Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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m.v. m> 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA O. F. ARMFIELD Editor and Publisher Published Every Friday In The Year Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at tht postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879 NEW GUINEA SPECTATOR I’m full of damned malaria, I shake the whole day long. The quinine’s ringing in my ears I’m anything but strong. Mosquitos bite all day long, And you’d think I had the itch. My ears are full of New Guinea mud, My bunk’s a dirty ditch. I’m living in a jungle. It's hot as merry hell. C rations are my menu. No cooking can I smell. For this I get two bucks a day, And a chance for a little ground, That measures four by four by six. And a grassy-covered mound. My pals who came down here with me, . One lad was just eighteen He got a bed he’ll never lose, The coverlet is green. Another one we'll see no more. Another lost his arm; And hundreds more I do not know, Are now safe from all harm. When I hear of a bunch of guys, That are safe and far away, Refuse to work because they want Two dollars more a day, I only wish we had them here, For just a week or two, To let them live in Guinea jungles And! see what we go through. We’d give them all malaria, Let the mosquitoes have a feast; We’d make them bury many a lad From north south, west and east. We’d make them sleep in fox holes, We’d feed them from a can; We’d let the hot sun blister them, Twould be no Palm Beach tan. We’d let them hear the wounded moan, We’d let them see them die With sniper bullets whizzing close, With star shells in the sky. Then we’d send them home again. To their ten bucks a day, To tell the others what they’d seen, Way down New Guinea way. I’ll bet those guys would have enough, At home they’d gladly stay. They’d start no strikes right soon again. For two more bucks a day. “WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?” “What did you do today my friend, From morning until night? How many times did you complain The rationing is too tight? When are you going to start to do All the things you say? A sailor would like to know, my friend, What did you do today?” “We met the enemy today And took the port by storm. Happy reading it will make, For you tomorrow morn. You’ll read with satisfaction The brief comunique. We fought, but are you fighting What did you do today?” “My buddy die in my arms I feel his warm bloo yet You neighbor’s dying boy gave o.ut A scream I can’t forget. On my right/ a tank man was hit,. A flash and then a fire. The stench of burning flesh Still rises from the pyre.” “What did you do today, my friend. To help us with the task; Did you work harder and longer for less Or is that too much to ask. What right have I to ask you this You probably will say. Maybe now youll understand Y8u see, I died today.” FARMERS SOON TO RECEIVE DEERE PUBLICATION Many farmers of the Newberry community in the next few days will receive a copy of the Golden Anni versary issue of “The Furrow”, na tional farm publication by John Deere, Moline, 111. Marking 60 years' continuous pub lication, devoted to the interest and advancement of agriculture, “The Furrow” has been read by several lo cal farmers for many years. Those from here who have been readers the greatest number of years in clude, L. ®. Frick, J. A. Huffman and W. Lee Shealy, C. B. Parr, local John Deere dealer said. Articles in this special anniversary issue bring to the reader discussions on progress and advancement nuplc in agriculture during the past half century. Modernization of farm im plements through the years, leading to present-day power farming, and development of farm practices and methods relative to soil culture, planting and harvesting of crops, are featured. Also appearing in the farm publi cation are several articles, which are reminiscent of farms and living con ditions of the “Gay Nineties.” '‘The Furrow,” published six times a year, is mailed free to locai farm ers with the compliments of the lo cal John Deere dealer. Many educa tional farm articles, written by au thorities in the farming industry, are published in each issue. The divorce question has come up again. Some say that it is not a question, but a problem. A problem is something calling for solution— so there we are. South Carolina has always been op posed to di 'orce, except for a period of several years following the Civil War. It is the only State which will not grant a divorce for any cause. Some of our citizens are in favor of divorce; others would not oppose it still others are entirely opposed to it on Scriptual grounds. Some of our churches are firmly in opposi tion to divorce. The second group I mentioned thinks that so many South Caro linians have been declared divorced by Georgia and Florida courts we should have a state law to make this regular. Now that calls for an explanation. What is the law in South Carolina governing divorces? First we take the Constitution of the State. I says i “Divorces from the bonds of matri mony shall not be allowed in this State.” (Article 17, Sections). That is clear enough; and the reso lution in the legislature is not speci fically to allow our Courts to grant divorces, but it is to submit to the people the question whether the con stitutional provision against divorce shall be eliminated so that the Leg islature may enact laws authorizing divorces. Let us take up some cases for con sideration. Suppose X comes from New York, comes here a divorced nu ? man, divorced in his own State. We have to recognize that divorce. That divorce being valid in New York is also valid here because the Consti tution of the United States requires that each State shall respect the judgements of other States. Let us read that: “Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial pro ceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the maner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.” Quite a different case is presented, however, if a citizen of South Caro lina, while resident here, asks for di vorce in another State. To be specif ic, if a man or woman, citizen and resident in South Carolina, asks for a divorce in Augusta, Georgia, our Courts will look into that very care fully. The purpose of the parties, or both of them, is to evade the law of South Carolina. The State in its sovereign dignity will not readily recognize as valid any decree which springs from an evasion of its law. According to the law in South Caro lina no one may qualify himself or herself for a divorce by renting a room, or leaving a trunk, or suit case. Of course a South Carolinian may be working in Augusta; his residence there may be actual and bona fide; in that case the divorce would be a mere incident of his living in Au gusta; not the whole motive of resi dence there. Our South Carolina Court is bound by the Constitution of the United States, but it has built up a legal tradition in harmony with the general attitude of our people. So that when the divorce issue comes be fore the Court the court inquires whether the Court of Georgia actu ally had jurisdiction over both par ties. That brings about an anomalous condition of having people divorced in Georgia but not divorced in South Carolina. Georgia naturally recog nizes a diverce granted by Georgia Courts. Probably the case which most clearly illustrates the judicial atti tude of South Carolina was one grow ing out of a contract to buy land. All of you know what we call the dower right of a woman to her husband’s land. Since the early days of Eng lish jurisprudence a wife has en joyed what is called an inchoate right of dower. That is, the husband must have his wife sign away her one-third interest in his land in order to give a clear, full title. The wife’s right to dower becomes effective only if she survives her husband. So all forehanded men, recognizing »that the land is full of widows, asks their wives to renounce the right of dower at the time of each sale. And you can’t compel her to Sign away her rights. In South Carolina the wives have all the advantage over the hus bands. What’s their’s is their’s, but what’s their husband’s is the wives’, too. But I am wandering. Certainly a great change has taken place since the brave old days when English law permitted a man to chastise his wife with a stick no larger around than his thumb, and when a husband as sumed lordly sway over his wife’s property. Well, to go back to the land case: Mr. A., who was to buy the land from Mr. B., found out that Mr. B. had a wife, though divorced in Illi nois. A. refused to carry out the -ontract because B’s wife might claim dower ,if she survived B. in this haven of widows. Our courts agreed with A. and said that the Courts of Uinois had never had jurisdiction over B. and that B. was, therefore, till a married man in South Caro lina. Although our people are not med- ’lesome and disposed to stir up trou ble, there is the possibility of a hallenge over property resulting f rom divorces. The validity of a di vorce granted in another State, may he challenged so as to determine whether children of a second mar riage, and the wife, too, have claims against the estate of the deceased. Suppose a diverced man had three children by his divorced wife and three by his second wife and he dies without leaving a will. Are the three by the second marriage entitled to anything ? May the second wife claim anything? You see what com plications may face the Courts. But whether he leaves a will or not hi cannot defeat the lawful widow’s right of dower. What do you think of this: A South Carolina man, working in Georgia, divorces his South Carolina wife, and marries a Georgian? Ap parently that divorce would be rec ognized by our courts because the man was not practicing a mere sub terfuge. This issue is sharply joined be tween those who observe the clear and explicit words of the Scripture, and those who argue that expediency requires that legal separation sever completely all ties, actual and con tingent. True it is that conditions are not they used to be. Today women BIG INVESTMENT TO BETTER PORT OF CHARLESTON have a degree of independence and selfreliance not dreamed of in olden times. Even granting the truth of that, the opponents of divorce contend that the moral an dspiritUal princi ples handed dowm for our guidance are not subject to shifts of opinion or change of circumstance. While free and easy spending is much more agreeable than retrench ment and reform, we might try to bring about several reforms which would not hurt anyone. To be able to save money, without stepping on anyone’s toes, is like getting money from home; indeed, it would seem to a public man like walking in celes tial groves and feasting on ambrosia. Let us see. The State of South Carolina is a big business. It is very loosely knit, so that the right hand and the left hand operate indepen dently. But it is a large business. When it comes to collecting reve- it has some small degree of unity, but when it comes to spend ing, the State is exceedingly disjoint ed. We have many big institutions which buy and use the same things. Each buys separately and independ ently, and consults nobody. If you were to propose joint buying or cen tral purchasing, the little jealousies would stir up a hornet’s nest of op position. So it seems that we might try price control, instead of central purchasing. All the various Boards, Commissions, Departments and Insti- Columbia, Feb. 18.—Development of the port of Charleston with the investment of $10,000,000 in con struction of new warehouses and berths for 21 large ships is envision ed by preliminary studies, Cotes- worth P. Means, vice chairman of the South Carolina state ports authority, said yesterday. A meeting of more than 100 busi ness men in Greenville Friday was the latest evidence of desire for uni fied backing to funnel South Caroli na commerce through Charleston, which has dropped from second in tonnage during colonia Idays to “be low 55th’’ in the United States, Mr. Means said. Speaking for the five members of the authority, he said that realization of mutual benefits was serving to “erase old-time prej udices”. “Texas has offered a shining ex ample of every part working for the whole,” Means said. What helps Houston is good for Dallas and Fort Worth and the Panhandle. Alabama already has built a great port at Mobile, once a sleepy little has-been town, and Govemo Sparks recently called it the best investment ever made by the state. Louisiana has put its state support behind New Or leans.” “Now our neighbor state of Geor gia is Creating an authority mod eled on ours to help Savannah and Brunswick become mpre useful to the state economy.” Manufacturers in the industrial section of the state, concentrated in the middle and piedmont areas, re alize the importance of water trans portation rates not onlyf or import ing and exporting but also for do mestic trade, Means said. At the Greenville meetings, Rob ert Mac Figg, Jr., counsel for the authority, said that “Charleston has a bull by the tail and the bull is too big for it to swing”. His reference was to the big time competition for world trade expected after the war. Spartanburg, Anderson and Colum bia business leaders were at the meeting. R. E. Barnwell, of Spartanburg, vice president of the engineering firm making surveys of markets and PEDESTRIAN SAFETY PROGRAM ANNOUNCED “The alarming pedestrian death toll in South Carolina traffic during 1944 demands that particular effort be directed to protect the walking person,” said Chief Highway Com missioner J. S. Williamson today in announcing a statewide program to conducted by the highway patrol. 133 pedestrians were killed and 123 others struck down and seriously in jured by motor vehicles in the State kst year, pointed out the chief high way commissioner. Under the educational program to start immediately at least 15,000 pedestrians will be directly contacted and told the right and wrong ways of walking to meet modern traffic needs. Pedestrians traveling the open highways in South Carolina will be courteously halted and warned of dangerous walking practices that have contributed to our tragic acci dent toll. At the time of this personal inter view between officer and pedestrian the walker will be asked to cooperate in the safety effort, and will be( pre sented with a card designating mem bership in the “Safe Walkers Le gion” of South Carolina. The individual card will bear the pedestrian’s name and safe walking rules, to be followed with a signed pledge to observe these practices. Large figures showing the total num ber of pedestrians killed to date will serve as a reminder of the serious traffic accident toll. In each instance of interview on the open highway the ipedestrian, after being fully informed and instructed by the patrol officer, is urged to pass this protective information to mem bers of his family and to acquaint ances. Accident records show that many pedestrians suffer from physical or mental shortcomings, some of which may be temporary, said the chief highway commissioner. In many in stances the pedestrian is ignorant of safe walking habits. Also, many walkers are uninformed of the ap- eration of motor vehicles and do not realize the problems faced by driv- Urs. The pedestrian’s attitude, in many cases, involves him in acci dents. The educational pedestrian pro gram will continue for several months to remind and fully inform thousands of rural walkers in South Carolina. KENDALL MILLS LUTHERAN PARISH J. B. Harman, Pastor Summer Memorial: Sunday 10:30 A. M., church worship with sermon by Rev. W. D. Haltiwanger; 11:30 A. M., Sunday school, Mr. M. E. Shealy, superintendent; ^ Week of Prayer services; 0 P. M. Luther leagues. Bethany: 10:30 A. M. Sunday school, Mr. E. B. Hite, superinten dent; 11:30 A. M. church worship with sermon by Rev. W. D. Halti wanger; 12:30 Luther leagues; 5 P. M. Week of Prayer services. OUT AT THIRD Manila, Feb. 17.—The Jap officer should have known you can’t steal home on the Yanks. Durig the fighting for Manila’s big baseball park the Yanks were in the outfield and the Japs at bat, holding the stands and home plate. During the lull in fighting a Japanese officer wearing a sword, blithely walked out into view to third base. When the firing started the Jap officer made a dash for home. .He was out—for keeps—by the prover bial “mile.” tutions might meet once a quarter and submit a list of requirements for ! sources of business, admonished that the next quarter, or six; months. Bids the differential in wage scales is be- might be invited on the total needs; then each one might buy at that price. The Governor and the Budget Commission might call the meeting in order that it might be officially con voked. If some member of the Committee can buy for less, then let all have the benefit of his price. Once the price is established all might be required to buy at that price, as the maximum price, though permitted to buy for less, if pos sible. Obviously there is an opportunity to save money for the State. The special needs of each institution should be considered, of course. The purchases would be made by each in stitution for itself, with its own funds. The only restriction would be the price. Doesn’t this seem worth trying; or is the experience of all big buyers worth nothing? There is another matter: Although this State has a half dozen chemical laboratories, the drinking water is analyzed by a private chemist. A competent chemist tells me that an expenditure of less than ten thou sand dollars should bring into the State treasury at least fifty thousand dollars a year from analyzing water. It seems odd that this State, which officially analyzes fertilizers in a State laboratory, should have the drinking water analyzed by a pri vate chemis . The State analyzes road materials in a State laboratory; it analyzes the contents of poisoned heads and stomachs in official lab oratories; it analyzes gasoline in an officii laboratory; it tests seed in an official laboratory; but the drinking water of the State is analyzed by a ing reduced so that no longer will the south have the advantage of “cheap labor’’ that formerly encour aged industry to come here, Means said. From now on he said, business must look to the lesser savings, and among these, transportation rates are a vital factor. Ports that can of fer proper facilities help to build up the entire hinterland, the authority said. Improvements would be financed by revenue bonds, Means said. The authority hopes to float a long term loan with a lending agency, possibly the Reconstruction Finance corpora tion. B Kin* raatan* >mBiHi AU HOW QUIHTUPLETS rsliavs cou| CHEST COLDS Whenever the C iintupleta catch cold— their chests, thro-its and backs are rubbed wnn Musterole. So Musterole must be just about the best cold-relief you can buy 1 Musterole helps break up local con gestion in upper bronchial tract, makes breathing easier, promptly relieves cough ing and tight, sore, aching chest muscles due to colds. In 3 Strengths: Children’s Mi’d, Regular, and Extra Strong. HUMPH private chemist, be? Why should this Serving Labor By GEORGE S.BENSON President of Harding College Searcy. Arkansas JZL Mmi SAN FRANCISCO was the first big city I ever saw. Young and interested in everything, I stop ped one day to look at a big piece of plate glass being installed in a storefront. It was the lunch hour and the workmen were not busy. As they ate they drank milk from bottles. When the bottles were empty, they broke them. The incident gave me a distinct shock, and I never forgot it. Back in Oklahoma, 60 miles from a railroad where I had learned to walk as well as to plow, every manufactured thing was deemed to have value. My mother literally hoarded bottles for many useful purposes. A milk bottle would have been prized in her collection. My curiosity won a battle with bash fulness and I asked the workmen why they broke the bottles, and they told me. Loyalty “YOU SEE, buddy,” at Work the foreman explained, “we work in glass. So do the working men who make the bottles. The more bottles we break the more work they will have.” Later I learned that this was a tradition of the industry, supposedly based on fellowship and loyalty to Labor. At first I was confused — loyalty to Labor seemed quite right to me, de structiveness entirely wrong. If Just recently, Edward T. Chey- fitz, a member of the Nation.' Reconversion Committee of the C.I.O., touched on the subject, in as clear and sound an economic treatise as I ever read. It ap peared in the December issue of Fortune. He called bottle-break ing a waste of labor and raw ma terial, typical of an old fash ioned and wrong attitude toward jobs and wages. This big labor leader said: Produce “WE MUST educate Wealth union membership^ to * * • practice high productivity. Certainly labor can not increase its own share of goods by producing less.” He con tends that labor and management must find a common ground if our nation, as now constituted, is to survive. He said the survival of labor unions depends on the same thing. He is 100% right. History backs him up. High production has always helped labor. In 1899 the average fac tory employee toiled 60 hours a week and earned only $420 a year because what he produced would sell for about $1,030. In 1939 the average factory worker put in only 38 hours a week, turned out $3,140 worth of merchandise and earned $1,150 a year. Good tools made the difference. With better equipment, the worker produces three times as much and therefore earns three times as much. The formula is still good. Greater and more ef ficient production will make many jobs at good pay in the post-war years. Better equipment can be provided wherever employers and employees see eye-to-eye. Mr. Cheyfitz points to the only hope in sight for labor or capital either. wm 1008 • - s . 1 s , ipm $ OUR BOYS can fly these four-engined bombers faster, higher and carry more bombs because they use 100-Octane Aviation Gasoline, the most powerful gasoline in the world. IN NEWLY COMPLETED, modern refinery units Sinclair produces eacA day enough 100-Octane gasoline to fly 1000 four-engined bombers on a bombing mission. In addition, Sinclair is producing aviation gasoline for training planes and many other petroleum products for war. SINCLAIR DEALERS, too, are helping to back the boys in the services by keep ing vital war workers’ cars in operation. 75% of all cars are estimated to be over age and your car needs regular servicing as never before. I«t the Sinclair dealer care for your car to keep it running longer. BUY MORE WAR BONDS AND STAMPS SINCLAIR S. C. Paysinger, Agent NEWBERRY, S. C.