Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I ' * > ' 1 . * firstect,on (IIjp laatforg ffirraU) PA<f^08 $2.00 Per Year in Advance BAMBERG, S. C., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1919. Established in 1891 ========================= = 7 - ' SIMILAR CONDITIONS 1 AFTER CIVIL WAR LARGE CITIES WERE REELING IN 7 ^DISSIPATION. STRIKES GENERAL. i Cost of Living Mounted High, and Labor Unrest Was Prevalent. Government Ran Railroad. Washington, D. C.?That familiar saying "History repeats itself,'-' gives a great deal of comfort in these times of strikes, extravagance, fear, doubt and social -and industrial unrest. It < should "buck up" those who are asking, "What is the world coming to?" This is not the first time this country has experienced these conditions, ~ later to emerge into years and generations of unexampled individual and 1 national happiness. By the same ] token it is destined to do so again. Immediately after the Civil War the country was more disturbed and the outlook darker than now. Writ- < ten history only sums up. The un- 1 folding of events is best followed in the daily newspapers of the time of ; their actual happening. From this , source and from reports of various commercial bodies, together with those of societies and state and na- ^ tional institutions facts are presented ( which show how similar in many \ phases are the old struggles and the ( new. v i \ x Writing of the reckless prodigality j of the American people in 1865, a i New York correspondent of the London Times says: , t "This*war has brought the levity of , Srt the American characters out in bold relief. The indulgence in every variety of pleasure, luxury and extravagance is simply shocking. There is t something saddening in the high glee f with which the people here look upon i a grievous national calamity. The <t jewelers' shops in all their cities have j trehhled their trade: the love of fine 1 I dresses and ornaments on the part of ( women amounts to madness. They r have money and they must enjoy it." r The New York Independent adds: * x * "Ask Stewart about the demand for j ^ . camel's hair shawls. His answer is, g 'Monstrous!' Ask Tiffany what kind j of diamonds are called for. He will j j reply: 'The prodigious; as near hen's j egg size as possible; price no object.' "Ingrain carpets wont do at all; Brussels and velvets are now used ( :v from basement to garret." \ From the files of the New York j Herald it is seen that interest in horse \ racing was keen and that grand opera t enjoyed great prosperity. The thea- ( ter never had been more crowded. , "War and high prices," says the , Herald, "can not terrify the Gotham- , ites. As long as life remains in ( them they will keep up their reputa- ] tion for jollity and good fellowship." , Gayety was epidemic in Washing- t ton. Frederick W. Seward, assistant ? secretary of state, in a letter said it a was a sign that the people had given ' up mourning and grumbling and were i devoting themselves to festivities. The Springfield Republican declares that 1 Washington was drunk and reeling in < a whirl of dissipation, where only the 1 best women devoted any time to ' : home, husband or children. wot A f 1 i lit; l easuu iui mis uuLumob v/i. i jollification was ascribed to reaction from the strain of war and the plenti- 1 ful supply of money in the hands of 1 all classes. "Nowhere in the world," wrote the same London Times correspondent, 1 "is the laboring man so prosperous ./ as in America. If there isp, country ; .In which labor is petted, humored, . and put in clover, it is here." 1 Suddenly when the war ended, peace in the industrial world gave way to discontent. Wages remained i stationary and prices for commodi- ( ties rose. This was due to the infla- < tion of the currency, caused by the in troduction of paper money. "Labor," , says the writer, "assumed an attitude , of hostility toward employers ,and t i took concerted measure for self defense." The situation in New York, he says, was typical of the period. Necessities Jumped 100 Per Cent. < Eggs jumped from 15 cents a dozen to 25, cheese went from eight to 18 i cents a pound, potatoes advanced to i $2.25 a bushel from $1.50?all neces- ] sities rose i:i value fi^-i 60 to 100 per : cent. Wages on the other hand lagged behind. The average increase in all 1 trades was about 25 per cent. As the c discrepancy between wages and val- 1 ues of food and clothing became greater industrial unrest tended toward revolution. Labor entered into 1 determined effort to offset the shrinkage of the dollar by forcing wages up I * / 1 DRY ACT STANDS DURING WAR TIME PRESIDENT WILL. NOT ISSUE RESCINDING ORDER. RUMORS SET AT REST. / Failure of Senate to Ratify Treaty Kills Hope of Wet Christmas. Washington, Nov. 20.?While the supreme court was hearing arguments today on the validity of the wartime prohibition act, word went out from the White House that President Wilson would not rescind the "dry agt until peace formally had been declared." This was expected to set at rest the ever recurring rumors that the "dry" would be lifted by the president irrespective of early ratification of the treaty of Versailles. Failure of the senate to act on the treaty at the extraordinary session was regarded by many administration officials as precluding the ending of the technical state of war much before the constitutional prohibition amendment became effective. next January 16. Should such prove the case, the only possibility of a "wet"' Christmas ivould be for the supreme court to ieclare the war time act unconstitutional. Arguments on the pending rases will be concluded tomorrow but is the court begins a recess Monday 110 decision is expected until it reconvenes on December 8. The rights of congress to prohibit he manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors was sharply attacked md vigorously defended during the arguments. Elihu Root and others contended f ;hat the war time act and the Vols;ead enforcement measure not only violated the fifth constitutional < imendment prohibiting the taking of iroperty without just compensation, )ut were inoperative owing to the :essation of hostilities and the denobillzation of the army which were esponsible for their enactment. Solicitor General King and William 1.. Frierson, an assistant attorney general, for the government, argued lowever, that a state of war still ex sts and that it* was congress' intent to brovide wartime prohibition until the peace treaty was ratified. The arguments which will be con-1 Jluded tomorrow, were in appeals j wrought to the supreme court from ?enthcky where the wartime prohibition act was declared uuconstitu:ional nad from New York where fedjral court decrees sustained both the var time and the enforcement acts md dismissed injunction proceedings sought to enable Dryfuss,. Blum and jompany to remove whiskey from bond, and Jacob Rupert, a brewer, to manufacture beer contfining more than one-half of 1 per cent, alcohol. md capital united to keep them down. The low pay of women was "a special grievance. The tendency to increase the number of apprentices and to hire unskilled labor for the better paying positions was another cause of complaint. This and the employment of negroes led to violent protest, bloodshed and murder. Longshoremen particularly took offense to this invasion. Along the docks of Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Brooklyn and Boston negro strikebreakers brought on fierce riots in A hich many of both races were killed. Labor wa/exasperated also by the attempts of employees to increase the already enormous inflow of cheap la-1 bor through immigration. The growing use of labor saving machinery which supplanted many men embittered the industrial strife. Many strikes were waged and lost on this account. The quality of labor deteriorated, long hours coused physical demoralization, idleness and crime. At public meetings the ooun- ] ry wras declared to be drifting to ruin. Many localities were placed under martial law. Military commandersforbade strikes and enforced their orders by arrests. The Reading railroad tied up by' striking engineers, was seized by the government and run by the military power of the United States; the striking longshoremen in New York stood j idle while transports were loaded by deserters under a strong guard of solliers. Some of the laboring men joined the army, some went to farms in the West, others roved about seeking work and a fraction remained in industrial centers and formed unions. Labor unions were not new. They had existed before 1837, but were not CLAIMS MEXICO , WANTS TROUBLE SEEKING TO AFFRONT UNITED STATES. ARRESTED AMERICAN. Asserts Information Is Now In Hands Of Foreign Relations Committee of Senate. El Paso, Texas, Nov. 22.?The positive assertion that information is in the hands of the foreign relations committee of the United States senate to the effect that the Carranza government is deliberately seeking to affront the United States in connection with the kidnapping and subsequent# arrest of William 0. Jenkins, American consular agent at Puebla, .Mexico, auu me smiuiiaiieuiis yruiuligation of the oil properties nationalzation decree, was made tonight by a member of the substitute Committee who has arrived here to investigate international conditions. Direct Defiance. The committee member declared that formal request for the withdrawal of the oil decree had been forwarded to Mexico City, in addition to the previous notification to the .Mexican government that the United States regards the nationalization order as' one amounting to virtual confiscation. It was also pointed out that the Carranza decree, putting into effect the oil manifesto, was issued in the midst of negotiations between the American government and the Mexican government over the .kidnapping and subsequent arrest of Consul Jenkins. This action, the . committee member, who stated that for obvious reasons his name could not be divulged, before the formal opening of the investigation, construed as direct defiance to the wishes of the United States government. He forecast that recognition of the Carranza government would be withdrawn unless the two recent demands of the United States government were complied with very soon. Wants Money Back. Douglas, Ariz., Nov. 22.?Balked by the United States in its efforts to get ammunition from Europe, Mexico is trying to get its money back, ac cording to a Mexican City dispatch i -eceived by Oxientacion, a Hermosillo, ' Sonora, newspaper. "It has been officially announced," says the article, "that Gen. Candido Aguilar, son-in-law of President Carranza, who has been on a mission in Europe, has cancelled the contracts already made with several of the governments of the Old World that had agreed to sell to Mexico arms and artillery, but which has not completed the agreement. "Gen Aguilar has requested that at the least these nations return the money they have received, amounting to many millions of pesoes." NEW HOME FOR PAPER. I^ess and Standard Putting Up Brick Building. Walterboro, Nov. 20.?Work began this morning on the new buildings for the First National Bank and The Press and Standard, D. C. L. Hiers, contractor having been awarded the contract. These buildings will be i quite an addition to the court house square, and will furnish larger and better quarters for these institutions. They will be of brick, and are to be two stories, the upper floor being arranged as offices. numerous or strong. With the rising prices and dropping wages the formation 'of new labor unions was the watchword of the labor leaders. In big industrial cities like New York and Philadelphia they multiplied rapidly. From these, often embracing only a single shop have grown the national unions of the pr.esent day. The new societies did not go into politics, but formulated the complaint and demands of labor as to wages and hours of work. Their slogan was: "Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for social recreation." Strikes kept up, dui wun less violence. Whole trades rarely stayed out till every employer capitulated. The methods of the strikes were the same as today. Capital began to make concessions and gradually a better feeling held sway, but it was a long time before the country settled down to normal conditions. \ / S. RENEWAL TREATY FIGHT NEXT MONTH ENEMIES PREDICT LONG STRUGGLE. FRIENDS MAKE MOVE. Democrats May Ask President Wilson To Feel Out Other Powers. White House is Mum. Washington, Nov. 20.?Avenues of speculation leading many ways were opened up today when officials and diplomats turned over in their minds the possible results at home and abroad that are to follow termination of the special session of congress last night without senate ratification of the peace treaty. The thoughts of the treaty's friends - _ I in the senate centered on accomplishing some compromise for a ratification in the session beginning December 1, and to that end steps are understood to have been taken to ask that President Wilson ascertain from the other powers what reservations they w'ould! accept. ! Wliite House Silent. x I At the White House silence was maintained .and callers got the impression that for the present the administration was willing to await quietly the outcome of compromise efforts among senators. It was not revealed whether the president would permit that policy to stand in the way of undertaking the diplomatic exchanges suggested. ' Everywhere the senate's action was accepted as meaning at least a long delay in fatification, and officials thought the formal establishment of a state of peace between Germany and the powers that have ratified would proceed now without waiting further for the decision of the United States. The chief result, it was agreed, would be commercial arid financial. War Legislation. Chief among the matters of domestic concern affected by the senate's delay is war-time prohibition, which took a new issue on life with the postponement of a legal status of peace. In the same class is various other w^r legislation, and although the Republican leaders in congress will seek to end the war formally by a resolution, constitutional objections to that method are likely, in the opinion of some officials, to tie up the effort for some time in the courts. Another line on which speculation turned was the possible effect of the senate show down on domestic politics. Although both parties have disclaimed any desire to put the treaty into politics, the chances of keeping nut 1 Q9fi palniilatinns. were ad It UUt ui X */ ~ V y mitted on all sides to have been reduced by the bitter clashes in debate last night. Democrats Optimistic. The stubborn struggle which featured the final hours of the special senate session was generally declared to have made harder the compromise for which the Democratic leaders today earnestly set to work. They were optimistic, however, that in the opening days of the new session, if not before, they could reach some agreement with the Republican group of mild reservationists. Democratic Leader Hitchcock and Senator Underwood, Democrat, of Alabama, who took a conspicious part in the administration's fight for ratification, called at the White House today and although they did not see President Wilson, are understood to have left for him their estimates of the possibilities of a compromise. Eighty Senators Favor Ratification. Afterward Senator Hitchcock issued a statement pointing out that oitrh+v conatnrs in all voted VCSter day for ratification in some form and expressed a belief that the sixty-four necessary to ratify would get together ultimately. Tonight the Democratic leader had drawn up a new set of, compromise reservations which he did not make public but which are understood to propose principally a modification of the preamble requirement in the foreign relations committee draft which would require the other powers to accept affirmatively all the senate's qualifications. No Let Ujxln Fight. Everything indicated that the administration had no intention of letting the treaty fight lapse, even during the interval before December 1, and that there was no thought of abandoning the treaty and negotiating a new one. The general opinion seemed to be that the president, in order to get the treaty into an ad PUBLISHERS FACE FAMINE IN PAPER S. C. NEWSPAPER MEN* DISCUSS SHORTAGE. WILL RAISE RATES. Adopt Resolutions Favoring Increase In Advertising Prices.?Few Attend Meeting. Columbia, Nov. 22.?Resolutions recommending that all news paper consumed in South Carolina be procured through one central buying agent, that'advertising rates be increased appreciably and that consumption of news paper be curtailed in every way possiDie were adopted at a meeting of South Carolina newspaper publishers held at the Jefferson hotel yesterday. A committee of three was appointed to hold a conference with a paper buying concern to see if any arrangements couldi be made whereby it could supply the publishers of the State with print paper. The meeting was called by\A. B. Jordan, Dillon, president of the South Carolina Press association, and was ifitended to be of special benefit to those papers whose stocks of print paper are running low. The shortage of flat print paper is generally recognized as being serious and as threatening the very existence of many of the smaller papers of the State, and this meeting was held to consider plans for meeting the situation. The. meeting Was attended by only a few publishers and practically all of those present said that they had paper on hand sufficient to supply f hfim fnr o f^n? mnnf V?c TVio nnhb'oh iv* cl tv n iuvuvuo* x iiv pu k/i on- i ers who are known to have stocks sufficient for only a few more issues for some reason did not put in an appearance. President Jordan called the meeting to order about 2:30 o'clock and briefly outlined the facts of the situation, saying that jobbing houses have withdrawn quotations and that even now print paper is difficult to( secure at any price. The advance of winter, the coal strike and the scarcity of labor will all tend to aggravate conditions he said. Various suggestions were made. Ed. DeCamp, of Gaffney, said that there were three avenues of escape. One was to have congress break up the news paper trust, another to operate a paper making plant and the third to quit the business. Necessity for increasing advertising rates was also discussed at the meeting, and it was generally agreed that some advance must be made. After considerable discussion it was decided to see if some plan could not be arranged by which every publisher in the State would agree to take so many tons of paper per year, and that all of this paper be bought through some paper broker in South Carolina. A committee of three was appointed to investigate this matter. A resolution was also adopted recommending that all publishers fix their adveretising rates on the following scale: 20 cents per,inch for the first thousand of circulation; 12J cents additional (or 32\ cents) for the second thousand and 7 \ cents additional for the third thousand. While it was recognized that this Increase was considerable, it was considered necessary in order to keep the papers living. The meeting adjourned after the adoption of the resolutions. Hampton Postoflfice Robbed. Hampton, Nov. 24.?The postoffice, Jocated on the first floor of the Guardian .building, was forcibly entered some time during last night by unknown parties, the safe blown open, and in addition * to the cash and stamps in it, a registered package from the Federal Reserve Bank at Richmond to the Bank of Hampton, containing1 $5,300 in Victory bonds, was taken. No clue to the robbers has been obtained. vantageous preliminary position again, probably would withdraw it and then submit it again in the opening days of the new session. It was pointed out that under such a procedure it would come back before the senate without the compelling cloture restriction which brought debate to an end yesterday. In many quarters it was thought doubtful whether the cloture rule, invoked in this instance for the first time, could again command the necessary two-thirds. < \ PRICE OF FLOUR WILL BE LOWER RUMORS OF SCARCITY DECLARED GROUNDLESS. / SALESMEN TO BLAME. United States Grain Corporation Says Supply Will Be Available in Three Weeks. ' \ New York, Nov. 19.?To prov.? that rumors of scarcity of flour and advancing prices are baseless, the Unitd States grain corporation announced today that it would enable consumers to buy the best flour at lower prices. Pure straight flour, made of the finest wheat, will be sold by the corporation to the retail trade in 12 quarter and 24 i pound packages. It will be available in about three weeks and the price to the consumer will be about 75 cents for the smaller package. Mr* Barnes said that the grain corporation's action "puts the solution of one phase of the cost of living probably up to the consumer by making it possible for the purchaser of flour to decide for himself wheth- . er he will continue to pay fancy prices for such brands or buy at a lower price pure straight flour made from the finest wheat." Rumors, possibly inspired by overzealous flour salesmen, he said, had been current in the market from time to time of an impending flour short- \ age and the possibility that the use of substitutes would be resumed. He declared there was no authority in the present food regulations for restoring y?a.r flour. While certain grades of flour are scarce, owing to the short crop of spring wheat the total wheat crop is 918,000,000 bushels this year against 917,000,000 last year, according to Mr. Barnes. Production of flour for the season ' "" * W'r." ending November 7 amounted to 52,433,000 barrels against 43,174,000 last year, he said. Exports have been about the same as last year. " "The facts are," fie said, ''that stocks of flour are very large and production very large. Therefore the wheat director has determined to place in the hands of the retail trade in therlarge cities particularly, a supply of flour from the immense stocks of the grain corporation at nominal prices." ^ f J GOT RICH WHILE ON TRIAL. ? But Fortune Won't Save Texas Judge From Prison. ?. Graham, Texas.?E. W. Fry, former county judge of Young county and former member of the legislature, was arrested about three years ago and convicted of the charge of forgery, committed while he was county judge. He was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary and appealed. Pending action on this appeal, Fry, out on bond, engaged in t oil opera tions. He began business with practically no capital, but has piled up an enormous fortune. Now, the news comes from Austin that the court of criminal appeals has affirmed the sentence of the lower ccurt and has refused to grant a rehearing of the case. There is nothing now to prevent Fry being taken to the penitentiary, except executive clemency. Application for Fry s pardon has been filed. Protests against the pardon have been made, however, by a delegation headed by W. F. Simpson, county judge; C. F. Marshall, of Graham, and P. A. Martin,- of Wichita Falls. m hi ? RETURN OF BODIES URGED. ) State Department Instructs Embassy to Make Strong Representations. Washington, Nov. 22.?The American embassy at Paris has been instructed by the state department to make the strongest representations possible to the French government for the removal of bodies of American, soldiers now buried in France. The hope was expressed that an understanding would be reached to enable the war department to undertake as speedily as possible the return of bodies to the United States, where it is ' ^ desired by relatives. Requests have been maio ror me return of 40,000 of the 65,\)00 bodies of American dead buried in France The French government has been told that its continued refusal would have an "unfavorable impression" upon the American peop'.e. i sgl . Js Jill , ..i-xOh