Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE STJMTER \\ ATCHHAX, E?tab Consolidated Aug. 2,1 AMERICA G?IN " BONE DRY SOON Thirty-Five States Have Rati-j ; fied National Prohibition .*, Amendment. THREE MORE EXPECTED TO ACT TO-DAY! Liquor and Saloon Organizations \ i Are Rallying Their Forces; i . for a Desperate Fight. Washington, Jan. 15.?Legislatures ?f 35 States?one less than the re quired three-fourths?have ratified the prohibition constitutional amend ment. Several State assemblies now in session are expected to take action tomorrow with a probable race be-. tween Nebraska. Missouri and Minne- j sota as to which will be the 36th on the list. : Ratification was completed today by; the legislatures of five States?Iowa, Colorado, Oregon, New Hampshire and XJta.ii?malting: a total of 12 in two days. Of the 35 States that have taken action, only 14 have certified their action to the federal State de partment. They are Virginia, Ken tucky. North Dakota, South Carolina. Maryland, South Dakota, Texas, Mon tana, Delaware, Massachusetts. Ariz ona. Georgia, Louisiana and Michigan. The amendment under its provisions becomes effective one year from the date of the final ratification. Addi tional legislation by congress is neces sary to make it operative and ground work for this already has been laid. This legislation will prescribe penalties for violation of the amend ment, determine how and by what agencies the law shall be enforced. ' If ratication is completed this month, many officials here believe the country will become permanently ] "dry" next July 1, the date on which j the special war time prohibition re- i eently enacted - by congress goes into j effect. This law prevents the manu-i factnre and sale of intoxicants for | beverage, purposes and remains in j force until the demobilization of the ] nation's war armies is completed. .j Court action to prevent\the amend- j .nleht"'becoming.operative already has' been, started in California, where an j order temporarily restraining Gov- i ernor Stephens from signing ratifica-1 fion of the amendment has been ob- j tained. It has been intimated that! similar oction may be taken in other I States in which, it is said. State laws >f require that federal constitutional J amendments must be submitted to a ; referendum. The prohibition amendment resolu tion passed by congress provides that ratifications shall be by "the legisla tures, of the several States as provid ed by .the constitution." The resolution follows: "ResbTyed. by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assem bled {two-thirds of each house con curring therein), That the follow ing amendment to the constitution be, and hereby is. proposed to the* States, to become valid as a part of the con stitution when ratified by the legis latures, of the several States as pro vided .by the constitution: "Section 1. After ene year from the ratification of this article the manu facture/ sale or transportation of In toxicating liquors within, the impor tation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction Thereof, for beverage purposes is here by prohibited. "Sec. 2. The congress and the sev eral States shall have concurrent pow er to enforce this article by appro priate legislation. "Sec. 3. This article shall be. mi operative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the con stitution by the legislatures of the sev eral States as provided in the consti tution within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by congress." The resolution was passed by the senate.. 65 to 20. on August 1. 1917, and by the house. 2S2 to 128. on De cember 17. 1917. Mississippi was the first State to ratify the amendment, its legislature acting on January S, 1918. Sacramento. Cal.. Jan. 14.?- Cali fornia ranks among the States that have already ratified the congression al prohibition resolution and can bo included among the number neces sary to make the required three fourths of the States without further official action." United States At torney General Webb said here today in discussing the writ of injunction issued in San Francisco to restrain the governor from certifying to the rati fication: "I think the action of the legisla ture was final," he said. And I be lieve it is immaterial whether the United States government is notified officially of the action, r believe the congressional amendment to the fed eral constitution would automatically become effective upon ratification by 36 States, regardless of whether the United States government was offi cially notified." Mr. Webb said it was his opinion that Governor Stephens could, if he decided to do so, certify to the pas sage of the resolution and ignore the writ Of prohibition. San Francisco, Jan. 15.?Following; the obtaining here yesterday of an ! order temporarily restraining Gov.' lAed April, 18S0. UB* Just ? 881. SI THE LEGISLATURE GETSTOWORKj Bill For Compulsory School At-i tendance and Resolution for [? Constitutional Convention ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE IS COMPLETED i The Senate Starts a Fight to! Abolish the Ta? Commission | and Have Another Board of ; Equalization. I Columbia, Jan. 15.?A- bill provid ing fox- a system of State-wide com pulsory school attendance and ma chinery for the enforcement of the] proposed law was introduced in the j house of representatives . this after- j noon by Representative Hamblin, of j Union County, was referred to the i committee on education. Joint resolutions providing for a [ referendum on the question of a new j constitutional convention in the gen- J oral election of 1920 were introduced in the house today by Representative Hamblin, of Union county, and Repre-1 sentative Mower, of Newberry county. The organizat;on of the house was j completed today with the reelection j of Joseph A. Berry of Orangeburg j county as speaker pro tempore. The name of James E. Davis, of Barnwell j county, was introduced, but was la- j ter withdrawn, and Mr. Berry was re elected by acclamation. It appears the disposition of the house of representatives to get down to business as soon as is practicable. The members, the majority of whom | are without previous legislative expe rience. are now feeling thir way cau- j tiously until they learn the by-paths j of parliamentary procedure. The first day of the session is remarkable for! the .small number of new bills intro-! duced. It has been the custom during] the past few* years for the members to come to the general assembly with i their pockets jammed with all manner; of laws which they want to appear J no the calendar during the initial days? of the session. So far this plethora ?f j measures has failed to appear but there are probably many pet schemes ' in the offing. There was much hearuelt sympa thy expressed by members of the gen eral assembly today when it was learned that Governor-elect Robert A. Cooper is ill at his home in Laurens I under the care of a physician Long distance telephone messages stated j that the governor was merely suf-.j fering from a severe cold and that; his physician took the precaution of! putting him to bed so that he would j be in fit shape for the inauguration. J scheduled for next Tuesday. It is 1 thought that Mr. Cooper will be en- j tirely well for his inauguration, i which, however, can be postponed if he is not entirely recovered and he I desires the date to be set back. The Senate Columbia. Jan. 15.?The outstand ing features of the senate session to-j day were the passage to third reading j j of the bill which seeks to increase the j salaries of all State officers and the I appearance in concrete form of the; tight on the tax commission by a bill | bearing six authors?Senators Dun-; can. McColl, Moore, Harrehson, Bethea j and Baskin. The bill provides briefly' for the creaexon of an equalization j board, consisting of one member of j ; each of the fourteen judicial circuits j in the State and for this beard to have ! all the power and authority of the; tax commission. It is largely a prop- J osition to return to the old State board j of equalization idea. The senators made quick, time on j the salary increase measure. At the ,: request of Chairman Christensen" the ' bill was passed to its third reading] with the st-"' nent that If i there j should be am ,nt on the measure i j it could occur on the final reading, i and with the understanding that this could be done and that amendments : might be offered at that lime, the bill' went to its third reading. The sen jate committee on finance proposed an! amendment to include increases of j salaries for the circuit solicitors and stenographers. j On the house side the bill was pre- j sented today for the first time and referred to the committee on ways and means, and the proceeding prob-! ably there will be to act upon the, senate's bill. The effort is being made to have this bill passed prior to Tuesday, when the newly elected State officers rae inducted into office.; The good roads movement is taking definite shape and it is likely that!, something concrete will develop. Over on the house side Mr. Heiser wants a committee to digest the various sug gestions in the hope of working out < an acceptable plan by which some . William D. Stephens from signing ?: ratification of the federal prohibition j< constitutional amendment, it w?^ in- , dicated today similar action may be 1 taken in certain other States. It was i said at tho office of the California i Grape Growers' Association th ir such i action is possible in 12 other States. ; The States, according to the a:?x>- ] elation, are: ArkKahsas. Colorado, < Maine. Nevada. Xew Mexico. Oklaho- i ma. Oregon. Ohio. Utah. Washington. ) Missouri and Nebraska. I In these States, it was said, all leg- i istative actions can, under the law. be j j referred to the people and that inj* many of them the people have ?>0 days i t in which to take a referendum. is id Fear not?Eet all tbe end* Thon Ain JMTER, S. C, SATPBD AMERICA TO BE B( FROM Nebraska the Thirty-Six hibition Arne I By Associated Press. Lincoln. Jan. 1G.?The Nebraska; legislature at 10.32 this morning; completed the ratification of the fed- j eral prohibition amendment, making j the t hirty-sixth state to take such ac- j tion. ; Great Moral Victory. Chicago Jan. 16.?The United | States today completed the legislative process of voting itself dry. The pro- j hibition leaders declared the accom-j plishment to be the greatest piece of Situation in Argentina; Pres. Irigoyen Confers With Strike Leaders. ; i Buenos Alrc4 Jan. 16.?Labor lead-! ers in conference with President j Irigcyen have agreed to call off all j the strikes In Argentina, except the i one which hns virtually paralyzed j shipping here. President Srigoyen i promised to do everything possible to; meet the demands of the workmen, j Including wage increases and to study I the port strike for a solution. _. Ships Released Requisitioned Ships Returned i tc Owners. i \ ???__ ' ! New York, Jan. 15.?All American) ships requisitioned by the shipping; board during the war have been re leased to their owners, except those actually engaged in army service, it was announced today. Poles Take Lithuania Measure Adopted to Save Coun try From Bolsheviki. London. Jan. 16.?The Polish gov ernment has taken over the admin-., istration of Lithuania to protect that ' country from the Bolsheviki, accord ing to a Warsaw telegram. The ac- j tion was taken at the request of the president of the Lithuanian republic, j Another New Courty j People Vote for Creation of! Altend?le. j . Allendalc, Jan. 15.?Returns here; tonight indicate that the County of j Allcndale was created today by a! practically unanimous vote of resi- j dents of the sections of Barnwell and Hampton'counties which are to be cut; ofT for the formation of the new county. Out of a total vote of 4 7C only nine! were registered against the proposi- j ticn. In the Barnwell district there vfere 4H6 in favor of the new county! and nine against. In the Hampton j section the 2S votes were all for the ! corny. i Keeping it Dark Secret Sessions of Peace Con- j ference Not Democratic. _ !; Lcndon Jan. 16.?The morning, newspp .ers give much prominence to | decision that the proceedings of : the peace congress be. kept secret and j i contrast it with the statement -issued : yesterday that there would be no cen- j sors. Some believe that it will be1 difficult to carry out the decision ond;< protests are being made that if it is ' < done, it will keep the public in the '?< dark on some of the important fea- j: tu res. I; Brazil's President DiesJ' Rio Janeirc. Jan. 16.?Roriquez l\ Alves, president-elect of Brazil, died'; today. He has been critically ill for j sometime. ? . Oscar Crosby Ksigns. j Washington. Jan. 16.?Oscar Crosby \ has resigned as special commissioner i of finance of "ho United States in Eu- '? rope. thing can be done. Today the sugges- ' tion was made along the practical line 1 uf turning over to the State Highway ] Commission all of the funds derived r from automobile tag licenses and using 1 this as a whole for the construction ! of main bridges and the marking of ! Lhc roads. At the time the highway ( commission was established a fraction 1 of the funds derived from these fees was given to ihe commission and the .major portion of the lie cases was voted to the counties in which tbr fee was ' collected. This is now generally re garded as a mistake, because the State Highway Commission, if it had a eon- d siderable fund, could do something t substantial in the way of building the 1 arger connecting bridges. It is also a proposed to make a decided increase a in the license fees and in this way 13 provide the highway commission with ! t i fund of at least a million dollars forjc :he present year with which to do' t something. ^ i?*t at be thy Country'*, Tfey HoA'm I AY, JANUARY 18, 191 ?NE DRY COAST TO COAST th State to Ratify Pro ndment. mo/al legislation in the history of the tvorid. Under the amendment the manu facture and sale of intoxicating bev erages arc* prohibited one year after :he final ratification of the measure In the meantime the nation goes dry 3n July 1st by presidential proclama tion. Missouri Falls In Lino. Jefferson City, Jan. 16.?The Mis souri legislature today ratified the federal prohibition amendment. In Secret Session The Peace Conference Does Not Take Public Into Its Confi dence. Paris. Wednesday, Jan. 15.?No on> outside of the delegates to the peac conjcror.s knows anything abo"* .-e discussion which preceded todays rhe decision to keep the proceedings of the congress secret and limit the in formation divulged to an official state ment to this division, will preclude the American delegates, even President Wiison himself, from discussion and informal announcements. It has been behoved by persons close to President Wilson that he would contend for open sessions as far as posible. That he still feels the same way is the opinion generally expressed. Confer With Press Peace Delegates Consider Rela tions With F - Paris, Jan. 15.?The supreme coun cil today, after considering the mat ter of the relations between the con ference and press, decided to call a mooting at 5 o'clock this afternoon, attended by members of the pres3 and representatives of the various nations to exchange views on public ity methods. Armistice Terms Are Drastic Germans Must Make Retribu tion and Give Up Stolen Goods. London. Jan. 15.?(British Wireless Ftervice).?The new armistice terms to be presented to Germany by Marshal Foch are unofficially stated here to Include the following: First. Retribution upon the Ger mans for the murder and ill-treat ment of allied prisoners. Second. The machinery and goods stolen by Germany from France and Beligum to be at once given up. It is pointed>cut France aione has 500, J00 men who will be out of work un :il this machinery is returned. Third. Gorman gold, amounting to more than 100.000,000 pounds, to be moved from Ecriin to a safe place, probably Frankfort, and protected from Bolshevism in Germany en route. Certain other property to be ?surrendered. Fourth. Germany to give over her shipping, of which she is believed to lave 4,000,100 tons, to carry food sup- i plies to countries in Europe in need j :>f them. Fifth: U boats or the stocks to he j landed to the allies for their disposal | to be destroyed and no more sub- j narines should be built. j _ i I I London. Jan. 15.?The Central News! leclares that as a result of the allied j liscussions in Paris tlie whole aspect I )f vlemobliziation has undergone a{ sudden and vital change, this being; shown in the drastic conditions de- j nanded of Germany for a renewal of; he armistice. ?'On authority of an unimpeachable ' jharcter," says the Central Xews, *'it . ;an be stated that a situation exists n Europe under which war may. >reak out again at any moment. The illied war council has arrived at a de cision which means that the British >eople have mistaken the appearance )t peace for reality. This decision neans that the new Brtish ministry nust revise the whole scheme of army lemobilization. "The decision is thai Great Britain, n proportion to its military strength, nusl maintain an army of occupa ion on the Rhine for many months, f the rapid increase in demobilization ecentlv announced were continued, here would in a few months be no rmy in France to undertake the ob igations which by common decision if the allies 'nave been placed upon Jritrsh shoulders." STORK KIM) TO THIS PAIR.' riiio < l?UIi'cn in Four Years is Fam ily's Record. Sycamore, Ga., Jan. 14.?Nine chit--; ren in four years i.; the record es tblished by a family near here. Last 'hursuay Mrs. Mary Dukes, wife of former, gave birth to tour ba'oie**.' 1! living and doing nicely. In 1915 Irs, Dukes became the mother of ! riplcts; in 1!*17 the family was [ reased by the arrival of twins, an 1 Li lie stork's latest visit gave Mr. and.; Irs. Dukes lour more babies. h uttf Tr?fet/* THE TR?1 9. PEACE CONGRESS I TO BE SECRET 'Open Sessions Favored By the I Americans and British But j Others Object. THIS DECISION RAISES A STORM OF PROTEST News of Conference Will Be j Given Out Daily in the Form ! of Official Statement. ! Paris. Jan. 15 (By the Associated j Press).?The question of whether the i peace conference is to be secret or j wholy open to the eyes and ears of . the world, the settlement of which ; has been long awaited was brought to j focus today when it was announced ! that an agreement had been made to [confine the information given the pub lic to a daily official communique ^and [that a gentleman's agreement prevail ' ed among the delegates not to dis cuss or in any way give information ! of the meetings in the foreign i fice. j No written official announcement of {this purpose was issued, but word j was passed out to this effect, and it [was followed by an explosion of pro [ tests which quite drowned out the j doings of the peace commissioners. The understanding is that the American and British delegates op posed this decision but the French Italians and Japanese voting together prevailed. The British newspaper correspon i dents immediately joined in a me j morial of protest, which they put be ifore Premier Lloyd George. The ?American newspaper correspondents ; united in what is virtually a round j robin to President Wilson in which ? they protested in measured terms i against the d-cision and reminded zhc ! president that one of his 14 point.5 [specifies **open covenants of peace {only arrived at." j The memorial was before the presi [dent tonight and. there is every reasor j to believe that such a storm has beer 'raised th. will force the question be j fore the meeting again before th< actual sessions of the peace confer ence begin Saturday morning. The question of whether the meet ings are to be open or closed has beer smouldering for several days. It is as sociated with conditions which have : surrounded the lack of method in ! making public what has actually been j ?going on in conference for the past {month. The American newspaper cor f respondents, of whom there are about f 100 here to report the peace proceed I ings, have been received in daily au jdir.ee by the American commisslon [ ers under the stipulated conditions j that what was developed was solely t for their guidance and not to be, re I ported as bearing the stamp of au | thority or coming from the mission. \ The president himself has rarely j seen any of the American corres pondents and the newspaper men who j have expressed themselves at a meet ' ing of the organizat: they have [ formed as consider! themselves i trustees obligated to inform public l opiniot "at home of the moves which ;a.re beh.ig made here in Paris, have j been chafing at what they have char ; acterized is being kept out of touch I with t' e fountain heads of official in | formation having been confined to I information disseminated by an offi | c'al publicity agent. Meanwhile the j French newspapers and the British : newspapers having Paris editions I have been apearinsr each day with [inside information of the conferences and in some cases have actually I quoted American officials in a manner from which the American correspon dents were requested to refrain. Hitherto ir has been the practice of the governments taking part in the preliminary peace conversations, saya a statement given out by the official press bureau today to issue separate communiques regarding the proceed, ings. From today it has been decid ed to issue a joint communique of which the following is the English text adopted by the British and Amer ican delegations: 'The president of the United States and the prime ministers and foreign ministers oT the allied powers, assist ed by the Japanese ambassadors in Paris and London, held two meetings today. In the course of these meet ings the examination of the rules of the conference has been continued and almost completed. "It was decided that the United j States, the British empire. France. Italy and Japan should be represented by five delegates'* apiece. The British dominions and India, besides, shall be represented as follows: Two dele gates, respectively. for Australia. Canada. South Africa and India, in cluding the native States, and one delegate for Xew Zealand. "Brazil will have three delegates. Belgium. China, Greece, Poland. Por tugal, the Czecho-SIovak Republic, Boumania and Serbia \rill have two delegates apiece: Siam, oa<- delegate, and Cuba. Guatemala Haiti. Hondur as, Liberia, Nicaragua .;);<?: Panama, one delegate apiece "Montenegro will hrr e one dele gate, but the rule.-- concerning the designation of this delevate shall not De tixed until the moment when the political situation in this country shall have been cleared up. "The meeting adopted the following two general principles. Each dele gation being ^ unit, the lumber of ielesatea forming it shall have no in ? E SOUTHRON t E&abhshed Jaw, Vol. XLVII. No. 45. RAILROADS NEED HALF BILLION I Director General Hines Asks Congress for the Sum of ?500,000,000. I WILL BE USED FOR I NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS 1 Railroads Find Difficulty in Bor i rowing Money on Open Mar : ket and Need Government i Aid. i _ Washington, Jan. 15.?Another ap | propriation of $500,000,000 or more I will be asked of congress soon by I Director General Hines for the rail iioad administration's revolving fund ! to be used mainly in extending loans ! to railroads to cover the extensive j program of improvements and exten ? sions for which more than a billion I dollars will probably be spent this j year. Most of the half billion dollars j originally approriated for the revolv ! ing funoS was spent in financing im ! provements as differentiated from the last year. Loans are to be made at 6 I per cent, and will be repaid to the j government. Mr. Hines, in a statement today, j said the railroad administration's I function of financing necessary im I provements as differented from the j function of current operation of rail ' roads is "the reason which will re ! quire an early request for a large ap propriation." He explained that cap ital expenditures of railroads in 1918 and 1919 for extensions of lines, new buildings, bridges, cars, iocomotives j and similar purposes are calculated jat about $1,627,000,000 including i $350,000,000 estimated as necessary in !l919 and $1,277,000,000 authorized for I 1918. Of the authorized capital ex penditures budgets last year, only j $588,000,000 was actually used, and I $689,000,000 remained to be spent in 11919. This means that the railroad I administration's program for railroad j extensions and betterments in 1919 calls for outlay of $1,039,000,000 or_ three times as much as was spent by all railroads annually for several years ? before the war. In view of the approaching Fifth Liberty Loan officials believe railroads . I would have considerable difficulty j floa ting publicity sufficient securities ; to pay for improvements for which jthe roads and the railroad administra tion consider advisable to bring the j lines up to a high state of efficiency, j For this reason, * Director General ; Hines advocates a continuance of the i policy of government assistance re gardless oJ whether congress extends j the period of federal control, j Referring to the contemplated capi tal expenditures for 1919, Mr. Hines jsaid: j "While a substantial part of this I total may not actually be expended [during the calendar year 1919 it is j apparent that it will be necessary dur ; ing the year for the government and i the railroad companies to provide in I the aggregate a very large amount I of money for a careful analysis of the ! situation is on the point of being com i pleted with a view to preparing an estimate for congress for the necessary [appropriation to meet this situation, j While it is impossible at present to I make an exact estimate of how large i an additional appropriation will be j needed it is piain that it may exceed J ?500,000.000. I Troops From France Two Battleships Arrive With Two Thousand Men. j _ - i Newport News, Jan. 16.?The bat tleships Virginia and Rhode Island arrived today with two thousand sol diers from France. Peru Settles Strike Resolute Attitude of Govern ment Brings Leaders to Terms. Lima. Peru, Jan, 16.?As the result o: the resolute attitude of the govern ment a settlement of the strike was reached last night. The labor leaders agreed to a settlement on the basis of an eight hour day throughout Peru. The present wages are to continue. Quenee upon its status at the confer ence. 2. In the selection of its dele gation each nation may avail itself of the pane! system. This will enable each state :> discretion to entrust its ii terests to such persons as it may designate. ?The adoption of the panel system will in particular enable the British empire among its five delgates rep rsentatives of the dominions, includ ing Newfoundland which has no sep arate representative and of India." Paris. Jan. 15.?The Temps inclines in she belief .that the discussions'of the interallied conference will be car ried on both in English and French, but remarks that the existence of two authentic texts for the treaty, one in English and one in French, might in volve serious inconveniences as a literal translation is generally impos sible. Tt hones that French alone wi?! be used in the t^xt of the treaty as has been done *ir.ce the treaty of Westphalia.