Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Increased Telephone Rates 1 held by Federal Court. - The Southern Bell Telephon< Telegraph Co., was sustained in charging of increased telephone r as recently authorized by the s I railroad commission by an oi handed down by Judge H. A. Smith of the Eastern district fed court, the plaintiff in the case b< F. A. Miller of Hartsville, state ? ator from Darlington county, decision was handed down Tursi the railroad commission receivin copy of the order yesterday. The case grew out of the fact 1 the increased rates which had b authorized by the railroad comr sion and put into effect by the t phone company were in excess of charges which the telephone ci pany had contracted for when grs ed the franchise to install its ti phonus and operate iits exchange Hartsiville. Mr. Miller contending t the company was bound, by the tei of its agreement whatever the act of the railroad commission. This c tention, however, wad. denied Judge Smith in his order, the cc pany, he said, having no alternat tbut to obey the orders of the railrc commission, which he declares 1 legal rate fixing authority of 1 state. The railroad commission, Jud Smith pointed out, under state li approved in 1904 has been giv "jurisdiction and supervisory pow over all telephone lines, station a: exchanges in the state with the rig and power to fix and Regulate t rates or tolls to be charged for ser ing thereby." This rate fixing autho: ty invested in the commission, accor . ing to Judge Smith's order, gives tl commission the power to alter tel phone rates as it sees fit despite ar contract or agreement entered in' by the company with individuals < communities since the passage of th bill, however, exempts towns ar cities with which contracts had bee made prior to the enactment of tl law. This proviso, Judge Smith sail does not pertain to the Hartsvill case inasmuch as the contract wi made in 1916. Darlington Cane. The case was begun by a complair in the court of common pleas for th county of Darlington, enjoining th telephone company from chargin and exacting the increased charge: The telephone company immediatel filed a petition for removal to th federal court, the order being grante ?i by Judge S. W. G.' Shipj). The orde Si was"base(Tupon diversity of citizen ship, the plaintiff being a citizen o South Carolina and the defendant ; . ' citizen of New .York. Mr. Miller am his attorneys at the hearing befon Judge Smith also made a motion ti remand the case to the state court This, however, was denied, Judgi Smith holding that the cause hac properly been removed to the federa court. One similar other case is now pend ing against the telephone company but this is expected to be droppec in the light of Judge Smith's ordei which practically fixes the increased telephone charges in all cities in the Btate despite the fact that several of the cities and towns have fixed lower rates in contracts with the company upon granting franchises. Judge Smith suggests as the legal procedure to secure lower rates an appeal to the .state railroad commission to recon sider its action granting the increase. The commission, Chairman Shealy announces, is willing to hear such a petition at any time that sufficient facts may be secured to warrant any change in the previous action, taken after months of deliberation and sev eral hearings on the company's pray er for the increased charges. Judge Smith's order follows in part : Judge's Order. Upon the merits from the undis puted facts, it appears that the town -of Hartsville entered into a contract with the defendant, whereby it grant ed the defendant the franchise for the installation within the town of Hartsville of its telephone system, provided that the rates for the tele phone service should be according to the schedule of rates set up in the agreement dated the 2:ist October, 1916, between the defendant, the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co., and the town of Hartsville. At the time this agreement was entered into, an act of the state of South Carolina, passed in 1904 and em bodied in Section 3161 of the code of laws for South Carolina of 1912, gave to the railroad? commission of the state jurisdiction and supervisory power over all telephone lines, sta tions and exchanges in the state with the right and power to fix and regu late the rates or tolls to be charged for services thereby; with a proviso that in cities and towns where fran chises had been granted by any cities or towns to operate or maintain a -telephone exchange and the rates and tolls were fixed in that franchise, that nothing in the statute should permit' any increase in the rates and tolls so fixed, except by agreement with the municipal authorities and sub scribers. Upon consideration of the act and its context, under this proviso it ap pears to the court that this proviso 'was intended to refer to franchises and contracts already granted at the time of the passage of the act, in 1904, and not to franchises and contracts, granted and made subse quent to that date; and as the fran chise and agreement in the present case were granted and made in 1916, they were subject to the general pro visions of" Section 3161, without ref erence to this proviso. In the year 1921 the railroad com mission of South Carolina on the 24th of March, made a change in these rates and tolls, by increasing them. The complainant who was one of J the subscribers to the original agree-1 ment made in 1916, between the town of Hartsville and the defendant, has now brought the bill to order to en join the defendant from charging the increased rates and tolls allowed by the railroad commission, upon the ground that the contract made be tween the town of Hartsville and the Southern Bell Telephone &' Tele graph Co., and the subscribers to the telephone exchange is still of force and binding, and that the railroad commission had no authority to au thorize the enhanced tolls. The supreme court of the United States has lately announced the rule to be that where a public service cor poration and a municipal corporation having power to contract as to rates and exert that power by fixing plans ? to govern during a particular time, enter into a contract fixing rates, the enforcement of such rates is control led by the obligation resulting from the contract; and even although such rates may be confiscatory) the public service corporation would not be jus tified in refusing to carry out this contract; but having entered into a contract and agreement they must perform it. General Rule. This, however, does not affect the general rule; that from the stand point of the public the legislature may prescribe for the purpose of j preventing discrimination and favor- \ itism or oppression, that the rates to be charged by the public service corporation shall be as fixed by some.J governmental agency, such* as in the casie, the railroad commission. If this were a suit between the town of Hartsville and the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co., pr I between any of the subscribers, at the date of the contract with the Southern Bell Telephone & Tele-? graph Co., uninterfered with by any action to fix the rates, the court would without hesitation hold that the Southern Bell Telephone & Tele graph Co., was bound to perform the services and for their performance limited to charge the contract rates |, mentioned in the agreement; al though in effect such contract rates might lead y to loss of a ruinous or confiscatory character. That is not the question here. The^ question here is whether or not the general law of the state existing at the time did not enter into the cor.-; tract made between the town of Hartsville and the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co., and tha'lj subscribers in 1916, so as to make it an element in that contract, that notwithstanding the agreemen of par ties between themselves, it was sub ject to the right of the government in the exertion of its general power for the protection of the public, and the maintenance of service necessary or essential to the public to charge the rates fixed by the contract. In the opinion of this court, such would seem to be the effect of the decision of the supreme court; and it appear ing in this case that the railroad com mission of South Carolina, after no tice .and hearing in the general man ner pursued by that body, has, by a bona fire conclusion, found it neces sary to direct and allow that increas ed tolls should be charged, the de fendant has a right to charge the same, notwithstanding terms of the contract of 1916.-The State. 1785 1921 THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON Open to Men and Women Entrance examinations, and ex amination for the free tuition coun ty scholarships at all county seats, Friday, July 8, at 9 a. m. Four-year course lead to the B. A. and B. S. degrees. A special two year pre-medical course is given. Spacious buildings and athletic grounds, well equipped laboratories unexcelled library facilities. A dor mitory for men. Expenses moderate. For terms, catalogue, and illustrated booklet, address HARBISON RANDOLPH, Pres. Encouragement in the Cotton Situation*. While no man can more than guess at the trend of the cotton market and Farm & Ranch would not presume to a?. ise in the matter, it is safe to say that all signs point to a better^mar ket for good staple this fall and win ter than we have at this time. The situation is more bullish than bearish. The reduction in acreage indicates about a 7,000,000 bale crop. Reduc tion in the use of fertilizer and more than the usual supply of boll weevils leads one to believe that the total crop will fall far under present indi cations. Again, the German mills are being financed and other European countries are very apt to increase consumption, and if they do, the world's supply will not appear nearly as large as it did a few months ago. Statisticians said, awhile back, that the world's carry-over would be around 9,000,000 bales. They were counting bales, not spinnable cotton. No one believes that there will be 3,000,000 bales of good carry over or anywhere near that amount.' At any rate it behooves cotton growers to cultivate well and to grow and save as much cotton as they are able. As long as you have planted cotton, save what you can.-Farm & Ranch. Tobacco Growers to Make Protest. Florence, July 21.-An indigna tion, mass meeting of all the tobacco growers of the South Carolina belt will be held'in Florence at ll o'clock Friday morning, to protest against the low prices being paid for to bacco. T. Benton Young, secretary of the South Carolina Tobacco asso ciation, called the meeting after he had received requests from practical ly all the markets of this section, to take some action. Dissatisfaction over the situation has been growing since the 19th, when the markets opened. The farmers are demanding that something be done to protect their in terests. Marion, Mullins, Kingstree, Lake City, Manning, Hemmingway, Sumter and other markets today call ed Mr. Young over the long distance telephone and said they would have strong delegations at the meeting to morrow. Mr. Young has been busy all day today- answering queries from individual farmers a's to what could be done. He regards the situation as serious. "Present prices are not pay ing the cost of production,"'he said today, "and this is particularly dis tressing; in view of' the present-dire. need for mone:* and 'the proper re turn on farm products." It was reported here today that several markets had called off sales on the opening date and since be cause of the low prices. Some of those who have continued to sell Re liare there is no competition among thebuyers, and that representatives of tobacco companies have not yet even received) buying instructions. All phases of the situation will be re viewed at the meeting tomorrow. Census Figures for Charleston. Washington, July 21.-The bureau of the census, department of com merce, has issued preliminary gen eral occupation statistics for Charles ;on, which, though subject to change, ire probably approximately correct. The number of persons engaged in ?ach particular occupation will prob ably not be announced until the tab jlation of the occupations data, now m progress, has been completed. This ?rill be about July 1, 1922. According to the returns of the 14th census, there were 32,205 per sons ten years of age and over in Charleston engaged in gainful occu pations in 1920, constituting 47.4 per cent of the total population of. the city (67,957) and 58.3 per cent of the population ten years of age md over. In 1910 the 28,453 gainful workers were 48.4 per cent of the* total population of the city and 59.6 per cent of the population ten years of age and over. Of the gainful workers of Charles ton in 1920, 21,662 or 67.3 per cent., were males and 10,543 of 32.7 per cent., were females. The male gain ful workers constituted 82 per cent., of all males ten years of age and over in 1920, as against 81.6 per cen., in 1910, while the female gain ful workers constituted 36.5 per cent of all females ten years of age and over in 1920, as against 41.1 per cent in 1910. Of the gainful workers of Charles ton in 1920, 10,320, or 32 per cent., were' engaged in manufacturing and mechanical industries; 3,670, or 11.4 per cent., in transportation; 4,469, or 13.9 per cent.; in trade; 1,197 or 3;7 per cent., in public service; 1,607 or 5 per cent., in professional service; 7,665 or 23.8 per cent., in domestic and personal service; 2,773 or 8.6 per cent in clerical occupations, and 504 or 1.6 per cent., in all other oc cupations. H. W. R. Prince Albert it gold ht toppy red bogt, tidy red tiru, handsome pound and half pound tin humidors and in the pound crystal glass hu rr id or with mlange .moistener top. i ? ? ?CRIMP CUT . LONG BUSKING PIPE AMD ! CIGARETTE TOBACCO \ . Copyright 1921 hy R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Winaton-Salem, ' N.C Buy a pipe and some P.A. Get the joy that's due you! We print it right here that if you don't know the "feel" and the friendship of a joy'us jimmy pipe GO GET ONE! And-get some Prince Albert and bang a howdy-do on the big smoke-gong! " . For, Prince Albert's quality-flavor--coolness .N f ragrance-is in a class of its own ! You never tasted such tobacco ! Why-figure out what it alone means to your tongue and temper when we tell you that Prince Albert can't bite, can't parch! Our exclusive patented process fixes that! Prince Albert is a revelation in a makin's cigarette! My, but how that delightful flavor makes ? dent! And, how it does answer that hankering! Prince Albert rolls easy and stays put because it is crimped cut And, say-oh, go on and get the papers or apipe! Do it right now! PRINCE ALBERT the national joy smoke m mn TRL DAIRY RECORD QUITE USEFUL ? Profitable Practice to Keep Daily Tab on Cows Where There ls No Test Association. Keeping daily records of the milk yield of each' cow, where there is, no cow testing association, is a profitable practice. This is shown by reports on herd records received by the United States Department of Agriculture. An instance Where a herd has been greatly improved without increasing Its numbers (by more than one cow) is found in a report from Oklahoma. Weighing and Recording Milk. The dairyman's cream checks for a given month amounted to $78.42, the cream being obtained from a herd of 27 cows. One year later, after doing herd-record work, he was able with a herd of 28 cows, Just one more than he had at the earlier date, to sell cream to the vaiue of $223.60, or near ly three times as much-a pretty good return for care given to culling the herd and improving the management. While the current prices for butter fat have increased somewhat, they have not trebled in a year, so it is obvious that there has been a large in crease in the productiveness of Oie herd. . NOTICE. I hereby give notice that Andrew Walker is under contract to work for me for this year and left me Sunday, July 10, without my consent. I notify all persons not to hire or harbor the said Andrew Walker. R. E. MORGAN. aHP?ittl'? ISTHEONLT 2ENUINE ARNICA SALVF / We Can Give You Prompt Seryice on MilhWork and Interior Finish Large stock of Rough and Dressed Lumber on hand for Immediate Delivery. Woodward Lumber Co. QUALITY-SERVICE Corner Roberts and Dugas Sts., Augusta, Ga, OU MAKE UT WHAT OU SAVE THAT COUNTS Copyrlcht 1909, br C E. Zimmerman Co. -Ko. 66 EVERY DOLLAR that you spend foolishly, every proportion? ate amount of money that you earn that it would be possible to* sc ve and do not, is only money that you have to work for again. On the other hand every dollar you put in the bank is money that is going to constantly work for you. Which is the best; money always workinr for you, or you always working for your money. Come in aud start that bank account. Don't put it off another day. BANK OF EDGEFIELD OFFICERS : J. C. Sheppard, President; A. S. Tompkins, vice-President *r E. J. Mims, Cashier; J. H. Allen, Assistant Cashier. DIRECTORS: J. C. Sheppard, Thoa. H. Rainsford, John. Rainsfora, M. C. Parker, A. S. Tompkins, J. G. Holland, E. J. Mims, J. H. Allen.