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THE FLAGS H1STER REV. DR. TALMAGE PREACHES A Vi': AND APPROPRMATE SERMON. He Says He Hatea War-at He Admires the Right Kind of Martial Spirit-Wfods of Glowing and Ficture!cquie Exhorta tion. WASmNGTON, Marci 14.-At this time, when our national canital has for ten days been ablaze with oLr na tional lag, the imageryv o f s serms11 of Dr. Talmage sees very vmid anu appropriate. The te x i .ms xx, 5, "In the name of G- wc wi! st up our bia-r' I hate war. Ia my boy'ecod wemay have read thebiograohy of Alexn.er or of some Revoluticnarv hero until our young heart lbahi. 11 d w1 wished we had been born ove r one hundred years ago. j'st for iory of striking down a iessian F.r rus ty swords hung up on the rafters and bullets cut out of log houss iu whic: they were lodged during the great strife we had unboun de1d ad-nirion, or on some public day, clothed in cur grandfather's soldierly acentr emnts. we feltas brave as Garibaldi or des. We are wiser now, fcr we mak vast distinction between the pwet-y and the prose of war. The roll of drums and the cll of bugles and the champing of steeds foaming and paw ing for the battle. 100,u00 muskets glittering among the dancing plumes, "God Save the King, waving up from clarinets and trampets and rung back from deep defiles or the arches of a prostrate city, distant capitals of king doms illuminated at the tidings, gen erals returning home under flaming arches and showering amaranths and the shout of empires-that is poetry. Chilled and half blanketed, lying on the wet earth; feet sore with the march and bleedne at the slightest touch; hunger pulling on every fiber of flesh or attempting to satisfy itself with a scanty and spoiled ration; thirst licking up the dew or drinking out of filthy and and trampled pool; thoughts of home and kindred far away while just on the eve of a deadly strife. where death may leap on him from any one of hundred bayonets; the closing in of two armies, now changed to 100,000 maniacs; the ground siip pery with blood and shattered 1lesh: fallen ones writhing under the hoofs of unbridled chargers maidened with pain; the dreadfulness of night, that cmes down when the strife is over; the struggle of the wounded ones crawling out over the corpses: the long, feverish agony of the crowded barrack and hosoital, froan whose mat tresses the fragment of men send up their groans, the only music of car nage and butchery; desolate homes, from which fathers and husbands and brothers and sons went off; without giving any dying message or sending a kiss to the dear ones at homes, tuim bled into tne soldiers' grave trench, and houses in which a few weeks be fore unbrcken family circles rejoiced, now plunged in the great sorrows of widowhood and orphanage. That is prose. But there is now on the earth a king dom which has set itself up for con flicts without number. In its march it tramples no grainfields, it sacks no cities, it impoverishes no treasuies, it fills no hospitals, it bereaves no fami lies. The courage and victory of Sol ferino and Magenta without carnage. SThe kingdom of Christ agaims the kingdom of satan. That is the strife now raging. We will offer no amtis tices. We will make no treaty. Un til all the revolted nations of the earth shall submit again to King Emmanuel "in the name of God we will set up our banners." Every army has its ensigns. Long before the time when David wrote the text they were in use. The hosts of Israel displayed them, the tribe of -Benjamin carried a flag with the in - scription of a wolf, the tribe of Dan a representation of cherubim, Judah a lion wrought into the ground work of white, purple, crimson and blue. Such flags from their folds shook fire into the hearts of such numbers as were in the field when Abijah fought against Jehoram. and there werel,200, 000 soldiers, and mora than 500,000 were left dead an the field. These en signs gave heroism to such numbers as were assembled when - Asa fought against Zerahi, and there werel1,5S0,000 troope in the battle. The Athenians carried an inscription of the owl, which was thair emblem of wisdom. The flags of modern nations are fa miiar to you all, and many of them so inappropiate for the character of the natioins they represent it would be im politic to enumerate them. These en signs are streamers borne on the point of a lance and on the top of wooden shafts. They are carried in the front and rear of armies. They unroll from the main top gallant masthead of an admirals flagship to distinguish it among other ships of the same squad ron. They are the objects of national pride. The loss of them on the field is ignominous.I The three banners of the Lord's hosts are the banner of proclamatior., the banner of recruit and the banner of victory. When a nation feels its rights infringed or its honor insulted, when its citizens have in foreign climes been oppressed and no indemnity has been offered to the inhabitant of the republic or kingdom, a prcclamation of war is uttered. On the top of bat teries and arsenals and custom houses and revenue offices flags are immedi ately swung out. All who look on them realize the fact that une ompro mising war is declared. Thus it is that the church of Jesus Christ, jealous for the honor of its sovereign and deter mined to get back those who have been carried off captive into the bondage of satan and intent upon the destruction of those mighty wrongs which have so long cursed the earth and bent upon the extension of the Saviour's reign of mercy, in the name of God sets up its banners of proclamation. The church makes no assault upon the world. I do not believe that GodI ever made a better world than this. It is magnificent in its ruins. It is magnificent in its ruins. Let us stop talking so much against the world. God pronounced it very gcod at tho begin ning. Though a wandering ehild of God, I see in it the great Father's lin eaments. Though tossed and driven by the storms of 6,000 years, she sails b-aveiy yet, and as at her launching in the be nning the morning stars sang toge erand all the sons of God shouted for joy, so at last, when com ing into the calm harbor of God's mercy, she shall be greeted by the huzzas of glorified kingdoms. It is not the world against which contend, but its transgressions. Whatever is obstinate in the will, degrading in passion, harmful in custom, false in friendship, hynocritical in profession -against all this Christ makes onset.' From false profession ne would tear the mass. From oppressim he would snatch the rod. From pride he would rend of the plumes. Frcm res enge he would exercise the devil. While Christ toved the world so :nuichh d ed to save it, he hates sin so well that to eradicate the last trace of its pollution he will utterly consume the continents and the oceans. It the gate of Eden the declaration of per petual enimity was made against the Moun. t as y :- roar uu(I ahof Gi*- ar~i ion ot~ wah aiest sin an an irews only noacig hoilit .t"hiee and Toe n .es iIle 17en aful ruin Iar h ck of Jeborah's advance met. ey sh o w that God was teri b n elrLnest When hieanocd hiSeC. a,, 1orent o f al1 iniutY. T i ey rnake usI ie0ve that thouh . ma-)ias 'bl'ierent a'nd reveng-ful may si -3rice of peace and come! to an am Dic blC a ldjastmt,tr thae r,! sh all b e n> ces::,at i of hostilities btween1 th' ft)res of, ligh an 1the fo rces o F dr k o zss ua - Lil tie klagaoms o this world become thae king -dins of our L. Atfrighte-d no oppostio', dIsc-ar aged by no temporary defeas, in- fromn no expsure -?very man t his pesiion w11, r rom t top o f car so-Ols and c"rches andl s:uries and asylumi ''in the'ur of G* we I will set up our bImner." was the custom iII an1cient 1ics for I the parpose of ::aturl armiies '-o lift an eusign on the tp of some high hill, so that all who s v I would feet imp?!!ed to rally around it. In mv-)iera time -.he same pIan has b:e emr loyed for the gathering of an army. T:us it s Lai'Lhe church of Christa;''ts i's :i for recits. The cross of Jesus is our standsrd, planted on hil of C alarL. Oher armies deaiand hat. persons desiring to enter the lists of wAr shall b.c be tween such, and sue'1 an age, lest the folly of extreen youtha or the infirmi ty of advanced age be a clog rather man an advn-a.e Bat none is too voung for Christ's regiment; none e n be too old. The hand that is strong enough to bauand a ball or trandle a hoop is skilled enough to fight for Christ, while many a hand trembling with old age has grasped tme arrow of truth, and. with a dim eye close to it, taking aim, has sent its sharp point right through the heart of the King's enemies. Many of you have long ago had your names written on the roll of celestial troops. and you like the ser vice well, although you now bear the scars of multitudinous conflicts and can recouat many a long march and tell of siege guns opened on you that you tho: -ht never would be spiked. But there -iv be some who have not yet enlistet Your being heie implies that you are riously thinking about it, and your attention makes me hope you are only looking for the standard to be hoisted. Will you not, 100 of you, with all the aroused enthusiasm of your nature, come bounding into the ranks, while "in the name of God we set up our banners?" Throug' natural modesty do you hold back and sav: *I will be of no advantage to Christ. I am too awk ward to learn the step of the host, or to be of any servc,, in the shock of battle?" To you I make the reply. Try it. One hourunder Christ's drill,I and you would so well understand his rules that the first step of your march heavenward would make the gates of hell tremble on their hinges. We may not be as polished and trim as many Christians we have known, and we may not as well understand sharpshooting, but there is rough work which we can all acomplish. We may be axmen and hew a path way through the forests. We may be spadesmen and dig the tienches or throw up the fortiacations. We do not care where, we do not care what if we can only help in the cause of our king and shout as loudly as any of them at the completion of the con quest. There are nonnrofessors who have a very correct idea of what Christians ought to be. Tou have seen memnbers of the church who were as proud as Ahab and lied as badly as Ananias, and who were as foul hypocrites as Judas. You abhor all that. You say followers of Christ ought to be honor able, humble and self denying and charitable and patient and forgiving. Amen! So they ought. Come into the kingdom of Christ, my hearer, and be jus' that glorious Christian that you have described. Every church has enough stingy men in it to arrest its charities, and enough proud men in it to grieve away the Holy Ghost, and enough lazy men in it to hang on behind till its wheels, like Pharaoh's chariots, drag heavily, and enough worldly men to exhaust the patience of the very elect, and enough snarly men to make appropri ate the Bible warning, "Beware of dogs !" If any of you men on the out side of the kingdom expect to make such Carisians as that, we do not want you to come, for the chur,:h has already a million members too many of just that kind. We do not want our ranks crowded with serfs when we can have them filled with zouaves. There are men now, as in Christ's time, possessed of seven devils. In some instances it seems as though at conversion only six of those evil spirits were cast cut while there remains still one in the heart, the devil of avarice, the devil of lust or the devil of pride. Men of the world, if you would be transformned and elevated by the power of the gospel, now is the time to come. It is no mean ensign I lift this hour. It is a time honored flag. It has been in terrific battle. Drag gled in the dust of aSaviour's humilia tion from Bethlehem to Calvary. Rent by hell's on set the spears of a mad dened soldiery, and the hands of the men who said. "Let him be crucified." With this ensign in his bleediing hand the Saviour scaled the heigihts of our sin. With this he mount~ed the wall of perdition, and amid its very smoke and flame and blasphemy he waved his triumph, while demons howled with defeat and heaven Thnro'nged his chariot wheels And bcoe him to hits throne, Then swept their golden harpe an.d 'ang, The diorious work i done.. it by liag floating from public building and from trees, and from the masts of ships. Tney a-e the sig nal for eulogy and rejoicing and fes tivitv. So the ensign which the church hoiss is a banner of victory. There was a time when the religion of Christ was not considered respectable. Men of learning and position frowned upon it. Governments anathematized its suppoters. To be a Christian was to be an underling. But mark the diifer ence. Religion has compelled the world's respect. Infidelty in the tre mendous effort it has made to crush it has complimented its power. And there is not a single civilized nation but in its constitution or laws or proc lamations pays homage to the religion of the aross. In the war in India, when Sir Archibald Campbell found in an hour of danger that the men he ordered to the field were intoxicated and asked f or the pious men whom Christian Havelock bad under bis mnagement, he said: --Call out Ihrj elock's saints. They are never drunk and Havelock is always ready." Thatj Christianity which gathered.its firstj trophies from the fishermen's huts cna the shoreo of C :lilee now has Samsoni an strength thrown upon its shoulders and has carried off the gates of science nit worldly power. We point not to frresses and standing armies and navesias the ev-idence o~f the church's progress. We point to theC men whomn Chrst has redeemead by his blood. What if arsenals and navy yards do not belong to the church: We do not fare are not c.ra!. bat spiriu and down of s -r ri . P1 or and satan haven ida a of C.- s' and herois-n whiichi G4.l witLl re: jet o-t the hae hd oly neroa 1( fro.,n the dirst r imient. TeL r of Hs will soon appear lao tihe t at head of his troops. Dpad upona it.. Iha When Giod inspreste soal wi'h; of --nv ve up ." In al: a-es o the chrc er ha be n those whio hae h, id " at hat was at.noszt equzal to sight, lookig trough persecultion and re -erses w7ithi as muchi expectation as through palpable:achi ments. There have beten ien for Christ wt" ave cas did the 0a .op -Jof11r" t0. attackedtby Kn:sri-t k - of Oor. Tim woude o tie tao th -'roa.kd and sa ia eh of us, tied tr to asie i- ti- ranks by tesd of a soaadmn." i if saG d thz! 7l or em moen, pier and :eated fro s foriner wou nd"Ls, anid thus spredby. thle stakes, strgted bho t het omGba'. Tous has it b ren tha m to ie children of Godthough- eln them sel ves weak and woandidz, poe, rhas in31 body, perhaps in estate, perhaps in soul, supposed by the staff of GaA's pro:ntse, have wvarre.1it up to tehilt in the subj ga'ioa of a world of wlck edness. Ve are mighty in tais clus3, for we have te help o. the nious dead. M s sengers o sAlvation from high heav en, they vizi: t tield. They stand behied usy keep us from ig-aoninious retreat. They go before us to encour age u; in the strife. Tae Mcnevnes, and thePaysons. and the Martyns.and the Beainerds, an uacounted multi tuie of the gloridad, are our coadja tors. H ve you heard the Swiss tra ditiou. Tae herdimn say that tnree great lea-ltrs of the Ielvetia nation tuiogh se:unnly deal, are only ly iaz do.va urilh the ground in their old time dress. refreshing thenselres with sleep. and that il at any time the liberties of their country are in danger they wil im-nediately spring t their feet and drive back the ene:ny. May I not have the thought tha. if ever the churcl of the blessed Carist shall te threatened with destru::tion by foes which seem too great for her strength, the Lord himaelf will not onli come to the deliverance, but those great ancients who have seemed to be sleep ing among the dead shall immnediately hear the trumpet blast of the church militant and full are.1 spring back to their old positions in the ranks of God with the battlecry, "More than conquerors throazh him that loved us.* Although we have already much o encourage us in the work of the world's evangelization, yet we must Cnfess that mach of our time has bea consamed in planting oar bat teries and getting ready for the ca lict. We havo not yet begun to preach. We have not yet begun to pray. We have not yet begua to work. Oa the coasts of heathendom are misionary sta:ions. Taney have scarcely yet begun to accomplish what they propose. It takes some time o dig the trenc'ies and elevate the standard and direct the great guns. From what I hear I think they are about ready no v. Let but the great Captain wave the sigaal and the ring ng of celestial weaponry shall quake very dangeon of hell and sound up among the thrones of heaven. Pago as and temples shall tumble under he shock, and besotted nations flying from their idols and superstitions, houting like the confounded worship ers of Baal: "Te Lrd, he is the od: Tne Lord, he is the God !" We go not alone to the field. We ave invincible allies in the dumb ele eats of nature. As Job said, we are in league with the very stones of the feld. The sun by day and the moon by night, directly or indirectly, shall favor Christianity. Tae stars in their ourses are marshalled I ar us. as they fought against Sisera. 3ie winds of eaven are now as certaint; acting in favor of Christ as in reformation tiraes he inv:ncible armada in its pride ap roached the coast of England. As hat proud navy directed their guns against the friends of Christ and reli ious liberty God said unto his winds, Seize told of them." and to the sea, Siallow them." The Lord, with his empests, dashed their hulks together nd splintered them on the rocks un til the flower of Spanish pride and va or lay crushed among the waves of he soabeach. AMl are ours. Aye. God he Father, God the Son and God the oly Ghost are our allies: The Mohammedans. in their strug les to subjugate the world, had pas ages frcm the Koran inscribed on the bades of their saimiters, and we have othing to fear if, approaching the in idelity and malice that oppose the kngdom of Christ,we shall have glit ering on our swords the words of David to the giant, "I come to thee in he name of the Lord of H~osts, the od of the armies of Israel, who thou hast defied." Now the charch goes forth bearing precious seed, but after awhile it will be the sheaf binding, and reaper an els shall shout the harvest homne. Now it is tents and marching and ex posure, but then in the ranks of pros tate iniquity and on the very walls f heaven, "in the name of God we will set up our banners." The earth sends up its long, deep groan ot pain and clanks the great :hains of its bondage and cries by the voice of sea and land and sky, "How long, 0 Lord, how longE There was tradition on the other side of the water that the daughter of Lie was ransformed into a bird of the air, and hat she wandered for hundreds of ears over river and lake until the ar ial of Christianity, and that at the troke of the first cathedral l'ell her pirit w.as freed. Uncounted millions f our race, by the power of sin and atan, have been transformed into a tate of wretchedness, and they wan er like the poor daughter of Lir-, but hey shall after awhile be released. hen the great church of Christ shall n those darkened lands from its tow r ring out the glad tidings of the gos e, then millions of wandering souls hall find rest in a Saviour's pity and Saviour's love, transported from the ingdom of satan into the kingdom of od's dear Son. By and by you would har~lly know the earth if you saw it. The world as a whole shall be as greatly improved s the individual heart by conversion. raud, leaving its trickery, will go to -rk for aa honest li-;ing. Knavery Sall begin to make xighteous bar ains -Passion shall answer to the ontrol of reason. Scoilers shall be hanged into worshipers and skeptics into Bible lovers. Christ shall begin his reign on earth. Whether he shall escend on to the earth in person and establish a government at Jerusale- m, cannot say. 13aLt it will be an era of more than Augustan splendor. That s enough. Knowing this we can ever des:)air. But as we se the hur-h of Christ putting on he oea i l garments and arising to shine we wvill sa-., with the ennthusiasm of Ohi ver Cromwell, who. standing before is sick and famiine striden soldiers t Danbar, saw the sua risiug ou't o the morning mist, and, po-iting to it with his sword, uttered a prayer hch hurled his men upon the crushed foe o G It thine enemies be scatter ed.l Witn the- er of faith I catch the soaod o' the latter day glory. Church of Chr-ist. unsheath tavr-ord and ahw mommiti into the bmatle: I the name o' Chris., march ca! Upon every school and hospital, upon every bankr's desk -and mierhants counter, utn es-ery ci-,ast's laboratory and a-!ronomer's tower, upon shepherd's hat and woodnn's cabin, upon ship's d ec k an sailIor's h inmock, far out oi the sna an-' high up in the mountain, before the gaze of nations, under the applaudits of h"v. "in the name 01 God w st up our banners." My sb.j-:ctas taugh t you that in this contst we are not without ensigns and e-o A11 we want no.v is men to carr te. z 'Ore I sit down I mu's props' to eAch of you this great hoor -ciming a Caristiaa is not s.) ignoble a hing as many have thour, it "It makes a man stoop," you say. I kno -, it,but it is only tbe stoop of an h r of royalty. who on his kn-es is to receive a cro.vn of dm-nin ion. We want standard bearers in all puipis, in all places of business evrywher2. I do not ask you how old you are, nor how young, how weak or strong,how dull or how sharp, nor what your home, nor who your ancestors. Without any condition, without any reserve, in the name of the God of Israel. I offer you the hon or of carrying the church's ensigns. Do not b- afraid of the assaults of. a world whose ranks - 9. desert, nor of devils who will oppose you with infer nal might. It were more blessed to fall here th-an stand anywhere else. It were more of an honor, engaged with Christ, to be trampled under foot with this arny of banners, than, opposmng Christ, to be buried, like E I ward I, in Egyptian porphyry. You know in ancient times that ele phants were trained to fight and that on one occasion. instead of attacking the enemy, they turne: upon their owners, and thoasands were crashed under tUe stroke of their trunks and the mountain weight of their step. Tnese mighty opportunities of work for Chris; may acmplish great things in o!erthrowing the sin of the world and beting to pieces its errors, bai. if we do not wield them aright these very advantages will in unguard ed moments turn terribly upon us and under their heels of vengeance grind us to oder. Rejectel bless ings are sevenfold curses. We can not compro-nise this matter. We cannot stand aside an. look on. Christ has declared it. "All who are not with me ara against me." L ord Jesus. we surrender. Tne prophecies intimate that there shall before the destructioa of the world be one great battle between truth and unrighteousness. We shall not probably see it on earth, God grant that we may see it, leaning from the battlements of heaven. Oa the side of sin shall be arrayed all forms of opp:ession and cruelty, led on by infamous kings and generals; the votaries of paganisM, led on by their priests; the subjects of Mohammedan ism, following the command of their shieks. And gluttony and intemper ance ani iniquity of every phase shall be largely represented on -the field. All the wealth and splendor and pow er and glory of wickedness shall be concentrated on that one decisive spot, and, maddened by 10,000 previous de feats, shall gather themselves up for one last terrible assault. With hatred to God for their cause ani blasphemy for the battle-cry, they spread out over the earth in square behind square and legion ,beyond legion, while in some overhanging cloud of blackness foul spirits of hell watch this last struggle of sin and darkness for dominion. Scattered by the blasts of Jehovah's nostrils, plunder and sin and satanic force shall quit the field. As the roar of the conilhetsounds through the uni verse all worlds shall listen. The air shall be full of wings of heavenly co horts. The work is done, and in the prescnce of a world reclaimed for the crown of Jesus, and amid the crumb ling of tyrannies and the defeat of sa tanic force, and amid the sound of heavenly acclamations, the church shall rise up) in the image of our L ord, and with the crown of victory on her head and the scepter of dominion in her hand in the name of God shall set up he~r banners- Then Himalaya shall become Mount Zion, and the Pyrenees Moriah, and the oceans the walking place of him who trod the wave crests of Galilee, and the great heavens become a sounding board which shall strike back~ the sound of exultntion to the earth till it 'rebound again to the throne o f the Almighty. Angel of the A pocalypse, fly, fly! For who will stand in the way of thy might or resist the sweep of thy wing i Cotton Meal seized. CoLzanu March 1f0.-Fertilizer In spector Croswell has seized at Ben nettsville eighty tons of cotton seed meal shippedl to a merchant in that town, which did not have the required tags on it showing that the privilege tax of twenty-five cents per ton had been paid. The strange part of it is that the meal is said to have come from New York, while there are oil mills all over the State which could have furnished it. An oil mill man said yesterday that the meal was really bought in the West through New York orokers, and that as a mat ter of fact this particular brand was worth very little. Governor E'llerbe instructed Assistant Attorney General Townsend to proceed against the firm for violating the fertilizer law. It is provided that the State may sue to re cover the value of all fertilizers with out the ta2-s and as cotton seed meal sells for SiS.50,the amount in this case foots up St,480, quite a sung sum for the State if she gets it. It is not often that dealers are caught napping in re gard to paying the tax and such seiz ures are few and far between. Less Exclue1e Than Grover. WasmIN rox, March 1.-President McKinley has issued an-order that un doubtedly will increase his popu lari!.7 among a large portion of the chilzens of the District. It is that the road biack of the While House and rnng through the White House grounds b e restored to its former func tion as a public thoroughfare. lt is part of the P'resident's grounds and is subject to his orders. Uo to within the last four years it has always been opento the use of the public. Dur ing theexcepted period the grounds were given over to the -use of the Cleveland children and the gates were closed to thie general public. During the past aamiuistration the only times th e grounds were open to the public were on F aster Monday for egg roll ing and on Saturdays when the Ma rine Ih~nd gave its concerts. A Bug;: Defalca'ion. dretrsoD March 17.-The board of drcosof the old Mutual Assurance s ociety of Virginia made public this afternoon a defalcation of some $35, 00 as the resuit of the examination of the books of the association by au e'-oert bookkezoer. Mr. .D tgr the-n asstheceay in whose ac count thedefalcation occurs, was sent for to explain the matter. but did not appear and is said to have lef t the ci. Alhe securitie: of the eorpo rtion which is one of the oldest and strongest in the State are intact, the LOANS TO COUNTIES. AFTE - FUNDS OF THE S ATE S!NKING FUND. New Act; (nstrnl-Several Cv>unitem Ap pv 1-Fr Variout s Sums-The T.-xt of the Ae-A cominflz eeting. Co~MunI March 20.-Tnwre were but few measures introduced at the last session of the general assembly which caused more thoughtful discus sion than that intended to allow the funds of the sinking fund corn mission to be loaned to the several cunties of the S:ate. Miny possibi e dangers were p-irted out at the timLe. but the bill was passed and became an act, being approved on Feb. 25. It ba2cmEs elfactive on the 20th day thIereafter. And now the subsequent proceedings are interesting the State and cunty oflicials. Already several cunties have made applications to the sinking fund commission for loans under th9 act. Tie act reads as follows: An act requiring the sinking fund commissioners to lend funds to the seve'ral county board of commis sioners of the State for the use of their counties, in pre ference to lend ing same to other applicants for same funds. Section 1. Be it enacted by the gen e-al assembly of the State of Suth Carolina, that the sinking fund com mission is hereby authorized and re quired, when in the judgment of the said commissioners of the sinking fund valid bonds of the State are not offered or otainabie at a reasonable price, to lend the money of the sink ing fund commission both "cumula tive and ordinary" for a period of one year, at a rate of interest of 5 per cent. per annum. Sec. 2. That said loan shall be made by siid commission upon the valid securities of the several States of the United States, giving preference there to, or upon the note of the county treasurer and county supervisar of any of the counties of this Sate who shall make application for a loan; provided, the said loan be not more than one-third of the tax levy for said county, and the whole of the taxes of said county shall be pledged for the repayment of the money so borrove. of said sinking fund commission. Sec. 3. That the county treasurers of the respective counties borrowing funds of the sinking fund commission shall pay the note so given out of the first taxes collected for the fiscal year in which said money is borrowed. Sec. 4. That the sinking fund com mission shall receive appl:cations for the various counties and file the same until the first day of March of every subsequent year hereafter; and if the applications aggregate more than the entire fund in the hands of the sink ing fund commission, said commis sion shall prorate the loan to be made to the several counties in proportion tothe taxes paid by the respective c:unties; provided, that no loan shall be made to any county in excess of one-third of the amount of tax levy for such county for county purposes; provided, further, that for this year the applications shall continue to be made until May the first. Sec. 5. That the sinking fund com mission shall forthwith call in all temporary loans heretofore made by it, and loan said fund under the pro visions ot this act. Sec. 6. That any county treasurer who shall violate the provisions of this act shall be fined, on conviction thereof, a sum not exceeding $1,000, and his bond shall be liable to said sinking fund commission for the amount of the loss sustained by said commission, together with all costs and expenses thereof. Sec. 7. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed. There being some question as to the construction of the provisions of the act, the attorney general was asked to construe it for the commission. This he has done and the following issued by the State treasurer has been printed along with the act and is being sent to the several counties, so that their officials may inform themselves: Office of State Treasurer, Department of Sinking Fund, Columbia, S. C,, March 17, 1897. The foregoing copy of an act is tranm mitted for the information of those concerned: The attorney general has construAed the act as follows: The sinking fund commission is authorized and required to lend money at 5 per cent. interest per annum. when State of South Car olina bonds cannot be ob-ained at a reasonable price. The money cannot be loaned for a longer nor shorter neriod than one year. The money must be loaned: first, upon the valid securities of the several States of the United States, giving preference there to; secondly, what money remains after making loans upon such securi ties offered as above stated is to be, on the first day of May, 1S97, and on the first day of March of each year thereaf ter, loaned to the several counties ap plying for loans and complying with terms of act; said balance loaned to counties being prorated among the several counties in proportion to the taxes paid, and no loan to any county shall be in excess of one third of the tax levy for such county for county purposes-the "ordinary county tax." Applications for loans are to be f or warded to tie undersigne:1, to whom also apply for further information. WV. H. TIouRMAN, State Treasurer and ex-oilicio Treas urer and Secretary of the Sinking Fund Commission. The commission had about j$173,000 loaned out in iia days time on Febru arv 1. These loans, it is said, will be at once called in. As will be seen the holders of State bonds will still have the preference on~loans and the coun ties can borro w whatever is left. Barnwell has asked for a loan of $,00; Williamsburg for $3,000; Georgetown for $3,500, and Oconee Ior $2,500. York and Richland wish toorrow some, but have not yet stat ed how much. Aiken wants to bzr row $3,000 for ordinary county pur poses and hans writfen asking if she will be allowed to borro w SG,0u :nore, pledging the special tax of 1-tn of a mill levied for six years for the pur pose of er-ecting a new court house. Inasmuch as no loan can be made for longer than one year it is sa fe to say that Aiken cannot get this $,000. A meeting of the commission has been called for March 3J to consider all these matters. It will no doubt be attended by all the members.-State. Talk cf Lynching. NeEnny, March 18 .-Tony Lyles, colored, is in jail here charged with cmmiting a criminal assault on a Miss Willard near Whitmire's this county, Monday evening. Lyles waylaid the lady on the public high way and committed his foul deed. SheritV Buford will protect his -prison er, as there is some talk of a lynching bee.--State. [ixtnli WA-iSGTON, March 16.-General Wade Hfamoton is zeriously ill at his aoartmcents at the Metropolitan Hotel. Ife is sucifering from heart trouble and as he is now nearly 80 years of age, it is feared he has not sulicient recuperative power to with The cabam acie. Ian l, Marci 17 v!a Key West, _March 17.-From Sagu . La Grande Cemes the news that on the 133 inst.. the parties of Anito ilercad- z, R& bau and Julio Domineu z surpried section oL voinnteers belongiug to th.e Sixth company of that city. the ma jority of them beinz negree who were protectiuz the c.ine cutters o, the estate Salv1dor at a mile distance frrm the place. Seven were killed on the spot and two have disappeared. Many large care fires are reported all over Matanzis province, the rebels ap plying the torch to the fields in order to prevent grinding. They also set fire to a great sccticn of the Matanzis railroad, burning the crossties for a long distance. The rebels fired on Guanabacoa on the nights of Sanday and Monday. The city was much alarmed and the garrison under arms during the two nights. No losses re ported. Another attack is expected tonight and the government is send ing troops. Several Caban leaders in Matanzas provine2 have received orders from G mez to march to vard Las Villas or Santa Clara province. The last information locates Gomez at Dagamal, rear Arroyo Blanco on the borders of Paerto Principe. It is reported at the last moment that the rebels have blo xn up a train near Union, Matanzis province, but details are lacking. Advices received from Sancti Spiritus detail the atta::k made by the rebels on the zown of Paredes on the railroad line from Tu nas to Sancti Spiritus. On the night of the 9th inst., about 10 p. m. the rebels, after taking possession of the town attacked the railroad station which had been converted into a fort and protected by a detachment com manded by Capt. Huertas, two ser geants. a corporal, 100 soldiers and about 50 volunteers. The insurgents fired on the fort frorn all sides, thrust ing their guns into the very loopholes of the same. The firing then became intense and the defenders, despite their stout resistance, were forced to aban don the fort, leaving their dead and wounded with their arms and ammu nitions which were all taken away. Only a few volunteers managed to es cipe. A sergeant and 23 soldiers were killed. The captain and 15 soldiers were seriously wounded. The tele graph operator was also wounded in the act of wiring for assistance, but this did not come as the wires had been previously cut. While this was taking place at the station fort, another party of rebels attacked another fort named Fiel, at the extremity of the town. The garrison, composed of a sergeant and 35 soldiers was soon over powered. All perished except one, who was carried away as prisoner. All the arms and ammunition were captured and the fort destroyed. The Cubans were commanded by Jose Miguel Gomez, a brave leader in com mand of that district, but their num bers are not stated. It is said three were killed in the attack, a private named Enrique Canizares; a Spanish deserter and the other one unknown. Near the town of Paredes ccecurred the explosion lately reported. Tax Dodgers. The following has found its way into our office and we publish it for the benefit of all concerned: I would like to draw your attention, and with your assistance, to the fol lowing, and ask that you publish this in your local paper, and thereby cause the officer in your community to awake to a sense of his duty: A can yasser of a Chicago Portrait Co., boasted to me that last winter his Company took $15,000 out of this State without paying a cent of license They claim to work under the "Inter State Commerce Act,' which allows them to take orders and deliver the work later; but in reality they are lia ble :or county and city peddler's li cense, which in many counties are $100.00 per year. This is the scheme that this C mpany has worked foy two years in South Carolina. Thek have twenty-five canvassers that wory the entire State, every town of an - size is worked by one or two. In larg er to wns they go in groupes of four to six men. An agent of this company will agree to make an enlarged cray on picture for $1.9S to $3.60 without any frame or glass, to be delivered in 30 days; in the mean time you receiv~e a postal card saying that your portrait will be brought in a frame which you can buy. Soon after, another man comes Iback with the pcture in a big, cheap, showy frame, that he tries to sell you with the picture that you or dered, generally askinin from $2.00 to $3.00: but will take, before leavigg the house, "from 75 to 90 cents for it, and often will take $1.50 for picture, frame and all. before taking it back. Now, this is nothing more than taking orders for portraits, and peddling frames without the required license, in opposition to all photographers and frame dealers all over the State, who have to pay the required city license and County tax; while the people from the North beat the State cut of the required license. I think the resoected officer and every phoi tographer in the State should vigilant IV watch that this Company pay the peddler's license. For the last two years they have worked the State and t'he man who does the peddling part is hard to catch, as he only stays but a day or two in one place. Pho tographers and frame dealers, and otieers of the law would do well to watch for the picture frames at tha depot.--LI "rrTO." The Constitutional Tax. CoXMmTa. March 18.-It looks now as if the supplementary school tax provided for in the State Constitution to make up an amount suiticient to give the enrolled pupils in the public schools of the State 93 per capita is go ing to be levied by the comptroller eneral. It will be remembered that SMr. cGage of Chester introduced a res olution at the recent session of the general assembly to compel the comp troller to levy this tax.- He took the osition that this amount must be provided in each individual county and not for the State at large and that it would take $$1.Q00 to do it. The comtroller says he is looking into the matter carefully and proposes to have a test case made in order to have the constitutional provision construed. State.____ __ Released froma Prison. W\ASIING;ToN, March 17.-Secretary Sherman has received a cablegram from Consul General Lee dated late yesterday. saying: "Oseir Cespedes, a native of Key West. is released from Cabanas on c'ondition he leaves the iland." Oscar Cespedes is No. 40 on the State list of Americans in prison and the following information regard ing him is in that Jst: "T senty years. native of Key .Vest; captured without arms in iusurgent hospital near Zapafa, about September 5. 18%f; imprisoned at San Severino Fort: Matanzas; *question of competency between minitary and civil jarisdie tion decided mn favor of military: case pending _____ Lynched ax Preancher. SCOrTSBotto, Ala., March1 i-John D. Smith, a negro precachecr. was snot to death by a mob, whichi broke into the jil here. Smith 'was arrested yesterday charged with outraging tihe '.ife of a white farmer living near here. This muorninig a mob broke into the jail and despite the pleadings of the prachm. tanid him full of bullets REDUCE THE ACREAGE. ADVICE TO FARMERS OF A COTTON P;.ANTERS CONGREES. Speeches Made by Hon. Heeror D Lane and Other Leaders of the Agitation for Decreased Acreage-An Address Issaed. AuUcSm. Ga., March 15 -Tne American Cotton Growers' Associa tion met here today to discuss the ad visability of reducing the production of that staple. Several prominent planters and co.ton factors made ad dresses urging upon the farmers the necessity of a reduction of the acreage and advising the raising of supplies for home consumption. The most prominent of the speakers were Hon. Hector D. Lane of Alabama, president of the association: Mayor W. D. Young, Thomas Barrett, president of the Augusta Cotton Exchange, and Hon. Patrick Walsh. As a result of the the convention the folloning ad dress was issued: To the Cotton Growers of America: The Cotton Growers' Pr'otective As;o ciation of America, in convention as I sembled, at Augusta, Ga., on this, March 15, 1897, again come to you with an urgent appeal for co opera tire action in planting the crop for 1897. It is a matter of extreme con gratulation that the appeal mide to you for 1895 and 1S96 was so generous ly responded to, and that the crop of those years made upon the diminished acreage, did have the effect of increas ing the price of cotton. The crop of 1895, though estimated to be a",400,000 bales short of the crop of 1894, was in the markets of the world worth more by nearly $30,000, 000. In the face of this result to aban don the idea of diminished acreage would be to sound the retreat in the face of victory. It is the consensus of opinion among the best thinkers that if by any means the cotton crop of America could be held within the limits of S,000,000 or 9,000,000 bales per annum for five years, the people of these Southern States would be the richest and m.st prosperous in the world. How can this be brought about? The answer is with you. We appeal to your self-interest and your patriot ism to do all in your power to keep down the production of the staple - Do not abandon the ground you have won. Fight upon the grounas laid down; make the cotton States self supporting; put more land in Clover and grasses for your hogs to run on; diversify your crops and when you have done all this the area devoted to cotton will yield more returns than if you sought to increase the number of your bales. There has never been a time in the history of our section of the country that a movement looking to the in creased production of corn, hay, oats and other food crops was so important and necessary as now. It is felt by the most thoughtful men that we are entering upon a period of great uncertainties and that even a small cotton crop may fail to give adequate returns for its produc tion. The mutterings of a storm are dis turbing values and unsettling alt busi ness calculations. The paudent man will trim his sails to meet it. With the commerce of the country inter rupted by war, and war may come, cotton would be unsalable except at nominal prices. We desire to say to every cotton grower, whether his crop is ten bales or one thousand bales, see to it that your place is self-sustaining. We mean by this to advise you to grow on your far-ms an abundance of corn, meat, hay, oats, peas, potatoes for all the people on the place. If your tenant will not raise these things sell them to him and put the money in your pock ets instead of sending it out of the coun try. When you have done this, grow all the c tton you can. If every farmer or planter in the cftton growing district will make this his rule of action and live up to it conscientiously, it will accomplish the result we so much desire. It will be the means of making all pros perous and happy and cotton will sell for a higher price. We would urge you to make sure first of a cheap home grown living for all the people and all the animals on the plac3, and then make what cotton you can. We address our argument to each individual farmer. Every farner may measurably cntrol the cost of producing cotton. Let each individual farmer resolve in his own mind and without regard to what others may do, to cut down the cost of producing his c >tton. By confining his area to the best part of his fields, Dy concentrating his skill, industry and fertilizer on a smaller area, he will make cotton cheaper. Every farmer knows that the better the land, the better preparation and cultivation, the more liberal the amount of well balanced fertilizers he applies per acre, the less will be the cost per pound of cotton. Plant only the best land in cotton and the poor land in rye, peas, etc. This will certainly reduce your crop product in the aggregate, but will greatly reduce the cost, so that in any ev'ent whatever others may do, you will be all right. Floughing Land When Too Wet. The Southern Cultivator says: No matter how much a farmer has been delayed by the heavy rains of Febra ary, or how much hurried he may feel in consequet c aof these delays, he should beware of putting the plow in his land before it is sulieiently dry. We know the temnptaui..? .hen work is pressing and the sun is shining, to go on with the plowing, but we also know, from experience, that thiere is no injary to land or to ecops which is more disastrous or more las i in its efforts thaa plowing too sooi. .dfter heavy rains. Tne injury, to stiff clays more especially, wnen plowed too wet, is not contfined to one crop or Gau' sea son, bit extcads to fo!!aslug year4 and future crops, casing cul tivation to be attended to many neces sarily ditlic 2ities. Unfortunately such an error cannot be remedied at least during the same year. The mistake of preparing land when too wet, will invariably cause loss in the cultivated crops and much vexau ... of spirit in our vain efforts to escape the :e-sults of our lack of ,judgment. Let us keep in mind thiat on this work of c ir 'al and jadicious preparation hinges - eom prative suce ss or failure -of om. , rps and let us therefore abstain froa? pg ting the plows in the land untul it ismi proper condition for the work. .hPar ouga prep aranonis m'w- i amue nor tant than early planting. and even if we have to red uc-e the intended areast of our ditternt cr.ops. the saccidce is well made, if by it we ar-e ealed to put the remainaier of our laud in first class condition for the reception of the seed. A ppointments Conirmed. . WASmIo-ros, Marcih 17.-The sen - ate committee on foreign relations today ordered a favorble report to b~e made on the nominations of John ilay to be ambassador to Great Brit ams. IHorace Porter to be am'Jassador to France and Mr. White, present secretary at London. to be secretary f the emnhassy at Landaon. bLID OPw"OWDER Absolutely Pure. Celebrated for Its great :eavening strength and healthfulness. Assurei the food against alum and all forms o! adal teratioa common to the cheap brands. nOYAL BA KING POWDEr Co , NEW YORK. Where the Money Goes. It looks as if, as the nation increases in population, the cost of government per capita would grow less. We have no more Presidents now than we had at the beginning, though we have very properly doubled the salary of the one we have. We have only about one fifth as many Cangressmen as we had at first in proportion to population. In proportion to popula tion our army is much smaller than it was at the beginning of the century. We have only eight members of the cabinet, where we had six in the time of John Adams, in spite of the fact that the country is now fourteen times as populous as then. We have added little to our diplomatic service, and one .foreign minister nov repre sents, 71,500,000 people, instead of 5,400,000, and yet our annual ordinary expenditures have increased tif tyfold, and our expenditures per c ,pits, in stead of diminishing, have increased from $1.39 in 1800 to $4.93 in 1896. It looks as if either our ancestors were very stingy, or we are very extrav agent. As a matter of fact, however, the greater part of our increased ex penditures is due to gratitude, and gratitude is a thing to be proud of not ashamed of. We pay $140,000,000 annually to the men wno saved the Union, most of them for getting hurt in saving it. There are about 903,000 of them thirty-two years after the war closed, which shows that the 600,000 Confederate soldiers were dangerous lot of fellows, and that wounds Te ceived in defending the Union were conductive to longevity. Deducting the amount made for pensions and the interest on the public debt, the per capita of expenditure is $2 48. For our war department we pay about $2,000 for every soldier in the field. This ought to make enhstments popular. In Earope, as a rule, they pay only about $100. If Russia paid as much for her army in proportion to its numbers as we pay to our war department, it would cost her about $1,300,000,000 a year, in time of peace, and in about two years Russia would have to quit preparing to fight. As a matter of fact, however, she pays lit tle more than dimes for our dollars,. and can continue to threaten the peace >f Europe. One at our queerest in increases expenditure, is in appropriations for the Indians. We paid in Indian appropria tions something over $12,000,000 last year. As there are only about a quarter of a million Indians in the :ountry, wild and tame, this amiounts o $4S per capita, or $240 for a family f five. It pays to De an Indian al ost as well as to be a pensioner. In 864 the Indians, as numerous as now, ost only about one-sixth as much, which shows that they are appreciat ng in value. At present rates of in rease they would cost $270 per capita hirty-three years from now, and ould be the aristocrats of the land. erhaps by that time Congress will ecide that it is better to bay them ll and present them to our worst ene y. It would certainly be economy to buy them off now. We can bar ow 'money at 2:1 per cent. and $48 per annum per capita would amount o nearly $1,800 per Indian, or $9,000 per family. This is fully 900 times as uch as the indians are worth to them selves, and 9,000.00O0 times as much as they are worth to any body else. Very Bad Advice. Both in the North and in the South onsiderable comment has been pro oked by the recent address of Bishop enry M. Turner, of the African ethodist cniurch in which he advises the negroes to arm themselves and be ready for lynching parties, The bish op, af ter referring to a lynching which curred recently in Louisiana while the bisniops of his church were in ses sion in New Orleans, says. "Let every negro in this c~untry ho has a spark of manhood in him supply his house with ane, tao, or three guns, or with a sev~n or six shooter, and I advise him to keep them loaded and ready for imme~diate use, and when his domicile is invaded by bloody lynchers or any mob, day or night, Sabbath or week day, turn oose your missiles of death and blow the fiendish invaders into a thousad iblets. We have had it in our mind a say this for over seven years, but n account of Episcopal status we esitated to express ourselves, thi i rearing it might meet with the disap proal of the house of bish yps, but heir approval or disapproval has done othing to stay the fiendish marderers ho stalk abroad and are exteriaiat ag my race. So we have sail it, and aereaf ter we shall preach it, speak it, ak it, and write it. Again we say, ;et guns, negroes: Get guns, and nry God give you goo.i aun when ou shoot." The Atlanta Journal ve.ry truly says Bishop Turner e irries out the pro ram outlined in the words we have 1uoted from him, if he preaches and lL-s and writes that the negroes hould 'nake arsenals of their homes e will onlv succeed in stir':iag up trife bet ween the races in the South, bl a will result in great mischief to s own people. Bishop Turler is an ble man and has been of much ser rice to his people. He has helped to rinlg about a better understanding d more friendly relations between he whites and the blacks in the south. Ve regret that one who has done so nch goad and who is capable of do n nuch more should through a mis ake of judgment fan the embers of ace antagonism, bat we do not be ieve that many negroes will folio . s counsel in this matter. As a nethod of preventing outrages, the ishop's plan will not only prove a ailure, but it' any general attempt iuld be made to carry it out the re .t would be far- worse than tne pres -at condition. A Drop Too Much. 3A(SoNV:LLE, Fia., Atarc'1 17. 3odie Williams, the hign diver, mped last night in a ball of fire o a 75 foot tower into Lake Worth .t Palm Beach, struck the bottom, make his neck and died within a few