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LJOUIS APPELT. Editor. M ANNING, l5. C., MA Y 29, 1907. PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: one year....... . . ----.......... --- - Six months...........-........ Fou months-...... ................ ADVERTISING RATES: One square. onc time. $1: ench subsequent n s;ertion. 50 cents. ot)ituaries and Tfrau-te t Respect harged for as regular avertmn. L.jieral contracts made for three. six and twelve mouth commun i "tons must in accompaied by the real naw and address of the writer in order to receive .ttenticn. N'o communication of a personal character wl 'e publish d except as an advertisement. Entered at the Postoffice at Manning as Sec ond Class matter. THE SOUTH TO GET A LEMON! It is announced that Dr. James H. Parker, formerly of Charles ton, has been nominated for the presidency of the New York Cotton Exchange, and that there is a possibility that he nay tind a place at the head of the so-called reform ticket also. This is news indeed. news we regret to say that is not likelv to inspire a feeling of pro foundl gratitude in the South, news that brings with it remin iscences grimly suggestive of what may be expected from the Cotton Exchange of N ew York under such a management, such an executive! What does Char leston think of her exotic son who is about to be so honor? What does South Carolina think of Dr. James? Harking back twenty-five years to the time of his voluntary exile, one might find the fly in the amber of our keen appreciation of what the New York Cotton Exchange. purposesito do. Parker's repu tation in Charleston was known when he was a cotton factor there, and the echoes and tombs have come down the years losing none of their effectiveness, and they illustrate pretty clear ly what the astute clique in con trol of the Cotton Exchange ex pect when they name him for the presidency. Their candidate promises all the necessary re quisites, wealth, superficial re specability, latter-day hcuesty. with the approved color-blind ness in all manner of things where the interests of the in siders are concerned. We have no personal hostility to the em inent Doctor Parker, but from the point of view of the South, which has suffered so long from the debased New York contract, we protest against putting up this man and clothing him with any pretensions to friendliness to the South, or with a record inspiring of the hope that seeing the light and knowing it, he will follow it. The advent and exit of Parker in Charleston marked the cul mination of that city's great prosperity as a cotton centre. He killed the cotton factorage business, and down the years have followed the testimony of many and the belief of all that he was'one of the "slickest ar ticles" tha.t ever made the owner of a plantation or a small farmer curse in impotent fury the fate that entangled him in the snare of Parker or others of his ilk. No one who has lived a generation in Charleston needs to be re minded of these things, and no one who has kept in touch with business history can fail to trace to its proper source, the cause of Charleston's depreciation as a cotton centre. Cotton men in the South know that the primary purpose- of the present existing contract on the New York Cotton Exchange is to facilitate gambling, and divert the blue chips to the clique in control. Does anyone honestly believe that they will give up this graft for the sentimental reason that it depreciates the price of good cotton? Does anyone believe that we tigure in their plans other than as a pawn in the game to circumvent the authori ties? True we raise cotton, but if annoying statutes did not in tervene they could just as well deliver waste paper, as the stuff that can come in, (properly iden tified of course) and be classified as good tenderable cotton. Is the nomination of Parker, the perennial candidate for Pres ident of something or other, in tended as a sop to the South? Is it intended that we shall subside because one of us has been made President of the Exchange. It is a pity that old man I. V. Bardin and .Andy Simonds are not alive at the mo ment to catalogue the Parker civic and other virtues properly. It is too bad that Caldwell, the defaulting cashier of Parker does not come back from the void to tell why it was that Par ker would not prosecute him. It is too bad that tradition should have failed to hallow the business methods of Parker as he understood them when he was using South Carolina cotton growers as a foundation for his subsequent wealth and t h e furtherance of his social aspira tions. We did not know when he was among us that he had a hanker ing for society, and birth and breeding and good manners and an appreciation for moral and business cleanliness. He did not manifest any social desires, he sought another class and en joyed himself no doubt, but if his soul yearned for a higher social plane, for intellectual as-. sociation, if he held puritanical ideas in business, how could Charleston know it? His mod esty, you say? Yes, possibly. if that could be properly classi fied. There is every good and valid reason why the South should protest against this man's elec tion to the head of the New York Cotton Exchange. He is elissed, we note, as a moderate re oriner. Entirely true, he was always moderate, excessively moderate as a reformer, but: plenty often brings with it a better apprC-a tion of business ethics. the neen for graft having jassed, the realization of the dreaim of being ctssed among the eminently good becomes the succeeding passion. But Parker continues to keep bad company, and his moral awakening must have been thoivugh if he does not suc cumb to casual slumber in the poppy field of graft which h desires to enter. Great are the uses of money, myriad are its possibilities. It is the cleansing fluid and the deodorizing powder of the cen tury. It will rub out stains of chlracter, stiffen pliable con sciences for show purposes, en sweeten rotting souls with the odor of sanctity and canonize moral hazards, which even time had not been able to rehabilitate. But to stop moralizing and re turn to Mr. Parker, we can only say that from our point of view, he should not be the candidate of any faction for the presidency of the Cotton Exchange. If the so-called reform element nomi nate him, they are merely tem porising with a name. The only reforms they will accomplish will be the demonstration of the absurdity of temporising with the devil, and making his tir-st lieutenant commander-in-chief. Parker stands for nothing good to the South. His record, his business reputation, his person ality are not things we his form er neighbors, are proud of, and his long-distance honors in New York, his presidency of this, and his vice-presidency of that, lend to him for us no enchantment. If he be elected, and he 1aay be, let the South read the lesson aright. If it does not take kindly to the slap in the face, which it gives us, in effect, let it find some :.aeans of ending the gam blers regime now dominating the New York Cotton Exchange to our incalculable injury. But Parker should be defeated. The only substitute necessary would be a man whose honesty was born with him, not developed when affluence made it an easy burden. LABOR CONTRACTS NO GOOD. The decision in the United States District Court by his Honor Judge William H. Braw ley, declaring the penalty pro vision of Section 857 of the crim inal statutes of South Carolina unconstitutional,is no surprise to us. Our readers, perhaps. re member we have long contended for some modification of our ag ricultural labor contract laws, expressing the opinion that if the law ever reached a court for a decision it would result in its being declared unconstitutional. We have been so conx :rced of such a result that in the last ses sion of the legislature we at tempted to get an act passed which would have been some protection to the employer from the evil effects of the present method of operating agricultural labor contracts. The prevailing methods are so oppressive that in the many instances it amounts to peonage and so dishonest that it amounts to blackmail, often subjecting the honest employer of farm labor to be victimized. And, too, a large part of the re spansibility for these evils can be traced to magistrates who lend themselves and their offices to extort money and to oppress. The enactment of our agricul tural labor contract laws were well intended, the purpose was to afford some protection from a class of unreliable laborers, a class that would start a crop, get in debt and then leave the indul gent employer helpless and ruined, but in the operation of this law, designing men without regard for consequences. soon found an opportunity to make money, even if their neighbors and friends were made to suffer: they took advantage of the op portunity. and with the aid of the magistrates, blackmailed their neighbors right and left. It was not unusual for a farmer to be forced to pay his neig-hbor a sum of money to save aplow man from the chaingang, nor was it unusual to find fields white with cotton and becoming storm-ruined because the hands on the place were on some other plantation picking cotton to pay a debt for an account or money borrowed. Then, again, cases have come under our observation where an employer, in order to keep from paying his plowman, would. when the crop was laid by, make it so disagreeable for the em ployee that he was forced to leave, and, if he attempted to collect the pay due him for his work he would be indicted for breach of contract and sent to the chaingang. The law afforded many opportunities to swindle, it gave the trifling laborer the chance to get in debt to a half dozen or more. and then jump the debt, leaving those who ad vanced with the bag to hold. This law also made the tenantry uncertain, because it was a comn mon practice for a man to make a small advance to another's tenants and make it a condition of the loan that the borrower must move upon the plantation of the lerder, and it was a mat ter of considlerable frequency that land-owners found their lands without tenants because of renting from then were going to move. The effect of declaring this agricultural labor contract law unconstitutional will unsettle things and probably inconveni ence farimers for awhile, but ill .our judgment it is a blessing in disguise, it will revolutionize our labor system and place it upon a ruore just and substantial basis: there will be devised a scheme vwhich will prove more satisfac tory to both employer and em ployee. In the first place the land-owners have it im their power to control the labor sita ation, they can rogulate the credit system and the wage-rate, but to do so they must rely upon a higher law than a legislative enactment, they must rely upon and stand by the law of honesty and common sense. Of course, if the land-owners in a commu nity cannot come together for their own self-preservation then they are in a hopeless condition, and the decision of Judge Braw ley. which must appeal to the common sense of every intelli gent man as being correct, will have a disastrous effect, but if they do come together and agree upon a just and equitable wage rate basis and a reasonable con dition for renting their lands and honestly stand by it, they will soon see that Judge Brawley has rendered this country a great service in declaring our State law unconstitutional. . It has been our opinion for years that the agricultural labor contract laws of this State, even if constitutional. have done much towards making labor conditions as bad as they are. and there is no better proof than to see how much better the employer and employee get along when no ag ricultural contract has been en tered into, except only as to the ordinary course pursued in the employment of any other kind of labor. We know farmers who never take an agricultural labor contract, yet they are never without a good class of employ ees. The secret lies in the fact that the employer and the em ployee agree upon a scale of wages and the character of labor to be performed, and both carry out the agreement; there is no such thing as promising a hand certain wages and then getting back a rake-off from those wages in the shape of a discount at a store where an order has been traded out, whatever is prom ised is paid in cash, and the em ployee is contented with his em ployment that he tries to merit the good will of his employer by giving him good service. The commentsof the Columbia State upon Judge Brawley's de cision meets our approval and we herewith reproduce its edito rial: The decision of Judge Brawley pro nouncing unconstitutional the South Carolina contract labor law will fall like a bolt from a clear sky upon thou sands of farmers in South Carolina. The law declaring that those laborers receiving supplies or advances from their landlords commit a crime if they cease labor before such advances are paid, and are liable to imprisonment for such crime--and that after such imprisonment are still not freed from the obligations of the contract-has got to be considered a necessity to the em ployers of negro labor. When the de cision is first understood, thousands of farmers will believe that the ground has been cut from under them; that labor, certain, regular, will be impossi ble to secure. The State does not take that gloomy view-. The opinion of Judge Brawley is strong and he clearly brings out the points that he seeks to make. It seems to us that in both law and in morals that opinion is sound. There is no question that much of the negro labor is trifling; that the negro as a race has little regard for his obligations; that the promises to pay of the laboring class are practically valneless; that the basis of dealing with them without some legal hold is unsatisfactory. Nev ertheless a study of the contra4ct labor law of this State, together with a knowledge of its operation, must lead to the conclusion that to all intents and purposes it permits imprisonment for debt and makes provision for " involun tary servitude." Both those proced ures are prohibited by the supreme law of the land:'and that law must be re spected. And that the constitution is right, is shown by the fact that when a law oversteps its bounds injustice and hardship followvs. While mar y negro laborers are unre liable, regardless of moral obligations, and seem to need the rigid control of some such law as is now declared un constitutional, there is no doubt that the law in question has been abused, injustice has been done, and that igno rant laborers are victimized by unscru pulous persons. In the case brought before Judge Brawvley the same laborer was put upon the chaingang twice in two years for the violation of a contract made for one year; and there was no record that the contract was ever made. In other cases the State law has had the etfect of making legal a mild sys tem of peonage. It may have been so utilized by comparatively few, but its provisions- are always a temptation to persons regardless of the common rights of those unable to protect them selves. It would have been better for the farmer had this decision been render-ed in the early winter, when the contracts for the year are about lapsing, but even as it is we apprehend little loss or trou ble to farmers if they do not attempt to entice laborers from each other. The laborers must live; they have made contracts expecting to work the year on the farm. By this time they will have paid for much of the advances made by the landlords, and the tempta tion to jump their contracts will not be Iso great. But if the negro laborers demonstrate that they can not be con trolled by the laws tbat are constitu tional, then the whites of this State will redouble their efforts to introduce foreign labor, and may change the sys tem of farming to suit the farmers brought from Europe. We have the land, we have the soil, we have the cli mate, and we have the labor. But with willing workers knock-ing at the doors of America. the labor that we have must determine its fitness by competi Ition. Ther-e will be a survival of the lttest. Cuiro The News and Corero 3d remarks: "When the South Carolina editor-s come to the seashore they will bring their usual supply. of life preservers. Is this a hint for Aull and De Camp who hail from prohibition counties to stop over in Charles ton to secure their life sav-ing mtrial from John Marshal? Secretary Woods, of the cot ton association needs to be cen sored by his chief, and then per haps he will not be so quick to talk about that which he knows )absolutelv nothing about. Ex Sewnr -huu L. McLaurin is one of the attorIeys retained to fight the New York Cotton Ex change, and when the matter gets properly before the courts we expect results, if they can possibly be obtained from the courts. McLaurin has been studying the exchange methods f'or years, and is fully converis ant with thentii, perhaps better informed than any other man in the South, and it is in recog nition of McLaurin's loyal sup port to all interests Southern together with his magnificent ability that President Jordan sought the services of Senator McLaurin. $100 Reward, $100. The readers of this paper will be pleased to learn that there is at least one dreaded disease that science has been able to cure in all Its stages. and that isCatarrh. Hall's Catarrh Cure is the only positive cure known to the medical fraternity. Catarrh being a constitutional dis ease. requires a constitutit-nal treatment. Halls Catarrh Cure is taken inteinally. acting directly upon the blood and mucous surfaces of the sys tem. thereby destroying the foundation of the disease.and givinz the patent strength by build jn; up the constitution atd assisting nature in doinz its work. The prop-ictors have so much faith in its curative nowers. that they offer One Hundred Dollars fi a-, ease that it fails to cturo. Send for lk~t of tcestimonials. Address. F. J. CHENEY & GO.. Toledo. 0. %;old by dru:=ists. 4. Halls Family Pills are the best. South Carolina's Progress. Ex-Senator McLaurin of South Carolina, while in New York yesterday, spoke of the progress which that state is making in various departments of business. i He spoko especially of the banking system, which has sprung up since 1885. Marlboro county, one of the finest cottoh growing counties in the State, at that time was without a bank and practically all of the bank ing was done with Charleston. 150 miles distant. Now there are five banks in the county, one of which with a capital of $59,000 has deposits ranging from 8500, 000 to 700,000. There are other instances in which banks are dong as well in various parts of the State. When asked in what ways the people were using the money which they had made in the re cent years of prosperity, he said "They are putting it into banks, into mills, into forest properties, into better houses, furniture making, cotton oil mills and snch projects as ice plants and municipal improve inents. One of the best oppor tunities in South Carolina towns is in a combination business in which ice making and the fuel trade are combined. More and more our people are insisting on a higher degree of comfort in their homes. They are not so simple in their living as former ly, although they have not as a rule become extravagant. Meth ods of travel have improved materially, and the conditions of living are not what they were even half a dozen years ago."' Senator McLaurin laid em phasis upon the necessity of in ternational banking connections through Americau institutions by which it would be possible for the southern exporter of cot ton products to reach the mar kets of the world more directly. He said that it is too much the practice to have to do business through London. We ought, he thought, to be able to finance our cmr Foreign commere. Speaking further of the lead ing industrial district of the Carolinas, where the cotton mills are, he said: "When it reaches its full statute the Piedmont region of the Carolinas will dominate in cotton manufacturing just as surely as the southern cotton belt now dominates the world's raw products. We are today supplying our dolniestic needs and exporting on the average only $30,000,000 worth of cotton goods a year; while we are sup plying Great Britian with enough raw cotton to meet hsr enormous home demands and in addition enabling her to export nearly 500,000.000 worth of cotton goods annually. Besides this we send to Germany, France and other countries enough raw ma terial to allow them to outdis tance us as exporters of finished wares. "This Piedmont section has many advantages which must ultimately centralize cotton man ufacturing wvithin its borders. Climate, agricultural products, raw cotton, and especially hydro electrical developments now un der construction. The Whitney Company has nearly completed a 40,000-horse power plant at the town of Whitney, N. C., and when its other falls are comn pleted it will have nearly 120,000 horse power of electrical energy available for turning spindles and looms. "At the New Orleans conven tion in 1905, I started the move ment to have the United States government appoint a commis sion to investigate the cotton trade abroad, seeing that this forms the most important item of imports by every non-manu facturing country. A commis sion of two was finally author ized as a result of this agitation. One of these gentlemen, Mr. William Whittam, Jr., who is a practical manufacturer, went to Manchester, England, and I have from conversation with him, and also from the very in teresting and valuable reports made from time to time to the Bureau of Manufactures of the Departmnent of Commerce and Labor, been able to comprehend as I never have before, why they can buy cotton, carry it across the ocean, bring the goods back and nderell us in the home. AdVar PRESENTED BY When it comes to a ques piano store or a small one, 1 complete satisfaction is in i SBEC/ 1. An institution, which like the Cable, The Cable Company, does a large volume of business naturally can sell on a lower percentage of profit than the concern that handles only a small number of pianos. 2. Our carrying expense is reduced to a minimum. It re quires no more floor space to carry a piano in our ware rooms than it does to carry an instrument elsewhere, but on account of our large sales we do not hold our pianos so long, and therefore every foot of room is used to the best advantage. 3. Our business is organized for economy of time, energy, and expense. The cost of waste in any of these direc tions necessarily must be paid for by the buyer in the form of higher prices. By reducing our costs we can give the benefit of the saving to our patrons. 4. As manufacturers, we control at first hand the quality 01 the material and workmanship entering into our pianos. Considering all these a prospective piano purchas aiming to buy economically their best interests at our v WE SELL TAL) THE CABLE Everything K J. V. WALLACE, Manager Cnarles market in certain lines of fine Q'e fNtc hze~ and fancy fabrics. As I said in my speech before the _Cotton DITCTOS.0s. Manufacturers' Convention in Onti2thdyoMaAD.10 Philadelphia last week, the mostonraigtefeongpiin striking illustration of our back-ORED THCUTta wardness in exports of cottonhergbeaduotesmeo manufactures is the fact thatth7tdaofJnAD.10,b wieIndia is a colony of Great fr adCuta hretn .C Britian. it is a neutral market. frno;adta oieteefb Yet last year we only sold therepulseinTeanngim, half a million dollars worth-com-nesarpitdinadDsrc pared with $141,000,000 sent tOoteprsninneetmaapa India from England. South a h adtm n lc n hi Carolina never has been much ofcasianthyaewyh a spinning state. But of her im- pae ftesi eiinrsol mense number of looms I shouldnobegatd say that half their output goes TECUT htteCeksa to China,.edb alt l nw rdtr "I dont suppose there is a cpe fsi eiinadti re region in the world better sup- rsdnea ttd plied with water power than the WIESthHoralWM PIedmont and with immigrationBR LEJdeoth to furnish a much needed labor (Sa sidCutanthse splthere is hardly any limit oftehrofaCalson to the expansion of cotton man-I 7hdyo aA ufacturing. "-The Wall Street! 97 Journal May 22. RCADW USN An Enjoyable Day in Paxville. 197setoalcrdtsntieo Thirteen from Manning attended the aoehaig District Conference of the W. F. M. RCADW US~ Society which convened in Paxville Cek Saturday morning. The -conference was well attended. Out of the thirteen societies we had reports from ten, both The meeting was presided over by Mrs. E. S. Herbert, who, though feeble in strength, yet was full of the work andhaonoftebs spirit of the Master. Quick a lDIhtRIC.TCol Sor.-ss IsOnlliist'sthmulsifiedaylA.in.1en7 to enirae te ore ofmaorbestplnt raing tow.he oreon thetitose by Dr. E. Bown &OCRDthin is cla Tndfeh n CoURT, thte Kideycomlant ils mrepeolhestgsarin e hadluoted. me thananyothr dseas.Tisstd e 7t CAN ay GOfOJD, COFEE AND97,b the isese bingsonsidoustha i TESi CAKES AN CAtn.C. ges godhod nth sstm iefr sDsr, RUTS 11oclcAnD th wil pevnthedeelomet f orenal oon; and tAND noieBreK-b dipublishfdtakenhenMaime.gThemesnt Itchcure in30 mnutebyWoonord saperhint i andld isti Sanitry Ltion Nevr fals. oldbycaseroery.ons isinteresecmayapeae W.. Bown& oDrugiss. and Ih iite ur patoaeadso prEexoptosaiiptiioersh.l fo ND OF IsUE OlRDERED B Season ticket, $17.60.tSold daily shal April 1thenodovembea3ith.o a l ncitrII 60 9t tckt,$1.7.olopi oflaied pton aondthiode addresedttothematmbhirrplcesh. Tueday liit eve das. ndredenebssate Jd. &ut oo inpalo orslepng ar."WEREASMr th . Ctterb me ThrughPulma seepngcar frm uittomeoBraWLEY Judero lete ortTama ad Jcksovile, la (Sofadmisati onrt and the saea ion.N. ., ia te Alanic CastLin Thee therefoaresto t nd Writfoabautfulillutraed r .)C. a n ad distrcto n the i nattristof otes, ec. or ese-2btan appa beoe mey. Dth I. rai, PssegerTraficManger ninve ths 0th day of MayD ~.get, ilmngtn, . C1o'loc senth ocredisnootc so ~jiuuaCui gaovedhan. fOLEY~lONEYubTA SEAL ARDS . W USNDM cm.. oti~ p~s~gs nanmhas Joe of be. It A LARGE STOCK. tion of purchasing at a large ;he probability of obtaining avor of the greater concern, USE As we guarantee every instrument we sell, we naturally make sure that our productions are fully up to the stand ard. 5. The arrangement of the pianos on our floors, the employ ment of experienced piano movers, and harmonious co operation among our employees; all enable us to give the best service. 6. Our extensive sales and our large floor space enable us to carry a great assortment of instruments and thus to give our customers the best opportunities for - making selec tions. We carry the Mason & Hamlin, Conover, Cable, Kingsburg and Wellington pianos and the Kingsburg Inner Player piano in many designs and finishes. 7. Our ample financial resources place ns in a position te make exceptionally favorable terms to the buyer; We sell - on a very liberal monthly payment plan.; Ivantages presented to the er, it is evident that those and satisfactorily will serve rarerooms. ING MACHINES. COMPANY. nown in Music. Cable Building, ton, 5. C. THERE ARE REASONS WY SATSUMA TEA IS TH IDEALBLEND FOR ICING Made of the choicest .pickings of Mo yune, Foochow Oolong, Pinhead Gun Pow der and Souchong. It has that beautiful deep rich color always desired though sel dom obtained. Being scientifically blended its cup qualities are unsurpassed as is pos sesses delicacy of flavor, strength and color in full measure. We are offering SA TSUM A TE Aat 75c. the pound. 'Twould be cheap at a dollar. We have other Teas of course, for~ less money---sniLendid values too. TH MANNING GROCERY CO. I Clarendon's Tea Emporium. The short crops in the vicinity of Manning have caused* prices this fall not to advance as they did last year.Now is the inves tor's opportunity, as with reasonably good crops and prices next year's land will go much higher. Others think as we do. Anct here are two orders recently placed with us by two men from other counties, and the kind of men this county needs: First. A farm, within easy reach pf a high school and good churches, properly improved and costing from five to ten thousand dollars. Second. A farm of from one to two hundred acres, within reach of a common school and good church. costing from three to five thousand dollars. If you can't pay cash we will help you to borrow the money Malning Real Estate Agenicy~ E. D. Hodge, Manager. Offic over Bank of Manningr.