The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, February 17, 1921, Image 1
g frTWiW
v- ; - y . *> * j
ml- v?\
V :. .
% '
* ?lje (Eountu Itari).
VOL. 36. KINGSTREE, SOUTH CAROLINA. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 17.1921. NO. 50
RURAL SCHOOLS IN i
WILLIAMSBURG CO.!
I
REPORT OF THEIR CONDITION
BY THE RURAL SCHOOL
SUPERVISOR
The County Record has received
from State Supervisor of Rural schools j
D. L. Lews for publicaiicn a copy of I
his report, recently made to State
*-* Superintendent of Education J. E.
Swearengen,or. the condition of schools
in Williamsburg county.
Mr. Lewis' Report Follows
Hon. J. E. Swearingen,
Dear sir: Below is given a review
of school conditions among the rural
3^ schools of Williamsburg county, as
obunty as observed during the week
' ending February 12th:
On arriving at Kingstree on Tuesday
morning, February 8th, I went to
the court house and conferred with
the county treasurer as to the system
of bookeeping carried on among the
auditor, treasurer and county superTl.
/? AAMMfu * cnvAr fftli]
iUlCnUCIll. 1 lie Mcaouici wi u
ft me that tax returns were not made
by school districts, as the law requires,
and that he (the treasurer) did not
make monthly reports of school funds
collected by school districts, to the J
^ county superintendent, as the law also
requires. It is impossible for the
county superintendent of education to
do accurate bookeeping unless the taxbooks
are made up by school districts,
and unless the county treasurer reports
monthly the collections of school
' taxes by school districts. Of course,
the treasurer cannot report the threemill
tax by school districts, but he can
r report monthly the amouit of three
mill tax collected in the county, and
the county superintendent can apportion
it according to the enrollment of
the preceding year. Many county ;
superintendents do not enter receipts
of school taxes to the credit of the respective
school districts at all, but
tmake each year, from the audixr's
s abstract, an estimate of the school
- funds for each school district, and use
this estimate as the receipts for any
particular district. This is not l ook
keeping, but guess-work, and would
not be tolerated in any first class bu;- .
iness establishment.
The law requires that the tax re -i
turns be made each year by schoo' dis- ,
tricts, not by townships, that the ?.
auditor's books and treasurer's dupli-!
cates be made up by sshool districts, j
that the treasurer report monthly to
the county superintendent by school j
districts all school taxes collected except
the three-mill tax and tfiat the
treasure.* and the county superinten-j
dent each shall keep a general cash
book and a school district ledger the 1
general cash bock shownig at ar* I'
time the total receipts and disbursements,
and the school district ledger
showing at any time the receipts ar.d
disbursements by school district", j
tasee sections 577, 580, 581, 582. 583.'
? 586, general school law of South Carolina.
Also section 1768, general!
v school law of South Carolina.) It is
hoped that the auditor, the treasurer,
and the superintendent of education
< cf Williamsburg county will keep their!
Looks as the law requires,
s On the same day I visited the J
Kingstree Graded and High Sc) ool,'
where I found most excellent work being
done. Why? Because there are:
fifteen teachers, experienced, well paid,
in the school which runs nine months,
and because the school has a superin?
tendent of successful experience.
I also visited on Tuesday the graded J
school at Lane.
I found conditions to be unsatisfactory,
due to the fact that the school,
for the past year or two, has been un- J
der weak discipline, with th" j
that the larger pupils are backward
and do not know how to study. The
wmpHv is with the "principal. He I
should expect and require of his pu-1
piis the best discipline and hard work
in order that the upper trade may!
reach the standard they should attain.
The question of securing discipline
and good work in a school is a que
tion of common sense. If the principal
does not control the pupils, the pu-'
pils will run over the school. The
principal is put in charge of a school I
to control it, and it can be controlled, i
+ I am sure the unsatisfactory conditio,is!
j now prevailing at Lane will be done I
, away with in the near future.
A On Wednesday Trio and Aim well,
each a two-teacher school, were visit- j
ed. Both schools were doing good [
work as can be done in two-teacher
' schools.
On Thursday I visited Greelyville
and Mulberry schools. At Greelyville
I found a good school with six teach-'
METHODISTS PLAN BIG FUND
Memphis Conference Decides to Raise
33,000,000 Next June
The date for the $33,000.00 campaign
to be conducted bv the Methodist
Episcopal church, south, for the
upbuilding of its educational institutions,
was fixed for the week of May
29 to June 5, at a meeting of members
of the educational commission
and representatives of the 37 conferences.
held in Memphis, Tenn.
"A pessimist is worse than a Hun,"
Bishop James Atkins of Nashville,
told members of the commission, adding
that "hard times is the cry of the
coward." <
Lad Attempts to Get Even
Thomas LangdoD, of Center, Neb.,
broke up a country dance by new
methods and now two constables are
after him. It is alleged that L3ng- i
don, angry at a rival who escorted <
a young woman to a party at a country
schoolhouse, dripped two skunks
,nto the room and then nailed the win- 1
dows shut and tied the door from the
outside. I<
- " I - " ?-1~ I.
Eleven 01 mo 11 gins jwwuhim;
fainted. While the boys were busy <
with them, the stove begin to pour
forth volumes of smoke because a
board and several rocks had been put j
on top of the chimney.
ii it * '
ers and 28 pupils in the high school 1
grades. Unfortunately Greelyville '
could not qualify for the state high 1
school aid, owing, for one thing, to 1
the very small sixth and seventh 1
grades, which do not have sufficient
pupils to form a nucleus for a high 1
school. Steps should be taken by the 1
Greelyville people to get some near- '
by school to consolidate with Greely- ]
ville, so as to have a sufficient num- 1
ber of pupils to form a nucleus for a 1
high school. There is great need for 1
a high school at Greelyville, as a
large scope of country around is now 1
left without high school facilities. :
At Mulberry I found a good two- 1
' j
leacner scnwi. ,
On Friday, I visited the school at '
Cades. Here I found an excellent 1
building which could accomodate four ^
teachers, and even five if necessary, but
in which there were only three j 1
teachers. The school was doing good I'
work. Sanitary conditions are going ''
lo be remedied at once.
I wish to call attention to the number
of one teacher schools in Williamsburg
county. Most of the country.]
schools are of these types. Now, it is
high time that our country people! |
should realize that the country chil- j,
then cannot be educated in schools of (
this type. A one-teacher school can J (
teach successfully only seven grades, ,
and a two-teacher school can teach ],
successfully only eight grades What i,
are our country children going to do!,
after they have completed | ]
in such schools? There are only two L
things that can be done: Either have ,
centralized high schools every ten or I (
twelve miles apart, to which high j ]
schools the country children can go
after completing the course in the ,
one and two-teacher schools; or, con-:]
solidate the one and two-teachei
--1 1 - rvf fnnr and five I,
scnou!.-- iiiiv . __
teachers, these schools having good i
male principals if possible, and a year- |i
!y session of eight m rnths. In ncj,
other way can we give to o ir cojntry (
children the education they d serve ,
and should have. Ignorance and prejudice
are the two things that keep
country communities from uniting and
having the schools iheir children
should have. Any community should
be willing to give something better
for their children. 1 hope that the I,
country people ever} where will wake
up the situation and prepare to educate
their children, who ieserve just ,
as good education as do the town and
city children. If it is better for j
Kingstree to have 15 teachers in one i
building, why is it not better for the
country schools to have more teachers
in each school.' D L. Lewis.
State Supervisor Rural Schools
o
Three rear Pullman cars on train 1
number 81, one of the fastest trains
on the Atlantic Coast Railroad pass
ing through Kingstree irom i\ ew
York to Havana, and known as the
"Havana Special," were derailed at
1:22 Monday afternoon about six miles
north of Petersburg, Va.. Beyond a
slight shaking up none of the passengers
were injured.
o
Mr. Louis J. Stackley who has been
attending for some time the Brown
Embattling school at Raleigh, N. C.,
retunlKr home Tuesday, having completed
his course and graduated as
an embalmed Mr. Stackley will have
charge of the undertaking department
o? the Kingstree Hardware Company.
V
V ....
DR. SNIDER PASSES AWAY
Well Known Dentist of Kingstree Dies i
At Eighty-two
Dr. A. M. Snider the well known
and popular dentist of this place diod
unexpectedly at his home on Railroad
Avenue about 2 o'clock Monday after- ,
noon. He was eighty twoyears of age
and with the exception of occassional
spells of inability which usually i
lasted only for a day or two, en:oyed .
robust health, he was conceded tc be .
an unusually active man for his advanced
years. Dr. Snider was a mem
ber of the Baptist church.
He was a native of Orangeburg
county and served in the War Be- ,
tween the States. He was thrice married,
first to a Miss Rush, of Elloree, ^
to this union the following children "
were born and survive: Dr: E. J. ,
Snider. Toledo. Ohio; Dr. W. W. Sni- t
der, Doublin, Texas; H. Bruce Snider,
Havana, Cuba; C. H. Snider, Conway; j
Rev. H. J. Snider, Woodruff; Mrs. E. j
C. Epps and Mrs. H. E. Montgomery.
Kingstree, and Mrs. C. 0. Thompson. r
Charleston. After the death of his first
wife, he married Mrs. Doshia Graham,
of this county, she died about three \
years ago and he later married Miss ,
Ella Anderson, of Timmonville, v.ho
also survives him. ,
Dr. Snider was a man of sound and
sturdy character and possessed of
many of the higher virtues that men ?
are heir to, he was charitable almost ,
to a fault. To him there was nothing
too good for a friend. Doctor Snider
was able to be on the streets _
rhursday and practiced his profession
up to that day. He is well known
throughout this county and the state,
laving practiced his profession in a
1 ?A,inti0s hefore com
lUITlUt?! UI UlrllCl WMMMVw _
ng to Kingstree. The remains were ^
:aken to Eloree where interment was *
made yesterday.
Funeral services were conducted at t
:he home here at 5 o'clock Tuesday ?
iftemoon in which the Revs. Daniel, ?
McDowell and Davis took part. The
funeral party in charge of the remains
left on the 6:17 p. m. train via Sum- **
cer for Elloree. Those accompanying 0
the body were Mr. and Mrs. H. E. 0
Montgomery, Mrs. E. C. Epps, Mr. C. ?
H. Snider, Rev. H. J. Snider, Rev E.
A. McDowell, C. C. Buress and E. .
F. Martin.
o v
Civic League Meeting Thursday. i 3
~ if
The Civic and Library Association j t
neld its regular monthly meeting last: c
Thursday at which time quite a rum- r
be r of matters were discussed. The (j
principal thing being the request from
citizens to have the library kept open p
each afternoon and until 10 o'clock at
night as a reading mom for the young p
men. The association realizes the value
of a reading room but is in doubt
as to whether sufficient funds can be
had to maintain it and also whethe f
the library is the logical place to have t
it. A committee consisting of Mes- I
dames T. E. Arrowsmith, L. W. Gil- t
land, A. C. Hinds and Miss Agnes r
Echman, was appointed to confer with a
the town council about the matter and c
be ready to make a report at the next a
regular meeting, the first Thursday i
in March.
It was further decided to open the t
library three days each week, instead c
of two. thesd three days being Tues- i
day, Thursday and Saturday. The as- v
sociation is dfesirous of meeting the | s
wishes of the people in every possible' (
way, but additional funds would be z
required to meet this desire. The v
lighting system in the building is de- i
fective and cannot be used, so all of 1
these things will have to be consider-| i
ed and discussed with the council, t
Meet with us at our annual meeting, t
March 3rd, 1921, and give us the help s
of your presence and cooperation. c
Mrs. LeRoy Lee, Secretary. 1
"O c
Concert at Lane ?
i "
On Sunday evening at 8 o'clock, the
"J. Lani Pa Hiwaiian Quartet" entertained
the guests at the Baggett Hotel v
at Lane, with a complimentary con- <
cert. Mr. Pa and his Hawaiian .loupe
spent Sunday night at Lane as the in-!
vited guests of Mr. Plowden, proprie-;
tor of the Baggett Hotel, owing to a
t?nnd the citizens of
1V1IIICI iiunuc?.?, ? _
c
Lane were very fortunate indeed at ^
having the opportunity of hearing this
splendid quartet *
The concert was held in the lobty, *
special seats having been arranged to;
accommodate the guests, and for two
hours the attention was held by the ^
sweet strains of the native Hawaiians, ^
on their native instruments. A number
of native songs as well as others
were enjoyed to the utmost by all pre t
^nt. The evening will long be re- l
membered with pleasure by those who <
heard them. . t
f
NEW BILLS 0FF7ERED.
What the Solons are Doing in
Columbia.
By a vote of 71 to 22, the the House
>f Represetatives on Thursday, kill?d
a resolution to limit the 1921 cotton
acreage to 1-3 of the 1920 crop
icreage, the bill was killed on motion
>f Representative Binniker, of Orange
>urg, himself a farmer, who urged
hat nothing be done to interfere with
he farmer's privilege.
The bill by Representative Simonloff
of Charleston, providing for the
ixamination of all men before mar
iage, was introduced for the secon/1
;ime in the house, late last week, the
neasure having been sent back to a
.pecial committee for redraft A;
\t first it applied to men and women.
:t was redrafted so as to apply only
o men. The bill would require a prosjective
bridegroom to present a physician's
certificate to. show that he wa..
'?~ ? /llOAACa A Kll ] 1Q
ret: irum veucicai uiocan, n um >a
>ending which provides that women
ipplying for registration shall not be
equired to tell their age. They will
;imply be required to show that they
ire twenty years of age and are enitled
to vote.
Representative Smith, of Columbia,
las introduced in the House of Repreentatives
a bill to make November
.1, Armistice Day, a legal holiday,
in commemoration of the valiant and
leroic service of South Carolinians in
he World."
Representative J. 0. Williams, of
'icke^s, a student of the University
jaw School, has introduced a bill
which would prohibit the use of automobile
cut-outs on the public highways
of the state, with a penalty for
iolation of the law of not more than
100 fine or 30 days imprisonment.
Postponement of taxes with penalres
until May is provided in the free
onference committee report on the
till, which has alrady passed both
ranches of the legislature, delaying
he imposition of tax penalties for 19^
!l. The report of the free onference
ommittee conform closely to the form
f the bill .is adopted by the House
f Representatives with penalities as
ollows: One per cent, in January.
! per cent in February, - per cent,
n March. 3 in April and 7 in May,
Hth collections by executions after
lay 1ft. The House plan dilfered
rom this only in respect to April,
hat being four instead of three. The
Senate bill would have provided for
io penalties until April 1, after that
late the penalty being seven per cent.
o
fAZARETH B AYAJIAN COMING.
Native of Armenia to speak at Baptist
Church Sunday Night.
The people of Kingstree will get a
irst-hand view of the terrible condiions
now prevaling in Armenia when
Nazareth Aria Boyajian, a native of
hat country speaks here next Sundaylight
in the Baptist church. Mr. Boyijian
has just returned to South Carilina,
having stopped in New York for
i conference with the Near East Reief
Workers.
Mr. Boyjian declared that condiions
in Armenia are almost indesriable.
Discussing the situation he
s quoted as saying: "We are killed;
ve are tortured; we are hung; we are
itarving, first of all because we are
Christians. We are Christians of
iges; we are the original Christians;
vc have been fighting 1,3UU years.
Mr. Boyjian will tell the people of
(ingstree the conditions that prevail
n Armenia today. He has fought in
he wars in Armenia. He has seen
he horrors; has seen the starvation;
;een men torn asunder, seen women
:arried away captive, seen husbands
rilling their wives when the Turks
ame to snatch them away. He has
:een mothers talce their children in
>ags and flee to save them.
The people of Kingstree will hear
i message they will not soon forget
vhen they hear Mr. Boyjian next
Sunday.
S. McB. Graham Dead.
Mr. Samuel McBride Graham, a
righly esteemed Williamsburg farmer
>f the Leo section died Saturday at
he Baker Sanatorium in Charleston,
vhere he had undergone an operation
ind was under treatment. Mr. Gratam
was about 45 years of age and
i successful fanner. He is surrived
by his wife and three children.
The deceased was buried in the family
?urial ground near Leo Sunday.
o
Mrs. Warren G. Harding, wife of
he President-elect, passed through
Cingstree Friday morning enroute to
St. Augustine. Fla. to join her hus>and.
\
:
TO SANTEE BRIDGE SITE
Commissioners Inspect the Highway
In Berkley
An inspection of the proposed roadway
and bridge site at the S;.iitee
. river was made by Messrs. W. King
i McDowell, William F. Burguson, M.
i Rutledge Rivers and Charles J. Baker.
Messrs. McDowell, Burguson and Bak[
er are active members of the c.mi
mission, Mr. McDowell being the
chairman and Mr. Burguson the secretary.
The party traveled to the
bridge site and back in a Ford sedan.
They left Charleston at 9 o'clock in
the morning and returned here by 6
in the afternoon.
The party reported that on the
whole the condition of the road is
fair. Work is going forward in the
tri/Miii+v n-f M/vnMra f!nrnpr. the road
being scraped and widened. The party
found that with ditches to facilitate
drainage this stretch of highway
ought to be very good for travel.
At the river, where the bridge site
has been staked by engineers, it was
found that in order to construct the
approaches on both sides a considerable
number of cypress trees will
have to be felled. This part cf the
work?the construction of the embankments?is
likely to be a large
task.
While the commissioners are not
prepared to discuss the question of
selling bonds for the bridge, it is
known that progress has been made
and the commissioners appear to be
confident of getting a good price for
the issue of $200,000 in the name of
the San tee river bridge district, comprising
the counties of Charleston,
Berkeley and Williamsburg.?CharlesVTnure
rxr\A fAnriAl'
tuu iiwno Uiiu www*>V>
.J' B
Schools Facing Critical Condition
?
Editor County Record:
I give below letter of Mr. J. E.
Swearingen, State Supt of Education.
It -will be seen from this letter that
there is grave doubt of the state making
good as to its guarantee of the
school tei-m under the equalizing act.
Nearly all of our schools are run on
the basis of this act high schools as
well as others. The act is simply a
guarantee of a seven months tei-m
for all schools levying at least 8 mills
and enrolling 25 pupils for each teacher
and maintaining ?.n average attendance
of at least 15. Last year
the appropriation was not sufficient,
and Williamsburg schools were left in
debt to the extent of nearly $8,000 of
claims approved by the state superintendent
of education. If the appropriation
of this year is not sufficient
to cover this, and also to take care
of demands under the act for the present
year financial conditions will be
deplorable. This equalizing aid is
never available until about June 1.
Heretofore I have been willing to bank
on the state's guarantee of a seven
months term. Under the present conditions
the situation is serious.
J. G. McCollough,
County Superintendent of Education.
Mr. Swearingen's Letter
Supt. J. G. McCollough,
Kingstree, S. 0.,
Dear sir:
The postponement of taxes has been j
authorized by the Legislature. This
will seriously affect tiie schools.)
Teachers, trustees and county super-1
ir.tendents should look carefully into
their school finances. Trustees have
no right to borrow money or run into
debt. This should be impressed
upon the trustees of Williamsburg
county, because this feature of the law
has been disregarded in your territory.
It is equally harmful for any county
board of education to borrow during
.February, March April, May,
June and July. Since your term expires
June 30th, it is emphatically necessary
that you close your administration
without any unpaid debts.
The action of the Legislature with
regard to state aid has not yet been
determine^ I hope sufficient funds
will be allowed to carrv out the several
laws. It does not ,-eem now that
this will be the case with respect to
the Equalizing Law. Insufficient
funds have been allowed on account
of the 1920 deficit and insufficient
funds have likewise been allowed on
account of the equalization law for
1921. Yours respectfully^
J. E. Swearinge^
State Supt. of Education 1
o i
Deputy Collectors Coming
Deputy Collectors Buckley and Roper
will be at Kings tree. Monday Feb
ruary 21st, for the purpose of assisting
taxpayers in preparing individual
income tax returns for the year 1920.
I
SANTEE BRIDGE
BONDS ARE SOLD
SALE OF BONDS TO THE EXTENT
OF $200,000 AT $101 AND
INTEREST
The Charleston News and Courier
of yesterday carries the following
news item, which will be of pleasing
interest to a majority of the Record's
readers:
It was announced yesterday that the
bonds for the San tee river bridge district?Charleston,
Berkeley and Williamsburg"
counties?had been sold
through Lawrence M. Pinckney for
$101 and accrued interest The issue
totals $200,000 and will be used in the
construction of the bridge across the
Santee river, about sixty miles from
Charleston.
This is considered an excellent price
for the bonds and the commissioners
are reported to be well pleased with
the record. Some time ago bids for
these bonds were opened, but they
were rejected because the commissioners
felt that a higher price was to be
had. Their judgment in the matter
has been vindicated.
It is the purpose of the commissioners
to carry forward to the work of
building the bridge and the necessary
highways as soon as possible. The
commissioners have been earnestly
studying the various little problems
relative to the enterprise, which will
mean a great deal to the entire coastal
section of the state. Want of a new
bridge has virtually separated the Pee
Dee and San tee sections. .
Mr. W. King McDoweul of Charleston,
is chairman and Mr. Wililam F.
Burguson, of Charleston, secretary of
the commissioners, represe: ^'ng the
counties of Charleston, Berkeley and
Williamsburg. Mr. Burguson was an
indefatigable worker for the bridge
measure, being a member of the state
House of Representatives at the time
iL A M AM M/\ ttr/in aw n A+n/1 \f x
lilt: mcaduic waa cixacitu* itxi,
son was alert to the opportunity for
getting this much wanted bridge.
Just a few days ago a party, including
commissioners, inspected the
Berkeley highway route and the
bridge site. They were much impressed
with the significance of the
task before them. The route from
Charleston to the bridge will be along
the Meeting street road and highway
to Otranto, thence by way of the state
highway over Goose creek, thence
through the Moncks Corner neighborhood.
Each of the three counties in
the bridge district is interested in
bonds with which to pay for the construction.
^ i
Dr. Whaling Visits Virginia Town
Dr. Thornton Whaling, seventeen
years ago the beloved pastor of the
Lexington Presbyterian church and
now president of the Presbyterian
Thelogical seminary in Columbia, S.
C., paid Lexington a visit Saturday
and Sunday. Saturday he mingleJ
among old friends. Sunday he spoke
three times most delightfully.
His first address was Sunday morning
to the corps of cadets in Jackson
Hall where he made a strong appeal
to his young audience to be partners
and coworkers with God in his
great program of building the world.
This he showed they might be in any
worthy vocation which would make
them bigger, better men a\d Diess
their fellows as they followed the
Golden Rule, the foundatidn of the
modem science of sociology. The
cadets dwelt intently upon his words
in which humor and story Were not
lacking as he drove home the great
truths.
In the afternoon Dr. Whaling spoke
to Washington and Lee men at the
Y. M. C. A. social. The thought was
Sin strikingly emphasized by the subject,
"Hitting the Marie," the words
in the Bible describing sin he pointed
out mean "Missing the Mark."
At the Presbyterian church he was .
greeted by a large congregation anu
preached a great sermon on "Saintliness'
as illustrated by the life and
writings of the Prophet Isaiah.
We reproduce the above, taken from
a Lexington newspaper, ior tne Denefit
of our readers in this community
who know and love Dr. Whaling, he
having supplied the Presbyterian pulpit
here during the past year,
o
Mrs. C. L. Garner of Georgetown,
and Rev. D. M. Clark of Andrews,
passed through town on Monday to
attend the burial of little Christoble
Burgess in the Mouzon section.
o
Mr. H. P. Brown of Lane was in
town on business yesterday.
: " j