The Horry herald. (Conway, S.C.) 1886-1923, January 29, 1914, Image 6

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TALK OF TRUSTS p ' ? : , OVTIilNKS PLAN IX) HAN- , IMiK HKa 1U1HINKHS. ' | ? ! TO MEET IT HALF WAY I ? i Pimidrmt Heads llis to Ui? < actxa and Senate in Joint Session t ??Sn^gest? Scope of legislation ; and .Mnki's Personal Appeal for A ti iMtvKpliere of l'YioudJiness. i-resiaeni v\ lison personally laid before a joint session of congress Tuesday the fundamental principles Of the Democratic administration's 1 program for dealing with trusts and 1 "big business". The president presented the ease, he said, "as it lies 1 in the thought of*the country." "We are now about to write the nddition.il ' articles of our conslituion of peace," 1 said ho president, "the peace that is ' honor and freedom and prosperity." ' Besides suggesting the scope of legislation, tho president made a per- 1 Honnl appeal for an atmosphere of ' friendliness and cooperation in congress while handling the problem. The chief points which tho presi- 1 <4ont singled out as a basis for leg- 1 Mat ion were: 1 J. MfTectual prohibition of the in- ( tea-locking directorates of great cor- ! porations?banks, railroads, Indus- ' tria I, commercial and public service 5 bed i os. 2. A law to confer upon the interstate commerce commission tho power to superintend and regulate the 11- ' najK'ial operations by which railroads ? henceforth aro to he supplied with the money they need for their proper development and improved transpor- ! tation facilities. 3. Deflnilion of the many hurtful restraint of "trade" by explicit legislation supplementary to the Sherman law. 4. The creation of a commission to aid the courts and to act as a clear- ; lap liouso of information in helping business to conform with the law. Si. Provision of penalties and punishments to fall upon individuals reoponsiblo Tor unlawful busines practice#. 5. Prohibition of holding companies and a suggestion that the voting pawor of individuals holding shares In numerous corporations might be restricted. 7. Giving private individuals the right to found suits for redress on facts and judgments proved in government suits and providing that the statute of limitations should run only from tho date of conclusion of the government's actions. Tho President spoke as follows: "Gentlemen of tho Congress: "In ray report 'On the State of the Union,' which 1 had the privilege of reading to you on tho second of December last, I ventured to reserve for discussion at a later date the subjoct of additional legislation regarding tho very difficult and intricate matter of trusts and monopolies. The time now seems opportune to turn to that grcwt quoatlon; not only because the currency legislation is now disposed of, but also because opinion seems to be clearing about us with singular rapidity in this other great field of action. In respect of tho monopolies it seems to be coming to a clear and all but universal agreement in anticipation of our action, making the way easier to see and easier to get out upon with confidence and without confusion of ocunsel. ".Legislation has its atmosphere like everything else and the present atmosphere of accommodation and mutual understanding is matter of Blneero congratulation. It ought to make our task very much less difficult and embarrassing. Constructive legislation, when successful, is always the embodiment of convicning experience. Legislation is a business of Interpretation, not of origination, and it Is now plain what tho opinion is to which we must give effect in this ;matter. Tt is not recent or hasty oplnidn. It springs out of the experience of a whole generation. It has clarified itself by long contest and those who for a long time battled with it and sought to change it are now frankly and honorably yielding to it and seeking to conform their actions to It. Tho Scale Yields. "The great business men who or ganifced and financed monopoly and those who admired it in actual everyday transactlonB have year after year until now either denied itb existence or Justified it aa necessary for the effective maintenance and development of the vast business processes in the country in the modern clrcuin1 atancee of trade and manufacture's finance; hut all the while opinion has ' made bead against them. At last the t masters of business on the great 1 scale have begun to yield their pre1 ference and purpose, perhaps their Judgment also, in honorable surren1 der. ? "What wo are proposing to do, T therefore, is not to interfere with n business as enlightened business men prefer to do it, or in any sense to 1 put it under the ban. The antagon0 fam between business and government !s over. We are now about to give expression to the best business ML.*,,, udgmont of America, to what wo mow to bo the business conscience md honor of the land. Thie-governnent and business men are ready to meet each other half-way *in a common effort to square business woth3ds with both public opinion and the law. That Is the strength of our position and the sure prophesy of what will ensue when oar reasonable Work is done. "When serloss oontest ends, whei mi suited is opinion and purpose, those who are te change their ways of business, Joining with those who ask for the change. It Is poeslble to pffect it In the way In which prudent and thoughtful and patriotic men wish to see it brought about, with aB few, as slight, as easy and simple business readjustments as possible, nothing torn up by tho roots, no parts rent assunder which can be left in wholesome combination. Fortunately, no measures of sweeping or novel change arc necessary. It will bo understood that our object is not to unsettle business or anywhere seriously lo break its established courses athwart. On tho contrary, we desire the aws we aro now about to pass to be lie bulwarks and safeguards of inlustry against the forces that have listurbed it. What wo have to do can ho done in a new spirit, in houhtful moderation, w'thout revolution of an untoward kind. 1 ndcfeiisible. "Wo aro all agreed that 'private monopoly Is Indefensible and intolerable,' and our program Is founded upon tliat conviction. It will bo a comprehensive, but not a radical program and these aro its items, the chances which nninlnn flnllhrkr-nfnlv sanctions and for which bsiness waits: "It waits with acquisence for laws which will effectually prohibit and prevent such interlocking of the permtmel of the directorates of great corporations-?banlts rind railroads, Industrial, coniinercial and public service bodies-?as in effect result in making those who borrow and those who lend practically one and the same; those who sell and those who buy hut the same persons trading with one another under different names and in different combinations, and those who affect to compete in fact partners arid masters of some whole field of business. Sufficient lime should be allowed in which to effect these changes of organization without inconvenience of confusion. "Such a prohibition will work much more than a merq^ negative good by correcting the serious evils which havo arisen, because the men who have been the directing spirits of the great investment banks have usurped the place which belongs to Independent industrial management working in its own behalf. "In the second place, business men as well as those who direct public affairs now recognize with painful clearness the great harm and injustice which has been done to many, If not all, of the great railroad systems of tho country l>y the way In which they havo been financed and their own distinctive Interests subordinated to tho interest of the men who financed them and of other business enterprises which thoso men wish to promote. Tho country is ready to accept with relief and approval, a law which will confer upon tho interstate commerce commission the power to superintend and regulate tho financial operations by which the railroads are henceforth to he supplied with tho money they need for their proper development to meet tho rapid growing requirements of tho country for increased and improved transportation facilities. Upon this question those who are chiefly responsible for the actual management and operation of tho railroads have spoken plainly and earnestly, with ?a purpose we ought to be quick to accept. It will bo ono step, and a very important one, toward tho necessary separatk 11 of the business of production from tho business of transportation. llu.siiicss Waits. "The business of the country awaits and has suffered because it could not obtain, further and more explicit legislative aenniuon or tnc polltcy and moaning of tho existing anti-trust law. Surely, wo aro sufficiently familiar with tho actual processes and methods of monopoly and tho many hurtful restraints of trade to make definition possible, at an> rate up to the limits of what experience has disclosed. These practices can be explicitly forbidden by statute in such terms as will practicallj eliminate uncertainty, the law itsell and the penalty being mado equallj plain. "Business men of the country de siro something more than that th< menace of legal process in these mat ters bo mado explicit and intelligible They desire tho advice, the deflniti guidance and information which car bo supplied by an administrate body, an interstate trade commission "The opinion of the country wouli instantly approve of such a commis slon. It would not wish to seo i empowered to make terms with mon opoly or In any sort to assume con trol of business as If the govornraen made Itself responsible. It demand such a commission only as an indls penslble Instrument of lnformatlo and publicity, as a clearing: house fo the facts by which both the publl mind and the managers of great bus Iness undertakings should be guided as an lnsrumentallty for doing Ju? tlce to business where tho proccssc of tho courts or the natural force I of correction outRlde tho courts aro inadequate to adjust tho remedy to j tho wrong In a way that will mcen all tho equities and circumstances of the caso. llulf Way. "Inasmuch as our object Is to meet business half-way In Its processes of self-correction and disturb Its legitimate course aw little as possible, we ought to see to It that penalties and punishments should fall, not upon business Itself, but upon the Individuals who sss ths Instrumentalities of business to do things which public policy and sound business practice condemn. These should be held Individually responsible and the punishment should fall upon them, not upon tho business organization of which they make Illegal use. It should bo one of the main objects of our legislation to divest such persons of their corporate cloak and deal with them as with thoso who do not represent their corporations, but merely by deliberate intentions break tho law. "Other questions remain which will need very thoughtful and practical treatment. Enterprises, in these modern days of great individual fortunes, are oftentimes interlocked, by tho fact that the greater part of their corporate siock is owned by a single person or group of persons who are, in some way intimately related in interest. Wo are agreed, I take it, that holding companies should he prohibited, but what of the controlling private ownership of individuals or actually co-operative groups of individuals? Shall the private owners of capital stock be suffered to ho themselves in effect holding companies? Shall wo require the owners of stock, when their voting power in several companies which ought to ho independent of one another would constitute actual control, to make election in which of them they will exercise the right to vote? This question I venture for your consideration. I ndividiials. "There is another matter in which imperativo consideration of justice and fair play suggest thoughtful remedial action. Not only do many of the combinations affected or sought to be effected in the industrial world work an injustice upon the public in general; they also directly and seriously injure the individuals who are put out of business in one unfair way or another by the many dislodging and exterminating forces of combination. I hope that we shall agree in giving privato individuals who claim to have been injured by these processes the right to found their suits for redress upon the facts and judgments proved and entered in suits by the government where the government has upon its own initiative sued the combinations complained of and won its suit, and that flirt ofoflifrt r\ P 1 1 - 11 1? vi>u oiuiutu v/I IllllllUllUlin SSI1H11 DO suffered to run against such litigants only from tho dato of tho conclusion of the government's action. l'lain Obligations. "I have laid tho case beforo you, no doubt as it lies in your own mind, as it lies in the thought of the country. What must every candid man say of the suggestions I have laid before you, of the plain obligations of which I have reminded you? That these aro new things for which the country is not prepared? No; but that they aro old things, now familiar, and must be undertaken if we aro to square out laws with the thought and desire of the country. I'ntil these things aro done, conscien tlous business men the country over will be unsatisfied. They are in these tilings our mentors and 'colleagues. We are now about to write tho additional articles of our constitution of peace, the peace that is honor and fron,lr>ni ?,,,/! nnnmni-lto " ..vi.v.w... .C..W |llUD^OIH,J, A1UIK8TS SlISPIK TS. Negro Implicates Two Others in Murder and Arson Crime. Sheriff Owings and Deputy Shoriff Held of Laurens made two arrests Monday in connection with tho kill' ing of George P. Young at his home 1 at Stomp Springs a week ago Sun' day. The two negroes taken Monday wore Greenwood Rodgers and "Junk" Caldwell, both of whom live in tho vicinity of the Springs. Theli 1 arrest was tho result of tho alleged voluntary confession of Tom Young who was implicated by tho coronerh 1 jury along with his brother, John last Tuesday, and both of whom wen T committed to jail that night. f Early Monday, it is claimed, Ton 7 Young asked to see tho officers, it ii said ho told them tho story of tin - 4- ? ~ I. H--4I ^ niiiMicHuiiK uoogers an( 3 Caldwell. In liis alleged confessioi Young said that Uodgers, Caldwol * and himself Instigated the plot, an< 3 oxocuted It late Monday night; tha 1 Rodgers shot Mr. Young through ai 0 opening in tlio window, and thei Caldwell applied the torch to the cot 1 tage. Auto Kills Boy. Dorsey Hudson, a fifteen year-oli I orphan boy of Clearwater, Fla., wa fl run down and almost Instantly kill h ed by an auto driven by Dr. A. I. n Bowen. r c Dines Five Hundred. i- Mrs. Flnley J. Shepard, who wa I, Miss Could, provided dinner for 50 i- Bowery outcasts of New York oi a Wednesday to celebrate her llrst wed a ding anniversary. HOUSE PASSES IT ? SMITir-LKVKK HILL PROVIDES FOR FARM EXTENSION. TO TEACH THE FARMER I ntUr iUt Provisions Federal meut Will Give $10,000 a Tear to K?<h State for Uio Demonstration Work, IncrcusinK tho Amount Annually for Ten Years. The Smith-Lever agricultural extension bill providing for co-oporativo agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several States, passed tho house Monday afternoon under tho suspension of the rules. Tho bill now goes to the Senate. As it passed the House tho bill would provide for an immediate appropriation of $180,000, of which $10,000 would go to each State complying with the requirements of the law. This appropriation would be increased by $300,000 each year for nine years, and after a ten-year period would become a permanent ann lal appropriation of 000,000. Just what tho bill plans is best shown in a report from tho House committeo on agriculture by Congressman Lever, its chairman, recently made. It provides for the inauguration of cooperative agricultural extension work through "lleld demonstrations, publications and otherwise" to bo carried on in accordance with plans mutually agreed upon by the secretary of agriculture and the land grant colleges receiving the benefits of the first Morrill act. In practical effect it undertakes to provide such machinery as will bring to tho attention of tho farmer, tho farmer's wifo and children, in the most striking manner such demonstrated truths and practices of successful agriculture which rightly followed, makes rural living desirable and profitable as an occupation. It provides the connecting link between the sources of information in matters relating to agricultural life and tho people sought to be reached with such information, and furnishes an added agency to tho system of agricultural teaching. It carries out to tho farm tho approved methods and practices of tho agricultural colleges, experiment stations, the department of agriculture, and the best farmers, and demonstrates their value under tho immediate environment of the farm itself, thus providing the means by -which the organized agricultural institutions of the country may bo made to serve all the people, as should bo the case, rather than a limited and privileged few. Under tho plan provided in this bill tho information which has been accumulating for more than half a century and reservoiring in colleges and other institutions organized in tho interest of agriculture is to be made available to tho mass of tho people in such a way as will bring the best results in tho matter of improved rural conditions and rural living. There is no more important work for tho agricultural institutions of the country than that of strengthening field service, demonstration and instruction, to tho end that the pro? nn on H < ? * -1 ~ c ? * iiuiiuu uiiu >ic(ciu|>iuciu DlUt? III ilgl'Iculture shall balance Its investigational and research activities. To provide adequate facilities for the utlization by the farmer of the efficient work of tho scientists in the department of agriculture and in the various colleges and experiment stations of the several States is one of tho very important problems with which agricultural thought must deal. Earnest scientists every day are discovering useful truths, meth* ods and processes which if known by i tho farmer and applied by him would mean financial independence and soi cial progress; but the farmer does not know what the scletist is doing and has no way of learning. I Sufficient Information has been 3 gathered and is awaiting distribution to revolutionize rural conditions in ' this country in tho next ten years, * but it is dead information until it 3 becomes vitalized by tho service to ? which tho farmer puts it. Tho logic 3 of the situation forces the necessity for providing adequate machinery by 1 which tho storehouse of information 3 may bo opened to those who stand 3 upon the outside. Congress itself * has committed tho country to a pol1 icy of encouraging, promoting and * developing agriculture which makes * tho legislation proposed in this bill t an imperative duty that tho fruits of 1 its former action may bo realized in 1 actual results. -I ? I m. *? 4-J * m ? - o nwiriri t'araon rower, A Joint resolution' has boon introduced in the House, providing that 3 the governor may adopt or reject a b rocomdendatlon hy the .board of par dons but can not grant a pardon or i. parole unless reconfmended by the board. Tried to Saw Head Off. s Despondent because he was out of 0 work, Charles Schreiber, of Chicago. n attempted suicide by ripping his 1- throat open with a handsaw. His condition is serious. WILL BE GREAT HELP I ?- \ tiik ( rmtK\cT? JIIXIJL aND THE COTTON FARMER. CongrC88m?n lta^sdulo Points Out Whore it Will llelp Theiu to Get J tb? Modej They Need. Among those who spoke in favor of ^ th# adoption of the currency bill in the House of Representatives was Congressman Ragsdalo from tliis State. Just a few minutes before he spoko Mr. Hayles of California had attacked tho bill as increasing the power of the Southern cotton farmer saying that it would give to the farmer tho power of holding his crop and securing higher prices for it. Mr. ltagsdale replied to this by saying ' the people of tho South, whom the gentleman from California has so unnecessarily criticized for tho benefits we receive, look upon it as a very Cod-sond to us that at least tho cotton growers of America are recognized in this currency system. Mr. Ragsdalo went on to ask why should tho cotton growers bo barred from tho benefits? Why should tho 1 agriculturists bo barred from tho benefits of a financial system? Ho we *' not produce that which foods and clothes tho world? I)o not tho products that wo grow help to sustain x the balance of trade with other conn- 1 tries? Why then should our pro- v ducts be outlawed and the right of 1 credit bo denied to us? Ah, Mr. 1 Speaker, tho Republican party have H errnwn ko nmnotr>mn<l ...... 1 C- VW WCIJIIIS till J rights to tho agricultural people on everything and heaping unjust burdents on us in tariff laws that I hey * welcome this last opportunity to hurl ( another stone at them. c Mr. Speaker, tho gentleman from :1 California says there is no system 0 here by which money may he loaned * on lands. If ho will turn to section * 2 4 of the bill, it is provided there * that any money received on time and c which interest is paid may be loaned 1 for livo years directly on land, the r loans based either on capital and surplus or time deposits. What is a sav- t ings bank? Is it not a bank that re- i ceives timo deposits and pays inter- c! est on them. Does not this bill spe- \ cifleally provide for their entrance t into the system? Does it not provide t that money may be loaned under tho i system? Why then is the gentleman i from California so disturbed? Why t is it that he never offered anything \ by way of relief along this line, but ( merely contents himself with trying ti now to muddy the water? t Mr. Speaker, the time has come * and it has been written into this statute for the llrst time in this conn- r try, that farm lands are a basis for t credit in America, and that the own- c ers of them who produce the wealth ? of this country share in that finan- c cial system which everything in this country goes to support and sustain. The time is here when farm products are a basis of credit and subject to rediscount in the national reserve banks of America, and men on whose shoulders rest* the feeding of tho masses now have some recognition in tho hands of the nation through the Democratic party. Mr. Ragsdale was on? among the few especially invited to the executive office to witness the signing of tho great currency reform bill. Being asked for some of the main points of advantage in tho bill for tho Southern farmer, he said that he regarded tho power given tho national hanks to have farm paper rodiscounted for six months a particularly good feature. The farmer can now put up his paper on his crops or stock in the national hank in place of the old bank note, issued heretofore. He can now secure loans on a fiveyear contract basis from the national banks and tho bank can put these up with the central reserve bank and receive treasury notes on them. It will necessarily make money easier in the South. ? 1 DOI/L WEKVITi IiOST. 1 ?.? 1 Post Destroyed Ten Million Dales, Worth $500,000,000. 1 ] Figures announced by W. J. liar- j ris, director of the census, show that . tho boll weevil has caused a loss in the production of cotton in the Unit- i ed States in excess of 1 0,000,00r. bales, valued at least at $500,000, 000. The reduction in the production of cotton duo to tho fact that ' tho farmers refrained from planting because of tho fear that the weevil would not permit tho plant to mature, he said, never can bo estimated. In seven selected mnntfaa ? VW > > vav/Kf ill lUiO" sissippi the production of cotton In 1907 amounted to 191,790 bales, valued at nearly $11,000,000. The boll weevil, Mr. Harris said, reduced this production to 30,809 bales in 1912. Louisiana's largest cotton crop. 1,089,526 balfes, was grown in 1904. The production was reduced to 24 5,68 4 bales in 1910. The loss In Arkansas Is estimated at $10,600,000. ? ? ? Rebellions Are Killed. Twelve rebellious M ex icon soldiers wero killed at Knsenada, Mexco, as a result of a quickly repressed revolt iue to the failure of the Mexican Government to pnv off the troop in the Ensenada garrison. JA1TLE IN PRISON rilltKK CONVICTS, GUAItDS AND A JUDGE DEAD. iUARDS FIGHT BRAVELY ? lecuriiitf Pistol* Throe Inmates of Oklahoma's *'1*011" Shoot Down Four aiul Fire at Girl Telephone Operator?Guards Come ?p and Pour Merciless Fire into Them. Seven persons were killed and a elephone operator injured during a )istol battle at the Oklahoma State >enitentiary at McAlester, Okla., donday when three prisoners with evolvers made a dash for liberty. Che dead are: John It. Thomas, Muscogee, former United States District udge; D. C. Oates, deputy warden; \ C. Godfrey, store house sergeant; I. H. Drover, record clerk; China teed, serving two-year sentence for uurder; Charles Koontz, serving fory years' sentence for murder; Thoniis Law, serving six-year sentence for arceny. Tho men armed with two revolvers, vhich had been smuggled into the >enitentiary. broke from tho ranks vhile the prisoners were being narliced through a court yard. As hey ran through tho office they fired everal shots at random, one of the Millets striking Miss Foster Next they encountered Judge rhomas, a visitor to tho penitentiary n the corridor, and both of the men arrying pistols opened fire, several ?f the bullets striking the attorney nd inflicting mortal wounds. Oates ml Drover intercepted the men as hey left tho corridor and were shot 0 death, the prisoners continuing heir flight. By this time half a dozn guards were in pursuit and In a mining battle Godfrey and the three nen were killed. None of tho other prisoners atempted to escape. Tho attempted nutiny occurred at tho end of the lay's work. Reed, Law and Kooniz vorked in the tailor shop, and when heir work was done they approached he back door of the office in the adninistration building. heTre they net John Martin, the turnkey. They old Martin they wanted to see the larole officer. As Martin opened the loor Reed struck him repeatedly with 1 largo revolver, shot him through he cheek and robbed him of his ceys. The three prisoners, all armed with evolvers, shouted to others to follow hem, and ran towards the warden's iffice. There they mot Oakes, the as usuuit waraen, ana Derore he couiu lefend himself, Reed shot him hrough tho heart. The greatest conusion ensued. Convicts ran about, ihoutlng words of encouragement to he mutineers. Ry this time the ?uards were alert and began firing. V random shot passing through a loor in the ofllee of Drover, the Derillion officer, killed him. Godfrey, tho guard, sprang directy into the path of tho mutineers, lischarglng his revolver at them. He .00 fell a victim to Reed's deadly lim. John R. Thomas, formerly United States District Judge and widely tnown through Oklahoma, was siting in tho warden's office awaiting die roturn of warden R. W. Dick, ivith whom he had a business engagement. Apparently mistaking Judge Thomas for tho warden, tho mutineers fired a volley of shots at him. lie sank to tho floor mortally woundid. Fearing alarm might be given by the telephone operator, Mary Foster, Lho three men next gave their attention to tho telephone switchboard. They turned it over and tried to disconnect it. "You come with us," they shouted as they dragged the girl into the prison yard, holding her before them to keep tho guards from shooting, Shielded by the girl's presonco and cheered on by 1,500 convicts, the three ?nen made their way across the .-iiBuii yar?. uniy one shot was fired at them and It struck the girl. As she sank to tho ground wounded the convicts sprang to tho prison gate. With the keys they had taken from Turnkey Martin they unlocked it and were free. Outside tho gate tho horse and buggy of tho warden was hitched. The three men sprang into it. "You'll never take us alive," shouted Reed as ho stood up in the buggy and fired at tho approaching mi aiio omor convicts bont low to avoid the scattering bullets. Reod fought the fight alone. Fear-stricken the others crouched behind the stagerlng horse. The guards poured a merciless fire Into the buggy. The horse fell and the convicts ceased firing. The three mutineers lay in a heap in the bullet-riddled buggy, dead. TMsappears With Cash. Search was begun at Fort 8mith, Ark.., Monday for Clayton Saxtey a twenty-one year old clerk for the Wells-Fargo Express whose disappearance was followed by the announcement that $0,300 In gold had been stolen from the Express Company.