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TWELYfi McCORMlCK AND McCORMlCK COUNT?, S. ft mmmmaSm was elected mayor in 1902 and has served continuously to the pre sent day. This is a unique town in more ways than one. No taxes have ever been levied upon ttye inhabitants. Not infrequently cor porations doing business here write the mayor to know what their taxes are only to be politely informed that we collect no taxes. In the fall of 1902 every store was destroyed by fire, but there im mediately arose from the ashes a newer and better town. July 25, 1906, Mr. Morris’ store was demolished by a storm. In 1912 we were again visited by a disastrous fire. Modern brick buildings now take the places of the former wooden structures. Drummers who work this territory have said that Willington is the livest best and most substantial town on the C. & W. C. Railroad between McCormick and Anderson. In 1909 this community voted bonds to build a nice large and commodious academy. These bonds were taken up by home people without calling on outside capital for aid. The hank of Willington, a branch of the Bank of McCormick and a most accommodating progressive and successful institution was produc ed by home capital. We are five miles from Savannah river and two miles from Little river. The well known Trotter shoals is partly in McCor mick county about twelve miles from Willington. With the de velopment of water power of which this county has an abundance, It is no idle dream to think that the next ten years will see the farm houses lighted by and the machinery run by electricity. Our re sources are many and varied. Our future depends upon ourselves and a just appreciation of our resources and opportunities. We have the finest climate, the finest water, the finest air, the finest land and as fine a people as ever breathed the breath of life, a veri table garden of Eden, undeveloped in many ways ,tis true, but with the progressive spirit, aggressive ways and energy that have ever been peculiar to these people we look forward to and predict that the time will come when this will be the richest and best country on the globe. As to the farming lands, a bale of cotton to the acre is not the exception by any means. In 1915 a farmer a few miles from town ginned eighteen bales from a twenty-five acres field and twenty bales from a ten acre field. Building lots can be bought from at from $40.00 to $100.00. Farming lands from $20 to $50 per acre. Within a few miles of town is a mineral spring, which is as shown by chemical analysis richer in mineral properties than many of the famous waters of the state. This spring on the Savannah river in a most picturesque and beautiful part of the county is an ideal place for a tourist hotel that could be used both as a winter and a summer resort We need white farmers and more of them. With a presbyterian and episcopal and a baptist church, a fine public school, two Sunday schools, a co-operative neighborhood, a county for health unequal ed, this is an admirable place in which to rear your children. Inves tigate, come and see for yourself the opportunities that surround us. We invite you. Come and partake of our hospitality and chivalry. We can show you better than we can tell you. J. EDWIN PORTER. Candidate for State Legislature from McCormick County. J. EDWIN PORTER. The above is a likeness of one of McCormick Countys younger citizens whose rise in the esteem of the people of this entire sec tion of the State, and even beyond, is nothing short of phenomenal. And as a self-made man he ranks among that class who go toward the building of great institutions, states and countries. Born on a farm November 3rd, 1892 in Abbeville County, a part of which is now a portion of McCormick County, of honest, hard working poor parents, Mr. Porter knew what it was to work hard from his earliest recollection. While still a mere child he realized the vast importance of securing an education, and though he was a normal, healthy boy and so full of life and energy that he took a leading part in all the games and pranks played by his friends and playmates, he did not permit himself to fall behind in his studies and worked hard to gain what knowledge there was to be had at the public school which he attended. Being possessed of an unusually bright mind and of a disposi tion to take hold of any complicated situation, override all obstacles and look only straight ahead toward the goal desired, he soon be came the recognized leader among his associates even while a small boy. This disposition of aggressiveness, that seems to have been born with him, has not only remained with this remarkable young man but has grown with him in greater proportions than even his . statue, and when it is said he now weighs two hundred pounds some idea as to the nature that domineers his life may be gathered. He is a perfect dynamo of energy and his brain is as absorbant as a sponge. He is never happier than when he is thrown in the midst of work that is piled so high no end to it can be seen, or when he can take some classic and plow through chap ter after chapter absorbing it as he reads. When a boy of fourteen he went to work as clerk in a local merchants store and worked hard for a few dollars a month which he jealously and persistently hoarded all through one long tedious year for the purpose of using it toward a higher education than he was able to acquire in the school at his home. But so eager was he to gain knowledge and so precious was time to him that he could not persuade himself to wait until he could secure sufficient capital to enter the college he so longed to attend. So with his hard earned few dollars in his pocket he left for Atlanta, Ga., to take a business course in business college there when he was fif teen years old. His funds were not sufficient to pay his expense at even the cheap boarding house where he stayed and pay his tuition too, but nothing daunted, he sat about to find odd jobs at which he could earn a few dollars toward paying for the knowledge he hun gered for. And so economical was he that, among the other things he did to get the benefits from every cent he could get hold of, he did his own washing and mended his own clothes. His entire time was taken up for he attended both day and night sessions without an hours loss of time. In four months from the time he left his home he returned with a diploma in bookkeeping and accounting and in telegraphy. As soon as he reached Willington he began seeking employment. He secured a position as cotton and cotton seed buyer and was ap pointed public cotton weigher. Later in the fall he was made agent for the C. & W. C. Railroad at this point, which position he has filled with much credit to himself and of great value to his employ ers. He also retained the position of public cotton weigher and holds it to this day. Many letters were seen, by the writer, on file in the railroad office, from the officials of the company employing him, and they are extravagent in their praise of his services and ability. And it may well be said here that during the five years he has been in the railroads service he had never lost a single day from his work up to March 1916, excepting while lectioneering dur ing the campaign for the legislature in 1914 for which he was a candidate—(and made a most creditable showing) and even then he only lost the time during his auto trips over the county which were made hurriedly and from which he would return at night and do his railroad work which suffered not in the least, as a result. In talking to him on one occasion, the writer spoke of his at tachment to his mother and he remarked; “I have no recollection of ever disobeying my mother in my life.” And as an illustration of his desire to further her happiness and to provide for her, some of the luxuries that his family could not afford, he purchased for her a very fine piano during the first year of his employment by the railroad company. But let it not be understood that his duties at the railroad office are light. He has done the work for five years that, previous to his accepting the position, two men were required at least a part of the time to take care of it And though he has a two man job, he has studied law, and can today pass the examina tion required in order to be admitted to the South Carolina Bait He has read four thousand three hundred pages of Redpaths his tory, in addition to several other histories; has read the Bible through several times and is well posted on it and its history; is familiar with Shakespeare, Emerson, John Dryden and has read Dr. Elliotts five foot shelf of books; studied Adam Smiths politi cal economy and has studied corporation law. And yet this is not all. For the past six years he has been assistant postmaster. He is Past Chancellor Commander of the local K. of P. lodge and Past Consul Commander and Banker of the W. O. W. local lodge, be sides was a member of the town council in 1914. Wm. P. Greene of Abbeville in writing about Mr. Porter states: ‘‘A logical thinker and a good writer. In a letter of recommenda tion from the head of the Atlanta College he attended this state-