Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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____ _ T———. r > "'"T • n ''s ' '' NIPIIISRP ,1 ,4 •' ' 'V J f p PAGE EIGHT THE CLINTON CHRONICLE, CLINTON, a C. WIDE GOOD ROADS MAP LAURENS COUNTY r * Dotted Lines Indicate Proposed New Construction PINAL SETTLEMENT, FLOWERS FOR ALL Take notice that on the lOtii day of February, 1985, I wW render a final account of my acta and c^oingi aa Administrator of the aatate of A.j B. Henry, deceased, in the office of the Judge of Probate of Laurens coun ty, at 11 o’clock, a. m., and on the same day will apply for a final dis charge from my trust as Administra tor. Any person indebted to said estate is notified and required to make pay ment on or before that date; and all persons having claims against said estate will present them on or before said date, duly proven or be forever barred. MARY J. HENRY, l-29-4tc Administrator. -;'v ^ • Prom. ■ w. -. Glenn-Ayers Floral Go. Spartanburg, S. C. * Funeral Work a , Specialty Call Mrs. Jas. R. Copeland Phone 74 or 208 CHRONICLE PUB. CO. Clinton, S. C. fo J a County "Boundary Lines tbu/nsnip Boundary Lines • Railroads Rivers and Creeks ■~~ Towns . O Bridges aBn State Highways Completed or under Cinhruction. " Roads to be built under County wide Improvement Plan-— County Roads Completed, or Building nnmmnnm Old Country Roads— figures represent number of miles % between road intersections Oner* wood August* ' Atd! Gr+emwood Ai/drtd, <s rteit Mc.<joenn.K- Augusta. AMERICAN PEOPLE IRRITATED AT FRENCH MANEUVERING ON DEBT Washington in Mood Only To CaU Spade a Spade and Know Definitely When Oar Billions Will Be Repaid. New Memorandum Last Straw. By EDWARD PERCY HOWARD Washington, Jan. 13.—The seeming determination of the French govern ment to avoid as long as possible, if not. altogether, the French debt to America, has reached a point that makes it impossible longer to conceal offiical irritation. Indeed, no appar ent effort is being made to keep from the public the government’s state of mind. Feeling is general, that in the debt-dodging memorandum just deliv ered in the national capitol, France it is not a guarantee, it is not a prom ise, it is not even an official com munication. It does not hind France in any particular. It simply express es the hope that the French govern ment may follow the communication with an expression of willingness to refund the debt, but there is not the slightest intimation that even this will be done. One or two of the more prominent of our national legislators regard the has P^ed all but the last straw on the I communication as little short of in camel s back. • That it From this time on, unless all signs fail, France may look for cross lots diplomacy, for a statement of the American position so direct that it will afford no loophole for further dodging. There are just a few fundamental facts that stand out in the situation, and these facts must be faced regard less of consequence. First, France ewes the. United States between four and five billions of dollars. This motley was supplied to France out of the pockets of the American people when France was in extremis, with the exception of one billion dollars, which was lent to the French repub lic after the war had dosed. Second, France must pay this debt without question. Third, America must know exactly when she is going to begin paying it, without equivocation, how she is go- ingto pay it, in what way she is go ing to pay it, and what rate of inter est is to be charged the run of the installments. It can be stated on strong authority that all consideration of cancellation is out of the question. Whatever may have been the accomplishment of French propaganda looking t this solution of her difficulty, that accom plishment is now definitely resting in the discard. Cancellation even of part of the debt will not receive the least consideration. So determined is the official mind on this point that the public officer who dares intimate such a possibility more than likely will be asked to walk the official plank, or be booted unceremoniously out of of fice. There is every indication that President Coolidge is now fixed in his determination to press a strictly American policy for America and that be will not tolerate any suggestion that carries tbs color of European ad vantage. Close exami nation of the memo randum entreated by the French Min ister of Finance M. elemental, to Amheeendqr Herrick for transmission to Washington, discloses the feet that the document is as meaningless as the notorious German scrap of paper. It contains nothing. It is not an offer. suiting. That it is plain evasion of the French obligation, a basic move having as its motive the laying of ,groundwork for barter and diplomatic debt-dodging is beyond question. Washington is now determined that unofficial exchanges of thought rela tive to this French debt must come to an immediate end. These imitation pourparlers began years ago with M. Parmentier. They have continued without interruption, and in all that time the French government has never said one word regarding her debt to America. Instead, the French government, while perusing a policy of side-stepping, quietly opened in New York an official bureau of pro paganda which has been working in-; cessantly to put the French viewpoint into the minds of the American peo ple. The time has now arrived when French action must be forced. Presi dent Coolidge, it is known, recognizes that a debt of this magnitude cannot be paid on the moment. He has no objection to a reasonable moratorium, but at the same time there is a deter mination to get from France a clear understandable out and out statement of when and how she will pay back to America the money she was so eager to borrow. In brief, Uncle Sam is tired of being the goat. The un official suggestion that ’France be granted a ten-year moratorium and then begin paying on installments for eighty years, the debt to bear inter est at one-half of one per cent, has aroused a feeling of plain resentment, a resentment so deep seated that it is perhaps fortunate the suggestion does not reach the United States in an of ficial form. Thirteen years ago two Oklahoma youths were arrested in Washington for attempting to climb a statute in front of the Union Station where they hoped to obtain a better view of the capitol. Today, one of tha boys, Wayne C. Baylese, is winner in the congressional race and .will this time make a very dignified entry into the dty. COUNTY-WIDE GOOD ROADS On las^ Friday evening a special committee, appointed by the joint committees of the Laurens Business League and the Clinton Commercial Club, who with representatives from various parts of the county, had another special committee prepare hills and a map for a county-wide good roads system, presented the plan 'resulting from their work before the Laurens county delegation, and in company with the Laurens County Highway Commission, and a special road plan committee of the Laurens Business League. We are publishing a map of the Laurens county good roads plan, showing in dotted lines the proposed new construction. This new con struction is divided according to the plan into Class A roads, and Class B roads. Class A roads are those on which very heavy traffic is expected, and which would be built in approxi mately the same construction as the roads which have been recently built by the Laurens County Highway Com mission. Class B roads would be nar rower, with lighter top soil but fair grading, single track bridges, and will cost much lets than Class A roads. The total plan contemplates about 250 miles of construction at an aver age cost per mile of about $2$00, in volving a total of $500,000 of con struction, for which it is proposed to issue bonds. The plan, however, goes further than the construction of v these new roads, and contemplates a consolida tion of all road construction and road maintenance, and of all road and highway expenditures within the county in the hands of the Laurens County Highway Commission, of which the Supervisor would be chair man, with full powers of chairman. The present commission would be con tinued. but one member would be dropped each year from its member ship, the vacancy to be filled by the Laurens county delegation recom mending to the Governor of appoint ment of a successor. The idea is that all the roads of the county, whether indicated for recon struction or not, would be maintained by the Highway Commission which would use the chaingang under the county engineer in construction and maintenance, and’would apply the regular maintenance funds which are annually appropriated by the General Aseembly for the purpose, but the work would be done under an engi neer, and it is thought it would be done very much more efficiently than by the present system. The plan has the sympathy of the commission, is supported by the Clin ton Commercial Chib and various other seevtions of the county, but has Petymmcnt roads art a good investment —not an expense not been approved by the Laurens Business League, which has a cbm mittee charged with preparing some other type of plan. The committee presenting this county-wide good roads plan does not, however, ask for its passage without referendum, but asks that the people t of Laurens county be left to decide for themselves whether this consider able increase of debt, with its neces sarily increased assessment on per sonal and real property, shall be in curred. • The proposition is to leave it to the people to decide whether they will have a more complete road sys tem with higher tax, or whether they will be content with our present limit ed system and present tax. There is a strong sentiment against higher taxes. There is also a strong senti ment against bad roads, and especial ly against the neglect of the country sections. The object of this county-wide good roads plan is to carry good roads into all sections of the county and encour age the enhancement of country real estate and encourage labor to remain on the farms, and also to encourage the farmers themselves to remain on their farms instead of deserting them as is now being done extensively in parts of the county. The matter is of far-reaching im portance and there is much to he said on both sides of the question. If a referendum of these bills is ordered by an act of the General Assembly it is highly, probable that the election thereon will not occur before early summer. In the meantime, some sort of temporary plan will be necessary to carry on the work of the Laurens County Highway Commission, as funds for this work are almost ex hausted. Otherwise the $22,000 of equipment which is now in use will become idle and will have, to be sold out at sacrifice prices and the county will lose the services of its wonder fully efficient engineer, Mr. P. F. Pat ton. A number of roads have had more or less promise of construction, and ] one of them a small appropriation, inadequate to the purpose, but it is highly probable that some plan will he laid before the Laurens County Highway Commission by the Laurens Business League, looking to at least temporarily continuing the work of tKe Highway Commission, and with the county engineer. Whatever plan is passed should be adequate to keep the 'work going through a two-year period, owing to the fact that biennial sessions qrill prevent any further legislation for two yean. Hence, the people stand the chance of having an attar stop page of road improvement in Laurens county unless the General assembly at its forthcoming session will pro vide for the continuing of construct ion. Signed : J. F. Jacob#, Chairman, Special Committee Represent ing Joint Committees of the . Laurens Business League arai v,Clinton Commercial Club. 90 Per Cent ofi World’s Motor Cars onOu Highways There are 16,000,000 motor vehicles in the United States—approximately 90 per cent of all in the world. This total is being increased at the rate of 4,000,000 a year. What is the saturation point ? Ask any one of the 16,000,000 motor ists trying to make headway through the coundess trafiic jams on some oi our concrete highways. He will tell you, from the standpoint oi comfort and safety in driving, the saturadon point is already in sight Not a very encouraging outlook, is it, for the man about to buy his first auto mobile? / So you see car owners and prospec tive car owners are both interested — and have an immediate task confronting them. What are you going to do about it? Even now you are curtailing the use of your car because you do not want to en dure the discomfort, inconvenience and danger of traveling on congested, nar row highways. Your highway officials need your sup port. They can’t do much unless you stand squarely behind them. ^ To delay building more highways wide enough and strong enough to meet all the requirements of modem trafiic will cost you more money than will an adequate system of Concrete Roadc and Streets. PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION t nm iwKiPi ATLANTA, f OrgmmtHm md At Um of Offsets IN St CITISg