Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PuhUsh&J Wednesday and Saturday ?RS^Jf PFBUC?HIXG COMPANY SUMTES a C. Tfejrats: * $1.-50 per aniiuiH?in a?rance. AdvsrtfseiBezitB. 6ns Square first insertion .. ..$1.0$ Bvsxy ??fewiw?t insertion.56 Contracts ferthre# meaths, ?r tenger will he made at reduced rates. All- communications which sub ierv? private interests will be charged ,Zbr as advertts&m en ts - ?hituaiies and tributes of respect Will he charged fee 2Cce -Swnter Watchman was found fe>? la 1850 and the True Southron m 1 The Watchman and Southron now has the combined circulation ant influence of b#th of the old papers. ?Ad is manifestly the best advertisinr ??dJuin in Sumter. prBJCrCITT FOR CHILD CONDI TIONS. The first step in the back to school movement in .every, locality- should be publicity. Not publicity with regard to the campaign alone, but with re gard to the State and locai .egislation . which ci'her'helps or hinders the movement ? Every; man, woman and child in every Sfite in the Union should be . made familiar with local school and , child' labor laws. The newspaper, the pulpit, the. school and ^that great >iicity medium, the moving' picture reen should all present frequently o the public what is being done to educate and" protect its coming citi zens:'- ? ? : Vl.f the laws.are good butinot en-: 3 forced, r.oi only a few welfare work-' ( ersi ed acatcrs and truant . officers i should krow it, but every father and i mother; every preacher, every voter 2 ih .'the. eon-m?nity. If the laws'are r POQH they should be treated to. the I same cjazing publicity,- as should \t those who oppose their betterment. In no department or human affairs- is it truer that "men loved darkness bet* ter. th va l.'ght because their deeds were , evil," than in the exploitation of the "chP-l in 'the ranks, of labor be fore he is fitted for it by eitherbodiiy development or education^ Publicly for the reasons for edu cation, publicity \or the laws enforc ing it .and for the laws of health in separable from the others?:th4s w^ mus^ haye if. the back to, school camr. paigu cs't^ have any -rea* or'lasting value. , : ' ,??'.-., - ? bolshevism teaxsfor>lEI). : _?-_. ?'. it t I i e yRj9Cn*t reports'from Russia, indi cate *3 - .'Oirprising transformation on the j?ar. of the .Bolshevist, govern: mexit.' The leaders are no "d?.?bti; at heart,. the same brutal, bloody,, injol erant gong they were from the first. But .while continuing " to talk their . .violent- jargon, breathing fire and;? flaihe against the "capitalistic" pow^ era, tbey have charged their methods surprisingly.. Their. radical language S^;i^}^^pX^reiy;tb hold thfcfr i^i^i v followers in'line. In prac , 'frdfn'^H , sheViirt, principles/, and turned ^eir gyg^ifeyint" luto^.?ort -oT-mWdle'-bf tl^ijovj Socialist state, ; . V; v-Th^s they have given up* two main pprp o&as of the original movement. T^iejF li^e"stopped trying to turn the lind'?ver to. the peasnts and the faefiaritts ~c-?er,te* the workmen to own aSj^tw??as they please. The "hour* ge^s*'' ..'iiks?L. formerly robbed and b?n^ptt '-to/death, has been * welcomed bagfc'td -Influence .and power. Finding ?iat.JEndrapt. employees could not op erate Hhy ? factories, railroads, banks, etic^- the' ; government has invited their former managers to manage them again: * To'k?ep. up the Bolshevist fietiptf, These, capitalistic citizens are called' ^ "beORle*s 'commissaries." But the^are* really ^running things, rid ing: t.o rthe office in their automobiles again, "^nd treated with respect. ? The. arrhy .has been enlarged and sublec:rtd to real discipline! Many of the- Old officers arc back in author ify;. and the privates salute them. That army-is said to be a power to reckon with. . There; is no evading the fact that, despite-all its past crimes and pres ent., defects. Lenine's government is now the strongest in Russia, and ^$Ye*'.i5rbTfifse of restoring: order on a bi?V*ca-l?. .x These .tacts,-as yet too little-known Jr. th^Nirnited States, explain a good dfoiV'Su the attitude of the peace con-! ference...'that' would otherwise: be i pulling, --Th'e Allies'do not want to j Hate;anything to do with the BolSh '-; viki> whether in their-original state of * V. " ? I wrcht'dn^ss or transformed into j semi-r'TSpectable .. Socialist republic, j Bu*t vh.ey are sorely tempted to make the . best of a bad business, in order,1 to*-escaf>e * the burden of forcible in-; tervezUion. a 6t^>ipo.site coxsTirrnox. XObody knows how much of the c6nstituti?n of the Iveague of Nations is the- work of President Wilson and how much is the work of other men of other nations. That is. nobody knows' except the heads of the Rig Five governments that are managing the conference and the members of the League of Nations committee ' of ?which the president is chairman. And they are not telling. It is just as well, too. For wheth er intentional or not, the fact that this document is a composite and practically anonymous work com I mends it to the various nations con cerned far more than if it were S95 . - known as the product of one man's mind, or the contribution of one na tion. Of all the statesmen who have had to do with this League of Nations plan. President Wilson is by. com mon consent given most credit. But no man maintains that he wrote it, any more than any single man wrote the Constitution of the United States. It may be that he had no complete plan of his own. It may be that he was too shrewd to offer a definite plan, knowing that such a move would invite antagonism. At any rate, as matters stand, the president is credited simply with having furnisher! the basic idea for a League, and the driving power that put it over. With that he may well be content, for it leaves the other statesmen content. It is agreed that in the actual real ization of the , idea, the working out Of the details required to turn the conception into a concrete-and prac ticable plan, many men have collab orated?how many it will never be possible to say. No doubt General Smuts of South Africa made notable contributions. So did Leon Bourgeois of France. So, we may add, did W. H. Taft, long the foremost advocate if a League of- Nations in America, Lloyd George has helped greatly. Ulemenceau has helped by keen crit eism. Orlando has doubtless helped. Tarious other diplomats at Paris have tdded their mite. And back of them lave been thinkers and workers, pub ic and . private, without number, j ail Elaborating to the same end. j Thus almost every important allied ration may lay claim to having play d a part in shaping this epbeh-mak ng document. Accord ingly, the va ious .sro^raments and- . peoples will e all ffae more ready to axscept it, and \J arry out its spirit and letter when the*!1 ime comes. BONDS AND SAVINGS. "Another Liberty Loan!" says the tard working citizen,'and mops h&jjj >erspiring brow and tries : to look \ ? nxious/ but he doesn't have a bit ol trek. 1^ the first place he loves hi.1' ittle bonds. In the second place he ;nows perfectly well where the mon ty is coming from to pay for them, hough he pretends not to. 'Every State in the Union, according O-tne American Institute of Banking, las increased' its savings deposits face war first started. .;Arizona has five.times as much he b'e had in i 914; Many other States ?ave quadrupled their deposits. Al Bbst all ,of them have at least dou- \ >led. The average increase per capita 1%%%! tykivfr. is pretty good as. ev if-^dy' hrnist allow. . ^yhere :is--a- growing ... tendency, to? ?Wd- thrifti* *whiph" is directly due to he. hard but interesting-lessons learn id .durmgilhe iwftp. - And even.- the. re. a-satton of $eacc lias not seriously af e?ted it ihus far. Another good hing is that people .show an increas ng".desire to*'- deposit their" .--savings frith- reliable banking concerns, in stead of -using the. old-sock, or trust ng the honeyed words of the promot -*r-*\v ' ' ?? Theer may hot. be the sa, te wave of patriotic enthusiasm to help float the yictory loan, but there will be*a satis fying sense of solid security in the in vestment'which will'go far to offset this. The buyer of a Victory bond is secure in a feat accomplished. It is not a gamble* it is a gilt-edged secur ity; and if wages are not-quite so high, there is the fund in the savings bank to help ,pay for the bonds. THE PVRPOSE OF THE FLEET. It is obvious enough now what that big American navy is intended' for. The League of Nations plan makes the matter plain. The principal device adopted to! preserve peace and punish law-oreak- j hfg nations is*the blockade. When sufficient provocation is given, the executive'council, of the Lpague will order the suspension of all economic intercourse with the offender As we-know from the present war. aH blockade will mean, in most cases, first of all the use of a big navy to close the seiis to the guiltv nation. ( The effective blockade of Germany j was long-maintained by Great Britain! &Im6st alone. The task was made ?m-; m-ensely easier when we joined our j navy with hers. [ I It mav be assumerl that such <ea- \ police work hereafter will fall mostly to the two great sea powers, Britain and America. That is natiiral and] just, provded the other powers ta'cei care of the complementary task, ofi supplying most of the troops needed j for the economic blockade by land. | Iii Kurope. France and Italy are inj good position to do that. The executive council of the League will recommend to the various1 members the land and sea forcesi they will be expected to furjsish ' j Acquiescence will be voluntary, fcu certainly Britain and America w:l not shirk their s?>a duty. And b; making our own navy about equal t ' Britain's*?with Britain's approval j we shall be ready. FACING BANKRUPTCY. _____ The Summer County Council of De fense was tbe most efficient and busi ness-like organization that we have ever had in Sumter and it did valua ble work during the war. This organ ization and the men in all sections of the- counts'- who composed it should get together now and give hearty, sincerex and effective support to the movement to reduce the cotton acre age. The financial solvency and the welfare of the people South is at stake. In many respects the situa tion"\is more critical and the indus trial and agricultural outlook more gloomy than in the fall of 1914 and spring of 1915. It is a time for tin people to-be up and doing, a time for cooperation and determined ef fort by all men of all lines of busi-. ness. A financial crash that will in- i evitably follow the further d<-prccia-j txon in. the price of cotton will not; only rob all the farmers df a fair and ; hard earned profit on their cotton. I but will bankrupt many of them; and with the bankruptcy of the i farmers of the South every other \ branch of business and industry will j suffer stagnation and the immediate! loss that will be tremendous. No one j wants a repetition of the conditions: that existed in the period between j 1.890 and 1897. but that is the diree-| tion in which we are drifting. Un- i i less the South.can hold the unsold; balance of the cotton crop of 1918 j xnd make a drastic reduction in the i Icreage of the 1919 crop, the South j cvill be bankrupt next winter. MILITARY .TCSTTCE. The senate military* affairs com- j aittec has heard with amazement j ho statements of Brigadier General Vmseii, acting judge advocate gener ic concerning the punishments met ?d out to American soldiers by courts j nartial. The public is no less ama? f Id. .Gen. Ansell tells of one soldier1 ->*hQ. was sentenced to dishonorable lischarge and ten years' imprison ment at hard labor for merely hav ng" in his possession a pass to which j ie had-no right. He tells.of a recruit,! ..... .. . - m kitchen duty less than a month! Lfter his enlistment", sentenced to 401 rears' imprisonment because he got j ntu an altercation with a second Icutenaut?almost as inexperienced ts -himself?and told the lieutenant :o "go to.hell" when the latter ask ^d him for a packet of cigarettes. Ie tells of another soldier condemn ^d for 40 years' imprisonment fori ?efusing to fall in for driH when or- ! lered, though it appears that he j vas unable to do so, because he was V. from exposure. Another soldier. v,hb deft camp without permission to >ep -his-t dying father, and returned | /oiuntariiy the day after he died.! vas-sentenced to death for desertion, j ^ Th<*se. -may be ?extreme - cases, j ;hough Gen. Ansell says that they ire .not at all unusual. Sentences of j fctaih have seldom been carried out, j because . the president: interfered.! Gut the yas-L majority of cases art j rvc-i subject to any sort of review.) .'eiiorally the courts martial have ;i ! 'mhl jurisdiction; and those cdurt's ire made up for the most part of of- j fleers having little or no knowledge jj Df law. Moreover, in most cases the jj men do not seem to have been ade quately; defended. i Most of - the offenses have been t committed in this country, by soldiersb of. very little army experience, fresh'j from the' freedom of civilian life. and ignorant of military tradition.] There seems to be no question that j large numbers of them have been j condemned to punishment severe out i of all proportion to their offenses ] Almost every citizen will agree with !' fJen. Ansell, when he says: "The courts martial are not ju*tl- j Bed in piling*" on these shocking pen- ? . . i PALACE BUFFET i Atop BELORME'S PHARMACY, j ? Sumter, S. C. UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT Steaks. Chops, Deviled Crabs. Sal-1 ads. Home Mad- Pie, Cake and Pud-1 dings. Deliciou. sandwiches. Open Daily 10.00 A. M. to 12 1?. M.i Sunday V2 M. to 0 P. M. J Music All the Time. Dance if You Like. If you have cotton to . dl. see us, it will pay 3'ou. If you have fertilizer or fertilizer iTsaterials to buy it wi? pay you to see us before you buy, Cash or approved collateral. 9 West Liberty Street / / allies. I do not believe in sentenc ing to death a now soldier who weal to sleep guarding a. pile of canvas down in Texas, 3.0U0 miles away from Hie battle line, simply because wc are at war." Gen. "Ansel! protests not only against the severity of iong terms of imprisonment, but against the too liberal application of ?"dishcnorahlc discharge/' which disgraces a man for lif<*. He risks congress for legis lation to modify the penalties or re mand'the cases for retrial when they seem to warrant it. The evil, apparently, is not one of sudden growth, for which any par ticular set cf men are responsible. Tt is a part of the '?system." Civil ians would like to know why the American military system should ever have grown harsher in its treat ment of soldiers than that of France. Ei gland or Italy. And as th acts become known, the whole nation joins in a demand that this*system be modified to accord with American ideas of justice. SHYLOCK JAPAN'. If Japan Keeps on claiming her pound of flesh at the peace table, she will do so at her own risk. Japan was admitted to the confer ence on terms of equality with Amer ica. Britain, France and Italy. This was the greatest compliment ever paid to the Japanese government and, people. It was tacit recognition, of j what Japan has so Ions: coveted? j recognition as an eqtfal with the lead- ; ing representatives of western civil-j izatioa. ?? . I The other powers have gone about '? the business of making peace and es-; ; tablishing a Work! League in a not lafcly generous and unselfish spirit. ! No finer example of national aitru : -r.'w has ever been revealed than the ! voluntary agrfeinoht of Britain. ? .'?"ranee, [taly and th< res! of the al- ? I lied* group '.<> surrender their indi-j ! v; dual claims to conquered German ! i colonies and aceepl mere '"man-; j dale** 10 govern them under the at* ; thority and discretion of the League! ; of Nations. Japan .".lone has balked. S-"e has calked in spite of the fact thai when-j ;she took Kiao-Chau. the German j [Stronghold in China, and the Germar i ? islands of the Pacific. she expressly i stated that she had no intention of! ; keeping them. Nov.- Japan is not ; j only seeking to break her own word.. but in doing so is threatening the j success o*' the biggest and most de sirable achievement of the peace con- i i ferenee. Her general attitude to- i ) i ?ward China also arouses grave pus-; j picions and forebodes trouble, j Japan pleads that those German j j possessions were promised her. in a j recent treaty made with other allied j i powers during the war. Maybe they j j were. But the other allies are ideal- j ! istic enough to forego the advantages j (of special treaties, made when thej : fate of the world hung in the bal- i i { jaaice. in order that they may sue-: {ceed in setting up guarantees of per- j i manent peace and justice, i Is Japan less civilized than the j I white nations she is associated with? j Are her fine professions and noble; ! utterances of no more worth than i i Germany's, when put to the test? j If so. the sooner the world finds it; out. the better. Then Japan can take ; her place oh the outside, whi:e unit-; ed civilization goes on its way ignor-j ing her. Her fate rests with herself, j PEACE AXT) PT AYGROUXDS. ; The Playground Association and Horticultural Society of Ottawa, Out., have-united in a movement to establish peace playgrounds in all the chief cities of Canada. These playl grounds or parks will be primarily places for the youngsters to have a good time. They will be equipped with modern playground apparatus and will have all the facilities for the favorite summer and winter sports. .'. The recreation feature, however, is only one of the purposes of the new parks. They are to be peace mer mcrials as well, serving as centers for annual peace celebrations and. oonta.ininjr memorials which will fit tingly record some of the benefits of. peace. It is a happy idea to link the health and j y of children with the promotion of lasting peace. The children who play in those parks and who learn there some of the mean ing of peace will be better able to carry forward the ideals of our civilization for which their fathers and brothers fought this war. Bees For Sale. I have several colonies of bees that I will sell for $8.50 per colony. They are in Dovetail Hives in good condi tion. This is a good time to move them, and it will be to the advantage of those who raise fruit, to have the bees in time to work on the blossoms, as a better crop, of fruit is secured when the bloom is fertilized by the bees. N. G. OSTEEN, - 320 W. Hahmpton Ave. There are automobiles running un molested in Sumter county- withot?& IS 1.9 license plates. Some of them go blithely about their business with 191t plates, others get by with 1917 plate* and some have no plates at all._ REGISTERED. Who makes your fertilizer? Is he a man who has spent his life at the iob ? If you would like the benefit of 33 years devoted to the improvement of Southern Crops and Soils, use ORDER EARLr AND AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT F. S. ROYSTER GUANO CO. Norfolk, Va. Richmond, Va. Tarboro, N. C. Charlotte, N. C. Washington, N. C. Columbia, S. C. Spartanburg, S. C. Atlanta, Ga. Macon, Ga. Columbus, Ga. Montgomery, Ala Baltimore, Md. Toledo, 0.