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jLABLTSlED 1865 NIWBE ~4Ry S. 0,9iWIC AES WY,EK.NU..50(A YEAR qa-amufman zg , nn LitILATUR, -4tt0 Over a Week Unttil the Members Assemble--A Great Many Changes Noted. [The State.] Within little over a week the legis lattare will convene. The personnel of the body will show many changes, a number of the leading senators and several of the most picturesque Ngqrps; in the hopse passing off the political atage-for a time at least. whe sepate and the house will both have new presiding officers. With Lient. Gov. Jno. T. Sloan in the chair there is expected to be no frio. tion and -he business of the senate will be discharged smoothly. Sena tor Appelt, Graydon, Gruber, Blake ly, Caughman, Bowen, Sullivan, Sar. ratt, Livingston, Ilderton, Bardwell, Glenn and Henderson are among those who for various reasons will not be members of the new legisla "ture. * Tho -personnel and the leadership of. the house will be changed. The speaker of the last house will not be a member of the body this time and it is probable that the robe of office will fall upon Mr. Rainsford of Edge. field, Mr. Smith of Kershaw or Mr. Williams of Lancaster. The house will lose some of its strongest and most reliable members as well as some of the picturesque figures who have been handed down from the uprising of a decade ago and have been holding over ever since. The ways and means com mittee is by some considered the most important working body of the legislature. There will be a num ber of names erased from this com. mittee's roll this session. The chair. man, Col. Harvey Wilson, was a can didate for secretary of State; Mr. Geo. E. Prince aspired to succeed Qobgressman Latimer; Messrs. H. J. Kinard and J. G. Wolling r an for railroad commissioner, and the fol lowing also will not return: Cosgrove of Charleston, West of Spartanburg, Weston of Richland and Estridge of Lancaster. Mr. Altamont Moses of Sumter is the senior member of those ,who will return. The judiciary committee is also 'one of the most important and here .too the changes will be marked. Seven of the leading members will not return. These are: the courte ous chairman, Mr. Bacot of Charles ton, who was a candidate for con gress; Mr. Croft of Aiken who was elected toQcongress; Mr. C. P. San. ders of Spartanburg, Mr. F. P. Mc Gowan of L4aurens, and T. B. Butler who now becomes senator from Cherokee, Mr. Spears of Darlington, of free pass law fame, and Mr. Bos tick of Bamberg. Of those who will return Mr. T. Yancy Williams is the senior member of the committee. There will be many other faces missed in the house. . Mr. Win. H. Lockwood of Beaufort, chairman of the committee on accounts, died dur ing the summer; Mr. Henry B. Rich ardson of. Clarendon was defeated for the State senate; the venerable Mr. Dean of Spartanburg will not be here to raise. his voice in behalf of the Confederate veterans; the jolly Mr. Strom of Edgefleld will riot be here; Mr. Elder of York is a book S keeper at the State dispensary, Dr. Wood of Olarendon will not be here to make those funny and facetious remarks in regard to "bug ology" or the study of "mickrobes"; Josh Ash ley, the irrepressible Josh with his fog-horn voice and his lack of ven eration fo'' custom and the usages of S State bodies; Representative Bolt, S the colored member from George Stown; the venerable and dignified r. Wm. Henry Parker of Abbeville, dthe r@oinlseet Mr. Thompson , ~om Oconee; Mr. Ivy Mauldin of Vlckeris, Clemson's first graduate to be elected to the general~ ssemnbly; the earnetkand matnly Mr. McMaster of Charleston, who ran for the State r )nate; Mr. Blese, the young repre sentative of Saluda who was a candi date for the State senate. There will be matiy of the former memnberv who will be missed at this session. The o 0ers of both houses will ,stand for rqelqtin, mad It is be leved that. uone of them will have serique opposition. The election of speaker of the house is exciting no little interest. The friends of Mr. M. L. Smith of Camden claim that he now has a suffi cient number of pledges to elect, but Mr. Williams' friends are pushing his candidacy very vigorously. Mr. Williams is one of the finest parlia mentarians in the State, but Mr. Smith is also a man of unusual abil ity. Mr. Rainsford's strength is not known, but he is regarded as a gran of highest character and of attractive personality. Among other changes it may be noted that at this gession Edgefield County will have but two repreeenta tives. Twenty five years ago this county had seven representatives, but tbree new counties have in part been made of Edgefleld territory since then. The county of Lee will for the first tinme have representetives upon the floor of the house. Four years ago Mr. Keels came over from Lee coun ty with his certificate of election, but the courts;decided that there was no Lee county-and Mr. K9els retired. There will be several important questions to come up. The matter of taxes is always the most impor tant, although it sometimes attracts less attention. This year the ques. tion will be of greater significance because the appropriations have ex ceded the income. The child labor bill will also be fought to a finish. There are many who assert that the bill will pass. There are others who claim that they will successfully oppose the bill. The cotton mill presidents them selves seem to have divided on the question. Anti-trust laws will be given some attention by the General Assembly. There will be other measures relat ing to the management of corpora tions, but none of -them will excite as much interest and as much feeling as the child labor bill. RELIBFP PROM THE DOGS. Citizens of York County Request Legisla tion on the Subject. [Yorkville Enquirer.] To the General Assembly of South Carolina: We the undersigned citizens of York county, respectfully uige such legislation as will promise mitigation of what is coming to be generally rec ognized as the dog nuisance. It gives us pleasure to say that in his place the dog is a useful ani mal, always a source of pleasure to his owner, and and sometimes a source of profit, and, +.herefore, we would not he unaerstood as asking anything like a general pro. scription, or the enactment of anti dog laws that would be either un necessarily harsh or unjust. However, there are too many dogs in the country and too little respon sibility for their ownership, and we think that for the common benefit, the ownership of the dog should be subject to certain wholesome restric Lions. We would,. therefore, beg to aug gest the advisability of an act pro viding that all dogs in the State must wear collars to be furnished by the respective counties, at a certain proper price per anLnum, to be fixed by the general assembly; that the revenue thus derived over the above expenses to go to the public road or public school fond, and that the respective counties pay bounties, to be fixed by the general assembly, for the heads of all dogs found with out collars, in accordance with the requirements of law to b~e made and provided. Note-The foregoing is published at the suggestion of a citizen who is interested in this important subject. It is the idea to have it signed as extensively as possible, and to that end we will be pleased to append the signaturps of all qualified voters who desire to be understood as endorsing the proposition. Names should be handed into this office without delay by means of postal cards, letters and otherwise In sofilcient num~bers to give the gener,al assetnbly ari idea.of what our people think about the matter. - :d Ecuier THE STATE'S FWAItCES. 1he (andtgon in 1ycb eay Werc.at t#e -cginning.qtbe a atr. (peoial,to News and Courier.] Colarghbia, Jan. 1.--With 4ew ginning of the New Year it is well to look into quoe's financial oouditiop. Tbis seetps to be the way of the w orId apd it might therefore be well to get some facts concerniug the financial condition of the State of Soutih Caro lina. To begin with, the State is now running on borrowed capital. The money which was borrowed will be due during the present month, and the State will not have available funds with which to. meet the notes and they will have to be renewed. The reason is that the' General As sembly appropriated more money than can possibly be raised on the tax levy and all other sources. The total taxable property for the year 1908, which is an increase over last year, is $198,000,000. At five mills this would raise $968,000, if all of the taxes were collected, which is quite impossible. The General Appropriation Act of 1902, in round numbers, voted the expenditure of $1,186,000. The only other source of the State is from the insurance fees and corporation fees, which will not run to $50,000 this year. There you are. A simple mathematical proposition which the General Assembly will have to meet. Over in Georgia the General As sembly had pretty much the same trouble and they passed an Act im posing a State license on doctors and lawyers and newspapers and every one else in business, and in that way hope to make up the difference. In South Carolina something of the same sort will have to be done or the levy increased if the State is to be operated on a cash basis. Under the laws of the State the State Treasurer is not allowe' to borrow over $800,000 in the aggre gate for any and all purposes. This amount was borrowed by the lt of November, not because it was a pleas ure to draw it, but because the money was needed to meet the obligations of the State, and the likelihood now is that overdrafts will have to be asked for to meet all expenses prior to the passage of the next general appropriation bill, which will author. ize the next loan. The State Treasurer had on hand this morning $192,729.47. Of this about$70,000 will be used for the pay ment of the semi annual interest on State bonds. This will leave $122, 700, which, if applied to the out standing notes would leave a balance due of $173,800; but the ordinary current expenses of the State Gov. ernent are $41,000, which, if added, would make a total of $218,800. No allowance is made for the taxes which will come in within the next few weeks, but it is to be ~remem bered that the taxes that have just been collected will have to run the State Government until next fall, when there will be the next collec. tion of taxes for State purposes. The General Assembly will have about as much as it can do if it straightens out the financial matters of the Stato and gets the State upon a cash basis. There is abso.utely nothing wrong with the State's f1 nances; the State treasurer has met every obligation; no demands have been made for money that have not been paid; there have been no delays and the State is all right, but this thing of a State borrowing money and paying interest on it is altogether wrong. It may be mentioned that durin the y ear just ended the privilege tax amounted to $81,744.94. All of this privilege- tax goes directly and with out interference to Clemson College, and is expended by the trustees of that college for the analyses, and, in addition to the Morrill, Hatch, land script, Clemson bequest and other funds, for the ordinary operating ex penses of Clemson College. ANY young man or yung womnan Awho would like to have a conve nient pocket Aluminum Calendar or House Calendar for 1903 write to Mac feat's Business College,'U~olumbia, S. C., and you will receive one by return mail, fre, of charge.itaw 4t RBSIGNBD UNbR DUUSS. Indianola, Miss. People will not Get Any Mail Until They Accept Colored Post master. Washington, January 2. -- The feature of the cabinet meeting today was the decision to close perma nently the postoffice at Indianola, Miss., from which the postmaster, Minnie M. pox, colored, resigned un der compulsion, a few days ago, since which time the office has been closed. The bondsmen have brought the matter to the attention of the authorities here, with the view of being relieved of the responsibility of the nocumulated mail. The post. master general has had a thorough investigation made and has become satisfied that the woman was obliged to resign under duress-in fact, that her life was endangered. Having represented this state of affairs to the .cabinet, efter .a long discussion the decision above noted was reached and the office will not be reopened until the people in the district are ready to accept this woman as their postmaster. During the afternoon the Presi dent discussed with several members of the cabinet other features of the case of Mrs. Cox, Postmaster General Payne being in conference with the President for an hour or more. It was decided finally to issue a formal statement concerning the Indianola case. Secretary Cortelyou, for the President, made public the follow ing: "The postmaster at Indianola, Miss., is Mrs Minnie M. Cox, a col ored woman. She served three y ears as postmaster under President Harri son. When President McKinley came in she was again appointed, in 1897, nearly six years ago. Her character and standing in the com munity are endorsed by the best and most reputable people in the town. Among those on her bond is the present Democratic State Senator from the district, together with the leading banker of Indianola, and an ex State Senator from the district, also a Democrat. The postmaster and her husband own from ten to fifteen thousand dollars worth of property in Sunflower County. The reports of postoffice inspectors who have investigated the office from time to time show that she has given the utmost satisfaction to all the patrons of the office; that she is at all times courteous, faithful, competent and honest in the discharge of her dnJaes. Her moral standing in the coma nity is of the highest. Her reputa tion is of the best. Few offices of this grade in any State are conducted better. "The postmaster recently for. warded her resignation, to take effect on January 1, but the report of in spectors and information received from various reputab>le wihite citi zens of the town and neighborhood show that the resignation was forced by a brutal and lawless element purely upon upon the ground of her color and was obtained under terror of threats of physical violence. The mayor of the town and the sheriff of the county both told the postoffee inspector that if she refused to re sign they could not be answerable for her safety, although at the same time not one word was said against her management of the office. On January 1 the bondsen of the post master telegraphed that the post office was closed; that the postmaster claimed that her resignation was in the hands of the President, to take effect January 1, and that there had been no advice of the appointment of her successor. The telegram closed with this statement: 'Prompt action necessary for relief of business in terests.' In the view of the Presi dent the relief of the business inter. eats, which are being injured solely by the action of the lawless element of the town, is wholly secondary to the preservation of law and order, and the 5asertion of the fundamental principle that this government will not eonnive at or tolerate wrong and outrage of such flagrant character. "By direction of the President th( following teleram was sen by th postmaster general to the bondemen: "''rho postmaster's resignation has been received, but not accepted. In view of the fact that the office at Indianola ie'ylosed all mail addressed to that offie will be forwarded to Greenville.' "The papers in the case have been sent to the attorney general for so tion." TE WORLD OF TRADE. 1r$dstreet'-s Optjnistlc View ot the Situation Siug(s 46 "Resglts of Prosperity, New York, December 29.-Brad street's review of the business year, to be issued on Saturday, will have the following to say: To say that 1902 was the best year this country has ever experienced, while truthful enough in the main, does not suggest fully the enormous strides which the United States took in the year just closed Practically every branch of ordinary trade and manufactures showed an increase above the best of previous years, and yet this immense enlargement of out put was not sufficient of itself to sat isfy the growing, it might be termed insatiable, demand for all kinds of materials. In many cases the usual foreign outlet for our products was, perforce, neglected by American pro ducers, who .confined their efforts to supplying insistent domestic de mands, while in others foreign pro duction was called upon to reinforce domestic output,-with the result that new currents and channels were created in our foreign trade. Our export trade, therefore, shrunk, while our imports expanded to un precedented figures. The railroads of the country, in their efrts to handle the business offered them, suffered as never be fore from congestion, and complaint of interference with production and distribution of the products of the farm, the mine, the shop and the loom was practically universal. In dustrial unrest vvas naturally marked, as it always is in times either of pros perity or of depression, and serious disorganization of some of the coun try's basic industries existed for a time. In many cases, however, re sort to extremes was avoided or ren dered unnecessary by liberal recog nition by employers of changes in the standard of living, and it is safe to say that two men obtained higher wages or had their working time re duced without resort to strikes for every one who actually quit work. Speculation, it is true, felt the checks imposed upon it by conserva tism, by short crops in the preceding year and last, but not least, by high rates for money, but despite the fact that stock market operations were only about one-half those of 1901, bank clearings, those usnally relia. ble guides of business, showed aggre gates practically equal to the hith erto unheard of totals of 1901. All this was accomplished with a mini mum of friction, as reflected in the formn of business embarrassments. SLAN~DBR ON THE GOVFRNOR. Washington Post Prints a Story that the Anderson Mall Charges McSweeney With Taking Br-ibe. Columbia Cor. News and Courier.] A Colombia correspondent hs sent to the Washington Post a story that the Anderson Mail charges Gov. McS weeney was paid for pardoning McIntosh, and that Gov. McSweeney intends to sue the Mail. Giov. McSweeney bas no intention of suing the Anderson Mail or any one else. He feels that lhe did is duty in jardoninig McTntosh and that is all there is to it. As to any "un due or improper iafluence" being used he thinks, as he has every reason to, that no one believes a word of that, and he is only surprised that anyone should have sent out 'uch an absurd and cock and bull story to the Washington Post or any other repu table newspaper. Unprejudiced peo. pie have written Gov. McSweeney that he did exactly right in isnuug the pau don and his entire course it utmost publicity to every pardon ani application shows the absolute ab surdity of the whole thing. LIQUOR PROFITS FOR THB YEAR. Half a Million to Counties, Town, and School Fund -The Report soon to be filed. [The State.] The annual report of the State die. pensary will soon be made, and the exact figures as to the State's big liquor business will be given for the year just ended. In round figures it is stated that the report will show that the rep.rt will show that the business has paid $550,000 to the counties, towns mnd cit .s and school fund this year, over $400,000 of this having been paid over to the counties, town and cities. The total amount of profits paid to the school fund is about $140,000, this including the last three quarterly payments required by the new act. The volume of business for the year is considerably larger than that of last year. The experts who have boon ex amining the books, accounts and all affairs of the dispensary under the act requiring such i xamination to be made have not yet filed their report with the Governor to be transmitted to the general assembly. The institution ended the year witiits accounts more thoroughly balanced up than for some years. A NEW MANSION. One of Gov. McSweeney's Forthcoming Recommendations. [Spartanburg Journal.] One of the recommendations the governor will make to the Legisla ture in his last message will be that a new executive mansicn be built. It is admitted by everybody familiar with conditions, that the present mansion has long since passed be yond its use for such a purpose, and that for the sake of the health, not to refer to the comfort of the occu. pants, something ought to be done about it. Gov. McSweeney has given the question careful consideration, and he believes a new mansion can be erected in every way modern, suitable and convenient without a cent of cost to the State. It is estimated that the prosent buildings and grounds would bring about $40,000, and that is not mere guess work, for some of the local capitalists who have been sounded on the matter, think such a hum would be brought. Not only that, but there is almost a certainty that if it is put on the market there would be no trouble about getting a pur chaser. That being accomplished, the plan is to secure two acres fromt the South Carolina College on Sum ter street on the lot now owned by that institution on which is the old mess hall, some unsightly cow sheds and a turnip patch. The college might be given $10,000) of the pur chase price for this hot, and leave *80,000( with which to btuild a man sion of a modernt character and ar ranged for the special purpose of being the residence of the chief ex. ecut ive. This would hlp the col. lege and the State, and besides that put the present mansion property on the tax list This whole qnlestion has b)een quietly agitated for several years, but this will be thu first positive and definire plan conceived or p)resented to the Legislature. The U. S. Civil Service Commis sion reports that for the year ending June 30, 1902, there were 14,988 persons appointed from its registers. There was 4,692 more than was ever before appointed in a single year. Anyone wishing information about these positions can secure it free by writing for the Civil Service an nouncement of the Columbian Cor respondenco College, Washington, D. C. The commission will hold ex aminationis to secure young men and women for these places during March and April, at Charleston and Colum bia. Many people do not .now that these appointmente are made without political influence, and that a large shiare of them are fillied by those hav. ing only a common school education, but such is now the cas WIY IS CHINA POOR? Natural and Artifcial Causes of the Chron Ic Tragedy of a Great Nation. (Wm. Durban, in Pall Mall Gazette.) One of the greatest disabilities nn. der which China labors as a DatiOn is as simple as it is sad. Au immense proportion of its population very rare ly get a meal sufficient either in quan tity or in nutritive power. Hundreds of benevolent foreignere, both of the mt r3ant ile and missionary orders, are constantly seeking in scattered spots throughout the vast realm to mitigate the chronic dist ress of the poorest sections. Especially has phil anthropy been effective in relieving the abnormal pressure consequent on drought and floods. Obviously, how ever, external help can do next to nothing to meet a normal condition of insufficient ailment extending over a very extensive land and involving an enormous population. One of the causes of chronic and massive indigence in China through out most of the interior is the utter stagnation for ages of civilization. The development of this mighty race was long since arrested, and though the nation is not decadent, its condi tions are stereotyped, and China is in a state pf permanent childhood. Ever) linguist well understands that, this accounts for that col:ssal philo logical curiosity, the Chinese langu age. It has never got beyond the monosyllabic stage, and is a mere language of overgrown babies. ''his condition of arrested development lies at the root of the appalling pov erty of the masses in a country which nature designed to be inealcu lably wealthy. China is not, like Central Asia, a land of savage, howl. ing wastes. It is one of the most for tile and flowery parts of the eart.h's surface almost throughout the entire area. And, moreover, its people are the most industrious agriculturists in the world, and have ben so for many centuries. Fruit and vegeta bles are much more abundant and exist in much greater variety than we are favored with in our own coun try. Notwithstanding these magnificent natural endowments, what is the state of things in the Flowery King dom I From lack of anything like scientific cultivation the quality of nearly all fruits is exceedingly poor, an. )nly the the splendid sunshine an( the atmospheric conditions com pensate for the lack of skill. Apples, pear, apricots, peaches, nectari nes, plums, cherries, grapes and persim mons are almost every where grown in immense abundance, but no native ever studlies improvement in their culture. Wheat, millet, maize, sor ghunm, sweet potatoes, peoanuts, indi go, atnd a great variety of pea and bean crops are produced with ease, while rice is, of course, almost uni versally found in cultivation. But in nearly every province the output, notwvithstandmg the indefatigable toil of the people, as far short of .vhat might be attained und(er better man agemjent, while the quralit.y of the foodstuffn is deficient iin nuatritivec power. Vast tracts of soil have been imJpoverished thirouigh cenituries of uninterrupted production without any adequate Jompensation. En1mrichmng material is poor ini quality. Giraziing is unknown, and in most of the pro vi.ces the land never lies fallow, ti e natives never having learned tIhe se et of the rotation of crop~s. Yet the land is still forced to produce three crops in two years withotut in. term ission. The Chiinesce poverty prolem is comp)licated(. Its secondlary causes are manifold, but after all they are only aggravations of the agrarian stagnation. One of my friends resid ing for a time in the interior asked an official how many beggars he was feeding. He replied 18,000. "T hese, he explained, "are all tenant farmn"s from e1~ north. F"ew people who entirely own their land are so muisera bly poor." Thus at every point the agricultural question recurs. In the province of Wuhu last year a large relief work was initiated by foreign ers. Here also the starving sufferers were chiefly of that same large class in Chins, the tenant farmers. Many of them were from the immense states of the late Li Hung Chang. Where a man gives half he raises to a landlord he can, even in a good year, save little or nothing and a poor year mansatmine