Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Monday Night, April 12th, MllledoevllEe opera House Benefit Nancy Hart Chapter D. A. R. The Laughable Farce Comedy “All a Mistake” to bf: reflated. Fund Used to Remove Remains of Capt. Beckcom (Revo lutionary Hero ) to ('itv Cemetery. Several New Features—IMav (ireatly Improved. Vocal and Orchestral Music Only Admission: 50, 35, and 25 Cents Howe & Co., Augusta, Ga. MAKERSOF CLOTHES THAT FIT. —Don’t fail to consult us before buying a suit and you will be sat isfied with results. We have some elegant patterns just imported for the season trade. Our LEATH ER-SHADE BROWN is some thing attractive and* our plaids can’t be beat. Other lines that are staple the year around. —We want your business and are willing to come after it. Drop us a line about your needs and we will see that you are supplied. Ev erybody knows us, if |you don’t let’s get acquainted. Howe 6c Co., Augusta, Ga. ; Whiskey for Medicinal Use •beuld be the real genuine article, combining rich flavor with abanlute parity. e parity. Sunny. Brook THE PURE, POOD Whiskey b pure, natural whiakrv, distilled and aged in the good old Kentucky way. Ag*. Proof and Quantity attested by the Government “Green Stamp" which seal* every bottle. The richneaa ol flavor and aolt mellowneaa ol Sunny Brook Whiskey especially recommends it lor home use as a health ful stimulant and • wholeaoma tonic. # DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOU EXPRESS PREPAID •V ANY OF THE FOLLOWINO DISTRIBUTERS: M MAR'v^TKIN. Chatunoa**. T«iw (1 IV\N1KL. M*r. i'hailaiMMga. 1'tna. PAUL HKYMAN. Clultimo.* IVnu CHAS BLUM AC' Jack** ill v Fla. BKDlNliFIELD A CO.. Jack <mvill«, K a. C. C. BUTLER. JacVitjnvi k\ Fla. l>. ». * C V l.UNis kaooklila. Fla. H. LEVY STEIN A CO.. Montfii'nrry. A’a. L. LUEB HISKEY CO.. l-omwrly at M on tro<n« nr. A t Now at Jacksonvilk Fla Bottles $ I-Sth Gallon i Bottles Pull Quarta ! Rr« »r B.nSw * SUppU la piala Scad rrn.ltt.no. »lth 7Mir nnWr. N. |MUi .kipped C. O. O. e MAKE YOUR HEADQUARTERS ‘ AT THE Finney Dry Goods Co’s- Store 119 South Wayne Street. Where you will find the most complete line of Dry Goods, Clothing - , Ribbons and Laces jin the city. Everything - new in Novelties. A. J. CARR & CO. “ ' All the best grocers sell it All the best housekeepers buy it. Use a sack and you will find out the reason. Town Talk Flour County Cotton Mills BY JOHN C. EDGAR. There is no problem In political economy that worries our lawmaker* anti administrator* more than what Is the best way to employ our tynnly and state convicts. As the 'death penalty by "due course or law" Is fast becoming a mere tradition, at about (he some rate imprisonment penal ties are on the Increase. Few will contend that convicts should be al lowed to eat the bread of Idleness when physically lit to work. Most healthy prisoners would prefer mod erate work to Idleness, and It U a humane act to give them work and compel them to do good work to ihe limit of their ability. The strict dis cipline enforced In prison is good for Ihe mental and moral, as well as the physical condition of the prisoner Tills being granted, the question is what labor Is beSt suited for convicts. There Is no difficulty about finding plenty of work they can do and that efficiently, but, as each class of em ployment Is mentioned some one jumps up and cries, "I object, It It not fair to use convict labor in com petition with free.” This Is the point vhere the difficulty begins and re fuses 'to be removed. Those charged with the safekeeping ind economical employment of con victs recognize the force of the con vict vs. free labor argumen’, but as every possible kind of employment >s performed by free labor It 1* Im possible to employ convicts In sny work that would not. In some mess- ire, bring them In competition with free labor. As no solution of the problem Is possible that will be satisfactory to the champions of free labor, the best thing that can be done Is to use con vict labor In work not done by free men In the county or state, or if done. In such a limited way that few would be Injured by the competition. In this state, convicts were for many years, leased to railroads and cotton planters, but the system sav ored too much of old time slavery methods for the new generation and j It grew Into disfavor. The slate hav-1 Ing valuable Iron deposits close to the ' penitentiary decided to mine the ore I and manufacture It with convict la- ^ bor. There being no other Iron works In the state then, or since, it seemed as If this was a happy solu tion of the competition trouble. It has until recently been understood that the iron works were being run os neai a profit as state Institutions usually are, and without any objec tion from outsiders. Now it is pro posed to lease the works to be run by free labor. But what of the con victs now handling iron? Under tho Old lease system most of the con victs were controlled by cotton plant- era so that they came Into very di rect competition with the farmer and formed a very important factor in the price of the stato crop. This was seen to be unjust and It was decided to use the leased convicts on state sugar farms, there being few of them in the state, and a wide and profit able field for the product. It Is now before our legislature to purchase an other plantation- to give employment to those relieved from the lror. works. Convicts in Cotton Mill*. These two state enterprises seetn to have come near being a success without infringing on the rights ol free men, and have suggested a further trial in a new field. There Is now a bill before our legislature having for its object the building of cotton mills by the state, to be operated by ronvkts In the manufac ture of coarse cotton cloths not now- made In the state. This seem* to me a wise and lime ly proposal, there being no mills In operation and vast quantities of low- grade cotton now almost unsalable With home factories such cotton could be used profitably to the grow er and the mill operator. The grade of cotton suitable for cottonbale bag ging, picking backs, sail cloths and endless other heavy fabrics, if used for such purposes, would so reduce tho stock of cotton "In sight" as to greatly advance the price of real co*- ton. The low grades of cotton are only fit for sncfi fabrics as described above, but In the dally reports of stock on hand are counted as mid dllng. If two or three million bab-s of low grade cotton were manufactured In the States In which they were pro duced, the number of hales of real commercial cotton would read so small that foreigners wood soon be tumbling over each other to buy th t small stock of splnnahle cotton; and Insteud of planters being urged to reduce their acreage, they would be left to please themselves by one set of friends and plant more by others. The elimination of low grade cotton from the market would do more to Increase the price of higher grade than any resolutions fixing Impossible minimum*. We don't now raise more cotton than the people of the wourld could use If all the purposes It can be ap plied to were exploited. In a few years cotton will be used for endless purposes not now thought of, and It should be the duty of our Agricultural Department to help tho discovery and development of new uses for the staple. Daniel Bully’s Article. Daniel Sully, In a recent magazine, has an Interesting and Instructive ar ticle on cotton and its possibilities to the people of the South. He points out the power now in the hands of the underpaid cotton grower, who does not know that he possesses It. j He states the fact that our*-cotton- growing States have a monopoly of I cotton production and should manu- | facture all the cotton we grow where It Is grown and ship the manufactur ed article to the needy people of less favored nations. We are traveling that road now, but slowly. A few years ago there was hardly a cotton mill In the South. The mill owners of the East came down and bought our cotton, paid for Its hauling to their mills, raanufactur- ed It and sent It back to be sold to the people that grew It. Such a!i ar rangement suited the railroads and steamships, and did not hurt the man ufacturer, as he got back all expenses from tho consumer. Hut It was seen by some clearer-headed Yankee spin ner that a mill In the cotton field would have an advantage over one ?,000 miles away, and he came down and experimented so sucoessfulfy that his example Is being followed at a rate that may well alarm the people of the East, who thought they had tba cotton cloth trade grabbed. Mr. Sully says he has a plan where by the cotton grower of the South can control the whole world In cotton pro ducts. I am afraid his plan will turn out to be more theoretical than prac tical. I can see If the actual pro ducers of all the cotton In the South were combined to manufacture the raw material and sell the finished ar ticle, that they would have something very near a monopoly of the world's cotton trade, and be able, like Stand ard Oil to fix the price of their pro ducts, but such a combination of cot ton growers ts but a dream. We may have enough factories to do the manufacturing but they will be controlled by capitalists and high make the consumer pay big Interest on, not only on their money invested, but on oceans of water in fictitious Btock. Unless the cotton grower Is one of the "high financiers” and shares In the plunder, he Is not ltkefy to do any better with his crop than at present. I am not one who thinks that com binations or trusts krre. In every case evil things, but while I think them the natural outcome of our keen com mercial competition, I would rathet encourage Independent competition, than monopolies which are generally cruel and oppressive. The more com petition between our manufacturers 1 and thoee of other nations, the better I chance for the cotton grower. A cotton mill In every county in the big growing States would bo worth striving for. “A Little Better For a Little Less” HBaMaBMnamanHHai McCraw & Myrick THE HOME OF GOOD CLOTHING With a stock of Dry Goods, Clothing, Shoes, Hats, Notions, Ladies’ and Gent’s Fur= nishings. We are unsurpassed in QUALITY AND STYLE in Middle Georgia. We are pleased to invite your critical inspection. McCRAW &? MYRICK