The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, August 09, 1919, Image 4
?vjt l!Ialc|inaii wt? ?s?\xsn.
Published Wednesday and Saturday
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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 <i"if fore'er this mortal ken.
May my eyes awake t>> 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<ee v.
T Bobby?Oh, T say, how did you
manage to get that Ik)w1 of cream?
Tommy Why. I just told Ma I hat 1 ?
saw the cat put her nose into it.
I Cotton Market I
LOCAL.
P. G. BOWMAN. Cotton Buyer. \
(Corrected Daily at 12 o'clock Noon).
Good Middling 31 1-2.
Strict Middling 31.
Middling 30 1-2.
Strict Low Middling 2S 1-2.
NEW YORK COTTON MARKTT.
Yes-rd'y?
Open High Low C7ose Close
Jan. ...31.87 31.87 30.50 30.50 3L81 I
Mch. ..31.90 31.90 30.59 20.59 .
|Oct. ...32.00 32.00 30.64 30.G4 32.01
j Dec. . i.31.82 21.90 30.00 20.60 31.90
.MAY ORLEANS.
Oct. ...32.25 32.25 30.90 31.00 32.22
Doc. .. .32.30 22.35 31.05 31.08" 32.40
j Mch. . . .32.10?32.10'30L9o.3.0:S5 32.29 ;"
Frank H. Barrett.
MAKE CHARGES
AGAINST GREEKS.
Accused of Murdering and Pil
laging at Smyrna
London. July 14.?The Greek army
of occupation which landed at Smyrna
. a few months ago murdered and pi?.- -
i laged the Turks, according to a letter -
published by Marmaduke Pickthall, a
; well known writer of eastern affairs.
[The writer of the letter was described
I by M r. Pickthall as "the reliable cor-- *
i respondent" but his identity was not
! disclosed.
I The writer asserts that when the
[Greek army landed at Smyrna. Turk- ?
I ish troops had been ordered by the
Turkish authorities to remain
their barracks and that they did r
but that the Greeks broke into places
where Turkish officers were collected'
a nd shot down all who would not
shout "'long live Venizolos." Many '
were thus shot down according to the
writer. The writer adds:
"The governor of Smyrna was drag
j ged along the wharf and carried
aboard a Greek ship. His wife vas
wounded and his house looted. The
Turkish chief of staff was bayoneted
in the face and thrown into the hold
of the Greek cattle shin among the
animals. The senior doctor of the
Turkish arm;.' corps was murdered and
his body mutilated. Fingers of Turk
ish men and women who wore rings
were cut off wholesale. Houses were
looted, women robbed of all their
jewels. I $ ig'1
"This was supposed to be an abso
lutely peaceful occupation in the in
terests of law and order. Greece had
not even been at war with Turkey.
In no case did the'Turks show fight
until they were attacked by the
Greeks. The civilian, Greeks joined
with the invading soldiery in the work
of murder and pillage. And the al
lied fleet acquiesced in these proceed-?
ings. which were made possible only
by its presence.''
A member of the House of Com
mons recently asked ihe government
representatives whether it was true
that the Greeks had massacred their
prisoners in Smyrna in f?ll sight of
the allied war ships. Sir Cecil H.
Harmsworth. now secretary of For
eign Affairs replied that numerous
Turkish officers and men lost their
lives in that way but the Greek gov
ernment, he said, regretted the affair
and it was engaging the attention of
the British minister to Paris.
FOR CONGRESS
T hereby announce myself a candi
date for Congress to succeed A. F.
Lever, resigned: and I pledge myself
to abide the result of the Democratic
primary- '
GEORGE BELL TIMMERMAN".
FOR SALI-"?One 15-h. p> 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,