The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, March 29, 1920, Image 4
Established 1844.
The Press and Banner
Abbeville, S. C.
The Press and Banner Company
Published Tri-Weekly
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Telephone No. 10.
Entered as second-class matter at
post office in Abbeville, S. C.
Terms of Subscription:
One year , $2.00
Six months 1.0C
Three months .50
Monday, March 29, 1920
THE BONDS FOR ROADS
Next Saturday the voters of the
county will determine whether or not
we are to issue bonds in the amount
of four hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for the purpose of grading
and constructing top-soil roads. The
matter to be determined is one* of
great importance. It is of supreme
importance because the debt sought
to be placed on the county is an extremely
large one. It is important because
if the people demand the roads
in order to caxry on their business
affairs they should not be kept out
of them. Therefore, from either
standpoint.it is to be desired that the
voters turn out and vote according
to their judgment, to the end that
the decision may not be made either
way by a mere handful of voters.
We cannot see that it will do any
great amount of good to rehash the
arguments made two or three years
ago with regard to the wisdom of
building these roads, and the probably
worth of them to the people of
the county. The arguments should be
fresh in the minds of the people.
They have had a long time to study
over maters and, if they have desired,
they may havex learned something
from other counties' with regard
to the roads. We expect, therefore,
that the people who have an interest
in the matter, one way or the
other, will be able to express their
HorMcinn infAlKcrpnt-.lv at the ballot
box next Saturday.
Of course there have been some
changes since the last bond issue
was before the people. The war is
over, and we have not that to detei
us from going ahead where we
should. But the country, on the
other hand, has entered a period of
the greatest extravagance evei
known. People are spending money
with a lavish hand everywhere, and
legislative bodies are making ap0
propriations as never before. People
are not stopping to think that a
day of reckoning is bound to come,
.With this extravagance has come the
highest priced labor ever known in
this country, especially is this true
with regard to unskilled labor, and it
is scarcely more expensive than it is
less remunerative to the man who
employs it. In Abbeville the street
paving force is paying the most ordinary
day laborers, as we are informed,
two dollars and seventy-five
cents per day for eight hours labor.
The passers-by may see what is being
had for this expenditure. The people
of the county have a right to invest
in this kind of labor, athis price, for
the building of roads if they desire.
When they do they may expect labor
in this kind of labor, at this price, for
become disorganized, and the price
of farm labor to soar as well as to
become less profitable.
One of the arguments advanced by
the advocates of the bond issue is
that we are to have a two mills tax
anyway for building gdod roads. It is
true that the Highway Act does provide
a two mills tax for this purpose.
But there is this difference?the two
mills tax is to bei spent from year to
year i nthe counties which pay it, and
4-1 ~ : J. i
uuc muiicy ?'?? tiius ue expenaea in
small quantities, and the people will
be able to see what they are getting
without making a great outlay. The
law which provides this tax may be
repealed at anytime, if in the judgment
of the legislature it is not serving
a good purpose.
But there will be no such way of
getting out of a bad scrape if the
roads to be built by the bond issue
prove to be a poor investment. The
bonds when issued will become a
charge upon every piece of property
in the county. They must be paid. |
Taxes to retire the bonds, as well as(
to pay interest theeron, will be asj
certain for the next forty years as is j
death itself. No law can take away
these taxes once they are voted,
i
|there will be i\o' repeal. If the bonds j
'are to be retired in forty years it^
j will be necessary to pay ^>mething
like five or six thousand dollars into
!the sinking fund each year. . The interets
on the bonds at five per cent|
will amount to twenty-two thousand (
' five hundred dollars per year, mak'
ing a levy to pay the bonds and the
1 interest, on the present assessment i
of property, of about five mills adi'
ditional, instead of two under the
Highway Act. To this tax will be added
the extra tax of keeping up,
these roads, and we have undertaken
to show the voters by the words of J
those who know that the roads must!
i be constantly worked if they are to be j
kept in good shape. j
;i |
.! If we believed that these roads j
Jwould be good rogds in fact and thati
i they would last, or that by the levy-j
,ing of a reasonable tax we might j
(keep them up, and'that they would |
be kept up, we would advise the peo-|
, pie to vote for the bonds. But we do |
' not so believe. If the bonds are is-,
(Sued, not half the roads provided in
!the bill will be built. These that are
, built will not be propeVly taken care
of because the county authorities
I i
will not be allowed sufficient funds
I with which to keep them up. There
i will be criticism that the entire taxlevy
every year is being spent on
these roads, and as a consequence|
the roads will be neglected, and in
three years most of the advantages
'sought to be secured will have been
lost.
I .
.
i There is one other thing which'
people in certain sections might
think about. We will take Due West
in order to illustrate what we are
talking about. That town has voted
bonds for public improvements and.
other purposes to th? amount of
eight per cent, of the value of the
taxable property of the town, the con
stitutional limit. The trustees of
that school district are now desirous
of voting bonds for the building of a
, new school building. But if these
, road bonds are issued, the bond issue
i in that territory will amount to full
fifteen per cent of the taxable prop/
j erty of the territory ,the present
: constitutional limit including all
' political subdivisons covering the
same territory, and the school dis
- trict will not be able to issue one
[ dollar in bonds for school purposes;
. not until a constitutional amend>
ment may go through the legislature,
i be voted on two years hence, and
, then adopted by a subsequent legislature.
There may be other towns in
the county in like plight, we do not
? know as to that, but we do know I
; that his state of affairs will coni
front the people of Due West .And
, this raises the question whether
4-V* %tyvny)s n va vmavo 1YVI nAV+Q *lf
; UllCdC Ullt I uauo ait UlUlt uuyvivuuv
i han schools and other things which
p
the people so much need. The people
will decide.
I
I IN COUNTRY GRAVEYARDS
John Simpson has been engaged as
caretaker of the Upper Long Cane
graveyard, near Abbeville Court
House, one of the oldest burying
, grounds in that part of the State.
"He has made great improvement in
the appearance of things out there.
The whole of the lax-ge buryingground
has been gone over, the grass
nd weeds removed, and the place
has be nthoroughly worked. Those in
: charge," says the Abbeville Press
I
i and Banner, "are fortunate in having
the services of Mr. Simpson." We
should think they were.: There are
. hundreds of other^ country graveyards
in this and other Istates that
would be. fortunate if they^ could on- j
ly have the services of eotne other j
; Mr. Simpson; - graveyards with
broken-down fences, with grassgrown
graves, with moss-covered
headstones and gaping tombs and
obliterated epitaphs all presenting j
pictures of "how soon we are for
got."
The dead do not care we suppose;
but who would wish to be buried in a
country churchyard? Yet it is in
uch places that most of the American
dead who are to be brought back
J from the fields of frlory on which
they fell in France will be laid to j
rest. In a few years their graves will
be covered with weeds and briars and
ugly grasses and the heart-broken j
mothers who have insisted that their
sons shall be brought back home to,
sleep in their own soil will them- j
selves have passed away and then!
they will all be neglected and forgot-1
ten. How much better it would be to I
let the patriot dead and buried rest
where they made the supreme sacrifice
or be interred with therr comrades
in arms in great cemeteries
beautiful in all-their appointments,
imposing in their monuments, filled
with poppies, covered with rosemary
for remembrance and pansies for
[thought and guarded to the end of
Jtime as the places where heroes
'sleep!
I It is stated by the Secretary of
War that fifty thousand of the
American dead will be brought back
nome Decause tneir peopie warn
them, and that is natural and most
appealing sentiment; but where will
they be buried when they are
brought home? How much better
will they be cared for here than the
twenty thousand of their comrades
who will be cared for in the great
military cemeteries overseas by their
own grateful Government or by the
tender love of the people for whom
hey died??Spartanburg Journal.
The cost of a wife in Mongolia vavaries
from five to 30 camels.
Mark Twian once said, "to be good
s noble, but to teach others to be
good is nobler?and less trouble."
*
Two hundred and ten thousand women
of the British Isles were widowed
as a result of the war.
The house of representatives spent
forty-five minutes recently in a roll
call to determine whether a representative
would be recognzed for one
minute to read a telegram.
..
CANDIDATE FOR SHERIFF
I hereby announce myself a candidate
for Sheriff of Abbeville Cour.ty
in the Democratic Primary, and I
pledge myself to be governed by the
rules and to abide the resub of the
primary. 4
J. N. BLUM. '
WANTS |
WE BUY, raise, and sell fur-bearing
rabbits and other fur-bearing
? 1 ne
animals, riace your oiuei wiwi
and list what ever stock you have
with us, stating lowest flat prices
on large shipments. Address
515-517 N. P. Ave., Fargo, N. D.
FOR SALE?Good one horse wagon
with body and spring seat.
Wm. Barnwell .
3-29-lpd.
WANTED AT ONCE?A man to do
general book keepng and work
connected with a Bank. Apply
giving reference and salary want
ed to
The National Bank of Abbeville
Abbeville, S. C.
-17-tf.
U. S. ARMY RECRUITING STATION.
UPSTAIRS IN POST OFFICE'
BUILDING. SOUTH ENTRANCE.
3-22-3pd.
SEED COTTON?Will buy seed cot-'
ton this week and next week,
inuw v SUTHERLAND
3t-pd.
- i
WASH Your blankets for summer
storage. Single blankets seventeen
cents, double and quilts twentynine
cents delivered. Overalls, per
m 9- #.'.v .r%* ... suit,
forty six cents.
C. H. Cannon, Agent.
3-2;6-3pd. . . . .
V* '
FOR SALE?Thompson's strain of
Barred Plymouth Rock eggs.. $1.00
per seting of 15.
Mri. W. E. Leslie.*
3-26-3pd.
WIRE NAILS?Wire fencing. Have
just i-eceived car load of Wire
nails, Barb wire and American
Woven Wire Fencing.
J. Allen Smith, Jr.
3-26-2-c. I
HH
Rosenb
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Four Stoi
MAIN
New an
Clothes.
The ne
pretty, and](t
to properly fi
If you a
cannot get a
we can con
This is
but we are j
Besides
stock: longs,
stouts and m
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long pants.
Our nri
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apartment ot
\bbeville, S.
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rivals in Hart Scha
w spring colors ar
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teachjtype of figu
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vince you that y<
a broad statement
Drepared to back i
regular models;
, shorts, stouts, loi
tedium stouts.
dk of "preps" off*
the young man jus
ceswill agreeably
J quality we offer ri
Dlicy: Your mone
fied.
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nine to. |
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'epartments
STORE
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e exceptionally i
dels enable us I
re becomingly. I
ession that you
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du can. I
for us to make I
t up.
we carry , in
ng stouts, short
srs a splendid
>t "getting into
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surprise you. |
nean economy. |
y back if you I
Pf
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