Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Money, Meat and Bread. The strongest argument for reduc tion of the cotton acreage in South Carolina is not the possible effect a curtailed production this year may have upon the market price next fall. Even if a price permitting of a fair and reasonable profit over and above cost of production could be depended upon, it would still be to the econom ic advantage of South Carolina farm ers to re-arrange their acreage plant ings to conform with their own indi vidual and South Carolina's common needs for agricultural products other than cotton. So far as the production of cotton interferes with and pre cludes the possibility of the produc tion of food crops and feed stuffs, it should be curtailed, regardless of the consideration of supply and demand, which are now supposed to control the market. Last year, according to the best available figures at hand, South Caro lina imported one hundred and eleven millions of dollars worth of food pro ducts, practically all of which might easily enough have been produced at home. Our importations of corn amounted, in money, to fifteen mil lions; of hay, twelve millions; of oats, ten millions; of flour, twenty millions; of bacon, twenty millions; of beef, five millions; of eggs, three millions; and of canned goods and other food products, about fifteen millions. South Carolina farms could have been made to produce these neces saries of life as well as enough of the fleecy staple to serve, as the South Carolina farmer is convinced cotton must serve him, as a money crop. So much more satisfying would it be if, instead of being compelled to pay out his cotton money for food he might make at home, he should arrange his farming schedule to make cotton, not his main dependence, his meat and bread, but his surplus money crop. This doctrine, we are perfectly well aware, he has heard preached for many years. It is nothing new. But until such time as he becomes a con vert, the South Carolina farmer will always run the risk of the hardships he is suffering today by reason of the slump in the market price of his one commodity and the necessity he and his state faces of paying tribute to the farmers of other states. Last year South Carolina imported one hundred and eleven millions of dollars worth of food products. Against this, the total value of the South Carolina cotton crop, one of the largest in the history of the state, at $60 a bale, would amount to only about ninety millions of dollars. As a "money crop," out of which to buy everything that might be needed, there is not much comfort in these figures. But if it were a surplus mon ey crop, as it might easily enough be, the shoe would not pinch so badly. Columbia Record. Atkinson Named as Carolina Speaker. Columbia, S. C., Feb. 1.-Repre sentative J. B. Atkinson of Spartan burg was today elected speaker of the house of representatives to fill the vacancy caused by the election last week of Thomas P. Cothran to the supreme bench. Only one ballot was taken. Three names were before the house and the vote was: Atkin son, 59; Claude N. Sapp, Richland, 38; and J. K. Owens, Marlboro, 10. T. S. McMillan of Charleston was elected speaker pro tem, only one ballot being taken also for this office. The ballot in this was McMillan, 63; J. K. Owens, 26; George S. Mower, Newberry, 14. Several constitutional amendments, applying locally, were sent to the ?third reading in thc house this morn ing. Only local and uncontested measures were considered. The sen ate did not meet until three o'clock in the afternoon^ I Several bills which will be warmly contested were made special orders for Wednesday and Thursday. These are: The bill by Messrs.. Hamblin and Gerald to prohibit textile industries from working their employees more than 48 hours per week and not in excess of nine hours per day. The bill by Mr. Toole of Aiken, to require all textile industries to stop their machinery for one full hour each day to allow the operatives to eat their midday meal. The bill by Representative Mc David of Greenville, to regulate traf fic on the highways of the state. The bill by Mr .W?lling to amend the game warden act so as to fix the tenure of office of county game war dens to two years, instead of an in definite term at the pleasure of the governor, was sent to third reading. The house will meet at ll o'clock to Manning Urges Cotton Re duction. Columbia, S. C., Feb. 1.-Former Governor R. I. Manning, president of the American Products Export and Import Corporation, returned today from Lumberton and Red Springs, N. C., where he 1 spoke on Monday at "Acreage Reduction" meetings. At both meetings he presented the plans and purposes of the export corpora tion and reports five thousand people were genuinely interested in the cor poration and enthusiastic over its prospects. At Lumberton the meeting was held in the court house which Governor Manning says was filled to overflowing, people lining the aisles and sitting in the windows. At Red Springs, the theatre was filled. The people of both places, Gov ernor Manning said, evinced great earnestness in their desire to arrive at a proper solution of the problems confronting them. They appreciate the necessity of a reduction of their acreage and appreciate the value of the export corporation as a market ing organization for their cotton. The meetings were held under the aus pices that "a careful investigation throughout the Robeson County branch of the American Cotton Asso ciation. A st?temennt given out by the American Cotton Association says that "a careful investigation through out the cotton belt just completed by the associatian indicates quite clearly that the 1921 reducion in cotton acre age will approximate fifty per cent of the acreage planted in 1920. The cause of the reduction in chargable to two principal reasons. First, the farmers are holding the bulk of the 1920 crop because present prices re present hardly more than one third of the cost of production; second, banks and supply merchants are un able to finance the planting of a nor mal acreage in cotton in 1921 while carrying unpaid obligations of 1920. . "The intensive campaign so vigor ously conducted by the American Cotton Asscoiation and the Memphis Cotton Acreage Reduction Committee is meeting with great usccess. When it is demonstrated by actual facts a little later, that not more than one half of a normal cotton crop will be produced in 1921, prices for the sta ple will advance to higher levels and business will be reestablished on a more satisfactory basis. This is one time when the growers can be de pended upon to heavily reduce the cotton acreage all along the line." j Inheritance Tax Bill Introduc ed During the Week. The much-heralded state inheri tance tax is provided in a bill to be introduced this week in the house by J. B. Atkinson, of Spartanburg, and Buckingham, of Aiken. The bill has been engrossed and may be present ed to the house when it reconvenes Monday night. The bill will provide for a tax on inheritance received by husbands, wives, children and grandchildren, according to the following schedule: On inheritance up to 820,000, above the exemption, one per cent; up to $40,000, two per cent; up to $80, 000, three per cent; up to $150,000, (four per cent; up to $300,000, five per cent; over $300,000 six per cent. For^ an inheritance left to a hus band or wife the exemption is $10, 000. The tax is applicable to the amount above the exemption. For minors the exemption is $3,000, for adult children, father or mother, the exemption is $3,500.. On property inherited by brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces or neph ews, the tax would be one per cent higher than that on inheritance of husbands, wives or children. In all other cases the tax woulc? be twice that against inheritances of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews. For each of these two class es there is also a schedule of exemp tions. * The bill would provide for the as sessment of this tax by the state tax commission, the tax executed through the probate judges in the counties. Lombard Foundry, Machine, Boiler Works and Mill Supply House AUGUSTA GEORGIA Cotton Oil, Gin, Saw, Grist, Cane, Shingle Mill, Machinery Supplies and Repairs, Shafting, Pulleys, Hangers, Grate Bars, Pumps, Pipe, Valves and Fittings, Injectors, Belting, Packing Hose, etc. Cast every day. GASOLINE AND KEROSENE ENGINES Pumping, Wood Sawing and Feed Grinding Outfit?. LAID BIBLE SCENES IN CHINA Native Artist Had No Conception of Any Other Land Outside of His Own. In north Fukit.. " -evince there dwelt an artist who painteu pictures on silk for the gentry of his little village. The people in this secluded hamlet nestled amid the hills, luid never seen automo biles or airplanes, nor did they take the long journey to Shanghai to watch the great steamers come in laden with merchandise and messages from the ports of the world. But they knew the words of Confucius and Lao-tse and they lived and died with simple dig nity as their fathers had done before them. One evening the artist, who had been working all day on a me morial portrait, strolled out into the dark, cool street to refresh his tired soul, writes Elke F. Weil in Asia Mag azine. The tiny white church of the foreign god beyond the tea shop was brilliantly lighted. The artist stood a moment in the open door. The young missionary was talking most^eloquent ly; he was not preaching, but he seemed to be telling stories that were as fascinating as those recited in the bazaars. Almost in spite of himself the artist sank unobtrusively Into an empty seat. For the first time he heard some of the beautiful old stories of the Bible, which have held the peo ple of the West enthralled for 2,000 years-. And the artist returned to his home and made pictures of the story of Noah and the Hood, and of the par ables of thc lost sheep and of the prod igal son and of many others that were in the book of the western missionary. But he h .d never heard of the Pales tine. To him Noah was Chinese, and thc lost sheep heionged to a fanner of his province and the prodigal son might well have been a dissolute youth of his own village. TWO IDEAS OF CIVIL LIBERTY Difference Between Governments of Greece and Rome and Those of the Gothic Tribes. There, was this radical difference be tween the governments of Greece and Rome and those of the Gothic tribes. In the former the state was every thing, the Individual nothing; the state was thought to have a perfect right to the property, liberty, and even life, of its citizens. In the lat ter the individual was everything and the stnte comparatively nothing; all rights were thought to exist, to inhere by nature in ike individual ; and the state could demand nothing from him for public use without giving him an equivalent. Here we find the funda mental principle of civil liberty; that principle which has been so carefully guarded in the English and in all the Anglo-American constitutions, and which was so happily and tersely ex pressed by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Our rude Saxon .an-, cestors'; though under a kingly govern ment, had more real liberty, and a more Just appreciation of the true dig nity of man, than had the polished cit izens of the republics of the Mediter ranean. The legislative authority wns vested In the witenage-moteT or assem bly of wise men.-Dexter A. Hawkins. Remorseful Ghost. A pathetic story is told of the ghost of Elsham abbey. It is said that the wife of Sir Thomas Hobby was un naturally severe with her son, who, it seems, had a peculiar aversion to writ ing, and in his obstinacy would wilful ly blot his copybooks. One day his mother, enraged at his perverseness, lost her self-control and beat the poor boy so unmercifully that lie died from his injuries. ? Since then one of the bedrooms in the abbey has been haunt ed by the specter of the cruel woman, who glides through the chamber in the act of washing the bloodstains from her hands. It is stated that some years ago, when un old window shutter of the six teenth century was removed, "a packet of antique- copybooks of that period was discovered pushed into the wall between the joists ol the skirting, and several of these books, on which young Hobby's name was written, were cov ered with blots." Movie Theaters in Rio. It Is at the cinema theaters that the Cariocas (citizens of Rio de Ja neiro) know,- real comfort; for, un like our / moving-picture " houses, those in Rio have spacious waiting rooms, where you sit, listening to ex cellent music, until the hour for the first reel comes round. The pioneer bouse of the kind inaugurated this custom, and now the people refuse to stand outside waiting for the even hour to arrive or to enter after the film has started. With so much profit able space taken from the auditorium, the movies in Rio Janeiro are not as great money-makers as with us. The American favorites are popular, quite outclassing Italian and Brazilian film stars.-Harriet Chalmers Adams in Na tional Geographic Magazine. Inspect Moths by Machine. An elaborate machine called the choseiki is used by the Japanese in the inspection of silkworms for dis ease. The machine in the inspection house of Nagano prefecture requires 2,000 microscopes aud a large corps of workers. Moths are made to lay their eggs each on one square of sheets of card board bearing 28 numbered squares. They then are killed, their bodies pul verized and examined. . If the bacilli are foun3, the square containing the eggs laid hy the diseased moths is cut out and burned.-Japan Advertiser. Your New Year Office ?es Look about your office and see what you need in office stationery. We are better equipped than ever to supply your printing needs. We have re ceived new type faces and carry a well selected as sortment of paper of ali kinds. rm* WE CAN PRINT ON SHORT NOTICE TYPEWRITES HEADS LETTER HEADS NOTE HEADS BILL HEADS STATEMENTS ENVELOPES CAEDS CIRCULARS CIECULAE LETTERS MINUTES CATALOGUES BRIEFS m We guarantee satisfaction on every job of print mg we do. Your money back if you are not sat isfied. Mail us your orders or call in person and see the stock we carry and the kind of work we do. OUR PRICES ON ALL WORK ARE REASONABLE ADVERTISER JOB OFFICE