?vjt l!Ialc|inaii wt? ?s?\xsn. Published Wednesday and Saturday ?BY? OSTEEN PUBLISHING COMPANY SUMTER, S. 0. ! Terms: $1.50 per annum?in advance. Advertisements. One. Square first insertion .. ..$1.00 Eyery 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 Sill be charged for. The Sumter Watchman was found ?? Jn 1850 and die True Southron in 2866. The Watchman and Southron now has the combined circulation and tofiuence of both of the old papers, and is manifestly the best advertising; medium in Sumter. - OUR DEAD IX FRANCE. The French government strongly op poses the removal of American soldier dead to this country for a period of at least three years. No resentment should be felt be cause of this attitude. The disinterment and transportation of a large number of bodies might cosily be the source of a serious epi demic of disease in France, something which tha: country is in no condition to face. Transportation facilities are hope lessly insufficient for the needs' of the living; their further congestion would work- great hardship. The French people have foregone having' the bodies of their own dead returned because it is felt that the saddening: effect upon the people would be unbearable. They are a na tion in deepest mourning as it is. Great Britain will not remove her dead. American "Fields of Honor" al ready are being established in France. . To these'bodies of our soldiers are oe ?? ipg taken, and the graves will be tend ed and recorded in every instance With the utmost care. - The personal sacrifice may be great ; but if the greater good demands that, for a time at least, no bodies be brought back to America, undoubted ly the sacrifice will be made with the same uncomplaining heroism which in so many instances has made this war a notable one. SI >i. "Now that we are getting ice and potatoes by weight, why not eggs?" asks a correspondent. How has he j been getting ice in the past?by the dpzen? No, by guess. * * * f !. The food-cost flurry offers an in teresting?and let us hope, profitable -^-diversion from the peace treaty controversy. COURT-MARTIAL REFORM. One new article of war and changes in thirty others have been recom mended by the special board which has been investigating the court martial system of the army. The re port of the board soon will be trans mitted in full to the congress for ac ? tion. Secretary Baker said, in speaking of the matter: "It may be said that the board, upon the whole, finds no radical de fects in the system, and it attributes the greater part of the just criticism not to inherent faults in the system itself, but rather to the inexperienced ^personnel called upon to administer it at a time of stress, when the great thing was to get 4,000,0?0 men quick ly in shape for the fighting line." Undoubtedly ^iost of the mistakes made in the conduct of the war arose from this same source, but it will be a matter Of popular feeling that the new court-martial proceedings shall be so definitely outlined as to make a similar misinterpretation and injus tice unlikely to occur again, whatever < the conditions. It is true, of course, that except in isolated cases, no soldier not guilty of some misconduct suffered' punish ment, and that the way for a soldier to avoid unpleasant courtmartial proceedings is to behave himself. - Nevertheless, punishment for cruelty or misapplication of the army rules should be as drastic as for military 1 offences on the part cf the soldi? r. it ^fould have a healthy tendency to put a check- upon any "inexperienced personnel" in future. LEGAL PROFITEERING. "The sad fact is," says the Cleve land Plain Dealer, "that a man does riot have to violate the law to proii - teer in food." This probably comes about as near to the crux of the situation as Is pos sible in a few words. And it takes note of a fact that many people do not realize at all. Most of the complaints about the high cost of living have seemed to im ply that prices were being kept up and abnormal profits being made .mainly by the breaking of laws. It .is doubtless true that there are food Jf combinations violating the anti-trust SSfc&s. But at best, that probably ac counts for a small part of the extor i tion. Most of it is of a sort that the i laws, municipal, State and national, i ?? / ihave never dealt with, except for some j j slight war-time regulation. - j The profiteer we have always had ! with us. He exists in many forms, (in every community. He represents ja long line beginning with the pfo ! ducer and ending with the retailer, j j There is a chain whose links, though j j they sometimes quarrel, usually hang i ! together pretty well. It is natural j for them to- work rather harmonious ly and apply about the same business I principles. ( In ordinary times, profits are held j down pretty effectively by competi tion. This is especially true in dull times. Purchasers have little money, j so everybody must sell low to sell at all. These are abnormal times. The na tion has become accustomed to ''war prices," which themselves were only partly legitimate. Currency and cred it are greatly expanded. The consum er's normal ideas of values are upset. Nobody knows what he ought to pay, any more, for anything. In this situation it is easy for any one dealing directly with the ultimate consumer to take advantage of him, and easy, too, for anyone selling to this dealer to take advantage of him. and so on up the line. Standards of profit are raised. It is not true in every case, but it will probably be [ found true in most cases, that in any ! particular branch of food production and distribution there is more mon ey being made all along the line than, there ever was before?not merely more dollars and cents, but what real ly counts?a higher percentage ; of profit. This is something which laws find it difficult to cope with. The evil is due not to any organized conspiracy, sometimes not even to any conscious .intent to profiteer, but to the gradual growth of a new, grievous and unjust standard of profit. How can this evil be fought, except by the limitation of profits in the va rious steps of food distribution to a definite percentage? And is the gov ernment, or the public, ready for any such step? NORTH DAKOTA. A remarkable experiment in gov ernment is in progress in North Da kota. Like the Social Unit in Cin cinnati, it seems to be an experiment in one of the better forms of social ism?that socialism directed to pro moting the public welfare which so keenly needs some new name to de scribe its activities and to distinguish them from the evils ,-of the various other kinds. The whole State government of > North Dakota is in the hands of the i Nonpartisan League, which consists in good part of farmers who have paid ?16 in dues for two years to help finance the movement. There is to be a State bank which will lend money on real estate. They expect to float a $10,000,000 bond issue to cancel all the mortgages held outside the State on North Dakota farms, j There is to be a $5,000,000 bond issue to buy or build millsiand grain eleva tors. The tax laws are to be quite new and different. The leader in these new plans is! A. C. Townley. An article in the j Country Gentleman speaks of . him as I "perhaps the biggest politicial figure j in the United States today?he holds! the whole future of a sovereign! State in the hollow of his hand. ' i This may be an exaggeration. But; the main fact is that there is some- j thing new in State management going' on in North Dakota. Either it will! succeed or it will fail. In either case, j the onlookers from the rest of the country will learn something valuable.! FOOD REGUI,ATIONS. m_ There is no question as to the ne- j cessity of the government taking the food situation in hand. Public dis-; content over food prices is rising to j a high and dangerous pitch of indig nation. There is a growing recogni- i tion of the fact that some sort of pub-j jlic control is imperative. If that con-[ ' trol is not exercised peacefully and I ! wisely by governmental agencies, it! I will be sought through public boy-! j cotts and violence. j i The regulation of the packers pro-j posed in the Kenyon bill represents a j good beginning in this direction. I: is; ! a logical first step. The five big pack-I jing corporations are tin- most power-, ful body^&f loud manufacturers and; handlers in tin- United States. Therei is a general feeling that they have; j abused their power. There is an ap-! preciation, too, that they have in their! I hands the machinery for monopoly' j ; and extortion far beyond anything yet [attempted, and that it is necessary to I protect the public against this poten tial danger. j The packers, however, though per-; ;iaps the largest factor in the prob lem, are- still only one factor. With! 'their activities adequately regulated I j or surpervised, public authorities can turn more confidently to the others. ! Apparently there is need of inquiry I and' some degree of supervision all I along the line from producer to con ! i I sum er. I The federal government should take the initiative, because its pow ers and its means of information are the broadest. With the co-operation,, then, of State and municipal govern- j ments, something may really be ac complished in the way of holding profits down to a reasonable measure,; eliminating the waste that now oc curs through1 inefficient distribution, and thus giving the public the benefit of the country's bountiful production.: '?? _ THE CONTRARY RUSSIAN. ! That Russians are more "foreign"' j than other nations is the beli f, ex pressed in Harper's Magazine, of Ar thur Bullard, who spent a good dealj of time during the war in Petrograd and Moscow for the Committee on. Public Information. "Once you get really to know aj Briton, a German, an Italian cr a Turk, you can prophesy with fair ac curacy what he will do under given circumstances. We expect certain combinations of qualities. If we know such a man does not cheat at cards we are pretty sure he will not steal from the collection basket at church.! If we know he is cruel to dogs, we don't expect him to be kind to ehil dren. , But such combinations of character do not always hold true with Russians. A Russian acquain-i tance nine times running may do just j what, from your previous knowledge of him, you would expect, and then, the tenth time, act in complete con tradiction to what you thought was his character " The charming family with whom he lived, for instance, to all appearances trustworthy, entertained lavishly with his store of provisions while he spent two weeks out of town. Upon his re turn everything was gone but the codfish which they did not know how to cook. They were sincerely sorry that business had kept him away while the fun was going on! The sup plies?from America?would have helped out the whole family all win ter. It never occurred to them they J were doing anything out of the way. Every well-to-do family had some "system" for getting food. One canny family had traded "some useless thing like a gold mine or munition plant for a cigaret factory. They could buy anything with cigarettes." They even had white bread?for which they had bribed theN chief surgeon of a hospi- [ tal with cigarettes. It was part of I a small supply baked for soldiers too | badly wounded to digest black bread. [ Another man honest, public spirited. I intelligent, had himself elected mem- ! ber of the Food Committee so he could get all the food he wanted for his own table. Mr. Bullard says he ;can imagine a man in some other country who would do that?but he would be otherwise a villain. In the j nine ways this man was square and j public serving. Now how are nations who think j in straight lines to know how to help a people like that? A NATIONAL SHOW-DOWN. It is well that the President is go ing before the country with his pre sentation of the' peace treaty. It is well. too. that his opponents in the Senate are planning to take up tiie challenge,and debate the issue outside of Washington, in the native haunts of j votes and public opinion. Washington has tried to settle the matter, and failed, as Washington al ways fails when it is more concerned with politics than with discovering and registering the will of the nation. The appeal to the country is, of course, a bid for support on the part of the champions of the treaty and its op ponents. But it is also a quest for light and instructions. Each side, in carrying its case to the nation, puts itself in the nation's power. The pub lic is made the judge and jury. The Senate, when all the argument is over, will accept the verdict. This , appeal was the duty of the President and the Senate majority, when once it became evident that they were deadlocked. It is the duty of good citizens to play their proper share in the big drama by accepting! every opportunity to inform them selves of the merits of the debate, and to make up their minds with as little partisan bias as possible Party politics has no more business' intruding itself in local discussions of j the peace pact than it has in Wash-' ington. Any speaker, be he president! or Senator or volunteer from private life, who gratuitously injects politics] into the debate should receive the criticism he deserves. Just as deserv ing of criticism is the hearer or read er who applies the test of party poli tics to a matter which naturally cuts acres.-- the. party lines and tolerates no test except that of the broadest and soundest Americanism. "Don't you know how to drive a nail in yet without smashin' your finger?" asked Barney Fagan Of a carpenter. "No, ami neither do you." replied the carpenter. "Sure t do! Hold the hammer in both hands""4said Barney. / COTTON 10 FERTILIZER IHiil'S if you have cotton to sell, see us, it will pay 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 COUNTY BOARD HOLDS MEETING Regular Monthly Session Held Tuesday?Routine Busi ness Transacted The Board held a meeting on Aug ust 5th with the following mem bers present: H. J. McLaurin, Jr.. chairman; I>. M. Oliver. J. J. Britton, \V. M. Lenoir, E. T. Mims. County Engineer McLellan report ed on work done since last meeting. By the road machine: Camden road to county line; ?swego road to coun ty line; .Mayesville road to Rocky Bluff; Manning road to county line: road by Brogdon's Depot. Pinewood road to county line. The Wedgefield and Stateburg road was dragged and washouts fixed. Bridges repaired: At Mill Pond be tween Tourney's and Cane Savannah; two bridges in Black River swamp; Poea.Ua concrete bridge. Three Velie trucks and one Nash have been received from the State Highway Commission for use on roads. Several parts of these trucks were missing, for which the board was ad vised to make claims against the Sea- j board Air Line. It was moved and carried that ho j telephone poles would be allowed ' within 24 feet of the center of the: road and that owners be required to relocate any that were not 24 feet j from center of the road. The engineer reported on expenxli-1 ture of funds for July on ditching* and same was approved. He was giv-j en $2,500 for ditching in; August. It was decided to put an extra crew in the Shiloh community permanent- j iy. Temporary wooden bridges were! placed near Pocalla, until concrete| ones can replace them. I The Board considered the matter of i escape by three convicts and ordered ; that more diligence be exercised by j th rural police and ordered that in! the future the escape of any convict | be reported to the sheriff, who has I supervision over the rural policemen, j One rural policeman was sentj to Florence in an attempt to recap-i ture the convicts. A reward of ?25; each was offered for their capture. I The application of the City Council j to increase the pay for city convicts, j turned over to the county, was refus ed. Jas. E. Pearce and TV. M". Butler were added to the State Confederate* pension list upon application. Certain claims were presented to the board for construction work don ? at Camp Alice, without consent of the Board. This caused the following resolution: That any expenditures made or to bo made for or at Camp Alice with expectation of the coun ty paying for same, must first be sub mitted to and approve dby the County Board of Commissioners. Engineer McLellan tendered his resignation *o take effect on August r>lst, which was accepted; An Evening Prayer. (Can be sung to tune: 'Saved by Grace.") Dear Lord, I turn mine eyes toward Thee, And tune my voice in ardent prayer. For all the blessings given me. I thank Thee, dear Lord, most sincere. i I thank Thee for the day just gone. For life, and hope, and trust, and peace. I thank Thee for the mercies shown. That toward me, dear Lord, never cease. I thank Thee that through all the day , Thine eye has watched me all around. Thy hand has led me all the way. And kept me, dear Lord, safe and sound. And now, dear Lord,the nighl broods o'er. T lay mo down in faith to sleep. 1 turn to Thee, dear Lord, or.ee more To ask that Thau my life would keep. If 'tis Thy will thai I should wake. To see again the morning light, I pray that Thou my hand would take. And lead me dear Lord, in the right. And thus through all the nights and days. Till nights and days shall ever cea.se. I pray Thee guide me in my ways. And till my sou! with perfect peace: And when at last i leave my pki.ee, ; And > see Thy face. i ask for Jesus sake. Amen. ?' 'horus: And Thine the praise shall ever be. Through all Thy vast eternity, Thine ihe praise shall ever be, Through all Thy vast eternity. ? Rev. E. \V. Reynolds, Sumter, July 21st. Is the Treaty Imperialistic? Frank Simonds Says. Xo. In the larger sens'; the original treaty stands. The u rms fixed at Ver sailles in the Iiis; draft of the treaty are the terms of the final version; Xu\v there lias been and there is continu ing criticism of this document The peace, as written, is described as im perialistic and as- capitalistic. .To support the charge of imperialism, French occupation of the Serre V'al :* '?;'??<]. To support the charge that it is capitalistic, all sons oi .. .sa. -- ...?uv, most: of them mere ly ridiculous. So far as Europe is concerned the present treaty is certainly the least imperialistic in history, save only the treaty which ended the Seven Weeks War between Austria and Prussia and M r. Prussia was deliberately seeking ?'.o preserve Austria as an ally, after including her from Germany. Franco receives back Alsace-Lorraine, which was her right, but her solo further territorial gain is a wholly limited tenure of the Sarre Basin, which has an area of little more than seven hun dred square miles and a population of approximately six hundred thousand. She gets this, too, not in the further ance of territorial aspirations, but in return for German destruction of her own eoal districts. Her warrant for a plebiscite lies in the fact that near ly half of the territory was once French and was taken by Prussia af ter Napoleon fell, against the will ot" the people. Jn my judgment all of the Sarre Basin, saw; perhaps Sarrelouis, Ney's birthplace, which has preserved a real Frehch sentir nt, will ultimately re turn to Germany. I do not believe any Fr sich government would be strong enough to hold it against the will of the inhabitants, at the end of the al lotted time, for I am c/rtairi that the French' people would prefer to see it German" again rather than to cretae a new Alsace-Lorraine?a tiny one to be sure, but not less undesirable. Fat France is entitled to the coal. There could be no certainty of get ting the coal on any other conditions titan ownership of the mines and oc cupation of the territory. To call such an operation imperialistic, is to exag gerate deliberately. It is also to'as cribe to the French a sentiment which certainly docs not exist among the masses of the people. As to Danzig, a great deal of criti cism is to be heard, but here again the criticism seems unwarranted. Danzig was once a Polish city. It was stolen by the Germans and thereafter colonized by them, that is. by the Prussians. Without the fullest op portunity to use Danzig, Poland, would be strangled. To my mind the crit icism of the Danzig affair lies in the fact that a dubious situation was cre ated by not giving the town back to the Poles instead of putting it under the control or" the League oi" Nations and thus perpetuating German as pirations and Polish ambitious. Both; will continue to desire absolute own ership, if the League of nations scheme does not work, and here is the material out of which a new war can arise, put unless Prussia were! to be confirmed in her title, acquired! by violence, merely because she had kept the city long and brought many 01* her people to settle in it. delibcr-: ately driving the Poles out, it seems to me that the decision to deprive her of Danzig was just, while the decision to withhold it from Poland was far less warranted.?From ''Peace with Germany." by Frank It. Simonds, in the American Review of Reviews for: August, 1919. International Amenities. In the neighborhood of Shanghai an English sailer oi his way to the :'oi-, eigners' burial ground to lay a wreath{ on the grave of a former comrade, m.-t an intelligent looking native carrying a pot of rice. "Hello. John:" he hail ed, "where are you going with that -ere?" "I iakee put on glav??glave of my flien.' " said the Chinaman. "Ho^ hoi" laughed the sailor, "and when! do van expect your friend to come up: and oat if." "Ail time- samee yoarj dien' come up and smellee your (lowers." replied John. Disappearing Hair. "I think the baby has your hair.J ma'am," said the new nurse, looking pleasantly ai her mistress. "Gracious!" exclaimed the lady, glancing up Crom the novel. "Run *'HO The nursoy and take it away from her. She will ruin it."?London Blighty. ' 1 xCS His Sinking Spell. j Old Father Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get his poor self a drink. i;ut when h< got there The cupboard was bare. So he got hitn :i drink at the sink. ? Brooklyn Eagle.? S1 ra gas engine; one 70-saw Kaller gin: one double pin cotton press, shafting, pulleys, fixtures and belting, ail in fine _shi-po. R. M. Edens. Sumter, R. 3. FOP, SALE?-Or will trade for dry cattle several Jersey heifers or young cows with young calves. E. W Dabbs. Mayesville. S. C. R. 1. M3LK COWS FOR SALE?Having sohl my farm, T am offering my en tire ln-rd of dairy cows for sale, either as a, herd or as individuals. This is an unusual opportunity to get hieb grade, big producing cows, that have b< en proven satisfactory in every particular. Also dairy equipment f?>r sale. C. P. Osteen, Sumter, S. O. BEEHIVES AND SUPPLIES?I have lately received a few Georgia made hives a ad frames?S and 10 frame size. Also on hand sections and foundation for comb honey. N. G. Osteen. 320 W. Hampton Ave. BEESWAX WANTED?Any quantity largo or small. Am paying best ? cash price. See me if you have r' any. N. G. Osteen,