANCING OF COTTON State Warehouse Commissioner Advises Farmers of Situation. PRODUCERS IN FOR A HARD FIGHT Statistical Position of Cotton is All that Could be Desired, and Ultimate Good Prices are Inevitable; But the "? " i? i :t t,? n**m rroauccr must uc \smi v u ... ..... the Benefit of the Price to Which he is Entitled. Editor Yorkville Enquirer: I will appreciate it if you will give space to the following statement to the farmers of South Carolina: We are approaching the marketing period for our crop under conditions never before presented. We can secure prices above the cost of production if we place ourselves in a position to take advantage of the opportunity. We need not deceive ourselves that it will not be a hard tight, because those who have heretofore profited by forcing the crop out of our hands at a low price during the marketing period and reaping an enormous profit in the spring, will use every effort to do so again. Vesterday, on a report which could not possibly be construed as indicating much over an eleven-million bale crop, the market was forced off one dollar ind seventy cents per bale. In anticipation of these tactics, 1 wrote President Wilson a letter on the 5th of August, specifically calling his mention to tho necessity of Immediate iction. In his reply the president expressed his "genuine interest," and promised to discuss it with those "who jnderstand the matter better than I lo." He conferred with Mr. Harding, jf the Federal reserve board, and Mr. Harding, during the course of an adiress delivered in Birmingham lost Wednesday night, read a letter from President Wilson, which, together with :he address, is all that we could exsect. Mr. Harding said "the welfare )f the south depends upon this crop jelng marketed at fairly remunerative prices; the prosperity, or the reverse, )f the southern farmer means strength >r weakness of the merchants and jankers of the south, and vitally af'ects trades and industries throughout his entire country. Let the southern jankers," he said, "wherever possible nake liberal concessions in their usual ates on commodity loans. High ln:erest rates mean forced sales. Present conditions fully Justify low rates, ind southern bankers should be willing :o forego temporary profits for the jake of securing and solidity in the 'uture. I am sure that the Federal -eserve banks may be depended upon, jnder their power of rediscount, to :o-operate to the fullest extent with he banks in taking care of the cotton :rop. What better security, herefore, could a southern bank ask han the obligation of a merchant -or 'armer which he has been carrying on i crop not yet existing?what better >r more liquid investment, could a touthern banker find, than to carry his same obligation for a few months, f necessary, secured by the actual ;otton properly warehoused and insur>d, and certain of a market?" President Wilson's letter is as folows: ' 'My Dear Mr. Harding: "Thank you sincerely for your letter ?f August 22d. It gives me just the in'ormation I desired. What Interests ne most Is this: it is evident from vhat you tell me that the country janks with whom the farmer and other jroducers directly deal can get money it from four to four and one-half per ent, and that the question whether he benefit of this advantageous rate s to be extended to the farmer is in heir hands. It is inconceivable to me hat those who are responsible for lealing directly with the producers of he country should be willing to jeopirdize the prosperity of the country tself by refusing to share with the jroducers the beneficial rates now obainable for money loaned. I think hat we can confidently expect that the janks in the cotton states and in the igricultural regions generally will content themselves with a rate not nore than one or two per cent above he rate which they themselves pay. hope that the facts which you have ?tated to me will become generally mown among the producers of the country so that they may feel themselves free to exact of the banks with .vhich they have to deal what they unloubtedly have a right to expect. "Sincerely yours, "Woodrow Wilson." Note carefully that the president of he United States tells you to feel free o demand of the banks what you have v right to expect. On August 24th, Secretary McAdoo innounced that if it became necessary ie would deposit thirty million dolars or more of gold in the Federal reserve hanks at Atlanta, Dallas and Richmond, "for the purpose of enabling lie reserve banks to rediscount loans in cotton secured by warehouse receipts." He stated further that this noney would he deposited without interest charge, and that if it became necessary he would make the deposits lirectly with the national banks which would agree to lend money on cotton it a rate not exceeding six per cent. He also said that for the time being the treasury department would charge no interest on the deposits in Federal reserve banks, and justified his action l?y the unusual situation respecting rotton caused by the European war, saying that he considered it iris duty to use every available means in his power to help the cotton producers of the south under such conditions; that it was "of economic importance to the entire nation that those who produce the cotton crop shall have a fair opnortunitv to disnose of it irrnduallv nnd in orderly manner, so that they may not be forced to sell at sacrifice prices. The banks which are members of the Federal reserve system," he continued, "should make loans on warehouse receipts for insured cotton it low interest rates; that the banks can well afford to carry cotton for producers at six per cent, especially If they are able to rediscount cotton paper at the Federal reserve banks at a much lower rate than six per cent." Under the law the Federal reserve hoard in Washington has a right to iletermine the rate of interest which the Federal reserve banks can charge member banks on notes or loans secured by warehouse receipts, and I have no doubt that the banks In the south will be quick to take advantage of such powerful aid as they are assured by the Federal administration will be rendered them. I have Just returned from a trip to New York, in company with several South Carolina bankers. I find that the banks there with southern correspondents are ready to extend credits based on state warehouse receipts outside of the usual line for the current needs of the banks. I suggest that our local banks, In handling their customers' notes secured by warehouse receipts do so by rediscount, and where that is not practical, and it is necessary for the banks to give their own notes, secured by farmers' notes and receipts for cotton, which increases the ]a/hi 1 hnnlro' lloKIUtv nn Kllla navoKlo that the entry of "such liability be designated on the book of the bank, and in the published statements, as "bills payable secured by South Carolina state warehouse receipts." By doing this, the northern banks will readily understand what the abnormal amount of "bills payable" represents, whereas if they did not they would * be reluctant to handle the notes of the bank. There are several large banks which .have expressed their willingness to i handle state warehouse receipts for i others than their regular correspondents. These banks, however, do not care for this class of business in small amounts, say, less than ten thousand dollars. None of the banks with whom I talked in New York were willing to commit themselves as to the rate of interest in advance of an application for a loan. I gained the impression that they did not like the authorities in Washington undertaking to fix the rate of interest, but felt that in every case it should be done by the banks Interested, with the facts regarding each particular loan before them. I ' am satisfied that it la eolne to reouire a firm and determined stand on the part of the Federal administration to hold the rates of interest down. For certain reasons I prefer at present not to have much to say on this point, but will await developments. There is plenty of money to finance this crop and force a fair price to the producer. Our policy is to warehouse our cotton and get a receipt complying in every particulaar with the requirements of the Federal reserve board. In a statement given out by Messrs. D. R. Coker, M. F. H. Gouverneur and John F. Burton, who are members of ( the reserve board at Richmond, we are assured that there is plenty of money to finance the holding of cot- ' ton by southern people. "This raon- ' ey," they say, "can be had by the banks at low rates of interest, and all , of them can probably afford to lend it on cotton at not above six per cent." What better assurance do we need than that? The banks of New York, Chicago, and other money centers are really suffering from too much money. The money market in New York is one and three-quarters per cent for call money; two and one-quarter per cent for sixty days; two and one-half per cent for ninety days, and three and one-quarter per cent for six months. The tide of gold coming in from Europe for the purchase of supplies threatens to overwhelm them. The banks of New York alone hold a reserve of over six hundred million dollars, four hundred and twenty-five million dollars of which is in gold. One year ago we were complaining of the enforced shipments of gold to Europe for the purchase of American securities, and the stock exchange was closed to prevent a panic. Now New York does not want Europe to ship any more gold 1 to pay for supplies here, but is trying to nrrange a great credit for Europe of a billion dollars, based upon Amerl- 1 can securities and government obligations, so as to maintain the rate of foreign exchange and afford a basis 1 for the purchase of supplies. Representatives of France and England are | on their way to New York now for this ' purpose, and I was told in New York that the government and the Federal reserve board would be asked to cooperate in arranging this credit for the maintenance of our foreign trade. If that be true, then it will not be dlffl- ' cult to arrange for the purchase of a sufficient quantity of cotton to establish a fair price, in line with the sugges- 1 tion I made to President Wilson on August 5th, for the use of a portion of this credit in securing cotton for the Allies. The important thing is that the producer should get the benefit, and not the middle-men, who have been getting all of- the profit for the past thirty years out of our crop. It goes without saying that the Federal administration has ample power to carry out the promises which they have made to the cotton planters of the south. I do not think that technically, except for the temporary interruption of foreign exports, cotton has ever been 1 in such a strong position. I am thor- ' oughly satisfied that the close of the war will find the world short of cotton, and that prices will go as abnormally ' high as they have been low. I do be- ' lieve, however, that there is a concerted ' movement, just as there was last fall, 1 to force just as much of the present ' crop out of the hands of weak holders as possible, and I wish to warn our 1 people against being caught by sus- 1 picious reasoning and making a sac- 1 T_T no _ I mice- ui uicii uuiiuii, ortiruii y ncater tolls us that the spinners of the worjil manufactured into cloth and other commercial articles during the past year 14,133,000 bales of cotton. If that be true, then there cannot be much reserve cotton on hand, and the stocks of manufactured goods in Germany, Russia, France and the Orient must be at a minimum. The tremendous amount of gun powder, every pound of which is forty per cent cotton. it is estimated, has taken up something like three million bales of cotton. The replenishment of reduced stocks of manufactured and raw material is sure to create, sooner or later, a great demand for a crop that may fall five million bales below the requirements of the world. The mills in this country are running on full time, have a monopoly in this great home market which no protective tariff has ever been able to afford, and their requirements during the past year were five hundred thousand bales greater than the year before, and for this year will be correspondingly increased. These are facts which cannot be disputed. If the south will take advantage of this opportunity, by withholding her 1 cotton from the market in September I and October, it will reach twelve cents a pound for middling, and then when |y it goes below that price and obliga- " tlons are pressing, borrow ten cents a pound and hold it oft the market until it goes back to twelve cents. We can pay our indebtedness with ten cents G and carry over whatever surplus there is for the big prices sure to come ^ within the next year. In this way the average price of the crop can be made to idemnify us in some part for the losses last year. I find it very difficult to make peo- F pie away from here believe that it 0 costs more than ten cents a pound to make cotton, but those of us who are engaged in its actual production know n that, counting the interest on the in- p vestment, twelve cents a pound shows y but a small margin of profit. I call attention to the fact that the A state warehouse act anticipated just * the requirements of the Federal reserve c board as to a receipt, by guaranteeing F the title, weights and grades. In a a statement issued on the 9th of last ^ r December, in analyzing the new currency act, I said that "it was up to ? the banks." I repeat that declaration, 11 and cite as authority for the same, the ll statements which I have quoted from '' those who are in control df the financial q destiny of the United States. e Respectfully, '' John L. McLaurin, outie vy areuuuoe v^uiujiuooii/uci. , m , il COTTON AS CONTRABAND * e; Comprehensive Explanation of the o Real Meaning of Term. s! It is not a small matter to the a southern farmer that England has de- a clared cotton to be contraband. ti In times of war shipments on the fi sea are divided into three classes: ab- v solute contraband, conditional contra- h band and free goods. b Heretofore cotton has been regarded Ji as free or non-contraband. In other e: words, when being transported in neu- h tral vessels even though the destina- p tion was to the port of its enemy it A could not be disturbed in transports- 11 tion by a belligerent. Under this rule n last spring many thousands of bales ir of cotton were transported to Ger- yi many and Austria, to the great bene- T fit of cotton planters and to the great s< profit of the cotton merchants. Ger- p many consumes about 3,000,000 bales C of American cotton a year. A dis- s turbance of this trade means loss to s< the southern farmer. K In International law the term "ab- tl solute contraband" is applied to such h goods used exclusively for warlike t? purposes as are being transported tl with a view of sale to a belligerent, n To make any goods absolute contra- o band it is necessary that their use a shall be exclusively for war and that t' they are destined for a nation at war ii even though the goods may pass L through a neutral country before ri reaching their Anal destination. s On the other hand "conditional con- C traband'' relates to goods not used F exclusively for war purposes though A destined to a port of a belligerent. E FYee goods are such as are not used o to great extent for warlike purposes e or are so connected with humanitarian o use as to make their transportation ? necessary at all times. T Heretofore cotton has been regarded v> as free and this by international agree- tl ment and by a general concensus or p opinion. No nation in time of war e; has the right without the consent of p other nations to change this character tl of cotton either to absolute or con- tl ditional contraband. it England is violating international w law when she changes cotton from L free to contraband. She makes it 1m- V possible for the cotton merchant to s] risk shipping even to a neutral port, T for any merchant may be bankrupt v> through the seizure by England of his k cargo of cotton. - B The merchant will not buy cotton t< ordinarily unless he is able to sell it G and ship it. As the demand for cotton ft Is reduced, correspondingly is the P price. tl The south is greatly interested in cl the maintenance by the United States w of cotton's character as free and not w contraband. The suggestion that England will sustain the price of cotton is "buncombe." England has all she can ri do to pay for the food stuffs, muni- p tions of war and raw materials needed ** by her. It may sound well to talk B iibout her sustaining the cotton mark- ^ et. She will not and cannot do it. but the United States can sustain this y market by insisting that shipments of p cotton be permitted in accordance 01 with existing international rules. n It is foolish for the citizens of 01 America and particularly of the south to let sympathy for England and her ^ Allies go so far as to suffer them to destroy the prosperity of the south. w The south's demand that there be no v Interference with the shipment of cot- w ton is just and should be enforced by t( aur government.?Greenville Piedmont. 'r ^ VI Nitrate of Soda for Fruit Tree?.? J After experimenting for a number of (1 years, the New Jersey agricultural ex- 81 periment station announces the results ^ Dbtained at the experimental orchard 1 on the grounds of the New Jersey w Training school. Several plots in this J* orchard have received only fertilizers l) supplying potash and phosphoric acid 17 since the trees were set in 1907. These c< plots have always made a much poor- a cr growth and have given much smal- ol ler yields than those receiving nitro- y ?en in addition to the potash and phosphoric acid. The plots which have not e! received nitrogen have made scarcely a any growth the last two years, and Si appear yellow and sickly. Last year it was decided to apply w nitrate of soda, at the rate of 200 01 pounds to the acre, across one-half of all these plots. The result was most " striking. The sections that received ai the nitrate of soda are now dark green, 11 there is average twig growth of at 0! least 12 inches, and the trees are well loaded with green fruit of large size. '' The sections which received only the 'l potash and phosphoric acid have made 81 amy an men or two or growtn at me Lips of the twigs. The foliage is yellow and there is very little fruit upon ^ Ihe trees. ?? a Walter Johnson, a white man, is tl under arrest in Greenwood county, J. charged with _ violating the gallon-a- w month law. It is charged that John- ir ion had three gallons of whisky ship- M m! to a point in Greenwood county in w the name of different negroes. b( OLD BY LOCAL EXCHANGES ews Happenings In Neighboring Communities. ONDENSED FOR QUICK READING lealing Mainly With Local Affairs ot Cherokee, Cleveland, Gaston, Lancaster and Chester. Gaffney Ledger, Aug. 31: Mr. A. L. 'oole of the Wilklnsvtlle section of the | ? ???' >??? fmir ump or?hnlnrshln 0 the Citadel, the military college of iouth Carolina, according to anouncement made from the state suerintendent of education's office. Five oung men stood the competitive exmln&tlon held at the courthouse on LUgust 13 Grant Childers, a oung white man, was bound over to ourt yesterday by Magistrate Wm. 'hllllps, on a charge of arson. He Is ccused of having burned a dwelling ouse on the place of Mr. John Mcullough, in the Gowdeysvllle section f the county, some time in June. It j alleged that his motive for burnig the house was that his crop was 1 bad condition and he wanted to uit to take another Job A "oneyed elephant pig" about describes the reak of nature brought to the Ledger fflce Saturday by Bundy Pettjfc a egro who lives just outside of the icorporate limits. The pig, which ras born Friday evening, had only one ye with two pupils in it in the center f its forehead; over this a snout very Imllar to an elephant's snout, hung; nd its ears were shaped exactly like n elephant's. Its feet were slightly jrned up. According to Petty this reak of nature was born alive, along rith nine other little pigB. For half an our it played around with the others, ut as soon as she saw it the mother imped on it, injuring it to such an Ktent that the freak died about an our and a half later. Hundreds of eople saw this curiosity Saturday, n effort was made to preserve It, but o glass jar of the proper measure lents could be found The openlg exercises of the city Graded schools esterday was all that could be desired, he exercises at the Central Graded :nool began at 10 o'clock, the opening rayer being offered by Rev. W. E. rocker. Rev. G. C. Leonard read the cripture lesson, after which the :hool sang, "Come, Thou, Almighty ling." Superintendent Witherspoon ten made a few remarks expressing is appreciation of the courtosies ex?nded by the patrons and expressing le hope that the session just begining would prove profitable and withut friction. Prof. Witherspoon. then nnounced that there would be some wo minute speeches and introduced 1 rapid succession Prof. Lee Davis rodge. Capt. J. B. Bell, Hon. R C. SarELtt, Hon. W. S. Hall, Hon. R. A. Dobon, Rev. O. C. Leonard, Rev. W. E. Irocker, Ed. H. DeCamp, Dr. R T. 'erguson, Hon. R A. Jones, Hon. M. u Sarratt and Prof. J. C. Prldemore. )ach of these gentlemen spoke words f encouragement to principal, teachrs and pupila It seemed to be the pinion of all present that the 1916-16 ession started off in splendid style, 'he Cherokee Avenue school opening 'as not less auspicious than that of le Central school. W. W. Carter, the rlncipal, was in charge of the exerciss, which were largely attended by the atrons of the school. The enrollment lis year will probably be even larger tan it was last. Among those who lade talks at the opening yesterday 'ere: Dr. J. R. Pentuff, T. W. Kirby, ? T. Vinesett, Rev. J. W. Shell, Dr. 7. C. Hamrisk and L. G. Potter. At a peclal meeting of the trustees held last uesday evening, Miss Minnie Burgess 'as elected as a teacher for the Cheroee Avenue school, succeeding Mrs. J. !. Brown, Jr., resigned. Substitute ?achers elected were: Mrs. H. Pay lafTney, Mra W. C. McArthur and iiss Winnie Phifer Mrs. Lee atrick of the Wilkinsville section of le county, was operated on at the Ity hospital for appendicitis last eek. Reports yesterday said that she as: resting well. Chester Reporter, Aug. 30: A marage license was issued Saturday by robate A. W. Wise, to Mr. S. F. Jefires of Halseville, and Miss Fanny elle Lipford of Fairfield county lr. Charles Smith and Miss Ruth olvin, both of this city, were married esterday evening at the Catholic resbyterian church, Rev. R. R Brown fficiatlng... .The end of Wylie street ear the S. A. L. depot remains closed n account of the temporary injuncon secured last week by Mr. E. H. [ardin restraining the city author! ca from comnletlnsr the bithulithic rork unless they lower a certain eleatlon In the street. The city attorney rill go before Judge Moore at Lancas?r Thursday and endeavor to have the function dissolved The supreme ourt in a decision Friday by Associate ustice D. E. Hydrick, affirmed the verict of the Fairfield court for $2,400, fcured by J. W. Booth against the J. . White Engineering company for xctual and punitive damages." Booth ras employed by the engineering comany at Parr Shoals, and he was hit y a stray bullet during a fight in the less hall, which was operated by the ompany One of the most valuble and historic pieces of real estate ffered for sale in Chester county in ears will be placed upon the market lis fall, when the executors of the states of the late Mr. Wm. H. Hardin nd Miss Fanny Moore, offer for lie the big Moore plantation between .odman and Lewis. The plantation as the home of Dr. Thomas Moore, ne of the signers of the Ordinance of ecession, and in an earlier day was le home of Gen. Mills of Revolutionry fame. On the main chimney of le two-story dwelling-house are irved the figures "1808," which in Icate the age of the building. The lace is one of the large old ante-belim plantations, but will be cut into nail farms. Rock Hill Record, Aug. 30: Miss ecil Byers left this morning for High oint, N. C.. where she has accepted position with the telephone company lere The many friends of Mrs. O. Percival of East White street, ill be glad to learn that she is still nproving The many friends of [iss Alma Holler, who has been 111 ith diphtheria for several weeks, will & glad to learn that she has entirely recovered and is able to resume her duties at the Record Miss Mary Frew will leave Wednesday ' morning for Gastonla, N. C., where she has been elected to a position in the graded schools. Miss Frew will havo charge of the music department Miss Tattle Sandifer has been elected as a teacher in the Graded schools of Gastonla, N. C., and will leave Wednesday morning to assume her duties Eighty-two additional looms are being added to the equipment bt the Victoria mill, the plant being closed last week to allow the work done. The Harriss mill spinning machinery has also been added to the equipment This is quite an Increase and will largely add to the output of the mill Contractor A. Lu Pope this morning began work on the new residence for Mrs. R. L. Hoi roya on nunpion sireei. Gsstonis Gazette, Aug. 31: Mr. C. M. Boyd arrived in the city Sunday from Philadelphia on a visit to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Boyd. Mr. Boyd has just received an honorablo discharge from the U. S. navy, after a term of service covering six years. He was for more than a year on the U. S. S. Tennessee, which was stationed at Alexandria, Egypt, and figured extensively in the news during the first few months of the European war. During the last few weeks he has been in Haytl, taking part in the suppression of the recent revolution there Friends of Rev. Dr. J. C. Galloway, pastor of the First A. R. P. church, will regret to learn of the death of his sister, Mrs. Lola G. Devlin, which occurred at her home in Due West, S. C., Friday night following a month's illness. Mrs. Devlin was in Gastonla visiting Dr. Galloway just a month ago, and on the day following her return home she was taken ill with pneumonia. She survived the critical stage of this attack, but it left her in a weakened condition which resulted in heart failure which brought on her death Luther Van Dyke of Ttmrt, was so baoiy carvea up Saturday night on board an Interurban car, returning from Charlotte by Houston Williams that 72 stitches were taken in his face by physicians. It will be remembered that Williams of McAdenville, is the man lately pardoned by Governor Craig. He was serving a sentence on the Gaston county roads for larceny Gaston county will be well represented this year at the Kansas City Veterinary college, Kansas City, Mo. Messrs. Junius Lineberger, J. T. Dixon and L T. Lewis of Gastonia, and Mr. W. D. Wolfe of Bessemer City, left today to enter that institution. Mr. Paschal Abernethy of Monrde, son of Rev. J. E. . Abemethy, formerly of Gastonia, went with them to take the same course Mr. M. T. Sanders, who lives at Withers, a suburb of Gastonia, showed the Gazette man yesterday a leather pocketbook which, he says, is 140 years old. His grandfather, Lemuel Sanders, used it for many years while he was a constable in this county prior to the formation of Gaston, which was in 1846 or 1847. It is in a splendid state of preservation and Mr. Sanders still uses it part of the time. Lancaster News, Aug. 31: Rev. W. S. Patterson, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Mil len and Miss Lillian Robinson from the Lancaster A'. R. P. church, and Mr. and Mra J. E. Craig and Mr. Arthur Robinson of the Shiloh church, have returned from Gastonia, where they attended the Linwood convention of the A. R. P. church, held at Linwood college Those who heard the splendid sermon preached by Rev. D. E. Hough of Charlotte, at the Presbyterian church Sunday morning, enjoyed a real treat. The scholarly discourse, the ease with which it was delivered, the convincing logic of this sermon on faith, made a profound impression. There were many old friends in the congregation, many relatives also, and they were pleased to find that this native Lancasterian is such a force for good in the calling to which he has dedicated his life and talents. Mr. Hough is a son of the late Amos Hough and Mrs. Lizzie Hough, who Uvea nnlv four miles from Lancaster and here the young man was reared. Several who heard him preach had been his comrades in boyhood when he attended the Lancaster Graded school. Mr. Hough afterwards finished the academic and theological courses at Erskine college, Due West In response to the Invitation to those interested to meet at school No. 2, last night, there was a gratifying attendance and much interest was manifested in the proposal to organize a night school. Superintendent Llngle, Mr. Claud N. Sapp and Mrs. W. E. Taylor outlined the plans and purposes of the work to be undertaken and forty or more men and women signified their intention of Joining the classes. Beginning Monday night, September 13, the classes will be held three nights each week. A Trick of Time.?Announcement of the unveiling on Memorial day of the bronze portrait of Major General John Pulton Reynolds, who was killed at Gettysburg, has served to bring to light an interesting occurrence of the present war, says the Philadelphia Public Ledger. The Reynolds' memorial is to be placed in Reynolds' park, at Snyder avenue and Passyunk road. During the civil war there served on the staff of the Confederate cavalry laa/tni* Connrol T V R Stuart a ml. lant German named von Borcke. He was a dashing, showy officer, who came to \merica out of the love of good fighting, and after the war wrote a book about his military experiences in this country. In the whlligig of time a grandson of von Borcke married a great niece of General Reynolds. This young von Borcke is an officer in the German service, and he and his wife were in the German stronghold in China when it was captured some time ago by the Japanese. The captors separated the von Borckes, and although they are only a few miles apart, and a child has been born to Mrs. von Borcke since the separation, the father and mother have not been permitted to see one another. Mamie Jones, a negress, was shot and instantly killed in Belton, Anderson county, by Lawrence Earle, also colored. After the shooting the negro made his escape.