Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

MOUNDS OF THE DED.I REV. DR. TALMAGE PREACHES A ME MORIAL DAY SERMON. Lessons From the Four Ye:ar, war of the Rebellion-The Spirit of Treaty and the Spirit of War-Self Defense and Its Du ties. W\sHmGTON, May 3t.-What could be more appropriate or stirring than this discourse by the Rev. Dr. Tal mage at the time of year when the friends of those who wore the blue and the gray have decorated the mounds of the fallen? The text was Solomon's Song iv, 4, "The tower of David build ed for an armory, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." The church is here compared to an armory, the walls hung with trophies of dead heroes. Walk all about this tower of David, and see the dented shields, and the twisted swords, and the rusted helmets of terrible battle. So at this season, a month earlier at the south, a month later at the north, the American churches are turned into armories adorned with memories of departed braves. Blossom and bloom, 0. walls, with stories of self sacrifice and patriotism and prowess! By unapimous decree of the people of the U nited States of America the graves of all the northern and south ern dead are every year decorated. All acer bity and bitterness have gone out of the national solemnity, and as the men and women of the south one month ago floralized the cemeteries and graveyards, so yesterday we, the men and women of the north, put upon the tombs of our dead the kiss of patriotic affection. Bravery always appreciates bravery, though it fight on the other side, and if a soldier of the Federal army had been a month ago at Savannah he would not have been ashamed to march in the floral processions to the cemetery. And if yesterday a Confederate soldier was at Arlington he was glad to put a sprig of heartsease on the silent heart of our dead. In a battle during our last war the Confederates were driving back the Federals, who were in swift retreat, whena Federal officer dropped wound ed. One of his men stopped at the risk of his life and put his arms around the officer to carry him from the field. Fifty Confederate muskets were aimed at the young man who was picking up the officer. But the Confederate cap tain shouted: "Hold! Don't fire. That fellow is too brave to be shot." And as the Federal officer, held up by his private soldier, went limpingslow ly off the field the Confederates gave three cheers for the brave private, and just before the two disappeared behind a barn both the wounded officer and the brave private lifted their caps in gratitude to the Confederate captain. Shall the gospel be less generous than the world? We stack arms, the bayonet of our northern gun facing this way, the bayonet of the southern gun facing the other way, and as the gray of the morning melts into the blue of noon so the typical gray and blue of old war times have blended at last, and they quote in the language of King James' translation without any revision, "Glory to God in the high est, and on earth peace, good will to men." Now, what do we mean by this great observance? First, we mean instruction to cne whole generation. Subtrat t 1865, when the war ended, from our 1896, and you will realize what a vast num ber of people were born since the war er were so young as to have no vivid appreciation. N o one under 41 years ot age has ayadequate memory of that roogdhorror. Do y-ou re mmeit? "Well," you say, "I only remember that mother swooned away while she was reading the newspaper, and that they brought my father home wrapped in the flag, and that a good many people came in the house to pray, and mother faded away after that until again there were many peo ple in the house, and they told me she was dead." There are others who cannot remem ber the roll of a drum or the tramp of a regiment or a sigh or a tear of that tornado of woe that swept the nation again and again until there was one dead in each house. Now it is the re ligious duty of those who remember it to tell those who do not. My young friends, there were such partings at rail car windows and steamboat wharfs and at front doors of comfortable homes as I pray God you may never witness. Oh, what a time it was, when fathers and mothers gave up their sons, never expecting to see them again until they came back mutilated and crushed and dead Four' years of blood. Four years of hostile experiences. Four years of ghastliness. Four years of gravedig ging. Four years of funerals, coffins, shrouds, hearses, dirges. Mourning, mourning, mourning! It was hell let loose. What a tune of waiting for news. Morning paper and evening paper scrutinized for intelligence from the boys at the front. First, an nouncement that the battle must occur the next day. Then the news of the battle goig on. On the following day stl going on. Then news of 30, 000 slain and of the names of the great genzelals who had fallen, but no news abo~ut the private soldiers. Waiting for news! After many days a load of wounded going through "the town or city, but no news from our boy. Then a long list of wounded and a long list of the dead and a long list of the miss ing. And among the last list our boy. When missng? How maissing? Who saw him last? Missing! Miss ing! Was he in the woods or by the stream? How was he hurt? Missing! Missng! What burning prayers that he may yet be heard from. In that awful waiting for news many a life verished. The strain of anxiety was too great. That wife's brain gave way that first week after the battle, and ever and anon she walks the floor of the asylum or looks out of the win dow as though she exnected some one to come along the path and up the steps as she soliloquizes, "Missing; What made matters worse, all this might have been avoided. There was no more need of that war than at this moment I should plunge a dagger through your heart. There were a few Christian philanthropists in those days, scoffed at both by north and south, who had the right of it. If they had been heard on both sides, we should have had no war and no slavery. it was advised by those Christian phi Ianthropists, "Let the north pay mn money for the slaves as property and set them free." The north said, "'We cannot afford to pay." The south said, "We will not sell the slaves anyhow." But the north did pay in war expenses enough. to purchase the slaves, and the south was com plled to give up slavery anyhow. M'ght not the north better have paid -the money and saved the lives of 500,000 brave men, and might not the south better have sold out slavery and saved her 500,000 brave men? I swear you by the graves of your fathers and brothers and sons to a new hatred for the cnampion curse of the universe .war. Olord God, with the hottest bolt of thine omnipotent inidignation ever. Imprison it in the deepest dun geon of the eternal penitentiary. Bolt it in with all the iron ever forged in cannon or molded into howitzers. Cleave it with all the sabers that ever glittered in battle and wring its soul with all the pangs which it ever caus ed. Let it feel all the conflagrations of the homesteads it has ever destroyed. Deeper down let it fall and in fiercer flame let it burn till it has gathered in to its heart all the suffering of eterni ty as well as time. In.the name of the millions of graves of its victims, I denounce it. The nations need more the spirit of treaty and less of the spir it of war. War is more ghastly now than once, not only because of the greater destruct ieness of its weaponry. but because now it takes down the best men, where as once it chiefly took down the worst. Bruce, in 1717, in his "Institution of of Military Law," said of the Europe an armies of his day, "If all infamous persons and such as have com mitted capital crimes, heretics, athe ists and all dastardly feminine men, were weeded out of the army, it would soon be reduced to a pretty moderate number." Flogging and mean pay made them still more ignoble. Offi cers were appointed to see that each soldier drank his ration of a pint of spirits a day. There were noble men in battle, but the moral character of the army was 95 per cent lower than the moral character of an army today. By so much is war now the more de testable because it destroys the picked men of the nations. Again by this national ceremony we mean to honor courage. Many of these departed soldiers were volunteers, not conscripts, and many of those who were drafted might have provided a substitute or got off on furlough or have desert ed. The fact that they lie in their graves is proof of their bravery. Brave at the front, brave at the cannon's mouth, brave on lonely picket duty, brave in cavalry charge, brave before the surgeon, brave in the dying mess age to the home circle. We yester day put a garland on the brow of courage. The world wants more of it. The church of God is in woeful need of men who can stand under fire. The lion of worldly derision roars and the sheep tremble. In great reforma tory movements at the first shot how many fall back. The great obstacle to the church's advancement is the in anity, the vacuity, the soft prettiness, the namby pambyism of professed Christians. Great on a parade, cow ards in battle. Afraid of getting their plumes ruffled, they carry a parasol over their helmet. They go into bat tle not with warriors' gauntlet but with kid gloves, not clutching the sword hilt too tight lest the glove split at the back. In all our reformatory and Chris tian work the great want is more backbone, more mettle, more daring, more prowess. We would in all our churches like to trade off a hundred do nothings for one do everything. "Quit yourselves like men; be strong." Thy saints in all this glorious war Shall conquer, though they die. They see the triumph from afar And seize it with their eye. Again we mean by this natural ob servance to honor self sacrifice for others. To all these departed men home and kindred were as dear as our home and kindred are to us. Do you know how they felt? Just as you and I would feel starting out to morrow morning with nine chances out of ten against our returning alive, for the intelligent soldier sees not only battle ahead, but malarial sickness and exhaustion. Had these men chosen, tney could have sent last night in their homes and ay have been seated where you are. They chose the camp not because they liked it better than their own house, and followed the drum and fife, not be cause they were better music than the voices of the domestic circle. South Mountain and Murfreesboro and the swamps of Chickahominy were not playgrounds. These heroes risked and lost all for others. There isno higher sublemity than that. To keep three-quarters for ourselves and give one-quarter to others is honorable. To divide even with others is generous. To keep noth ing for ourselves and give all for oth ers is magnanimity Christlike. Put a girdle around your body and then measure the girdle and see if you are 50 or 60 inches round. And is that the cicle of your sympathies--the size of vour selfi Or, to measure you around the heart, would it take a girdle large enougn to encircle the world ? You want to know what we dry theologi ans mean when we talk of vicarious suffering. Look at the soldiers' graves and find out. 'Vicarious: pangs for others, wounds for others homesick ness for others, blood for others, sep ulcer for others. Those who visited the national~ceme teries at Arlington .Heights and at Richmond and Gettysburg saw one inscription on soldiers' tombs oftener repeated than any other-"Unknown." When, about 21 years ago, I was call ed to deliver the oration at Arlington Heights, Washington, I was not so much impressed with the minute guns that shook the earth or with the at tendance of president and cabinet and foreign ministers and generals of the army and commodores of the navy as with the pathetic and overwhelming suggestiveaess of that epitaph on so many graves at my feet. Unkhown ! Unknown: It seems to me that the time must come when the government of the United States shall take of that epitaph. They are no more unknown. We have found them out at last. They are the beloved sons of the re public. Would it not be well to take the statue of the heathen goddess off the top of the capitol (for I have no faith in the morals of a heathen goddess; and put one great statue in all our national cemeteries-a statue of Lib erty in the form of a Christian wo man, with her hand on an open Bible and her foot on the Rock of Ages, with the other hand pointing down to the !graves of the unknown, saying. "These are my sons, who died that I might live.' Take off the mrisnomer. Everybody knows them. It is of com paratively little importance what was the name given them in baptism of water. In the holier and mightier baptism of blood we know them, and yesterday the nation put both arms around them and hugged them to her heart. crying, "Mine forever." Again, by this national ceremony we mean the future defense of this nation, By every wreath of flowers on the soldiers' graves we say, "Those who die for the country shall not be forgotten," and that will give enthusi asm to our young men in case our na tion should in the future need to de fend itself in battle. We shall never have another war between north and. south. The old decayed bone of con tention, American slavery, has been cast out although here and there a de praved pelitician takes it up to see if he can't gnaw scmething off it. We are 11oating off farther and farther frm the possibility of sectional strife. No possibility of civil war. But about foreign invasion I am not so cer tain. When I spoke against war I said nothing against self defense. An inventor told me that he had invented a style of weapon which could be used in self defense, but not in aggressive nations to adopt that weapon, you have introduced the millennium," 1 have no right to go on my neighbor's pren ises and assault him, but if some ruf fian ;break into my house for the as sassination of myfamily, and I can boarrow s gun and load it in time and aim it straight enough I will shoot him. There is no room on this continent for anv other nation--except Canada, and a better neighbor no one ever had. If you don't think so, go to Montreal and Toronto and see how well they will treat you. Other than that there is absolutely no room for any other nation, I have been across the con tinent again and again, and know that we have not a half inch of ground for the gouty foot of forign despotism to stand on. But I am not to sure that some of the arrogant nations of Eu rope may not some day challenge us. I do not know that those forts around New Yorok bay are to sleep all through the next century. I do not know that Barnegat lighthouse will not yet look off upon a hostile navy. I do not know but that a half dozen nation, enviousof ourprosperitv, may want to give us a wrestle. During onr civil war there were two or three nations that could hardly keep their hands off us. It is very easy to pick national quarrels, and if our nation escapes much longer it will be the ex ception. If foreign foe should come, we want men like those of 1812 and like those of 1S62 to meet them We want them all up and down the coast, Pulaski and and Fort Sumter in the same chours of thunder as Fort Lafayette and Fort Hamilton, Men who will not only know how to fight, but how to die. When such a time comes, if it ever does come, the generation on the stage of action will say: "My country will care for my family as they did in the soldiers' asylum for the orphans in the civil war, and my country will honor my dust as it honored those who preceded me in patriotic sacrifice, and once a year at any rate, on Decora tion day, I shall be resurrected into the remembrance of those for whom I died. Here I go for God and my country! Huzza !" If foreign foe should come, the old sectional animosities would have no power. Here go our regiments into the battlefield: Fifteenth New York volunteers, Tenth Alabama cavalry, Fourteenth Pennsylvania riflemen, Tenth Massachusetts artillery, Seventh South Carolina shapshooters. I do not know but it may require the attack of some foreign foe to make us forget our absurd sec tional wrangling. I have no faith in the cry, "No North, no South, no East, no West." Let all four sections keen their peculiarities and their pref erences, each doing its own work and not interfering with each other, each of the four carrying its part in the great harr.ony-the bass, the alto, the tenor the soprano-in the grand march of the Union. Once more, this great national cere mony means the beautification of the tombs, whether of those who fell in battle or accident, or who have expired in their beds or in our arms on our laps. I suppose you have noticed that many of the families take this season as the time for the adornment of their family plots. This national observance has secured the arboriculture and flori culture of the cemeteries, the straight ening up of many a slab planted 30 or 40 years ago, and has swung the scythe through the long grass and has brought the stonecutter to call out the half obliterated epitaph. Tnis day is the benediction of the resting phtce of father, mother, son, daughter, brotner, sister. It is all that we can do for them now. Make their resting places attractive, not absurd with costly outlay, but in quiet remembrance. You know how. if you can afford only one flower,that will do. It shows what you would do if you could. One blossom from you may mean more than the Duke of Wellington's catafalque. Oh, we can not afford to forget them. They were so lovely to use. We miss them so much. We will never get ever it. Blessed Lord Jesus, comfort our brok en hearts. From every bank of flow ers breathes promise of resurrection. In olden times the Hebrews, return ing from their burial place, use to pluck the grass from the field three or four times, then throw it over their heads, suggestive of the resurrection. We pick not the gr ass, but the flowers, and instead of throwing them over our heads we place them before our eyes, right down over the silent heart that once beat with warmest love toward us, or over the still feet that ran to service. or over the lips from which we took the kiss at the anguish of the last parting. But stop! We are not infidels. Our bodies will soon join the bodies of our departed in the tomb, and our spirits shall join their spirits in the land of the rising sun. We cannot long be separated. Instead of crying with Jacob for Joseph, "I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourn ing," let us cry with David, "I shall go to him." On one of the gates of Greenwood is the quaint inscription, "A night's lodging on the way to the city of New Jerusalem." Comfort one another with these words. May the hand of him who shall wipe away all tears from all all eyes wipe your cheek with its soft est tenderness. The Christ of Mark and Martha and Lazarus will infold you in his arms. The white robed angels who sat at the tomb of Jesus will yet roll the stone from the door of your dead in radiant resurrection. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel. So the dead march in "Saul" shall become the "Hlalleluiahi Chorus." WVASHINGTON, June 3. -Gonzalo de Quesada, the Cuban charge de affaires in this city, has just received word that Col. Rafael Portuondo has land ed safely in Cuba. He was accom panied by 100 men, 'among whom were Dr. Carlos Poey, surgeon of the party, a resident of this city, and t wo young Baltimorians, Osman Lath robe, nephew of ex-Mayor Lathrobe and Mr. Janny. The vessels used were the Laurada and the Three Friends, nd the expedition is said to have started from Jacksonville on Mon lay, May 25. The cargo carricd is said to have embracced l,O00,000 ride 3artridges, six 12-inch field pieces, with abundant amunition for them, .nd a quantity of dynamite lt is the largest landing yet made. Elliott Unseated. WASIYTos, June 4.-The contest ad election case of Murray (colored Republican) against Elliott (Dem.) fromn the Seventh district of South Darolina was decided today in the house the first thing. By ~a vote of [53 to 3:3, Murray was declared to be ntitled to the seat occupied by Elliott tnd was sworn in by Speaker Reed tmid applause. The case of Martin Pop.) vs. Lockhart (Dem.) from the ixth North Carolina district occupied 2early all of the rest of the session mnd at 5:40 o'clock the house adjourn d, with the understanding that a vote should be taken the first thing tomnor -ow. In this case, also the .majority -ecommended the seating of the con netant (Martin.) mary and support the party nominees, and that he is not, nor will he become the candidate for any faction either privately or publicly suggested, other than the regular Democratic nomina tion ; provided further, that no candi date shall be declared n->minated un less he receives a majority of the votes cast (for the oflice of which he is a candidate. Provided, That the pledge of such candidate shall be filed on or before the day of the first campaign meeting of the county or State respect ively.) Article VII. The officers of the State convention shall be a president, one vice' president from each Congres sional district, two secretaries and a treasurer. Article VIII. The State executive committee thall be composed of one member from each county, to be elect ed by the county conventions on the first Monday in May of each election year. When elected said executive com mittee sball'choose its own officers, not necessarily members thereof prior to said election: Provided, That any otflicer so elected who is not a member of the committee shall not be entitled to vote on any question, except the chairman, and then only in case of a tie vote. The State executive commit tee shall meet at the call of the chair man or any five members, and at such time and place as he or they may ap point. The member of the National Democratic executive committee from South Carolina shall be elected by the May State convention in 1896, and every four years thereafter, and when elected shall be ex officio a member of the State executive committee. Va cancies on said executive committee, by death, resignation or otherwise, shall be filled by the respective county executive committees. The State ex ecutive committee is charged with the execution and direction of the policy of the party in this State, subject to this Constitution, the prin ciples declared in the platform of prin ciples, and such instruction, by resolu tion or otherwise, as a State conven tion may from time to time adopt, not inconsistent with this Constitution, and shall continue in office for two years from the time of election or un til their successors have bean elected. (The committee shall nominate Presi dential electors and if any vacancy occurs in the State ticket or of electors or of member of the national execu tive committee by death, resignation or other cause, the committee) shall have the power to fill the vacancy all by majority vote of the whole com m.ttee. Article IX. The vote in the respect ive ccuntles for all of the State offi cers, Congressmen, and United States Senator shall be transmitted by the chairmen of the respective county ex ecutive committees to the chairman of the State executive committee as ear ly as practicable after each primary, who shall proceed to canvass the vote and declare the results. Article X. When the State conven tion assembles it shall be called to order by the chairman of the State ex ecutive~ committee. A temporary chairman shall be nominated and elected by the convention, and after its organization the convention shall proceed immediately to the election of permanent officers and to the transac tion of business. When the business has concluded it shall adjourn sine die. Article XI. Before the election in 1806, and each election thereafter, the State Democratic executitve committee shall issue a call to all candidates .for State offices to address the people of the different counties of the State, fix ing the dates of the meeting, and also inviting the candidates for Congress, United States Senate, and for solici tors, in their respective districts and circuits, to be present and address the people. At such meetings only the candidates above set forth should be allowed to speak. Article XII. It shall be the duty of each county executive committee to appoint meetings in their respective counties to be addressed by the candi dates for the General Assembly and for the different offices, all of whom, except (magistrates and supervisors of registration), shall be elected by pri maries on the last Tuesday in August of each election year under the same rules and regulations hereinbefore provided. Article XIII. Each county delega tion to a State convention shall have power to fill any vacancy therein. Article X[V. This Constitution may be amended or altered at the regular May convention of the State or ar, any convention called specifically for that purpose, the call for which shall spec ify the changes tc be made. Article XV, Any county failing or refusing to organize under the provis ions of this constitution shall not have representation in the State Democratic convention. D. H. ToMPKINS, Chairman. U. X. GuNTrER, Secretary. The Law Unconstitutional. CH ARLE.STON,June 4.-Judge S'mnon - ton declared in his opinion filed today that so much of the dispensary law which refers to the seizing, testing and confiscation of liquors, ordered for personal consumption by the residents of this State, is in confliet with the Constitution of the United States, and is therefore null and void.- He holds that a resident has the right to order his liquor from beyond the State, and to receive it without having it inter fered with in any manner. The opin ion is a lengthy and exhaustive legal document. It fully covers the subject matter which has been in dispute. The greater portion of the opinion deals with the section of the law re ferring to the testing of liqurs, and, as stated above, Judge Simonton denies the validity of such testing. He con siders it a burden on commerce. Judge Simonton Shows that the pro visions of the law are directed towards giving the State a monopoly of the li quor trade. In conclusion, he states: "The present act gives to certain per sons, the board of control, the sole power of purchasing and importing into this State an article recognized as an article of commerce. The monop oly is invested in them by provisions of such string-ency and secured by such extraordinary sanctions that every other person of this State and all citizens of other States are abso lutely deprived of competition with them. Thus the products, as wed as the citizens of other States, are dis :rimrinated against, and interstate 2ommuerce is destroyed . E-gypt Rai.ses More Cotton. W\AS1INGTON, June 4.-Inspired by %hehigh prices realized by the cot ton 3rop of 1895-%, Egyptian planters iave this spring increased the area to ~he maximum limit permitted by the yountry's irrigation facilities. E xact igures are not procurable," but it is stimated that the increase of acreage .s from 5 to 8 per cent, and that this ;easons's area appoximates, 1,150.1000 icres. The greatest percentage of in rrease is in prov inces south of Cairo. J~onservative forecasters believe the trop will yield 750,000 bales of 750 >ounds-being the equivalent of 1,125,-I )00 American bales, and the largest ~ver raised in the Nile valley. Pre licated on the yearly increase of ship nents to America, it is probable that he United States will buy 65,t00 bales >f the Egyptian cotton, equal to about .0'0,000P bales of American weight. 'hese facts are as reported to the tate deportment by United States NEW CONSTITUTION. CHANGES MADEBY THESTATEDEM OCRATIC CONVENTION. The Election of County Chairman--Fling of the Pedges of Candidates--Time of the Meeting of the Clulbs and Holling the Primaries. At the State Convention several im portant changes were made in the Con stitution of the party, and as this is to be a campaign year of intense interest the changes are given in full, the addi tions to the old Constitution appearing enclosed in parenthesis: Article I. There shall be one or more Democratic clubs organized in each township or ward, each of which clubs shall have a distinct title, "The -- 1 Democratic Club," and shall elect a president, one or more vice presidents, a recording and a corresponding secre tary and a treasurer, and shall have the following working committees, of not less than three members each, viz: A committee on registration, an exec utive committee, and such other com mittees as to each club may see- ex pedient. Article II. The meetins s of the club should be frequent after the opening of the canvass, and some member of the club or invited speaker deliver an address at each meeting, if practicable. (The clubs shall meet on the fourth Saturday in April and the county con vention on the first Monday in May, respectively, of each election year. Provided, That the county executive committe may name any other day, within the same week for such club meeting by giving at least two weeks notice by advertisement in county pa pers. Each county shall be entitled to double the number of delegates in the State convention as it has members in the General Assembly.) Article III. The president or five members shall have power to call an extra meeting of the club (and at such extra meetings) and one-fourth of the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Article IV. The clubs in each coun ty shall be held together and operate under the control of a county execu tive committee, which shall consist of one member from each club, to be elected by the respective clubs. The executive committee when elected shall appoint its own officers (except the chairman, who shall be elected by the county convention, who shall not nec essarily be members of said committee; but a vacancy in the membership of the committee shall be filled by the club, through the loss of whose mem ber by death, resignation or otherwise the vacancy occurs), provided that any officer so elected who is not a member of the committee shall not be entitled to a vote on any question, ex cept the chairman, and then only in case bf a tie vote. The tenure of office of the executive committee shall be until the first Monday in May of each election year, at which time the coun ty conventions shall be called together to reorganize the party. Every Presi dential election year conventions shall be called by the county executive com mittee to meet on the first Monday in May, which shall elect delegates to a State convention called for the purpose of electing delegates to the National Democratic Convention and to elect the member of the National Demo cratic executive committee from this State. The State convention shall be called by the State executive commit tee to meet every Presidential election year on the third Wednesday in May, and every State election year county and State conventions shall meet on the first Monday in May and the (third Wednesday) in May respectively. Article V. County Democratic con ventions shall be composed of dele gates elected by the several local clubs, one delegate for every twenty-five voters, as shown by the poll list made at the preceding first primary election (in an election year and one delegate for a majority fraction thereof), with the right to each count.y convention to enlarge or diminish the representation according to circumstances. The coun ty conventions shall be called together by the chairman of the respective ex ecutive committees under such rule, not inconsistent with the Constitution nor with the rules adopted by the State Democratic executive committee, as each county may adopt, and when as sembled shall be called to order by the chairman of the executive committee, and the convention shall proceed to nominate and elect from among its members a president, one or more vice presidents, a secretar-y and a treasurer. Any county (convention may permit or recognize) may permit the formation of a ne w clnb or clubs by a majority of its members. In all cities with a pop ulatiou of 5,000 and over there may be two clubs in each ward; they shall be organized in obedience to this Consti tution, as are the clubs elsewhere in this State, and in organizing said clubs they shall have representation in the county conventions respectively as said conventions shall declare in ac cordance with the provisions of this Constitution. Article VI. For the purpose of nom inating candidates for Governor, Lieu tenant Governor and all other State officers, including solcitors in their respective circuits and Congressmen in their respective districts (and United States Senators and all county officers except magistrates), and masters, sup ervisors of registration, a district primary election shall be held on the last Tuesday in August of each elec tion year, and a second and third prim ary each two weekssuccessively there after, if necessary.- At this election only Democratic white voters who have been residents of the State twelve months and the county sixty days pre ceding the next general election, and such negroes as voted the Democratic ticket in 1876, and as have voted the Democratic ticket continuously since, to be shown by the certi~eate of ten white Democratic voters, (who will pledge themselves to support the nominees of such elections, may vote) provided that no person shall be al lowed to vote except his name be en rolled on the particular club list at which lie offers to vote at least five days before the day of the first elec tion. (Each club shall have a separate polling place for primary elections.) The club rolls of the party shall con stitute the registry list and shall be Open to inspection by any member of the party, and the election under this lause shall be held and regulated un der the Act of the General Assembly of this State, approved December 22, 1888, and any subsequent Acts of the Legislature of this State. The State executive committee shall meet on tile Friday after each primary, or such other time as may be designated by the chairman, to canvass the vote and declare the result as to all State fficers, Congressmen and United Senators. All contests for all nominations at< primary elections shall be heard first y the county executive committee of< he county in which .such irregulari-1 ies may have occurred, and may be ( eviewed by the State executive corn nittee, whose action shall be final;< rovided that no votes shall be counted for any candidate who does not file ith the chairman of the State execu- < ive committee, or with the respective - hairmen of the county executive ' ommittees, a pledge in writting thats THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS. State Observer iiauer's Weekly nulle tin as to their Comihtion. COLUM ,IA, June 2 -In vie w of the good rain fall South Carolina has had for some days the following weekly bulletin of the condition of the weath er and the crops of the State issued yesterday by State Observer Bauer, will b; of special interest to the farm ers: This bulletin covers the weather and crop conditions for the week ending Saturday, May 30, and in its prepara tion were used reports from one or more correspondents in each county of the State. WEATHER. The mean temperature during the past week was the same as for the two previous ones, but there was less of an excess over the normal, as the lat ter increases at the rate of from one to two degrees per week during May and June. Since March 1st the seasonal excess averages about 2.5 degrees per day. The average of 39 places report ing mean temperatures for the past week is 79, and the normal for the same period is approximately 71, hav ing increased from 72 since the previ ous week. The mean temperature ranged from 82 at Poverty Hill, Allendale and Gil lisonville to 74 at Greenvile. The maximum temperature for the week was 100 on the 26th, reported from Gillisonville. The minimum was 59 on the 30th at Greenville, and G0 on the 30th at Santuc and Liberty and 60 on the 29th at Society Hill. Showers occurred in some portions of the State on every day of the week, but as a rule, they were light and local except at a few points where the rain fall was excessive. On account of the uneven distribu tion of the rainfall a number of places are represented as needing rain, or more rain, badly. In the southeast ern counties where the drought was most severe, light showers gave some relief, and a heavy shower in portions of Beaufort was most beneficial. The following heavy rains were reported: Columbia. 1.96; Beaufort, 1.70; Long shore, 1.70; Looper's, 1.15; McColl, 1.50; Batesburg, 1.3S; Cheraw, 2.80. In addition to these there were 11 places that reported amounts between 0.50 and 1 inch, while 23 places report ed some rain, but less than half an inch. The average of 42 reports being 0.50 and the normal for the same period is approximately 0.99 inch. There was considerable hail report ed, but generally without injury to crops, except that a severe tornadic storm passed through Newberry coun ty, accompanied by excessive rain. Crops in that path of the storm were severely damaged by hail, wind and rain, some fields of cotton being en tirely destroyed. At Longshore, out side the path of the heaviest rainfall, 1:70 inches of rain fell in one hour. The prevailing winds were westerly for the week, and the sunshine was but little in excess of the usual, rang ing from 25 per cent. of the possible at Beaufort to 92 at Greenville, and averaging about 66. ( RoPS. Correspondents' reports for the week range from glowing to gloomy, but the former exceed the latter in about the proportion of three to one. In other words, over three-fourths of the State rainfall has been sufficient for crops during May, while about one fourth of the State has been too dry, and complaints of dryness come from nearly every county, making it difli cult to specify the localities where rain is needed, but generally it is dry est in the southeastern counties; Aik en and Edgefield; Laurens and Union and portions of Fairfield, Sumter and Chester. The most glowing crop ac counts come from Anderson, Flor ence, Darlington and Chesterfield and Marlboro. The other counties are spotted. Corn continues to grow satisfactori ly, and laying by is becoming general. Shows effects of bud worms in Barn well, wilts badly during the day in Sumter, but its general condition is from fair to excellent. Peas being extensively planted with corn. The weather has been altogether fa vorable for cotton, which has general ly made marked improvement. Lice have appeared in Barnwell and Or angeburg;cotton is dying on red lands in Laurens, Union and York. It is putting on squares everywhere. Chop ping to stands will soon be finished. Replanted cotton is germinating and growing finely. Sea island cotton continues in bad condition for want of rain. Wheat baryest is general; heads small, but heavy. Fall oats are being cut and housed; yield poor, but quali ty fair. Spring oats generally a fail ure. Tobacco growing well generally, with exceptions. Contemplated area restricted, owing to scarcity of plants. Abandoned tobacco lands being plant ed to corn and cotton. Rice. doing well generally except upland, which in places has a poor stand. Cane and melons are reported as doing well. Gardens very poor, for the most part complete failures. Irish potatoes very poor, sweet pota toes doing well: still being trans planted and in Edgefleld are being watered. Draws are plentiful.- Cut worms are damaging cabbages in Floren-:e. Peaches continue to drop, and the peach crop will be a light one of infe rior quality. Peaches ripening and being shipped to northern markets. Apples dropping and rotting on trees. Pear blight reported from2 Pickens county. The prospect for fr-uit is gen erally poor. Blackberries and huckle berries generally plentiful. The season and crops in general are about two weeks earlier than usual. Thirty People Drowne~d. TAM1PA, Fla., June 4.-Cuban cir les are agitated here to-night over the :rrival of fifty-four members of thle Bermuda expedition who came from Bambo Creek, Honduras, via Mobile. T'his expedition left Jacksonville dui ing the latter part of April. While the crewv were disemabarking on the Cuban coast, the Bermuda was ap proached by Spanish warships and had to escape. More than thirty Cu ans were drowned during the excite ment. Some were safely landed. Szarraga, the commnander, landed. but Areno, second in comman~d, is rhere. senator Trilim an. WASmsarC;os, J une .- Senator i!! man has accepted invitations to speak t Columbus, Ind., on June 9. and at rayson, Ky., on .June 11. lHe will >ro'oably speak at Lebanon, Ind., af er he go-~ M Kentucky. Senator1 ['illman is wearing a Bland badge. ['his suggests a conversation had with he South Carolina senator a few days 1 go by a friend. Tillmnan was asked 1 f he would accept second place on the emocratic ticket at Chic-ago. lie inswered very positively, it is said, 1 hlat he would not. Change of nt-nue. WXA LTERI3oRo, June 4 .--in the cou rti f sessions yesterday a motion wast nade by Solicitor Beilinger for a ~hange of venue in the Broxton Bridge nurder case. Judge Benet granted I he motion today, ordering the case toy e heard at Aiken not sooner than the a TE SWEEP OF SILVER. IT CARRIES EVERYTHING BEFORE IT SOUTH AND WEST. Mcrton Madder Than a Vlet Hen-A Trip Over the United States Convinces Him That Silver Will Win-Another Gold Bug View. WASHINGTON, June 4.-Secretary of Agriculture Morton, one of Cleve land's right hand men, returned from an extended trip in the West a few days ago. He had been gone five weeks, has traveled about 10,000~miles and has seen a good many people and a good many things. He comes home very despondent in regard to political at'airs, and fears the election of a sil ver President. Like most folks. he gives up all hope of a "sound nioney" majority at Chicago. He concedes the silver wing of the party a majority of 100 or more, and expects them to nominate a ticket and frame a plat. form which will be directly contrary to the policy of the present adminis tration. le hopes the Republicans at St. Louis will declare for a single gold standard, although he fears that con vention will also be more or less in fluenced by the silver agitation and offer a sop to the opposition. "If the Republicans will come out squarely, flatly and positively for a single gold standard," said Mr. Mor ton, "their ticket will get a great deal of support from sound money Demo crats and there will be a heap of vest pocket voting for the Republican tick et by those Democrats who do not wish openly to divorce themselves from their party. But I am not afraid that the Republican leaders will agree to compromise, and at this election a saddle will be just as bad as a 16 to 1 platform. "The silver sentiment is universal all over the West," continued the Secretary, "and it is growing. So many trimmers think it is going to win that they are jumping that way. There is no hope of electing gold can didates anywhere in the West, and right there in San Francisco, where they have more than $100,000,000 of gold coin in the vaults of their banks, where deposits are paid in gold by specific contract, and where green backs have never been good enough for them, the people are crying for 50 cent silver dollars. California is not a silver producing country, it is a gold producing country, and it is ex traordinary tnat the people of that State should prefer silver money to gold. They are willing that a silver miner in Coio:ado shall ,et t samse amount of good out of 50 cen worth of silver that a gold miner in their own State gets for 100 cents of gold. The gold miner may work all day and the silver miner half a day and both will get the same wages if the 16 to 1 policy is carried out, and yet the Cali ornians seem to be crazy for it. "I received two anonymous letters while I was in San Francisco warning me that I must shut up or leave the country. I had given an interview to the newspapers, in which I had stated that the wheat and the fruit, the or anges and the figs, and the apricots of California were being shipped to the outside world in large quantities, and that the people who bought them de manded the best. They would accept nothing but wheat and fruit of the most superior quality, and I suggested that the people of California should insist upon having the most superior money that existed in exchange, and that was gold dollars. The next morn ing I got two letters telling me that they didn't want any goldbugs out in that country, and tnat I would have to get right out or take the consequten ces "-Yes,"continued the Secretary, "we have elected agoldbug delegation from Nebraska to the Chicago convention, but they don't expect to get very good seats. They would be glad to have a bench in the top row in the rear end of the upper gallery. From present apoearances it looks as if they might not get beyond the vestibule,and they may have to sit on the fence outside and see the other fellows go by ." "Do you think that Horace Boies will be nominated ?' "I don't know. The candidate ought to be of the "B" brand-one of the busy bees-Bland, Boies or Bryan. Boies is a nice, pleasant, genial gen teman, but I have not known him since he was a Democrat. He was one of the best Republicans in Iowa until a short time ago, and he hasn't been in the Democratic party long enough to be weaned. I1 think he was a con vert to taritf reform,or else he split off with the antiprohibition wing of the party. He crossed the gulf on some sort of a narrav plank and would make a very proper, decent kind of a candidate, if we have got to have one of his kind. ANOTHER GOLD BCG SCARED. The Washington correspondent of the Charlotte Observer writes as fol lows to that journal. When it is re membered that both the correspondent and the observer are advocates of the single gold standard the letter is sig nificant: The political situation here is simp lv indescribable. Readers of The Oh-. server will bear witness that I have magnified nothing and have been tareful to avoid even the appearance of sensation in stating facs that are sensational in their ch'.racter. The. welfare of the Demsocra~ic party and of the country, as v-ell as private I pledges of secrecy vwhich I cannot iolate, demand of t'.ie gentlemanly snd patriotic ne wspaper correspondent a continuation of the same course. The time will soon come when all that is dark will be revealed, when the 1 threads of a great story will be fully I woven into the fabric which is to be ade Meantime the public knows much and expe'cts more. The year is gongt be the most startling in all . mercan history. It is likely to be 1 tarting so soon as the Republican :onvention meets and become more i as the various convention bodies as semble and act, and to become a year f phenomenal import as the campaign ~ loses and the election for congress C md the presidency occurs. It is sug- t rested that the tidal wave recently set n cannot now be stopped-that the I diver movement gains momentum t :ery day and that it is bound to over- C urn~ everything that obstructs its 9 ourse. There i-' no man nere now F vo values his reputation for accurate 5 taement arnd for insight into politics t vho pretends to underestimate the ( mportance of the movement. The ( kpublicanis admit their danger ~odge, Gallinger and many in the ~ iouse. I have talked with several I uteiligenet 1.epublicans who confess t heir perplexity. It is freely admitted r hat McKinley and protection might ~ ave won yesterday, but that today a r >ulwark against the irresistable silver t ide is a consider-ation. The danger is ointed out to be from the silver men a thea west. who ar-e more numerous han was supposed. The attitude of enator Teller has increased this aux et c. ie is g:oinag to St. Louis to exact a free silver programfme, not to be sat- c sited until he gets it. Th e party can lOt cniced(e it~ without loosing the a ass. Teller will not accept a strad- s l as he did before. Ihis people have 0 ut the whole case mn his hands. They ~ ill follow his leadership. Ie has 0 nnounced in the senate in a public peech that he will not again seipport I' Absolutely Pure. A cream of tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening strength. -latest United States Government Food Report. RoYAL BaKING PowDaR Co., New York City. a policy which maintains the gold standard. He is a man of his word. The people of the west, as Secretay Morton says, are "wild" for silver. They will brook no. delay and no abatement of their desires. Tne R: publicans even in the south are res tive. They cannot all be held to the support of a gold standard candidate and platform. They regard McKinley as a gold man now. Tney believe he will be nominated on-a gold platform with some gingerly expression that will not satisfy the free silver people. Perhaps this platform will be framed so as to recognize the existing status, and declare for a change to the double standard when an international agree ment to that effect can be reacned. This platform might have given a temporary satisfaction a short while ago, but it cannot do so now. Nobody in either party proposes to accept a compromise either on platform or can didate. No man who is not squarely in favor of free silver will suit the silver men. The gold men will have no straddler. The issue is joined in advance of the conventions and the wise leaders recognize the facts of the situation. SIX SQUARE MILES OF RUIN. Wrecked Houses in St. Louis Would Line a Street Eighty-five Miles Long. ST. Louis, Juae 4.-There have been just 85 miles of streets obstructed by debris as a result of the tornado. Ali---1 )f these streets have been made passa ble and will be cleaned up in 10 days. [n the city there are 480 miles of im proved streets, so it can be seen to what extent the tornado interrupted traffic. The storm district on its outside lines, extend from the river on the east to Tower Grove avenue on the west, and from Olive street on the. north to Lynch street on the 'south. This comprises an area of six square miles. The extreme limits were three miles east and west, and two miles north and south. An adequate idea of the damage can be formed when it is stated that if all the houses damaged and blown dow-u were on both sides of the one street, that street would be just 85 miles bng. The figure is given by the street commissioner wno has been through the entire district and fromu the reports of his general superintend eat who has cut a road way througha the 85 miles of streets. In addition to this, there are many more streets obstructed by wires, aed the like, which are not counted in the total. It has been feared that a large number of the people now reported missing from ELast St. Louis found watery graves. In the light of recent developments it seems as though these fears were cot unfounded, for in the past t wo fays, two bodies have been dragged from the Mississippi's waters. The body of an unknown woman was taken from the water near Last Caron lelet. It stilllies unidentified. Tony Ntessing, who formerly lived at No. L636 'orth Nineteenth street, was round in the water near the Pittsburg lyke at the East St. Louis elevator. Miessing was employed by the Donk Bros. coal yards and was known to have been near the river front at the time of the storm. It was supposed coat he was blown into the river. In addition to this a large number of aorses and other animals have been round in the debris which was collect ~d along the bank. A number of ,hese horses were fully harnessed, and as the storm occurred at a titne wnen hie river front was crowded with teams ~oing to and coming from St. Louis mfth the last load b r the day, it is hought that 2. number of the arivers nay also have been sivept into the ~tream. There is no way to fully determine he number of missing. The Dead Expostion. Thursday there was a special tueet ng in Columcuia of the executive co u mittee of the South Carolint exposi :ompany which nad undertakeu to ecure a first-class extuibit for t-ce state of South Carolina at the CJtUL states exposition, but whicha has nov r ~one by the board. The meeting was or the purpose of seeing what could . e done about defraying the expenses if the work already -done by the comi iiittee. Soutr. Carolina, as all kan w, r'as the first of the southern States in nie field insofar as the actual work or ~etting up the exhibit was concerned .nd much had been accomplished in hat direction, Conmissioner Roch?e rasting no time. The committee adopted th follow ag resolutions: Whereas, it has been deternined not C) hold the Southern States exposition; nd Whereas, certain liabilities have al eady been incurred by the executive ommiittee, which must be paid, be it, Lerefore, Resolved, That for the purpose of 2eeting and defraying these expenses die commissioners of the respective ounties be, and t.2ey are hereby re/ uested, to collect the..am*-of 51ler er cent. of the armit original - essed against their respeci coun les, and forward the same to WV. A. ilark, treasurer of the committee at iolumbia, S. C. Resolved, furthe.r, Thait in cases rhere commissioners hcave already arwarded their amounts or any por iereof, the treasurer be authorized to aturn to the said commissioners the .alance remaining of their respective emittances after paying said liabili es. Fa.tai Runawaty. GicvroN, Ga., June 4.-Sheriff H. F. Jaudon's horse became uin manage ble yesterday afternoon and ran way. The road cart w.a upset by >ming in contact with a wagon and ie sheriff was thrown out violently gamnst a tree, which broke his jaw in ~veral pieces and knocked nearly all fthe flesh from one side of his lace. ledical attention was given him at nce and it was thought that his inju les would not prove fatal, but he died