University of South Carolina Libraries
some of the wo] I carolina tax t I results Atta: . ? ? --?H -^v-..; ? , J * Those who desire to kn?wj something of the work of the ! . South Carolina Tax Commission, j and who are interested in tax re-j form in this state, will gain infer- ; mation by reading- the following: j The Constitutin of South Carp- j ' lina,. Section 1. Article X. provides: i "The genera) assembly shall pro- ? Aide by law for a^ uniform and] equal, rate of assessment and tax-1 ation, and ^hall prescribe regula- j lipas to secure a just valuation for-j taxation of all property, real, per- \ ^onal and possessory. * * *'* j : In conformity to the above pro-i - vision of the Constitution, the leg- ] \slature .created the South Carolina j Tax Commission and imposed upon! s it the duty of generally superyis-; ^teg.an4 equalizing the assessment; o? property throughout the state it; I order that equality of the tax bur- f den among the several counties of; the state and among individual cit- j . izens might be obtained. , ; *? The Tax Commission has proceed -1 ed with the discharge of its duties j under the . constitution and statutes, { and. the following is some of its; . "work since organization: During i '.. the year 1922 additional duties w?re imposed upon" the commission, \ among them, enforcing the provis ions of the incoine tax. the gasoline . tax. corporation license taxes and the inheritance laws, wh ich Avil! be t. hereinafter referred to, , . It was generally recognized when the ta"x commission was created in 1915, that no real effort had ever been made, nor were there i proper facilities for equalizing as- j sessanests of the" various classes of \ property throughout the state for taxation. .The whole field.'was un touched, and it presented the ap , pearance pf a piece of patch work, just as necessarily resulted j i?rom forty-five separate arid dls-j tinct county boards of equalization.;' a state board of equalization and \ board of assessors working on inde pendent lines and in accordance with their varying views and inter ests. It was impossible for the '".tax commission, starting, out in an j 4fnt?rely new field, with limited ac * cumulated information to guide its steps, and with an entirely inade quate provision, to undertake in one year's time to place on an all of the various classes Ct. prosperty throughout the state. ' iSscesnizing that the work must of ??t?e?slty he done by gradual steps, j it .was necessary^to take up some j one class of property and see . that &3iformity of assessment through ?sstthe state was obtained as to . that class. Afterwards other classes of, property were taken up, ' considered. and equalized. The Beginning of EqnaHrmrton. The -banks of the state were se lected as the first class of property t to undergo this process of equaliza tion. It was the purpose of the tax commission net to disturb whatever, parity or equality might have then existed between banks generally and other classed of property, so .it ? took the returns of each and every j , bank in the state and ascertained j the average prevailing valuation or! assessment for taxation. Wide dis crepancies between assessments oc curred throughout the whole state, but the commissi on found in, one county that one bank was being assessed at IS per cent of its val ,ue, while another bank in the same g^japunty was assessed at 60 per cent of its value. While the rates of assessment varied from 18 per cent to 7j0 per cent, the average for the whole state was found to be 48 per cent. Therefoe 48 per cent was . adopted as a basis for assessment of all fcanks for the year 1913. The result was to raise the assessed j I valuation of some banks and to de-j crease the 5:-sessed valuation ' ofr| ethers. However, .under the system j of returns and accounts roquiredl of banks by. ;he tax commission, .it] was discovered that property,' ihroogh in^orre^t returns and emissions, to the .value of $1.487. C?4.00, was added to the total as-j t zes&tfd value thereof. The net* result! ot these activities on. the part of the commission war; to put, in -the year 1915. every bank in South Carolina on an exact equality and to raise their assessments to a to fal amount of $14,566,285.00. In 1916 the legislature amended . the tax commission act by taking from the commission the power to initially assess the banks, but pro vided that the banks should make flieir returns to the county audi tor tor assessment by the county boards in the same manner as had prevailed before the creation of the t2x commission, and then to be w equalized by the commission. When '"the returns were made in 1916, under the amended law. and were ' sent in to the tax commission for equalization, it was found that the ' average rate of assessment, as made by the county boards, was 42 per cent?a reduction of 12 1-2 per cent on the basis of assessment from that of 1915: the net result -l?eing a decrease in total bank as sessments to $12.851,103.00, or a net loss of $1.715,182-00. It was in this manner that the standard oY assessed value of 42 per cent was established and upon which all other properties are being assessed and equalized. ? In addition to the returns made by the banks to the county audi tors, the tax commission requires each bank to file with it a state silent, as of January 1st. each year, showing assets and liabilities, such as is furnished the comptroller of the currency by national banks. .; and to the state bank examiner . .by state banks. Since these state ments are subject to examination and approval by federal and state asjthorities, the true value of the I COMMISSION RK OF THE SOUTH COMMISSION AND ENED THEREBY ?? . ? ?? .? ? f : 'A i ? v ? ?? ? property Is easily determined., The increase in bank assessments | since 1915 ha:- been due to a ecu- ; miilated profits and additional cap- j . ital invested. In 1920 the assessment on" banks i throughout the state was reduced! ! $3,111,.175.00 on account of an act j of the general assembly requiring the tax commission to allow a de- < dnction of ah amount not exceed- j ing 25 per cent- of the capital and surplus of any banking corpora-j tion invested in United States Lib- \ erty bonds or Farm Loan bonds of I the Federn1 Land Bank of Colum-j bia. ?31,4:53.0:54.00 in Taxable Property j Added in The Oase of Four Activities. The next .classes of property to t be equalized by the commission 1 consisted of cotton mills, cotton j seed oil mills, fertilizer plants, wa-j ter. light and power companies. { In 1914 the total assessed yah' j tit cotton mills, was the sum of j $29,487,000.00. In 1921 the. total J assessment was .$54.722,430.00, of] which increase $3,250.000.00 was 1 new property: leaving a net in- { crease by the commission of $21, .^5,430.00. I The above assessments were j equalized on a 42 per cent basis to j correspond with that of the . as- j sessnient on banks. '? With better facilities afforded the. tax, commission for examining, into f and discovering values, it was; found that by reason of the plan j ^heretofore in vogue of assessing ^Sptton mills on a spindle or capital stock basis, great inequalities ex isted as between various mills and Jarge property values escaped tax ation. .. The commission now requires the cotton mills to show, not only the number of spindles and capital stock, but all property which has i been constructed or accumulated j through profits or earnings of ^he j Ipa?l. or otherwise. . I In equalizing water, light, pow- I err and street railway companies, ! .jshich. classes of property are! usually operated in conjunction, the J [commission found that in 1914, the j year before its creation, these prop- j erties were assessed at $4,443,434-1 00. In the process of assessment j and equalization as applied by the ; tax commission,, these properties. -were increased to $13,441,915.00. j Tor ah increase of $8,998,481.00. Of] the above net increase $,2,150,000.00 : represents new property. leaving a ! met increase, as made by the com- j ' mission of $6,848,481.00, despite the i f?aet that properties in this class, ? assessed at $963,000.00 were lost j to the state on account of being ac- ; quired by mimicipalitiea, ! In 1914 the total assessed value j of. cotton seed oil mills and fer- | tilizer plants was' $"4,d2:4,,277!o6.;Xf- J ter examination of their values and j applying the rule as to equaliza- j tion. they were increased to . .$?,-l 634,000.00?a net increase of $2,-j 399,723.00. This increase was j 'made, although several fertilizer t-plants and oil mills were dismantl- ; jed in the state, and there has been j I no hew construction. Rlustmttion of Diwepancies. To Illustrate discrepancies of as- < sesscments on this class of prop erty: It was found that one power company had one of its transmis sion lines in three counties. In one county it was assessed at $500.00 per mile: the second county at $1, r5<)0.00 per mile, and in the third county at $2,500.00 per mile, the line being of uniform value I throughout the three counties. l? is no reflection upon the county boards that so great a portion of ; the above mentioned property es caped taxation, and that there were I such varying assessments put on i property of uniform value. It is f ah exceedingly difficult task to as certain the value of such property ; and the local boards had little op ! portunity or facilities for such work. I The commission has accomplish ! ed. this result after several years ! of investigation and examination i into all the data that it could, ob ! tain in this and other states. ; In 1914. the total railroad assess j ment 'was $42,837.042.00, which i has been increased to $48,700,397. i 00, or an. increase of $5.863,355.00. jThls includes some new construc tion. j Due to the especial attention that ? was given to the assessment of ?railroad property a few years be I fore the tax commission was cre ated, by Honorable A. W. Jones, at that time comptroller general, I and formerly chairman of this . commission, railroad property had j'been reasonably assessed. During j one year. 1907. as a result of his (Special investigation, ahout $12, 1000,000.00 was added to the as : sessed value of railroad property - in South Carolina. f ; In 1914 the aggregate assess I ment on the Pullman, telephone and telegraph companies was $2, j 307,730.00. Under the process of j equalization and assessment by the tax commission.'it was increased to $3,754.145.00. Of ;he above amount of increase, $677,090 00 jyvas added ; to the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph company and the Ameri I can Telephone and Telegraph com I pany, as a result of disclosures of their property values when they applied to the railroad commission . for an increase of charges for ser vices. Farm l.mxis In the year 1918. under the stat ute providing for the quadrennial j assessment of real property, the j commission undertook to equalize j the assessments thereof throughout j the state. Upon' an examination of : all available data, such as . the 'United States census for 1910 and I " " .'sales and-tra?:sfrrrs - of lamls in a [number of the counties, the com ! mission found that"some of the best j or richest counties were assessed j substantially as low per acre as j some of the least .valuable. Ap ; plying? the 4L' per cent basis of as j sessment and equalizing farm land values among the several counties, the 'net result was to increase farm lands from $75,318,428.00 to $ 11C.924.000.00, or an increase of $3"),GOT?.573.00, and also to enable the comptroller general to reduce the state levy from 9 1-2 to 8 1-4 mills in 1918. City and town prop erty, which was assessed by spe cial boards of assessors, was in creased from $68,150,364.00 to $78. 576.668.00, a total increase of $10,42?, 304.00. Result of Survey of The City of Co lumbia Due to the varying condition and character of property in cities and towns, no general or uniform plan has been found for equalizing as sessments of such property. Rec ognizing the great difficulty along this' line, and from the experience of other states^ it wa? found that the only method by which all city and town real property could be put on the tax books at a proper val uation w-as to have complete survey made of each city and town in the state. The work along this line has been commenced, but this com mission has not been given sufficient' appropriation for carrying on this work as rapidly as it might be, A survey of the city of Columbia, however, has "he'en completed and the result has been to place upon the tax books in the form of back taxes and the past year's current taxes for state, county and city purposes, approximately the sum of $500,000.00 in actual taxes, which Will be turned into the public treasuries. Aside from this amount of money, which will be paid into treasuries, there has been added to the permanent taxable value of Columbia city property approxi mately $1.000.060-00. which will hereafter bear its burden of taxa tion. " The taxes payable to the state on the above amount, in cluding back taxes, is $150,000.00. This does not take into consider ation the future taxes that will be paid on this property. A survey of the city of Spartan burg is now in progress, and from data at present available, it is esti mated that the treasuries of the state, county and city will receive, in back taxes, the sum of $150, 000.00. It is impossible, before this survey is completed, to state what the net increase in assessed values of real estate will be. bur it fe i>e lieved that several hundred thou sand dollars of taxable property will be placed upon the tax books in that city. It is believed if similar surveys were made in the other cities and towns of the state, that a large amount of back taxes would be collected and millions of doi-ars of property now escaping tavitioii would be placed upon the tax books. . . Application has been made to the commission . 'by several cities and towns to make similar sur veys, but due to the lack of funds, ,' the work cannot be undertaken. A survey of the city of Greenville was contemplated, but the lack of cooperation on the part of local authorities, which is necessary, prevented the undertaking. In this connection it may be said tlfat the expenses of the" survey made In Columbia;.and that iu progress in ! Spartanburg, were borne by the ! state, county and city, and the tax j commission, not having sufficient r funds to defray the entire ex ; penses of such surveys, must, be ! fore undertaking the same, have i an agreement by the various cities i?nd counties to pay their proper i proportion thereof. A Definite Statement j Th? expenditures.of the tax com ! mission for all purposes from the I time of its creation up to Janu iary 1, 1922, amounted to $121,143. 124. ; The charge has been and is being j made that the connnission i? an j expensive and useless office. Tak jing its work in the city of Columbia ; alone?rthat is the survey it has had made?sufficient back taxes Lwill be collected to pay the entire I expenses of the commission from Ithe date of its'ereation up to J.:n juary 1, 1922. and leave a balance I in the state treasury of $28,856.76. I This is aside from taxes going into i county and city treasuries. If these ; taxes he considered, the actual rev : enue. in excess of all expenditures : of the commission from 1915 to ' and including 1921, is the sum'of j $378,856.76 from the city of Co lumbia alone from their real estate i survey. AnotlK-r Interesting Item, j In the case of merchants and j miscellaneous manufacturers, 6th j er than those already enumerated !from data obtained from the J comptroller general's report of 11918. it was found that the total j assessed value of the above classes i of property was approximately j $12.000.000.00. Under the system j of special reports required of own ers of this class of property, and j by following up these reports by fir-Id agents of the commission ex 'amining the books and records per t taining to such property, the as i sessments thereof vrere increased j until the total amount in 1921 was j $41.815.851.00, or an increase of j approximately $30.000,000.00. j The work of the commission in this field revealed the fact that numbers of merchants were'paying i no taxes at all. and the assessments ! ranged from three-fourths of one , per cent, to more than one hun idrec per cent, of the values of their ; properties. In one county the com mission found a stock of merchan dise actually worth $20 000.00, i which was assessed at $159.GO, or !three-fourths of one per cent, of its value. In ihe same county a stock of goods actually worth j $595.00, was assessed at $605.00 or lone hundred and three per cent, of I its value. (What Happened in The Ca*e o? Packing Houses ' In the case of four of the largest Clothes for S Thfs durable b.$t:G>S^?-^e. f woolen plaid for cold wWtfaer'or'X] middy is of bloomered variety wit uhdersuit is typical of the hti ivest ifc ' ' 11 ' in i? ? ii ? ' ? viii i packing houses in the United States,; ! viz. Armour'& Co., Shrift ^C6., j (Wilson & Co.. and Morris''&*?Co.,J j which carry on business . in the j I cities of Florence. Columbia, Char j ieston, Greenville, and Spartan ; burg, each made it? sw?rn, state ? ment to the commission of its prop j erty values in the several above j named cities. Based upon these re I turns the aggregate assessment of j the four packing houses in the j several cities above mentionedwas j the sum of $S5,337.ftO. Upon .iri ? vesfigation by the commission it j was found that property actually j owned by these concerns should j have been assessed at $499,360.00. {This amount was fixed by the tax commission as the correct assess ment, thereby adding to the tax able values of the if our packing j houses in this state the sum ; of' J $414,123.00. The actual increase j in taxes paid into the public treas j uries, by reason of the commission j reo.uiring these foreign corpor? j tions to make a full disclosure of j their property, calculated on the i prevailing levies in the cities in this j state in which they do business, for j the year 1920, amounted to the sum ! I of $31,870.74, or $6,233.74 more j I than the entire expenditures of the] I tax commission for the year. Siio.ooo.ooo.Oi) in Taxable Prop-' , efrty. Added, j The work of the commission in : putting on the tax-books approxi mately $ir0,0O0.0O0..00 in property ivalues, which had been escaping I taxation has been to more eyehly' ! apportion the tax burden, thereby; ? preventing an excess burden, upon 1 j those who had been over taxed ; i theretofore. i i -^..f ? ? - . ? ? i ! Notwithstanding the 1 a r g e ( i been^ put upon the tax* books -by | the work of the tax.coromiission^it j ; was recognized-that a tax-upon tan- jj j bible property, sufficient to . bear ] jthe expenses of running the state, counties and schools, was growing j i burdensome. The tax commission, S therefore, advocated the enact--; ! ment of laws for raising revenue j ! from other sources. . Among them j ; was a tax on inheritances which, i after several years of effort oh the-j I part of the commission,, became-.-, a j ! law at the last session of the legis- j lature. Another, was the so-called j gasoline tax act.' Both .of'these,' I acts were drafted by the tax com-! j mission for passage by the general; {assembly, j i The.commission also advocatedl jand aided in the passage of the; income tax law. and an increase in i certain corporation license taxes,! all of which -became laws at thej last session of the general assem- j i biy. The net result of these newj ! revenue laws was to reduce thei j state .levy on real and personalj property from twelve mills to sev-| en and one-half mills, and some J further reductions niay be ex i pected as revenues hereafter, ac-' crue under; the inheritance tax act. | Income Tax , In 1897 the legislature passed j j an income tax law. It was admin- { i istered through the comptroller ' j generalis office and the several; ! county officers charged with the r ? duty of assessing and collecting j j taxes/ The following table shows] ; the yearly and total taxes collected I under this law (Act of 1807)', and! j before the tax commission was j ? created in 1915, a period of seven-j Iteen years, or from 1897 to 1914,1 j inclusive, each year's tax being ! i based on the prior year's income: i : 189S.$6,$90:55 i i 1890.4.829.63 I 1900._ 975.37 1901 . 608.18 j 1902 __.202.08 j 1903 . 1,476.74 ) 1 904 '. 1.281.26 j 1905 ._ 2,130.01 i 190G.12.201.42 j 190 7 . 10.6S7.34 | 190S.-. 8,431.52 j 1909 _. 16,236.57 j 1910 14.755.12 ! 1911 . 17.596.12 1012 _. 1C.377.04 ! 1013. 17.820.25 1914 . 15,503.31 ! 1 Total.$147.894.11 j Under the administration of the I law (Act of 1807). after the cre iation of the tax commission, the following amounts were collected ? 1015 . .$31.126.87 1916. 27.690.41 1017._ 34,050.07 Total.$92.867.35 j It thus appears that the aver- ! age yearly collection for the seven- j teen years before the creation ofj the tax commission was $6,700.33; chool Girls >r school girls may be had in heavy, gfct'er material for early fall. The i detachable skirt. The one-piece tdei'wenr for girls. that the average yearly collection for the three years, after the cre ation of the tax commission until the repeal of the law, was $30, 934.11. Xotwithstanding this in crease, the law was repealed be cause of the inadequate provisions made by the legislature to enforce it. The total collections of income taxes under the old law, for the period of twenty years, including the three years covered by the fax commission, was the sum of $240,771.00. In .192.2 the legislature passed an income tax law and placed the entire administration thereof upon the tax commission. This law was approved March 1, 1922. On July 11, 1922, as administered by the tax commission, $552,311.72 had been actually paid ' into the state treasury, or $312,140.00 more than the entire amount. collected under the former law during the period of twenty years. In addition to the amount of income taxes al ready collected during practically four months of the present year, the several deferred payments and returns of future taxes, as provided by law, will increase the amount of taxes to be collected to approxi mately $700,000.00 for the present year, or about three times as much as was collected in twenty years under the old law. It is but fair'to state, however, in this con nection, that the rates of taxation provided for in the present law are higher than under the old law. Gasoline Tax The so-called '"Gasoline Tax" law was prepared by the tax com mission for passage by the legisla ture.. It is administered by the tax commission, and during, the first four months of the present year covered by that Jaw. there ha9 been paid into the state treasury the sum of $285,901.31. .. It is estimated that the revenue from this source from March 1st, the date the act became effective, to December 31st, will amount to $750,000. Inheritance Tax Law Up to the present time sixty four, estates are in process of asr sessment by the commission: In asmuch as this law was approved on the 23rd of February. 1922. and executors and administrators have one year in which to pay the tax after their Qualification, no taxes have been received up to the pres ent time. After February. 1923. taxes will begin to become payable. Xo estimate of the annual amount of such taxes can be made as it will depend entirely upon the number and value of estates descending. It h believed that after the law is in force for a few years the annual income therefrom will amount to several hundred thousand dollars. Individual Assessments .Reduced by Tax Commission Any person, feeling aggrieved by assessments made by county au thorities may, without employing legal counsel, bring his case before the commission. Xo technical or legal knowledge is necessary to do this, and his complaint is heard and disposed of without formality. A simple written statement and such evidence as bears on the as sessment is sufficient to obtain a hearing of the complaint. Many such cases are heard on papers sent in by mail after the proper county authorities are given infor mation of the cause of complaint and an opportunity to present ob jection to the reduction being made. During the past sixteen months the commission has ordered re duction of assessments on 253 sep arate or individual applications. The exact number of such reduc tions in individual cases since the creation of the tax commission, other than the above, can be ac curately ascertained only by an ex amination of the various county auditors' offices of the state, but the number will range between 1,000 and 1.200. Increased Appropriation for 1922 The appropriation for the pres ent year for the expenses of the tax commission was increased over last year by $38-.-!00. This in crease was made for enforcing the income tax. gasoline tax, corpora tion license tax and the inheritance tax laws. The income from the above special revenue laws for the year 1022. will be not less than $1,700.000.no. not including any thing from the inheritance tax law, the income from which will begin to come in next year. The cost, or amount of increas ed appropriation for collecting these revenues is two and one t'ourih cents .on each dollar col Tran>j<miania: ^.Wbere. t?te Dewert j is a Friend. i . ? . . ? j Where is Tratrsjordama, and what I is it? j These questions arise as" Tmns jjordania appears more frequently I in date lines since Great Britain i confirmed Emir Abdullah nominal ruler of the province. "Another name for Transjor- j I dariia is the Emirate of Kerak," i i says a bulletin from the Washing- j i ton, D. C, headquarters of the Xa- j [ tional Geographic Society. "Geo ; graphically it is easy to locate?it j is an area, almost as large as the j state of Maryland, lying between. I the Rriver Jordan and the Syrian i desert. A Political Enigma f "Politically, Transjordania's af j fairs have been highly complicated ! since the armistice. On the bor- : derland of French and British In- I fluence. feeling the native pull of i Syria. Hedjaz, Palestine, and Meso- j potamia. and now a center of Ara-j bi?n nationalists, she has awaken-: ed with a jolt from her age-long j tranquillity. "A small river, like hundreds i across which modern trains dash , with scarcely a rumble to mark their passage, has separated Trans-j jordania. and Western Palestine from the time of Moses till today., "Trahsjordania is the home of paradoxes, where Arab tents, long symbols of transitory residence, have persisted while rich Roman ruins, once the gathering places of cultured crowds, have disap peared; where the desert, which to so many signifies death, has fur nished a welcome haven to many to whom the narrow Jordan seems an impassable gulf. Why Jordan is a Barrier "To civilization, the deepest and swiftest river is only an incident. But the trackless desert is a bar rier, not easily passed. Xot so in Transjordania. XTp on its high plateau, swept by refreshing breezes, the desert is a neighbor so near that none can say just where its boundary lies. With the changing seasons, the boundary moves with the population and the crops and flocks. But the deep depression of the Jordan is a per manent barrier across which the commerce of the ages has flowed but which has turned back the shepherd to his cooler hills and open plains. "Sheep and camels can easily venture out.into the desert, fol lowing the changing fodder line according to the season. But few traverse the great gash which yawns between the Mount of Olives and the heights of Pisgah. "The city has its traffic rules, en forced by agents of the law. Xot so the desert village in the land of Gilead or the Ammonites. There the traffic shifts', in keeping .with the movements of the sun. Shep herd and camel-driver seek the shifting shadows of the scanty shel ters. Thrives on Changes; Remains j Changeless J "Trahsjordania is the land of ! the impermanent, it thrives on j changes which change it. not. i Cities have risen and fallen, high ways been laboriously constructed , only to fall into disrepair more ? impassable than the surrounding ? fields. j "Xomad tents, long since the i poetic symbol of transitory resi | dence, continue to. dot the plain j while rich ruins crumble away, be ! fore the careless attacks of Arab j or Circassian, to whom a beautiful carving is only quarried stone. The j theater of Amman and the Xau j.maehia of Jerash, once the gath I ering places of multitudes of leis-* . urely folk who boasted in their j civilization, . are being ruthlessly j destroyed by those whose main de i mand of a dwelling is that it shall i outlast its builder's immediate ! need. j "Gilead is there, with its oaks. The Haruan with its rich fields of grain, unshaded by a single tree except those few semi-sacred monarchs which shelter,-the tiny tombs of long-dead saints. There, too, is the land of the.Ammonites, whither David sent Uriah.'* South Carolina Changing. South Carolina is at the cross roads just now. The changes that are coming about in South Carolina affairs are definite changes of the most far reaching character. South Carolina is changing from an "all cotton" state.> to a state of diversified agriculture. It is changing from a state in which the marketing of its pro ducts has been by the old hap hazard methods in the modern methods of co-operation. It is changing from a state with an antiquated system of taxation to a state with a modern system of taxation. j It is changing from a common i wealth indifferent to education to ! one determined to step into high j company in that direction by the j development of its schools and the [enforcement of compulsory school j attendance laws. j It is also changing from a state i in which its people have been iso ' lated and divided hecause of bad ! roads, and no great bridges, to a J state of improved highways and bridges that will revolutionize liv ing conditions in great areas.? Spartanburg Herald. Nothing exciting or out of the j ordinary happened Wednesday at jthe county campaign meeting at , Pinewood. AH the candidates spoke j in their usual good manner! and j received much applause. A delic f idus barbecue dinner was served. I lectcd. or for an expense of two j i and one-fourth cents the public treasuries receive one dollar. \ This pamphlet was compiled by; the South Carolina Tax Commis sion. I W. G. QUERY. Chairman, J. P. DE RH AM, J. FR?SER LYOX, Commissioners, i The lttriuelaud: Finance's Collater- j al for German Debts. France's proposal to take over private plants and properties in Rhineland and in the Ruhr district | unless prompt settlement is made by Germany of overdue debts to French firms again calls attention to that province which has aptly been called the "richest jewel in the crown of Prussia." A bulletin from the Washing ton, D. C, headquarters of the Na tional Geographic Society describes this region which is variously known as the Rhineland. the Rhine Province, and Rhenish Prussia. Comprises Zone of Occupation '"The Allied ! Zone of Occupation i virtually embraces this erestwhile power plant and factory, of the old | German empire," says the bulletin. ] "The rich deposit of coal, iron and | other minerals along Europe's j busiest waterway, and the conse-l quent construction of railways in I Rhineland combine to make thisj province the foremost ' industrial j area, for its size, anywhere in the j world. "The entire Rhineland, before j the Peace Conference, * was only a little, larger than the state of New Hampshire. Peace settlements which cut off from the Rhine Province the plebiscite area of the Saar. Basin, and ceded Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium reduced Rhenish Prussia by nearly a thou sand square miles. Of the portion remaining to Germany by far the most important is that known as the Ruhr Basin,. a part of which basin extends beyond the Rhine land into Westphalia. One Blow Already Fallen. "A blow to the Rhineland al> ready effected, though it. has at tracted little attention, wa? the decision in the spring that work on strategic railways must cease. As early as 1870 Germany had nine railways running, to the French frontier, and py 1914 three more had been added while others were double tracked. At the risk of im posing a hardship upon German in dustries it was deemed necessarj', for the military protection of France, that further railway activ ity of that sort must be suspended. . "Even the American, with his knowledge of the mines of Pennsyl vania and the factories of Massa chusetts finds it hard to conceive the concentrated industrialism of the Rhineland. It is the most thickly populated section of crowd ed Prussia. It has more large towns than any*comparable region of Germany. It averages 75 more people to the square mile than our own thickly settled Rhode Is land. Wonder Story of Krapps "Coblenz, the headquarters of our own Army of Occupation; Cologne, of the British; Mainz and Wiesbad en., of the French, are four of the notable cities, while its great mar ket town, Aix-la-Chapelle, its iron city of D?sseldorf, and it3 minia ture Pittsburgh,. Duisburg, are scarcely less famed. The industrial shrine of the Ruhr Basin is Essen, where the wonder story of the Krupp boom unfolded, and where the output of big guns and mu nitions in general has been con verted into a stream of locomotives, farm implements and almost every other conceivable article of iron and" steel, even to roller skates. Only 26 miles southeast of Mainz is venerable Worms^ the Rome of Protestantism, for there . it was .that Luther defied the famous Diet of. Worms, the four hundredth an niversary of which .was celebrated by Protestant churches the world over last year. "To imagine this map speck wliich is known as the Ruhr dis trict, one writer to the National Geographic Society suggests that the reader think of the Pennsyl vania coal fields packed in this tiny area;, pour in the combined population of Philadelphia. Balti more, Cleveland and St. Louis; then take a flock of the biggest Ameri can steel mills and railroad shops you can recall and set. them down along the Ruhr. To complete the picture, fill in the gaps with paper, silk and cotton mills, glass fac tories, tanneries, dye, chemical and salt works Such is . the mucn discussed Ruhr Basin, which France turns to for a part of the collater al for Germany's debt to French private firms. "The Ruhr joins the Rhine at R?hrort, an<J all the Rhineland Province lies in the Rhine Basin except that very small part of the northwest whose waters reach the Meuse." COTTON MARKET , ?'- ??? ' s t r NEW YORK COTTO? YeetQyt - Oc?? ?s?? no** n?jw> Jan . 22.28 22.34 22.07 22.26 22-45 March . 22.25 22.39 22113' 22.27 22.47 May .. _ ..22.2? 22.26 22.07 22.1.3 22.32 July.. .. - -- 22-20 Oct. .22.40 22.55 22.24 22.44 22.64 Dec-. 22.35 22.54 22.23 22.43 22.62 Spots 20. .off. 22.70. NEW ORLEANS COTTOtl tmtOr? Opes Elf* *?* f3cae On** Jan.. - ... 21.83 21.97 2C.67 21.? 22.01 March - - 21.82 21.89 21.73- 21.61 22.06 May_ 21.72 21.94 Oct. - .22:15 22.15 21.78 22.02 22.2! Dec. . 22.00 22.05 21.75 21.96 22.16 Spots 12 off. 22.38. Liverpool Cetton. January . . 12.41 March . . 12.33 May ._ 12.23 July . 12.12 October ._ 12.69 December . 12.47 Receipts. 7.000: Sales. 7.000: Middling. l."..:S: Good Middling. 14.0P,. Washington. Aug. 24.?President Harding, it was learned today, has entrusted to Budget Director Lord rhe task of breaking the deadlock existing between Secretary Fall and Chairman Lasker of the ship ping board on the question of the renewal of the shipping board's contract with the interior depart ment for naval royalty oils. The deadlock has been on the question of price. Two million quarts of milk are consumed in New York every day. The-: Seychelle?: Am Eden for KxHcs. "Entertaining royal exiles is an incident in the annals of St. He lena and Madeira; it is beginning to" be an industry in the Seychelles Islands, where Zaghloul. Pasha is detained while certain'-'factions in Egypt are agitating' foHlrte re turn,'*' says a bulletin from the Washington, D. C, headquarters Df the National Geographic Society. "First the dethroned king of Ashanti was sent there s.nd later the monarch:* of Uganda and Uh yoro were domiciled there for joining forces with munitious troops in the Sudan. Noted for Coral and Coconuts "Besides exiles, the Seychelles are'noteworthy for coral and co conuts. Approaching vessels steam through coral reefs to approach Port Victoria/ chief town Of the ; group on the main island, M?he. And the town itself lies glistening I in the sun like a city of marble, I for coral rocks are used in build j ing the near, compact houses. \ "Coconut products form the principal commodity of export, hut the coconut which made the Is land famous* rs the coc-o-de-mer, which weighs forty pounds.or so, requires seven years to ripen, and grows on trees that take thirty five years to hear leaves. This 'co conut of the sea' was known before the islands were discovered, be - cause the great double coconuts were cast-up by the waves upon the shores of East Africa. They were believed to be of submarine origin and the native medicine men made much of them. Island Gems of Twifaw Ocean "The Seychelles are the island j gems of thelridian Ocean; an ear j British resident' nicknamed them j an .Oceanic Garden of Eden. Tlxere j'are thirty' or more of them, de pending upon whether one cares to enumerate as islands numerous small reefs and rocks. With their dependencies, - the" Amir?ntes and many others, their administrative area comprises nearly 100 small is i lands. "The Seychelles proper tie 750 miles directly northeast of the northern tip of Madagascar and a ImOst 1,000 miles northeast of Zanzibar. The names of the indi vidual islands frequently denote their outstanding quality which ap pealed to early explorers, such; as Silhouette. Curieus& (curious), la. ; Digne (the dam)), and Felicite j (blessed). The name of the group, I however, is not a variation of 'sea ; shells, as mgiht be suspected, but was given in honor of the finance minister under Louis XV. "Its dense jungles, curious plant specimens, great trees festooned with trailers, its' orchids and ferns and begonias, green coralreefs and equable climate all make the Seychelles group altogether a3- de lightful as the South Sea Islands which have been sought after and often described in recent years. One reason they have not 'registered* with globe trotters and adventur j ous spirits is that they lack, the pic 1 turesque natives of Tahiti or the j Marquesas. i Unique in Being Uninhabited "When the Portuguese found ; them about the time' America was j discovered they were Uninhabited i ?almost a unique condition for land units of their size and habit ability. Eleven years before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock an English vessel stopped ( there: but it was nearly a century and a half after that the French settled there and claimed them.. "Their population today. consists, largely of French Creoles, freed slaves imported from .Africa-.and Settlers fro?rt Mauritius,'a "few In dians from Malabar and a few Chinese. Beginning with secret j spice groves to combat the existing j Dutch monopoly, their economic development turned m recent years ?to vanilla, then to coconuts, I which stftf is the principal product, i and within ,the present century ex j perimnets were begun with . rub j ber. On some of the smaller 'is lands the natives' eke out a living by hunting birds' eggs and scrap ing guano off the granite to sell to the plantations of Mahe. The islands now support about 20.000 J people, among whom fewer than j l.o?o are white." Comi?* Evern,. ] (Extract from Editorial in Bos ton Transcript. Aug. 12). ' Nothing is to be gained by ighor I ing the fact that the failure of the j administration in the current crisis is bound to have a bad effect up | on the Republican campaign in j the state which holds the right of ? the line in this election'year?the i state of the vice president and the ? secretary of war, the state also of i the leader of the senate and speak er of the house of representatives . _ - Those who believe, however, that the party in power of which 'he (President Harding) is the fitu ! lar leader deserves an immediate j rebuke by reason of its failure ; either to keep its campaign pledges I or to meet the challenge of the ! hour, must either possess their 'souls in patience for another two I years or make the Republican can didates in the battle ground states ! like Massachusetts and Ohio the j unwilling and to a large extent the ; undeserved vehicles of the expres sion of the prevailing popular dis ] gust. ; _ Presumably Vice President : Coolidge. Secretary Weeks, Sena | tor Lodge and Speaker Gillett have ! failed to defend the administra j tion for the very good reason that j they can find no defense' for its fail ; ure. And when they attempt on I the stump in the coming campaign j to deal with the dawdling at Wasfc 1 ington days and weeks And months, what is there for them to say? ? "Well, how's the uplift commg along?" "Poorly. So few peopie want to be uplifted."?Louisville Courier-Journal. . The letter P was formerly used Ln numerals to denote 100.