Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ty and Saturday ??BY? OKEEEN FTJBLISHIXG COMPANY S?MTEK, Sc O. Terms: 51.50 per annum?in advance. Advertisements. One Square.first insertion .. ..$1.00 Every subsequent insertion.SO Contracts for three months, or lofcger will be made at reduced rates. AJJ communications which sub serreprivate interests will he charged for as advertisements. Obituaries and tributes of respect wiU b? charged for. The Sumter Watchman was found *u is 1850 and the True Southron in !S*ti The Watchman and Southron now has the combined circulation and influence of both of. the old papers, and is manifestly the best advertising medium in . Sumter. - Do your New Year's .^solutioning early. / * *- * ? President Wilson must almost* have thought he'd been elected president of France. * * * .". The new premier of Bavaria says, "I do not want to be a statesman. I want to iell the truth." More light on German ideas of statesmanship. * * * Next year will not be Leap Year cn the calendar. From the-present outlook, that calendar is going to be i a year behind the times. _ Anybody who didn't have ,a hide like a rhinoceros would have shriveled up and died long ago, from the indig nation and hatred showered on the I Kaiser. * * * \. Any kind ^of^a hat can be worn nextj I year, after all. ^e government has j withdrawn restrictions as to limita . ;tidn of styles. This should be a re . lief to the big men who were secretly dreading an era of Alpine chapeaus, and the "tfttle men who had heard that Mexican sombreros had been settled upon. ? * * French troops are going home, too. .And remembering that they have been away four years and a half,, who can imagine the joy In French homes? * * * Senator Pomdexter wants Germany to ^ay the United . States a war in dlgfhity of $30,000.000,000. It would be. very nice to get the money, aside fro?i the fact that America renounced .^'y Expectation of indemnity when we| entered the war. But hadn't we 1 jr.give our allies a chance? They ^ suffered incomparably more we have, and Germany's re sources are not inexhaustible. PROMISING WHEAT CROP. ;The acreage planted in winter wheat is 1 per cent larger,than it was last year. The condition of ths crop is rated at 98.5 per cent, which is 10 per cent higher than the ten-year average at this season. Naturally, knowledge of this tx eepiohally favorable situtaion has has had a stimulating effoct on the stock market and on business psych ology, in general. Wheat i3 our most important crop. It has a direct, prac tical effect on industry. Financiers say that all the country needs for a big business boom next year 2? good crops. There will be plenty of mon ey, enough labor for* essential pur poses., and an unlimited market at home and abroad. It is too early yet to tail much about other crops, or to form any final judgment on wheat itself; but this first optimistic report is certain ly a good omen. ? - * [C MEDICAL SERVICE. "The next three years are going : to see developments in public medi cal service greater than those of the past thirty years," says the superin tendent of a big hospital. . The disbanding of our armies, lie explains, will start a new era in this regard. There will be 3,000,000 or 4, 000,000 men who have become ac customed to modern medical ideas. They will not hesitate as of yore to go to a hospital when they are sick. ?Neither will they imagine they are asking charity if they go to a free clinic for treatment. They will have the new point of view?that health is . largely a public matter, and that the public authorities must do more than they used to for the health of their communities. The doctors, too, as they come back from army service will be imbued with a new spirit. They will lay more stress on public hygiene, on public hospital facilities, on popular medical instruction, en handling health as a wholesale business in stead of confining their attention to individual cases. The governmen t itself will be pro foundly interested, not merely from philanthropic motives but from a natural desire to keep down insur ance losses. Nearly al! the soldiers carrv federal policies of $.",.000 to $10,000 apieco. The healthier they are, and the longer they live, the easier it will be on Uncle Sam's I purse. Thus many influences work together for a new and better era of . national healtk. THE FINEST ARMY. Among the many high tributes to the American army, here is one from Secretary Baker that deserves to be remembered: "No finer spectacle ever greeted the human eye than the American army in France today. When you| see that army, your heart, if you are' a normal American, will be near to the bursting point with patriotic emotion. Young, brawny, smooth faced, they i are an inspiration to ev ery American at home. "As seen in France under all con ditions, in .battle array, iri camp and on the high roads, even at the hos pital after battle, where their'own issue was in doubt, one saw free men who knew why they were marching. "The American army, made in America and finished in' ?prance, fighting like heroes and living like gentlemen, playing with the French {children, fraternizing with their par |ents, romping across No Man's Land with death staring them in the face, never lost its dash for a second, nor did I ever hear a whimper from any of them." It is a fine tribute. And perhaps the finest thing in it is the character ization of our. soldiers as "fighting like heroes and living like gentle men." Is that not the beau ideal of a soldier? AT LAFAYETTE'S TOMB. When President Wilson visited the tomb of Lafayette in Paris, he de posited a wreath of flowers, but said nothing. What could he say?what could any American say?after that su premely eloquent speech made by Gen. Pershing, when he reached France in the vanguard, of the Amer f ican army? "Non? voila, Lafayette!" "Here we ?re, Lafayette!" .Those words told the whole story of the payment of America's debt to France. The president must have thought of ?.hem as he stood silent, in the presence of America's great benefactor. Pershing's visit to the tomb was a promise and a pledge. The presi dent's visit represented fulfillment. Let us hope that the spirit of that brave and generous Frenchman saw and understood, and was made hap pier by the proof that there is such a thing as gratitude between nations* LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHON ING. The new long-distance telephone rates announced to take effect Jan uary 21 will please the public, wheth er they please the companies or not rhey bring the big advantage of uni formity and cheapness. In the smoothing out of rates in all sections of the country, naturally there have been slight increases in some cases. In general, however, the reg ular rates for use of the wires by day are lowered a little, and for night use the reduction is impressive. The night service rate is to be one half the day rate between 8.3t and 12 p. m. and one-fourth the day rate between midnight and 4.30 a. m. This change is meant to encourage greater use of the wires during hours when they would ordinarily be idle. If the "plant" can be made to work con tinuously 24 hours a day. instead of being overburdened during the day light hours and idle the rest of the time it is obviously better for every body. By the new arrangement it is said that a person will be able to hold a five-minute conversation between New York and San Francisco for about $4, if he does it in the early morning hours. The only bad feature about this sort of thing is the temptation to business men to stay up late. There will doubtless be a great increase of long-distance telephoning for social and family purposes in the hours pre ceding midnight. And this is as it should be. Anything tending to pro mote the exchange of intelligence is a valuable contribution to public pro gress. SHALL WOMEN WITHDRAW The Federal Government is doing its best to aid in the tremendous prob | lern of returning industry and labor ' to a peace basis, by a transfer of la * A i bor from one industry to another. i careful consideration in the cancella ! tion of war contracts and a certain deliberation in the return of our sol \ diers from the front. Nevertheless the ; ! problem is a serious one and one of j the most vexed questions is the poi-1 i icy with regard to women, j This question relates particularly to i j women who have taken men's places, j lit .?eems only fair that any business! ! concern should offer the soldier his j laid place when he conies back if he ?wants it. but it is manifestly unfair [ to depose the woman who has faith-j ? fully served in his place without first | j giving her a chance to f?nd another j S job. I The question most frequently raised | us with regard to women never before j employed -. .10 have come into indus try for pariotic reasons but now Wish 'to remain. As a matter of fact, I though definite figures have not been I compiled, there is good evidence that , this class is but a small per cent of j the women employed, most women [having been shifted from the less es jsential industries to those where their j services were more needed. The re j sumption of many pre-war industries I will enable a lot of these women to: i j return to their former occupations,; while many industries which have' been operating on war work will re- j sume their normal lines on such a! scale as will enable them to retain; all the employees female and male! and welcome the returning soldier to, a better place than the one he left.! It has been suggested by people un- J familiar with labor conditions that! women should gracefully withdraw! from industry, especially the ones who i entered the field as a war measure, j This is not the solution. In the vast work of reconstruction there will be places in plenty for both women and men. What is needed is the reorgan ization of labor with regard to sup ply and demand, so that every bit of available labor'may be utilized. ARMY LOYALTY. The court martial "records made public by Gen.^ Crowder are indis putable proof of the wonderfully high morale of the Americaniarmy. It has oft not been found necessary, from the beginning to the end of the war , to J put a single man to death for the j commission of a purely military of fense. 1 There have been 12,000 to 13,000 nen brought before general courts nartial for various offenses, and ibout 11,000 of them were convicted and punished. This is a notably small number, when the fact is con sidered that they represented an irmy of 4,000,000 men, of whom more han 2,000,000 served in a foreign and under conditions tempting to >reaches of discipline. One enlisted nan was tried and convicted of being i spy. Of all the hundreds of housands of foreign-born men draft ;d into the army, it appears that not >ne gave enough evidence of dis oyalty to bring him before a military ribunal. These facts should sweep away, >nce for all, the silly stories that vevc current some time ago regard ng the prevalence of treasonable :onduct in the training camps and .mong our expeditionary forces. " It nay well be doubted whether any Lrmy ever made so fine a record of oyalty and discipline as this great orce of men hiitherto untrained to irms and unfamiliar with military outine and tradition. It is a con incing proof of the essential honor nd self-control of the American citi en. UNIVERSAL ARMY TRAINING. Whether or not the American peo >le want a continuance of univer al ihilitary training, as many news papers maintain, depends on what is neant by the phrase. Certainly the nation does not want o continue as a permanent policy in ime of peace the precise sort of raining to which all our eligible oung men have been subjected in ?reparation for the world-war. The ?ublic feels that one of the principal easons why we fought the war was to nake that sort of thing unnecessary lereafter. And if the peace confer ence at Paris does its duty, there will urely be no occasion for always hav ng a million or more men living in >arracks and devoting their time to >ayonet drill, trench-digging and oth >r ultra-modern war practices. We shall doubtless have a some vhat larger standing army than we lad before this war began. Until vorld peace is absolutely assured, too. ve shall need a large army reserve. 3ut it is,surely possible to provide for ;hese needs without imposing any rrat military burden on the nation. The millions trained for the present ,var constitute, themselves, a wonder ful reserve, which will be available Tor many years to come. . Any plan for training considerable numbers of new men must have in view the welfare of those men them selves rather than any compelling military object. Some new system must be evolved. It is likely that our requirements will most nearly be met by some modi fication of the Swiss system, which indeed trains all its able-bodied men for military service, but does so by taking them for short' periods dur ing the summer, without interfering: much with their ordinary life and work. A million men are said to be need ed for industrial jobs in this country, and the farms want 3,000.000. That seems to dispose of our army all right. Perhaps it's just as well after all for the head of our government to jjot his in formation :is to European condi tions at tirst hand, before he tries to j lead the American people in any per ma nent peace policy. a his is Week For Belated Purchasers ?at? ods Co, ALL COATS AND ALL SUITS AT Price Price All Dresses and Skirts, Beautiful Designs in Serges, Silks, Georgettes and Crepe De Chines. mm .*5, Look through and do your own figuring Our Prices are always in plain figures. Council of Defense ??~? \ iction Taken to Raise Balance of Fund lor Health Survey ?Resolutions Adopted. A resolution introduced and unani mously adopted would amalgamate ;he Sumter County Council of Defense ind the Sumter Chamber of Com merce, thereby keeping intact the or ganized effectiveness of the County Council, and strngthening the Cham 3er of Commerce into a councy com mercial and agricultural body to be -vhat one member said he hoped jt vould prove by the proposed consoli lation "The Greater Gamecock Coun :y Chamber of Commerce and Agri culture." Minutes of the meeting of November 9th, were approved. The last meeting of the Sumter bounty Council of Defense held Sat urday was attended by about 45 mem Ders, with six townships represented. The principal business of the meet ing was the determination of the council to make good its guarantee of 52,500 to the State and the Interna tional Boards of Health for the county health survey, and a further resolution to try to raise $800 more or a total of 53,300, the extra $800 aeing for a rural visiting nurse for :he rural schools and homes. A dele gation of ladies of the woman's di vision was present to support the health survey and rural nurse move ment. Messrs. A. C. Phelps, E. W. Dabbs, L. D. Jennirgs, C. J. Jackson, S. A. Harvin, H. D. Tindal, E. L Reardon, Mrs. Xina Solomons and others voic ed the sentiment of those present that the Sumter County Council of De fense is honorably bound to raise and pay over at least the $2,500 guaran teed. It was agreed that Messrs. E. W. Dabbs, L. D. Jennings, A. C. Phelps, J. H. Hayns worth and S. A. Harvin should retire and decide upon an equitable allotment of the amount of money each township should raise to carry out the plan of paying the $3,300, and the committee's report was as follows: Sumter Township.$750 Rafting Creek Township.300 Manchester Township. 50 Middleton Township. COO Shiloh Township.200 Concord Township.350 Stateburg Township..,..300 Privateer Township. 350 Providence Township.. .?.300 Mayesville Township. 4.00 Mrs. Xina Solomons. Mrs. J. L. Jcckson. Mrs. Crawford Sanders and Mrs. J. XV. Elkins were the woman's division delegates present. Mrs. Sol omons said the woman's division is hacking the health survey and nurse plans, and some of the women are collectinpr money for these two pur poses. They will continue to sup port these movements until the neces sary $3.300 is in the bank. The township chairman and mem bers of township committees are re quested and expected to immediately organize joint committees of men and women to a*-t busy and represent their county by collecting the amount? assessed against each township so that the township chairman can report ni Sumter Chamber of Commerce at 11 .? ~ ' I o'clock, Saturday, January 4th, 1919, that each township has "come across" with its share of the necessary $3, 300. Chairman Phelps said he would pay the unpaid part of the gruarantee before he would allow the county of Sumter to fall down. This offer was unanimously refused. The annual financial report of the finance committee, the secretary and the treasurer were read and approv ed and copies ordered sent to the board of the county commissioners, legislative delegation, and published for the information of the general public of all monies received and ex pended by this council. The question of whether the Sum ter County Council should continue in existence was discussed. It seemed to be the general sentiment that an effective organization of this kind j ough to be a permanent affair. The i very satisfactory manner in which j the Sumter Chamber of Commerce j conducted the most of the business of the county council, and the results of coordinate activities of the two bod ies in uniting the city and the county districts was emphasized by several members. The following resolution introduced by Mr. H. A. Moses and seconded by Mr. E. W. Dabbs was unanimously adopted: Whereas during the duration of the war the work of the Chamber of Com merce nearly altogether consisted of helping the Council of Defense with its work, and other war atcivities. Whereas in time of peace the work of the Council of Defense must nearly altogether be along the same con structive linos of work undertaken by the Chamber of Commerce, Therefore it is the sense of this Council of Defense that the two or- I ganizations should be amalgamated into one body for the good of the common cause of Sumetr county. Therefore be it resolved, That the chairman cf the Council of Defense appoint a committee of three to take up with a similar committee which we now ask the Chamber of Com merce to appoint, full details of the amalgamation of tho two organiza tions, this committee to have power to act in all particulars without report ing back. And Further. Be It Resolved that, j should the amalgamation be not con- J summated. this committee is authoriz- j ed to wind up the affairs of the Sum-1 ter County Council of Defense and to j declare it adjourned sine die." Messrs. FT. A. Moses, E. W. Dabbs. and S. A. Harvin were appointed a committee to represent the council in accordance with this resolution. A resolution introduced by Messrs. J. Frank Williams and P. W. Dabbs thanking Chairman A C. Phelps for his efficient public spirited and patriot ic work as county chairman was unanimously adopted by a rising vote, and is published in another column of! this issue. Chairman Phelps feeling ly thaked the council and exnressed his sincere appreciation of the co operation of that body during the ex istence of the council. Another resolution introduced by [>r. .J. 11. fjnynsworth and Mr. P. W. Oabbs thankihr? Secretary P. 1 Pear Ion for his zealous and patriotic work as the executive secretary was also unanimously adopted by. a rising vote. * Chairman Phelps requested permission to say that he could, not allow this body to adjourn sine die without expressing his appreciation of the very valuable services of Mr. Reardon as the secretary of the Coi}h cil of Defense and the Chamber of Commerce, and that he felt that Suni ter and Sumter county do not really appreciate "E. I. R." as" such a valtr able citizen and secretary in many ways. And that he desired his re marks to be ? published as a courtesy to Secretary Reardon. Mrs. Nina Solomons, chairman of the Woman's Division requested per mission to express her personal thanks and those of the woman's division to Chairman Phelps,*to Secretary Rear don, and his assistant Miss Nancy Richardson for courtesies extended and assistance rendered in their ad ministrative and executive capacities to her and the woman's division of the Council of Defense. Mr. E. W. Dabbs was unanimously requested to go to Washington as the representtaive of the Sumter County Council of Defense to appear before the War Industries Board, and to rep-' resent this council before any and all departments of the government hav ing to do with the cotton seed situa tion, and to attend all hearings about the same. Mr. Dabbs accepted arid left for Washington yesterday. The following township chairmen present guaranteed that their town ships will raise the full amounts as sessed against them for the county health survey: S. A. Harvin for Pri vateer township; J. W. McCoy for Oswego section of Sumter township; F.VM. Coulter for Manchester town ship: C. J. Jackson for Stateburg township; A. C. Phelps guaranteed Sumter township's fulb assessment, ^ MULES?On account of making -a change in one of my farms, I will have four or live mules for'sale * at Shaw Motor Company Saturday, January 4th, at a bargain. Can be seen sooner at my farm. D. C. Shaw._ 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. I ARM LAND FOR SALE?In Sumter Lee and Clarendon counties. C. P. Osteen. Sumter. S. C. 7 PER CENT NEW MEAL?For prompt shipment; also blood, high grade tankage, potash, acid phos. ground phos. rock and ground lim? stone. Call or write us for prices. Southern Brokerage Co., Sumter, S. C. BEESWAX WANTED?Any quantity large or small Am paying best cash price. See me if you have any. N. G. Osteen._ FOR SALE?F. o. B. care, Camp Jackson, stable manure; very little straw. Cur load lots only. Chemi' cal and Fertilizer value rated vary high by Cl^mson college. A. A* Strauss. Sumter, S. C.