University of South Carolina Libraries
When Paris Rejoiced ?; -r <- - Miss-.Katie MeKeiver Tells of ' \hi.'Celebration of Armis tice Day. Paris, Nov. 11, 19IS. Dear Papa: Imagine if you can what it means to he in Paris today. "La guerrre est fihi" is the cry everywhere. I am so dead tired I can't write a real letter tonight, but I wanted to write of to day while the spell is on. This after noon your daughter marcned around "Le Place de la Concord" with Americans and French and singing i?| jthe Marseillaise (I am so glad I know the French words) ar.d "The Suvr Spangled Banner" and waving flags. Tfee whole city is crazy with joy. The French people are hysterical and hi ra:larious, but in an orderly manner. There was much kissing. One of om girls was kissed on both cheeks by a Frenchman and the French girls kiss ed the American soldiers promis cuously. There is no doubt whatso ever about the Frenchman's love for the American. I- have felt sorry for the other allies today as the celebra tion has been so markedly Franco - American. At dinner our hotel keep er served us champagne and we drank to France and he to America. Tonight I was out with some of the girls iand American officers. We went through the different boulevards ana halted at the "Place de l'Opera." The Grand Opera House was illuminated and a prima donna dressed as Liberty sang the French anthem and the thousands of people took up the chor us. Next a man sang the Belgian an them, after which a woman and two men sang our national anthem. There * are so_ many things I have experienced today, it is impossible to write them, b*it. today alone was worth the trip, ftiie French temperment is marvel ous. Friday night a party of us went to an American hospital just a few miles fTonx.JE*aris.. We were very crowded, ami as the camion was covered it was too dark to recognize anyone. Just before arriving I learned that the lady opposite me was Miss Gait who taught history while I was at R-M. college. When we entered the hut where the dance was. held, the first person 5 saw was Bernice Lyle who sat at my table for three years. You met her on both your trips there. She has charge of that hut. Lucile Ryttenberg lives with the Lyles in New York and I had quite a talk wich Mrs. Lyies over the phone. She 7 wrote Bernice that very night. Hep letfaer arrived Friday a 10 A. M.^ and I, tiuough no fault of mine, walked in at S P. M. How is that for coinci dence Z The mess sergeant invited me to go over to- the kitchen for some water. It is quite the proper thing, so I. went . I heard a negro talking and I asked him if he wasn't from South j Carolina. He.-said "My regular native j home is Florence, S. C. He knew ?Agnes Kuker and all the rest of thej folks. While in the kitchen I got a I piece "Of 'real.apple pie. .Saturday I went out there on the railroad and returned; this morning. That -night there was a show on at the hut and we all had dinner in the mess hall (the American army has the best food in Europe). I sat next to the son of Rosa Bonheur. He is a fa mous magician but speaks no English. "We^had a limited conversation. Sunday morning I played for the Protestant service at 9.30 and mass followed, celebrated by a French chaplain. Two French boys and their sister furnished the music. Both services are held in the Red Cross but. The priest blessed my ros ary with a special blessing. In the afternon Bernice, a major and I walked to a new hospital site. It was fossnetfy a race course and must have been quite a place as the buildings are very elaborate. In the kitcnen they were cooking real American bacon. They toasted bread for us and I won't sayhow many slices I ate. At the hut I was talking to a negro from Fort Motte, S. C, Forham Cheesborough. He heard my name and asked me if you were my father. Said he had bought material from you. Wednesday afternoon?The mail only goes out once a week so there is no need of hurrying through a let ter. The celebration was worse than ever yesterday, but has died down somewhat today. I've just learned that Miss Sheetz, one of our girls. weHt to school with Sallie Wright and Mable Parrott and is a friend of a girl .who was at R-M with me. Both of the girls I went with in New York are now in Paris. I met up with them at headquarters. They are beginning to take away the sandbags. The statues in the Tuilleries were covered with sand bags and German helmets. I have seen quantities of German aeroplanes and guns and one Zeppelin. The guns which protected Paris from air raids are now used for celebrating. In the Place de la Concorde are large statues typifying the various provinces. Those of Alsace and Lorraine have been draped with mourning for fifty years, but now wear golden crowns and are draped with French flags. I have been assigned to Home Com munication Service as a searcher. My duties are to keep the wounded man in touch with his family; write detail ed accounts of deaths to nearest rel atives, location of grave, etc; and try to get as much information as pos sible regarding missing men. I had my choice between that and recre ation hut and I took it because I thought I could give beter service and^fewer people want to do that kind of work. . I have had no mail since I left New York but I know there is some on the way. Love to all, Katie. Four Ohildren Die. - Bennettsville, Dec. 1$.?The influen za epidemic is assuming alarming pro porions in Bennettsville and Marl boro county. It is estimated thnt there are 100 cases in BennettsvU!*; at ^rpsent. Robert Spears, who lives a few, miles south of Bennettsville, lost on6j child Saturday; two yesterday and one j today, making four in two days \ from .influenza and pneumonia. Their' ages ranged from 12 to 20 years. ? Xmas Saving Funds j Banks of Sumter Have Distrib- ? uted More Than ?55,000. Within the last few days the va-j rious banks of the city have been busy j I mailing" out checks to those persons j ! who have been so fortunate as to be j ! members of one of the Christmas j ! Saving Clubs operated by the local in- I I stitutions. Ia all, over $55,000.00 j I have been mailed out to the members, I jwho express themselves as liighlyi i pleased with this amount which comes1 i in just at Christmas time when it is I j most needed. Next year practically ! j all the banking institutions of the city j jwill operate Christmas Saving Clubs, j I Following are the amounts distributed j ! by each of the local banks: j National Bank of Sumter ..$12,000.00; jCity National Bank . 11,500.00 j Commercial Bank & j Trust Co._ 11,000.00 jThe Peoples' Bank . 10,000.00 j Sumter Trust Co. 7,300.00 j National Bank of S. C. 5,600.00 A PUBLIC UTILITY. Postmaster-General Bnrleson's Argu j joient for Government Ownership. Postmaster General Johnson in !lS47 opposed the transfer of the tele graph line between Washington and I Baltimore to private control. Con 1 gress by the act of 1866 made pro vision for the reassumption of own : ership by the government; and the I postmasters general in 1867, 1S69, j 1871. 1872, 1873, 1882, 1883, 1SS9, 1890, 1891 and 1892, and the pres ent postmaster general in his several annual reports, have recommended government ownership of this service. President Grant in 1871 made a sim ilar recommendation to congress. If no other reason existed for the reassumption by the government of permanent control and monopoly of the wire systems, a very substantial j and concluding reason would be found I in the desirability that this necessar jily public service should be extended i as is the postal service, to every house I hold in the land. Such an extension can never be had j and could not be expected under pri jvate ownership. Private corporations j provide a public utility for profit, ,necessarily as a business proposition, limiting their operations to such fields as are profitable or give promise of profit in the immediate future. Un der government ownership' the ques tion of profit would not be taken into i consideration; but, under government j control and under the resolution au i thorizing it, the owners of these j properties must be paid a just com- I pensation and for that reason it will be necessary- for the government to conduct these services during the pe riod of government control at rates j which will return to the owners a ! just compensation. The government, j j as illustrated in the postal system, j I does not aim to make profit out of I the service of communication, but ex tends the service to the entire public, drawing its "dividends" from the in-j creased wealth, enlightenment, pro- j gress, and happiness of the nation. j Not only is a privately owned ser vice restricted to where it may be op- j erated on a paying basis, but its pa-j trons must pay all its operating ex penses, overhead charges, and cost of expansion, and besides provide divi dends to stockholders on the original capital invested, on increased valua tion, and on capital expended for bet terments which has been drawn out of the profits of the business itself.? Hon. Albert S. Burleson in th6 Ameri can Review of Reviews.*" NEGRO SOLDIER LYNCHED. Kentucky Mob Takes Man From Hickman Jail. Hickman, Ky., Dec. 16.?Charles Lewis, a discharged negro soldier who with several other negroes is alleged to have atacked a deputy sheriff, when an attempt was made to ar rest them at Tyler Station, near here, J yesterday, and later engaged in a pis : tol fight with a posse of citizens, was j taken from the county jail here early j today by a mob of masked men and hanged. The mob gained entrance to I the jail by battering down the iron J doors and beat to pieces the lock to j the cell in which Lewis was held af ? ter the jailer refused to turn c er his j keys. County officials pleaded inef fectively with the mob. j Lewis and a companion were charg ted with having held up and robbed (several other negroes Saturday, and j when an officer attempted to arrest j them he was attacked and badly j beaten. Lewis refusing to submit to I arrest, contending that his uniform made him immune from arrest by a civij officer. Lewis and three other } negroes then took refuge in a corn j field, where he was finally captured after being wounded. He was res cued by sheriffs deputies and brought to jail here last night. Lewis' three; j companions also have been arrested, j Christmas Dinner in Germany. Paris. Dec. 16.?President Wilson] will leave Paris Christmas Eve and go to American general headquar- j ters. From headquarters he will j proceed to the American front. He j will have Christmas dinner with i t the American troops and not with j the American commander-in-chief or; other officers. From the above it would seem evi dent that it is the purpose of Presi dent Wilson to have Christmas dm- j ner in Germany in the region of I Coblenz with the American forces of occupation. More Wilt-Resistant Cotton Planted.] . Demonstrations conducted by thei United States Department of Agricul ture on the control of cotton wilt, which have been in progross for sev feral years, resulted last year in the; planting of a larger acreage of wilt- j resistant cotton than ever before with j an actual saving greatly in excess of that of any previous year. The great! possibilities of this work is shown by , reports from two cotton planters ii j South Carolina who state that their; savings last year through growing wilt-resistant cotton was approximate-, ly $11 5,000. , ? ? ( December 16th to 23rd is P.e<l Cross j week. A canvas is being made in ev-i ery home in the United States. I The Labor Problem in The South Commissioner Summers Re views Situation Resulting From War Conditions. The*following discussion of labor conditions in the South and its con sequent effect upon industrial life par ticularly during the war period is taken from the annual report of A. C. Summers, commissioner of agricul ture, commerce and industries: j The industrial life of the country ! was metamorphosed during the period ! of the war. It appears to have been j the policy of the government not to j establish new industries, but to con ; vert the "non-essentials" to war pur i poses, and to enla rge existing plants. I For that reason there was not a great j amount of industrial expansion in the ? South. ; Certain sections of the country j which railed at the administration at [Washington because military camps I were established in the South appear ' to have been unmindful of the fact j that the government was very gener ! ous to the industries of other sections ! of the country, and that the South did I not murmur because of any apparent 'sectional favoritism thereby shown, j Kad the administration been partial to the South, new industries of great j magnitude would have been located ! here. j As it is, the building of military ; camps has greatly upset labor condi j tions in the South. The South's mam i industry is agriculture, and removing ; from that industry thousands of l workers and giving them undreamed j of wages as artisans and mechanics j not only interfered with crop making i and crop gathering for the present, ' but also has given to a portion, of that ! class a distaste for farm work in the j future. . ? This was the fortune of war and j we accept he result as gracefully as I we may, yet it is a fact that is well j known and a condition which must I be faced, particularly here in South j Carolina. This is indeed a crisis in j the agricultural history of the State, j While all branches of trade and in | dustry are naturally apprehensive, all j waiting for a strong hand, a strong I head, a strong heart to give them di i retcing, yet the conditions in the ag ! riculture of our State are peculiarly (sensitive at this moment. For this reason, it was particularly J cruel and unjust that at this moment i the government should have beep hoodwinked by designing persons who sought to manipulate the cotton mar j ket for personal speculation and pri I vate aggrandizement. There was at I stake more than the mere price of i the crop of 191$. The farreachlng ef fects of this dastardly attack upon the Fouth may be observed at a glance when it is understood that cotton is the South's industry as well as the South's crop. If the South should be beaten down and disheartened in ?this attack, the South would suffer continuously. The South's main in dustrial lite would be discredited. The light which leaders of Southern thought have been waging would be doomed to failure and the South in stead of enjoying industrial freedom I would revert to a condition of fcudal j ism and great estates. The effort of j the State department of agriculture and of other progressive agencies for j the last 15 years has been to arouse j the people of the South, to cause them to get out of the rut and to show them that agriculture can be made profitable and enjoyable^ The j rural South has been the truest type i of Americanism. To destroy the op portunities for developing the South by bringing failure as the reward of service would be very cruel indeed, and yet to those who try to look into the future this is the sole conclusion I that can be reached. The South in ! fighting to preserve the price of the ! product of her industry is striving I to save that industry rather than to j get rich hurriedly because of any for : tuitous circumstances. j i SALES ARE A LITTLE BETTER. j Last Three Bays .'Show An Improve ment in Buying of War Saving Stamps?County is Yet Way Be hind. ! The sales of War Saving Stamps J for the last three days have run over 1 $1,000 a day. They were for the 13th I $1,215; for the 14th, $1,172, and for the 16th $1,078. The report for the week ending Dec. 7th showed that Sumter county was in 19th place with purchases of j $200,348. That is par value. In ac tual cash it means that about $165, 000 has been put into the stamps. Fome of the counties ahead ot Sum ter are York, Florence. Horry, Or angeburg. Bamberg, Marion, Lau rens. Dorchester, Jasper, Barn well iand Abbeville. Sumter is yet $170,000 [short of her pledged amount. ! The director of the War Savings j office in Charleston suggests that in jterest from Liberty bonds that was jdue on the 15th be put back into stamps; that stamps will make excel lent Christmas presents, and that some of the money irom the Christ mas Savings clubs should go into stamps. All Together Xow. Make it Unpn?-1 moos. This is the great Roll Call week, in J which all of us are to be given the privilege and opportunity of becoming;I a member of ihe gr?>at American Re.l ('ross. Sumter county's membership should be fifteen thousand All together no-. let's put her "over the top." Givi these volunte r workers who are so- ! Ilching so untiringly your name an ! j dollar th^ satisfaction of knowinri thai Sumter will reach her quota be -J fore December 23rd. . j Xotiec to Roll Call Workers. All Red Cross roll call workers ar-j urged to telephone their reports in t \ the secretary of the chapter before ^ j o'clock each day in order that a com ? j plete report for the day may he made tu Division Headquarters, At-; lanta. Pa.v your dollar and join the Ued Cross for the year 19 19 even if you! have already paid until May 1919. j The Cotton Situation Clemson College Official Believes There Will Be an Advance in Price Soon. Clemson College, Dec. 16.?The fol lowing statement concerning the cot ton holding movement has been issued today by D. W. Watkins, Acting Di rector of Extension, Clemson College. S. C. "J-n spite of daily fluctuations in the cotton market the prospects favor a very material rise in prices early in the new year. Peace will undoubted ly be declared early in the spring and bring the removal of all embargoes on cotton shipments. Europe is now de void of civilian cotton goods as well as stocks of raw cotton. Demands from Western European countries as well as from Japan are on the in j crease. Restrictions on cotton ship j ments are being removed, as an ex i ample of which might be mentioned the granting of through bills of lad | ing on export shipments. Undoubted j ly the estimate made by the Bureau j of Markets, to the effect that two I million bales of cotton would be ex 1 ported this season in excess of the I amount exported last season, will be fully realized. "With the shortness of the present crop and with the growing demand which it now appears will reach its most acute stage in March 1919, the cotton holding movement being con ducted by the producers stands every chance to meet with success. It is to be hoped that this experience may be the beginning of a system of market ing cotton which will supply the staple gradualry to meet existing de mands, and thereby insure a fair price at all times to the producer. Real Estate Transfers. j The following real estate transfers j in Concord township have been re I corded in the office of the County j Auditor: j Aline Fullard and H. T. DuRant to I Anne Reaves, et al., one tract of land for $10 and other consideration. Mrs. M. L. Davis to J. L. Davis, one tract of land for SI,000. L. D. Jennings to J. B. Butler and J. L. Brogdon, one tract containing 15 acres. The Master, et al., to L. J. Newman, one tract containing 50 acres. A. L. Moise. trustee to Jno. C. Mc Coy, one tra.t containing 60 acres. D. G. Rembert to W. G. Moses, one tract of land for $5 and other consid erations. C. F. Brogdon to Robert Perry, Jr., one tract containing 84 acres. ! Anne Pringle to T. C. Hudnal, one ! tract of land for $400. ! Isabelle J. Gordon to J. B. Gordon. : et al.; one tract for $10 and other con i siderations. j Isabelle J. Gordon to J. B. & B. R. I Gordon, one tract of land for $10 and other considerations. LilHe and Sallie Gordon to J. B. & B. R. Gordon, one tract of land, $400, W.J F. White to Harvey Rhame, one tract for $1,575. ! A. L. Groomcs to James W. i Groomcs. one tract fo land containing 18 acres for $5 and{other considera | tions. j Mary A. Newman to W. T. "& F. A. Xewman. one tract for $429. J. D. & R. E. Newman to W. T. & F. A. Newman, one tract for $400. The Master to F. A. Newman, one tract containing 103 acres. Thomas C. and Elizabeth Connell to J. J. Britton, one tract of land for $5 and other considerations, said tract containing 30 acres. J. J. Britton to Thomas C. & Elizabeth Connell, one tract contain ing 52 acres for $5. W. S. Reynolds to W. J. Lawrence, Jr., one tract of land for $11,000. The Master to Anne Lewis, one tract of 30 acres for $50. j Mary E. Morrisey to R. A. Bradham ! et al., 640 acres of land. I H. C. Mayes ot R. A. Bradham, one i tract for $5 and other considerations. G. Washington James to W. F. Groomes, one tract of 67 acres. Mrs. Lula Horton to Louise Harris, one tract containing 25 acres. W. G. Moses to Bartow and Sam ?Montgomery and John McCoy, one tract of land containing 225 acres. Isaac Harby, et al., to John. J. ! J. Britton. one tract for $1,000. E. J. Nelson to William Lewis, et al.. trustees, one tract of land for $65. William Lewis, et al., trustees, to Robert Flowers, one tract for $215. No Details Are Fixed Number of Peace Delegates Still Uncertain. ; Paris. Dec. 16.?Not even the num ber of the delegates to the peace con ference has as yet been fixed, says an official note issued today denying; various reports as to the make up of the French delegation. The note reads: j "Various newspapers have given the composition of the French delegation to the peace conference. Their infor mation is mistaken. Even the num ber of delegates will not be fixed until an understanding is reached between the allied governments, the same as for the procedure." That dollar you gave to the Red Cross has gone a long way. It's prob ably in Russia now. Washington. Dec. 1 7.?President Wilson has approved the recent rec ommendation of Secretary Redfield that business advisors be attached to American legations and embassies as government's move toward aiding Amoriean .manufacturers in the after war campaign for foreign trade. The Red Cross rainbow follows showers of relief. 1 Washington. Dec. 17.?The assign ment by Gen. Pershing of the Ninety Second division of the nntional army, nogro"s. for early convoy home has been cancelled. The assumption here is that this division has boon select ed as a reserve unit held to reinforce the army of occupation in Germany. Red . Cross investments pay the inest dividends. -~- >*- ? Beasts or Men? German and American View points on Wholesale Starvation. Columbia, Doc. 1.5?Two view points, the Germans which failed, and the Americans, which won, are contrasted by the following state ments, the one mach; in 1?15 by Gen eral Von Kries of the German army, and the other made in 1918 by Her bert Hoover of the United States Food Administration. This is the German viewpoint, quoting General Von Kries: "Starvation must serve our pur pose. So we set it to work for Ger many. By starvation we can accom plish in two or three years in East Poland more than we have in West Poland, which is East Prussia, in the last hundred years. With that in view, we propose to turn this force to our advantage." This is the American viewpoint, quoting Herbert Hoover: "In addition to supplying of those to whom we are already pledged, we now have the splendid opportunity of meeting the needs of those millions of people in the hitherto occupied ter ritories who are facing actual star vation. , The people of Belgium. Northern France, Serbia. Montenegro, Poland. Russia, Roumania and Ar menia rely upon America for im mediate aid. The American people, in this most critical p< riod of their history, have the opportunity to de monstrate not only their ability to as sist in establishing peace on earth*., but also their consecration, by self denial, to the cause of suffering hu manity." Mr. Hoover is now in Europe to ascertain what are th?? actual needs of these millions of people who rely' upon America for the food to relieve starvation conditions existing in sev eral countries. The Food Adminis tration is waiting for word from Mr. Hoover before announcing a de finite program of food conservation in order that what is needed may be saved and sent across the seas. When Mr. Hoover is heard from this pro gram will be quickly formulated, based upon information direct from territories where famine threatens, and the American people will comply, voluntarily and cheerfully, with whatever is ahead of them. This is the confident belief of the Food Ad ministration. - Report of Carnegie Library for Oc tober and November. New members in October-Novem ber, 31. Previously reported, 627. Total membership, 6r-S. Number of books lent in, 532% Previously lent, 8,488. v Total number of books lent, 9,020. Financial Report. Rural Membership: Fines.. .$6.74 Pay books. 1-83 Total. 53.57 Edith M. DeLorme, Librarian. * * Building Material and Feed Stuffs I o * t SI o ?? a o ?? ?? *? ? t O Kough and Dressed Lumber, Lime, Cement, Plaster, Brick, Shingles, Mouldings, Etc. All kinds of Feed for Horses, Cows, Hogs and Poultry. We solicit your patronage. I Booth & McLeOO, Inc. Phones 10 & 631 BUY WAR SAVINGS STAMPS Our Total Resources in 1917 Were $900,000. OUR RESOURCES NOW ARE $1,500,000 AN INCREASE OF $600,000. Our business is growing rapid]y, as our one desire is to give our customers prompt and cour teous treatment at all times. We would be glad to have you give us your banking business, we feel sure we can please you in every way. The Natiohal Bank of Sumter, The "Old Reliable" Since 1889 J. P. BOOTH, President W. J. CROWSON, Jr., Cashier ft flfcsjS&g* BANK ?SITH and yourcan BANK 0N US Tie First National Bank SUMTER, S. C. \ The Goddess of Liberty At Our Door Welcomes you to the Bank that has purchased for itself and its cus tomers over a half million dollars of Liberty Bonds and Certificates, ?AND? Has given six of her young men to the service of her country. The National Bank ol South Carolina C. G. ROWLAND. President F E. KINNANT. Cashier. .??? ? ?????? ? ? M ???????? ???????? ? ? H ? ? f ? H M f ? M ? ? ??fr?