The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-07-24
Our county and city officials should


Our county and city officials should
read the communication published to-
daY entitled Thoughts on Gambling
and signed GA woman The facts
are clearly and forcioly stated, and
the entire article is so full Of earn
estress and sincerity that it should
move the officials, whose duty it is
to take cognizance of such evils,
to make some effort to enforce the law
against gambling and gambling e
soEss-
Mr. Bryan is side-stepping the gov
eminent ownership proposion, and
the railroad magnates can now set
hack on the job OF watering their
ssoea.
Col. eosgrove would be able to
make e.en greater progress with his
drama e work in chariesron's Chin
ter.and,' if all of charleston's blind
tigers were given chaingang sentences
in leu of nominal fines. This is mere
X suggestion thrown out for the
benefit of the News and Courier. 1t
might amplify the idea in its fight
against the blind tigers.
The fear of the enactment of
state prohibition law has awakened
some Charleston people to e realizing
sense of the gravity Of that comnuni-
ts ofense in brazenly violating the
state law against the sale Of liquor
nv Individuals. The News and cou-
-rser is at last sounding warning and
Gazing upon the blind tigers to mend
.tasir ways. They are .eId IN pain
sss-saz .nas they are sowing the wind
and viii surely reap the wll;r' VIII
We greatly fear that the warning
comes TOO late-the Charleston blind
;gers have become 50 accustomed to
violating the dispensary law with
irnpunity ans to defying the State au-
4haritieS. under the protection Of the
9ubiic sentiment Of the conmu aity,
1aat they have lost respect for law
a..d the appeal of the News and Cou-
rier Will pass unheeded. The blind
r:rer element has been educated in
lawlessness for too many years for it
% become law abiding and law re-
s..cting all at once. The people OF
arieston themselves are to blame
or this condition of affairs, since they
nsve, so far as the balance of the
lie knows, never done other than
coun1enance and tacitly encourage
the blind tigers in their profitable as-
ocation of wanton,y defying and null
flying the State law.
Tie bad effects of the continued
and excessive use os nitrate Of soda
as a crop stimulant is beginning to
attract the attention of observant
farmers and some of them are sound
ing warning against the practice.
They assert that nitrate Of soda is al
most altogether stimuiant and has
the effect Of forcing the crop, to
which it is applied, to draw more
heavily on the soil for other vegeta-
ton producing elements than it would
be able to do otherwise, and that un-
less these elements are returned to the
sail in the shape Of other fertilizers
the soil will rapidly become impover-
ished and in a comparatively short
time will not be able to produce
profitable yield, even with an increas-
ed application of the nitrate Of soda
stimulant. 1t is not denied that soda
Is a valuable and useful crop produc-
ing agent, when properly and intelli-
gently utilized but the trouble is that
it is not intelligently used oy many
who stake their faith on it. The soil
Of this section cannot be made to pro
duce large yields year after year un-
less the elements that are drawn from
the soil by successive crops are re-
placed, and when the growing crops
are stimulated year after year to
make abnormal demands on the
available vegetation producing soil
constituents, abnormal soil depletion
follows. This is the theory of those