The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, August 23, 1919, Image 4
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new has the combined circulation and
inhuence of both of the old papers,
' and is manifestly the 'Best advertising
medium in Sumter.
ABNORMAL BUSINESS
STANDARD.
In ordinary times there is little dis
?position to scrutinize the profits made
by producers, manufacturers, middle
men, wholesalers, and retailers. It is
"assumed that competition will take
? care of prices, and that in general any
i branch of any industry is probably en
titled to whatever extra profit it can
make through special ability and effi
. riency.
But these are not normal times.
?Competition is not operating as usual.
-Supplies are not accessible as usual.
?Transportation and credit and other
factors are in an abnormal condition.
.All the affairs of the world are unset
tled. Peopte are harder put to it than
usual to make both ends meet.
^Ii2 this disturbed situation, there 1s
little disposition to endure the piling
up of fortunes by clever men out of
the necessities of the people. It is
thue for an abnormal restriction of
profits rather than an abnormal swell1
ing of profits y
Every business connected with the
staple commodities of life must be
looked into, and the economic wrongs
of 100,000,000 people must be righted.
STORAGE PROFITEERS.
Every storage house in New York
C?ty and other Atlantic ports is stuffed
with food. Breweries, diverted from
liquor business, are filled with it. Ev
. ery .available building is . crammed
from cellar to garret.
Most of this food seems intended for
exportation. Food exports have al
ready reached a record volume, and
that volume is said to be still grow
ing. Europe is clamoring for Ameri
can produce.
fiut the owners of the stored food
dp not care whether they sell :t
abroad or at home. They have mov
^?d and storted it near tidewater with
a view to taking advantage of che- for
eign market; but they will just as wil
iingly release it for the home market
if domestic prices can be forced up
high enough to give them as big a
,pr<Sfit as they could reap abroad. The
profit is the thing. And it is, in most
casts, a profit admittedly far in excess
of any previously realized.
The food hoards are estimated at
no less than 10,000.000,000, pounds in
New .York alone. The totals for the
whole eastern seaboard are beyond
calculation.
Who are the owners of these
hoards? A government representative
says:
*4Of the immense quantities Ml food
stuffs held to storage the greater per
centage is at the moment in the hands
of profiteers, who are awaiting an op
portunity to mulct either the citizens
of Europe or this country. It makes
no v difference to them whom? they
snare. There is a legitimate and nec
essary quantity held for American use,
of; course, and there are men honest
enough to give this product to the
country at a reasonable profit, but the
great, percentage of food is held out
of the market for purely selfish rea
sons.
"Men who never in their lives
bought a pound of butter, cheese,
meat or leather with the idea oZ hcid
ing it for sale at a profit have lumped
into this market and will squeeze the
public if they get a chance. Millions
loom in front of them, and they feel
they are safe in exacting them."
Here is a situation that the govern
ment authorities will do well to sift
thoroughly. It is no time for reaping
forunes through gamD'mg in the na
tion's food supply. 12 ther-L* is no au
thority for preventing the gamblers
from cornering the food surplus, hold
ing it to create an abnormal scarcity
and then take advantage of the forced
prices, there ought to be some legis
ltion on the matter at once. If ther-3
is any law providing for punishment
of the offenders, it is time to enforce
it. before they have s*acctM.**!ed in their
plundering enterprise.
The new military training plan
would give three months' instruction
to more than half a miilion boys ev
ery year, at a cost of $95.000,000, or
less than $200 apiece. Thousands of
parents would gladly pay more than
that for. the privilege of sending their
sons to a military school for three
months in the summer or winter, and
hundreds of thousands of lads would
jump at the chance.
* * *
A Consumers' League in France has
lowered prices 20 per cent by simply
printing the facts about prices and
values. Maybe the; same thing can be
done in this country. Consumers here
tofore have been at a disadvantage be
cause they didn't know the facts, and
so could be bluffed and bulldozed into
paying exhorbitant prices.
* * *
A Boston grand jury soberly an
nounces that the principal reason why
shoes are so high is that the public
buys so many of them. As usual, iVs
the consumer's fault. Congress, in be
half of the nation, might apologize to
the packers, tanners, shoe manufac
turers, jobbers, wholesalers and re
tailers.
THE VICIOTS CIRCLE.
Nothing could better illustrate the
wrong way to go about remedying
present economic evils than the pro
gram of the United Mine Workers of
America, as outlined by some of their
representatives.
It is said that the miners, most of
whom are engaged in the coal indus
try, are going to ask for a wage in
crease of about 50 per cent, making
probably $8 a day or more, and along
with it a reduction of working lime
to six hours a day and five days a
week, i That would mean about $50 a
week for thirty hours* work.
Thirty hours' work, if divided as
usual among six days, would mtan
five hours a day.
It may be that the miners need a
liberal wage increase to meet the ris
ing cost of living. It may be granted,
too, that miners ought to be well paid
for the time they put in, because their
work is hard, disagreeable and dan
gerous. But when the demand for a
big wage increase is coupled with
the demand for a big reduction of
working time, the absurdity of it
ought to he apparent to anyone fa
miliar with present economic condi
tions.
We might leave out of consideration
the insistent fact that the world needs
coal as it needs all other commoditie >
and that any industry which delib~
erately does anything to curtail pro
duction' is shirking its duty and re
fusing to play itst part in the general
rehabilitation of the world. Consid
ering . the matter purely from the
standpoint of the miners themselves,
we are likely to find the plan operat
.ihg in a vicious circle which defeats
its own aims.
??? The miners, working shorter hours,
naturally produce less coal. That
makes coal dearer for everybody. Ob
taining higher wages, they add still
more to the cost of coal. Everybody
else, having to pay more for coal, has
to charge more for his own services
or output. Thus everything the min
ers themselves buy will soon cost them
more. If everybody else put into ef
fect this plan of the miners, we should
simply have everybody doing less
work, creating less wealth, and at the
same time getting more money?and
prices" going up and up and up, so
that even the high pay would buy less
than usual, because there would be
less to buy. It would make money
more and more worthless?counters
of continually shrinking value .
There is really only one way to re
store comfortable living conditions.
It is to increase production of all the
necessaries of life. Then, if profiteer
ing is, generally speaking, curbed,
prices and wages will pretty well
take care of themselves.
CONCORD SCHOOL
TO HAVE BOOTH
Concord School, one of the most
progressive and patriotic educational
districts of this country has started
work to line up the men, women and
boys and girls of that district and
township to have a creditable repre
sentative community booth, and num
bers of farm and individual exhibits
at the big 1919 Sumter County fair.
At yesterday's meeting of the Con
cord Club which was attended by sev
eral gentlemen of the district. Miss
Nan Martin, the Home Demonstration
Agent, and Secretary E. I. Reardon
discussed county fair matters with
the ladies and gentlemen present.
It was decided to endeavor to have
Concord Township and school district
creditably represented at the fair.
Mrs. John Childress, Mrs. G. W.
Mahoney, Mrs. B. M. Fort, Mr. Walker
Newman and Mr. John Childress were
selected as a committee to canvass the
district to interview the school pa
trons and the home demonstration
club members, and the ?rirls of the
canning and tomato clubs, poultry
clubs, boys pig and corn clubs with
the view of interesting every one in
the Concord community booth and
farm and individual exhibits.
Miss Nan Martin gave an interest
ing and instructive lecture and demon
stration on how to cook an entire meal
in twenty minutes. She cooked the
dinner in a st^am pressure cooker and
served the club members with a sub
stantial meal. The ladies and gentle
men were very pleesantly surprised
with the economy in t:me, fuel, and
worry by this modern r. ethod of cook
ing. Several ladies requested steam
pressure cookers ordered for their
use.
Miss Eileen Hurst has returned to
her home in Savannah after visiting
Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Hurst.
COUNTY COTTON
ASSOCIATION
Officers and Committees Ap
pointed For Membership
Campaign
I The following citizens have been
'selected as officers, members of the
j Township Committees for the log
I membership campaign of the South
' Carolina Cotton Association which
! occurs September 26th-27th and 28th.
j County Executive Committee.?
j Chairman for Sumter County, L. D.
Jennings; C. J. Jackson, Horatio; T.
S. Dubose, Jr., Oswego; A. E. Aycock,
Wedgefield; E. W. Dabbs, R. F. D.,
1 Mayesville; J. B. Britton, R. F. D.,
No. 1, Sumter; G. A. Lemmon, Sum
ter; J. Frank Williams, R. F. D. No. 3,
Sumter; T. J. Keels, Acting Secretary,
Sumter, S. C.
Township committees to organize
their respective townships and secure
pledges of membership and secure
funds. Each committee is authorized
, to appoint as many additional com
mitteemen as they deem necessary to
properly divide up the territory and
the work in order to complete the
membership campaign in their respe- j
tive township within three days.
Township chairnien are requested to
immeditaely call their respective com-;
mittees together for the purpose of
organization, and to notifv Chairman
Jennings of their having organized
for a successful campaign
Sumter Township.?T. J. Kirvin,
Chairman, J. H. Myers, W. A. Bryan.
Oswego Section, - Sumter T. S.?E.
C. Brown, Chairman; F. W. Andrews.
B. M. Oliver.
Mayesville Township.?J. F. Bland,!
Chairman; L. C. Tisdale, J. H. Wil
son. I
Middleton Township.?Dr. M. L. j
Parier, Chairman; W. H. Ramsey, E.
E. Aycock.
Manchester Township?B. T. Kolb,
Chairman; F. M. Coulte*. W. Als
brook.
Shiloh Township.?I. M. Truluck,
Chairman; J. C. McElveen, Johnny
Johnson.
Statesburg Township.?George Ma
brey, Chiarman; N. B. Murray, R. M.
Moore.
Concord Township.?J. C. Brogdon,
Chairman; Joel Davis, C. W. Bran
son.
Privateer Township.?J. M. Kolb,
Chairman; T. E. Hodge, Rev. Wm.
Haynsworth.
Providence Township.?H. T. Ed
ens, Chairman; M. L. Moore, A. C.
Burroughs.,
Rafting Creek Township?E. E.
Rembert, Chairman; C. M. Emmanuel,
J.. L. Jackson.
DUES.
Dues from date to January 1st.
1921, to be 25c per bale of cotton pro
duced in 1917, 25c per thousand dol
lars capital invested in mercantile and
other classes of business, banks or
manufacturing plants, and profession
al men, such as lawyers, doctors,
school teachers, etc., $3 each. Dues
for 1921 and 1922, 10c per bale of cot
ton and 10c per thousand 'dollars capi
tal per annum. Dues for professional
men $3 per annum. The dues will
include subscription to the Cotton
Journal to be published by the Amer
ican Cotton Association. , The dues for
the first year and balance of 1919 to
be paid to the committee' securing the
application, who will ; turn same over
to the county Secretary for transmis
sion to the State Organization Treas
urer. All dues in future must be sent
by each member, direct to the Treas
urer of the State Organiaztion, but In
no, case shall the dues of any individ
ual, firm or corporation exceed one
hundred dollars. Minimum dues $2.
It will be the duty of the Couu
ty Secretary to list all applications
for membership alphabetically and by
townships and wards. Membership
books will be furnished by the State
Central Committee.
Mr. Vaughan, Farmer, Tells How He
Lost All His Prize Seed Corn.
"Sometime ago sent away for some
pedigreed seed corn. Put it in a gun
ney sack and hung it on a rope sus
pended from roof. Rats got it all?
how beats me, but they did because I
got 5 dead whoppers in the morning
after trying RAT-SNAP." Three sizes,
25c, 50c, $1.00. Sold and guaranteed
by Sibert's Drug Store, O'Donnell &
Co., DuRant Hardware Co., Sumter, S.
C?Advt.
The Charleston Election.
(Charleston Post.)
The election can bring little real
satisfaction to anybody concerned.
The margin is so small on the face \
j of the returns for the mayoralty that
i a consideration of the challenges and,
perhaps a re-canvass of the vote, will
be necessary to determine whether
j Mr. Hyde or Mr. Grace is to be the
[ nominee. For the third time these
j two antagonists have run what is
virtually a dead heat.
Mr. Grace polled fewer votes, gen
erally speaking, than the candidates
on his ticket for aldermen at large,
all but one of whom appear to have
been nominated. Obviously the para
mount issue of the campaign, Mr.
Grace's attitude toward the war, was
effective with a certain proportion of
the voters who were opposed to the
administration.
The patriotic appeal undoubtedly \
brought out a large vote to Mayor
Hyde which otherwise would have re
mained passive if it had not beep pos
itively hostile. But the appeal did not
have the response it should have >
evoked. For failure to rally to this
call in a decisive majority the com-j
munity will suffer seriously in the re- j
gard of outsiders whose attention has
been centered on the contest here and
made familiar with the issue. Charles
ton must bear that as best it may. |
Dissatisfaction with the administra"
tion and with the political leadership
is manifest. There is a veritable
deadlock of factionalism, with neither
side able to score a true decision. Out
of that situation somehody, reasonably
free of a. stale feud and witte vision
and a sense of proportion, mufi bring
the Democrats of rharleston^: Once
more we say. as we said before this
campaign was finally joined. Tnere is
a call to the young men whose minds
are fresh and outlook is clear.
The one gratifying^thins about the
election was the peacefulness and
HARBY & CO., Inc.
COIH UNO FERTILIZER MERtHHTS
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
\
NOTICE
We are ready to ffin your cotton. Have installed four new
gins and are better equipped than ever to do your work.
Efficiency our motto.
Swift & Co., Oil Mill Ginnery
Cor. Calhoun and Green Sts. ? J. C. PATE, Manager.
general good conduct which charac-1
fcerized it. It was practically free of i
untoward incident and both sides!
seemed to have themselves well in j
hand and to hold a sense of responsi
bility for the peace of the commun
ity.
! It may be taken as certain that ev
ery point will be canvassed for a de
termination of the result and the de
cision should be reached judicially
upon the evidence in hand, and the
result declared and made effective as
promptly as possible, in order that the
community may have a rest from the
strain under which this racking po
litical contest has held it for the past
four months, and turn to the tasks
which are before it, not the least cf
which is a new political ordination.
uRat-Snap Beats the Best Trap Ever
Made," Mrs. Emily Shaw Says.
"My husband bought $2 trap. I
bought a 50c box of RAT-SNAP. The
trap only caught 3 rats but RAT-SNAP
killed 12 in a week. I'm never with
out RAT-SNAP. Reckon I couldn't
raise chicks without it." RAT-SNAP
comes in cakes. Three sizes, 25c, 50c,
$1.00. Sold and guaranteed by Si
berfs Drug Store, O'Donnell & Co.,
DuRant Hardware Co., Sumter, S. C.
?Advt.
PREDICTS BANNER
TOBACCO CROP
"Washington, 'Aug. 2 k?Another
banner tobacco crop is forecast by the
department of agriculture.
Why People Buy Rat-Snap in Prefer
ence to Rat Poison
(1) RAT SNAP absolutely kills rats
and mice. (2) What it doesn't kill it
scares away. (3) Rats killed with
RAT-SNAP leave no smell, they dry
up inside. (4) Made in cakes, no mix
ing with other food. (5) Cats or dogs
won't touch it. Three sizes. 25c, 50c,
$1.00. Sold and guaranteed by Sibert's
Drug Store, O'Donnell & Co., DuRant
Hardware Co., Sumter, S. C.?Advt.
FOR CONGRESS
I 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 TIMMER MAN.
NO MORE
or mice after you use RAT-SNAP.
It's a sure rodent killer. Try a pkg.
and prove it. Rats killed with RAT
SNAP leave no smell. Cats or dogs
won't touch it. Guaranteed..
25c size (1 cake) enough for Pan
try, Kitchen or Cellar.
50c size (2 cakes) ..for.. Chicken
House, coops, or small buildings.
$1.00 size (5 cakes) enough for
all farm and out-buildings, storage
buildings, or -factory buildings.
Sold and guaranteed by Sibert's
Drug Store. O'Donnell & Co. and Du
rant Hardware Co. Sumter, S. C.
RATS
Tobacco Sales.
There were no tobacco sales at the
Banner Warehouse on Wednesday,
bui today rbe floor is overcrowded so
that a huge sale will take place.
At Moore Brother's Warehouse a
total of 84,000 pounds were sold for
$17,834.69 or zu average of a'bout
twenty two cents. There will be no j
so:es at this warehouse today.
During the last few aays the sales j
have beer, esrreme'y heavy and no
time was allowed' for removing the I
sold product from the floor till to- |
day. j
"Why I Put Up With Rats for Years,"
Writes X. Windsor, a Farmer.
"Years ago I bought some rat pois- j
on, which nearly killed our fine watch
dog. It so scared us that we suffered
a long time with rats until my neigh
bor told me about RAT-SNAP. That's
the sure rat killer and a safe one."
(Three sizes. 25c, 50c, $1100. Sold and
j guaranteed by Sibert's Drug Store,
lO'Donnell & Co., DuRant Hardware
?Co., Sumter. S. C.?Advt._
DELCO-LIGHT
The complete Electric Light and
Power Plant
Clean, safe electric light and power
! at the touch of a convenient button.
T. M. BRADLEY,
I Phone 649-L_Snmtcr. S. C.
Tobacco Sales Today.
The Banner Warehouse had what
is probably their largest tobacco sales
on Tuesday when 80,460 pounds sold
for $17,901.20, or an average of about
22 cents.
The Moore Brothers Warehouse
sold 75,720 pounds for $17,355.9tf, or
an average of nearly 23 cents.
Today's sales win surposs those of
Tuesday. It is almost impossible f?r
the warehouses to place all the. to
bacco on the floor that is brought hero
for sale. ? .
BEEHIVES AND SUPPLIES?I have
lately received a few Georgia made
hives and frames?8. and 10 .frame
. size. Also on hand] sections and
foundation for comb honey.- -N. G.
Osteen, 320 W. Hampton Ave.
BEESWAX WANTED?Any quantity
large or small Am paying best
cash price. See me if you have
any. N. G. Osteen.
DATS DIE _|
so do mice; once they eat RAT
SNAP. And they leave no odor be
hind. Don't take our word for it?
try a package. Cats and dogs won't
touch it. Rats pass up all food to
get RAT-SNAP. Three sizes.
25c size (1 cake) enough for Pan
try, Kitchen or Cellar.
50c size (2 cakes) ..for.. Chicken
House, coops, or small buildings.
$1.00 size (5 cakes) enough for
all farm and out-buildings, storage
buildings, or factory buildings. '
Sold and guaranteed by Sibert's
Drug Store, O'Donneh & Co. and Du
rant Hardware Co, Sumter, S. C.
ccessful Students
ist Have Good Vision
-I
'HE young men and women of
today, who have successfully
passed through various stages
:hool life, have either had good
nght of have worn glasses that
s them normal vision. ? j
xthout good tibi or good work is ?1
ossible. We overcome the prej- \i
:e against wearing glasses by
ting them pleasing to the eye and -
:ient in vision. *
Our examination Is occur*
ate and not uncomfortable
D. L. WILLIAMS
Office at City Drug Store
Vnrmerly With W. A. Thompson
:
GINNING!
OUR GINNERY has been thoroughly overhauled and repair
ed and is in first-class condition. We are ready for business and
can guarantee prompt and satisfactory service. . j*
? THE SOUTHERN COTTON OIL CO., _
A. G. FISHBURNE, Manager.
- 1 - * ' a * a A A A. A, A, A. A, A..A. X A. L. t *JXiXLiM4Ai>XAXLAJ I A f|