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PUBLISHED THREE T attv: L?MBEHI?ST Congressman Smith War us Against II In Miking Report on S ibj ct . SLIMY OF ?IP?RT He Says He Finds Concentration of ] Control of Standing Timber* in Very Few Hands and He Finds Speculative Holdings Far .in Ad vance of Any Use Thereof. Concentration of the control of the standing timber in a very few hands, vasts speculative holdings "far in advance of any. u-se thereof," an enormous increase in the value of "this diminishing .laturai xp source, with great profits'to its own ers," and incidently "and equally sinister land monopoly," and "close ly connected railroad domination" ?these-arerthe- findings- reported- to & President Taft, by Herbert Knox Smith, commissioner ofc corporations;, in the first instalment' of his long awaited report on the lumber Indus try of the country. The report was made public..... ... ,;,when submitted to Congress by the 'President. It constituted the "first comprehensive ant- methodical investigation of the amount of and ownership of our standing timber." The report itself comprises 38" prit ed pages, but a summary of its con , tents is contained in a. letter sub mitted by Mr. Smith. "There are many great combina tions in other industries," says the commissioner," "whose ?ormation is complete. In the lumber industry, on the other hand, the bureau now finds in the malting a combina tion caused fundamentally, by a long standing public policy. */ "In: the last forty years concen tration has so proceeded that 155 holders, many interrelated, how have . .practically one-half tae - privately owned'timber in' the Investigation . are^,; (.which contains 80 per cent ; of the whole.) This formidable c process of concentration, in timber, and: in land,, involves grave future-; ' possibilities of impregaant monop oly, with far-reaching consequences ' to society, it is now difficult to an ticipate fully or to overestimate "The foremost facts shown. are:. First, the concentration of a domi nating; control of our standing tim . ber in a comparatively few enor . mous holdings, steadily tending to wards a central control, of the lum | ber industry; secondl;:-, vast hold ing of timber land far in advance of ' any use thereof; third, an enormous increase in the value of this dimin? ishing natural resourc-sj with great profits to its owners. This value, by the very nature of standing tim ber, the holder neither created nor substantially enhances. "These are the underlying facts of. tremendous, service to the public welfare. They are primarily the re sults of our public lar d policy, long continued. The laws that represent that policy are still largely opera tive. The past history and present status of our standing timber drive home upon us the imperative neces sity of revising our public policy tor future management of all our. re maining natural resources." The commissioner then traces the interval during which timber land passed from Government to private ownership. ^"There is now left,'' he continues, "in Continental United States about 2,200 billion board feet of pri^ate.y owned standing timber, of whica 1,747 billion is in the 'investigation area' covered in great detail by the bureau. This area ircludes the Pa cific Northwest, the Southern pine region and the Lake States, and con tains about 80 per tent of all the private timber of the country. In addition, there are about 5:?9 bil lion feet in the national forests and about 90 billion feet on other vari-j ous private lands. Thus, the total i amount of standing timber in Con tinental United States is about 2,800 billion board feet. The present annual drain upon \ the supply of saw timber is about 50 billion feet. A4 this rate the timber now standing, without allow ance for growth or d^cay, would last only about 55 years "The present commercial value of j privately owned standing timber in the country, not including the vallfe of the land, is estimated at six bil lion dollars. Ultimately, the con sumer will have to pay higher prices for lumber, which will give this timber a far greater value." The commissioner declares the holdings of the Weierhaires Timber Company, the Southern and North ern Pacific Companies, together, are 2oS billion feet, or nearly 11 per cent of all the privately owned tim ber of the country. "In the Southern pine region," said the report, in taking up the discription of timber land, "there are 634 billion feet of privately owned timber. Concentration in to tal timber is much less than in the Pro-Sc Northwest. There is, how ever, a high concontration in the more valuable species, yellow pine and cypress. Sixty-seven holders own 30 per cent of the long leaf yellow pine, 29 per cent of all the cypress, 19 per cent of th-:j short leaf and loblolly pine, and 11 per cent of the hardwood." Coming to the ejects of t iis, the commissioner says; "Such concen IMES A WEEK. PENSION FRAUDES THE LEGISLAiniRE HAS BEEN ASKED TO TAKE ACTION. The Veteran's Bill Will Remedy the Matter, and They Are Deeply In terested in the Measure. Charging - "raud in the pension system of the State. Gen. C. Irvine. Walker of Charleston has made the following statement:. "There is a very deep interest among the Confederate veterans here as to the final outcome of a bill now before the legislature, to amend the pension laws of the State, so as to stop the stupendous frauds which at present exist. The movement started in Camp Sumter and was taken up most earnestly by Gen. B. H. Teague, commanding the South Carolina division veterans, and rep resenting the veterans of the entire State. Gen. Teague had presented to the senate and house a bill, which the veterans thought would correct or check the evil. "The veterans - have evidence of such general fraud in the giving of pensions to those not entitled to re ceive the same, that it prevents the worthy veterans and widows of such frorn receiving all that the State generously awards them. The worthy should receive $36 per an num, but the appropriation is grabbed up by so many unworthy that the worthy received in 1910 only $20. Little more than half! "The veterans sent a representa tive to Columbia to lay the matter before the. legislature... He appeared before trie finance committee of the senate, and the military committee of the house, and both committees, after careful consideration, made unanimously favorable reports. This shows that these influential commit tees were convinced- by the veterans showing that the great evil existed, and- were satisfied with the remedy which the. -veterans suggested in their bill. - "The veterans have laid bare the horrible conditions existing, shown the -frauds being ? annually perpe trated upon the worthy veterans and upon-the-State,.-and if the legislature ! does* not act, it must answer for a continuance of -the evils to the peo ple, Whose money Is being misappro priated and- criminally wasted. The bill .provides an immediate remedy which' will check a large amount of fraud this year and eventually purge the rolls of-the unworthy. "The" best informed veterans think that there ought not, to be more'than 2,000 soldier pensioners, while the pension roll of 1910 shows 4.886! The United Confederate veterans 'think that they had enrolled consid-j erably more than half the survivors; of the Lost Cause in the State. Last j year the Stai!e division had on its: rolls 2,395. The pension roll of! 4,886 soldiers is more than double the number of comrades in United ; Confederate camps! Nothing can1 more clearly demonstrate the utter] absurdity?if not fraud?of the pen-i slon roll! "The veterans have exposed the fraud and feel that it Is now up 'to | the legislature to remove the stigma J and save the State money. It is sin-! cerely hoped that it will not adjourn! without taking the desired action." i Fire at Lamar. One of the most destructuve fires that ever visited Lamar occurred Wednesday night when twenty build ings were burned. The fire origi nated in na barber shop, supposedly from a defective flue, and before the flames could be checked several nearby buildings caught and the fire gained such a headway it was im possible to do anything towards stop ping it. tration in standing timber, if per mitted to continue and increase, make probable a final central con trol of the whole lumber industry. A few strong interests ultimately holding the bulk of the timber, can set the price of timber and its pro ducts. "Certain further facts, not exact ly measurable, increase Dtill more the real concentration. First, a further interweaving of interests, corporate and personal, connects a great many holdings which the bu reau has treated as separate. Sec ond, the very large totals of timber so scattered in small tracts through lar?er holdings that they are sub stantially 'blocked in' or 'controlled' by the large holders: third, the con centration is much larger in the val uable species. "The largest holders are cutting little of this timber. They thus re serve to themselves incalculable profits, which are still to accrue with the growth of the country, the di minishing of timber supply and the further concentration and control thereof. Many of the very men who are protesting against conservatism of the forest system, because of the tying up of 'natural resources, are themselves deliberately tying them up far more effectively for private gain; The fact that mature timber is thus withheld from use is clear evidence that great additional prof its are expected to accrue through further increase in value. Standing timber is not the only question. When the timber has been cut the land remains. There has been cre ated, therefore, not only the frame work of an enormous timber mo nopoly, but also an equally sinister land" discrimination, involving also a great wealth in minerals." OBANGrEBUEG, WEEVIL SCARE Men, Reported Seen Disf/ibutiag Turm oa Plantations in Georgia. ? ??' ? ? j WERE LOOKING FOR AID ,Is What They Said When. Caught Digging Small Holes?President Barrett Calls on Farmers to Pro-, tect Themselves?Says Every Pre caution Should be Taken by . "Them: Have the alleged boll weevil dis tributors 'been operating in Colum bia county? is the ciuestion that is agitating the farmers of some sec tions of that county, according to a telephone message received by the Augusta Chronicle Thursday. The message stated . that near Evans, Ga., two men were last week seen driving in their buggies over several of the plantations in the sec tion ?ind digging small holes here and there in the fields, and occasion ally making smaller holes wh.n spikes. To some who questioned them later they stated that they were looking for indications of oil. This incident occurred before the publication of The Chronicle's story of the rumor that one man had come to Augusta for the purpose of scat tering the boll weevil In the cotton fields of that section, and after read j ing the story the farmers of thai: sec tion \." Columbia county have be come alarmed over the happening, and fear that it is probable that the weevils may have been placed In their fields. iNo one took any special notice of the men, so no good description could be gotten of them. Onj was said to be in a buggy drawn by a very dark horse, and the other was driving a horse of somewhat lighter color. What Barrett Says. ' 'Following the publication of an alleged amazing plot on the part or schemers to iiifest the Georgia and J South Carolina cotton fields with 'the boll weevil, Charles S. Barrett, president of the National ? Farmers' j union, in an open'statement, declares that the advancing sweep of the ?plague of the cotton fields jeopar dizes the entire agricultural welfare 'of the South. j President Barrett deplores the fact that cotton growers of Georgia and adjoining states are lethargic ovp this grave menace and asserts ithai "had this visitation, which in ! its drastic destruction of values,' is j entitled to rank with the plagues I of Egypt, first shown its head in ! any of the trained and disciplined i nations of Europe, the concerted : wealth and skill of the threatened j government would have been mus tered to stifle the danger." He points out the fact that the South holds practically a world uio 1 nopoly in cotton, but that the very j foundation of this monopoly is men j aced by the onward sweep of the j pest, which all the science of the 'best skill has been unable to ef fectively curb as yet. He sees hope, however, in the tremendous possi bilities of diversification throughout the cotton belt, where soil and cli mate combine to make possible al most any crop grown elsewhere in the world. ! Just at this time, when the wee vil seems destined-through its nat ural channels to invade Georgia 'within the next year or so, his ar . tide should be read with the closest attention and interest. President ! Barrett is a plain spoken man. He j doesn't use round-about or evasive ! methods or language. He has the j habit of driving direct at the point, j Therefore his utterances are not ] those of an alarmist, but words of j wisdom from a careful and observ i ant man, whose life has been and is 'being snent in helping the man who tills the soil. He says: "The motive of this present ap peal is to stress upon Southern ' farmers everywhere the absolute ? necessity of taking precautionary 'measures at once. Had the farmers j of Texas and Louisiana adopted this I plan they would have avoided mil lions of dollars in losses due to the jboll weevil. The only sensible pro cedure is to recognize that the en tire South seems destined to be af-1 ; flicted by an unoscapable pest and ;to go nbout lessening or removing its possibilities for evil before it shall have reduced us to panic by its suri I den appearance. I "I have always held that the (Southern states are so fortunately [endowed by nature Hint they should jbe absolutely independent of other ] portions of America. The boll wee l.vil is the bludgeon that is s:oing to j make us come intn our heritage I sooner than we had expected In I this respect, it is a blessing in dis ' guise, but it is essential to act in 1 time if we aTe to reap the advantages ? of the situation." Fatally Wounded. ;. Upon entering a room in Greenville . Wednesday to arrest G. W. Stonecy : pher, who had been raising a disturb ance in a drunken spree, Thoraas J jCureton, familiarly known as "Uu jcle Tommy," a 70-year-old policeman and the oldest man in point of ser j vice on f:he Greenville police force, was shot in the head by Stonecypher and fatally wounded. S. C. SATURDAY. FEB1 MAY RUSH TO WAR RELATIONS TO RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE STRAINED. Russian Troops Are to be Dispatched to the Chinese Frontier to Scare j Them. A dispatch from London says the relations of Russia and China are strained to the breaking point. Rus sia Thursday notified the govern ments of Great Britain, France and Germany of her intention to make a military demonstration on the Rus Eo-Chinese frontier owing to China's persistent violation of the St. Peters burg treaty of. 18SI.' Russian troops will be sent forth with to the district of Hi. The ex tent of the demonstration, it is said, added in the diplomatic note will de pend entirely upon the attitude as sumed by China. /The vital questions Involved are free trade in Mongolia, thev extra territorial rights of Russians in Chi na and the establishment of a Rus sian consultate at Koebdo, Mon golia. There have been rumors recently of an intention by Russia to bring pressure to bear upon| China be cause of alleged violation!* of the Russo-CbineBe treaty. Thart the sit uation was acute, however, has been j denied both by. the Chinese foreign board and the Russian legation at Peking. It has been'admitted that there were differences in the interpreta tions of the international agreement made at St. Petersburg and Peking. The treaty adopted in 1881 expires this month and it has been reported that China was unwilling; to renew it, at least not until certain modifi cations have been made. The changes have been closely guarded by both powers and what stage the negotiations have reached was not Indicated until yesterday, when the St. Petersburg Gazette an nounced that- an important confer ence had been held at the war min istry to consider "China's persistent flouting of treaty stipulations." The province of 111,* to which Rus sian troops will be sent, lies in the ?northern part of the Chinese empire. By a provision of the Russo-Ghinese treaty of 18S1 the western portion of Hi 's incorporated with.Russia in order to serve ?s''-?- place of estab lishment for the inhabitants of Rus sia, who, having adopted Russian dependence, had to abandon the lands which they possessed there. DETATLS OF EASLEY KILLING. Olin Fletcher, Slayer of Harrall Goodson, in Jail. Tuesday night, at the Easley Cot ton Mill, in the town of Easley, Ol.'.n Fletcher killed Harrall Goodson. From what can be learned it seems that several boys were sitting on the church steps at the mill, about 9 o'clock. Olin Fletcher walked up to the boys and asked Luther Norris for a cigarette. Norris gave it to him. None of the boys had a match. Olin Fletcher, seeing Ben Harris coming down the street, asked Harris for a match. Harris pulled a pistol out of his pocket and said: "This is the kind of match I will give you." Har ris put the pistol back in his pocket. Fletcher then pulled the pistol out of Harris's pocket and began to sling it around. It was discharged and the bullet struck Harrall Goodson and he was killed almost instantly. They were young men about 20 years of age and unmarried. Fletcher was caught about four miles from the scene of the killing and is no?' in jail. The coroner held an inquest, and it is said a motive for the killing was brought out. BURGLARS TORTURE VICTIM. Singe His Hair and Blistered His Face to Get Money. Torture by fire was resorted to by two burglars who broke into the rooms of Joseph Wishnock, a cobbler in Williamsburg, N. Y., Wednesday in their determination to make him reveal the hiding place of his pitiful small hoard of savings. It was not until the men had burned off WiBh nock's beard and hair and had blist ered his face and neck that he told that his small store of $12 was hid den in the mattress on which his tor turers had him pinned down. At the hospital where the cobbler had his painful but not fatal burns dressed he identified two young men whom the police arrested as the pair who had tortured and robbed him. Quits the Race. Jo'nn Keith, a white farmer living four miles west of Marion, com mitted suicide Wednesday afternoon by shooting himself through thi he.u1 with a pistol. Mr. Keith was about 40 years of age and no cause can be assigned for his rash deed, as both his health and finances \veve in good shape. He is survived by three sisters and one brother. Weary of Life. At. Columbus, Ga.. J. W. Weaver, aged 34 years, committed suicide by shootin? himself in the temple with a pistol. He was discovered by his daughter lying in a pool of blood at the family residence on East High land street. Ill health is said to have been the cause of the deed. Iii fXJARY 18, 1911. A Republican Senator Talks Oat Plainly on the Race Qaestion THE NORTH HYPOCRITE in Opposing Amendment to Resolu tion for Direct Election of United States Senators, Borah Maintains Treatment Accorded Negro in North No Better Than in South. That prejudice again'st the negro is just as intense in the North as in the South and that the North plays the hypocrite in its contentions to the contrary, was boldly and bluntly asserted in the Senate Thursday by a Republican Senator. ? i Senator Borah, of Idaho, was the speaker. His declarations regarding the negro were made at the close of a prolonged speech, in opposition to the Sutherland amendment to the Senate resolution providing for the election of Senators by popular vote. The amendment would have the ef fect of giving Congress control of Senatorial elections. Mr. Borah's pronouncement on the race question was made in re sponse to the recent assertion of Senator Root, that without the Suth erland provision the resolution would deprive the Southern negroes of Fed eral protection in the exercise of the franchise. Mr. Borah dissented from the New Yorker's view, and in doing so used language which elic ited congratulations from many Sen ators. Mr. Borah contended that as the resolution stands, notwithstanding it give3 State legislatures control of Senatorial elections, Congress would still have the right to interfere in protecting any citizen whose right of franchise had been interferred with. The Idaho Senator expressed deep re gret that the race question had been brought into the controversy and as serted that its Introduction was in tended only to imperil the resolution. "I wonder' how long the North is going to piny the hypocrite and the moral coward on' this question?" said Mr. Bornh, and added that that section" always had assumed more wisdom and more tolerance in-dent ing with this problem than had been displayed elsewhere. He insisted that a call of the roll of the North ern State in which there as any apreciable number of negroes, would demonstrate that the North had not dealt more leniently with the negro than had other sections. "The Northern States have exhib ited the same race prejudice that has been shown elsewhere," he as serted. "In the North we burn the negro at the stake and there, as in other sections, we have our race wars. We push our negroes to the outer edge of the industrial world. We exhibit the same prejudices, the same weaknesses, the same intoler ance that is apparent in the South land." Mr. Borah declared that if Con gress had power under the existing provisions of the Constitution, giving Congressional control over Senator ial elections, it should he exercised. "If that right, exists, the North nas the greater obligation under it, be cause it makes claim to it. ? We assert the power, but we admit that we haven't had the moral courage to exercise it." For himself, he denied the exist ence of any such power, and said that he resented such a position oe cause of the position in which Con gress was placed by it. Concluding he said: "The negro has been used as a political football about as long as our own sense of decency and his developing intelligence wili permit. We should no longer mistreat him, but we should have the courage to inform him as to the real situation. It does not benefit him to make him the subject of our sophomoric rhet oric. The negro has advanced to the point where we well mav dispense with the perennial distribution of soothing syrup and give him solid food in the way of farts. We should (ell him the truth and conceal noth ing. "The negro is beginning to realize that the white man of the North is of the snme race ns the white man of the South, and that in his blood is the virus of dominion and power. Tie should know, while his slave chains have been broken, the chains of industry are being forged around him and will continue to hold him unlfss ho himself breaks them. This badge was placed upon him by his maker, and it can be removed only by the ne:ro himself, with the aid of those who have the courage to tell him the truth, which is that we have the power to guarantee tn him equal protection of the law and to protect him against discrimina tion. To attempt anything more would be ruinous to the colored man and demoralizing to the whole polit ical body. He must work out. the problem under the Constitution. "When the exigencies of debare are over it will be found that no mc-asures will be offered in this Sen ate to protect any supposed right of the colored man anywhere. If those who are interested will turn to the Constitution, they will find there the one universal rule of equality, the only rule to be applied to the ne gro, and the only rule under which KILLED BY FATHER MURDERER UNMOVED BY THE VICTIM'S PLEADING WIFE. The Young Man Drives Wagon on Yard Agaipst Father's Orders and is Shot Down. With the wife of his victim cling ing, to him and entreating him not to shoot, and her four children standing by, awe-stricken witnesses, William Martin Lanford. a ,64-yeai old Confederate veteran, early Wed nesday morning put a bullet into the heart of his 'son, William David Lanford, 35 years old, killing him almost instantly. The son and his family lived with the old man on a plantation on the Enoree river, three miles from Woodruff: Because of constant bickerings the son had decided to move. When he came with a wagon to take away his household goods the father bade him not drive upon the yard under pain of'death. The young man ignored the command, and was shot-thro ugh the heart. After the killing,- the old man mounted a mule and, with head erect, glancing neither to the right or left, paying no heed to the curi ous persons who followed him, rode to Woodruff, calmly announced that he had killed his son and said he was going to Spartanburg to sur render to the sheriff. The train had gone and Lanford accordingly went to Foster & Bry son's store and requested Bert Weathers, a clerk, to telephone the sheriff,'W. J. White,, to come for him. This, was done aild Lanford was' committed to jail late in the afternoon. - In jail he complained of begin ill and Dr. William G. Sexton was oallpd and prescribed. It is reported that Lanford is suffering from pel lagra but the report lacks confirma tion. The old jnan said at the jail that during the last six months he has had 15 physicians treat him for Intestinal trouble and none had been able to do'anything for him. Dr. Sexton said that owing to the darkness of Lanford's cell he had not noticed any skin eruptions, if there were any, but he would make more careful examination next day. Coroner j. B. Turner had the in quest in the afternoon. There was difficulty in obtaining a jury because of the 50 or 60 persons called near ly all were related to the Lanforcis. The jury finally chosen found that W. D. Lanford had come to his death by a gunshot wound at the hands of W. M. L2nford. . The testimony giver was in effect the same as the story given above. There was evidence that Lanford had consented to his son moving and did not object to his taking away the furniture but ordered him not to drive the wagon on the yard. FOUND HTM A WIFE. Wrote His Name on arr Egg and. Cupid Did the Rest. Because an egg on which he had written his name while packing a crate for shipment East reached it? destination in a fresh condition, Ed ward Taylor of Alexandria, S. Dak., a grocer's clerk, and Miss Margsret Gravner. of Brooklyn, N. Y., were married last week. Miss Orayner when opening the esrr noted the name and address on the shell, and being struck by the freshness of the morsel of food and the oddness of the affair, wrote to the young man, more as a joke than anythintr /else. Later photographs were evcbgneed, then more notes, and finally Taylor journeyed dowr East to see in real life the object of his peculiar l?inance. Things were better in real life than on paper, and after a short courtship he returned to Alexandria and the grocery store. He did not write on any more eg^s?he didn't have to?he was en eared and he loved the girl and t*>e girl loved him. The girl was the Brooklyn lass whc wrote the joke note because she found a boyish u^-ne inscribed on the shell of a fresh epir. Two week? aero Tay'or returned to Brooklyn and last week married Miss Gravner. HTS LIFE CRUSHED OVT. J. Edgiir Shumate Dies of Horrible Injuries at Pclzer. Mr. .T. Edgar Shu mate, night sup erintendent of the Moneynick Oil Mill, at Pelz?r was horribly crushed in the fly wheel of the mill at 1 o'clock Wed'T^day morning, and at fl:.n,0 o'clock Thursday ho succumbs'* to the injurir.c. Fire was discovered in the engine room and young Sim ulate went down in the fly wheel pit to throw the large driving belt off the wheel, to s?ve it from the flame's. He stepped o:- the fly wheel, whe.n the machinery was unexpectedly started, and be was caught in the wheel and crushed. Shumate was removed immediately to his room at the Padget Hotel and medical aid was summoned from Anderson. Kills Wife and Self. At Alexandria, La., James Mob ley, uged 30, Wednesday shot and killed his wife and then sent a bul let through his temple, killing him self instantly. Domestic infelicity is given as the cause. Mr. and Mrs. Mobley were locked in a room when the tragedy occurred. WO CENTS PBB COPY CAN'T SEE JOKE Champ Clark Stirred Up Most Unexpect ed Fi o ?be. BY JOCULAR REMARK The President Also Takes the Matter Seriously and Thinks It Necessary to Issue Denial of the Reported Octapus Designs of the United States and Canada. The semi-jocular remarks which Champ Clark, the Democratic speak er-to-be, made in the house during the debate on, the Canadian reci procity to the effect that he believed the Stars and Stripes would one day float over the entire Western hemi sphere, stirred up most unexpected trouble on Wednesday. President Taft took occasion to write to Representative McCall, in troducer of the reciprocity bill, a letter disclaiming and deprecating the annexation talk, and to follow It up with personal remarks, even more emphatic to his visitors. The letter of President Taft to Mr. Mc Call says in part; "This agreement, if it becomes a law, has no political significance.. No thought of future political annexa tion or union was in the mind of the negotiators on either side. Canada is now and will remain a political unit." The president has made it known that he would like to have it under stood throughout the world that his administration had no thought what- ? e7er of annexation when the resi procity agreement was arranged. The news that Mr. Clark's allu sions had created excitement in Can ada and in England occasioned great surprise and considerable amusement at the capitol. The man most surprised of all was Mr. Clark himself. He declared Wednesday that he expressed his own individual opinion and declared that he stands pat on his speech. Mr. Clark's entire speech on reciprocity was delivered In .a half-humorous, half-taunting vein. The house was in a gale of laughter most of the time. , In return for the laughs he was creating at their expense, some of : the Republicans tried to turn the tables on Mr. Clark by chiding him with the fact that he might have President Taft as an opponent for th<> Democratic nomination. This humorous exchange reflected the spirit of the debate during the entire time. Mr. Clark was on his feet, and no one-gave serious con sideration to his remarks regard ing the possible annexation of Can ada at some distant time. There was a further touch of facetiousness to the debate when one of the Republicans asked Mr. Clark if he would like to he the first president of Life magnificent Union he was creating and he re plied, amid bursts of laughter, that he certainly would. ' Friends of the reciprocity meas ure were inclined to take the view that opponents of the agreement hid simply seized on what was regarded here as an entirely personal and harmless statement to make capital against the ratification of the agree ment. Ottawa is Annoyed. A dispatch from Ottawa, Ontario, says there was considerable interest and some irritation there Wednes day over Champ Clark's speech, In which he said that the reciprocity agreement was the first step towara annexation. At the opening of session of the house, Col. Sam Hughes read a newspaper abstract of the speech and asked if it was a fair statement of the American attitude and if so in quired if the Canadian government leaders were' prepared to withdraw from the reciprocity agreement. Sir Wilfred Laurier's reply was noncommital.. He said that the gov ernment had no information on the subject; that the Canadian govern ment had announced its policy and would not change it until it had more information. Victim of Hot Supper. At a negro dance ? few nights ago, near Tirzah, Will Burnett, a nejro, was shot nnd .killed by Sam Fewell, also a negro. Trouble arouse about a woman, and Rnrnett and Gco. Webb were fighting when Fewell fired the fatal shot. Webb went to Yorkville and told the officers that "There was a dead nigger out there." They went to the place and found him. I we can legislate. If applied, it will ' be proven to be the correction rule, the rule for all of us." I Fatal Practical Joke, j At Decatur. Aln.. as the result of I a practical joke, Woody Kirby, an 'er-- 'oe of the Louisville nnd Nnsh vihj hops lost his life. Kirby and ra man named Pigg were engaged in ja friendly scuffle when the latter turned an air-hose on Kirby, almost j blowing his vitals out. Lost His Hand. At Greenville J. F. Lowe, machin ist at the South Carolina Cotton Oil Jcompany.'s plant, lost his right hand ] Wednesday in the Unter machine, j He was engaged in making some i minor repairs when his hand got ' caught.