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1 OUR SCI 1 PAPER t 5 1IY PROF. WIIX1 iSr* wxm mx+j* Short School Tonus?As has al- ' ready been noted, the average length of the white schools of the State last ( year was less than six months. To] bo exact, the average for the town and rural schools was 117 days; the rural schools alone 110 days. While this is a better showing than we ( made a very lew years ago, still our schools are in session a little 1 less than two-thirds of our own standard school year of 1 SO days, or nine months. In other wosds, the white people of the State are giving their children less than two-thirds of the schooling which they declare 1 a child ought to have. More again is a lack of school funds, which our people, I insist, are aide to provide. In many rather thickly settled and prosperous districts the schools close after six or seven months because the funds' are exhausted, yet not a dollar of I local school tax is collected. I know districts with from T>0 to C>0 white children, which depend upon the pittance of to $:ILT? to run their schools. Is it reasonable to expect such a district to keep its school open or to keep competent, teachers? In some of these very communities I have been told, with a tinge of resentment. that 1le* schools are better than those to which the fathers and mothers went. That may he true, and it may also be true that these same fathers and mothers are hewers of wood and drawers of water today, simply because they are unahle to cope with those who have been better schooled. lb1 is a very dispicable parent who is willing to withold schooling from his child on the ground that he himself had few or no advantages. However, short school terms are by no means entirely due to lack of money. Strange, as it may seem, there are many districts which close their schools at the end of six, five J and even four months, with half as much money left in the county treasury as they spent on their schools. I Unnw vvliicK lini'o U,,.!,. credit enough money to run theni twice as long as they have boon run any year within tho past fivo. in fact, so mo entire counties are making what the officials call a pood financial showing, at the expense of. the school children. For instance, Florence county had on hand, .Tune fit), 1907, a balance of $:>5,SfiS to the' credit of the school fund, while she J had spent. only $27.0r?(> on her schools that year. In other words, the schools had at the close of the J scholastic year a balance of $8,78.8 j more than the entire cost of the schools that year. Financially that may he a good showing; how is it educationally? l?et us see; Florence county kept her white schools open last year six months; she paid her teachers an average of $2f>0 a year; she gave each white teacher an average of fi?> puHls to teach. Chester county ifiakes hut little better showing. She kept her white schools open seven and one-fourth months, paid her white teachers an average of $296 a year, and o.i onek t no * r,..?x * ttvil IVIU IIV' I (III IIMTI URi; Wl ?> I pupils to teach. Yet Chester county closed these schools with a balance larger than the total expenditure that year. I believe in running the schools strictly on a cash basis, and I know it is necessary to doe the books on the 30th of June with onough balance to run the schools until the next tax collection has been made. Hut is it sound business or common sense to cut off the school year, pay beggarly salaries. and give each teacher too many pupils to teach, in order to show a money balance? Of course under such policy our school hoards can boast of having money on hand. As 1 see it, we have more need for money on the children. A man could doubtless make a fortune on a salary of $r>00 a year, if he were to go naked and hungry, and keep all his earnings at ten per cent compound interest; but what would he bo getting? After all, do our people wish to keep the schools open nine months in the year? Repeatedly I have had fathe.rs (mothers very rarely) op]x>sa the attempt to lengthen their school beyond six months. Their contention is that the children can not be spared from the farms and the mills for a longer period. Except in case of extreme poverty in the homes of very unfortunate people, tills argument means nothing less than that the child is looked upon as a bread-winner. The parent is either too short-sighted or too selfish to give his child the opportunity to become even a breadwinnor, save in the humblest callings. Such a parent needs to be shown how his child may be trained until he becomes a master of something, and a citizen useful to the State. Every child should be taught to work?to work Intelligently and profitably, but his ultimate success and usefulness should not be sacrificed to immediate selfish gain. Poor School Houses and Poor Kqnlpment-?There are at least two very distinct kindR of poor school houses: The building Itself may be worthless; a good building may be unfit for school purposes, tl Is pos Ibbto to Invest a modest sum of mis. * 10.3. | 1AM II. HAND. S money In a good school building. What wo know as school architecture is yet in a very crude and undeveloped state, if we are to judge from some of our recent school buildings. Some of even the larger towns of the State have taxed themselves liberally to erect new school buildings, and have very inferior ones. Not one cent of public money should be permitted to be used in a school house until the plans of the building have been favorably passed upon by some thoroughly competent person. Some of the most common defects In our school buildings are small class rooms, low ceilings, insufficient window space, windows set in front and to the right of the pupils when seated, tops of the windows too far from the ceiling, poor heating, and poor ventilation. Those defects are found in the town building and in the rural buildings. Wo have some excellent school houses. Among the larger towns the buildings in Florence. Darlington, and (Joorgetown. together with t lie latest buildings in (Jreenville, eel lent in almost every detail. The Spartanburg, and Sumter, are excellent in almost everything. The Taylor school. in Columbia, is another excellent building, but I am forced to add that ibis is Columbia's only public school building worthy of the name. A number of the smaller towns have relatively excellent buildings, notably St. C.eorge and Sunimerton. Helton, Hrunson, Chesterfield, Fountain Inn. Manning and Seneca each will soon have a new building of modesn type. On the other hand, some of the towns have very poor buildings. There are in this State four towns whose taxable property combined was returned last year at $1,400,000, in round figures, and whose four school houses for white children would not sell at auction for more than $ 1,50ft. Of course these buildings cost much more than their present value, but they are almost worthless to-day us school houses. In these same towns are beautiful homes, good stores, good banks, attractive churches, and even good barns for the horses and cattle. Can the citizens of these places make themselves believe that they are not discounting schools? They can not make other people believe it, I am sure. The rural school houses are relatively inferior to those in the towns, .Many of them are little better than dingy shells, unpainted, ugly in appearance, poorly lighted, poorly heated, and miserably equipped .Many of these houses a r< not ceiled on the walls 01 overhead. When they are ceiled that overhead is often so low that the tallest boys can reach it with their heads. Not one building in three has enough window spact properly distributed. The window* are small and placed equidistant from the floor and celling. It is no uncommon thing to find a room ol children sitting with their face* toward one, and even two, open windows, while the room at their hack* s comparatively dark. In 1 90f>, the State Superintendent of Kducatior issued a pamphlet giving design* for modern school houses, which ha* done much towards improving their character. Very few of our schools an equipped as they should be. Hun tis?*os ?>i n<)C(l ciesKS liavt' noen |)lll 111 within the past five years, hut then are yet scores of school houses seated with the most clumsy and unsightly and uncomfortable desk* known to suffering hacks and limbs The blackboards are too few in number, made of the cheapest material. and the surface is no loncei black. In many of our schoolrooms is not seen a map or a chart from September to June. Kven the famous charts have been relegated to some closet of plunder Were it not for the genius of mj friend, Mr. Hughes, of flreenville many of our school houses would b? absolutely without any kind of globe The State litis very wisely provided hundreds of schools with small li braries. In most places these libra ries are used much and well cared ior, inn in unogeuier ion mail) places the books are torn to pieces soirio scattered through the neigh borhood, and some lost. What ois< can be expected when the schoo house stands open to every body and everything. A dirty school house is inexcusable, and is a disgrace to a community. Here the teacher is chief l> responsible. Any teacher, man 01 woman, who keeps a dirty school house Is rather poorly fitted to train children. Yon can not readily refine the tastes of a child who b compelled to sit five hours a day in the midst of filth and utter. WILLIAM II. HAND. University of South Carolina. You ran measure any creed by its fruits in character. After all. our bread doesn't fall "butter side down" more than half the time. It is permissible to blow your own horn If you are a member of a brass band. FELL FROM TRAIN l c 1 i YOUNG MAN GOING FHOM OllANGF.Ill'KG ? 1 < KcccIvimI Injuries ?t Itidgcvillc Front ' \ WIticli lie Dbsl in it Charleston y Hospital. | Accidentally falling from Train 1 No. 14 of tho Southern Railway, run ning at the rate of from 20 to 20 ( miles an hour, about a half of one ' mile west of Rldgeville, at about l? ' o'clock Wednesday evening, a young ' man named Roisy Harris, who lioarded the train at Orangeburg, was fatally injured as a result, and and died Thursday morning at 7 o'clock at the Saint Francis Xavior Infirmary, in Charleston, after a twelve hours' struggle between life and death. A compound fracture of the skull was the immediate cause of death, although many other parts of the body were severely bruised and scratched by the hard fall which the youth had sustained, immediately on his arrival in the city an operation was performed on the young man, but Harris was then already beyond human aid. The News and Courier says an inquest, was held over the body of young Harris Thursday aft< moon, and resulted in a verdict ? I "death due to .accidentally falling from Train No. 14, of the Southern Railway, near Ridgevillo, while a passenger of said train, etc." Although it Ls reported that there was an actual eye-witness of the accident the ,Mimui in l|lieSUOU COIlKI l'(>' !) found, either by tho coroner or lieollioials of the railway. The vouuk man, .lames Rood, who is said to ' bo a cousin of tho deceased, had left the train upon its arrival in Charleston and left for parts unknown before the news of Harris' death could be sent him. The first witness examined by the coroner and jury was Conductor \V. H. Keck ley, who was in charge of the train at the time of occurrence. His testimony was as follows: "The accident happened at X:T>0 p. m., about one-fourth inile west of Ridgeville, just as tho train was pulling into that station. When the engineer pulled the station blow for Ridgevillo I got up and announced the name of the town in the colored car, going towards the rear of the train. I stopped in the smoking end of the same car, where this young man (Harris) was sitting, and tohl him that the next station was the one for him to get off at. I turned and went into the i white car, and shortly afterwards a young white man. who had been sit' ting with Harris, ran up to me and told me that the latter had jumped ' off the train. I reached for and ' pu!lei the emergency cord, bringing . the train to a stop almost immediately, and sent my flagman, T. I), i Shire*, hack to look for the man. at in*- same iime baciuug the train up. ' He was soon found lying between ? the main line and the siding. lie was carried to the express ear and 1 1 afterwards called I)r. \\\ It. Way, of Uidgeville, in attendance, who : accompanied the wounded hoy to Charleston." Several questions were ' asked by the jury and .answered by ' .Mr. Keck ley. In reply to the ques1 tion as to what Harris was doing 1 in the colored smoking section of 1 the car at that time the conductor answered that the colored passenger traflic is very light through that part of the country at this time of the year and that white and colored men i often used the same apartment to smoke in. Mr. T. I). Shirer, who was flagman on Train No. 1 4 last Wednesday ; night, was the next witness and . gave the following testimony before i the coroner and jury: "When we ilea red Uidgeville I went through the train, as is usually the custom, and cried out the name of the town. The train was then i about three-quarters of a mile from - Uidgeville. I saw Hoisy Harris sit. ting in the colored smoking apart meat with his hands crossed. When , I had reached the last car of the > train I felt the emergency brakes go . down and immediately ran forward 1 to ask the conductor what the trouble was. The latter then told - me that Harris had jumped off and I requested me to go back and look r for the young man. A short dis, tance in the rear of the train I first - found his hat, and after some searching found the boy himself l.vI ing on his face on the right side 1 of the track. I spoke to him, hut did not receive any answer, al though he was breathing very hoav ily. When the train had backed tip ' the required distance I help place the wounded boy in the baggage I car." 1 i Several questions were also asked of Mr. Shirer by the jury. He > stated that he had asked James tieevea, a cousin of the deceased boy, and who, together with another gentleman named K. K. Sweat, who were the only people occupying the smoking apartment with Harris at ! that time, for some particulars of 1 the case, and that Reeves had | thought that Harris had only left his sseat to procure a drink of wa- i ter in the rear of the car. Seeing 1 him open the door rather hurriedly 1 he followed the young man and < reached the end of the car just in j time to see Harris step off. Whether i , the young man had wished to leave \ ho train before its arrival at Ridgi1- I ilia aiul had miscalculated the speed >f the train, or whether he had deliberately invited death Reeves was inable to say. Conductor Keek ley stated Frl- t lay that young Harris had board'd his train at Orangeburg and he lad been requested to put him olt it Ridgeville when ho handed in lis ticket. He was dressed in a .vorktngmun's clot lies and apparently ' A'as about 17 years of age. Harris loomed to have full control of his faculties at the time and the conluctor was,almost positive that the young man had not touched a drop >f liquor. The young man's home lias as yet not boon ascertained, but ' It is thought that he lives at Cot- ' Lageville or vicinity. * I TIIK RATI.CSS < ! Rl<. We Welcome Her and Hope She Will Ride A wee. Wo do not know?we almost fear to hope whether it is the setting in of a new fashion, this charming ens- , torn of girls going about bat less, but if it is let us welcome it with exceeding joy. She is becoming ubiquitous, this girl without a hat, and in the ?treel or in the stores, iti the parks, wherever she may bo, she adds beauty to the landscape and picture- ( souonoss to t ho view. More welcome too will the newold custom of the fair sex be if one of its results is the dethroning of that awful monstrosity, the "Merry Widow" bat, that dire shape of straw that mows a swath of discomfort through our througlifares and ... 1, S..K I > -I ?- - i ? ' ?ui' ii n<ir> iitmi'u tu in*." iMiiiifiits in ;i torrid summer. 1 ^?*t us hope that, the now stylo of eniinine bareheadness has coino about through fotnalo recognition of the eternal verity of tho poet who declared that tin* crowning glory of a woman is her hair. It may ho that tho girls who are braving convention, declaring their freedom from the thralls of the milliner and making life more beautiful by discarding their hats noed encouragement. For heaven's sake let us sill get together and praise the sex for its good sense. We should say sit a rough estimate that the matrimonial chances of the girl without si hat as against the girl with a "Merrv Widow" were sit least 100 to 1, sind that should help some if its trouth csin lie proved. All hail to the sensible American girl and her crown of glorious hsiir! Wll.l* HA IKK OTIIKH CHOPS. Fanners May <^uit Cotton in Koll Weevil Kelt. A movement has been put on foot among the farmers in thut section of southwest .VI ississippi infested by the Mexican boll weevil to point si minimum cotton acerage next year, and devote the major portion of ti 11able land to corn, oats, forage crops and truck products. The movement has the hacking of the Fsirniers' I'nion and is commended by the special sigents of the Fnited Stsites department of agricul i ..it-, >> mi are cmpioyod til that section of the state and who hold that a rotation of crops is imperative as one of the measures for the suppression of the pest. The weevil has played havoc, with the crop in the counties of Jefferson, Amite, Adams, Wilkinson and Franklin, and it is predicted that before the ed of the present month it will enter the counties of Hinds, Lincoln, Pike and Copiah. 1 This is the condition in Mississippi, but it is only a question of a short time when the same condition will 1 have to be faced by South Carolina 1 farmers. The boll weevil is steadily marching; this way and it will not ' be lonjr before he will be knocking 1 at our door. So our farmers may as well get ready for the pest by i planting something else besides cot- 1 ton. The boll weevil has come to < stay. I I t KKYAN-TAFT MFKTI.VCi OFF. I Republican Nominee Will Not Attend < Chicago J templet. The contemplated meeting of ' Judge Taft and W. J. Bryan at a ' banquet in Chicago October 7 has 1 fallen through, according to a state- ( ment by Chairman Dixon, of the ' speakers' bureau. > 'Mudgo Taft on September '2.1 will ? address the Independent Railway ' Men's Taft Club in Chicago," said ' Mr. Dixon, "but bis itinerary will 1 not allow of his speaking at Chicago ' October 7." ' It is said that it was Judge Taft's wish to speak at the banquet, but < that the speakers' bureau was not j consulted official lv in mnl/in<? ? 1 engagement. i Mr. Iiryan, however, will attend I the banquet which will be given by i the Chicago Association of Com- < merce. * i Cray for Ituin. ] A dispatch *rom La Porte, Ind., 1 says the drouth conditions are so se- 1 rere in Kankakee county, whore the i farmers maintain daily and nightly i vigil to prevent their homes and i farms from being swept away by l fire that all day services for rain i were held Wednesday in a number of 1 fhurehes. The conditions aro so sor- i Ions that the railroads have men do- i failed to watch the bridges to protect them in case of fire. 1 \ hitLD FOR CONSPIRACY 4 VLLKGFI) PLOT AGAINST WHITES DIHCOVKItKl) AT GKKKNWOOD. r.lucks at Niueiy-Six Said to Have Conspired to Kill Four Prominent White Citizens. Eleven negroes were brought to [greenwood Saturday, September 12, ibout noon, from Ninety-Six, in the custody of Sheriff McMillan and Deputy Sheriff Charles Dukes, under a warrant charging thetn with conspiracy. The arrest of these negroes was the outcome of an Investigation on the part of the local authorities and certain citizens in Greenwood. Very little was known in Ninety-Six up to Saturday morning of the proposed arrest or the cause therefor. Dut several of the leading citizens of Ninety-Six were fully aware of the situation, and the bringing of the negroes to Greenwood was decided upon as the best method to proceed in a lawful and orderly manner. Saturday evening another negro was arrested and brought there on the same charge. The negroes fire. I iiri'iiutii'l it-..' I? l? '> ' . ... . v.?? < m 111 \ . i . i ?. i M'tiii, n. T. Jackson, a preacher, Jas. Stophens, Anderson Stephens, Kd Harris, Tom Hishop, Davego Williams, W'ayman Jackson, John Calhoun, Zeke Chappeil, another preacher, and Wane W illiams. The neyro brought Saturday night was Press Goodwin. The investigation, which led up to the arrest of these negroes, started in Greenwood on Tuesday, September S. On that day a certain negro m (Ireenwood received by mistake a letter addressed to another negro in (Jreenwood, and that let tor, upon which the whole case hangs, as it were, is the most important document and development in the whole affair. The great question is, is the letter genuine or a take? This is the letter: "Ninety-Six. September 7. 190S. "Mr. Hartie Harris, Greenwood, S. C.: We want you not to give us away in this me an Tom Hishop and Rev. Zeke Chopped is a committee to get up men to buy Winchesters, to fix for white folks in a few days. We are going from house to house at night and shoot in, and they will think it is Tolbert. Now, we want you to see how many at (Jreenwood will hel.p. All of us who come up there to Tolbert Convention is in it.] but Joe. Don't know anything about this. It is us, who is S. T. Jackson there. We will be ready by Sunday night to start if our men get hack. Don't toll illivlllflv of tlif-j ;i?i/1 lmt'ti this let tor up. Let me know who will mint' from there by Tues 'ay. ("Signed) Wade Williams." As stated above, this letter by mistake was received by another party than the out* to whom it was addressed. This party, a negro, states that he started to put the letor back in the postofhoe, but realizing the serious nature of its contents, he turned it over to Chief of Police MeCombs. The chief of police immediately consulted with Sheriff McMillan and these two with several other representative citizens began the investigation. The negro who had received the letter, having himself been a resident of Ninety-Six was most closely questioned. He let it be known that lie knew something of what was or had been going on among the colored people at Ninety-Six. Expressing fear for his own safety he was reluctant to divulge anything. Repeated questioning finally brought out the statement that two negoe societies at Ninety-Six had been indulging in inilencinry talk against the whites in their secret orders for some time. Thoso talks had been more frequent] find more violent since the recent! trouble at Ninety-Six, as the result if the local election on the matter of issuing bonds to build a school house. The negro did not connect any white person at all with these talks, but stated that the talks were original with the negroes and confined ex-' dusivolv to their own secret orders. He stated that the negro Odd Fellow's Lodge at Ninety-Six was taking an active interest in the matter, is were the members of another secret society among the negroes, known, as the "Knights of the Guiding Star of the East." He stated that x committee from each of these lodges had been appointed to have a conference with each other as to the purchase of guns, and to do certain ither things, so he had been informed. After considerable parleying he consented to go to Ninety-Six nnd ittend the meeting of the negro Old Fellows on Thursday night, this beng their regular meeting to-night. He stated before going that he did lot know whether he wou.u be nllow?d to get in the lodge or not, as he was behind in his dues. Money was ;iven him to pay up his dues and he eft Greenwood for Ninety-Six. On Friday he returned nnd as proof of the fact that he had been to* Ninety-Six ind had attended the meet ng, ho brought book with him his uemborshlp card on which the paynent of his duos had boon rocoiptod ind datod at Ninety-Six the night bolore, and countersigned by the regular officers of the lodge, who were residents of Ninety-Six. This negro reported to those who lad sent him that he attendod the meeting of the lodge and that after the regular business had been disposed of in the lodge an executive session was called. That he asked to bo allowed to remain to ttlis executive session, but that hc^was not allowed to remain until he had mud** a tierce denunciatory speech against the whites. After that he was allowed to take part in the executive session. At this session all of th?* facts connected with the proposed beginn- , ing of the light were discussed and four white citizens of Ninety-Six were named as victims. A wua 'ingested in the letter to liartie M lis, published above, 11 \?as stateu that the white people of Ninety-Six would Idame any shooting that might take place on the Tolberts, and that the negroes would not be suspected. The four men selected were well known citizens of Nin??t'>Si\ and if was stated that others? might be chosen later, such developments depending on the outcome of the first venture. It was also stated that the Itev. Jackson, men'lotted in the letter, had raised a fund of $7t> towards buying a dozen Winchester rifles in Savannah, (la. The plan of getting these rilles to Ninety-Six was aiso discussed. Some VOill'S HIm cnm.1 1{??1~ : ? uwiin uiui- ? a n mcnt was caused at Ninety-Six by tin? fact that some eight or ten negroes had ordered Winchester rides. These negroes stated that they wished then) for protection aistinst rowdy members of their own \jiire. They readily gave them up when the white people demanded them and thus the matter ended. Having this episode mind the negroes stated that ii would not he sale to have any guns shipped to Ninety-Six, so it was proposed to have a young negro, named Davega Williams, one of those now in jail, and a son of Wade Williams, the secretary of the Odd Fellows' Lodge, go to Savannah to purchase the guns. Ostensibly he would go to Clallin University. carrying a j trunk. Instead of going to Claflin he would proceed to Savannah, buy the I guns and return as far as Dyson's, (which is the next station below Ninety-Six owards Columbia. He would t get off there with a trunk in which the guns would have been safely packed, and in this way the guns could he distributed without any suspicion being aroused. The floods iu-.. tercforred with his going to Savannah and hack at the time first appointed. Whether or not any other guns were secured is not. known. However, according to the negro informer, the first attack was to have been made on Sunday night. September 1 :t. it being stated that the moon I would he about right so far as darkness was concerned at that time If all of this be true it seems providential that the letter addressed to the Harris negro did not road^.hini,. 11.111 nil iiiio me 11 Mil (Is of t l?o shT'rir'f through the medium of another poison. for Saturday morning Sheriff McMillan started out with warrants for all of the ringleaders, and by noon had them safely lodged in the county jail. As stated in the beginning only a few people at Ninety-Six knew anything about the matter, [and it is possible that if all of the [facts had been known the eleven I negroes might never have been allowed to leave the town. However, the I matter was well managed, and the negroes were brought there and put 't jail without any bodily barn; being done to them. Saturday afternoon one of them / ailed to the sheriff and stated that they did not want a preliminary hearing then. This procedure if adhered to will mean that the whole dozen will remain in jail there until the next term of Court of Ceneral Sessions. A large number of white people at Ninety Six think the whole thing is a fake. They think the informer is up to "spite work." and is simply trying to get. the white people worked tip against certain negro enemies of hi^A /There is no excitement either here or at NinetySix whatever. The affair has caused considerable talk, of course, but there is no excitement whatever. Cltl'KIIKD TO DKATH. M..I. V. >* ? , ii.-^ht n imih^ .mui in r n>rn <>l Moving Train. The wild rush of several hundred men and women, most of them returning from a Sunday base ball game, to boabrd a train at Fair Haven, Pa., at 9.30 o^lo.ck Wednesday night, caused the, death of Wallace Wilson, aged 27, who was pushed in front of the train as it pulled into the station, by the crowding mass of people, endeavoring to board the train. The heroism of Miss MeCleary. almost saved Wilson's life, the girl clinging to him to the very last minute in an effort to save him from falling in front of the train. Stanley Dingo and Frank Goaria were also badly crushed by beh? pushed between two cars of the traik. by the excited crowd. WANT TAFT DKFFATKD. Mehlgan State Federation of Labor iviioun^s Him. At Lousing, Mich., resolutions denouncing William H. Taft, as an enemy of labor and local prohibition as an invasion of the personal reports of ctizens were adopted by the State Federation of Labor in session Thursday. Only one dissenting vote was received when the antiTafter's name was offered. i /