Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, September 08, 1921, Image 1
n
J
Established 1891.
LAND OF THE D0N8.
Fort Mill Kan Tells of Things
He Saw in Spain.
"Drop the average American
down in the Pyrenees mountains
of Spain, where 1 spent 15 months j
a few years ago in the employ of 1
a New York engineering concern '
that had the contract for huihf- 1
ing a large electric plant near j
the French border, and lie will
' * imagine that time lias bc?-n tamed
back 500 years or more," said
a night or two ago .lolut li. Jones
of Fort Mill in telling a party of
his friends of some of the conditions
and customs he observed in
that country.
"I am not surprised," lie continued,
"to learn that the Moors
, are getting the.best of the Spaniards
in their fight and that the
Spanish government is seeking
army recruits in the United
States. My observations led me to
believe that the average Spaniard?1
mean the class from
which the private soldiers must
be recruited?is wholly lacking
iu courage and that the government
is doing the natural thing
iu calling upon other countries
for soldiers. Indeed, there
appeared to be little patriotism
ctmoiig the working classes in
"Spain, and that not without reason.
The government does next
to nothing to improve the hard
conditions in which these people
live, hut is continually adding to
their burdens by imposing fresh |
taxes upon them.
"There were hundreds of day i
laborers employed in building the j
damn, canal and power houses
where 1 was and 1 can testify to
their general worthlessuess. llere
in the South we sometimes complain
that the nero does not do
his work as well as he should,
but the average Southern negro
will do more work iu one day
than is to be expected of the uv
erage Spaniard iu four days. To
get any work at all out 'of the
Spanish laborer one must treat
him like a spoiled child, for they
will strike on the slightest provV*
ovation, and when there is no
provocation they frequently manage
to trump up. an excuse to
quit work. Strikes and holidays
are the rule among the laboring j
classes iu Spain.
**There is a large floating pop- ;
illation of <iav laborers in Spain, |
many of th<nn men past middle
life. These men have no homes
and move about from plaee to
place wherever they can get
work, carrying with them only
the blankets in which they sleep,
more frequently on the ground
than in a building. The weather is
muuh more severe iu the Pyre- j
noes mountains of Spain in winter
than it is in this section, bid
notwithstanding the cold. 1 have
many times seen Spaniards after
finishing their day's work wrap
themselves in their blankets and
lie down on the ground ami up
parently sleep in comfort until
almost time to go to work again.
They are paid from 20 to lit) cents
a day for their labor and of |
course nave lit tit* with which to
buy the comforts of life.
"Spain is one of the most be- ;
uighted of all the European countries.
One would not suspect
that the country stood out a
fi w hundred years ago as a lead- j
er among the nations of the
curth. 'The glory that was
Greece and the grandeur that
was Home' do not abide in Spain.
A very large per cent of the people
can neither read nor write
and there is a great deal of poverty
and suffering among the
lower classes. Hut whether of the
better or lower classes the Spaniards
are strong for sports and
what they consider a 'good time.'
Sunday is the principal day of
the week for pleasure over there.
There is no Christian Sabbath in
Spain as we observe the day in
this country. On the other hand,
the day is given over to dancing,
wine drinking, bull fighting und
other forms of amusement.
"Bull fighting is the principal
I national sport. 1 have seen a few
bull fights in Barcelona, and I
am glad we have nothing so brutal
in this country. Thousands
flock to see the fights in which
some well known toreador is to
take part and so excited do tint
rHE f
BOOKS FOR LITTLE FOLK.
Fort Mill Graded School Session
Now Under Way.
Tuesday morning was an important
time in the lives of most
of the little folk of Fort Mill, for
then the regular fall and winter
session of the loeal graded school
opened. Despite the fact that
the session \vas begun without the
services of a regularly elected su- !
perintemlent. the work started j
off smoothly under the direction
of ('apt. F. M. Mack, high school
principal, who will act as superintendent
until the hoard elects |
a successor to ('. C. Stewart of
Pendleton, chosen for the plaee
some months ago, hilt who recent
ly, resigned on account of ill
health.
At the opening exercises the :
auditorium was comfortably fill- j
ed with pupils and friends of the
school. Complete reports of the
first day's enrollment are not yet
obtainable, hut in the first five
grades there were 271) pupils, in- |
dicating that by the beginning of
the second week the enrollment
will have exceeded 500 and will,
if that figure is reached, be larger
than that of last year.
The various grades are in charge
of the following teachers. First i
Misses Minnie tiarrison. Marie I
Maunie and Kdua Loft is; second. I
Misses Agnes Link and Julia I
Armstrong; third, Misses Zelma j
Phillips and Ksther Meacham; I
fourth. Misses Berniee Mills and
Florence Lawrence; fifth. Miss'
Carrie Spencer. Dcpurtmeu.ul i
work will be done in the sixth. !
seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth
grades. Miss Dorothy Bergstrom
being in charge of the sixth and
Miss Clnrolenc Carothers the seventh
grades, while the studies in
the higher grades will be directed
by Capt. Mack and MisH Bdua
Ti tidal.
The session begins with only
;\\o teachers new in the Fort Mill
selinul. Misses Berniee Mills and J
Florence Lawrence.
Source of Ford's Idea.
Henry Ford is coining in for u
great amount of praise ami publicity
because he took the Dayton.
Toledo & Ironton railroad
and made a paying proposition
out of it. says the Chester News,
lliis man Ford hasn't done a
thing \(bieh surpasses p Chester
county railroad. The Lancaster
& Chester railway is a paying j
proposition because Col. Leroy I
Springs ships all of his freight J
for his various enterprises over it j
and that is exactly what Henry
Ford is doing with the 1)., T. & '
I. As a matter of fact, we ex- I
peet Henry got his idea from the I
Lancaster & Chester railway.
?
people become in their wild rush
for choice scitts when the event is j
about to begin that one must, be
careful or ho will be trampled to
death. Usually the toreador is1
mounted fm an pld grey horse too
wellnigh exhausted from lack of
ti\ AOOUAA ti???
. . . .. \r< w 11 VI n IV |?t I lie
rushes of tin* frenzied hull, gouded
to desperation by spear prodding
and the flaunting of red flags.
As a consequence Ihe horse is
nearly always quickly disemboweled
by the bull, but if it is able
to stand up it is taken from the
arena, sewed tip and then brought
back into the arena to undergo
further punishment by the bull.
It seldom happens that the bull
kills or injures the toreador.
"Farming conditions are as
backward in Spain as one could
imagine. There they plow with
a crooked stiek as they did thousands
of years ago ami there is
no modern farm machinery in
use. Living conditions around the
homes of the farmers are the
most primitive.
"I was interested in the antiq
inly of many different tilings
to be seen in Spain. There many
houses, always of stone, hundreds
of years old are a oommou
sight, in the town of Lerida. 50
miles north of Barcelona, is to be
seen a stone marker which bears
the date 16 B. ('. In going to
and from my work I passed over
the road hewn out of the solid
rock in the Pyrenees mountains
by Caesar's legions before the
time of Christ."
t
*
ORT ]
. FORT MILL, S. C? THUBE!
BOLL WEEVIL DI
FARMS Of
Fort Mill Party Sees Havoc Wro
South of Columbia?Chan
astro us Experience of
| ,
The following detailed account
of the boll weevil tour last week
to the lower section of South
Carolina by farmers and business
men of the Fort Mill community,
which was promoted by the First
National bank of Fort Mill, was
I net. nv ? * ?
nxuri-u uy iiu* i lines reporter
and may prove of interest to the
paper's readers:
The party, leaving Fort Mill
shortly after G o'elock last Tuesday
morning, passed through
lioek Hill. Chester. Winnsboro.
and on to ^Columbia, having been
joined at Rock Hill and Chester
by tourists from other sections of
York county, and Chester county.
Most of the party reached
Columbia before noon, where a
stop was made for lunch, and
then proceeded by way of Swansea
and North to Bluekville. A
stop was made a few miles north
of Bluekville, where the party was
met by tile county agent of Barnwell
county and conducted to the
farm of Chester Matthews, reaching
the' farm about 4:20 in the
afternoon.
Mr. Matthews is considered
one of the best farmers in Barnwell
county. He welcomed the
party with the facetious remark
that he used to ride in Franklins
ami Overlands. but now was
wearing overalls and was walking
since the arrival of the boll
weevil. He showed the party a
drove of about 200 hogs of various
si/.es with which he hopes to
ease to some extent the situation,
and his fields of corn covered
with velvet beans and stacks of
Spanish peanuts in the fields, lie
will make an effort to raise cattle
and will devyte more time to
vegetables, especially asparagus,
cucumbers and beans, with the
usual watermelon and cantaloupe
crops. These, he considers, will
ordinarily be profitabe. but of
course much depends on getting
these articles early on the market
in order to obtain good prices.
The Coker Seed company of
llartsville had supplied Mr. Matthews
wi'h seven varieties of
long staple cotton ami had furnisln
d the necessary fertilizer with
the idea of an experiment to see
which variety might mature early
enough ti? beat the boll weevil.
The cotton was planted in one
field, two rows of each variety
side bv side across the field. The
whole production of the field
probably would not be more than
10 per cent of an ordinarv eron.
and tin* large* part of thin was
(outuined in four rows of a variety
called "Lightning Express."
The weevils hud praetieally ruined
the entire field. Mr. Matthews
stated that about lf>.lH)()
bales ordinarily were weighed in
Blackville. and that the estimate
for this year was not over 1,500
bales, or one-tenth.
Proceeding to Blackville. tinpart\j
divided for the night: some
going on to Barnwell and others
o Denmark and Williston. A few
of the party turned hack from
BLckville. but most of them took
i In road Wednesday morning
for Allendale. Here the reports
of boll weevil damage were even
worse, it being stated by some of
the prominent farmers that no
effort would be made to gather
eiiv of the cotton from the fields.
Some of tin* piirly'urocowli'd to
Fairfax and examined a field
which had bet ti partly under govcriuucnt
supervision, in order to
'.est the efficiency of poison represented
by arsenate of lead. In
this field a section had been
wired off and this section had
been regularly sprayed or powdered
with the poison, but it was
noted that the appearance of the
crop was appreciably no better
than that which had not been
treated: so it was gathered that
there was no use in putting any
dependence in the proposition of
poisoning the weevil.
Leaving 'Allendale, the route of
tile party was to Bamberg, where
(Continued on page 3.)
WILL'
PAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1921.
iVASTATES
LOW-COUNTRY
light by Cotton Pest in Counties
ce to Profit in York by DisOther
South Carolinians.
NEWS OP YORK COUNTY.
Current Items of Interest Found
in the Yorkville Enaninr.
Methodists from many comiuu- |
11 ities around gathered at Sharon
Sunday morning on account of
the first services held in the new
Sharon Methodist church building.
Pews for the new church
have not yet arrived, but benches
and chairs were borrowed for the
accommodation of the audience,
which was so large that all could
not be accommodated, more than
50 people necessarily having to
remain outside.
Charged with abandonment of
his family, Thos. P. McGrady, I
white, was arrested iu Camden
Monday and the understanding is
that he will be brought back to
Vorkville for trial, the warrant
having been sworn out before
Magistrate Fred C. Black by his
wife, who, with her three children,
has been making her home
at the residence of Miss Sallie
Adickes on East Liberty street,
Yorkville, v for a number of
months. McGrady worked for the
Yorkville Cotton Oil company
and it is alleged that he abandoned
his family here in last July.
All ?tii t nrr\riuik !? ? ?? /, ?? ?? '?"
*?i* i/iiici |/t IOU nidi pi uiiiiom |
much for the farmers of this sec- I
tion has just been launched at
Rock Hill by two York county
Cleinsou graduates under the
name of the Garrison-Faris Seed
company. The firm consists of
K. 11. Garrison, Jr., and Karl G.
Faris, the former of Ebenexer and
the latter of Gold llill, and both
young men of sterling character
and excellent repute. Both having
been ruined on furms uud both
having made a special study of
I setds at Clemson, they believe
' that one of the greatest needs of
York county farmers is a reliable*
J seed house conducted by men who
are in a positiou to understand
loeal needs, and they propose to
! devote themselves to the task of
. making themselves especially useful
ui)d helpful ulong this line.
So sudden uud marked has been
the deterioration in the condition
of eottou throughout this section
during the past week that there
is a pretty general belief thatan!
other condition report this month
would show a decline of 10 or 12
per cent additional, us compared
with August. The deterioration
I of the pust week is commonly attributed
to the hot, dry weather
under which fresh, greou cotton
j leaves have wilted atuf shriveled
up us if scalded. The vigorous
growin nas been suddely chucked
and in addition to that there in
! a four that with tho migration of
tho recently hutched boll weevils
late squares und small bolls will
be destroyed to a disastrous extent.
J. S. Brice, Esq., who hus been
confined to his bed in his home
hi Yorkville for nearly a month, '
is steadily improving. During
j more than two weeks of his illi
ness he seemed to hover between
life and death to an extent that
made his friends fearful to ask
| about him after an interval of a
few hours but for the past week
lie has been showing signs of
slow but steady improvement.
One evening last week he recalled
that it was the night some of
the children were to go to the
picture show and instructed according,
and Monday he told
Dr. McDowell that he was going
to Hit up in a few days. The doctor,
however, was not yet ready
to make any positive promise
along that line. There seems to
be every reason to hope that
within another week at least the
patient ought to be able to be up
and about his hotne.
I Monroe Merritt of Little Rock,
I Ark., recent'y spent a few days
in Fort Milt witi. uncle, A. 11.
Merritt, on the first visit he had
made to this section in nine years.
, Another recent guest of Mr. Mer'
ritt's was his son, Elijah Merritt.
1
Time<
%
RAPS FORT BOLL.
Firs Prevention Officer Criticises 1
Local Conditions.
S. W. Lowe, fire prevention
officer of the State insurance tie- t
partiueut, who visited Fort Mill a <
few weeks ago in a tour of 22 i
cities and towns of the State in- t
spotting conditions, says in his 1
report to the department that he <
found rotten rcyofs and danger- t
ous flues in many of the towns 1
he visited. In some instances, he <
! says, the town authorities prom- 1
I ised to have corrections made and t
to take action in other instau- 1
ces to have old fire-tran build
ings toru down as the law requires.
In Fort Mill, according to Mr.
Lowe's report, he was surprised
at the amount of rubbish ullowcd
to accumulate within the fire
zone and especially condemned
an old shingle-roofed building at
the head of Main street, which lie
said ought to be condemned'and
removed. |
He was pleased with eondi-!
itous in a number of other towns,
including Kock Hill. Kershaw
was clean but has little fire-fighting
apparatus. Lancaster is clean (
ot rubbish, but lias too many rot- ;
ten shingle roofs. The fire tie- '
part men t was reported good. 1
lie found similar conditions in
York. J
Chester has the worst fire department
equipment of any town
of like size in the State; merely
an old time fire wagOn drawn by
horses that ftill down. The town
also has a generous supply of
rubbish.
GROCERY STORE BURNED. J
Business of B. M. Bradford Destroyed
Monday Morning. 1
A prosperous grocery business *
that wus started in Kurt Mill
only a few months ago went up I
in smoke at 1 :30 o'clock Monday 1
morning when fire of unknown '
origin destroyed the stock of 1
goods and new building occupied '
by B. M. Bradford on Tom ilull J1
street. Insurance on the goods and
building is said to have been '
sufficient to cover about half the ['
loss. I >
Two young men passing the j t
store discovered the blaze and,1
quickly gave the alarm, but be-(<
fore the fire department got into 1
action, in an incredibly short ]
time considering the leugth of , '
the run and the fact that the I
members live in various sections *
of the town, the building was en- 1
veloped in flames and a few min- j
utes later had burned to the ?
ground. Practically nothing was J
saved from the stock, but Mr. 1
Bradford succeeded in getting!*
his books out of the building. | i
The fire department did good
work in saving two nearby resi- ; i
deuces which caught fire a nuin- ; ^
ber of times. ' '
Moving Dye House Machinery, i
Work of moving the machin- \
cry from the old dye house at i
mill No. 1 of the Fort Mill Manu- i
factoring company to the new j i
building recently erected by the ?.
company tor a dye house is now
under way, but several days will s
elapse before the transfer iscom-lt
pleied and the machinery is again 4
in operation. Meanwhile, how j >
ever, there will be no delay in l
anv of the other dunurt iii.iiik i.
? - - " *
the mill, as a stock of dyed cot- jt
ton sufficient to meet the needs of >.
the mill for several weeks is on t
hand. The new dye house was
erected at a cost ot many thous- j
amis ot dollars and is said to he j
one of the most modern dye ' i
plants owned hv any mill in the |
Piedmont section of the Caroli '?.
nas. .J. F. Oates, who recently t
tnoved with his family to Fort j
Mill from New Bedford, Mass., is jt
boss dyer for the Fort Mill Man- j
ufacturing company. | i
The Lytic drug store, now oe- 1J
copying the Anlery building on h
Main street, is preparing to move ' \
across the street to the Stewart ! t
building, until recently used by
the Fort Mill Candy Kitchen. The j
Stewart building will be thor- 11
oughly renovated before the new ,
tenants move in the latter part of (
the month and a new set of fixtures
will be installed by the drug
store. # j
s
5.
11.50 Per Tear.
WHERE STATE QUIT UNION.
Story of Secession Convention in
Charleston.
in December of the year 1SU0
the Democratic State convention
jf South Carolina, after its first
meeting in the Kirst Baptist
jhurch in Columbia, adjourned
to Charleston. The sessions in
Charleston were held in St. Anlrew's
hall on Broad street. The
tmilding belonged to the St. Anlrew's
society, an organization
founded in 1729, principally for
ihiiritnM" ' v
VJIl IH'i't 111l)or
20, the famous Ordinance of 1
Secession was passed liv I lit e i
mention. Gen. 1). K. .lamieson of
itarnwell presiding.
At 1 :30 o'clock a member of
lie convention stood up and read .
the ordinance, drafted by Chantellor
F. H. Wardluw of the State
?niversity% The resolution was t ?
he effect that the people of the
!Ommonwealth of South Carolina,
through their accredited reprelentatives.
repealetl the former
>rdiuance which the State had
idopted on May 23. 17SS.
The ordinance was adopted by
inanimous vote of the 109 ntem>ers
t?f the convention, two of
ivhom. Col. A. It. Springs and
'ol. Leonidas Spratt. were from
Fort Mill township, the former
H'itig the father of Col. Leroy
springs and the latter the graml
incle of Col. T. It. Spratt and
f)r. .1. Li. Spratt. As the result of
he vote was declared, a tumult
iroke forth which extended to
hrongs on the outside of the
\9
ouming. .Many si rove lor * 11ranee
anil the liall not being sot'
ficiently lurgo to accommodate
hern, it was resolved by tin* runvolition
to ailjonrn to a larger
mil for tho ratification of the orlinanoo.
At G o'clock on tho sumo day,
Docombor 20. 18G0, tho oonvon
lion moved in procession to tho
Imilding soloctod. Institute hall,
dii Mooting street, a building
isod at tho time by tho State for
he promotion of industrial arts.
After pravor by tho Uov. l>?\
lachman of tho Lutheran ohuroli
ho ordinance was signed by each
neiuber of the convention in
urn. When the last signature
vas written, tho president of the
invention lifted the document
from the table and holding it in
view of the audience, announced
ts ratification, at the same time
trocluiming the State of South
Carolina "an independent com
lion wealth."
Following the announcement, as
in eyewitness relates, "the whole
ludience rose and gave vent to
heir enthusiasm by prolonged
beers, accompanied by tie? wav
ng of hats and handkerchiefs.
Pllt* nlmroli luwrun /? iMlitr
Hid tlu* State flag was everywhere
displayed. In the evening
there was a general cclebration
>f the event. The whole city was
illuminated, bonfires were Iniilt.
while hurrahing processions, carrying
banners of various lescriplions
and headed by bends of
uusic, paraded the principal
itreets.
In the great fire of l^til which
iwept over Charleston with disasrous
results, both St. Andrew's
udl and Institute hall were deit
royed, but some of tli* < fleets
from each building were saved.
Huong otln rs the historic (aide
>11 which the Ordinance of S.-.-fs>ion
was signed, tit) years ago on
lie 20th of December last.
Hears McLendon Preach.
S. II. Sutton, K. F. I), carrier.
oute Port Mill, returned to
lis home a few days ago after
ipeuding several days with relaives
at Spyncer, N. ('.Y where last
Sunday he heard the Kev. I.ax
er Me^eudon, well known evangelist
who conducted a meeting
n Fort Mill some years ago.
?reaeh to an audienee estimated
if 11),1)00. Mr. Sutton says Mr.
MeLendon had a good deal to say
11 his sermon shout conditions in
he American home and that he
riticised unsparingly the styles
or women's dress now in vogue,
racing much of the wave of ininoralitv
now sweeping over the
ountry to this source.
Spot cotton sold in Anderson
yesterday for 231-2 cents.