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' r. v'-". .-^v" '*^j| _ _ - ?? ? ? YORKVSLLE ENQUIRER. ISSUED SEKX-WEEKLT. / .. \ m L. n <3RJ?T8 SONS, Pubiubew. } " % ^SOTilg Jteicsjapei;: jfor ih< promotion fl( lh< |oIitii[al, gonial, ?grii>tiltut;at and ?ommtt|riaI Jttlmsls D|f th* |eojt(. | ESTABLISHED 1855 YORK, S. C., TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1919. . NO* 36 COTTON AND ITS PRICE Relation of Great Crop to World ' Civilization WEALTH FOR ALL DOT PRODUCER Interesting and Instructive Presenta i?? nf m Moit Familiar Subject bv a Writer Who Understand* and Knows How to Make Himself Understood. It la a pity that men professing ordinary intelligence should undertake to discuss matters pertaining to the south, or for that matter to any section, of which they are as ignorant as Germany is. of honor and morality. The disposition of some people to talk learnedly about things of which their ignorance Is so dense that it is almost impenetrable is illustrated In a weekly circular of W- J. Woolman & Co., members of the New York stock exchange, who undertake, to tell the south what it should do (n regard to cotton from the question of how to grow cotton to how to handle it One statement, which Is typical of most of this amazing financial review, Is the following: "The amount that the south wastes annually in the handling of the cotton crop is greater than the total of dividends paid out on all the railroads of the United States, and these in 1816 amount to 8342,000,000. Density of compression at the gins would save hundreds of millions every year that now go for re-handllng, extra haulage, needless space taken up on railroads -a lnoa In fronoH ItTIH ailU DUXlIIUMlltNl, ivaa ?u v. n - for damage^ and other Items. Tetthe| south has set Its face stubbornly against -these modern improvements and clung to ancient methods." It will be news to the cotton ginnera of the south and to the Income tax forces of the country that the cost of cotton ginning runs far into the hundreds of millions every year. Indeed this remarkable statement says that "hundreds of millions" could be saved annually by gTeater density of compression. It is scarcely conceivable that an office boy, able to write his name, could have been, guilty of putting forth such asinine statements. Density of compression at the gins is important. Better baling and better handling are of great importance, but the utmost amount that anyone has yet claimed which could be saved by this improved system is from $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 a year. That is a very big item, but it is far and away behind the $342,000,000 which vthls bankers' circular mentions. Since, according to Woolman & Co., density of compression would annually "save hundreds of millions," we are wondering just how many hundreds of millions these bankers-have been figuring on as -possible to be saved?certainly far more than the $342,060,000 which they have mentioned as below the sav frtfr that could be effected each year. Possibly these bankers, whose density of ignorance about cotton is far greater than the density of the most densely compressed cotton bales, are not aware of the fact that leaders in the south have for years soughf to bring about better compression of cotton but that the railroads of this section, owned and dominated almost entirely In New York and either owning or domnatlng many of the compresses , v in the south, have in many cases aggressively sought to prevent the betterment of cotton baling. They have refused in times past to give a better rate for properly compressed cotton than for badly baled cotton, though i they would -carry far more of the better compressed bales te a car than they could of the present badly baled cotton. Many years ago, when the round / bale was being introduced, the entire t cotton-handling system of the south could have been changed -if the railroads had not aggressively fought against giving any advantage whatever to the improved bale as compared with the old bale. Steamship "iou iininf the world's trade were UUIIiyoiKvo V4V*.D .... willing: to give better, freight rates, but the railroads in the south, owned and controlled in 'New York, were not as ready to help better baling of cotton in the south as were the steamship companies which were owned in England. Moreover, this banking house is probably ignorant of the fact that a large proportion of the big cotton compresses in the south were owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by New York cotton firms who had such a power in the cotton trade that they joined in the campaign against better baling, and through their financial strength were able to break nearly every effort made for improving the cotton-handling system of the south. T- nf these facts, this firm criti cises the south as having stubbornly set its faco against modern improvements in cotton handling. I should have known that every effort to really modernize cotton handling has almost died a-borning because of the power of the vested interests in railroads and cotton compresses dominated in the city of New York. The same circular says: "All true friends of the south, and we claim a place among them, will question the wisdom of the movement to bring about a reduction in acreage for the purpose of causing or maintaining high prices for cotton." * We take it for granted that the millions of people in the south who were born in this section, of parents who were born here, and who have been the backbone of southern life during all the past, would ordinarily be count ed as "true friends of the south." But, according to this oracle, none of these people are "true friends of the south" if they seek to bring about a redaction in cotton acreage for the purpose i of maintaining higher prices for cotton. Referring to this work, the circular-letter says: "It is Short-sighted-policy, and if ^continued will threaten the supremacy of this country as the great source of cotton supply. We are entering upon a new era in world development, and the south is going to have competition which it never -before had to face if prices are kept at a level that offers inducements for the opening up of new fields." This argument is just about one hundred years old, and with age has grown steadily weaker. It is hoary ? and gray-headed. It did service in tl e British Parliament . a hundred years ago and has been doing service ever since. But there are a few points which should be considered. There is no divine command resting upon the south to raise cotton, either for the purpose of maintaining the supremacy of this oouatry in cotton trade or for clothing the world. There is no divine.command which, says that the western farmer who can make money in raising corn shall be compelled to raise wheat for the purpose of feeding the world. No moral responsibility whatsoever rests upon the farmer to raise any crop except that which pays him best If the south can raise cotton, he would be a fool indeed who would insist that 1 he south owed it to the world to raise cotton. There m$.y be some people in the world whose minds are thus flabby, but no intelligent man could for a moment take that ground. There is no obligation upon the south to raise cotton merely to maintain the < supiemacy of this country in the cot- 1 ton trade of the world. If other coun- ? tries can raise cotton by means of 1 the cheap labor in Chii a and India or t Egypt, at a lower cost than the south ] can raise it, there is n< earthly reason i 'which compels the south to sacrifice its people in order to produce cotton i 'at the starvation wages which are paid i to the cotton growers of India and < Egypt and China. So long as the south i can raise cotton profitably to Itself, i Rafter having paid a good living rate f of wages to every cotton laborer, and i after having banished from the t cotton field every worniin who should be at home and every child who should t be at school, whether they be white t or black, then it can profitably and i wisely keep on growing cotton. But ? if the people of the south can find more profitable employment in doing 1 something else than in raising cotton, ? then it is their bounden duty to do the 1 'work which pays the largest profit* c and gives the best living conditions, t If the world cannot get its cotton ex- j 'cept from the south, then it is abso- ? lutely necessary for the world to pay t a' price which will bring prosperity to t the cotton growers and lift the rate t 'of wages in the south in the cotton t 'fields and from that on to the factory i and into every avenue of work to a i parity of wages in other section* t The statement quoted from this t 'banking circular are indicative of the density of Ignorance which prevails /i In other sections about cotton growing 'in the south. For one hundred years rj the south has been misrepresented by ; the cotton speculators and the cotton handlers of the world. It has been t misrepresented by officials of the f United States government and in for- ( "mer years by officials of the British ( 'government, and probably by the offl- , <cials of every other European govern- . ment. The whole theory of the cot- ? ton buyers of the world has been to hold j the cotton growers in economic slavery, ( caVing far less as to the poverty and . 'the illiteracy entailed upon the south ,, by low-pricod cotton than they cared for ^he slavery of the black man prior , to I860. _ . . ,4 At that time the Abolitionists of the ,j north and of Europe were bitterly as- ], sailing slavery in the south. The ^ moral forces of the world were against f slavery, and very wisely, for the bene- i fit of the world and for the south especially, slavery was destroyed so far ,j as physlclal slavery to the black man i was concerned: but the very. same f forces which then broke the chains of , physical slavery have to a large ex- " tent ever since been forging with all , their power the chains of a more damning slavery of the negro and of the white man in the effort to keep ( cotton at a price which would hold in desperate poverty in every sense the ^ cotton laborers and the cotton of the south. , 1 Holding monopoly of this great { staple, the south should have become . enormously" wealthy, and its cotton ( growers and workers should have been ^ the richest agricultural people in the { world, but low-priced cotton has kept ^ 'them under the pall of poverty. The importance of cotton to the world is very clearly stated in an ar- ( ticle by Mr. William Whittam, for* ' j merly special- agent in Great Britain of the United States department of 'commerce and long intimately ac'quainted with the cotton trade, pub- ^ llshed in the New York Tribune. In w,th ' the course 01 ms ?i ? the question of cotton and its relation J to world affairs, and especially as to whether Germany shall be allowed to have cotton or not, Mr. Whittam said: "The world has now to face the task of setting back to noratal attain, and in that enterprise cotton will be one I of the raw materials of major importance. Few realize the significance of cotton in the sphere of human activi- , ties. It concerns every human being. ] It meets man at the cradle and goes j with him to the grave. The fibre also j forms the scanty clothing of hundreds ( of millions of the poorest people of ( the world, Cotton is vital to industry. There is no substitute for it. And , Americans should remember that the , Snited States produces the larger part J the world's supply. "With the single exception of foodstuffs, no other product of the soil is : so necessary to civilized human exist- ( cnce. Its use in the every-day life of , mankind may be measured by the fact j that a year or two before the war, . taking into account the commodities , handled in international trade, exports J and imports from all countries, cotton ranked first with a value of $1,127,000,000, wheat coming second, with a , value of $774,000,000." These statements of Mr. Whittam as i to the value of cotton to the world are ' .trite sayings, fully understood by the < "business men of the world. They know i that cotton is a product which cannot 1 bo supplanted by any other fiber. * They know that our commerce de- j pends upon cotton;that Great Britain's vast manufacturing interests are largely dependent upon cotton for their existence. They know that the wealth of New England was largely 1 created by the manufacture of southern cotton. ? . Wealth untold for the benefit of the world has been created by the south's cotton, but the south has not secured that wealth. The south has simply been the "hewer of wood and the drawer of water" in the world's cotton trade. The world will require an ever-increasing supply of cottoiv Much of the world is almost bare of cotton goods, as it is of foodstuffs. Long before the war there had been a rapid annual increase " in the world's demand for cotton. This will go on at an accelerating rate Just as soon a3 the world gets back to normal business conditions. At that time the south should be able to produce at a profit to itself the amount of cotton sufficient to meet * the world's increasing needs. But it eannot do this, it should hot do it, and It will not'do it, nor even try* to do it, except on a basis of profit which will bring to the agricultural interests of the south a prosperity equally as great is the prosperity of the grain-growing sections of the west. The south should not attempt to produce this increased supply of cotton ^xcept on a basis of price which will completely change its economic life, which will give to its Farm laborers and to its tenant farmers a living wage of income without the necessity of eking out a scanty existence based on the work of women ind children in the cotton fields. This is the gfeat economic and moral issue before the south. It is economic bemuse it means the question of poverty :>r prosperity for a very large proportion of- the people of the south. It is i great moral and educational Issue, because it means the education or the continued illiteracy of a very largS proportion of the poorer classes of the louth. The man who opposes the higher *ange of prices for southern cotton, vhich would completely change the Ksonomic and educational life of this lection, is deliberately working for hunan slavery, more galling, -more derrading, to the poorer classes, white md black, of the south than was the ilavery of ante-bellum days. He who wants to place himself on .he side of poverty and against educaional development should favor a low jrice for cotton. All others will favor i profitably high price. For many years the Manufacturers Record has taken the ground that the louth would be infinitely better off if it rnfi never raised a bale of cotton. Unler that condition its agriculture vould have been diversified and it vould be far richer than it is today, ind slavery would never have been led so tightly around the neck of the touth. Today tne souui cbu uwwuinue raising cotton: and turn to diverilfled agriculture with far less loss to tself than would be the loss to the est of the world. If the world wants he south to raise cotton, it must pay i profitable living price. % \ GOVERNMENT COST ESTIMATES nteresting Figures as to the Expense of Producing Cotton. In a recent statement on the coton sltuation?Col. Clarence Ousley, assistant secretary of agriculture, used lie following interesting comparative lata on the price of cotton. "There has been much Ignorance in egard to cotton prices. It will surjrise many people to read the followng figures. The price of-cotton on ;he farm on April 1, 1914, was 11.9 :ents a pound, and on April 1, 1919, 54.5 cents a pound, or an Increase of 106 per cent. The price of wheat on \.pril 1, 1914, was 84.2 cents a bushel, md on April 1, 1919 .214.2. cents a. lushel, or an advance of 259 percent, rhe price of hogs on the farm April 1, 1914, was 7.8 cents a pound, and on \pril 1, 1919, 16.18 cents a pound, or in average of 205 per cent. The wholejsfle price of cotton goods, according to - - c e Bradstreet's, on Apru x, x?x*. wtu? ? ?-a ients a yard for print cloths 64's Boson. and on April 1, 1919, 7 1-4 cents a rard, an advance of 200 per cent, and )f staple ginghams April 1, 1914, 6J :ents a yard, and on April 1, 1919, 17J ;ents, an advance of 280 per cent, or in average advance for these two :lasses of staple goods of 240 per cent. "While the cost of producing colon under present circumstances has lot been completely calculated for ?ach region of the cotton belt, dependible estimates have been made in several regions, and at the present price >f 24.5 cents to the fanner cotton affords but little, if any, profit. If the irop of 1919 should exceed consump:ion by a million or two bales and add :o the carry-over that much more, the probability is that cotton would decline 'onsiderably below .the cost of produc.?? rm,ot whv cotton farmers are .1U1I. XIIO.V .U .. solicitous and bankers and merchants n the cotton belt who are carrying cotion on a credit basis quite above pres?nt quotations are taking thought of the value of their assets as they will oecessarily be affected immediately by the acreage and later by the yield of 1919." NO USE KICKING. Maximilian Hardin Has Correct Understanding of Situation. Maximilian Hardin in the latest number of Die "Zukunft recalls the behavior of victorious Germany in 1871 and the heavy yoke that Bismarck placed on France in connection with the present situation and the tactics of the German political leaders. "In 1871 at the time of the peace pourparlers," he writes, "Jules Favre, annoyed, slightly raised his voice. Bismarck then began to speak in German, although he was perfectly aware that Favre did not know a word of German. When some wonder was manifested at his behavior, the Chancellor declared that there was no need for him to behave more politely than the French plenipotentiariesdid. When asked what attitude Germany would adopt in case of a French refusal to sign the treaty, Bismarck replied: " 'We will continue to occupy the forts. The armistice is not likely to be prolonged, and in any case we will lock up Paris more tightly than before. ???i Affinlonf TL'hPn Our measures win prove euv?^. ? the French feel the pangs of hunger; in the meantime we will ask for their arms and their guns. Let them cry if they like; they will at last realize how ridiculous it is to make formidable threats, wh'ch it is impossible to carry out, to a victorious enemy.' "In 1919 the situation is the same for the Germans, and the Iron Chancellor would think that we were threatening too much. From the beginning the Weimar Assembly lias declared that our opponent has adopted an impudent attitude. "Dr. Dernburg recently made threats again in the Tageblatt. He also said, according to the formula of Karolyi, that if Germany did not obtain the peace she had a right to, she would open her gates wide to Bolshevism. For the present, let us be content, if the honorable deputy opens wide to us the gates of the splendid villa he ^Mjonoong nt Oriinewald." State Board of Medical Examiners. ?Governor Cooper has named new members of the board of medical examiners. as required by law. The board now consists of: Third district?Dr. Frank Lander, a ma Run, reappointed. The district?Dr. Frank Lander, Williamston. Fourth district?Dr. Baxter Haynes, Spartanburg. Fifth district?Dr. J. R. Miller, Rock Hill. Seventh district?Dr. J. H. Taylor, Columbia. r " - " - ; . "BIG" PERCY GEORGE. ] ?- , Dillon County Farmer Who Is Making Good. f The following: from a recent Issue of' the Country Gentleman, published 1 by the Curtis Publishing Co., of Philadelphia, will be of Interest to the many friends of Percy George, a wellknown and progressive Dillon county i farmer, says the Dillon Herald of last week. "When he was in school at the state agricultural college at Clemson 1 they called him Big George, for he was a 200-pounder and was a power J on a famous champion football team. 11 He .gets his mall addressed 10 r. a George, and he lives near Latta, which happens to be In Dillon county, South Carolina, which in turn happens to be in the Great Pee Dee cotton section, a region of big fertilizer bills and bigger cotton yields. But this same P. A. George plays his farming game just as enthusiastically wfth the velvet bean as his center of interest as he used to play football with his all centered in the pigskin sphere. Mr, George was born with a fondness for cattle and other living things; he achieved a cotton farm which had a big thirst for fertilizers; and he had velvet beans thrust upon him as*the best means to making more fertility, to grow more cotton, to make more money, to buy more cattle. Hence his nickname, and hence this story. When we asked Mr. George about his velvet beans and his cattle, he smiled quietly and led up straight to a big lot where stood six great stacks -i of hay. _ < ".-'J iThnJ'a a mUlrll "see inaif no saiu. i uav > ? u..... . and butter and beef contraption. It beats your silo. When I have gather- l ed the corn I cut the velvet bean hay, I cornstalks, beans and all. and haul.it ] to these stacks. Each one contains j twelve to fifteen tons, and the six will ] feed my sixty Hereford cattle at least < sixty days in the winter time. ] "Feed it to them? No; this is a self- < feeding proposition. The cattle eat round and round these stacks, two and I a half hours a day by the watch, un- < til they eat them up early in the ] spring. Then they go to piy Pee Dee river swamp pasture.' < Mr. George and his brother-in-law < T. E. Berry, have a large river swamp i pasture leased for a long term of 1 years, and together they keep more l than a hundred head of cattle. They j own Jointly five pure bred Hereford ] bulls, and they are rapidly grading up < fine herds with a high class of grade heifers. I As we walked among the pretty anl- j mals grazing in velvet-bean corn ] fields. Velvet Bean George told us ] some interesting yarns about profits j made on buying milch cows and heif- < era and selling fresh cows and the i calves from the breeding with his pure, bred bulls. Bitf as Kipling says, <| that is another story. This is meant \ to be a story of velvet beans and Here- lj ford cattle, and some cotton for good t measure. < MrJ George plants his corn in five- { and a balf foot rows, twenty-three t inches .apart on the row, with velvet lj beans in between the corn on the f -corn row. Then he plants two rows of cow peas between each two rows of corn, and you ought to see that ] jungle of growth in late summer or f| early fall. He uses the Osceola bean *, because it sheds its foliage early and t gives him a better chance to gather i the corn before he is ready to turn ^ cattle and hogs into graze. i' The livestock, which has been in ij tho river swamp pasture smce early , March, are put on the cornfields to ij graze about the middle of October. I They get their sole feed there until i Christmas, when, as a sort o'f Chris- < mas dinner favor they are put into | the lots where the self-feeder stackB | have been made ready by cutting the | velvet bean hay from some of the , cornfields. Coming from the pasture i in fair condition, the stock pick up flesh decidedly during the two and a half months of grazing on the fields. Ro you see, they feed x themselves cafeteria style .the year round. Velvet beans are one thing that a cow will pick up off the ground and eat even after they have lain there for weeks and months. Great labor-saving scheme, eh? But what about manure and the cotton, you ask. Well, no need to say much, for, of course, there are tons of manure in the stables and lots, and other tons on the grazing fields, and equally, of course, cotton gets the benefits. But George isn't cotton crazy. 'Blame cotton!" he said to me. "If I had a little more money I wouldn't plant any cotton at all. As it is, I never plant more than ten or twelve ] acres to the plow. itn- <>?? nf fTOAntv nrrpq T Erath ercd last year twenty-one and a half bales?say, old man, you are not one of these income tax fellows, are you? I put three tons of manure per acre on the land and just a little nitrate as a top dressing1. It beats your high priced commercial fertilizer, to say nothing of what I make on my sales of livestock." Labor Gets Great Uplift.?President Wilson cabled Secretary Tumulty that in his opinion the labor program adopted as part of the treaty of peace "constitutes one of the most important achievements of the new day in which the interests of labor are to be systematically and intelligently safeguarded and promoted." t Mr. Wilson said that ho personally j regarded the labor program as one ( of the most gratifying achievements 1 of the conference and believed no other single thing done would help more to stabilize conditions of labor, throughout the world and ultimately 1 "relieve the unhappy conditions which in too many places have prevailed." ' The message was made public at , the white house as follows: 1 "The labor program which the con- J ference of peace has adopted as part , of the peace treaty constitutes one of j the most important achievements of 1 the new day in which the interests of . labor are to be systematically and , intelligently safeguarded and promot- < ed. Amidst the multitude of other J interests, this great step forward is apt , to be overlooked and yet no other < single thing that has been done will { help more to stabilize conditions (of) ^ labor throughout the world and ultimately relieve the unhappy conditions, which In too many places have prevailed. "Personally I regard this as one of the most gratifying achievements of the conference." THE PORT OF FIUME i Important Adriatio City on Which Italians Have S*t Their Claims. "If Trieste was the Bremen of Austria, Flume was the Hamburg of the Hungarian kingdom a close rival for thesbrisk Adriatic trade of the period before the war,' said a bulletin of the National Geographic society. The bulletin on Flume is the third In a series of geographic news bi'lletlns dealing with places of the former dual empire which may fall either to Italy or to the Jugo-Slav nation. "Flume Is another of those footholds on the eastern Adriatic?where Italians dung fast despite tha steady Influx of Slavs in the interior, and In this case even into Flume Itself. Thus the city bears evidence of early Italian culture, it figured as a potent Slav factor in the turmoil of Balkan politics, and it felt strongly the Influence of Hungary upon its thriving Industries and fast growing"commerce. "Magyar gerrymandering caused It to be annexed to Hungary in 1870, iesplte the protest of Croatia to which It had belonged since the revolution if 1848-49. Tender consideration for Its value as a seaport, rather than for Its citizens, prompted its establishment is a royal free town, making it a geographical slice of about seven square miles cut out of Croatia. "Despite the Hungarian interest in the city its pre-war population was 10 per cent Italian and Slav, with the Italians slightly predominant Only tbout half the remaining tenth were Hungarians. The Slavs included Croats, Serbs and Slovenes. As Important to Hungary as are New York or Boston to the United States, Flume's total population is not much greater than such suburbs or tnose American ports as East Orange, N. J., or Bfbckton, Mass. "itume Is situated on the north3not shores of the Gulf of Quarnero, inly 70 miles, by rail, southeast of its trade rival, Trieste. Across* the bay Is the popular summer resort. Aboazia, famed for Its evergreen laurel uid profusion of roses to which tens of thousands of visitors formerly throngid each summer. "The older town, distinctively Italian, is built on" the hillside, overlooking the gulf. The newer city lies nearer the waterfront There are three tiarbors. The largest accommodating I50?vessels, is protected by a breakwater h^Jfpa mile long. The quay is nearly two miles long. "Before the war Flume manufactUijfp plants include^ a government tobacco factory, the Whitehead- torpedo works, a rice shelling factory, i petroleum reflnerx, and many smaller plants, among which were sawmills ind paper-mills. Its fisheries constituted an important Industry. It exported sugar, grain, flour, horses and Imhnr "Flume had a governor, who was a nember of the upper house of the Hungarian parliament, four represenatives in the lower house, and two epresentatives In the diet of the Croitlans and Slovenes. % "Originating In Roman times, Flume vas destroyed by Charlemagne in 799. The Franks ruled it for a considerable jerlod. Then it passed to feudal lords intil the Emperor Frederick III made t a part of Austria. "This emperor, who was Frederick V, as archduke of Austria, was the son >f Ernest, the 'man of iron' and Cympurga, a Polish woman, from whom he Hapsburgs ^tre ^thought to have nherlted the protruding lower lip vhich sometimes became a disflgurencnt. His long and inconsequential elgn is recalled chiefly because he puzzled lexicographers by leaving on lis books, pottery, and having inscribed on his tomb, the initials 'A. E. I. O. fT ' a nromissory note of future Aus :rian greatness which Frederick did itt|e to realize. The most generally iccepted explanation is that the Ini:als stood for the Latin, 'Austriae Est [mperari Orbi Universo,' meaning, 'All the earth is subject to Austria.' "Charles V4 proclaimed Flume a 'ree port. Maria Theresa first united It with Hungary. Successively occupied by the French and British it reverted to Austria and later was re?tored to Hungary before it was ceded :o Croatia.' International Naval Police.?A large rnval international police force will be lecessary under the league of nations plan immediately after peace is declared, in the opinion of Josephus Daniels, American secretary of the mvy, and one of tho objects of his trip ibroad is to discuss with the admiral;ies of Italy, France and England some ietalls as to this force, particularly :he types of vessels desirable. "The desire of conquest may suu inger in hearts of some nations af:er peace," said Secretary Daniels, 'and such nations must be shown that t would be unprofitable to attempt to iccomplish those desires." As the league of nations becomes established. Secretary Daniels added ;he naval police force would cerainly be decreased in proportion to he strength of the league. The secretary has Just returned from i visit to the interned German battle leet at Scapaflow. He declined to ixpress an opinion as to the disposi;ion of these German warships. Tax on Jitneys.?Taxi-cabs, "jitney jusses" and other passenger automo>iles operated for hire, are subject to ?~t ?tn*ea under re special eutciuiuvu. filiations just issued by the interml revenue bureau interpeting the provision of the revenue act. An au;omobiIe with a seating capacity with from three to seven is taxed $10 a pear, and busses capable of carrying nore than seven are taxed $20. Two passenger cars are exempt. The regulations provide that "bus ines, automobile stages and 'jutneys' operating over regular routes" and . ars operated by sight seeing compares are liable to these taxes. The :ax is assessed against the car and iot the owner, so that if a man sells a lar, he may not transfer the tax to mother car. ? This tax becomes effective January J L and is now due. ARE GOOD FLOOR SCRUBBERS Use of Argoone Heroes at the Peace Conference ALSO CLEAN THE SILVER SPITTOONS Her? is a Strang? Story That Will Not S?t Vary Well on the Democratic Americans Back Horn??Not Much Honor to Our Boys in Making Th?m Do Work That Would B? Better Suited to German Prisoners. I A former doughboy, now acting as 'special Paris correspondent for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in a recent articlo says that many American soldiers are now cleaning cuspidors and per forming: other similar stunts for the members of the peace conference. He 'explains that this doubtful honor has been thrust upon them as an alleged reward for their heroic conduct on the field of battle. The article in question Is said to have no political significance, being written, by the correspondent?& Democrat, by the way?merely as a part of his day's work in furnishing his paper information as to what Is 'taking place where the struggle to establish peace Is going on. The story 'follows: Pursuing my back-stairs studies of the peace - conference last night, I sneaked into the alley entrance of the Hotel Crillon, which is the headquarters of the Xmerlcan peace delegation, and, turning a dark corner In the. kitchen section* of the great hostelry, was about to climb into a dumb-waiter in which I could elude the plainclothes forces and get to the third floor ^garbage-chute, where they empty the waste basket from Colonel House's office. In this way I would have acquired material with which to thrill many 'Seattle readers, but Just as all seemed to be going well with my plan I stumbled over the half-prostrate form of a soldier. "What are you doing here?" I demanded harshly, hoping he would mistake me for an officer in the semidarkness. "Scrubbing the floor, sir,' he responded, coming to attention and saluting. His sleeves were Volled up and I detected a long red scar on his arm. "Where did you get ttont?" I asked. ""Wounded, sir, In the Argonne," ho roplied, respectfully,- still failing to mv HiatniiOA |/VUWV4WVV "Are there many soldiers from the fighting divisions on duty here?" I asked. "Oh, yes,, sir," caid he; "wo wro selected for duty with the peace conference as a reward for our work in the lines." 9 "What do you do when not scrubbing floors " I inquired. "Oh, lots of things, sir," said the hero of the ArgOnne fore^. "Afl sorts of janitor-work and kitchen-work, and sometimes guard duty and messenger duty and whatever's to be done. Some of the lucky ones are chauffeurs." "Damn funny reward for valor" I remarked. Right away he know I was no officer and changed his tone. "Blankety blanked funny," said he. "Anybody would think it was an honor for an American citizen to empty cuspidors for this gang of officers and office-holders. Whylnell don't we go home? Ain't the war over?" And more to the same effect until a plainclothes man came along and threw n^e out. ' X This episode of the soldier scrubbing the floor diverted the correspondent from the path he had mapped out for himself for that night, and he determined to go out on a new line of investigation.. He says: I started out to And something about armies and soldiers and what is going to become of them in the future. It has always struck me as curious that while we read everywhere about the glorious and victorious armies of the Allies and the returning heroes who have made the world safe, etc., it is quite impossible to And one of the individual members of these armies who has any thought except to get out of his particular army and stay out of It and all other armiSB for ever and ever. Over in London recently there was quite a riot, staged by soldiers on leave, who refused to go back to Germany to watch the Rhine. English statesmen have freely admitted in the peace conference that they would not dare to order more English soldiors to Russia, because very probably the soldiers would refuse to go. And meanwhile England has adopted a bonus system which doubles the pay of "her soldiers, in order to keep an army U1 UVV?U|/a- a tion In Germany. France is having a lot of the same sort of trouble, and her domestic troubles are mostly hinging on the slowness of demobilization. Everybody wants to get out of the army, and nobody wants to get in, even though the fighting is over, and this ought to be a nice quiet time to be in an army. When it was announced recently that Germany- might be allowed to keep an army of 300,000, the howl that went up around France resounded like a Seattle shipyard-worker claiming exemption from the draft. If Germany has 300,000 soldiers France has Ub-fi got to have 600,uou, or Bumewiue that And nobody wants to be a soldier. French editors explained that their idea of a league of nations was something that would let France do without any soldiers at all, and Germany with half that many. I had just finished reading some of these French ideas about disarmament when I read in the HerSld that America is to have a standing army of 500,000, and that Eddie Rickenbacker is back home and everybody banquetted him in New York, and he said that America must be able to mobilize 10,000 trained aviators with five battleplanes for each of them in twentyfour hours, so we would alv/ays have command of the air. And in the same paper was something about the naval appropriation bill, which looks a good -j ? i ni,0 0 new Liberty loan. UUU llnv ? Out of all these ideas the notion finally struck me that perhaps the reason so many soldiers don't liko to be in an army, and so many statesmen want big armies, is summed up in the fact that heroes of Chateau Thierry and the Argonne are today scrubbing the hack stairs of the peace conference in Paris. It is summed up in the lines of Mr Klppllng: "It's Tommy this and Tommy that I And Tommy what you may; But it's 'Howdy, Mr. Atkins,' When the band begins to play." < The band has quit playing and soldiering in peace times 4s something 1 else again. < The matter of soldiers and soldier- 1 ing is quite an important feature of ( the peace conference just now. It if 1 involved in almost every one of the 1 national and International question* 1 which are being thrashed out from day * trv Aav Tf avnn nwnana lnf/% tVin lanodU, i of nations plan. If the league become? a fact, with some of us in It and some not?especially Germany and Russia ?those that are in must have enough soldiers to keep the peace with and between those that are not Then again there are all sorts of nations in more or less trouble these days and all of them have got to have soldiers to get* them out Either that or the Bolshevik! will use wooden clubs, and run things to suit themselves Spain is constantly on the edge of trouble. Italy and the Jugo-Slavs have severed speaking relations. Germany is disturbed internally, the Poles are disturbed on all sides, and goodness knows what shape the Laithanians and Ruthenians and Ukrainians may be in tomorrow. These and other people Just naturally can't see their way clear to get along without soldiers. And 11! one country has an army the next must have one. So on ad infinitum. Even a peace conference has to have lots of soldiers. I'm afraid my efforts to get at Colonel House's waste basket didn't help much in furnishing you with newn about peace, but I am still on the Job, 1 trying hard, and will hope not to get < thrown olt the track next time by any ' unhappy incident like encountering the < victorious heroes on the back stairs- f , m , c 1 M08T POWERFUL WARSHIP 1 , i The Tennessee Carries Twelve 16-lneh Guns. < First in size among the great fight- j ing units of the United States navy, \ first in speed and first in size and ] 'range of guns, the super-dreadnaught Tennessee is nearly ready to take the y water from the Brooklyn navy yard < 'ways. Reputed to have "now stuff" < the Tennessee has become known ] 'among "old salts' and gold braiders" < 'as a mystery ship. And the veil of \ mystery will not be lifted until after < 'official trials are completed. y 1 Twelve 16-inch guns, each capable ? of firing a projectile 16 miles with a < fair degree of accuracy, is the claim y set forth for the Tennessee's main < armament by a naval-officer. He sayB: j "A mile an Inch ! Sixteen inches in t each flaming rifle! No other ship In j the world has the punishing power of < this Htrensnh. If it were possible to | use a higher elevatiorrthan is the case < in naval firing it is difficult to say how < Tar the shells would carry with cer- t talnty." , , May Add to Rang* of Guns. 1 As though to carry out a justlflca- f 'tion of the term "mystery ship'' the 8 officer adds: "The new ship may have i homo device to add range elevation z 'which, might add to the 16 miles the guns will be able to carry. j The. sister ship of the Tennessee t tho New Mexico and the Idaho have r 14-lnch guns, as also has the flagship, y Pennsylvania. The Tennessee Is 624 j feet long, has a breadth of 97 feet S c Inches' and a mean draft of SO feet t Her estimated displacement is 82,984 ( tons. This ship exceeds the Penn- j sylvania in length by 24 feet and in 'r beam 6 1-2 Inches. The displacement of the Pennsylvania is 81,400 tons. The New Mexico has a length of 600 feet 'and a displacement of 82,000. ton* ^ ' In regard to the speed of the new ship the naval officer continue#;' * "The Utah and the Florida* ha^edpeed estimates of 22 knots an Ebur. The es- f timated speed of the Tennessee on ^ paper is 21 knots an h#ur. But take a tip from me, this boat will make 24 knots an hour easily which will shatter records for craft of this type." , Will Have Powerful Radio Set. B 1 The Tennessee's furniture Is of met- " aL Upward of one hundred telephones t are being Installed. According to nrv- 1 al officers the radio eQulpment of the 1 new dread naught will prove a depart- * taient. Facts concerning the range ^6f 1 the wireless telegraphic range has" * been guarded. The radla set of the t Pennsylvania Is capable of sending and * receiving messages up to 2,000 miles. f It is reported unofficially that the equipment of the Tennessee will en- * able it to talk to other ships at a distance of 2,500 miles. The wireless telephone equipment 1 is another feature which adds, to the * 'I significance of the term "mystery ship." It is estimated that the Ten- 1 nessee will be able to talk with oth- d er vessels similarly ^quipped over bun- r dreds of miles.?Kansas City Star. 8 ' m ' c Arrival of the Germans in-Paris.? c Fifteen German newspaper men accompanied the .German represents- g tlvea to the peace cougrct? _ . Paris dispateh of Wednesday. No censorship will be imposed upon c the newspapermen's dispatches to Germany but they will not be allowed to communicate with the Allied diplomats or newspapermen. When the first train pulled in to , Vaucresson half an hour late, M. c Charllere and Baron von Lersner, followed by a hundred newspaper men approached the car occupied by Forelgn Minister von BrockdorfT-Rant- , zau. Baron von Lersner entered the , ll car and reported ta the foreign minister who then stepped out. The head . of the German delegation was received with a brief and formal speech 1 of greeting, the text of which had been carefully studied by the foreign min- c istry In order to give it the exact tone '! suitable for the occasion, M. Charllere c h saia: "As prefect of the Seine-et-OIseand , in the name of the government, I have 11 the mission to receive the delegation P of German plenipotentiaries on Its ar- f rival in Versailles. I have the honor ^ to salute you. I present Colonel Henry, chief of the French military mis- u sion, who will be the liaison officer t' between the German delegation and the French republic and his alliances." The German foreign minister,' who <} removed his hat while the French of- a flcial spoke, replied merely by bowing. n Then, followed by the other delegates n and subordinate officials, he proceeded v to the waiting automobiles. p A880CIATE REFORMED 8YNOD 1 1 Proceeding* of Annual 8a**ion Now Being Hold in Charlotte. vwavifvi, A * tuo;. WjUh the selection of Gastonla as he place for the next annual meeting ind the election of Rev. R. F. Brad- ' j ey, of Troy, S. C., as moderator, sueseeding George C. Mower, of New- r jerry, S. C., the Associated Reformed Presbyterian synod of the south, in 9 lesslon here, prepared- the way yeserday afternoon for a business ses- , '>. ilon to adjournment The meeting ' ] vill be held the second Wednesday of Hay each year, hereafter, according o an announced decision of that body. The principal part of the session ast night was given to an addrsss on Christian education by Rev. J. F. kfoffatt D. D., president of Ersklne ' C :ollege, Due West Prehaps the most important action :he synod will take with reference ,o missions was that of yesterday aftsrnoop when the resolution Intro- Xfl luced by Rev. W. B. Lindsay, pastor >f First A. R. P. church, of Charlotte, jrovldinsr for the ralalnr of iSKO.OOO for this purpose during the succeedng twelvemonth was adopted without I terlous opposition. The plans for -aislng this fund will be worked out ?j jy a committee , the personnel of ' ? which probably will be announced at, the morning session today. An address by Rev. W. M. Anderson, ^ D. D? of Philadelphia, moderator of the general assembly of the United *1 Presbyterian church, was a feature of :he day. He spoke at the morning, lession, bringing greetings from the >ody of which he is chief executlva h his^ lengthy address Dr. Anderson liscussed the accomplishments of the 1 nlsslonaries in foreign fields, espe:ially in the east He said the influence of the missionaries, exerted luring the world war, probably prorented holy wars in Egypt and Hi lorthwest India. Mr. Mower responded to Dr. Anderson's greetings, expressing the appro:iation of the synod of the sonth-havng at its session a fraternal delegate from the northern branch of the A. R. p. church. A judicial case which has attracted wide Interest within the A. R. P. ' :hurch, south, was. disposed of y ester lay when Rev. I. 8. Caldwell of a Tenlessee presbytery, was vindicated of :hargee only Implied and the action of he presbytery In releasing from the church certain members of Mr. Caldwell'* pastorate was sustained. The mnouncement regarding this action ixplained that a minority of Mr, Caldwell's church strenuously and persist- Aggfifl intiy opposed the action Of the cnurch najority, which issued the call to him. ;o the extent that the matter came be- S lore the synod* on appeal from the decision of the prssbytry. Numerous reports have been received by'the synod and others ire expected this morning, when action will be *; aken on all during the bustnees see- , rion this morning. Pastors attending the meeting will 111 the pulpits ot Charlotte churchse at ? ervlces tomorrow morning and erenng. Announcer lent of these assignnents will be made some time today, f The synod's meeting nominally will te adjourned early this afternoon, but * _ :'< nemorial services will be held tomorow afternoon for two members , who Lied since the previous meeting. Rev. r. A. Myers, a native of Mecklenburg ounty, who died, at Fayetteville, Tsnt esse a, and Senator'A. G." Brlce, of * * M Theater,S. C.,2who for about forty years > was synodical secretary, will- be menorlallzed. , ' ' 36 / . t c, i OPPOSED TO FREE LOVE. - - J* y . ? Vomsn of Hungary Rebelled Against Communization Law. . . ' . .J It was due to a family quarrel, writes lb Associated Press correspondent rom Budapest, that Hungary escaped laving Its women "cotnmunised" or A# fashion in the Russian "teoub lc" of Sratoff, rather than ts the ab- ' lwrrence of Beta. Kun to the scheme, r'" is the latter afterwards stated. The aw to commuidxe women, was acually fraoied and In the printers' lands, ready for publication when lerr Weltner, one of the cabinet of iright young men, who are now ruling he fate of the former kingdom, went tome for supper. During the meal he old his wife and his mother-in-law far flowing terms about the projected reorms. "What are'you doing for women7" _ hey asked. Weltner then explained that in fuure women would be free too; that hey too would be permitted to chooee heir own husbands and discard them t they Tiked by the simple process of laying & few cents for & legal paper 4 leclaring their "unfitness" for marled life. Further conversation deeloped the feet that the new law also ave husbands the same right; that ihildren might be turned over to the " . - * axe of the state'so that both husband jid wife would get rid of tl>e duties Jid responsibilities of rearing their >wn offspring. *' "Do you mean to tell me that you an get rid of me from one day tq anither and marry the next day if you - - WoH. ike?" dem&naea young nau ???.?ier. "That's how the law stands," reeled the husband. / Then the storm broke. Both wife jid mother-in-law began* to screp.ro 4 .nd a frenzied scene followed, the uphot of which was that the women delanded that Weltner should get the iw stopped or they would leave him t once and would, moreover, get all he wives, mothers and mothers-lniw of all the ministers to do the same. Weltner In the interest of his home omfort and peace, eventually promsed to do his best to get the law reminded. He went to the telephone and ad a conversation with Bela Kun and he other ministers and then csilled p the printers, telling them that no ?tn he 'nulled" from the ? arms where the law lay. He also orered that the type should be melted p and the copy destroyed. It was hus that the law died. The Oregon supreme court 'has renered a decision in which it holds that popular referendum on an amendlent to the Federal constitution, canot .be held. The referendum controersy was raised by the brewers on the rohlbitlon amendment. I