Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-01-24
LANCASTER.

any SuCn appropriation " DS "PP''OS
to payment of pensions;" bill to repeal
an act to provide an annual approprla-
ton for holding the annual reunion OF
the Confederate veterans in this state;
bill to provide for the Improvement OF
the highways and public roads in Lam
caster county and levy a tax therefor.
Cards are out announcing the
coming marriage Of a popular young
couple in Rock Hill, Mr.. Walter Massey
Dunlap and Miss Mary Lillian Massey.
The ceremony will be performed in the
First Presbyterian church at Rock Hill
on the evening Of the 9Th of February.
Roth parties have many friends and ac-
uuaintances in Lancaster. AS Is well
known, Mr. Dunlap is a son OF our
former fellow citizen, Maj. w. B. Dun
lap, and is rising young lawyer or
Rock Hill. The prospective bride is
the lovable and attractive daughter OF
Mr.. and Mrs. Henry Massey of Rock
Hill. .. 1t appears to be foregone
conclusion that the lien law will be
repealed at the present session OF the
legislature. If the law is responsible
for everything charged against 1.-THE
decentralization of labor, the encourage
ment of extravaganza, the impoverish-
ment of farmers and the deterioration
of their lands, and so ONT ought 10
be killed, but is it? We doubt 1t. There
Is no question about the fact that the
law is oftentimes abused, that in many
instances undue advantage is taken OF
those who are dependent upon the lien
for basis of credit, but it does not
necessarily follow that such practices
are general An impartial history OF
the laws operations 1.-THE state would
probably show that hundreds OF poor
farmers in each county, white as well
as black, by dealing with honest mer-
chants and bankers, have prospered and
are continuing to proSper-farmers VINO
but for the lien law would be unable
to operate individual or independent
farms, unless some other method or US
ing the crop as means Of credit should
be resorted to. Will the repeal Of the
law remedy the evils complained OF?
That, it occurs to us, is the paramount
question which the legislature should
consider. Will it make labor conditions
better, will it prevent high credit prices,
and will it promote the farming inter-
ests of the country generally? Let us
see. Labor is already scarce, and there
is danger Of it's becoming more so with
the lien law out of the way. The white
farmer who now rents land and gets
his fertilizer and supplies from a mer-
chant under a lien, or with money Dor
rowed on the strength of lien given on
his crop, will not likely surrender his
independent mode of living and hire
himself to his landlord for wages. 1t
is more likely that he and his family
will move to one of the many cotton
mills in the state that are ready and
eager to secure their services, and
where they will find profitable employ
ment The cOlored renter, long accus-
toned to being his own boss, will
wages in this state, when he can move
over into North Carolina or Georgia
and rent all the land he can work, or
when he can go to the railroads, power
plants, oil mills and other public works
and obtain higher wages than land
lord can afford to pay him. But sup
pose the landlord is able to induce his
renters or lienOrs to accept service un-
der him as ordinary field hands-will
he be any better off than he is now?
How is he going to secure the payment
in labor or otherwise of the advances
that he will be obliged to make? 1t
may be said that the Legislature is go
ing to enact new contract law-one
that will stand the test of the courts
and that under such law the landlord
can bind" his labOrerS. If is it pos
sible for the legislature to pass law
that will prove effective? The only law
that would amount to anything so far
as the negro is concerned is one pro-
viding for imprisonment for breach or
contract. and such an act, like the old
one. would be unconstitutional Again,
if the landlord. instead of utilizing his
present renters or lienors as wage
hands. continues To rent his lands to
them. how, in the absence of the lien
law. is he going to secure payment for
that he has never assumed before?
And in order to make such advances,
will not many q landlord be forced TO
mortgage his lands? We are assuming,
of course. that the repeal of the lien
law will stop the practice or system Of
making advances for agricultural pur-
pOseS-but will it? Will not the plan
of mortgaging the crop be resorted to
a plan more expensive in every partic-
ular and less easily enforced? There
are evidently two sides to this lien law
question and it is to be hoped that our
lawmakers will study it from every
point of view before taking action.
GASToN.
Gastonia Gazette, January 81: Lii
liam. the 7-year- old daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. r. l.. Stowe of Belmont, died
Yesterday morning at o'clock, after
an illness of week or more from
stomach trouble. The little one had
been suffering with the disease occa-
sionally for some two years and the
severe attack which she suffered this
time proved fatal in spite of all the eff
forts of loving parents and skilled ply
sicians. .. The following from an
Opelika, Ala, paper tells of the narrow
Lescane from drowning of the lit