Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-08-14
Scraps aud fatts.


worth while to note the difference in
the scale of construction of France
and the United States. The former
company, after abandoning the plan
of sea level, was attempting to con-
struct a lock canal with a depth of
fifteen feet. The depth of our plans
is forty feet. The locks are 1000
feet long by 10 feet wide, with for
ty feet of water over the sills. The
length of the three locks at Gatum
will be over half mile.
The Georgia legislature last
month began a thorough investiga-
ton of convict camps. In Georgia
part of the convicts are leased to pri-
vate concerns, mines, brick manufac-
tories, and so on. AS a result it is
charged that, when the supply of la
Dor runs low, negroes are convicted
for petty crimes and so forced labor
is secured. In denouncing the lease
system one of the members of the
Georgia legislature said: Every
time you convict a negro it is worth
$3.50 to the country. When you want
a $4,000 court house, all you have
to do is to convict twenty negroes" "
Investigation has proven that cruelty
is by no means confined to lessees's
camps. There is little to choose be-
tween the treatment of the convicts
in the country road camps, the state
farm, where a negro was whipped to
death, and the camps of private COM
panies.
The British Old-Age Pension
Bill, afer passing the house of COM
mons by vote of 315 to 10, has also
been passed by the house of lords.
The scheme of the bill is the most
liberal anywhere adopted. 1t pro-
vides for government pensions on a
sliding scale for all persons over sew
enty who are not in receipt of in
comes over a stated amount. 1t i'm
poses no test of thrift or industry,
and establishes a system of gratuities
out of the national treasury. No one
seems to have definite ideas what the
pension will cost the country. The
chancellor of the exchequer ventured
an estimate of $32,500,O00 a year;
Mr.. Balfour, who criticised the ma
chinery of the bill but abstained
from voting against it, put the initial
cost at $57,500,000. The labor men,
bers insisted that it did not go far
enough, and predicted that within
fifteen years the age limit would be
reduced from seventy to fifty-five.
- Washington, August IL: That he
is not a Christian; that he does not
believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ,
and that he repudiates most of the
Bible-these are the charges made
against Candidate Taft by the Nation
al Negro American Independence Po-
litical league, which claims to repre-
sent voting strength" Of more than
eight hundred thousand. The charges
were read at a colored mass meeting
by DR.. Waldron, president of the or
ganization. Other features Of what
was termed Negroes Indictments Of
Taft, Roosevelt, and the Republican
party" were that Taft in his Green's
boro speech approved the disfran-
chisement of the negro, that he ap-
proved and defended President Roose-
velt's order dismisSing the colored
troops of the Twenty-fifth Infantry:
that he does not possess the manhood
and courage required in a president
of the United States, and that if
elected he will be the tool of Theo-
dore Roosevelt"
- Since the rigid investigation of
West Point hazing customs seven
years ago. war department officials
have appeared confident that their
vigorous dealing with the offenses
then discovered had extinguished
such behavior at the academy. How
ever, a board of investigation recent
ly appointed by the commandant of
the academy has after diligent prob
ing, succeeded in unearthing num-
ber of ingenious schemes for the tor
ment of new cadets which were being
carried on so secretly that it is be-
lieved not even the cadet officers knew
of them. The code of honor accepted
among the cadets has been already so
positively adopted by the new appoin-
tees entering the academy this sum-
mer-the victims of course, of all the
hazing-that the investigators found
it next TO impossible to obtain any in
formation of the breaking of regula-
tions. The "plebes, as the new en-
trants are called, agreed that they
would report nothing of any indigni-
~ inflicted on them except as the in
vestigators inquired directly whether
they had experienced such and such
humiliation. Therefore, until the
examining board chanced to light upon
the exact form of the haZing, it got
no testimony. Little or nothing actu-
ally brutal seems to have been dis
covered, but a great number of petty
devices to give discomfort. To COM
pei a "plebe" TO wear a capful Of ants
was one of the favorite tricks; to
make him sit at table with toes
touching the under side of the board,
another. For such pranks the inVeS-
tigators recommended the discharge
of eight cadets-two from the highest
class and six from the third class.
Their discharge was approved by the
president, but now he is seriously
considering their reappOintment on
the ground that the severest penalty
was not called for.
- Baltimore. August II: The Meth
Odist Episcopal church has begun an
active crusade for the election of a
speaker "who will allow congress to
vote on the interstate liquor shipment
bill" The church, which has over
100000 communicates, has created
the Temperance society of the Meth
Odist Episcopal church. with author
ity to represent the denomination in
all temperance matters. This society
is managed by a board composed Of
about 615 members named by the
bishop and elected by the general