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? v. . ^'| Abbeville Press and Banner : _ . . 1 ; Established 1844. $1.50 the Year. Abbeville, S. C.? Tuesday, Jan. 8, 1918. Single Copies, Five Cents. 75th Year. ? "" ??????????????????????????? 1 - - . i McAdoo Announces Some New Railroad Charges UNLOAD FREIGHT CARS, TAKES EFFECT JANUARY 31 i One-Fifth of the Through Passen- i ger Trains on Eastern Railroads j Been Withdrawn. ! Washington, Jan. 6.?To promote tore prompt unloading, of freight cars, Director McAdoo today established new railroad demurrage rules for domestic traffic, effective Janu-j ary 81, continuing the present two! days free time,' but protiding for j increases ranging from 50 to 10Qj per cent in charges thereafter. The director general appealed to: skippers and consignees to cooper-j ate in releasing cars.to meet the na-'j tional ememgency. The necessityf?r action was emphasized today by j a report from A. H. Smith, assistant; j:?in nVmrtrp of oner-1 IICVWI gcuvioi, ? ? v..*.. D atioos east of the Mississippi river, i "that accumulation is increasing at j points east of Pittsburg and Buf-1 falo." New Demurrage Rfctes. The new demurrage rates, approved by the Interstate Commerce! Commission on request of the di-j rector general are- $3 per car for the first day after the two free days for the second day and 51 addi-j tiona1 for each succeeding dav unt.il, the charge per day reaches S1U. This maximum then will be charged for every day or fraction there-, after. Existing demurrage rates in ?*-- ? -c a. ov/> ?n HEOSt SeCllOIlS VI HIV wuuu j t?i v. vjfor the first day after the two days free time, $2 for the second day, IS for the third day, $5 for the fourth day and each day thereafter. No changes will be made for the present in demurrage rules or rates on export rate. The new regulations, said Mr. McAdro's 'order, 'specifically contemplate the cancellation of all -average rgreement provisions of existing trriffs." Railroads are instructed to file tariffs embodying Commerce Commission and State commission. Train* Withdrawn. About one-fifth of the through passenger trains on Eastern railroads were withdrawn from service tod^y, with the Director General's approval, and within a week or two many other passenger schedules will lie curtailed. Disarrangement of: passenger schedules in the last week' Assistant Director Smith reported, was promoted largely by the num-. ber of persons returning home from, holiday visits. He added: "A short-' *ge of labor at engine house termi-i aais is preventing engines from bekig turning promptly and getting back into service." COTTON GINNED PRIOR TO DECEMBER 13 * I Crops of 1917 and 1916 in South Carolina. Director Sam L. Rogers, of the1 Bureau of the Census, Department! ?f Commerce, announces the pre-! lirainary report of cotton ginned by i counties in South Carolina, for the' crops of 1917 and 1916. The report was made public for the state at 10 A. M. Thursday, December I 20, 1917. (Quantities are in running bales,; counting round as half bales. Lin-1 ters are not included.) County 1917 1916. | ,fotal 1,110,365 893,896 Abbeville 19,3X6 19,419 Aiken 38,862 34,726 Anderson 54,539 51,836 Barawell . ___ 54,508 41,103 Bamberg 25,486 21,258 Beaufort 5,582 ' 5,642 Berkeley 10,505 4,923 i % i INCREASED A GLANCE OVER THE COUNTRY News in a Condensed Form to Be Read By the Busy Reader. Limestone College at Gaffney will open its after 'Christmas term on January 14, on account of the fuel shortage. Potatoes are now being sold by weight and not measure, Retail dealers must quote pound prices. Charlotte will be the next place of meeting of the Southern commercial I Secretaries Association, which will convene in June. Marie Carelli, the novelist, was fined in London for hoarding food. It was claimed that she had great quantities of sugar, tea and other provisions. Several carloads of print paper is held up by an embargo at Newberry Junction, Pa. Unless these cars are soon rushed to their destination some of the big daily papers will have to miss several sisues. Three men lost their lives while duck hunting near Georgetown. The boat capsized and only one succeeded in reaching the overturned boat. The intense cold and exposure caused his death. The bodies of the other two have not been touna yet. President Wilson has been requested to prevent Fred C. Miller from assuming the office of mayor of an Indiana town. He was born in this country of German parentage and has taken out only his first naturalization papers. Charles N. Thompson, manager cf Kingling Brothers Circus, died at his winter home in Florida after an illness of ten weeks. His wife, one daughter and one son, who is in the navy, survive him. The Southern Christian Advocate has bought a home for that paper. The price to be paid is $10,000 with a cash payment of $2,500. They hope to raise the balance by April 1, 1918. Calhoun 27,798 20,405 Charleston __ 9,857 4,404 Cherokee 9,353 8,114 Chester 20,025 18,954 Chesterfield __ 20,747 17,554 Clarendon 33,116 18,396 Colleton 18,096 12,457 Darlington 30,013 17,341 Dillon 28,044 22,170 Dorchester 14,660 8,131 Edgefield 24,807 24,238 Fairfield 16,548 14,267 Florence 32,499 17,572 Georgetown 3,934 1,325 Greenville 28,031 31,669 Green-wood 27,708 27,359 Hampton 20,768 16,396 Horry 6,977 4,508 Jasper 5,314 4,946 Kershaw 15,396 10,658 Lancaster 14,258 13,447 Laurens 33,642 29,494 Lee 30,234 17,402 Lexington 26,472 22,890 McCormick __ 12,632 11,004 Marion 13,578 11,107 Marlboro 48,794 31,861 Newberry 31,596 29,031 Oconee 16,422 16,233 Orangeburg __ 77,587 56,122 Pickens 13,327 14,106 Richland 17,313 16,402 Saluda 25,335 25,173 Spartanburg _ 46,925 49,262 Sumter 36,395 24,621 Union 14,083 12,354 Williamsburg _ 24,915 11,940 York 24,908 21,676 (f* PRESIDENT OUTLINES HIS RAILROAD PLANS; | I Only By Government I Operation Could Unity Be Obtained ADDRESSES JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS Bills to Carry Out President's Plans Already Had Been Prepared Under Supervision of Department of Agriculture. Washington, Jan. 5.?President Wilson yesterday laid before congress, assembled in joint session, his recommendations for carrying out government operation of railroads. Bills to carry out the president's ! ideas already had been prepared uni der the supervision of the depart| ment of justice and were imrnedi| ately introduced with plans for | prompt consideration in both house | and senate. To guarantee proper returns to ! the roads during the period of gov't ernmnet operation the president , recommended that congress provide ! compensation at the rate of the I same net operating income as the : roads have received for the three !preceding fiscal years. j To provide for proper mainte ' nance of the roads and their return to owners in the same order as the ! government takes them over, the president recommended legislation to authorize their upkeep and betterment during the period of feder! a! operation. Legislation to this effect is all contained in the administration bills, which would appropriate $500,000,000 funds for government operation. Only by government operation, the president told congress, could the unity necessary to the country be obtained, and he added that existing organizations of the railroads should be disturbed as little as possible. The president spoke as follows: "Gentlemen of the conirress: ' "I have asked the privilege of addressing1 you in order to report that on the 28th of December last, during the recess of congress, acting through the secretary of war and under the authority conferred upon me by the act of congress approved; and assumed control of the railway! lines of the country and the systems of water transportation under their control. This step seemed to be im-. peratively necessary in the interest of the public welfare, in the pres-' ence of the great tasks of war with: which we are now dealing. "As our experience develops difficulties and makes it clear what I they are, I have deemed it my dutyi to remove those difficulties where; ever I have the legal power to do' so. To assume control of the vast railway system of the country, is I j realize a very great responsibility,! but to fail to do so in the existing) circumstances would have beenj much greater. I assume the less i I responsibility rather than the weightier. I "I am sure that I am speaking the! mind of all thoughtful Americansl ; T oo\r if ic niir Hntv qq i WIICI1 X OC*JT M??v wu* V.v?v ?-w . I representatives of the nation to do , everything that it is necessary to do' j to secure the complete mobilization' I of the whole resources of America i by as rapid and effective a means as' jean be found. Transportation sup-i ! plies all the arteries of mobilization, i J Unless it be under a single anduni-i i fied direction, the whole process of, the nation's action is embarrassed. "It was in the true spirit of Am-! j erica and it was right, that we' should first try to effect the necesIsary unification under the voluntary: | action of those who were in charge1 of the great railway properties and; j we did try it. (Continued on Page 6.) PEACE NEGOTIATOR I AT END FOR PRESENT Huns Refuse to Transfer Conference to p Copenhagen j UNREST OF SOCIALISTS i IS DISTURBING BERLIN ( Athough Battlefields Are Snow* Covered, Allied Armies Score Small Successes. The peace negotiations between the Central Powers and the Bolsheviki government in Russia have ai been "temporarily suspended1" by w the Germans. ra From the meagre advices receiv- r< ed, it appears the rock upon which a' a continuation of the pourparlers IT split was the demand of the Russians that the conference be re- . sumed at Stockholm, instead of at Brest-Litovslc. Dissatisfied with the i a j proposals for peace made by the! Teutonic allies before the recess of! J . J ti j Brest-Litovsk foreign minister, had ^ I been insistent on the deliberations ^ j being held on neutral soil instead ! of at the German eastern headquar ters. The Germans, however, hadj been equally as firm in their deter-1 p, mination not to treat with the Rus-1 1 iw sians at an other place than Brest-1 Litovsk. * I 1 ci German advices Saturday were to j, the effect that the Bolsheviki deleVi ,gates, on finding that the represen-j tatives of the Teutonic allies were! a: at Brest-Litovsk awaiting them, had!-, started for this town, but nothing! had come through to show that ^ these had any foundation in fact. I .. ffi The decision of the Germans to disu continue the sitting was arrived during a crown council held in Ber-I, > 6 ; h lin Saturday which was attended by. Field Marshal von Hindenburg andi o Gen. von Ludendorff, first quartermaster general. ; A belated dispatch from Berlin . gives as the reason for the refusal . si of the Germans to consider Stock- . t( holm a place where peace might be! advantageously discussed, the fear P that British, French and American diplomats in the Swedish capital would by intrigue render all en uta> vio xuwaaw* aii In the Italian theatre the big guns ai of both sides are hammering away al at opposing positions in the hills a? and on the lower reaches of the tfc Piave river. Several attempts by te the Austro-Germans to make head- ki way with small detachments be- fi: tween the Brenta and the Piave th rivers were repulsed. i si: _ : ,c MR. THORNTON ; hi SELLS INTEREST ft , w On Saturday, Mr. S. A. Graves hi and sons bought out Mr. Jas. Thorn-; dj ton's interest in the Acker Building cy & Repair Company's lumber yard.! This yard was established about eight years ago with Mr. Graves, Mr. Thornton and Mr. Acker as; owners. Two years later Mr. Thornton and Mr. Graves bought the in-1 ea terest of Mr. Acker. Now Mr. i Graves is the sole owner. His two es sons, Clyde and Floyd will help run J a* the business. Mr. Thornton will ^a finish the big job at the cotton mill.! or I st READY AND WAITING. j th 'j id Mr. W. A. Stevenson told us that; se they were sitting ready for the [ pe State auditor to arrive and check j be up their books. Mrs. Mary Doug-jm lass Evans is the book keeper and^ assistant and they have 'everything in such shape that when the auditor, arrives in the city on the eleven' , o'ciock tram ne can leave on uie: ~ afternoon train. The county is now!**1 out of debt. There is only one ja* more note to pay and the money to meet that is in the bank waiting for] m the day of payment to arrive. If co everything is favorable the county will soon be wanting to lend money. \ ; v Ed Bell of .Antreville, was here w Saturday. j y i / IGISLATUR CONVE OOD SITUATION | ? [N EUROPE GRAVE i* : ? Conditions In France, Hreat Britain and Italy Very Grave. r Washington, Jan. 6.?The food C tuation in the Allied countries of 1 urope is graver than it has been at ly time since the beginning of the ar, and is giving American governient officials deep concern. Official w jports picture extreme food short- a ?e in England, France and Italy. S( The- fact that conditions in Ger- i lany and Austria are far worse of- f, ;rs the only ground for optimism c 1 viewing the situation. p In England and France the situ- ti tion is described as critical in a t< fiblegram to the food administra- p on today from Lord Rhonda, the p ritish food controller, which con- n luded with these words: r "I view the situation with grave | e nxiety." |? Yesterday a cablegram from the! t: rench government said that the p heat crop had been requisitioned t! nd that the bread ration would be c ut to allow only seven ounces of \* read daily to all persons except the n ery poor and those doing hard ti lanual labor. In Italy conditions re not as good perhaps as in either ngland or France. ' i , PnTirtTMilcAMr rofirtninf* will KAI wuiyuiuvi J AUblVlillig ?T 1X4 Vt carted in England immediately \^ith | e leats the first commodity to be put ^ nder control. Distribution of but- ^ >r and margarine will be taken in' . ! K and next and other foods will be' e dded as they become scarcer. All ? i 3. f the principal foodstuffs will be itioned by April. v Compulsory control of foodstuffs 1 England, France and Italy was in- ^ sted on by the'American delegates '^ > the Paris conference and was ^ romised at that time. DOUBLE TRAGEDY. ' lh Tobe Bowen, a white farmer liv- ^ I ig near Mt. Carmel, shot his wife w id then shot himself last Thursday a! jout noon. No details were known s to the reason but it is rumored A lat he came home and read a let- ^ r, the contents of which are not; town, but it is said that she was 3: dng to leave him. He turned toj ie bureau and got his pistol and B lot his wife through the head. His tt in came running in and he begged m to shoot him which the son re- Sc ? , 1 ised to do. He gave his son $70jai ith which to bury his wife and i sc mself and then shot himself. Both ! cc ed instantly. They leave several j ri lildren. % j D t if( rAI Uf MM Y ftK CENT. j jj i fc According to the new ruling of!^ ie South Carolina Tax Commission ^ ich tax payer in making his re- . irns will be required to return ^ ich lot, .farm, plantation or separe parcel of land with a statement sto the number of buildings there1, with the value of the buildings j ated separately from the value of j e lands and so described as tobej^ entified by the local Board of As- j . j ssors and other tax officers. Fifty; q ir cent of the market value will j ^ ! taken as the basis for the assess-1 ' i ell ent of all classes of property. , i OUR REPRESENTATIVES fl A J T j-'i v. iii ii^uuv^i anu xtxi. u. w j oward Moore, members of the i se ouse of Representatives, and Sen- ] a or J. M. Nickles left last night for: er )lumbia to be present at the open-; bi g of the General Assembly which fj nvenes in Columbia today. ! ar " i al COTTON MARKET V sl Cotton 31 cts. V w . Seed $1.05 V su kwiiwiviivvvvvvvi ar WVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVj ETO 4 NE TODAY I V! .. V^ar Measures Likely , :o Be Leading Features of Session \i ENERAL ASSEMBLY LIKELY TO RUN FORTY. DAYS ??- . omptroller General's Estimate Calls for Levy of 9 3-4 Mills on Taxable Property of State. x i 'v Columbia, Jan. 6.?War measures rill likely feature the seventy-third nnnal session of the General As- ^ emDiy wnicn convenes ai noon on 'uesday. The State Council of Deensa, to put the resources of South )arolina on a war basis asks an apropriation of $50,000. Prohibiion will be a subject of much erest. The State will have the bportunity to be first in ratifying the rohibition amendment. ?A deterlined drive will be made for the atification of this amendment. An ' \. . ffort will also be made to have a bone dry" law passed in substituion of the present quart-a-month lan. The estimates prepared, by he Comptroller General, an in- ? rease of a half a million dollars | rill be asked, calling for a levy of 1 ine and three-fourths mills on the I axable property of the State. I Election of Sneaker. 5 The most important thing to be "5 one immediately upon the conve*ig of the General Assembly is te ' y lect a speaker to succeed Jam?c l. Hoyt, who moved from'Columbia . o Detroit, Mich., some time ago te }< ake charge of a bank there as gea- \ ral manager. Of those mentioned s possible successors to Mr. Hoyt re Thomas P. Cothran, of Gree?ille; J. A. Berry, of Orangeburg, ow speaker pro-tempore of tkc fouse, Capt. N. G. Evans, of Edgeeld, and J. Howard Moore of Aheville. Insurance Commissioner. Among the other elections to he ciu 10 wiic iui a suticisui iu r. xji. [cMaster, who announced that, ke ould not again offer for reelecti*? 3 insurance commissioner, ae ke V as re-entered the newspaper field. here are quite a flock of candi- - 3 ates out to succeed him. i ?f LIGHT STROKE OF PARALYSIS Last Thursday while Mr. Charlie ruce was eating dinner he said lat he felt a little numb aad % lought maybe he had better go to j'|j >e the doctor. He started ud town id got as far as Dr. F. E. Harri- H >n's home when he found that ke , fl )uldn't go any further. Dr. Har-' I son came out and took him up to fl r. Neuffer's office. He had sof :red a slight stroke of paralysis.. fl e asked if it wouldn't be better . fl >r him to go to Dr. Pryor's and fl le doctors thought that it would fl 2 a good idea and he left Thurs- 'fl ly afternoon on No f>. News frbm H m says that he is doing fine and fl jpes to be home soon. ;'hH JIMMIE COTHRAN. fl Jimmie Cothran is at home from entral America. He had a posion with the United Fruit Co. ,in fl uatemala. He came home in 6rsr to go in the army. His friends e glad to see him back homel 1 MR. ABBOTT. Patrons of The Press and Banner ill be glad tj know that we have icured the services of Mr. C. H. bbott, a printer of large experi ice, who will take charge of th? Mj isiness. Mr. Abbott comes ^o us om one of the large newspaer id job offices, and is a man of rility and ideas. Customers and j^B ibscribers of The Press and Banner ill find it their advantage to conlit him on all matters of printing id advertising.