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WEDNESDAY, FlBHUARY 9, 1910. I The Sumter Watchman was found ed tn 18(0 and the True Suuthron In IMS The Watchman and Southron low has the combined circulation and Influence of both of the old papers, and Is manifestly the best advertising medium In Sumter. g?? TIIK MASTKH'S SALAHY. The Introduction of a hill In the legislature by Hon. T. B. Fraeer, of this city, to pay the Maste* In Equity Of Sumter County a salary of $1.600 a year, In lieu of the fees he has heretofore received as com pensatlon for his services, has been the subject of considerable comment and dis? cussion, and quite a number of citl aens are asking for the reason for the proposed change. The situation Is about as follows: For many years the fees received by the liastor for services rendered aggregated a considerable sum? ample compensation for the time and services of the man holding the office; but in recent years the busi? ness of the office has fallen off and the fees have decreased until the total Income of the office has not ex? ceeded six to eight hundred dollars a year, for several years, a sum in? ad?quate to compensate a man capa? ble of discharging the duties of the office In a satisfactory manner. In the circumstances one of two meth? ods for overcoming the difficulty had to be adopted. Either pay the Master a substantial salary out of the county treasury and turn the fees Into the treasury as an offset against the salary, or to abolish the offlco and devolve the duties upon the Clerk of Court, as in many other counties In the State. After consideration, those who have given the matter most thought arrived at the conclusion that it would be better to pay the Master a Axed salary of $1,600 a year, with a draw-back of one half of the fees received In excess of the amount of the salary paid him. Therefore the bill Introduced by Mr. Fr?ser. We have not discussed the matter with any members of the bar, and therefore cannot give a legal and tech? nical view of the matter In discuss? ion, but to a layman It seems that the business view of the question would have been the proper and natural one to adopt, and this opin? ion we entertain. If the Income of this office has decreased until It is In? sufficient to compensate a cspable men for his time and labor, then the time hae arrived for ths abolition of the office end the transfer of the business of the office to the hands of the Clerk of Court. If the clerks of court In other counties are competent to effi? ciently discharge ths duties of a mast? er In equity, then the Clerk of Court of Sumter county could do likewise and the taxpayers would not be call? ed upon to assume the burdon of another salaried officer. We are not opposed to psylng any man an ade? quate salary for his services, but we are unalterably opposed to the in orease of county expenses and the consequent increase in taxes. If it is not absolutely necessary to have a Master In Equity for the proper trans? action of the public business, then we are opposed to the' continued maintenance of the office after it be? come a burden uopn each and every taxpayer in the county. We are not convinced that the office Is an abso? lute necessity, for a number of other counties manage their business quite successfully without this officer, and unless It can be shown that Sumter county Is peculiar In this respect, we ?hall contend that Mr. Fraser's bill should be amended so as to abolish the office of Master in Equity for Sumter county and devolve, the duties of the office upon the Clerk of Court. In this connection we will take oc casslon to make a remark on the subject of salaries that some of our readers may regard as totally foreign to the matter under consideration, but we believe that the timeliness of the observation Is sufficient excuse for bringing it before our readers at this time. In our opinion Sumter county Is not in a position, financially, to awume any additional burdens on account of salaries, but If the salary of any county officer Is to be increas? ed ths year, or at any time In the near future, the office of County Superintendent of Education merits and should receive first consideration. That this officer receives the small salary he does It little short of a disgrace to the county, particularly when the duties of his ofhee necessl tat the keeping of a horse and bug gy at his own expense. And It is a fact that will not be disputed that this expense will average at least $300 a year. If we are going Into the business of rnlslnt? salaries. let us pay the man who has charge of the schools r.f th*? county nt least i living wage, and enough ? ? stSef t? keep him In horses, buggies and harn?*? for tho efficient performance of the duties required of him by law. Tili: MASTKIt'S SALAHY. The bill introduced In the legis lature to pay the Master In Equity for Sumter county a fixed salary of 11.500 a year, instead of having his compensation depend upor the fees received, is more discussed than ever, and we are not surprised to find that a majority of those who uivo men? tioned the subject to the writer are In full accord with the views expres.? ed in this paper Saturday. A large majority of lajmen and several members of the bar are firmly convinced that If the business of the master's office has declined to the point that the fees are Inade? quate to compensate the Incumbent for the services rendered, then tho office should he abolished. In other words, If the ollce is not self sustaining it is not needed, and the peopl*> should not be taxed to make good the difference between the income of the office and the amount of salary it is thought a master in equity should receive. If the office does not do enough business to pay an adequate salary in fees, then there is not enough work to re? quire any considerable part of a man's time and it would be an in? justice to the taxpayers to tax them to maintain an office that Is not a necessity. If the business of the office is too insignificant to produce fees suffi? cient to pay the master for his time, then the work of the office would not be too great a burden to be assum? ed by the Clerk of Court. This Is our view of the matter, and we find that a great miny ot our readers think the same way . As stated above some members of the bar entertain the same opinion, and we heard it rumored today that p. meeting of the bar association would probably be asked for by those who hold this view, for th-3 purpose of discussing the advisability of abolishing the office and transferring the business heretofore handled by the master to the clerk of court's office. If the Bar Association, or any number of its members, should for? mally protest against the enactment of the bill introduced in the House by Mr. Praser, we are satisfied the bill would not be passed and the office of master would either be abolished or things would remain as they are. We say this because we feel satisfied that the opinion of the Bar Association or a protest from a majority of that organization would have much more weight with the legislature than a protest from double the number of citizens not members of the legal fraternity, for the reason that members >f the bar are supposed to be better Informed as to the necessity of the efflce under dlscnussion than all the balance of the people. But with the bar divi? ded on the question of the wisdom and advisability of taxing the people at large to maintain an office that does not transact enough Vmstness to be self sustaining, we hive hopes that the legislature will either de? cline to make the propored change In the compensation of he Master in Equity for Sumter ?ounty, or abolish the office altogether. WORSE AND WOHSE. The Sumter Bar Assoc atlon held a special meeting yesterday after? noon to discuss the proposition to pay the Master in Equity a salary of $1,500 a year and ons-half the fees received in excess of $1,500. There was quite a lengths- and ani? mated discussion, It is raid. Some members of the bar were in favor of the adoption of the bill now before the legislature, others we *e in favor of making no change, w hlle others were In favor of placing the Master on a salary to be paid out of the county treasury and abolish all fees. The question was finally brought to a head by the introduction of a reso? lution recommending that all fees be abolished and that the ?ounty pay the Master a salary. Ths resolution was finally adopted by a majority vote ?8 for and 6 against, It is said. Although this resolution prevailed, the opinion was freely expressed that there is no actual need lor a master in equity in this county, that the volume of business Is rot sufficient to occupy the time of u man and j that^ the necessary business could be handled by the clerk of court, Just as well as by a special officer. We do not know what the result of the action of the Bai Association will be, but If the legislature should u cept the recommends tlon of tho association, abolishing all fees In the master's office and saddllng upon the taxpayers of the county in additional burden of $1,500 a year?which means an extra one-fourth mill ad dod to the county tax levy?the time has come for the most vigorous pro? test the people know bow to make. Ths plan embodied in Mr. Eraser's 1)111 Is bad enough. In our view, but the recommendation of the Bar Asso? ciation Is worn. If thii plan Is car? ried f> it successful Is me, the next i ml logical move will be to put the Judge oi Probat?' ??n u Hilary of $1. |t| to $8,000 a year and abolish all fsai In nil omoe. There would i>e just as much reason f< i this as for th. action proposed In the case of the Mestsf In Equity. The office of Master In Equity Farmers' Union News ?AMD Practical Thoughts for Practical Farmers (Conducted b? IS. \V. Dnbbs, President Fanners' Union of Sumter County.) The Watchman and Southron having decided to double its service by semi-weekly publication, would Improve that service by special features. The first to be inaugurated is this Department foi the Farmers' Union and Practical Fanners which 1 have been requested to conduct. It will be my aim to give the Union news and official calls of the Union. To that end officers, and members of the Union are requested to use these columns. Also to publish such clip dngs from the agricultural papers and Govern? ment Bulletins as I think will be of practical benefit to our readers. Ori? ginal articles by any of^o- r readers telling of their successes or failures will be appreciated and | ublished. Trusting this Department will be of mutual benefit to all concerned, THE EDITOR. All communications for tl is Department should be sent to E. W. Dabbs, Mayesville, S. C. Short Tulks About Fertilizers. A part of almost every crop that is gr,>,vn is returned directly to the soil and thus becomes green manure; but the crops grown especially for this purpose are comparatively few. Those most commonly grown in the South are cowpeas, crimson clover, bur clover, and rye. In some sec? tions red clover is also a highly-priz? ed green manuring crop, and large acres of lespedeza?Japan clover? are also utilized this way. Other winter crops sometimes used are the vetches, turnips, and wheat or oats. Of these, the cowpeas and Japan clover are summer-growing crops, red clover is a biennial?that is, lasts two years,?the others are winter growing crops. The Best Way to Use Manure Crops. All of these crops are valuable for feed* and as a general proposition, it may be said that any crop that can be prDfltably fed to live stock will pay better when so used than when returned directly to the soil. This is because when the crop is fed the feed value is, of course, secured, and there may bo saved in the manure from ?0 tw ?5 per cent of the plant fo*d that ivas originally in the crop. { This plan* food, too, is usually in a more reaally available condition for the use of the following crop in the manure tnan in the turned-under crop. The Ideal way, then to utilize crops grown for manuring is to feed them to stock and to return the ma? nure to the soil, thus securing their full feeding value and from two thirds to three-fourths of thehr orig? inal fertiliser value. While this Is true as a general proposition, however, the feet re? mains that in many cases It will pay to return a crop directly to the land on which ft was grown?that is, to plow it ??owr or otherwise incorp? orate it with the soil before or after maturity. The cases when this is advisable will mostly fall under three heads. When It Pays to Plow Under a Green Crop. The first Is when the crop Is so light that the expense of harvesting it would amount to more than the difference between the combined values obtained from it as feed stuff and as stable manure and its value when used directly as a green ma? nure. Such cases are very common on the poorer lands of the South. Many old fields can be most econom? ically started in the way of improve? ment by sowing a crop of cowpeas, for example, in the spring, fertilizing this crop with phosphoric acid and potash if these elements are needed, working it into the soli when ma I ture, and following it with a winter crop, like rye or crimson clover, to be turned under also before any? thing is removed from (he soil. This will, however, be the plan to be recommended only on very poor lands much lacking In humus, or un? der other exceptional circumstances. The second case in which the di? rect application of a crop as a green manure is to be advised, is where the land needs the huraus and there Is little chance of Its'being re? turned to the soil If the crop Is re? moved. If the owner of the land, for example, has not stock to which to feed R crop of cowpeas and can only sell the hay and buy commercial fer~ tllizer to feed his land, It may pay him to plow the crop under, even though he could sell It and buy more plant food In other forms after get? ting pay for extra work of saving and marketing the crop. This scarc? ity of live stock to consume the crops grown makes green manuring a necessity In many cases where it would be much better If the crop could l?e llrst. fed. A third case is where if the fer? tiliser crop is left to manure it will be in iiic way of the succeeding crop. For example, if :i cover crop of rye Ii to be followed by cotton, it may often be necessary to plow the rye ?hould be self sustaining, or it should be abolished, under before it makes growth enough to make its harvesting profitable. A similar problem is often presented with \vinter-growng crops, such as rye and crimson clover, that while useful for feed to a certain extent have also some features that make their use objectionable. Rye is an ex? cellent crop for catting and feeding green; but if it must be made into hay, it will usually pay better to plow it down. Crimson clover makes good hay if cut at exactly the right stage; but If allowed to get too ripe, it may be a dangerous feed, especial? ly for horses, and in such cases, is best plowed under. Some Points to Observe in Using Green Manures. The great value of green manures in adding to the humus of the soil has been spoken of; but they some? times produce injurious effects aleo I and, like other fertilisers, must al? ways be used with reference to the crop that is to follow their applica? tion. The plowing under of a large amount of vegetable matter as a preparation for, or a short time be? fore, the sowing of wheat or oats in the fall, is never to be advised. The undecayed mass makes the soli "puf? fy" and unsettled and prevents the formation of that fine, Arm seed bed which *h,e crops so much tike. In? deed, it is nearly always better to have green manures mixed with the soil in time for them to have partial? ly decayed at least before the suc? ceeding crop is planted. This, is not always practicable, however, and with some crops, corn for example, Is not of great importance. The plowing under of a heavy crop of green vege? tation oftem results in too much acid? ity In the soil when it begins to de? cay) For this reason it is usually better, when a rank crop is to be turned down to allow it' to fully ma? ture. Soil acidity produced" by this may be corrected, however, by giving the soil a top dressing of Urne after the crop has been plowed down. Green manures are most profitably used as a preparation for such gross ! feeding and humus-needlng crops as corn, for those, like the Irish po? tato, and other root crops, that need plenty of soil moisture, do not mind a little sourness in the soil, and are sometimes injured by the application of stable manures. Cover Crops for Green Manuring. The crops most generally profitable as green manures are those that are grown during the winter to protect the soil, and are then turned down in the spring in time to be followed by cotton, corn or other hoed crops. Rye, for example, is most profitably used, as a rule, by pasturing or soil? ing in the early spring and then turn? ing under; while it is often more profitable to plow a crop of crimson clover in for the benefit of the corn crop that is to. follow than to try to make hay of ft. A summer-growing crop, such as the cowpeas, should, on the other hand, be first used as a feed, unless the land is very poor in? deed, or there is no other chance of getting the humus the crop con? tain into the soil. To sum up, then: The most prifit able green manuring crops, as a gen? eral rule, are those that grow during the winter and are turned down In the spring; it is usually better when practicable, to let a crop mature than to plow it in green; large quantities of green matter turned under some? times sour the soil and are always objectionable just before seeding oats or wheat; where a crop can be profitably saved for feed and the manure returned to the land this ?hould always be done. NVxt week's talk will be about barnyard manures, their composition, ami usefulness, Pr tgrresslve Farm? er. Lee County's Supervisor. Mr. C. T. Evans of Smlthvllle has been appointed Supervisor of Lee County to succeed Henry IS. Mooney ham, (in cased. The Facts About fers-sa Is Perun i an alcoholic bcveraf **> in disguise? Is it possible to use Peruna as a substitute fcr whiskey? Do pe*^li buy Peruna and use it as a toddy or a bitters, 01 a biacer? It would be the easiest thing in the world for a^iy one to demonstrate the falsity of such statements. Let say one go to .he tag store and purchase a boi tleof Peruna. LethittWldertatotomitM er V.1:3 this remedy in * desea considerably larger than those prescribed on the bottle. Y/culd the result be alcoholic intoxication ? Nothing of the sort. Let any one try it and see. Peruna is a medical compound quite heavily loaded with medicinal ingred? ients. If taken in doses larger than prescribed it would produce a positive drug effect No one could take it a3 a beverage. If any one doubts these state? ments, try it and see. We l:rcw that Perm cannot be used a3 a bever? age; that it will not intori;,:4:; that it oan;:ct l?e ?sei es a substitute for liquors. We guarantee that PSETOA CONTAINS NO CHBAf WHISKEY OR ANY OTHER WHISKEY, for that matter. It contains a small per cent, of cologne spirits, absolutely essential to dis? solve and hold in solution medicinal ingredients, but the drugs contained in Peruna prohibit its use as a beverage. It would be the easiest thing in the world for any one to demonstrate this if they chose to do so. Peruna is sold everywhere. THE INGREDIENTS ARE PLAINLY PRINTED ON EACH BOTTLE. It has been said over and over again that chemists have analyzed Peruna and found it to contain only cubebs and whiskey. Now we challenge any chemist to demonstrate any such statement. Let any one who has even a smattering knowledge of chemistry purchase a bottle of Peruna and see whether or net it contains whiskey, find out for him? self whether or not it is composed of cheap whiskey and cubebs. Of course, cubebs is one of the ingredients of Peruna, but there are many other ingred? ients. It contains hydrastta canadensis, corydalis formosa, collinsonia, and at least four other medicinal ingredients. To be sure, no chemist could so ana? lyze Peruna as to bo able to identify the various medicinal ingredients. This is beyond the ability of any chemist But any ordinary chemist would be able to say that Peruna is heavily loaded with medicinal ingredients of some kind - in addition to cubebs. Now why are these statements repeated when their falsity could be so easily demonstrated? Simply because there is continued hostility toward Pe? runa on the part of the medical profession. Very likely the magazines which took up the crusade against Peruna and denounced it as a cheap beverage were misled by statements of the medical profession. Probably they were sincere in their attitude towards it But now, after all these things have been laid and refuted, it would seem to be in order for such people to use a little fairness and common sense in the matter. Every time any one says that Peruna is nothing but cheap whiskey and cubebs he is telling a lie, an absolute falsehood. Host people intend to speak the truth. But the prevalent habit of repeating other people's statements, without investigation as to their truth, has led many well-meaning people to say these false things about Peruna. Used according to the directions on the bottle, PERUNA IS A SATE AND RELIABLE CATARRH REMEDY, but, like any other good medicine, ii taken in excess of those doses, it will produce drug effects very unpleasant to the person who takes it It is therefore np to every honest person to quit making such statements concerning Peruna, or acknowledge that he is repeating slanders about which he knows nothing. One might just as well say that Castor Oil is an intoxicant; that if taken in large enough doses it will operate as a "booze." If people never tried to see, but simply repeated such statements about Castor O?, the majority of people would come to believe them. It is no easier to demonstrate such a statement about Castor Oil than it would be about Peruna. Any one who takes Peruna knows that such statements are false. To say that Peruna is cheap whiskey and cubebs may constitute good .material for Jokes on the vaudeville stage, mit there is no excuse for any one who pretendi to be truthful saying over again this oft-repeated falsehood. BIRDS' NECKS. It's the Nuriber of Bones In Them I That Makes Them Flexible. The flamingoes wore malting their afternoon tol.ets in the big Hying cage at the Bronx zoo the other afternoon, Hays I writer iu a New York paper. A crowd of children nod grown people were looking on and exclaiming with admiring wonder at the way these birds were t wisting their long necks about into all sorts of corkscrews and curves when one of ?be ornithological experts came along and stopped to watch the performance. "It's the larger number of bones in a bird's neck, not the length, that make it so flexible," he remarked. "There are twenty-three bones in the neck of a swan, for example, and a few more in that of the flamingo. It seems that the smaller the animal organism the larger the number of neck bones. The giraffe, for instance, has only seven bones in his long neck, which has s reach of nearly twenty feet from the ground. That llttl? white throated sparrow over there is only three inch? es high, but he has fourteen bones in his neck and can almost scratch the back of his head with his bill. The swan has twenty-three neck bones and swings his head abont with even greater freedom than a seake." A Reliable Plan. "Whenever I don't like a man very well," remarked the cynical person, "I give him a tip on the races. I don't care how much it loses for him." "But suppose it wins." "Then he's unhappy because be didn't bet more." "And if he doesn't bet at all?" "I keep on giving tips until one does win, and then he feels as if he had missed the chance of his life."?Wash? ington Star. Relative Strength of Arms. As a result of some very interesting experiments made at Washington with a view to determine the relative strength of right and left limbs it has been ascertained that over 50 per cent of the men examined had the right arm stronger than the left, 10.40 per cent bad the arms of equal length and strength, and 32.70 per cent had the left arm stronger than the right. Of women 40.90 per cent had the right arm stronger than the left, and 24.50 per cent had the left stronger than the right. In order to arrive at the aver? age length of limbs fifty skeletons were measured, twenty-five of each sex. Of these twenty-three had the right arm and left leg longer, sb: the left arm and right leg. while in seven? teen cases all the members were more or less equal In length.?Exchange. Disadvantages of Poverty. "We're goto* to move again in a month or two," said the little girl on the back porch. "We move Into a new hO?S6 every year." "We don't." said the little girl in the Adjoining yard. "My papa owns this bolide." "And you don't never move into any other oueV" "No." "My. my! It must be awful to be ns poor as that!"?Chicago Tribuue. THE PIANO CONTEST. Interest is Growing and tfce Votes Are Coming in More Rapidly. The tabulation of the ballots re? ceived up to the 5th instant show | that several candidates have the fol? lowing votes to their credit: Miss Teresa Chandler .103,972 Miss Edna Hughson.. .. ... 106,272 Miss Ullis Josephine McCol lum. 20,989 Miss Eleanor Wallace.17,807 Mrs. Florence Shields Thomp? son... ..6,260 Miss Julia Welch . _6,190 Miss Inez Wells. ....3.695 Miss Mazie McLeod.3,665 Miss Christine Garhardt. ... ..1,550 Miss Lucile Baker.1,050 Miss Virginia DuRant..1,025 Miss Katy Gaillard .. .... .1,025 Miss Nell Barwick.1,010 NEGRO WOMAN KILLED. She Was Run Down on Trestle Br Fast Train. Carrie David, colored was kille 1 on the Cain's Savannah trestle, M ih A., railroad by the 11 o'clock pass? enger train Sunday morning. The woman was crossing the trestle which is quite long, when the fast train overtook her. She made a desperate effort to escape by running towards the end of the trestle, fac? ing several times In her hurried flight, but the train overtook her and J she was instantly killed, her body being horribly mangled. Coroner Flowers held the inquest Sunday afternoon, the verdict being in ac? cord with the facts. It was impossible for the engineer of the train ?o stop his train after he saw the woman on the trestle, and he was exonerated of blame. 'A I MRS. BELMONT FAVORS SOCIAL EQUALITY. Invites Negro Women of New York to Join in Movement for SufTerage. New York. Feb. 6.?Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont has invited the negro women of the State to Join the Political Eq? uality club, of which she is president* Ultimately they may form suffrage ?, associations of their own. but for th* present as many a-; wish will be admitted to the Political Equality club. F<?rty enrolled today at a meeting addressed by Mrs. Belmont in a West Side neuro ehureh. Mrs. Belmont came quickly to the point. "1 feel." she said, "that \m less this eause nu-ans freedom and equal rights to all women, of every race, of every er?.ed, rich or poor. Ks doctrines are worthies* and it must I fail."