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THt PAGELAND JOURNAL Vol.7 NO. 49 PAGELAND, S. C., WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 22, 1917 $1.00 per year ______??...?___________?_________________i Mass Meeting Discusses County Affairs A mass meeting of citizens of Chesterfield county was held at the county seat last Wednesday for the purpose of discussing means of bettering the financial condition of the county and getting better roads. The meet ing was not largeb* attended, but it was fairly representative. It was the unanimous sense of the meeting that there is need for better methods of county financing. Supervisor Knight explained max ine county is now in dent to the amount of $18,000 and that there is much road and bridge work that needs attention. Fifteen thousand of this was incurred before Mr. Knight came into office, and the three thousand is for espenses of the county since the tax collecting season was over. It is said that the back indebtness was caused mainly by expenses in curred in rebuilding bridges after the floods of July 1916. However, there seems to have been a deficit in the county finances year after year. The county officials in makiig out the annual budget for county expenses for the in-coming year have almost invariably made it for less than the actual expenses were during the year. The budget has been given to the county delegation in the Legislature and the tax levy fixed to raise the amount. By discussion it was brought out in the meeting that the income for the ordinary county expenses from taxes, fines and licenses is appoximately$ 35,000 a year, and that this is less than tne actual expenses. The blame for this condition of affairs was placed on the makers of the annual budget in that enough money has not been asked for. in order that a thorough probing into the financial conditions and needs may be made, the meeting authorized the supervisor to appoint an advisory committee to aid him in get ting to the bottom of the trou hie and in divising means to remedy it. This committee is be composed of one man from each township. It is then to work with him, and when a probable solution of the problem is found another mass meeting is to be called to accept or reject the work done. This will give every man a chance to know just what state matters are in. Mr. Knight explained that the present lew for roads and bridges is so small that very little work can be done. I le proposes a plan somewhat as follows: The commutation tax to be raised from two to three dollars, and a levy of four or five mills be placed on all prop erly in the county; that the funds be used in the township where paid to build roads; that squad of hands he omnlnvod fnr mi?.i , , ?? ?v-mI lar, all year work in each town ship; that the system of road work by free labor be abolished. Mr. Knight thinks that by this method money for road work mav be had with no more tax on the people than would be re quired to pay intrest on bonds. A resolution was passed by the meeting requesting the coun ty treasurer to pay all certifi cates held by young men about to be called into military serv ice if the funds can possibly be had. The matter of borrowing: funds for current expenses not to excede ten thousand dollars was discussed, but the matter was left in the hands of Mr. Knight. Wheat, Oats and Rye: Making Them Pay With a world-wide food shortage and practical certainty that the administration will be authorized to fix a minimum price for wheat of not less than $2 a bushel, we are assured of a high grain prices for another year. But high prices mean little unless we make good yields, and we propose here briefly to dis cuss some of the essential points in getting these. 1. Wheat at $2 a bushel or better will pay handsomely in the upper half of the Cotton Belt, provided good varieties are used on good soils, well prepared and well fertilized. But don't forgel for one moment that wheat on thin poor landwill usually mean throwing the seed away. If such land cannot be given a dressing of stable manure, supplemented by 200 or 300 pounds per acre of acid phosphate, the sensible thing to do will be to plant it tc some other than wheat. 2. The South's oat acreage should be large this fall, because, unlike wheat, the crop is suited to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. While ol course oats do best on good land soils too thin and sandy foi wheat may make a paying oal crop. Especially is this so if 20C or 300 pounds of acid pho?phate per acre is used at planting time and 7b to 10O pounds pei acre of nitrate of soda or sul phate of ammonia as a top-dress ing in March. Perhaps the big gest single reason the oat croj; in the South is something unsatisfactory is because of sowing too late. Experiment station au thorities and the best oat grow ers are agreed that early fal planting?September in tin upper South and October in tht lower?results, on an average in yields practically double those obtained from spring plant ings. 3. Abruzzi rye a crop thai should be planted just as exten sively as the seed supply wil permit. Undoubtedly as tin fall, winter and spring grazing crop it has no superior and fe\> equals. Planted between th< cotton rows in September, i may, on a fair grade of land, bt Ar 1.1 ' ? ur^ciiucu npuu u> iurnisn gra/. ing from December till Mirch when it may be plowed under tc increase the humus supply. Ii is such an excellent crop thai we would like to see ever> farmer in the Cotton Belt planl at least a one acre seed patch ol it this fall.?Progressive Farmer, Second Guard Division Will Be Rushed Abroad Washington, Aug. 17.?Two armv divisions instead of one, comprising a total oi at least 38,000 men, probably will make up the first contingent of the National Guard to go to France. Although no official confir mation was obtainable, there were evidences today that the iiMimusiie. roriy second Division," whose organization recently was announced, will be accompanied abroad by the Twenty sixth, made up of New England Guardsmen. No New England states are among the 26 having representation in the composite division. Ttie commander of the Twenty-sixth is Maj. Gen. Clarence Edwards, now acting as commander of the Department of the Northeast, and it is presumed he would go to Europe with the division. The Forty second is commanded by Maj. Gen. W. A Mann, - STEVENSON TO SPEAK TOMORROW Cheraw, Aug. 1 8..?Hon. W. F. Stevenson, congressman from this district, will address the people of Chesterfield county next Thursday at the court houre at 12 o'clock and at Cheraw at night. His subject will be "The War-^-It's Causes and What it Requires of Us." Mr. Stevenson is a forceful 1 i * , and instructive speaker and is always listened to with pleasure and profit. Agriculture to Be Taught in Five 11 Schools of This County. i At the last session o.f the Gen: eral Assembly a bill providing 1 for the teaching: of agriculture in certain schools of the State was ! passed and an appropriation ol > $10,000 was made. Supervisor 1. A. Knight is awake to oppor! tunity, and it now appears that , five schools in this county will i be formed into a group, in accordance with the act, and that t a competent instructor will be , employed to give his whole time to the five schools. The t salary of the instructor is to be ) paid by the schools and by the ' State. Each school in the group ! will be asked to pay $150, male r ing $750 from the live schools. To this the State will add $75C - Each school will be required ic have a school farm of two aerrs > or more, so that actual demon; strations may be made. I teacher will be employed for. 1: - months, and will continue his - work right on through the sum 1 mer months when there is great J er opportunity to teach the prac i tical side of farming. The schoo , farms are to be worked as nearh i as possible by the boys in tin - agricultural class, and any pro ceeds from the farms above ex t penses will go into the schoo - funds to be expended by tin I trustees as they see fit. i Mr. Knight thinks that the fol ' j lowing schools should constitute t this first group: Jefferson, Page i land, Mt. Croghan, Ruby anc t Shiloli. He is now at work tc J see what these schools will do The funds from the schools will , have to be raised by subscription > this year, as there are no county 1 school funds available. Mr t Knight thinks the amount car ' be easily raised in each school I district named above, but in cast : one or two should fail to do sc there are other schools that car be substituted. The agreement on the part o! the school is for a period of three , years. The man to be employ ed fivos bis; onlir?? tim<? t/~? work, going: perhaps to each , school for half a (lav twice each i week. A New Hay VVadcsboro Ausonian. The writer was shown some of the new forage plant, teasinite growing in a garden at the home ofMr.T. V. Howell of Pea< hland. Three seed were planted in each hill and it is said that an acre planted in this wonderful plant will produce from seventy five to one hundred tons of eood hav. It may tie cut every two weeks and the newspaper man was convinced that it is about the fastest growing plant ever seen in this section It will not mature farther north than Louis iana, hut grows fine hav here. Two dozen hills will support one cow if it grows as it is now growing in Mi. Howell's garden. | Must Conserve Supply of Wheat, Hoover Urges ^ Washington, Aug. 18.?Declaring the United States and its J I allies face a wheat dificit of 4f)0,- * ! ()0< >,000 bushels unless new econ- 1 J omies are introduced, Herbert t I Hoover tonight appealed again < to the American people to elimi- t nale waste and to conserve l wheat by substituting other j cereals. A saving ot one pound , of wheat flour a weak for every ^ person, he declared, would go t far toward solving entirely the ( food question. . "The allies," said Mr. Hoover j in a formal statement, "are isolated troin those marKets, other ( than Canada and the United , States, on which tliev were ac- ' customed to rely before the war. j "The Russian supplv can not i not be got out. Bulgarian and ^ Romanian supplies are in the j hands of the central empires. The voyage from Australia and . . India is three times as long and j therefore requires three times as . many tons of shipping as is re- ] quired .from North Atlantic , ports. There has been a large failure in the South American j countries. 1 "/All tlio olIioH nAli nfr!nt> nr/\ I , ? ttav UII1VU VV/UUIIl^O tUC | rigorously administering; and i economizing their food, but the j allies are unable to use other , cereals alone for bread, They ' | can use them only as added to ( ' wheat Hour to make the war 1 bread now in universal use in , all countries, j "While this situation is one of t great difficulty and concern," said thee food administrator, "it must be met, and met by elimi- , nation of waste and reduction j in wheat consumption and ' proper substitution on the pan of the allied peoples and our selves, in one word, by an effective administration of the I available supply," r % Telephone Line Sold - Pageland Insurance and Real ty Company has purchased the 1 metallic telephone line from i Pageland to Monroe, and we are advised that this line will be - kept in working condition. i This is good news to the busi. ness men of Pageland and citi1 zens of the community. Until > Pageland has a telegraph office . of its own, it is important that I we have a connection by which i we can reach the Western - Union office. Also our calls to . J Charlotte lio out over this line i II and cost less than messages i I routed over the Camden line. ; The charges will remain the < ? same they have been, and ser- i i vice will not be continued to i persons who do not pay their 1 f calls at the end of the month. : The object of the present own- I ers in making the purchase was ; to give better service, believing ] i that the service could be im- i i proved with business manage- ' ment. This line has been oper- J ating in fairly <>d woiking ? order since the second day of Avgust, but we are advised that > many polls need to be replaced < > by new ones and shat the line i j needs tightening at certain i (points. All this work will re- 1 j ceive attention at once, and im- j movements will be gradually ex I tended until the whole line is in j ' as near perfect condition as it is possible to make it. 1 A man was about to be elec- i trocuted and the chaplain asked < him if he had any last wish he 1 would like to make. The con- 1 victed man had been a barber. s "Yes, sir," replied the mini. "Just one. I should like just one i chance to he allowed to shave 1 the district attorney " il Hugging Is Busy Man taianhville Home. Carl Tucker of the Pageland ournal, is so much like a wonan that he just must have the ast word, even if he does start he wrangle. Therefore the lo:al editor of The Home is going o take his little "say" and then )rint what Carl has been scrib)ling off when news was scarce tnd he had to have something to ill up with. The watermelons, itc., to which he refers are haulid to us and we don't even have o go to the patch after them. Furthermore, we are too busy with important matters to spend :>ur time in watermelon patches, imong huckleberry bushes, etc., ind we don't have to drive in ow gear to get through the sand md we can spend some time get ting ready to fight the Germans instead of exhausting our ener jies slapping at mosquitoes. Tucker must be full of the things tie writes about and his liver is undoubtedly affected by too much feasting, but hear him: 'When we feast on watermelons, cantaloupes, scuppernongs, huckleberries, etc., we some limes wonder why people still try to exist in a barren country like Union county. We might invite John Beasley, Zeb Green and Luther Huggins down here for a few days, but if they should come they could never stay up there satisfied any more, and it's probably Better to let them alone and let them think thev are in a fairly good place. In this case ignorance is bliss." German Gun (?) Arouses Marshville Citizens Marshville Home. One of the biggest excitements in the history of Marshville was Dulled off Friday night. Along about ten o'clock a bombard ment started up in the southern phrt of town that sounded like a 44 inch German Howitzer and kept going with such regularity that almost the entire population of the town was aroused, thinking it was a fire alarm. Automobilists, footmen and horsemen hurried to the scene of action with an alertness that indicated that the general opinion prevail ed that about half the town was on fire. Rut when the hiirrvinor ?crowd rushed in sight of the trouble a big headlight resembling an imaginary view of a German siege gun greeted the eager spectators. The cannon roared and a thunder shook the ground. The first thought was to aban don the town at once and leave it to the mercy of the invading enemy that seemed to be bom baiding it for sure, but upon investigating it was ascertained that a gasoline traction engine was trying to wend its way home and had become obstre Derous and was nutiinor nr? o 'back fire" with the cut-out open that would make an ordinary siege gun ashamed of itself. "Is Kansas actually as bone ir> as it is said to be?" "Bone dry!" replied the drum mer who had just returned from [here. "Say, if you wink at a soda clerk in that state and ask tor sassaparilla,' by gosh, you jet sassaparilla!" A clever young wife didn't like ler husband's going out evenngs so much and determined to :ure him by playing on his zanitv. When he came to order lis next pair of shoes, she persuaded him to buy a smaller size. This she repeated until the poor nan was content to get out of lis shoes, when he reached lome. Forty Five-thousand Come o Camp Jackson Over 42,000 men will be assembled at Camp Jackson for the National Army. Finn South Carolina, North Carolic \ Florida and Puerto Rico will 45,213 soldiers as follows: Soul 1 [Carolina, 10,081; North Carolina, lf>,974; Florida, 6,325; other places, 12,933. Maj Gen. Francis H. FrencF, who will be in command : t Camp Jackson, was promoted Tuesday from brigadier general to major general. General French is a native of Indiana and was appointed from the Floosier State to West Point, being graduated from the military academy in 187">. He was made* a second lieutenant in the Nm<teenth Infantry and served on frontier dutv in Colorado and Texas until l89o. He saw serv ice in Puerto Rico and the Philippines and in 1905 and l90ii was inspector general of the Northern division. In 1907 he was inspector general of the Southwestern division and sub sequently served as inspector general of the Deparrment of Dakota and of the Philippine division. He was made a colonel in 1911 and the following year was assigned to the war college. He was recently made a brigadier general. America Must Win War By Strong Army's Blows Paris, Aug. 18.?Major. General Pershing, the American commander, told the Associated Press today that the war can be won only by hard and forceful blows delivered by a well trained American army working in conjunction with the allied armies. Deploring the lukewarmness of the American people in regard to the war General Pershing added: "Every man, woman and child should support the administration in its determination to arm and equip the American army and to keep up its morale and mai 01 me allied armies This war will not be won by talk or by subscriptions to the Red Cross fund. The American people must come to a full realization ot what the war means. It can be won only by striking hard and forceful blows, not otherwise." The general was very emphatic in the interview, which lasted but a few minutes. It Is CANtonment I "Having consulted the dictionary, we are prepared to announce that the correct wav to pronounce the word cantonment is to put the accent on the ton, and not on the can. Also that the o is short. From the same source we learn that the word originated in Switzerland, where it seems to be a political division of the country, hut has long been applied to an assemblage of soldiers. Oilier information cheerfully furnished on application. We strive to please."? Monroe Journal. "But we are over-ruled by Funk & Wagnalls. who put the accent on the "can."?Wadesboro Ansonian. Yes, and by the New Inter national as well. Democratic Leader Dies at Asheville Ashville, Aug. 17.?John W. Kern, former United States senator from Indiana and majority leader in the Senate, died here tonight, death being due to uremic poisoning. The deceased was sixty-seven years old.