PRESIDENT WILSON STARTSPRORE OF BIO SHIPYARD

PROJECT.

Forty-two Million« of GovernmentHoney Involved tn Enterprise InWhich Prominent New York Eln-aa* irre are Interested.

Washington Feb. 14..PresidentWilson today directed Attorney Gen¬eral Gregory to Investigate the muchdkveneaed Hog Inland ship yard co t-tracts, which have been adverselycriticised before the senate commercecommittee, to determine If there hasbeen any criminal misuse of govern¬ment funds. He directed Mr. Greg¬ory to work in conjunction withChairman Murley. of the shipptr gbeard In making the investigationAbout forty-two millions of govern¬ment money are InvcWed In the logIsland project, in whioh the AmericanInternational Corporation, headed byFrank A. Vanderllp. has figured.

COUNCIL MEETING.

IKsruseton of Reduction of PoliceForce Results In No change.Sal¬ary of chief Increased.

The City Council met In regular aen-aion at . p. m. Tuesday. 12th Instant,with all members present. The mia¬ute« of tho previous meeting wereread and confirmed

Petition of the Postal TelegraphCompany for reduction of license taxwas granted und the tax wm tlxedat $6».

hief of Police sum iff mnds sstatement aa to the personnel of thepolice force and the work requiredand expressed the opinion that twould he unwiae to dispense with anyof the policemen at this time, on thescore of economy.The police report for January wa-t

read and ordered filed. The reportahowed: Arreats for violation of traf-nc ordinance, 18. larceny 7, miscel¬laneous 27. skating on streets 7; SgghAnea collected Ml7.25.The sppllcatlon of the Palmetto

Fire Insurance Company for conces¬sion on license tax was discussed,

it action on some waa postponed./O^v^esolution was adopted author¬

ising tno Hayor and Clerk and Treasurer to rWund the city loans.A letter\yas read from Mr. O. A.

Lsmmon complaining about chickennand pigeons deprpdatlng upon pramlass of cltUen* He wss advised thaclt'sens have redress by Indicting theowners of chickens that are persrtltted to run st large and In shootingthe pigeon*.A letter was reud from Mr. O. A

Lemmoo. Food Administrator foiBumtev County, transmitting a requestfrom William Elliott. State Food Ad<mlnlatrator, that the city erect a aigriboard on food conservation recom¬mended by Herbert Hoover. In someconspicuous plac* in the city. Coun¬cil agreed to have a canvass bannerpainted, with the sign requested andhang same at the corner of Main andLiberty streets

Applications for City Physiciannsrs read, but action was deferreduntil next meeting. The Clerk wardirected to advertise further.

Council decided that It was notadvisable to reduce the police force.The salary of the Chief of Police

was Incresaed In the sum of $16.71per month.

PRESENTS THE lt\ILKO\R HILL

South < Minima Senator (rgr* PromptAction.

Washington. Feb. 11. .Ennctmenlof the administration railroad bill withas" little delay as possible because ofIts Importance as a war measure andIts elation to the financial problemswaa urged by Senator Smith of SouthCarolina, chairman of the Intend at*OOgnmerce committee, today wheiconsideration of the measure beganin the senate.Debate on the bill opened with but

few senatora In their aeats. Manvhowever, have announced their Intontlon of discussing the measure an»administration leaders admit a flnavote Will hnrdlv h* reached much before the end of the aaonth

S«« 11 > r Smith reviewed the vinomstep* to m«et the transportation situ¬ation wh*n the couhtrv SfOnt 10 watculminating In the government lnttln|o\»r the carrrers He urged that tinpresent time was unopportun* for ar

attempt to work out and correct defacts In the transportation systemBddlCSl changes, he n<hl*»d. h.\e beermade Imperative In order to meet th«crisis and because of that af.t "erery necessary grant of power shouldhe given to accomplish this purpos.-snd the power« thus granted shouldbe uaed with all the wisdom and 0Mthaf the eteewtorn and ndmlnistrator-of these powers can command."

OttsWS. Feb. T4 -Sir Cecil Spring*Rice, former British amheaaador tothe Fritted States died of hesrt full -

ore this morning at governmenthonve Hie wife and two childrenjrsrt with him. ^m $mgm*m%Ä m. «i

COTEH CROPS, SOY HEAN8 ANDPEANFTS CONSIDERED BY

STATE FARM AGENTS.

lino Address by Cokcr.Messrs. Har¬per ami PrUlemore Disease SoliImprovement Trough Fertilisation.

Clenu.on College, Feb. 13..The dis¬cussion of cover crops was one of thelivest ami most benefiting of themeetings of the South Carolina farmdemonstration agents being held hereso far. Answer to the oft repeatedquestion, if cover crops are so im¬portant and beneficial, why has itbeen so hard to get farmers to growthem, seems to have been found inthe fact that farmers desire and needto get th© greatest immediate returnin money rather than the greatestultimate benefits. and that in so

farming they are soil miners insteador noil builders.The soy bean discussion brought

out the growing Importance of thatcrop as a producer of human food inthe form of the beans themselves andthe oil as a substitute for animalfata, but emphassf was laid upon thefact that on sandy loam soils there isdanger of injury to the growing ofcotton through the fact that the soyIm in is susceptible to the two trou¬blesome cotton diseases.root knotand wilt.An entertaining as well as instruc¬

tive discussion of the importance ofthe peanut was led by Mr. McAlhaneyand Mr. Gräbel, who showed howthe peanut Is easily the best hog foodaitd stressed the Increasing use ofpeanut oil for cooking purposee.A special feature of the morning

program was an address by Mr. D. R.Coker, chairman of the State Councilfor Defense, on agricultural progressas measured by education and Intel¬ligence.Of special value was the paper by

Mr. E. E. Hall, cotton expert of theextension division, on cotton breed¬ing. Oher papers at the afternoonsession were on the advance of thebo|{ weevil by Mr. (1. M. Anderson,specialist in weevil work, and Prof-A. F. Conrad!, State entomologist, andon corn breeding by Mr. F. C. Tar-box, special investigator of the exten¬sion division.

In place of the address by Hon.Carl Vrooman. assistant secretary ofagriculture, who was kept away bysickness, the evening session Wednes¬day was given over to addresses byProf. J. N. Harper, formerly directorof the South Carolina ExperimentStation, and Mr. J.. C. Pridemore,both of whom discussed soil improve¬ment through better farm practiceand fertilization. »

NEXT TO CHIEF OF STAFF.

Promotion is Announced for Copt. WW. Dick.

Charleston, Feb. 14..The friendsof Capt. William W. Dick will be gladto know of his recent distinction inbeing detailed to assume the duties ofassistant chief of staff of the Thirty-first (Dixie) division. Capt. Dick wasreared In Charleston, graduating fromthe Citadel in Um»; us senior cadetcaptain. He has been in military workconstantly since then, having servedas tactical officer, or commandant of jcadets, at a number of Southern pre- Ipuratory schools. Wher. the mobili¬sation Of Ilm National Guard on the IMexican border took place, nearly two i

years ago, he was on duty as com -

mondant at the Georgia MilitaryAcademy, College Park. Ga.During the Mexican service he held

a command In the old Fifth GeorgiaInfantry, now the ItSd Cnited statesInfantry. Here his work was repeat¬edly commended and he gained thereputation of being a strict discip¬linarian and an efficient tactician. Asa divisional athletic officer he fjgllwell known throughout the El Pas.,district for his energetic promotion olarmy athletics.

In August, 1917, Capt. Dick was de¬tailed to take n course In general stafftraining at the army war college.Washington. As a result of his workthere he Is now detailed to Gen. Hay-den'a staff at Macon, Oa.. of whichCef, William M. Fasse«, of the g. n-*t»l rtaff, i! chief.

INOTHJCI1 SPANISH SHIP SINK

Ihlrd Vessel Recently Sunk by Sub¬marine.

Madrid. 1>|, 1 f, .-Th*» Spanishsteamer Csfertao has been sunk i>\ oStommelns scar purrs island, one olthe Canary group. All the member-.of lite erew were saved. They weretowed by Ihs submarine to the portof 1*i BstSCS in the Canaries.

The Coferlno \n the third Rpanlshsteantbf sunk ey submarines In l*s»than three weeks. The others e/ereth* < tint Ida ami Mm Sebastian. Pu.tests have been made by the Spanishgovernment against the sinking ofthese two vessels.Tb« Cefarino frei s Staatssi of n.

Ml tons,_

FOOD PRODUCTION CAMPAIGN.

Council pf Defense Urges Utmost Ef-forts.

Columbia, Feb. 13..The StateCouncil of Defense in cooperation withthe farm demonstration bureau andthe food administration ib about toinaugurate a State-wide campaignlor the production and conservationOf foodstuffs. In order that sufficientfood may be made available for oursoldiers and those of ou,r allies, aswell as for our own population athome, it will be necessary for eachState to produce its full quota offood. Should any fall in this respectit is highly probable that It may lacka part of It* usual ration.

President Wilson and Mr. Hooversay that "food will win the war," sothere is today no more necessary orpatriotic duty than raising foodstuffsand planning to conserve them.A letter was sent out by the State

council yesterday to several prominentspeakers of trie State asking thatthey attend the meetings to be heldin this State in connection with thespring drive of the council for theconservation and production of food.One of the meetings will be held atGreenwood on the 18th and anotherat Suinter on the 19th of the presentmonth. The letter sent out by thecouncil says in part:

"To carry the president's word tothe people and make an Impressionthat will produce results, we musthave a well informed body of patri¬otic speakers to curry the message.The council of defense believes thatyou are one who is qualified and wil¬ling for this service and requests youto attend one of two joint meetingsto be held at Greenwood on the 18thand at Sumter on the 19th. At thesemeetings there will bo prominentspeakers representing the agricultur¬al department and the food adminis¬tration, and the whole program of theforthcoming campaign win be laid outand explained. Please do not fail boattend and thus qualify yourself fora service that presents a great op¬portunity for patriotic usefulness."

Fl EL ORDER RESCINDED.

I footless Monday Program Suspendedfor Present.

Washington, Feb. 13..Suspensionof the heatless Monday program inthe Ka«t was announced today byFuel Administrator Garfleld with thereservation that it may be put book;Into force before the tert weeks' pe¬riod expires if a return of bad weath¬er brings another breakdown In rail¬road transportation.At the same time Dr. Garfleld gave

^tate fuel administrators full author¬ity to continue the closing order interritory under their jurisdiction if intheir opinion circumstances demand-dd it. Aside from New England, itwas said there was little probabilitythat it would remain In force any-ghe re.

The heatless Mondays were decreedvy the fuel administration on January17 and four have been observed in allState« east of the Mississippi excepthose south of Virginia.A preferential coal distribution list

'stahllshed by the orders remains tri'orce as does the section providing for;he order's enforcement.

RAID BY FRENCH.

German Position-» Entered to ThirdLino.

Paris, Feb. 13..A big ruid was car¬ried out today by the French south¬west of Hutte Mesnll. The Germanliosltions were entered up to the thirdline and many defonses and shelterswere destroyed. This announcementwas made by the war office In Itscommunication tonight, the text ofwhich says:

"In the Champagne, after brief ar¬

tillery preparation, we carried out a

big raid in the region south of ButteMesnll on a front or about 1.200 me¬

tres our detachments penetrated theGerman position as fur as the thirdline, overthrew the enemy defense anddestroyed numerous shelters. Wecaptured more than 100 prisoners.

"In the period from February 1 to

February 10 our pilots brought downL'S German airplanes, 14 of whichwere entirely destroyed nnd the other1 1 seriously damaged."Bestem theatre: Artillery actions

occurred at the mouth of the Stuma.Weal of Indian and north of MonasttrAllied aviators successfully bombard¬ed Savjah northwest <>f seres. Ros¬tov, the railway between gtrummlntsaand Dolran snd enemy encampmentsin the Cems Valley."

Washington. Feb. H Aninvestigalion of the nation's food situation. Withparticular reference to wheat and

meal was begun to.lay by the senate' ommlttee on agriculture.

Washington, Feb. IL'. Major Gen.Barnatt. commander of the marinecorps, whose term is about to expire,will be reappolnted, Secretary Pnftleiauuuouuced today*

ROADS ARE GOOD WHERE DRAG¬GED.

Rut (stornier Comity Hum Not LearnedI bo Finne»!!.Our Roads uro Plowedand Scraped to Death.

The following article from theGreenwood Journal may be of localinterest although utterly without lo¬cal application:

"Reports reaching the city are tothe effect that the several commit¬tees appointed at the recent meetinghere are having the roads draggedand that conditions for travel in manysections are very much improved.Those who arc yet to do this- workmay receive an impetus from the fol¬lowing strong argument In the editor¬ial columns of Tho Ncwbcrry Obser¬ver and may go and do likewise:A farmer from ten miles out said

on Saturday, in reply to the Observer'sman's question:"How are the roads?""The best you ever saw."A few days ago they were describ¬

ed as "awful"; and they are still aw¬

ful in some sections where the split-log drag is not used.Our informant said the dragging

of the roads has been more generalsince the recent rains than ever be¬fore, and consequently the roads are

good.All that is needed to have good

roads the year round Is for the peo¬ple to get the habit of dragging themregularly and systematically afterthe rains. If they will do that, theywill find, instead of rain makingroads worse, they contribute towardmaking them better, by preparing theway for smoothing them in the roughplaces.

TWO FRENCH SHIPS SUNK.

Submarines Accounted for One Largeend One Small Last Week.

Paris, Feb. 14..One vessel over1,600 tons* and one less than that were

reported lost during the week endingFebruary 9.

Dutch Prophet Forecast.Prospects for a fruit crop are much

botter than 1917. Fruit Is never dam¬aged to any considerable extent inFebruary. The most unfavorable pe¬riod with which the fruit crop willhave to experience is the central dateof March 25. In this respect it wl!lbe different from 1917 when the ap-;>le crop in some sections of the BlueRidge section were killed as late asJune 7.

Vegetable and fruit prospects willnot he disturbed this year by Aprilfroste. AU kinds of crops have beendestroyed by cold weather as late asApril 20 in this latitude.

Contrary to the forecast made bythe Dutch Weather Prophet more

than a month ago that no moreweather would occur this winter es

severe as the Christmas spell, andthat the cold wave which prevailedFebruary 3-5 in the North was theexpiring gasp of winter, a prominentcitizen twitted him yesterday with thecharge that he (the D. W. P.) hadmissed it in his prediction by sayingthat more severe weather would oc¬

cur!i Neither did the Dutch WeatherProphet say that the "back of thewinter was broken," as a nowspapcr inihe upcountry published.

Attention of farmers and garden¬ers is directed to the splendid pul¬verization of the soil which is now ac¬

complished by the plow and the hoe.The difference is most remarkablewhen compared to last spring. Thenthe soil hardened like It was baked bya droughty July sun. Everybody is

urged to get busy and plant lettuce,mustard, beets, radish, peas, onionsand even Irish potatoes. Springweather promises to be the most fa¬vorable for gardens.

Referring ugaln to cold weather,the coldest time within a century,perhaps, was 11) years ago. February11, 1891». will long be remembered bythe Dutch Weather Prophet Thebureau froze on his moustache that

morning as he got out of bod. Illsnext door neighbor owned a splendidthermometer, it showed at 7 a. m.

a temperature of eight degrees below

zero with eight inches of snow on the

ground. That was in Newberry. It

was only Tour or live degrees higherIn Columbia. The graded school*were clor.od here during the wholeweek. Twenty-live years previous tothat date the hutch Weather Proph«et played barefooted as a youth on

I be streets of Newberry end at this

p.-Cod in February B. Valentine's daypromises to be entirely different from

its frigid predecessor of I8»0 and a

twin companion of Is7 1. The law ofeompensatlon is a governing factor Inthe science of meteorology :»H well M

In all other "olOgles." Tire State.

Washington, Feb. 14. -Coastwiseand great lokes steamship lines oper¬ated by railroads were today placedby Director General McAdoo underthe supervision of w. n. Pteasanta ofNew York, president of the Ocean

Steamship Company, who was desig¬nated as manager of the marine sec¬

tion of the railroad administration.

cotton marketing associa¬tion.

An Important Mooting: to He HoldMonday, February 18th.Do TheFarmers Want a Cotton Grader onSumter Market?

An adjourned meeting of the Tri-]County Farmers' Cotton MarketingAssociation, of Sumter, Lee, and Clar¬endon counties will be held at Sum¬ter Chamber of Commerce ,at 12o'clock M. next Monday, February18th.

This will be a very important meet¬ing as the association must, under ad¬vices received from Mr. C. J Brand,chief of the bureau of markets, ofthe United States department of agri¬culture, hold this meting to reorgan¬ize for the 1918-1919 cotton produc¬ing and selling «eason and the asso¬ciation must further take steps to or¬ganize a cooperative plan of market¬ing cotton in connetcion with govern¬ment sampling and grading if the de¬partment of agriculture is to be ex-!pected to send a cotton grader to theSumter market next fall.The officers, directors, and mem¬

bers of the association must be pres¬ent in sufllcient numbers to sJlOWthat the association is starting out forthe ensuing year as a real live andactive organization, the meeting mustelect officers and directors, and pre¬pare to guarantee that it will furnishquarters, clerk, sampled, heat andlights for the government grader nextfall before the government will as¬sign or even promise a grader for thismarket next fall.A representative of the bureau of

markets and rural organization willbe present to show how many arepresent and to receive reports ol of¬ficers and members as to whatamount of good the grading of ccttonby a disinterested government grad¬er has been to the cotton producers.

. If the cotton farmers want thegrading continued they will have totake time to attend next Monday'smeeting. Next Monday's meeting willbe open to all cotton producers whoare not now members of the as¬sociation and who will be welcomedas new members at one dollar per an¬num.

Present members will be expectedto renew their membership. Thisone dollar is the only fee collectedfor membership in the association.

GERMANY's FIGHTING FORCE.

Many Divisions Concentrated BehindWestern Front.

Grand Headquarters- of the FrenchArray in France, Feb. 13 (By the As¬sociated Press)..German prepara¬tions for their announced offensive on

the allied front have not brought withthem any relaxation of German vigil¬ance or efforts to meet any poesibleattacks from the allies. New concen¬trations of German forces are gather¬ing In the rear of their lines simul¬taneously with hard work which con¬

tinues on the front line positions.Vgrious authorities make w.dely

different estimates of the number ofGerman divisions which may eventual¬ly be brought into the line on thisfront, should the Germans decide toengage in battle on a large and de¬cisive scale. The exact total of theGerman forces In the front line ar d Inthe immediate reserve is known to a

unit.One hundred and twelve divisions

occupy the German front line facingthe French. British. American andBelgian troops, while their immediatereserve totals 63 divisions. (On thebasis of 12,000 men in a Germar di¬vision, this would be 2,100,000 trocps.)

Possibly several additional divisionshave reached various points by differ¬ent lines, but the fact has not beenestablished with certainty. At anyrate, it Is agreed here, that the great¬est possible number the Germanscould be able to throw on this sidedoes not exceed 20 divisions w licitwould bring the total to 19T> divisions(2,340,000 men).

Field Secretaries Wootten and.Sligh of the South Carolina Automo¬bile Association, who are in the cityto organize a local automobile andgood roads association to be directlyaffiliated with the State and Notionalassociations, are being welcomed toSumter. They are explaining the workof their organization as it has beendone In other parts of the country Inpromoting read building and it. isproposed to hohl at an early date a

public meeting of our citizens that allmay hear how this work is conducted.

Geo. H. Hurst,jjSjStSjg »nl Embilmer

Pro tyt Attcntin to Day andNrobt Calls

At J. D. CR Alf, Old-Stand. N. Main

Phoneo: Sf,'.MÄ,

'SKILLED WORKERS WANTED,

Enrollment Agent for Public ServiceReserve«- for Snniter County.

The United States Public ServiceReserve of the United States Depart¬ment of Lab» r is calling for millionsof skilled Mechanics and trainedworkers for .merican War Industriesto help win t'ie war.

This is a patriotic and entirely vol¬untary service paying good wages.Enroll now. Mr. A. C. Phelps hasbeen commissioned as enrollmentagent of the United States Public Ser-.vice Reserve for Sumter county, andhe has appointed as his assistant e. IKeardon, Secretary of the SumterChamber of Commerce. Those de¬siring information or wishing to en¬

roll should apply at the Unfed StatesPublic Service Reserve Headquarters,Chamber of Commerce, second floorof the City National Bank building.Sumter, S. C

In a few c ys full information andblank forms ef application will bereceived and cn hand at headquarters.

TIGHTEN GRIP ON PACKERS.

Chicago, Fe >. 11..Judge Landis, infederal distri court today, denied a

motion to squash the search warrantissued to age its of the federal tradecommission 1. st Tuesday authorisingthe seizure f I om the vault of HenryVeeder, general counsel for Swift &Co., of hooks ;\nd papers alleged tohave been us* d in committing certainfelonies. At the same time the courtheld constitutional the search andseizure sectior of the federal espion¬age act under which the search war¬rant was issu' d.Judge Land s overruled every ob¬

jection to the validity of the writ ad¬vocated by counsel for the packersand upheld the government in Its de¬mand to search the Veeder vault forevidence wanted in the trade com¬mission inquiry into the packing in¬dustry.Counsel for Veeder were prepared

for an unfavo rable decision and bya series of formal motions perfectedthe record in Ihe case so that any im¬mediate appea could be taken to thefederal court of appeals. Upon theapplication foi a writ of error to theupper court .'udge Landis entered a

temporary on>r staying execution ofthe search v arrant until 11 o'clocktomorrow.

District Atterney Charles F. Clyne,vigorously opposed the granting ofthe stay orde- and declared that thegovernment would demand an imme¬diate hearing on the appeal. ~ \

CHARLOTTE TO LOSE CAMP.

Washington, Feb. It..SecretaryBaker has decided that Camp Greene,(Charlotte, N. C , now occupied by reg¬ular divisions, will not be continuedas a permanent training center be¬cause of unsu tability of the groundon which it is erected.

Maj. Gen. J. T. Dickman, senior of¬ficer at the ca ap, was at the war de¬partment toda\' and conferred withvarious offlciala as to conditions aris¬ing from lack of drainage. The medi¬cal department has determined, how¬ever, that ther B is no danger to th\ehealth of the iroops stationed thereuntil summer comes at least. By thattime the troop-!, will have been movedand the camp ite will be abandoned,according to His present plans.A delegation of Charlotte citizens

came here tod .y to protest againstthe abandonme nt of Camp Greene,and expects to be given a hearing bySecretary Bakvi- tomorrow. The se¬lection of the ramp Greene site wasmade last sur mer on recommenda¬tion of Maj. den. Leonard Wood, thencommander of ihe department ot theSoutheast.

We Grind lenses, examine theeyes scientifically and fit eye¬glasses Perfectly. Let us work

w for > ou.

We have all prescriptionson file. Broken lenses replac-<Ml Promptly. Graduate Opto-

|i mctrlst and ( ptician In charge.

j W. A. Tiompson,j jewele & op^Mjsrroar.;.;:«i:r. .;:;n:;;mFrcmmromummml