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BlIL / RF’S LETTER. Bartow Man Agrees With Sher man That “War Is H-l ” OUR RACKET WITH SPAIN A DISGRACE Brings Micery and Ruin to Thousands of American Homes—Arp Re gales Visitor With His Own Wartime Experiences. Not counting the great civil war of forty years ago, this last year of 1901 was the most bloody and disastrous of any in my recollection. Over 40, 000 of our soldiers died in the Philip pines—most of them in hospital. That’s of little consequence, of course, to the government, but it brought myriads of sighs and tears to mothers and wives and children. The Spanish war, and what has grown out of it, has eter nally disgraced the annals of the na tion’s history. And it keeps on and will keep on, no doubt, bringing mis ery and ruin in its train. Some preach ers say it Ik the work of the I.ord. l don’t believ- it. “Offenses must need3 come, but woo unto them by whom they come.” Besides all this, the year was full of disasters on land and sea. Explosions in mines, railroad wrecks, boilers bursting, fire, floods, murders, suicides, husbands, killing wives and children, lovers killing sweethearts, and every other devilish thing. Every day’s dispatches record something new and horrible, and wo are getting so accustomed to it that it hardly dis turbs or surprises us. We, too, are getting hardened to blood and bloody deeds. This unconcern always follows In the wake of war. After the battle of Malvern hill I remember hearing one soldier bet another that he, could walk across the ridge and step on a dead man at every step. He tried it for a hundred yards and won. Sol diers who had been kind and gentle at home became hardened to the sight of blood and death. After the war was over many a good mother watched and waited for her boy to come home, but lie never came, and she died still won dering how he was killed and where he was buried. But few of his com rades were left, and they were widely scattered. The records were not kept or were lost in the war. Out of 10, 000 buried at Vicksburg less than 2, 000 have names upon their graves; so It is at Salisbury and Fredericksburg and all the others. Of the federals and confederates 90 per cent of all the dead are unknown and sleep in un marked and unrecorded graves. And this is war and as General Sherman said, “War is hell.” There is enough unwritten grief to fill an ocean, and many a broken-hearted mother let con cealment like a worm in the bud feed bn her pallid cheek and turn her hair gray before its time. And yet we keep on fighting and calling for more troops —not for defense or liberty, but for conquest. It is a war of aggression upon a people who never did us harm and beg to be let alone. The eight mil lion negroes here at home give us great concern, but the government wants ten million more to add to the perplexity of the problem. Oh! the shame of it—the pity of it. It is the same old unchristian story. “Man’s inhumanity to naan makes countless thousands mourn.” But I didn’t start to write an elegy on the year that nas gone. It is pleasanter to wish all a happy new year and hope for a better one. A superstitious friend says that it will be better because 1902 is divisi ble, but 1901 was not. The times seem prosperous and new industries are continually being planted all over the south. War always brings | Uvity in its train. More iron and steel for ships and men of war. more cannon and guns for the army, more clothing and food for the soldiers. But I have more regard for the humble, contented people than for ail the pomp and cir cumstance of war. I have more re- gard for an uneducated honest man than for an educated rich one, who made his money by questionable schemes. My good old friend John Jenkins is dead. He hauled woou for me many years and gave an honest cord. On his last bed he sent for his brother Jack, and whispered, “Jack, I’m gwine to die, they say, and I’m willin’ to go; but 1 owe Bob Pertiller a dollar and a half, and it bothers me mightily.” “Never mind. John,” said Jack, “I’ll pay Bob that money when I go to town for the coffin. Now, just turn over and die as easy as you can.” And he did. He was a Hard Shelled Baptist. The other night we had a good lady visitor from the north, and when she said something about this horrid old Philippine war, the conversation drift ed to the hardships and sufferings caused by our civil war, and, just to amuse and entertain her, my wife and I related how we got back to Rome with our half dozen little children. We an had to sleep on the floor, for we had no furniture, and we had no flour or coffee or sugar, and there was none was kept hidden and couldn’t be bought with confederate money; and how our corn meal was nearly all gone, and there wasn’t but one cow in the. county, and she was kept hid in a canebrake, and how 1 borrowed a horse and rode 12 miles and bought her for $3,000 in confederate niouey and drove her home in the night and kept her hid in the barn, and she gave juEt enough milk to keep our baby from perishing; and how I bought ten bushels of corn away down the river at $160 a bushel and got good old Row land Bryant, to keep it hid for me at his home six miles from town, and once a week he took a bushel to mill and had it ground and brought to town hid under the seat of his buggy; and how the scouts and outlaws robbed everybody who had anything, and these outlaws were a company of cav airy made up of thieves and deserters from our own army; and how I had a bale of factory shirting hid out in the country for two years ,and as soon as we dared it was brought home and my wife could exchange a lew yards at a time for potatoes and cilkcens; and how about these times the confed erate detectives arrested a quarter master In Selma for big stealing and put him in jail, and hv was desperately scared and wanted to get out and run away, and there wasn’t a lawyer In Selma, for General Morgan and Gen eral Pettus and Dawson and all the rest were in the army, and a friend of mine advised him to send for me, and he did, and I went down there in an old buggy, for there was no railroad running then and 1 interviewed him in jail and agreed to get him for ?10,UUU, and it was deposited with my friends, and I did get him out on a habeas cor pus and a straw bond, and he ran away and is running yet, I reckon; and how a little steamboat came up from Mo bile with some blockade goods, and I bought two pounds of opium for $5,000 and fifty pair of cotton cards on the leaf without backs or handles for $100 a pair, and that took the rest of the money, and the captain gave me two pounds of coffee and as much sugar, and I put the opium in one side of a little old rusty valise and the cards in the other side and returned home and formed a partnership with Bob Har grove, who had a half box of cheap to bacco, and we opened a store and took in a third partner, which was my wife, who sent down two bolts of shirting, and we went to trading for something to live on. We assessed the cards at $200 a pair and the opium at $10 in gold for an ounce and the shirting at $2 a yard. It was a kind of department store. Bob clerked on one side and I on the other. We didn’t take confed erate money for anything, for it got worse every day, but we exchanged things—and we sold the opium to the few who needed it for gold they had hid away. Our store was a sensation, for it was the only one in town that had a stock of goods. All the others were empty. In April, 1865, a company cf blueeoats came down in the night and next morning we were all surpris ed to see them. Mr. Lincoln was kill ed two days before. So it was rumor ed, but we didn’t believe it. Dr. King was a great big red-headed man and said what he pleased, so he rode up to the company and said: “Cappen, is there any truth in the report that ole Abe Lincoln is dead?” The captain replied roughly: “Yes, sir, he’s dead and buried.” “Well, I thought if he was dead it was likely that they would bury him,” said King, and he put spurs to his horse and galloped down tho street to tell us the news. The cap tain said afterwards he came very near ordering the men to shoot him. And so we talked over the old war times, and the good lady and our other guests listened and laughed and won dered until bed time.-—Bill Arp, in At lanta Constitution. JOEL SMITH REPLIES. He Makes Frank Statement in Answer to Arp’s Letter of Last Week. Editor Constitution: In The Con stitution of a week ago, in the head lines of Bill Arp’s letter, you state: “But the same Joel advertises that he is Arp’s boy.” This statement is with out foundation. I have never adver tised that I was Arp’s son, but, on the contrary, have invariably stated that I was not related to him, when inquiry was made. Bill Arp, in his last week’s letter in your paper, does me a great injustice. 1 feel sure, had he known me, or had definite information as to my business, lie would not have written as he did. The work I have been engaged in is not “endless chain humbug.’ 1 It is an true, I have had a number of agents for the past, few years who have solic ited subscriptions for my paper, job printing, advertising, etc., but I have kept faith with them. My business was perfectly honorable and legiti mate. as every one who has looked into it has found. That you may know who I am, 1 will give you such information as will af ford you ample opportunity to find out. I was born and raised on a farm in Echols county, Georgia, where my pa rents still reside. My father, J. D. Smith, has represented that county in the Georgia legislature, and also the senatorial district of which Echols forms a part. I and my family are well known to the best people of Ech- ols and Lowndes counties. Leaving the farm in 1887, I attended the University of Georgia in Athens for three years. Leaving school in 1890, I moved to Monticello, Fla., where I have since continuously re sided and been in the newspaper busi ness. Should you desire to know my standing there, I invite you to inquire of auv citizen of Monticello, Fla. During my stay in Monticello. by hard and earnest efforts, I have built up a fairly good business with my pa per—The Monticello Weekly Constitu tion—which, by the way. was estab lished in 1S74 under that name by Col onel Fildes. By diligent effort I had increased its circulation to the largest cf any paper in Floiida—this was done bv seven years’ hard work. Iu October, last year, I purchased and carried to Monticello the best newspaper press, with the possible exception of one, in Florida, together with other costly ma chinery. However, during the last few months I have encountered serious opposition in my business from papers in other sections whose publishers did not know me. This opposition has been contin uous and persistent, and to maintain my business I have been compelled to devote more time and energy to it than my health would permit. My business having deen damaged and my health being run down, I am unable to give it the attention necessary for its successful continuation. But I shall protect those who have wored for me, and to do this I shall voluntarily sacri fl Ce a !l that I have saved by nearly twelve years’ hard struggle, provided j t takes all. Unfriendly criticism, amounting in some instances to false hoodi has made this sacrifice on my part necessary. This criticism inva riab i y comes from those who do not know me atl(1 who did not endeavor to find me out. JOEL E. SMITH. The Constitution, Monticello, Fla. SOVEREIGNTY GIVEN UNCLE SAJI. Nicaragua Awards United States Con trol of a Large Area. A Washington special cays: Some of tho main features of the protocol between the United States and Nica ragua referred to in President Zelaya’s message to his congress have been made known in recent press dispatches from Managua. But there are many other important features which have not yet been disclosed, one of these being the complete American jurisdic tion and the establishment of Ameri can courts, civil and criminal, through out a zone six miles wide and extend ing from ocean to ocean and including the proposed termini, Greytown, on the Atlantic, and Brito, on the Pacific. The entire policing of this large tract also is placed in the hands of the United States, so that it has the pow er to preserve order and after that to issue judicial process extending throughout this zone. JEALOUS OF AMERICA. London Paper Suggests an Alliance to Check Our Progress. The Saturday Review (London) will print a remarkable editorial in which it strongly advises Great Britain to form a working alliance with Germany in order to check the “continued and apparently inevitable advance of the United States into South America.” According to The Review, “It is the wisest policy for this country to en courage the advance of Germany in the new world, as the most useful counterpoise to the overwhelming pre dominance of the United States wh< is the only other possible outcome of the existing political conditions.” ONLY NOTE IS SENT. Kaiser’s Ultimatum to Castro Has Net Yet Materialized. It has been unofficially announced in Berlin that the German charge d’af faires at Caracas, Herr Von Pilgrom Baltazzi, has handed President Castro a note in which the German claims against Venezuela are clearly defined, and in which a limit of time is- set for President Castro’s answer thereto. At the same time this unofficial an nouncement carefully points out that the handing of the note in question to the Venezuelan president cannot be considered an ultimatum from Ger many since the note does not contain any reference to Germany’s future ac tion with regard to Venezuela. SUCCESSOR TO GAGE 1 Governor Franc, of Massachusetts, Is Offered Pori folio. While no official confirmation can be obtained at the white house, it is be lieved that President Roosevelt has offered the 'treasury portfolio to Gov ernor Crane, of Massachusetts, and the latter has the tender under advise ment. One of the difficulties in the way of acceptance is understood to be his connection with the paper company at Dalton, Mass., which furnishes the special and secret paper for govern ment notes. Should Governor Crane accept the treasury portfolio he will dispose of his interest in the paper company. COLLECTOR NUNN RESIGNS. Tennesseean Decapitated For Violation of tho Civil Service Law. David A. Nunn, whose resignation as collector of internal revenue of tho fifth Tennessee district was called for by the president a few days ago, hand ed his resignation to the president in person Thursday. Mr .Nunn was appointed collector at the beginning of the McKinley ad ministration. Soon after he was in stalled the removal of some democrat ic employees led to charges cf viola tion of the civil service law. Rig Increase of Capital Stock. Stockholders in Swift – Co., Chicago packers, have decided to increase the capital of the corporation from $20. 000.000 to $25,000,000, as recommend ed by the board of directors. Ron s Ambush Rod ( oats. The Beers ambushed a party of the Scots Grays Saturday near Bronkhorst Spruit (about forty miles east of Pre toria). The British casualties were six men killed and thirteen wounded. Georgia/.CuHings Brief Cat Interesting Summary of Happenings in the Stale. Waycros3 Is Oil-Struck. Waycrcss begins the new year with an oil sensation. For some time there has been talk’ cf the possibility of a j ! gusher spouting forth there, Not un til the last day or two, however, has the matter taken much shape. * Newnan Is Offered Library. Much interest has been aroused in Newnan over a conditional offer of $10,000 from Andrew Carnegie for a library for that place. The only con dition imposed by Mr. Carnegie is that the city shall do its part toward the founding and maintenance of the insti tution. Cscieioti Will Settle Question. If Judge W. T. Newman, at Atlanta, decides that the state of Georgia has the power to collect taxc-s on $l,a00, 000 worth of Georgia railroad stock | owned b.- the Louisville and Nashville j railroad, over $300,000 will be paid into the state treasury. To Succeed Judge Failigasit. Hen. Pope Barrow of Savannah, will succeed the late judge Robert Balii gant as judge cf the eastern judicial circuit. This appointment, it is understood, was determined upon by Governor Candler last Saturday, and the order will be drawn and Mr. Barrow’s com mission issued at once. The appointment will be given Mr. Barrow by Governor Candler, in spite of the fact that he was not an appli cant for the position. Enormous Car.e Crop. Captain T. J. James, of Adrian, one of the largest planters and lumber manufacturers of middle Georgia, was among those visited by Dr. \7. H. Wi ley, of Washington, on his recent trip through Georgia in the interest of the syrup industry. Captain James stated a day or two ago that he had finished making his syrup. From the 100 acres planted he said he had secured not only 12,000 gallons of syrup, but also enough seed cane to plant 150 acres next year. He has sold none of his syrup yet, but will hold it for the spring market. The State’s Insurance. The state will insure its property this year to the amount of $810,036, whereas the amount three years ago was $786,0G6. The amount of the pre miums paid three years ago was $16,- 164.98. This was two years’ premiums, for which the state, by paying in ad vance, secured the insurance for three years. This year the state will pay $24,- 773.62 in premiums on the amount of insurance to be taken. By paying this amount in advance the state secures its insurance for five years. With $100,000 Capital. Secretary of State Phil Cook a few days ago received an application for a charter from the Lewis Banking Com pany, of Montezuma, with a capital of $100,000. The amount of the capital stock is the largest stated in a char ter since Secretary of State Cook has been in office. The president of the bank is Con gressman E. B. Lewis, of the third congressional district. Generally the charters state the capitalization at $50,000 and sometimes $75,000, but most of the time only $.25,000 is asked for. The L–wis Banking Company is re garded as a very strong financial in stitution and does a tremendous amount of business. Cost of Last Legislature. Assistant Treasurer C. T. Furlcw has just finished figuring out th.e cost of the last session of the legislature, and the total is $70,044.30. Of course by far the greater part or this is for per diems and salaries of the members and employees of the house and sen j ate. The per diems of members and j j the employees salaries of of clerks, both porters houses and amount cth er I to about $58,000, while the balance, $12,644, was paid out for mileage of members for trips* 1 of special commit tees. The cost of the session just closed was greater by several hundred dol iars than the cost of any session since the fifty-day limit went into effect This is probably accounted for by the fact that there was more committee work than usual, and the general ex penses were cne or two hundred dol lars more than usual. Submitted to Arbitration. The couunty board of education and the family of the late Colonel W. S. Ramsay, county school commissioner of Laurens county, have agreed upon arbitrators to settle any differences which may be found by the books be tween Colonel Ramsay and the board of education. The board of education claims that the books show a shortage, and some months ago suit on the bond of the late commissioner was commenced in the city court of Atlanta. The mem hers of the family of Colonel Ramsay deny that there is any shortage. This view is concurred in by James M. Finn, cashier of the Dublin Banking Company, who handled the money for ' the commissioner. The amount of the alleged shortage, $2,000, has been pieced in the Dublin Banking Company by the Ramsay es tate subject to the draft cf the arbi trators. The judgment of the arbitra tors is to be Anal. Decision Relieves Embarrassment. The Georgia supreme court Satur day decided that the Howell resolution passed at the last session of t.ho gen eral assembly directing that the inter est on the bonded debt for 1902, amounting to $325,800, be paid out of the public property fund was consti tutional and legal. This decision sustains the order of mandamus granted by Judge John S. Candler and directs State Treasurer R. E. Park to transfer the amount of the public property fund stated to inter est account and to pay the interest with it. This decision of the supreme court will relieve the embarrassed condition of the state treasury and will enable the state to meet practically all of obligations promptly when they fall due this year. While the amount is not sufficient to wipe out the deficit d enable the state treasurer to pay aU appropriaticns promptly> it win g0 so far toward it that any little differ ence will scarcely be noticed. In the event it should bejieeded the governor still has authority to borrow $200,000 to tide over any temporary deficiency, bat it is not. thought now the neces e = ty w ;]j a ,,j ge j- or mak i n g u Be 0 f this au tl i0 rity. Besides wiping out the present de ficit of $73,000, the use of this public property fund to pay the inters', and the turning cf the interest money col lected by taxation into the general funds in the treasury will enable the state to pay the pensions of the indi gent widows, amounting to $78,000, the pensions of additional indigent veter ans whose applications were approved during the latter part of last year and to pay whom it will require $62,500, and the $20,000 for the support of the state troops. In addition to this, it fixes things so that there will be no doubt about the school teachers get ting their money on time, since in the event of any shortage, other arrange ments can be made to pay them promptly, The majority opinion of the court was written by Justice William A. Little, and with him in these views were Chief Justice Simmons, Justice L ew is and Justice Lumpkin, The mi nority, or dissenting opinion, was written by Justice Cobb, who wrote the opinion cf the court in the other case, relating to the public property fund. With Justice Cobb, Justice Fish signed the minority decision. The majority is a long document of about 7,500 words, while the dissenting opinion is even longer. These two documents go into every detail of the case. Justice Little’s opinion states there is only one question involved in the case, and that is whether the interest on the bonded debt is a part cf it. The court holds that this interest is a part of the bended debt, and therefore the public property fund can- be r^ed to pay that interest under, the section of the constitution which provides that the public property fund shall be used only for the purpose of paying the bonded debt of the state. Justices Cobb and Fish, in their dis senting opinion, hold that the words of the constitution should be taken in their popular sense, and they consider the popular construction is that the interest on the bonded debt is. not part of it. COL. E. W. AYRES DEAD. Was One of Hie Company That Offici ated at John Brown’s Hanging. Col. E. W, Ayres, at one time Wash ington correspondent or the Kansas City Times, dropped dead in the Citi zens’ National bank at Washington Friday. j Colonel Ayres was born in Lynch burg, Va., iu 1837, and served with ; distinction in the Confederate army, | He belonged to the famous Richmond Blues and was a member of the com | pany John that Brown. officiated at the hanging of CONVICTS IN COURT. Ringleaders of Leavenworth Mutiny Being Tried For Murder. The most novel court which ever sat * n Kansas convened in the library of the United States penitentiary at Leav Cnworth, Thursday, for the arraign ment of the ring leaders of the mutiny of November 7, who are implicated in the killing of Guard Waldrupe. Every person in the court, with one excep tion, was either a United States offi cial or a prisoner wearing the stripes. The seventeen mutineers were brought in, each wearing the ball and chain. FROM POVERTY TO AFFLUENCE. Montgomery, Ala., Widow Is left a Fortune In Germany. Mrs. Lonnie Hanson, a widow living In Montgomery*, who has long been in the direst poverty, was notified Wed nesday through ex-Governor Johnston that a large fortime has been left to her in Germany. The message was ta ken to her by the chief of police. He found her in actual want. Blanks .with directions for forwarding the necessary proofs of identification, have been re ceived and Mrs. Hanson will get her money in a short time. I DEATH TAKES THREE!, IN FEARFUL WRECK Freight Trains on South ern Road Go Together. | JUMBLED MASS TAKES FIRE I Two of the Victims Cremated While Thirty Demolished Cars Go Up In Smoke. Three men were burned to death, and thirty freight cars were destroyed by fire as the result of a wreck cn the j Southern at 11 o’clock "Saturday night j near Rex, Ga., fourteen miles from At j lanta. The three men who died in the flames are: Engineer C. C. Wal , lace, cf Atlanta; Flagman 2. H. Har ris cf Jacks, Ga.; Fireman Prater, The Injured are: Engineer Leo J Whatley and Fireman Hicks, both cf Cj Atlanta. Freight traiu second Lo. 51, in j j charge of Wallace, Conductor J. A. Wood and Engineer was bound north i and passed McDonough at high speed \ when they should have waited there for the freight coming south to pass Conductor Wood states that no sig nal lor a siding (the red board) was hung out at McDonough. The opera tor asserts that he gave Wallace the red board and it was disregarded. Freight first No. 54 going south in charge of Conductor Strickland and Engineer Whatley, went into the north bound freight head-on, a mile and a half from Rex. Both engines were derailed with a number of cars on both trains. Both freights had just passed a trestle and the smash-up. which occurred on a sharp curve, took place between the two trestles. • Wreck a Mass of Fiames. The cars cf the two trains, which numbered thirty in all, took fire and were soon a sea of flames. The train men on the scene, who escaped injury, found it impossible to get water to their aid. The fire burned all day Sunday and a fearful mass of ruins is all that is left of the two trains. The body oi Fireman Prater, cut and burned be yond recognition, was taken out of the wreck Sunday morning and sent to At lanta. The bodies of El gin , r ('. Wallace, of Atlanta, and Flagman Z. H. Harris, of Jacks, Ca., had not been located up to an oa-iy hour Monday morning The met: of the wrecking crews do not believe the two bodies will ever be found. The fiames swept through the cars piled up in a mass of ruins like a scourge, leaving nothing that fire could destroy. If any sign of the two missing men is found it will be only their charred bones. This is the belief of the railroad men. NEELY ARRAINGER IX COURT. Havana Court Begins Work In Cuban Postal Fraud Cases. The trials of the cases arising from the Cuban postoifice embezzlements opened Saturday in the audiencia court at Havana before five judges. The court room is located ever the prison in which Neely has been can fined. One hundred and two witnesses had been called to testify, and of these about eighty responded. Of the defendants Neely, Rathbone and Reeves were seated on one side of the room, and Moya and Mascara, the Cuban stamp clerks, on the other. Neely showed no signs of his ment. He has grown stouter, and was in good spirits. Upon the opening of the court Rath bone was informed by the judges that his counsel had withdrawn. The court asked the other counsel for the de fense if they would assume charge o; Rathbone’s case, and being answered in the negative, appointed Lawyer Pas cua, a court employee, and gave Rath bone one hour in which to consult with his new counsel. pkuik The court then asked Neely to and the latter responded that he bad never heard the accusations again.-. him, but after consulting with his counsel, he entered a plea cf not guilt." Rathbone, Moya and Mascara also pleaded not guilty. * HANNA NOT DOWNED His Crowd Will Control Lower Branch of Ohio Legislature. at CV >L In the republican caucuses tne land, Ohio, Saturday evening for general assent t v j.” organization of the of the Hanna men secured control ■■ house and the Foraker men of the sen ate. Some of the nominations f°* latter were made without opposiho^ finish but there- was “a fight to a those house, especially foi n of tho conipi J speakership. There was no mise in either caucus. Pi KIN IN LAY ATTIRE Court’s Re-Entrance In Chinese Capi* tal Will He Gorgeous- the The Chinese capital, Pekin, on return, presents 2“ 1 eve of the court’s animated and gaudy scene never Ai •• fore witnessed in its history, iiave palaces, pagodas and temple® g been repaired and painted to glittering spectacle. The rooi o. “ the cit.- ^ buildings, viewed from and are patches of shining yellov. brick.