The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-03-30
SUMTER s. G, SATURDAY MARCH 80 1912


Beginning on page q Of the senate
journal Of Wednesday. January II,
1912, will be found copies Of nv re-
ports to Governor Blease and his
message conveying the same to the
senate. These reports were sent in
to the governor monthly. The reports
run from page q of the senate jour-
nal of date mentioned above, to page
81 lincluding part Of page SD. That
is to say. practically % pages Of
printed matter make up the reports,
In the permanent senate journal these
reports will also appear.
There has not yet been done the
justice Of printing my reports by any
paper that commented upon the
biased report in the Columbia morn
ing paper! What did that paper
print? 1t printed some statistics that
it alleged were obtained from Com
missioner Watson's annual report.
oSS PoPoiS' lOI the InOSt part,
that commented (and many of them
in this State, and one or two in Geor-
gia did comment) upon the matter,
based their conclusions upon the
story in the Columbia sheet.
Now let's see what I actually did
do with regard to those statistics:
In the first place statistics as to
chlid labor. number Of persons en-
ployed. capital Of the mills, etc, were
furnished to the department Of agri-
culture, commerce and industries by
the mill managers. Last year, i.
should be explained, there We're no
factory inspectors under the act as to
mill inspections, that is from the de-
partment Of agriculture, commerce
and industries. The statistics sent in
by the mill managers covered certain
points in the inspection that i need
ed In pursuing my own work in the
mills. and openly and above board I
wrote to Commissioner Watson from
time to time for statistics as to mills
In certain counties. These statistics,
in nearly all cases in which l made
the request. were furnished me. Du-
plicates Of these statistics were on
file with the managers. superintend-
ents or presidents Of mills, as the case
might be. and in some instances I
made comparisons between the ones
sent Commissioner Watson and the
statistics on file with the several
mills. This was for the purpose of
keeping tab on some Of the mills as
to statistics furnished. In some in
stances Commissioner Watson's sta
tistics, even If furnished me. were not
used, as | examined the statistics on
file in the offices of the mills and from
these obtained the data I wished. I
have never denied asking Commits
siOner Watson for statistics to aid me
, in my work, however, and I thanked
him for them In my letters which he
chose to make public during the leg
islative session. The statistics that
were used We're incidental parts of
my reports and in the one case where
| used a form Of the department Of
agriculture. commerce and industries
| included the statement that the
matter was compiled from reports
made out and signed by the mill
managers. Hence, there was no ef-
fort to conceal the fact that ! was
seeking to cooperate with all per-
sons charged with the enforcement Of
the laws relating to the work that
was doing. The same thing is true Of
the yearly summary which was ap-
pended to my last monthly report.
endeavOred to have this statement
read as 1t was given out from the de-
partment. The summary of general
statistics begins as follows: "Ac-
cording to reports that are on file in
merce and industries for the year
1oll,' etc. Newspaper men who have
handled capital correspondence know
that often (and, from some offices,
practically always) statements are
given out ready for appearance in
the newspapers. To bring this home
to the matter in hand. / was under
the IMPRESSION which | have verified
as far as possible that the short
summary Git took up half page, or
little over in my repOrD was given
out in that form from the depart.
ment of agriculture, commerce and
industries, and so appeared in all the
papers. This public information
should not be used as an incidental