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THE PRESS AND BANNER ? ABBEVILLE, S. C. # i, WM. P. GREENE, .i?..,. Editor t. Published Every Wednesday by The Press and Banner Co. u Entered as second-class mail matter at post office in Abbeville, S. C. t< ...... W WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1917. k M syS^s/S/N/N/S^>/S<S^^N/N<S/N/N/S/N/S/S/S/S/>^N^VS/N/NA?A>AVS/sA*/N/SAVVAVN/^/^S/S^/N^SAV^/>^/N/N/>^>^>^s/S/S/S/S/S/S/>yS/s/S/S/S/S/^^>^S/sAv/N/S/>/N^ C THE BOND ISSUE. The question before the electors of Abbeville county is not, Do they want good roads? The issue must not be confused. Everybody wants good roads if it were practicable to have them. A man who comes to you and b says that if you oppose the proposed bond issue you are opposed to good ti roads and to progress, mistakes the case, either wittingly or unwittingly, it n< matters not which in this discussion. tl THE REAL QUESTION BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF ABBEVILLE tl COUNTY IS WHETHER OR NOT WE SHOULD ISSUE BONDS TO THE pi AMOUNT OF THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS TO BUILD d< A CERTAIN NUMBER OF MILES OF A CERTAIN KIND OF ROADS. LIT EVERYBODY KEEP TO THE QUESTION. e tl Contemplate the Present. *' We assert, in th* first place, that even if it were advisable, in ordi - . . . , , pi nary times, to issue this amount of bonds to buna tne Kina or roaas proposed, the present is no time to undertake the work. Our reasons for so . N t( stating are these: (1) Labor is higher now than in any time in recent years and the price of labor will continue to go upward until the close of the war. Steely ^ cement, and all materials to be used in the construction of bridges, etc., are ^ higher, very much higher, than in ordinary times. (2) Labor is scarce at the present time and the farmers and others re. quiring labor can hardly secure the requisite amount of labor to run their ^ farms and other industries. In a few days hundreds of men will be withdrawn from the farms and the positions which they now hold for the period ^ of the war, and others must take their places. This will make a further scarcity of labor, with the result that wages will increase. The farmers f c who are to produce the food for the conduct of the war must have labor. The price is already beyond their reach almost, and the laborers are few, and will, for the reasons stated, grow fewer. The attempt at this time to' build roads in Abbeville county can have no 'other result than to drawj ^ great numbers of laborers from our farms and to put them on the roads at higher prices than the farmers are able to pay. What will be the result? ^ Farmers who are already in the toils for the want of labor, and who are - . . . , , . . . i?4. rc paying too much for labor already, will be rorcea to go into competition with the contractors on the roads and pay a great deal more than they are &] now paying. They cannot do it, and the farms will be without laborers. ^ (3) We are just entering upon a great war. A war tax of nearly two ^ billions of dollars has been levied upon the people for the next year. The ^ people have just been asked to subscribe to a bond issue of two billions of ^ dollars, and, in September or October, another bond issue must be sub- ^ scribed to the amount of three billions of dollars, and the people of Abbeville county must take their share of these bonds. Last week, in this county, we were asked for five thousand dollars, a voluntary offering from the people of the county to the Red Cross fund, and in four months we will be asked to give another five thousand dollars for this purpose, and the war is only beginning. ' If the war shall last for ^ five years, as some authorities think, the resources of this county will be ^ taxed to their utmost, and the people will stagger under the burdens which w are inevitable. Why then should we rush into new and unexplored ground, fg to add to these burdens and to cripple ourselves for responding to the calls of the government? If the war lasts for only two years, billions and C( billions of dollars must be spent by the government. It is stated by those ^ that know, that more than seventy-five billions of dollars worth of proper- ^ ty has b?s?n swept from the face of the earth in Europe already. The ^ world is that much ooorer. and billions more will be burnt up and lost be? . ? VI fore this war is over. And this takes account of property alone. ^ Millions of young men are going to the front, perhaps five millions of the ^ men of this country between the ages of twenty-one and thirty will go t<J the war, or be enlisted, before it is ended. This means that one-half of the w young men between the ages stated will go. It means that one-half of the jn men who will be called upon to pay this particular bond issue, because the . men between these ages must be the burden bearers of the government tQ for the next twenty years, will go to the war. If fifty per cent of them are. ^ killed or disabled, the ability of this county to pay this bonded indebtedness tj, is curtailed by twenty-five per cent at one stroke. If we are in the war for five years, and men and property everywhere are destroyed, as they w will be, does it not mean that there will be fewer men to run the farms, m fewer purchasers to buy them, and fewer men to run the stores and mills, . and fewer purchasers to buy the goods, and does this all not mean that Qi property values must tumble, and that property which is now valuable will i i 1- .?>:i *i ?_ i.t 1 i l..:w ? will ? I DCCUU1C WMIC tauu* uuill IUC LUU11 ijr 10 i c-^u^uiaicu auu i^wrusiw. . ?? 111 iivk ^ the ability of the people to pay existing debts and to subsist even, be made vj each day more difficult? r( . r i ni A Wise and Foolish Man. b* tr Under these circumstances we can imagine a man, who owns a small plantation, with a three room house on it, in which he and his family have tl resided for a number of years, he is out of debt, and it has been a plan of pi his and of his household, when other debts were cleared away to build a m pretentious dwelling upon the little farm by mortgaging the farm. But di just when he is ready, a great war comes on, with the result that lumber rc has doubled in value, wages are doubled in value, nails and all building ma- g< terial are two or three times the value of ordinary times. The country is tl full of uncertainty. Nobody knows to what extent the ability of the! w countrv and of the people of the country will be taxed. If the residency y* cannot be built except with materials at these extraordinary values, and if g< laborers could not be obtained for building it without withdrawing them pi from the farm from which the man secures the necessities of life,?if un- w der such circumstances, the farmer applied to any banker or business man f< in Abbeville, and asked his advice as to building the residence at such e/ b< time, he would be told that it was no time to do so, that he had betteu^ ai hold fast to what he has and await a better day. If he persisted in build- is ing, and for that purpose, mortgaged his farm to raise the money, or other- w wise became indebted for that purpose, the banker would call him a fool, ci and no sensible man would say the banker, nay. si What then shall we say of ourselves, if we collectively, at such a time as g this, under, the same circumstances, when we are already individually bur- ir dened with debts, (most men are) enter upon an undertaking of this t< kind? An undertaking which will for a period of twenty' years, increase a the taxes in Abbeville county fifty per cent, because you must remember n that it is not proposed to build over two hundred miles of roads in Abbe-} ville county, while there are more than two thousand miles of public roads h in Abbeville county, according to our information, a great number of said T roads being absolutely necessary for the accommodation of the public, and H these roads must be worked? If there are not enough miles to take up all V the taxes, we remind you that there has never been a supervisor in any! C ^ bounty who would not open new roads on proper provocation, and that the tl lembers of the present delegation in the General Assembly, responsible 1 or the present bond issue election, hare not seen fit to prevent the open^ i ig of new roads or the abandonment of the so called "Hog paths." We i re, therefore, getting rid of none of the existing burdens when we at* I empt to build the proposed roads, we are only adding to those already ex* i iting, and burdening ourselves with additional taxes for what are termed < Good roads" in the most uncertain and unsettled period in which any of 1 s, with the exception of a very few old citizens, have ever lived. I Under all these circumstances, we urge the voters of Abbeville county ' a take stock of themselves, and of what they have, of the great conflict in < rhicH the; are engaged, and tlie many calls which will come to them, that 1 [iey consider how the resources, of even this great country, will bo taxed i ithin the next few years and say whether it is a time to spend anything, < ontract for anything, contemplate anything except the state of the coun- < ry, and the necessities of our existence. Why Now? But the friends of the bond issue tell us tkat they do not propose td uild the roads now, they only prppose to vote thsi bonds und hold them un1 a more convenient season. In the first place, the men who say this, have o authority to so state, because when the bonds are issued they go into' le hands of other people who under the law, am to dispose of them, and , lese people are alone responsible for the sale of the bonds, as are the peole who will have the work done responnible for when and how it shall be sne. But, granting that the work will not be done now, why should we issue onds now? Why put three hundred thousand dollars worth of bonds in ' lie hands of a few men to be held at their pleasure, with the power to sell t anv time? Will the fact that they are held for two or three years and ten offered upon the market not ji?e them a "black eye" upon the bond arket? Wby go to the expense of an election now if nobody contemlatea the building of roads now? If tho Act under which these bonds are j ? be issued is a perfect Act, it may easily be ire enacted at any subsequent ission of the General Asuembly, and an election held at a more opportune me, if after awhile we decide 'that such an election should be held. The leasure is purely a local measure and the delegation in the General Assem- ' ly may at anytime have the matter submitted to the voters of the county y a like Act? If then we are not to build the roads at the present timey e ask again, why should we rote the bonds now? Perhaps there is some 1 tason why a few men should have three hundred thousand dollars worth ' I F bonds in their hands with the right to nell them, or to hold them, at their leasure, when there is 110 intention to use the money at present if they re sold, but we cannot see it. We can see no reason why any man who propoies to mortgage his home >r the purpose of raising money should execute the mortgage two years 1 sfore he needs the money, when he may as well do it at the end o$ ' ro years, and we can seo no reason why the people of this county should 1 ist a great lien upon all the property of the county to raise this vait sum 1 money if it is not now needed. ' There is another consideration. If these bonds are now issued, and if 1 ley are held three years, or five years, and it in proven that sand cla^ 1 tads are not practicable, or if the state of the country is such, that at that ' me the people would not approve of a bond issue, or if other causes have 1 "isen why the people should reverse themselves, nevertheless, we tell you 1 lat there will be those who will claim that another kind of roads r.hould be 1 jilt, or that another schsme should be adopted. We warn you now, if 1 tese bonds are once voted the money will be spent, whatever happens. [oney once appropriated by the government never findit its way back into le hands of the people. An Ounce of Prevention. But if there were no war, and no unusual circumstances surrounding us t t this time, our advice to the people of Abbeville county would be that} ( ley go slow and that they be sure they are obtaining full value therefor ( sfore burdening themselves with a great bonded indebtedness, which it ( ill take twenty years to pay, and then only by greatly increasing the tsx< ( ite. ] We would like to see pnrmanent roads connecting every town in the ^ >unty with the county seat and with every other liown. Such a thing, how | rer, is out of the question at this time, that is, with roads recognised to ] s permanent. It would take millions of dollars to build them in Abbe> l? ? ? \l/_ ??IJ 1:1? ... .M.nt rmrli lanJin* from tha citv IIV tUUUl/. TT C WUUIU IIAO kV ?? 9 # F Abbeville in every direction for a distance of a few miles, if we could ire them only for a few miles. It would be a great drawing card for that >od merchants of the city of Abbeville and greatly build up their buniness, ren though at the expense of the smaller towns. The people of the city ould greatly enjoy such iroads, but it would hardly be fair to the people J i other parts of the count)' to build them solely at the expense of the coun> 1 Permanent roads of the kind to which we refer would cost, according 1 > our information, from twenty to thirty thousand dollars per mile, and, ' terefore, as stated, it is out of the question to think of building roads of ' lis kind. Being unable to do this, we are asked to vote bonds to build dirt roads and ' e are told, that dirt roads will not wash away. This is ih our judgment a 1 ere dream. Until it is fully demonstrated no man should believe the ' atement. The hills have been washed down into the valleys and carried 1 it to sen for these many years and it is in the nature of dirt, whether ind or clay, to wash away. The Act undor which these bonds are proposed I ? be issued recognizes that the roads aro not permanent because it pro- < des an annual tax of six thousand dollars for t'be purpose of keeping these ] >ads in repair, and that from the start. The i'ramers of the bill recog- < ize that the roads will begin to deteriorate in value from the day they are 1 iiilt, and they only propose to keep them in good shape by levying this ex a tax. J And when it is contended that these roads will not wash away, or eve:^ I lat they may be maintained at a moderate expense, we ask if it is not the ) irl of wisdom to refuse to take any man's word for it, however honest the ian rrtf.y be, when we can wait four or five years and ascertain, beyond a 1 oubt, the facts. Greenville county has built a number of miles of dirt . >ads and other counties aire to follow. We are told that the roads look ood when they are finished. They may stand for years. We do not say4 tey will not, but we do not believe that they will. However that may be, e do say that the people of Abbeville county, after these six thousand ears of the world's history, had far better wait five years more before j Ding into this questionable undertaking, than to rush into it now without ( roper consideration, or even in the near future. Mathusaleh lived in this ^ orld for something more than nine hundred years, according to our in- j irmation, and he managed to exist without his county ever issuing road j onds, so far as we have been informed, and a few ot t tie people bere wbo ( re getting old now and who are afraid to wait on the question of the bond 1 sue, should contemplate his long life and undertake to content themselves ? ith their present surroundings rather than rush the next generation, j rippled as it is going to be, towards a financial precipice. Someone has, j lid that "Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread," or words to that) } eneral effect, and we have an idea that the election in this county next ^ lonth is going to take the meusure of a lot of people. Can we not afford j > be five or six years slow after tthe people of thin county have lived here { hundred years or more without a bond issue, rather than make a great listake? 1 u/- 1 ?n ???rv thoLiffhtful man in Abbeville county to answer for ' WW - - ? J ? ?- ? imself the question,?WOULD IT NOT BE A F00L1ISH THING FOR HE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTY TO RUSH INTO A DEBT OF THREE IUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ON UNCERTAINTIES, WHEN BY WAITING A FEW YEARS, WE CAN KNOW WHETHER THE ROADS ONTEMPLATED ARE GOOD INVESTMENTS? Let every man'take lat question home with him and think about it. Let him talk to his neigh\ bon about it, and let them think about it. We are talking to those people now who are considering their county and not themselves. From a purely lelfish standpoint, the merchants in Abbeville may say that it would pay them to vote for the bonds, if the roads last only three years. From the lame standpoint, a man in Abbeville owning large acres of land in the county, which he would like to sell, the prices of which he thinks will be boosted by these roads, can afford to vote for the bonds. From like mo- ? lives, the doctors who endure the hardships of the winter weather and the winter roads might vote for the bonds. Because it would help the politic ..I ( .... .1 tli.n *L_ I I. *???. was a v> kuuo? v? awuiw i?f kuv j uii|ui tvid ivi UIO kivuuv* M?a? ihould the private desires and benefits of a few individuals influence us* against the good of the county? In voting upon this issue we must foryet ourselves, our own conveniences and the private gains of individuals, if we expect to work for the good of the county and the interest of the people* So looking at the question,?What ji the wise thing to do? Should we first be sure and then go ahead, or should we go ahead first and run the risk 06 making a great mistake? What is Fair. Then again let us look at the number of miles of roads to be constructed. 1 rhe amount of the bond issue is three hundred thousand dollars, t What will it cost to construct a mile of sand clay road? We are told that it will cost, in ordinary times, something more than one thousand dollars to construct the road, AFTER IT IS GRADED, and that it will cost as much to grade the roads in a county like Abbeville. We believe that the Government Expert, who was in Abbeville sometime ago estimated that it would .1 . .1 1 . . . f ? 9 . ? 1 It ? e? cost sometning like two tnousana to twenty-nve nunarea ooiiin per aue to grade the road* proposed to be built, and properly build them, accord^ ing to the standard for these sand clay roads. Chester county has just islued four hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of bonds to build two hundred and one miles of these roads The county employed an engineer, made a surrey of the county and then had an estimate made as to t(4 cost of building the particular roads proposed to be built. He has thus, placed the cost per mile at twenty-two hundred and fifty dollars, ($2,250.) If this estimate be correct we can build of the kind of roads proposed) not over one hundred and fifty miles. Now, where are these roads to be built? Who are they to accommodate? Who is going to secure the ex-, pected benefit therefrom? Does the voter in Lowndesville, Due West, or in. Donalds, or Calhoun Falls, know whether he will get any benefit from the roads, even if they prove to be a'good investment? Chester county mapped out the roads to be built in that county and every man who voted knew what be was to get, but in this county we do not know what roads are to be> constructed? Will all the money or the greater part of it be spent in ^Abbeville township, or will a greater part of it be spent in building roads iato Abbeville from certain points which will, of course, be of assistance totur local merchants, and a source of p/leasure to some of us, if the roads prove to be a real benefit, or will the money be spent on all the roads lead*ing into Lowndesville or into Due West, or into Donalds? What will become of the other two thousand miles of roads in Abbeville county, many , if which, as we stated, are absolutely necessary for the accommodation of the public? Is it profitable to issue an indebtedness of three hundred thoutand dollars to build one hundred and fifty miles of road in the county atf joints not yei designated, when nearly two thousand miles ot roads are toremain untouched? Is that fair to all the people? Jones Pays the Freight. The question is squarely up to the voters of Abbeville county. The taxjayers of Abbeville county are the people who will pay the freight. This it 10 time to talk foolishness. You, the voters of Abbeville county, will speak in August 7th, on the most important economic question on which you haveover spoken, or on which you will speak in the next twenty yean. Let ev^ ery man bethink himself as to what is the safe thing to do under the cir' :umstances. Let every man get out his Registration Certificate now and1 (lis last year's tax receipt, in order to qualify in this election and let him jet ready to do his duty as he sees it. It >js the duty of every man in Ab Seville county to render his verdict upon the question propounded, and! having rendered it, to record It. Play Safe. W? malr? a mistake on election dav in our vote. If we vote for bond* and time proves that we should not have done so, we will have made i mistake, which we cannot correct that is, if the bond issue carries. It t carries, the next generation is burdened with a great debt, even though :he roads proposed to be built after two or three ^years, prove absolutely worthless. On the other hand, if tbese sand clay roads prove to be a good thing in other counties and we find we have made - a mistake in not votinp the bonds at the present time we may correct the mistake after we ar4 lure of our ground, and know wha' we are doing. Under the circumstances, what then is the safe course? Will the voters of Abbeville county play tafe? A bond issue of three hundred thousand dollars at this time means that the hands of the people of the county are tied on the road question for twenty years. There will be no more bond issues ip that time for this} purpose, nor for any other purpose, nor will we be able to levy any amount af taxes to construct any other kind of roads. Taxes will soar to the neigh borhood of thirty mills the first year after the bonds are issued, and whether the roads be good things or not the taxes will go on for twenty' pears. If these roads are built and prove to be of little or no value a mistake will be made which cannot be corrected, we will be unable to build" jood roads when we have learned what good roads are. Let every man consider his duty to the county, to his neighbor and not; bis own selfish interest and vote accordingly. ?^; , A PROPOSITION. done so to this good day. The money spent in hauling sand If sand and clay mixed will make upon the streets and sidewalks of jermanent roads, then we say that j Abbeville has furnished only tempor;he several city councils of the city j ary comfort, and with each succeed>f Abbeville for the last twenty |ing rain the sand has gone back tofears have been the most incompe-' wards the sea. ent officials that ever spent the | And we predict now that if the jeople's money. With plenty of county of Abbeville spends three :lay on our streets already, we ven- hundred thousand dollars in building ;ure the guess that twenty-five thou- dirt roads in Abbeville county, nine;and dollars worth of sand has been ty per cent of the- roads so built will lauled upon the streets of this city be in the beds of Rocky River, Litn the last twenty years. Is there a tie River, Long <^ane Creek, and foot of permanent sand and clay other streams before the end of five oadway, or walkway, in this city, years. vhich will not become all but im- Paste this up where you can read jassable with continued rains? Let it five years from today. ;he people answer. Before the city council of Abbe- J ^ ^ \rinn?on N-oaiw ^ ^ ^ rille appropriates five hundred dol- y SCHEDULE^ ^ ars to run a political campaign, or VVVVYVVVYVVVVVXV . bond issue campaign or any other No_ ? gouft in 5:00A.K. cmd of campaign in Abbeville coun- No. 5f Soutll, dne 2:04 P.M. ;y, we suggest that its members had No. 11, Soutti, d*e SHU A. If. Dest demonstrate to the people of No. 29, South, due 3:52 P. Rf ;his city that sand and clay will make 6' ? ?!?? ?* 5J* it least ten feet of permanent road- g; vay in this city. They have notN?. 30 Nvrtk, dm* 12:34 P. BL