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Established 1835. J. L. arrjTS,.Editor Published eVery Wednesday in The Advertiser Building at $1.50 per year irr advance. Entered as second class matter at the postoffice at Edgefield, S. C. No communications will be published uafess accompanied by the writer's name. Cards of Thanks, Obituaries, Resolu tions and Political Notices published at advertising rates. fcARGESTi CIRCULATION IN EDGEFIELDSCOUNTYr WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1912 Clocks will go as they are set; but man, irregular man, is'never constant, never certain.-OTWAY. Interest Has Waned. Two weeks ago it was general'v be lieved that a sufficient number of names could be obtained to have the dispensary election " ordered but now there is considerable doubt as to whether the required number of voters can be found who are willing to sign a petition. Some who received petitions have declined to circulate them, others destroyed them, and still others who made a beginning became discouraged and gave it up. Relief Promised. The unsatisfactory way in which the trains are being run on the Southern railroad between Columbia and Au gusta has been called to the attention of the railroad commission, the chai man of which has stated that he will give the people along the line a hear ing early in June concerning the mat ter if the regular .schedule is not made in the meantime. When a train that is due in Augusta at 11:35 does not pass Trenton until 12:30 or 1 o'clock, the Southern should revise its schedule or put on an additional train. Facts Concerning Aiken County. While the editor of The Advertiser | was discussing the dispensary situa tion with a gentleman a few days ago, the latter pointed with evident satis faction to the low tax rate in Aiken county, which, according to his state ment, was made possible through dis pensary profits. Knowing that a dis pensary increases the cost of county government, we were unwilling to accept the low-tax Aiken argument without first investigating the matter. The following facts and figures are I taken from the report of the Comp- | troller General for 1911, which must be f accepted as the highest authority on I the subject. The tax levy for county t purposes in Edgefield last year was five mills, while that of Aiken was two and a half mills. Let us see, however, whether the difference be due altogeth er to dispensary profits or to the dif ference in the amount of taxable prop erty of the two counties. Edgefield is dis tinctly an agricultural county, and ranks among the poorest of the state, while Aiken is both an agricultural and industrial county, and ranks among the wealthiest Edgefield has one small cotton mill, while rn the Horse Creek Valley.Aiken has six of the largest mills in this sec tion of the country. Edgefield has not a foot of electric railroad while Aiken has the total mil eage of the Augusta-Aiken trolley line. Edgefield has only fifty miles of rail road for taxation, while Aiken county has a railway mileage of 150 miles, in cluding the trolley line. Edgefield has no tourist hotels, while Aiken county has two that rank among the finest in the South, representing an investment of a million or more dol lars, not to mention several well ap pointed hotels in the town of Aiken for winter visitors. Edgefield has no vast estates for tax ation, while Aiken has doubtless Score of highly improved estates owned by northern capitalists. Edgefield has no large towns within her borders which afford a large amount of valuable property for taxa tion, while Aiken county has the town of Aiken, North Augusta, and nearly a score of smaller towns. Edgefield's total taxable property is valjpot only $4,308,447, while the topf' taxable property of Aiken is $?^298,670, or nearly three times as great These figures which are abso lutely correct show that the low tax levy in Aiken county is due more to the large amount of taxable property than to dispensary profits. Everyone knows that aa the total amount of tax able property increases, the ?evy de creases. If Edgefield had the same amount of j taxable property that Aiken has, 'in stead Ot being five mills, the levy would be less than that of Aiken county. Not all of the amount paid into Aiken's treasury should be regarded as net profits for the tax payers, for the dispensary proportionately in creases the expenses of the courts and county governments. The report of the Comptroller General shows that Aiken's rural police alone cost the county about $4,000 last year. The dispensary has never contributed one dollar to the actual wealth of Aiken county, such as building rail roads, trolley line;-, tourist hotels or cotton milla. Mr. C. W. Watson Gives Sensi ble Views on the Situation. Will there be another dispensary in Edgefield county? I say "No," with emphasis on the "No." En force the law as it is, and you will have the best solution of the whis key question. Yes, a blind tiger is a pretty tough proposition, but not half so bad as an open eyed mon ster who is sanctioned and protected by the state, county and church member voters who b%ve said by their words and actions when join ing the church that they would live for God and renounce ill evil for the rest of their lives. ' I will say with Uncle Jv that yon can count on my vote as one against the dispensary, for I have a hatred for whiskey and its attendant evils which will make me fight it to the last ditch whether sold by coun ty, state or individual, legally or illegally, as conditions and environ ments have caused me to see almost all kinds of evils arising from that source. Ignorance can be excused, but when I see men of education and intelligence advocating the dis pensary by circulating petitions, or by putting up some flimsy argument that wont really stand the test, it fills my heart with grief. And to think what these same men could do, what an influence they could wield for good if they would get on the right side, and work for sobrie ty and law enforcement. Voters let. us keep the temptation removed as far as possible from the young, the weak, and the old habitual drinker, then if they do ?ret it some time, some way, our way will be clear. We can say? with a clear conscience we have no lot nor part in it. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosever is deceived thereby is not wise," and just so lone as the temptation is in ready reach of all, there will be people who wu be deceived thereby. 4Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor Irink and maketh him drunken al ?O." Remember dear voter, when you irote to re-establish the dispensary, rou are trying to place the bottle to >rour neighbor's lips. Remember, rou may make a drunkard of him, ie may fill a drunkard's grave, he nay leave behind him such an influ mce for evil that would last until ? jxabriel shall sound his trumpet. Header, think twice before you sign ; >r vote once. Remember if you sow o the wind you will reap a whirl- ; vind. ; I want to say that I feel like tak ng off my hat. to every man and \ vornan that have raised their voice j igainst this vile traffic. I wish j ?very voter and reader of The Ad vertiser would read Mrs. J. L. j il i ms' paper on the "Organized j bother Love" of Edgefield count}', n last weeks Advertiser and Chron- j cle, also Brother Minis' 20 reasons , vhy we should not want the dispen ary, and other splendid pieces, from j vriters, and the business men of . idgeficld. ( I see no reason for Dr. Jeffries >eing censured for what he has said ] n his good and timely piece. It is a , act that whiskey breeds and nour shes and walks hand in hand with in, vice and crime of almost all de lominations. Why then will some >eople uphold one, when they would nake you think some of the others ire so unmentionable? Again you viii hear some silly men say, I hink the preacher is getting out of lis place when he says something a ittle out of the usual way. 1 say it s right for pastor and. church mern >ers to cry aloud against surround ng or approaching sin and evils; rom pulpit, press or hill top, if J lecessary, to impxess the truth, vhether it be privat?, ??public or po- ' itical. If they don't do it, who will? I In conclusion, I will say, I love 1 ill. men and hope 1 have said noth- ' ng in these few scattering thoughts 1 mrriedly written to offend, but I 1 late the whiskey business in any vay,shape or form, therefore I can ?ot refrain from expressing my ?ews on the enemy which would nvade our dear old county again, f not side tracked by those who ove peace and good order. Yours for no dispensary, but for aw enforcement of the prohibitory itatutes as tbey now stand. C. W. Watson. Sure Thing. Joy riding is no longer risky; Ifs & dead certainty.-Baltimore Evening Eton. Laymen's Meeting at Berea a Great Success. The first number of a contem plated beries of meetings in the in terest of the Layman's movement was held Sunday last at Berea church in this county. An unusu ally large crowd was in attendance, and the meeting in every respect was a most pronounced success. The meeting was opened with de votional exercises conducted by president F. N. K. Bailey of the S. C. C. L, who is chairman of the movement in the Edgefield associa tion. These exercises were followed by an address on "The consecrated layman" by Capt. Ravenelle B. Cur ry, professor of English at the S. C. C. L The audience was then favored with a vocal selection and a recital of the 23rd Psalm rendered in the Chinese language by Harold, Ro land and Faith Snuggs, children of Dr. and Mrs. Snuggs who are mis sionaries in China. Master Roland Snuggs then gave an interesting reading entitled, "Is it Nothing to You, O, Ye Christians?" The second speaker of the morn ing was Mr. 0. Sheppard, a promi nent member of the local bar. Mr. Sheppard spoke most ably on the subject of foreign missions. . The audience was then given an hour for dinner. A most delight ful dinner was served in abundance on the church grounds. The address of the afternoon ses sion was delivered by Col. Bailey, who spoke on the duty of the lay man in supporting home missions. Another interesting feature of the afternoon session was the showing of the heathen idols, and photo graphs of temples and various places of worship in the foreign lands. The church was crowded with an attentive and appreciative audience and this, the first meeting of a se ries to be held throughout the association, is believed to have ac complished much good in arousing the laymen to a full realization of their duty in the various spheres of religious activity. Trenton News Items Farm work has been going on nicely for the past two weeks. Corn is coming up and will soon be ready for the first working. The small grain crop is looking somewhat promising at present. Mr. J. M. Swearingen has a very beautiful patch of wheat the finest we have seen this season. Asparagus is being shipped now. As many as 190 crates were shipped from here one day. Owing to the ex tremely late season the prices are not so good as they were last year. Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Posey are re ceiving congratulation? upon the ar rival of a fine girl at their home on Sunday. \. All the teachers of the school will attend the state educational associa tion in Charleston the latter part of the week. Mr. F. P. Bryan is erecting a handsome residence on church ave nue. It is rumored very generally that two of our young men are to bring in their "better halves'' in the near Future. We note with regret the continued indisposition of our genial and popular townsman, Maj. J. M. VVue. Mrs. Wise who has been sick for some time is very much im proved we are glad to say. The fortieth anniversary of the Founding of the Ebenezer church md Sunday school will be celebrat ed the 2nd Sunday in June. Little Margaret Courtney came lome last week after spending six ?veeks in Darlington county. Undecipherable. "Do you know anything about Eu ripides r asked the erudite relativa "A little," replied the young man with narva "And what are your impres sions?" "Well, what I have seen ot his stuff convinces me that he wrote a mighty poor bond.'* Antioch School. . I have been reading such nice let ters from the schools, so I thought [ would. try. We are going to school every lay and learning fast, and have a Ejood teacher. We all love her very much and enjoy going to school and keeping our school house neat. Some of the children are out of the school on account of measles. Mr. Jim Talbert made a visit to our school a few days ago, and we were all glad to have him and will welcome him back again. We had an Easter hunt at our Behool house last Friday, and a lot of the prettiest eggs I ever saw were there. A great many were there, and a prize was given to Mack Wood for finding the most eggs. Mr. Leslie Talbert has been sick with measles, but is better now. Miss Lydia Holmes from Red Hill is visiting friends, and her brother Mr. Walter Holmes. [School Girl. FRUIT ALWAYS FRESH If you want the choicest fresh fruit always come to us. Shipments received almost daily. We buy in large quantities and sell as cheap ?s the city stores. Choice candies of all kinds. Full assortment of cigars and tobaccos. Drop in and refresh yourself with our cold drinks. You are always welcome. Edgefield Fruit Store, Next Door to Postoffice Rives Bros. Better Equipped Than Ever We are now ready in all departments for Spring business and better equipped than ever before. We will not name prices but call at tention to quality and standard manufactors line we handle. Ferguson-McKinney shirts for men and boys We guarantee our 50c shirts to be cut as full to the size as the $1 grade or can return after wearing. Ferguson-McKinney underwear for men and boys. Boys knickerbocker pants Full line Tray Collar Co.'s line for spring just in. Men's and boys' straw hats in nice variety. The Crawford oxfords for boys and men in the new spring shapes. Oxfords, slip pers and pumps in all the shapes and styles, now ready for the men and ladies in size and price to suit all. Wash silks in nice assort ments at 25c. Wash goods in endless variety. Laces, embroidery bandings, and flouncings. The best variety to select from in the county. Our millinery department in charge of Mrs. L. C. Bailey, of Baltimore, has all the latest things in her line that is out this season. Make our store your headquarters RIVES BROS FiiTi^l?vaaaBle^l??tT??4 fe>ls:of Organic:Matter ta frimJT?fflua They smell badf hvtd tkeyW GP.OJ1 Etettiy?elyjiofilEeciisea Combahee Feifilizsr Company WORMAI?.H.TBLrrCHrPre*Went UiWl LU m?t* OUC Y,~C<> r>?cal .? . i - nnmr 5SSBBB3 '. S i 55 ?? 5 I