Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-10-12
Straps aud fatts,

struction Of property and loss OF life.
The number Of fatalities from drown
ing along the line of the Manzanillo
extension Of the Mexican Central rail-
road is 123. Thousands of tons OF
earth and rocks descended in great
landslides from the mountains. The
new steel railway bridge below Tux
pan was destroyed. and a steam SHOW
ell weighing twenty-six tons was borne
by the torrent for considerable dis
tance. In one place the water rose
sixty feet. Many houses were destroy
ed by floods in the towns Of Tuxpan
and Zapotillic. Twenty-Five lives were
lost during the recent floods in the
Santiago river; fifteen were drowned
by the capsizing Of a boat while cross
ing the river. They were workmen
engaged on the canal being construct
ed for the power plant. All were ma
tives. 1t has been some time since
there were such tremendous foods on
the west coast.
At the Georgia homecoming ex-
ercises in Macon, last Wednesday,
Governor-elect Hoke Smith delivered
an address on the race question in the
south in which he said that the four
teenth amendment to the constitution
hinders the most intelligent mode OF
handling the subject. "Our national
government" said Mr.. Smith, has al
ways legislated for the Indians, plac-
ing around them restrictions entirely
different from those applied to white
men. But the fourteenth amendment
to the constitution should follow the
same plan in Georgia with reference
to the negroes. The white men must
accept full responsibility and control
Of the situation. This Is the white
mans country and it Is the white
mans burden. The negro should be
encouraged TO help. Kindly but firm
ly the large majority of negroes must
be supervised and directed by the
white man. The fact should be kept
in mind that a very large number OF
negroes are irresponsible and when
left In idleness are prone to crime. We
must exhaust all legal means to save
negroes from idleness." Mr. Smith
advised stricter vagrancy laws and ar
rest of loafing. wandering negroes as
probable criminals. He also said the
system of negro education should be
changed.
A private commission sent by the
Lancashire cotton spinners to exam
inc the methods Of production Of cot
ton In the southern states, says Lon
don cable to the Charleston News and
Courier, has issued report which
condemns the antiquated and unsci-
entifc process followed, for which 1t
blames the Gin Trust, the Farmers
Union and the Southern Cotton asso-
citation. 1t recommends that the spin
ners themselves acquire suitable land
in the cotton belt and raise their own
supplies. The committee believes that
now is an exceptionally favorable op-
portunity for such an undertaking. It
points out how greater yield can De
obtained and the economies that can
be effected, and quotes one authority
as stating that the crop on the present
acreage could be doubled In eight
years merely by seed selection. The
report remarks that the wave Of un-
exampled prosperity that Is sweeping
over the southern states, the immense
wealth accumulated by the planters
and the constant efforts of various as
sociations to control the production
and prices, have set England a prob
lem, the solution Of which demands
the greatest care. The report incl
dentally expresses the opinion that the
negro laborers on the plantations are
less we'll off than they were in slavery
days. The mortality among them, 1t
says, is greater than 1t was fifty years
ago.
There is to be no more gambling
at Hot Springs, Ark.-not for the pres
ent at least Hot Springs has been
a wide open" gambling town for for
ty years. But now the lid Is on. The
reform was accomplished through the
efforts Of the people. 1t has been
work of necessity. There is ceme-
terry near the city that is fllled with
suicides. People would come to Hot
Springs for health, be inveigled into
the gambling saloons, and fieeced OF
their cash, and then they would go
off and kill themselves. There were
several richly furnished places which
kept in their pay richly dressed wom-
en-, presumably respectble, whose bus
mess 1t was to inveigle people into
games. The women would play with
money furnished by their employers.
1t was a common thing for clerks and
other business employees to steal the
money of their patrons, and this no
doubt was the cause Of the final up
rising. The gamblers were run out
by what was called the "Skidoo'
committee, especially organized for
the purpose. A crowd OF several
hundred people formed a procession
the other day with the committee and
a brass band at its head, marched to
the gambling saloons and told them to
move. They moved. At the instance
of the committee, gambling furniture
to the value of more than half mil
lion dollars was seized and confscat-
ed. The gambling element claims
that the cleaning out of the gamblers
will ruin Hot Springs as resort. The
law and order people claim that in
stead of 10000 visitors per annum as
heretofore, there will hereafter be
100000 visitors per annum.
- Invitations for proposals to COM
plete the Panama canal were issued
by the canal commissioners last Tues
day, and the form Of contract under
which the work is to be done was
made public by Chairman Shonts, who
also gave out letter written to the
secretary Of war, giving the commits
sions' reasons for contracting the
work. The contract provides that each
bidder must undertake the entire
work Of construction. No bar will be
offered to corporations associating in