Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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igt ?fcgiimit aiti Sm^nnt Published Wednesday and Saturday ? ?BY? OSTKEN PUBLISHING COMPANY SUMTKR, S. a Terms: .50 per annum?in advance. Advertisements. One Square first insertion .. ..$1.00 iSvery subsequent insertion.50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at reduced rates. All communications which sub ?ervo private interests will be charged tor a* advertisements. .Obituaries and tributes of respect wttlJJe charged for. Snmter Watchman was found ed in 1850 and the True Southron m tffi. The Watchman and Soutiroi ftw has the combined circulation am Wunnes of both of the old papers, ?^?is nianlfes?y the best advertisin ^e^um ^^umter^^M^MiMMUM^ POST-WAR COMMISSIONS. The announcement of the secretary of war that promotions and commis sions will be granted the men ready for. them just the same as if the war were still going on'givss satisfac tion. In cases where training for] commissions is nearly Completed, the men who wish to finish may do so before returning to civil life. Men in the army who have been recommend ed fb? promotions will receive them. One reason given for this is that if fchey are ever' again called into ser vice they will be enabled' by this plan to enter , with the rank with which . they retire. With our great hope that they will never be wanted for war purposes aga'n, that reason seems less im portant than the simple consideration Of justice. The award of the-.com jnissions and promotions after the close, of the war' is simply a recogni tion -of the fact that the men receiv ing them have earned them. It is a sort of certificate of work well done. It 's^efhs only right and fair that every mini who has worked hard and serv ed faithfully, showing special ability,; loyalty or courage, should be granted the reward of his efforts. SJE3iF-DETEKMINAT10X FOR BLACKS. The attempt of leaders of the ne gro race, under American guidance, to gain the sanction of the peace con ference for a 'great, self-governing union of African negroes, is to be viewed with sympathy rather than ridiccjle. Nevertheless its imprac tic??ty must be apparent to nearly everybody interested except the Uto pSanfiegroes themselves. With.all due respect to seme of the black" leaders of this movement, it must be said that the negro, par ticularly in his native State, has nev er show any marked aptitude for po litical organization and administra tion. The negroes of Africa had self gorerhment for several thousand years. It is not evident that they 0ver . made much use of it. Even Liberia, with all its encouragement frdrri white nations, has been a fail ure]. . the principle of self-determina tioh can be applied to the African negroes, and probably will be, in spirit. The natives of the colonies taken from Germany, at least, will be, given a voice in deciding which power shall protect and govern them. It is proper, too, that the peace con ference should adopt more definite rules for safeguarding the rights of all politically incompetent peoples. Farher than that the conference can hardly go until evolution has been at work in Africa a while longer. MEN FOR FARMS. The slogan, "Farms for Soldiers," excellent as it is, may give way soon to the reverse slogan, "Soldiers for farms." The employment bureau of the fed eral department of labor says that 3.000,000 men are needed for work; on American farms the coming spnng. This is an angle "of the food prob lem, as well as of the labor problem, to which little attention has yet been given by the public. The world's food demand is going to last through next year, nearly" or quite as insistent as it is today. The only way to feed the world and the only way to lower the cost of living is to speed up agricul tural production. And yet the farm ers, who have done so well, under severe handicaps. during the past year, cannot even keep up their pace unless they obtain large labor rein forcements. It may be found desirable to e.'jse up a little on the effort to place re turning soldiers on new land, whose development will take years, and try to get many thousands of them tem porarily on farms already producing, where they can do their bit in in creasing the production at once. It will certainly be necessary for those who direct the employment of labor and for the genera] public, to tuk.-? this situation into account. Ev ery possible volunteer should go to the country. Farmers must <:o their chare in paying the highest wages they can afford, and treating their workmen with tbe utmost consider;* . tioa. They will lose nothing:, at ? that. Experts say there is no possibility of the old bugbear, "over production," for at least two years to come. Ev erything that can be produced within transportation distance of market centers can be sold at a good profit THAT "PROTECTING" ARMY. Chancellor Ebert, addressing the returning Geiman troops, welcomed them according to the usual German j formula, as an "unbeaten army," and j praised them as follows: "You protected the homeland from invasion, sheltered your wives, chil dren and parents from flames and j slaughter, and preserved the nation's workshops and fields from devasta tion." Maybe there are political reasons 'compelling the chancellor to talk like that, but the chances are that he does it just because, being German, he can't help it. With the usua.l egoistic 'psychology of his race, he takes it for granted that Germany's neighbors would have done just what Germany did if they had had a chance, and mentions the details without a trace of remorse for the brutal and shame less part played by his own people. That "unbeaten" German army did not protect Germany from invasion. Germany is invaded by conquering armies. And it is the invaders them selves, as descent, clean, humane rep resentatives ? of civilization - in arms, that shelter German women, chil dren and old men from flames and sla ghter and outrage, and preserve German fields and factories from de vastation. The Allies in Germany today ar? in position to burn and smash and slaughter to their hearts' content, as the Germans did in France, Belgium, Poland, Russia and Roumania, There is no power to stop them, if they were bent either on wilful crime or calcu lated retaliation. And they do noth ing but police Germany more justly, honestly and, humanely than Ger- : Tftajiy's own soldiery would do. Well, the president has been gone ( two or three weeks, and the govern ment at Washington still stands, and . the western hemisphere plugs along ? pretty much as usual. Maybe the nation needn't have been so distuib- j ed about it, after all. T * * * No punishment the Allies are likely ? to inflict on Germany can surpass the , penalty already imposed by Russia. ( That country has inflicted complete ( and poetic revenge by Bolsheviking ] Germany. , 1 * * * Certainly there won't be any more j secret diplomacy if this business of j appointing female ambassadors keeps T ; * * * - . ? The Allies have occupied Ci nstan- t tinop.e. It will soon be clean, for the j first time in 465 years. ( * * * 1 The seas are not yet free enough t ?> t suit German ideals. That is to say, they're not free for u-boats to run ] amuck. * * * Those incomprehensible Germans are still paying the salaries of such 1 royal personages as have not ju ped 1 the country. Is it because the. ex- i pect to restore those worthies to pow er, or because they're fattening them i for slaughter? 1 * * * ( Art works all over Europe are com ing out of hiding. But the owners < and custodians had better have a ?' care. The Hohenzollerns are not ; hanged yet. , DRIVING OUT FINANCIAL RATS. The capital issues committee has recommended to coagress that that body should pass laws of extreme stringency "to check the traffic in double securities," which for years has been a blot on our business life but now bids fair to assume unlimit ed proportions. There has been need of such legisla j tion for a long time, but the extent to I which it is needed has been too little j understood. I During hostilities the committee controlled all the stock and bond is sues of the country, and the necessity of determining which issues were es sential led to disclosures of a system | of "confidence games" extending over the whole nation. The issue of Liberty Bonds and their purchase by the entire Ameri j can population opened an immense I field to the traffickers in insecure "se curities." These smooth crooks no ..longer arc confined in their operations to people known to have a little extra i change, but have for their range all the bond buyers, which means all the ; country. It is with little difficulty thatj the ?emorant and credulous bondhold i er is persuaded to part with a small : bond at a low rate of interest when he I is offered in exchange r. chance to come in on deals which promise un I 'oi*l wealth in a short time and a rate ' of interest which in itself would tempt i? miser to throw awav bis srold. i For the brainless, gilded fool who ; wastes his substance in riotous living there is little need of sympathy. The j sooner his money gets into circulation the better; some of it may drift into dererving hands. The hard-working. ; thrifty, honest soul, on the other j hand, is entitled to^ protection from the smooth-tongued sharper whese I trade is to make nothing for some thing sound as safe as the bank of England and far more attractive. The dishonest speculators in hon est peoples' money should be driven from our financial systems as vigor ously as the rodents from our cellars I and barns. They are the -rats gnaw ing at the roots of our business life. The capital issues committee has! j made a careful study of these schemes and is in a position to realize the dan ger menacing. Any suggestion com ing from these able men, who have served their country honestly and well, is worthy of a hearing. They urge that the matter is essen tially one for federal action, since it is the nation-wide investment in fed eral securities which has enlarged so greatly the danger zone. ~'rompt ac tion is also urged before the letting down of all federal financial control shall put the whole army of the inno cent and confiding at the mercy of the confidence men. IX BERLIN". In Berlin they are gay, they ."re dance-mad. There are about fifty cabarets in Berlin where crowds drink aad iaugh and dance unti: the n'-nc o'clock closing hour. Soon the nine o'clock rule is to be suspended, then they can dance till morning. Ber liners are longing for this. Ladies in gorgeous toilettes, soldiers in uni form and wealthy civilians meet and drink wine at ten dollars a bottle. The musical shows are crowded. It is necessary to reserve seats two weeks in advance. Soldiers are returning at the rate of 10,000 a day, and are greeted with cheers, laurels wreaths and flowers. But Berlin is getting a little tired of returning soldiers. It palis after a while, and Berlin wants to be amus ed. Why? Berlin is trying to for- ' 3ei. i Berlin is trying to drown with the , crash of orchestra the crash of her i falling world. , 1 Her soldiers march down Unter Den '' Linden to the strains of "Deutschland LTber Alles." 1 Germany over all! Yes, over all 3 :hat made her Germany. Over it for ( fears to come, the certainty of her ^ loom beginning finally to penetrate ( ?ven the thickness of her head. So i Berlin is trying to forget But Ber- 1 in will have more and more to re- ] nind her of the truth she hates to 'ace. She may dance and sing and I least for a little while now, but in the 5 neantime there is assembling that ? item tribunal which shall tell Berlin 1 tnd all of Germany her dancing days I ire over, that the time has come for f ler to don sackcloth and begin the I lays of repentance and penitential I :oil. "Eat, drink and be merry, for j :omorrow ys die!" \ PRIVATE OWNERSHIP, PUBLIC f CONTROL. ! Secretary McAdoo, retiring from the f nanagement of the railroads, explains j that he favors a policy of public f nanagement with private ownership. 1 This is probably what the major- \ ity of citizens want, though there has [ been no broad, convincing expression [ of opinion on the subject. i It is unthinkable that the railroads [ should ever slip back into the po- j sition they occupied 1-5 or 20 years I ago. when they were virtually inde- j pendent, contemptuous alike of gov- \ ernmental restraint and public opin- j ion. There has been much public reg- j ulation since those days of arbitrary | 'railroad kings." We sliall have no \ more Harrimans and Hills. The pub- j lie grip on transportation has grown \ tighter, year by year. It gr so tight ; finally that it came near strangling j the railroads. \ The intervention of the govern- j ment. for a war emergency, has prob- i ably been fortunate for everybody. It ? relea. ed the railroads from the tyran- \ ny of the States and modified the j strict and sometimes unwise supervis- ] ion of the Interstate Commerce Com- j mission. It provided the centralized authority necessary to help the sys- | tern as a whole by eliminating many | unnecessary duplications of service orj equipment. It is maintained by most j men who have studied the question j that centralization must con'inue, in- j creasing rather than diminishing. Un- ! limited and irresponsible competition i in this field can never return. It is not likely that so much power as this centralization implies will be trusted to private hands. That would be a step backward. The only power in Amerira big' enough and safe enough to trust with the policies of a national transportation system is the government of the United States. As for ownership, that is a different J matter and an extremely . debatahle; one. It may be that the nation will ? eventually make up its mind In favor of public ownership, as most European nations have done1. But at present, there is little indication that the pub He is ready for such a step. Gunning For Subs i - The English Used Decoy Ships in Hunt for Submarines. London, Nov. 23 (Correspondence of the Associated Press)?One of the most exciting chapters of the war against German u-boats is a series of accounts of notable engagements be tween British decoy . ships and the submarines, made public by the Brit ish admiralty. While the whole story of the part played by these decoy vessels. "mystery ships" or "Q" craft has not been revealed, it is evident that several of them were used to lure the Hun undersea craft to their de struction. Some incidents in this campaign al ready have been made known, dealing chiefly with a few of the exploits of Commander Gordon Campbell as master of the decoy vessels; but oth ers in which he and other captains participated now are available. That at least a small fleet was used in this work is evident from the fact that Campbell at different times appears as the master of the Farnborough, the Pargust, the Dunraven and the Q-5. The Prize, another decoy ship, was commanded by Lieut. William EJ. Sanders and the Stock Force by Lieut. Harold Auteh. Stories of the encounters between these ships and the u-boats are filled j with deeds of heroism and instances; in which the discipline of the British j navy was displayed under the trying circumstances. For many months the decoy ships heavily armed but with their guns hidden behind false bul- i warks, steamed zig-zag paths in the J seas which were the hunting grounds i of the submarine. In their character of lazy colliers j or slow cargo craft they presented to j the submarine commander an invit- j ing object of attack but once he was I well within range of the British-guns, j the false superstructure hiding the! gruns fell away and the helpless col lier became suddenly transformed into a, lighting craft, bent on destruction, [t was dangerous work requiring the Mgn order of courage for the subma rine must be lured near before the [runs could safely begin their work. Meantime the Hun frequently had sent iis torpedo home and the decoy ship Evas disabled, sometimes on fire and i part of her crew wounded. In that j condition the battle was fon.erht and j >ften the submarine destroyed. "Panic parties" was one of the ruses j practiced by the decoy ship's com- ; nander to coax the submarine along side. When the mystery ship was crpedoed these panic parties took to :he boats, apparently abandoning iheir vessel but always leaving on )oard another crew to man the guns md finish the submarine if it came j lear enough. The first encounter mentioned by he admiralty took place in March, .916. when the Farnborough, disguis >d as a collier was attacked by a sub narine. The "panic party" took to he boats and when the submarine \ dosed in to about 800 yards the Farn- j >orough opened fire on her. The u >oat submerged and the Farnborough ! >assed over her dropping depth-' MaaaMMnnBaHMMaHnEBaauni ; bombs. The submarine reappeared I standing almost on end. Five rounds [were fired into her at nearly point ? blank range and she went to the j bottom of the sea. I Prior to that action the Farnbor I ough had cruised throughout the en j tire winter without being attacked, j Within a month the Farnborough ; coaxed another submarine near j enough to sink her by gunfire. Com j mander ( ?ripbell later was trans ferred to the command of the Q-5 and in the following February, 1916, his I vessel was torpedoed by a submarine ! which eventually approached so near ?that a shot from the Farnborough be [ headed the u-boat captain as - he 'climbed out of the tower, the subma rine was sunk with her conning tower j open and her crew pouring out. De istroyers towed the Q-5 in and beach led her. For this exploit the Victoria (Cross was awarded to Campbell, j The decoy ship Pargust with Camp j bell in cor ind was torpedoed on (June 7, 1917, while disguised as a i Eritish merchant vessel. The subma j rine came within fifty yards of the i Pargust which then, opened fire on her with all guns. The submarine crew poured out of the conning tow er and held up their hands in token of surrender, but the u-boat steamed I away trying to escape in the mist. iThe Pargust again opened fire on her ! and sunk her with one man clinging ! to her bow as she went down. The jdecoy vessel was towed back to port by American destroyers. Two Vic toria Cresses were awarded for this successful action. What Christmas Commemorates. ?The event chronicled by St. Luke in the second chapter of: his Gospel, was the most wonderful ever enacted in the world. The Christian poet, the Christian artist, the Christian orator have ever been at their best when dealing with that great mystery, but neither pen, nor brush, nor human eloquence have ever been adequate to portray it. Mary and Joseph, unknown to the world, but enamored of Heaven; Mary and Joseph, seeking in vain for shelt er, while themselves sheltering the God who made them; the providential arrangement of the time and occa sion and place: the wretchedness of the wayside stable; the cold night; the miraculous star; the angels' heavenly voices; the supernatural ligrht; the solemnity of it all, yet the fewness of witnesses?these circum stances attending an unimaginable event make it impossible of true de scription, i All that we can do is to imitate i the shepherds and wonder "at this! word which has come to pass," and. j like, them, to answer the summons to ? come over and adore Him?Heaven's: God made liesh, who as an infant j wrapped in swaddling clothes, lies in I a manger. Heaven and earth are reconciled: after thousands of years of separa- I tion; the Almighty had hitherto re ceived but little honor from His chil- i dren and .the world had known little ; of peace. In the beginning, God made man 1 to His own image; in the Incarnation j the reverse takes place: God adopts ! man's image. In the beginning Sa tan's tempting suggestion was "you shall be like gods"; in the Incarna tion. God becomes like us; in the beginning, man in his pride wished to be equal to God; in the Incarnation, the Son of God. who was equal to the ' Father, condescended to become an equal of man. Today Heaven's angels sing for the first time on earth; today the fallen angels in he!! experience their first confusion?(Our Sunday Visitor). Invited to Visit Holland President Leaves Question of Acceptance Open The Hague, Dec. 24.?Before the departure of President Wilson and Mrs. Wilson from Washington Queen Wilhelmina sent him an invitation to visit Holland. The reply which was I sent by President Wilson to the queen early in December has just been pub | lished. It leaves the question of ac ceptance of the invitation open. The reply expresses "sincere grati fication" for the queen's invitation and promise sthat the president and Mrs. i Wilson will keep in mind "your kind and generous offer of hospitality and j take the liberty of letting you know ; if you will not deem it discourteous ; of us to do so, whether it will be pos ! sible to give ourselves the pleasure of, j accepting your offer." It concludes: i "Please accept from Mrs. Wilson ! and myself the assurances of our most ( respectful friendship."_ j MULES?On account of making a ;. change in one of my farms, I will j have four or five mules for sale at I Shaw Motor Company Saturday, January 4th, at a bargain. Can be seen sooner at my farm. D. C. ! Shaw._ j LOST?Male pointer dog, white and 1 liver and small liver spots. An ? swers to name of Bob. Reward for dog or information leading to re covery. A. X Ard. Phone 420. j FOR SALE?Registered Duroc Jer seys. 1 male, weight 600 pounds; 1 sow, weight 300 pounds, 2 gilts, ! weight 135 pounds each. Dr. A. J. Pennock, R. F. D. 3. FARM LAND FOR SALE?In Sumter ! Leo and Clarendon counties. C. P^ j Osteen,_Sumier,_S. _C._ 7 PER CENT NEW MEAL?For prompt shipment; also blood, high grade tankage, potash, acid phos. ground phos. rock and ground lime stone. Call or write us for prices. Southern Brokerage Co., Sumter, BEESWAX WANTED?Any quantity large or small Am paying. best cash price. See me if you hav? any. N. G. Osteen._ ? FOR SALE?F. O. B. care, Camp Jackson, stable manure; very litt!* straw. Car load lots only. Cheml' cal and Fertilizer value rated very high by Clemson college. A. A. Strauss, Sumter, S. C. For the next few days we will sell all There are Lots of Bargains in this Lot. haw 6 McCollum Merc. Co.