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ickens -sentine %-jourilal UBT8d1ED EVERY TJHU1tDAj ('OXRNLO. -BY The Sentinel-Journal Company. TvOMPSON & RICHEr. PRops. J. L. 0. THOMPSON. EDITOR. Subscription $1.00 Per Auuum. Advertisiug Xtutes Reasonable. Entered at Pickens F%stofllce as Becond Class Mail Matter PICKENS, S. C.: TIRSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1908. SOME CHANGES. For twelve years, through evil as well as good report, THE SEN TINEL has been under the pres ent management, and in that time many changes have taken place in the county, nearly, or quite all of which, have been for the betternwit. iipbuilding, :ement of weeks this ir home, as hope, and has rejoiced with you in your joys aild ,JsIc(rely consoled with yol ill sro.(rws. It lias al w .1ays1- chrle(d the h11)pelling"s pf th coilnty a-! it coulid vatch tihe.m -h I isrth, deaths, and( (n)ong f it-, iwoplc. It has noted I Ihw moral and relig iols 11lifhtl1n of its citizens, it has watcled -with pleasure and pride the fin.acial and lidustri al developmlent of the county aid rejoiced exceedingly at the material advancement of the conmonwealth which it served, and it sincerely hopes the mate rial prosperity of the next 37 years may be at least four-fold greater than that of the 37 years It has witnessed, and, in Its fee ble way, helped to bring to a successful fruition. The paper has always stood for what it conceived to be the right and for the best interests of the county at large,eschewing the needs or desires of the indi vidual wherever it conflicted with the best interests of the commonwealth. It has made s,ne elenlies ;vd many staunch .A ends, for.. ~ich it is glad--a man'tt doe ot have someit enemies is not m.uich of a man, neither is he any good without friends-so we averake up wvith the miost of men. We have maude mistakes; t who hasn't, for which we are sorry and( we hope our friends will ascribe it to the head rather than thle heart, andl help us to build oni those errors, to the good of thet miuiltitude, rather than to the detriment of the in dividuial. The work has becoime too heavy for' 0no 1person to suec cessf'ully iumnage and we have perfected a partn ersh ip with Mr W. L. Mathenyv, who served conscienltionlsly and faithfully w ith t his pa per1 several years ago,- an lhe will have charge of the biesst ando look care fully to t he dlesires and wants of our loyal friends ando patrons. He is no stranger to'the majori ty of our1 readers ando needs no0 inltrodiuction at our handls. For the miost jpart our time will be taken up wvith visiting our subscribers and getting bet ter acquainted with them and collectiong what we have on our books, trying to collect the odds and ends of what we have made in the past 12 yeairs, which, in round numbers amounts to about $6,000. We ask you all to be prepared to settle up when ,-we call Qfn you. New machinery will be put in and Mr. Matheny will fit up one of the best jobplants to be found anywhere an'd if you cannot get suited at THE SENTINEL-JOURNAL office you need not try any wj' else. TN slogan of the new man agement will be "Pickens coun ty in the front row of the pic ture," and everything that can be said or done for every inter est that will push her forward will be done with a vim, ever bearing in mind the farming in terests first, last and all the time for "The farmer feeds us all. Thanking our readers and patrons for their support and patience in our shortcomings we wish for them a better, more prosperous and happier year In 1909 than ever before. J. L. 0. T. A Common Economic Error. For many years it has been the -custom of Southern farners to make their crop upon the "advance system" and while this has b(eeii regarded as an ec(omic eror on the side of the faner, by muany merchants it has been thought that it was a very profitable way of buivilgp cotton. The farme': renulized that as p 111er o(f safety it ws better to 1make the food cognsu1med by his fainily and his stock upon the farm rather than to purchase it and especially when he had to promise payment out of a crop which had not as yet been made. I have been watchingi this phase of country life in the South for many years and have come to the conclusion that the "advanced system" is just as great a mistake on the part of the merchant as it is on the part of the farmer, for the following reasons: First, the merchant takes great risks, which, of course, he tries to cover by increased char ges. But even thouht these charges are increased, the stap les of life are not such articles as a high percentage of profit will adhere to, and the merchant is practically trading gold for a promise to pay. If the crop fails, he is obliged to carry and carry a.nd carry and possib)ly may ultimately, as in thousands of cases, be obliged to take the farml, for which he has no use, and1 under boll weevil condlitions is d1imhCult t.o handle profitab)ly upon a tenant systenm. Under a cash sy~stem there Iwill he a great retduictioni iln the sales of sm tpefossc as(hacon, ptaos beant( ds lrd vegetables, canneii&d good1s, hay, corn. etc., all articles that carry low pirofits. T1he farmer is rar.e y a hoardler of money and' if he saves two hundred dollars 01r moreW by produicin;; all his food1 sup)plih s at homie he has that much miore to spend whien his (1rop was m'uade, and it is cash. Under a cash system the farmier will buy with-his surplus more dry goods, clothing, shoes, furniiture, etc. for his family, hetter teams, farm implem)ents, wagons, buggies, etc., on which there is a much greater profit for the merchant than on staple articles of food. The merchant can turn his money in thirty days, instead of a year. Ten per cent clear profit turned m'nthly is better than 120 per. cent gain annually. Some of tl~ e farmers Increased income g es into permanent improve nnt to enable the farmer to pijduce more and spend more I'Again, there ,is something about raising cnttn, ac co, etg. to piy a debt, that saps the vitality of the farmer affects the q nality of his tillage. It really lowers the grade of farming. If upon the other hand the merchants will join with us in urging farmers. to raise all their food supplies and try to produce by better tillage double the crop per acre they now produce, the result as it af fects the merchant will be this ; All busiqess will soon be on a cash b)asis and the volumn will be three or four times as large from the farmers alone. The advent of more money will bring diversified industries among the farmers and eventually will at tract manufactures to the mar ket towns. If there are idle farn)s in the county, instead of calling meet ings for the purpose of raising funds to secure immigration, call meetings to encurage the farmers who know the country and are loyal to it, to unfiversally adopt the following plan. First, provide their ow"N11 food supplies from the farm. Second. double the average product on every acre under cultivation and let each worker on the farm b V the use of better teams and tools, till three times as many acres -i alt present. not. iin the one crop but in a variety of diversifled and prfitable crops. This would caiise an imnediate demiantd for more land and would provide the money to.pay for it. This makes every man on the farm more than six times the indus trial power he now is and gives him a love of the farm. This is better than to leave him in discouragement. and secure im migrants to come and buy him out. I should not speak so positive ly, only I have observed for a quarter of a century that where the Southern merchants have changed from an "advance sys tem" to a cash system, they have prospered very much more than in former years and the number of failures is immensely less. Of course, it. is not ment that there should be no credits, but practically there should be little necessity for them until the crop,'s actually ready for the harvest, 'then trade becomes a cash transaction. Or better still, the farmer can get his money from the bank and pay cash in all cages, if there is a lack of r'eadyv mioney. The advance system bears dlown up)on the cotton farmer with special hardship. His crop is either sold1 at oncn or is forced to the gin and the warehouse so as to secure loan. If the cotton farmer is not forced to sell to raise money or pay debts he will store his crop on his farm and market at his loisure, which is in the interest of all parties. it appears to m11e, therefore, that the farmer will imimea su rably gain when he produces what he has hitherto baught in the way of living. He is not compelled to sell his crop im mediately upon the harvest. When he does sell he trades for cash. The greater amount of money lie has is very helpful to the family b)ut the stimulus to his self respect is perhaps the most important item to be con sidered. The merchants pros pers by the greater volume of business and by thequick re turn of his money. It seems t6' me that these points should be urged upon all the people. 'S. A. KNAPP, Spec. Agt. in 'Charge Farmers' Cooperaive Demonstration Work. Thank You We desire to thank our many customers kor their liberal patronage during thp year 1908. \Ye start the new year by hoping to merit a con tiquance of your patronage. We always try to cater to your wants, and it is a pleasure to us to serve you.2 Thanking you again for what you have done to make our business a success, and hoping -to see yqu, as well as many new patrons during 1909, we are yours to serve, PICKENS DRUG CO, M eBar.gains Don't Fail to get some of .Scrap Bundles at 89c.D each. before they are gone. We have some very good bargains in differe Goods Ask to See the,Ba% CRAIG One-Price Cash Store WE 1-AVE 1,00 Wine of rdui Calendars or 1909 for free distri1 tion Conme in and get one BOLT & CO., UP-TO-D)ATE DRUGGISTS, Pickens, S. C. STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE LIBERTY BANK, Located at J~Lberty, S. C., at the Close of business Nov. 27th, 190* RESOURCES. L .I \IITI ES Loans11 and4 Discouts..... ...... .....59,8ic 8!4 Cap4ital Stock P'aid in............. .~K' Demianid L,oans .............. ......5,137 50 jSurplus Fuind -none.. ...... Overdrafts ............ .............699 75 nide lrot,lssCretEji. 1104nds and Stoeksowned by Hiank---none.ssan Txel'(.........,94 HlankIng House................. .....1,513 83 )et lik,~TutC malsioe Furuture and F'ixtures..............,666 -10 liidld 'padioo...... Other Real Estate--none ...vd l...ostsSujctt....k...,~2I Duie from Hlanks and Trust Comnpanies 16,994 35 SvnsIeoisnn...... C'urrenicy......... .... .... ... ....... 1,50 00 lO adCriiac ipet-oe Gold.......... ....................... 20 00 ie(otiaeso Dpoi. ....,' lo: Silver and other Colin. ...... ... .......4423 36 CrildCek-oe...... Checs ad Csh tem.............IS 0 Cses CheTaeks.Pa.... ................5,950 m. DNvte ndls npa is te.one.. ..... DilPbe,mandn Certificates f ors--oe C e or rowed.k nn.................00(( T1otal--.-,-....................$87,840 06 Total ..... ....,.........,..... ...$8781 6'. STATI' OF SOUTH CAROLINA, COU'NTY OF PICKENS. Before mae camne H. C. SntLKY, Cashier of the abovebamed ilank, who beIng duy swor says the above and foregoing statement is a tt-ne condition of said Bank, as shown byte boo of sid Bank. H. C. 8 IlRLEY. Sworn'to and subscribed before me thIs 5th day of Dec., 1906. Ccrret-Attst: . L. CLAYTON, Notary Publie Jt N. ~ Ar n . Diretr