New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-12
sPARTANBURG, S. c., August 9.

SPARTANBURG s. c., August 9.
Ak i0as bo'kn in dear or Georgia,
Raised in Tennessee,
Trained in Sou'h CGr'liney,
.An'-n-n-AhU die in GermGnee!
When the days work is done and
the banjos are brought out that is the
song the darby camp workers are sing
ing across the great parade ground
that is coming into being on the out
skirts of this city.
Cole Blease, formerly prominent as
the resolute Governor of this state,
recently expressed his conviction that
the South will regret mixing in a
foreign war" He thereupon acquired
new distinction as "the only pacifst in
South Carolina" and as such became a
political curiosity. Spartanburg re-
CARDS him with amazement. For the
Spartans, having mixed in" to the best
advantage by getting New York's
10000 National Guardsmen to come
here for their training, are confident
that war will do for their city in six
months what peace failed TO do in sixty
years-make II the second city of i'm
portance in the state.
Look for Golden Harvest
The 10000 soldiers, they figure, will
spend at least half their monthly pay
of s1,250,OO0 with the local merchants.
A floating civilian population of 10000
will be drawn here by the camp TO
benefit local trade, while vast sums
will be disbursed by the government
through the quartermaster's office.
The joys of twenty-six-cent cotton fade
before such a prospect, and club and
trade board, Chamber of Commerce and
community league work night and day
70 make things pleasant for the New
York troops and hardly find time to
wonder what Sherman meant by his
famous remark.
Spartanburg, with $4,000 population,
of which 80 per cent is black, has pros
pered for generations as one Of the
country's principal cotton spinning
cities. Elevated about 500 feet above
sea level, its climate is equable and its
summers cool compared with those of
Columbus and Charleston, the two
South Carolina cities which, il admits
exceed it in size and Importance. 1t
has modern hotels, we'll stocked stores
and palatial homes, occupied for the
most part by men grown wealthy in the
cotton trade.
Since the establishment of Camp
Wadsworth, as the Guardsmen's train
ing quarters will be known, Main Street
tradesmen have been engaged in "im-
provements" especially designed to at
tract the New Workers.
Plenty of New York" Stores
As result there are New York"
shoe stores, New York" barber shops,
New York" restaurants, soda fountains
and fruit stands. Erstwhile somnolent
darby taxi drivers alertly discuss
Broadway and enthusiastically declare
the New York Guardsmen the best
soldiers extant. The main square of
Spartanburg is grsced by monument
TO the heroes of the Revolution who
fell at Cowpens, fourteen miles from
here. "No North, No South, No East,
No West. All United for the Good"
says the inscription. Spartanburg has
adopted the motto with a slight prefer
entail leaning toward that part of the
-NOlll COubdAhllAB -NC" lOAh'
To do it justice, it has set out to
entertain New York's Gusrdsmen as we'll
as, if not better than, any other city
could. 1t expects to profit as result
of its courtesy, but if the prospect of
profit should vanish the law of South
ern hospitality would still be observed.
The War Departments decision to send
the troops here was entirely due to
the initiative and energy of the local
Chamber of Commerce, which surveyed
the camp site, drew up the necessary
complicated and duplicated plans and
bills of particulars and had them be-
fore the authorities at Charleston with
in twenty-four hours after it was
known that Spartanburg would be con-
sidered as n location.
The local Board Of Works agreed to
lease and present the camp to the gov
eminent free of charge, except costs
incidental to the demolition of farm
buildings on the site. The municipality
owned Public Service Corporation
controlling the water supply contracted
to lay mains from the filtration plant
through corn and cotton fields TO the
camp, seven miles away, and deliver
IpT TpC