Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PUBLISHE D TRI-WEEKL^ SIORiJPASSES Birricaoe Held (harlestoi aid ff^'J Ie Grip Ne uly Two Days IMMENSE T AMAGE DONE So Far 15 Dta d' Have Been Con firmed, and ii Addition Rumors, of Others.?Pftjerty Loss In Char leston Will JL nonnt Probably Over the Million D ollar Mark. The hurricju:.. whjch. bore., dorn ?upon Charlesut n . Sunday evening, and which hel c the cityiirit^ -grip ? throughout Swn day^ night;, passed, on early Monday,, leaving behind, it a trail of death md Wreckage nnpar alled in that ioinmunlty since the, great storm dl' ISS3'. Fifteen are thown to have been killed by the hurricane. Besides that of Engine* r Coburn, two young' men and a ner o woman were killed In Mount Pleasant, and. two white women were di owned, in Charleston. The names of the dead are:,' Alonza J. Ccburn, of Charleston. E. V. Cutter, of Charleston. ; Robt. E. Snith^ blJColumbia. ? Rosa Robir^on, of Charleston. Ida Morgan, of Charleston. ' Unknown ne;ro woman. ' (Mrs M. Goot son, of Waycross, Ga. Charles Goo<ison, 2 yearly of.Way cross, Ga. Mr.s G. Richter, of Charleston. Mary Richter, of Charleston^ ; Lillian Sten-ler, of Charleston. Two unknow n negro men, of James Island. Two unknovn negro men cf John's Island. ' Besides th<? e rumorsrof ,a number, of other drowr.ings and killings have been'brought i i, but these it has been imposible to corroborate. It is impossible as yet to say just how great has been the property loss as a. result ol the hurricane' work. No reports : rom the sea islands or from the coas' have yet been obtain able. In the imm diate vicinity of Char leston estimales vary from a quar ter o a million dollars upward. It ie p'm oable tl at the loss is about a million dollar 3. That is the figure which a numt er of the most capable observers hit ipon. (Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms both er.me through the storm" with no loss < 'f life on either island, but the night was one of great terror on both, and nuch damage has been done* on both. Many houses on Sul livan *s Isla-ztc have beeh wrecked, and'the note! on the Isle of Palms suffered g're'al !y. The transportation system has b .en put completely out ot business. The hufrici no was .at its height at midnight ? Siii day night, when, the wind attained a velocity of.9Q miles the hour and the barometer dropped to 29.43. The wind continued to blow fiercely mtil about daylight and then., gradua ly subsided until the storm passed on somewhere to the south of Ciia leston and inland?the weather bure iu does not know just where. In Chariest on the greatest damage, or course, wr s done along the water front, but prictically every house to the south of Calhoun street testified to the fury o the gale. Along Broad street. East Bay, King and Meeting streets scores of residences and places of husiness vere unroofed and had the windows blown out. The rain fell heavily Monday night, and was in consequen :e, most unwelcome, ev en though a ;companied by but little wind. Hundreds of trees in all parts of the city v ere blown down or split to pieces. The stree s everywhere Monday were filled w th wreckage of all sorts. Little business was transacted. The work of reps iring the damage has al ready progressed well, however, and the street railway will be in opera tion soon ai:d the streets it is prom ised will all be opened to traffic. Communi :ation with the outside world has b ;en re-established, trains operating f: om the old Line street station of tl e Southern Railway, the Union stat:.c n being put out of com mission tea porarily. Big Picking for Thieves. The past summer has been the most iprofi able for burglars and sneak thieves in the history of the New^ Work police department, and it is estimate*: that the total of plun der since Jane, including burglaries in surburbi n towns, is more than $500,000. The police list of stolen property for the past two months) show more than 4.200 items, of which reco1 eries have been made in only twen:. instances. The list in cludes 7S0 watches and $200,000 worth of diamonds and jewelry. Firs News of Storm. The first news of the Charleston disaster wa.. given to the world Tues day by I. A. Davis, Associated Press! operator, who has been working in Charleston. He left Charleston late Tuesday af ernoon, going to Sumer ville, 25 niles away. He carried along a copy of The Evening Post. Coming to i urnmerville he found only two wires c pen. This being the near est point (X Charleston, he climbed a telegraph pole and cut into the reg ular Southern circuit and soon had a connection. ISSUES ADDRESS COMMITTEE OF STATE FARMERS 3?4g , SPEAKS TO PUBLIC. The ^ :**J a Monopoly of Cotton Pro??, on Should Organ ize and Protect Her Industry. A committee of the State Farmers' Union, whose chairman is .Man Johnstone, has just issued an addi ess to all "Southerners, Farmers, Mer chants, Bankers, Mill Men, and. all Business Men in the industrial d?vel opmet of the South" In the hops of raising interest in getting, the South's ' g^kt etepte ??tbn, marketed VNjas onably .land. profitably. It pointes out ' the uncertainty" of any crop*estiin*le that can be made. ?s it says, a ;:leld that is. smiling.tMs. month mght suf "fer arid wilt the next And why need we hurry in stating figures. The I crop is* in our hands and it is our safest asset. Our banker will loan us money on it and we should want no better security. To let it go at 10 cents today as when we let it go at 4 cents. When we take a stand we cannot retrace our steps without fear of a serious breach in our own ranks. Experience has taught us the danger of too hasfy action.. The out look may be promising today. But a heal/thy.weed is not the crop. A gen eral drought will cut short the proc ess of growth as the plant advances iiifo fruition. The crop is young, into fruition. The early drought s^t.it.back In iits early stages aad.it: was well up'in"bhe.summer.months' Defor^ It showed.^ signs of rapid growth. Having begun late it must be( allowed to./grow late. A late fall is: bu^only hope for anything, tfke.a f.aj? fiT?p." And' so an"'early frost won Acutt ehort; w?at'se^rns^[iot ? igm,e, estimators the best prospect in years. The-cold rains of fall, if they oome earjy.will prevent the .opening of a large part of the crop. ? In view of all these possibilities common sense will tell us that .it is nothing short of folly to base -"?n es tiniate upon data that must be."very' uncertain; and the following of which might prove disastrous. Aside from the loss in money that might result from too hasty action j we cannot es mate the loss that would result to the;ca.use of the 'farmers, if ? after tak ing a stand we fail to hold it. The movement for concerted action en the part of all,Southerners interested in the'cotton.crop advances slowly be cause in the great stretch of country that it covers there is such a diversi ty of interest. A change of policy that would suit our section might bring calamity to another. We should wait therefore iintil such a time when there can be no possibility of a great mistake in the estimate of th crop. Basing our figures then on a sv.re es tmate' we should count on the sup port of all Southerners. If when we are ready to market, consumers are reluctanit to purchase we need fear no disaster Having arrived at a fair estimate 61 the crop we may easily retire a percentage of it, leaving available only so much as will supply the market at a fair price to ourselves. If we are i:o pro duce fourteen million bales, let us retire two million bales and stand firmly by this fixed pledge. With all the attention giver: to tt?e raising of cotton the industry is but partially developed. A crop must not j only be economically and efficiently 'produced, but it must be wisely marketed. Heretofore all our atten tion has been given to the plowing and we have bestowed but scant care upon the disposition of the crop. As I much energy, as great labor, as fine business judgment is needed in the marketing as in the raising cf cotton As the growing is a science, so ought the marketing to be a system. With united front we ran place southern cotton in every market in the world. We uan all join memorialising our Congressmen to aid us in finding new markets for the staple, in opening all the ports of the world to southern eotton. There is no possibility that the product of the South can flood the world market. The foregoing facts having em phasized the deep concern that all in terests have in the crop of cccton and in the proper marketing of the same, let us call upon all to aid us in strengthening the markets. Not alone the market for raw materials but for the finished product of the mills. We are all farmers in that we deal with the product of the farm. The interests of the South are common to all Southerners whether bankers, merchants, mill men, or farmers. The history of the South should bring us a lesson on the value of nited effort. Through many resolu tions, commercial and otherwise, she has passed and has been able to withstand them only by united effort. When the armies of the nation were arrayed against her in the Go's con federation was all that saved her) from complete annihilation. Wheji1 she lay at the mercy of the unscrup ulous men during the period of re constretion all rallied to free her from the curse of the false govern-' meat. As in war so in business,' events of the last twenty years seem j to argue against nor prosperity. Hav-| ing by united effort overcome re verses her industrial development has been wonderful. And yet when the one great crop in which all interests centre seems a success, something conspires to put out the price to de crease its market value. The profi table marketing of cotton demands ORANGEBUB TRAIN IS WRECKED AUTHORITIES DECLARE .THAT DISASTER WAS PLANNED. Twenty-two People Injured Xear Middleton* Conn.?Unfortunates Are Given Prompt Attention. Railway men were at work all Monday night clearing up the wreck age of the Valley division express, which was ditched three and a half miles south of (Middleton, Conn. Mon day night. Twenty-two of the 60 in jured were brought to Middleton by train and the others by trolley. and automobiles. First aid to the injured was ren dered at the scene of . the. wreck by two physicians who were passengers on the train. The scene was one of the greatest confusion. It was pitch, dark and misting, and the only light was that given by two trainmen's lanterns, which had survived the shock of the wreck. With handkerchiefs and the torn clothing of the passengers the doc tors bound up the injured, assisted by Harold King, of Middleton, a med ical student, who himself was badly hurt about the head and body. De spite a long scalp wound and two broken ribs, King labored strenuous ly for several hours among the injur ed. The nearest station to the wreck is Maromas, a mile and a half south, and it was* hot until a brakeman could reach.that place on foot over .the 'ties that.assistance could be sum moned. An ambulance with doctors was sent from the Middleton hospital and the entire .staff of. the state hospital forHheTns?ne also left for the"scene in auomobiles. The railroad authorities said at first that the wreck was d?e to spreading rails. Men were working on the track "11 Monday afternoon and the ground was soggy from a three-days' rain. One locomotive and two baggage cars went down a 35-foot embankment, almost into the Connecticut river. The eight passen ,ger coaches were thrown in all di rections. ? Of . the sixty or more passengers who!were hurt in the wreck, one is reported as being near death, and he Is Abram Brown, of Hartford, who suffered an injury to his spine. The hospitals report that the other pa tients are doing well. The cause of this wreck is being looked into. Early Monday morn ing Superintendant Woodward, of the Shore Line division, who went to the scene of the disaster, notified the po lice that he found upon close inspec tion that the train had been purpose ly wrecked. a -union of forces as real as that of the 60's and 70's, a constant steady pudl for the industrial freedom of the South. Wdthout the martial spirit of the 60's but with the same loyal de votion to Southern interests, let us rally to her support in this her day of opportunity. As we have been brothers in all movements for Sputh ern 'progress, let us not forget that comradeship and fraternity as we en ter this movement. The cause in which we labor is high and just. As we measure the cause by its result, we cannot but be inspired when we I look forward and see chat a fair and reasonable price for cotton as it comes from the gin and it will mean increased prosperity to all concerned, to the farmers who grow it, to the mill operative who weaves it, to the mill men whose great industry is founded on it, to the banker and the merchant whose business is built on the capital that it produces. j If the American government would foster trade relations with foreign countries with the same foresight and zealous care as England does, southern cotton mills could find in the great undeveloped countries of South America and Mexico a market to absorb their output for twenty years to come. In addition there are the Philippines supplied almost en tirely with cotton cloth by English mills while we, duty free, send com paratively nothing and complain of high priced cotton and everloaded markets in the cloth trade. All that is needed now to establish a paying trade with Pacific territory is to make goods in the patterns and weaves de sired 'by the native taade and the re salt is accomplished. England does this and even with payind duty, reaps profit while we allow a considerable opportunity for lightening the load of home consumption to go by unim proved. Every tropical country is a market for cotton cloth and we have right at our doors sufficient outlet lor our manufactured cotto':, if util ized to create a quick demand, as would advance the price of raw cot ton to 15 cents, or higher, and keep it there in flat defence of Liverpool, or any other foreign agency. Inertia is our greatest sin. So let us rouse ourselves in a great effort for market extension; for a proper estimate of the South's greatest sta ple, for a determination to market our crop slowly; to retire from the world's available supply of cotton whatever percentage is necessary to make the remainder sell at a re munerative price; and the whole trouble is over in our humble opin ion. "The South and all for the South" until our commercial suprem acy is assured and maintained. .G, S. C, THURSDAY, AUGU ANSWERS TAFT Champ Clark Accuses President Taft of Misstating Fads. ONSLAUGHT AN HONOR Speaker Clark Declares He Can't See How Executive Has the Nerve to Defend Payne Bill and Tariff Re vision Veto?Speaks of the Wool Bill and the Tariff Board. Champ Clark speaker of "the nation al house of representatives, before leaving Washington early Tuesday replied' emphatically k to President TaftV speech, delivered last'Saturday at Hamilton, Mass. In a signed in terview, the speaker accused the president of not statlfcg the facts. Mr. Clark' declared., among other things that ff-the tariff board is to be used as a pretext for delayed tariff revision downward, the Democrats would cut off its supplies. "The president essayed the rather large stunt of running amuck on both the Democrats and the insurgent Re publicans in Congress, singling out Charman Underwood and myself par ticularly as Democratic targets," said Mr. Clark. "I accept his onslaught as a badge of honor. "The president and I are personal friends. He Is an amiable gentle man, but at the same time .he seems to have been in a bad temper, because he sees defeat staring him in the face. I'would say. nothing unkind about him, but I,cannot and will not permit his personal strictures and bald mi?statement of historical facts to go -unchallenged. "The president's criticism of Mr. Underwood and myself, which is es sentially a criticism of all Democrats in the house and senate, because all Democrats stood together, is abso lutely uncalled for and Is as ungrate ful a performance as I can remember, for if i* r-i-.d not been for the action of the Democrats in tbe house in both the Sixty-first and Sixty-second con gresses in lining up almost unani mously in favor of reciprocity with Canada, he would have been the most thoroughly discredited and humiliat ed president since the days of An drew Johnson. With all the Influence and patro nage of his great office-he could not muster a majority of house republi cans for reciprocity in either the ! Sixty-first or Sixty-second congress. The president says that he did not play politics about reciprocity, but that we ild play politics about the ?tariff. The only politics we played was to keep faith with the people. If ' any politics was played on reciproci ty the president himself played it? personal at that. "He seems to think that we ought to have adjourned as soon as reci procity was disposed of?that is, he seems to think that congress is com posed of a lot of school boys to be ordered about by him as head teach er, but he was forewarned by both Qlr. Underwood and myself that if he called the extraordinary session we would pass tariff bills and such other bills as the democrats seemed advisa ble. He will not deny that state ment. "If we had done less than we did we would not have been worthy of so great a portion of public confi dence as we now enjoy. We made the best record of constructive states manship made by any congress in the same length of time in a genration and that fact is precisely what caus ed the president to assault the Dem ocrats in congress. "He had said the rates of the wool schedule in the Payne Aldrich bill were too high and ought to be re duced. We reduced them. In the teeth of his other declarations that said rates were too high, he vetoed our wool bill, thereby going over boots and breeches to the stand-pat ters. "The president endeavors to con vey the impression that Mr. Under wood and I advocated his tariff com mission. We did no such thing. "We were never in favor of a tar iff board or eoinmisson under the control of the president alone, re sponsive to him only. The Congres sional Record will fully and clearly prove my contentions herein stated. "Several members of the house, both Republicans and Democrats, in including Mr Underwood and myself, have spent half a lifetime studying and debating the tariff. "The service of some house and senate members even goes back to the McKinley bill, the -Sprirger bills, the Mills bill, and the Morrison bills, Then why shoud we wait for the ver dict of the president's board of tariff non-experts? "It will be noted that, while the! nmndent's conscience would not per mit him to sign a bill revising oven one schedule he promptly signed the outrageous Payne-Aldrlch-Smoot tar iff bill without counsel, advice or tu ition of any tariff board whatsoever. "It might as well lie understood now as later that if the tariff board is to be used as a pretext for delay ing tariff revision downward, its days will be few, for we will cut off its supplies. The board has already cost $300,000 or $400,000 and has not given to Congress any informa tion to aid in revising the tariff. "The president himself is a man of large general Information as well ST 31, 1.911. CRUSHED TO DEATH TICKET OFFICE BLOWN OVER WITH FATAL EFFECT. Two Men Sheltering Themselves Be hind It From the Storm Are Hor ribly Crushed. E. R. Smith of Columbia and E. V. Cutter, a motorman of the Con solidated Company, were crushed to death when the ticket office of the Consolidated ferry wharf on Mount Pleasant was crashed down on them Sunday night, about 11 o'clock, at the time the terrific storm that struck the coast was at its height. The two mer were sheltering themselves behind the office from the driving rain. Mr. Smith and "his wife were safe on Mount Pleasant and had made preparations to remain at the home of some residents who had kind ly offered them shelter. It seems that Mrs. Smith had forgotten her pocket book on the ferry boat, and she send Mr. Smith Iback to the wharf to get it. He crossed the bridge to the boat and securing the purje started back, but just then the bridge broke and began giving way. He stopped for shelter behind the ticket office and while waiting there the office'blew over, killing him and Mr. Cutter. In the darkness and the excite ment it was not known that the two men had met their death beneath the wreck of the office, so their bodies lay unmolested for hours. When the office wreck was moved it was found that the men had been horribly man gled. There was no way of getting word Of the accident to Mrs. Smith, and it was not until shortly before the Venus'left with the bodies that she knew of the sad fate of her hus band,' whom1""she had sent on a mis sion in her behalf. as a maa of great ability, but cer tainly he Is not enough of a tariff expert to justry him in vetoing tariff bills which passed the house by ma jorities of more than two to one. The president implies that he re fused to sign the wool bill because it ?was introduced and pushed through without consideration. Let's see. The caucus of Democratic members elect ed to the Sixty-second congress met January 19 and selected the Demo cratic members on ways and means ?committee making Mr. Underwood chairman. They personally and with their helpers, at once began to as semble information on the wool schedule. The bill was reported to the house about the middle of April, a period of. three months, on the prop osition of one schedule out of four teen;''whereas the hearing on the Payne bill with 14 schedules began November 11 and the bill was report ed to the house March 18, a period of a little over four months. "Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the president signed the Payne-Ald rich-Smoot bill and vetoed ours. "Instead of being slapped together hastily without due consideration, the Democratic wool bill was one of the most thoroughly and carefully considered tariff bills ever present ed to any president for his signa ture. In view of the foregoing facts, it surely must be that the president, in his zeal to reform the broken lines of the stand-patters, forgot that all men were entitled to a square deal and when he uttered this monstrous and preposterous sentence: " 'The bills bear internal evidence of the fact 'that they rested on a basis of not tariff for revenue only, but tariff for politics only.' "Really I do not see bow he could ind it in his heart to utter the fore going words, for which there is no basis of fact in the universe. "Never in the history of govern ment, I venture to say, have import ant pblic interests bee ndealt with in such a light-hearted way with such absolute ignorance of the effect of legislation and with such willingness to sacrifice business interests to po litical exigencies. "That is as reckless and as un fair a statement a,s has been put into print since Gutenburg invented mov able type, and is a personal reflection on the sense, honesty, integrity, bo na fdes and patriotism of every man, Democrat or Republican, who voted Jiiem, not for myself alone, but for all who voted as I did. "The president rushed in to create an issue. We pick up the glove flung into our faces and the faces of the consumers of the land. We gladly accept his gauge of battle We con fident y bslieve that the people will (?.".dense our cause and give to us the victory for which we have right and truth and Jtistice on our side." Two Million Deposited. With the designation of L'.'j posf oflices to begin business as postal savings bank on September 2:\, in the states of Florida. Georgia, New York and North Carolina, Postmaster General Hitchcock named The last of the second class offices. The total of offices of this class is 1,77:5 and all have been designated as postal banks. By September 1 it >:> expected that the aggregate amount of depoits In sec ond class offices will reach $2,000, 000. Banks in dies of the second class have deposited with the United States approved bonds in the sum of $10 000,000 to secure postal savings deposits. ENGINEER KILLED FLYING PLANK KNOCKS HTM OUT OF WINDOW. For Several Minutes His Comrades Did Not Realize that He Had Been Injured. Among the storm casualties re ported to the police at Charleston, the first was th*t of Mr. Alonza J. Coburn, an engineet of the Southern railway, who was struck by a piece of planking while standing near a window of the yardmaster's office on Line Street. Mr. E. S. Flathmann,. night yard master of the Southern Railway, gave a very descriptive account of the un fortunate accident. Mr. Flathmann ? stated, that about 10.40 o'clock Sun day night, be, with several other'rail-j road men, were discussing the possi bility of getting out a train which Mr. Coburn was to run. The engi neer at the time of the accident, was standing with his back near the east window trying to repair a broken chair, when suddenly a loud crash was heard, and the small, wooden building was jarred as if struck by lightning. In less ime than it takes to tell, Mr. Flathmann said, it was all over and the only thing unusual noted at the time was that the frames of the east and west windows were blown away. It was fully five minutes be fore the excited men recovered their senses. No attention was paid to the absence of Mr. Coburn, as it was thought that during the.nerve raking period he had left the office and gone to the round-house. But later de velopment showed that he was not at the engine house, and the yard mas ter and his party therefore started, out with lanterns in search of their comrade.' They had not gone''very far when Mr. Flathmann stumbled over the remains of the engineer. The body was taken to the yard office, and the coroner was imme diately notified. The coroner did not view the remains until 11 o'clock next morning. The inquest was' held af terwards. The board that struck Mr. Coburn was part of a 20-foot piece of roofing torn from a box car, stand ing on the repair tracks of the car shops. Mr. Flathmann bears sever al ugly cuts on his right hand, and thinks that either a piece of the win framing or the shoes of the dead man struck him as he was hurled through the west window, near which Mr. Flathmann was standing. TROOPS LEAVE TEXAS. 'No Troops Are Quartered Near Mex ican Line. A criterion of the American offi cials take in regard to improved con ditions across the Mexican border is found in the fact that practically all of the United States soldiers paroll ing that quarter have been with drawn from the immediate vicinity of the frontier. A few cavalrymen re main along the western Rio Grande border. ... ?... The only patrol maintained at this time is along the California fron tier because of the disturbed condi tions in Lower California. The recommendation of Gen. Jo seph W. Duncan, commanding the de partment of Texas that restrictions surrounding the soldiers in his terri tory in regard to short excursions in to Mexico be removed has been re ferred to the State department with the probability that it will be ap proved. Boats and Navy Yard Damaged. Six torpedo boats were swept ashore and the Charleston navy yard was damaged to the extent of $20, 000 by the violent storm which struck the Georgia and South Carolina coasts Sunday night. Roofs and doors of the buildings of the navy yard were ripped off, wires were strewn in a tangled mass on the ground, tracks were torn up and con siderable damage was done to the wharves. TO FLY ACROSS OCEAN. Ohio Man and Five Companions Will .Make the Attempt. Melvin Vaniman's balloon with which he a.id five others say they will attempt to fly across the Atlantic ocean October 22 will be shipped from Akron, Ohio, to Atlantic City .Monday, and having just been coin-j pleted in a rubber factory. As soon as the framework of steel tubing isj attached and the b.nlloon Inflated In the mammoth hangar, the airship will be christened the "Akron," with fitting ceremonies. The "Akron" is the only dirigible of the first class ever built on this side of the Atlantic. It Is 268 feet long or about SO feet longer than the "Amercla," which was lost in the ocean as a sequel to the Walter Wellmari expedition last year. Killed with hydrogen it will have an atmospheric displacement of 300, 000 cubic feet and a gross lifting power of 26,000 pounds. With the car and engines attached It will have a net capacity of 12,000 pounds, or about SO persons. The Akron is made up of 2,200 pieces of tough fabric. The propel lers will each be driven by a gasoline engine of a hundred horse-power. The gas bag Is of the cigar shape with an extreme diameter of 45 feet. 0 TWO CENTS PER COPY. CANADA STIRRED Fight Over Proposed Rcc'procify Pac Waxes Fast and Furions. ?URIER LEADS FIGHT Reciprocity Remains The Dominant Issue in the Canadian Campaign? ? Great Crowds Hear Leaders Speak Daily?Annexation Bug-bear De nounced by the Liberals. Reports coming in from all parts o<" Canada show the intensity of the. election struggle, which is.under full I headway, and they request, also that position, and progress of the various, ?elementsorTthe main Issue?recSpr<r> city between Canada and the United States. Although the campaign comes while harvesting is at ita height, con ventions and political gatherings are drawing audiences unparalleled in size. It is conceded a greater num ber of votes will be polled than ever in Canada. Reciprocity has continued the dom inant issue since Premier Laurier and Opposition Leader Borden made tneir initial addresses. Since then ?Mr. Borden has remained in Ontario, speaking daily, while Premier Laur ier, after one Ontario meeting, has swung over to the French-Canadian province of Quebec, whete .he has. beer: addressing from one to two meetings each day, Including Sun day. [< / Meantime the premiers of the va rious provinces and ? other leaders! have been ranging themselves o? the firing line. Premier Whitney, of On tario, Premier McBride, of BritiflJ*, Columbia, and Premier " Kazan, of New Brunswick, have taken the stump in opposition to ratification-of I reciprocity and in opposition to the return: of the Laurier candidatee. Clifford Sifion, formerly a member ol the Laurier ministry, is holding a meeting in Ontario, at which he de nounces the reciprocity agreement and the government for having made it. The grounds taken for and ajainst reciprocity are shown in the reports coming from all sections. The fight against reciprocity is made on both economic and sentimental grounds. Opposition leaders declare agricul ture In the United'States Is so much better developed than it is in Cana da, and that the Canadian farmers will be swamped by the arrival of food products from the United States. Conservative papers have beea printing offers from alleged Ameri can fruit, dairy and provisions firm? to sell cheese, fruit, vegetables and other produces to Canadian dealers, at less than the prevailing Canadian* rates as soon as the reciprocity agree ment is confirmed. T.I10 liberals* have denounced these stories as'not genuine but arranged for to stam pede the Canadian farmer against reciprocity. The sentimental ground raised against the return of the government is based on the report of President Taft, in which he said Canada had come to "the parting oi! the ways," as justification for having passed the reciprocity agreement through con gress. The opposition still insists President Taft has the opposition of Canada in view. Leader Bocden gave instance of thi3 in his speech at To ronto saying: "I don't doubt the loyalty of tho Canadian people, but if Canada de liberately interlocks her interests with those of the United States she will be led step by step into condi tions which all her loyalty could not change. The time to withdraw is now before the threshold is reached." The fight for reciprocity is based; by Premier Laurier and his follow ers on economic advantages which will accrue to Canada as a whole and they denounce the annexation cry as a hollow device of the campaign. Quebec is regarded as the pivotal province in the election. Here Hen ri Ilourassa, opposition leader, is vig orously denouncing Premier Laurier as too imperialistic. Bourassa de clares Laurier betrayed Canadian de pendence to Great Britain by enact ing a law for the creation of a navy which eventually will lead to the conscription of the young men of. Canada. This same cry stampeded, the electors of Drummond at Atha baska, where Laurier was brought up in a bye-election two years ago. Premier Laurier, at a meeting In Saint Eustache recently, departed from his usual dignity and calm by declaring that Mr. Bourassa was a "wilful liar." Trie prime minister has . shown splendid form in the campaign, and in spile of his soveuty , years . he speaks with more vigor than ever be fore. The opposition claims they will gain scats from the government in the maritime provinces (Mova Scotia, New Brunswick and I*rince Edward Island) in Quebec, Ontario, Manito ba and British Columbia, while the western provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta will remain with tho government as at present. Tns lib erals, on the contrary, ?claim they will increase their present large majority in the French-Canadian sections of Quebec and in the maritime prov inces, and 7.ill make gains in..Onta rio and throughout the western provinces.