The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, March 10, 1920, Image 4
Established 1844.
The Press and Banner
Abbeville, S. C.
The Press anil Banner Company
Published Tri-Weekly
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Telephone No. 10.
Entered as second-class matter ai
post office in Abbeville, S. C.
Terms of Subscription:
One year. $2.00
Six months 1.00
Three months .">0
Wednesday, March 10, 1920.
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
- i
Abbeville County was the home of the
famous Waddell School. The old:
school at Hopewell was one of the
things of which we have always
boasted. Erskine College has been an
institution of the county for more .
than seventy-five years. Then there .
-- 11 tXT" PAHqo-Q of Dll P Wpst..
IS iflC W umaii o u?. ^ ?v ?. - ? ,
And there was the Cokesbury Con- :
ference School, and the other schools .
at old Cokesbury, all of which were a .
credit in their day to the county. We ,
have boasted of our intellectual 1
.superiority, and Abbeville has some
% times been called the Athens of the (
state. ^ .)
But what shall we say of ourselves ^
now that we are ranked fortieth i
among the forty-six counties of the ,
state in educational matters? Only j
five other counties in the state are (
doing less than we are for the educa
tion of the boys and girls who are j
coming on. Does it not look like we
have been asleep in recent years in j
matters wherein the fathers were
most alive?
It is a regretable fact that the
people in Abbeville County have in ,
recent years not kept track with other
counties in the matter of good'
?1? ~1 ~ ifAu v*w1a tVivAncrh AnH-l
2)CI1UU15. y? Iicji v uu nuw j
erson County and see the many (
modern school houses built in that ^
county in recent years, and through',
other counties and see the same',
thing, and then come back and take ^
a look at the one-room houses in this:
county, in which teachers <Io their1
work, scarcely better than the school-']
buildings of thirty years ago, you can i,
but feel ashamed of Abbeville Coun-'j
ty. With the /exception of Campbell .
school district and the Antreville'
school district, where a spirit of pro- '
gress has made itgelf evident, there'
is not a rural community in Abbe- \
ville County that is within twenty-1
five years of the front ranks of',
rural school communities. 1
And we cannot say that we have ^
not the money. Abbeville County is '
small and much of its property is1
qucacco^ of Y*ir)inulAiiclv lr*\ir ^ienrne
but with all that we are not among .
the poor counties of the state. We'i
are behind because in practically ]
every school district in many counties
there are special school taxes ^
running all tfir way from 4 to 16'
mills for the support of the schools, 'j
Only a day or two ago we were ^
looking over a list of school districts'j
in Spartanburg County which levy'
I'
special school taxes, and from the'j
Jong list contained in the Spartan-'
burg Journal we would imagine that1]
practically every school district in ^
the county was collecting a special1,
tax for schools. In Abbeville Coun-1,
ty the past year the city school dis-'{
trict was the only district which I,
levied as much as R nn'llc 1
_ ? - - "1 <
taxes for schools. i
We are not only losing the bene- ,
fits which would come to us in hav- j
ing better schools by refusing to \
levy special taxes, but we are rob- (
bing ourselves as well. The General ]
Assembly has provided a fund for j
the additional support of school dis- ]
tricts in every county which districts j
kvy uo much as miiis for their own i
suppoit. We do not like this way of ]
supporting schools. We would prefer 1
a law which compelled every district i
to levy 8 mills for the support of its !
own schools, but we should make the i
best possible out of what we have. <
We are7paying our full pro rata part '
of the amount of the appropriation, i
'but as matters stand we are getting
practically no return for the amount 1
we contribute towards it. We should!
look after our own interest by p'-'--,
ting ourselves in position to reap !
some of the benefits coming from
mis source,
The Abbeville School district, in a
few days will vote an increased levy,1
for the support of the city schools, i
Due West, Antreville and Lowndes- i
ville will do likewise. The Campbell '
stI.col district has blazed out a wf.y 1
for other rural districts to follow.
i
Let us hope that the people of the,
county will wake up in matter.- per- j
taining to the education of the
children of the county.
Certain it is, as Prof. Gunter
frankly stated, there is nothing in
the present achievement of Abbeville
County along educational linos
to be proud of.
BORROWING OR ECONOMY?
Mr. McAdoo expresses a sentiment
almost universal when he say; tnat
the taxes taken from the * public
' have an injurious effect on business."
They do, but more as the effect
of the method of taxation than
of the maount taken. The country
ould bear an even greater burden if
i; were better distributed, with a
view of financing the Treasury
rather than punishing wealth and
political sections of the countrty
gainst which the taxpayers had a
grudge. The time is distant when the
country could stand taxation better
than now, when it is enriched by the
war, and trade daily disappoints the
prophets of reaction. The Federal
Reserve some months ago said that!
for eiem trade was evidently thriv-l
ing, although the way in which it did
so was puzzling. The same is nowj
true of domestic trade. Commercial!
loans are expanding in a manner |
contrary to the policy of antagonism
to inflation proclaimed on behalf of
the Federal Reserve. And now comes,
Mr. McAdoo with a proposal to j
finance the Treasury by borrowing!
two billions instead of paying out'
that sum in establishing the Liberty
Bond sinking fund, by funding the
interest on loans to foreign Governments
which they cannot conveniently
pay, and by discontinuing purchase
cf Liberty bonds for retire-j
went, which now involves the Treas-I
ury in floating debt to an embarras-'
I
sing amount.
Approval of making the taxes1
?tsier to bear cannot extend to such
methods. They are unworthy of a i
Government so rich as ours and par-1
;icularly so when the successor of'
Secretary McAdoo recently has given'
Treasuries in such singular contrast i
to this plan of substituting loans for.
taxes as a means of balancing the
ntaional budget. There is no particu-1
lar fondness for the sinking fund,1
since it is likely to be as disappoint-1
ing in its work as other sinking
funds. But borrowing against a sus-j
pension of the . sinking fund is a'
novelty. Borrowing against foreign1
interest payments not received is j
the same sorl of finance. That method
of turning unavailable debts into
assets has been practiced by this'
:ity, which has issued bonds against j
taxes not collected and not collect-1
ible; but nobody has paid any com-!
pliments to those who did it, and the'
;ity^was never benefited thereby. I
The suspension of the purchases of
Liberty bonds would give them fur-1
titer sinking speels, and already they
ire too low for the Treasury's com-'
fort, '
Thest are objections in detail
merely. Not even such finance could'
;rouble the Treasury seriously. It is!
nore important that trade should j
lot be further inflated by new bor-'
, . t i
rowings of billions at a time when 1
leflation is the policy of the Federal1
Reserve Board. The Treasury and1
;he Federal Reserve should co-oper-1
ite. The world is neither producing!
lor distributing on the pre-war scale, j
ind there is a faminine of goods!
.vhich explains the excessof demand j
)ver supply. Depreciation of cur-!
"ency in the various nations depends i
more on the creation of buying
power by Government borrowing
:han any other one thing. When
Governments issue currency, running
printing presses to balance bud
?ets, money loses its purchasing
power to the extent illustrated in
Russia at one extreme and the United
States at the other, but in proportion
to the watering of Government
finance without exemption in
any case. It is time that should be
stopped in- the United States as "Well
as in the nations to which Secretary
Glass gave such virtuous advice.
Ihey accepted it with outward meekness,
and already there is a proposal
-dneta s ouheh dwtpatlitre asueuhpp;
that we should depart from it.
Mr. McAdoo is mistaken if he
thinks that the country approves
such proposals, or any proposals
which would lead to such results.
The way to improve our finances is
rather to reduce our expenses than
to enlarge our borrowings, and to
make our taxes less burdensome but
more productnve by better methods.!
rhoic who thought that Secretary
Glass's advice to foreign nations
was something less than sympathetic I
'or appreciative of their difficulties!
,think that it may be applied to our-!
selves without reserve. The language ;
'might be even more outspoken, so!
'much more able that they are we to
ake the better path to financial
sanity.?Xew York Times.
PRESIDENT LEAVES
THE WAY OPEN FOR
PACT COMPROMISE
i Washington, March 8.?President
iWilson's letter to Senator Hitchcock
i
regarding the peace treaty is under|
tood to reiterate the president's obI
ections to the Republican reserva
j ions, but not in such language as
j o dissaude Democratic senators
| rom continuing their conpromise efjforts.
Although interpreted by some sentors
as a reiteration of the presi'cent's
positive stand against the prinj
iples of the Republican resewa-j
j ions, others accepted it as a tacit
! mlorsement of the compromise
I legotiations continued their activitv
i
after the letter had been shown them |
Jand some in close touch with the sic-j
uation predicted that an agree/vent j
or ratification of the treaty might i
)e reached.
The president's position o*: the j
jodge reservation to article ten and
cLIitr reservations was outlined inj
he letter to the administration
eador.
He will not see Senator Simmons, i
Democrat, North Carolina, as re-!
quested by Senator Hitchcock, but,
wrote Senator Simmons telling him [
i'- __ 1 J.,
me matter is suuicienuy covereu an j
lis reply to Senator Hitchcock.
The president's letter to Senator i
Hitchcock was put in final form thi.;
morning. In it the president was saidj
to have made his position equally an;
clear as he did in his conference j
with Senator Glass, of Virginia, two'
weeks ago.
Adiministration officials said the;
president would not accept the Lodge:
reservation to Article X. They dipclosed
that he had discussed the socalled
Taft reservation to Article X 1
with Senator Glass and that while he?
had not stated his approval of it, he
did not say he would not accept it.
A modified reservation affirming
national control over armaments!
W!K swlnnfo/1 hxr ennufo .10 + r\ Oil
Nine Democrats, Chamberlain, Oregon;
Gore, Oklahoma; King, Utah;
Kirby, Arkansas; Nugent, Idaho;
Phelan, California; Reed, Missouri;
Shields, Tennessee, and Smith, Georgia,
voted for it.
The reservation as amended or.:
motions of Senators New, Republican,
Indiana, and McCormick, Illi-j
nois, follows: ' I
"No plan for the limitation ofi
armaments proposed by the- council
of the League of Nations under the!
provisions of Article 8 shall be held
as binding the United States until j
the same shall have been accepted by'
congress, and the United .States reserves
the right to increase its arma-j
ments without the consent of the,
council when ever the United States i
is threatened with invasion, or engaged
in war."
On motion of Senator Lodce. thp i
Republican leader, the senate agreed j
to limit debate on all remaining re-1
!
servations to the peace treaty excepti
those relating to Article 10 and to1
voting power in the League of Na- j
tions.
Anthracite Miners
Negotiating For a
Wage Increase!
New York, March 9.?Anthracite ,
miners and operators of Pennsylvania i
met here today and opened negotia-|
tions for a new wage agreement to be- j
come effective March 31, when the;
present four year contract expires. Itj
was said by miners and operators that
little will l.e done at the present meet-;
ings aside from the formal presenta- j
tion of the miners' demands and a pos-!
sible general discussion of conditions!
in the anthracite field. Neither side,'
it was said, by union officials, cares to '
proceed to definite conclusions until!
the award to be made by the bitumin- j
ous coal commission has been handed :
down in the case of (he soft coal inin- j
er,s of the country." " "
Cit-ll For GO I'er Ct. Increase.
The wage demands call for a sixty j
percent increase in wages for contract'
miners, an advance of $2 a day for men
paid by the day, a six hour day and a I
five day week for all classes of inside
and outside day labor and monthly I
men coining under the proposed agree- j
rnent.
The miners are also asking a two 1
year agreement, u closed shop, uni-i
form wage scale for like occupations j
at the several collieries, that coal produced
shall be paid for on the legal
ton hasis wherever practicable and
that the employers compensate the
workers for the loss of tools as a result
of accidents. The demands also
include the granting of other concessions
of a technical charactr.
The miners and operators went into
conference with the best of feeling
prevailing, it was stated.
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0 Loans and Discounts $ 168,^1
0 Overdrafts 7
0 Bonds and Stocks 16,?
0 Furniture and Fixtures 5,S
^ Banking House _1 11,2
(> Cash and due from Banks_$42,?
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