The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, March 23, 1922, Image 4
FIFTEEN MILLION
SURPLUS WOMEN
SHORTAGE OF MARRIAGEABLE
MEN IS WORRYING THE
WOMEN.
Recently when Mr. Asquith was
asked what he considered the greatest
social evil at the present time,
he answered: "The two millions of
unmarried women in England."
This is not only an English problem
but a world problem, as statistics
show that in the ten larger countries
participating in the war there |
are 15,000,000 surplus women as:
compared to 4,000,000 prior to 1914.'
The enormous sacrifice demanded
by the great God Moloch are bound
to have a serious effect upon the future
of the human race, whether the
question is considered biologically,
socially or morally.
Before the war, every twentieth
woman lacked a mate, whereas the
ratio has now sunk to every sixth
or seventh woman. As far as the
present generation of adults goes,
the matter is irredeemable; but if
there be any basis for the legend
that jifter periods of war and famine
more boys are born into the world
than girls, there may be some hope
for the coming generation.
No one has attempted to explain
this mystery, although science has
long been standing cn the brink of .
the secret. As to the much-mooted
question of birth control. Nature J
still moves in her own mysterious way
in her workship, regardless of all the (
scientific formulas of a Schienck or ,
the fervent prayers of potential par- ,
ents. ?
When the birth rate on any country
displays an upward tendency ,
there is a proportionate increase of
male births?another of Nature's ,
enigmas?the proportion being about
* < Art
1U? Doys K) every rw gins.
It raust be clear even tc the mind
cf the laity that nature should wish
to guarantee the propagation of the
race. Everywhere in the physical ,
world the masculine germ cells are ,
more lavishly distributed than the female,
but, while the birth i-ate is
higher among males so also is the
death rate, and it must be due to ignorance
as to the "technic of life"
among the human race that this orig- .
inal male surplus is lost in later years J
and indeed just in those years so
vital for propagation.
This preponderance of women in'
the world at present is a problem
that is baffling scientific men. One
of the leading Berlin women specialists
says that among her patients are
many women of marriageable age
who feel that they have been cheated
out of the legitimate privileges
of wifehood and motherhood by the
ravages of the war. They declare
quite openly that they mean to defy
conditions.
Hrey are by no means to be looked
upon as pathological or abnormal
cases but represent merely the reaction
of the women in war-ravaged
countries to what they consider nature's
or fate's injustice. Added to
this is the natural craving of the
average woman?particularly in 3
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l~VUJUVI y UAC VrVAUUMt^ f WW
riage and motherhood were considered
a metier!?to bear children, and
under the present circumstances they
feel it no disgrace to fulfill their
mission.
One thing is certain, and that in
al< countries now engaged in adjusting
after-war problems energetic
measures will be taken by the hundreds
of thousands of new women
voters to seek legislation for the protection
of the child and unmarried
mother.
The frenzied marrying fever of the
immediate after-war period has somewhat
abated, after having reached a
pcint where the futile urge of the
women and girls to the marriage
market had begun to exert a disastrous
effect upon the character and
morals of the coining generation.
Wilhelmine Mohr, a German writer,
thinks that the women of the world
will have to take energetic measures
along sociological and eugenic lines
v to counteract the evils resulting from
her pre mt numerical ascendancy.
A supreme effort should be made to j
preserve the male surplus until late
manhood, and this should be done by
conserving the fcrces of youth by
increasing protection of illegitimate j
children and pregnant mothers, and :
by a x-ational division of work between
husband and wife.
Women have everything to gain by
reducing the present disproportion.
The scientific fact that the death
rate is heavier among male infants,
rests not only upon physical laws,
but also upon social ones. There
should be a fundamental change in
the views concerning the duties of
women along the lines of physical
care and training for motherhood,
just S3 there should be in regard
to the imperative necessity of providing
sound fathers for their children.
In the present social system the
men marry too early. The majority
have won honors, prestige and
v x.
fortunes at a tremendous expenditure
of physical and intellectual strength
before becoming fathers.
Not the number of people, but the
kind of people in the world should
be the law governing future propagation.
Light on Bonus Question.
(By A. Plat Andrew, Member of
Congress from Massachusetts, (Sixth
District) foimer Assistant Secretary
United States Treasury; former Director
United States Mint; former
Professor of Economics cf Harvard.)
Several years ago, in a Harvard
examination, the question was asked,
"What is meant by the polarization
of light?" And one of the students,
with unwitting wisd vn, replied,
"The polarization of light., as I understand
it, is very little understood."
With equal truth a similar reply
might be made concerning the bonus
by many of the financial writers who
are opposing it.
One hears extraordinary statements
about the probable expense involved,
and estimates varying all the way
from one to fifty or seventy-five billions
of dollars. I have received
many circular ietters from broking
houses, professing to explain the adjusted
compensation bill and to estimate
the burden which it will place
upon the business of the country, but
I have yet to l-eaci one such ciitmlar
letter, or to read any financial letter
in any important newspaper of
the country, which gives anything but
a grossly exaggerated statement of
the probable cost involved. In a recent
market letter of Jules Bache &
Co., it was stated that it would place
upon the taxpayers of the country
a burden of one billion dollars annually;
in a financial article from
the Public Ledger which was sent
me the other day, it was stated that
the soldiers' bonus will require two
billions of dollars initially; and in
the last circular letter by the Irving
National Bank, of New York, one
reads that it will divert some three
billions, three hundred millions of
dollars of tax funds. This seemed
bad enough, but Washington Star last
week stated the total cost would not
improbably range somewhere between
fifty billion and seventy-five billion
dollars.
What are facts?
If the bill were adopted ,in the j
form in which it was introduced in j
the house by Mr. Fordney, and in
the senate by Mr. McCumber, it
might, in case all veteians choose
cash compensation, cost $1,500,000,000
in the course of the next three years,
and that would be all that it would
ever cost. If on the other hand all
veterans were to select as their option |
the alternative of paid up insurance,'
it might cost a little over $50,000,- ]
000,000 at the ena 01 twenty years,
when the insurance matures. Those
are the maximum and minimum costs
involved in the present bill, and the
actual cost will depend upon the choice
of the veterans as between the different
alternatives. According to the
estimates made by Secretary Mellon,
based on the supposition that half
the veterans would take cash and
half insurance, it would cost about
$400,000,000 for each of the first two
years, and very little thereafter un-'
til the expiration of the insurance.
These are indeed formidable sums,
but taking the maximum payments
for the next three years, of $1,600,000,000
on the assumption of every,
soldier choosing cash, the total would j
not amount to half as much per
capita for our people as the bonus
which Canada paid to her soldiers
involved for her population. I
How, you may ask, is this great
sum to be paid? i |
It should be noted in passing that,
the suggestion cf levying special,
taxes to meet a special expenditure
has never been raised before in con-,
nection with the adjustment of com-1
pensation for any other war claimants.
When the Dent Act was passed,
which arranged for settling claims
of war contractors, no particular
revenue measure was provided, al-1
though the actual compensation paid
under that act amounted to nearly
,000,000,000. No prejudice was
created against these claimants and I
there was little protest against them,;
because they were paid out of the'
general sources of the treasury, and;
no definite taxes were assigned forj
their settlement. The same is true
of the adjustment of the compensation
of the railroads amounting to
$500,000,000 for the losses incurred
under war administration. It is true
also of the $40,000,000 voted to compensate
mine owners for losses incurred
merely in getting ready to
produce minerals, for chemical warfare,
but without actually supplying
them. It is true of the many millions
voted for the relief of Shipping
Board contractors. If, as has been
suggested, we now incorporate new
taxes in the act adjusting the compensation
of the veterans, we shall
discriminate in a manner quite without
precedent against the claims of
those who offered to their county,
not property, but their youth and
their lives?claims amounting to only
a fraction of those already met
for property. We shall help to turn
what is intended to be, and what
ought to be, an expression of giatitude,
into a source of criticism and
disparagement of those same veterans.
This has, in fact, already resulted
from the agitation of such
proposals.
But can these claims for back pay
i for the veterans be adjusted without
ruin and disaster to the business
interests, and without over burdening
the taxpayers of the country?
I am confident that the necessary
revenue can be provided without further
borrowing. If the results of
the recent conference for the limitation
of armaments are anywhere
near as substantial as we have been
led to believe, the resultant economies
in the appropriations for the
aimy and navy will amount to at
least $200,000,000 yearly. These are
economies that were rot contemplated
and taken account of in next
year's budget. The war finance board (
which, according to present legislation,
will begin liquidation on July
first next, has many millions of govLight
on Bonus Question continued? <
ernment money which will be releas- j
ed. We are continually told of new j
economies being accomplished by the
budget committee; and that there arc
other economies in prospect. But j
even if these sources did not exist, |
merely the interest already accrued, ^
or which is annually accruing on the j
British debt, alone would be suffi- <
cient to meet the soldiers' claims, .
I mention Great Britian specifical- i
ly, because her solvency does not de- .
pend to the same degree as that oi (
France and Italy upon reparation j
payments from Germany, and because }
tbe British government has already (
begun to reduce its own domestic
debt. Within the past week, in fact,
announcement has been made that
payment of 50,000,000 pounds (over
$200,000,000) in interest to the United
States has been arranged for in 1
next year's British budget. In one >
or another of these ways, our com- i
bining several of these ways, our
veterans can bs compensated with- <
out increased taxation, without in- ]
creased loans, and without even touch- i
ing the principal of the debts which 1
ore owing us. Congress ought, in
justice to the veterans, to pass the
adjusted compensation act without an- i
nexing special revenue measures, and "
it not only ought to do so, but it
can do so without fear of serious
emhanrassment to the treasury. <
There is another aspect of the <
problem which merits thoughtful at- 1
tcntion. We can very well admit *
that the debt which our government (
owes the veterans is very like all
debts for services long since rendered.
The feelings of many of our
people toward it are akind cf our
individual feelings toward the bilfo
of lawyers and doctors fcr services
which they may have performed in
the past. We face them peifunctoril.v,
and with a not unnatural desire
to find some possible means of escape,
but like all such obligations
long overdue, this debt, If neglected,
will only grow more heavy with the
lapse of time. If we leave our veterans
with this obligation unsettled,
and with the feeling that the country
has dealt unjustly with them, their
restlessness may grow not only more j
insistent, but more extensive with the j
passage of the years. Let those who ;
selfishly and shortsightedly oppose
the settlement today take warning.
If this debt is not settled now, in
time, instead of pushing the present
claim for back pay, the effort may
be made to revive the extravagant,
much abused, ana unsau.raacu ajotem
of general service pensions, which
it has been the worthy purpose of
our war risk insurance and our compensation
acts to forestall and avoid.
It is not only fair and just, but it
will be much more economical in the
long run to settle the obligation now.
We sanction hospitalization end training
for our disabled veterans. Wc
have provided aid for the dependents
of our dead. We have adjusted the
compensation of our war contractors
to the tune of $3,000,000,000 under
the Dent Act. Wc have adjusted the
compensation of the railroads to the
extent of $500,000,000. We have settled
the war bills of the Shipping
Board for countless millions. There
remains only one more war debt to
pay. If we pay it now, I can not
see that the soldiers and sailors (except
those suffering from ailments
incurred during the war) will have
any other claim that ought to be recognized
either now or in the future.
T?- Jc, /mi,. intPT-Pst to DP.V it nOW, j
and as Washington said, one hundred '
and forty years ago of the bonus j
proposed for the soldiers cf the Rev- j
olution: "It is a debt of honor which j
can not be canceled until it is fairly
discharged."
DR. FRANK 0. LENTZ
DENTIST
Office Over Baggett'a Jewelry Store.
Main Street
OFFICE HOURS:
9 a. m. to 1 p. m. and 2 to 5 p. m.
The County Record is mailed to j
subscribers at $1.50 the year, invariably
payable in advance.
A Ghost Pat to His Proof.
In taking up the hunt fcr the
"Ha'nt" which has driven the McDonald
family from their farm at
Caledonia Mills, Nova Scotia, Dr.
Walter F. Prince of this city has
adopted, apparently, a r.ew line of
scientific approach. He has put the
burden of proof on the ghost In this
respect he differs from the ordinary
agent of psychical research who sets
cut to establish conclusions cr to
test theories of his own. With Dr.
Prince the ghost is the thing. With
the investigator of the other type
any wandering spirit caught in the
act would serve but as an active argu ~ont
for an already elaborated
..ypothesis in the supernormal.
The ghost on the McDonald place
is alleged to have slapped one bold
seeker of the truth fairly in the
face. Dr. Prince desires nothing so
much as to be he who gets slapped
in the next instance of spooky wrath.
He has provided bells to be rung,
rattles to be shaken, knockers with
wliich His Ghostship may rap?every
sort of plaything with which a romping
visitor from elsewhere may divert
himself in his own uncanny way.
A "ha'nt" that varies his tricks
from arson to a merry dance and
from bell-ringing to assault and batt?
ry is likely to be of a capricious
temperament. Certainly he will not
perform till he feels good and ready.
Concerning the possibility of his not
appearing at all we have this to say:
\ny ghost which fails to exhibit his
appreciation of Dr. Prince's courage,
:ourtesy and intended hospitality wifl
je simply not playing the game, and
r?e shall move for his permanent ex:lusion
from the best psychic circles.
?New York World.
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC.
I have again taken charge of the
fCingstree Shaving Parlor?will give
t my best attention. My motto is
still "Service First"
You can always find a clean up-tolate
barber shop. Again I thank the
people for their patronage given me
n the past and I hope you can continue
to do so.
GEO. H. DALLAS
Located in Wee Nee Bank bldg.
S-16-2tc.
ANNOUNCEMENT.
F. R. Hemingway begs to announce
that he has commenced the practice
>f law in his own name, with office in
the Nexsen Building, Kingetroe, S. C.
l-16-2tc.
566 cures Chills and Fever.
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I We are
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J Papef. C
I need of th
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T ypewritt
and Yello>
rtifrn tfAll n,
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We ca
grades sui
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UAVEIT
MADE TO
MEAJURE
|"*sssss^-' WOOL
Quality and Price
Go Hand in Hand
/ f"
You cannot find quality where the price
is not sufficient to warrant, quality. When
the attempt to reduce the price below what is
commensurate with good materials and workmanship
is made, the quality is sacrificed. In
International tailoring you find the best allwool
fabrics with the most skilled workmanship.
This is all that can be put into any
garment.
KINGSTREE DRY GOODS COMPANY
Official Merchants for International Tailoring
Kingstree, South Carolina --
ter Supplies! 1 |
; now carrying a line of II
;r Ribbons and Carbon BJ
all and see us when in 9
i olcrk cnnnlv unnrnppHQ in HI
L UlOV J J v/vtx xxv/v/v?v jlm.m. Paper,
Manifold Paper M ,
Copy. Sheets, cut any p
eed from stock. J
n furnish this stock in |
table for any purpose, if
righest grade parchment H
> copy sheet. |j # j