The press and standard. [volume] (Walterboro, S.C.) 1890-current, June 26, 1907, Image 1
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VOL. XXIX.
WALTERBORO, S. C, JUNE 26, 1907.
ROBBERY OF CHILDHOOD.
»without tasting' of the joys of heathy of our work r.n<l teachings as respon-
intelligent life. ‘ sible for a land of i>cacc and liberty.
It is impossible for me to picture' That land was pictured by the great-
tho sadness of th*lives of these un- ttHHiern poet of England:
Speech Delivered at the Intercollegiate Oratorical Contest footunate children, or to pronounce Where the w^r drums throb noIqng-
anathemaa as scathing as the black
ness of the crime against their liber
ties. Listen to one who has nobly
CENTREVILLE “DISK1VERED”
by D. B. Peurifoy, Jr., at Greenwood, S. C,
- ' April 27,1S07.
of love and
'tr
In the Golden Ag' there was a
time when prosperity, j-eace ami
honesty ruled suprem", Every man
felt himself responsible for the wel-
" fare of every child in the community.
It was a time when children were
wrapped in soft and tender luxury
and were lulled to rest in the gentle
woman’.? kind embrace. Th*ey were
not forced to work, but were given
time to breathe fresh air, to play in
the sunshine, to listen to the warb
ling of th£ song-bird, and to enjoy
4b the happiness of innocent child
hood.
As we stand at the dawn of a new
century, we find conditions greatly,
differing from those of the Golden
Age. Materialism has triumphed
over the nobler instincts. The high
est ambition of American manhood
s&ms to be toJ.a* its grasping hand
upon the almighty dollar. Illiterate
parents, the men of affairs, busied
with pay-rolls, and society women
with poodle dogs; 1 factory owners
itching for dividends sire all sacrific
ing the children upon “an altar of
gold.” There are to-day one million
seven hundred thousand children
one is faded by the cold,
unhealthy air of the cellar,
elamrnfy,
so is the
sung out of the fullness
noble hearts:
you.hear the children, w-eeping,
O my* brothers.
Ere the sorrow comes with years?
Choi .CUT of the other tarnished and head “
blasted in trie vicious, baneful, ahd canno t stop their teare.
immoral atmosphere of the mill. rr. » i,
If duly cared for, these children ' meadows;
may make as good citizens as any The young birds are chirping in the
that face me to night, and growto ;__ nest;
the full statue of leaders of the peo-
The “Foreat of Arden,” or a Modern “Billville”, Wher
o ' - % * *
Every Prospect Pleases and Not a Man is
Vile.—By J. B. Dodd.
Standard:- I
er - „ /•
Where the battle flags are furled
In the parliament of man, the fed«[
eratii-n of the world
Where the common sense of some-,
shall hold the fretful realm in
awe * *- I
i And the peaceful earth ’ shall slum- j 1 E htor Press and
j bf r r made you a fair business prop«>sition
Lapt in universal law. week but you did not catch on,
. If tbciv was l ut one poor needy or rather you made the terms of the
j child in the whole world all human- contract so tough that I could not
ity would lift itself up and cry aloud comply.
where is that child.’ Is it less ap- jj c would be a great big fool who
pealing is it less sympathetic that would go into a fight with the under-
■fthej aie here by the^thousands in- standing that the fellow who got a
to
pie. The supply of the cotton mills The young flowers are blowing
comes from the people of wards the west;
the rural districts who are the But the young children, 0 my
l)e<l-rock of civilization and the| brothers!
foundation of this republic. Through They are weeping bitterlyi
T '’ e shadows;"* 115 P,a> ' il,g *** *'*' «««l »f ‘he *» «r the tw..i There
1 is not a person in this audience this
evening, 'but can aid some poor
! helpless child, so let us determine to
I loosen from their little arms the
)shackles that bind them as steel and
courses the purest strain of Apglo
Saxon blood the strongest, clean
est blood on earth. They are direct
descendants of the sturdy back
woodsmen w ho out-classed theBritLsh
invaders at King’s Mountain. They
are legitimate sons and daughters of
the “American Revolution.” Robert
Burns is a typical example of this
class of’people. He was reared in
penury and squalor, with not the
slightest ray of hope, through a
young boyhood and manhood vexed
with all the bitter diappointments
of poverty. Yet through all these
u oi mis repuuuc. inrougn a*'- ..., _ : wimoiuo uuu oinu mi
the veins o? the cotton mills children Ibeyareweeping in the playtime o j j ea( j ^em into the ways of hope and
In the country of the free.” happiness. Let us remember the
11 * I L 1 words of our Saviour “Suffer thelit-
Would that I had the touch of the . ,
Artist th»t I mi K ht paint cHMJ.yn tncolne antnme and for-
shrunken chests and plallid faces as a b,,1 them nilt f ' ,r ' ,f liu ‘ ;h ls th >' kln *-
reproach to ourselves and a warning
to others! Would that I had the skill
of the historian that I might record
in burning condemnation the igno
minious short comings of the State,
that the generations to follow might
profit by our mistakes.
Now, in conclusion, let me
dom of God, and inasmuch as ye did
st unto one of the least of these, ye
did it unto me.”
Help the Editor.
Every newspajier wants to publish
!the news. The better the paper the
ask. i more prosperous it will be. Local
got
licking was to be damned a» a penal
ty. I dont know that I am especial
ly afraid of the Editor, but the Bible
says, in substance, “fear not him
who can kill the body and has no
further power over you, but rather
fear him who is able to damn the
soul.”
I make fuss enough when I have a
case of toothache, and I guess if I
should suddenly find myself in hell
I would raise more cain than a goat
in a steel trap.
When it comes to this damnation
bus - (ess I will run every time.
.Jow since this is a “water haul”
under the age of fourteen at work t vicissitudes, like a nightingale from
“in this boasted land of ti e free.” j.th© brushwood, he broke into exqui-
Picture the great throng—enough to j s Hc song which was silenced only by
people a n oJern Babylon, all shut hN death. Is it not true that
what will be the future of thiscoun- news items are especially hard to run
try, if we continue allowing the down. How many times have you,
cotton mills to employ our undevel- dear reader, been apfri-oached by the
niHxl, uneducated, children? We. newspaper man for an item of news
kilns from history that if a nation and t >ld him that you knew nothing
lacks the deeper life, that if it be of interest. Probably ah th(*
I will leave the Editor to take care
of the The Press and Standard, w hich
he is abundantly able to do and
I will turn my pencil to write up
Centreville.
Let me state in the out set that
when I sneak-ofXoilire-.iUe I mean
all this community that get their
time! mail at the same pon office, worship
irffrc*m4he green fields and the pure
air; deprived of education; dragged
from i i.tv and sleep, and set tramp
ing in forced marches to the offices,
the shops, the mills, and
the mines. Fifty thousand children
- most of them girls are working
in the textile mills of the south.
This is the army of children keeping
^Ipurcbes. to the mills
“ aruuf tbet outw’atches the sun by
day a i l the stars by night. We are
“Pull man
serene •
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean den'tints of the autumn
V1 l ^ a ‘" : _ ' . Frame paid no heed to the
r uH many a ifowvr is urn to .bra>!:
animated by no^ nobler Mntimentsj your family were away on a visit or
some one from out of town was visit
ing at your home. Of course you
sunset, didn’t rnr.m io deceive the scribe,, yet
cry of when you nvt ived your paper .yiu
a gem of purest ray : than mere material ambitions, its
xfFirkv arc ys transient as the gd-
uncen
And waste its sweetness on
ert air.”
at the same church buy their “chunk
meat” at the rame store, and grind
their corn at tlv' same mill.
>- Colleton County i the E.r. y t of
S«4»:tb Corolina. and t'riiti j, ,1!ie , is
the Goshen of Co! W ton, hot fir the
number of - i 1.-. Jo s l ut for the
fertility of its iar. 1. iVht n you want
her children except that of utter wondered, whv your family fir* friends
the dcs- helpless, until over her prostrate! were not mentioned, A good way to
! form anarchy raised aloft its bloody | avoid ail of this 1? to,kindly inform us |
• ° 1 banner, and the streets of Paris ran 1 of the facts or drop us a note in the corn and do not find 't at ( entre-
We have daily marching from the crimson with blood of Vie popple.' t*ostoffkv"Ui tru‘ paper. Tno one iW.n ville you liad just as w II make out
an i thei>*iiUi.‘.>: i u < f f linHHj li 1~, iiriFi.i our fate wff not amount to much, bp stweml .y^r onim i*r the west, lor when,
ble Burnses that migV.t shine wiih a p c ^ that 0 f France unless we be-
splendid brilliancy, not only in the come arou3C( i need of thc
told that in a period of ten years the! poetical world, but inevery pha e of ! p our j beJi e ve that if an angel
increase of fifty-eight per cent— life, if wp would only establish the should descend from heaven to-night
beacon light of education and dispel on ^mission of mercy to the Amcri-
the murky gloom of ignorance. 1 - • - ’ 11 •
more than twice as fast at that of
the population! According to the
census of 1900 there were five hun
dred thousand children betw’een the
ages of ten and fourteen stark illit
erates! No true-hearted man or
woman can think of these figures
without a shudder!
Child-labor has about it no halo
of antiquity, but is pre-eminently a
It is true that our hearts swell
with pride as we turn the pages of
history and note the material pro
gress of this young nation. But as
our hearts swell with pride, there
omes a chapter in the book of the
history which chills that joy and fills
caA people, its fifsf words would be
“take care of the children!” 0
Foreseeing the calamity awaiting
the future generations, let us de
termine to crush the venomous ser
pent that is poisoning the life-blood
of our nation. Let us begin the fight
at once, for the unreturning^fno-
the heart with indignation mingled 1 men ts are pregnant with the the
modern curse. It wa^the new Eng-1 with regret and shame, as we road destiny of a great people. Let the
land skipper greedy for gold at any the accounts of the wrongs of child- p U ]pj t( i e t the press, let every hu-
cost, who brought the blacks to the hood. ^ man agency rise in the magesty of its
south and planted the tree of slavery Our eloquent speakers have pic-, m i g ht and struggle to raise South
on* our soil. Likewise, it was the tured the great smokestacks of the Carolina from the quagmire of illit-
flourishing cotton mills as “flaunting eracvand ma ke her the “brighest
their banners of industry against star ’ in the ga i axy <* t h e republic.” Warren
the, sky” and have sung of the! We m ust have a wider unification G W Ackerman
“thousands of spindles striking the j of the bapds of justice and mercy-
' northern money grubber, who, only
a few years ago, began grafting up
on our civilization, this, new and far
nrore terrible parasite-child labor,
columns of such ne.vs is the life of a
local paper. - Ex.
We could always do a lot of good
with the money another man has.
Just about the tjme a man thinks he
knows all about woman he falls vic
tim to one.
Jurors for Second Week.
* ° • ‘
The following list of jurors will
sen e at the second week of court:
P M Buckner
John Spell '*
J W Hiers
JHMiley
S E Baldwin
NAKinard .
L M Prine
U H Hiers
GW Campbell;
W J $mnak
f.A
$
ing its slimy tenacles into every ave
nue of life to wither and destroy,
and gorged, to fatness is revelling in
fiendish glee over the wreckage it
has wrought.
The sight of the little children in
the cotton mills of thcr south will
sadden the lightest heart. I can
conceive of nothing more ten ibie
than child slavery. I have seen
many conditions of depraved human-
ity. I have seen, in our State peni
tentiary, prisoners sentenced for life,
% with all the hopes of liberty blasted,
and I thought it was sad. I have
v seen the red handed criminal ascend
the gallows to meet his doom, and I
thought the picture was sad. I haye
looked upon the pallid face of the
pure young girl as shfi lay still and
white in the robes of death, and 1
knew that was sad. But the saddest
picture upon which my eyes have
ever gazed is that >of the sallow,
sickly, hopeless, and even death-like
laces of the helpless children slaving
• in the cotton mills. As a plant
withers and dies if airland sunshine
are withdrawn, so does a child, if
deprived of play, education, and
good home influences. As the Crea
tor’s klea oftangible beauty is ex
pressed in the beautiful rose, so is
his idea of abstract beauty embodied
in the purity and innocence of child
hood. As the deliesto color of the
JP Wilson
WC Brant
JW Walker
T J Rloeke-i
JCKinard '
an
which like a large octopuses extend- ( chorus of harmony,” They seem to a fusing and moulding of public
* f orge t the little lives confined with- i opinion. Let each one of you that
in those walls- lives robbed of child- has gathared here tonight unite in I
hood’sjoys, it hopes, its dreams, and the one loyal, comprehensive, de-L “ ^
its sacred rights. There in the mills,! termined effort to heed the cry of
their lungs choked with dust and thc children; to give them their
their minds confined to the workings rightful heritage of health, happi-
J D Hudson
S J Rumph
J P Remley
John E Herndon,
Gus Herndon
W R Fox
J A Willis
T W Biitch
J E Moore
W F Hoats
W E Polk
E L Commins
John Barnei -
A J Lemacks
J H Remley
A B Garris
J D Carroll
J N Woods
0 f | here where whiskey could be bought
of One piece of machinery, they be-1 ne88 and hope; to give to every child- -Mr and Mrs Cleveland Hiatt, died at! an( ^ was a ^ >ar room opened here
come stunted in their intellect and
body, and incapacitated for the per
formance of the duties of citizenship
by the time they are grown.
These abodps of disease and lurk
ing death are not confined to the
cotton mills only; but from the
scorching heat of the blinding glass
factories and from the sunless depths
of slimy mines there comes a heart
rending cry from little children
slaving their tender lives away. The
savages in the jungles of Africa do
not prematurely inflict labor upon
their children; yet we who boast so
much of civilization are murdering
the children for the sake of money.
Is this the fruit of civilization? If
so, let civilisation decay! Let the
walls of the cotton mills crumble,
and in their stead let the ancient
deserts return! v*- ~ 6
The terrible results of child-labor
do net stop with the death dwarfed
and oppressed children. Some of
these' enervated
miserably survive to
kind, and send on a still more pitiful
progeny who will toil suffer,
its right to live,, play, dream
and grow to the fellowship of all the
gladness and music of the world.
And as in the presence of his father,
the little boy Hannibal stood with
his hand upon the altar Baal,
and swore enteraal hatred to Rome,
so may each one of you raise your
hand to the Heavens above and
swear eternal love for the precious
jewels of our land. For
•• , ' o
“Love will make the path before
them all dainty, smooth and
fair
Will cull away the brambles letting
only the roses blossom there.”
Do these things my people, and He
who feeds the crying ravens will
guide the children’s feet. Then
Heaven and earth will ring
universal symphony, and
of little children from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, from the Potomac to
the Gulf, will shout forever the hal
leluiahs of the triumphs of southern
chivalry, and attribute to this Gold
en Southland of ours, the achieve
ment of the land where children are
Death of little Eiffm.
Litllc Elma. infant daughter
there is no eog-fi hurt there is none in
South Carolina We have jJairted
com enough on the Williamson plan
this year for a satisfactory experi
ment, and I believe the old plan of
25 acres to the plow, one stalk in the
hill,* checked off four by four, has
had its day and that it is to be sup
erceded by the Williamson plan and
we will plant five acres to the plow
and make all the com we need and
plant the other 20 acres in small
grain and forage.
As to cotton, our land is as well
adapted to it as any in the country,
but we do not plant as large acreage
as some nther sections. We have
two ginning plants which gin about
1500 bales from an area of five
miles square. We have four stores
which we, to venture ■> a guess,
would say, 6arry an aggregate
stoqk of $20,000 of anything needed
on thc farm, from a toothpick to a
harvesting machine.
We are all Prohibitionists as we
will prove when we have an oppor
tunity to vote on this question.
There ha*never bceabut one place
the home of home of her maternal
grandfather, W. A. Durant on the
evening of the 20th inst.
The little one was not yet three
months of age, having come to bless t°
ring with
thousands
her young parents on April 1st, but
of such sweetly angelic feature was
she her every relative and friend
had learned to love and cherish her.
Her illness was brief, but so in
tensely painful as to draw heavily
upon the sympathies of those who
endeavored to minister relief and
comfort.
Neither human hands, nor medical
skill could avail, but the gentle
Saviour called her to Himself, to
form a tie in Heaven to* the grief
stricken ones to follow.
Christian parents may have the
sweet consolation in the knowledge
that they can and will follow.
Amacus.
o , |ip
He that throws Miray money with
his hands wtil seek it with his feet.
—Itakaa.
Levity ia manner, "leads to
laxitf in principle.
in 1872. It ran but a short time
when one member of the firm went
into bankruptcy the other into win
ter quarters and the bar room went
Well I dont cuss like the
Editor and I wont say where it went.
But we are just on the line of the
black district where blind tigers
abound, fed from the county dispen
sary and we feel most keenly the
effect of these, and we will vote
solidly for prohibition when the
time domes.
The health of Centreville is per
fect. We raised one good doctor,
but he said it was so distressingly
healthy that he could not stay here
so he went to Walterboro.
The harmony of Centreville is also
worthy of mention. We raised a
lawyer but he complained that the
people did not quarrel enough for
him, and he also went to Walter
boro.'
The morals of Centfeville are
above the average. We tamed out
one of the best preachers in the
state, but he soon decided that
ICentxwviUe was not so much in need
of preaching as some other place
and now he is preaching in Walter
boro.
Did you catch that Mr Editor.?
Woe unto you Walterboro, for i
the advantages that have been la'
ished upon you hud been given t
Centreville, she would long ago hav
bewi know to the world as a city <
commerce and a high standard «
morality.
Little as Centreville is, if a diaper -
sary was pawing here in a hail storr =
it could not stop. This is the vok
of the people. J. B. Dodd,
Round, S. C.
The Bond Question.
*#>
With The Enquirer is decided; «
of opinion thst the only way to g
Rood roads in this county is to inti
bonds in sufficient amount to bail
them, it would not be understood t
suggest that the responsibility of th
people would end with the issnanc
of the bonds.
The luccossful prosecution of wot
of any kind calls for foioiietent, eff
cient management, and a work (
such magnitude as the constr jctioi
of good roads throughout this oounD
must, to be successful and satisfaetpn
be uuder the supervision of men c
breadth and business < xperienoe. 1 i
is not a task that c iu be perform!*'
with economy or credit by men cf
ordinary capacity.
If the people of York county tbouh’
decide upon a of road
bnildingjthejfirltItepsuggested by
ordinary prudence would be organ
ization of Hie county govemmec
along lines Hut would be equal t<
such an under taking. Then a Well
digested plan of development laid
before the people as intcHigentiy and
us frank!v as possible.
That the proposition of road con
struction by means of bonds involn*
many points upon which objectors
may confuse the people who are real
ly favorable to action along this liar,
is obvious. In the first placet it will
be out of the question fo secure tftfr
immediate improvement of all tin
roads, and many people who asay Ml
see immediate, direct benefitdo them
selves can be induced to object oa the
ground of lavoritism to some othfci
locality. Then again, the argameat
against placing a debt on posterity
notwithstanding pos'erity, ia to" gt
the benefit of the value received, and
will be inclined to praise the wisdom
ofits fathers rather thui grumble,
tan also hethe cause much kicking
from the "people who pay but little
taxes, and with it all the proposition
involves very long, hard campaign. •
We have no hesitation in saying
that there is absoiiltely no hope for
extensive road improvement under
present conditions. There mast be
a raising of standards all aloof tic
line, and this is something much
easier talked a boat than done. Far
for several reasons, one of the Mat
important being that the men of the
finest and beat abilities are not in
clined to make a scramble to j
the public service. It is a (act; I
evef, that if a movement were
augurated that looked like a 1
bond issue,it wonld not be a |
while before the leading
interests of the country wonld
to take n bakd. It wonld not be
to risk in inexperienced hi
the expendirure of such large i
as would be involved ia nr
m
II
such magnitude.—Yorkville Knqairar
Ootton—middling 12 I S
Com—new 80 oeuu per In
75 pertmsheL
8west potatoes OOoper CnslM
~ ,•! pw boutol.
r.
.. jm