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ESTABLISHED 1844 The Press and. Banner ABBEVILLE, S. C. Wm. P. GREENE, Editor. The Press and Banner Co. Published Every Tuesday and Friday Telephone No. 10. Entered as second-class mail mat-1 ter at post office in Abbeville, S. C. Terms of Subscription: One year ! $2.00 v Six months 1.00 Three months .50 Payable invariably in advance. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1919. THE CHAIN GANG. It seems that people over the state are about to wake up to the fact that our old friend, the Chain Gang, is about to bankrupt all the counties , in the state, and a determined effort is being made at this session of the! legislature to get rid of it. An article in the Columbia State, which is printed elsewhere in this issue, states that thoughtful people everywhere, who have given the matter any consideration whatever, agree that the * " 1 "-f /IQTvfQITIO overneaa expenses vi guards, food, clothing and other necessary things, makes the convict labor on the road the most expensive labor to be had. ' t ^ 4 It is estimated in some counties that it costs as much as twenty-five hundred dpllars to work a convict for twelve months. In Richland County, where there are large squads and not so many guards, the expense per year is stated to be about seven hundred and fifty dollars per con* Vict. We undertook to show the people of this county some two years ago that although the convicts could not do any work for half the time on account of the weather, the cost per convict in this county was about a thousand dollars per year. Our figures were disputed, but they have not been disproved. ' Besides this, the State Board of Charities and Corrections has found that these convicts cannot be properly housed and cared for by the counties, even when all that is possible is done. In a great many counties the health and care of these convict* havf received next to no attention by the authorities. Those who read of the four convicts who died in Richland County a few days ago were brought i face to face with the fact that it is almost impossible to properly cure tor thesd unfortunates .when sickness overtakes them. ; It is proposed in a bill introduced into the legislature to remov* these conditions and hardships by putting these convicts under the jurisdiction of the penitentiary authorities, who would be authorized to turn them over to the Highway Commission, by whom they would 'be employed in building permanent roads in the state. Under this arrangement the convicts would be kept in large squads,- and it is believed the expense of guarding them will be much less. ?/ Jt is contended t,oo that the state authorities by having them all together in this way, and by keeping them in one locality longer, would be the better able to house them when not at work, and would be able to give them better zredical attention M as *? l??k a'ter their care better. In order &at the counties may not lose by the Undertaking, ft (9 proposed to give fteh county a certain numbers of days' work during the year, the number of days' work being in propor tion to the number of convicts Bent from the particular county. ' Th? plan suggested offers some advantages over the pfesdnt plan. But the members &? tH? legislature gHoiiid WftS hdid 8i the evil which extol fend cure it at one dose. It is J the way of legislative bodies to try to core evils by making changes in laws which have been found imprac* tical, instead of abolishing such laws and getting something better. It is stated by the Columbia State, that the object of the criminal law, ? and of the punishment^, provided for an offense, is to deter t^B" criminal from committing the; Qflfeuie again, and to safeguard society by impris. it goes, but this is not the whole ng him to "buy now and pay later,' jven if cotton does go down. Bu1 whether the number of these vehicle! will so increase as to enable the stat< ;o collect the debt out of them re nains to be seen. Should the auto nobile owners not pay the debt ant interest the burden would be cast 01 John Jones, or Mr. R. W. Smith, o; some other honest man, too poor however, to own a "Nancy." Perhaps to prevent an occurrenci idea of the law-maker; at least, it i should not be. < We owe a duty to society, it is i true, to imprison the lawbreaker, in i order that he may not' commit the i offense again. But for most crimes i the convicted person is imprisoned ] for only a few years. Society is not, j therefore, protected by his imprison- , ment except during this time, unless j perhaps the recollection of its hard- ] ships deters the criminal from committing the same, or some other: ( criminal offense, which in fact it sel-j. dom does. , The better view is that we should get the benefit of whatever good^ comes from the punishment and imprisonment, but that we owe to the criminal as well as to society the duty of undertaking to give the criminal some training that will fit' him for earning a livelihood when j i he is again at liberty, remembering j always that idleness breeds all man-j ner of crimes. We presume that it will n6t be^ J seriously contended that there is op-( portunity, or a disposition, to give, to these convicts in chain gangs any training which is of any good to them, whatever. Certainly they learn noj, wV*iT** ttrAi*1rmtr j usexui Ubtupauvu mills J public roads. That is not a business , which they would care to follow ( when the term of service is over. It: would be far better for the state to ( have a farm where these convicts' might be taught something about[, agriculture than to have them on the, ( public roads. When their terms of ( service were ended they might then seek homes on the farms Miich need! I 1 labor so much just now. Or they might be taught to be shoe-makers, carpenters, brick-layers, or any number of other things where the train-j ing obtained would fit them to make II \n honest living when the, term of ' service is over, and which to this ex-11 | 4 tent would remove the temptation to, commit crime. "We owe something ' : at I. i__ ; < to wiese men uiuugu nicy uc uum-j nals. The chain gang is a crime within itself against civilization. THE BOND ISSUE. There is one objection to the twenty-five million dollar bond issue from which we must dissent. A great many people say that they are in ^ favor of the proposed bonds, but they object to that provision which yvpuld require the automobile owners in th? itate to pay these bonds. We believe that this provision in the proposed law is just, and that if the bonds are issued the automobile owners should be tihe paymasters, fori the fe&son that all the agitation' concerning these roads U fey the ftil torftobile ownerfe> And the roads are! for the use of the automobile owners, and the money saved iji the use of these roads if any, will be saved almost entirely by the automobile own- . ; In fact, the roads, if built of con- ^ crete, will'not be servicable for the r use of teams, or animals drawing g vehicles.. The roads will be so hard ?] that animals may not use them con- , stantly without being permanently t injured in a short time, and the .dan-, j gers from falling on such. Toadg.-acQ B such that no prudent person- would c desire-to drive a team'upon them. Nothing will be saved to the tax-. < payer who does not own an automo- a bile or truck, and little will be saved a to the county by the construction of j these roads, other roads being necessary for those persons who use the j old-fashioned way of hauling with t mules and horses. ^ For these reasons, and because the t building of the roads would help to i build up the automobile business and; I furnish new talking points for those! r who sell automobiles and motor driv-jr en trucks, we believe that, should |c the bonds be issued, those to be chief ^ t ly benefited should pay the fiddler. ^ j What We are ifldst about is the ability bf tha state i to collect the mondy iat Interest and < principal ottl bi these automobile^ owners. Th4 fetate assumes the debt < for th? bMlefit of a few people. Con- \ eidering the high license taxes hec- ; SSSary to pay this interest fthd prih- i cipal, we doubt whether ail thfc ) people who are now riding in 1 mobiles will continue to do sb. Some people may purchase who do rfbt now own . one of these vehicre'9, &nd merchants ih thfe Ikrg'e towns and cities will have their huge triicks upon the l^ 'setfmg gdo^ io^th^ farmer, tell of this Kind, Mr. nnett ana sumc u the other men of great 'financia worth would be willing to sign i bond of indemnity to save us harm less. NEWSPAPERS MERGE. The Evening Index and The Green wood Journal announced in their is sues of Wednesday that the two pa pers had been consolidated, and here after a paper to be known as Th Index-Journal would be issued by th Index Printing Company. Mr. H. L. Watson is to be the edi tor of the new p^per and Mr. Joel S Bailey is the business manager. Mi Gi W. Gardner, Jr., is to be adver tising manager and Mr. E. P. Wide man, city editor. Dr. G. W. Gard ner, who has so ably edited\ Th Greenwood Journal, ana wno nns ventured to give Greenwood a liv daily paper, retires from, active ser dee in the newspaper field. His fail ing health and his well earned hon ors have entitled him to a rest fo sometime. The merger of these two paper frill be welcomed by the friends o all parties. Though Greenwood is i live town, it was not believed b; those in a position to know that i cvould support two afternoon dailiefc Both papers have deserved well o the public, and no one was willinj to see either suffer for proper sup port. The readers and advertiser jf the two papers will be .greatl: profited by the merger. One pape will carry the message of the adver iisers to all the readers of both pa ?ers, while the former readers of thi ;wo papers will have the combine* jfforts of all hands to get all the new ind give it to the public. There wil je no duplication. i ? Mr. H. L. Watson is one of thi jest posted young men in this sec ;ion. His paper will be a force fo ;he right and for advancement alonj ill proper lines. His worth to thi japer and to the city where it ia pub ished ,we trust, will be duly appreci ited. Mr. Joel S. Bailey along witl Mr. Watson has made a great sue:ess out of The Index and The Evenng Index in a financial W&7. iifevef !?dk backward! LET THE STATE HAVE THE CONVICTS. The chaingangs are not.profitable o the counties. The gangs are sc mall that the expense of guarding hem and the other overhead charges nake the labor cost considerably rreater than free labor would be rhis conclusion has been reached wherever business men have taker he trouble to examine the subject k year or two ago the Abbeville Press tod. Banner published a carefully onsidered review of . the question ind since then the State Board ol Charities and Corrections and othei tgencies have looked into it and igreement in general that money u ost by the county gang system. The bill pending in the Genera) Assembly provides that counties shall >e compensated in labor units foi whatever contribution of labor theji night make to State chaingangs, thai s, to convict labor employed on the righways under the control and diection of State authority. No argunent of weight from the economi:al or money saving standpoint maj >e brought against the change prowed. The counties have nothing i6 gain and much to lose by it. . The convicts shotild be Tilted un ler State authority though tha ivera the more fc&ftfensive, the objec ){ punishment ior crime being to de ;er its fcflftrtnission and protect th( E>ublift\. That it will be easier to es tafelfsh and maintain the practice o humane treatment towards convict when they shall be concentrated un der the direction and in the custod of the State than it js while they, jar distributed in the contrpl of 45 cour ties in manifest and scarcely v call for discussion. The solenuj.duty. q the State ..is to extend to the cor victs whatever treatment is best vir ' dicated by investigation and experi- bett< t ence and we have no right as a peo- T1 j pie to lag behind in the adoption of cour ? the most approved policies. Every- nate - where State control as compared with is to - county control is recognized as the of d 1 ; r ^ Copyright ltll by Tk' K. J. BafsokUTotweio Co., I\* I e.-_ p! i r 9 ^ ] It pays to ] y e': 's , .. Parker an i? in . er. he dollar argument in favor of ity chaingangs has been elimid. .'To retain the county gangs > spend money for the privilege oing less than the duty to con n geare that just la every man game enoug tidy red tin and a jimnr Get it straight that vi pipe or cigarette makin's in P. A. That's becau fou can't any more make gue or parch your throat tl ik when he's off the watei oy our exclusive paieiueu fou just lay back like a reg cards and wonder why ii tion in the P. A# smokepas emember back! Bay Prince Albert everywhere tobi tidy red tins, handsome pound and ?that eleoer, practical pound cryt moiatener top that keep* the toba iZ, J. Reynolds Tobacco C< HnBHEnan i buy good r t \ Figure it ariyi * find it pays to b\ We want to sell at the lowest p< By Good Clol i cloth, good mat , Add to these -v isfaction, and y buying your Cl< \ Si $15.00 OVEI SI 2 JO V id Reese, victs which the conscience of good citizens tells them ought to be done~ Surely it will not be contended that any people ought to do, a wrong C thing and waste money in the doing.' of it.?The State. i LtfUgnnii^ 111 i Im III ill I ... -ttMbji. i 5o? smokes, Prince Albert 1 d to a joyhandout standard B vishes smokehappiness on I h to make a bee line for a I -?j 1 . / pipe?oia or new i hat you've hankered for in i smokes you'll find aplenty seP. A. has the quality! 5 Prince Albert bite your lan you can make a horse rt Bite and parch are cut process I ular fellow and puff to beat i samhill you didn't nail a ture longer than vou care ) V < , ! icco U told. Toppy red bags, half pound tin hamidort?and tal glass humidor with sponge c co in each perfect condition, % o., Winston-Salem, N. C \ \ ' A'f ( ' i j clothes? i >< I I < i " way you like, you will ly GOOD CLOTHES [ you Good Clothes 38sible figure. thes we mean reliable :e and the right style, our guarantee of satir;ft . ,'ic J fir 2 ou can't go wrong in i ^ >thes here. \ UITS 1 to $40.00 / 1C0ATS 1 to $30.00 Clothiers j ...... - 'v. . , 1 ? * i ''. v ; .* 0 IBHSHHUnDHHUDHB