The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, February 21, 1919, Page FOUR, Image 4
ESTABLISHED 1844
The Press and Banner
ABBEVILLE, S. C.
Wm. P. GREENE, Editor.
The Press and Banner Co.
Published Every Tuesday and Friday
' Telephone No. 10.
Entered as second-ciass mail ftiatter
at post office in Abbeville, S. C.
Terms of Subscription:
Ons year $2.00
1.00
/Six months
Three months .50
Payable invariably in advance.
? (
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1919
OUR FIFTY MILES. I
The suggestion W the Columbia
State that Abbeville County would
obtain 50 miles of concrete roads of
the system proposed to be built
needs investigation.
4 '"i* f Jioir [
These roads win cost i?i
construction about $20,000 per mile,
according to the estimates that we
have seen. Therefore, the number
of miles we are to receive will cost
one million dollars.
It is not suggested that Abbeville
will secure more miles than we pay
for. If we secure roads costing one
v million dollars in the construction,
we may safely assume that we will
pay our part of the bill. That would
be fair.
Do the people of Abbeville county
desire to assume the payment of one
million dollars for the purpose of
building fifty miles of road? The assessed
valuation of the property of
this county is about six millions of
dollars. The proposed roads, if bonds
11 1 15^** An -fVia
are issued, win put n mat i?cn ?u
property of every man in the county
for one-sixth of the present assessed
value of such property. If your property
is now assessed at three thousand
dollars for taxation, you will
be charged with the payment of five
, hundred dollars of these bonds, as
well as with the payment of the annual
interest on that amount, whether
or not you, "Mr. Hester, of Hesterville,"
live within ten or fifteen
miles of the proposed roads, which
you will not do.
v It is true that it is proposed to
raise this money, which is first made
a charge against your property, by
a# linanoq fovoo
a ojaicm vi ?vv??v vmavw^ ?? ?
cense taxes we approve of, if the
bonds are issued, but the amount of
money to be raised each year in Abbeville
County for the repayment of
these bonds, calculating according to
our proportion of taxable property,
will be $50,000 of principal, as well
as the annual interest at four and
one-half per cent on one million of
dollars which will be $45,000. It is
' possible that we might collect of the
principal only half the stated amount,
and that these collections, with accumulated
interest, would be sufficiv.
ent to pay the principal on these
y. bonds, but with this we would still
x.' be called upon to raise in this county
? each, year $70,000 in addition to the
f: taxes which we are Dow paying. Is
there a man in Abbeville County
foolish' enough to believe that we
can raise any auch com of money out
of the automobile owners of the
county each year? If we eannot,
then Mr. Tax-payer your property
will bear the burden.
Then let us see again. If we are
to obtain fifty miles of roads, costing
one million dollars, and if we pay
only forty-six per cent of the taxes
of the state, does it not follow that
there will be forty six times as many
miles of road in the state as Abbeville
has, costing forty-six times as
much, and making a bonded indebtedness
of forty-six millions of dollars
instead of twenty-five millions.
If Abbeville is to obtain fifty miles
of roads, and the indebtedness is to
be less'than the forty-six millions,
aamo ia fa "Ka A*1**
VVU4IVJ 10 nv UO 1TCU VI tuc
roads for which it pays, which we
take it, The State would not consent
to.
The annual interest at four and
one-half per cent of forty-six millions
of dollars is something over two millions
of dollars, while the proposed
license tax, at the figures suggested,
would only raise, as we have seen it
stated, about one million, four hundred
thousand dollars, leaving something
like seven hundred thousand
dollars of interest, as well as all the
Jf .. , .
V
principal to be paid by somebody
else, which somebody would be the
taxpayers of the state.
The people in the city of Abbeville
in addition to every conceivable
license tax, are now paying forty-one
mills in taxes for all purposes. Wei
see that there is a great fuss in Co- <
lumbia, where ttie State is printed,
over the rate of taxation in that city, j
it being stated by some that it will j
i take forty mills to pay the city ex- 1
penses alone, while there are sug- j
gestions to put off the evil day Ijy j
levying only twenty-five mills for this <
purpose ,and raising the balance of j
the money by a bond issue which j
somebody else will be expected to ]
J pay. In Atlanta the same question is
up. All over the state in a little ,
| while a wail will go up about the ,
I iinntm +ovQa nr? to be collect- 1
HCOYJ
ed by the Federal Government. The .
i legislature now in session is being
asked to create new commissions, and
new government agencies, while ,
the demands of existing institutions i
are greatly increased. From all of .
which we begin to fear that the day ,
of private ownership of property is .
j rapidly passing, and that before
many years a man will hold property
in trust for the public, and that in .
his hands it will be counted a liabili- .
ty rather than an asset.
In some places the heavy taxes al-l;
ready forbid the investment of mon- ;
ey in legitimate enterprises and the
fimA fast, annroaches. unless some-l
body calls a halt, when no more
money will be for'investment in the
industries which really build up a
community, but money will seek investment
under cover where it will
escape taxation altogether.
THE DIRT-DAUBERS VARIETY.
. |
Some of the men about Abbeville!
who are willing to see this county j
assume an indebtedness of a million j
dollars to connect the town of Abbeville
with Greenwood, Anderson!
and McCormick, by concrete roads,!
have evidently forgotten that some.^
two years ago they were advising us,
that the kind of roads to build was;
of dirt-dauber variety. Native soil, |
they told us, with a thin covering of
town chert would do the job. When
we argued that the only roads which
would serve the purposes sought were
roads of permanent construction, and
that we were unable at that time to
build such roads on account of the
enormous expenses, they said we
were wrong, that the top-soil roads
were the only desirables, and that it
would be a waste of money to build
any other kind, when these roads
could be built at two thousand dollars
per.
They filled up on city gasoline,
drove to Greenville, and swallowed
an Ottaray sandwich, drank a little
Paris Mountain dew, were put to
A# . fVia nrapnvillp
aiccp ujr oviut vi. vi*v v. * w..
County Good Roads' orators, rode
over "the finest ever" (while asleep)
at the rate of forty miles an hour,
and came home as the only qualified
experts on road building.
It seems now, however, that the ,
tune has taken a turn. If the topsoil
argument was sound, why do '
these people now argue that we
should build roads costing twenty
thousand dollars per mile? If these
experts have been shown, within the
brief space of two years, to be poor
advisers of the people, why should
they not now keep silent?
IF ABBEVILLE WERE ROADLESS
_ ]
Were two or three highways built
? 1(11 Ml _ r\ X? -
in iUDDevuie ^uunty cuuuc^ting wo
town of Abbeville with Greenwood,
McCormick, and Ande^on, wherein
would the Abbeville man residing ten
or 15 miles from one of these roads
be benefited? That is the inquiry of
the Abbeville Press and Banner.
Would the Press and Banner be 1
content if all the steam railroads ran
around, instead of through, Abbeville
County? Do Abbeville men reading
ten miles from a steam railroad
derive no advantage from railroad
transportation facilities?
Are the steam railroads worthless
to any man or to the average man of
Abbeville County?
How much would the price oi adbeville
cotton be affected if every
bale of it had to be hauled 50 miles
to a railroad station?
Were a system of concrete highways
to be constructed as planned,
Abbeville would have not less than
one forty-sixth of the total mileage,
and that would be nearer 40 or 50
i <
\
I
miles than 15, which is The Press
and Banner's guess. Moreover, it is 1
certain that the Abbeville roads
would so link with other county
roads that Abbeville would have
quick and cheap communication with!
Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, I
and Augusta, Ga.
A steam railroad is a highway limited
to operation by great companies
or the government oil which only
their vehicles can travel. A paved1
public road is a highway over which
any man's vehicle can travel and upon
which operation is as cheap for
passengers and for certain kinds of]
freight as is that of the steam railroad
companies.
Mr. Hester, of Hesterville, Abbeville
County, living ten miles from
a steam railway and from a paved j
highway, would gain at least as much:
4 It- - 4-l\A
trom uie one its iruui tw
Meanwhile, road building in Abbeville
would not cease with the construction
of a State highway system.
That would be the important beginning.
The counties would proceed
systematically and rapidly, we think,
to build other roads leading into it.
We suppose that Abbeville County
could and would get along somehow
with a system of cow-paths, such as
the forefathers of the Abbevillians
had a century and a half ago. As
related to the gasoline propelled vehicle,
the roads of Abbeville and of
the other counties are no better to-1
day than the cow-paths were to the
ox-carts of a former time. However,'
the jolting to pieces of an ox-cart
over a woodland trail caused the loss1
of $25, not of $500 or $2,500, in'
two or three years..?The State. |
" I
WANTS I
i
i
HIDES?The high prices we pay for
hides and the good weight will enable
all our old hide customers
around Abbeville-to box and ship
green cow and horse hides by express
direct to us at Athens, Ga.,
over the Seaboard. Write name on
|
post card for tags and quotations.
Green hides 17c. per lb. Mule and
horse hides, $3.50 each. Mr. H.
BRUCE FANT, now at Athens
with Athens Hide Co., wholesale ~
dealers. 2-21-2mo. Pd. j
FOR RENT:?Two furnished up-,'
stairs rooms, on Mill Street. Phone)
No. 77-3 rings. 2-21-2tC.
WANTED.?Some good Live Dealers
and Prospects for Alamo Electric j
Lighting Plants for country homes
for Abbeville County.
ALAMO LIGHTING SALES CO.
P. 0. Box 507,
2-14-4t. Spartanburg, S. C.
WANTED:?A lady bookkeeper, Ab
beville lady preferred. Work not
hard. Apply in writing. E. F
ARNOLD, Abbeville, S. C.
2-18-3t. Pd.
AUTOMOBILE DEALER WANTED:
The Overland-Piedmont Company
is the distributor for the entire
Overland and Willys-Knight lin?||
in upper South Carolina. We wish
a live, energetic, hustling dealer
for Abbeville County. Address'
Overland-Piedmont Co., Spartan-j
burg, S. C. l-31-4tC
1
FOR SALE, REAL ESTATE:?310!
acres in McCormick county, 12,
miles from Abbeville. This farm!
I
can be divided into three tracts!
of about 100 acres. Will sell all|
or part. $15.00 per acres for thej
whole tract or $17.50 if divided.
S. H. ROSENBERG." 1-24-tf.
FOR SALE:?Vacant lot on Magazine
street, opposite Richard Sond- ,
ley, between Flynn's and McDon/
aid's. This lot is a beauty. 100 by !
osn Price. iiOOO.OO.
S. H. ROSENBERG. 1-24-tf
FOR SALE:^-Millions hardy frostproof
Cabbage Plants, now till May
any variety, $2.00 per 1,000; 10,000
and over $1.50. Prompt delivery.
Enterprise Truck Farm.
Georgetown. S. C.
1-21-till April 1.
FOR SALE:?House and lot near the
square. Apply to T. G. or W. H.
WHITE. 12-31-tf ^
I Mules
| Hon
Wp Have at J. I
| Stables 65 Hem
| Rules, Mares an*
| This Stoc
I Young, So
I Well Bi
| If You Are in ,
| Stock Don't Fail
| Stock, Because
1 What You Wai
I Prices and Te
Em
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SPRIN(
fivv coa
fir U NO W : [0
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f l hand a numl
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and Suits-=an
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we are offeri
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<: early buyers..,
1
Also You Will Find 1
Many New Designs anc
Modes in New Spring
Millinery
COME IN TO SEE THEM I
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MKd. Jas. o. v.
Ready-to-Wear Mil.
B
wmmmmwammasg ,
Mares
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Ulen Smith's |
1 of Indiana I
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:k is All | I
und and j
roken
Need of Any
I to see This
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i DRESSES I
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