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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 matter at post office in Abbeville, S. C. Term? of Subscription: One year ; -? $2.00 - 4 A A \ Six months i.uu Three months .50 Payable invariably ift advance. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1919 THE STATE?AND ROADS. _________ 0 Undertaking to answer the proposition advanced by this paper that the roads to be built by the proposed v twenty-five million dollar bond issue will not be of any value to those peo-J pie of the county who do not reside on the roads connecting county seats, the Columbia State asks these question#: "Would the Press and Banner be content if all the steam railroads ran around, instead of through, Abbeville County? Do Abbeville men residing ten miles from a steam railroad derive no advantage froiri Tailroad transportation facilities? "Are the steam railroads worthless to any man or to the average man of Abbeville County? "How much would the priqf of Abbeville cotton ba affected if every bale of it had to be hauled 50 miles to a railroad station?" The State is advised that the pro position, in our judgment, cannot be successfully argued from premises which do not exist. The advisability of issuing these bonds, and of building these roads, must * be decided from conditions as THEY NOW EXIST, and not from what The Press and Banner might advise, if conditions were different. The steam roads are here, and no light is to be ghed on the road question, by asking questions about vrtiat any man would do if these steam roads were not here. Being here, and connecting the town of Abbeville with -McCormick, Greenwood and Anderson, so that we are in easy reach of all these places, and being so located that no man in Abbeville County is now more than ten miles from one of these steam roads, the question is, Would it profit the average farmer, or the average man', to parallel these steam roads with roads of our own construction? Would it profit the average farmer who lives within ten miles of a steam road to have one of (hesejsoncrete roads built within ten miles 9? bis farm* That question may be easily answered from experience v rather than from theory. A portion of the Green ville and Columbia branch of the Southern Railway runs from Greenwood to Greenville. Some years ago the Piedmont and Northern Railway V* iff ? ;*Vy * " ? . Jiaraheled thla Una by building an? other line of railway Witwsen thase points. Every farm/ on tht road *?^m Abbeville to Due West is with-, in ten miles of this~ne* railroad. Has| anyone gvgF advanced the argun^^^ &At the building of thi? licond Jlne ghve the farmers a better'opportunity t? fchip their products to Green ville, Greenwood, or intermediate points, than they already had? Has Iki freight rata been lowered, or the freight accommodations been better? Can any man truthfully say than an acre of the land in Abbeville County, ten, or even five miles from these two lines of railway, is worth more today than it would have been worth had the second line not been built? We do not think so. It is not contended by The State that these concrete roads, if they might be used for haulinsr freight. would give us any cheaper freight rates than we now have. If the editor of The State baa had any experience with motor driven vehicles, he might admit that it is not practical to haul freight in this way except for very short distances, on account of the enormous outlay necessary to prepare for this kind of. hauling, as well as on account of the expense incident to this kind of transportation. And if passengers may be conveyed by motor driven vehicles on paved roads as cheaply as by railways, will the editor of The State tell M.y* S . - - -,-'4' { us why, in the city of Columbia, where the rates for transportation by motor driven vehicles are fixed by the city government as we understand, the rates are five times those charged by the street railway? Has anybody gotten rich in Columbia at the business even at the prices charged? If passengers may not be hauled in Columbia on the. paved streets of that city by motor driven vehicles as cheaply as by rail, how may we expect that it can be done in the country districts where the travel is so much less? And though the roads in this section are bad enough as compared with the amount of money which we annually expend for their maintenance, we think we are safe in saying that except for a day or two at a time the roads in this section are in fair condition for hauling loads i by motor driven vehicles for about nine months in the year. There is; I a comparatively level stretch of j country from Greenwood to Green-j ! ville. the road following the ridge for' j most of the way. The cotton mills j | between Greenville and Greenwood; [ buy large quantities of cotton at! Greenwood and nearby points, which j is delivered to Greenwood for trans-j porf&tion to these mills. All these | mills have motor driven vehicles forj conveying heavy freight, . and the I roads are in condition for them to travel for more than half the year, yet we dare say that there has never been a load of cotton hauled from Greenwood to any of these mills by motor driven vehicles, simply because the expense of so doing as compared with freight rates would; be so great as to forbid it. The State seems to think that thej price of cotton will be increased by, the building of these roads because I they will bring the farmers nearer! to a market and make it in some way. cheaper for them to get their cotton to the spinners, juBt how is not ex-| plained. Ninety per cent of the far-! mers of Abbeville County would be no nearer markets than they now, are if fifty miles of these roads were built in Abbeville county, as The State suggests will be done, and of those who would be near enougl\ these roads to use them, only a fev^ ,we imagine would be foolish enough to invest large sums of money in mo-i tor driven trucks for the purpose of hauling when they already have' horse-power, which they are feeding' for the purpose of doing this work. It is not denied by anyone so far as we know that those people whoj Ifve on well worked and well main- j tained roads reap an advantage, nor is it denied that roads which would j make it easier for the farmers of l Abbeville County to reach their market, which is Abbeville, would be of. advantage to them, if we do not con-' aider the expense of obtaining these1 roads; but when we come to consider the expense of building along with the advantages to be obtained, j even when the roads are primarily: for the jbenefit of the farmers in 'order to enable them to get their products to market, a serious question arises as to whether or not the enormous expenses do not in every en? thr aW?& to w{ obtained. Wft carindt have thrift I foftdl without paying the pirie?\ Are they w-?h the HHce? If are it is1 onl^ whan they fcre c^ftstructed fori the purposes stat&i--fciiat is, to enable j the farmers oft fcVe farms to get their products to the nearest 'market, which is the nearest railway station. Now we imagine that The Stat* and those who are advocating the | building of these county-seat to county-seat roads will argue a long A. 3 1_ Al 111 ! - lime Deiore mey win convince any-; body that these proposed roads are; to be built for this purpose. Mani-| festly, if these roads were built for this purpose, they would radiate from the county seat to every section of the county whifch has poor road facilities and frotti which it is difficult to reach the markets. But the roads now propdfcfed to be built are for no such purpose. They arfe to be built betwefen towns alrfeady connected by steaiii roads, Where there are proper transportation facilities, and for whose benefit^ Manifestly the roads would be for the benefit of those people "who desire t^travel .from one end of the state tfi .fh'e other, from county-seat to county-seat, and for the benefit of merchants in one town who desired* to ply their trade in other towns, as well as for the benefit of small manufacturers in the larger places, who desire to deliver their products in i i ' N - X ' . nearby communities, such as ice plants and like manufacturers, who do not care to wait on the steam roads. Any effort to convince the people that these proposed roads are for the transportation of farm products from the farm to the nearest market will fail, we believe. ABBEVILLE SOLDIER RELATES EXPERIENCE (Continued from Page One.) goes forward to a certain objective, a second line goes through the "first line, then the first line advances j through^the second. The artillery! j barrage goes ahead of the men while j the German fire comes across. The ' soldiers advance between the two 1 fires and when their objective is reached they take what shelter they i can find. Even the smallest shelter | seems to afford safety. Lieut. Neuffer! gives a. vivid description of lying on j the ground one night and counting the shells as they burst near himJ he counted up to fifteen, and when! asked if he had any thought of home; and sweetheart while all this was go- j' ing on, as the story writers always have it, he replied that his sole j' thought was, "which one of those [ durn things is going to hit me!" * Lieut. Neuffer usually had under his command thirty or forty men and these men carry four machine guns, ammunition, tripods, watejr, rations, picks, shovels, and sand bags. When, one man falls out another can take' his place. I Lieut. Neuffer was wounded Oct.! 17th, near La Hail Meuerresse at Meberfaye farm, and when asked; to tell about it he said there was; nothing to tell, "a shell burst near . ! ] me and a piece hit me in the foot.";, After being hit the young soldier . lay on the ground and took solace in I i a couple of cigarettes and watched the progress of the fight. The firing ' 1 ' ' '' i ' was so heavy that a sergeant ven-; tured the opinion that they were "all going to get killed right there/' while two of the men who were lying on the ground in comparitive safety,' jumped up, ran through the shell fire and took refuse hphinH n oiv.inoVi apple tree. When the barrage lifted Lieut. Neuffer was taken to a first j' aid station, after which he was. ino'culated against tetanus, then taken to a clearing station, then by train ^o Abbeville, France, where he spent two days in an English hospital, then he was taken to England, Dartford Kent, where he spent five1 weeks getting well. At Dartford he was under th'e care of American doctors and nurses and was just two days too late to see the King and Queen on their visit of inspection. When asked what he had to eat, he' replied, "spuds and beef." The Eng-1 lish call biscuits, scones and at first he declined them. When asked about the women, the Lieutenant acknowli edged to being impressed by their ugly feet and their very sweet voices and their heavy chins. The air planes were an imnre9sive! and a majestic sight and their sound! overhead always called the men out to see wh^ going on. The British fctijjerio* in the air?and the Seftnans rarely came out in the dayj time, but came in bombing planes at| night. Lieut. Netiffer saw a plane j brought to earth one day, one out of) a bunch of ten being hit, ftnd com-j jng to earth head first. He says it is no use going \o see what has hap-' pened to the man, everybody knows j Sixty-two planes in one squadron was! the largest number Lieut. Neuffer ever counted. When asked about the refugees Lieut. Neuffer said that one night going into a small town which had long been in the hands of the Germans, they met the civilian population coming out. The town was being shelled by the Germans and people Werfe lfeaving with what they! could Oitry with them. In the party j w&S a little three year old girl, 'wounded by a piece of shell, being 1 carried by a doughboy. In the townj j were many placards, printed in Ger- i man and French, warning the popula-1 tion how far they could go towards! the limits of the town. ' J All the men want a chance to go into the fight whether it is their ^?rk or not and in this way Sergt.' Watts, who was detailed for father' iwirk, went along "juslr for fun" one j n&ht when Lieut. Neuffer.was carry-! j ing his men up through Montbrehain. I They struck a sharp machine gun, and shell fire and they made their j way through a small trench filled. with dead Germans. When they got to headquarters there was only the guide, Lieut. Neuffer and Sergeant Watts, the other men having sought shelter on the way up. Sergt. Watts was in hard luck, however, for he had lost one box of ammunition and a spade. The shelling was so heavy that he was warned not to go back for his spade, but in a. few minutes he slipped out, took his chances, and came back shortly with his spade, his box of ammunition and a good pair of socks he got from a dead German, and which he exhibited" with pride. Lieut. Neuffer saw many prisoners taken and every kind of man seemed to be in the lot. One young fellow about fourteen years old, was in a broad grin and walked along composedly, in pathetic contrast to his companion, an older man, who was in a panic of fear, both trembling hands uplifted crying, "Kamerad" to any one wno wouia listen, rne Germans were mostly dirty and unkempt looking, but wer^fairly well dressed. All soldiers must go to Paris, of; course, it is a part of the war. Lieut.) Neuffer went for a short leave andj saw all the sights to be seen-in the; gay city. He found the hotels aboutj like the American, with the rates and, *ood about the same. The Parisians] were in the midst of the long range bombardment and the morning the young lieutenant visited Notre Dame the handsome stained glass windows' were being taken* out and stored in; a place of safety. Lieut. Neuffer' says the women of'Paris are not pretty, but are stylish and "sporty looking" and are vivacious. This trip was made In company with "Jim," a Greenville boy, who^ has the right idea about visiting a big city. Jim had looked ahead and had home folks deposit two hundred dollars to his credit in a French Bank. He visited the bank and ask-' ed for his money, when the teller isked "You surely do not want it all?" To which Jim replied, "All! Hell! I'm going to be here all day!"j All of which shows that Jim is a genu ine sport. Lieut. Neuffer was much pleased, with the Australians, both as men! HADD \ Now tha are coming grils will m I I It is our Spring Suil to make uj Give us j t \ HADDC and fighters. There is a saying that they fight for souvenirs While , the Scotch fight for the pure love of a scrap. This was demonstrated one night when an Indian and a "wild cat" man from North Carolina undertook to "beat up" a Tommie. A Scotchman interposed, saying the Americans were "company" and he would attend to Tommie. After he had attended to Tommie, the Sc<^chman, the Indian and the "wild cat" man locked arms and walked peacefully away together. / The Australian greets the doughboy with "Hello, Yank, come in and have a drink," and anything he has in his dugout is yours for the asking. The young soldier has been asked many questions and he says there is, one he can answer truthfully and positively?he does not know when the Thirtieth will be home. ' One thing noticeable since coming home, is that while not a prodigal son, where ever he goes his plate is piled sky-high . as though he were about a year behind on good "eats." I am now ready to Ford Cars. If you w* / future you had bette now. \ \ E. F. At gfiis )N-WILSO ON-WII fCOMFAhT= / / 1 V . .1 1 J ( UIC warw over ?um uu \ home, our young wome rant to look their best. > business to furnish th ts, Hats, Shoes and all th ) a ladies' wardrobe. si call for what you need. BUGGIES AND WAGONS. \' W. A. Calvert is advertising in. this issue a carload of Studebaker Wagons and a car of Studebaker Buggies, both of which he sells and recommends. Mr. Calvert has been. > in the vehicle business a long time, and his judgment in matters , of 'thiskind is worth considering. He asks for an opportunity to serve you, and will show you the merits of these vehicles with pleasure and without cost to you. CORP. KENNEDY ARRIVES. ? . The Sixty-first coast artillery containing among other troops, some South Carolina, including the Greenwood Company formerly commanded by Capt. Henry C. Tillman, landed in i I New York on yesterday. They came over on the Dante Alleghieri. Among those who landed on yeaterday was Corporal W. P. Kennedy. The friends of Mrs. Kennedy and of young Pat who "arrived" while his father was in France will be glajl to hear of the safe landing of the vessel. -? ?i;.V f \ ' \ v . ' f > receive orders for mt a Ford in the near t place your order V WOLD * JSON I \ bB fife -/ ir Boys . > - B ^ in and B ie new mm at goes II HH # El N CO. I HHHHi V m .A