Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

"^^*" ' "' ? ' '' 1 ^?? JEBK SUMTER WATCHMAN, SetaW Consolidated Aug. a,1 TAFT SUGGESTS COMPROMISE Loop Hole for Kepublican Sena s tors to Escape From Fight On Treaty PROPOSITION MADE TO CHAIRMAN HAYS Some of the Republicans Consid ering the Suggestion Favor ably ? . Washington, July 23 (By the Asso ciated Press).?A. plan for "interpre tations" in senate acceptance of the league of nations has been suggested by Former President Taft in the hope of uniting on a middle ground enough Democratic and Republican senators to defeat any radical amendment of the covenant and in the end obtain its ratification. ^The suggestion has been received With earnest consideration by the groxrp of Republicans who favor the league idea and who are already at ?work, on definite program of inter pretative reservations which they de clare they have reason to believe will be accepted by the administration. The administration leaders, however, un willing to concede that any reserva tions will be necessary, still insist they, will have the votes when, the time comes to ratify the covenant as it is. So confident are the league Republi cans of the success of their plan that some of them believe President Wil sph will publicly accept it to smooth tjie way to acceptance of the league, sipme Republican senators who have seen the president in the .last few \ di^ys have come away from the White House with the impression that Mr. "Wilson, while not encouraging res ervations if they can be avoided, might hot be adverse to such inter pretations as would leave the league $&ric- unimpaired. They say, how ever, thaf this impression is not- bas ed \ on..any . direct statement by the 7 - president. ? Ifir.' Taft's suggestion which created a.; sensation in the senate because of his well known advocacy of tmreserv e*l ratification was embodied in two letters to Will H. Hays, the Republi can national chairman, copies of which reached some Republican sen ators today. They touched upon many features of the treaty contro versy and emphasized the former >: president's belief that only by -ac ceptance of some reservations could Ihctreaty be ratified. :Six specific interpretation propos als are outlined .which Mr. Taft say3 he is convinced will meet the objec tion of a large group of Republicans who favor a league. He counts 45 Democratic senators as supporting the president in the treaty fight and says that should three Republicans be com mitted to vote against material amendment, no such proposals could receive a senate majority. The former president suggested to Mr. Hays that his name be withheld for the present from connection with the interpretation plan since it might antagonize come senators of his party. Chairman Lodge of the foreign rela tions committee who is- named in that connection, declined today to make any comment on the Taft letter. Mr. Taft also has written some of the Republican senators who under ? the leadership of Senators McCum bef. North Dakota and McNary. Ore gon have been interested in formulat ing a middle course for solution of the senate situation. It is understood that Senators Kellogg, Minnesota, Colt, Rhode Island and Spencer, Mis souri, also have been consulted in the interest erf such a plan. In one of his letters to Mr. Hays. Mr. Taft severely criticised President Wilson for his "partisan" course dur ing the war and in the peace negotia tions and in the other gave the im pression that no serious c, position is to be feared to any portion of the peace treaty except the league cove nant. The Shantung provision he wrote, had been the subject of "delib erate exaggeration." While the let ters were being circulated among Republican senators today the first public expression on the Shantung settlement came from the White House in the form of a statement de claring "altogether false" published reports that the president had for mulated the provision. The statement continued that Mr. Wilson had "ex erted all the influence he was at lib erty to exercise in the circumstances" to secure modification of the arrange ment giving control of the peninsula to Japan. The president's statement was ac cepted as precluding any likelihood that Mr. Wilson would defend the Shantung provision except on the ground of expediency. The two letters to Mr. Hays, copies of which were received here today, do not outline definitely the six interpre tations suggested by Mr. Taft but they are referred to as having been contained in a previous unpublished communication. These stipulations are understood to be substantially as fol lows: 1. That upon two years' notice the United States could cease to be a member of the league without having the league pass upon whether she had fulfilled all her obligations under the covenant. Zw That self governed colonies and fefeed April, 1850. "Be tuft* 881. iWEARD ! RAGSDALE DEAD [Sixth District Congressman ! Passes at Capital DEAD AT DOCTOR'S OFFICE I South Carolina Delegation Dis k satisfied With Statement of Physicians and Coroner. I ________ I Washington. July 23.?J. Willard J Ragsdale, representative in congress !from Sixth. South Carolina district, 'died here suddenly today just before noon. Those atending him at his ;death were: Drs. J. .Arthur Hooe, Dr. ;H. H. Hareen and Dr. Doorman. For i several days Mr. Ragsdale had been ? under treatment but was not consid I ered seriously ilL He was at the j capitol yesterday and voted on the ! prohibition bill. His death occurred j at Dr. Hooe's office. I Early this morning Mr. Ragsdale sent for his physicians and the report they made this afternoon was that just before noon he died of acute heart disease, going to the physicians' office for treatment. Although not apparently suffering from ill health in any way and about I his usual business yesterday, Mr. Ragsdale was said by his physicians not to have been in robust health for some time. Mrs. Ragsdale is at their home at Florence. Mr. Ragsdale also leaves James W. Ragsdale. Jr., about il8 year3 of age. and a daughter about 114 years of age. Immediately upon the announce ment of Mr. Ragsdale's death, like a flash, the members o/ the South Caro lina delegation in ^congress got to gether. Representative Byrnes made the statement to the house that Mr. Ragsdale had died. * The house then adjourned out of respect to his n^em ory. Governor Cooper, it is understood, will call a special election to. be held some time in Septemb .* to fill the vacancy in the Sixth district. Funeral to Be HeW Friday Florence. July 23.?The funeral services of the late Congressman J. "Willard Ragsdale. whose sudden death occurred this afternoon in Washing i ton. will be held in Florence Friday afternoon at 5 o'clock at Central Methodist Church. Mount Clemens, July ^?4.?In all probability the long hearing of Hen j ry Ford's libel suit against the Chi cago Daily Tribune will reach the I jury late next week. It began May I 13th-t t j dominions could net be represented on I the league council at the same time J with the mother government, or be j included in any cf these clauses I where the parties to the dispute are j excluded from its settlement, i 3. That the functioning of the j council under article ten shall be ad visory only and that each member ! shall be left free ;:o determine ques i tion of war in itc own way, the de j cision of the United States resting I with congress. 4. The differences between the ha j tions regarding immigration, the tar i iff. and other domestic questions shall ' not be left to the leagut for settle ment. j 5. That the Monroe doctrine is to ' r>e reserved for administration by the j United States. 6. That the United States reserves ! the right to withdraw unconditionally ] at the end of ten years or at least to j terminate then her obligations under ; article ten. j Those interpretations. Mr. Taft j wrote, could be made without weaken ! ing the covenant. j The president saw four more Re publicans today and it is understood I that each of them expressed a deter mination to vote for - reservations. ! They were Senators Page, Vermont; IMcLean, Connecticut: Sterling. South ; Dakota, and Newberry, Michigan. I During the day Senator McKellar. ! Democrat. Tennessee, supported the league in a senate speech, and in the house Representative Edmunds, lie publican. Pennsylvania, introduced a resolution asking the judiciary com ; mittee to report whether the pn si : dent can negotiate a treaty placing in the hands of a foreign commission powers constitutionally vested in con gress. Senate debate will continue tomor row. Senators Lenroot, Republican, Wisconsin; Fletcher, Democrat. Flor ida; and Robinson. Democrat. Arkan sas, having given notice they would speak. An official statement issued at the White Bouse said the president had ! exerted all the influence hp was at liberty to exercise in the circum stances" to obtain a modification of the Shantung publication. The statement follows: "The presi dent authorizes the announcement that the statement carried in several ! newspapers this morning that he originated or formulated the provis ions with regard to Shantung in the treaty of peace with Germany is al together false. He exerted all the in fluence he was at liberty to exercise in the circumstances to obtain a modi fication of them and believed that the ultimate action of Japan with regard to Shantung will put the whole mat ter in its true light." ad Fear not?Tj&l an the ends Thou AU SUMTER, S. C SAT?: WAR AGAIN IN HUNGARY! Skirmishing in Progress Be tween Hungarians and Roumanians I LATTER ADVANCE TOWARD BUDAPEST - i ! Hungarian Soviet Consider it Necessary to Keep Ann$r Oc I cupied \ ! _ Vienna, Wednesday. July - 23.? Skirmishing continues . betweeii the Rumanians and Hungarians. Tfie lat ter have crossed the river Theise at points between Tokai, a hundred and ten miles northeast of Budapest, and Congrad, seventy-five miles southeast of Budapest, the river being loif. The Hungarian soviet feels the necessity of keeping its army busy. For a long time it has hesitated in making b.a attack, anticipating that this action would lead to a general counter of fensive against the soviet. Charleston Land Deal Rhett Says D?nges Report Wrongs City?Land Value Too Low i ! Charleston. July 23.?R. G. Rhett commenting today upon the finding of the government appraisal board, headed by Col. R. W. D?nges, as re ported in an Associated Press dis patch of last night from Washington, as to values of certain lands at North Charleston requisitioned by the gov ernment and over which there js a marked difference between option prices and prices awarded by the board,, said: "The fact is the price fixed by Col onel D?nges is a grievous wrong to the owners of the property, Aand more than tha't. if is ar grievous >.-Pbng not only to the people of Charleston but to the people of the whole State whose chief seaport he disparaged and belittled," ? Mr. Rhett went on to say that the matter would be settled in the courts. He stated that the government first asked-for options on the property in I volved and those options were given I at prices which were less than the prices owners had been willing to of fer private parties. The land in question mainly is about 1.000 acres belonging to a farm corporation and nearly 8,000 feet of water frontage (some 4 23 acres) belonging to the Fil bin Company, in both of which Mr. Rhett is largely interested with his associates. The government took this land over with other land for the j building of the port terminals and J other developments. On the farm lands, an option price, j of $178;475 was offered. th? figure j being confirmed by th^ executive I committee of the Charleston real es ] tatc exchange. G. F. Woods, repre senting the government, appraised the j land at $147.7-17, and the appraisal j board fixes it at $59.136.50. On the waterfront property under dispute the option price was $327,000, the execu tive committee of the real estate ex change naming $275,000 as the price, Mr. Wood;, appraised its value at I $249,340, and the appraisal board has valued it at $42.660." i Mr. Rhett points out that the ap j praisal beard considered the value of 'he land at what it was apparently J worth several years ago, before many 'millions of dollars were expended j through the efforts of the North I Charleston inte?-est.; to develop this area into an important industrial, commercial and residential enterprise, j Mr. Rhett states that at a hearing j heid la*vr. on which the appraisal [beard's report is largely based, disln ! terested business men valued the wa iter frontage property at from $75 a j front foot to $12.",. Colonel D?nges lvalues it at $f?. Testimony was that i the farm land was worth not. less than j $200 an acre, adjoining land selling ? previously for $500 an acre. Colonel j D?nges offers $7.r. an acre. ; There is special interest here at ; this time in the report of the ap i praisal board, because of the fae! .that the. laud d^al has been brought ; into the local political arena. Oppo nents of Mayor Hyde charge that lie I aided in appraising this land, and put an unreasonably high estimate on it. this being alleged an act to help "ex tort" money from the government. The land in dispute is additional ter ritory requistioned by govern ment, after a consideiabJe area had been taken over at a price over which no question is raised. ' Forest Fires Rage Northwestern States Covered With Pall of Smoke San Francisco. July 24.? Much of the Pacific Northwest was under the pall of smoke from widespread grass, brush and forest fires burning today in Montana. Idaho. Washington and Oregon. Lightning was responsible for a number of the new blazes re ported and high winds in many places overcame the temporary advance -of lire fighters brought about by a slight rain fall. ma't tt be thy Country'*, Iky God'l a RDAY, JULY 26, 1919. BIGGEST SHIPS ! EVER BUILT Plans Made for Two Gigantic1 I Ocean Liners By Shipping ! Board CROSS OCEAN IN FOUR DAYS! They Will Be a Thousand Feet Longhand Will Have a Speed of Thirty Knots. Washington, July 24.?Two gigantic oce;m liners larger than any ships now afloat and designed to cross the Atlantic in four days arc to be built by the Shipping Board. They will be a thousand feet long and of thirty knots speed, and be equipped for use as commerce destroyers in the event of war. The crew will number a thousand officers and men and the ships will be of the oil burning type, with a cruis ing radius of seven thousand miles. They will be driven by four propeJl i ers with engines of hundred and ten I thousand horsepower. Form Permanent Body Atlanta Membership Hdqrs. For American Cotton Association Atlanta. Ga.. July 23.?Plans decided upon today to aid in the permanent organization of the American Cotton Association included the formation of campaign executive committee of 250 members and the selection of A_tlanta as headquarters for the membership campaign. The eleven present directors will form the nucleus for the campaign ex ecutive committee and will nominate the additional members, who will be apportioned to the cotton States. State organizations also are to be established at an early date. . J. S. Wannamaker, of St. Matthews. S. C. and M. B. Welborn, chairman of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, ad dressed the delegates today at a meet ing, at which every' Southern State was represented. Mr. Wannamaker as i serted the association is determined Jto keep the price of cotton up to a reasonable standard and said its work would be of grea" benefit to the work ers in the cotton fields ^ well as to plantation owners and small planters He said the use of his name in con | nection with the World Cotton Con ference to be held in New Orleans had been without, his consent and assert I ed this conference was i? the inter est of low priced cotton. Mr. Welborn discussed the financial end of the cotton situation and at the close of his address a resolution was adopted asking United States senators and Representatives from the Southerr States to work for the passage of any amendment to the Federal Reserve act that wuold permit national banks to j make loans on staple commodities j properly classified, stored and insured I up to 25 per cent of the bank's capi |tal and surplus. Sessions will be held j again tomorrow and president Vv'anna j make at noon will address the Geor |gia Legislature on the workings of the j association. j Can Take Liquor Through State i _______ j Provided Party Holds Through Ticket, Says Court I Asheville, N. C July 23.?Henry J. j Prayor, Pullman porter, can take I whiskey through South Carolina or j any other State in the. jurisdiction of j the United States Circuit Court, of ! Appeals for this circuit provided he ! has a through ticket from some othet j State to some other State, the court : ruled here today in the ease against Prayor which was appealed from 'United States District Court at ; Charleston. Prayor operated a? car running be j tween New York and Florida last ; winter and on one of his trips he j was arrested at Dillon. S. C, the first ; stop in the State. The South Carolina ?authorities found Prayor had whiskey 'and they tried and convicted him for keeping whiskey on hand for sah'. II?- appealed to the district court and from that court to the circuit court here- Judge Knapp of Washington handed down the opinion of the court today and reversed the opinion of the d ist rid court, the case going back for a new trial. U Ft. Rutledge. of Charleston, ap pealed for Prayor. and cited the cas? of Homer Gudger. of Asheville, who appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States which held with him. This is th'- first case of its kind since the Gudger cas?e whs decided. Sufficient Food in France Food Ministry Does Not Con der it Necessary to Issue Bread Tickets Paris. July 2?.?The food ministry states it has not as yet had to con sider the eventuality of again issuing bread tickets. It says that there is nothing at present to justify the state ment that restrictions would again bo imposed. \ LONGEST EIGHT EVER ATTEMPTED Bombing Plane Left Boiling Field j Today on Eight Thousand Mile Trip TO CIRCLE THE ENURE COUNTRY* Plane Will Visit Thirty States' and Cover Long Stretches of j -Coast Washington, July 24.?An . army bombing plane, carrying a crew of j five, left Boiling Aviation Field here ! this morning on first leg of a flight j of nearly eight thousand miles around j the rim of the country. The flight; is the longest ever attempted by the army air service and will carry the machine through thirty-one States and cover long stretches of .Atlantic. I Pacific, aud Gulf coasts, as well as the Canadian border. Augusta, Maine, is the first scheduled stop. Carranza Report On Robberies Murder of Carrell Attributed to Temesi Bandits; Outlaws Pursued, Four Killed _l_ Mexico City. July 23.?(By the As sociated Press).?Official accounts of the robbing of American sailors from the United States steamship Chey enne Julv 6, and of deaths of Amer icans were given out today by Gen. Juan Barragan, chief of the presiden tial staff, in the form of government al dispatches. One of these stated that the sailors went up the river Temesi into rebel territory Gen. Ricado Gonzales, chief of the Tampico garrison, in _a dispatch re porting on the murder of John W. Correrl near Tampico. .fflnc TF." slate i the murder was committed by Temesi bandits. He said he had ordered a pursuit of the outlaws and that four of the bandits had been killed and twenty horses recovered in a fight at the bandits' headquarters. The offi cial dispatches on deaths of Ameri cans placed the resposibility for the incidents in some cases upon the men killed. Gen. Barragan also announced that tomorrow there would be made pub lic "various documents belonging to the archives of the bandit Villa." re corded in Juarez and including a let ter addressed to Villa by Charles F. Hunt, offering Villa a visit by Sena tor Fall and other persons" in an effort to aid Villa's campaign, f Senator Fall Explains. Washington, July 23.?There are I liars of course, as usual, said Sena tor Fall of New Mexico, tonight when shown Mexico City dispatches an nouncing that a letter purporting to offer overtures to Francisco Villa through the senator was to be made public tomorrow in the Mexican cap ital. The New Mexico Senator said that without his consent or approval I the letter was written to Villa by ! Col. Charles F. Hunt. When he learn ed of it Senator Fall said he sent, on March 12, 1917. copies of the corre I .-.pondence along with a letter of transmittal to the State department for its information and files. On May 26. 1917, he said a New York morn j ing newspaper published a Mexico I City dispatch giving the text of this I letter, which he asserted, is the same ! one that. Gen. Carranza. has announe J ed would be made public. jSantee Waters Receding j Thousands of Dollars Damage i Done to Crops Columbia. July *J3.?High waters in the Santee section which have caused thousands of dollars damage to crops ; and rpads throughout the State are I receding with little further dam age expected unless heavy rains be ! gin falling tomorrow. Additional ! rainfall in the Broad river watershed ! will check th^ fall of the Connraree ! here tomorrow. The Wateree at Cam i den. 40 miles from here, was 31 feet ! tonight and falling. Railroad service ?has been restored to normal and trains I are running with schedules only j slightly behind normal. Official re j ports from cities in the flood district j indicate generally improved condi ! tions. Aliens To Be Released Congress Fails to Provide Law j Washington. July '!?>.?All interned j civilian enemy aliens, except those j guilty of advocating anarchistic doc ? trines, and those who desire to be j repatriated, will be given their free | dorn soon by the United States. \ Attorney General Palmer said to ! day that as congress had not acted on j the recommendation of the depart I ment of justice that a law be enacted permitting th?* deportation of persons ! nterned as hostile to the United States, : the department had.vjdecided to re I lease the men from the detention camps. About 1.500 civilians were interned during the war. -? SOUTHRON, EatabMshed Jens, Vol. XL VIII. No. 47. TROOPS SUPPRESS RACE RIOTS Washington Has Comparably Quiet Night With Few Clashes 2000 TROOPS HAVE BEEN * PLACED ON GUARD Only Disturbance Was Caused By Firing Into Street Cars Washington, July 24.?Although there were reports of isolated out breaks by negroes, including firing into a street car. last night passed without serious renewal of the race rioting which has terrorized ?he nat ional- capitol since Saturday. The presence of two thousand armed sol diers and cooperation generally byv public with the request of city au thorities that street traffic be held to a minimum, resulted in quieting the situation and both the military and" city officers expressed the belief .that there would be no more serious trour ble. - Eyes on Mexico German Business Men Planning Trade Campaign Coblenz. June 28, (Correspondence of the Associated Press)?The eyes of the commercial world of Germany,are directed toward Mexico, according to German newspapers of rectnt date. With reference to Germany's pros pective trade with Mexico the German Anzieger which is devoted'to chem ical industry says: "Iu Munich there was formed in 1918 a German Mexi-N can society composed of educated people. The purpose of this -society is to disseminate information about Mexico; lend impetus to the study of Spanish, bring about the teachings of the German language and.German kultur h* - -Mexican - schoolsr: ^&fc?- r Mexican salesmen to visit Germany and induce Mexican*youths to attend German universities. In March, 1919, a similiar society was organized "in Bavaria with a character membership of 200 persons. "In Renthingen there has been in corporated the 'Almeco' founded by industrial firms, the purpose of the organization being to facilitate ex change of raw products and other com modities between the two . countries. "Seventy five per cent, of Mexico's exports found their way to the United States which regards Mexico as its warehouse. Of course those exports will now go to Germany. Our first duty is to secure from Mexico large imports of raw materials and not re gard it as a dumping ground for Ger man goods.'' Troops (m&v&h?^+x: * In Was] Officials Hopewell that Outburst of Race Hatred Will Not Be Repeated Washington, July 23.?Streets of the national capital were patrolled again tonight by a force of cavalry, infan try and marines numbering more than 2,000 men, no precaution being overlooked by the authorities against a renewed outbreak of the race riots which have occurred on four succes sive nignts. Officials were hopeful that the com parative quiet which prevailed last night, marred' by only one clash re guished. The element of rain, how man and the fatal wounding of another by a negro, meant that the sudden tblazo of race hatred had been extin guished. The leement of rain, how j ever, which was believed to have play j eel an important part in keeping peo {pie off the streets last night was lack ing tonight. Maj. Gen. W. G. Haan, Iin command of the military forces co 1 operating with the police, expressed j confidence tonight that* there would i be no further serious disorders. Beer is Booze ! New York. July 24.;?Beer of two ! nnd three-quarters per cent alcohoi i ic content is held to be intoxicating j within the meaning of the wartime i (prohibition act by Federal Judge [Chatfield, of Brooklyn. The decision I was made in a test case. Willard Buys Farm Topeka. Kansas. July 24.?Jess Willard. former heavyweight cham I pion, has purchased a farm of seven 'hundred acres near Lawrence. It is 'understood that the price was one hundred seventy-five thousand dol ? lars of which one hundred thousand were paid in cash. SMITH TO ATTEND MEETING Washington. July 2?,.?Senator E. D. Smith has received telegrams from the committee of bankers and busi ness men of the Pee Dee section and from Governor R. A. Cooper asking him to attend the meeting which will be held at Florence Friday to consider the problem of the tobacco markot The Senator will accept the invitation and he has important data which he desires to turn over to the committee.