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It mbm I l at --TIUP'a n avr 1 TO PUT STATE ON CASH BASIS. Special Legislative Committee Meets in Columbia-Hon. Geo. S. Mower Chosen Chairman. News and Courier. Columbia, August 18.-At the re cent session of the Generai Assem bly, after killing all pending logisla tion relative to taxation, i concurrent resolution was introduced and adopt ed .looking to the appointment of a pecial commission to inquire into ' best plan of getting the State lsh basis and of adjusting for the State. This com was duly appointed and of Senators Mower and g and Representative Moses, ftrd Thomas. commission was appointed af e cOusideration and the best e selections were made. . The asion held its first meeting to but the individual members I devoted a great deal of time ttention to the entire tax prob. nd will be in excellent shape to plish the very best results. jThat the commission has a most rtant and serious work is recog by evoryone. The manifest ino ality of the assessment of taxable roperty has been time and again phasized and brought officially to e attention of the General Assem ly. That there is now plenty of law on the statute books is admitted by all, and members of the commission are free to admit that if the existing laws were executed there would be no trouble, but that tax officers have gotten into a certain rule and unless there is a change in the law nothing will be done, and it may be that the commission may take this view of the matter. The tax question is by far the most'important that will come up at the approaching session of the Gen oral Assembly, but whether anything will be really done it is difficult to foretell. The general practice has been to kill everything on the sub ject. One great and crying evil of the tax system, and whicti will hardly come within the province of the com mission, is the utter incompetency and political fear of county auditors and treasurers. A great mistake wa3 made when these offices were put in the primary, and the pity is that there seems to be no way to get them out of the system. It is to be sup. posed that the people of a conty would select the most competent and acti.ve men for county auditor and county treasurer. Such is some times the case, but generally speak. ing the primary system has not so -resulted ini most counities. Busi. ness men will not imi my cases con sent to go throngh a carmpaign such as is held iii many counmtiis, anid the result is that some man utterly in coinp..tent, with one arm or one leg, and with large connelct ions arid good political pulls, will get the oilice. The result i1r that thle oflice goos to the bow wows anid good resnlts are not obtained. Take this c-ounty, f. r instance. Mr. W. 11aimptmn (ibIbes was recently appointed to thle otlice. What did he do? In a year's time he has, by his activity and knmowledge', added a million dlollars to the tax books. Ini a few other counties good audlitors are elected as a result of the primary, b)ut if the oilices were tilled with regrdu to comp jeteincy aind niot with regard to pol it ical pull and the like, miord' p)ropert y Would get on the tax books and better values woul be obtained. The law never contemplated that these oilees should ba in the primary, and they are now and atlways have been appointive, and it is merely a cuistomi that the suggestions of the primary are eqnivalanit to elect ioins. Tlhe preseint. tax l aws and ainy other law t hid might. bhr (lOVised miust dependl very largely upon the coun - ty audlitor. It will be one of thle most dliflicult tasks that thre comumisision will have to suggest some practical way to prevent one farmer baing allowed to return his farm lands at $2.50 an acre, and his neighbor being made to pay taxes on practically the same class of lands at $10 per acre. It will he most fortunate if the commission can got access to the records that were filed with the State board of equalization at its meeting in 1902, showing the result of the careful inquiry made as to the valu ation of farm lands as related to the assessed valuations. The facts were from the records. Very many and very varied have been the plans that have been sug gested by which the State can get additional taxes. Some suggest a license system, with a franchise tax; others say that if all classes of property were put on the books at 100 cents on the dollar the State would be able to remain on a cash basis. The members of the commission have been studying the tax laws of many other of the States, and hope to get up some plan that will prove satisfactory to all interests. THE COMMISSION MEETs. The tax commission met in the office of the Secretary of State at 8 o'clock tonight and held a prelimi nary meeting. The members of the commission discussed the grounds that are to be covered by them and committees were appointed to look into the taxation of different branches in the State. Senator George S. Mower was elected chaii man and Representative John P. Thonas, Jr., secretary. The commission is anxious to re ceive ar.y suggestions that may be made, and they should be addressed to the secretary at Columbia. After the appointment of the various committees the board adjourned to meet here on September 15. TURKS DBEEATED BY INSURGLNTS. Fierce Fighting Near Monastir Continued Six Hours-The Massacre of Christians. Sofia, Bulgaria, Aug. 18.-A fierce battle is reported to have occurred in the neighborhood of Monastir. Three Turkish battalions attacked a thousand insurgents and after the fight had raged for six hours the Turks were repulsed with t!.e loss of 210 men killed or wounded. The insurgents loss is not given. Reports received here from Con stantinople, and believ.ed to be au thentic confirm the previous state. ments to the effect that when the Turks recaptured Krushevo they slaughtered the entire h ristian populat.ion without exception, and it is pointed out that among those killed wvere the employes of the govern ment tobacco establishments which were under European control, as the proceeds from t hose est.ablishmnents wvere assigned to the service of the T[urkish deb)t. A reign of terror is reported to prevail at Uskub, where the Christ ian inhabitants are afraid to leave their houses. The vali has issued1 the strictest, ord&-rs to the Mussul man population to remain quiet and not molest t heir Chistian neighbors, but the mussulmans, meeting in the mosque, have resolved st a given signal to maasscre the whole Christ ian popuilat.ion immediately the' first insurgent band appears near Uskub or on any p)retext. The Christians are terro,rized. The Tar kish troops, who are -their only pro ection, do nmot show the slightest disposit ion to aid them. The atti tudel of the Turkish troops recently was plainly manifested when a train load of soldiers, shortly after leavin)g Usknb, fired o[n the Bulgarian work meni, who were repairing the track. Three of the wvorkme,n were killed anid their bodies were left lying on the line. "BILL ARP" UNCONSCIOUS. Doctors Say lie Is Dylig front InfIrmities of Age. (5artersville, Ga., Aug. 19. --Major Charles H. Smith (Bill A rp), at a late hour tonight wvas unconscions. His physicians say the end may come at any moment or their patient may linger for several days. His weakness is said to be due to the in firmities of age rather thaun to dliseae A PAR-REACHING DECISION. Federal Judge Holds that the Western Union, or any Employer, May Discharge Employee With or Without Cause. Judge -iogers in the United States Circuit Court at St. Louis, Mo., has rendered a decision sustaining the demurrer of the Western Union Tele graph Company in their labor injuno tion case of Boyer et al against that. company. In the written opinion Judge Rogers sustains every point urged by Attorney Elenious Smith, representing the defendant company, holding that the company has the absolute right to dismiss employees, because they belong to the union, or for any other reason; that there can be no conspiracy to do a lawful act; that the io called black list may be maintained and given out for the use of others. The case resulted from a bill filed by Telegraph Operater Arthur Boyer and others, alleging they were mem. bers of the Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America, local Lodge No. 3, of St. Louis, and that they had been discharged from the service of the Western Union Telegraph Company solely because they belonged to the union. The bill sought to prevent the Western Union Company from dis :harging any employee because of membership in the uniOV, and the St. Louis officers of the Western Union froni conspiring to that end, and to prevent interference of any kind with the union and to prevent the Western Union Company from maintaining a black list and placing thereon the names of those who might bt discharged because of be. ing members of the union. The Wes tern Union Company demurred and was sustained by Judge Rogers, of Arkansas, sitting in the United States Circuit Court, to-day. Judge Rogers held that the Western Union Com pany had the absolute right to dis :harge employees not under con tractual relations -ith the company, for any cause or without cause; that a like right exists on the part of the Bmployee to sever his relations with the company for any cause or with. aut cause; that if a contract of em ployment is violated the recourse of the employees is at law and not by a bill in equity, such as was brought in this case; that there could be no conspiracy to commit a lawful act, such as he held to be the discharge of the company's employees because of being members of a union; that the company had the right to main taini a list on which might be placed t.he name of a discharged employee and the cause of discharge, and this list might be given others, provided its contents wvere 'truthful and its circulation honest; that if, as the bill alleged, the union was formed for moral and proper purposes, there should exist no objection upon the part of an employee to have his dis charge based upon the mere fact that he was a member of such an ordler. YOUNG WIIITEi GIRL IMPRISONED. In Jail for Trespass on the Property of a Cotton Mill--Claims Columbia as Home. Laurens, Aug. 19.-For the first time in Capt. TIhos. J. Dunckett's ad ministration of the sheriff's office there is imprisoned in the county jail a white woman, a girl l'7 years of age. ILer name is .Janie Jones and she was sent to jail lby Magis trate McMillan of Hunter township to serve a 410 (lays sentence for tres passing on the premises of the Gold. ville Man ufacturing Comnpany. It seems that the girl and her mother resided in the mill village at Gold ville until the authorities requested their removal some few weeks ago. After a b)rief abence in a nearby town the girl returned. Her arrest and conviction ofi t he charge of tress passing followed anid she was straight way in dlefault of the line inmposed sent to the county jail. She is a comely girl anid claims Columbia as lien former home. She appears to be taking her incarcer.. at ion as a matter of course and is not giving the authorities any trouble whatever. PASSING OF A GREAT INDUSTRY Abolition of Office of Phosphate Inspector Marks The Decadence Of An In dustry Oice The Greatest In The State. Columbit Record. The abolition of the office of phos phate inspector marks the decadence of an industry in this st.,,e, which at one time was the largest in it and which brought into the treasury of the state several millions of dollars after the phosphate deposits began to be worked. When Tillman was elected governor he caused some leg. islation to be passed which the Ooo saw company, which bad a practical monopoly of the business, claimed was inimical to the industry. The legislation undoubtedly put that par ticular company practically out of business, but it is doubtful whether the course pursued had any bad effect on phosphate mining generally. How ever, the troubles of the industry began and increased about that time, for valuable deposits were found in Florida, Tennessee and other places, which could be worked cheaper than our own phosphate deposits. The business in consequence grew less and less until now,.it is comparative ly nothing as compared with former years, or as comparod with the busi ness done in other sLates. Statistics show that from 1870 to 1900 the state received in royalties $3,242,968.53, the royalty in one year 1898, amounting to $237,150. For the pant three years it has amounted to only $25,000 annualy. This money is placed in the sinking fund and is pledged to be used for the reduction of the debt. That a great industry has been practically destroyed is to be re gretted not only because it takes away from us a pre eminence we once had, but because so n.any have had to seek employment elsewhere, and be cause the state loses a great source or revenue. Still we have some consolation in the thought that it is no fault of ours that this industry has passed almost, for nature made it so that we can no longer compete with sections which have been more favored in this particular. ROOT FOR PRF'IDhNT. Plan to Make Him Succeed Roosevqlt In 1908 -First to be Governor of the State of New York. New York Republicans are now considering a proposition, said to have the indorsement of President Roosevelt, looking to the nomination of Secretary Root for Governor of New York, and in 1908 for President of the United States. The Demo cratic version of the story is that the President is pushing forward Mr. Root prominently in politics with the idea of placating the opposition to the present national administration which exists in financial circles in New York. Mr. Root is one member of the ad ministration at least who is not looked upon by the financial interests with disfavor, and the Democratic politi cal gossips wvho are discussing the latest political proposition say that undoubtedly Mr. Root would have a great deal of influen ce with that class in the way of preventing their sulk ing in their tents in the coming Pres idential campaign. It is pointed out that if Mr. Root is slated for the highest State honor, with the ulti mate idea of his friends in view of giving him the Presidential nomina tion, it would place him in promi nence as a political referee and en able him to talk politics with thie business men. It has been rumored for some time that the real reason for Mr. Root's return to New York and his depart ure from the cabinet was that he might get in closer touch with New York politics, State and National, and1 render service tJ his chief which might be very b)adly needed1 if the present opposition of WVall street grows worse. Five young girls were drowned ir Giles county, Va., on Monday whik( out boating. The boat capsized, oni) three of the eight occupants escap ing with their honeh IMPOSING NAVAL RBVIEW. For The First Time In History A President Reviews a United States Fleet In Time of Peace. For the first time in the history of the country, the President of the United States on Monday reviewed and inspected ,in time of peace, a groat fleet of United States wnr ships. The ceremony which took place just out Oyster Bay, was a magnificent and impressive naval spectacle. It was unmarred by the slightest mishap until just at its conclusion, when the torpedo boat destroyer Barry rammed the destroyer Decatur, fortunately, however, doing little damage. The incident was exciting. It occurred just at the moment. When the Presi dent was receiving congratulations upon the success of the manoeuvres. THE REvIEw. The review took place off Long Island, two and a half miles off the entrance to Oyster Bay. President lRoosevelt, in company with Secre. tary of the Navy Moody, Admiral Dewey, Rear Admiral Taylor, Rear Admiral Rodgers, Capt. Brownson, Gen. Chaffee an-1 Gen. Barry, stood on the bridge of the auxiliary crusier layflower as she steamed slowly down one column of the war ships and up the other. The two columns extended twenty-five hundred yards, the ships being anchored at inter vals of five hundred yards. As the Mayllower passed each ship in the two columns the yards and rails of each were manned by jackies in white duck, the marines were paraded and preoented arms, the President's Ra lute of twenty-one guns was fired, the buglers sounded a flourish, the drummers gave four ruffiles, the band played "Hail Columbia," and the entire crew stood at salute. As the Mayflower swept majestically past each ship the crew of the saluting vessel gave the President three cheers as the ComnmanderAn Chief of the army and navy of the United States. TIE PREIDENT'S REOEPTION. At the conclusion of the review President Roosevelt received on board the Ma3 flower all the com manding officers of the twenty.two vessels in t'he fleet. He received also the British, (German, Russian and Japanese naval attaches. President Roosevelt entertained his guests and all the commanding officers of the fleet at i delightful luncheon on board the Mayflower, during which toasts were drunk to the great Powvers and their sover eign and to the President. BOLD ROBBERIES AT WHITE STONE3. FIve Hundred Dollars Worth of Property Takeni From Rooms of Guests at the Hotel. Tihe State. Spartanburg, A ug. 19.-Robberies amounting in all to a total valuation of $500( have occurred at tihe White Stone Springs hotel since last nighlt andl up to dinner hlour today. Mrs J1. 13. Morgan of Augusta hlad a watch which cost $i35 stolen, Mrs. Hlough of (Colunbia had $30 wvorth of jewelry stolen and other robberies were effected. The opjerations wore coniined to live rooms of thle hotel on tihe south sidle, second floor. There is a suspicionl as to the thief, but no tingible proof is forthcoming. Searches and1( inlvestigationl have as yet revealed nothing. P'rop)rietor Harris was in tile city tonight on the track of a person sup posed1 to be tile gility 'larty. His visit waus not rewardied with any retulrn of tihe stolen articles. Week End Rates F'romn points on the Atlantic Coasi Line to Seasi .e Resorts, tickets 0on sak Saturdlay, good returning includinig Mon (lay following, attractive schedules, un surpassed serv icc Summer Tfourist Tlick ets to Moun11taini and Seasidle Resortn limited for return passage to October 31st on saic Unltil September 30th. For full p)articulars, rates, etc, cal on l'icket Agents or write, W. .J. CRA IG, General Passenger Agent HI. M. EMERSON, Tiraflic Manager Wilmingn, N. C. GBN13RAL NEWS NOTFS. Items of More or I.ess Interest Condensed Outside the State. The Union iron Works of San Francisco, one of the great. indutstries of the West has gone to the wall. The cotton mills in Now Orleans have closed down on icouitit. of t be high price of cotton and the very low price of cloth. Thos. R. Morgan, the millionairo sash and door ianufacturor att Mi. waukep, was shot to death ori Tues day by Frederick Hampel, a dis charged emplo)e who liter committed snicide in jail. It ia reported from Ied Lodge, Montana, that the grasshoppers are so thick in that section that they are plastered each (ay on locomotives and the whe,;i become eo slippery t'.at when the locomotives stop it is difficult to start thum again. The Oliver Rolining (ompany, of Norfolk, Va., owning a large plunt. for the refining of cotton sood oil, hits failed and has gono into the hianids of a receiver. The Slump in Vir ginia-Carolina Chemical stock is sRid to be the cause of the failure. Minister Conger it Pokin hatis ob. tained a written promise from the Chinese government, that two of the Chinese ports, one of them important and the other of tit cotsequ1en1ce, shall be open ports by a treaty whichi is to be signed on October 8. Carrie Nation was locked up at Bayonne, N. .J., this wook charged with disorderly condnet. Sho col lected a crowd by haranguiing on ia street corner and then ran among t he men striking cigars, cigarettes and pipes front their mouth. The Canidian Pacific railroad's steamer Empress of India collided near Hong Kong on Tuesday with the Chinese cruiser liLuang Tai. The Huang Tai sank, carrying to t he bot tom the captain and thirteen of the crew who refused to leave the vessel. It is reported front Berlin that the German govornnent, under the im pulse of the emperor, will ask the reichstag for an increase in the per manent military establishment, by about 30,000 men, to be organizod into two array corps, raising the standing arimy to about (S 17,000 men. The increase in money necessary is estimated at about $0,000,000, ox clusive of equipment. An imperial tirade has been issued from Constant inople callinog out fift y two additional bat.talions of t roop~s (about 52,000( mtent) fromi thle lCuiro. pean provinces or Turkey, ini conse qutence of the spread1 of the insur rection in Macedlonia. A disp,atch fronm Berlin reports that the river near Monasti r, MIacedonia, is full of the mutilated bodies of wonten and1( children, who haveIbsen massacred. The Paniama Canal treaty has beera rejected unanimonsly b)y the Colom bian Congress. The reason giver for the rejection, it is said, was the allegeud encroachmient on Colonmbiam sovereignty, whicho, its opponents con tended, would result fronm the treaty The members of the Colombian Sen ate looked upon the lease of the stril of land through which the canal wai to be constructedl as a sale, and, there fore, objectionable. Four white men have b)oon killc and nine wounded ini Randolph county, Alabama, by a niegro namet Sledge. Th'e menh were working nea Sledge's house when they asked per mission to eat a few watermelonm The permission was granted noid the went to slashing melons and vinci TIhey refused to stop when the negr ordered them to do so and lhe wer to the house and got his shot gni and fired into the crowd, with thi above result, lie flod1. Columbia, Newberry and Laurens 1R.1h. Special occasion: 26th A nnual Cor vention S. C. Sunday School Assoc ation (Ilnterdenominational) , (ree ville, S. C., August 26th and 27th, 190 Rates: Columbia. ......... Prosperity. ........ Newberry .. ........ Laurens .. ........... Clinton .. ...........2 I)ae o sae:August 26th, 25ath ai S26th. with final limi+ August 29th 1 -4 ..;.J J 4t 4 *".F A-LI -A. "IJ1 - I JU SOUTH CAROLINA NBWS. Items of More or Less Interest Condensed In the State. Coltunia's sewerage syRtom has been practically completed at a cost of $155,000. Patrick Brady, an Irish peddler andt an ex Confederate soldier, was killed by a train at Roten, Path early Monday morniog. Bishop Capers is ill with pnn monia at Brevard, N. C. Though his case in serious he is reported to have passed out of danger. A destructive hail storm paseHd over the western partof Oconee coun ty on Monday evening. Hail stones were larger than goose oggs and all the crops in the path of the storm were (ostro ed. Andy Davis, colored, has been placed in the Anderson jail charged with the murder of his mother. He fired at his step father becaise of a fuss at a dance the night hforo, but niNed his aim an( killed hin mother. There were a nuinber of fatalities at (leorgetown on Tuesday. There were two negros shootings and a ne gro was patinfuilly injnred at. a plan ing mill. Walter Dawson, a young white boy, was seriounsly wounded by a companion while -out shoot ing. James Dennis Edwards, wanted in 0reenville for a murder which he in charged with having committed in M)01, han been arrested in the oil fieldN of Itiumont, Texns. Luther Taylor, Edwards' companion in the crime, int now nerving a sontonce in the Penitentiary. The railroad cormitissioners liave complained to the railroad anthori. ties that the custom of allowing freights to pass through the union depot in Columbia ondangers the lives of passengers. Tile matter is being discussed by the cominiisionl. ers and the railroadv. The trial in Columbia of the Rich land Club cas agn inst tiho con1tables who entered the ehub and teiz( liqur ain( fixtures to the amount of $21 hat onded in a mistrial. The canse was tried beforo Magmtrat.e Mc Mastor. Thoe constables 1101(l that, liqtior was disponsed in violation of the dislennary law. Tho cil) hold that it had violated none of I ho priv il0g0n of a social clu11b. E,(dward Mlikoll, ia (j1harleston col ored barbor, whilo riding upnnon a stroet cari thin wveek wvith d. A. Storer, a Charleston alderman, tried to impress uponi thle aldlermian in en offen'sive. way t hat. lie wan an good1 en any white muan, wheroupon01 lie aldermanlu knoc~ked him di (own ini thle car. Thelu negro lator ini the day haunted up Mr. Storer andi drt'w a razor, whel(reuphon lie was knocked dlowni the secondii t,imno. D)oubled His Stakes and Won. Louisvil cleelll. D)id youl ever nec a~ man in a poker geme bet every cent lie had1( on thiroe aces? Well, that is wvhat W. S. Carson, superintendent.L of the Mis.. souri Pacific terminals at Kansas City, did. B3ut the ntakes were big.. ger, probably, than were ever play1 ed1 in a pork6r game. He bet seven locomiot ives anid his job that tihe Missouri Pacific bridge would n't go out,--thiis in the face of the fact that seveniteen idge acrossth Kw at thtplace. When Mr. Carson rsaw that his comp)any's bridge wvas .. likely to go the way the others went lie took a dlesperate chaenec. Ho de. cided to weight the bridge dowa I. with Mogul locomiotives. Seven of 0 them, rep)reseniting a value of $12;>,. it000, were run ouIt on the trmblinig e structure. Hie knoew, as (did every.. body else, that if the bridge wvent the engines wvould go with it, b)ut lie 0 took the chaniice anid took it alone, ~-for the city was cuit off' from conm. munication with the other hieadls of depart menttn, and there wan no (ine to conusuilt with. Had1( the bridge ;5 and engines gone, his job) would )0 have gone, and with it a large share of his reputation as a man of sound 50 jtndgmot. But the plan wan ai winl 1(1 ncr, and no0w his stock in away above n)ar.