The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-04-07
CHAMBER OF COM
u MERGE MEETING
Date of Annual Meeting Changed
to April 7th

In order to avoid conflicting with
the attraction in the opera house. the
d2tc OF the big Sumter County Cham
Der Of Commerce annual meeting and
Sood roads rally has been changed
from April 6 to the evening Of Apri!
{. ut the Girls High School Auditor
/! UNI
Between five and six hundred invi-
iatlons viii bc mailed out this week
to very section of Sumter county.
embracing numbers Of farmers and
county merchants. and hundreds to
business and professional men in the.
city Of Sumter. Every member of
the Chamber OF Commerce is expect
cd to attend this meeting.
Music for the occasion will be fur
nished by the Sumter High School
orchestra under the direction Of Miss
, Truitt Miss Hannah Christensen,
and Mrs. Edith Stroupe have kindly
consented to look after The arrange
mcnts for and serving the refresh
ments and the smokes, assisted by a.
number Of other young ladies Of the.
city.
Mayor L. d. Jennings will open the
campaign at this meeting for the
two and half million dollar bond issue
for approximately 125 miles OF hard
surfaced, concrete bridged highways
for Sumter county. 1t is understood
the Federal government will supple
ment this sum by about s500,8o0.
Professor j. A. Evans, chief of the
States Relations Service-Soutil, Of
the Department Of Agriculture, Wash
ington, d. c. viii discuss the question
Of How May Il Chamber of Com.
merce best serve the interests Of the
farmers and other Business in meeting
the boil w-eevi situation during the
next two or three years
Professor Evans has been fighting
the boil weevil as government rep
resentative ever since the weevil
crossed the Rio Grande river into the
United States, near Brownsville, Tex
as. il 1892.
He has been through every phase
Of the boil weevil emergency. He has
been in every State and section, and
has followed the fortunes and mis-
fortunes Of numerous weevil Infested
sections His thorough knowledge
and his experience peculiarly fit him
20 tell the farmers; merchants, bank
ers and other business men what TO
expect and what to do, and best. of
all, what not to do/during boil wecvil
times in cotton territory
DR.. S. H. Edumuns will discuss the
important question Of "Our Cham
ber's Relations to Our County
Schools . DR.. Edmunds is preparing
a special line of discussion for this
feature of the meeting, as the future
of the rural educational system is Civ
ing students Of this matter no little
concern. With the coming of bet
ter system of hard surfaced roads and
the increase in the number Of auto
mobiles. some Of the rural schools
are beginning to dwindle in numbers
of pupils who are being sent TO the
town and city schools where the edu-
cational facilities are better And
this will increase IS good roads in
crease. Of course the towns and
cities are glad to have the rural chill
dren in their schools. but the ques-
ton arises, what will become Of the
children who are left in the rural
schools who arc not So fortunate as
to be able to attend the larger city
or town schools
The more rural children that are
sent to city or. town schools the less
number Of interested school patrons
in the rural districts. and as a rule
the larger number Of school patrons
who send their children to the city
and town schools withdraw their sup
port from the rural schools Of thels
district. Therefore, the rural schools
so situated are bound to go down in
stead Of going up without a sufficient
number of pupils. and a sufficient
number Of interested. enthusiastic
patrons who are willing to vote and
nay taxes to develop the rural schools
SO crippled.
Therefore, bctteY roads, the boil
| ueetil and rural education arc three
Of the most important social and eco
nomic problems confronting Snr,tc'
county and other Carolina counties
at. present. There will be other bus
mess discussed at this meeting Il
there is time left after the three lead
ing speakers finish.