University of South Carolina Libraries
f HIGH TAX; I have been recently doina -eme thinking upon the uibject of high taxes. I have heard so much said . about taxes being high?unreasonably high?that I was convinced of the truthfulness of the charge. But by careful weighing of the question, I have reached the conclusion that 1 get considerably .nore than I pay for. It is the "poor man," the politicans' "poor man," the "downtrodden poor man," that figures most consplcuosly in all the talk that floats around. And most of us being really poor, swallow the bit of hypocritical sympathy and go serenely on our way. Mont nf net tin wt? ux/ nut tiiiitix? if c auoui u We are willing to take in the ideas and conclusions of other people and eo save ourselves the effort of thinking for ourselves. Now as to high taxes: Here ain I, "a poor man," living in the city of Union. Lets say I am a poor man with four children to support; my taxeB, road tax and tax on household goods amounts to $2.50 a year. That is every cent 1 pay?$2.50 a yenr. What do 1 get for that? I pay SI.25 to the city of Union and $1.25 to the county tax?total, $2.50; what do I get? I send four children to school nine months in the year. Each child I send gets at least $100 a year in school in school values. That is $4 00 a year. My children, my wi e and I walk on paved streets. Who paid for them? I paid ]ust about nothing so small is the amount. Rut here are six of us getting paved streets to walk upon. Add that to my school benefits. This is not all; I make several trips a year to Cross Keys, JonesVille, Lockhnrt or Kelton. I journey over the roads of Union county; these roads) cost perhaps $50,000 a year to keep up. If they did not cost over $10,000 a year I am getting far more than 1 pay for. Somebody else, the rich man, the property holder, the mn.n so often held up to ridicule by I the truth-lovina nnlltinlnn I most on the road. In fact, he paid well-nigh all it cost. I have just as much access to it as lie does. I have just us many rights to its use as lie has; in fact, I use it far more than ^ most of then. Who^ is there so blind | 0FF THI It is rather hard to see just what point The Columbia Stnto is trying to make in its editorial in defense of Charleston. It attempts to point out that Charleston has many redeeming traits, saying, for instance, that it has been lynching. This may be true, ' some of the counties In which are' located critics of Charleston there 1 has been lynching. This may be the but does not alter the fact that Charleston has had a notorious reputation for years as r place in which blind tigers were allowed to run openlv and in defiance of the law nor does it niter the fact that the Governor of South Carolina ought to use every means at his command to reduce these violations to a minimum there as in every other county of the state. The State also points out that Charleston is r. place in which there are many successful business men and also that It is a place where there have been very few "suspicious" fires This may be true, undoubtedly so but it does not alter (he fact that blind tigers have been allowed in the past to ply their trade openly nor does it alter the fact that the governor of South Carolina ought to stop them. The State's attitude is absolutely untenable to our mind. A man may be a blind tiger and not be a thief but this doesn't render hint Immune from the luw against selling whiskey. Operating a blind tiger, is a violation of the law Just the same as Is stealing A court would not, or should not, * show a blind tiger any leniency just because he happens to be a man who doesn't tell a lie or who hasn't burned a building. When a man is tried In court on a specific charge tho ik evidence In the case must appertain 7 to the specific charge. < Our friend, The State seems to resent the criticism of Charleston by pa pers from other counties and in ef^ feet tells the papers of other counties to get busy and see that the laws In their counties are enforced before bothering Charleston. This might be very good advice if any one law was violated in tbe other counties as noto rlously as tho dispensary luw has been violated in Charleston. If Spartanburg had as many blind tigers hr there were in Charleston before tho recent law-enforcement crusade. Tho State's advice would be very WHO PAYS? 1 + as not to be able to see that ? ? U more than 1 pay for? The city government is operated for me as much as it is for the richest man in Union. I have the same fire protection, police protection and court house privileges that he has. The county government must be paid for. I have a sheriff, clerk of court, probate judge, supervisor, each one who is a part of the county government mill all T .,nv <a ?ni-ir omnll ....... -? ( ? UII A |/MJ IO ? v? J O lli Ull I'.TI I U1 that $2.50. I have a governor an<l all state officers. They ore just as much for my protection as they are for the richest man in the state. All I pay is a small part of that little $2.50. Fellow citizens, poor though wo bo let let us maintain our record for honesty. Lets be fair. Lets come right down to brass tacks. If I educate four clildren, sending them to school for eleven years, that would be equ- ! al to 8 tiding one child to school for 4 4 years. It cost the State at least $100 a year for each child. That is too low an estimate, but even so, in the 4 1 I yould pay in $27.50. If ' paid for 44 years I would pay in During each of the eleven years of t the 4 4 I would pay in $27.75. If 1 paaid for 4 1 1 would pay in only $110. Somebody had to pa> the difference?the small sum of $17,400. This is but one item of the main ' that comes my way in the education J of my children. Ro:<ls, sidewalks, police protection, state laws that protect me?in fact all else that civilization i buys me, I get thrown in for good J measure. These things have put me to thinking. I have conte to the con elusion that I do not pay high taxes, j I get more than I pay for, and that j ! is the truth. Readers, you may not agree with self. Be fair in your decision. Let self. Be faair in your decision. Let us cease to talk at random and prove fact with fact?if we do this, I am sure there will be less howling about high taxes. Certainly the poor man, honest in heart and high In purpose, will conclude that he gets his money's worth and will cease to be one of the disgruntled calamity howlers that so often'afflicts a com-| munlty.?Union Times. fTRACK j i:txi;i:rriJci-i;i:rkM-ri'rKru4T4^' timely insofar as The Journal was concerned. Or if any other law of the state was being violated as openly and deflnatly in Spartanburg as the dispensary law has been in Charleston the advice would be well taken. The same is true of the other counties. Hut tin' ! fact remains that in no county in the ; state has there been such defiant vio- I lation of any law as there has been of the dispensary law in Charleston. The people of the other counties of South Carolina have a right to demand that the state oflicials enforce the law in ( harleston if the Charles- \ ton oflicials won't do it. It is not i right for Spartanburg men to be sent | to the gang for selling whiskey and 1 Charleston men be allowed to sell it without penalty. If Charleston was I not in South Carolina, if it was an ! independant republic, then the case j would he different. We don't at- j tempt to have the laws enforced in Savannah, Ga., but we hnven't got 1 anything to do with Georgia. Rut 1 Charleston is a part of South ('proUna and every South Carolinian has got a right to kick against the dis- ' crimination which is practiced when the people of one county are punish ed for selling whiskey and the people of another not punished. Governor Manning is to be most heartily commended for the stand, he has taken in this matter. We be- j lieve he has the sympathy of the masses of the state in his determination to make Charleston bow to the I law. There are man/ excellent iti/ens In Charleston. There is net a man in cuqiu c.Hruiinu wno Will QfeUJI that, some of the beet people. In tlio state I've there. These p'ople, v?e f.urc ba\ ' ore standing squaie'v behind the R ?v etnor.? Spartan Imp; Journal Man Takes His Own Metlirinc is an Optimist. He has absolute faith in his medi- I cine?he knows when he takes it for certain ailments he gets relief. People who take Dr. King's New Discovery for an irritating cold are optt- , mists?they know this cough remedy will penetrate the linings of the throat, kill the germs, and open the way for nature to act. You can't destroy a cold by superficial treatment?you must go to the cause of the trouble. He an optimist. Get a bottle of Dr. King's New Discovery today. THE LANCASTER NEW HOW THE KAISER APPEARS Correspondent Writes Pen Picture of Emperor as He Saw Him at Front. Berlin.?A pen picture of the kaiser appears in the Krcu/.-Zeilung from its war correspondent with the German troops in Poland, who says: "The kaiser appeared with General Mackensen, and passed along in front of the officers and troops. 1 had not seen him since the time when at the beginning of the war he spoke to the crowd from the balcony of the castle in Berlin. "For one moment I had formed the impress'on that he had become terribly gray in the campaign. That,' however, was an error, which arose from the fact that his head protector, which he was wearing owing to the extremely cold weather, was gray. "Tho supreme war lord appears, on the contrary, extraordinarily fresh and elastic PVPH thnuah ~4. ?.uo nt-i UJUbllt'BH of these last months has left marks 011 his features, and a certain bitterness which formerly was not present comes Into his voice when he speaks. "When I saw him I could not help thinking of the kaiser parade in 1895 on the Spamlau drNl ground. How brilliant he then looked, how forceful, how confident in tho future and victory!" AUSTRIAN BAR IN PROTEST Object to Restraining Refugee Lawyers of Galicla and Bukowina From Practicing. Vienna.?A committee of the Austrian Bar association has recently drawn up a vigorous protest against tho enactments of the government restraining tho refugee lawyers ot Galicla ami Bukowina from tho practice of their profession in lower Austria. The representations of the com mittee, which has behind It not only the prominent lawyers of Vienna, but of all the Austrian crownlands, received instant and hearty indorsement from the bar. The Austrian Bar association repudiated all sympathy with the illiberal policy of tho state authorities, and by a three-quarters vote of Its members, put itself on record against the proceedings disbarring its colleagues from Galicla and Bukowina. Public opinion, too, keenly alive to the fact that the government is imposing disabilities on a part of its population which is suffering for its sake, is in emphatic accord with the stand of the lawyer's committee. "SOLOMON" ENDS BABY CASE This Time in Person of New York Lawyer?He Foregoes the Sword. New York.?May a child be held for board unpaid? The question was asked of Magistrate Barlow, when Mrs. May Berghard, whose baby was born last Au gust, summoned to court Mrs. Minnie Curtis because she had refused to give up tho child until Mrs. lterghard paid $10 arrears of board for the baby. On consulting the court Bible, Magistrate Harlow, in emulation of King Solomon in a similar case, glanced about for the state sword which should have been behind his chair. The court stenographer had taken It away to sharpen his pencil, and in default of anything bigger than a paper cutter Magistrate Barlow threw biblical instructions to the winds, and gave the child back to Its mother. MISS ALICE GERSTENBERG \ ' ' i#" - ' ' >'' " ' ' r--' V ' >'/? >$ ;> .- -; ' V- ' '' '' J -? \ . ;: ? ' UHUQBQUHHi ^^IHBalxnffTyTi One of the youthful and extremely promising novelists and dramatists Is Miss Alice Gerstenberg. After spending three years at Hryn Mawr college she decided that she wanted some "real work," as she sincerely put it, and launched into the literary field. As an author Miss Gerstenberg is not unknown to the American puollc, her "Unquenched Fire" and "The Conscience of Sarah Piatt" having been favorably received. In the dramatic field Miss Gerstenberg is known to the tbeater-goers by her "Alice in Wonderland" and the "Model Maid." With all these actlvltlea in the literary field Miss Gerstenberg finds time to belong to many clubs in her homo city, Chicago. Still she is the most modest and unassuming little person in the world. rsMAY 1. 1913. GERMAN ABIES" FARMING INVADED LANDSOFFRENGH More Than 75,000 Acres Under Cultivation in District Around Sedan. DOUBLE YIELDS PRODUCED Efficiency of Methods Shown?Dairy Operated by Troops?If Peace Comes, Civilians Will Get the .Crops. By F. H. GAILOR. In the New York World. Bergen-Op-Zoom.?In answer to a question I had asked one of the officers at Sedan about the German government taking all the supplies of flour into its own hands, I was told that the Germans had no fear of running short of food, and that they thought the idea of the allies being able to starve them out was absurd. "For Instance," one of the officers said to me. "to s'towr you how w e Germans look ahead, wo have below here more than 75,000 acres of land under cultivation in wheat and potatoes. Wo hope that tho civilians will gather this crop and that tho war will be over by the time of the harvest, but if it is not tho army will reap tho benefit." Two or three days later I was taken over the "army farm" by the little fat major who has organized and directed the work. He was the bandmaster rather than the military typo of German and had tieen the manager of a larco estate in Pomerar.ta. Talk of tho trenches left him cold, but at a mention of the farm or its affairs he became another person. His small black eyes twinkled, his fifty years seemed to become twenty-five, and be went into ecstasies over the improvements Germany, and especially Pomernnia, had introduced in harvesting machinery, fertilization or potatoes. As we rodo nlong in a military automobile from Sedan to Rethel, he kept telling me of tho primitive agricultural methods he had found when tho German army first entered that country. Planter Is Rewarded. "Thoy don't know how it is to uso what they have pot," he kept saying as he pol"tod to a manure pile in front of a cottage door or a clump of trees standing In the middle of a field. "They lose one-half of the fertilizing power by not having pits, and they do not know forestry at all. You should see Pomeranla." In the buttonhole of his tunic he wore the black ribbon with two white stripes which represents the Iron Cross, and I asked him if he had ever been in the trenches. "No," was the answer, "but I planted these fields and so increased the prospects for food. It was taken as a mark of distinguished service to the fatherland and my general recommended me for the honor. The order is for distinguished service of any kind. Germany rewards its workers as well as its fighters, and the fighters depend on the workers for their living, as they must have food. I know farming, so I am used for that. Germany never wastes its opportunities." When wo had pnssed Rethel and gone south about six miles, we turned east along the southern boundary of the 75,000-acre farm that the soldiers of the Third German army are working. We passed many fields where the soldiers and civilians were working side by side, some where a soldier was driving an army horse and often an army cart, and a civilian was walking alongside, sprc -,,n the manure with a pitchfork. I p. bed some of these civilians if the .rman? were forcing them to work. They all said no, but that unless they used the army horses for their carts and plowing they had no means of preparing the ground for planting. I was told that the soldiers wero all doing this during their five days' rest from the trenches. "They like it because it gives them something to think about besides the war and the fighting." Competition In Cultivation. Mnny of the men of the army had been farmers in North Germany, and ono of the officers said: "They can fight, but they would rather farm." I was shown pieces of land that had been cultivated In competition between different regiments. One battalion of a regiment is resting while the other Is in the trenches, so that about half are working all the time. These fields had the regimental flags flying and their owners had fled from that part of the country so that no civilians had had anything to do with preparing the land. At the time when I was taken over the work plowing was still going on, but all the ground was to be planted by the middle of March. The crops vf re potatoes and wheat. The first potatoes will be ready in June and 'be first wheat later on In the autumn I astied the major if he expected to be in that country when the : ps cr.me In. "Oh, no," he said, "we b,n't txpcct to have an army here tL r.. We hope that the war will be IT'S NOT WHAT W] Our Friends M in, \v. r. JAMKS, No. .lii I that she has been usiiis LlZl Years in her home. Likes it a its FINK FLAVOR, and the Sa LIZIANNK noes as tar as TVVt Kives Perfect Cup Quality. Save Your LU2 IF YOU want the nice PRESE the HKILY-TAYLOR CO., at ! CATALOGUE. ? ? ? ? I i * j Luzianne is in i over and the civilians can have the full benefit of our work." The land that the army Is cultivating Is some of the best land In northern France, well watered and well drained. The average yield In wheat an acre has been in former years about twenty-five bushels an acre, but the Germans told me that with their "system" and care they expect to increase this to about thirtyflve bushels an aero, counting in the bits of land that are now being cultivated for the llrst time. They have about "10,000 acres under cultivation in wheat, so the harvest should give them about 1,7I><\000 bushels. Of course, the civilians will have a share of this, hut even so there will lie an immense profit for German* efficiency and forethought. At Attigny we took horses and rode out across the fields to a hill 011 which the soldiers were using one ef the French threshing machines for grain that had ben found in the fields when the army arrived. It was one of the old type of machines with a horsetreadmill to supply the power Soldiers were doing the work and the first thine that I noticed about these soldiers was that they had on blue uniforms instead of the usual gray. I asked why, and one of the officers said that It was a sentiment with the soldiers. They were proud of the Impression the* gray-green uniform had made on the world and would not use it for anything but war. These blue uniforms were the undress of the army used at home when not in active service. No Civilians in Sight. The threshing machine was working steadily, but there were no civilians in sight. 1 asked if the army was going to have all this grain, and was told that, the soldiers got a third and the other two-thirds was to ho turned in to the mayor to ho used for the civilian population. This same rule is carried out all over that part of the country where wheat hn3 been found in the fields. From that threshing machine we went to another, which the major proudly told mo was "made in Germany." It was placed in a nearby village under a shed, and a crowd of peasants had gathered around to i watch it work. Some of them told me it was the first that had been seen in that part of the country. It was run by a little steam donkey engine, and would be the usual sight in any wheat country in the United States, but its capacity was five times that of the horse machine we had examined first, and its output something like ten times as great. There was a baling machine attached to make up bundles of straw for the men and horses in the trenches. From there we went along through the village to an inclosure where many farming machines had been collected from the fields. For the most part they were plows and harrows that had been brought in from miles around, and the names of the makers were Tlelgian, French and many of them American. The officers told me that they had been left in the fields by the French soldiers at ascertained distances apart so that the artillery or aeroplanes making them out from above as they were lying in the fields and seeing soldiers near them could get the range for the guns The Germans said that they soon "got wise" to this system, nnd thereafter the soldiers shunned the plows as if they were Bipns or tno pmpue. Many Motor Plows. On the way back to Sednn they showed iib some of the 15 motor plows which the Third army has In operation, and told me that more were beinp Bent on from Germany every day They still did not have sufficient machines for the number of men that they were able to spare for the work. I was told that the army farther west had 3f> of these plows at work during the month of February, so 1 judped that extensive agricultural work was poinp on there as well. The plows are of German manufacture. They were using six plow points on the machines that I examined, and I was told that the engines were of 2R horse power. They could prepare about ten acrei of land a day with one of these plows, and all the soldiers who were used Vor this work had had experience he fore they joined the army, so thai they were proficient and able to work rapidly. When we reached Sedan It was afternoon milking time, and 1 wenl over the army dairies with the majoi who was In charge. I could not heir wishing that this farming and thif dairying, bo perfectly organized and carried out by the soldiers, was th' real object for which the German army v.as trained and disciplined. The o o E SAY THAT COUNTS Speak For Us Harris St., n<1ei*soii, S. states WNK < *?i I"Ki: tor nearly Five VBOVK ALL OTIIKKS because of WING IN MON'KY. A Found of J Founds of ordinary coffees, and jIANNE Coupons !NTS they entitle you to. Write Vow Orleans, for a PUKMIl'M i Class By Itself lairy at Sedan was 'lie former stablo of a French regiment of cuirassiers, but the Germans had pu* in concrete floors and partitions where none had existed in the old days. The largo shedlilco structure which had been the regimental riding school had been turned into the army butcher shop, and -"0 animals were butchered there every day for the use of the men In and around Sedan. The butchering for tho men in the trenches goes on nearer tho lines, where the transportation is easier and tho meat fresher when it arrives to be prepared for the men under fire. Run Model Dairy. In tho dairy there were some three hundred cow s?Swiss, Ilolsteins and evt n Jerseys?that had boon taken from tho country around Sedan. The major showed me these cows that were giving milk for the sick and wounded in Sedan ami then took me to a peasant's stable and showed me his cattle. Even tho major's enthusiasm could not exaggerate tho superiority of t'.i.army cows and their surroundings .is far as cleanliness and general hygiene were concerned. "Some of our cows were Just like these two months ago," he said, "and you see what our methods have done here. We have doubled tho quantity of milk that the native cows give and we will also double the amount of wheat that their land will raise, if our army has to stay here long enough for us to gather in the crops." From conversations 1 had with the officers, I gathered that this work in HI i ante i? uiny mi example ' of what is going on ull over the territory occupied by the German army. The army in Flanders is cultivating on an even more extensive scale than that in France. In Hclgium the soldiers quartered in the small towns are overseeing the work of the peasj ants and themselves cultivating the land that has been deserted. 1 do not tnink 1 became pro-German on that trip over the army farm, but I was convinced that with the policy of j starvation alone, the allies would take a long time to win this war. That these men actively engaged In the fighting and so near the center of operations, are taking such thought for the future, argues that tlioBe left ' at home in Germany with nothing to do but think of supporting their armies are being even more careful to make every acre count in the final j decision. SOUTHERN RAILWAY. "Premier Carrier of the South." PASSENGER TRAIN SCHEDULES. T-alns arrive Lancaster from: ; n'o. 118?Yorkvllle, Rock Hill and Intermediate stations 8:31 a. m. No. 113?Charleston. Columbia and intermediate vtations lo:05 a. m. ' V/. 1 1 4 A * ~ -I - i mi. lit ? .uauuu, oiaiKsuurg, v.n;?rlotte and intermediate Rtntiona, 1:35 p. m. i No. 117?Col rabia, Kingsville r...d intermediate stations. 7:48 p. m. I Trains leave Lancaster for: I No. 118?Kingsville, Columbia and 1 intermediate stations, 8:31 a. m. No. 113?Rock Hill, Blacksburg, Marion, Charlotte and intermediate stations, 10:06 a. in. No. 114?Kingsville, Columbia, Charleston ard intermediate stations 1:35 p. ra. No. 117?Rock Hill, Yorkv'Uo and intermediate stations, 7:33 p. m. ? N. B.?Schedule flguros are published as informa n only and are not guaranteed. For Information as to passenger fares, etc., call on \V. B. CAUTHEN, Agent. W. E. McQEE, A. Q. P. A., Columbia, S. C. W. H. CAFFEY. D. P. A., Charleston. S. O. Lancaster & Chester Ry. Co. Schedule In Effect Dec. 27, 1914. Eastern Time. WESTBOUND. Ev. Eancaster i.. 6:00am?3:30pm Ev. Fort Eawn ..6:30am?4:08pm , Ev. Ra8coraville ,6:47am?4:28pm | Ev. Hichburg ....6:58am?4:43pm . Ar. Chester 7:40am?5:25pm EASTBOUND. Ev. Chester .... 9:00am?6:45pm Ev. Hichburg ... 9:45am?7:27pm Ev. Bnscoraville .10:00am?7:38pm Ev. Fort Eawn ..10:30am?7:55pm Ar. Eancaster ...11:00am?8:25pm Connections?Chester with Southern, Seaboard and Carolina ft Northwestern Railways. Fort Eawn. with Seaboard Air E ienRailway. Eancaster ,wth Southern Railway. A. P. McLURE, Supt. m ^