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NATION'S LABOR PROBLEM OVER A MILLION AND A HALF WOMEN WORK AS FARM HAND8 IN THE UNITED STATES. By Peter Radford Lecturer National Farmers' Union. Our government never faced so tremendous a problem as that now lying dormant at the doors of congress and the legislatures, and which, when aroused, will shake this nation from center to circumference, and make civilization hide its face in shame. That problem is?women In the field. The last, federal census reports show we now have 1,514,000 women working in the field, most of them south of the Mason and Dixon line. There were approximately a million negro slaves working In the fields when liberated by the emancipation proclamation. We have freed our slaves and our women have taken their places in bondage. We have broken the shackles off the negroes and welded them upon our daughters. The Chain-Gang of Civilization. A million women In bondage in the southern fields form the chain-gang of civilization ? the industrial tragedy of the age. There is no overseer quite so cruel as that of unrestrained greed, no whip that stings like the lash of suborned destiny, and no auctioneer's block quite so revolting as that of organized avarice. The president of the United States was recently lauded by the press, and very properly so, for suggesting mediation between the engineers and railr.oi/I mnnnnrAM 4*. ~ ,1 ik,.ie M'lUi lllilliagris 111 U.I1.IIIOI IlIFt IIU'II schedule of time and pay. The engineers threatened to strike if their wages were not increased from approximately ten to'eleven dollars per day and service reduced from ten to ei^ht hours and a similar readjustment of the overtime schedule. Our women are working in the field, many of them barefooted, for less than fiO cents per day, and their schedule is the rising sun and the evening star, and after the day's work is over they milk the cows, slop the hogs and rock the baby to sleep. Is anyone mediating over their problems, and to whom shall they threaten a strike? Congress has listened approvingly to those who toil at the forge and behind the counter, and many of our statesmen have smiled at the threats and have fanned the flame of unrest among Industrial laborers. But women are as surely the final victims of Industrial warfare as they are the burden-bearers in the war between na tlons. and those who arbitrate and mediate the differences between capital and labor should not forget that whim the expenses of any Industry are unnecessarily increased, society foot3 the bill by drafting a new consignment of women from the home to the Held. Pinch no Cramb From Women's Crust of Bread. No financial award can be made without someone footing the bill, and we commend to those who accept the responsibility of the distribution of industrial iustlce. the still small voice of the woman in the field as she pleads | fl?r niHI'fiV Dllfl U'n hoo Ihnt nltmh 1 no crumb from her crust of bread or nut another patch upon her ranged garments. We beg that they listen to the scream or horror from the eagle on every American dollar thtt is wrung from the brow of toiling women and hear the Goddess of Justice hiss at a verdict that increases the want of woman to satisfy the greed of man. Thp women behind the counter and in the factory cry aloud for sympathy and the press thunders out in their defense and the pulpit pleads for mercy, but how about the woman in the field? Will not these powerful exponents of human lights turn their talent, energies and influence to her relief? Will the Goddess of Liberty enthroned at Washington hold the calloused hand and soothe the feverish brow of her sex who sows and reaps the nation's harvest or will she permit the male of I he species to shove women?weak and weary?from the bread line of industry to the back alleys of poverty? Women and Children First. The census enumerators tell us that of the 1,511,000 women who work in the Holds as farm hands 400,000 aro sixtoon yearn of ape and undor. What is the final destiny of a nation whose future mothers spend their girlhood days behind the plow, pitching hay and hauling manure, and what is to become of womanly culture and refinement that grace the home, chnrm society and enthuse man to loao to alorv in noble achievements If our daughters are raised in tho society of the ox and the companionship of the plow? n that strata between the ages of sixteen and forty-five are 9f>0,000 women working as fartn hands and many of them with Buckling babes tugging at their breasts, as drenched iu perspiration, they wield the scythe end guide the plow. What ts to become of that nation where poverty breaks the crowns of the queens of the home; despair hurls a mother's uve irom us inrone ana hunger drives Innocent children from the schoolroom to the aoe? The census bureau shows that 155,* 000 of these women are forty-flve years or age and over. There Is no moro pitiful- sight in civilization than tnese saintly mothers of Israel stooped with age. drudging in the hold from sun until nun and at night drenching , their dingy pillows with tho town of i haggalr as their arhhm haarta take. it all to God In prayer. Civilisation Ftrikca them a blow when It should give them a crown, and their only friend is he who broke bread with beggars and Bald: "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and 1 will give you rest.' Oh, Ameriear! The land of the free and the home of the brave, the world's custodian of chivalry, the champion of human riehts and the de> fender of the oppressed?shall we permit our maidens fair to be torn from the hearthstone by the ruthless hand of destiny and chained to the plow? Shall we permit our faithful wives, whom we covenanted with God to cherish and protect, to be hurled from the home to the harvest field, and our mothers dear to be driven from the old arm chair to the cotton patch? in rescuing our citizens from the forces of civilization, can we not apply to our rair Dixieland the rule of the sea?"women and children first?" There must be a readjustment of the wage scale oftndustryso that the women can be taken from the field or given a reasonable wage for her services Perhaps the issue has never been fairly raised but the Farmers' Union, with a membership of ten million, puts iIh organized forces squarely behind the issue and we now enter upon the docket of civilization the case of "The Woman in the Field" and demand an immediate trial. RAILROADS APPEAL TO PRESIDENT The Common Carrier? Ask for Relief ? President Wilson Directs Attention of Public to Their Needs. The committee of railroad executives. headed by Mr. Frank Trumbull. representing tuirty-Ilve or the leading railroad systems of the nation, recently presented to President Wilson a memorandum briefly reviewing the difhculties now confronting the railroads of the country and asking for the cooperation ot the governmental authorities anil the nubile in supporting railroad credits and recognising an emergency which requires that the railroads he given additional revenues. The memorandum recites that the European war has resulted in general depression of business 011 the American continent and in the dislocation of credits at home and abroad. With revenues decreasing and interest rates ! increasing the transportation systems ' of the country face a most serious crisis and the memorandum is a strong presentation of the candle burning at both ends and the perils that must ultimately attend such a conflagration when the flames meet is apparent to ail In their general discussion the railroad representatives say in part: "Hy reason of legislation and regulation by the federal government and the torty-eight states acting Independently of each other, as well us through the action of a strong public opinion, railroad expenses in recent years tiave vastly increased. No criticism 18 here made of the general theory of governmental regulation ?u.. ' uui uii me uiiiit uiinn, no ingenuity can relieve the carriers of expenses created thereby." President Wilson, in transmitting the memorandum of the railroad | presidents to the public, character' i/.es it as "a lucid statement ot plain I truth."' The president recognizing I the emergency as cxtraoidinnrv, conI tinning, said in part: "You ask mo to call the attention of tlie country to the imperative need that railway credits be sustained and the railroads helped in every possible way, whether by private co-operative effort or by the nction, wherever feasible or governmental agencies, ami 1 am glad to do so becauso 1 think the neea very real ' The conference was certainly a fortunate one for the nation and the president is to be congratulated for opening the gate to a new world of effort in which cveryono may co-operate. There are many important problems in our complex civilization that will yield to co-operation which will not lend themselves to arbitrary rul ingH or commissions and financing railroads is one of them The man with the money is a factor that cani not be eliminated from any bttsint as i transaction and the public Is an mteror.ted party that should a I way r be consuited and happily the president has invited all to participate in the solution ot our railroad problem*. ST. WILLIBROD. 1.11 MMiiliourir, whatever Iter claims | to (lie protection of (treat Britain, pie.se^es one strange a*s<n-iatioii with Kn<r|an<1 that tin tea hack for 1? centuries. It is connected with a en It of St. Willihrod, the variously spelt Saxon s;tint who helped to convert the (ieniians to < 'hristianitv. Kverv Win I Tuesday the memory of tin* Knglish saint is honored at Luxembourg hy A prix-eiwion ;iu<l religious dance which rank among the most curious survivals of medieval peasant rv. THE BATTLE ROYAL. "I shall never marry/' remarked the girl of a certain age, bnt not specified. "Never mind, dear/' replied her .best friend?they always travel together in jokes. "Everybody will know that you made a heroic tight a^gaanat tkt inevitable." EUROPEAN WAR SKAT TERS KING COTTON'S THRONE FLEECY STAPLE MUST PAY RANSOM INTO THE COFFERS OF WAR. Nation Rings With Cries of Stricken Industry. By Petsr Radford Torturer National Farmers" Union. King Cotton has suffered more from the European war than any other agricultural product on the American continent. The shells of the belligerents have bursted over his throne, frightening his subjects and shattering his marketB, and. panic-stricken. , the nation cries out 'Cod save the king!' j Peopie rrom every walk of life have contributed their mite toward rescue work Society ha# danced before the : king: milady has decreed that the family wardrobe shall contain only cotton goods; the press has plead >vilh tho nuhlie t/? "hnv a halo" ** M "w,v * bankers have been formulating held ing plans; congress and legislative bodies have deliberated over relief i measures: slaicsmen and writers have grown eloquent expounding the Inalienable rights of "Ills Majesty" and presenting Hrhemes for preserving the financial integrity of the Htrlcken staple, but the sword of Europe nas proved mightier than the pen of America in fixing value upon this product of the sunny south. Prices have beep bayoneted, values riddled and markets decimated by the battling j hosts of the eastern hemisphere until , the American farmer has suffered a war loss of $400,000,000. and a bale I of cotton brave enough to enter a European port muat nay a ransom of half Its value or go to prison until the i war Is over. Hope of the Future Llee In Co-operatlrn. The Farmers' lTnlon, through the columns of the press, wants to thank the American people for the friendship, sympathy and assistance given the cotton farmers in the hour of distress -and to direct attention to co, operative methods necessary to per manently assist the marketing: of all farm products. The present emergency presents as grave a situation as ever confronted the American farmer and from the ; viewpoint of the producer, would seem to justify extraordinary relief meas ures, even to the point of bending the constitution and atrainlng business rtileB In order to lift a portion ot the hnrdetr off the hacks of the farmer, for unless something Is done to check the invasion of the war forces upon the cotton fields, the pathway of the ; Kuropean pestilence on this continent will be strewn with mortgaged homes and famine and poverty will stalk over the southland, filling the highways o( Industry with refugees and the bankruptcy court with prisoners. All calamities teach us lessons and the present crisis serves to illuminate the frailties of our marketing methods and the weakness of our credit system, and out of the financial an guish and travail of the cotton farmeT will come a volume of discussion and a mass of sucgestions and finally a solution of this, the biggest problem in the economic life of America, if, Indeed, we have not already laid the foundation for at least temporary relief. Mare Pharaohs Needed In Agriculture. Farm products have no credit and perhaps can never have on a perma nent and satisfactory Oasis unless we huild warehouses, cold storage plants, elevators, etc.. for without storage and credit facilities, the south Is compelled to dump Its crop on the market at harvest tline. The Farmers' [inione In the cotton producing states have for the past ten years persistently advocated the construction of storage facilities. We have built during this period 2,000 warehouses with a ca parity of approximately 4,OUO.OOO bales and looking backward the results mriii encouraging, out looking forward, wo are able to house '.esa than one-third of the crop and ware housea without a credit system lose !>0 per cent of their usefulness. The problem la a gigantic one?too great for the farmer to solve unaided, lie must have the assistance of the hanker, the merchant and the government. In production we have reached the high wafer mark of perfection In the world's history, but our marketing methods are most primitive. In the dawn of history we find agriculture plowing with a forked stick but with a system of warehouses under governmental supervision that made Che rtgvptlans .the marvel of civilization, foi who has not admired the vision of Joseph and applauded the wisdom of Pharaoh for storing the surplus until demanded by the consumer, but in this age we have too many Josephs who dream and not enough Pharaohs who out Id. CITTCn r/->? ? . WW run | | . "What ve rending nlmnt there. Hiram ?" "A snail farm." "(Josh, my hired man oughter do well in that line of work." IN BOTH 8EN0ES. "When nioner talks what does it mv?" | "I iU ^rincipxl iviuark it 'Kwy-tuy.'m S. K . MAHKE1G WORLD'S GREATEST PROBLEM j WE ARE LONG ON PRODUCTION, SHORT ON DISTRIBUTION. I , By Peter Radford Lecturer National Farmers' Union. The economic distribution of farm products is today the world's greatest j problem and the war, while it has U. I ? k.. >1...!.. uiuugui no uaiuouipa, ugu? ticauj cmphasized the importance of distribution *.t> a factor in American agriculture and promises to give the fanners the cooperation of the government and the business men the solution of their marketing problem. This result will, in a measure, comj pensate us for our war losses, for the business interests and government have been in the main assisting almost exclusively on the production side of agriculture. While the department of agriculture has been dumping tons of literature on the farmer telling him how to produce, the farmer has been dumping tons of products in the nation's garbage can for want of a market. The World Will Never Starve. At no time since Adam and Eve were driven Trom the Garden of Eden have the Inhabitants of this world suffered from lack of production, but some people have gone hungry from the day of creation to this good hour j for the lack of proper distribution. Slight variations in production have forced a change in diet and one locality has felt the pinch of want, while another surfeited, but the world as a whole has ever been a land of nlenty. We now have less than one-tenth of the tillable land of the earth's surface tinder cultivation, and we not only havp this surplus area to draw on but It is safe to estimate that in case of dire necessity one-lialf the earth's population could at the present time knock their living out of the trees of the forest, gather it from wild vines and draw It from streams. No ' one should become alarmed; the world will never starve. The consumer has always feared that the producer would not supply him and his fright has found expression on the statute books of our states and nations and the farmer has been urged to produce recklessly and without referenco to & market, and regardless of the demands of the consumer. Back to the Soil. The city people have teen urging each other to move back to the farm. I ijul very lew or mem nave movea. ] We welcome our cltv cousins back to the soil and this earth's surface contains 16,092.1 f.0.000 Idle acres of tillable land where they can make a living by tickling the earth with a 1 forked stick, but we do not need thein so far as Increasing production is concerned; we now have all the producers we can use. The city man has very erroneous ideas of agricultural conditions. The commonly accepted theory ! that we are short on production is all wrong. Our annual increase in production far exceeds that of our Increase in population. I J "How are automobile caps to he worn this season?" "I believe on the side at all headon meetings." TAX RETURNS FOR 1915. Office of the County Auditor of York County, South Carolina. Yorkville, S. C., Dec. 1, J914. As required by statute, my books I will be opened at my office in Yorkville on Friday, January 1, 1915 and kept open until February 20, 1915, for i the purpose of listing for taxation all ! personal and real property held in York county on January 1, 1915. For the pur|H>se of facilitating the 1 taking of returns and for the greater i convenience of Taxpayers, I will be at the following places on the dates' i named: ai Kurnnh, (A. M. Mchilli's Store), Friday, January 1. At Bethany, (McGill Bros. Store), 1 Saturday, January 2. At Clover, on Tuesday and Wednesi day, January 5 and fi. i | At Bethel, (Ford, Barnett & Go's Store), Thursday, January 7. At Point, (at Harper's) on Friday, January 8. At Bandana, (Perry Ferguson's * Store), on Saturday, January 9. At Smyrna, on Monday, January 11. i At Hickory Grove, on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 12 and 13. , At Sharon, on Thursday and Friday. January 14 and 15. At Bullock's Creek, (Good's Store), ! on Saturday, Junuary 15. At Tirzah, on Monday, January 18. AtNew|x>rt, on Tuesday, January 19. At Fort Mill, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, January 20, 21 and 22. At McConneiisville, on Monday, January 25. At Ogden, on Tuesday, January 20. At Coates Tavern, (Koddey's) on Wednesday, January 27. At Rock f 1 ill, from Thursday, January. 28, to Wednesday. February 3. And at Yorkville, from Thursday February 4, until Saturday, February ! 20. All males between the ages, of i twenty-one and sixty years, except i Confederate soldiers over the age of , fifty years are liable to a poll tax of $1.00, and all persons so liable an* especially requested to give the numbers of their respective school dis tricts in making their returns. BROAD US M. LOVE. County Auditor. - 1 RllPtfl PM>? >8 THE ONLY c^Ubnicasalwe I (Hh ROSE'S' MEDICINE F.? Ik fi pffe} MALT WHISKEY I\i?4 f1 '81 Vfnnw&f?,,,*/ Builds muscle and flesh. Sends theioyu: f* p? ZH?? lg ^ A ^?ostv<<9 youth boundinfrthroughycu?mcuicioal U! n i B ra ^Qitu.ib^ but palatable Kko any good whis'icy. rj' s% I | BIG FREE OFFER \ MECiQMAL ? ISl Medicinal Malt and I v. ill no ml you fr. one ex Ira la :i ^ -; ;jj < F** B gj bottle, making five bottleso! Malt iu all, t.rpressprr^ Z JTHIS COUPON COUPON-ThiH offce expire iJivanbc'";!:!)"" I l^t] \? in Dt>n*i forgot tlioi>'; ? i . al.V.ui Tr N#.33,6thDISTRICT 220SE JTlcoso ship (ho r .< :}.j: b pi CHATTANOOGA, TENN. Express Office _ the Itocky Mooului<t Post Office - ^ r h\ li nr St. I i! FW?^ Ti 1* MLWASSSt: ,.' ----.ag yi g g"^ WMH I .i.^-tlTMl g? Not only destroys property, but the many valuable papers that money cannot rc- |g place. Wouldn't it be to your advantage to rent one of our SAFE! Y DEPOSIT BOXES at 50 cents a year ? It is the cheapest possible insurance. Come in and talk it ever with our officers. h Savings Bank of Fort Mill, Ij W R Mt'AfR AM PrJc^nt Ui U i- r?i: w ... ?. ........mill, a .'>1.1 i.i ?i I.'. 11:1 "V!M" .1! I dSIIR'T f | Si a! Santa Claus a j$2l I _ Has arrived and needs 0 more room to display his | PI?!~i e uv a ulu Ui \^I1I 15SL11 ltlS 11116, VJ so we are almost giving ^ $ | away the Dry Goods and Shoes that were saved from the fire. Come early and get your share. L. J. Massey. I Now in the Jones Building. - ' " Let Us Write Your Fire Insurance. We represent some < of the strongest mm panies in the world. Rates too low for you to take the risk. : : r Bailes & Link, District Agents. ?