Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1 m an Sn 8UMTJE& WATCHMAN. Kstabllahed April, IS50. "Be Just and Fear not-Let all the Ends thou A ms't at, be thy Country's, thy God's andlTrnth's. THE TRUIE SOUTHRON, Eatablished Jane, 1366 Consolidated Aug. 2,1381. SUMTER S. C., WEDNESDAY. JULY 26.1899 New Series-Vol. XTIII. No. 52 ?k Wi mK at Soutirant Squished Srary Wednesday, N. O. Osteeiij SUMTER, S. C. TERMS : {1.50 per annum-io advance. ADTIXTISIM1I?: One Square first insertion...................Sil 00 Every subsequent insertion ..... .. 50 Contracts for three months, or longer wil be made at redaced rates All communications which sabserve private interests will-fee charged for as ad versements. Obituaries and tributes of respects will be charged for. Swearing to Falsehoods. The . Administration Ignores Protests of Philippine Correspondents HOBE CENSOR MADE NEWS OF CONDITIONS IN LUZON. Washington, July 18-At the cabinet meeting today the "round robin" sent by the American news paper correspondents from Manila via" Hoog Kong yesterday was discussed, and it was decided to allow the matter to drop. Officially the matter will be ignored, and Geo. Otis will be allowed to treat it as be may deem best. A cable from Co!. Denby, a member of the Philippine commission, was read. It showed s fairly t-a tis fa cte ry state of affairs, one of the cabinet officers said, bat it did not say that peace negotiation with Aguinaldo were io progress. Secretary Hay also had a cable from Ambassador Cb cate relative to the boundary Hoe negotiation., bot it was not encouraging. AT THE WAE DEPARTMENT. Washington, sly 18.-It was stated nt tho war department that no attention whatever would be paid to the "round robin" of the Manila correspondents. The protest was not sent to Ger. Otis, and it is said it will not be, and Geo. Ods will not be called apeo -for an esp a nation. Io addition to this it was intimated that very encouraging oews had been received from the Philippines and that the situation was much better than had been generally believed. SERENE AS A MAY DAY. Washington, Jaly 18.-Tha follow lng statement was given out tbis afternoon at the state department : "The state department yesterday received from the Philippine commis sion an important dispatch conveying these facts : "By the co-operation of the military and the commission, municipal govern ments have been established ia seven important towns ia the provinces o Manila and Cavit . These are working admirably, and coe good effeot of them is tbfit considerable cumbers of the insurgents ore constantly deserting and coming io, some of them with arms The system will soon be extended to other towns which are asking for it. Continued success in this direction iii mean tthe beginning of the end. The commissioners state that the general situation is as described io the message of Gen. Otis of the 26.h of Jane, cseept that a number of ports in the southern part of Luzon, io Leyte an other islands to the south have since then been opened to trade. Dispatches from Dr. Schorman on his return from his trip through the southern part of the archipeltgo were of the same purport. A disposition to accept American sovereignty and to welcome oar troops was everywhere manifested. "The report of Gea. Otis, of the 26th of Jane, referred to by Commis sioner Denby io the above dispatch, stated that as a coosc^seoco of the rainy season little island campaigoiog was now possible in Lozoo. We ocoupy, said Geo. Otis, a large portion of the Tagalo country. The lines stretch from Imus oa the sooth to Ssa Fernando on the north, oearly 60 miles, and east ward into the Laguna prorinee. The insurgent armies have suffered great losses and are scattered. The only large force which bolds together is about 4,000 io Tarlac province and northern Pamgaoga. There are scat tered forces ia bands cf 50 and 00 io other portions of Lozoo. Io Cavite and Batangas provinces they oould possibly assemble as many as 2,000. They are demoralized from recent de feat. The most of the people are ter rorized by the insurgent soldiers aod desire peaoe and American protection. They no looger flee frost our troops unless forced by insurgents, but gladly welcome them. -There bas been no recent burning of towns. The popula tion within our lines bas become dense, taking op land cultivation extensively. They are kept out of Manila as much ts possible, as the city population was becoming too great to be cared for. The only hope of tba insurgent leaders is in id fros the United States. They pro olaio the near overthrow of the present administration, to be followed by their iod3peodense aod recognition by the United States Tais is the influence whieb enables them to hold oat. Mach contention prevails among them and no civil govornment remains. The trade with ports not in oar possession, the former source of icsargent revenues, is now interdicted. Gen. Ods doubted the wisdom of this policy, BS people io those ports are without supplies or food and the merchants sufferiog great los ss. He meditated at that time the restora tion of trade privileges although the insurgents might reap some benefit from it, a plan which has since been partially carried into effect. The courts are in successful operation under the direction of able Filipinos. Affairs in the other islands are comparatively quiet, await ing results in Luzon. Ali are acxioas for trade, and repeated calls for Ameri can troops are received. He is giving his attention to the Jolo archipelago and the Parlawan islands. **Gen. O 3 speaks cf the general desire of the volunteers to reenlist. Re has provided for the enlistment of the two regiments which have been author ized and has esr ed permission to organ iza a third regiment." OTIS, THE OPTIMIST. The publication of the correspond ents' protest against the severity of the censorship at Manila . has placed another problen before the president and the solution is now being vari ously guessed at The correspond ents only intimated ; others are giving particulars Gen. Otis, it is established, bas doctored the press dispatches to suit himself. That is bari enough and without the shadow of justification A Washington dispach to the Kew York Tribune, the administration's staunch friend, discloses that Gen. Otis'has been exceedingly chary in giving official information of affairs. His *'consecutive reports were seen to be non corroborative." His cable dispatches were few and brief and "the press reports practically ceased after the early part of June," the censor having assumed greater pow ers. The Tribune's correspondent goes on to say : The anxiety was increased by the apparent reluctance of Gen Otis to give desired information, his grudg ing replies to queries about the men he would need in the faiy and his stubborn reiteration that 30,000 men would be enough for all purposes Although that was his statement six. months agc and since that time little or nothing^ has been gained, Otis stuck to his original estimate. The Tribune's dispatch continues : For four months official telegrams had come from Gen. Otis clinging to his belief that the rebellion was over and only now, when events have justified none of the series of rosy predictions, it is beginning to be openly admitted that Gen. Otis has noi; known what was going on in the country under his control and that he bas failed to form any adequate idea of the Filipino character Further, it is stated that "Gen. Otis has permitted four months to pass without sending a single mail report to the war department, pre ferring to confine himself to brief and generally indefinite cable dis patches " Evidently the source from which the president has been receiv ing these "ultra-optimistic views" which "have not been borne out by subsequent events" is no less a person than Otis. If in no other way, Otis will attain fame as an op timist While the Tribune gives the Washington view of 0:is, the Boston Globe publishes o dispatch cabled from London by James Creelman, the celebrated war correspondent. Creel man describes Otis very particularly, having spent several months in the Philippines He starts off with this declaration : i have been in the Cuban campaign as weil as in the Philippine, arid I can say honestly, without the slight est prejudice, that Gen. Otis is much more responsible fo* the disastrous, humiliating condition of affairs in the east than Gen. Shafter was for the calamities in Cuba, for the war de partment furnished Gen. Otis with a perfectly equipped, well fed army, and he had months of dry weather in which to fight against an imperfectly organized enemy. Creelman says of Otis in his capac ity of censor : While the army in the field was anxiously awaitii g orders during the advance on Maiolos, he spent a whole boor reading iny dispatch, etriking out names of officers mentioned for gallantry, chan cing descriptive pass ages, erasing all mention ot the pari; played by the navy, and even occu pying five minutes in -.electing si single word. This is the same expe rience which other correspondents have had during the war. Gen. Otis bas wasted hours of valuable time during the most critical days in revising press dispatches, coloring them to suit his own views On the night of tbs cburge at Taliban ri ver I went to Gen Ods7 palace, having ridden in from the battlefield. The general insisted on changing the dispatch I submitted to him, and actually struck cut the name of Col. Funston, whose regiment swam the river under fire that day, saying : "I propose to make all the heroes that are made io this war." Col. Thomp son, the press censor, bas refused to allow me to mention regiments dis tinguishing themselves in battle, saying he was ordered to do so by Gen. Otis. During Gen Wheaton's advance to Parig and beyond with the flying brigade Otis ordered all press dis* patches stopped unless they described the enemy fighting furiously and said enormous losses were inflicted by our troops. As a matter of fact, on this occasion the insurgents were con temptible in numbers and ran away except in cases of one or two small bands, and their losses were very slight. Gen. Otis7 conditions for press dispatches were so outrageous ly dishonest that I refused lo send any dispatches rather than to tele graph official lies. Corroborative testimony of wit nesses who have had no opportunity to agree upon a story is very valua ble and the similarity between Creel man's account and the eleven's state ment adds weight to the words of each and the two reports correspond so fully as to establish the truth of both -The State. THE MEN WHO KNOW. There has been a rather general belief among the opponents of im perialism that when the volunteer troops should return from Manila they would, so to speak, take the lid off the Philippine situation. This conviction is now justified by facts A San Francisco dispatch to the New York World begins with the following summary statement : Volunteers of Oregon and Califor nia who have just returned here from Manila on tbe transports Newport and Ohio were polled last week by The World regarding their opinion of the Philippines, the Filipinos and the war. The twelve hundred men were practically unanimous in saying that. The expansion policy is proving a costly failure It will take years, perhaps generations, to conquer the natives The Filipinos, if eventually subju gated, will never make even moder ately good citizens, and will be a source of constant trouble and ex pense, necessitating an immense j standing army, with large garrisons j on each of the more important islands to keep them io subjection. The World sent stenographers on board the transports on their arrival Wednesday to take the answers of the returning soldiers to these ques lions : 1. Do you think Philippines worth fighting for ? 2. How long do you think it would take to conquer the rebels ? 3. Would you live there if you could 1 4. What do you think of the natives ? On the first question the sentiment of the men was overwhelmingly in the negative The First Oregon is a body of picked men above the average in intelligence It was the opinion of four-fifths of them that Uncle Sam made a grave mistake when he set about to annex the eastern archi pelago. The veterans varied in their views as to the length of time that would be required to conquer the Filipinos. Of the field officers and men 7 per cent were of the opinion that subju gation could be effected within one year if the campaign were in the hands of competent men ; 62 per cent placed the maximum limit at fiv.e years, 15 per cent, at ten years, and of the rest some believed that it would mean an intermittent warfare for generations, and others that the islands and tribes could never be entirely pacified The volunteers were practically uuauimous in saying that the Filipi nos would never make good citizens, that the benefits of civilization would be wasted upon them, and that the Americanization of the isiands would necessitate the extermination of the Malayas the American Indian was exterminated Few of the soldiers would care to return to the Philippines to live. The majority declared that a white man could never become acclimated there, and of the handful who ex pressed a desire to go back nearly all admitted that they were actuated by the beiief that fortunes might b? made during the boom following American supremacy. Not one man could be found on the transports who cared to reenlist. The men are very bitter in their comments regarding the conduct of the campaign around Manila. As they had not beea mustered out, most of them were guarded in their criti cisms, bat their "Wait until we are mustered out !" had a significant ring. However, there were many bolder ones who spoke out frankly, and what they said had the unani mous saction of their comrades. The Oregonians declare that Maj. Gen Otis is a failure and that the campaign will be futile so long as the government delays sending out a competent general They expressed the belief that the war was being permitted to drag along in order that a clique of high officers might win rapid promotion, and asserted that the situation around Manila was worse for the Americans when they left than it was on the day of the first insurgent attack upon our lines. The World's dispatches goes on to give brief statements from scores of the soldiers bearing out the fore going summary. The names of the .men are given and their companies designated. The most noticeable thing about the interviews is that althoHgh most of the men hold a very bad epinion of the Filipinos' character they do not at all underrate their capacity for resistance and have no illusions of early conquest. As The World shows, nine tenths of the men believe it will take five years or more to subdue the insurgents, and a good many thiuk that if Otis is continued m command they will never be subjugated. The general commanding clearly does not have the confidence of his men, and these interviews will heighten the belief, already rapidly growing, that Gen. Otis is incompetent for the work to which he has been assigned The imperialists will of course en deaver to weaken the effect of this testimony, but it cannot fail to have much influence upon public opinion. These soldiers are not "weak senti mentalists'7 nor "traitors to the flag." They cannot be accused of wishing to destroy American prestige. They are plain, practical, hard-headed men from a Pacific State in which" expan sion is supposed to be overwhelming* ly in favor. They do not as a role sympathize with the Tagals-judging from their expressions they hate them quite enthusiastically. They have been on the ground and fought over it for months ; they have had practi cal experience of the climate in the dry season and the rainy season ; they have dispersed the rebels" to the admiration of the country ; and so their testimony is worth mere than the hopes of ail the imperialist politicians and the editors who hold that we have an easy job io Luzon. These men are not shirkers-they have done their duty and more than their duty. They are not talking for effect, to se cure their discharges-they are about to be discharged. Their testimony, therefore, as to the ineffectiveness of the brilliant and "successful" opera tions of the last few months and the hopelessness of permanent conquest without years of sacrificial warfare cannot be sneered away. Census Supervisors. The Democratic congressmen from this State have endeavored to have the censas officials for this State appointed from the ranks of the Demooracy. But the Republicans wanted the plums for themselves. It bas been reported that there would be a division of spoils. The State will be divided into six districts and eaoh district wiil have a supervisor. The followiog seems to be the slate which will go through : J W Wheeler, Charleston ; S A Pearce, of Columbia. These two are Republicans. The Democrats are : D H Russell, of Anderson ; Capt George W SbeU, of Laurens ; T J Cunningham, of Chester, and T J Breeden, of Bennettsville. Col. 5. A. Pearce of this city, it is said, will be in charge of a satrapy. Col Pearce is well known io business circles, having been engaged in the completion of the canal. He is oow general seoretary of the Merchants' aod Manufacturers' Club, having been elected at a recent meeting of the trus te: . Hs says be has not received his ccmmission, but is reasonably sure of bis appointment. He does not know anything about the number of assist ants to bc employed and wili not until he receives instruction. He does not want to be orowded with letters wi h applicants for positions, but will in due time make a selection with reference to the business capacity of those to be associated with him in this work The director general, Mr. Merriam, will appoint the other officials, but upon the recommendation of the supervisor - The State, July 20. Eleven different fats in emulsions have been tested to determine whether they would allay cough ai.d increase weight. The effects with cod liver oil proved to be variable The beet results were given by beef fat, olive, peanut and cocoanut oil, and the experimenter has concluded that a mixture of these four fats, with the addition of a little clove oil, is much superior to cod liver c'l. STANDARD COTTON TARIFF FIXED. New Rates Lower Than Geor gia or North Carolina. After many months of deliberation, daring wbicb period tbe railroad traffic managers and cotton men bave been given lengthy and complete hearings, the State railroad commis sion bas at last adopted a new stan dard tariff of rates on cotton for the State of South Carolina. The tariff as adopted the commission proposes to let stand and will not make any changes. Yesterday copies of the new tariff were forwarded to the traffic managers Gf all the railroad lines in Sonh Carolina, and the com mission does not anticipate that there will be any complaint from them. The new tariff is considerably iower than that recently suggested by the commission and is lower than either the present Georgia or North Carolina rate Indeed the new tariff, it is said, will likely be lower than any in the country. The commission proposes to give the tariff 6heet to the public on Monday next, and it will be published Tuesday. It will become effective 30 days after the 25th inst , thus giving the notice required by the railroad law of the State. The commission in making up the new tariff has given the most careful consideration to the arguments pre sented by the interests and has pre pared a tariff that is considered "just and equitable One factor in the cotton problem in this State now is the rapidly increasing number of cot ton mills and the consequent increase in the number of short hauls. There has been a demand for some time for the reduction of the rates on cotton io South Carolina, and no doubt many will hail with pleasure the announcement of the redaction provided for by the commission. The State, Joly 22. Many of the papers continue to print statements and alleged argu ments intended to convince the public of the superiority of the round cotton bale over the square bale One of the latest claims is that exporters will pay about 40 cents per hundred more for round bales thau for square bales This, however, does not count for anything, except as an offset to the tare cn square ba es. The Enquirer does not think it has any prejudice in the matter; but! under the circumstances it is con j vinced that the best thing that the cotton growers of the south can do is io hold on to the old equare bale It will be well for them to secure uniformity of size if possible., and also to insist on the best wrapping they can get. Most of the wrapping is done so carelessly as to be very expensive to the man who sella the cotton. Bat the round bale is not needed, notwithstanding any real or imaginary advantages The best patents of machinery for making round bales belong to capitalists who have no intention of selling out at any reasonable price. Their idea is to substitute the round bale ma chinery for the square bale presses on terms that wili insure to them perpetual control of the round bale machinery After that there will be no more competition in cotton and the trust will fix the price at the gin. To prevent the growth of a trust is comparatively easy ; but a healthy trust once grown can be pulled down again only with the greatest difficul ty -Yorkville Enquirer Marconi has two rivals in his wire less telegraphy, one io Austria, who claims to have se Hspatches a dis tance of 39 mike without the tall steel towers employed by Marconi, the other a young Englishman, who not only dispenses with the towers, but has improved transmitters and receivers which focus sad confiue the message to a space of not more than an inch wide, thus preventing messages being caught by others. He claimed also that he can send messages a distance of 150 miles. People interested in coincidences are noting that Raphael Semmes's Confederate vessel, the Alabama, which was sunk by the Kearsage, was numbered 190 by the English builders, and that the United States battle ship Alabama, now being built at Cratnpu' ship yard, bears the same builders' number-190. Is Malt Extract a Beverage? The Point of Fact Involved in the Question, THE OPINION OP THE ATTOR NEY GENERAL. Colamb a, July 19.-Nearly every dreg store in the State keeps for sale malt tceic, or other malt extracts. The question has been raised if such sale is oot io violation of tbe dispensary law, as malt extract contains a percent age of alcohol. The State board of control, as with all snch knotty problems, left the responsibility with the attorney gener al's office, asking the judicial department of the executive government for aa opinion on the subject. Mr. Ganter yesterday replied to the State board that the question was really a matter of fact and not of law. The analysis of the chemist of tbe South Carolina College sbow3 that these ma t preparations contain from 2 per cent, of alcohol by volume to more than 6 per cent by vol me. The law prohibits the handling of liquors "which contaio alcohol and which are used as beverage," etc. Under this section the question arises "Is the malt tonic cr extract used as a beverage ?" In this eonneotion Mr. Gunter says : "If used as a beverage its sale is prohibited ; but if used strictly as a medicine its sale is not prohibited. This is not a qaestisa of law to be passed upon by this office, but a ques tion of fact to be left to a jury to determine. From a review of the authorities io reference to the sale of alcoholic liquors I Sod that io effect the following rules are laid down : "First. Whatever is generally and popularly known as intoxicating liquors, such as brandy, whiskey, beer, etc., is within the prohibition of sneh a statute as above quoted and may be so declared as a matter of law by tbe court. "Second. That whatever is generally and popularly known as medicine or as an article for the teilet and whioh is recognized and the formula for its prep aration prescribed io some standard au thority and is not among liquors ordi narily used as intoxicating beverages, such as bay rum, paregoric, cologne and tinctures generally, is net within such an act and may be so declared as a matter of law by tbe court notwithstand ing tsuch articles contain alcohol. "Thud. That as to articles interme diate between the above classes, com pounds of intoxicating liquors with other ingredients, whether provided for a sirgle case or compounded cpDO a for mula and sold under a speoifio name aa bitters, tonics, extracts, etc , such as now under consideration-whether they ar8 prohibited by this act is a question for the jury. "As to this latter class the facts of eaoh particular case must determine. The test by which the jury must deter mine is not the presence of alcohol ; bot the adaptability of the substance as to the one use or the other, as a medicine or as a beverage As bas been judi cially stated, 'If the compound or preparation be such that tbe distinctive character and effect of intoxicating liquor are gone, that its nee as ao intox icating beverage is practically impossi ble by reason of the ingredients, its sale is not prohibited by this section. The mere presence of alcohol does net brioc the article within the eeotion quoted, for the ioflueo3e of tbe alcohol may be counteracted by tho ether ele ments and the compound be strictly and fairly only a medicine But if the aloo bel lemaios as a distinctive force ic the compound and such compound reason ably liable to be used as an intoxicating beverage, it matters not tbat it contains ingredients of a beneficial force in coun teracting diseases or strengthening the system, its sale is is prohibitedfl Tallulah, La , July 21.-Five Ital ians were lynched here last night for the fatal wounding of Dr. J. Ford Hodge. The dead men are of a class which has been troublesome for some time, and it is believed that they had planned to kill the doctor. Some of them, it is said, have families in Europe, but they have no relatives here. The A. & P. Roberts Company, of Philadelphia, has received a contract from the Seaboard Air Line for the building of two plate girder bridges one to cross the Congaree River, near Columbia, and the other to span the Wateree River, near Camden. ^ ABSOLUTE PURE Makes the food more delicious and wholesome OYAL BAKtNO POWOEB CO., HEW YORK. _