The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-11-17
SENATOR SMITH ';lIiII SPEAKS.
JUNIOR SENATOR ADDRESSES
LARGE AUDIENCE AT FAIR
GROUNDS.
he Ia'Sed or War Conditions and An
peaied to TURNER'S of South to
Awake to Duty and DO Their Part
to- Help Feed the World.
From The Daily Item, Nov. IA.

from The Daily Item Nov. IA.
The event of the county fair today
was the speech of Senator r. ID.
smith. He had large audience that
filled the grand stand and crowded
around the speakers stand, but he
spoke under the greatest difficulty
ana was ut disadvantage, for i'm the
crowd were many school children
wno Kept up a continual racket and
were moving around continually
whiie ne was speaking. Senator
smith spoke on a serious subject and
mad an important message to deliver
to serious minded and thinking peo-
pie. and II was therefore unfortunate
that so many of the school children
were assembled i'm the grandstand
when IL was announced that Senator
smith was about to begin speaking.
The children would have been much
happier and more entertained If they
had been turned loose i'm the carni-
val grounds. or elsewhere, and thc
speech-making and speech hearing lef
to the grown-ups.
Senator Smith discussed the war
ana Its bearing upon agricultural and
economic conditions. He brought tn
matter directly home to the people o
the South and to the farmers, espe-
cially to the farmers of Sumter coun
~. He appealed to his audience to
wake up and to realize that there /
great and terrible responsibilty
resting upon them and that 1t Is theil
duty to make the most strenuous and
loyal Efforts to grow food to feed tn
south and provide Il large surplus t
help feed the non productive classes
OF the balance of this country am
the starving people i'm Europe. He
sad that he could not understand why
80 many OF our people have thus far
fa'led to understand the great an
overwhelming crisis that now con
fronts the peoples of the world VIII
vet retain faith i'm religion, civilization
and democracy. He warned his
hearers that all that we hold dear
all that makes life worth living, tha
the safety of our homes. our proper
~ and the lives and honor of our
wives. mothers and daughters are a;
In ha
realize that we are in danger and
that we must fight as one man, con
serving our resources and making use
OF all that we have i'm strength and
wealth-men and money-to win the
war that liberty and freedom may
not perish from the earth.
In practical matters he urged ev-
cry farmer to plant wheat, as q mat
ter of patriotism and i'm the spiri
OF public service. but also as n mat
ter of personal safety. for, said he,
the wheat of the west will not be
permitted to be sent to the South, bu
will be sent abroad to feed our sol
diers and the fighting men of our al
lies. The South can raise it's owl
wheat and all else it needs to feed it,
people, and IL the farmers of the
South do'not see this duty and quit
themselves as men they will suffer
and their people will suffer for their
blindness and lack Of willingness t.
perform the duty that they owe their
country.
Senator Smith spoke with his usua
eloquence and with more than &C.
customod earnestness. for he feels
that the fate of our country and the
safety of decency, humanity. and all
tho ideals that Christian civilization
has given to the world are in the bal
ahce-that America and the men of
America only can stem the tide Of
barbarism that will engulf the world
III Prussianism trium phs i'm Europe.