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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1909. The Sumter Watchman was found ad In 1950 and the True Southron In Hit. The Watchman and Southron aow haa the combined circulation and Influence of both of the old papers, and Is manifestly the best advertising medium In Sumter. Deacon Hemphlll Is a wily old bird, according to the way Zach McOhee dopes It out. and boon companion to one Hong Kong Gander and one big Fat Man, of fragrant memory. There la no way of aacertalnlng the exact relation the Deacon bears to Presi? dent Taft and the Federal pie coun? ter, but there are not wanting algna confirmatory of the truth of Mc Ohee's charge that he has succeeded^ Capt. John O. Capera aa referee and patronage distributor In and for South Carolina. If t ;lngs are aa Mc? Ohee says they are. does It portend a .change In politics or a change of editors for the Nawa and Courier? The concluding aantance of the above paragraph naada explanation to this extant?If Bdltor-ln-Chlef Hemphlll 'has succeeded Capt Capers aa Republican referee, he haa openly proclaimed hla Republicanism, and can no longer claim to be a Demo? cratic editor of a Democratic news? paper. If ha ramalna In charge un? der theae conditions the Newa and Courier will havo to change Its title for the political creed It profeaaea, or gat a new editor whoae affiliation with the Republican party haa leaa notoriety. So long as a newspaper claims to be Democratic and Its edi? tor continues In regular standing In the party organisation the public will wink at flagrant and persistent heresy, but when the editor becomea a patronage dlatrtbutor the cat la out of the bag. ess If Dr. Cook la not a braxen faker, he la the victim of malicious ad re? lentless persecution. e e ? resident Zalaya haa put a apoke In t: wheel of the Washington admin? istration, which aeemed about to carry through aucceaafully another Crom well-Bonau-Varllla-Panama conspir? acy. Hla resignation was a most un ely and unwelcome occurrence, see Ir. J. C. Hemphlll, of the Newa nnd Courier Ignores the charge of h McOhae that he has succeeded Cant. John G. Capera aa Republican referee for South Carolina. The '??-.<rge la either too silly and propos? es ous to be noticed, or too serious to be satisfactorily explained. es? \11 who wish to enter tha Piano ' ntast should gat Into tha race this ? ek. The nominations close Friday at f p. m. There Is still plenty of ttrne to ent*r the race und win tha grand prlsa. Nona of the candidates ' ve a lead that cannot ha overcome a hustling candidate. Fifty aub ? iptions to the Watchman and t' uthron or fifteen to tha Dal'y Item s uld give more votes than any one of tha candidates now haa. Do you want a $400 piano? The conteat does not close until February 28th, ad there la plenty of time. We will give sway on February llth a $400 Piano and two $50 gold watchea to tha persons receiving tha highest number of votes In tha vot? ing conteat that we are condutclng. Theae valuable artlclea are absolute? ly free gifts and will cost the recip? ients not a penny. The conditions of tha contest are simple nnd easy and the person who wants the piano or a watch can obtain It by devoting spsre time to soliciting subscribers to this paper and collecting ballots from our regular aubacrlbera. It is a mutual help proposition, and our profit cornea from tha new subscribers and tha additional bualness that we gain from this form of advertising. We are spending $500 to advertlae our bualness snd to Induce our friends and patrons to solicit new subscrib? ers. It Is a business proposition and If we did not believe It would pay we would not make the offer, but the Piano and Watches will be given away on Feb. 28 whether we make or lose?three people are sure to re? ceive the prizes as advertised. The three who make the most energetic effort and enlist the aid of the great eat number >f friends will win the prises !*j other words those who se? cure the largest r. umber of subscrib? ers will be the winners. The nominations will < o e Friday, Dec. 24th und If you wish to try for one of the prises send In your name at once. The contest will not close until February 28th and after the nominations close there will be sixty davs In which to solicit subscribers and work for tho valuable prlezs we are offering. People In Chester county are be? ing vaccinated by the hundred on account of an outbreak of smallpox in that county. Thirty-nine marines have been or? dered to Colon from the Charleston Navy Yard. Farmers' Union News ?AND Practical Thoughts for Practical Farmers (Conducted by E. \V. Dabbs, President Farmers' Union of Sumter County.) The Watchman and Southron having decided to double its service by semi-weekly publication, would Improve that service by special features. The first to be Inaugurated is this Department for the Farmers' Union and Practical Farmers which I have been requested to conduct. It will be my aim to give the Union news and official calls of the Union. To that end officers, and members of the Union are requested to use these column's. Also to publish such clip dngs from the agricultural papers and Govern? ment Bulletins as I think will be of practical benefit to our readers. Ori? ginal articles by any of o. r readers telling of their successes or failures will be appreciated and | ubllshed. i Trusting this Department will be of mutual benefit to all concerned, THE EDITOR. All communications for t) Is Department should be sent to E. W. Dabbs. MayesvMle. a. C. So mo Random Thoughts. To begin: I wish to thank Prof. Williams for his article last week on "Greater Sumter County." This Is the second contributed article since since I took charge of these columns nearly a year ago. In Sat? urday's paper Prof. Williams gave a very good synopsis of the instructive talk of Prof. Barrow at the Farm? ers' Institute on Wednesday. Prof. Barrow was equally interesting on Thursday and the few farmers who attended these meetings felt fully re? paid. I trust our readers will have many articles from Prof. Williams, and that his efforts for co-operative farm demonstration will meet with the hearty support of the farmers of Sumter county In the year of grace, 1910. \ Having labored "in season and out of season" during the past year for a Produce Exchange it was with a feeling of some pride that the writer was accorded the honor of being the first subscriber to the stock of the I "Farmers' Union Brokerage Co.," j wheji the books of subscription were opened In Sumter on Saturday. It has taken a year to organise, now brother Farmer do not become die- I couraged because It does not Imme-1 dlately bring about that ideal con? dition you may have in mind. Give It your support In the purchase of your supplies and especially in the sale of the products of your farm, orchard, garden, poultry yard and dairy- Strive to have nothing but the best to offer for sale. Have some stencils and mark the name of your farm on each package and let that name be a guarantee of purity and quality. You will not only And It profitable, but the house-keepers of Sumter will bless you. Once we get wall started In this line of farming and method of marketing, there will never again in Sumter county be a panic on acccount of the price of cotton. E. W. D. Get Out of Debt. I aaw In a dally paper recently that the tan banka In Halifax Coun? ty, N. C. have one million dollars on deposit. Now Halifax is a county with no large towns, and most of this money probably belongs to farmers. H has been comparatively a few years since Halifax had even one bank, and It shows well for the in? creasing prosperity In North Caro? lina that she now has ten banks. What Is true of Halifax Is true In nearly every county In North Caro? lina, and In many other parts of the cotton country. North Carolina has been' fortunate this year in having rather a better cotton crop than most of the other cotton States. The country banks everywhere in the South have large deposits belonging to farmers, and this being the case, can there ever .be a better time for the farmers to get out of debt and on a firm cash basis? The man who now clears off his debts and goes to work to farm right can easily keep out of debt. He may not see a great profit In feeding cat? tle In winter, hut the cash in spring will make him Independent of tbu fertilizer man. for he can get what he needa for a lower price than the man who has to go in debt for It, and he will have the manure to en? rich his land and make him st*il more Independent of the fertilizer man. I have no quarrel with the manu? facturers of fertilizers. They are, and will always be, necesssary: but what we want Is to see our Southern farmers abandon the slavish devo? tion to fertilizers merely for the pur? pose of squeezing a little more sale crop from the land and leaving it worse than before. We want to see them use the cheaper forms of plant food that they must buy In a more liberal manner for the increased pro? duction of leguminous forage and the Basking, through the aid of tills, of more manuro from well-fed oattla, We want to see them having some? thing to sell all the year through and ready at all times to pay cash for labor and everything else needed to make crops. I know a prosperous section where the banks are full of the money of farmers and where, when a town merchant wants to borrow monev, he goes to the farmers for It. And these farmers have nice homea, blS* barns, fine stock, and buy less fer? tilizers than the cotton farmers do, while their lands have steadilv in? creased in productiveness. Here, on land that was in my memory consid? ered about worthless, a farmer made this year over 1,200 bushels of corn on thirteen arces of land from a i turned-down crop of crimson el-?\??r, and that farmer Invested some of his profits in a farm in another part of the county for $15,000 cash, and all made at farming. That farmer is a money-lender and makes a small fortune every year because he farms and does not go in debt. He works seventy-five hands on his various farms all sum? mer and twenty in winter, and if you should talk to him about a two horse farm or a four horse farm he would not know what you mean, for he works all the horses he needs all the time and figures on the amount I of work to be done rather than on I the number of acres to a mule. Now that prosperity has come to the Southern farmers, why should they stay in debt and let their money lie in the bank bringing no interest? If yo i have gotten out of debt, now is the time to stay out. Instead of adding more acres, put your means into the Improvement of the acres you have, be they many or few. What we need is not more land in cotton, but more cotton on every acre and fewer acres in the crop and more In the auxiliary crops that will help us get more money at different seasons and thus keep out of debt. A farm? ing community that remains In debt these times is a community that has not risen to its opportunities. When I see a farmer's wagon backed up to a supply store and loading bales of hay and bales of cottonseed hulls, 1 know that there is a man in debt, a man who is simply growing cotton for the merchant and who belongs to the merchant and fertilizer man as much as if a bill of sale had beeen signed for him. I do not need to see that man's cotton nor his corn, for I know that the man who buys feed for his stock has little stock to feed and little manure to enrich his land, and that manure of the poor? est quality, like his stock. But when I meet a man on the road, as I did some time ago, with a wagon-load of drain tiles hauled by a fine and well-fed pair of horses. I know that there is a man using his brains, and a man who has the cash to spend for the improvement of his land; for tiles are a cash article and are not shipped to men who do not pay their ^ebts. I at once want to see that man's farm for I know there is something there to see, and that he has not a patch of corn here, a patch of cotton there, with broom j sedge waving between and every hol? low in the field full of bushes, and a crop lien on his poor crops. He is able to buy and lay drain tiles for the improvement of his land because he has gotten on a cash basis anc\ can draw his check for what he needs for the further improvement of his land. Buying on credit will keep any farmer poor, and in this time of high prices every farmer should get out of debt and then keep out. A man call? ing himself a farmer wrote me re? cently that cowpea seed are so high he wants to know what else he had hotter buy to sow for the Improve? ment of his land. A Southern far? mer complaining of the high price of peas is evidence that he is not farming well. The high price of peas should be as welcome to him as the high price of cotton, for he should always have some to sell In? stead of buying; and ho should have corn to SSlli and oats and potatoes, and stlOllld welcome the high prices. Do not take the risk of putting all your land In cotton next spring and argue that you cannot afford to grow corn and oats and hay, for the chances are that next year the all cotton farmers will get seriously left, and the man who stays In debt now, and goes in debt next spring, Is going to find that 15-cent cotton is a thing of the past, since in spite of all the efforts to reduce the acreage there Is always a bigger acreage af? ter a season of high prices. There? fore, the wise farmer will go slow and will farm in a good rotation and have more idea of a big yield per acre than an Increased acreage with only cotton to depend on. There will never be a better chance to get out of debt than right now. Remember that "the borrower is servant to the lender," and the farmer who goes In debt to grow cotton every year is merely the servant of the merchant, while the man out of debt and farm? ing right is the boss of the town man.?Prof. Massey In Progressive Farmer. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NOTES An Effort to Enlist Co-opeeat?on of AU Busine? Men of Sumter Cour. Secretary E. I. Reardon, of th? Sumter Chamber of Commerce ia making a strong effort to indueo the fatmers, country merchants, jaw mill men, and other representative busi? ness men of the country (tlscrcis of Sumter county to join that business organization. He has sent out number of letters inviting the farm? ers and country merchants to send in their applications for membership. The Sumter Chamber of Commerce it not a local Sumter business organize tion, but is working, and has for years worked for all the interests of the entire county of Sumter. It was due to the efforts of the Sumter Chamber of Commerce that Con? gressman A. F. Lever secured the soil surveys and farm demonstration work for Sumter and Lee counties. It was this same organization that had sev? eral good roads meetings, and is now carrying on a good roads campaign. The Sumter Chamber of Commerce is also, through the health officer, working on a plan to have a county drainage and sanitary association formed as a county branch of the re? cently organized Pee Dee Sanitary and Drainage Association. This business organization has done much for the rural districts, and it is to the interest of every farmer, saw mill man, and country merchant to become a member of this organiza? tion. Of course a separate leter can not be addressed to every farmer and other business man in Sumter coun? ty. They can, however, be reached through the press. There Is no mem? bership fee charged. Only $5.00 year? ly dues. Payable in advance. The farmers and country merchants should send In their names for mem? bership. 250 Thrilling Stories. In every family there is a constant demand for stories?good, thrilling stories of adventure and heroism. That The Youth's Companion sup? plies this demand is attested in more than half a million homes. The serial stories for 1910 alone are well worth The Youth's Com? panion subscription price. These include stories by Arthur Stanwood Pier. C. A. Stephens, Grace Rich? mond, Charles Miner Thompson and Winifred Kirkland. Send for full Prospectus of the 1910 Volume and see what an amount of the best read? ing has been secured for The Youth s Companion family for 1910. If $1.75 for the 1910 Volume is sent now, the new subscriber will be entitled to all the remaining issues of 1909, in addition to the 52 Issues of 1910; also the "Venetian" Calen? dar, lithographed In thirteen colors and gold. Any one making a gift of The Youth Companion receives an extra copy of the Calendar, in addi? tion to the copy for the subscriber. The Youth Companion, Companion Building, Boston, Mass. New sub? scriptions received at this office. Enforce the Law or Quit. If the authorities do not enforce the prohibition law in this county any better than it is being enforced, the thing will be worse than a farce. It is no uncommon sight to see men under the influence of whiskey or something else. The traffic in lir.uot is all over the country. Tl act is wherever there is prohibition very little effort is made to enforce the law. Occasionally a friendless negro is pulled, but rarely ever a white man, and it is our honest belief that where one gallon of booze is sold by a negro, ten gallons is sold by or for white men. Go where one will and liquor Is sold, the laxity of the law's enforcement amounts to but little more than a free license. It Is be? coming disgusting to realize how lit? tle concern is given to a condition that is fast becoming a nuisance, and which the taxpayers sie being made to suffer.? Manning Times. Bankruptcy proceedings have been Instltluted against J. B. Daniel & Co. at Fort Lawn, S. C. Mr. Daniel's failure is said to be due to his selling ! 1,000 bales of cotton at 10 cents. COURSE IN COTTON CLASSING. Clen .son Textile Department to In? struct Fanners. Clemson Colege, Dec. 19.?Prf. C. B. Doggett, director of the textile de? partment of Clemson College, has an? nounced the follow ng: A course in cotton classing, to he taught at Clemson College. This is , to be a short course for farmers to begin January 4, 1910, and to con? tinue for six weeks. This work will be given in the carding and spinning division of the textile department by Prof. D. E. Earle, who has had con? siderable experience, as a classer and also as a collaborator with the Uni? ted States department of agriculture in preparing the standard govern? ment types, which are to be sent out to the markets In the near future. All of the important cottons of the world are to be studied, but most of | the practice is to be with the various | varieties grown in the United States, i and especially with those grown in | South Carolina. Constant practice is j to be given with a full line of samples, i the premiums and penalties being ex? plained for each grade. It is the purpose of the course to point out to the farmer the defects which would lower the grade of his I cotton and how some of them may be \ avoided, thereby increasing the mar- j ket value of his cotton. Ginning, bal? ing the various methods of averaging a lot of cotton for a basis price are discussed. Elementary bookkeeping and ware house accounting are also included in the course. The Sumter Clothing Co. Is ready for the Christmas shoppers with a large and well selected stock of staple and fancy articles suitable for gifts for men and boys. The adver? tisement today gives a few hints and suggestions that will help the puzzled shoppers, who cannot decide what to give their gentlemen friends. W. L. Bolt, former sheriff of An derson county dropped dead Tues day. TRAINMEN DKM AND MORE PAY. Notice to bo Served Today on About Seventy-live Railroads. Pit'.sburg. Pa.. Dec. 19.?Notice will be served tomorrow on about 75 railroad companies, all east of the Mississippi River, by the Brotherhood of Railway Traimen, that an increase in wages for the trainmen wll be de? manded, the ncrease to be from 6 per cent, to 40 per cent, the differ? ence in the amount being caused by the present method of paying the trdnmen, according to a announce? ment made here tonight. \V. L. Lee, national president of the Brotherhood, who was in Pittsburg today, admitted that the notice will be served tomorrow, but refused to intimate what action, if any, will be taken in case the demand is refused. It is said the recent referendum vote of the trainmen regarding the demand for an incrase resulted i:i a practical? ly unanimous vote in ite favor. About 75.000 members of the Brotherhood are employed on the railroads affected. William Brown, colored, froze to death at Tra elers' Rest, Greenville county. STATE OP OHIO, CITY OF TO? LEDO, as. LUCAS COUNTY. Frank J. Cheney makes oath that he Is senior partner of the firm of F. J. Cheney & Co., doing business in the City of Toledo, County and State aforesaid, and that said firm will pay the sum of ONE HUNDRED DOL? LARS for each and every case of Catarrh that cannot be cured by the use of Hall's Catarrh Cure. FRANK J. CHENEY. Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence, this 6th day of De? cember, A. D., 1886. ^Seal.) A. W. GLEASON, Notary Public. Hail's Catarrh Cure Is taken Inter? nally, and acts directly on the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Send for testimonials free. F. J. CHENEY & CO., Toledo, O. Sold by all Druggists, 75c. Take Hall's Family Pills for con? stipation. Oh! girls I have something to tell you, Don't bother me tili I get throng I (Jut on the piazza late last night Ned came to me walking so light. Ned who was always kind and polite, 4 * Ethel," he sa*d. in a tone very l?w? 44Let me ask you something before I go." Look at me girls and answer at once, ^\m I insane or a natural dunce ? Now don't I augh at me. Doing such a thing isn't funny you see, ?an't a mar. tease if only he tries. ()h me! my! 'twas an awful surprise, ?urely I thought he was going :o propose. ^0 trembled all over from head to toes 'fhe idiot, think he wanted to v. ed ? 0n? no indeed, for this is what he said: (Really this and nothing more, 44 ?ver been in O'Donnell's & Co's store ?" |f she hadn't got angry and hurried away, ?he certainly would have known he had more to say. The man didn't really mean to tea>e, himself was not at east. Ethel he loved with all his heart, perhaps the knowledge was hard to impart Living alone is a dreadful ? . . fi^nd he intended to make her I - e, ^arry her to get what they n edeil rfiid more. Everything could be got at O'l) nncii's store *yhe man was trying to tell her hi }?ian, Of course, he couldn't though fitter she ran (joing home he murmured, i want her to know" 0'Donneil S: Co's store is the place to go." We are better prepared than ever before for the Christmas Shoppers. Everything that makes a good, useful present will be found at O'Donnell & Co.