The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, March 25, 1937, Image 1
ir •
VOLUME xxxvn
CLINTON, S. G., THU^tSUAY, MARCH 25, 1937
NUMBER J2
PROBE SOUGHT
STATE AFFAIRS
Governor Asks For Outside Au
dit Highway Patrol, Tre^urer
and-Uis^Qwn Constabu&ry To
Clear Up Malicious Whisper
ings. /
State’s Finances .
To Be G>nsidered
Appropriation Bill As It Goes
To S^ate Calls Fpr $10,000,-
000 For Fiscal Year.
I)
Columbia, March 22.—Finances will
be in thg spollight in the general as
sembly this week when the. general
Decision by i , bill readies the floor
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Columbia, March 23
the house offices and officers com-[of the senate.
mittee to sponsor a bill calling fori The bill, in the hands of the sen-
an audit of all state offices and de- (ate finance committee since it was
partments followed quickly on theppassed by the house more than a
heels of a suggestion by Governor | month., ago, was expected to have j Ijl
Olift Johnston- for-—*far-reaching-and jbeen~ reported irat wheff tfre “senate] jjj
fact-finding” investigations and re-[convenes tomorrow, but the report;||j
vised accounting for state finance.s. 'was delayed about 24 hours, it devel-iiji
Johnston appeared before a joint oped today.
sdHsion of the general assembly, tln'-
'announced until a short time before
his arrival, to suggest inquiries into
It appeared the measure would not
reach the senate be^xe Wednesday
when Chairman S. M. Ward of the
the activities of the state treasurer,;committee, back from his home at
the highway patrol and the state con
stabulary ‘ in addition to the fiscal
changes.
Representative Elwood McKay, of
Florence, piember of the offices and
officers committee, said members
agreed to sponsor a joint resolution
for investigations in line witfi the
eugge.stions and would submit a bill
to a full committee meeting tomor-
row. f,
“For a long time,” the governor
told the assembly, —malicious whis
perings'concerning the affairs of cer
tain officials and departments of our
state government have been going the
' -rounds, undermining, I think, the use
fulness of these departments. The
good names of officials have been re
flected upon. Libelous things have
been sard about some of the men we
~ brave' functiofiThg as leaders in our
government,
“Such confusion, as I see it, has no
place in our government.^ There
should be no reason -for conditions
like this. Everything that is done by
our government should be entirely in
the open.”
Johnston said the joint legislative
\committee to inveetigate transactions
between St%te Treasvirer E. P. Miller
firm of McAlister, Smith and.
Pat^ of Greenville, was “limited in
only ^ing authorized to investigate
the traA^ctions of one company with
dealings. I recommend that a far-
reaching and fact-finding investiga
tion'be made^of every affair of the
treasurer's officb-
“As you will reball the state treas
urer himself annoti^ed that he would
welcome an investigation, and I. think
it is only fair that ev^ official act
of this office be laid opbn for public
" Inspection,”
He linked the highway p^tpol and
his own constabulary as the subject
of “other whisperings.” X
“There have been members ofN^e
constabulary whosij.'conduct has hebn
/ ment of the report on the bill, adding
Georgetown after the week-end, said
several matters forced the postpone-
that the committee would meet again
tomorrow afternoon for some further
consideration.
Ward did not comment on any ap
propriations figures, but it was learn
ed from J. M. Smith, state auditor
and finance committee clerk, that the
bill, as it stood today, carried total
appropriations of approximately $10,-
200,000.
Both Ward and Smith stdted, how
ever, that this figure was subject to
change in view of the further meet
ings of the committee. “I don’t know
what they (committee members) will
do,” Ward said.
As Passed by the house, th® appro-
piiiaUbn measure totaled $9,558,0M.
This was $111,000 more than recom
mended by the budget coipmission, of
which Ward, as the senate chainnan,
is ft member, and several himdred
thousand dollars more than the 1936-
37 appropriation bill.
The tentative draft of the bill was
being whipped into shape by Smith
and prepaid for the printer, who
will be given the “go ahead” signal
to print as soon as the committee
completes its work.
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International Relation’s Club At
College Votes On Presidents
Court Proposal.
In a vote taken at the regular bi
weekly meeting of the International
Relations club at Presbyterian ‘ ifoL
lege last Thursday, only one-third of
the service, but the whisperers would
have you believe., that the whole con
stabulary is unworthy of trust. ... 1
think that like the j treasurer’s office
and all the other state departments
and officers, the constabulary should
be the subj^t of a far.-reaching and
fact-finding investigation.
“Then there have been astounding
rpmors, accusations and developments
in the personnel of the state highway
patrol. Charges of graft and bribery
have been made. One bf the high-
ranking officers of the patrol now
* stands charged by the fedcutd govem-
ment'for alleged coluaion* with moon^-
shiners in Sumter county.
“He was involved along with local
officers of that county. One such of
ficer, I am informed, is alleged to
have committed suicide whan he
learned that the federal officer^ had
been invastigating-hia-conduct.
' “The agencies I have named are
the ones which have been 4[m>ught
most into the limelight, and^ there
fore, are the ones singled out by me
in recommending these far-reaching
and fact-ending investigations, and
studies of all ^rpartmenta.
“I want for odee and for all to have
every cloud of doobt removed from
the activities of every state official
apd department. Certainly no one
could object to thorough purging of
our government.
“Then in recent days there has de
veloped widespread oonfnsi<m and dis
agreement as to the accounting of
state finances. It seems that even
members of the general sescrobly, it
self, and the heada,iil.rn9JKa:;2Anjt com
mittees are not-aware of just bow
much money the state ,tJ^es in, ex
pends or has on hand.- This confosi<m
arises perhaps from the fact that no
(Ontinued on page eight)
Fe^al Court
Jurymen-Named
S I 0^
f^'Laurens county citisens have
been drawn to serve as grand jurors
at the Greenville term of United
States court, beginning Alpril .12th.
They are: ,Cark» Boyd, J. D. Culbert
son, Jamea h. Davsgport of Laurens,
and S. G. Dillard of thM city. Irby
S. Hipp, also of this dty, is the only
petit veniremsii frwn the county.
of president Roosevelt’s plan to- en-
large the United ^tates supreS^e
court, with five voting for the pro-
posir A like number were-whofly op
such that 1 Have removed them from\posed to it, while four members indi-
_ .1- v: ij -v^rould be in favor of the
plan if it were worked through a con
stitutional amendment. ’
The ypting was conducted by Du-
gald Hudson, who also spoke on
“The Supreme ^Court Situation.” Oth
er talks inchuled “Strikes and Indus
trial Orgsmization,” by-Alvin Chap
man, and a resume of his trip to the
Southeastern I. R. C. conference at
Auburn, Ala., by Gilmore.
Presbyterians Plan
DuBose Meeting
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Spirit
of the
Day
Hughes Against
Court Proposal
Chief Justice of Highest Bench
Sends Views To Senate Group
Opposing Change.
Washington, March 12.—Chief Jus
tice Hughes caused jubilation among
the foes of the Ttoosevelt court pro
posal today by bluntly declaring that
jjiito increa.se the membership of the «u-
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preme court was likely to “impair”
UNION STAGES^
DETROIT RAUY
Martin Warns “We’H Get What’s
Ours” At Huge Meeting. Poli
ticians To Be Ca^t Aside In
Drive for Unionization, He
Shouts.
Detroit, M^rchf 23.—The United
I Automobilp Worker.® union broadcast
its efficiency. ja warning tonight—backed by a tre-
This statement, to which Associate! Tnendotri outpouring of union mem-
Justos Van Dovwter
How lovejy is Easter,
The Queen of the Spring,
What gladness and joy
Its coming can bring ;
It holds a rich promise
As bright as the flwviers
That break into beauty
.‘ And bloom through its hours.
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O glad is the world
On this brightest of days,
W’hen nature joins mankind
In glad songs of praise;
For no heart can be heavy.
No heart can stay cold,
As' its sunshine envelopes
Each pathway with gold.
Hctw lovely ya Easter,
W’hat, dreams it can bring.
It holds ail the joy -
Of the newly-waked spring.
Ak through its glad music
VVe hear angels say :
“The Lord has arisen—
Death is conquered today. -
III agreed, was Thrown “drlimaf^^ into
" the tense hearings of the senate ju
diciary committee by Senator Wheel
er, Democrat, of Montana, the first
witness to appear in opposHion to the
bill. ■ V /
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Mil
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EAUPNS COUNH SUPPLY BUI
PUTWH
Measure Net Appropriation of $72,197.34 for General
County Purposes. Provision Made for Building and Repairing
Bridges and Purchasing New Machinery For Supervisor’s
Road N^ds."^ ‘ Z'
With net appropriation items
amounting to $72,197.34, the Laurens
the members present voted in favdrdcaunty supply bill for 1937-38 wa.s in-
Beginning next Monday, Maixdi-^,
and continuing through Friday eve
ning, a series of special religious ser^-
vices will be held at the First Pres
byterian church M previously an-
jKiunced. ^ —
'The services will be led by the Rev.
Henry Wade DuBose, D.D., pastor of
the First Presbyterian church of
Spar^burg, and^ one of the most
prominent ministers of the Presb^-
rian church. Dr. DuBose has frequent
ly visited in Clinton in recent-yeafs
and » w^l known here, both in the
city and at the dollege.
pastor of the church. Dr. D. J.
has extended a cc^al wel
come to the members of his congrega
tion as well as the general public, to
attend the services which will be held
in the evening at 7:30. The meeting
will be followed by the quarterly com
munion on iSunday, April 4th.
troduced in the house of representa
tives last week and now goes to the
senate where it is expected wj be rati
fied by Senator Cromer, who worked
in collaboration with .the house dele
gation in drafting the measure.^
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The gremn appropriation in section
1 amounts to $115,532.34, from which
is deducted $43,335 estimated to be
derived from fees, fines, forfeitures,
insurance licenses and gas tax. The
last item is estimated at $30,(KK), the
same as last year, although the tax
exceeded that amount by several
thousands of dollars.-
The auditor Is authorized to fix a
levy- sufficiently large to cover the
appropriation “after Consulting and
with the consent of the Laurens coun
ty delegation.”
Jn addition to the appropriation
under section 1, additional appropri
ations carried in the bill are as fol
lows:
. One mill tax for 'tuition of- high
school- pupils in districts where no
high school is located.
Ten dollars, pfr month each fol-
deputies at Watts Mills, Lydia Mills
and Joamuk Mills.
An uRstipulated millage for past
indebtedness to. Palmetto bank.
An unstipulated milltge to pay off.
$18,100 in notes. * ""
r One-half'of one mill to ke known
as the hospital fund.
All of the additional appropriations'
have been carried in past supply hills
except the ^ half mill hospital fund
item.
Hospital Fnti4
The appropriation for :the hospital
fund is disposed of, as follows:
“Sec. 18.—^Tbat there is hereby,, lev-
I
O
DEATHS
^from
AUTOMOBILE
ACCIDENTS
in
l^UBBNS COUNTV
I U37
liCi’g SUire To Mtkc
Thin • Tear On
Um H%h wa^
vestigate the financial standing of
any and all patient.s, before granting
their application for charity. Their
application for charity shall be filed
with the claim and shall bo a pSrt
of the document herewith. That in
the event there remains any balance
of the fund provided for in this sec
tion, after taking care of the items
heroin specified,' then, in thait event,
the unexpended balance shall go .4o
the maintenance and upkeep of the
said hospital."^
More For Roads
The major increa.se under Section
1 of the bill is for roads and bridged,
a special-fund of $15,000 being pro
vided to build and repair bridges and
$8,600 for the purchase of machinery.
The bill is Mrritten in twenty sec
tions, a number of which are but
repetitions of sections m past bills.
They may be read in the printed acta
by those interesting in seeing them.
Section 2 retires the sheriff to
make monthly imports of delinquent
tax collections, and forbids him from
depositing county ^unda in his per
sonal account. ■ : -
Section 17 is a repetition of g sec-
ti(hi introduced into the supply bill
several years ago authorizing and di
recting the treasurer to 'borrow for
permanent road improvement work
such sums of money as the delegation
may direct. No levy is provided for
the payment of the loan. •
Scetkm One
Sectidn one, under which the major
activities of the county are carried
on, is as follows:
Section 1. T}wt a tax of sufficient
number of milla, less the estimated,
revenue to be received by Laurens
<Ik)Unty in 1937, to pay the appropri
ation hereinafter made, the amount of
such millage to be determined by the
Hi.s words, read to the senate /ju
diciary committee, had scarcely been
digested by tho.se who heard/them
when John 11, Clarke, only liring re
tired member of the court, declared
in a radio speech that Pre.sident
Roosevelt’s court reorganization pro
posal was “clearly constitutional."
-Clarke, who retired from the court
in 1922, confined himself to the “nak-
e<l legal question” of constitutionality
and asserted the proposal “islplainly
within the powers granted to the
congress.”
Clarke .^spokc frdm San Diego^
Fifteen jninutes later. Secretary Wal
lace tmd^a farm bureau audience at
Richmond, Va., that the presidential
proposal was a “simple arid effective’’
method of assuring progress of na
tional welfare, lie said recent decis
ions of the supreme court blocked at
tempts of the Roosevelt administra
tion^ to erect ‘ necessary safegtiards
for agriculture and industry.”
OpjMwition senators had long been
seeking to get an exprcs.sion of opin
ion from the high bench,* l^lieving it
would lend powerful support to their
cause, and they were obviously happy
over the Hughes declaration.
Wheeler, asserting ^ that he had
been “shocked and sunirised” by the
president’s proposal and 'by charges
that the court’s work wan hindered
by the age of its members, told the
committee that he had gone “for the
facts to the one source that could be
gxpected to know them bettar than
any* one else.”
From the chief justice, he received
a letter which as.serte<i thaf^ “the
court is fully abreast of its work,”
that “there is no congestion of cases
upon our calendar,that the work of
reading petitions for review ia “la
borious” but a<lequatcly handled.
“An increase in the number of jus
tices, apart from any question of
policy, which I do not discuss, would
not promote the efficiency of the
court,” the Hughes letter said. "It is
believed that it would impair that ef
ficiency so long as the court acts as
a unit.
-The letter created a stir among the
big crowd which had assembled in the
caucus room»^long before the hearing
started to listen to the Montana Dem
ocrat open the op'position iS the
court bill.
“going to get everything that i.s
oiri^”
/
/ Thou.sqnds of men and women
surged into Cadillac square, heart of ,
Detroit’.-? downtown area, at the call
of Homer Martin, president of the
United Automobile Workers of Amer
ica.
Superintendent of Police Fred W.
Frahm estimated the throng at up
ward of 60,000. Union headquarters
said about 250,000 were there..
Bearing bc^iners, singing, cheering
and sometimes booing, but without
disorder, the mass of people tangled
traffic within a half mile radius of
the “.square,” an oblong area 200 feet
wide extending two block.s between
the~city and county buildings.
Martin, who ordered the demori-
tration in protest against police evic
tion of sit-<lown strikers in two small
labor disputes Saturday^ told the
crowd:
“Reason and justice shall be in
stituted in-t-tbis city, this state btitI'
this nation.”
“-We as wot-kers are going to get
everything that Is ours, even if we
have to move every publit official
out of office to get it. We are going
to^get ou'r just due.”
Martin directed his remark^ to of
ficials of the city and state^ to manu
facturers and at one point to Henry
Ford. ^
Hundreds of._jiolice were on <luty
in the area, but they took no part be
yond trying to keep traffic moving. ^
On some streets, motorists were de-
tdured as far as half a mile fron\
the outermost of the meeting.
A squad of police stood at every
;ent{aiu;e to the city hall.
Addressing himself to Ford, Mar
tin said: “You can’t stop the union.
You can’t stop your workers from
joining the union. The automobile
workers of this city and nation * are
going to organize, and we are tell
ing you that is going to happen. You
might as well get ready to do busi
ness with your organized workers.”
Richard T. Frankensteen, organi
zational director of the U. A. W.,
called U'® meeting the large.st labor
gathering ever heW in the Unitetl
States, and clainled that the union
had won wage increa.ses totaling
more than $150,000,000 in recent
weeks. j. ^
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ied upon all of the taxable property County Auditor, after consulting and
of Laurena County one-half of one
rnrH"'T^ of 1 mill) which shall be
known as the Hospital Fund. That
out of this fund there shall first be
paid the insu^nce premium of the
rire insurance policy covering the
said Laurens County Hospital and
that the balance thereof shall be ex
pended Jor the care and support of
the needy or charity patients of the
<C;ounty of Laurens; and that-it shaH
be the’ duty of the County Board of
Commissioners to pass, upon all
claims, followed by the Operating
Board of Trustees of said hospital
and the same Operating Board of
Trustees are hereby -authorized and
required to pzss on the advisability of
giving aid to any pHlii-rt claiming to
^ charity patient and in so doing
riutll take inlo considmtion and in-
with the consent of the Laurens
County--Delegation, is hereby levied
upon all taxable ppoi^rty of Laurens
County*^ for county purpa.ses for the
fiscal year beginning January 1, 1937,
for the amounts and purposes here
inafter stated as follows; to wit:
^Jtem 1. Roads and Bridges:
For maintenance of Chain-
gang. Roads and Bridges $30,<d00.00
To“i»^erived from gas tax
and commutation road tax,
and if these two sources of "
.revenue are not sufficient,
the deficit shjill be sup
plied for u the contingent
fund with the i written ap
proval o^ the Senator
the majority of the Legis
lative Delegation. -
(Gontiinied on page,tlx)
History Class Oft
On State Tour
Dr. Dudley Jones and a group of
Presbyterian college students left
Tuesday morning to visit several im
portant points of interest in South
Carolina history.
This class in history makes an an
nual tour to Charleston and vicinity
to study the .early developn^ent of the
colony. This year their trip includes
l^mter, Eutaw Springs, the old San
tee canal, Medway plantation, -and
other points. After visiting Magnolia
and Middleton gardens near Charles
ton, the students will return to their
respective hmoes on Friday .for the
spring holidays.
Easter Sunrise
Sunday
The young people’s societies of the
various churches of the city have ex
tended a special invitation to the peo
ple of Clinton to attend an Easter
sunrise service to 'be held at the
Thornwell orphanage chapel Sunday
morning at 6:30 o’clock.
4rhe program as planned will in
clude t^ gospel message of the res-'
urrectlon, 3^>ecial Easter music, and a
brief talk by Pro. Bernard H. ^yd of
the Presbyterian college faculty.
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County Ginnings
Show Increase
Census figures 21,763* bales
of cotton innned in Laurens county
from the crop of IMS prior to March
1st, according to Marvin W. Sanders,
special agent of the bureau of the
census.
This was an increase of 2,707 bales
over ginnings for the sune period
last year, the report at that time
showing 19,05$ bales luui baiji gianod
in‘i^he, county; ^
Herbert J. Martin
Dies At Lamrens
Father - Mrs;'?^1*aul Todd, of
This City, Succumbs To Short
Illness.
Laurens, March 23. — Herbert-J.
Martin, 1^0, well known bu.siness min
and farmer, died at his home here
early Tuesday after an illness of
three weeks following a partial stroke
and then.a complete paralysis, with
complications only a few days ago.^
Mr. Martin was a son of the late
Ambrose H. Martin and Harriett
Rook Martin, residents of the Trinity
Ridge community. His father wfts for
many yeara a lea<ling merchant, at
Laurens and bperator of large ^farm
ing interests near the city. Mr. Mar
tin ihimselT*, was engaged in business
here in early 'life as operator of a
comniercial flour(and grist mill in a.®-
sociatioh With J. S. Machen. now of
Greenville. For many years, however,
he had lived at'the old homestead on
the Princeton road. A few years ago
he bought a home on Farley avenue,
and moved to the city. He was inter
ested in various enterprises, and was
formerly a bank director. He is sur
vived by his wife, Mrs. Mamie Byrd
Martin, daughter of the late George
C. Bryd of Laurens county; two sons,
^Alpha Martin,^ Laurens, and Byrd
Martin, Anderson; one daughter,-Mrs.
Paul Todd, Clinton; four sisters, Mrs.
Laura M. Easterby, Mrs. Arthur L
Hudgens and Mrs. H. Dbuglas Gray
of. Laurens, and Mrs. C. S. Mcl>aurjh,
McColll.
L'uneral services for Mr. Martin
were held from the residence at 11
o’clock Wednesday morning, with
committal rites in the La ureas-ceme
tery. I
The services were conducted by the
Rev. E. D. Patton and the Rev. Jodie
A, Martin.
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Triends of A. W. Brice- will be
sorry to know he has been ill at his
home the past few days.
Mnr. Jennie Sparks and sons. &uy
and Claude, and Owen McAbee, H.i o.^
Union, spent Sunday with Mr. I
Mrs, 'T -L/Cooper. ""
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