Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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OUR COUNTY'S PATRIOTISM. (Continued from page 1, column 2.) announced on February 1, 1917 its policy of ruthless submarine warfare, and proceeded immediately to carry it into effect, sinking American ships and killing American citizens, that our relations were first severed and a state of war then recognized. And because this is true I shall discuss the submarine controversy from the beginning of the war to the date of our entrance into it. International Law Violated. The principles of International law are presumed to govern the conduct I of nations just as the laws of the United States and the laws of South Carolina are presumed to govern your conduct. Under international law the merchant ship of an enemy is subject to capture, and it may be de- j stroyed provided ample provision is made to place the passengers and crew in safety. While this is true of enemy merchant ships, the merchant! ships of a neutral nation must not be destroyed even when they are subject to capture, but must, if possible, be taken into a friendly port to have prize court pass upon them. Under no circumstances is it lawful to kill the passengers and crew of a neutral or enemy ship except in case of combat when a merchant vessel resists the attempt of an enemy warship to exercise the right of visit and searcfi or the right of capture. Even after such resistance the crew may not be killed, but must be treated as prisoners of war. In violation of these provisions of international law Germany announced In January, 1915, the establishment of a war zone and its pur pose to sink without warning American ships. Our then Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, im mediately filed a most emphatic protest against this policy, warning Germany that we would hold them to strict accountability and leave noth\ ing undone to protect our rights. On February 6, 1915 the German Foreign office said: "It is very far indeed from the intention of the German government * * * even to destroy neutral lives and neutral property. * * * The commanders of submarines have been instructed, as was already stated in the note of the 4th instant, to abstain from violence to American ships when they are recognizable as such." Germany's Broken Pledges. ? Soon after making this pledge to us Germany proceeded to violate it and in defiance of the law sank not only enemy merchant ships, but ' American ships. They continued this policy until the Lusitania was sunk* causing the death of 114 American citizens?men women and children. We can recall how the sinking of this ship justly aroused the passions of the American people. There was a clamor for a declaration of war by the people of the United States, and many conservative thinking men insisted that after having warned Germany that we would hold them to strict accountability, there was nothing left for us to do but declare ?~ ? T>,.+ f V< n Prooirlpnt nf the Well . JUUl IUV J. 1VU4UVJUV United States, inspired by the desire to avoid for his people the horrors of war, displayed the same infinite patience which has characterized his conduct in all of his negotiations with Germany and called upon Germany for explanation of the violation of its pledge. As a result of this negotiation on February 16, 1916, the German Ambassador expressed to us the regret of his government for the loss of American lives on the Lusitania. In the note promising reparation he stated: "Germany has * * *limited her submarine warfare because of her longstanding friendship with the United l States, and because by the sinking of the Lusitania,which caused the death of citizens of the United States, the German retaliation affected neutrals, which was not the intention, as ret taliation should be confined to enemy subjects." Accepting this statement of the German government in gooa iaun, we continued our diplomatic relations. But it was only a year later, to-wit: February 1st, 1917, that the German government put into effect .their policy of ruthless submarine warfare described in its note as follows: "Under these circumstances Germany will meet the illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing after Feb. 1, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, France and Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean, all navigation?that of neutrals included?from and to EngIn n /I ? v* rl fvrkw r? r? /I 4-r\ n idiiU, auu nuui anu iu I' 1 ante, uiv. All ships met within that zone will be sunk." This meant that if an American ship carrying a cargo of cotton was found within four hundred miles of the coast of Great Britain, France, or anywhere in the Mediterranean sea, except a very restricted area, it would be sunk without warning. For what Germany called the illegal measures of her enemies she would punish us and other neutrals. They suddenly carried this policy into effect sinking American ships with all on board. Each separate act constituted an act of war against the United States, and we were forced to decide between a craven and coward^ iy submission to this oppression, or a recognition by Congress of a war being waged against us by the Germany government. Hoping against hope that sanity would return to those directing the affairs of the German government, the president fo the United States reported to congress that he had severed diplomatic relations with the German government, and advised that Congress adopt certain legislation carrying into effect the policy of "armed neutrality." In the House of Representatives we passed such legislation, hoping that by this course of arming our merchant vessels the German government might realize our determination to protect [ our rights and discontinue its attacks upon the lives and property of neutrals. Though this Resolution was filibustered to death in the Senate, the policy was carried into effect, but it proved of no avail?as the German government continued its attacks upon our ships and upon our citizens. Would You Fight? T^his, in brief, is the history of the submarine controversy. It amounted to this: Suppose I should say to a farmer residing on one of public roads in South Carolina that I knew he had a right to travel on the public road, but because of a controversy with an enemy I found it necessary to inform him that if he, his wife or his children, hereafter attempted to travel the public road for any purpose whatever, from am bush and without warning, I would shoot him and his family. And suppose further that pursuant to that notice I should assassinate several members of his ' family who attempted to exercise their right to travel the highway. What would that farmer do? What would you do. Would you submit like a coward or would you fight? If I know you, you would fight, and fight until you had made it impossible for any man to terrorrize a community and assassinate innocent men, women and children. That is exactly the proposition the Kaiser forced upon this nation, and the Congress decided that the honor, liberty and safety of the American people were at stake and demanded that we. fight, and fight until we made certain that the Kaiser and his agents will no longer slaughter our citizens who have a right to look to the government for protection and are acting within their legal rights. I should say thatnn the submarine announcement the Kaiser added in suit to injury by telling us that if we would paint our ships in red and white stripes like a barber's pole, that once a week we could go *to one port in England. In reply we told the Kaiser that seven days in the week he could go to hell. German sympathizers declare that while submarine warfare is in violation of international law, that the principles of international law were formulated prior to the invention of the submarine, and therefore, the law does not apply to them. But in this they overlook the fact that the principles of international law in question were framed, not to control weapons, but to protect the rights of neutrals, and cannot be changed no matter what weapons of destruction are invented. It would be clearly ridiculous to say that the law making murder a crime should be changed because of the introduction of some """i nn + nmotin crun TVi Q 11 n 1H wf 11 I 11C w aUWUUiatlV ^UU. XliV UU4MU4W. killing of a man, whether it be done by club, knife or gun, is by law made punishable. The law was framed not for the control of weapons, but for the protection of human beings, and the .man who offers this excuse in defense of Germany would be in an unfortunate plight if he offered it in defense of himself when charged with murder. Xot England's War. When a man tells you that this is England's war ask him whether England sunk the Lusitania with its 114 American citizens? Was it England that issued the ruthless submarine announcement and proceeded to sink American ships and kill American citizens? We have had disputes with England but they affected property rights, and not human rights. We must not forget that we have a treaty with Great Britain under which such disputes as to property rights can be settled by arbitration. We have no such treaty with Germany, because she refused to make such treaty with us when we offered todoso Another argument freely used by the opponents of the war is that even though it was right for us to go into the war. we should not send an army abroad. How absurd this it. In the House one day I said it re-; minded me of the nursery rhime: "Mother, mother, may I go out to swim, Yes, my darling daughter, are^t al j regular reader of our gs ' ' 1W4 advertisements, h\ avfbf BECOMEjone. Our "ads" are our STORE ffi NEWS. They tell you Hj'^ J, ? about the new styles, Hj.. * \ M about the arrival of Jg|| new merchndise, and quote you prices. J[MIL,L,INERY===Our businesscoi partment===NEW things arriving d now==or give us your order. The N Don't delay, Mrs. Shuck and Mis. % COATS AND SUITS. COTTON AND WOOL BLANKETS Coats and Suits of the better CoUon Blankets> good quality> kind you will find here. Another .. co the pair $s.to.. 1 wonderful selection arrived yes- Cotton and v.ool_ pink and blue terday in black, brown, pekin, border> $, 50 t0 fl0 burgundy, green and other good A? w00, BIanUets> very fine shades. Come in while *e have blanke[s> $10.00. your size. NEW ROYAL SOCIETY ART Prices $10.00 to $32.50. , NEEDLE WORK. COMFORTABLE COMFORTS. Gowns 75c and $1.25. Combination Suits $1.00.. Cotton Comforts $2.50 to $5.00. Cor?et Covers 50c. Half Down Comfort $10.00. Turkish Towels 25c and 50c. We have had an Abnormal Qrowtl wish to thank our many frien La Verne Thom BAMBERG, S. C. TRADE AT THI Hang your clothes on a hickory limb j when it comes to consideration of j But don't go near the water." 'matters affecting the nation's wel l If we are going to fight we must go j fare. Men of . all political views: | where the fighting is. The bat-. "Bleasites," "Manningites" and all tie-line is in Europe, not in Amer-: other kind of "ites!' are to-day in our j ica. The Power that destroyed army, and you can rest assured that j our ships and killed our citizens is in j when the Germans begin shooting at j Europe, and there we must go with them they will make no distinction : Pershing to make certain for our peo- j between Bleasites and anti-Bleasites. j pie and for the people of the world Should the German army by any mis-1 that the present rulers of Germany | fortune ever land its forcecs in this i shall no longer be permitted to ter-! country, at the port of Charleston, j rorize humanity. What folly it \ they will not make any distinction would be for us to wait until the ar- j in their destruction of life and promies of Germany break through the perty. You may not like the indilines of the allies and come to the vidual who has been selected by those shores of America. The devastation \ in power to discharge some duty in | worked upon the South during the; connection with this war, but that isj civil war is fresh enough in the minds i no reasonwhy you should fail to give j of our people to cause them to realize whole hearted support to the war. the wisdom of joining the allied na- j The man who would re fuse to do so tions on the sojl of Europe, rather j on this account would refuse to help ! than to wait for a victorious Germa- put out a fire in his own house be-! ny to invade our land. j cause he did not like the chief of the j We Must Unite. i fire department. This is one time j The best service we can render our I when factional politics must be for-' country to-day-is^by letting the world ??tten and our people unite against know we unitedly stand for the pros- j *he common enemy, ecution of this war. If I engage in a Our Patriotic Duty. . lawsuit with you and while the suit Now it costs money, and lots of it,! is pending my wife goes forth into j to contiuct this war. As a member of the community declaring that I am : the Appropriation committee I have wrong in bringing the suit and that voted to give to the army and navy j my cause is an unholy and unrighte- every dollar they have asked for. We! ous one, the only effect is to cause j have appropriated millions in order I you to believe your cause a righteous to increase the pay of the soldiers: one and inspire you to greater efforts j who are going to the front. We have j for success. You would likely hire ; appropriated millions to make sure another lawyer and pursue the litiga-' that if misfortune comes to any of j tion to the highest courts. To-day these boys, their dependents will not j when newspapers declare that at pub- j suffer. We have spent a billion for! lie meetings in South Carolina the! aeroplanes to hover over ana protect j majority of the people express their | them. We have spent a billion for! opposition to the war, these declara- J ships to carry supplies to them. We ! tions are carried to the enemy and . have spent more than a billion for the must give them aid and comfort, j best artillery in order to protect them Such action can only result in pro-; as they charge. In all we have aplonging the war and causing the, propriated eighteen billion dollars i death of thousands of our young j and authorized the expenditure of men. If on the other hand the Ger- two billions more. I would not take i man government is convinced that back one dollar of it and I do not; J *x ?211 *.A.? AX'A Aonnnt rX rt if I the people are Uniieu, it will cause ueueve .yuu wuuiUt ?? c V/Uuuv/t uu i them more quickly to come to terms j by taxation. A part of it we must of peace and will save the lives of, borrow, and we can borrow it only many of our sons. Xo man can from you. You can buy a fifty dolserve two masters. He must be loy- lar Liberty Bond and it will pay you al either to this government or to tlie j four per cent, interest. You cannot j government of Germany. The man j lose your money unless the govern-1 who is for Germany and against the j ment goes broke, and the government! country that protects him should go j cannot go broke as long as there are I to Germany. \ ! people and property in this country, j We must not allow local or State; If the time ever comes when the peopolitics to control or influence our pie are gone and all property deviews or actions' in this national; stroyed, your bond will be no good crisis. It makes no difference wheth-1 but it will then make no difference j er a man be a "Tillmanite," a; to you. It is the best investment you ; "Bleasite," or an anti-Bleasite, fac- can make, and in addition it is the' tional politics should be obliterated best evidence of your loyalty. If you j \ mm m ^r.i:J KtO- /.?\ '<<VS\ V^- .<>; pi?-' , C^T*^ &kZJ 'vxv V-L-U'J?ti w:, <-%*A.rS> vsnVC'* MlHMP^=^sw?g^Ni -j-r- fc*5 ?Ss 1 ' *&?: ^jv :?t)^q {gjgij fgg|j %lsSy JP It will be ECONOMY for you to read our "ad^," because it will f4%^? save you ^me an(* * fi(r WR save you money.m ^?w' t^iat y?u ^ave reau mis, yuu win rea(i every "ad" we print. itinuestobe BIQ in our Millinery De= aily. Come in and buy your Hat ew things don't stay with us long, s Kearse will be glad to serve you. Linen Towels 25c and 50c. terns in stripes and checks, for And many other attractive hoys' suits,. boys' blouses, girls' things. dresses and ladies' street and house dresses. HEAVY WEIGHT OUTING, Fancy patterns*yard 25c. GOWNS. . ? , Solid colors vard 20c. Attractively made, trimmed with ~ ~" ' braid, different colors, outing of . J . _ . . DEPENDABLE KID GLOVES. fancy stripes and checks, special ^ each 75c and $1.25. Solid whitef golid bla<jk> whJte ^ -i with black stitches, black with ^ MOTHERS' CHOICE. whitQ J 32 inch Renfrew Suiting, guar- ^ anteed not to fade, attractive pat- Price pair $2.50. * ! ... li in our business this season. We ^ ds for their liberal patronage. as & Company 3 BEST STORE. TELEPHONE Ml-J -;.-V : _ cannot enlist you should invest. If this difference if each individual , you cannot ? go to the front, you j would only cut down his amount of should help those who do go there, i flour consumed weekly from the If you cannot fight with lead bullets, 1 normal supply of five pounds to fdur. you should fight with silver bullets, j He assured his hearers that the You are prosperous, but you should government is not asking the people not prosper while others bleed. Ev- to starve, but merely to conserve, ery home in the State ought to have j eliminate waste and to substitute a Liberty Bond, so that we can send i other foods for those which must be tc G'ermany the message that every : sent abroad,whenever possible. He . man in America is behind this gov- said that Europe could not use corn ernment in this war, and in this way meal for they did not have the roller we can convince them that the stripes ! mills to prepare it, and therefore we ' ^ of red in the American flag have not j should make good use of these corn yet become cowardly streaks of yel-j products here at home, so that the I /? jow ! wheat could be sent abroad. He reMr. A. V. Snell. j ferred to our food supply as AmeriThe presiding officer introduced ca's greatest gold mine. He said the Mr A. V. Snell, South Carolina field government was not demanding anyrepresentative of the United States thing from anybody, was simply ask-' " food administration, whose speech ing a pledge of loyalty to save food, was received with approbation and and that every food pledge is an thoroughly convinced the audience of endorsement of America's position, the vast importance which the issues The French Helped Us. under discussion bear towards the' The revolutionary times were redetermination of the war. Mr. SnelL called, when before the French made a very favorable impression on government entered officially into *" this, his first visit to Bamberg. He ; that . war, her people came to our opened with the statement that with \ assistance with their money procured their small pay the 1,000 South Caro- from them through the solicitation of line boys statibned in the navy service a South Carolinian, John -Laurens. at Fort Moultrie had subscribed to | Mr. Snell said that when famine af- V . $55,000 worth of Liberty Bonds, and; flicts any nation in war times the cited their spirit as an example of soldiers at the front are not the first ' patriotism. He said that men, money i to suffer, for the reason, that they and food will help win the war, but have the government to take care of the loyalty of the people at home to ; them, but that the reaj suffering the boys in the trenches is the! comes to the women and children at prime factor, as shown by Russia's ; home first. He said that the one example. He said that he couldi greatest moral to be grasped from * * 1 * "Trt <* Af cnl f_oo understand how people mignt argue <-"c w*n *tas mat ui acn-oaviiuvv about the war before America entered and self-denial, and that when the ? into it, but he could not now under-' American people will have drawn stand how they could admit of that from the conflict they will have ^ argument by themselves which savor- accomplished the greatest thing posed of disloyalty. Mr. Snell described sible, for the betterment as a national * i a patriotic woman who in offering people. He closed with a dramatic her services to the country said she appeal to the people for their lbyal did not admire the expression so cooperation. often used in reference to Americans, The Rev. D. H.Owings^of Ehrhardt, "Do your bit," for she had come to made the closing prayer and pro"Do her damnedest." He stated that nounced the benediction, after which we might not all be in a position to the audience adjourned. Much good help from an actual fighting or finan- was accomplished by the meeting, cial viewpoint, but explained how and the men in charge of the local easy it is for the poorest, humblest situation were greatly aided in getblack or white citizen to help in the j ting their work under headway for food saving movement. He gave as the diligent drive which is to come in \ aphifli fie-nrps the fact that if each \ these matters. individual would save a slice of bread ! Much credit is due to Mr. J. A. Wya day it would mean a salvage of | man for the success of the meeting, one hundred and fifty million loaves j being instrumental in getting Mr. per week, and said that we have been j Byrnes here. Mr. Wyman had also shipping eighty million bushels of made arrangements with Congresswheat a week to our allies, who are man Asbury F. Lever, of Lexington, paying for it, not begging. But he to be one of the speakers of the day, said further that tney need one, but, to the regret of many, Mr. Lever hundred and twenty million bushels was at the last minute unavoidably per week, and that we can supply detained in Batesburg and Columbia.