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11*$ Watchman and Southron *$&UsS>cd Wednesday ,and Satur 4 day by Ostecn Publishing Company, Smnter, S. C. K Temas: '$?.'90 per ;^raram?in advance. AdYcrtiscjaicnts: One Square, first insertion ..$1.00 ^ei*y subsequent insertion .50 - Contracts for three months or Jpngerwin be made at reduced rates. ^ All,-communications which sub serve jprivate interests will je Charged for as advertisements. ^Obituaries and tributes of re spect wHI be eharged for. ;;-^The Sumter Watchman was founded in 1850 and the True l^ntbron in 1866. The Watchman ?d&d So\ithron "now has the com bed, circulation and influence of tjoth ofVtbc old papers, and is m?n if^iy .the best -advertising medium jp^S^nfrer. ...... , CAUSE FOR GRATITUDE. -the brief days since November the nation lias suddenly been en something very much worth hemg thankful for. Tha: is the ?M9?picipVLs opening of the arms conference at Washington and the .attitude of peoples the world over .^$h?ch it ? implies. ".T^The amazement at the directness of Mr. Hughes' program was fol almost immediately hy lent at the fact that the oth 'jsbwers acquiesced in it so readi in .principle and appear so h?pe ?&l--fe8 to the working out of details. ^eSyre the opening of the confer ence there was a good -deal of tall: of international suspicion. This ,4??ntry was supposed to be^ con fident of its own good faith but 'rather iiubiotls about that of its world neighbors. They, in turn, -were all supposed to be mutually ^distrustful. Tet here we see them r%'^tihg frankness with frankness sind good will with good will. For .She time being, at least, suspicion melted away. i is only one explanation of the overwhelming feeling of people back home in-all the lands represented. Thanksgiving -to* the unity "of that feeling and M'or its strength is in the hearts of &? the world today. m -? m?BBSmE^T PEM?NSTRAT ;. Ever since 1817, the United States "/ and "Great Britain have lived ami cSbiy under anagreement limiting Jjg|?2?'the mamber of armed vessels may .maintain on the Great fJ?kes. A commission, arbitrates all disputed points. - - In 1902, Argentina and Chile agreed to an actual disarmament contract as regarded their naval ? forces. This agreement involved - eXc-^ -Iy such an abandonment of new construction programs and a _ ^rapping of old ships as the pro posed havai disarmament arrange ment suggested at the conference '^hjr Secretary Hughes. The fleets in - .5ejived were smaller, naturally, than : ^%pmg} ^concerned in the present na reduction proposals, but the .^principle "of the thing was just the ^saine. -&'!' The plan is surely as feasible on ^^e larger'scale. Moreover, what is ^feasible for sea forces ought v.o be ?^feasible for land forces. The point swBrtoagree to arbitrate and then to m abide by the agreement. All the * rest is red tape and conversation. ? I^NI> FOKCEES. to *v . -- The TJnffed States proposal for -"the reduction of navies has been ^accepted ? "in principle" by the * ?reat powers. The working out of ~* Small adjustments is a matter for the committees. Soon will come .' discussion of land armaments, and hi this France will probably lead the way, as her position is acknowl edged to he both delicate and try ing. The relative reduction of land forces win be a more difficult sub >. ject than the reduction of naval * forces. But the spirit of confidence faith which made the naval posal possible may work anoth miracle in the substantial reduc n of armies. There is a good deal of talk in is connection of the "unknown uantities" of Russia, Germany and the Far East. But the unknown quantities, like the known, are . made up of piain people who I would rather live at peace than go to war. And if the knowns estab lish the principles of peace on land and sea, there will be less to fear from the unknowns. UKl'lisH INTEREST PAYMENTS. j5ir Robert Horne, chancellor of the British exchequer, announces arrangement by which the Brit government will begin paying &f\ th? interest on its debt to this ^try, at the rate of 50,000,000 snds a year. This means, at resent rates of exchange, about 1$20H!),&(K>.000 a year. At the same -y%fme, he expresses a hope that his UitteTit, made to the House of Commons, "will riot l>e made the occasion for any discussion of the inter-allied indebtedness," because he thinks such discussion at present will not help friendly feeling be tween the British and Americans. Sir Robert may. be wrong about that, at least as regards the Amer icans. It is coming to be better under stood in this country that there is nothing dishonorable about the \ debt in question. It was incurred by an ally under the stress of heces- i sity. it represented credits for war supplies purchased in this country, j The British themselves lent to other Allies more than they borrowed from us. They were assured when the loans were made that they would not be pressed for early pay-, ment. Thejyhave not indicated any desire to avoid payment, unless by an arrangement whereby they would give up'more'billions, lent by them, than they owe us. These face's, driven home by this decision to . make systematic interest pay-j merits, should lead to a better feel ing about the :matter. - "???? ? ? ? AMNESTY FOR WAR PRISON- j ERS. A correspondent .tells of asking a high naval officer in Washington what he thought about a pardon I for X>ebs. He answered: '"We'll, it seems to me that the I war has been over so long by this time that almost everybody ought to oe pardoned. And I think that goes for pretty nearly everybody in the service.^that I Tcnow." Army men- are said to feel the j same way about it. As for civilians, there is no -Question of their atti tude. The war has been over tech nically for four months and actual ly for three years. Passions have cooled dowfc and the necessity for j ! rigor has passed. Most Of the pris oners, soldiers, sailors or civilians, I were sentenced to preserve the j morale of the' army, navy or public I i in. v,*axtime.; " Peace "has its own | I morale, ' which demands normal j j justice, with .an admixture of gen- j j erosity. Those who committed real j crimes during the war ? deeds | j which would have incurred severe J j penalties at any time?must have j their punishment take its normal course. But most of the war of I fenses, particularly in the service, I were petty or technical violations I I. of military rule. Is it not time for j ' a general amnesty? X SEA-LEYEL CANAL. For. generations ; there has been [ 1 talk of ? -sea level canal at" Pana- I ! ma. The French planned one. The . ! United States considered a channel j I of that type, but rejected it because j j of the expense and delay it involv- | ed. ? Now Colonel Philippe Bunau- J Varilla, who was chief engineer | when the French government con- j trolled the project, insists that the j American people should not delay i making the waterway a broad j channel level with the sea. The i work, he says, need not interfere with continuous operation of the ; i. ? . ; ? } lock canaL and the advantages wouh tc. incalculable. The only se rious problem would be presented by the difference in the level of the two oceans, and harbor works could regulate the current due to that. The late General Serrell, who i surveyed the route for the Panama ? railway and knew every foot of the i canal zone long before the water- j I way was dug, always advocated a I sea level canal, whatever the cost, I and even proposed to tunnel I through a mountain on a scale that .would permit the passage of mast- ! j ed ships, should that be necessary. ; ; To the last he predicted that even j tually the United States would be I compelled to ihake the channel a I broad and level one. In view of the rapidly increasing ? volume of canal traffic, and particu j larly because of the enormous lum J ber movement from North Pacific : ports, the sea level canal project is ! again commanding attention. The I cost would be great, but the handl ing of tonnage would, no doubt, be greatly facilitated and a mater ial reduction'in tolls might be made I possible. -'?? ? ?' ? Reckless driver: Any former jay-walker who has a car. -??? ? i ? The taxpayer . knows why they call 'em "high" explosives. ? Opportunity finds the man who is on the job. See the Picture of the Parade at the Rex Theatre I Monday and Tuesday j Tuberculosis in i Philippines Anti T. B. Society Appeals to Rockefeller For Help / Manila, P. I.. Oct. 15.?The Phil ippine Islands Anti-Tuberculosis Society has appealed to John I>. Rockefeller, Jr.. who is now at Peking, China, to assist in the work of stamping out the tuberculosis which it is estimated causes th<> death of 30,000 Filipinos every year. Mr. Rockefeller in a reply cable, stated that he had referred the so ciety's request to Dr. Victor G. Heiser, representative of the Rock efeller Foundation and former di rector of health in the Philippine Islands, who would return to Ma nila from Peking within a short 1 time, for the purpose of conducting an investigation of health condi tions throughout the Philippines. According to the records of the j Anti-Tuberculosis Society approxi- 1 mately 500,000 people in the Phil ippines are suffering from the tu beruclosis at present time. Officials of the society expresed the belief that the Insular government would make an appropriation with which to start a health campaign, point ing out in support of this belief that Major General Leonard Wood who has frequently stated in pub lic speeches that the government not only could not economize in ex- j penditures for sanitation, but that j it would be compelled to spend more money each year for that purpose. Society officials said it was the belief that substantial aid could be expected from the Rocke feller Foundation in the fight against tuberculosis provided the government made the start in an intensive campaign against the disease. <? ? o The Red Cross in Emergencies. On its record of achievement the American Red Cross during its an nual Roll Call, November 11 to November 24, will ask the Ameri can people for continued allegi ance and support during the cur rent year through renewal of mem bership. This record includes relief rush ed in disaster, food furnished to famine district, actual service of ministration in thousands of homes afflicted by sickness, campaigns of education in home hygiene and care of the sick, salvage of life and property in industrial acci dents, and labor for thousands and thousands of ex-service men and members of their families in their fight to meet the new problems of every-day b'fe. Forty-three disasters resulting in the death in the United States of S50 persons and the injury of 2,500 called for emergency relief measures and the expenditure of $1.871,000 by the Red Cross during the year. A summary of the year's disas ters shows they were of varying types, including several'which have never been regarded as falling with in the disaster classification. Red Cross relief was furnished *in 17 fires: five floods: seven tornadoes or cyclones: one devastating storm: three explosions, including the one in Wall Street; one building acci dent: two typhoid epidemics, the most serious being that .at Salem. Ohio, which affected nine per cent of the population; one smalliJbx epidemic, in the republic of Haiti: one train wreck; the race riot at T?lsa. Okla.; the famine in China, affecting millions of persons: emergency relief in famine amonsc the Indians of Alaska; .the grass hopper plague in North Dakota and an earthquake in Italy. By far the most severe of the- dis asters in the United States during the period covered by the annual report, was t'--e Pueblo flood, early in June. The rehabilitation problem hero was the most serious encoun tered by the Red Cross in recent years. The terrible havoc wrought by the flood waters is a matter of record. More than 2,300 home? were affected and 7.331 persons were left homeless. In connection with the admin istration of disaster relief meas ures, an increasing effectiveness on the part of the Red Cross to deal with emergencies was mani fest during the year. Through its chain of Chapters, linking virtu ally every county in the country with National Headquarters at Washington, the Red Cross has established a net-work of com munication through which instan taneous relief may be dispatched to any part of the United States. Through its Nursing Service, its Home Hygiene* and Care of the Sick. Nutrittion. First Aid and Life-Saving classes and Health Centers, and in numerous other ways designed to acquaint masses of citizens with proper methods of livng. the Red Cross carried its message of health into all parts of the country. The American Red Cross Nursing Service, the reserve of the Army, Navy and Public Health Service, today lias enrolled 37.7S7 nurses, an increase of 1,0S4 over last year. In the United States last year. 75.432 persons were killed and 3.500,000 injured in industrial ac cidents. To prevent this enormous waste of human life, the Red Cross organized 5.100 First Aid classes with a total of 104,000 stu dents enrolled. Tin- First Aid (lasses were organized in industrial and business concerns, schools, colleges and universities, among (foreign groups and among clubs and < ivi<- groups interested in re ducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries. One hundred and sixty Red Cross Life-Saving Corps, with an enrollment of IT.000 ope rated -during the year. -? ? ? And so tie' dye industry fits ?i people for conflict. Huh. You can say that much f<-: th<- rye in dustry. The "ex" marks the spot where Karl's plans Mi thronen. Georgia Sch?tfF Money Missing Governor Charges Atlanta Man With Embezzlement Atlanta, Nov. 21.?On Instruc tions from Governor Hardwick, a warrant charging embezzlement was issued late today by M. L. Brittain, state superintendent of education, against R. Noble Bcr rien, Jr., president of R. N. Ber rien. Jr., and Company, of Atlanta, who have been handling the de ferred payment school warrants of the state. The governor's action, it was an nounced, followed the failure of Mr. Berrien to appear at the capitol to day to make good several thousand dollars worth of school warrants turned over to him. At the same time, the governor was adviseu by private detectives who were on the ease, it was stated, that Mr. Ber rien had disappeared and all ef forts to locate him were without success. .\n investigation was started to ascertain' whether Mr. Berrien could account for all warrants as previously turned over to him for discount. After completing this in vestigation, Superintendent Brittain notified the governor in writing that checks drawn by Mr. Berrien for school disbursements aggregating $30,000 had been tsitwed down at the bank, and that he had served notice on Mr. Berrien to make good these checks not later than 3:30 o'clock today. Governor Hardwick late today issued a statement saying: "The school warrants in question were issued by the governor's office in conformity with the provisions j of the statutes, payable to the coun j ty and city superintendents of edu | cation and were delivered by this : office to the state superintendent of I schools. This office has followed I strictly both the unbroken practice ; and the law with respect to these warrants. * "While I deeply regret the occur \ rence nothing in my power could i have been done to prevent it. 1 j earnestly hope the defalcation may j not prove very large and that Mr. ! Berrien may be able to make it ?good." ? ? ? \ International Live Stook Exposition I Chicago, Nov. 20.?The Interr.at i I ional Live Stock Exposition at the ? Union Stock Yards. November 26 to j December 3, was instituted primar ! ily for the improvement of domcs I tic animals but it has. in the two ? decades of its successful operation, ; acquired other phases until its I many diversions place it in the i front rank of national entertain | nients, in addition to its standard ! educational features, according to ! officers of the exposition. During i the evening spectacles, there will ; appear the aristocracy of the equine : species?a horse show with the j added attractions of cattle and ; sheep. Here the East snd West ' will actually meet, the cow prmy t contesting popularity with the blooded riding-horse, the coaeher j and the jumper. ; The most valuable seed stock in j the world, cattle, swine and sheep \ are assembled from two continents, j constituting an international ex | liibit in the broadest sense of the j term. There will also be a grain and I hay show. According to officials the mission i of the International Livestock Ex position is economy of production. I thereby increasing the wealth of I the nation, directing the vision of I this gencratiortxirtto profitable chan nels. ? ? ? ; Bargain Sale of Postage Stamps 1 Shanghai, Oct. }2 (By Mail) ? ' The United States Postal Agency at Shanghai is probably the only : American Postoffice that ever held ; what may be called a bargain sale j in stamps. This happened thi6 fall j and was made possible -by fluc ! tuation in the rate of exchange. I About a year ago as a measure ! of convenience for the public the ! Ame rican postofficc placed on sale ! stamps that could be purchased in j the currency of the country, based ! in value upon the Mexican dollar. ; These new stamps called sur J charge stamps merely were the or ; dinary two-cent and other stamps, ; but they bore in black letters on ; their face?for the two-centers? ' the words "Shanghai 4c China." Soon after these stamps were is I sued, by reason of a fluctuation in the rate of money exchange the sale of the surcharge stamps had to be stopped. Early this fall the money ex > change rate again went to a point at which it was possible again to j place these stamps on sale and i promptly a rush followed to buy j them. The reason was the anxiety ; of collections throughout the world i to obtain sets of the stamps. It was : found that while a complete set of ; stamps could be purchased at the j American post office in Shanghai for I Mex. $r>.74, 5he same sets were be I ing sold by collectors in New York ; at a rate of gold $10 and in Lon don at three pounds. The Ameri can postoffiee in Shanghai is the 1 only distributing office in the world j where these stamps may be obtain j ed and they are issued from the ; Shanghai office only when the ex 1 change rate warrants their-sale. I * ? ? Austraban Labor Conference. Melbourne. Oct. 16.?The Inter state Labor Conference has termi ; nated its proceedings by adopting a j proposal of Premier Theodor, of ' Queensland, in favor of making the commonwealth the supreme governing authority of Australia with unlimited powers, states to have only such functions as the commonwealth confers, and the 1 commonwealth to have the right to errate new states. The scheme; which is a drastic form of unification, provides for the abolition of the senate, the vest ing of the final jurisdiction in all causes in the high court, and dis allowing the acceptance of Im perial honors in any circumstances by any Australian citizen. Navy For ? Defense Only Secretary Hughes Based Prop osition on Idea That Navies Should Be For Protection Washington, Nov. 14 (By the As sociated Press).?Limitation of the j world's navies so that :hey will bei adapted for defensive purposes only is the fundamental motive which inspired the proposals submitted | to the armament conference by I Secretary Hughes, it was learned j tonight from authoritative sources. The proposals were based, it was j explained, on the proposition that 1 navies should be so restricted in gun and man power that they would not be used for offensive pur poses. The conception of defensive na- j J vies, it was stated, produced the i American formula with limitation ; j of capital ships as the primary ba | sis and subsidiaries of such ships the minor factors, subject to adjust- i ment through exchange of views of ? the naval experts of the powers. With the primary consideration I that of providing for defensive na ; vies, the American delegates in de ! fining the proposals now before the j conference, were said to have i 1 adopted the present relative. I strength of the three great'' naval I powers as the only fe'asible basis ; for easy agreement. The propos j ed limitations of capital ships for j the three powers were regarded as j ! sufficient for respective navies of ' defense. The American delegates : were reported to have rejected as bases for consideration the cjues j tions of territorial possessions, their j extent and whether they were scat j tered or collected. They also were i said to have rejected, as imprac tical in considering a defensive navy, the question of mileage of re spective coast lines. It was made known that the United States by virtue of its hav ing the most extensive naval build ing program, felt itself in a position, to make the definite proposals which were laid before the con ference. The American delegates said that under the circumstances the United States has a "'primary" } interest in naval building and com ! petition. They considered, it was I said, that not only in present I building but in future programs this country was definitley commit - {ted to the largest naval outlay and, : therefore, had most at stake in the j declaration immediately of a naval j holiday. j In Far Eastern questions, the j United States was said to face a ! different situation for whereas the i Question of naval limitation was I held to be a prihiarv one for I America, problems of the Far East ! were regarded as not so vital as J perhaps to some other countries, j For this reason, it was indicated i that possibly the American dele ' gates would not take so definite an initiative on this subject when it is j reached by the conference.. j The' capital ship formula in the j naval program was said to have : been adopted with the idea not only I that subsidiary arms of the navy \ could be easily and more definitely j limited but that it offered a tan | gible basis for enforcement. Capi i tal ships, it was pointed out, could I not be built quickiy and hardly sec i retly in violation of any agree j ment which might be reached. No attempt was made in the American proposals to limit devel opment of aircraft, it was** said, among other reasons because it } would have been difficult if not im i possible to insure observance of any 1 such agreement. It would be near i ly impossible, it was declared, for ; any check to be kept on airplane ! engine construction while the mat ! ter of equipping an airplane engine I with wings was said to be one of j only a few weeks as compared with ! years for completion of a capital i ship. ? ? ?' Movie Picture Makers at Work in the South Sea i j Papeete. Tahiti. Oct. 11 ? (By j Mail)?During the past month, Ta j hiti has been vast moving picture j studio. A company of American "movie" actors have been staging ? A hectic drama of love and hate in i the South Seas. The cocoanut groves and fairy valleys have echoed to the cries of frenzied di rectors und clicking of cameras un til the lotus eaters have been awak ened from their beatific dreams, and the tinkle of much backsheesh has stirred even then Tahitian na tive to get up and bustle, j It has not been one "grand sweet i song' for the director. There has ! been no little difficulty in getting ! the native "supers' 'to take their j parts seriously. When the big i aeroplane engine started the hurri I cane, which was to sweep the na j tive village to the four quarters of ! the compass, the inhabitants, in stead of rushing from, their totter ing huts and registering consterna tion, stood around in groups laugh j ing at the artificial destruction and j incidentally spoiling several huo I dred feet of valuable film. Nor has ! it been easy to induce pious church j members (whose ancestors repu i diated heathenism over a hundred j years ago) to bow down with con I vincing abandon to the big papier I mache idol (made in the U. S. A.) I set up before the mystic grotto-j especially with their friends and j relatives standing about making j ribald remarks. It has. nevertheless, been a joy- j ous month for the islanders. The.- j have long bt-en ardent devotees of j the moving picture theatre: and I this opportunity ?f witnessing the | technique of the making of pictures j has afforded them much delight, j An armored motor car. built | by an American firm at a Cost of | $45,000, has been supplied to the j Chinese Military Governor of Man churia. At any rate, medicinal beer will relieve those who are sick of home brew. Belf?ur Would Modify Hughes Plan British Delegate Suggests Change in Naval Disarm ament Washington, Nov. 14 (By the As sociated Press).?Great Britain's acceptance "in principle" of the American proposal for limitation of naval armaments contemplates an alteration of the plan in several im portant details. The British accept ance will be presented at tomor row's plenary session of the con- : ference by Arthur J. Balfour, head of the mission who has plenipoten tiary powers. Japan's acceptance "in principle," although it has been 1 forecast by the statements of Ba ron Admiral Kato, may be delayed as the Japanese mission is obligat- I ed to confer with Tokyo. Mr. Balfour may not outline the I details of the reservations Great Britain wishes to make but they | are substantially described this i way; Instead of a flat ten year holiday, i Great Britain wants the replace meht program to be an elastic one I ?spread over a period of years. Great Britain would like to see the submarine outlawed from naval ] warfare; failing this she wants to see their tonnage and equipment distinctly limited. She feels that the submersible fleets allowed by the American program are too great: she has never had so large a submarine fleet as the proposals j would allow her. The United States, Great Britain ; feels, would have her at a disad I vantage in airplane carrying ships, j by the terms of American propos als,, because while Great Britain I has an equipment of these craft, '. the United States would have to ! build new the number allotted, j They would be of a later design : and of superior improvement, I while the British ships would be obsolete. Great Britain wants the replace ment program spread over a period of years, because British naval ex | ports argue, the program could be carried on with a very small equip ? ment of building plant at a small ; scale, probably a ship at a time. If j a fiat ten year holiday were to be j ^declared they say the facilities for | ! making a wholesale replacement at j the end of ten years would have to j be kept in organization and al though great fleets of war ships.j might be consigned to junk pile, the facilities for reproducing them still would exist. j Such a program, the British na ; val experts say, does not go to the I root of the' question. Therefore I they will propose that, for instance, ; a one ship production equipment I be left to each nation, to fit in i with a replacement program ex 1 tending over a period of years, and I that the immense proportions, ! equipment, technical staffs and oth j er organizations which would have ! to be kept in readiness to take up j a replacement program in ten years ! be dispensed with. - ! London, Nov. 14 (By the Asso- , j ciated Press).?Officials in Downing 1 J street today declared frankly that Prime Minister Lloyd George cor dially welcomed the general prin ciple of America's naval restric ' tion program as laid down by Sec i retary of State Hughes at the ini i tial session of the Washington con | ference last Saturday. The prime j minister is keeping in close touch i I with proceedings at Washington. J I A. J. Balfour, head of the British j i delegation there, already has sub- : j mitted a report and it was said to- i j day there would be daily commu ' nication between him and Mr. j j Lloyd George's Downing street of- i i fice. Government officials empha- I j sized, however, that it should not ' I be inferred that the policy of the ! British delegates in the American j capital was being dictated from I London. It was pointed out that while neither Mr. Lloyd George nor Mr. I Balfour had the requisite technical j knowledge to approve the Ameri can proposal off hand, they were I both heartily in favor of the gen eral principles contained in the proposal. - ? ? ? On an Island 700 Miles in the; South Sea ! Honolulu. T. H.. Sept. 26 (By Mail)?The tale of a modern ! "Swiss Family Robinson," compos ed of two men and one woman who for nearly a year have been living a life of isolation on Palmyra islands, a lonely atoll more than 700 miles south of Honolulu, but officially a part of the city and county of Hon olulu, in an effort to start a copra plantation, was related here when | j the United States Eagle boat num- j i her 4 returned from a visit and ; ! aerial survey of the pin-prick dot | j on the map. Mrs. William Ming, the only wo man in the party, returned to Hon- : j olulu aboard the vessel, for medical treatment. She. her husband. Col. William Ming and Edward Benner ; were the only human being on the ; I island which is far outside the reg- i ular steamer paths, without wire less or other regular communica- | tion with the world. ? ? ? The House of Aguinaldo. Manila. P. L, Oct. 20 (By Mail) j ?The house in which General i Bmilio Aguinaldo lived when he was captured by General Frederick Funston nearly twenty years ago ; j has been virtually consumed for ; ! fuel by the inhabitants of Palanan. 1 I Isabela province only a few posts I of the structure being left stand I ing. according to a report of J. H. Butler, superintendent of schools of Isabela. ro the director of edu cation. The superintendent thinks the house should be of historic im | poriance and suggests that steps be j taken to preserve the site and what I is left of the building. -^,^9 A Congressman says Russia's; ! civilization can be re-established on j broad lines. He probably means! bread lines. Garland Johnson Wins Firestone Scholarship West Virginia High School Girl's Essay Wins From 300,000 Contestants The following essay has won a college eduction, with all expenses paid, for its author, Garland John son, fourteen years old, of Bridge port, West Virginia. The prize was offered last May. It is the gift of Mr. Harvey S. Firestone of Akron, and was an nounced by United States Commis sioner of Education I*. P. Clax ton. Three hundred thousand essays were handed in by girls and boys of high school grade throughout the United States. The best of these essays were sent by school principals to the state commission ers of Education, who in turn transmitted the best of them to Washington foir final judgment. In the opinion ot the final judges ?Dean A. X. Johnson of the Uni versity of Maryland. Mr. C. L. Hus ton, Assistant Secretary of Com merce, together with the Editor of Colliers?every essay had merit. Decision was difficult. But the judges have agreed that Garland Johnson's essay is just enough bet ter than the others to make it their unanimous choice. When Garland Johnson is ready for college, Mr. Firestone will as sume the expense of her education at any college she selects: Good Roads and Highway Trans port. (By Garland Johnson, Bridgeport, W. Va.) This morning the clank of chains and tramp of horses' hoofs called me to the window where the road scraper was smoothing the highway before the house. This afternoon a sudden rainstorm undid the work, leaving struggling motor cars plow ing axle deep in clayey West Vir ginia mud. Last March the upkeep of the dirt roads in the county cost $22, 000, besides which the muddy roads caused expensive damages and de lays. This is the "mud tax," which everyone must pay directly or indi rectly. Permanent highways will mean higher taxes, but they will j be more than repaid by increased real-estate values and lowered \ transportation costs. The invention of the railroad, during the early development of this country, made it possible for the nation to spread over vast ter ritories in a few decades. A his torian tells us that twelve thousand wagons passed between Pittsburgh. Philadelphia, and Baltimore in 1S17. This would mak^ a week's traffic over the Pennsylvania Rail road now. The railroad situation is a vital problem today, for when transportation breaks down, civil ization cannot stand. The country's needs have out grown the railroads, and the mo tor truck on permanent highways seems to be the solution for our transportation problem. The agricultural population of a country is the foundation of its prosperity. The influx of population to our cities is the most character istic movement of today, and is largely caused by the isolation of farm life. Good roads and the family car give the farmers' family social advantages, and make pos sible a consolidated school and I central church for the farm dis trict. The problem of the "high cost of living" is largely a distribution problem. Transportation takes toll j from every consumer. With hard surface roads a team or truck can pull ten times as great a load as on muddy roads, and the farmer can move his crops in accordance with the market rather than the condi tion of the roads, thus reducing storage costs and discouraging speculation. Good roads lower living costs by keeping the producer on the farm.' and widening the area of produc tive cultivation. Since the befdnninpr of the World "War vacation travel has been di verted to tours in our own country, resulting in a quickening of interest in road improvement. With the increase in automobiles and exten sion of national highways tourist travel has increased rapidly, ex pending money at home rather than abroad, and promoting nat ional unit/ and intelligent patriot ism . Ever since the Romans linked their empire together with roads that endure to the present day, military leaders have recognized the importance of good roads. Mo tor busses on the splendid high ways of France brought up the j reserves in time to save the allies ] at Verdun. When the railroads | of our country were burdened with : war-time traffic, and embargoes j were placed on non-essentials, the motor truck was extensively used I to relieve the freight congestion. Money invested in good roads pays as high dividends in peace as in | war. Truly, this is a form of pre- I paredhess which all can indorse! ? ? ? i Many Spanish-American News papers at the Press Congress Of the World Honolulu. T. H.. Oct. 20 (By; Mail)?An interesting incident of the Press Congress of the World which has just closed its sessions I here was an exhibit of Spanish- j American newspapers, comprising all the leading journals of Central j and South America. Mexico and j the Antilles, with an explanatory I lecture by Dr. Virgilio Rodriguez \ Beteta. of Guatemala city, one of j the vice-presidents of the congress. I Nearly one thousand specimens were shown. The collection is the property of Dr. Peter Goldsmith,'of the Columbia University, and is the result of five years' labor. Still, a great many men would attend church if they were given opportunity to talk back at the preacher. Blight-Proof Cabbage A Variety Developed That is Proof Against Disease Known as Yellows Racine, Wis.. Nov. 20.?Those persons who like to have just a few barrels of sauer kraut in the house in case of sickness or to whom corn' beef and cabbage is a necessity and cabbage salad a lux ury owe an inestimable debt to Dr. L. R. Jones, plane pathologist of the University of Wisconsin and to the persistence of a group of Wisconsin cabbage growers along the west shores of Lake Michigan. In the/ face of a blight which in variably followed continuous plant ing of cabbage and which practi cally threatened the extermination of the commercial growth of the plant, experiments conducted by Dr. Jones have saved the industry. The story is told by a writer in The Wisconsin Agriculturalist. It is a story of a ten years fight by scientific men using the weapon of selection and elimination against a disease known as Cabbage Yel lows and which science finally has won. Today there are miles of cabbage fields in the truck section of Wisconsin and Illinois where a few years ago scarcely a trace of a crop would reward the best efforts of the farmers. Cabbage grows almost every where in the United States but it was an unsatisfactory crop because after a few years of production, land would invariably become in fected with Yellows and henceforth for all tihie would refuse to grow cabbage.' The principle upon which "Or. Jones operated was this. A field infected with yellows would pro duce maybe a dozen, maybe not more than one or two heads per acre. For some reason these hea; would have a natural immunity to yellows. The theory was that the progeny of these -individual heads would continue to develop the im munity to a larger degree and this has worked out in fact. In 1910 when the Wisconsin cabbage, growers were disheartened and about to abandon the indus try, Dr. Jones selected a single he from a.ten acre field owned by J. Hansche of Kenosha coun Cabbage; Is a biennial and it t two years for the seed to develo but the. ultimate seeds from th single head also proved to have : immunity to the Yellows. I They were planted and careful I ly conserved and studied and from ? this single head was developed the j Wisconsin Hollander cabbage, a : strain that grows luxuriantly in-the j worst yellows and diseased land. I A. J. Piper. Broesch Brothers, j Walker Brothers and a few other I lake shore truck growers were also conducting similar experiments and establishing the principle that by selection and elimination iiff i munity could be developed, j Up to ?his year, almost no seec? j of the disease resistant strain wa* } sent out of the state,^-a4th^M^cah I bage growers everywhere wno hat ' watched the experiments clamored I for it. There was not enough seed I yet to supply Wisconsin nor in tact j any more than for use for further ! growth of-'Seed cabbage. This year ! the seed- is being distributed by the ; College of Agriculture of the Uni I versity to other experiment stations ! and colleges where it will be nsed j by them in overcoming their yel ; lows infected cabbage land. -? o ? . The Cercopidae. New Haven, Conn., Nov. 19.? Probably every one'who has walk ! cd through meadows in early : summer has noticed masses of ! froth on grass stems and wonde^ I ed at them. Various fanciful narr.d have been given them such as "snake-spit" and frog-spit." A few possibly have examined the "froth" and found in it an insect. Few oth ers than entomologists know just what species is responsible for it. I The common notion that these in f sects arc young grasshoppers is in , correct. Professor Philip Garman, assist : ant entomologist of the Connecticut . ; -Agricultural Experiment sstatioij. j has made a study of this insect and j is the first to discover-and describe^^ the egg stage. Ti tfMlH^*^ j He found that the euriol^?Htny balls are made by immature sucking ! insects of the family Cercopidae, . ; commonly known as "frog hop ? pers." They are closely allied to j leaf-hoppers but "their life story j has not been told until now. ' The. insect is found to do injury * I to grass: there is one brood each J year; the eggs are laid late in the summer and fall in the sheath, of grass stems two or three Inches ! from the ground. The egg stage lasts from 2S1 to 233 days and they hatch, kite in May. The spittle glands of the adults are indicated by yellow spots on ! the abdomen. By taking in air and expelling it under a sticky sub stance, a froth is made which soon surrounds the insect. Moults take place within the froth until the hopper is. able to fly. The froth protects the insect from parasitic enemies. The greatest modern lady killer is Bluebeard Landru. Shooting stars is what som?' movie fans would like to be doing. ?^^*^* * Conferencially speaking, the devil finds work for idle arms. -? ? ?-_ What, has become of the old fashioned Mexico where election re turns were given in killed and wounded? -? o -. Solomon's Temple, for the build ing of which* practically the whole % manhood of Israel was comman- \ deered, would hove cost $5,000,000. 000 to. construct at present prices^?' In an average life of 70 "years, , not counting the first 10, over 22|p years are spent in sleep, over ? in work, n months in dressing and undressing and 7 montlis in church going says one statistician. *