University of South Carolina Libraries
0O.XX'' ANN;S ., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1917. N. REPRESENTATIVE IESNE INTfIRSTIN I His Letter This Week is of I to the People of Clar of the Bills He Coluw bia, S. C., Jan. 29, 1917. Editor Timed: This is "Monday'and both the House and Senate meet tonight. By the time you publish~ this letter on Wed nesday both Houses will have held ,several sessions, so that you see my letters are necessarily behind in giv ing you the news right up to the day rof your publication. In my letter last week your type setting machine by some kind of a typographical error gave mp a pretty bad lick. In discussing the prohibi tion and liquor questionI 'said "The e.. whiskey people know," etc., and your types made me say "We" whiskey people. The error was unfortunate, particularly in that I was discussing iskey from the liquor man's stand. int. I -am unfortunate as to my putation anyhow among the ultra prohibitionists, because I do not hold the same views they do on the whi. Jey question, but I am far from being ready to line up with the class whc might 'be termed whiskey advocates I want the abuses of whiskey stopped and the sale of it restricted, and ihorality and temperance to prevail throughout the land. There are hun. dreds of different opinions on this liquor question, and there are ever ,fight or ten bills on the subject al, ready introduced in this legislature The legislature is now at the work. ing stage, and just one-half of the session has been spent. There is only "ne thing that I know of now whic' may block matters, and that is the election of a cotton warehouse com. Anissioner. The joint assembly ha: been in a dead lock on this election for several days,- and the ballots wil be resumed Tuesday night. Drake )pf Mdarlboro, is neW leading, with Mc, sahan of Oelumnbia second. Thern are.four or five other candidates stil in the race, but my opinion is thai Drake will finally be elected. I have been voting for him myself, because is a cotton farmer and a business an in Marlboro county, and foi sometime past has been McLaurin'i eld warehouse inspector. McLauri $ resigned twice, and .his resigna n has been accepted and if he were Weelected the enmity'which is enter tained ageinst -him -Mould - kill the Whole system. I have :not -wasted it vote ton ,McLaurin since his resigna tion, and I want the next best mai for the position. The warehouse ii going to have a hard fight anyhov or the -.next two"years, 'and X an frank' to say that while I am sup (orting it, and have supported it eves s ce its creation as a matter of gov e ental expediency, I am afraid I is ing to have a hard time to weath the storm for the next two years It was unfortunate for the warehouse system the past, season that cottoi went so high and there. was so littl< gtored, as farmers sold for the hig] *prices. Consequently from a financia standpoint the warehouse made ver; Iit'tle mnoney for the State, pad thii *ives its enemies a cudjel to fraili with. The advent of the boll weevi iln tli State 'next summer will agai prob&'ly'upset matters in the cotto world, so that the system has an un Iertain future to face. All these ar< State 'matters, and if we are In pub~ lie. Jlfe we'~ have to face them, an< meet them in the best way we cari jut the warehouse system, and ware ouses In other States saved the da: - for the cotton farmers in '1915, an< I believe in holding on to it. e The errible rainy and cold weathe e aebeen havig has had me siel with qmething like grip for severa day, d I am hardly able to d 'q twriting. you a letter thi r an"to be In position to discun .euvpe of our local - county matter sooin, and perhapi In my next lettes Our delegation spent about all of Is Ba4 rdhy in the Supervisor's ofMe wit >Supervisor Kelly, goIyg over th ou htca Affaits,: and In thi I tt I esn only say thnt the Count; in#i, and we see no possible wa; 4out of raising the County levy is1 a terrible hue and cry fo roads, and If the people havy pIke roads they may just as wel t, to pat ifor them. There I t lk of wanting to bond th ~t of roads, but no bonds fo mivm(J jQl1 kIn4 of an equitabti te itla A'devised and enacted R[[l1S YY LY OF [CI$ILAUV MATlS iore Than Ordinarg Interest endon-Explais Some Has Introduced. whereby the land owners of the State and County' will pay their just 'pro portion of taxation. There are hun dreds and even thousands of acres of land right now in Clarendon County which are renting for, eight and ten dollars per acre, and that same land owner is only paying. taxes at the rate of five and six dollars per acre, and the land. owner would not take forty dollars' per acre for the land. No bond issue for me, until there is more equality in taxation. This tax question is something I want our peo ple to go to thinking about. I con sider it the biggest question in the State's government economies today, notwithstanding all the talk about prohibition and woman suffrage and homes for feeble minded children, etc. These people are trying to stampede the legislature and dig into the State treasury, but the State wants and needs an equitable tax system. If I were ten years younger and had the strength I once had I would make this my life work, but I fear it is too great an undertaking for me now. I Nevertheless it is a great public ques tion, and is on my mind. I cannot go into any details now as to my i views on it. I have no idea whether I will be In politics at all any more, and want to say to some people who are imputing political motives to me for writing these letters, that I have na designs on Mr. DuRant's job whatever, or any other job. I went to the House free and unhampered, as a representative of the masses, and if I ami prqyiglentially permitted health and strength through the next session of the General' Assembly I mean to at least make some efforts at partial reform on the tax question. Is Its right-for the three or-four hun dred thousand' dollars which - is' in vested in land mortgages in Claren don couinty to go without paying taxes? The poor fellow who lives on the land and claims to own it is at least paying some taxes on the land. But the man who really owns the land, the capitalist who holds the mortgage, does he pay any taxes? These matters can be worked out, and they will be worked out in time. These are things which -make possible and bring. about what some folks speak L of seprehensibly as Bleasism. There are many matters of im. portance coming up this week, but I cannot begin to enumerate them. My proposition to hold a constitutional 1 convention in 1920 or 1921 will likely go over until the next session. This , will suit me, as it cannot be sub . mitted to the people at the polls any. t how until the fall of 1918. I have . real hopes of securing the passage of my measure to restrict the lien of landlords to the crops grown on 1 the lands which they rent to tenants for farming purposes, and thereby stop this abuse on the part of lan~d 1lords to their tenants by distraining Severything that is on the place, horses, cows, hogs, chickens, . and t everything in isight, even whether the I property belongs to the tenant or someone else. i I also have introduced, and it has - passed through thge judiciary commit. s tee, and is now back in the House - and on the calendar, for second read. I ing, a measure to amend the criminal . ect~ion in regard to obtaining prop. - erty by false pretenses and the one iv in regard to disposing of property I undhr mortgage, so that the party mnkin)g the affdavit to obtain a war. r rarit under these sections shall state cin ,his affdavit that he Is not making I it for the purpose of merely collect o ing a debt. This Is strictly in ac is cordance with the constitution of the State and is endorsed by several s solicItors. This custom of jailing s people for nothing but debts has come .to be such an abuse that many mag. t istrates offces are nothing but col e lecting agencies for a few people, and e the, time is coming phen1. some ol s these people who are always -swear, f' ing out warrants for these 'two. of. rftenses will be on trial for perjury. .* A great many, magistrates are te r blame for thi, condition of .afairs, e They ought ,to remember what hap I pened to a magistrate from Lexing. . ton county in the U. S. Court the e othier dlay on A question -arising oul r of these labor contracts. a Looks like everybody wants to ge L, into the State TreAannt up hot. All W. G. SMITH OP ORANGEBURG WAREHOtJSE COMMISSIONER Uplon the fifth ballot of the joint assembly tonight, which was the six teenth, of the session, Mr. W. G. Smith, of Orangeburg, was chosen state warehouse commissioner. Mr. Smith was formerly in the cotton business and is now connected with the insurance business. Upon the last ballot he received 82 votes, as aainst 73 for Mr. Drake, former state warehouse inspector.' FIVE KILLED BY PANCAKES Mother Mixed Arsenic Preparation With the Flour. Kankakee, Ill., Jan. 30.-A breakfast of pancakes yesterday caused the death of five members of the Meints family fifteen miles south of here. The pancakes were made by Mrs. O. K. Meints, mother of four of the victims and grandmother of the fifth. Mrs. Meints is believed to have mixed the contents of a sack containing an arsenical poison used by her husband in taxidermy with a prepared pancake flour. The dead were: Fred, twenty eight years old;Theodore, twenty-six; Irvin, twenty-one; Mino, twenty-four, and Clarence Meints, the grandson seven years old. Mrs. Meints tasted the pancakes af ter her sons had finished their break fast and noticing a peculiar flavor, ate none. TO INSPECT NITRATE SITE Baker and Other Cabinet Members Coming to Columbia. Columbia, Jan. 29.-Governor Man ning has received a letter from Sec retary of War Baker saying that he and several members of the Cabinet will visit Columbia to look over the proposed site for the government ni trate plant. Governor Manning will go to Washington to extend a formal invitation to Secretary Baker and the other Cabinet officers to visit Colum bia .at the time to be fixed by the committee- of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce this agitation for a home for feeble minded people just means more jobs. That crowd even had a man from the North down in Columbia the other night giving a moving picture show of feeble minded children, showing the pictures to the House and Sen ate members in the hall of the House. The administration folks want to appropriate $3,000.00 to carry the Citadel boys to the Inauguration in Washington on March 4th. That was one of the things that Charleston paid our way down there for last Wednesday. And then they want some more money than they have been getting for the State Medical Collge. The tuberculosis home wants some more money; and they ought to have it. This is for the education of the masses against consumption. But bless your life, what do you think now? The Prohibitionists, who work only for morals, what about them? They want a new office cre ated, to be called a commissioner of Prohibition, and a good big appropr' ation made to pay his salary and to enforce the law. Now if we send the Citadel boys to Washington, in addi tion to giving them a free education, how can we get aroundl also sending the Clemson boys, and the Carolina boys, and the Winthrop girls, and the deaf and blind boys and girls of Cedar Springs, and the negro stu dents in the State College at Orange burg. And if we create a commis sioner of prohibition, then why not a commissioner to enforce any other set of special laws, murder, larceny, adultery, etc. What have we got sheriffs, and constables, and police men for? Johnson and Mellett and Senator Duflant have all been at their posts the past week. Mr. Johnson has In troduced two measures, one in rela tion to the cattle tick land, which I haive not yet had an opportunity to read, and the other to reduce the time from ten days to three days in which persons. who sell property under lien may pay the debt -into the clerk of court's office. Mr. DuRant has a number of meas ures over i'n the Senate, and his one quart liquor bill is giving him much notoriety. Mellett is watching and listening and voting against extrava gantly spending the peoples' money, and has not introduced any bill as yet, and I guess he is as wise as 'any ofus. DRY CONVENTION PASS RESOLUTION Columbia,', Jan. 30.-A resolution urging the legislature to enact a rigid prohibition measure was adopted at the state convention of prohibitionists held here tonight. and will be present ed to the general assembly tomorrow. Former State Senator Carlisle, of Spartanburg, presided. Mrs. E. E. Howell, president of the Women's Christian Temperance union, of Flor ence, presented a petition, and in an I address urged an airtight measure, i and the inhibition of all liquor adver tisements. There were many speeches. Mr. John F. Bolt, of Marlboro, made an argument in favor of statewide prohibition. Mayor Olin Sawyer, of Georgetown, and Col. J. P. Gibson, of Bennettsville, urged that now was the time for decisive action. Senator . DuRant, of Clarendon, 1 spoke in favor of his quart-a-month bill, but the assemblage seemed to want immediate cessation of liquor shipments. The addresses of- Dr. Sawyer and Col. Gibson were elo quent presentations of the prohibi tion propaganga, and were liberally applauded. It is stated by one who made a count that 28 counties were repre sented. How 'the prohibitionists in the leg islature will get toether among them selves is now the question. Some of their strongest advocates being in favor of a gradual reduction in amount allowed to be shipped ;M th n state, and tonight's orvestion, call ed by the superintendent of the Anti Saloon league, Mr. J. K. Breedin, having declared in favor of a "bone dry" measure, the question is higher "up in the air" than ever, especially in view of the fact that the DuRant quart bill has a favorable committee report in the senate. Another feature of the whole prop osition is that the most "airtight" measure yet proposed at this session is by Mr. Richey, of Laurens, a sup porter of former Governor Blease. Still an ther -feature of the liquor situation s it appears tonight is the bombshell thrown into the camp of the prohibitionists by the majority favorable report submitted upon the Fromberg measure for a license sys tem in Charleston for light wines and beers. As a result of the prohibition con vention tonight, and of various com mittee reports in the legislature, and of no decisive legislative action- so far, the entire situation is still very vague, and nobody knows what. is going 'to happen. BREMEN WITH DEUTSCHI4AND IN BRITISH H'ARBOR Nordsud Agency Makes Definite Statement of Their Capture-Koe nig and Crew in Scotland Camp. New York, Jan. 30.-Both the Deutschland and the Bremen, the two German submarine liners, have been captured by the British and now are in the port of Rosythe, England, and Captain Paul Koenig, commander of the Deutachland, and his enitire crew, are in a detention camp in Scotland, accordin to a statement given out tonight by the Nordaud Agency on information said to have been ob tained from a source close to the British consulate in New York. The Nordsud Agency, which has a recognized standing with the Russian government and which received a special government cable from Petro grad, refused to give the exact source or authority upon which the state ment is based. The Nord'sud Agency's statement fqllowvs: "dBy a source closely identified with the British consulates in New York it was definitely stated today that the German merchant submarine Deut schland had been netted by the Brit ish and was now in Rosythe, Eng land, lying beside hers sister subma rine, the Bremen. "It was further definitely stated that Captain Koenig and his entire crew had survived and that they are all now interned in a detention camp in Scotland. "It is further definitely stated that the British admiralty intends to per mit the British public to view those 'two German submarines, together with other U-boats ca.ptured, for a shilling spice, beginning March 1, 1917. "Among the officers on the Deut schland when she was brought into the British port were Krapohl, the first officer, and Eyring, second offR cer, who, is developed, was second of ficer of the German raider Karlsraihe before she was sunk in the ,West AR[HOUSEMAN R. D. COT TOBACCO WILL BI Prices in Kentucky Have Be -Tobacco Firms Are Bu; the Export Crop-Advis Maysville, Ky., Jan 22, 1917. editor Manning Times, dy dear Editor: I get The Times out here the last if each week, I read your paper with L great deal of interest, in fact I even -ead the advertisements. I am 628 niles from home and I get awful onesome for home and home news. also get the News and Courier which I read, with a great deal of in crest to myself, and especially at his time of year when the South Jarolina Legislature is in session. I read Governor Manning's Inaugu -al address with a great deal of inter ,st. I am proud of our Chief Exe mutor. I heartily agree with him in ts ideas for progressive legislation md especially do I like and commend irn for advocating the bi-annual ses ions of the General Assembly. I :ertainly think he is right in what e,stated in part as keeping our peo ple in a state of unrest all the time. And too the flames of political strife are kept burning. I also note that a bill has been introduced over in House, I believe it was, to create a high-way commission for South Carolina. I think this a capital idea and I hope this bill will be passed, and we will thus be enabled to get Federal assistance, we can then also take the $60,000.00 that will be saved annually and apply it to the high ways of our state. This can be ap propriated among the several counties in the state or expended jointly in whatever way the commission ap pointed Might deem to the best in terest of the state. I amn glad Mr. J. H. Lesesne is fathering a bill for a constitutional convention. It will be needed in or der to get some things through that South Carolina is very much in need of. Let us hope that the South Carolina Legislature has opened its eyes to the best interests of its citizenship, and that she will line up with other progressive states like a good many of her sister states, let us hope that our representatives will pull together for a better state. As I see it we cannot afford to be mere dreamers, we must bestir our. selves, get ' agether and line up foi a better future and a greater Sout Carolina, we need reforms and it ii to be hoped this legislature wil carry out Gov. Manning's ideas. I did not start out to write a politi. cal letter but my heart is thoroughly wrapped up in the wellfare of Souti Carolina, and as we are free i America to express our ideas I have thus given my approval of some o1 the things that are being advocated and at the same time have exercises my own privilege in a small way by having made a few needed sugges tions as I see them. I will now write briefly what] have set out to write about. I cam<n here the last of December, I f.ounc the tobaceo market in full sway. To. lyacco prices for the quality are th< best I have ever known, the commor grades that sold last year from twc to six dollars per hundred are nowa bringing from twelve to fifteen (do1 lars per hundred, and this is the worst, greenest types of tobacco. The market is averaging around 18c, this beats 1913 by about $6.00 per hun dred. The farmers here have worlds of money as they have a big, heavy crop. Kentucky is certainly the blest state as she has nmany other crops aside from tobacco andl they are all selling 'igh, such as hemp, corn, wheat, arid other grain products. She GREEKS SALUTE FLAGS OF ALLIES London, Jan. 29.-The ceremony of saluting the Entente Allies' flags by Greece was carried out Monday after noon in the Zappelon in accordance with the arrangements recently enter ed into between the Greek Govern ment and .the Entente Powers,. says a Reuter dispatch from Athens. The Allied minister., the commander of the First Ariny Corps and the mem bers of the Greek Cabinet were pres ent, The genieral public was exclud ed from the building. No untoward iniden nocured. IRAN THINKS ZINC HIGH PRICES THIS YEAR en the Highest Ever Known ring Heavy, Especially of es Care in Planting Crop is also blest with a good sheep, cat tie, hog, horse, and mule crop. Hogs are worth at this writing $11.35 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The readers of the Manning Times ,will recall that I wrote an article some time ago from Winston Salem, North Carolina in which I stated that this was the best time the farmer had ever known. As I see it the farmers' opportunities now for mak ing money are the greatest in the history of this country. I have -very recently read an arti cle in which the farm products of America for 1916 were quoted as be ing more than $13,000,000,000.00, this exceeds the entire output for 1915 by about $3,00,000,000.00. This is a wonderful country in which we live, and one that certain ly should make the farmer get up earlier this year than ever before, you have an optomistic outlook for everything that you can grow upon the farm. I expect to see the truck growers of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina reap a harvest this spring. Plant you some early truck, you will find a splendid market in the North for same. I wrote this some time ago but it is worth repeat ing. Now going back to tobacco, be cer tain and plant what you can cultivate. I expect to see it sell high. I give the following reasons:. the world is short in its supply of tobaccos, and especially export types which we grow in South Carolina. The Big Four are largely buying the Kentucky crop. They also bought the North Carolina and Virginia crops. The independent buyers and exporters are open for purchases of export types' of tobaccos..- You will see them well represented on the South Carolina markets next summer. In my judg ment they are going to make things hum. Try your level best to make a good colory crop of tobacco, and if you do I feel certain you will be highly pleased with the prices that will be paid you next summer. Let me repeat that tobaccos are selling higher than I ever saw them sell on an average in my 20 years' experience as a Leaf Tobacconist. We have not sold as much tobacco this week as We would have sold had not about. 18 inches of snow wrapped us up about eight days ago. We have had lots of zero weather of late, I put on my heavy overcoat and rubbers over my shoes and go down to the warehouses clad like an Eskimo or Laplander. It is so dif ferent from our sunny South Caro lina where I sell tobacco for the boys and try to get by with as few clothes as possible. The farmers for the last week have been bringing their tobacco to mar ket on two horse sleds or drags made in wagon shape without wheels, this device slides along on the snow. It is raining today and the snow is melting very fast. The Ohio River is risinr' rapidly. .We are expecting about 65 feet of water, which is a very common spell for this big branch or creek which ever you choose to call it, to pull off at this time of year. Tfhe river is 600 yards wide at this point, and is moving peacefully along to join her big ally, the father of waters, the Mississippi, farther South. With best wishes for all my friends in Clarendon county aid South Caro lina, as a whole, I am still the tobac co man who sweats and ,pulls hard for the boys down at th'e Central 'Tobacco Warehouse located in Man ning, South Carolina. Yours very respectfully, R. D. Cothran. Leave Villa's Standards. San Antonio, .ian. 29.--That Jose Inez Salazar and 1,500 men have de serted Villa because of a quarrel with him over the division of spoils taken at Torreon, is the ru bstance of ad vices received by the Mexican con sulate here todr.y. Salazar is said to have led Villa's army against Trorreon, Villa being un able to lead in person because of a wound receive d at Guerrero. The consulat~e also was advised that Salazar has asked amnesty of the Constitutinnat.~