University of South Carolina Libraries
Wednesday and Saturday FUBLI5HIXG COMPANY StlMTEB, S. O. Terms: ?L&0 per annum?in advance. ? Advertisements. 9a* Square first insertion .. .. $1.00 : ty*ry safcsoq?ent insertion.50 Contract* for three months, or longer wiil be made at reduced rates. All communications which sub serve private interests will be charged fcr* ^advertisements, Bs Obituaries and tributes of respect Will be charged for. The Sumter Watchman was found ua in 1350 and the True Southron m 4.S6.6. The Watchman and Southron A:> now has Cie combined circulation and influence of both of the old papers, and I* manifestly the best advertising me^om in Sumter. DROPPED EGGS. ... ? ; No, people do not have to pay any I 0:- old price that happens to be demanded j r- for commodities. Take eggs, for ex ample. "Eggs, have gone down lately, all over.the country. They are still high enough, but not nearly so high as they ?: were .in the early part of December, ; when .they retailed in some of the big cities'for more than $1 a dozen. - Why have they gone down ? The hens have not been laying any more. '( It anything, they have laid fewer eggs with the advance of winter. When |; eggst^went above $1 in the big cities, and neared the dollar mark in smaller cities,/. millions of people simply did the natural, sensible thing, and stop ^=ped buying, them. They substituted '?. meat and milk and cheese, which provided the same food elements and Were' cheaper, and they quit eating cake and other things that required - eggs. With the falling demand, of; course prices fell. v The wotoeh" of Lincoln, Nebraska, Jwstened the process by a deliberate boycoti, when fresh eggs reached 85 cents, and in three days eggs fell to 55 cO??fts. . A formal boycott is not often-:?ecessary or desirable, though oertai|?y justifiable in emergency. Ordinarily if the average consumer simply, acts sensibly about his con suming, suiting his purchases* to the season/and the state of his purse, that ? will serve as an effective price-regula tor-?there are so many of him. - : ? - ?; ? ? ' PRODUCE MORE; SPEND LESS. ' Attorney General Palmer .while . possibly a bit over-optimistic in some of Jpjuj; cost-of-living pronunciamentos, puts the whole matter in a nutshell whence says: "'If'everyone who produces will pro -duee .&ls.- utmost; if those who buy ?--\arid consume will save and eliminate y i^ttraV^nce, and if all honest people "wilf fein with the Department of Justice in stamping out profiteering and hoarding, the cost of living can fee reflueed." This recipe might be boiled down still i$ore, thus: ^'Prodoce more; spend less." Or if anyone, objects to tne word "spend" on acount of possible misconstruction of, it: '"Produce more; waste less." " If- everybody would do those two things; or if half, or a quarter of the people in the United States would settle'down in earnest to doing them and thus setting a good example, it WOuMfc turn a false prosperity into real prosperity. People who are "making money" only to see it slip through their fingers would find that they were getting something for their money; V and people making no more than \ .formerly would come nearer to get ting, jn old-fashioned living out of it. ? This formula does not cover the Whole problem. Under-production and over-spending are not the only causes of high prices. There is the ?fundamental cause of a big war debt . and the inflated currency and ? credit resulting from it. While there is so .inucjr^ money in circulation, prices cannoir go down to normal. But the j methods suggested might send them down, say, at least half way to their pre-war level wihin a fairly short time-V And that would give 75 cents the ?nrehaEing power of today's dol lar. * f DEMOCRACY IX BTJSnVESS. '?' Tt^i dissolution of the complex ag gregation of business called the "Me^t Trust" is another step in the worleing out of democracy. It is the application of democracy to big bus? inessr^n the field where autocracy re .maiitlg! most strongly entrenched and most'- threatening. Tae packers agree to sell their holdings in more than 750 concerns whielMhey have owned in whole or in parti That gives some idea of the ramifications of the vast system they have.-built up. Their system has in cluded, in recent years, not only all sorts of meat products but nearly all the common substitutes for those products, and nearly everything like ly to find its way to the table. Such a monopoly is intolerable. If not abused at any particular time, it is always liable to abuse. The obvious thm^was to break up the mono polls tic "system, and accordingly it is brok en up, at least in form. This is in line with the trend cf the times. Democracy is demanded in business as in government. Freedom is wanted for the individual business man or firm as it is for the individual as a person and a voter. Many great business organizations have already been demolished for this purpose, and many more are likely to be. The Steel Trust persists, despite its size and its practical domination of the steel business, but one of these times it may go the way of the Oil Trust and the railroad combinations. Perhaps such action is not final. Perhaps it is only an intermediate step in business evolution. The plain est tendency of the time is toward wider and larger organiaztion in all kinds of business. It is a movement toward cooperation on an ever-in creasing scale. Yet here we are, fighting that tendency and trying to restore cld-time competition. Many have held that trusts were formed in obedience to a natural eco nomic law. They have been broken up because of an actual menace they held. The parts, however, keep re grouping themselves, somehow or oth er. In time of emergency the gov ernment itself takes hold and com bines the railroads, the coal mines, the shipyards, etc., in a way it forbids private owners to do. Now, with the war over, there is an effort to restore competition every where, by force if necessary. And it is proving to be a mighty difficult task in some fields. It is what the govern ment has to do, however, unless it wants to tackle the democracy game from another angle, and set up some sort of state socialism, with all the business men in every industry free to compete on equal terms with strict limits, and all subject to gov ernment control outside of those limits. PROHIBITION AND THE MORGUE. The jails and the county houses have already reported their business as on decline since prohibition began its more or less perfect work, and now another well known public insti tution fals in line?the morgue is about ready to go out of business in most cities. One such institution' re ports that where formerly some eighty bodies went from it to the pot ter's field every two weeks, now there are hardly any at all. If additional evidence were needed as. to the value of prohibition, the empty slabs at this final resting place of'the social derelict should be elo quent testimony. First drink, then dope, then sui cide, the patrol wagon and the mor gue; or, first drink, then quarreling, then murder with the same final des tination?that is about the way the sordid tale has run hitherto. There are of course innumerable avenues through which drink is still distributed, even in localities which supposedly have been dry for years, and mis is considered by many people as evidence of the futility of attempt ing prohibition. There is also the army of good-natured souls who got a lot of fun, and as they thought, no harm at all from their use of alcoholic liquors. These people protest against the abolition of strong drink as un necessary and unduly contributing to the gloom of the world. But the jail and the county house and the morgue are the instituions which tell the real truth as to what brought gloom into the world, and! they are showing a steadily decreasing! patronage. Whatever agency means j fewer wretched beings carried by the j tide of life to these landing places isj an angency for good. MINE OWNERS ARE OBSTINATE Assert That Thev Are Not! j Bound By Decision of Commission Chicago, Dec. 29.?Representatives! of coal operators in the soft coal fields met here today to discuss the attitude | to be adopted toward the findings of; the commission appointed by the pres ident to adjust wages of the miners after the settlement of the recent na tionwide strike. The operators assert that they do not commit themselves as to accepting or enforcing any decis ion the president's commission may reach. MORE DEATHS FROM ALCOHOL New York Adds T o Hundred to Death List New York, Dec. 29.?Two more cases of wood alcohol poisoning were reported here today. Postmaster Doar today announced that the government will continue its savings movement program and fhe sale of War Savings stamps and Thrift stamps and Registered Treas ury Savings certificates during 1920. He hopes that the patrons of the Sumter office will invest even more in 1920 than in 1919. IRELAND SEES BLOODSHED Officer Killed in Clash in Phoenix Park, Dublin Dublin, Dec. 28 (By the Associated Press).?An officer of the guard and one member of a band of intruders were killed early this morning in a shooting affray in Phoneix park, a I short distance from the vice regal lodge. In some quarters the belief was expressed that an attack was m preparation against the lodge. About eight men are believed to have made up the band of interlopers, j Four arrests were made. At 1.30 o'clock this morning shots were heard in the neighborhood of the vice regal lodge. They continued intermittently at intervals for nearly an hour in that portion of Phoenix park between the lodge and the mag azine. There apparently was no di rect attack on the vice regal lodge it self. The inmates of the lodge at firs: thought the shooting was connected with some sort of holiday revelry. As the firing persisted, however, a military guard, consisting of an officer and two men, turned out and searched the ground. Finding nothing unusual there, they went through the park near the main road. While traversing the center of the park they engaged in a sharp exchange of firing with the intruders and Lieutenant Boast, who was leading his men, fell, 1 shot through the heart. One of the attacking party also was killed. He was a civilian about 40 years of age. According to some re ports, he was wearing portions of a soldier's uniform. No weapon was found on or near his body, and up to the present the man's identity has not been ascertained. Pools of blood were found on the scene, which is about half a mile from the lodge. After the shooting the intruders fled in the darkness. The four men .ar rested were not taken into custody near the scene of the shooting, but were apprehended as they were leav ing the park about two hours later. They denied having had any connec tion with the affray, and it is re ported that no incriminating evidence was found on them. After the shooting the military brought a machine gun to the scene. This was fired in the direction which it was supposed the men had taken flight. Nobody was hit by the bullets, v The bodies of the two dead men were taken to the George V hospital where an inquest will be held tomor row. Lieutenant Boast was only 20 years old. He was mentioned in Sat urday's Courier Circular as having been invited to dine with Field Mar shal Viscount French, lord lieutenant and governor general of Ireland, Sat urday evening. On Saturday he had bidden farewell to his parents, who had been paying him a visit. There was great excitement in the city when the newspapers announced the occur rence. Crowds visited the scene dur ing the afternoon. In the absence of all official infor mation the theory late tonight is that no raid against the vice rega* .odge was intended. It is supposed that an isolated shot was fired which Lieuten ant Boast and two privates went to investigate. It is thought that they reached the person who fired the shot and became involved in a struggle with a passerby who, with the lieuten ant, was killed. It is reported that the dead civil ian v.*as a laborer who had been treat ed at a Dublin hospital and was walk ing home through the park. He wore bandages on his face, the police say. No offiical report has been made by the police on the occurrence which will be expained at the military inquest. The military officials refer all inquiries to the police. London, Dec. 28.?A dispatch to the Exchange Telegraph from Dublin says that the officer kiled in the attack on the vice regal lodge in Phoenix park was Lieutenant Boats. The member of the attacking party killed was dressed in an old uniform of a pri vate :.n the British army. His body is repor:ed to have been riddled with bullets. The Exchange Telegraph's corre spondent said it is understood that snipers ot the vice regal lodge con tinued only for a few minutes and that the firing took place from the main road at a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile from the lodge. The name of the civilian killed is said to be Laurence Carey, who re sided at Lucan. near Phoenix Park. According to one version of the origin j of the struggle, Carey ignored the challenge to hnit. and when the sol diers approached Carey seized Bo.-ist. whereupon the soldiers fired their pistols, killing Carey. This version does not state who shot Roast. Boast began as a drummer boy in (the Lancashire regiment and won his j commission for conspicuous service in ; the war. His brother is Still a drum I rr.er in the same regiment. His father. I a major, also rose from the ranks. I ARABS AND FRENCH CLASH j Bloody Battle Reported to Have Occurred in Syria Paris, Dec. 29.?Arabian volunteers and French detachments have clashed at Baalbek. Syria, according to a j Cairo dispatch. The losses suffered by ; both sides are said to have been se | vere. I FOR SALE?Some of the best regis tered Guernsey bulls of various ages. P^rom a prize winning family. C. M. Eoykin. Mayesville, S. C, R. F. D. I No. 3. ! MORPHINE J habit cured the easy and gentle way. Whiskey habit by gradual reduction Also Tobacco cure at KEELEY INSTITUTE Box 73 Columbia, S. C. THIEF PROVED HERO t. Arthur Abbott Decorated For Distinguished Service in France Receives Pardon Boston, Dec. 26.?How Arthur Ab bott, long wanted as a fugitive for the theft of fifteen thousand dollars' from a local trust company, enlisted in the marines, and as Sergeant Wil liam Haskell was cited for brilliant war service, was disclosed today when i he announced that he had been set free on probation by the district at-j torney and that He had received the French crux de guerre, officially^ un der his right name, Abott was in the j Sixth regiment and was one of forty-{ four men left of the famous thirteen j hundred marines who went through j the Argonne campaign. FRENCH ELECTION JANUARY 17TH Clemenceau WiD Be Elected President Without Op position Paris, Dec. 26.?President Poin caire's successor will be elected -bin ary 17th. according to the inference generally drawn by the Parisiene Press from Premier Clemenceau's statement in the chamber.of deputies. I that his cabinet would definitely re sign on that date. It is also deduced I from the premiers' declaration that he will be a candidate for the pres I idency. which means that he will be [ elected virtually without opposition. I Speculation regarding M. Clemen j eeau's successor as the head of the j cabinet is eliciting discussion as to ' the next president of ' the republic Alexandre Millerand, governor of Al sace-Lorraine, seems to have a great lead as far as predictions are con cerned. ENGLAND TO GET GERMAN SHIPS President Wilson Directs That I Ships Held in New York Be Delivered Washington, Dec. 26.?By direction of the president former German pas senger ships of the Imperator group now in New York harbor are to be delivered to Great Britain shipping boad, it was announced today. The vessels are those assigned to the United States after the armistice for the repatriation of American troops and designated by the inter-allied na val council to be turned over. to Great Britain under the armistice terms, already delivered to the ' Brit ish. I_ KILLED BY ALCOHOL Christmas Spree Finished Con necticut Booze Artists Hartford, Conn., Dec. 26.?Six men: are dead here and three are dying from the effects of liquor. The police believe it was wood alcohol, contain ing coloring matter that they drank. MASS MEETINGS ! ON SUNDAY I Mrs. Boring Charmed Those Present With a Vocal Solo At the Hi-1" club meeting at G p. m. yesterday. Prof. S. II. Edmunds made .) splendid address upon the subject "An Appeal to Voung .Men." The speaker told of the courage m-ccs- j sary to lead a clean and successful j life. A huge crowd was present, j j quite a number of college students ; being presmt. Mrs. Poring was present and ren- i dered a charming solo. for colleges. Those present greatly enjoyed the address. The meeting was presided over by 5Dr.,::S: H. Edmunds. > INVESTIGATING DUBLIN SHOOTING Inquest Being Held Over Lieu tenant Who Was Killed SUNDAY MASS MEETING On Sunday at 3:15 p. ml. Major j Henry E. Itaines of Charleston spoke j to a large crowd of men at the local Y. M. C. A. Major Raines is a very forceful speaker and on this occasion took for the subject of his address, "The Golden Age, Past or Future?" He made a strong plea for higher edu cation for boys and girls. He stated that tho three greatest assets in this ?life were school, home and church. The address was a masterly appeal Dublin. Dec. 29.? Details of Sun day's shooting affray near the vice re gal lodge wer:> given today at the in quest, over the body of Lieut. Boast, the officer of the- guard who was kill ed at the same time the civilian was found in the park was shot. The firing led to the belief in some quar ters last night that an attack was be ing made against the dge, the resi dence of Lord French, whose life was attempted last week. FLU IN SPAIN Many Deaths Reported From Madrid Madrid. Dec. 21?.?Fatalities from influenza and typhus have reached high figures and many funerals avore hdd yesterday and Saturday ? ? Manufacturers of High Grade Fertilizers I For All Crops % The formula we use has proved successful in Boll I Weevil section of South Georgia. t Our prices are right, come to see us and let us * supply your wants. % Buy early and avoid the possible delays in ship ? ments. I J. H. GUTHRIE J. a PATE t Gen. Manager, Sec. and Treas. 1 OFFICE OVER DeLORME'S PHARMACY I Phone 351 Room 5 I Plant is located in Old Cotton Mill at Rowland Bnggy Factory ? ? % % : ? ? ? ? ? ? t ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ftom your fertilizer will be greater if you use F. S. ROYSTER GUANO CO. Norfoik, Va. Richmond, Va. Lynchburg, Va. Tarboro, N. C. Charlotte, N. C. Washington, N. C. Columbia, S. C. Spartanburg, S. C. Atlanta, Ga. Macon, Ga. Columbus, Ga. Montgomery, Ala. Baltimore, Md. Toledo, Ohio