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The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, August 02, 1899, Image 4

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063760/1899-08-02/ed-1/seq-4/

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TRICKE RY E. T MUE
Rev. Dr. Talmage Contrasts It
With Fair Dealing.
CONDEMNS BUSINESS
Processes by Which Values Are
Misrepresented. Many of
Our Merchants Are
Models of Integrity.
Integrity and trickery in business
life form the subject of Dr. Talmage's
sermon today, and the contrast he
establishes between the two is a strik
ing one. The text is Proverbs xx, 14,
"It is naught, it is naught, said the
buyer, when he is gone his way, then
he boasteth."
Palaces are not such prisons as the
world imagines. If you think that the
only time kings and queens come forth
from the royal gates is in procession
and gorgeously attended, you are mis
taken. Incognito, by day or by night.
and clothed in citizen's apparel or tne
dress of a working woman. they come
out and see the world as it is. In no
other way could King Solomon, the
author of my text, have known every
thing that was going on. From my
text I am sure he must in oisguise some
day have walked into a store of ready
made clothing in Jerusalem and stood
near the counter and heard a convera
tion between a buyer and a seller. The
merchant put a price on a coat, and the
customer began to dicker and said:
"Absurd! That coat is not worth what
you ask for it. Why, just look at the
coarseness of the fabric! See that spot
on the collar! Besides that. it coes
not fit. Twenty dollars for that? Why,
it is not worth more than $10. They
have a better article than that and for
lower price down at Clothem, Fitem &
Bros. Besides that, I don't want it at
any price. Good morning." "Hold,"
says the merchant, "do not go off in
that way. I want to sell you that coat.
I have some payments to make and I
want the money. Come, now, how
much will you give for that coat?"
"Well," says the customer, "I will
split the difference. You asked $20
and I said $10. Now, I will give you
$15." 'Well," said the merchant. "it
is a great sacrifice, but take it at that
price."
Then the customer with a roll under
his arm starzted to go out and enter his
own place of business, and Solomon in
disguise followed him. He heard the
customer as he unrolled the coat say:
"Boys, I have made a great bargain.
How much do you guess I gave for that
coat?" "Well," says one, wishing to
compliment his enterprise, "you gave
$30 for it." Another says, "I should
think you got it cheap if you gave $25."
"No," says the buyer in triumph; "I
got it for $15. I beat him down and
pointed out the imperfectiont until I
really made him believe it was not worth
hardly anything. It takes me to make
a bargain. Ha! Ha!" 0 man, you
got the goods for 'less than they were
worth by positive falsehood, and no
wonder, when Solomon went back to
his palace and had put off his disguise,
that he sat down at his writing desk and
made for all ages a crayon sketch of
you, "It is naught, it is naught, saith
the buyer, but when he is gone his way,
hen he boasteth."
There are no higher styles of men in
all the world than those now at the
head of mercantile enterprises in the
great cities of this continent. Their
casual promise is as good as a bond with
piles of collterals. Their good reputa
tion for integrity is as well established
as that of Petrarch residing in the fami
ly of Colonna. It is related that when
there was great disturbance in the fami
ly the cardinal called all his people to
gether and put them under oath to tell
the truth, except Petrarch. When he
came up to swear, the cardinal put away
his book and said, "As for you, Pet
rarch, your word is sufficient." Never
since the world stood have there been
so many merchants whose transactions
can stand the test of the Ten Command
ments. Such bargain makers are all
the more to be honored because they
have withsood year after year tempta
tions which have flung so many fiat and
fung them so hard they can never,
never recover themselves. 'While all
positions in life have rowerful beset
ments to evil, there are specific forms
of allurement which are peculiar to
each occupation and profession, and it
will be useful to speak of the pecui.r
temptations of business men.
First, as in the scene of the text,
business men are often tempted to sac
. rifice plain truth, the seller by exagger
ating the value of goods and the buyer
be depreciating them. We cannot but
admire an expert salesman. See how
he first induces the customer into a
mood favorable to the proper considiera
tion of the value of the goods. lie
shows himself to be an honest and
frank salesman. How carefully the
lights are arranged till they fall just
right upon the fabric! Beinning with
goods of medium quality, he gradually
advances toward those of more thor
ough make and or more attractive pat
tern. How he watches the moods and
whims of his customer! With what
perfect calmness he takes the order and
bows the purchaser from his presence,
who goes away having made up his mind
that he has bought the goods at a price
w'hich will allow him a living margin
when he again sells -them! The goods
. were worth what the salesman said they
were and were sold at a price which will
not make it necessary for the house to
fail every ten years in order to fix up
things.)
But with what burning indignation
we think of the iniquitous stratagems
by which goods are sometimes disposed
of! A glance at the morning papers
shows the arrival at one of our hotels of
a young merchant from one of the in
land cities. He is a comparative stran
ger in the great city, and of course he
must be shown around, and it will
be the duty of some of our enterpris
ing houses to escort him. He is a
large purchaser and has plenty
of time and money, and it will pay to
be very attentive. The evening is
spent at a place of doubtful amuse
ment. Then they go back to the ho
tel. Having just come to tows, they
must, of course, drink.
A friend from the same mercantile
establishment drops in, and usage and
generosity suggest that they must drink.
Business prospects are talked over,
and the stranger is warned against cer
tain dilapidated mercantile establish
ments that are about to fail. i.nd for
such kindness and magnanimity of cau
tion against the dishonesty of ether
business houses, of course it is expeet
ed they will-and so they do-take -a
drink. Other merchants lodging in ad
joining rooms find it hard to sleep for
the clatter of decanters, and the coarse
carousal of these "hail fellows well
met" waxes louder. Bat they sit not
flusthedhs They -aa:er fo~h winP
eteksfishdind eye! bl1,oodl it. The
outer eatcs of hell open to let in the
victin.. Tht- wings of lost 0o' flit
among thc lights, and the steps of thC
carousers :,ound with the rumbling
thunders o the lost. Farewell to all
tbe sanctities of home! Could mother,
sister, father, sluibering in the inland
home, ir sonic vision of that night
catch a glimpse of the ruin wrought
they would rend out their hair by the
roots and bite the tongue till the blood
spurted. shrickic; out, "God 3ave
him"
What, suppose you, will come upon
such business establishments? and
there are hundreds of then, in the
cities. They may boast of fabulous
sales, ana they may have an uuprece
dented run of buyers, and the name of
the house may be a terror to all rivals,
and from this thrifty root t:.ere may
spting up branch houses in other cities.
and all the partners of the firm may
more into their mansions and drive
their full blooded span, and the fam
ilies may sweep the stre.:t with the
most elegani t apparel that human heart
ever wove or earthly nagnificen':e ever
achieved.
But a curse is gathering surelv for
these mea, ard if it does not seize hold
f the pilla:s and in one wild ruin
bring down the temple of comm'rcial
glory ; will break up their peace, and
they will tremble with sickness and
bloat with dissipations, and, pushed to
the precipice of this life, they will try
to hold back and cry for help, but no
help will come, and they will clutch
their goid to take it along with them,
but it will be snatched from their grasp
and a voice will sound through their
soul, "No a farthing, thou beggared
spirit:" An3 thf judgment will come,
and they will stand aghast before it,
and all the business iniquitics of a life
time will gather around them. saying,
"Do you remember this?" and "Do
you remember that?" And clerks that
they compelled to dishonesty and run
ners and draymen and bookkeepers who
saw behind the scenes will bear testi
mony to theIr refarious deeds, and
some virtuous soul that once stood
aghast at the splendor and power of
these businiss men will say, "Alas,
this is all that is left of that great firm
that occupied a block with their mer
chandise and overshadowed the city
with their influence and made righte
ousness and truth and purity fall under
the galling tire of avarice and crime."
While we admire and approve of all
acuteness and tact in the sale of goods,
'we must condemn any process by which
a fabric or product is represented as
possessing a valee which it really does
not have. Nothing but sheer false
hood can represent as perfection boots
that rip, silks that speedily lose their
luster, calicoes that immediately wash
out. stores that crack under the first
hot fire, books insecurely bound, car
pets that unravel, old furniture reju
verated with putty ard glue and sold
as havirg been recently manufactured,
gold watches made of brass, barrels of
fruit, the biggest apples on the top,
wine adulterated with strychnine, hos
iery poorly woven, clothes of domestic
manufacturo shining with foreign la
bels, imported goods represeuted as rare
and hard to get, because foreign cx
change is so high, rolled out on the
counter with matchless display. Im
ported indeed, but from the factory in
the next street. A pattern already un
fashionable nnd unsalable palmed off as
a new print upon some country mer
chant who has come to town to make
his first purchase of dry goods and go
ing home with a large stock of goods
warranted to keep.
Again business men are often tempt
ed to make the habits and customs of
other traders their law of rectitude.
There are commercial usages w':ich
will not stand the test of the last day.
Yet men in business are apt to do as
their neighbors do. If the ma jority of
the traders in any locality are lax in
principle, the commercial code in that
community will be spurious and dis
honest. It is a hard thing to stand
close lby the law of right when your
next door neihbor, by his looseness of
dealing, is etabled to sell goods at a
cheaper rate and decoy your zustomers.
Of course you who promptly meet all
your business engagements, paying
when you promise to pay, will find it
hard to compete with that merchant
who is hopelessly in debt to the impor
ter for the goods and to the landlord
whose store he occupies and to the
clerks who serve him. There are a
hundred practices prevalent in the
world of traffic which ought never to be
come the rule for honest men. Their
wrong does not make your right. Sin
never becomes virture by being multi
plied and admitted at brokers' board or
merenants' exchange. Because others
smuggle a few things in passenger
trunks, because others take usury
when men are in tight places, because
others deal in fancy stoeks, because
others palm off worthless indorsements,
because otheis do nothing but blow
bubbles, do not, therefore, be overcome
of temptation. H~ollow pretentions
and fictitious credit and commercial
gambling may awhile prosper, but the
day of reckoning cometh, and in addi
tion to the hdrror and condemnation of
outraged communities the curse of God
will come, blow after blow. God's law
forever and forever is the only standard
of right and wrong and not commercial
ethics.
Young business, men avoid the first
business dishonor, and you will avoid
all the rest. The captain of a vessel
was walking near the mouth of a river
when the tide was low, and there was a
long, stout anchor chain, into one of
the great links or which his foot slipp
ed, and it began te sweill, and he could
not withdraw it. The tide bega4n to
rise. The chain could not be loosened
nor filed off in time, and a surgeon was
called to amputate the limb, but before
the work could be done the tide rolled
over the victim, and his life was gone.
I have to tell you, young man, that
just one wrong into which you slip may
be a link of a long chain of circumstan
ces from which you cannot be extricat
ed by any ingenuity of your own or any
help from others, and the tides will
roll over you as they have over many.
When Pompey, the warrior, wanted to
take possession of a city and they would
not open the gates, he persuaded them
to admit a ssek soidier. But the sick
soldier after awhile got well a'.d strong,
and he threw open the gates and let the
devastating army come in. One .wrong
admitted into the soul may gain in
strength until after awhile it flings open
all the gates to the attack of sin, and
the ruin is complete.
Again, business men arc sometimes
tempted to throw off personal responsi
Ibility, shifting it to the institution to
which they belong. Directors in banks
and railroad and insurance companies
somectimes shirk personal responsibility
underneath the action of the corporation
and hew often, when some banking
house or financial institution explodes
throurh fraud, respectable men in the
board of directors say, "~Why, I thought
all was going on in an honest way, and
I am utterly confounded with this do'
meanor!" The banks and the fire and
lfe and marine insancen comnanies
anc a he railroad comprames lvii no,
stat;1 up for judgnent in the 1,st day.
but faosc who in them acted righteous
ly will receive, each for himsClf, a re
ward, and those who acted the part of
neglect or trickery will, each for him
sels, receive a condemnatiol.
tTnliwful dividends are not clean be
fore God because there are those associ
ated with you who grab just as big a
pile as you do. le who countenances
the dishonesty of the firm or of the cor
boration or association takes upon him
self all the moral liabilities. If the
financial institution steals, he steals.
If they go into wild speculations, he
himself is a gambler. If they need
lessly embarrass a creditor, he himself
is guilty of cruelty. If they swindle
the uninitiated he himself is a defraud
er. No financial institution ever had a
monev vault strong enough, or credit
stanch enough, or dividends large
enough. or policy acute enough to hide
the individual sins of its members.
The old adage that corporations have no
souls is misleading. Every corporation
has as many souls as it has mem
bers.
Again, many business men have been
tempted to postpone their enjoyments
and duties to a future season of entire
leisure. What a sedative the Christian
religion would be to all our business
men if instead of postponing its uses to
old age or death they would take it into
the store or factory or worldly engage
ments now! It is folly to go amid the
uncertainties of business life with no
God to help. A merchant in a New
England village was standing by a
horse, and the horse lifted its foot to
stamp it in a pool of water, and the
merchant. to escape the splash, stepped
into the door of an insurance agent,
and the agent said, "I suppose you
have come to renew your fire insur
ance." "Oh!" said the merchant. "I
had forgotten that." The insurance
was renewed, and the next day the
house that had been insured was burn
ed. Was it all accidental that the nier
chant, tQ escape a splash from a horse's
foot, stepped into the insurance office?
No, it was providential. And what a
mighty solace for a business man to
feel that things are providential!
What peace and equilibrium in such a
consideration, and what a grand thing
if all business men could realize
it!
Many, although now comparatively
straitened in worldly circumstances,
have a goodly establishment in the fu
ture planned out. They have in im
nation built, about 20 years ahead.
house in the country not difficult 'V
access from the great town, for t!.
will often have business or old accou ts
to settle or investments to look afte r.
The house is large eneugh to accomma
date all their friends. The halls ,re
wide and hung with pictures of hunting
scenes and a branch of antlers and are
comfortable with chairs that can be
rolled out on the veranda when the
weather is inviting or set out under
some of the oaks that stand sentinel
about the house, rustling in the cool
breeze and songful with the robins.
There is just land enough tokeep them
interested, and its crops of almost fab
ulous richness springing up under ap
plication of the best theories to be
found in the agricultural journals.
The farm is well stocked with cattle
and horses and sheep that know the
voice and have a kindly bleat when one
goes forth to look at them. In this
blissful abode their children will be in
structed in art and science and religion.
This shall be the old homestead to
which the boys at college will direct
their letters, and the hill on which the
house stands will be called Oakwood or
Iy Hill or Pleasant Retreat or Eagle
Eyrie, May the future have for every
businesss man here all that and more
besides! But are you postponing your
happiness to that time? Are you ad
jouning your joys? Suppose that you
achieve all you expect-and that the
vision I mention is not up to the reality,
because the fountains will be brighter,
the house grander and the scenery more
picturesque-the mistake is none the
less fatal.
What charm will there be in rural
quiet for a man who has for 30 or 40
years been conforming his entire nature
to the excitements of business? Will
flocks and herds with their bleat and
moan be able to silence the insatiable
spirit of acquisitiveness which has for
years had full swing in the soul? Will
the 1um of the breeze soothe the man
who now can find his only enjoyment
in the stock market? Will leaf and
cloud and fountain charm the eye that
has for three-fourths of a lifetime
found its chief beauty in hogshead and
bills of sile? Will pare'3ts be compe
tent to rear their childrea for high and
holy purpose, if their infancy and boy
hood and girlhood were neglected,
when they are almost ready to enter
upon the world and have all their hab
its fixed and their principles stereoty
ped? No, no: now is the time to be
happy. Noiv is the time to serve your
Creator. Now is the time to be a
Christian. Are you too busy? I have
known men as busy as you are who, had
a place in the store loft where ihey
went to pray. Someone asked a Chris
tian sailor where he found any plae tio
pray in. Hie said, "I can always find
a quiet place at masthead."~ And in
the busiest day of the season if your
heart is right you can find a place to
pray. Busy thoroughfares are good
places to pray in as you go to meet
your various eugagements. Go home a
little earlier and get introduced to your
children. Be not a galley slave by day
and night, lashed fast to the oar of
business. Let every day have its hour
for worship and intellectual culture
and recreation. Show yourself great
er than your business. Act not as
though after death you would enter
upon an eternity of railroad stocks and
coffees and ribbons. Roast not your
manhood before the perpetual fires of
anxiety. With every yard of cloth
you sell, throw not in your soul to boot.
Use firkin and counting room desk and
hardware crate as the step to glorious
usefulness and highest Christian char
acter. Decide once and forever who
shall be master in your store, you or
your business.
Again, business men are often tempt
ed to let their calling interfer with the
interests o' the soul. God sends men
into the business world to get educated
iust as hoys are sent to school and
college. Puarchase and sale, loss and
gain, disappointment, prosperity, the~
dishonesty of others, panie and bank
snspension are but different lessons in
the school. The more business the
more means or grace. Many hi.ve gone
through wildest panic unhurt. "Are
you not afraid you will break?"' said
some one to a merchant in time of
great commercial excitement. He re
plied, "Aye, I shall break when the
fiftieth psalm breaks, in the fifteenth
verse, 'Call upon me in the day of
trouble, and I will deliver thee.'"
The store and the counting house
1ave developed some of the most stal
wart characters. Perhaps originally
they had but little spright~liness and
fore, but two or three hard business
thumps woke them up from their leth
argy, and there came a thorough de
veoment in their hearts of all that
wa3 good anud holy and energlic and
tremendous. and the have become the
front men in Chrirt's army as well ag
lighthouse. in the great world of traf
fie. But business has been perpetual
depletion to many a man. It first
pulled out of him all benevolence,
next all amiability, next all religious
aspirations, next all conscience, and,
though he entered his vocation with
large heart and noble character, he
goes out of it a skeleten, enough to
scare a ghost.
Men appreciate the impo;tcnce of
having a good business stand, a store
on the right side of the street or in
the right block, yet every place of bu
siness is a good stand for spiritual cul
ture. God's angels hover over the
world of traffic to sustain and build up
those who are trying to do their duty.
Tomorrow, if in your place of worldly
engagement you will listcn for it, you
may hear a sound louder than the rat
tle of drays and the shuffle of feet and
the chink of dollars stealing into your
soul, saying, "Seek ye first the king
doi of God aud his righteousnes, and
all other things shall be added unto
you."
Yet some of those sharpest at a bar
gain are cheated out of their in mmortal
blessedness by stratagems more palpa
ble then any "drop game" of the
street. They make investments in
thing- everlastingly below par. They
put their valuables in a safe not fire
proof. They give fill credit to in
fluences that will not be able to pay
one cent on the dollar. They plunge
into a labyrinth from which no bank
rupt law or "two-thirds coactment"
will ever extricate tlcm. They take
into their partnership the rorld, the
flesh and the devil, aud the enemy of
all righteousness will boast through
eternal ages that the man who in all
his business life could not be outwitt
ed at last tumbied into spiriual defal
ca tion and was sxindled out of hea
ven.
Perhaps some of you saw the fire in
New York in 1835. Aged men tell us
th;.t it begeared all description.
Some stood on the house tops of Brook
lyn and looked at the red ruin that
swept down the streets and threatened
to obliterate the metropolis. But the
commercial world will yet be startled
by a greater conflagration; even the
last one. B'Is of exchange, policies
of insurance, mortgages and bonds and
government securities will be consura
ed in one lick of the flame. The
Y-urse and the United States mint will
en to ashes. Gold will run molten
tuto the dust of the street. Ex
changes and granite blocks of merchan -
dise will fall with a crash that will
make the earth tremble. The flashing
up of the great light will show the
righteous the way to their thrones.
Their best treasures in heaven, they
will go up and take possession of them.
The toils of business life, which rack
ed their brains and rasped their nerves
for so many years, will have forever
ceased. "There the wicked cease
from troubling and the weary are at
rest."
WAR CORRESPONDENTS.
Complaint of Their Treatment by Otis
Sent to London.
An Associated Press dispatch from
London Tuesday says: A private let
ter received here today from a war cor
respondent at Manila and dated June
17, say: "There seems to be no end of
the war in sight. The censorship is
constantly becoming more troublesome,
Gen Otis recently establised a rule
that any matter relating to the navy
must be taken to the commander of
the fleet for his approval and after
ward submitted to the military censor,
thus adding to our difficulties. For
some reason which the censor would
not explain, Gen. Otis refused to al
low us to send the death of the Monad
nock's captain (Nichols) for two days
after its occurrence. The general also
refused to allow us to send news of
the disappearance of Capt. Riockefel
ler (April 28) on the ground that it
would worry his family, or the killing
of Capt. Tilley, of the signal corps,
until the next day. The correspond
ents are all very tired of this arrange
ment, wvhich simply means that they
must go out and run large chances of
getting shot several times a week with
no chance of making reputations, be
:ause their stories must always reflect
Otis' view.
"It is impossible to write the truth
about the situation. The resources
and fighting qualities of the natives
are giite misunderstood by the Ameri
can papers .and we cannot write the
facts without being accused of trea
son; nor can we tell of the practically
unanimous opposition to and didike of
the war among the American troops
The volunteers, or at least a portion of
them, were at one time on the verge
of mutiny, and unless Gen. Otis had
begun sending them homewards there
would have been sensational develop
ments.
"We have been absolutely refused
all hospital fig'ires."
GEERAL WEYLER.
He Threatens, in the Senate, to Lead
a Revolution in Spain.
The discussion of th2 army bill in
the senate at Madrid Wednesda~y led
to an exciting scene. Gen. Weyler,
arguing against any reduction of the
strength of the army, warned the gov
erment that the present situation
made a revolution highly probable.
ince it had never been so easy for the
army and the people to make common
cause. lHe himself, he said, had never
thought of heading a rising, but it must
be confessed that revolutions some
times cieared the political atmosphere
and accomplished the work of regenera
tion. Senor Dato, minister of the in
teior, replying, severely censured Gen.
Weyler, declaring that a general who,
with 300,000 men had failed to sup
press the Cuban rebellion, had no right
to make such threats and that any at
tempt at revolution no matter by
whom, would be proceeded against v i~h
the utmost rigor of the law. Tlho secn
aors warmly applauded Scuor Dato's
sperh. T[Ye army bili was adopted.
Lower Freight.
The railroad commission has promul
gated the new local tariff on cotton,
which is of great importance not only
to railroads, but cotton shippers and
growers as well. The rates are a reduc
tion of from 25 to 30 per cent. on rates
formerly existing in this State, and are
said to lower than those of any State
in the South. The commission and the
railroad officials have had this matter
under consideration for a year.
Shot to Death.
Henry Novels, a negro, of Hatties
burg, Miss., who attempted to assault
Miss Rosa Davis, Saturday evening was
captured Tuesday and was identified by
Miss Davis. lie was immediately tied
to a tree and shot to death by the an
THE OHIO TROUBLE.
Board of Arbitration Can Do No
thing in Cleveland Strike.
MAYORS OF TOWNS CLASH.
Cleveland's Mayor Threatens
to Subdue Brooklyn by
Thirst. Cars Run on
Twelve Lines.
The storm centre of the street rail
way strike has, according to the authori
ties, settled in Brooklyn, a suburb
connected with Cleveland by a long
high bridge. At noon Wednesday 150
employes of the Borne Steel Range
company blocked a car on the bridge
and dragged the mot3rinan and condue
tor from their posts, inflicting with
their fists and other weapons inj aries
more painful than serious. Soldiers on
guard at the barn about half a mile
away hurried to the scene, but the riot
ers had taken refuge in the factory,
which stands under the approach to the
bridge. The factory was surrounded
and the premises searched, but there
was no clew by which the guilty ones
could be picked out.
Gen. Axline, in command of the
troops, in order to personally view the
sit'iation took a ride on an Orange street
car. le was in civilian dress and the
car was stoned at various intervals all
along the route. A rock came near hit
ting him. The general took other trips
through the troubled districts but de
clined to give his views of the situa
tion.
The vigilance of the guards while
daylight aided them prevented trouble
of a serious nature. Preparations for
mass meetings at various point were
made during the day. A meeting will
be held in Brooklyn to protest against
the action of Mayor Farley of Cleve
land, who has assumed, under the
authority of an almost forgotten btatute,
supreme police power in Cuyahoga coun
ty. This relieves Mayor Phelps of the
suburb, together with his constabulary
force of their power and they don't
like it. The two mayors are not on the
terms that existed between the storied
governors of the two Carolinas. The
soldiers and the Cleveland chief execu
tive's special police in Brooklyn are
not allowed to use the public hydrants
to get water, it is said, and upon vari
ous occasions bayonets were of a neces
sity used to convince shopkeepers that
it was wisest to sell soldiers what they
wanted. Mayor Farley mailed Mayor
Phelps a letter in which he declared
that if the Cleveland cohorts had any
more trouble about getting water,
Cleveland, which pumps the water to
the suburb, would attempt to abragate
the water truce and let the whole ham
let go thirsty. Mayor Farley also is
sued a statement to the strikers, in
which he said that a man who was
more loyal to his labor union than to
himself and his country was a coward
and a bad citizen.
Pasident Mahon of the National un
ion of street car emi,loyes, in an inter
view declared that as the street car
company, according to his information,
was losing thousands of dollars every
day, the strike would have to be settled
soon upon advances made by the com
pany, On the face of this President
Everitt again told the board of arbitra
tion that the company had nothing to
arbitrate. The board is unable to take
action looking to a settlement in view
of the attitude of the opposing forces.
The task of distributing the soldiers
was Wednesday completed by Gen.
Aline. Mayor Parley declared that
he would suppress violence if he had to
call out the entire National Guard of
Ohio. A boy was shot Wednesday
evening by a non-union conductor, but
whether or not accidentally is not
known.
DISARMING T HE CONSTABLES.
Governor McSweeney Issues an Order
on the Zubiect.
The Supreme Court having recently
declared that officers, such as dispen
sary constables, cannot carry concealed
weapons, the following order was sent
to the captain~s of the force Tuesday
morning, with Governor McSweeney's
approval:
"IDear Sir: Governor McSweeney di
rects me to have you instruct the con
stables under your command not to car
ry concealed weapons. The Supreme
Court has rece:tly decided that a wea
pon cannot lawfully be carried conceal
ed. If weapons are carried they must
be exposed. Respectfully,
"WV. WV. Harris, Clerk."
Mr. Harris, in speaking of the carry
ing of weapons by constables, says that
the State does not furnish them with
pistols, nor are they instructed to use
them. Whatever pistols are carried by
constables are their own property. It
has teen generally believed that consta
bles are armed by the State, but Mr.
Harris says that this is incorrect. Gov
ernor Tillman had them supplied with
pistols, but during Governor Evan's
administration they were all called in,
and since that time when constables
carried pistols they had to buy them
themselves. It is a fact, nevertheless,
that the constabulary geinerally went
about armed, but if they do so hereaf
ter they must carry their weapons as
policemen usually do.
Advertised a Wedding.
A novel advertising scheme was em
ployed by one of the New York subur
ban railroad companies Tuesday, which
drew many thousand persons to Lake
side Park, on the shores of Onondaga
Lage. It consisted of a bona fide wed
ding ceremony, performed by a city
pastor in the presence of a crowd of
gaping rustics and city dwellers in
search of novelty. For a percentage of
the receipts a young farmer who re
joices in the euphonious name of Berta
Marion Smith, and Miss Lillian Easter
brook, the daughter of a milkman, con
sented to make their nuptial rites the
subject of public gaze. Twenty-five
dollars was offered the Rey. Henry 0.
Manchester, pastor of Danforth Metho
dist church, to perform the ceremony,
and he consented, not understanding
that the wedding was to be public.
When he learned that his fee was to
come from the treasury of the railroad
company and that the wedding was be
ing advertised for all it was worth as
an attraction to the park, he declined
to have anything to do with it. The
services of the Rev. A. Oberlander, an
lEvangelical Lutheran minister, were
then hastily secured and the nuptial
knot was tied by him. It is estimated
that the railroad company made the
scheme profitable to the extent of
$5,000. The percentage due the bride
and groom will set them up comfortable
0AUM5G 'TOACCO
A Timely Article for Planters of the
Golden Weed.
The Tobacco Planters Guide says
many tobacco planters make a mistake
by not properly grading their crops.
Some entertain the idea that they can
pack away a lower grade with a higher
and make the whole lot sell for the
value of the latter, when the result is
generally the reverse. Dishonest pack
ing has nevr paid any farmer and
never will. The planter should remem
ber that the buyer generally knows more
about the quality of tobacco than any
one else, and is more likely to detect
any flaws or defects in packing. You
can put this down as a safe rule; that,
whenever you pack a lower grade with
a higher, you are certain to get paid
for the lower grade, and all extra leaves
put in the lot is just so much waste.
Honest packing always pays.
Maj. Ragland has written so minute
ly and so fully on this subject that we
cannot do bet tcr than give the reader
his dircctions. They are comprehen
sive and need not be supplemented with
any explanatory notes. "If, after the
tobacco is cured, the weather remains
dry and-it fails to get soft readily so
that it can be moved, it may be brought
in order in the following way: Place
green bushes with the leaves on th
floor ar.d sprinkle water over them
copiously. If the tobacco is dry and
the atanosphere contains but little mois
ture, and if the weather is cool, alittle
fire kindlei in the flues will assist in
making the tobacco soft. Straw, wet
or made so, will answer the same pur
pose. If the weather is damp there
ill be no necessity to use either straw,
bush or water. But when it is necessary
to use means to order tobacco, i is best
to apply them in the afternoon, that
the tobacco may be removed the next
morning. If the weather continues
warm and damp or rainy, tobacco that
remains hanging will be apt to change
color unless dried out by flues or char
coal. Wnen this becomes necessary,
build small fires at first, and raise the
heat gradually.
"Tobacco should never be stripped
from the stalks except in pliable order,
and the leaves on every plant should
be carefully assorted and every grade
tied up sepaately. Usually there will
be three gaades of leaf, assorted with
reference to color and size, and-two of
lugs. Of leaf, tie six to eight leaves in
a bundle, and of lugs eight to ten. As
fast as you strip, either hang the hands
on sticks, twenty-five to each stick, and
hang up, or bulk down in two layers,
the heads of the hands or bundles fac
ing outward. The latter mode is best
if you intend to sell in winter order,
loose on the warehouse floors. If bulked
down, watch frequently to see that it
does not heat. If the bulk becomes
warm it must be broken up, aired and
re-bulked, or hung up if too soft. It is
safer always to hang up as soon as strip
ped, unless you desire to sell soon, and
strike down in safe keeping order in
spring or summer. It is considered in
safe order when the leaf is pliable and
he stem will crack half way down the
t'e.
"If you sell loose, deliver in large,
uniform piles; such will cost less and
your tobacco bring more in price. But
to sell in a distant market, pack in
tieres-half hogsheads make the best
and cheapest-to weighs about 400
pounds, net, taking care not to press
the tobacco so as to bruise it, .or pack
it too closely together. The best leaf
is wanted for wrapper, and it must open
easily when shaken in the hand. Pack
one grade only in each tierce, uniform
in color and length; but if it becomes
necessary to put more than one grade
in a tierce, place strips of paper or
straw between to mark or separate them.
Pack honestly, for honesty is al
ways the best policy. The man who
nests his tobacco will certainly go on
the Black List, and buyers have good
memories. If your tobacco is fine,
sound and nicely handled, you will
have the satisfaction of getting, at the
least a remunerative price for it, al
though poor and nondescript stock
may be selling for less then the cost of
production. The world outside of this
country makes, as a rule, low grades
plenty, and at a cost to raise much less
than we can compass. We must plant
less surface, fertlize heavier, and cul
tivate and manage better, if we would
get the best prices."
T HE CROPS AND WEATHEE.
What the Department of Ag'riculture
Says About Them.
Thec following is the weekly bulletin
of the condition of the weather and
crops in the State issued Tuesday by
Section Director Bauer of the United
States Weathcr and Crop service:
'Ihe week ending J..uly 24th averaged
about 3 degrees per day hotter than
usual, with a weekly mean tempera
ture of 94 degrees, but the maximum
temperature did not reach the extreme
figure of the previous week. The
nights were uniformly hot.
There were light, scattered sho ,eers
on the 1ith, and the two following
dates, but at few points only was the
rainfall heavy enough to break the
drought. Charleston had 1.00 inch:
Kingtree 1.05; and Summerville 3.1:3
inches: elsewhere the amounts were
genelly under half an inch; while
over the greater jportion of the State
practically no rain fell. The drought
has reached a serious stage. Crops of
all kinds have deteriorated, and some,
such as old corn. etc., are in places
ruined. The 1;rospects are reported to
be "'gloomy"' and "appalling" in places.
No amount of rainfall, correspondents
say, would restore the failir.g crops to
profitable yields. Water for stock is
scarce, and in places :attle are report
ed dying. Light showers have fallen
in portions of the State since most of
the reports were received.
Cotton failed rapidly, and draught
stopped its growth, it is turning yellow
as though maturing, and is shedding
leaves and fruit. The plants are bloom
ing to the top. Tfhese are the prevail
ing conditions, but in spots cotton con
tinues to do well. Sea-island cotton.
while generally in excellent condition
is blighting to a considerable extent.
Old corn is injured beyond recovery
in many counties, and generally it is
but a poor crop. Corn on bottom lands
is very good. Fodder pulling has be
gun in the eastern counties.
Tobacco was severely injured in
places by the drought and extreme
heat; the leaves are sunburned, and
the quality of the crop is reduced.
Where timely rains fell; the crop is very
fine. Curing is general.
Early rice is heading. The crop
stands in need of rain. generally, and
of water for flooding, where not laid by.
Upland rice has su~cred from the heat
and drought.
Hon. J. J. Darlington, a native of
Due West, S. C., was tendered a Dis
iet Judgeship by President McKinley
Makes the food more d
ROYAL GAKING P
~ COLLEGE GRADUATES.
Uome Statistics Concerning the Life They
Take Up.
One hundred 3@ears ago more grad
uates adopted the ministry of the Gos
pel as a career than any other calling.
The proportion was a little more than
one-third of the total number of grad
uates. The law followed next in or
der, but taking a considerably smaller
number of men. Gradually the law
gained on the church, until it took first
place, about 33 1-3 per cent. of the
graduates becoming lawyers.
The standing of these two profes
sions remained about the same until
within the last ten or fifteen years,
when the law slightly increased its
lead. From ten years ago up to the
present time, however, commerce has
been forging to the front, and at the
present time it appears that more grad
uates engage in commercial pursuits
than in either the law or the ministry.
One-third of the men who now come
from college go into business, a con
siderably smaller number go into law,
and a very much smaller number be
come preachers. The conditions have
been reversed in 100 years. Then the
law and the church were regarded as
being pretty nearly the only learned
professions. Now the formerly de
spised "trade" is taking more highly
educated men than either the' law or
the church.
The marvelous growth and expansion
of commercial enterprises during the
hundred years is responsible for the
changed conditions. It requires men
of brains and education to plan, organ
ize and erect the monster enterprises
which are to be seen on every hand at
the present time. Commerce has not
only become "respectable," but it of
fers inducements to young men such
as are not duplicated by the learned
professions. As a matter of fact,
should not commerce, since its higher
branches now require the services of
so many highly educated men, be in
cluded among the learned professions?
The commercial development is des
tined to undergo still greater expan
sion and the probabilities are that the
demand for college men in its service
will go on growing for many years to
come.
He Kept the Seat.
A man who had not been to church
for a very long time finally harkened
to the persuasions of his wife, and de
cided to go. He got the family all to
gether and they started early. Arriv
ing at the church there were very few
people in it, and no pew-openers at
hand, so the man led his family well
up the aisle and took possession of a
nice pew.
Just as the service was about to-be
gin a pompous-looking old man came
in, walked up to the door of the pew
and stood there, exhibiting evident
surprise that It was occupied. The oc
cupants moved over and offered him
room to sit down, but he declined to be
seated. Finally the old man produced
a card and wrote upon It with a pen
cil:
"I pay for this pew."
He'gave the card to the strange occu
pant, who, had he been like most peo
ple would have at once got up and left.
But the Intruder adjusted his glasses
and with a smile read the card. Then
he calmly wrote beneath it:
"How much do you pay a year?"
To this inquiry the pompous old gen
tleman, still standing, wrote abruptly:
"Ten pounds."
The stranger smiled as though he
were pleased, looked around to com
pare the pew with' others, admired its
nice cushions and furnishings and
wrote back:
"I don't blame you. It Is well worth
it."
The pompous old gentleman at that
stage collapsed Into his seat.
Character in Smoking.
If a man smokes a cigar only enough
to keep it lighted, and relishes takin't
it from his mouth to cast a look at the
curl of smoke in the air, set him down
as an easy-going man. Beware of the
man who ne *er releases the grip on
his cigar and is indifferent whether It
burns or not; he is cool, calculating
and exacting.
The man that smokes a bit, rests a
bit and fumbles the cigar more or less
is easily affected by circumstances. If
the cigar goes out frequently, the
smoker has a whole-souled disposition,
is a "hail fellow, well met," with a
lively brain, a glib tongue and gener
ally a fine fund of anecdotes.
A nervous man who fumbles his ci
gar a great deal Is a sort of popinjay
among men. Holding the cigar con
stantly between the teeth, chewing it
occasionally and not caring If it is
lighted at all are the characteristics
of men who have the tenacity of bull
dogs. The fop stands his cigar on end,
and an experienced smoker points it
straight ahead, or almost at right an
gles with his course.
Smoking Under FIre.
A Saco, Me., smoker named Frank
Durgin while filling his pipe lately in
advertently put In a revolver cartridge
which he kept 111 a pocket with his
tobacco, and started from home with
his dinner pall unconscious of the extra
danger which lurked in the pipe bowl.
It didn't result so disastrously as might
have been feared, however. When
about half way to his place of' work
there was an explosion, the pipe dis
appeared and the bullet whizzed past
the man's ear, nipping off an edge as it
passed.
Bill Posting by Machine.
Successful experiments have been
made In Paris with a new bill posting
machine, which does away with the
use of either a ladder or paste. It can
be used to post bills at a height of fifty
feet from the ground and is being put
ato piggctical operation.
A somiiewnat patnetic letter comes
from an old colored citizen. It is as
follows:
"De rain has done beat down my cot
ton, an' most er my co'n is done ruint.
My son wuz a sojer in de war wid de
Spaniels. He lost two legs in it. Do
you reckon de guy-ment will give him
$2 a leg fer 'em.?"
Level Sea Bottom.
The bottom of the Pacific between
Hawaii and California is said to be so
level that a railroad could be laid for
500 miles without grading anywhere.
This fact was discovered by the United
States surveying vessel engaged in
making soundings with a view of lay
LFowmlR
elicious and wholesome
oeO 0.K YWvoW.
SAILORS AND SHARKS.
Two Facts Not Generally Known by The"
Unacquainted With the Sea.
"Two facts that may seem somewhat
peculiar to shore folks," said an ex
sailor of the navy, "are, first, that only
about one-half of the man-o'-war's
men in our service or in any other ser
vice, in fact, know how to swim, and,
second, that sharks are the most cow
ardly of all living creatures. It is odd
that so large a proportion of the naval
sailors don't know how to swim, but
it is probably due to the fact that a
great number of our man-o'-war's
men nowadays come from the interior
of the country, where-there is no water
'r them to learn how to swim. In
the old navy-and I put all of my ser
vice in in the old navy, so called-the
man who couldn't swim was, as soon
as the fact was discovered by his ship
mates, incontinently chucked over the
side when swimming call went, and he
just had to swim. Of course, the men
wouldn't let a fellow who didn't
know how to swim drown before their
eyes, but they 'would see to it that he
made a hard stab at the art of swim
ming before they picked him up. If he
didn't succeed in swimming the first
time, overboard he wo'uld go the very
next time all hands took a plunge over
the side at swimming call, and thus
all of the men serving on the old line
of packets became swimmers before
they left the service. It is forbidden
to throw a non-swimmer into the water
now, but I think it would be a good
thing if the practice were still con
tinued. The officers of the ships to
day insist upon the apprentice lads
learning to swim, but they let the non
swimmers among the newly recruited
landsmen go along without learning.
There have been numerous drowning
incidents in our navy within recent
years, owing to the Inability of men
who were otherwise excellent sailors
in the easy art of swimming.
"As to the cowardliness of sharks,
that fact is well known among men
who have been much to sea in southern
waters infested by man-eaters. The
fiercest man-eater that ever bullied a
poor little pilot fish into acting as a
food scout for him will get out of the
seaway in mighty big hurry if a swim
mer, noticing the shark's approach,
sets up a noisy splashing. A shark Is
in deadly fear of any sort of living
thing that splashes in the water. Down
among the South Sea Islands the na
tives never go in sea bathing alone,
but always in parties of half a dozen
or so, in order that they may make the
greatest hubbub in the water, and thus
scare the sharks away. Once in a
while a too venturesome swimmer
among these natives foolishly de- ~
taches himself from his swimming
party and momentarily forgets to keep
up his splashing. Then there is a sud
den swish, and the man-eater comes up
beneath him like a fiash and gobbles
him.
Speckled Cigar Wrappers.
Some of the tobacco Imported from.
Sumatra for making the wrappers of
cigars has a curiously speckled appear- ''
ance. In the minds of certain buyers
this marking Is evidence that the cigar
has a Sumatra wrapper. Such is not
always the case, for the artful man.
acturer has learned how to spot
American tobacco artifically, and he
occasionally does so in so clever a man
ner that the uninitiated customer never
suspects the trick.
Sumatra is a Dutch possession, and
tie spotting of the tobacco raised in
th..t island has 11een made the subject
of investigation by Professor Beyer
inck, of the Amsterdam Academy of
Sciences. This learned man presented
to the Academy a few weeks ago a pa
per in which he set forth the results of
his inquiry. He described a "living,
fluid contagion," which he declares i
the cause of the disease. This disor
der, also known as the mosaic disease
of tobacco leaves, may be Inoculated
into healthy plants by injecting into
the stem, near a bud, sap pressed from
infected plants. The active viru
passes completely through the pores of
very dense porcelain, and :an even -
penetrate into agar by diffusion; there
fore it cannot be a "contagium fixum"
in the usual sense, but it must be fiuid.
Out of the tobacco plant it cannot be
made to multiply; but in the dividing
tissues of the leaf-rudiments and the
meristems of the buds it multiplies
freely and over a great extent. A
very small drop of the porcelain filtrate
can render all the leaves of the infect
ed plant entirely covered with spots,
and the sap of these leaves would be -
sufficient for the contagion of an un
limited number of healthy plants.
Art and Mechanism.
A new portiere is designed to obviate
the necessity of pashing aside the
drapery when you enter a room from
the outside. The rail may be rectan
gular or semi-circular, and the rings
are connected with a spring hidden in
a tube, which, in turn, is fixed on one
side of the door. The act of openinig
the door actuates the mechanism, and
the ctirtain is drawn aside; on releas
ing your hold on the door the spring
causes it to shut, and at the same time
restores the curtain to its regular posi
Pure Water Xe Blue.
A well-known scientist says that the
true color of pure water Is blue, and
that this is a characteristic of the wa
ter itself and is not due to reflection
from the surface nor- from suspended
particles. Lake Geneva is an example
of the blue of pure water.
No Truth in It.
There is no truth whatever In the be
lief that any one falling into the sea
necessarily rises aind sinks three times
before drowning.
itan't Think She Was So Old.
"Ah, yes," said Mrs. Hambus, "war is
dreadful. How well I remember the
gloomy days we had whenever our
brave soldiers lost a battle during the
rebellion. Why, it was as if every fam
ily had been personally afficted."
"I'm surprised to hear you say that,"
exclaimed Willie Wimbledon. "I
didn't suppose you were old enough to
remember anything about the civil
Up to that time Willie's attention to
Geraldine Hlambus had not been looked
upon with favor by her mother, but
th -e yngman as won ont.-Chinnen

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