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fAUJU 1 v v?* Established 1844. THE PRESS AND BANNER ABBEVILLE, S. C. The Press and Banner Company Published Tri-Weekly Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Entered as second-^jass matter ai post office ip Aobeville, S. C. Ten tu of Subscription: One Year $2.00 Six months $1.00 Three months .501' i; FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1921 REDUCTION IN WAGES Recently an article appeared in the ? j ^ - ? A I\ews ana vjuuncr v?niwi. . ... g H". Ninestein of Barnwell, in which j the writer stated that the trucking j business in Barnwell County has been a discontinued for all practical pur poses on account of high transporta_ j tion rates. Formerly several thousand B acres were planted in vegetables of a one' kind and another, and the early j vegetables from the truck farms were j shipped to Northern cities where they 1 commanded good prices and were a source of profit to the raisers. These vegetables, it is stated, may be sold t at good prices still, but the express 0 and freight charges, on account of p increased rates in recent years, are so high as to take up the entire pro- t fits of the business, making it not s worth pursuing. v Like complaints come from Flori- \ da and from other points where crops v of this kind are grown. r In this connection it is interesting r to note that the railroads are de- h manding that they be allowed to de- n crease the wages paid to their em. e ployees, whose wages reached p^ak c prices in war times, where they still t are, in order that freight rates may J t be decreased. It is stated that by re-'p ducing wages as proposed a saving of t some six hundred millions of dollars \ is to be made in a stated period, a t year we believe it is, and that this s saving is to be passed on to the peo- r pie who pay the freight. t ( In making this request and in prom- 0 ising to reduce freight charges to the ^ extent of the reduction in wages, c the railroads are not contending that * they will be doing any charity busi ness. On the other hand, they ac_ knowledge that it will pay them to do so, because they say that it will pro mote business. The Pennsylvania rail road says that it now has eighty-five thousand freight cars standing idle for the reason that business is at a standstill because shippers cannot pay the freight charges now demand ed and live. A great mafty former shippers are in the same condition as the shippers of truck from this sec tion,?the charges are so heavy that they consume the entire selling price, and there is, therefore, no incentive to produce and ship these articles which formerly made up the loads of he carriers. | That such is the case, we may well believe. The carrying charges on all commodities are far higher than in the pre-war period. The freight rate on coal into Abbeville from the Clinchfield mines is now $3.19 as a_ gainst $2.05 before the war period. The difference in this freight rate is largely paid to the same laborers who before the war were paid from $2.05 j per ton charged for hauling coal. Coal is a necessity and must be haul ed, but it will be evident from these . Q figures that no more will be hauled than is absolutely necessary. Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that thex'e must be a ^ revision in the prices paid labor on the railroads. There may be some men who are not overpaid in the em ploy of the railroads. We think there are a good many men in the employ ^ of the railroads, who on account of the skill- required and the hazards of I g their, employment, are entitled to I e the interest of the public. And the I present wages, perhaps to more than j c they now receive. But everybody who j ^ has made the slightest inquiry into g such matters knows that there* is J j much labor employed by the railroads j. which is said a great deal more than i the same kind of labor is paid in oth-1 er employment. There is an artificial standard of pay on the railroads which is not justified, and the stand ard must be revised. On the other s hand it is charged that there is waste c by the officers and owners of the rail- 9 roads ,that high and unnecessary sal- r aries are paid to certain officers, and j 1 other moneys paid out which should \ rot be paid out. We are prepared to c I c'ieve that in many cases this is true. All of these overcharges, if we may all them such, must be wiped out in iublic should learn that this eternal ontest alleged to be between capital nd labor is not in fact a contest be ween capital and labor, but a con est between labor on the one hand nd the public on the other, or be ween capital on the one hand and he public on the other. The public lays the freight. We found out in he constant increases which were im )osed in the matter bf freight rates n the war period that we, the people, >ay. Both capital and labor are in a eceptive state of mind. We are, herefore, in favor of such supervis on of the railroads as, while allow ng every railroad to manage its own iffairs, will guarantee that the public s not exploited by capital, and while illowing labor the greatest freedom n either accepting or rejecting c??i iloyment by the railroads, shall guar antee that it is paid what it is worth r.d nothing more. The public has an nterest in seeing that there are no irtificial rules to get pay not earned, nd'no employment of unnecessary abor, when the public in the end [oes the paying. Labor is worthy of ts hire, but the hire is worthy of the abor which the public pays for. And in this labor matter, so far as he railroads are concerned, we are| f the opinion that the right minded I ieople who assist in operating the i iiroads should court an investiga-l ion and seek a revision of present] chedules of pay. The people are not inmindful that during the war period irhen the young men of the country irere going down to battle the rail oad employees, as a kind of necessa ily privileged class,- remained at lome. They did not serve the govem nent at a fraction of what their arning power was worth, but they onstantly demaded higher pay, and hey received it. Only last July, we lelieve it was, they demanded higher >ay in order that they might meet he ever mounting costs of living. Vhen they had gotten the higher pay, hey immediately commenced an as ault on the high cost of living. They nay not have thought about it, but heir fight *was on the farming classes if our people. The high cost of living rhich they wished knocked into a ocked hat was the prices which the armer in the South was receiving for i 1 " J---A siar cotton ana conon pruuutts, mc i trice which the Western farmer was getting for the medt produced in the Vest, the wool grown by the sheep aisers and the leather turned in by he cattle raisers. The railroad era iloyees were not willing that these people should continue to receive the ligh rewards brought to them for heir labor during war times. They lemanded that it be reduced. And it o happened that an administration /hich, to say the least, was more han partial always to the railroad rotherhoods so shaped the financial ffairs of the country that the farm s have lost the accumulations of he whole war period. Having done that, we say that the ailroad workers should now reduce he high cost of living for the farm rs. The farmer pays the freight on he fertilizers which goes on his land, le pays the freight on the cotton i'hich the railroads haul, he pays the reight on the wool, the hides, the logs, the beef and other things he aises. When we have high freight ates it makes the net amount to him pss, it means the high cost of living 5 still with him. What is true of the armer is true of every man who hips. By reason of the deflation the nerchants have lost fifty per cent, of heir inventoi'ies, and every business lan has had his income cut to the luick, if in fact he has not suffered erious financial losses. TTmJpr thpsp r,iTV>?msf?nr?p<5 and ^hen everybody else, and everything se is going back to pre-war prices, ye say that .the labor on the rail oads should do the same thing to the nd that freight rates may be reduc d, and the public generally be given i fair deal. We say that the payment tf enormous salaries to railroad of icials should be discontinued for the ame reason. If the high cost of liv ng must be reduced for one class, t should be reduced for every class. EGGS DROP AGAIN St. Louis, March 222.?The whole ale price of best eggs was 19 1-2 ents a dozen here today, a drop of 1-2 cents in the last week. Today's irice was the lowest here since June, 916. Heavy receipts and favorable feather wer<_* fciven as contri' ulory auses for tho price decline. ENJOY PRESS AND BANNER Spartanburg, Mar. 2, 1921 j The Abbeville Press and Fanner, Abbeville, S. C. Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find check for $2 to cover my subscription to your pa per, as I understand the old subscrip - tion is about out, and my folks] would feel like something terrible had happened if the Press and Banner should fail to come. We all enjoy reading it very much and there is. always a rush for it asi soon as the postman comes. Wifh kind recards. I am. Yours very truly, R. L. Dargan. WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED \ Today I am wondering what would have happened to me by now, if fifty years ago, some fluent tVker had converted me to the theory of tho eight hour day ana conivnced me that it was not fair to my fellow workers to put forth" my best efforts in my work. I am glad that the eight hour day had not been invent ed when I was a young man. If my| life had been made up of eight-hour days I don't believe I could have ac complished a great deal. The coun try would not amount to as much as it does if the young men of fifty years ago had been afraid they might earn more than they were paid. There were shirkers in those days, to be sure, but they didn't boast of it. The shirker tried to conceal or ex cuse his shiftlessness and lack of am bition.?Thomas A. Edison. AN ALIBI FOR SOL. Mr. Thomas, the new Executive Secretary at the Abbeville Cotton Mills, was in to see us early this morning. Among other things which he wanted to talk about was the place of residence of Sol Glenn, ar rested a few days ago for selling li quor. The Press and Banner had stated that Sol lived on the mill hill, which it appears is a mistake. Sol's place of residence is on the lower Greenwood road, beyond the corpor ate limits. The mill village, Mr. Thom says, has no Solomons in it, nor bad people ,and only one big fish mer chant?Col Dote Smith. The Press and Banner regrets that it changed Sol's place of residence, not that it hurts the good people of the mill village even if there were some bad people down there, but every community has enough troub les of its own to bear without taking on the troubles of other neighbor hoods. We shall try to do better in the future. PARACHUTE JUMP HAS BROKEN THE REOMD Champaign, 111., March 24.?A new world record for parachute leap was established today when Lieutenant Arthur Hamilton drop-l ped 24,400 feet from an airplane at Canute field. He made the as cent in a De Haviland B4 plane pi loted by Lieutenant Harry Web bington and descended in a regular parachute. He slept during the one hour and 26 minutes required to make the ascent but kept much awake during the drop. "It was just like any other leap," was Lieutenant Hamilton's only comment after establishing the rec ord. Lieutenant Hamilton landed seven miles northeast of Canute field. There was little wind when he jump ed from the plane, but at an altitude of 18.000 feet a strong current car ried him along. He said this cur rent was not different from that en countered in previous parachute de scents. He declared there were no peculiar sensations at any time dur ing the descent. Another airplane was sent up aft er .the big De Haviland 'began . the (flight. it followed Lieiitenan|t Hamilton during his descent and carred him back to Canute field. It is declared at the field that the record will stand as official. To belong to that select coterie of Washington society known as the "cabinet circle," would seem to most women to be a bed of roses, but like other roses they are not without their thorns. For instance the wire of a cabinet member is required by social etiquette to make at least one call on each senatorial and congressional household which means that she must make half a thousand or more such calls during the season, whether it pleases her or not. IP YOUR JOB'S WORTH HOLDING, BE GOOD TO IT Don't you worry, fellow-worker? don't you be inclined to fret, If you know that you are earning twice the salary you get; Keep right at it; don't let them find you nodding in your chair; Try to be more useful daily; when your name is called to be there; Don't you listen when the gamblers tell you that you're underpaid; He who earns more than he's getting has no need to be afraid. If your work is good, don't slight it; try to make it better still; Here and there you may improve it by an added touch of skill; Don't let any one persuade you that it's not worth while to try, Or that anything's sufficient if you managed to "get by;" Don't forget that every shirker who intends to beat the boss Finds himself the greater loser when he figures up the loss. ' I Yours may be a little corner; you may think that no one cares, But, barred from it, you would wan-' der in a world of changed affairs And you cheat yourself by thinking that your record is unknown; Give your utmost, though you give it for the sake of pride alone; Turn from those who try to fool you into thinking you're "too good", No one ever lost through showing the best; that he could. Don't be. lagging or disgruntled; if you think your job wortfr while I r rtf ?( tiavo vnur hnnpst effort, and eo to it with a smile; Don't you worry, fellow-worker if you're worth more than you're paid; When you get more than you're earn ing is the time to be afraid. ?Exchange. WANTS 200,000 RABBITS j Entente Also Demands Bees and Dogs From Germany. Berlin, March 24.?Bees, Belgian hares and sheep dogs are among the domestic pets the Entente powers are demanding from Germany. The ship carrying the miscellaneous as sortment of animals which Germany's former enemies are demanding will have almost as great an assortment as Noah's craft. Decision of the Reparations Com mission on the exact number of rab bits which Germany must deliver has; been postponed for a month. The En tente demanded 200,000. Meantime, the German rabbit crop is increasing at a recuru pace. The Entente demanded 10,000 dogs and showed no disposition to accept Dachshunds. Twenty-five thousand hives of bees are demanded. One hundred and sixty five he-goats and 25,000 she-goats, 1,500,000 cocks and hens, sheep and cattle and horses in large numbers were sought by the Entente and the German acceded to these requests. It is only the number of hares, bees and dogs which is to be determined after the German representatives have made counterproposals to the Entente Reparations Commission. A report prepared by the British Embassy shows that France, Bel gium, Italy, Serbia and England are^ the countries which are asking for animals. England is seeking only sev en horses. The reparations negotiations re sulted in an agreement for the de I liverv hv Gsrmanv of 919.550 head of cattle to her former enemies with-1 in three years. Delivei'y of the cat-1 tie, it was agreed, should take effect J "from the date which shall be agreed upon by the experts of both parties having regard to the prevailing con ditions of health." The stock of cattle in Germany in 1919 numbered 16,523,803, which in | the first nine months of 1920 was in creased by 830,573 head. In the little town of Wellman, Iowa, a monument has just been erected to comemmorate the devotion cf a telephone operator, Miss Iva A. Chapman, who literally sacrificed her own life during the influenza epi-j demic of two years ago. For several! day and nights, after the other opera-. tors had succumbed to the disease, Miss Chapman remained at her post, almost without an hour of rest or sleep, displaying a heroic devotion which was rewarded by the saving of a number of lives, but at the costj of her own. 250 IN SUNDAYS 3E is the aim of the.... Baptist (Jhurc NEXT SUNDi SCHOOL OPEI You Ar< Primary Departm i That Prove saves more than nine, when batteries. Don't wait 'til your battery ge full of pep all the time. W comes to repairt^, we're wizari Our charges are moderate and present storage battery, we've a year and a half guarantee. CITY GAR AC eVEREA storage ran Look for this sign com 10-Inch; 351 ALL NEW W. A. h CHOOL Classes for Men Women Boys n Girls \Y?EASTER MS AT 10 A. M. i Invited int For Little Ones a la rbial Stitch it comes to testing storage / ts weak. Insist on its being e're the doctors and when it ds. when it's time to replace your ; the reliable Eveready?with Abbeville, S. C. .00 values MBIA Records :ents 3 For $1 RFrnRns