Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-03-17

general store containing the United
States postoffice and custom ONCE ana
the murder of Postmaster Frank John-
ston Saturday night by three men,
declared to be MeXicans. All SUNDAY
night the border was patrolleu ny
American troops from Fort Rosecrals'
lust across the line Mexican rurales
performed guard duty. Every man
Within a radius of ten miles or Tecate
20 fully armed and rifles and ammuni-
tions have been ordered. Governor
Hiram w. Johnson was asked yester-
dav to make a formal demand on
Governor Francisco Vasques of Lower
California for the delivery OF the Mex
leans suspected of having killed John-
ston. Major w. G. Davis, commahuer
at Fort Rosecrans, received lnslruc-
lions from Washington to lend any as
sistance to the immigration ana GUS
toms officials and keep the depart
ment informed of conditions. ne al
ready had taken initiative to the Iuii
scope of his authority. Mexican Ieei-
;nS 10 aroused to fever heat in the vi
cinity of Tecate.
THE exemption of coastwlse snip
ping using the Panama canal from M tne
payment of tolls would mean aoH aoSs
for the first ten years OF $2O,0OO,oUo'
ssid prof. Emery r. Johnson OF tue
university of Pennsylvania, last sat
nrday at a dinner of the University
men of New York. This loss, he said,
would have to be borne by taxpayers
of the United States. Prof. Johnson
was appointed special United states
commissioner Of Panama trafnc py
former President Taft and served as
such in 1911-191S. ITO enable tne
canal to carry itself commerclaliS
without being a continuing puIuem !,
upon the taxpayers of the country,
said Prof. Johnson, 1t Will De heces-
sary to obtain revenues OF ABOUT Sls;
made up of s3,5OO,000 for annual
maintenance and operation; S5OO'Ooo
for zone sanitation and government
s25O,OOO payable as an annuity 10 the
republic of Panama; S11.25O,Ooo 10
cover the interest, at per cent on
the sS75.OOO,O 900 invested in the canal,
and S3.75O,O00 to provide SINKING
fund of l per cent to return 10 tne
treasury the cost of the canal during
the next fifty years. This revenue
must be obtained mainly from the toiis
collected from the vessels that use tne
canal. If the vessels PAID totls, the
revenue Of the canal at the END OF Ten
years would cover the annual outlay
on capital. If owners OF American
ships engaged in coastwise trade are
excused from the payment or tolis'
the revenues will not suffice to make
the canal self supporting. To exempt
coastwise shippers from the payment
of tolls means decrease OF at ieas'
s2O,000,000 in revenue.
At a meeting held in New YORK
last Friday, the directors OF the united
States Express company DECIDED to
dissolve that once powerful corpora
tion. and among other things that VIII
mean the turning out OF employment
of IS 900 men whose salary ana wages
aggregate $6,000,0OO. Many OF these
employees, especially in the larger OF.
fees, have grown old in the service ol
the company and 1t was saia tnat no lev
OF them were financially able to retlre
from active employment Of some sort.
The prospective dissolution will aftect
express service covering 32,9SS miles
of railroad with between 5,OOO anu
900 stations, according to state
ment made public Friday by Duncan
I Roberts, president Of the company
since January, 1918. Mr.. Roberts de-
MED that the parcel post was respon-
sible but said that the new rates hxed
by the interstate commerce coIlniis-
sion was the chief factor In lnnuenc-
ing the directors. Mr.. Roberts aiso
blamed state rate commissions which
he declared ordered rates in some in
stances lower than those fixed by the
interstate commerce commission. Con-
tinuing. Mr.. Roberts said: There is
no ouarrer over the parcel post; II
fills a want the express companies
never could, with the utter imprac-
ticability of rural deliveries by them.
The fault lies with the change In our
rates" The stockholders, under the
plan of liquidation, the terms or Which
remain to be decided, will prooaply
get more than the present market
value of the stock as the company
liquid assets are valued IN excess ol
sS,OOO,OOO. There are 1,556 Stock
holders of record, of which 740 are
women. The largest individual block,
$1,000 shares, is held by the estate
of the late E. H. Hartman. The Platt
holdings of $50 shares are much small
er than was generally believed.
Superintendent of Education j. Z.
Swearingen has written a letter to the
county superintendents OF educdtlon
throughout the state calling attention
to the money appropriated Tor the
common and high schools by the leglS :
lature, and that applications for ald
must be through the state board OF
education. His letter, which covers
the school situation in detail, is as fol-
lows: The general assembly made
liberal provision for the free publlc
schools. The six appropriations IN.
clude: High schools, $4,000; rural
graded schools, 100000; weak schools
for term extension, 100000; libraries
$4,000: public school buildings under
the act of 1910, to be diSbursed in or
der of applications filed, $4,000; con-
tingent fund to be expended by the
county boards of education under the
regulations provided by the state sup
erintendent of education for especial
ly needed school districts, S45,OOo.
These funds guarantee the contnu-
ance and extension of the educational
activities that have brought more etil-
cient schools to scores of communities
during recent years. State aid based
on local taxation should provide in eV-
ery district a school term of at least
seven months, an up-to-date building
and body of competent teachers. II
the people of any community will CO.
operate with the public school author
tiles they may easily secure state AID
for a better building, a longer term
and the establishment of rural grad
ed school All applications for high
school aid will be considered by the
state board of education at it's next
meeting. The money shall be forward
ed to your county treasurer about May
Is. The usual November installment
of high school aid for the scholastic
year 1894 could not be paid last
fall pending the collection of the one
mill state school tax, from which the
high school appropriation for 1918
was derived. High school trustees
and principals may rely upon their
usual apportionment as heretofore.
Rural graded school applications shall
be paid without fail. Under no con-
ditions should any district maintain
ing a two or three teacher school and
asking school aid be permitted to
close for lack of funds. The increase
from $4,000 to 100000 for these
schools guarantees the purpose OF the
lawmakers to maintain this policy in
every district meeting the require
ments of the Rural Graded School Act.
No rural community enrolling fifty
children can now afford to do with
out a two-teacher school, and no
such community enrolling seventy-fve
eh ha with less