' ^SSU^D SEMI- WEEKLY.
L. M. GRIST'S SONS. Publisher ^ 4ami*2 IJwspaper: ?Jfor the ?romofion of th$ jpolitiqal, S>oi[iHl, Jjgricultu^al and (^ommcrknal Jnter^sts of the |fo^. TER*I^!^?p^i ciro?
ESTABLISHED 1855 YC RK, S. C., FRIDA.Y, JA.ISTIJA.KY 27, 19*22. . NO. ilF
views and Interviews
Uriel local Paragraphs ol More or
Less interest.
PICKED UP BY ElVgUIKEK REPORTERS
v.
Stories Concerning Folks and Things,
Some of Which You Know and
Some You Don't Know?Condensed
' *?? DxJtni,
* ror ucuiwrv n??uniyi
"Not more but better lawyers is the
demand of the dean of a law school
but his idea of a better lawyer is one
who knows more law;" remarked one
yesterday. "But I think that what the
public means by a better lawyer is one
who is less willing to help criminals
escape Just punishment in return for
pay."
The Weather and the Weevil.
"Well," said a farmer yesterday "if
the weather the post couple of days
hasn't been cold enough to freeze out
the boll weevil there's nothing to the
theory of the so-called experts on the
bug to the effect that he can't stand a
hard winter."
Compliments New City Hall.
"By the way," remarked a traveling
salesman the other morning, "you people
are to be congratulated on yournew
city hall. "My business takes me into
practically every town in the south
and I want to say that I know a number
of towns and cities four times us
large as Yorkville that haven't any
thing like as nice a city hall as you
have hire. In my own state of Pennsylvania
there are a number of much
larger towns that haven't anything
like as nice a city hall building."
The Irish Question.
"Don't get tho idea that there has
been any break between DeVa?era
and Michael Collins over the temporary
settlement of the Irish question," said
Rev. W. A. Tobin, pastor of the Catholic
church in Rock rflll, who was discussing
the Irish question with Views
and Interviews the "other day. "DeValera
and Collins have been the leaders
in the battle for Irish freedom for
years and I don't think that It would
hft nnsKihle for them to sDlit over ac
ccptance of the British lerms which
puU Ireland on practically the same
basis as the dominion of Canada. The
two leaders evidently want .the British
government to think that they have
come to a parting of the ways in the
interests of the cause which both represent.
There is no question to my
mind, however that they Rre both more
Ihterrated in Irish freedom than they
are in their personal fortunes." Rev.
Tobin who Is a native Irishman, having
been in this country only a ferw
years Is a man of education and culture
and one of the best posted men In
this section on the Irish question. He
is an ardent advocate, of freedom for
Ire'and and is personally, acquainted
with many of the leafllfre advocates of
a free Ireland. He haw two brothers
who have been members of the Irish
republican army and who have taken
part In much of the fighting between
the Irish Patriots and the 9oldiers of
Great Britain. In the course of his
conversation the other day he said that
he did not feel that he was under any
obligations to Great Britain for the
concessions that she had made toward
Ireland and he gave it as his opinion
that those in Ireland who had been
struggling for freedom feel about the
same as he does.
Bucket Shop Buncoing.
"Speaking of bucket shops and
bucket shopping." said a victim of a
recent bucket shop squeeze this morning.
"here's an article by Claud R. Collins,
a staff correspondent of the International
News Service in New York
which I clipped from a New .York paer,'
that is illuminating": .
American investors have been defrauded
of more than $6,000,000,000
during the past four years, by Wall
Street bucket shops and financial
swindlers.
An amount in excess of $750,000,000
was extracted from green investors by
these money sharks during 1921. This
was a poor vcar. being far under the
throe years preceding.
Banner years were 1918 and 1919,
when $1,500,000,000 was obtained
through fraudulent brokerage operations
during each twelve month pev
riod.'
These startling facts were bared today
bj>* ont of the most prominent authorities
in Manhattan's great financier
distrfct.
The "Bucket Shop" bugaboo of
America's financial history is primarily
blamed for this as.to.unding swindling
evil. ,
' Tte'eCntly the bucket shops have run
Against 'it stone wall in the nature of
a steadily rising financial market.
A bucket' shop cannot live when
stock and bond quotations are climbing
upward. Swindlers cannot work
their frndulent processes when market
quotations show their investors are
making an ever increasing profit on
shares, for which they have placed orders.
During the past few weeks a half
dozen Wall Street brokerage houses
have been cast high on the financial
rocks. Several among the biggest and
best known houses in the street were
cast down by the glare of publicity.
Their books have been laid bare to
public inspection?where they kept
any books?and in several cases financial
experts'5have found concrete cvi/
'V " ~ _ ...
donee of bucket shop methods, and
fraudulent operations.
Yesterday an old and well knewn financial
house rani its head against the
stone wall; today another. And so It
will continue until Wall Street authorities
say, all of these fakirs will
have been forced to end their malicious
practices.
Taking advantage of this condition
a campaign Is being launched by a
ring of legitimate bankers and brokers
backed by the New York stocK exchange,
the American Association and
the New York Bankers Association to
blot out this cancer In the financial
system of the country.
An investigation of Wall Street,
which will throw every house under
the scrutiny of legitimate financial
wizards, will be started in the immediate
future. Steps will be taken to
force those regarded with suspicion to
close their doors.
The method of the bucket shops are
varied and interesting. The story of
| their activities as told me by the financial
expert today disclosed adventures
with other people's money as romantic
as fiction. He said:
"A bucket shop is a financial house
which conducts a fictitious business In
securing securities, stocks or bonds
which arc seldom pure! ased, on orders
from a client. The fake broker merely
makes a bookkeeping entry to that effect.
W.ien *his entry shows the customer's
money has been lost, according
to market quotations, the client is
notified to nut un mora for margin or
is wiped out.
'Professional bucket shoppers calculate
that investors will*, usually lose
their original deposits in from six to
nine months. If this docrj not occur
the broker advises the client to sell out
and take his money somewhere else.
If he can't get it quick he doesn't want
it.
"In an advancing market, such as
now exists, the bucket shops have a
hard battle as the public is usually on
the long side of the market. 'Unless
clients can be induced to over-speculate
there is but. cne expedient for the
broker. Thnt is bankruptcy.
"A bucket shop is seldom connected
with the New York stock exchange. Txf
buy stocks listed on the exchange the
bucketeer has to give an order to cn
exchange member. This means that
%? nnn^iflneo oil pnmm icqlniTi On the
deal. Therefore, as an Inducement to
the public a per cent on debit balances
growing out of the marginal purchases
no matter how high the call money
rate goes. They are able to do this because
the customer has never held any
stock or had a debit balance.
"They also usually Inform investors
they have no securities for sale, being
merely In business to buy or sell se ouritles
for investors. Most of these
firms, however, at one time or another,
float fake mining or oil shares.
"One good indication that a brokerage
firm is a bucketshop is the refusal
of the stock exchange to grant a permit
for a stock ticker. When t>. brokerage
firm wants a stock ticker application
must be made to the quotation
commitcc of the exchange. If they
show a clean bill of financial health
and are considered above suspicion,
they are granted permission to use a
ticker. Otherwise they are refused,
and a refusal generally means that
something is wrong somewhere.
"Where a house is granted a ticker
and the exchange later learns business
is not being conducted on the level, the
machine is ripped out without 3elay.
"Some bucket shops have a policy of
buying about oi.e-third of the cecuHties
expected by customers. This is
dene for protection in case of nn Unexpected
visit by the authorities. In
case securities, they are supposed to
be holding for clients, are demanded,
they can, in this way, show parts of
them and claim the remainder have
been placed as collateral on loans.'
LONG FEUD ENDS
Judge's Words Break Barrier Between
Mountaineers.
Members of the Benge-Martin feud
factions, seventy-five of whom made
? i
peace ana snooK nanus m i..c .
court room in Manchester, Ky., last |
week, returned to their home shortly
afterward. Dread lest their homes be
burned or riddled with bullets during
the darkness was gone from the hearts
of many mountaineers.
Peace came unexpectedly at the close
of a four-day hearing on peace bonds,
more than one hundred of the clansmen
having been summoned into court,
whik; Hfty National Guardsmen, were
on duty in and around the courthouse.
Judge Hiram Johnson, after placing
forty-six of the men under bonds ranging
from $500 to $3,000, lectured them,
urging them "to act like men, shake
hands and become friend'y noighbors
again."
Then, almost before the spectators
could realize what was taking place,
the line in rival camps in the court
room was crossed and. following the
example set by the grey-bearded leaders,
the feudists were clasping each
other's hands and calling each other by
their first names.
i lie leuo iunoweu ine siuyiug ui
Wood Benge by Steve Martin after the
nien had quarreled over a shotgun
stolen from the former and sold to the
I latter. Six men were killed, sixteen
persons, including two children, were
shot and more than fifty homes shot
up. On Christmas day three men were
Shot to death in a battle in which a
dozen participated.
SAVINU OUR FORESTS
Urgent Need for Immediate |Appolntment
of Commission.
THE MILLS k WOULD PAY EXPENSES
Natural Resources Must be Conserved
and Developed or South Carolina
Will Go Backward?State is Now at
It's Wit's End to Raise Money?
Noted Writer Suggests a Practical
Plan.
(By James Henry Rice, Jr.)
In order to provide forest protection
two things are required. One is action
by the state; the other is, cooperation
of citizens.
1. Action by the state might begin
by the appointment of a commission
to inquire into the situation and report
Lack its findings to the General
Assembly for action. The commission
should be required and empowered to
employ a trained forester to ascertain
the facts. Without such a man the
commission, would be helpless. Out
of this would grow a State Commission
of Forestry.
Now, for fear somebody will raise
the cry of more offices, it is Just as
well to point out that such a commission
would be paid for out of a tax on
the output of the mills, something like
ten cents a thousand feet.
Forest protection is now well understood.
The National government is
spending a great deal of money annually
to save the forests and has a
finely trained body of men at work.
But the first step is to get at the
facts. It is true that the facts are
fairly well known now. The U. S. Division
of Forestry has reliable statistics
and could at once take tolfl of the
proposition; but perhaps it is just as
well to let the General Assembly wade
in and learn something for itself.
2. Cooperation by citizens is necessary
in any event. This is best exerted
through a State Forestry Association.
So far as I can learn South Carolina
is the only Southern state without
such an association, and the fact
* ?"<?l?ohln tr? -Hip neoDle of the
la IIUC Vicuiva.v*v t m
state.
Should be Done Now.
Such an association should bo formed
without loss of time. Leading citizens
should cooperate freely in the
work. There is a fine field for patriotIsm
here of the most practical kind.
~ " It is well known to every observer
of the political events that the General
Assembly would, after a certain
amount of dickering and loss of
valuable time, proceed to form a Forestry
Department, especially, when it
became known that "the boys" would
have good pickings. This is, in the
final analysis, the danger confronting
every forward movement; and the
danger should be met at the outset by
requiring training in practical forestry
by every holder of a position in
the service, from the head down to the
wnrdens. .
A failure to require this has hamstrung
the game department and tied
the hands of the Chief Game Warden.
a state Forestry Association could
exorcise influence on this by keeping
constantly befroe the public the requirements
of tho service. It would
have only moral power; it needs no
moro.
Every dollar collected should be
used for forest protection and the forestry
department kept distinct and independent
of all others. Experience
hers shown that where it is mixed with
game and fish protection, there is a
loss all round.
Moreover, the mill operators should
be ihvited to cooperate in the movement.
Many of them will, and their
practical knowledge will be of service.
There should be no war on any interest,
and vested rights should be
respected. Progress does not require
sabotage; but it does require conservation,
especially the conservation of
our forests, indispensable to the wellbeing
of the state.
The General Situation.
On inquiry it is learned that the
cultivated area of the whole state is
from twenty to twenty-five per cent.
The figures ought to be exact; hut
there does not appear to be any exact
statement available. Let us accept
the larger figure, and examine its
meaning and significance.
In round numbers South Carolina
has 20,000,000 acres of land in it.
Twenty-five per cent, (one-fourth)
would he 5,000,000 acres. There remain
15,000,000 acres of land doing
nothing for the goo-1 of the state and
Its people, except Ihe 600,000 acres in
timber. '
I am going to give you a plain,
practical, knockdown illustration of
what that signifies.
Holland has almost eight million
acres of land (12,500 square miles).
Its agricultural production is $250,000,000
a year, measured in dollars.
One-third of the land lies below sea
level. The climate is much colder
than our's, and a great deal of the
year crops can not he grown in the
nnnn nil*.
Holland produces one hundred and
fifty-four million (154,000,000) pounds
of butter and two hundred and eleven
million pounds of cheese annually.
For every square mile it has 162 cows;
100 hogs; S4 sheep; 36 horses; 20
goats. In 100 square miles, which is
the exact size of St Helena island,
! Holland has nearly three times as
many fine cows as ure found in the
whole state of South Carolina.
Now then, on about half of the area
wo wealthy South Carolinians throw
away, Holland makes an agricultural
production that astonishes the world.
They have 000 inhabitants to the
square mile; South Carolina has 50;
and therein lies the trouble, to say
nothing of the force of education and
Its effect on the quality of citizenship.
Nobody in the world has more, or
lives better than a farmer in Holland.
Moreover, the land wo are throwing
away lies chiefly In the eastern part
of the state, where the richest lands
lie, and where resources are greatest.
This is where our political obsession
has landed us afier two centuries and
a half! And we are still playing the
game! Isn't it enough to make the
mules laugh?
It is quite evident to any thoughtful
man that South Carolina must digest
more assets. This idle land
might at leaat grow timber, a product
worth more, than bushmcn.
A final consideration is that just so
long as these people are left in the
woods to do as they please, they will
continue ignorant and vicious. Put on
compulsory education and they will
divert it Into compulsory ignorance.
No Intelligent man will ever be al
lowed on. a school board.
The statol Is at Its wits' end to raise
money, and It Is no wonder.
Expenditures are being crowded on,
while no attempt is made to increase
revenues by developing resources.
There is but one end. The resources
must be developed and cons'.rved, or
the state will go backward.
Forest conservation is not all; but
it in a prime consideration. It it easy
to handle, merely by adequate supervision
and checking of wanton destruction.
This does not cost the state
a cent, while destruction of its forests
has already cost a vast sun and is
daily costing more.
INCOME TAX BLANKS.
Things That Are Required In the Mak- t
ing of Returns.
The following statement is issued by
Acting Collector of Internal Revenue
W. R. Bradley, the district of South
Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina:
Form 1040-a revised and simplified,
for filing individual returns of income
for the calendar year 1921 of $5,000 and
less are now available at the office of
the collector of internal revenue, Columbia,
S. C. A copy will be mailed to
taxpayers who la8^' year filed a return,
but failure to receive the form does
not relieve a taxpayer of his obligation
to file a return on time?on or before
March 15, 1922. The form has been
reduced from six to four pages, two
of which are devoted to instructions,
which should be carefully read by the
taxpayer before filling in the blanks.
A study of these instructions will
greatly lessen difficulties heretofore
encountered in correctly making out
the return.
On page 1, under head of "Income"
are spaces for reporting the following
items: Salaries, wages, commis-'
sions, etc.; income from partnerships,
fiduciaries, etc.; rents and royalties;
profit (or loss) from business or profession;
profit (or loss) from sale of
real estate; profit (or loss) from sale
of stocks, bonds, etc., and other income.
Beneath are spaces for entering
deductions, such as interest and
taxes paid during the year; losses by
fire, storm, shipwreck, or other casualty
or by . theft, contributions, bad
debts, etc.
On page 2 are spaces for entering
explanations of the varies items: i. e.,
the total amount of income from business
or profession, with description
("grocery," "retail clothing," "drug
store," "laundry," "doctor," 'lawyer,"
"farmer") from rents, and royalties,
sale of property, etc.
Returns are required of every single
person and every married person not
living with husband or wife, whose net
income for 1921 was $1,000 or more,
and of every married person living
with husband or wife, whose net income
w: 8 $2,000 cr more. If the combined
net Income of husband, wife and
dependent minor children equalled or
exceeded $2,000, or if the combined
gross income of husband, wife and dependent
minor children equalled or exceeded
$5,000, all such income must be
reported on a joint return or in separate
returns of husband and wife. If
single and the net income including
that of dependent minors, if any,
equalled or exceeded $1,000, or if the
gross income equalled or exceeded
$5,000, a return must be filed. A minor,
however, having a net income of $1,000 1
or $2,000, according to marital status
or a gross income of $5,000, must file
a return. The requirements to file a
return of gross income, regardless of
the amount of net income, upon which
the tax is assessed is a new provision.
"Net income" is gross income less
certain deductions which are explained
on the form.
Under each of the above conditions,
a return must be filed even though no
tax is due. The exemptions are $1,000
for single persons and married persons
not living with husband or wife, $2,500
for married persons living with husband
or wife whose net income for
1921 was $5,000 or less and $2,000 for
such persons whose net income was
more than $5,000. The exemptions for
dependents "a person under eighteen
years of age or mentally or physically
defective" lias been increased from
$200 to $100.
A head of a family?a person who
ROLLING THE FARMER
John T. Roddey Gives Some Unvarnished
Truths.
WHERE JUSTICE IS ONLY A GRIM JOKE
I I
If Some Day the Man of the Plow
Shall Decide that He Will no Longer
Bear the Burden* of Other Paopl*;
But Inatead Will Enjoy the Product*
of Hi* Own Labor, There Will
be Much Embarrassment.
To the Editor of The Observer:
Might It not be possible to so impose
upon the farming class that they
might resent it? While unquestionably
the most patient and long suffering
of all human beings might there
not be a limit? Was not the farmer
before the Civil war considered a
"Country Gentleman," and is he not
after the World war approaching Russian
peasantry? Is there any other
class doing business with him not
"soaking" him for the limit? Does
not the doctor, the lawyer, the banker,
the merrhnnt?in feet evei*v r'mss
make him pay them their prices, and
does he not have to take anything he
can get without any say so?
If he brings a cow to town for
sale, does he not get from three cents
to five cents per pound, and If he
wishes to buy a piece of the same
beef, does he not have to pay fron\ 25
cents to 40 cents per pound? If he
brings a cow hide he will probably get
75 cents or a dollar for It, but if he
wants a pair of shoes, will he not have
to pay from $3 to $15 for them? If he
breaks his wagon and has to have It
repaired in town will it not probably
cost him a cow? Are not all
tools, machinery and his necessities
on the same basis, and is not everything
he produces practically carried
on in the same manner? Taking Rock
Hill for a comparison, cannot a man
hire a farmer and his family to work
from daylight until dark, and later if
necessary, for less money than is paid
r hotel waiter, a janitor a 15-year-old
clerk or any employe of any description
of a railroad, or any one engaged
in any other business?
Have the politicians been worth a
nickel to him? Have not most of the
schemes, gotten up supposedly for his
benefit, been a means for coating a
lot of useless Jobs? Hasn't most of
the speaking and ranting on the different
things been rather with a view
of holding or getting a good job either
for the speaker or for some of his
friends who could not so admirably flit
the position provided the salary was
sufficient? Would not the politician
telling him about his poor wife and
children cooking, milking and working
in the fields, be more of a friend,
if he were to tell him, they are doing
so, but if you were not a fool, they
would not be? Is not the advice and
persuasion usually given the farmer
for the real benefit of the man giving
the advice, and is not the farmer the
same old "sucker" who fails for it Is
not every other class organized for
protection? Is not "equal rights to
all special privileges to none" a farce
when combinations of every description
are allowed against a particular
class? Is there not price fixing on almost
everything he must buy? Have
you heard such a conversation lately
between a farmer and fertilizer man:
"What are fertilizers worth this
year?" "I don't know, the prices
haven't been fixed yet?" Why allow a
professional say in New York or Chi
IU BCI1 lilt? IfcLUVt Ul OCl J lUIIUCI,
man, woman and child and force the
farmer to take the fictitious prices
created? Does the professional know
that as a rule the farmer Is poor and
ignorant and must submit, his nerve,
his money, and his ambition gone and
his family coming on to live the same
life of slavery? Has the professional
got a "pull" or is he of more benefit
to the world? Without these condi;
tlons could they play this game?
Would it not be broken up If they
did not have the farmer to play on?
Could they find any other class that
would stand for it? Are not the majority
of the American people naturally
gamblers, wish to take a chance,
and the southern people naturally optimistic
and hopeful souls, always
want to buy? Don't they have to
have some one to buy from, who then
unless the professional? Who wins in
nearly every game of chance, the professional
or the amateur sucker? Was
not the limit until recently $5, one
hundred bales, can't you play now 50
cents limits, 10 bales?
If five men were playing cards with
$50 on the table, would they not be ar
actually supports in one nousenom
ono or more persons closely related to
him (or her) by blood, marriage, or
adoption, is granted the same exemptions
allowed a married person.
The normal tax rates are unchanged,
4 per cent on the first $4,000 of net
income above the exemptions and 8 per
cent on the remaining net income. The
tax this year, as last, may be paid in
full at the time of filing the return, or
in four equal installments, due on or
before March 15, June 13, September
15, and December 15.
Heavy penalties are provided by the
new revenue act for failure to file a
return and pay the tax on time.
Announcement will be made through
the press of the date of release of form
1040 for filing individual return of income
of more than $5,000.
?
rested If caught, but If five men put
up $50 on the up or down on 10 bales
Isn't It perfectly legitimate? Really
isn't the only difference, one crowd
usually plays at night, the other from
10 to 3 during the day? Do we not
read "Local professionals sold the
market." Professional what? Also
reaa wan street ana me waiaori
crowd heavy sellers?" What do 'local
professionals, Wall street and the
Waldorf crowd" care whether the
producers have clothes or shoes for
their wives and children if it should
interfere with their getting the money?
Is it not one thing to be allowed
to live, another to be allowed to exist,
and the next thing, well what?
Why so much anxiety and "dope"
about the boll weevil? Hadn't the
farmers better pray to have him distributed
around equally? What difference
does it make? Are they not
figured at so much per head but in
bulk? What is the difference between
15 million bales at nine cents, nine
million bales at 15 cents, eight million
.bales at 17 cents, or 12 million bales
at ll 1-4 cents? isn't tne result practically
the same, just as though you
sold 15 cows at $10 per head or 10
cows at $15 per head. Don't say "the
mills are obliged to hedge for protection?"
Why? If a mill receives an
order for goods for forward delivery,
can't they buy the actual cotton? Is
there any hedge to it? Isn't this the
truth they don't wish to carry the
cotton, It costs money? Let the farmer
do that, they will get It when necessary
and based on the future price,
don't care whether it is up or down,
if market higher will make It on the
future, if lower will lose on the future,
but make it on the spots and save
carrying charges. Hasn't this "hedge"
business been a great excuse for many
a man who wished to take a gamble
for his mi'l? and "busted" a lot of
them too. Has any one noticed any
special gambling on the finished product
or is it confined to the raw material
the fanners produce? Hasn't
this thing, gotten up by some real artists,
been going on for over 50 years,
about five years after slavery was
abolished and is it not time now to
allow legitimate supply and demand
fix the price whether it is 5 cents, 10
or 0% D..f
cents, mo cents ur fi ^uuuu. ?uv
how? Could not a law be passed
whereby gambling should not be allowed
In anything that d'd not exist
or by no possible Imagination could
exist.
For instance, If 10 million bales of
cottOn hre j!>roduped In a!'year, don't
allow 200 million to be gambled in. If
a man had & certificate ear for 100
bales of actual cotton, allow trading in
the actual cotton In existence as often
as desired, but to allow this 190 million
bales of pure imagination to be
gambled in is entirely unfair to the
producer and fixed his price? Don't
allow anything impossible to exist, fix
the price of anything actually,.Jn existence,
simply because lota of people
wish to gamble, and It might interfere
with present arrangements. Of
course, there are millions invested,
but there is a lot invcted at Monte
Carlo and Monte Carlo doesn't play
on the welfare and almost life of human
beings. Confine the trading to
actual existence and then stop, even
though some might lose the commissions
on more than a hundred million
bales of imagination. Have we
had actual supply and demand fix the
price of cotton except during the world
war when it was a thousand points
higher than this imagination?
Don't we often hear "the farmer is
ignorant, got no sense?" Will grant
so much if desired and that all the
sense is confined to the towns and
cities are we showing it? Isn't the
former the foundation for practically
all of us, our very life, and if we
knock and knock till we knock down
our foundation, will our house not
fall? If the world considers it the
correct thing to allow "local professionals"
or "operators" or "traders" or
whatever they are "Wall street and
the Waldorf crowd," the privilege of
depressing the price of the farmer's
) product to a point or bare existence
by manipulating a purely fictitious
and non-existing product, should they
not consider it equally the correct
thing for the farmer to decide to stop
producing the actual product? If we
"bust" the farmer, will it not come very
close to putting the best of us out of
business? Could, the chambers of commerce
of the country do a better real
work than to try to build anew our
foundation on a solid basis. May we
not be playing with fire? May not
the farmers wake up and realize their
power? May they not determine to
raise enough of food and clothing for
themselves and say to the world, "We
can live if you can't?" ' Would it not
be a sure enough calamity If the farmers
decided to strike? Would it not be a
good idea for the American people
to stop and think or might there not
be the devil to play? Cannot any one
or any class be down to the limit and
might not the farmer be approaching
the limit?
JOHN T. RODDEY. I
Rock Hill, Jan. 24.
Quit# an Artist.?"Have you heard
Spinem's latest fishing yarn?"
"No, I haven't," said Mr. Glumm,
"and I don't want to hear it."
"Why not?*
"Because Spinem. hasn't even speaking
acquaintance with the truth. He
couldn't describe a smallpox epidemic
without making you think it was
something you'd hate to miss!"
THROTTLING THE PRESS
Bill Before Congress WoaM Prevent
Newspapers Printing Sporttig Neil .
MEASURE REGAINED AS .DANSEIBBS
' i V K j
Many Sanatara and Othara Ana Oppo?ad?Nawspapar
publishers Ara A'a?
Vary Active Against the Sill?Would p>
Alto Bar MarKet ntwi ? ~.
8porta. : ' \;?By
Frederic J. Haakin. r, ty ;,
Washington, D. G?The congress, ot<
the United States la now struggle,
with the question of further rel^rtn
legislation. This time it is, on the,jiqpa'
of it, designed to hit at horse racing
but as a matter of fact probably would
prevent newspapers from printing
news of any kind and give one gwern- ^
ment agency a fairly strong hold on .the
press of the country. ? ?
Professional reform agencies-are -actively
behind the measure, trying. - to
defend It from the attacks which hose
come from every side. The btil now**
before a sub-committee of the senate
Judiciary committee. t
There has been exppvosed before the
committee not only fear (.of the Jm- SB
mediate effect of the legislation, if It
becomes a law, but-apprehension because
of the general tendency ot aaob
legislation. There hgs been freely ex- f
pressed to the commutes holding the
hearings the opinion that; the roeeaars
is merely a symptom of the trfod of
legislation toward regulating every*
thing In the country, paralysing on?
business after another by putting them
into governmental straightjeckets.
Senator Stanley, of Kentucky, one ot
the strongest opponents of the bill, hfe
this to say about the measure: ,
"When you have placed ? censorship
on the freedom of speech and the pcyaa
you have not merely Invaded one constitutional
tight: you have imperiled
thorn all. Destroy the freedom of the
press, and your hando arp unshackled
to destroy the freedom-.0fc c9fi*eiefieei
immunity from arrest, -?r,-.aJay othdr
outrage or act of tyrgrtfif. Qgafcu^
which the people aro not jfrptected"#?
constitutional guarantiee.",'> ' "
This, the senator think Vie the worst
phase of the "legislative Hoi " afflfei*
lag the country. . r %>* f r
It has been panted out tft t^a committee
that passage of the bill, uhlMa
the president vetoes it,,wojilcJ impo#6
restrictions on the^^^^|j^g^p^^
worst.
Far*rsacHf*t If^eaU. , 't
The bill would Jirbvlde that apyppe
guilty of sending information through,
the mails upon which betting odds
could be based, or of sending the actual
odds, could be sent to the penitentiary
for a period of five years. A strict in-*
terpretation of this would work out. 40
that a school girl writing to tor parents
that she had bet 10 cents on a
basketball game could be Imprisoned,
Senator Stanley pointed out this feet
to tho committee, and added, "It sua?
be se.id that the Judges would not impose
such severe penalties, but ^ ope
might be found occasionally who had
ao little sense as the senate of ttvs
United Stateo." . >
Opponents of the alleged "censorship
bill" have pointed out repeatttary.
that the legislature of any state where
racing la permitted could have at) the
tracks in the state closed within 10.
minutes after the legislature convened,
If it was oo desired.
Newspaper publishers and the American
Newspaper Publishers' Association
have been very active In opposition
to the measure. It has been point-'
ed out by S. E. Thom&son, one of the
officers of this organization, that probably
not more than 10 per cent of the
papers included in the membership of '
the association print mclng tips of any
kind, and not more than 20 per dept.
racing entries and the results with
betting odds. . *
"Under this law as it Is drawn,"
Mr. Thomaoon pointed out, "under aa
autocratic administration of the postoffice
department, we could no longer
safely print the fact that a notorious
embezzler had won 1500,000 at Latonid,
that large sums were being: wagered on
a prize fight, or that oA account Sf
large sums bet, the faculties of Princeton
and Harvard .had begun an invest!- 1
gptlon of betting on football games.
First 8tep in Prtgram.
"This la the first step In the program
of the reformers," Mr. Thomasott
went on. "They would be before you
later with some similar argument
about stock gambling,"
As a matter of fact, strict lnterpw-.
tation of the law might prevent newspapers
from printing the prices ,of
stocks and bonds and the dealings In
them, if the postofflce department
should choose to be severe In Its administration
of the law. The ridiculous
side of the proposed law was
shown by the fact that in some states
to tip a man off on a horse race might
incur a penalty of five years In jail,
while being convicted of "involuntary
1 u. ? |? mama m*n
maiiDiauKiuci ?ii AIIIIUQ ^HV ?? ;
would result In only three years in the
ponitentiary. Thus it would be ttr
better to kill the man than tell him
anything1 about the prospecta of some
horse.
Mr. E. H. Baker, of the Cleveland
Plain Dealer, told the committee that
strict enforcement of the proposed law
would result in suppression of aboutdi
(Continued on Page Eight). .'V
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