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THE CAMDEN CHRONICLE H. D. N1LKS, ddltor and Prsprlfr Published fivery Friday at Numbar IlOt North Broad Htr??t, and entered at the Camden, Houth Carolina l'oatofflce aa second claaa mall matter. Price per Year |U 00 No subscription* taken for leaa than HI* Month# In all Instance# the auhacrlptlon price la <!u? and payaahlo In advance. All auhacrlptlon* are cancelled when auhacrlber fall* to renew. ~ Friday, March 19, 193/ COUNTY ASKED TO TAKE OVER FAIR Ai the cull of VV F. Nettles, who was county fair chairman last year, a meeting of Interested men and women was held at the Camden Hotel on Monday evening, March 15, to dlscuhh the Fair altuatlon. Chairman Nettles called on Murdoch Johnson, who for the past several years has been secretary for the fair, to explain the fair's present status and the proposal for Its continuation. Mr. Johnson stated that the fair grounds, or a large portion thereof, belong to VV. I,. Blackmon, of Kershaw, who had found it necessary to foreclose his mortgage on the property, given by the old fair association. He stated that a" option had boon secured from Mr. Blackmon for the property. and It could he purchased for approximately $.'1,500. He proposed that this property he bought by the county, und that the county delegation set up u fair commission of Interested public-spirited men and women over the county to manage the property und put on a county fuir each year, not as a commercial proposition, hut wholly for the benefit of the farm men and women of the county, to provide for adequate premiums and reimbursement of the expense, as far hh possible, to those who brought their products here for exhibit. He stated that the extremely small tax would bo inconsequential- even to the largest taxpayer?In comparison to the amount of good thut would bo accomplished. The plan was enthulastically received by those present, all voicing their hearty approval. Miss Margaret Fowell, the Home Demonstration Agent, was present with a number of the officers and members of the council of farm women, as was Mr. Mct'arley, County Farm Agent, and a number of the agricultural ivuehersi over the county. Both Mr. McCarley and Miss l-Vwoll spoke Interestingly <>? the subject and pledged tbel*.,_fuU cooperation The eentltneut prevailed that the farniera and farmer*' wlvea over the county would be Intenaely Interested in a county fair oporuted entirely for their benefit. A committee wita appointed to eontact the ineinbera of the Kerahaw county delegation In the general asaoinbly Immediately, with the view of getting through the noceaaary logla latlon to provide for tint taking over of the fair grouiida by the county and the catabllahment of a fair commiealou. Thoae present and all others Iutcreated were requested to alao cOtt^ tact the members of the delegation by letter or otherwise. General News Notes President Itooaevelt hua nominated John Caakle Collet to be Judge of the Federal district court for Missouri The United States navy department thia week placed orders for 1,700,000 pouiida of copper at. Id cents a pound. Ovid Curler, 21. Jumped 00 feet from the top of a burning oil. derrick at Oklahoma City, Oklu. Ho was not seriously hurt. Because or Increasing wages the big steel companies Jiuve advanced prices on steel products from $4 to $8 per ton. fa'rancolH Arago, 7?>, veteran of the French diplomatic service, and vice president of the chamber of deputies, is dead. Mrs. Dolly Scutes, 15, recently inur rled to Roddick Franklin Scutes, 00, of Umatilla, Fla., has step-grandchildren who are older that she ls.The North Carolina legislature has passed a bill to provide free school books for all elementary school pupils, beginning In 1938. Dr. Buul Kilmer Moore, 72, educator, editor, critic, formerly of Princeton university, died Tuesday ut Princeton, N. J. Signs for the sale of alcoholic beverages In California, to got around the law, now read, "Aloon, Avern, Peer, Puffet, Heo Garden and Ocktull Orange." A Clnclnnattl municipal Judge has j ruled that the the Ohio state liquor control act Is unconstitutional, and that private citizens might operate liquor stores. Ninety-five per cent of the population of Uniontown, Ky., has voted to remove the town back into the hills far enough to prevent any further danger from floods in the Ohio river. Two Vermont boys, aged 5 and 9 years, are to be placed In the care of psychiatrists for constant study, they being held responsible for the drowning of another child, aged 4 years, near Windsor Kinil Hurjia, gentle-voiced political prophet, who was an aid to Chairman Farley in the last campaign, has announced that he will quit the political field in the next sixty days and take work with a New York insurance company. Chancellor Hitler has commuted to live years in prison, the sentence of death for Fran Erna Schroeter, con\ ieted of poisoning her husband, whom she declared was an Incorrigible drunkard and afflicted with an Incurable disease. COMMENTS ON MEN AND THINGS (By Spectator) The Stale of South Carolina is a machine which is running In reverse. To understand conditions one must have known this State before 1920. Nearly seventeen years have passed since the boll-weevil first came among us. The boy of thirteen then Is the man of thirty today. The man of fifty Jhen, the vigorous farmer, business man or profesional man, is today sixty-seven and out of the burly burly of competition. So if we would study h normal year we must go back beyond tiie World war and compare our condition with that of our people of 1910-1914. Cotton was the principal crop, though tobacco and truck were pro duced. Ordinarily our farmer? produced about a million four hundred houuaud balea of cotton aud received for It mid the aeed?above a hun i dred million dollar#. Came the boll j weevil and year after year cotton dropped, one year bringing only twonty-nlito million dollar# You will hoo what an enormous dltfereuce that make# u falling off of 'evenly million dollar# In a year. Now let u# multiply our lo## by the number of yearn wince the coming of the weevil. If the total were a half l?U- j lion dollar#, and that 1# connervatlve, that would be a tremendous capital lo## to our little state. Juat think what we could do with five hundred' million dollar#! Or one hundred mU? Hon. or fifty million! How happy Wt are to' Welcome an eight million d<>?* lar paper plant to Georgetown and a five million dollar plant to Charleston! How we have petltloued and begged for ten million? to dredge the Cooper and Hanteo river# and to open a waterway from Charleston to Co lumbia. Yet Old F,a#t Hay Htreet, Charleston, lookB down on us today like a face from the sepulchre. I During the year# when our father# ami mother# rebuilt thla state upon the uhIic# of the Civil war our taxoB were comparatively low. Even in 1919 when tho farmers received three hundred million dollar# for their cotton and when everybody felt rich, the Htate government co#t four million dollar# a year. Today, with cotton bringing u# poBHlbly #oventy million#, the co#t of the state government alone is about twenty seven million dollars. The standard of living is higher; that 1# we want more and we buy more, if that 1# tho standard of living. Not character ba#od on work, thrift and self-discipline 1# the dominant Idea of the day, but self indulgence and dependence at any price are the moat notable characteristic#. Since the day# of u more or less pervasive prosperity wo have put upon ourselves special taxes, of every imaginable kind and a# the poverty of the people became reflected in lower returns from all the taxes it did not occur to tho#e in power that tho taxpayers needed relief, they added new taxes, while retuinlng the old taxoh. With what result? From 1933 to 1936, tneluHlve, lea# than eighteen million dollar# came to this state for new enterprises and rebuilding what >we had, although the staggering sum of #lx hundred and fourteen million# was wpent In the south How does some of this work out In detutl? A manufacturer owns two cotton mills of equal capacity, one in j North Carolina and one in South Carolina. The mill In North Carolina paid seven thousand dollars in property j taxes in 1936. while the mill In this state paid twenty one thousand. The I lax per spindle In Virginia is twentyseven cents, in North Carolina It Is twentv-ono cents and in South Carolina it is fifty-three cents. At a hearing before the Ways and Means committee last year it was shown that one of the power com- , panic# pays 23 1-2 percent of its gross receipts in taxes. Mark you, 23 1-2 per cent of gross receipts, not profits ' What does the whole condition prove? Either that we must dr^s- \ ti<-ally reduce our public service or, we-, must develop our resources ho that tho burden may be more widely j distributed, and become less burden-, some per capita. That is obvious. t The house of representatives passed a resolution providing for a commission outstanding business men to suggest by what means capital might be ( attracted to our state, and the same week the house passed a bill setting a standard of forty hours a week for textile labor, although the basis is fifty-five hours in North Carolina and Georgia and no limit in Alabama. American textiles must compete with English. German and French textiles; all of them must compete with the Japanese; the southern mills must compete with the north, and South Carolina must compote with the neighboring southern states, as well as with New England, England, France and Japan. A little history is worse than abysmal ignorance sometimes. One of the most capable men In the house, a solid and sound man usually, proclaimed to the world that, as our fathers led in secession without waiting on our states so should South Carolina lead in arbitrarily ignoring all the conditions of competition in business. Need 1 point out that the vote of Secession at Charleston was thrown out at Appomatox? And our fathers who went to war in All the panoply of glory came back in rags and tatters to ashes and ruin? The glory survived for it was born of consecration but a greater glory was that which conquered the hardships and poverty of three decades without whimpering. Do our men of the house mean to baptize our state anew in the tribulations of our fathers? Well, to Bpeak the truth, we are not made of the < sturdy stuff of our fathers; so lets not throw away, our business by fanciful and fantastic imaginings. South Carolina is a poor state, bnt proud We want everything that the others have and we are in the hands of those who own little and pay little. It is the philosophy of the day that what one man has accumulated through hard work and thrift shall bo given to tho man who spends his nil and throws himself confidently on the community for support. This state is potential!/ capawe or fargo development We ought to attract a hundred million dollars within the next four years. All the conditions are here, save one. What we lack is a spirit of development. Most of our men in public life are spenders. Every sort of program gets a willing ear if it calls for money and can be made a political asset. We have surrender-' od principle for policy; nothing matters unless it can be capitalized at '( the polls. . I am in full sympathy with every-! thing which makes for a larger, full- j er. more abundant life and 1 know no sound ethical reason why any one class should be restricted, restrained, I cramped and denied in the race of ! life, nor why the reward# for service should be so inequitably distributed, but I know that no sound readjustment cbn be made overnight and I know that tho immediate enjoyment I of the good things of life can be pur- ( chased too dearly if it brings about such serious dislocation in economic structure as may discourage investment in homes and farms and indu# tries Our progressive people have their eyes on what other states have and have waned campaigns to have Just the name things here regardless of our ability to provide those things. My earnest plea Is for those who are called on to pay. rather than for those who will he the recipients of public bounty. The depression should have taught us that even though Mrs. X and Mrs. Y are members of the same bridge club they can hardly Justify the same scale of expenditure If Mr. X has five hundred dollars a mouth and Mr. Y a thousand Ho It Is with states, or should be. Ilore we are, a little state, sparsely settled and largely undeveloped, yet in our comparative poverty spending about twenty seven million dollars. The general ussemhly now in session begun its work by bringing in a bill a million one hundred thousand dollars above the current budget; it is wrestling with an old-age pension hill on a basis of two millions more and the governor has just urged an additignul three hundred thousand dolj lars?and the end is not yet. Thir' teen million dollars of unpuid tuxes I tell a story in South Carolina, hut thirteen millions more were paid by agonizing strain, but you hear of no great effort in the legislature to consider the tuxpayer. The unpaid town taxes uro not Included. We are all Intoxicated with the new philosophy of free spending. We are dtscouraglug home ownership und we are keeping out Investment. If that Is progi'omh It Is a house resting on aan,d. Conditions are paving the way for a hold, aggressive economist to be governor of fctouth Carolina. No <mere Up sorvlcd will delude the people next year. Men there are in the legislature today wlio wore elected as 81mon-pure economists who will vote for anything to match Federal arapts or to curry favor with, the NpJioBal Administration A great pity It would lie to have a campaign on the platform of such retrenchment as would loosen the prehensile grasp of our tax-consumers, but the time Is ripe for a rough and rugged man who can see the road to rocovery with clear perspective and will not be befogged by every one who would bleed the state lji the name of progress. f Since everything now is done with political motive and f?r political effect the taxpayers will be blind to their own interest and business leaders will be recreant to their trust If they don't ally themselves in defense I of their rights against the demagpguery that Is rampant. Life has u bread und meat hush*. Some one must provido the capital which builds and operates the enterprises which give employment. The more investment the more work; and the more work the better p*y. ^ If we discourage investment or pose harsh burdens on It we daWfe stream of prosperity at it* source. The New England states have Um our pioneers in general social jZ, ress, especially Massachusetts. stage social reformers introduced ^ many measures for the general ko2 that industry bogged down tryisKa pull the load. Then industry betu to come south. Now we In Carolina are losing out In the r?2 and Massachusetts reports that K Is regaining her industrial prlm?7 How? The New York Times offW day tells that in 1936 "421 uew k dustrles or major plant expansion* have come to that state and the has ons given are "elimination of the mu. ufacturing machinery tax" Whlck saved industry seven million dollm in 1936 and 1936; and "suspension o( the six o'clock law." But little Soutk Carolina ignorantly would set up M hour sca"le that will cripple our milk and proudly points to Hecessiou. k good analogy, indeed! During the first nine months of l>n twenty-six knitting mills were established in the south. Klfteen located In North Carolina, but not one u South Carolina. We are pollttcally minded, but In a small way. 'ih? energy of our minds is being pouret into shallow channels and we are co?. fusing piffle with principle. I DINE AT ! Holland's Grill i ; TRY OUR .... !j Sugar Cured HAM i; J; WITH EGGS?IT'S FINE || i ' i WE SPECIALIZE IN STEAKS ::' s Next to Postoffice i 1 See "Bob" First Be Surs of Your j FERTILIZER Don't trust to luck for good crops?be certain that the fertilizer with which you plant is rich and nourishing, for good results. Equal grade at all times?our fertilizer materials are dependable?and save you dollars! R. A. McCASKILL COLUMBIA EFIRD'S "W" Because Easter Comes Early This Year j i" Our Stocks Are Mo^l Complete Now! j New Printed Silks 59c yd. I Beautiful new patterns in large and small figures and the colorings on the newest for Easter Frocks. I ' Sport Linens 48c yd. The ideal fabric for Spring in all the new Spring Shades. 39 inches wide. 1 i Novelty Silks ] 98c yd. A large collection to choose from In the newest weaves for Spring and the colors are beautiful. EASTER DRESSES We are showing an extra large assortment of new Dresses for Easter. These are all brand new Styles that have just been re- j ceived in Prints and Solid Colors. $6.95 SPRING COATS I See our collection of neyy Spring Coats at j this price. There are many to choose from in the newest Styles and Colors. * $9.95 ! Blouses $1.00 New Spring Styles in assorted cotton materials for Sport or Dressy Wear. Silk Slips $1.00 New arrivals in Crepes and Satins. White and Tea Rose. Suits 1 $9.95 In the Man Tailored 8tyles that are so good this 8pring, well tailored in hard and soft finish materials. - A Children's Shoes Smart new styles in children's 1 shoes for Easter in White, Browns and Black leathers. 98c pair Men's Shirts Men's fine quality Dress Shirts In White and Plain Colors. Also Fancy Patterns. $1.00 Curtains Fix up the home new. We havi just received a large assortment of new Curtains for 8prtng?98c pair | SILK HOSE Ladies fine quality Sheer Chiffon Rlngless Silk Hose in the newest Shades for Spring. mm A lovely hose at this price. 59c pair (2 pairs $1.10 Enna Jettick 1 SHOES I The new Spring Styles are here In these 11 fine quality shoes for women. See them. M $5.00 and $6.00 j Wool Goods $1.00 yd. Just received a big shipment of these in light shades for Spring. Boys' Suits Jack Tar wash suits for boys in the new Spring Styles, and they are fast color. $1.48 We have installed in our Bargain Basement a Shoe Repair Department and the prices are reasonable. Children's Easter DRESSES 98c In Rayon Taffeta and Crisp Organdie. 8otid Colors and Prints. Sires 7 to 14. Men's Suits $14.75 Smart new Spring Patterns in single and double breast styles. Plain or sport backs. These are well tailored. New Bags $1.00 1 In Patent and Calf Leather* \ the newest styles In a wide j] range of colora. [ Silk Dresses Lovely new Easter 8tylea In j girls silk dresses. Plain colors j and prints. $1.95 j When in Columbia visit our new and up-to-date Beauty Parlor located on second floor. EFIRD'S Department Store 1 1601-1603 Main St. Columbia, S. C. J