The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-04-13
OUR PROSPERITY LETTER.
Maj0rity vs.. PIurality-Our Correspondent
Makes Clear = Nuch-M uddied Mat
ter-Other News and Items.

snap has snapped early tender plants,
though not seriously.
\ larger percentage Of small grain
has been planted than has heeH custo-
mary, aud at present this crop is III :.
healthy and promising condition..
The acreage Of cotton will be some
what reduced, anG there will be cor
responding increase of corn, but what
per cent. Of decrease and increase there
will DC ! carn0t estimate at present.
The choir Of Grace church is prepar-
ing I. beautiful Easter service consist
imy Of appropriate music far tie ccra-
sion AMI responsive readings. The
rendition viii be in the ch&rvil Oh sun
day night.
Oar municipal election is being held
to-day. The nominees are Capt. II. ).
BnnZtr for iHtendant, and y. NJ. Lester,
J. j. Luther, J. Is. Felers and $. s.
HirGe, wardans. There is 30 opvosi-
sion to tie nominees, and Of course
lhay wi! be elected.
'cnc Nin"ty-Six burglars passed;
quietly through our town OH Friday
afternoon. Pity Eiuety-Six did not
telegraph here and other points on the
&, \. q l.. road, as they passed lmne-
diate!y by every telegraph Oificc on the
line from here to Columbia, and at one
telegraph station Little Mountain
they hired Mr. y. \. Boland to drive
them to Irmo, the next telegraph sta
tion, from whence they walked to CO.
lumbia, where no doubt they are hap
py and serene in their own dives.
De-, m n L iutI N u trOn ri t,ltr I'M
bia to-day TO assist Rev. NJ. N. kinard
in the Lenten services in his, Ebenezer
Lutheran church. We fear Some Of
these ci y churches will be bidding for
our preacher ere long.
submit the following solution OF
the "Question Of mujority' IL last
weeks Issue Of the New berry Observer.
First, We must bear in mind that ma
.jority means any number above one
half Of the aggregate, and not the differ
ence in nurnbe between two or more
contestants. Hence, in the case Of
mayor, 3GS votes we've cast; Isl is one
half the aggregate. Mr.. BIa!ock re-
ceived lS9 votes, or votes more than
half, so that his majority is votes.
True he received 10 votes more thnn
both his competitors, but ouly.a Inajor-
ity Of ).
In Ward , find 362 votes cast, 42&1
for the Mr.. Wheeler and l3l for Mr.
Suber. Here Mr.. Wheeler gets lG)
votes more than Mr.. Suber, hut he only
has majority of 81, because he has
lust 50 votes more than one-ha!f Of the
aggregate.
In applying the same rule in Ward +,
we find that Mr.. Klettner received 4
votes more than Mr.. Goggans, but only
. majority. This is made simple by
subtracting , votes from Mr.. klettner
and adding them to Mr.. Goggans, when
We produce "a tie'-all other cases in
like manner. The Observer man is
wrong by one vote in each Of his ma
jorities. He could only arrive at such
results by beginning to count bis ma
jority from the number necessary to
a choice" instead Of at the half.
The word, "plurality," or term, 'plu-
rality Of votes" can never be applied
where there are two contestants, neither
can it be applied in the result Of con-
test between three or more men when
one contestant receives more votes than
all of his opponents, because in such
case he receives more than half, which
is a majority. Plurality means more
than another, but less than half.
In Ward l We find a plain Illustration
of plurality vote, where DR.. Killer
has a plurality Of so votes, still he
wanted 6 more votes to have been
elected by majority of l. Men all
over our country have fallen into the
very common error Of considering the
difference in the vote between two men
as the majority; which is absolutely in
correct.
"What fools these nortals be-" From
every section, not only of our oEncoun-
try and State, but from others similar
ly situated, comes the grating cry "hard
times" hard times" ''nothing but
hard times" when these very same lips
should be employed in giving utter
ance Of praises and thanksgiving to
Almighty God for the abundant har-
vest with which be has blessed our
efforts during the past year. Not u
single family in this broad land is suf-
fering from want Of anything to eat or
to wear, but OH the other hand have
not only plenty for home consumption,
but to spare. aud Notwithstanding all
this we cry out from the highest hills
and lowest valleys, "hard timesw Now
this is wrong-it is sinful-it is MUIR
muring directly against the goodness OF
God, and he is sure to reward us accord
ing to oG. deserts. We as a people
have no true conception Of what hard
times really are. To get q faint idea Of
"hard times" let Us take glimpse Of
Russia Just now. Look at those bound
less fields for thousands and thousands
of miles, and what do you see? Moth
ing but desolation upon desolation.
Not single green plant or blade to be
seen in all these vast fields. What is
the matter? Examine the soil. Behold,
it is dry-parched, dead.
Look again. The weather is cold,
dreary, bleak. Ice and snow cover the
desolate fields. The thousands Of thous-
ands of huts fpIeasantry are inb bedded
III the SHOW, but no sign OF smoke is
emitted rom these countless huts.
What is the matter? Let US enter one
of these huts. On, horror Of horrors!
\ family Of eight wrapped in scanty |
blankets and skins. Their forms lying |
on the floor. Examine. The father
aud three sons are together. They are
dead. Mere skeletons Of skin, and bone.
The two daughters eyes, cleaning with |
cheeks, ghostly appear
ance-they two, are dead-starved 20
death. What's in that corner over |
here, we whisper? We turn back the |
blanket little and the wan and bag
gard face Of the mother is revealed.
Her babe is nestled beside her trying to
ret some nourishment from wasted
breast. The mother still lives; we bend
over her and in faint. low whisper
near her say "give me bread or [ die"
She is now tenderly cared for and the
3abe with its mother are saved. This is
true picture of thousands ofthousauds
If cases in Russia to-day. This is u
genuine picture Of hard times. Let US
If our abundance do something for the
elief of these poor unfortunate suffer
rs. It will have tendency to stop
,ur rnurmurings and we will feel better
or having giren something for the re-
let Of suffering humanity.
TC-BE.
PENSIONS TO VETERANS.