Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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^ AS HE SEES IT CMuabsitatr WaUea Sajs the Far* V a i Nail Held Cettea. HOW IT APPfARS TO HIM Tells of Ills Observations on a Trip w . .Through the South, and Gives it . .as His Opinion that the Farmers Are Making a Mistake to Sell Their Cotton Now. "I don't hesitate to say that the man who is now taking his cotton ^ to market is the most gigantic fool that the world has any record of, and, speaking in all seriousness, there ought to be some law that would punish him for deliberately robbing his wife and children from what they are entitled by the law of supply and demand." This statement was made recently by E. J. Watson, commissioner of agriculture of South Carolina and pres^ ident of the permanent cotton congress of the South, in discussing the situation in reference to the marketing of cotton, lie is of the opinion y that the cotton caterpillar is a blessing in disguise. "To me, as president of the Southern Cotton congress," said Mr. Wat"111 (l n 1'iKt WPP.k while cotton has been falling in price to the vicinity of nine cents, have come many and varied communications bearing upon the situation. On top of it all has come the appearance of the cotton boll worm, commonly known as the cotton caterplilar, and mistakenly described as the "army worm." This last i regard as a blessing in disguise. Why the farmers of the State should become panic stricken over the appearance of the worm at this stage of the game, when he cannot possibly cause a loss of over $50, 000 for the entire-State in his work uttstti lafn nlmilfiil rnttoil. while tWO p such counties as Orangeburg and Newberry can cause a greater loss by ^ their farmers taking their cotton to market at this time, is something that it is hard to understand from the standpoint of business. "I regard the appearance of the cotton worm as a blessing, in that it shows how quickly the farmer will respond to a present moment danger when it appears upon his own door^ step. Multiply the cotton boll worm thousands of times and set him upon the doorstep of the average farmer and perhaps you will see a realization of what it means to play into the haryls of the bears, upon perfectly natural lines, and give away $2;1 per bale on cotton by taking it to market at present. I don't hesitate to say that the man who is now taking his f cotton to market is the most gigantic fool that the world has any record of, and, speaking in all seriousness, there ought to be some law that would punish him for deliberately robbing his wife and children from what they are entitled to by the law of supply and demand. It is indeed a pitiable spectacle that a lot of ignorant and ^ frightened farmers are making of themselves and their country by rushin.; their cotton to market. "The bears in New Pork, most of them Sou I horn 111011, I am sorry 10 say, who are traitors for money, to their country, and I mean t he nation ^ at large, have simply done what intelligent men would do. They have taken advantage of the fact that I he crop has opened all over the belt three weeks earlier than ever known and they had good sense enough to put their buyers in the field and show to the world larger receipts at interior points and ports than have ever been known before. Watch them reach the harvest on the spots just obtained in this way. And you can't l-' aiiv mnn would have 1 IJI.llllt* lllCllli ....... * done the same thing. "They know full well that the world demands at present 1 (>,000,000 bales of cotton, and they have simply collected the premium on ignorj ance that the Southern producer has up to this time ever been ready and willing to pay. The truth of the matter is that the average farmer doesn't give a continental about the economic side of his crop. He don't even know what becomes of it when he sells it to a cotton buyer at an average of two grade less than it really is, and the pity of it all ho doesn't care, lie believes any lie that is sent out from any old cotton firm, and I don't hesitate to say it, from even the United States government, as witnessed by recent reports, and doesn't give the snap of his lnger about the business end of the proposition. "I picked up the New York American of Sunday and looked at Ranlett's ^ summary of the cotton situation. The head lines told the story, saying 'selllug by the South alone responsible for decline in the last few months.' Mr. Ranlett, very properly, charges the South itself with being alone responsible for the decline in price in the last few month, and the Southern producer ought to hang his head in shame at the co<wardice he has displayed in rushing his cotton to market. "Over in Montgomery, the other day, several thousand men Southern ; J men interested in cotton assembled to take action looking to an intelligent marketing of the crop. At that time it was not even partially apparent that cotton would open three weeks earlier than it has ever been known to do, and that the situation that exists today would develop in spite of any retractive movement, no matter how intelligent or forceful it might be. A wise policy was decided upon and it was determined to apply Southern brain to the financing of the distressed cotton. The latter, however, could not be done all in the twinkling of an eye, the opening: occurred earlier than anybody could expect. Every man there knew that there was a certain proportion of distressed cotton that would either have to go to market or be financed. This nr>tton luis about all gone to the mar ket, and tho effect of it has been reflected in the phenomenal drop in price; that drop on its face seems alarming, but it Is not frightening those who are handling, to the best of their ability, the situation. I don't know whether Mr. Barrett is going to be able to secure the French-English loan or not, but I do know that if every man in the South, who can at this moment possibly hold a bale of cotton, even his own house, or front yard, will do so proper price for cotton is as certain to be obtained as the sun shines, for as I have said, the world demand at this moment is for 1G,000,000 bales, and nothing stands between an honest price, regulated by the law of supply and demand, but dense ignorance on the part of tho producer coupled with the shrewdness of the bear gambler in Wall street and New Orleans. In its late analysis the whole thing is nothing more or less than a holding proposition. "And speaking of holding 1 wish to say that 1 have just been through the country, across the States of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and I believe, honestly, that the plain farmer has been awakening to the situation. All <he way from Virginia to Edgefield county in this State, I passed only six farm wagons loaded with cotton going to market. We found some gigantic fools on public squares willing to rob their own flesh and blood, but tbis condition was rare. All along the road from Salisburg, N. C., via Charlotte, Lancaster, Kershaw and Camden, while not more than 30 per cent, of the cotton had been picked, I found farmer after farmer stacking up his cotton in his front yard. From 10 to 2f> bales was an average. I found also that these men were using the piazzas of their homes, and in a score of instances one or two rooms of their residences for the storage of picked but as yot unginned cotton. In other words, there is every evidence that the distressed cotton, which it is necessary to take to market at a given time, has already been sold, and sold at that under stimulation of hear influence, to the material interest of those who naturally would hammer down the price of cotton. I understand thac this i3 the situation at Miis n.omer.l all over the cotton belt, and as fai rs I have been advised the determination now to hold cotton for self-proiection is general all the way from the Atlantic to Texas. I h.'.ve hut one word of advice and that is to tell every man who can by any means whatsoever hold a bale of cotton to do it. Even if he runds insurance risk it is his hounden duty for the protection of his own family to hold every hale that he possibly can. T don't think that I have exaggerated or enlarged upon tiio condition. We arc face to face with a crisis in the South. It is useless to wait for federal interference. It.is, therefore, as I said at Montgomery, up to the individual farmer to handle this situation to a plain, huicness-like., manly way. If he doesn't do it;, then the hears are the bosses and he is the slave, allotted for the marketing of America's groat mouiopoly crop can prevent the scheme of robbery that those who are conducting it are justified in practicing." FELL ASLEEP IX SHIP'S HOLD. +. And Narrowly Missed Doing Carried to Liverpool. Nothing but tho courtesy of Capt. Stcinbridge, master of the English cotton steamer Berwinmoor, prevented Alfred Stiles, colored, of Savannah, from becoming a temporary subject of King George, of England. Stiles fell asleep in the hold of the steamer Pa than, which sailed from Savannah for Liverpool on October 1 and did not awak until the following day when the steamer was 200 miles at sea. After hard work he forced his way out of the vessel's hold through tho battened hatches and told his story to the captain. The Berwinmoor was signalled in passing; a small boat put out from the Pathon carrying Stiles to the Berwinmoor. There was some difficulty! in making the transfer on account of the rough seas. But Stiles was landed at Newport News, Va., where he wired Savannah for funds to return. Tho Pathan continued to Livepool. Mule Killed by Automobile. An automobile owned by a Mr. Smith of Newry was returning to that place from Westminister Saturday, when six miles south of Westminister the machine struck J. P. Martin, who was leading a mule. The mule was killed. The automobile was slightly injured, but did not disable Mr. Mar-, tin, who is a prosperous farmer. . CHINA REBELS f Meuiaeot the Part tf Pceple fer a R poblicrn Gafenntat f SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY I'prisings Come Willi Revolutionists j Well Organized mid Financially i Uliionir atwl Tliolp Itllllku ' JII - by Mutinous Chinese Troops Cities Captured and Many Killed. A cablegram from Hankow, China, says the revolution which has been banging over China for months past and of which the rising in the province of Sze-Chuen was only a small part has .begun in earnest. It is a concerted movement to take the Em- ] pire and dtjclare a Republic. i he noted exiled revolutionist, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, leader of the anti-Man- ' chu party, if the plans do not mis- 1 carry, is to be elected President. He ; 1 was the delegate of the revolutionary party to the United States, in 1910, and is believed during that tour to 1 have made arrangements for financ ing the movement. Sun Yu, a brother of Sun Yat Sen, who is now in Hankow, has been ! elected President of the Ptovincial 1 Assembly, and Tang Una Tiling, the retiring President of the Assembly, 1 and a noted scholar, has been elected Governor at Hu-l'e-h. The v hole As- ! sembly has seceded from the Imper- 1 ial Government. 1 The rebels are well organized and ' financially strong. They have con- ' fiscated the local treasuries and the banks and are issuing their own pa- < per money, redeeming the Govern- 1 ments notes with thto, as foreign i banks are refusing Government ' notes. The revolutionists have captured Wu Chang, the native section : of Hankow, and Han-Yang and all adjoining cities in ITu-Peh province. Chang Sha, capital of Hunan, is J reported to -have risen in revolt and Nanking, capital of the province of Kiang-Su, is on the verge of rising, ' several public buildings having been destroyed. Thousands of soldiers have joined ' the mutiny in I-Iu-Peh. Many Man- : ehus have been killed and (lie terrified people are fleeing from the cities s into the country, carrying their be longings. The prisons have been opened and ' criminals liberated. There has been 1 fighting in the streets, but the most ' stringent orders have been issued that the lives of foreigners and their property shall lie respected. AVKX(iEI) SISTEIl'S DISCKACE. 1 . ] On the C*round That lie Kuiued a i Girl Mail Is Killed. At Nashville, Tenn., E. \V. Carroll was shot five times Wednesday ( afternoon and killed by Weaver Smith, who charges that the dead man ruined his 13Jyear-old sister, Caroline Smith, who disappeared at Nashville last Sunday, and was found ; two days later in a deserted house near the city, in company with Ed '1 urbeville. Carol and Smith are both railway 1 firemen and had been friends for 1 years. Carol is 35 years old and married, while Smith is 22. Carol had lived at the Smith home lor more than a year and in this manner be- ' came acquainted with the girl he is ; charged with having wronged. After the capture of Turleville in 1 company with Caroline Smith, Turbe- ' ville is said to have charged that Carol w:is resnonsible for the girl's downfall. The story reached the ears of the father and brother of tho child and on Wednesday afternoon : Weaver Smith went to the railway yaids and found Carol preparing to ieave on his engine for Chattanooga. ( At the point of a pistol Smith lore- ' ed Carol to accompany him to the 5 Smith home where Caroline was con- ' fronted with the man and told that 1 she must tell the truth about* her 1 relations with Carol, whereupon tne ' girl told the entire sfory of her ruin, which she said was accomplished by : Carol about a year a 20. Weaver Smith then fired several shots into Carol's body with fatal effect. . . . Dispensary Profits Distributed. The State says the city of Columbia received a check for $20,202, this being its share in the dispensary profits for the quarter ending September 1. The county and county board of education will also be sent checks. The total profits for Richland amounted to $58,4 04.94. Family Left the House. A report from Pleasant Grove in Chester county says a man named Waddell went to the store to get "Paris green" to kill the cotton worms because when the sun got hot they swarmed into his house, overruning the bed and forcing his family to leave the house. Found Dead in Corn Field. Mr. Martin Rivers, ajged about 60 years, who lived near Hampton, was found dead in his corn field, where he was harvesting a crop of corn. The cause of his death is supposed to have been heart failure. INSECT INVASION THE STATE BEING OVERRUN BY MANY KINDS OF RESTS. this Is An Object I.esson That May Be Profitable If We Profit By It. It does not require scientific knowledge but merely ordinary observa:ion to convince the farmer and other citizens that South Carolina is now receiving an invasion of insect without parallel in the present generadon. I'!"" Il'ii'lr Hiiof lo hji rirldlpd I lie & 1 II V I'll 1 II 1- V V V.V/ a %*M . the pines of the Up-Country and is rapidly movini eastward into the Sieat commercial pine belt. In ordsr to check that insect energetic measures must be undertaken and kept up for a number of years. The' Pea Curculio did immense damage in certain sections early in the year by cutting off cotton blooms and reports from Whitmire, in Newberry county, and elsewhere show that the Melancholy Hose Beetle is repeating what he accomplished two years ago in other sections. Several small invasions of grasshoppers, resulting in wiping out small fields of corn (one of forty acres near Columbia and one of thirty acres in Aiken County) are also indications of far worse to come. The whole Up-Country is being swept by a mosquito plague that in certain towns mis reaoieu unui muun proportions. Greenville has been carrying 011 a war against these pests through its health oflice. Capt. 1*. S Land, ol' Columbia, lor many years a conductor 011 the old Columbia and Greenville railroad, says that thirty years ago mosquitos were practically unknown from Greenville to Columbia a statement that any old citizen will con linn. The list of destructive insects, now for the first time in evidence, is a long one, and space is lacking merely to chronicle it. Enough has been said to call attention to a most sinister and important fact. At the last session of the General Assembly I appeared before committee 011 Fish, Forestry and Game and stated to that body that "before the lioll Weevil arrived there would be such an outbreak of insects as would jar the teeth in their heads." They niii I'otnonihr r that nredictiou. which lias already come true, although more is to follow. If any member af that committee has any doubt in his mind, he has only to go into the Up-Country and see for himself. The situation has been brought about by a rapidly diminshing bird supply, which the General Assembly lias done nothing to check, for nothing but nominal protection is accorded birds, there being 110 way whereby the laws can be enforced. In the case of the Pine Dank Beetle Dr. F. E. L. Heel, of the Biological Survey, writes me that Scolytid beetles (the genus to which the Pine ark Beetle belongs) have been found not only in the stomachs of woodeckers, which tear off the bark to get eit them, but also in the stomachs of niglithawks, flycatchers and other birds whose food is taken 011 the wing. The loss of birds has meant an outbreak of beetles and the farmer pays the freight. It is also true that niglithawks (or bullbats) along with martins, chimney swifts and swallows, feed very largely 011 mosquitoes, taking thousands at a meal. Inasmuch as these birds must till their stomachs from eight time to ten times daily, one can see what an enormous amount of mosqu'toes would be carried off by I linm Ill other words, so long as those birds wore plentiful and unmolested mosquitoes were kept within the bounds sot by nature. With the birds destroyed below the point of cfllciency, the pests spread. Nighthawks (bullbats) have been reported is being shot at different points all hver the State, but this department is powerless to take effective action without money to hire wardens and Lo prosecute cases. It is nothing less than a special ict of Providence that the Cotton ! caterpillars (called Army worms generally) came so late in the season, otherwise the first crop would have 50ne the way of the top crop. Now it does not matter what any man's previous notions have been, ic must, recognize facts when he seeS hem, if he is an honest man. More jvor I have told tho General Assembly that they need not believe my msupported word, but that the government. scientists will furnish them ndependent information as to the situation whenever they ask for it. If what I have told them does not jonform to the facts, there is an easy ,vay to prove it. Hut the General Assembly has not lone this. No action has been taken o get information; nothing has been lone to protect the farmers of the State, and if tho cotton Boil Weevil finds the State unprepared, then the nen charged with the rsponsibility will bo liable to the grave charge of jriminal carelessness with a public trust. It is the duty of the General Assembly to take steps at once to safeguard the interests of the farmers of the State. There is no time to waste and no time to argue with Individ HIT AT OLD BEN Go?. BItast D,ibts (be Tiotbfnluis of Senator ni!mat/s LETTER TO BOSE CREWS Governor Blease Says lie Believes . .Senator Tillman Was in a Combination With ltichartls to Bring Out Chief Jest ice Jones for Governor in the Next Election. The Spartanburg Herald says surrounded by a constantly argumented thro nig: of admirers at the Argyle hotel Friday night, Governor Cole L. Hlease freely expressed his views on different subjects to a reivorter for the Herald and disclosed something of his plans. He made it plain that notwithstanding Senator 11. It. Tillman s denial, he believed there was truth in the story published by W. T. Crews, editor of the Greenwood News-Scimitar, to the effect that Senator Tillman and Maj. John G. ltichards, Jr.. had plotted to bring out Cheif Justice Ira R. Jones, of the supreme court, as a candidate, to defeat him for governor. Ho said he believed the program had been to elect Maj. Richards lieutenant governor. Then, if Senator Tillman was compelled for any reason to give up his seat in the Senate, Justice Jones would take his place and Maj. Richards would step into step in-?.c- . . . .IT. . . . etaoi shrdluu the governor's chair. Kv poets to Itcnt Jones. "I am going to bo reelected," said Governor Hlease, when asked if he would say anything concerning politices. "I will beat Jones by a bigger majority than the one by which I defeated Feat herstone, and if Tillman's man Richards is a candidate I will beat them both." Another interesting statement of the governor was that he intended to remedy conditions at the hosiery mill of the State penitentiary through legislation to be enacted by the general assembly at its approaching session. Hristling up at the suggestion that the legislature might not be amendable to his wishes, he said: "They better had. That's all 1 have to say". Continuing, Governor Hlease said "that little grand jury" in Richland county, which found the hoisery mill to be sanitary, had sot itself against some of the best physicians in the State. He mentioned physicians who he said, declared the hoisery mill was a disease breeder, and said he was marshalling his facts for submission to the legislature. It was foolish the governor said, for laymen to set themselves against experts. For instance, lie said, the floors and walls and ceiling of the Argyle hotel seemed to be clean and sanitary. Hut suppose, he suggested that expert physicians should say that the walls and ceiling were infested with disease germs; would a reasonable layman attempt to contradict them? This, he sad, was the case with the hosiery mill. Speaking of legislation which he would commend to the general asembly, Governor Hlcase said lie would try to obtain the passage of a law establishing two cents a mil as a flat rate for passenger transportation 011 the steam railroads of the State. This, he said, would obviate the mileage nuisance and made it possible for poor people to travel short distances as cheaply as wealthy people. Under the law he proposes, he said, a passenger who was traveling te.11 miles could buy a ticket for L'O^cents, or give the conductor I'd cents or give the conductor ten miles of mileage, as was most convenient. If the railpeople did net trust their conductors, he asserted, they ought to discharge them and <eet men whom they could trust; and if he wore, a conductor and his employers did not trust hini he would quit his position. The governor said he would also recommend to the legislature all the measures ho recommended before which were not passed. "C* * Found Killed in Saloon. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kraft, proprietors of a road house seven miles from Detroit, were murdered in their saloon Saturday night, and the police are searching for Charles Fuller, a former employe. A daughter of the murdered couple claims Fuller shot at her and missed and then killed her parents. The tragedy followed a quarrel between the girl and Fuller. Charged With Attempted Assault. Two negroes, Charles Gaines and Raymond Vraigwell, were put in jail at Murphysboro, 111. in connection /ith the attempted assault on a young woman last week. While the sheriff denies that one of the negroes has been identified as the man who grabbed the girl, it is currently reported nals. The law should be passed and tho people informed afterwards, for it is their own fault if they do not know now. Ignorance is always costly In this Instance It will be fatal. James Henry Rice Jr. BRYAN DARtS TAFT 1 * COMMONER CHALLENGES . THE PRESIDENT TO PUBLISH M The Names of the Men on Whose Recommendation He Appointed Supreme Court Judges. In an editorial appearing in TheCommoner this week Mr. Bryan challenges President Taft to make public the written and verbal recommendations on which ho appointed JusticeWhite to the position of chief justice over Justice Marian and recommendations, written and verbal, on which he appointed tlie justices whom he has placed on the supreme bench. The editorial says in part: "At Cherryville, Kan., the president repeated the challenge he issued at Detroit to Mr. Bryan to produce an example of restraint of trade that would not comet within tho scope ot the supreme court decisions in tho Standard Oil and Tobacco Trust cases. "He spoke of tho criticism as glit>. It would he a reflection on tre president's intelligence to assume that he expects his remarks on the trust question to be taken seriously. "He knows that Mr. Bryan has only reiterated the criticisms contained in his dissenting: opinion of Justice Harlan and in the report of tho senate judiciary committee tiled by Senator Nelson three years ago. "Justice Harlan and Senator Nelson pointed out that the amendment written into the law by the supremo court practically nullified the criminal clause of the anti-trust law.. Replying on tho authorities cited by Jus t ice Harlan and Senator Nelson, Mr. Bryan has asserted and asserts again that it will be found practically impossible to convict a trust magnato in a. criminal court. "Docs the president believe a criminal conviction possible? If so, why docs he hesitate to prosecute the officials of the Standard Oil and Tobacco companies "Mr. Ilryan challenges Mr. Taft to make public the written and verbal recommendations upon which he appointed Justice Willi to to the position of chief justice over Justice Harlan and the recommendations, written and verbal, on which he appointed the justices whom he had placed on the supreme bench. Did be know how they stood on trust questions or was it purely accidental that all of his appointees took the trust side of the question?" SAYS II10 WILL HEAT JONES, Kepeats Statement About the Statesman Without a Job. The Daily Piedmont says Govern or Rlease, who spoilt the greater part of Friday in Greenville announced that he had accepted the resignation of Chief Justice Jones, tendered by that otlicial several weeks ago and followed the next day by the Chief Justice's announcement that he would? be In the race for Governor next year. The public has been of theopinion that the governor would accept the resignation, but no oflicfall announcement to this effect has been) made until now. The resignation takes place January Oth. The governor. on talking of the gubernatorial race and the proposed candidacy of Chief Justice Jones, said ho would' repeat his statement made recently in Charleston, that "Mr. Jones would after January Oth be a statesman without a job. lie said he was more hopeful of his enemies than ever and that, he would beat Jones and all other candidates run in opposition to him." STANDS NY 11IS IWHDONS. Gov. HIease Says lie Has No Apologies to Make For Them. The Spartanburg correspondent of The News and Courier says Gov. Rlease in speaking of the pardons that he had granted, said that ho had no apologies to make in that respect, for when he looked into it and.found, n his judgment, the party was worthy of being pardoned he would turn tliein loose. He also told ot an interesting ease of a little girl who wanted him to free her brother from the Heformatory to help provide a living for her mother, who was an invalid. Gov. Blease said rather than to have turned that girl down he would have resigned from the Governor's chair. Iio stated that he was not through pardoning convicts yet; that there were many others in the Penitentiary that he intended to free. Many Horses Are Dying. The Beaufort Gazette says horses continue to die on the islands. Ninety-six head have d'ed on Hilton Head and a great many on St. Helena and Ladies' Island. This Is a great loss to the people of these islands and they should bo given help by the community. White Man Killed in < hi. II. C. Popo, a white man living several miles from Sumter, was cut in a gin Thursday shortly aftea noon and died from the shock. .