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L it \ V # * . . * * > ' . \ - . v ( .. I ' ' ' jfe'- Vf :V . . - ; ' _ "vV" " j Abbeville Press and Banner Established 1844. $2.00 the Year. Abbeville, S. C., Friday, February 7, 1919 Single Copies, Five Cents. 75th Year. j ALLIED STRENGTH I AT END OF WAR | Figures Made Public by J, War Department in Washington. (FROM GENERAL STAFF . OF AMERICAN ARMY Germans at Peak With 'Coming of June While Allies Passed Enemy I ' 'For First Time Definitely One Month Later.?United States Forces Changes Balance. | Washington, Feb. 5.?The story of Germany's supreme effort for mili"tery victory in the spring of 1918, of American intervention on the Westh .. \ . ern front and of the ultimate crush ing defeat of the enemy and tne apparent annihilation of nearly onehalf of his fighting force was graphically told in figures made public today by the war department. They dealt with the "rifle strength" of the allies and the German forces on the Western front in monthly periods j from April 1 to November 1, and -were prepared by the intelligence division of the general staff of the American army in France. By rifle strength was meant the "number xof men standing in ,the trench ready to go over with the bayonet." When Germany struck its great blow last spring it had a million and a half men so classified hgainst an allied total of a million and m quarter. By June 1 the Germans reached their peak with 1,639,000 rifles. but despite the terrific pressure they were exerting against the allied lines, Ameriean aid was overcoming the handicap and made possible the counterblow delivered in July. ' The allied strength on June 1 was 1,496,000. Shortly afterwards the allies reached a total of 1,547,000, cnmnnspd rvf 778 flftO French. K1K. tOO British and 254,000 Americans. The American contribution had risen from 65,000 in April. On July 1 Germany's power had,begun to wane and for the first time it was definitely inferior in rifle strength with 1,412,000 compared to 1,556,000 for ? j the allies. , Up to September 1 the allied strength continued to gain despite the desperate ' counterattack which was being driven forward all along the line. In mid-October the Ameriv can strength had risen to an estimated force of 350,000. On September 1 the allied line was at its greatest ' -strength with 1,682,000 against Germany's 1,339,000. ~ ' While tihe allies had shrunk in rit"; iles to 1,485,000 on November 1, Germany's last hope had gone as she v ' faced that army with only 886,000 5?S'- bayonets. The sudden decline of the German forces beginning in June and again # apparent in the swift drop during Oc, tober, was accounted for by the fact that she had drawn .into the lines during the spring every available reserve, expecting to smash her way to -victory before winter came. These reserves were used up in the German I attack and the allied assaults which followed, while the American force * continued to increase. MOVING. Mr. C. J. Bruce and familv are moving this week to the house below Ifain street, occupied by Mr. Cul-' breath, who has bought on Magazine' street and is moving in. ' 'VWWVWWVVWWWWVWVV1 . J V -V V THE COTTON MARKET. V v v \. The cotton market was off V! V yesterday. New York futures V V at 2:30 were 95 points'below V V tfce closing of the day before. Vi \ Good cotton was quoted by V' K. a buyer at 27 1-2 cents. V ^vvvvvv.vvwvv^ I LABOR OF CONVICT PR j MUCH TOO COSTLY Some Counties Expent $2,500 on ?aj Each Prisoner. I ^ The State. G. Croft Williams, secretary of the State Board 0f Charities and Corrections, yesterday advanced the fol- ^ lowing arguments in support of ths jn bill now in the general assembly pro- pa( posing to abolish the county chain i pr( gang system and the creation of a State road building force: "Under the provisions of the bill ye? to abolish the county chain gangs j0^ and to construct a State convict road me force the counties would havft thei^r me, financial burdens greatly lessened. ] Arid yet these counties would receive pre more and better road work than they now. get. The scheme is a very rec j simple, and just one. A strict account 0f I will, be kept of bow many men are cru sent to the Stat^ convict road force got from each county and how long each' sid( of these men works. The county will hov receive from the State convict road j force an amount of labor equal to ijc that which its convicts gave. Thus, gro if a county averaged six men for p0] the year it would have to its credit ? about 1,800 days' work. The State an(; convict' county within the year an a- yea mount of labor equal to 1,800 days' dec work. . . the Hurl Two rnnvirft / I j rec "Then, too, the expense of the old eve system is so great. For instance, Mc-j me; Cormick County had on September dis* 30, 1918, the last date that it re- he ported to the State ^oard of Chari- j sho ties and Corrections, two convicts on disc its road force. Calculate the cost of j maintaining these men, their guards gyj I and foremen, the thousands of dollars worth of road machinery thatj ' i stands idle when there are not enough j peI i men to handle if, and how can a p county expect to have light taxes, -j I when such' a system is in vogue. The i supervisor of McCormick County i said to our representative on Sep-! ! tember 6, 1918, 'My gang is a losing' t | * i proposition to me, especially that I! opp | lose several months' work during the: ] i winter because of the clay character . jn{j( i of my roads which makes work im-: suff j possible in winter. I reg( ! "Under the proposed system Mc-jDen i Cormick County would have a por-j ^ ' tion of each year a well equipped bat< 1 gang under the direction of a skill-j pro ed engineer from the State highway tuti I commission, and this gang would be ty I equipped with the finest road ma- of i chinery. How much better for Mc- voti Cormick County roads this would be j 0cri than the antiquated and inefficient ed 1 cniintv pVinin mnm I - J ^ ? * o?cu Costs $60 a Month Each. en^' E "In Richland County the . chain pos: gangs cost $21,898.41 for the first rest 1 six months of 1918, with an average 23 ! daily population on the gangs of, A '59.51 convicts. This figures as aj cha I yearly per capita cost of $735.96, but j miti I this is considerably higher than the j left 'cost should be, due in this case to| side j the great overhead expense of fore-1 plai meiif and guards. During the six i seni months above mentioned four gangs'* " were maintained, which made it nec- said essary jto have four captains, or fore- maj men, at least eight day guards, and and four night guards, a total force of j to a 16 men. If these convicts had beenjjori concentrated, as they would be under j wer the penitentiary and highway commission control, five men could han- j ^ die them all, allowing a captain, 31 day guards and one night guard. The j annual cost for guard hire alone in! W maintaining four camps in Richland Mrs County, based on the figures for sixj J., i months, is $11,868.50, but under the Mr. cnanges contemplated m the bill now-Mrs before the legislature this sum Pair could be cut to less than $5,000. In] new addition, the reduction of the num-j,man ber of foremen and guards would! M save in the expense of food. ! Rob j whil . COURT CONVENES. j M j bevi Court convenes hefe on the fourthj was Monday of this month, Judge Prince enjo of Anderson will be the presiding look Judg*. j erin ESIDENT INSISTS 1 ON NAVAL BUILDING * ?__ blegram From Woodrow Wilson ' ra? Responsible for Unanimous Approval of Three Year Program by Committees?Text of Message Not Given. Washington, Feb. 5k?Disclosure the house yesterday by Chairman * Igett of the naval committee, that j ^ isident Wilson in a cablegram last 1 ik to Secretary Daniels insisted i t congress adopt the new three- 1 ir naval building program was folred by futile efforts of Republican 1 mbers to obtain the text of the 1 3sage. Representative Padgett said the sident's cablegram was responsi- ( for the committee's unanimous 1 ommendation of the construction 1 ten (Jreadnaught and ten scout 1 isers carried, in the new $750,- c 1,000 naval appropration bill, con eration of which was begun in the L9e. Hr. Padgett refused to make pubthe text of the message on the iund that questions of foreign icy were involved in its contents. 'The president was very earnest I very insistent that the threeir program should be carried out,' lared Mr. Padgett. "In substance, president stated that nothing had, urred over there to change his, ommendation ,but he stated, how-! r, that if there fwere developnts in the way o? tribunals for,8 irmament and a league of nations! would be willing that a proviso i uld be inserted to allow him to * L :ontinue or stop the program." . x . It flATEGY DOWNS | SUFFRAGE VOTE c i e nocratic Caucus Fails to Function. ^ tllock. For Cause?Announces l] "hat South Carolina Senator ^ Spoke in Favor of Resolution ^ of Indorsement. C 'It Vashington, Feb. 5.?Strategy of^ onents of equal suffrage was said: ^ have prevented a record vote in j 3rsement of the Sus^n B. Anthony j rage constitutional amendment]. )lution at a conference tonight of^ nocratic senators. I v ifter more than two hours of de-', 1 b, Senator Jones of New Mexico, posed indorsement of the consti-j onal amendment measure. Twen-j senators voted favorably but all; the opponents refrained fronT ing and Senator Martin, the Dem-, itic leader, who presided, declar- v that the resolution was not adopt- j f because a quorum was not pres-.11 tefore the vote on the Jones pro-' ^ I p al a motion of opponents of the >lution to adjourn ,was defeated,1 to 17. I c ' . \ # ? Lfter adjournment Senator Jones. J mjiaii ux tne woman sunrage com-; tee, said the conference action] the matter open for further con-1 ' ration and would not affect his ? is to call up the resolution in the ite next Monday. j. Whep we came to final action," jir Senator Jones, "there was not a p ority of the conference present K therefore no quorum with which a tct on the resolution. A large maty of those present, however, v e in favor of the resolution." DISTINGUISHED VISITORS. d o [r. and Mrs. E. G. Roberts and n . B. S. Lawson, of Redbank, N. w ire in the city for a short visit to u and Mrs. W. D. Wilson. Mr. and . Roberts are on their wav to n Beach and stopped here to re-j their acquaintance with' their iy relatives. 01 [rs. Lawsonrthe mother of Mrs. si erts will remain in Abbeville hi e the others are at Palm Beach, w [r. and Mrs. Roberts were in Ab- A lie when Miss Mary Lawson Link Si twenty months old and they are ^ ying their, pretty kinswoman and w forward to meeting Mrs. Kath- h< e Link Everett and Joe Jr. - al INQUIRY WANTED j N IN COTTON FIELD| Exchanges May Be Investigated By P Congress?Something is Wrong? Prices Can Not Stay as They. Have Without Manipulation Says Representative. ^ ' a Wsahington, Feb. 5.?Investiga- p ion of the New York and New Or- C eans cotton exchanges by a com- n nittee of five members of the house n ippointed by Speaker. Clark was pro- ^ >osed. yesterday by Representative e faraway of Arkansas in a resolution ntroduced in the house. The com- n nittee would be directed to deter* nine whether short selling arid spe- E :ulation on the exchanges had caus- ^ ;d a decline of cotton prices. The j s' esolution of Mr. Caraway would di- j ^ ect the committee to determine the r' :ause of wide fluctuations ' in the ^ :otton future market and whether 31 ;he low prices are due to a conspir- ri icy of restraint among dealers. It ^ ilso would direct the committee to 11 ecommend legislation ^to restore p >pen market condition. v ? Representatives from cotton States, 0 ncluding Mr. Caraway and Repre- c ;entatives Eagle of Texas, and Hefin of Alabama, urged that action be g aken b ycongress to assure a higher ^ jrice for cotton. Mr. Caraway did Cl lot directly charge that manipulation J ^ :aused the decline in cotton prices, j ^ >ut Representatives Eagle and Hef-' 0 in asserted that foreign spinners by c :hort-selling through American a- 8] gent had forced doWn the price. & "The price has constantly drop- a' ?ed until now there is not any mar- j a :et for cotton," declared Mr. Cara-| ^ w! j # j # ?ay, who asserted that* this condi- j si ion prevailed although the world's fi otton supply is short and the 1918 C rop of the South is the smallest ev-J G r gathered there. Mr.faraway said: c< hat while he' woul^ n^cl^rge man- ] m pulation as the cause of the decline) oi ie had information on agreement ad been made in this country to sell e\ otton to foreign countries at a con- p< ract pricel less than that which cot- tli on had brought in the open market in ere. "No market Regulated by the law p< f supply and demand could sag for ot 8 7,000,000 as has the cotton mar-' tl -J. i.L _ 1__i. i xi 11_' et in tue last twu iiiuiibiis, especially gc nth the supply constantly growing tli ?ss.' . la j b? DEATH OF CHARLES MILFORD. | in - J ot The friends and acquaintances of Iharles Milford, formerly of Abbe-| ei ille, but lately of Columbia, will re- m f a Viaor +V? o 4* lio of Vm a Vi aw a CC i the latter city on Monday. j di Mr. Milford was a son of T. P. 1 rc lilford, who formerly lived on the ^ to mderson road, where Mr. Geo. Mann ( o1 ow lives. Charles grew up in this ni ommunity, and had many friends ni mong the young people. w Some years ago he removed with; P< is father to Columbia, and since j cc eaching manhood he 4has been en-^ro ^r-ed in business as a contractor, n< id builder. He was prospering in j di is business, and was a man of stand-' h* lg among his neighbors and with the j ni eople with whom he dealt. He was', th larried and is survived by his wife th nd four children. ec The funeral services and inter- of ?ent were in Columbia. ! co of IMPORTANT MEETING. | to The U. D. C.'s will meet next TueB-' of ay afternoon, Feb. 11th, at four on 'clock, with Mrs. P. B. Speed. Pay-j pe lent of dues and election of officers | fu ill take place. All " members are | en rged to attend. j Mrs. J. Howard Moore. j th to; HOME FROM WEDDING. j th Miss Mary Lawson Link returned n Monday from Decatur, Ga., where ge le went to attend the marriage of ha er friend, Miss Elizabeth Joiner, th ho is so pleasantly remembered in se; bbeville. Miss Joiner married ' a ly outh Carolina man, Rev. Luther pe filliams, of Easley, and Miss Link th as one of her two pretty maids of pu )nor. The wedding was an unusu- re ly pleasant affair. bu I'CORMICK IN FUSS ABOUT NEW ROADS eople At Odds Over Bejit Manner of Procedure. McCormick, S. C., Feb. 3.?Unforjnately there seems to be a stir-up nd a spirit of dissatisfaction on the art of a number of people in Mccormick County regarding the maner and method of building permaent highways in McCormick County, 'he legislature of 1917 voted a bondd indebtedness on McCormick Couny for the purpose of building perlanent highways in McCormick iounty, in the sum of $175,000. londs were floated and the money as all been paid in. The commision charged by the act of the legisiture, with the construction of these oads was given the right and auhority to employ an engineer to upervise the construction of these oads. Since that time Mr. M. E. forrell has been actively engaged I the location and construction of ermanent roads through this county. IcCormick County is very hilly and f such a soil that roads are hard to onstruct of a permanent nature. To date about thirty-five miles of ood graded roads have been made, 'his road extends the length of the ounty from the Abbeville county ne to the Savannah River toward .ugusta. During the war, labor at ne time got very scarce and the jnstruction work began to lag, but nee the war has been over labor anditions have become better and II needed labor can be had now at reasonable price. It is the purpose of the commison to build a good graded road om McCormick to the Edgefield ounty line, and another to the reenwood County line, and thereby >nnect the county seat of McCorick County with the county seats F the adjoining counties. A movement is now on foot, howrer, to stop further grading and ex?nd the balance of the money on ie roads already graded by topsoilg them. This movement has reached the )int where lengthy petitions numerlsly signed has been presented to ie members of the legislative dele-1 ition asking that further grading of ie roads be dispensed with by legistive action. These petitions have ;en signed very largely by those liver on the road already erraded. by ;her who will not be directly af-; icted by the road, and even by oth-j *s w<ho do not even live in McCor-' ick County. The members of the >mmission seem to be pretty equally vided. Two of them living on the >ad-already graded are in favor of psoiling this road with the balance the money, while two others want ore roads graded, and the fifth ember is fully in sympathy with the ishes of the people generally. It is' >inted out by those favoring /a dis-1 mtinuance of the grading that the | ads already graded are not perma-J ;nt, and in places are very bad iring bad weather. On the other ind, it is pointed out by the other J embers of the commission and( ose* favoring the continuation of, e grading, that the bonded indebt-, Iness will have to be paid for by allj ' the people of all parts of , the; unty, and the deplorable condition; ' the roads not yet graded is pointed; as good reason for a continuance, this grading. Besides this, not| le-half the money has yet been ex-j nded contracts have been let for, rther grading and there will be J ough money to complete the roads' ove outlined as contemplated by' e commission, and also enough to ^ psoil all of the worse places along e roads. This case fittingly shows the danr or a petition. The petitions Which ve been presented to the legislate delegation in the general asmbly have been signed promiscousby people who never even read the; tition, and who now state that! ey were misinformed as to the rport of the petition and what iti ally contained. Another peculiar,' it sad feature of the petition is,' HAD DRASTIC PLANS j TO CATCH SLACKERS I !' i I ' Work of Selective Service System Presented in Detail. j MANY PLANS HALTED BY END OF STRIFE I ; Minimum- Working Week Would Have Been Ordered Had Armistice Not Called Halt?Men in E??en> tial Industriei Would Have Been Kept Out of Army, i Washington, Feb. 5.?While the ' second and probably the final annual report on the selective system, prepared by Maj. Gen. Enoch H. Crow-* der, provost marshal general, and made public today, contained only one specific recommendation?that the draft machinery be used to take the decennial census?the 600 page document gives the first inkling of drastic extensions of the work or fight regulations which had been planned just before hostilities ended. The report showed that specific ' plans were before Secretary Baker ! last November under which a miniI f mum working week for the essential I industries would have been fixed in ' order that "industrial slackers" might i be reached and that plans were shapj ing for the mandatory deferment of ! registrants 'in essential industry, ' denying them absolutely the right of ' 1 military service. A scheme for su: pervisring labor distribution through an industrial furlough system also was being evolved. As to the accomplishments of the : selective system, credit for which was given to the patriotic devotion : of "thousands upon thousands" of 1 American men and women who aidi ed, General Crowder said; "To enroll for service over 24,000-r 000; to mobilize a selective army of more than 2,800.000, 1,000,000 of them within the space of 90 days; * to have presently available for military duty 2,000,000 additional fighting .men; to- classify this vast group of man power in the order of its ' military and industrial importance so as to preserve the domestic and industrial life of the nation, to speed up wac time activities, to maintain them in a state of maximum efficien- t , cy production, and to pave the way for a speedy return to normal peace time pursuits while recruiting the full fighting strength of the nation? , these are results which would be iu- '' stantly rejected as impossible did not the actual facts stand as irrefutable testimony of their accomplishment." The draft regulations toward which > General Crowder was moving when the war ended, he said, included the :: mandatory industrial deferment because "we had almost reached the time when it would have been necessary to make it as impossible for the men deferred for industrial reasons to secure military service as it had been for the registrants in ClaM 1 to avoid it." 7 < i. r y that it has been signed mainly by those people who live on the road? \ already graded and by others who . > will not be directly affected by th? further grading of these roads, and still ViT7 nfVioro wlin An nnf in McCormick County, and, certainly should not have any direct interest in the roads, and if any at all not sufficient interest to stop the further construction of these roads. The commission has done good work in the past, and the roads already graded will be a monument to them, and it is openly stated by many that this movement is solely the outgrowth of personal feeling by som? people in the county who have, openly stated that they would rather ae? the money thrown away than for cer tain people to have good roadi leading to McCormick. ^