The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-12-16

and In msnifestly the best advertising
medium In Sumter.
IL any public man other than Theo-
aore Roosevelt lad undertaken to pull
OF hunting trips In Africa at the ex-
penss-iargeiy-of the Smithsonian
Institute u would have been roundly
denounced ~ an example of thiniy
disguised graft: but the people have
become 80 accustomed TO his using the
appurtensnces and appendages of the
government as his personal property
that they have grown callous. Moth.
ine short OF the appropriation OF the
United states mint and the Bureau OF
Printing and Engraving to his own
use for two or three months would
now create any great surprise.
The Seminole Securities affair is a
graphic illustration OF when a trustee
isn't trustee.
President John Y. Darlington. of
the Seminole Securities company. eaSn-
cstIy. yet cheeriiy. assures the stock
holders that the stock Of that corpora
uon 10 worth az much as IL ever was
---or more. This may be absolutely
true. but II is the actual not the corn
rarative. value OF the stock tina. Is
worrying the stockholders. What the
men who. Influenced by the unquali-
fed endorsement of the enterprise by
Trustees Clark. Jones and Bryan, put
their money into II. want to know Is.
has the Seminole Securities company
stock any value. past. present or flu
ture. and 10 SO. what is that value. ex-
pressed In dollars and cents?
Mr.. c. G. Featherstone has put In a
lot Of time within the past SIX or eight
years building. promulsating and elu-
cidatins prohibition platforms. and II
'seems pity that ne Ia likely to be
crowded out Of the front seat In the
taId wagon iong before the next CUB
ernatoriai race begins.
The signal for another revolution In
Cuoa and . great clamor for annexa-
s'on will be the removal Of the tarif,
on impsrts of sugar from the Philip
pincs Tho sugar trust will never
stand Tor . tariff ON sugar grown on
fts own plantations In Cuba when
Phiiippineesusar is admitted free.
when the Charlotte. Observer and
the Houston Post set on to the fact
that Dr. David Houston is q Tar Heel
ny birth. they Vim put the News and
Courier Into q hole.
II Roosevelt t,houid providentaily
Get thoroughly lost In Central Africa
would the New York sun send STAN
ley to ind himY
Ine annual report Of Commissioners
OF Internal Revenue Capers shows that
the receipts were nearly $4,000. 900
less last rear than for the preceding
year aud that the production OF dis
TILED grain spirits was forty million
gallons less for the fiscal year 1908
than for 1907. This is accounted for
~ the commissioner by the prohibit
ton movement, the high price Of grain
and thc agreement among the dis
uilers TO curtaii production. The
spread Of the. prohibition movemen,
probably has more to do with the de.
crease iu production OF liquor than
both OF the other assigned causes, de
spite the generally admitted fact tina,
prohibition Is not even approximately
enectusi in prohibition territory. IL
the shipment OF liquor into prohibition
territory could be prohibited there
would be q decrease In the production
Of distilled grain spirits and a slump
I'm the internal revenue receipts that
vorld bs worth while.
We believe IL would q good idea for
'hs Sumter Chamber OF Commerce Ia
crer prizes for corn growing con.
test to be participated In by the farm
ers OF sumter county.
As a result OF the recent stlr-up
ever the neglect OF county officials
and magistrates to make the regular
rronthly reports to the county treas