Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Veteran Editor of Forty Years Writes Newspaper History forty years ago this morning an Miphun boy, ?ot yet iij his teens, set himself to the tusk of learning the printers' trade in the office of the ,,M Anderson .Journal, at Anderson, ts_ c. That was a good while ago. Marty changes have taken place since {Men, and this editor today, indulg ing himself for a little while in re* nuniscences, is astonished at the sudden realization that he is one of the oldest newspaper workers, in point of eontinuous service, in South Carolina. With but two or three ex ceptions, no man in the state has' heyn i'? the harness continuously for longer period. Forty, years ago there were only three daily newspapers ? In South Carolina, the Charlotte News . and ?'Courier, the Columbia Register and the Greenville News. All were j morning papers. Efforts had been! made to establish afternoon papers ! iii ( 'harlyston and Columbia, but they] had not been successful. The News ! and Courier under the' editorship of, ( apt. K. W, Dawson, was one of the j strongest and most influential news- ( papers in the United States. Tire virccnviUe News, due to the brilliant j editorials of A. B. Williams, had a state- wide circulation, The Columbia ?'Register was published by Charles A. t'alvo, Jr., who changed editors fre quently. The Register was the neat- j est, daily paper, typographically, ever printed in the state, and that is about :.!t that can be said for it. The' three daily papers of the. period ranked well, as compared with those of other states, but an average issue of The Sun of today contains more news and more general reading mat ter than those three papers of forty years ago carried on an average day, ami The Sun today probably has a s targe a circulation as tl^e three papers combined of forty years ajfo. Hut while there were only throe daily newspapers in the state forty years ago there were more weekly newspapers, we believe, and they were of better quality and had more influence than those of today, as a rule, There are no weekly newspa pers in the state today comparable to the old Anderson Intelligencer and the Anderson Journal, the Abbeville Press and Bauner and the Abbeville Medium, the (Jreenville Mountaineer, the Carolina Spartan,, the Union Times, the Laurensville Herald, and dozens of others that might be men tioned. The Yorkville lOnquirer, the Newberry Observer and the Her ald and News, and perhaps others, have becoffre semi-weekly newspa pers, but we doubt if they hold quite the same place in the affections of their readers as forty years ago. The weekly newspapers of today have lost their hold upon the people to. a large extent, and the explanation is simple. The weekly papers of today as a rule are not as carefully edited as were those of forty years ago. Running a weekly newspaper of today i^ an avo-. cation rather than a vocation. Forty years ago thjg publisher of a weekly newspaper ran a job printing office as a sideline while today the owner of a job printing office publishes a weekly newspaper as a sideline. The newspaper suffers, and we do not know of very many job printers with newspapers as sidelines who are get ting rich. Forty years ago the edi tor of the" average weekly newspa per was quite a personage in his com munity. - He did not make much money, but he lived aboyt as well as his neighbors, and was held in about a? high respect as the best of his fel low citizens. The people -set store by his opinions, and they know they could depend upon the news in his paper as being accurate. The edi tor worked hard and lived honestly, as did nearly everybody at th,at time, and he farVd at least as well as the average merchant or professional man of his day, If the editors of *woekly papers of today feel that they are underpaid and are not given proper support, it is their own fault. Those who are doing their best and are publishing newspapers as cred itable as those of forty years ago are getting along very well, and those who are not doing their best do not deserve whatever support they are getting. i Newspapers now have vastly bet ter equipment than forty years ago. At that time most of the weekly newspapers were printed on Wash ington hand presses; now there is probably not one left in the state, 'fhe linotype had not been introduced forty years ago, all the type being sot by hand> There w^yg pp'type writing ntiachines, no labor saving material of any kind, no printers' union and" no eight-hour system. There was no extra pay for overtime wotjc; then the work had to be done, whether it took ten hours or fourteen. In those days a journeyman printer -eould do and was expected to do everything about the shop; now there are specialists for every line. The printing trade has been completely transformed. The skilled printer of forty years ago would be as much at sea in a modern printing office as .would be one who has learned some branch of the -trade under modern condition's in a printing shop of forty years ago. The change has been quite as great as that from the old hand loom to the modern electric driven loom. While the newspaper business has changed greatly in forty years, there have been changes in everything "Standard* is the dealer's choice When a dealer ? earnings depend much on the eale oi paoiina you may be euxa he selects hie baud only after thorough etudy. "Standard" Gasoline wmdi first with dealer*. Count the puaaps! ?; Made in South Carolina "Standard" Gasoline is as popular with the dealer as it is with the motorist. yt The men who choose this brand to sell arev hard headed business men* They know that the public demands quality and that they can get their share of the business only by carry ing what the public wants. Judging by the number of "Standard" pumps you see it's "Standard" Gasoline that the public wants. There is a sound, substantial reason behind this popularity. "Standard" Gasoline has built up and maintained a reputation for quality since motors first replaced the horse. Quality does not show on the surface. Most gaso lines look alike. Your best guarantee of quality is this popularity, for it is based on past performance and the personal experiences of millions of motorists. STANDARD OIL COMPANY [Nctv Jersey ] "STANDARD" GASOLINE The wonderful new fuel ? "Standard" Ethyl Gasoline ? now avail able at many "Standard" pumps, completely eliminates "gas knock'1. More power on the hills! Less gear shifting! Less vibration! Ask the man at the pump about it, 0 "Stavdprd" is the trade mark of the Standard Oil Co. ( N. J.), registered in the United States and many foreign countries. else, Forty years ago there were no good roads and no automobiles. Tel ephoned Were just being introduced, and electric lights hail not come into general use in the ftouth> There were no hydro-electric power plants, There were no phonog raphs, no mov ing pictures, and the radio had not been dreamed of. There were no paved streets in the state outside of Charleston, where some <>f the thor oughfares had been paved with cob blestones. Wood was still used for fuel, even on locomotives, instead of coal. Artificial ice was a new thing, and people were afraid of it, think ing it would be injurious to health. There were no hospitals in the small* er cities and towns, The X-ray and radium had not been heard of. Forty years ago the , public school system, as we know it today, (was ?i|i its infancy. Most public schools were Supported by public subscrip tions, or by parents paying a flivV rato per month for each pupil. The av erage school term was from six weeks to four months, but the school hours were Jlonger than those of today. The average school would open by 8 oclock in the morning at tho latest, and the teacher would keep the pu pils busy with their books until late in the afternons, turning them out barely in time for them to get homo by nightfall. Not so many books were studied as now, but those that were used were mastered before they were laid aside ,and the schools of that day did rather good work after all. Forty years ago Clemson Col lege and Winthrop were yet to be. The only state institutions for higher education were the old South Caro lina College and the Citadel, and they were having a hard time of it. Forty" years ago prohibition was being talked of, but few people thought it would ever be the law of the land. The fence law, as it was called, had been but recently enacted, and many people were complaining because farmers were no longer re quired to keep their crops under fcnce so that the cattle of their neighbors' could run at large, as had been the custom from time immemo rial. There were no county farm agents or county home agents forty years ago, nor any of the other wel fare agencies, which seems s>o indis pensable today. There were not a Y. M. C. A. nor a Y. W. C. A. nor a Red Cross chapter in the state, and there were not many Sunday schools either. Nobody was being vaccinated for smallpox, and the typhoid serum had not been discovered. Not so many people were engaged in looking after I the physical and moral and social wet fare of other people as now, but tho people seemed to get along despite their handicaps in these respects, and seemed to be totally unaware of said handicaps. Whiskey, with wild cher ry bark in it, was a standard remedy for most of the ills, real and imagi nary, that aftlicted the people of that period, and if the whiskey did not do the work there was always boneset teaTto fall back on. There were doc tors, and good Ofies, too, but they were not called in except in cases of extreme illness or to set broken bones. Forty years ago Wade Hampton and M. C. Butler were still in the United States senate and were the idols of the people. B. R. Tillman was farming in Edgefield, {ind was hardly known outside his own county. Of all the men who were prominent in the political life of the state forty years ago, only one, John C. Shep pard, of Edgefield, is still living. John Gary Evans, William H. Ellerbe, M.B. McSweeney, D. C. Heyward, M. F. Ansel, Cole L. Blease, Charles A. Smith, R. I. Manning, Robert A. Cooper, Wilson G. Harvey, Thomas G. McLeod, all of whom have suc ceeded Tillman in the governor's of fice, were youths or even children, without political ambitions of ' any kind. Forty years ago the brainiest men of the state could be induced to offer for public office, for there were so few other avenues for reaching distinction. Now there are so many other ways of achieving success, most of which pay better financially than holding office, that not many of the ablest men of the state enter politics. Our state government today is vastly more expensive than that of forty years ago, and is undoubtedly more wasteful, but it is also vastly more efficient. People of today get more from the government than ever be fore. There was complaint about high taxes forty years ago, just as there is today, and it was probably harder to pay taxes than now. Money was scarcer, values were lower, times were harder. There have been many changes during these forty years, especially in the manner of living, but most of the changes have been for the best. South Carolina is ? belter state to live in now than forty years ago. The av erage individual lives better and with leas effort, more people share in the comforts and luxuries of life, end the average Individual is better educated and i? * better citizen th*?' tfc?a. *- . ? - - ?/; -r z People of today have higher stand ards not only of living but in private ' and public morals. There is more un* j selfish service today than forty year* agt>, butter methods in business, hot -j lor feeling boVwron classes and masses, and there are greater oppor* ! tunitics of every kind for success. Rewords today ore greater and surer, ; and they come more quickly to those 1 who ot rive for them. While t here have been many 'j changes in the externals and even to j some degree in modes of thought, the ! fundamentals have remained un- ' i banged. Huma.n nature is .iust the, same now as forty years ago, just the j same strange mixture of good aud evil. Society today is not different from that of forty years ago. Then there were the socially elect and the') social frauds, the social climbers and I the social outcasts, Some families; have come up during these forty years, and some haye gone down, l>ut those that have endured are thost. that have been founded upon eharac-j tor and 'service and duo regard foe the rights of others. Character and industry were" the greatest assets that a young man had forty years ago, just as they are today, and forty years ago the right kind of a man valued the love of a good woman above all other earthly possession*, just as is the ease today. Work and perseverance and right living enabled people to get ahead forty years ago, just as they do now. (rood and evil brought their own rewards and own punishments forty years ago just as they do today, for the fundamentals do not change. And for this we should be thankful. Young soldiers arc told that the first forty years in the army are the hardest. The same rule applies to the newspaper business. This editor would feel greatly discouragexl today if he thought the next forty ? ycirnr would be harder than those which have passed. Someone has said that success consists in doing what you want to do, and doing it the best you can. Measured by this rule, this wri ! ter has had some success, ify has done what he wanted to do, /and he has done the best he cauld. Yhjt by Other standards he has fallen \ar short of success. He has not achieved wealth, and his work has usually not been of the kind he wanted to do. He would give an arm today if he could wipe from the record some of the things he has written, but they will have to stand. The passing years have not brought wisdom, nor great understanding, but they have brought a determination to be more patient with the faults and weaknesses of others, and a greater willingness to be helpful whenever possible. The writer has been the beneficiary of so many kindnesses and so much for bearance that he is compelled to try to pass the favors along during the next forty years, or so long as he ii permitted to serve. ? Spartanburg Sun. A London dispatch says that Japan has ordered 140,000 machine guns from a British machine gun manufac turing concern. UOOM F'O.K SOUTH. Soon By Senator George *?f Georgia in Address To His People. Griftlu, Ga., Aug. 7,? The South "is headed toward on industrial ex pansion hitherto Undreamed pf," Senator Walter F. George predicted in an address prepared for delivery today before a joint meeting of the Georgia State Horticultural Socie ties, in session here,, "The great mountain region, l.r?(> Mules' wide, extending down through Virginia, the t'aro.linas, into Georgia and Alabama, and other territory running through, Missouri. Arkansa V Oklahoma, and Te\a* to the Mexican border," he declared, "is destined to become the industrial venter, not only of Amexiua, hut of the world." Choosing as his theme the general condition of the farmer, Senator Gt orge declared that (he .government "must and ean lead the Way" to lug islate relief for the grower, and that that remedy "i.^ not .so mUch to 1 equalize the farm ami farm values I upward as it is to equalize general j produeiH'n and distribution cos's downward." "It is undeniable," he continued, "that freight rates are excessive. The .question is not one for debate? action is imperative. Ultimately the roads must be grouped and reduction in rates, freight and passenger, is imme diately necessary." Another barrier to the relief of ag riculture, he said, is the taritV which he described as the Highest in the history of the government. Deprecating the steady trend of migration from farms to eities, Sena tor George reminded his hearers that farming is the oldest and most basic of all industries, adding: "Upon it civilization has rested from the begining; upon it civiliza tion must rest until the end of time. All other industries may perish and yet the farm will sustain4the race. If the farm fails, mankind must perish." Negro Barber Dead. Henry Wilson, the colored barber who had been an integral part of Kershaw from the earliest history of the town until he was incapacitated from work by. ill health about two years ago died at his home on west Marion street Monday afternoon about four o'clock and was buried on Tuesday afternoon after funeral serv ices conducted at Unity Baptist church, colored, by the pastor, Rev. L. C. Jenkins. The large crowd present at the funeral attested his popularity with the members of his own race, and he enjoyed the good will and esteem of the white citizens of the community, among whom he lived in pcaotjand gbod will during his residence in the town. He is sur vived by his wife of a second mar riage, of Kershaw; and two sons and one daughter, all of whom live away from Kershaw. ? Kershaw Kra, An Italian aero *club has given Leandro Passalova, an official speed record of 188 miles per hour in a sea plane. Protect Her With > " A Savings Account MANY a man who is a good liver, leaves a widow without anything to live on. Loan & Savings Bank CAPITAL $100,000.00 4 Per Cent. Paid on Savings Deposits JUST RECEIVED Carload Black and Galvanized Pipe Carload of Round and Flat Iron Carload of Galvanized Corrugated Roofing Have in stock car of Shafting all sizes 3-16" to 3 7-16'V Pipe, Valves, Fittings, Belting, Hose and Packing, Shafting, Steel and Wood Pulleys, Pillow Blocks and Hangers, Injectors, Lubricators and Cups. ' f?f" - COLUMBIA SUPPLY COMPANY 823 Wdit GervaU St. Columbia, 3. C.