Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Wednesday and Saturday IGSXEEX gTrBXJSHDfG COMPANY SUMTEK. S. C. f: Terms: $-.00 per aiiniiTn?in advance. Advertisements. One Square, first insertoin .?...$1.00 . yBvery subsequent insertion .50 ; Contracts for three months or long er w?l be made at reduced rates. AH communications which subserve private interests will be charged for as advertisements. Obituaries and tributes of respect .will be charged for. The Sumter Watchman was found ed in 1850 and the True Southron in 18SS., The Watchman and Southron now has- the combined circulation and influence of both of the old papers, and is manifestly the best advertising medium in Sumter> COMMON SENSE THRIFT. In the days when everybody was buying thrift stamps and .Liberty bonds there was much talk about the nation's "learning thrift" That the nation learned nothing of the kind :f seems to have been shown conclu - siyely by the orgy of spending which swept ove rthe country after the armis * tice, and is still sweeping in only a j little less intensity. The real idea of % thrift never got through to most per i; sons. The reason ? for this, writes Samuel Crowther, An an enlighten . ing article on the common sense of ? thrift, is that the preachers of thrift '"emphasized false arguments and'miss^ fe-et? the true ones. * Thrift was urged as a virtue, as a ^^atfiotic thing. It was explained as meaning the cutting down of expend iture^uad?he doing without, the mere > ? saving of money. Those argument are largely negative. Carried to an /.extreme they are bad. They teach pe c nuriqjj sness and miserliness and in the; ?v ioag run they would tend to decrease -'^production- instead of increasing it. The economic side of thrift has '/scarcely been pointed out at all. And f. yet- that is the' vital side, Says Mr. -^Chrowiher, "The purpose of thrift is ?a to provide more working capital sc **ihat the means or; adding to thf , wealth of the nation may be. aug - -mented." There are several,ways to go about " this same kind of thrift. First it is necessary, not to stop buying, but to buy more* wisely. "Next, savings shoult not be held forever as savings. They should jbe wisely invested, put to work to. produce more goods. The worker who strikes for higher wages would lend a kindlier ear to talk of thrift if he were shown the simple fact that he could raise his own wages more quickly by investing in indus try than by striking, against it. The man who likes to enjoy life as h< goes along and therefore spends every ] cent he makes as fast as he makes it would see some sense to thrift if he were shown t?at by real thrift he coald make his day *o day living more enjoy&ible. - In other/ words, thrift should al ways be "positive an* constructive^! Without thrift, to quote Mr.' Crowth er, "we shall- not have a margin of production over consumptions-thai is we shall not have capital. If we do not have Capital we cannot have pro gress for we shall have * no means! wherewith to raalte improvement in) existing facilities " AUTOMOBEUE FATAM*EES4 **An vominous increase" in the num ber of deaths from automobile acci dentf: is noted in the 1919 report of a great life insurance company. The deaths among their policy holders have increased from 178 in 1911 to 1,332 in 1919. Ominous indeed, when it, is remembered that this is only a smi.il percentage of the total number of deaths from such accidents, the mortality rate being 50 per cent higher than for typhoid. Neither city nor country can wash its hands of responsibility. There is reckless driving by the operator of the town ^r, but none the less, ir proportion by the rural drivers. The trouble is universal. * We must have more stringent traf .fic laws in all communities, better ed ucation of the public, more places where our children can play in safety,^ the heaviest toll is in the lives of children. We must have better stand ards for drivers, arid swifter punish ment for the careless. And it fe most of it carelessness. Nobody wants to kill a child or one of his fellow men ?with his automobile. The open season ior automobile dis asters is upon us. Remember, "the ??ominous increase" and be careful as never before. SWIMMING While winter has shown a most reprehensible tendency to linger in the lap of spring, nevertheless the sea son, is under way, and the transition from winter flannels to bathing suits will be upon us before we know it Now comes the annual question of swimming. The boys sneak away t? the swimming hole. Some of them come back. Generally at least ?one from every community does not He is drowned because the elders of his town and his family have failed to make provision for his learning: to swim under safe conditions; because they are ignorant of the joys and health-giving possibilities which abide in the king of water sports, or are ig norantly afraid. Late years have seen a marked in erease in general intelligence with re gard to swimming and in general en joyment ot it, but there is much pro gress possible still. The community which maintains proper swimming places for its people acts in the interests of their health, their morals and their safety. More ! swimming places, more public in- j jstruetion available to everybody and more practise of the fine art means! ! f * . ? J .present joy, and bodies strong to re pel the assaults of next winter. PRESIDENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS. Elbert H. Gary, chairman of the United States Steel Corporation, sets forth /the following qualifications for the next* president of the United States. 1 . : "He must be able, wise and well informed, of unquestioned honesty, morally, and intellectually, eminently fair' and impartial, frank and sincere, broad-minded, deeply sym pathetic, . courageous, * sturdy and" well-balanced, and above every thing else, loyal to the Constitu tion and the law of the United States." This might seem at first" blush - an impossibly high ideal. But not so' There is 'not a single candidate, out of all the crowd of presidential as-* pirants, who will not instantly admit that he measures up to it, and every nominating . speech ? made in either of the big conventions will go still further, and attribute still greater merits to the'super-candidate of the moment. At the present rate, pretty soon Liberty Bonds won't be bargains any ' more. And then eve*ryboay will want to buy them. There would prbbabb have been a heavy demand for them tight along if somebody had just cor nered' the supply and charged a big profit on them. * * * Inasmuch a3 every prosperous cor poration^ in the United States denies being a profiteer, ft follows that there isn't any profiteering at all. Or doesn't it? . * * * New York has a law now permit ting the manufacture of 2.75 per cent beer, but the brewers say'..they're not going to start malting it till peace is declared. Now. watch. New York peo ple demanding the ratification of the treaty. , .# * ? ? . Some business men are saying that there isn't anything to these price reductions except just "seasonal sales." Evidently the low-price cam paign needs?mOre seasoning?the pub lic will have to.put a little more "pep" into it * * * The liext time Cuba asks Uncle Sam to buy her sugar at 6 1-2 cents a pound, she won't have to ask twice. But will there be any next time? * * * It stffl remains true that a profiteer is always the other fellow. ENGINEER IN PUBLIC LIFE. Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, the dis tinguished electrical engineer, in a commencement address at. a big sci entific school, lamented the small part taken by engineers in our public life. This, he 'said, is distinctly the age of engineering, just as certain previ ous epochs have been ages of artistic culture, law or religion. "It is the ad vance of science and engineering which in our time has made the good things of the world available to all, and has given to the masses a stand ard of living superior to that enjoyed by the few in the former ages." He deplored the fact that so few engineers are found in legislative bod ies and on State and national commis sions, even when these deal primar ily with engineering problems. "It is not that the engineer does not care for leadership," he said, "nor that the public does not appre ciate him. It is that, unfortunately, too many engineers are not competent to take their proper places as lead ers of this engineering age." j Speaking in this fashion,* Dr. Stein metz is probably over-modeat .as to the merits of his profession. There are undoubtedly large numbers of engineers who are competent to take conspicuous places of leadership in the nation's public life. The chief difficulty seems rather that the pub lic has never fully appreciated its need fa* them, and has never prop erly compared them, in ability and capacity for public service, with the; professional politicians, trained in lit tle except the art of vote -get tins, who ordinarily fill most of our public of fices. Dr. Steinmetz's conclusion is sound: "Much of the controversy and -strife which tend to industrial and social warfare would bo far nearer solution if the trained reasoning of the eng ineer would follow the differences of opinion back to the premises and thus jshow the reason Of honest disagree ment." He might have referred also to the executive ability which is often found to an extraordinary degree in the suc cessful representative of any of the various branches of scientific en gineering. It is the engineers who have done the biggest things of this generation. Why confine their work to mere ma terial progress? 'We could stand a good deal more engineering in Ameri can politics and government. rXTOXICATIOX CLASSES. In a statement sent recently to the governor of New York, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley dealt a blow to 2.75 per cent beer?or else he didn't. At any rate, he said in part: j "You cannot standardize a poison as to the'quantity required' for intoxica tion. You must standardize the in j dividual. There are as many differ ent sensibilities to toxic substances as there are individuals. You cannot say that 2.15 per cent beer is not in toxicating until you try it on every man, woman and child in the United States." To the prohibitionist this positive exposition of the case from a medical man's point of/view would seem to ban all beer, however small its alco holic content. But to the ever-hope ful "wet" it suggests the -possibility that no beer is intoxicating if only it is consumed by a person who can \ drink it without intoxication. The populace might be tested and classified. There could be \2.75 per cent for the .group which could stand up to 3 per cent beer, and so on down to the present one-half of one per cent for those who find that any thing stronger goes to their heads. CRIPPLED' COLLEGES ; An inquiry into the present plight of the higher educational institutions shows that college professors by hun dreds are giving up the strruggle to live on professorial salaries and are taking industrial positions, which pay them anywhere pom 50 to 500 p^er cent more than they have been get ting. . Teaching forces have been so much depleted by such resignations that many technical schools are obliged to place a limit on the size of their en tering classes. The natural outcome is that facili ties for turning out well-equipped j leaders of the future life, and work of the nation are deteriorating just when they ought to be improving. This is all the more serious because it is the opposite of the situation pre vailing in other important countrfes. Elsewhere, more attention than ever before is being?given to the up-build-j ing of educational systems and" the production of a generation of men specially trained to cope with the economic and political problems of the new age. The American public has awaken ed somewhat to the need of more lib-' era! salaries for public and high school] teachers, but this policy ?s yet has, been of "little help to the colleges. In some ways it has been to their dis advantage. In the agitation in behalf of elementary institutions, the higher institutions have been lost sight, of. This attitude must change if Ameri cans hereafter are to hold their dom inant place in a progressive world. Thorough education is going to be needed more than ever before, and any generation not possessing it will lose in the keen world-conrjpetition. Help is scarce on the farin, in the factory, in the office and in ithe kitch en. "Do it yourself" might he a good national motto for a year or two. ? , * * * ? A scientist has devised a method /or photographing sound. We ?do hope it won't be used on a jazz band. !There is enough' horror in #fe al ready. ^ * * * Villa has a price on his head feigain. And as usual in this time of intflateci prices, it's a good deal more thant the head is worth. t * * * New York State now has 2.75 {per cent beer on the statute books, t>ut the people are just as thirsty as ev.sx. They can't drink a statute, especially when its in conflict with a federal law* * * * There has been a bigger demand for homes among the birds, too, but they haven't had a bit of trouble with their building operations. * * * A good use for the money saved in price reductions is to^huy Libeiiy Bonds with it. Thus the consumer gain* bath ways* NOT THE BOLL WEEVIL Specimens Found So Plentifully In Sumter County Cotton Fields Not Cotton Pests Editor of The Daily Item: Sumter, S. C. Gear Sir:? For several days .past I. have been hearing quite a, good deal said/ about the boll weevil being on the little cot ton in Sumter. Clarendon and Lee counties. This morning I met a friend on the streets' of Sumter who informed me that Mr. S. A. Harvin had brought* in a number of so-called boil weevils, and left them at the City National Bank on exhibition. My in formant invited me to tak? a look at the bugs. I asked, him if I might be allowed to take the bugs that he had on exhibition to my home, that I might show them to Mr. A. F. Wil son, of Texas. Mr. Wilson is a former Sumter county boy, a son of the late B. F. Wilson, of Mayesville, and bro ther of Major H. Frank Wilson," of Sumter, who are remembered by many of your readers. Mr. Wilson has been living in Texas for forty-three years, and has had a very intimate acquaintance with the Mexican boll weevil, and he say& moit emphatically^ that the bugs exhibited at the City National Bank, said to have been gathered 'from the fields, of Mr. S. A. Harvin, are oot the Mexican boll weevil. I have in my office two boll weevils that were brought to Sumter .from Georgia, and by comparison it is not hard to distinguish the difference be tween the bugs in question and the genuine.bugs brought/from Georgia. ' My only excuse for troubling you with- this letter is that it might pe a comfort to those who are so vitally interested in the cotton crop. Respectfully, . H. L. Shaw. June 1st, 1920. MEASURING CLOTH BY MACHINE McCollum Bros Install Latest Device In Their Store In keeping with their progressive policy, McCollum Brothers have in stalled in their store on Main street several machines that will prove a great benefit to their customers. These machines are to measure the t cloth sold over the counter and are called Measuregraphs. The operation is a simple one, the end of the cloth being put into the machine and pulled through. There are two meters on the top of the measirregraph. which both the salesman and customer can see. One meter shows the exact amount of the cloth that has been pulled through while the other meter shows how much the cloth is worth, at any price per yard. Any length can be meas ured in this way, and any price goods can thus be valued. It takes but a glance to see how* much the cloth is worth, which is a vast improvement over the old way of sitting down and figuring out how much 1%. yards of cloth would be worth at $1.73 per yard. ? It is an improvement over the old yard stick, too, in that the customer gets the exact number of yards called for and is not liable to return home to find that by the carelessness cf the clerk, she had lost several inches in measurements. Another good point about this machine is that it does away with the old method of hacking at good cloth with a pair of scissors. The cloth is-cut by the machine and then can be torn with the thread and a straight piece of goods is thus assur ed. McCollum Brothers will be- glad to show their customers just "how this machine works and how much bene fit it will prove to the store, the clerk and the customer. WOMEN INSULT BRITISH FLAG Irish Sympathizers Burn Flag In frront of Treasury De ? partment Washington, June 3?The State De partment has asked the District of Columbia Commissioners for a state ment of facts as to the burning of a British flag yesterday in front of the Treasury by women sympathizers with Irish freedom. PRESIDENT'S PAY FREE FROM TAXES Federal Judges Not Subject to Income Tax. Says Court. Washington, June X.?Provisions of the war revenue act requiring the President and all Federal judges to pay an income tax on their salaries were declared unconstitutional today by the supreme court in a 7 to 2 de cision. Under the act the President paid on his salary ofi $75,000 a year approxi mately $16,000 in taxes. , Revenues already collected under the invalid provisions will: under the court's decision, be refunded by the treasury. The supreme court's decision was on appeals by Federal District Judge Walter Evans, of Louisville. Ky., from lower court decrees, dismissing a suit brought by him to recover taxes invol untarily paid. He contended that the Federal constitution prohibited judges' /'salaries being diminished during con tinuance in office." Justice Van Devanter. who render ed the majority opinion held, however, tl'urtt a Federal judge was not exempt fr.o.m tax on his private income or on his' .property. Justice Holmes rendered a dissent ing ^opinion in which Justice Brandeis concurred. mpoMMwamai miii.im.?um rmn STRIKING CLERKS I MAY LOSE JOBS! Railroad Officials 'Issue State- i f ment Concerning Strike. I Clerks Must Return Immediately I; ' - ??' : ! j Daily item. June 2?, ! j There is no change in / th ?>, strike j [Situation at the Atlantic Coast Line] freight .station tpday', except that'nine j or ten volunteers;, a rhjaroHy oC.tbem-j I old raUroad men, reported for work i at the station this morning and have; been assisting. Agent Boney in She] office work. The warehouse em-{ plbyees did not go out with the clerks.! and with the assistance of volunteers] in the.clerical department Agent Don ey is able to handle a great-deal of the} business and is succeeding in pre venting a complete- blocka-I? of in coming and outgoing freights. There has been no indication today, so far as has been, ascertainable, of a break in the strike and the freight j station clerks may remain ou* hidefln- j itely. The baggage handlers at the; passenger station are also out on a j strike and volunteers to handle the] ' baggage have been called ,ior. The1 following statement [relative to the strike and notice to the striking! ? clerks that unless they return to work tomorrow morning their peaces will be permanently filled, has been issued 1 bv General Superintendent W.7L Xew ell: 5 "The clerical forces of the Atlantic Coast Line left the service at Jackson ville. Fla., and Fayetteville. X. C., on: May 28; Waycross, Ga.. and Thomas ville, Ga., on' the 29th; Montgomery. Ala.; and Albany .on. the 80th: Savan , nah. Ga., High Springs. Fia., and Suni ter on the 31st; and at Florence. S.-C. on June 3. This action was taken with out any previous knowledge of or ad vice to officers of the railroad' as' to reasons for leaving the service and. without presenting any demands or grievances. H. Fitzgerald, acting . grand president of railway clerks, members' headquarters at "Washing ton, D. C, was advised of the situa tion on May 29 by telegram, as fol lows: ' f "Practically all of the clerks, mem bers of your organization.' emplojed by this company in our freight agencies and yard' at Jacksonville, Fla., TV ay cross, Ga., and Thomasville. Ga., and Fayetteville, X. C. went out on strike yesterday afternoon and this morning without any previous knowledge of or advice, to any official of this road as to reasons for leaving the. service and no- demands were presented or griev ances lodged. We can not believe this action was taken by your direction and we feel these men should return immediately to the^r respective posi tions and present grievances, if any in the proper way. Will you wire me please, directions you gave. Signature P. R. Albright, general manager." . "And in reply wired P. R. Albright. general manager on May ZO as fol-! lows:' -_J "Your wire. Hrrve wired Vice Pre sidents Nelson and Gaiflard to order men return to their positions, immedi ately. Signature, H. Fitzgerald, act ing grand president. '?Notwithstanding these instructions from acting grand preside n; ox tue Bro?ierhood. of Railway Clerks: but fewi of the striking clerks have as yet returned to th'-ir positions. Mr. Fitz gei-ald v.-as advised by the railway yes terday in the afternoon that in toe face of the instructions given him on_ the 3'Hh. the clerks at Savannah, Ga.. Sumter and High Springs, walked out on yesterday" and this morning the clerks at Florence; S. C, and P&iatkai walked out and the following tele gram was sent to H. Fitzgerald: "Re ferring to my wires of May 29 and 21, the clerks at Florence, S. C. an impor tant junction and transfer point also at Pal.atka. Fla., went out this menu ing.. Situation has now reached the ? point where we are.compelled to take action and I arn advising all concerned that unless the men out of the service return to their positions at usual re porting time on the morning of Thurs day. .June 2, it will be necessary to fill I their places in order to protect the I service. We have received a number 1 of offers from commercial bodies, bus iness men and citizens tendering their services to prevent a serious interrup tion of traffic and we car not longer delay in acceptance oft such exonera tion. Signature. P. R. Albright/ "In acocrdance with the foregoing, notice is hereby extended that unless those clerical employees now out of - the service return to their positions at or before the usual reporting time. Thursday morning. '.June their places will be considered vacant and will be permanently filled. The facts show that the action taken by the men now out' of service is unwarranted, unauthorized and illegal and the, man- . I agement hopes that upon reflection ! they wili return, to their positions, i .'within the time mentioned in this no tice/' '. .", ' { Railroad (lerks Return to Jobv The strike at the Atiantie. Coast I Line, freight station, which has had I the business congested' sincg. Monday morning, has -been ended .hyjjfche re turn of all the striking clerks, save one, to their jobs. They reported at . the usual hour this morning. busi ness is going on. as usual today..- With? , the help of the volunteer clerks yes terday Agent Boney was enabled to carry on the business, and a_-,.-consid erable quantity of incoming-.and out going freight was handled. .^Several days will be required to clear La*p the business that accumulated while' the clerks were on strike, but theyOj?cials hope that conditions will be restored to normal within a short- tinje. ' .", I 77;- * ' ? - ? I LOST?One cream colored Jersey*cow, j 'strayed from home Friday. Reason I abie reward for information or re j .turn to Mrs. A. D. Plowden,-: on Brewington Road, P..O.. Gable," S.. C.^ .-j-1-s ~~-??~" -r FOR SALE?At a bargain, one Colo's > generator complete with all fixtures. ?It's all new and never been ?ncrat- : ed. See J. P. Commander. . ', ' * NEHiL OTJONNELL, President / O. It YATES, Oasbicr "HELLO DADDY" "Don't forget your Kiddie." Per mit us to suggest a substantial way of remembering "Kiddie." Com mence Monday ' morning and deposit one dollar to his credit, and keep this up every week until he is 21 years of age. We will compound it quarterly at four per cent, and by the time the . boy reaches the. age of maturity, -he will have a bank account sufficient' to start him in business. The First National Bank SUMTER, SVC. The National Bank of South Carolina of Sumter, S. C. Resources $2,600,000. Strong and Progressive The Most Painstaking SERVICE with COUKTESY <5ive ns the Pleasure of Serving TOU The Bank of the Rank; and File C. G. ROWLAND, President KARLE ROWLAND, Cashier