Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MAIL ORDER MENACE How ti e Cash Retail Trade ls Be lng Drawn Cityward. Amazing Growth o? Big City Con* ooma That Drain tho Country of Money. lu 'Maxwell's Talisman oro thc fol lowing remarks on tho mail order business hy Richard Hamilton Byrd: Il ia a recognize' fact that tho re tail businoss of tl o country villages und tho largo tc ,vns for that matter, 1B boing destroyed. Year by year tho once prosperous merchants ar being forced to tho wall-driven out by the mall order business. And this is tak ing ploco in faco of tho fact that the population and purchasing power of tho country districts aro,over on thc increase. What is tho matter? Tho mall order houses are draw ing tho cash retail trade from its natural channels to tho cities. The growth of this octopus has been phenomenal. From a jellylike idoa-without form- -an oxperiment lifteen years ago, it has grown to proportions that threaten the exter mination of the retail country mer chant. An idea ot the way tho money of tho people ls being drawn into this mall order trade can bo had from tho roports of some of these houses. A certain mail order house of Chi cago which began with a few thou sand dollars fifteen years ago now earries a capital stock of $5,000,000 and hos arranged to increase that stock to $40,000,000. Its does a busi ness pf $5,000,000 a mnoth and carns o net profit of $3,000,000 a year. Tdko the patent medicino business, tho mail order business depends on the gullibility of tho general public. Thousands of peoplo every week send in their hard earned cash to some mall order houso in payment tor goods that could havo been bought cheaper at their homo store. Why do they do it? It is owing partially to tho desire of the average person to be humbugged and partial ly to the effect, of persistent advertis ing. The mall order house sends out its attractive literature to every fam ily in the country. In this literature, Composed of well illustrated cata logues and cheap magazines known as mail order papers, tho goods ar? set out in the most attractive man lier. It is tempting bait, and the Jie.sM in ?v ii'huuiiiuo ?vity. nu to un titled to the trade of his town and tho country adjacent. Ho paya his taxoa and contributes to tho support of the community. That community owes him a reciprocal duty-tho duty to give him tho proforonco of trade, everything elflo equal. This io the theory of all organized civilized com munities, beginning with tho family and going on up through ovory or ganization to that of tho state. Home protection from foreign robbers ir tho first duty of every good citizen, ?f tho village and town Ufo that hie' grown up under natural laws of trade 1B to bo maintained tho retail business must bo preserved against tho unfair inroads of the mall order IMISIUPSB. And thin can bo dono only by organization and education. Let the people know tho facts about the mall order business, and tho offer ings on tho altar of credulity will grow beautifully less. NO MON KV FOU TH1? I?DISTO. Congress Will Not Spend Money On Rivers This Year. Tho Washington correspondent of tho Nows and (-ourler says tho Sec retory of War on Saturday sent a communication tc? Congress, In which lie reoonimen''ed thal no monev bo! spent at this lime on ibo north and SOUth forks of tho 1<M ist o Uiver in tho attempt to make timm navigable. It ls pointed out that, while some advantago might be gained by mak ing these streams navigable for raft ing purposes, the scheine is not. of sufficient Importance to warrant the OXpondituro of any money at this time by the Government. SULLY IN COLTON DUAL. Snell Is Report Th?t Comes From New York. Roports from New York say cot ton traders are taking an interest In a story which is ciruclated among them to tho effect, that Daniel J. Sul ly, who engineered I lie most gigan tic cotton corner over attempted SOinO years ago, and who led the big goHt bull market tho Cotton Ex change ever saw until ho failed for something like $2,000,000 had again entered tho market. t A Family How. At Charlotte because Zacharia Gregory, an octogenarian returned the blow, which bis Wife planted on his face during a quarrel, his son, David E. Gregory, resented the at tack on his mother and struck his father down with an axo. BAMBERG COUNTY EXPENSES Will Either Have to bo Reduced or Tux Levy Raised. Tho Hamborg Herald, In speaking of tho finances of its county for next your Bays "tho county board estl matcH next year'a expenses at $18. 00 51.00, and the present tax levy will bring in only $11,415.90, so tho del egation will probably ralso tho tax lovy one-half mill. There is now on hand something over $G,000 sur plus, but tho officials do not. want to run tho riBk of having to borrow monoy. "It is likely that the delegation will reduco expenses somewhat. Only two torins of court a year will prob ably bo provided for, whilo the sher- 1 iff's salary will be cut to the amount provided In tho general law. This act provides that tim sheriff of Ham berg county shall receive a salary I of $000 and 30 cents a day for feed- 1 lng prisoners. '"The general appropriation act for 1 this county gives tho sheriff a salary of $800 and $160 as jailer, but it also provides that bo shall food tho 1 prisoners at cost. Tho past year the ! salary of $?l?>0 was paid under tho 1 special act, and he was paid for feed- f in? prisoners under tho general law. J This matter will no doubt bo made . to conform to the general law. < "Other salaries may also bo re- 1 duced, and all parties will be re quired to pay a road tax instead of working the roads. These matters are under consideration, and while they may be adopted, (hore is no < certainty that they will bo. How ever, thc delegation is fully inform ed as to I he financial condition of the county, and they will either have ( to r?duco expenses or raise the levy ( for county purposes." DOUBLE KILLING. Negro Shoots Woman of His Own Raco and Himself. At Columbia Wednesday night Simpson Henry, colored, chief cook at the Union Station dining room, shot and killed (?race Wate, a col ored woman, and (hen shot and kill ed himself. So far as the police know there were no others involved in tho trouble. No reason is as signed for the killing. Henry went to the Wate honst?, on Lincoln street, shot tho woman and then shot him self . Both died within a few min utes after tho shooting. Five. Suicides. A neston dispatch says a number of suicides Were reported In Massa chusetts Sunday following a day nvivl/iwl >?v qlnrmv uml ?lOprOSSillg .^ens ures that the General Assembly will be called upon to deal with at this session is thc enactment of a labor contract law. Gov. Ansel in his mes sage to the Legislature recommends the passage by that body of "a string ent act which will punish both land lord and laborer for a violation of a labor contract and make it a misde meanor for one person to employ a aborer who is und^ r contract with mother." No fair minded man, he lepandlord or laborer, could object to such a provision in a contract law, as t would ensure justice to all. Gov. Ansel further recommends hat these contracts be "in writing md recorded in the ofllce of the reg ster of mesne conveyance for the :ounty where the parties reside, and nuke this record a constructive no ice to all persons of the cont act.' This would prevent the hiring of la )orers under contract by other par ies, and, wo believe, would stop a ?reat deal of that kind of thing that las gone on in tho past, if a good md sufficient penalty is provided for .hose who violate the law. G<>v. Ansel thinks that "with an ictof this kind, and with the act now n force preventing the enticing of laborers from the employer, and with E\ strict enforcement of both. to. gether with the vagrancy law. much progress will be made in solving thc labor question." We fully argec with Gov. Ansel in this opinion, and if the landlords will band together and see that such laws when enacted are enforce' they would have less trouble witt mir laborers than they had in years. Much of tho trouble between landlord and laborer is caused by the laborer knowing that ho can got another place whenever he wonts it if he wants to leave the andlord he is under contract with. Correct this evil and labor conditions will greatly improve. Gov. Ansel recommends that not mere than one dispensary bo allowed In any county whore liquor is sold except in counties where there are large cities. This plan would work all right, provided constables were provided to keep down blind t igers in the towns where dispensaries are not located, COL. KUHN'S STATEMENT. Donica Most Ehnnhat (cully That Ho Did Anything Wrong. Col. August Kohn mado tho fol lowing stutoinont for publication: "I was at a board mooting all tho afternoon, nnd the first ? heard of tho hearing wan after it was all over. I havo no statemeut or explanation to make. Mr. Hoy voluntarily carno to BOC mo and I gavo him such sug gestions aa I could, all in a legiti mate and honorablo way. "I roforred him to Mr. Moiton and urged him to turn his affairs to him because I was convinced of his abil ity. 1 sought to have tho bank In which I am a shareholder mado tho disbursing bank because it meant legitimate business. Governor Hoy ward and Mr. Robertson gave Mr. Hoy letters commending Mr. Mel lon ns a lawyer to people who did not h now him, and thew absolutely had no ot her conned lon with the matter so far as I know. "lt* it be wrong to undertake to liroct a client to ? friend, to act with dud ness to an utter si ranger and to moak well tor an institution In .vbich I am interested, then I have lone so, that's all. No one co far 18 I know or lieu rd of even suggest ed or intimated improper influences >n the commission or anyone else. I i'l l a inly never dreamt of lt. '.(Signed) August Kehn." t A MURDERER HUNG, ;<.(). Kenney Executed for His Part in an Awful ("rime. George Kenney was hanged Fri lay morning in the jail yard ol' Charleston. Ho went to his death vlthout brooking down. The weight Iropped nt I l .'ll o'clock, and ho was . renounced dead by n physician at 12 o'clock. His neck was broken. A drizzling rain fell during tho longing, but it did not interfere with he successful carrying out of the egal execution of tho negro convict tvho struck Herman G. Stdio down n cold blood at the county stock ido Oh August lt), 190)5. Konney's last act was to kiss the crucifix taken from his manacled liands by Father Duffy and pressed o his lips. Ho was repealing the Lord's Prayer when the signal was Sivcn for his death. t BLACK HAND MURDER. Confession of One of thc Slayers Re veals Hidden Crime. Revealed by tho confession of one jf his flvo slayers, the body of Jos eph T. Ritieo, a young Italian, was 3xh".mod on a truck farm near Lake irlet" 1 ' A' li ii., it. talions, members of n Block Hand ?ocioty and alleged to have pnrtlei >atod in the robbery, that he would urn State's evidence unless released, [.he Italians secured his release and lilied him. SERVED HIM RIGHT. tn Ungallant Preacher Made to Re sign His Charge. Rev. William McPherters, forin rly pastor of a Washington, D. C., burch, has been dismissed by the "resbyterlan church of Tekansha, Heh., because he called the women if tho church "A flock of cackling ?airots." That remark was only tho I Ired ia uso of his departure, ills ongregntion has been offender by nany other criticisms, contained in ils sermons. t Excluded Frein tho Mails. Thc Post?nico Department is get ing very strick about newspaper pos tigo. A dispatch from Anderson ays tho South Carolina Pythian, tho ournol established by tho ('rand ?odgO of Knights of Pythias at the Meeting in Anderson last May, and vbicb bas boen published monthly ?ver since, is in trouble with tho ?ostoftico department end may ho omponirily suspended. Tho grand lodge levied an assens nont of 26 cents on each member of he order in tho State for the sup >ort Of the Pythian, and ordered tin? ?aper sent to each momhor without Hither cost. Tho post?nico doport noiU bas ruled that this ls not a iona tide subscription list and that be poper is not therefore entitled o the newspaper postage rates. Tho publishers ol' (he paper say bey cannot alford t<> pay the higher .ostage rales demanded by the post ifllco department, which would be me (cul lier copy for each issue. On md alter April I all papers will lave lo have a practically paid up mbscrlptlon list or they will bo ox? .luded from the niailn. A .Model Reformer. Will Bums ls not a preacher, yet tm bas caused fifty men to quit swearing or using profane language llong our public roads, and here is be socrot, says the Hardy Herald. \lr. Mums so successfully worked ?.von miles of our public road he ?OllVOrtOd (he tie haulers. Thoro lu lot. a rock, stump, chuck hole or ?rook in tb?! seven miles of road, and irofane languagO ls a thing of the i>ast. If any ol' our readers want to ry (bis plan of stopping profanity they aro at Hhorty to do 80. TILE DIUPENHAUV MW. Mr Thomas P. Cothran Will Suggest Several Amendments. Early in tho present session of tho gonoral asHemhly it is said that Mr. Tho?. P. Cothrsn, ono of tim authors ol' tho Carey-Cothran law, will en deavor to secure soveral amondmcnts to that act. Whilo nono of Mr. Coth ran's proposed amendments affect tho material principles of the low, still they ore interesting and will go far toward smoothing over some of tho defects which Messrs. Cothran and Caroy havo long recognized as existing in tho law. The most interesting amendments to he proposed hy Mr. Cothran are thoso providing for a county chem ist, or a chemist to bo appointed by the county dispensary board, who shall tost all liquors and beverages to be sold in the county; permitting county dispensary boards to deliver all samples of whiskey to dispensers for sale, provided such samples bear proper certificates; allowing county boards to sell alcoholic liquors in bulk to the State hospital for tho in sane; changing section 28 by strik ing out the "personal uso" clause, and making it a misdemeanor to of for for sale or solicit tho purchase of any liquors. This last amendment will com pletely knock out tho whiskey solic iting business for "personal use," provided Mr. Cothran succeeds in having it blended into the present law. Air. Cothran's proposition would cause section 2 8 lo read as follows; "Any person who shall in this State offer for sale or solicit the pur chase ol', any liquoi'8 or beverages mentioned in section 1 of this act, whether for present or future de livery, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction in a court of competent p'.trisdlction shall be punished by fino of not less than $100, or imprisonment for not less than three months." In tho present law, the words "other than for personal use" ap pear just after tho word "act." Many big whiskey houses in other States, under protection of the "personal uso" clause, have reaped rich profits by soliciting in the "dry towns" for orders for horne consumption. If Mr. Cothran succeeds in his efforts to wipe out the personal use feature of tho law, whiskey drummers will ho exceedingly scarco in this State. The amend mont with reference to tho salo ol' samples will permit coun ty boards ti) make uso of a com modity which heretofore has been ' . -..?"*? fc,?'*>.io. If Mr. Cothran's proposed change in tho present law as to county chemists is enacted into the liquor legislation county boards will be able to test their liquors without sending them to Columbia to the State chem ist. Tho presont law maka no pro vision what-ever as to who shall make the tests and where they shall bo made. There are quite a number of min or changes among Mr. Cothran's proposed amendments, aimed prin cipally at errors which appeared In tho actual operation of tho law which were not apparent to the authors when the bill was drafted. MUST 110 ENFORCED. Postulasteis Must See Thal Publish ers Obey thc Uaw. In Bpoaklng of tho new ruling of the Posto filo Department in refer to mailing newspapers tho Washing ton correspondent of the Lewiston, Me., Journal says: Of course the post?nico depart ment at Washington cannot check up individual subscription lists to learn whether or not it? regulations aro being violated, but, postmasters In the various cities and towns will bil required to study the character of the newspaper circulation going through their olllces and keep it within tin- prescribed limits. This means, of course, a radical trimming of a good many subscrip tion lists, and the correspon dence of the department already In dicates that comparit ively little trouble will be made by the nows papers and magazines. As a rule, they h.'ive cheerfully accepted the new regulation and are revising their subscription lists accordingly. Till", death of Col. .las. lt. Randall, the talented author of "Maryland, My Maryland," recalls the fact that Oliver Wendell Holmes in speaking of that stirring ballad said, "my only regret is 1 could not do for Massa chusetts what Randall did for Mary land." in the passing of Col. Ran dall another pat riot and sweet sing er of the South crosses over tho river to join his gallant comrades who had gone before. CORTELYOU if reports arc true looks "like father did when ho rode thc goat," or tho goat rode him rather dilapidated, but still in the ring. Appalachian Park mil. The value to the people of the United States of the passage of the Appalachian park bill which is now before Congress may be estimated when the facts which have just been developed by experts in the geologi cal survey are considered, lt is shown that floods cost the people of the United States $100,000,000 a year. The mere menace of these floods pre vents the development of thousands of square milos of otherwise valuable property and limits the usefulness of a far greater area, while the tor rents themselves each year obliter ate enormous values and bring to naught the toilsome work of many people. A great flood, is above all things, a source of waste, and as a rule, a needless waste. Some of the ele ments of this waste-the damage to property, trade and public comfort --aro familiar, forcing themselves into recognition with every recur rence of flood stages by the inter ruption of business and the immense expenditures required to restore nor mal conditions; but other elements are unfamiliar or remain quito for gotten. Thc greatest item of loss connect ed with floods, that which is the fur therest reaching and of widest scope, is the waste of the water itself. A very conservative estimate of the value of Lliis water places it at five times that of the more tangible re sults of flood damage. That is, every gallon of this wasted water is need ed urgently to augment the flow of the streams in times of drought. If the flood water of the streams of the United States could be stored for fu ture use it would be worth to tho people of the country $500,000,000 \ annually. Although the great mass of the , people regard a flood as an inevit able mischance, accepting the conse quent losses with such philosophy as they are able to summon, yet most ? of the floods could nevertheless be , prevented by intelligent elTort, and the avoidance of Mich an effort shows ? ?in indolence and an improvidence . that would not be tolerated in the . smaller affairs pf life. Engineers who i have investigated the conditions say | Hoods can bc prevented and we think , they should. . iuu ?.?lo tiie cnannels of the j streams; that io, the earth's surface , mist be kept in a porous condition, { so that the water will be absorbed t ind held as by a sponge and allowed ] to pass slowly into the streams. , Throughout the eastern and by far | the greater part of the western up? ands this porous condition is main- , fained by natural processes. Wherever it is lacking in this part , )f the country the fault may bc laid | it the door of mankind. Vegetation s the great agent that produces po- , osity of soil, and the most effective form of vegetation for the restora :ion of surface flow is forest cover. The earth is kept in a loose condi tion by the roots of trees, shrubs, md other plants, and the mass of fallen leaves, twigs and bark that litters the ground is even more ab sorbent than the soil itself. Thc sur face is protected from the direct rays of the sun by the foliage on thc trees and plants. The next requisite is the construc tion of reservoirs to retain the wat ers so that they may be useful dur ing seasons of low water. In the course of a year a river passes through all stages from high to low, but there is o certain range of stage above and below which it does not persist for any considerable period. For many of the streams of the United States the engineers of the survey have definitely determined this range, and the work on still other streams is in progress. The reservoir serves to catch the surplus water that would form the flood, hold it over during the intermediate stages of the river, and discharge it into stream during seasons of ex treme deficiency. In contending for this method of stream control the engineers of the survey maintain that the logical way to control a river is to control its source of supply; that nearly all riv ers of the United States can be read ily controlled by the construction of storage reservoirs on the headwaters streams; that the way to prevent floods is to use these reservoirs to catch and temporarily hold tho flood waters, so that they will not descend upon the lower valleys in large vol ume; that on most streams it is un desirable to attempt to control floods Shull Wo Live Again. Sometime amid the clatter and hurry of our daily struggle for exis tence, it is well to pause for a mo ment and take account of things that do not belong to the common place, says the Columbia Record. The question, "if a man die mall he live again," has come to us ringing down the ages, and no man nas been able to answer it to the entire satisfaction of others, whatever be his own views on the question. Sir Oliver Lodge, one of the most eminent scientists living, has recently delivered a lec ture in London on immortality, which has impressed many. Natur ally the treatment of such a subject by such a man excites interest and one is keen to know if science of fers any grounds for our religious belief in a future state of existence. We are told by the distinguished A\n lecturer that the body is no more '< v? representative of the individual than W a worn-out suit of clothes. Death merely removes the soul's instru ment of manifestation, it resembles the destruction of an organ, which left the organist untouched. Death merely marks the end of a certain grouping of physical materials. Con sciousness, will, honor, love and ad miration are similarly stamped with immortality and will not drop into nothingness. Such creatures as in sects and trees can hardly be sup posed tu have persistent personal ex istence, as they lack individuality; but there can be no doubt of the continuance of human individuali ty. Speaking of the evidence of per sonal immortality, Sir Oliver said that part of it "consists of psycholo gical manifestations, such as when one's mind appears to act upon another at a distance. Telepathy or clairvoyance must be regarded as having practically established certain facts too numerous and too well au thenticated to be doubted, but this science is still in its rudimentary stage. We would be clearly wrong in assuming that all automatic mes sages are not of a genuine character. To say that spiritual manifestations are futile and inappropriate is quite untrue. Such a statement is only to be made by persons not acquainted ,vith the facts." Bui tli? mest striking ktaien.cjit wadi hji lh . l< cturei. . . . thal 'cads Lo thc cohchision thal personal ;.;iV rm.o.'t he CO Sinuous, iii thiri. *T?v? 'act ? ha| the ii...-er i<?< u-'ics ol thc -\un haw ii. special sphere of em t>iu??iiCiiL ni the struggle of exis tence appears to suggest the coming )f a fuller and larger existence. Pos libly these high faculties, which now seem incongruous and inconvenient, may ultimately be found to be near 2r the heart of things than faculties better suited to this world." That ia to say, life herc being one almost wholly given up to a strug gle for existence, there is little or no chance for the employment of the higher faculties of the soul; in fact, to succeed in the struggle imposed on one it would be better for him never to allow them to obtrude, as they Rtand in the way and are posi tive hindrances to success in this world. For their full employment and dcveloyment, therefore, they require [mother sphere of life, in which one is freed from the necessity of strug gling for a bare existence as in this present world. ACCORDING to the last statement of the state bank examiner, the banks in South Carolina have on de posit subject to check $16.000,000, and in their savings department $12,000,000. That is a fair show ing._ IF thc conditions of landlord and laborer are to be improved in this State the law to be passed by the Legislature on the subject must pro vide the means by which the terms of contracts between employer and employed shall be rigidly enforced. CONGKK.KS will save millions of dollars to the country by passing promptly the bill for the establish ment of the "Appalachain Parks" or forest reservations, both North and South. The bill will eventually pass, so why not pass it at once, and stop the great waste that is going on by tho destruction of the mountain for est and the lloodingofhwco Ulanda. by endeavoring to confine the water between high and expensive levees, and that the ultimate cost of such conservation of waste waters will appear nominal when compared with thc enormous benefits conf< rred, these benefits being applied to /ater power and to irrigation as well as to Hood prevention and navigation. It sometimes happons tli.it tho girl jilts a young man doos bim a favor.