BT E. B. MUKRA
TeJ??hj}^1 Column,
J. G. CLINKSCALES, Editor.
Prof. W. S. Morrison, who conducted
our Institute last year and the year before
to the great satisfaction and delight of
all concerned, will be with us at Wil
liamston, and, though not ono of the in?
structors this time, will favor the Insti?
tute with two or three of his interesting
lectures. Prof. Morrison has very great*
ly endeared himself to our teachers, and
all will be pleased to meet him again.
There were some bad papers presented i
to the Examining Board at the last ex?
amination. It is passing strange that
some persons who spell so poorly and
write so badly wonld think of trying to
teach school. Having made that asser?
tion, it gives us pleasure to say that Prof.
Ligon considered Mr. Mitchell's paper
the finest ever presented to our Board.
Mr. Mitchell is teaching at Shady Grove,
and is giving entire satisfaction to trus?
tees and patrons. It is worthy of men
tion, too, that the next best paper was
presented by a young lady who has never
been taught ia any other than the public
schools of this county. With her own
hands that young lady and her mother
have supported an invalid father and
. seven younger brothers aud sisters. Her
education was gotten by snatches! when
she could be? spared from the field. We
are always ready to lift our hat to .any
lady,, but it gives us peculiar pleasure to
bare our head iu the presence of a woman
"of such sterling worth as this. This
young woman; who is as modest as she is
intellectual, deserves the success, she has
achieved. Children will be safe in her
hands. ^_
Mr. J. P. Smith strikes the key note
when he says,~^The demand is for better
ttchook and better teacher*" Give us bet*
tor teachers and we will have better
schools. We have pleaded long and
patiently for better teachers, better
patrons, (more thoughtful, more earnest,
more deeply interested patrons), better
houses, and better schools. Our friend is
right again when he says that public
interest in the cause of education is on
the up grade. Especially is that the case
in the neighborhood of historic old Slab*
town. What criticism we had to make
of the school-house at that place was
prompted by the kindliest of motives,
and we are certainly gratified to learn
that the good people thereabouts took it
in that way. ..Our plain duty is to turn
every possible, stone to improve the
schools, let the public school system be
what it may. If what we said has at all
shaken the sleeping energies of the in?
telligent citizens of Slabtown and vicinity,
we are grateful. And, now, in behalf of
"W. P. H.? wethank Mr. Smith for his
timely exhortation. A good sermon has
been followed by a good exhortation.
Let the ball roll i Who next ?
Mr, Editor : I think "W. P. H." is
correct when he BayB that the interest in
schools .is daily increasing; and we
should all hai?. the awakening with de*
light, and by proper agitation keep the j
ball in motion, until a system of schools
is developed that will meet the wants of
the people. In our section of the county
greater interest is being manifested in
the cause of education than has been
done for some time past. Without en*
tering'into any discussson of the defects
the free school system, but simply taking
it as it is, I think that there is much that
can be done to improve onr schools, and
^ elevate our profession. The demand is
. for be tier schools and better teachers, and
we, wht> expect to meet the requirements
of the times, must bestir ourselves. We
must lay hold of every advantage offered
ns for improvement, or we will be called
upon to give place to others better pre*
pared to meet the needs of the case. In
view of the above facts, I think the out*
, look for one profession is brighter than it
has ever been before, if we will only
"play our part,"
Thanks to you for your suggestion in
regard to our special needs iu the way of
a beAter building. Our people are now
discussing the matter seriously, and I
feel assured that at no distant day, we
will enjoy an academy second to none in
the county. J. P. S.
Section 1012 of the school law says:
"T&iei Boards of Trustees shall have
authority and it shall be their duty * *
* * fo-ftorploy teachers, etc."
Trustees have not observed this im*
portant matter as they ought to have
done. : It has been the custom all over
the county to allow the people to
select the teacher; and that selection
has beeu made generally just about in
this way .?? Someaman, or woman concludes
to'teach'at a certain place. He goes
around among the patronB and gets ss
many as possible to promise to send to
him. Nine out of ten of the patrons are
indifferent as to who teaches, just so some?
body keeps the children out of their
Way, and", consequently, agree and prom?
ise to send to the first man or woman
.who asks for patronage. The teacher,
having the promise of twenty or thirty
pupils, announces that he will open
school on a certain day, without once
consulting the' trustees about it. Fre?
quently a very Inferior teacher gets pos?
session of a school in this way. The
trustees pay no attention to the matte?
un?i'/thei teacher comes op with his
papers for approval. All this is wrong,
and grew out of the dereliction of trus?
tees. No teacher ought to be allowed to
teach a day without being able to show a
written statement, or contract over the
signatures of the board of trustees, and
no such contract ought to be signed by
the trustees until after the applicant's
moral character and past record have
undergone a thorough examination.
But, you say, the mau has a certificate
from the County Board of Examiners.
Very good?suppose he has. A man may
have a good moral character and pass a
satisfactory examination before the
Board, and yet be objectionable as a
teacher.
Bnt, again, we are confronted with the
suggestion that trustees get no pay for
their work, and that they can not reason?
ably be expected to do much of it. The
law does not expect, or require, mach
Y & CO.
work of the trustees, but what it does
require ought to be paid for. Still they
are not paid, and we must deal with
things as we find them. Bather than
half do the work required of them, or
reduce their actual labor to the minimum,
on account of no remuneration, it would
be better for the trustees to resign and
let some body else try it. Each board of
trustees ought to have at least one meet?
ing each month during the school session,
and one meeting a month before the
session begins. At the regular monthly
meetings they should require all the
teachers in the township to be present,
with their reports properly made out,
givi Dg special attention to the total en?
rollment and the average attendance.
When the papers are overhauled in the
presence of the teac hers, then they should
be approved. Not only this: at these
regular meetings, which might be held at
some school-house in the township, the
whole day should be spent in regular
school room work. This plan has been
tried in two of the townships and works
well. The trustees and teachers get
better acquainted with one another, and
the fraternal feeling existing among the
teachers is deepened and widened. At
the meeting held one month, or longer,
before the session begins, propositions of
applican ts for schools should be consid?
ered and contracts drawn. This seems
to be asking but little of trustees, and we
are sure auch a plan would bring good
results.
The Williamston trustees, who have
had regular monthly meetings, propose
to employ their teachers for the next
gessioD, and to do it in time to get good
ones. Their purpose is to stop the prac?
tice of approving the claims of any
teacher who happens to suit the whims
of a community, however loose his meth?
ods (want of method), or however worth?
less he may be as a teacher. Not only
so; they propose to provide a nice little
library of two or three, dozen books for
the exclusive use of their teachers, and
to take for each one or two papers.: In
other words, Lander and Hogg and Rich?
ardson are wide awake and are moving
op things. Lander is a Professor in the
College at Williamston?he gives his
attention to this matter freely and cheer?
fully ; Hogg and Richardson are two of
the best firmers in their district?they
give their l;ime cheerfully and are grow?
ing in interest.
Other trustees in the county are just
as able and willing as these. We do
hope they will lay some plans and exe?
cute them.
Mr. Peterkin's Method of Procuring
Pare Cotton Seed,
I take this method of replying to the
numerous letters, asking how to improve
and keep cotton seed pure.
We must first decide upon the kind of
cotton we want. You n.ust have an ob?
ject in view. If you want a prolific cot?
ton, select from small or dwarfed stalks
that are not highly fertilized; but such
a selection will not stand a drought when
full of fruit. My idea is to have stalk,
leaf, limbs and fruit in proportion, and
roots will be there to penetrate the earth
to feed it with fertilizer and moisture.
It is a mistake to select seed from a
highly fertilized pet patch. It should be
on lands that are not cotton sick. It
should be after grain or one or two years
rested, and lightly fertilized, then pick
or select such stalks as have bolls on
every limb and of uniform Bize. If you
can get a stalk three feet high and as
broad as it is tall, with three bolls to the
limb, each boll the same dimensions,
you would have a fine selection to start
with, but such a stalk is hard to find.
Bolls all of one size is one of the prin?
cipal points in selecting. Cotton that
has been selected for its many bolls are
not uniform. The first boll on the limb,
we will say, is one and a fourth inches in
diameter,, the second is one inch and the
third is three-fourths of an inch, and the
fourth sheds off. The largest boll makes
by far more lint than the second, and we
can't measure our crop by the second and.
Bay it is an average of the three, any
more than we can say three twelve-inch
logs will make as much lumber as one
thirty-six inches in diameter.
When you find a stalk that suits you,
drive a stick by it, and plant it by itself
the nextyear. One stalk is enough to start
with. Be sure not to fertilize your patch
too highly. When you get a good cotton
let it alone. Don't take every peddlers's
seed that comes along. I have no doub t
but that every man thinks his seed is
the best and is honest in what he says,
but some of them are mistaken because
they don't know a good cotton from a
bad one. Seed are often mixed at the
gins, also by fertilizing with seed.
I don't gin for my neighbors, and
allow but one kind of seed to be planted
on the farm. Cotton is not apt to mix
or cross from the polin, as the bloom is
always up and follows the sun around,
and is shortlived. It opens after sunrise
and shuts up as the sun goes down never
to open again. It is also well coated with
honey, which holds the polin in. It is
never blown about as corn polin, and is
only carried by bees or man. As the
bees gather the honey the poliu sticks to
their legs. Honey was not made for man
alone, but for the purpose of carrying the
polin down into the seedmaking depart?
ment of the flower. The dew absorbs it,
I and it then carries the polin to its needed
place.?J. A. PeterHn, in Weekly Nexus
and Courier.
The Length of Days.
At London, England, and Bremen, Prus?
sia, the longeut day has sixteen and a
half hours. At Stockholm, in Sweden,
the longest day has eighteen and a half
hours. At Hamburg, in Germany, and
Dantzic, in Prussia, the longest day has
seventeen hours. At St. Petersburg,
Russia, in Tobolsk, in Siberia, the long?
est day has nineteen hours, and the short?
est five. At Tornea, in Finland, the
longest day has twenty-ono hours and a
half. At Ward hurs, in Norway, the day
lasts from the IJlst of May to the 22ud
July without interruption ; and at Spitz?
bergen, the longest day is three and a
half months. At New York, the longest
day, June 10, has fourteen hours and
fifty-six minutes; at Montreal, fifteen
and a half hours.
BILL ARPS LETTER,
In Which he Denis In Facts and Figures.
It seems very strange that young men
who come from good stock and have
been brought up with proper ideas of
the proprieties of life shoulds eek to fight
a duel. I wonder where they get such a
foolish idea of honor. It used to pre\ '.!,
I know, but we thought that modern
civilization had about wiped out that
stain?that stigma upon our humanity?
that Sancho Panzo seutiment that would
fight a windmill because it turned.
The question that concerns society is,
how do young men acquire such notions?
Of course they do not acquire them at
home, for I do not suppose there is a
respectable parent in the State who
would teach his son that it was right
under any circumstances to send or
accept a challenge. Duelling has had its
day and is now under the ban. Ben Hill
gave its hideous corpse the last kick in
hi3 memorable reply to Alex. Stephens,
and he deserved a monument for that if
for nothing else.
But when college boys run off to fight
a duel, it is a damaging reflection on that
institution and upon our system of edu?
cation. Thore is already a suspicion
pervading the public mind, that a college
course is a risk, a peril, a hazard and I
have heard many a reflective father say:
"I am afraid to send my boy to college 1"
So many of the graduates return home
with bad habits or bad principles or
exalted self esteem or a chronic indolence
that parents are discouraged and disap?
pointed. If the boys come horn* as the
family ornaments, they soon become the
family expense. Their indolence is
established and they are drones in the
hive. They read all the modern novels
and can talk critically and learnedly, but
they are of no account. They are capa?
ble but there is nothing for them to do
that corresponds with their mental
culture and physical reluctance to work.
They will not go back to the farm or the
workshop and the professions are already
overcrowded. Of course there are many
bright and honorable exceptions, but our
people are taking notice that, as a gener?
al rule, the successful men of the day
are not college graduates and those ho
are the sons of poor parents. A boy who
never did any work at home is in a bad
fix to go to college. Work is the thing?
a habit of work?chop the wood, make
the fires, feed the stock, plant the garden
and cultivate it; help all around and
about the house and black his own
shoes;-use the hammer and the saw,
mend the broken chairs and bring rvater,
do something that will save expense and
that will help?help is the word. Every
child should be taught to help, that it is a
duty to help. When the boy has been
raised this way and is ready for college
send him for one year, and if he is get?
ting too uppity and biggoty then let him
stay at home a year and work some more
and then send him back again. He can
just drop back to the next class and lose
nothing. But if you send a boy to col?
lege who never worked at home, and let
.him stay three or four years, in nine
cases out of teu he will be no account.
He is a finished gentleman.
The perils of education are alarming.
I mean education without moral and
industrial training. Teachers and pro?
fessors have but little to do with this.
Their sole business is to (each from the
books,. If the pupil stands well in math?
ematics, in Greek and Latin and logic
and rhetoric and philosophy, he is doing
splendid. That is the big thing. In
fact, it is everything so far as the teacher
is concerned; and almost everything
with the parents. The result is that
thousands of boys are being educated as
experts in indolence, in avoiding work,
and in many cases they resort to forgery
and embezzlement and obtaining money
under false pretences. It is now an open
secret at the North that education
increases crime, not just a little but
immensely. As illiteracy decreases
crime increases in a geometrical ratio.
They are almost met with the startling
question which is the best, comparative
ignorance with honesty or high culture i
with dishonesty ?
Let us look at the figures as furnished
by Mr. George R. Stetson, of Boston, a
philosopher, a thinker, a patriot. In
1850 there were, in round numbers, one
million of people in Massachusetts and
1,236 prisoners?1 prisoner to 804 of the
population. As education progressed
crime progressed. Education walked
and crime ran?until in 1884 there
were (65,000) Bixty-nve thousand
arrests, or one arrest for every
29 of the population ; and assuming that
five persons constitute a family, we have
the alarming result of one arrest to every
six families in the State. The criminals
in the house of correction of Hampden
County increased from 363 to 1,131 in
les3 than twenty years. The population
increased only 100 per cent while crime
increased 312. In the last five years it
increased 96 per cent., and the sheriff in
his report says this condition will proba?
bly continue.
Continue how long, I wonder. Will it
be until, like Sodom and Gomorrah;
there be Bot ten righteous men left ? In
1883, there were 1,100 commitments
more than 18S2. Mr. Stetson shows that
in this rapid increase of crime the native
population is just as bad as the foreign.
Then, again, look at the divorces?a
class of statistics from which the foreign
element is eliminated. In 1863 there
was but one divorce to 3,134 persons. In
1880 there was one to 1,537. In 1880
there was one to 1,537. In the last ten
years divorces have increased more than
twice as rapidly as marriages, and more
than three times as rapidly as popula?
tion. Dr. Dorchester says: "The most
liberal view of the question can but
awaken concern for the permanence of
social order and the stability of public
virtue.
'In Massachusetts there was in 1882
one divorce to every thirty-four marria?
ges, and the ratio increasing every year.
In Rhode Island, one to fourteen and in
Connecticut one to eleven.
Hut the number of divorces does not
represent half the number of unhappy
marriages or broken marriage vows, cases
that do not get into the courts, and hence
it can be safely estimated that no more
than eight families in ten have
preserved the purity and honor of the
ANDERSON, S. C, 1
family relation. Upon the purity
depends not only the welfare of society,
but the perpetuity of the nation.
Mr. Stetson Bays: "Public morals are
now so low that vast conspiracies are
entered into to defraud whole communi?
ties?corporations organized to defraud
the innocent and unwary?public office
prostituted to personal gain and the cap?
ital of banks gambled with by persons
high in social position.
'We find the public press pandering to
a low vulgar curiosity in disgusting
details of crimes against public order and
decency, to satisfy a morbid public crav?
ing.
"We find that the books of the least
value have the greatest circulation.
'We find that the largest number of
the regular attendants go to church in
search of amusement and intellectual
gratification, rather than lor worship or
instruction."
These admissions are alarming to
every lover of his country?to every
parent who feels parental solicitude for
the welfare of his children.
We congratulate our people?our peo?
ple of Georgia and the South?that we
are still far removed from this lamenta?
ble condition. Our county of Bartow is
an average county, perhaps no better, no
worse, than the general population of the
South ; and here we have a population
of 25,000, two thirds white, and only
ninety-eight arrests for crime in the past
year. Seventy-two of these were
negroes, but we will draw no race dis?
tinctions, and it is one in 250, while in
Massachusetts it is one in twenty-nine.
If we estimate the whites alone it is one
in 650.
Then compare the divorces. There
were only three suits for divorce the last
year, that is one divorce to.more than
7,000 people and only three divorces to
every 190 marriages.
No wonder that Carter Harrison de?
clines to run again for mayor of Chicago.
He says he needs rest and he fears that
if he should again accept the office he
would have no rest for be would not dare
to leave Chicago for a week for fear of a
communist uprising and a river of blood
in the streets.
There is one other very damaging
assertion and it is as true at the South as
at the North, and it is this: As high
mental culture increases our sensibility
and self-esteem it also increases our
ability to accumulate wealth by ques?
tionable means and to escape the conse?
quences of criminal acts. Only a small
portion of the iniquity in high places
finds punishment. It is mainly the poor
and the friendless who fill the prisons.
"The conclusion of the matter," says
Mr. Stetson, "is that intellectual culture
without moral education rather increases
the ability to escape the consequences of
criminal acte, but does not prevent their
commitment. Professor Sewall says 'the
effect of increased intelligence without
accompanying moral principles is either
to invent new forms of vice or to cover up
those crimes which the ignorant cannot
so cunningly conceal."
In all our public schools good morals
are to some extent enjoined, but this is
voluntary and not required. Obedience
to parents is not taught, nor is the
observance of the ten commandments.
The duties that appertain to citizenship
?honesty in trade, troth, industry,
respect for the Sabbath and for the
church?are not included in any school
curriculum, and yet these things are the
very foundation of society and good gov?
ernment, and <f far more importance
than trigonometry or greek or rhetoric.
If the children teere taught all these at
home there would be less necessity for
teaching them at school, but they are
not. How many parents teach them ?
The heathen Chinese tenches his chil?
dren obedience and hones t dealing, and
their laws enforce these virtues rigor?
ously ; but ours do not. On the contrary,
there are, perhaps, as many parents
afraid of their children as children
afraid of their parents. How many
fathers are there who, instead of teaching
their boys honesty and truth, set them an
example of overreaching and dissem?
bling in trade? Where are the preach?
ers who preach these virtues vigorously
and systematically? But, even if they
did, how many of the children are there
to hear?
In all the public shools of Germany and
Prussia religion and morals stand first in
the curriculum, and in the latter country
no teacher is qualified until he has been
instructed in religion and morals for
three years in a seminary established for
that purpose.
But instruction in good morals and
religion is not all. They are required to
do work?manual work of some kind.
The mind and the body are trained
together.
In treating of this, Mr. Stetson save
that the State commissioners affirm that
the great advantage of prison life to
youthful convicts is the acquirement of
the habit of industrious Iabotr.
What a commentary is this upon an
educational system that a boy has to be
sent to prison to learn a trade.
Now I d? not know that our system
differs materially from theirs, but let us
take warning in time and fortify. Their
ratio of illiteracy is 3 to 100, ours is 24
to 100. It was that in 1880. I do not
think it is more than 20 now. We wish
to lessen it until there is not a rational
child in the State over ten years that
cannot read. This is our duty, but let us
be careful that crime does not increase
with culture. It is not now. Colonel Tow?
ers, our efficient and well informed com?
missioner of prisons, tells me that crime
is actually diminishing if the number of
convicts now being sent up from our
courts signify anything. For the past
six months the number of colored con
viclB has fallen off very seriously. This
is especially gratifying, for it did Beem a
few years ago as if the whole race were
bound for the chaingang.
Our children are exposed to dangerous
influences all the time and need all the
help they can get. The girls aro absorb?
ed with the exactions of fashion and
social life and find but little time to
devote to duty. The boys are dazzled
with glimpses of fortunes made in a day
by speculation. A few days ago a young
rcian wna tried in Augusta and convicted
for selling lottery tickets, and he was
HURSDAY MORNII
fined and imprisoned. His lawyer made
a pathetic appeal for mercy and held up
the daily newspaper that had in one col?
umn an account of the trial and in the
other the displayed advertisement of the
Louisiana lottery with two distinguished
confederate generals as its godfathers.
But enough of this. I have not writ?
ten it for invidious comparison, but as
food for thought. There are many
thinkers in the land both North and
South. We are livicg for our children
and our children's children, and it
becomes us all to guard well the bul?
warks of our social system.
Bill Arp.
Stick to the Farm.
Had we the ear of every young farmer
in the Southern States, we would say to
him, and repeat it over and over again,
"Stick to the farm." Ennoble your call?
ing. Educate yourself for it, and by
judicious experiments, close observations
and untiring labor and painstaking, make
it the source of mental improvement,
pleasure and profit. When we say edu?
cate yourself for it, we do not mean edu?
cation in the schools and college.--, though
we think that in these far more attention
should be given to the branches connect?
ed with agriculture. We mean that the
young farmer should, by a judicious
course of reading and thinking in the
intervals of labor, acquire the intelligence
that is indispensable in bis calling. Let
him read attentively short elementary
works on geology, chemisrtry and plant
physiology. The necessary books can be
got for not more than two dollars. Hav?
ing laid the foundation in these, let him
continue the course through life by sub?
scribing for one or two good newspapers.
We don't mean agricultural papers which
treat of nothing hut the one subject, but
good weekly newspapers, from which he
can store his mind with information on
all topics. Nearly all the leading week?
lies have a department devoted to agri?
culture, conducted by a competent editor.
A society of young farmers in each
neighborhood would be a most valuable
adjunct.
Let him make experiments of his own,
cautiously and daily learn something by
observation. It is a certain fact that
every acre of land, if it has a medium
subsoil, and is pretty well drained, can,
by careful tillage and judicious.use of
home made fertilizers, be made to yield
twice the quantity of cotton or corn that
it yields with the ordinary tillage. A
careful selection of seed alone will always
increase the crop, and if persevered in
may double the yield and give a perman?
ent Variety, valuable not only to the pro
ducer, but to his fellow farmer--. Let the
young farmer give his atention to these
things adding daily to his knowledge,
addingyearly to his profit. It is undeniable
that agriculture is the civilizer of man?
kind and the ultimate source of the wealth
of all nations. Let every young farmer,
then, be proud of hiB calling, and seek
to adorn it.
We are aware that a spirit of unrest is
abroad among the young farmers of the
South. For some years their labors have
been hard, and their profits small and
slow to accumulate. Many of them fancy
that a surer, shorter, less laborious road
to competence may be found in the pro?
fessions, in trade, or in other kinds of
labor. In this they are mistaken. The
depression is widespread?wide as the
civilized world; it permeates'every avoca?
tion, every rank of society. The profes?
sions are overcrowded. Here and there
is a professional man who acquires com?
petence and fame; but for every one of
these there are scores who eke out a
meager subsistence, very many of them
not knowing how they are to pay their
board or house rent at the end of the
month nor their grocer's and butcher's
bills at the end of the week. One reads
and hears of the successful ones, but not
of the others; just as one reads of the few
who draw the big lottery prizes among
the news items Of the public prints, but
the names of the thousands who draw the
blanks?never 1
And in the mercantile business?few
young farmers can form a conception of
the physical and mental labor the mer?
chant and his clerks and other employees
must undergo. For the former, days of
toil and sleepless nights of anxious
thought! For the latter, days of unre?
mitting slavish work, uneasy doubts as
to what the future, with the vicissitudes
of trade, may bring! Homeless and with?
out means or employment! Can our
young farmer friends fancy the full
meaning of these words? And how
many merchants succeed in their bus?
iness? We have it stated, by good
authority, that not more than five out of
a hundred retire from business with a
competence. The other ninety-five see
their capital slowly melt to nothingness,
or is swept away at one fell swoop that
brings bankruptcy and ruin to the mer?
chant and loss of position to his employ?
ees.
And what of the other forms of labor
in which millions are engaged ? What
of the great army of wage-workers?is
peace, and plenty and contentment found
in their ranks ? Is there no unrest there?
What of the privation they and their
families have endured for years ? And
remember that most of them are without
homes of their own. What of the exac?
tions of which they complain (whether
justly or unjustly we shall not stop to
inquire). Consider the strikes and lock?
outs of the present decade, the thousands
who are thrown out of employment, the
days, weeks, months and years of enforc?
ed idleness. And remember that every
Btrike and lockout is a sharp two edged
sword that cuta both ways. Employers
and employees alike suffer.
Let the young farmer compare lots
with all these?the professional men, the
merchants and their employees, the
wageworkers and their employern. His
homestead is his own, safe to him and
his beyond peradventure. It is his capi?
tal, that cannot pass from him by slow
degrees, nor lost by one calamitous stroke.
For him there are no strikes nor lock
outs ; ho may always find employment.
Ho has always a roof to shelter him and
his, and food and raiment for both. For
every farmer can make, with reasonable
care and industry, a supply of everything
lie and his family need for food, except
Bugar and coffee, After home supplies
for man and beast, wbich every farmer
can and should make, there comes his
moDey crop.
For the farmer in the South that mon?
ey crop is, and for an indefinite time it
muBt be, cotton. We, of course, except
localities like that contiguous to our
"Magic City." We say it is and must be
cotton. And spite of all that has been
said and written derogatory to our great
staple, it if the best and surest money
crop in the world. Either in the form in
which it comes from the farm or as
manufactured goods, we send our cotton
to every part of the globe. The demand
for it is universal, constant, insatiable.
Compare cotton wih the staple money
crops of the North. Take wheat, for
instance. Two acres of fair average land
yield thirty bushels of wheat. Two acres
of like land in the South yield one bale
of cotton. The cotton weighs 450 pounds,
the wheat 1,800 pounds, or four times as
much. Still, the cotton will bring con?
siderably more at its ultimate destination
than the wheat will. Discrimination and
competition may modify the economic
law, but the law itself is axiomatic.
That is the best crop which comprises
the greatest value in the least bulk aod
weight.
Moreover a considerable per cent, of
the mineral constituents of the soil is
exported in the wheat, and to preserve
at average fertility, the farmer must re?
place these by the use of bought fertilizers.
Cotton exported takes nothing from the
soil, and to preserve its average fertility,
it is only necessary that the farmer restore
to the soil the seed taken from it, either
the raw seed or the dropping of animals
fed on it.
Again, England and the Continent
grow wheat, some of the European na?
tions raising large quantifies for export.
India, Australia and British Columbia
have become formidable competitors of
our wheat growing regions, and new
fields are being opened up every year.
Years may come when the flush supply
of wheat abroad will reduce the price so
low as to stop its exportation from our
country. But the exportation of cotton
will never be stopped. As a producer of
the cotton the world wants, the South
has no rival on the globe and never will
have.
In presenting the merits of our great
staple as a money crop, we would not dis?
suade Southern farmers in favored local?
ities from producing other things instead
of cotton for market. Dairying, garden?
ing, fruitraising, and the growth and
fattening of beeves, sheep and hogs for
the butcher, are, in many places, far
more profitable than the raising of cotton.
But except in such places, cotton is our
best money crop, aod for the reasons we
have stated, the best money crop in the
world.?The Next) South.
A Roaring Sea of Flame.
Chicago, April 12.?A special from
Atchison, Kansas, says: "No less than
fifteen persons have been burned to death
by prairie fires, which, starting near Nico
demus, Graham County, have swept
northwest on an air line into Norton
County, destroying everything in their
path, that in places is from two and a
half to seven miles wide. A. great roar?
ing sea of flame rolling in sheets under
the impetus of a high wind which pre?
vailed all day and night Saturday.
Starting on the South Fork of Solomon
River, in Graham County, the fire swept
north to North Fork which it crossed at
Edmond, a station on the Central Branch
Railroad in Norton County, and at last
accounts it was still sweeping towards the
northwest diagonally acrow Norton
County in the direction of Dccatur, an
adjoining county on the west, carrying
destruction and death in its path.
Thousands of head of stock of all kinds
have been burned, and thousands of tons
of hay, corn and wheat, and from 100 to
175 houses and barns have buen destroy?
ed. People living along the line of the
fire have been left homelens and destitute.
It is impossible as yet to learn the
names of those who perished. Tremen?
dous excitement prevails all through the
burned district, which extends a distance
of over sixty miles in length by two to
seven in breadth, with the fire still spread?
ing northwest.
Sloux Falls, Dacota, April 12.?
Reports of the loss of property from
prairie fires during the terrible wind storm
of Friday and Saturday continue to come
in. Eighteen miles west of this city a
tremendous fire started and swept the
country for miles. Henry Strallen,
George Fallor, John Jacobson and P. M.
Hall lost their houses and contents, and
also their barns, farm machinery, grain
and stock. James Hutchinson, C. E.
Greenlau. W. S. Brooks, William Igo
and Edward Walker lost their barns and
contents. Other Iobscb are indefinitely
reported. It was the most destructive
fire that ever visited thia part of the
country, and the total loss wil exceed
$100,000.
Short Furrows a Waste.
Many calculations have been made to
prove the waste of time consequent upon
short furrows, Under average circum?
stances a pair of horses will plow an acre
of grass land in a day of nine houre.
On turnip land, of the same quality,
rather more tbi t an acre will be plowed
in a day, and on stubble land one and
one quarter acreB. A considerable differ?
ence will, of course, be found in the
work accomplished by different horses
and men, even on the same land. With
a furrow nine inches wide, exactly
eleven miles are traveled in plowing an
acre. A quarter of a day op more ia
generally used in turning at the head?
land. Time and labor are saved by run?
ning the furrows the longest way of the
field, as the number of turns is thereby
diminished.
? When a man says he thanks the
Lord that be hasn't a wife, every woman
in the land should respond with a hearty
amen.
? A roasted or boiled lemou, filled
while hot with sugar, and eaten still hot,
just before retiring, will often break up
a cold.
? Prosperity is only a blessing when*
we truly thank God for it and use it as a
furtherance of our eternal happiness.
THE VIEWS OF TWO JUDGES.
Judge Kershaw and "Judge Lyncli" on
Mob Law.
From the Aiken Journal and Review.
In bis charge to the grand jury of
Aiken, on Monday last, Judge Kershaw
said:
"There has been some comment and
considerable feeling in certain quarters
concerning a recent case of lynching.
In regard to that, there is no question at
all that lynch law is an evidence of a low
state of- civilization.
"No county can claim to be iu a high
state of enlightenment and civilization
and good order that tolerates a resort to
lynch law. The Courts are open for
the trial of all offenses. Whenever a
case is made out, it ought to go through
the regular channel for investigation. If
the Judges are faithful, if the juries are
faithful, and the witnesses are faithful,
there can be no trouble in convicting
them.
"There has been a time in the history
of the State that there was a good cause
for complaining of the mode of adminis?
tering justice, which prevailed at one
time, and it was supposed then, and with
a good show of reason, that a resort to
lynch law was necessary, but that is past,
and the best people have control of all
public matters. They control the jury
box and the judiciary, they have the
right to choose them through their rep?
resentative, and there is no reason, no
possible excuse, for not being willing to
submit every case that occurs to the
arbitrament of the judicial tribunal, and
j I have always, within the limits of my
influence, and according to such ability
as I had, endeavored to impress these
views upon the people of the State.
There was, some years ago, an opportuni?
ty offered me when I was quite young in
the position I hold now, when my first
term of service began as a judicial
officer, of presenting to the grand jury in
Bichland these views more at large than
I have presented tbem to you. An
offence had taken place of a special and
most criminal character?that concern?
ing the purity of woman, so near and
dear to the hearts of all. It was argued
and insisted upon that in regard to that
particular offence, on account of its hei
nousnees, that the only proper mode was
a resort to summary punishment by the
people. Now there is a very strong
reason why that particular offence might
be made the subject of a resort to sum?
mary punishment; there was, at least,
an excuse of passion, for the visitation
upon the heads of the offenders at that
time. I said then what I say now, that
there was nothing that should justify a
resort to lynch law under a well-ordered
and well governed country. I went on
to say that there was no tolling where
this thing would end, because they were
solely irresponsible; they made no inves?
tigation of the offence; the very nature
of the offence, most horrible as it was,
was calculated to blind the judgment of
the people. To charge a perso n with bo
enormous an offence as that, is sufficient
to create in the minds of the people a
belief of guilt. They haven't that aober
and deliberate control of reason which is
necessary to determine whether the case
is made out beyond a resonable doubt
against the party, so iu this case I said
what I am now repeating to you, and I
said then, if we condone an offence of
that kind iu regard to one class of crime
?that most horrible kind of crime to
which I referred?that we had no means
of controlling and limiting it to that one
offence, but that the tendency of it was
to shake the confidence of the people in
the ability of the Courts to punish crime,
and it would go from one crime to
another, and there would be no limit to
this kind of so called justice, and such is
the case; from being confined to one
crime it has now gone to another.
"Take that case in Yorkville, to which
I allude. There could not have been
any reason, upon any kind of proof that
would have justified the conviction of the
parties with that offence, why the law
could not have taken its course.
"I see nothing in that case at all to
warrant a resort to lynch law. It only
shows that the people are a mob when
they go to lynch law, and, like a mob
resort to the enforcement of law without
reflection and reason, and it will go on<
until the people stop it by their assertion
of the right that sound public sentiment
shall prevail.
"These thoughts have been suggested
by a perusal of the morning paper, in
which I saw some comments made by
Judge Presaley.
"I hope that Aiken County will never
be called upon to deal with a case ofthat
kind."
From a correspondent of the Columbia Register.
Fellow-citizens of South Carolina: I
understand that you are becoming
alarmed at my recent outrages, and that
you are fearfully trembling at the
thought of what I may do next. I desire
to write you a few words of admonition
and instruction :
I confess that I have recently assumed
considerable authority and exercised
extreme jurisdiction in several cases. I
do not desire to continue in the usurpa?
tions of this power which I am wielding,
and would gladly return it to the law,
but law must first purify itself and give
me assurance that she is strong enough
to hold it. She is not strong enough
now, as has been thoroughly demonstrat?
ed in a number of recent cases. She has
become so corrupt that respectable citi?
zens no longer have any faith in her.
The opiniou seems to prevail thiough
out the State that the law would have
been abundantly able to deal with the
case that I recently disposed of. I
assure you that it is very doubtful, As
to whether the accused were guilty of
the crime which they were charged or
not, no one doubted for a moment. In
fact every one was positive that they
were, and all those who were at all
familiar with the forms of law were
equally certain that under tho rules of
evidence they could never be legally
convicted. Th6 confession made in the
jail by one of the murderers shortly after
the commission of the crime has been
denied since the return of tho prisoners
1 from Columbia. Whilo in Columbia
they employed a lawyer, and I learned
that he had two strings to his bow. One
VOLUM]
was to plead insanity for the negro who
confessed, who by tbe way, came back to
Yorkville acting bis part admirably
Tbe other string was to get a change of
venue; and I assure you that if this had
succeeded they would have been acquit?
ted, for, as I have told you before, there
was no proof against the accused but
what would have been ruled out under
the rules of evidence.
Another fact which led me to pursue
the course I did was this: The prisoners,
if tried together, would have been able
to exhaust tbe jury box down to the very
dregs, and been able to secure twelve
such scoundrels as themselves, who
would certainly bring in a verdict of
acquittal. Some people ask me why I
did not wait until tbe law had taken its
course: and then, they say, if it failed to
convict, it was time enough for me to
act. To this I will say: Simply because
I did not wish to "murder" a man whom
the law said was innocent. I have no
desire for revenge, but I have a love for
justice. My labor for the past few years
has not been to promote the interest of
lawlessness, but to promote tbe interest
of law.
Id my Court tbe sharped lawyer does
not win the case, and it must be arranged
so in yours, or I shall continue to preside.
In my Courts the accused is not
allowed to choose his own jury, manage
to prolong tbe trial until nightfall, have
the Court adjourned and get his friends
to buy auch of the scoundrels as will sell
out, and if they can't buy all, at least
manage to get a mistrial. I have seen
this occur time and again in your Courts,
Change it or you cannot compete with
me.
In my Courts there are no rules of
evidence which make it necessary for the
witness to see the crime committed and
don't allow him to hear or know a fact
in any other way but seeing.
In my Courts all that the jury need to
enable them to bring in a verdict of
guilty is to become thoroughly satisfied
that the accused is guilty. Many a time
have I heard one of your jurymen, after
sitting on a case and bringing in a ver?
dict of acquittal, say that the accused
was as "guilty as could be, but it could
not be proved." Then have I been
tempted to take the case in hand, but
forebore, on account of my respect for
the law. Look to this fact or I will.
In this same county, in which I have
recently been operating, not more than
two years ago a man was tried for arson.
He was acquitted in the face of (.he most
damning proof. He had committed tbe
deed for spite, and after his acquittal he
boastingly acknowledged it.
I was asked why I did not look after
this case. I simply replied that it was
too late now. The law has now taken its
course. Hundreds of cases of a like
character may bj cited from all parts of
tbe Stale, and still you condemn me. If
you don't do something with your jury
system, your lawyers and your rules of
evidence pretty soon, I shall assume
jurisdiction in more cases than those with
which I have recently been dealing.
Respectfully, Judge Lynch.
Yorkville, April 12, 1887.
STEALING EXTRAORDINARY.
PiTTSBUEG, Pa., April 11.?Tbe most
important arrests ever made in this part
of the country begun at an early hour
this morning. They will not be com?
plete before late this evening, and at that
time the officers of tbe Pan Handle
Railroad will have in custody tbe most
daring gang of railroad robbers this
country has ever known. How many
members belong to it are not known, but
they run up into the hundreds. Their
stealings extend over a period of two or
three years, and the amount stolen
reaches nearly half a million dollars.
Simultaneous arrests are being made all
along the line of tbe Pan Handle Road
between here and Columbus.
Warrants have been in tbe bands of
officers for some time, and tbe persons
arrested will comprise nearly all the
freight men of the line and include con?
ductors, brakemen, engineers and fire?
men. The ringleaders of the gang, who
are outside the railroad business, are
known and some of them are now be?
lieved to be under arrest. Tbe first
arrests were made about 2 o'clock this
morning, the police surprising eighteen
men at their boarding houses and taking
them at once to jail. Further arrests
were made between 2 o'clock and day
light, when forty-six men?all railroad
employees, conductors, brakemen, fire?
men and engineers?were behind the
bars.
In speaking of the arrests, a prominent
officer of the Pan Handle Road said:
"For three years .past the Pan Handle
Road has been systematically robbed.
Cars on sidings and cars in moving trains
were broken open and goods stolen,
including every description of merchan?
dise. It is estimated that at least $200,"
000 worth of goods were taken, for which
the company had to pay. In August last
we got a clue, and the company deter?
mined to push it to the end. Detectives
were employed, who followed up evory
scent, and finally we had information
upon which to proceed, when everything
was ready. We had decided to make a
move all along the line from Columbus
to Pittsburg, and 2 o'clock this morning
was the hour fixed to strike the blow.
About eighty warrants were issued for
men in Pittsburg. I cannot tell how
many for other places, but at every point
along the line it will run up into the
hundreds. It is the biggest thing of the
kind that ever happened in Pittsburg or
in railroad matters in the world, for noth?
ing like it has ever happened before. I
cannot tell who the men are under arrest
or who the ringleaders are. This much
1 will say, however: We suspect out?
siders of being implicated in the rob?
beries, but know nothing positive."
Among the prisoners is a man named
Baker, against whom there are thirty
eight charges. Early one morning, some
months ago, at Sheridan, a station near
this city, a train was stopped for wator.
An attack was made on the crow, and in
the fight tho fireman was shot. He
afterwards died from his injuries. At
.daybreak it was found that two cars had
been broken open and their coutenta
stolen. Baker is accused of firing the
shot that killed the fireman, and this is
E XXII.- -NO. 41.
understood to be one of the thirty-eight
charges against him.
John H. Hampton, attorney for the
Pennsylvania Company, was seen this
morning in the office of a detective
agency, where, sitting amidst a hetero
genious collection of plunder, be said:
"These robberies have been carried on
systematically for several years. The
company have long been aware that
there was a leakage somewhere, and as
early as September, 1886, they quietly
commenced investigations. Detectives
were placed on trains where goods could
be watched and the thieves caught. We
had already discovered that the culprits
were employees of the company. In
September there were eighty crews of
freight trains on the Pan Handle Rail?
road coming into Pittsburg. Of these
not less than seventy-five were found to be
crooked. A crew consists of a conductor,
flagman and two brakemen. In some
cases all the men were involved; in
others only a part. The statement that
engineers and firemen were mixed up in
the robberies is wrong; not a single one
is involved.
"Goods were stolen in various ways.
In many instances seals broken, while in
others hatchets were used to cut a hole
in the end of tho car through which the
men crawled and took what thciy coveted.
Thon they reported tho car in bad con?
dition, claiming that the hole had been
made by accident. The operations were
all the result of a combination. Ar?
rangements were carefully made, and
each rascal was assigned to his particular
part of the work in much the same way
as a bank robbery is conducted by pro?
fessional cracksmen. I do not know that
the members of the combination were
oath bound, or anything of that kind,
but it is certain that a thorough under?
standing existed among them and they -
acted in concert to cover each other's
misdoings.
"The thing which alarmed us more
than anything else wan that they stole
large quantities of whiskey and drank it
in their houses. They needed vessels to
hold the liquor, so they stole milk cans
and kept it in them. Not daring to keep
whiskey openly in the cars, they tore up
the flooring and bid it underneath. The
men were continually reported drunk on
duty, and-the probability of disaster was
something fearful to contemplate. All
kinds of goods were stolen, including
sewing machines, guns, revolvers, cut?
lery, silverware, cigars, clothing, liquors,
groceries, furniture, and in fact every
imaginable article that can be carried on
a car were quietly removed. Depreda?
tions were committed all along the road,
and the losers reside et points as far west
as Denver.
" 'Fences' were established in this
city, where the stolen property was taken
and then sold, the money being evenly
divided among the crews. It is impossi?
ble to give the aggregate value of prop?
erty stolen, but it will not reach $300,000,
as reported."
The arrests have created the greatest
excitement among the railroad employees
of this city. The s:enes about the jail
doors this morning, where the relatives
of the prisoners had gathered to learn
causes of their arrests, were of saddest
description. Wives, children, parents,
brothers and sisters, with tear stained
faces, stood around the entrances to the
prison, eager to hear the latest develop?
ments and pleading with the officers for
admission to the jail to see the prisoners.
At 1 o'clock ten more men were cap?
tured at the pay car while receiving their
wages. This makes a total of 56 now in
jail here, and it is supposed that as many
more have been apprehended at other
points along the line.
Consternation prevails among the pro?
prietors of the "fences" and dens where
the goods were secreted and sold. In
one instance the proprietor of a do tori
ou8 den was detected in the act of burn?
ing stolen property.
Nearly 200 warrants are still out, and
it is expected that the list of arrests in
this city will be swelled to 80 to night.
A number of houses in various parts of
the city were raided to-day and a large
quantity of goods recovered. Every
man arrested had stolen goods somewhere.
Among the prisoners are several des?
perate characters, who were wanted by
the police for other offenses. They were
all armed, and when not taken by sur?
prise resisted arrest. Numbers overpow?
ered them, however, and all were safely
lodged in jail.
The most important arrest made here
was brakeman Young. He called at the
jail to see one of the prisoners this morn?
ing and was immediately locked op. At
first he protested that be was innocent,
but finally admitted that he had a large
lot of property at his house, and told
how the goods had come into his posses?
sion. This confession, it is said, will
convict thirteen crews.
Telegrams from Cadi;;, Steubeoville
and points west of Columbus report the
arrest of a large number of railroad em?
ployees implicated in the robberies. A
preliminary hearing will be held on
April 18th.
Specials from Denison, Ohio, report
the arrest there of J. R. Duulap, leader
of the gang, and James and W. Collis,
with several thousands of dollars' worth
of velvets and high priced dry goods in
their possession. These articles were
taken from United States bonded cars en
route to Chicago, St. Louis, and other
points west. One, Busbie, the worst
man in the gang, slipped his handcuffs
and recklessly threw himself from the
train whilst it was going, and escaped.
The Handkerchief Cure.
Poet and Editor James E. Randall
created a sensation in Augusta the oi.her
day. A street-car horse became unruly
and a male passenger proposed throwing
sand in the animal's eyes. "Oh, nol"
said the colonel, "don't do that; it is
unnecessary and inhuman. The poor
beast only needs to be diverted. Tie a
handkerchief around his fore leg and he
will start off promptly. The driver
agreed to try it, and the horse moved, at
once. Then the driver snatched his
whip, looked at the colonel and ex?
claimed: "If that don't beat the
Dutch."?Philadelphia Time?.
?? Use buttermilk for the removal of
tan and walnut stains and fr.yckles.