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A SCATHING CRITICISM:. A. B. Williams Writes of "The Clans man" by Dixon. A. B. Williams gives the following views of "The Clansman" in editorial columns of the Richmond News Leader: Not because it is particularly im? portant, but because it is the newest topic and everybody is talking about it let us consider, "The Clansman" for ? while in a random way, hoping that we may stagger on an idea or two while we go along. All ideas are not on the straight, smooth path of logic or of direct purpose to express something. "Rev." is' a contraction for "rever? end^ or revered." Mr. Dixon was the "Rev." Thomas Dixon. He never was the Reverend" or the "revered;" he never reached the end of being reverend. In his case the "Rev." was i an amputation and not an abbrevia? tion. It was the mere trademark and sign of a profession and never the expression of a condition. He leaped from the Baptist pulpit into the show less, building^ literature with a j rht touch. It was quite a bound, but :robatic feats are natural and de jhtful to him Now he is an "ex ?V." and is making a sensation and some money, two operations in which ? his soul delights and we assume that he is happy. He indicates that "The Clansman" as a play was written and staged with serious moral and instructive purpose. The author of "The Dancing Doll," which was so nastily suggestive that even New York city would not have it, made the same claim. With a lit- I tie ingenuity and sufficient induce? ment, we can work a high purpose into anything. In the interests of de? cency and jhorality and public poli? cy, certain /parts of the human body are kept covered. For the same rea? sons, certain elements of human character should be kept out of view as much as possible. They ought not to be intruded on the public notice in books or on the stage. 'The Danc? ing Doll" and "The Clansman" pa? rade before the same thing, the same primal passion, at its two ex? tremes of development-the one gild .*ed refined and artistically surround? ed, the other in the lowest stages of bestiality. Nothing is to be learned and no good is to be gained by either and harm must be done by both. Did you ever see a lynching? We can say of it, as we cannot say? of "The Clansman," that it is an ele- j ???ea??Trg 'performance in one sense of ! the word, at least; but it is not pr?t- j ty or nice or artistic, although some . times necessary and improving,. It is a horrible thing, done usually for horrible reasons and there is no ro? mance or elevation about it. It is a savage assertion of the primal law of self-defense-of defense of life or j something dearer-and of vengeance j which can only be accomplished ! : by the death of the offender. It is' a J tradition with which the public is un -. _ happily familar through the newspa? pers, but it should not be thrust be- ; fore the people of staid and well-or , dered communities, wearing their good clothes and seeking an evening /Of pleasant amusement and instmc" rion. Mr. Dixon is not even correct his? torically, and if, as may possibly have been, any old Ku-Klux members present at any of the performances of his play, they were amused at the wide difference between the thing as it really was and as it is presented on the 'stage. ' The Ku-Klux Klan sprang into life mysteriously . and spread ? silently and in darkness. It was what it called itself, an invisible Empire born suddenly, obediently to a great stress of necessity. It was a huge, hidden, in many respects beautiful, ?conspiracy of a whole peo . pie against a government at^mpiing a grotesquely impossible, a tragically absurd experiment. It was largely composed of rough, rude men banded together for rough, stern and neces? sary work. It included every class and condition of life in' the states where it was strong, and those who were not in active membership were in close sympathy. There were no elaborate white linen robes with red crosses and suggestions of the milli? ner's art worn by fancy young men with stage accents and inflections. It was intended for ugly business and it was an ugly outfit. A handkerchief more or. less soiled with slits cut for the eyes was the mask, probably in a majority of cases, and there was more cotton bagging than muslin in the uniforms. Many of the men who rode at night ploughed all day and there was a good deal of drinking of corn whiskey, chewing of tobacco and country-side swearing and the Klan on an expedition was sweaty, hot, reeking and Intent. Some of 4the more elaborate disguises were made by the women of the family and occasionally one was really ingenious, but they ex? pressed' even in these crude fancies untrained tastes that their purpose was to terrify superstitious negroes rather than to be becoming or effec? tive as parts of a public spectacle. The merchant and his clerk, the land? lord and his tenant, might ride in the same Klan and while they might suspect each other, neither would know; and the clerk or the tenant 1 might be late to work in the mor and t^e employer would discr< j ask no questions, even if he was ? personally a member. Livery st I keepers in small towns and their w helpers would be alert and busy diing and bridling horses for unkn men at late hours of the night, nobody knew anything. Someti the raid was largely a frolic anc others it had a deadly purpose, executed in a thorough way and broad principles of public policy laws which state and local gov? ments were too vicious, weak or j norant to enforce. It made itself j rible and by so doing maintained j der, peace and a measure of saf ; When gin houses were burned ! dence was not awaited, but the w< ? ! negro leader in the neighborh was visited. But the Klan did drive out the radical governments restore supremacy. It had deger ated to rowdyism and in places t means of private malice and nei borhood feuds and brawls before collapse in 1869. Even the Uni States government was power; against it until it was swerved fr the purpose which gave it digi and force and traitors were develo] within its own ranks. In South Ca lina the radical government was even brought into order by the Klux Klan the excuse for rene-? outrages and impost on the people ? for arming more negroes. If Mr. E on intended his play to teach 1 tory he should have studied histc In South Carolina the radical gove ment was finally overthrown in 18 seven years after the Klan had vs ished, and the work was done Wade. Hampton's Red Shirts who < erated very much under the sa system as the Klan, only substitut: for grips, signs and passwords a g( eral understanding so that it was t necessary for a courier speeding night along lonely country roads rein his horse at a white man's ga and {shout the one? word, "Wantec for every male thing within capal or riding a horse and firing a pis: j to go pelting out to saddle up a [make for the rendezvous at top spee I On one occassion more than eig [thousand armed men were gather I in Columbia at an emergency call fc tween ten o'clock of Sunday nig and midday of Monday. But why should these old horro of a long-forgotten crime be parad' and distorted in fanciful -garb befo the people of today? What good a it do? Knowledge of them, as ^fy cl.er historical episode, can found in various books, giving actu facts and figures and not the fanci of a playwright or a novelist, ys Dixon contends that his book and pli are answers to '"Uncle Tom's Cabin but "Uncle Tom's Cabin" did its woi fifty years ago and it is not regarde as useful or instructive in this da If Mrs. Stowe saw fit to invent fae and to distort actualities hideously^ fire the northern heart for a politic purpose, what is the sense of Sout: ern people encouraging a similar pe formance now for no purpose at a but to make some money for Mr. Di: . on and some actors and theatric; speculators ? The play itself is melodrama. It strong in some respects because deals with a strong and stirring tin: of which little is known and with av ful and horrible things. The publ: loves the morbid, the tragic, th mysterious, the thrilling, and the ur usual. If Mr. Dixon could arrange t have a man actually lynched on th roof of the capitol here, he woul fill the square with people at two do. lars a head. Crowds will linger fe hours, fascinated by the grewsome rc mains of a man cut to death by th merits of the usefulness of a play ths people rush to see it. In Texas las year excursion trains were rur crowded with eager citizens, to see negro burned to death. The chambe of horrors at the Eden Musee is th most popular feature of that enter tainment. Mr. Dixon has struck ; new vein of sensationalism for thi part of the country; but we doubt i "The Clansman" will succeed bette in the North than "Uncle Tom's Cab in" with its bloodhounds and whip ping post would do in the South . Th two things attract the same inter?s in the respective sections-whipping post, bleeding back and bloodhound: on the .trail for one side; lynching the Ku Klux, negro supremacy ani miscegenation on the other. "Topsy' and some frightened negroes for thi humorous touches. Little "Eva" as? cending to Heaven and little "Flora' leaping over a bluff to escape a horri? ble negro pursuer-and there w? are; one against the other, each con? taining some elements of the truth and many falsehoods and slander, neither a beautiful, a poetic or an im? proving line or one thing to make thc world brighter or better. And the only effect is to carry the public mind back to old crimes and blunders and tragedies, which never should have been, the lessons of which should be remembered, but the pre? sentments and hates of which should be forgotten. It may be that Mr. Dixon's play will be a great money-maker, althongh we doubt it. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has been a gold mine these many years. "The Clansman" certainly is draw? ing money now. Yet we cannot con? gratulate Mr. Dixon on his vault from preaching to playwright. There are Baptist preachers, humbie and ob? scure, living cn very meagre 'sala? ries, ^contending with economical dea? cons, backsliders, chronic critics, wo? men born to be bosses and women born to be tearful and to confide their troubles to their pastors, and with di? vergent choirs and depleted collec? tions, who could not afford to ex? change places with Mr. Dixon. Opin? ions as to Heavens and the hereafter may vary; but there can be no two opinions as to the existence of con? science and of the realization of the difference in a man's own soul be? tween doing good and doing evil; and in our opipion Mr. Dixon has done a distinct evil and is likely to do more. Russian and Japanese Envoys. There will be no aisputiug of the fine gratifying impression made upon the American people by the large and attractive personality of Serge Witte. A mau of moods, a truly Slav charac? ter, emotional as a child, vigorous and fearless as an untaught barbarian, yet schooled in the diplomacy which is the most subtle known to history, talkative, confidential, impressive', this big, burly, blonde Russian is typical of tbe best that is in his race. There is the. Muscovite impatience, swagger, ani bluff, but also the winning manner, breadth of vision, and responsiveness which make the Russian "intellectual" irresistible. To see him with his more than six feet and two hundred-pound bulk standing beside the five-foot, almost fem nine, stature of Baron ?omura, the spectator could well imagine be? fore him the maps of Kassia and Japan. It seemed impossible to tbe visitor at Portsmouth to penetrate behind the courteous tacitunity of the Japanese baron, Komura, ?apa?ase foreign minister, one of the fine ex? amples of the Oriental mind, is philoso? pher,-a lover of Emerson. One is amazed to hear him quote from memory the* English and American siges. There is a certain stoic calm? ness, self-possession, mathematical precision, and relentless logic about the Japanese which mystifies, yet attracts. It seemed impossible to break in upon his reserve, and his smile, though kindly, was inscrutable. In certain indefinable but powerful ways, the visitor at Portsmouth was couvinced that the quality of the Japanese mentality admirable stood the test of comparison with that of the Russians. The Asiatics, acwever, were newer bands at the diplomatic gam-?. They were evidently not so sure of themselves among the subtle? ties and intricaacies of interntional law as were their opponents. The Russians it canonot be denied, played their game of international finesse splendidly, and, ender the leadership of Martens, more toan once quoted precedents to the technical discomfi? ture of their opponents. The .3apa nese evidently bad a wholesome re, spect for the statecraft of the Russians, and'the lather soon kar.-ied to recog? nize trie high c?liner of the men from Nippon. "Their minds," said ene of the Russian envoys," are large enough to make them real statesmen and gentlemen."-Lonis ?. Van Norman, in the American Monthly Review of Reviews of October. Danger in Prescriptions. Some weeks ago the Tribune called attention to the danger incident to changes in the pharmcopoeia which beesm?^effective rm ?euc. 1. The re vison made by the United States Pharmacopoeal Convention increases the strength of many powerful drues aad, on tb.3 other baud, decreases tbe strengte of many others, thus a physi? cian writing "tincture of aconite" in a prescription without being aware of the change would have a lu per cent, tinctue in his medicine, whereas he wculd have supposed he was getting 35 per cent. Then, if he prescribed "tincture of trophanthus' he would be giving his patient twice as powerful a dose of this remedy as he planned. It is evident that there are grave possi? bilities of accident and death in such a situation if, though iguornace or forgetfulness, physicians make out prescriptions without a definite and exact undeistaanding with the phar? macist as to the meaning of the terms they use. As the Tribune has already suegest ed, it would be well for all physicians for a time to indicate on their pre? scriptions whether they are using the .new or the old pharmacopoeia, even if it could Oe assumed that ali would know and remember the revison. The dangeis of mistakes through a mis? understanding between physician and druggist are great enough at the best. They are indifinitely increased when as it now appears, the pharmacopoeia! convention puts into effect its new schedule without formal notice to all physicians ?of the changes. This neglect is excused, we believe on the ground that revisions are road?1 Rt re? gular intervals aud all physicians are supposed to know it. But everybody knows that that supposition is not founded on fact. Hundreds of physi? cians of skiil and alertness might fail to realize the change, and hun? dreds of others who do not keep up to date very closely would certainly continue in the old ways until they re? ceived some definite notice. New York druggists are alrr-ady beginning to report mistakes which might have had serious consequences. One of them received a prescription for a strong heart tonic and filled it according to the new rules, then, thinking the doctor might have made a mistake, he telephoned him and discovered that the physician was not aware of ~> anges and that the pre? scripts , written and filled would probably have killed the patient. Certainly some formal notice should be given to all physicians, and all druggists should be on their guard and refuse to make up a doubtful pre? scription without verifying the physi? cian's intentions-New York Tribune. Governor Heyward has received a strong petition asking for the pardon of S. J. Smith, who was convicted in Greenwood county of soliciting labor to leave the State without a license of $500. The petition states that Smith was sentenced to four months in the county jail and that he had practical? ly served that time before his trial and the desire is that this time should be credited to his final sentence. PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION. The Modesty of Editor Graves, of Atlanta, Ga., Candidate for the Senate. In the lush, warm imagery of Geor? gian English the Hon. John Temple Graves, of Atlanta, announces his can? didacy for the United States senate, to succeed the Hon. Augustus Octavius Bacon. Few men, if any, are gifted with such unerring accuracy as John Temple Graves displays in his picture of himself. Benvenuta Cellini had such a gift, and his delineation of his own character has come down as one of the most dilightful glimpses into the human heart that could be im? mortalized in language. But Benven? uta had his limitations. He never ran for office, and therefore could not im? press upon his readers his intense love of the people and his own surpassing qualifications for serving them. John Temple Graves, in two col? umns of solid nonpariel, paints his own portrait. He is buxom and come? ly, endowed with the eloquence so sadly lacking in' the*senate, and in the full flush and vigor of a glorious man? hood. "I am in the full tide of phy? sical strength and vigor," he says, J "and have two years between me and my fiftieth birthday. Every faculty i of mind and body is at its best and highest. If I know myself, I am fair and just by temperament and consti? tution/' Note the modest touch-"If I know myself." Why, the man has studied himself from-birth and there is no? body he knows better. And he is in ?love. "I love the Democratic party, not in the spurious loyalty of spoils, but from an inherited and cultivated conception of the mighty mission and meaning of Democracy. I love the people, and I have faith in them be? cause I am one of them." Knowing himself so well, he knows that he can love and trust the people so long as he is one of them. John Temple Graves does not want the senatorship for the glory or the money, but because of an unquecha ble desire to serve the State. He is inspired by the belief that if given the opportunity he can so utilize the store of experience andvknowledge he has accumulated, informed as it is with genius and zeal, as to make the name of Georgia still more glorious, "and to sustain the traditions of her forecasr ing and constructive statesmanship in the highest arena of eloquent de? bate." John Temple Graves' training for the office he seeks has been assiduous and varied. "I have joined in con? troversial debate." he remarks, "with the assembled legislatures of fiv? Western and '.Northern States, with the controversialists of every great Chautauqua, platform, with interna? tional parliaments, and with nearly every great college and university in the republic." He modestly refrains from adding what the whole world knows-that these assc-Oitd legisla? tures, Chautauqua stars, colleges and universities bit the dust of humiliat? ing and utter defeat. Then he asks a question which can only be answered by a thunderous affirmative: "If you agree that I have sustained national arena, and that you have suffered no discredit at my hands as a private citizen, is it presumptuous in me to believe that, wth the State's high commission in my hands, I would be able to represent you in the Amer? ican senate as faithfully and capably as it has been my rejoicing privilege to represent you as a private citizen in the great assembles of the age?" Finally, as an ingestible inducement, John Temple Graves promises ' to leave the senate when he can hold on no longer: "I am willing to render back your high commission in the very hour that my powers begin to fail me or my energies to wane." Can Georgia resist such an appeal? Will it permit such a wee, modest flower to blush unseen? It cannot bel Let the queller of Chautauquas and interantional parliaments be sent to the senate by the unanimous vote of the people he loves with such passion? ate devotion.-Washington Post. Tokio, October ll.-The British steamer Leho struck a floating mine east of Sheantung and sank. Fifteen passengers and the crew are missing. The steamer was completely wrecked and sank in three minutes. THE FIRST DOLLAR SAVED IS .THE BEST. The Sumter Ranking and Mercan? tile Company, of Sumter, S. C.. will open a saving department and receive deposits of one dollar and over on which 5 per cent, per annum will be allowed, payable-quarterly. The way to have a bank account ls to start, and you will find it easy enough to keep it growing. Save your pennies and nickles and you will soon lave dollars. Call and get particulars as to in erest, deposits, etc. Deposits, subject to check solicited. B?MTER BANKING AND MERCAN? TILE COMPANY, Sumter, S. C. Mar 21-tf , By buying one of our many styles of Beautiful Heaters. They are great fuel savers. Come and see our large stock of Cook Stoves and Eanges. We have the right prices, PARKER, 1 SMITH, ! LEFEVER, [ FOX, J And a large assortment of other makes of Guns that should please the most fastidious hunts? man. P^N ul B ' Use our celebrated Paint : De voe, New Era and Hammer, and wear a continual smile of satis? faction. ardware 'Pilli ?^Paysjto Paint myj^^f?m ?There is nothing that adds to to the selling value or the renting ESllw3 , value of a house like good paint there is nothing that makes home y/fPyfa^J more home-like than good paint awBrH^^M ^ Pa^s t0 Pa*nt- The ^etter S^n?i^ml the paint, the better it pays. x ^?^g THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS PAINT H?S|S??jj?^l FOR PAINTING BUILDINGS Wif? BPS OUTSIDE AND INSIDE Silffil S Pavs *n t^le beginning because it goes UM&wUI B so ^ar-Pa^s *n ^e enc^ because it I HEIM wSi lasts so long, and looks so well, as I Byw^tt *?? l?ng as 'LT lasts. There is no paint ^^H^OESEEgsgamgggggg^ COLOR CARDS >wm^^gs^gg?Ma^;# -J I J_-J w? j*g -. "vSSTilt ->r .-?JDC?2rcxr: ? . ... . -. '^?? . j ; -T. * ?., t I SD; '. ^ O! ? ifpS1 rl?i Kl! . :: m'U m . ^ ? The Farmers' Bank. and Trust Ge. Cs pita! Stock ?60.&0C. -: -:- Undivided Ffc?iis $4.000. C. G. Rowland. Pr>t. R. !.'. II:.;, n.swortb. V. Prst. li. L. Edmunds. Cashier. Deposits Sept. 30, end cf 2d quarter after organization. 8170, 436.45. Liability of stockholder?, in addition ro capital stock, ?60.000. A general bankin*; business. Solicits yotiKr patronage and guarantees every courtesy con? sistent with good I usiness meth? ods. WE GUARD OUS PATRON'S' INTERESTS Effective Augjust 6, 1905 Passenger Trains arriving and leaving Sumter. Train 35 Florence to An/n- ta Arriver 5 15 am " 54 Columbia to ^iicam^ton " A IQ am ? *77 Floretee to Sumter M 9 2V aa? *57 Gibbon to Sumter u y ?o am " .ol* Charleston to ?.-i-reecville Trav?s 9 31 a ru ; " +6* OrangebnrgtoChKrle.stcr. 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