The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, January 21, 1920, Image 4
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ESTABLISHED 1844.
The Press and Banner
ABBEVILLE, S. C.
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The Press and Banner Company
PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Telephone No. 10.
Entered as second-class mail matter at post office
in Abbeville, S. C.
Terms of Subscription:
One year $2.00
Six months 1.00
Three months .50
r
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1920.
HANDLING CONVICTS.
None of the recommendations of Governer Cooper,
in his annual message to the General Assembly,
is more deserving of general commendation
that the recommendation that the County Chain
gangs be discontinued, though there will not be,
and should not be, general support of the recom
fV,?t a state Chain gang system be inau
gurated. The latter system will have some evident
%y. advantages over the county system it is true, but
?: both systems are wrong in principle.
The idea of punishment of breakers of the law
may be said to have three objects, viz: First: The
protection 6f society by the imprisonment of the
offender and his removal from the community;
Second: Determent from the commission of the
same or other crimes; and Third: The reformation
of the criminal. In former times the two first
objects may be said to have been the exclusive benefits
sought in the punishment of criminals, though
experience has taught us in later years that punishment
as such does not have so deterring an ef"
* - * X Al,?
feet on the ordinary criminal as to prevent, mc
commission of other crimes, while his imprisonment
only relieves society from his crimes for the
season of such imprisonment.
Thoughtful people in these latter years have
grown to believe that while the two objects first
* named are not to be entirely eliminated, yet the
ty reformation of the criminal in lasting as well as
beneficial results is the more important of all, because
by reforming the criminal, teaching him a
trade and thereby making him a man with a means
of earning an honest living, tends to make of him
a person not dangerous to the rest of. mankind.
Work keeps more people out of trouble than does
(imprisonment or fines.
The chaingang, it will be conceded, relieves society
for a season of the presence of the criminal.
We say it relieves of his presence, but it does
not entirely. He is seen from time to time upon
the public roads in stripes with two or three men
carrying big guns, who guard him, a sight not entirely
good to look upon either from the standpoint
of the criminal or of the public. But we may
say that society is relieved of the presence of the
criminal in the sense that he is not in position longer
to threaten it. The criminal is duly punished,
and if there are any deterring virtues in punishment
he should be deterred, we will admit.
nnfuroiiv ari<5os as to that period
fJBUL H qUCbLlV/Il ilCtlrUJL U**jr __ _
when the offender is no longer on the chain gang.
I:-, society then relieved and out of danger? Has
the prisoner learned anything on the chai.. gan^
enabling him to work out a living more easily, or
which gives him more interest in the well-being of
those who earn an honest living? Has he received
such punishment as, in spite of the fact that he
comes out of the chain gang a more hardened
criminal at heart than he entered it, deters him'from
committing other offenses? These are questions
which every man may answer for himself.
We believe that the common verdict, at least
among informed and thinking men in our midst, is
that it would be a great deal better to take these
criminals away from places where tney are ex?
posed to the public gaze, and there confine them
under humane surroundings, giving them humane
treatment, and there teach them some trade by
whiph they might at the end of their respective
terms go out into the world and earn a livelihood.
We need all kinds of workmen these days such as
might be made out of these unfortunate criminals,
most of them negroes. They might be taught to
be carpenters, brick-layers, shoe-makers, blacksmith's
helpers, and helpers in other callings, and
in these occupations they might be enabled when
their terms ha\ . been ended to become useful
workers in the communities to which they are returned
at the ends of their terms of seryice. Indeed,
they might be taught how to farm with
some degree of intelligence to the $nd that when
they returned to the farms they might become'
more useful to their employers then when they went
away, might do better work for him, and accomjffrV
plish better results for themselves; and surely there
is need in South Carolina today for good laborers
in the fields.
If happily, therefore, the county chain gangs
?ho akoli?!hf?rl and the convicts now held in
the camps might foe placed in some place where the .
ends of justice would be served, society protected
and the criminal reformed, the present General
Assembly would have done something, not only to
t save the counties many thousands of dollars as we
have aforetime stated, but something which would
be of real service to the country which the members.of
the legislature would serve.
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One of the pi-onouneed evidences of the disturbing
power of war was the rise in prices. The highi
-
j est point was reached in 1919. What is the outlook
! for 1920? According to a recent report issued by
the Federal Reserve Board general anxiety prevails
j throughout American business concerning the continued
advance ; ">r'ces. High wages- and the
high cost of living a . given as the grounds of fear
for tjie future'. Lab'; unrest shows some abate!
ment, says the report, yet the greatly reduced production
of the past six months has not fully been
! ' restored. The chief difficulty lies "in the indispo!
sition of workers to increase production and keep
steadily at work."
The course of prices during 1920 will depend
largely upon the attitude of labor in America and
Europe, more especially the extent to which Euj
ropean labor contributes to increase;! production.
Prices in America have been high partly because
i Europe has required such a large portion of what
America produced. If Europe restores her productive
energies during 1920 prices will steadily
decline. Happily all indications in Great Britain,
France, Belgium and Italy point in that direction.
Prices will be materially influenced also by the
AAiiveo r\-f nronfo r\0 r\ar? m nn ott icciioc
VVUIO^ VI t bo 111 *I?V1IVJ AMfcJMWW*
Enormous paper?or credit monrey?issues, added
to abnormally large public debts, have brought the
i value of the English, French and Italian money
! down to an alarmingly low level, while the Russian
money is not worth quoting. The depreciation is
expressed in high prices. This is reflected in the
price level in America, where paper?oj credit
money?has gone beyond what many think safe
bounds, due to the cost of high living and the speculative
demand of a people intoxicated with a false
prosperity. Twice the Federal Reserve Bank undertook
to check this speculative craze, with some
measure of success, yet at the cost of disastrous de]r
clines in the inflated values of stocks.
If Europe resumes the production of wealth and
stops the issue of more "money" from printing
presses, prices the world over will decline slowly.
If the American people abandon their extravagant
j scale of living and save rather than waste their
| earnings the downward tendency of prices will he
J accelerated. Unless these.- things are done the anx|
iefe> mentioned by the Federal Reserve Board may
be very sad.?New York Herald.
DININGS IN ABBEVILLE.
From the number of dinings and dinners and
banquets that are reported in the Abbeville papers
J the good old town must be harking back to the days
| of old when it had and justly the reputation for being
the most hospitable place in the state equalling
even good old Charleston when every one lived at
[ ease and banquets and dinings were of common occurrence.
One of the papers says that the little
| men have caught the malady and they too are hav
| ing their dinings and house parties. It is well and
a good sign for the uplift of the community and
the development of the community spirit and augurs
well for any town and for right living and happy
I I, TT 1J J XT
I uujuca.?iicwucuy xacraiu ana iNews.
CARRIES OWN ANSWER.
;
In closing an editorial referring to an editorial in
the Greenwood Index-Journal the Abbeville Press
and Banner asks this question:
* "Besides, since when did it become a crime in the
- democratic party to be a selfish politicians?" ?.
And we would like to repeat the question. If it
io a crime there are a lot of fat politicians roaming
at large and going unwhipt of justice.
The Index-Journal was undertaking to prove that
William Jennings Bryan was a selfish politician and
tjiat he had nothing to do with the nomination of
' Woodrow Wilson for president at the Baltimore
convention eight years ago. The Press and Banner
was contending t.hat Mr. Bryan was no more selfish
than any other politician and that he is a great
man and a true patriot though an impossibility for
the presidency, and also the Press and Banner is of
the opinion that Mr. Bryan had a good deal to do
with the nomination of Mr. Wilson. Certainly it
, was the opinion of the public at the time that it was
^ Mr. Bryan who really brought about the nomination
of Mr. Wilson.
But we only refer to the discussion to say that
the question of the Press and Banner carries its
own answer.?Newberry Herald and News.
WHY DO THE HEATHEN RAGE?
That writ of habeas corpus addressed to the
Dutch by the Allies in the case of Wilhelm Hohenzollern
seems to have thrown the Pan-Germans and
former royalties into a high fever of rage. Having
no imagination, these persons don't stop to think
\ what the peremptory Prussian demands would have
been if the war had ended the other way.?New
York Herald.
THAT EVELESS EDEN.
Now they say that it was Noah, not Adam, who
| ate the apple. That lets out Eve, too, of course. In
i fact Eve is eliminated, for no person corresponding
' with her is found in the Sumarian Tablets. But
will the sex be pleased to find that mankind was
capable even of an indiscretion apart from her
! lovely influence??New York Herald.
THE RETURN OF THE RAILROADS.
I
a o ?. r\ &
n ureai vppunuuuj,
If the railroads are not operated under the right
sox-t of legislation there will be trouble of all sorts,
failure and failures, and dissatisfaction. There is
an opportunity to come nearer to settling the socalled
railroad problem than the country ever has
; come before.?Savannah (Ga.) News.
i
| INew i
| Styles 1
1 ments of Spi
shipmer
i I from the Jn(
| ' son Co., tl
1/4' Hats made t
^^0^ people put o
I for we believe that the BEST is
Let us show you the NEW STY
you'll like them.
I Parker <
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j Hastings' 1920 j
Seed Catalog Free]
It's ready now. One hundred hand-1
somely illustrated pages with brilliant IHI
cover in" natural colors. It Is both ?4viqA|oPt
beautiful and helpful, and all that Is
necessary to get it is a postal card
request. You will find our 1920 catalogue
a well worth while eeed book.
Hastings' Seeds are sold direct by ...
mail. You will never find them on
sale in the stores. We have some i
five hundred thousand customers who i
buy from us by mail. We please and!
satisfy them, and we can please and j
satisfy you in 1920. j pH?
Planting Hastings' Seeds in your i
garden or in tour fields insures "good
luck", so far as results can be deter-;
mined by the seed planted. For SO
, years Hastings' Seeds have been the
I standard of seed excellence and purity
in the South. Only varieties
! adapted to the South are listed. Quality
of the best and prices often lees |
than those you pay at home. Write
tnr fr?A fionv of this aolendid cata-1
! logue now. " H. G. HASTINGS; CO, IMMBM
i Seedsmen,"Atlanta, Ga.?(Advt)
CAPT. SHAW DISCOURSES
ON HIGHWAYS AND
The Editor of the Press and Ban- |BL
ner has received the following letter ||j
which we take pleasure in publish- K|
Editor Press and Banner,-I have |||||1| . * V:'
| been asked by a great many people
of Abbeville County to say some- jO|||
thing in your valuable columns in ffpil - * * '
reference to.the good roads' legisla- gaBB
tion, and with your permission, to J
publish the same. I have concluded to
do so. In my way of thinking we jjNgBgH^' don't
need any "highways", we need
more money to work the roads that
we have already. To tax the people
to build highways to run to different
points from Abbeville will not reach
enough of the people, and only those J HAROLD S. ORR,
living on the highways will be bene-!DOLL IN PARIS'
fited. I claim that it is an unjust law j
which compels every person to payl
tax when onlv a few get the benefits., . , , ,
. . ., , . i ly instead of to 01
: to be receiver! Irom tne law. a man,taxes levied will b
j v;ho lives ten miles from a highway, If tWQ Qr three
| will be taxed as much as the man |acrogs the county
who lives on the highway, and j with all the other
is not equal rights at all. j against the farmir.
If the legislature will pass an Actjcounty because th
to raise the commutation tax to two:not be worked,
dollars per year, and raise the prop-| Then if these ro
erty tax for working the roads one j they will be built 1
mill the road working fund will be | the road contracto
, , A j_ ^ ^ 1 1 1 I
increased accui ten inoutanu uouars. estimates charge u
If this is expended properly in;f0Ur dollars a d
widening the roads in the narrow!]abor, and will tak
places, and in grading the worst j make us compete
places on all the roads it will prove a J price which the fi
benefit to all the people of the coun-jThe biggest fool
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In Hats I
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none too good for our customers. I
LES, and SHADES. We know 1
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' AT THE ABBEVILLE OPERA HOUSE MONDAY.
?
lly a few, and the blackest negro in Abbeville county j '
e just. knows that if they begin the building
highways are run of these roads, it will leave the poor
it will do away farmer out in his grassy field, cutroads
and will be ting grass and turning clods, while
ig interests of the the more wealthy class will be rolling
_ -ii r: t-:_I ' .1
e omer ruauo wm u?cr me xine nignways in meir care,
tooting the horns at the farmers exads
are to be built pense. Listen boys at the cavalry
by hired labor and horn, pay your taxes and be ready to
rs will in their fall in line when the Bugler blows
s up with three or!the next call.
ay for unskilled "A word to the wise it> .sufficient."
e our money and W. C. Shaw.
with them at this I
armers cannot do. Engraved Cards and Invitation??
white man or the The Press and Banner 60.