The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-04-21
Homes For veterans.

The time has about arrived when
Sumter must decide whether huiluredS
Of veterans will sleep in inhospitable
tents on cots. or be the honored guests
in the homes Of Sumter citizens. Sec
retary RAArdon puts it up to many
households Are you with Sumter or
'agin it," It's UP to YOU
Only few days grace remains n
which the committee on homes must
decide whether hundreds OF. veterans
VII have to be accommodated in
tents or halls. sleeping on cots i'll Il city
which invited these guests to meet in
Sumter. Does not that probability OF
| i'*@fficient hospitality awaken Local
=, &c and community interests in the
il,le&st Of every public spirited citi=er
IT is about three weeks to May 9TH
a.o 9th when Sumter will have, it j.
6 tnlated, between five and six h:,r-
G'ed invited guests to entertain in che
ZONES of the citizens of Sumter.
The reputation Of Sumter for hos
rlts,liiy, and for courteous entertain
II ent Of invited guests is at stake
THIS means or should mean TO every
household wherein it is possible to
entertain Confederate veteran, that
tie occupants of these residences have
Ia certain amount Of community spir-
it ard city pride, and that every such
citizen is interested in feeling per
scnal as we'll as a community inter
est in the way that Sumter entertains
Iaer invited guests.
OF course there are to be found
il: Sumter, as everywhere else, num-
bei's of men and women who live or
70, her try TO live unto themselves, be-
Cause living to yourself is a rather
c:zaplicated problem if you are living
in I; wideawake, progressive, unseifish
community, taken as a whole city,
sCc!, as Sumter Justly claims TO be.
who are absolutely Indifferent about
&C tmmunity matters in general.
Pat it is to be hoped, and it is gen
orally believed that Sumter has at
least comparatively few OF the selfish
anu unpublic spirited class Of citizens
hefe reluctantly referred to. That
there are many households in which
veterans could be entertained, but in
Which veterans will not be entertained
is we'll known 70 the committee on
homes for veterans. This is to be
re.redied by these households agree
ing to do their duty to- their city.
Sumter has set out TO pull Off the
biggest and most successful, brilliant
and hospitable Confederate veterans
re- union ever staged in South Caro-
lima. That is the Sumter spirit. Arc
so,, Part Of that community spirit
O. a1e you Indifferent? Thousands Of
dollars will be freely and gladly ex-
:mnoed, city and county-lovil1g men
and women who are anxious TO show
the gallant Old Confederate veterans
how much Sumter thinks Of them, and
how Sumter desires to honor them.
II Sumter didn't want to honor these
hundreds of gallant veterans Sumter
would never have invited them to be
its guests Of honor. Colonel Richard
D. Lee shows the typical Sumter splr-
it in his liberal contribution Of 1000
to entertain Sumter's guests. There
fore a plain duty Of local pride and
community and individual hospital
ity rests upon every man and woman
in Sumter who can entertain a veter-
an TO do so. Sumters homes are
crowded for the most part owing to
the; scarcity of houses j condition
not peculiar to Sumter but existing
throughout the United States. Hun
dreds Of progressive citizens, not that
they needed the money, but simply
to help Sumter TO develop have open
ed their homes to men and women
and rented them sleeping rooms. That
shows we have community builders
and hospitable citizens in Sumter also
But for a couple of days Sumter
will need rooms 10 appropriately en-
tertain hundreds of invited guests
The time is short. to repeat, IN which
10 find out whether Sumter has suffi-
cienr accommodations in hospitable
homes for our veteran visitors, or to
take the necessary steps to put these
visitors in tents or halls. on cots in :;
city which invited them TO meet in
Sumter.
Are there so many Indifferent citi-
zens that this inhospitaMe condition
shall prevail? The answer rests with
every household that can entertain.
and above all the answer remains
r:.ore with those households that can
But will not entertain. Which Ella IS
will YOU be rated in when the time
i>:lr:ves to show What Sumter can acd
vii! do.