Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE MILL PROBLEM. By. Rev. W. J. Snyder in Southern Christian Advocate. Some years ago I studied algebra under Prof. Graser when the Wofferd Fitting School was situated nearly a mile from its present site. It was a pleasure to work out the values of x, y, z, but when I came to that part called "problems" I was in dire dis tress. If I could get the problem started I could work it out all right, but many a time I had to get help from the kindly disposed professor. I found also that, in order to correct ly state any problem, I <had to under stand the principles of the cases that I had gone over. If I slighted the work that led up to the problems, it was zero on my marks and extra work in order to catch up. In solving the cotton mill problem I fear the brethren have skipped a good deal of the primary work and tried to get the answer when they did not know the true realizations of x, y and z. Let us state the mill problem alge braically. Let x equal the confer ence, y the preacher, and z the mill people. The answer to be the glory --of God in terms of souls saved and the church.edified. In getting- at the solutia most of the writers have t im to work out the answer with z and,given very little if any considera tion to x and y. The problem will neer be solved till the right values are given to the three parts of the problem,. viz.; the conference, the ministry and' the people. In order to see how we have failed to get the answer required above, let us examine into some of the facts that confront us -and recognize fully how far we have failed ,-o -solve the problem of centering our attention al most exclusively on-z. First, there are over one hundred and twenty-five thousand white peo ple living today at the mills in our' state, or at least a fifth of the white population of the state. We have in our church in the state eighty-six thousand members. Then we ought to- have at the mills one-fifth of that membership, or seventeen and a half thousand members. Considering the fact that there are practically only two churches doing work at the mills viz.: the Methodist and Baptist, the proportion s-hould be more. The facts, n owever. that stare us in the face are, that among the Presby Sterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians and others, we have eighty thousand mem bers, while at the mills with the field, practically confined to the Methodists and Baptists we 'have less than six thousand. Six thousand when we ought to have seventeen. The ans wer missed by eleven thousand! In Sschool a failure like that would mean a zero for a mark and the~ demand that I do better or fail to advance. What kind of a record is being made against our great church when year after year we come up with such an answer to the problem God gave us to solve. Does He say "Well done," or is "Failed"' written on our re port? In solving this problem. let us first te.ke up the relation bhat x .bears to its solution. As a conference the body should first recognize that the greatest missionary field it .has is at her doors. That there are a hundred thousand people in the state not af filiated with -any church where they live. That these people are within easy reach and are naturally of a religious temnperament. That they will respond .to kindness and right treatmen~t as quickly and cheerfully as any people on the globe. That they are a hard working people and shenee not susceptible to the vices that are found among the idle. That they have been more sinned against .than sinning. That they have been judged as a class by their most un worthy representatives. That they have been ostracised by people who are not as good as they are. That they appreciate good preaching and will attend church when there is enough in the sermon to interest them and this in spite of the fact that they have worked strenuously for sixty hours during the preceding week. If the conference would recognize these fa:-ts, that are patent to those who have been among the mill p)eople long enough to know them. then it would change its attitude to them and do what is necessary to win the -thous ands that are ready to be gathered into th:e chureh. Let the conference send to the mill charges those men who are experienced and capable men who know how to preach; men who can organize the young people into missionary societies, leagues, Sunday schools. etc.: men of abilig: and tact : men who will work: men who) are not looking for a better place nancally. Let the conference quit ending -her boy preachers to practice n mli l)eople and ais soon1 as they are learned how to reach the people iov them~ on to a so-called better lace and send other inexperienced MCI WUlldU tihe Uhrk that has beer I done. There is no city charge in South Carolina that would have stood the treatment that the mill charges have been subjected to. They would have rebelled and made it so hot for the presiding elder that he would have had to make a change as soon as possible. Why? Because the city charge pays more and hence should 'have the best preachers. There's the rub. It is a case of money on the one side and souls to save and a rip ened harvest on the other. The money gets the man and the harvest goes un gathered. This being the case, and I certainly do not object to the preach ers getting all the money they can, the only way left for the conference to do in order to save the day and solve the problem as regards x's part is to raise enough money to put the men in the field that are capable of doing the work as thoroughly as it is done on our well organized charges. We assess this year two thousand seven rundred dollars more for foreign mis sions than we assess for the men who are serving domestic mission charges. I would not take one dollar off for eigin assessment, it is small enough, but I know the Methodists, the busi ness men 'of our church would gladly put double the amount into the home land that we are now putting if they were assured that the same care would be taken in manning our weak charges that is used in manning the foreign field. I asked a member of the domestic mission board at the last session of the conference why more was not as sessed for domestic missions. He said, "if you assess more you won't get it.." I !have since then been talk ing with every prominent layman I have met and the universal verdict is that the laymen of South Carolina would gladly pay much more to bring out our weak fields. Again let the conference honor her domestic missionaries as she does those who come from a foreign field. Let the home fields have a more prom inent part in our conference proceed ings. Let the mission board take more interest in the missionary and not act simply as a financial distrib uting agency. I have been before the board a good many times and the greeting I invariably got was, "Be brief, brother, we have a lot to do." If the board has so much to do that it can not look into the various mis sion charges then let it employ a mis sionary seeretary as the foreign board does to advise and inspire and sympa thize with those who are trying to h.old up the banner of Christ and Methodism. Personally, we believe that every member of the board is sincerely in terested in the various mission fields f the state, but the system they arej working under has failed to accom plish the desired end and the system must give way to one that will work r Methodism in this state will suffer icalculable damage. It is hard . get ut of the old way of doing things, but the changed conditions of mod ern life demand different modes of procedure. Under the present sys tem it is impossible for the board to get in sympathetic touch with the feld it is' trying to work or even to know the actual needs of the field. There is a statistical report required of each pastor that received aid from the board. These reports are render ed quarterly and the preacher's mon ey is held up till the report. is in. Phese reports seem, to one who has rade a good many of them, intended to let the secretary of the board know whether or not the preacher is lying down on his job. After the hoard is supplied with the, information as to ow many sermons have been preach ed, how many visits made, how much has been collected, how the church is organized, etc., after getting all these facts by holdig over the preach er the threat, "If you do not report we will not pay your appropriation," is then powerless to use this knowl edge so acquired either to the ad vantage or detriment of the preacher reporting. There is a missing link between the board of missions and the bishop's cabinet that should be provided for at our next general con ference. It is just as much the board 's duty to look into the matter of wheth 'r 'ir net a preacher has a house to livo :in a to what he shall live on. I e't the !9ard to see this point ser ralI y*ear ago and secured help to build a decent parsonage in Colum bia. Jf the confeene expects any reacher to do effective work, as far is it is able it must make that reachler comfortable and relieve him of financial emnbarassment. It is hard wo rk when there is not enough to feed and clothe one's family decently. Ye lavmien of South Carolina, speak *nt and let the conference know that vou are ready to stand behind a move ment that will redeem Methodism frm m the reproach t'hat lies at her lor heeause of her failure to do her duty to the hIome mission field JUNIOR SENATOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND HIS PEDIGREE. "Red Buck" Bryan, Washington correspondent of the Charlotte Ob server has written an interesting sketch of South Carolina's Junior Senator, E. D. Smith, it is-as fol lows: North Carolina boasts of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde pendence, Guilford Battle Ground, Andrew Jackson and James Knox Polk, but she has no Ellison Da Rant Smith-no, not one-and she envies South Carolina-Lynchburg Sumter county, his birthblace. Ellison DuRant now hails from Florence, and is the junior Senator from the Palmetto State. "Who is this man that leans over the railing of the House, on field days, and takes such a lively inter est in the rough-and-tumble de bates and looks so longingly at the participants on these space-making occassions?'" the boys in the press gallery ask. There is none other than Ellison Durant Smith, the- new Senator from South Carolina. The envious look in his eye, th-e uneasy twitch of his ready mouth and the ten acitv with which he hangs on would make one believe that 'he would give half his salary to be on the floor so that he could help Oily James, Henry Clayton and Tom Helflin bob up like North Carolina bases after a big rain-and.spit vitriol at Jim Mann, John Dalzell or Sereno Payne. "0, but wouldn't I show them a thing or two if I could just put in now and then?" is what Ellison Du Rant's face says. It is hardly fair to liken the South Carolinian to a mule, but any man who was raised on a Southern farm cannot help, when he sees Ellison's chin uplifted, gazing about the farm scene of his boyhood, when a neigh boring balaam would step up to the barnyard fence, look in where the mules and horses were playing, and believing that he could outdo any beast there. Pace too Slow for Him. The Senate is too slow for Elli 3on Durant. 'Who is he?' the scribes keep in guiring. Let him answer. "Ellison DuiRant Smith, Democrat, was born August 1, 1866, Sumter, now Lee, county,'' says the Congre.s sional Dir~ectory a book in which Congressmen are permitted to tell svho they are.. After giving his pedigree-a con si'derable slice from his family tree K'r. Smith proceeds: "entered fresh nan class at the University of South arolina; afterwards entered Wof ord College, from which :he graduat ad in 1889. At Wofford he won gold edals in debate, science and litera ure in his .sophomore, junior and senior years." That was going some. "ewas a member of the Legis ature from Sumter county, 1896 o 1900, this being his only previous political experience. He is a farm er and merehant.'' But listen: "He began the cotton movement in 1901, which resulted n the Farmers'- Protective Associa ion,'' declares the directory, modest There are some here who vow that Efllison DuRant rode the boll wee vil to power. All this took place immediately af ber ".the Sulley 'break,' when cotton ropped from 17 to 6 1-2 cents." "He began a study of the cotton ovement." Mark his progress. "Attended boll weevil convention at Shreveport, La., which resulted in plans for the New Orleans conven tion, January, 1905, which eulmi rated in the formation of the South ern Cot toni Association,'' proclaims [he directory. A Boll Weevil Sleuth. "He (Ellison DuRant) was made ield agent and general organizer (a sort of boll weevil sleuth) in which apacity 'he served three years, his erritory covering the entire South.'' Listen! Th1e directory in strident tones' asserts: ''He (Ellison Du Rant) became a national figure on ac count ot addresses at New Orleans, Birmingham, Dallas and Shreveport.'' That is a modest admission for a United States Senator. What if he had been a North Car onian! Finally, in conclusion, brethren: 'lHe was nominated for the United States Senate at a primary electio,n in September, 1908, receiving 69. 318 votes to 39.635 for John Gary Evans, his majority being the largest ever given anyv candidate for the of T>is is all, but it might have been z4dded that he is "'the only turtle in the tank,' *' " the only bull fro on the bank,' ' "the only boll weevil in the State.'' "the only gob bler on the roof." In Washington Senator Ellison DuRant Smith will be known as the chief of the bull weevils. North Carolina is not far behind, however, and she owes it to John Gaston Grant, Republican member from the tenth congressional district, for saving her from humiliation. Of Mr. Grant, the directory says: "He was born in a log cabin in the mountains of Henderson county." Some family history follows: Young Grant 'had to work after the civil war, in which his father 'had fought as a Confederate soldier, and could not get an education at school, but "feeling the need of ed ucation he bought a dictionry, a blue-back speller and a Davies Arith metic, and after working all day, he would .carry home a load of pine knots at night, and while the wife and little ones slept would study.' Grant was elected to the Legisla ture, was sheriff of 'his county, and in 1896 was appointed "subelector for William McKinley and made one of the strongest campaigns ever made in the district." HUNTER CASE GOES TO HIGHER COURT. Laurens Man's Appeal GvmateI By Federal Tribunal-U. S. Supreme Court Assumes Jurisdiction. News and Courier. Washington, April 15.-An inter esting development in the case of the State of South Carolina vs G. Wash Hunter, convicted of the murder of. Elbert F. Copeland, of Laurens Coun ty, at the Court of General Sessions Ifor Greenwood County, February 24, 1908, has arisen in that the Supreme Court of the United States has as sumed jurisdiction of the case upon appeal from the decision of the Su preme Court of the State of South Carolina. Following a mistrial in this case in Laurens County it was changed to Greenwood County, where Hunter was found guilty and sen tenced to eight years in the Peniten tiary. The case was appealed to the State Supreme Court, and in an opin ion rendered by Justice Woods the Supreme Court confirmed the action of ihe Circuit Court. His local counsel in the State was C. L. Blease, of Newberry, and Rich ey & Richey, of Laurens, and at this juncture John G. Capers, of this city, was 'employed to look into the pos sible Federal questions involved, whie'h would open a way for an ap peal to the Supreme Court of the United States. A stay of remittitur was first obtained, and then an ap peal to the Supreme Court of the United States was perfected, a writ of error granted by Chief Justice Pope of the State Supreme Court, and upon the 'showing made the Su preme Court of the United 'States has now taken jurisdiction of the case on appeal. Amon~g the Federal questions rais ed it is claimed that Hunter was de nied his right of trial by jury in the county and in the district wherein the alleged crime was committed, and also because he was required to ans wer to a capital and thus an infam ous crime without a prior present ment or indictment .of the grand jury, guaranteed him by Articles 5 and 6 of the amendment to the Constitution; and that the Supreme Court of the State in sustaining the rulings The trial Court practically forced Hunter to testify. against himself, and in other ways he was denied the equal :protection of the laws and rights guaranteed to and claimed by him under the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United State. Some questions of difference seem to exist as to whether or not the grand jury was in evidence upon his trial. In any event, in defending the action of the trial Court before the Supreme Court, it is said, the solicitor urged that even were this true, Hunter had lost his right to so plead. because that question was not raised at the time of. his trial in the lower Court, and that position was sustained by the Supreme Court of the State in an opinion said to be contrary to the at titude of the Court upon the same subject for the past thirty years. It is iresumed t'hat the case will be argued in the Supreme Court dur ing in the coming fall, anfd consider able interest is manifested in view of the rather unusual questions raised, and in the assuming of jurisdiction 'by the Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court in view of the provisions of the Federal Constitn tion in such cases. P. H.McG. Causeandeffect. Heboltsasanidwichanldsomebeansi-, Apieceortwoofpie; AndglpaeupofeoffeedownH Ereyoucanbatyo.ureye. Then, laiter on. there comes to 'him A very commou q1uestion: le wonders how it was that he Contracted indigestion. -Cogburn Giant Talks. Can You Say No And Stick to it when some impulse en ters your brain to spend your hard earned money foolishly? If you can and will deposit that money in this bank you have a mighty good start to ward success. Our assistance will be given at the rate of 4 per cent. The Commercial Bank, NEWBERRY, S. C. JNO. M. KINARD, 0. B. MAYER, J. Y. McFALL, President. Vice-President. Cashier. THIS BANK WANTS YOUR BUSINESS. We confess it. On the other hand, we know we are justi fiedin asking your patronage. We offer you every facility found in a modern institution. Open an account with [THE EXCHANGE DANK ON JANUA RY 1 ST. We Pay 4 Per f,ent. Interest in ~*Our Sayings Department, . .DAVENPORT, . E. R. H IPP, President. . V. Prdsident.. M. L. SPEARMAN, Cashier. SOME OF OUR POLICIES: To be conservative. To pay four per cent. To calculate interest semi-annually. To bond every employee.. To be progressive and accommodating. - To lend our money to our customers. To treat our patrons courteously. To be liberal and prompt.. TO BE TE VERY BES BAKFOR YOU TO DO BUSINESS WITH. Our institutio is under the supervision of and regualarly examined by the State Banlir Examiner. The Bank of Prosperlig, Pr osperity, S. C. DR. GEO. Y. HUNTER, DR. J. S. WHEELER, President. V. President. J. F. BROWNE, 3. A. COUNTS, Cashier. Assistant Cashier. * The First Cough of the Season, : EveL though not severe, has a tendency to irritate the sensi * ive mzembranes of the throat and delicate bronchial tubes. Coughs then come easy all witer, every time you take theS *slightest cold. Cure the first coulgh before it has achance to * * et up an inflamation in the delicate capillary air tubes of theg *lungs. The best remedy is QUICK RELIEF COUGH BYRUP. It at once gets right at the setof trouble and re moves the cause. It is free from Morphine and is as safe for 0 * fchildas for an dult. 25 cenlts at *MAYES' DRUG STORE.