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Pabitebed Wednesday and Saturday ?BY? QSX5SEN PUBLISHING COMPANY SUMTER, S. C I Terms: 91*50 per annum?in advance. Advertisements. One Square first insertion .. ..$1.00 Every subsequent insertion.50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at reduced rates. - " .. All communications which sub serve private interests will be charged for as advertisements. Obituaiies and tributes of respect Will be charged for. The Sumter Watchman was found it* in 1850 and the True Southron in J366. The Watchman and Sou ihr on now has the combined circulation and influence of both of the old papers, and is manifestly the best advertising medium in Sumter. THE NEW CONGRESS. The nation rejoices at the convoea-j tion of the new Congress as much as: it rejoiced at the expiration of the; old. May this body profit by the ex pedience of its predecessor! There are big tasks to be done, most of which ought to have been fin ished long ago. First of all, there are appropriation measures absolute ly necessary for the payment of war bills, the preservation of the national ? credit and the easing of an intolerable situation in the federal treasury. Then there are reconstruction measures, foremost among which is the land reclamation plan of Secretary Lane, intended primarily to provide jobs and homes for soldiers. There will be the question of ratifying the great peace treaty. There will be no lack of important work to do, if congress has the will and talent to dq it. There should be no repetition of either of the evils which marred the record of the last congress?neglecl of vital measures by the majority and obstructive filibusters by the minority. The party roles are reversed now, but that does not necessarily insure a re " versal of procedure. Politicians will be politicians, regardless of national obligations or the permanent welfare of their own party. And this is a j time when any neglect of duty by j either the Republican majority or the Democratic minority will certainly be 1 observed and punished by the great public which :*i the arbiter between the parties^ and the master of both of them. it is largely upon the record of this congress that the next presidential campaign will be decided. If either party earns the condemnation of the great body of critical and untrammel ; ed citizens, it can have no hope of either the presidency or the control of congress two years hence. THE GERMAN "INDEMNITY." J Advices from Paris say that, the German peace delegates show a gen eral willingness to agree to the allied terms, except that they insist they will not pay an indemnity. This determination may not be so serious as it sounds. It is largely a matter of definition. By "indemnity" the Germans are said to mean "puni tive damages," a payment made by way of fine or punishment. They are t said to be willing to pay any reason able sum that is put down as "repara tion," that is, compensation for com putable damages inuflicted by them in the course of the war. This seems to be somewhat of a quibble. It is drawing pretty fine distinctions. The Century Dictionary jdefines "indemnity" as "compensa tion for loss, damage or injury sus tained," which seems to be just I about what most people, including the Germans, mean when they speak I of "reparation." But after all, it matters little what technical terms are used. All the Germans can possibly pay will not ! equal the actual "loss, damage or in : jury" they have inflicted on the Al lies. " If the Huns prefer the mild - word "reparation," therefore, there need be no dispute. In any event, the result will be the same. They will pay all that can be squeezed out of them. New York is putting cots in church- j es for people to sleep on. Most j church-goers find the pews plenty! good enough. PRIVATES APPROVE OF ARMY. In order to get the view of th? men l themselves on conditions in the army, a questionnaire was submitted to L-l 440 enlisted men at Camp Devens,? Mass. The men were of all the different! elements of which the enlisted life of the army is composed, good, bad and indifferent. They had not seen over seas service, but had spent months in training, and their point of view is valuable as expressing the attitude of' the average man toward military training. ' Although 50 per cent of the ques tionnaires went to men supposed" to be dissatisfied with the service. 89.5 per cent of the men stated that in some - way they had been benefited by army life. Seventy-nine per cent were glad of the training both for patriotic rea sons and because they felt it- of dis tinct benefit in other ways. Eighty eight per cent favor military training; j eight per cent oppose it; four per I cent expressed no opin.on. The answers to questions as to dis ciplinary relations showed that a big majority believe good discipline and familiarity between officers and men cannot co-exist, and that treatment of the men is more fair where officers I do not mingle socially with the men ! of their own companies. This is es i pecially interesting in the light of j outside attempts to stir up dissatis | faction on the ground that snobbery j was a fault of army officers. ! The majority of the men testified j that they believed that they had dis itinctTy benefited in morals, health, j religion and physical habits, j The chief requests for improve I ment were in the matter of uniforms, which were generally complained of as ill-fitting and uncomfortable, and the mess, which was said to be un satisfactory in quality and quantity of food and in its preparation. Taken in its entirety the report is illuminating and gives a commenda tory view of army life as a means of discipline. It can be used as stand ard in helping to arrive at a con clusion with re^ ard to universal mili tary training. THE FRUITFUL ARCTIC. The Arctic regions seem to have been misunderstood. They are. not bleak and barren. They are wonder fully fruitful, cr may be made so by a little of the care which man has lavished on other parts of the earth. No less an authority than Stefans son, the scientific explorer, says that the Arctic and sub-Arctic^ lands can provide great quantities of food, par ticularly wool, meat and milk. He has gone so far as to lay before the Ca nadian parliament a plan for intro ducing and domesticating on a big scale the animals necessary for this j purpose. They are the reindeer, which fur- I nishe% milk and meat, and the musk ox, which furnishes wool. There arej from 1,000.000 to 2,000,000 square | miles, he says, in Arctic North Amer tea, where ordinary cattle cannot live, | but which can provide grazing ground for these animals the year around. He says that Arctic Canada alone will support 7,000,000 reindeer, which number would produce as much meat every year as 14,000,000 sheep. It is no untried theory that Mr. Stefansson submits. The United States government introduced morcj than 1.000 reindeer in Arctic Alaska; 20 years ago, and they have been in-j creasing rapidly ever since, the herds j doubling their numbers every threoj years x.i. er Eskimo care and every j two years under the care of white! men. There is a herd of 15,000 vein-j deer in Lapland owned b ya group of j American capitalists. From this herd i there were sold last year in thej American market 1.300 carcasses of 150 pounds each, at prices consider-! ably higher than were paid for do mestic beef. j The Canadian government seems: much impressed with the idea. The railway men say that transportation can be arranged. There will surely j be no difficulty about the refrigera tion problem. We may yet see the | whole Arctic region, and most of the great Antarctic continent too, utiliz-j ed for the benefit of man. Alaska offers opportunities for; much development along these lines. | and the United States should surely not lag behind Canada in the mat-j ler. ? ? - ; THE SANTEE CROSSING. | ??" In view of the energy with which I the people of the Summerton section of Clarendon county are prosecuting the campaign to establish a crossing! of th<* Santee river at Pinckney's land- i ing by building a causeway through the swamp and a bridge across the river, both above highwater mark, it! behooves the business men of Sumter! to give the movement sympathetic! jand substantial support. The estab-j jlishment of this cossing of the San-; itee will give this section of the State! [a short route to Charleston and open; up to Sumter merchants a trade ter-! ritory beyond the Santee that here-! tofore has been closed to them. For! a short term of years, when the Charleston Sumter and Northern Rail-I road was operated as an independent! j system, the lower eastern section of iOrangeburg county and upper Berke ley county were in close touch by rail with this city and the people u that ! section were frequent visitors to Sum | ter. The erection of a bridge at [Pinckney's Landing would bring this 'section into close touch once again (with Sumter and the business of the [city would be benefited: Apart from the direct trade to be gained by the opening up of now ter ritory, the advantage of a direct route to Charo.ston and all the western part \ of the State is so great that it is dif- ! ficult to be estimated off-hand. Sum ter needs this new State highway, j and this city and county could wellj I - - | afford to assist in paying the cost, 'provided clarendon county or the j i>eople of the Sunnperion section will (enter into a binding undertaking to ! build and maintain a first class public {road from the Sumter county line to ! the Santee bridge. If thev will build i ; and maintain a good road in Claren don county, Sumter county will cer tainly maintain a first class road from 'this city to the county line. In fact the road from Sumter almost to the I > countv line is now in fairly good con I ' dition and with a little work can be made into a good road for all classes i of vehicles. i THE TRIAL OF THE KAISER. The suggestion was made recently' in :i prominent daily that it was hard ly worth while to spend the time and the money of sensible people to try the former Kaiser. This would be true, were the ob ject of that trial simply to wreak vengeance upon one hated individ ual. -But that is not the final end and aim of the proposed trial. It goes <ar deeper. With the presentation of the peace terms the real plight of Germany is at last brought to the comprehen sion of the eommcn people. They can realize for the first time where the militaristic dreams of a few auto crats* have brought them. They can realize also how futile were the promises of a few other autocrats that they would secure peace terms favorable to Germany. Xow let this awakening experience be followed by the arraignment of those royal, military and civil heads responsible for the conduct of the war. This will mean that document.* of undoubtable veracity will be sub mitted in evidence of German guilt. Light will be cast on every angle and ramification of Germany's war plans dating back for many years. The1 German people will have put plainly j before them, as before the rest of the world, all those causes which brought about the war and tire downfall of Germany. The result should be the j i final wiping of the scales from the eyes of the great mass of the German people. Brockdorff-Rantzau rants so! * * * Follow the example of the birds "Euild now!" * * * Why hasn't somebody thought of calling these made-over saloons "salons?" * * ? Got to have a new spring hat. The war is no longer an excuse for wear ing the old one. * * * There* may be something in that, when we consider where Germany landed by pursuing the opposite' pol icy. * * * The soldiers seem to be taken care of pretty well, but are all the doliar a-year men getting their old jobs back ? * * $ Don't complain because the ii< d States ask nothing from the peao settlement, and gets nothing. "'JPess ed are the meek, for they shah in herit the earth." * * ? Horses needn't be afraid of losing their jobs. There is still a brisk de mand for them in Europe. Ides: horses, though, would rather vvcrk in this country. More self-determination here. P-speciaily for mules, * * * Even von Beth mann-Hol iweg. when he promised in the summer of 11C4 to pay for "the wrong we do do Belgium this day." would have hesitated if he had known that tin Belgian bill would be $6,000,000,000. * * * The big glass works in Cincinnati that has shut down "owing to ap proaching prohibition" may have act ed with undue haste. There's a i j sporting chance that some Cincinna tians may want glasses to drink their water in. SEN ATE PUBLICITY. I _ Sentit or Penrose has declared for open debate when the peace treaty! comes up in the senate. This propos-i al deserve.-, and will probably get the] hearty support of the American pub- | lie. I Heretofore international treaties: have always been discussed by the; Senate in "executive session." Such! i .action does not constitute "secret j diplomacy" in the sense generally! conveyed by that phrase. Secret di-1 I plomacy consists of agreements made; by the bends of governments without! the knowledge of the people or the people's representatives. The sena-j tors from every State have always passed on American treaties and; known all about them, and through i them anyone concerned might learn [ the facts, even though they were not. given out for publication. That method was pretty satisfac tory, but the nation has outgrown it. J The people have taken government into their own hands. There has ? GGTTON IHD FERTILIZER MERCHANTS * ? -- If you have cotton to sell, see us, it will nay you. If you have fertilizer or fertilizer materials to buy it will pay you to see us before you buy, Cash or approved collateral. 9 West Liberty Street been groat dissatisfaction throughout! the Peace Conference session, because, its proceedings have been conducted with so much secrecy. The American; I i J people want full publicity about all j public matters, and they wan: it es-, I pecialiy with regard to this epoch-; making treaty which re-orgar.izes; Europe and proposes American mem- ! bership in an international federation.: The terms of the treaty and the League constitution are published, so j that anyone may read them. ut j that is not enough. There should be full and free discussion, for the il lumination of the public. Open de bates in the Senate wouk" be highly. i instructive and helpful. if there re- ? mains in that body any of (he ability! that has characterized ii in the past, j HEALTH CENTERS. "Health centers" rather than clin ics for the child of pre-school age are urged by Doctor .Merrill Champion of j the Massachusetts State boar:l of j health. "The word ciinic is undesirabe,"! says the doctor, "because it carries i j an unpleasant connotation of sickness j and medical treatment. "Health Cen | tor' will be another term for a a is j ease-prevention and health preserva- J j tion center." ! It is true that most clinics are re garded by the public as places where ! the suffering poor can receive medi- j cal aid free, and they are not sought I until sickness has laid its hand upon ] i some member of the family. i Far more appealing would be the' health center, where people could go for instruction as to cleanliness, home hygiene, the choosing and prep aration of foods and all the various branches of knowledge which have to do with keeping well. * In the case of small children such centers are doubly desirable. Most of the illnesses of childhood come from the ignorance or carelessness of the parents. Many of these cases long' negected and finally brought to the( clinic for treatment have passed the! curable stage, and have already done I untold damage in contagion. The health center, which teaches i the prevention of both the disease and the contagion, can net bo too highly praised. The childish illnesses which reap their yearly toll in ail the public schools would find a narrow! field in any community which through j the activities ?of such centers sen: its! children to school well fed and sound- j bedied from the start. ?????????POO SAFETY ALWAYS. Automobile days are here. The autos run about streets and down the i country lanes, and no man is any safer j than he thinks he is. Wherefore now; is a good- time to start a "safety al-! ways" campaign in every neighbor- j hood. Traffic laws should he revised and: enforced. Pedestrians should be taught to observe crossings. Every i individual should be made a com- j mittee of one to see that he at least' does not add to the roll of accident victims cither as cause or effect. . Children especially should be kept out of the streets, and taught to look before ;h'-y attempt to cross, and then to cross promptly. Most accidents are avoidable, and many a life hns been spent in vain regret over a catastrophe which nev er need have occurred. There are due now for everybdoy months of out-of-d?ors life. It is possible to make this season memor-' able^ for a maximum of health and pleasure and a minimum of accidents if public officials and private individ uals will only do their duty. FOR SALE?Or will trade for dry cattle several Jersey heifers or young cows wkh young calves. E. W Dabbs, Mayesville, S. C. R. 1. FOR SALE?About 1,500 bushels of corn in the "ear. S. M. Pierson. Phone 2S8._ LOST?On Broad or Main streets, or on road from Sumter to Stateburg, a lady's blue serge coat, white col lar. Reward for return to Mrs. M. S. Kirk, Hagood, S. C._? BEEHIVES AXD SUPPLIES?I have lately received a few Georgia made hives and frames?S and 10 frame size. Also on hand sections anil foundation for comb honey. N. G Osteen, 320 W. Hampton Ave. f BEESWAX WANTED?Any quantity large or small. Am paying best cash price. See me if you have any. N. G. Gstcen. Two SPECIALS in WARNER'S RUST PROOF For a Limited Time Only 10 dozen regular ?1.50 WARNER RUST PROOF CORSETS. Lot B. 251, for limited 1Q time ai . ?pJ_?J-%7 10 dozen regular WARNER PUST PROOF :OR SETS. Lot B. 292. for a limited time at . $1.19 All sizes to-day in the above corsets, from 20 to 30 inch. Every pair guaran teed not to rust, break or tear. SATIS FACTION Oil ANOTHER PAIR. _ TABLE DISPLAY OF THESE CORSETS MAIL ORDERS FILLED Mc Collum Brothers