Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE FARMERS A IND MERCHANTS BANK I --- AND - :. -._ass . -.-I THE FARMERS LOAN AND TRUST CO. With resources aggregating a little the rise of ?NE MILLION DOL LARS, are making a specialty of small notes, that is, nf >tes for less than $100.00. We are a little partial to notes of that size, so if you are needing anywhere from $25.00 to $100.00 fix up a note, get it we ll endorsed, just to show you keep good company-you naturally 1 ask your associates to endors? your notes-bring the note to us and I we will "cash" it. We would like to "cash" about 2,000 of them this I summer. We will expect them jpaid during the month of October I and the first half of November. ! ? We also expect to supply ?ur regular customers with their usual I business requirements. I Bl mo mis BM mn lis m m M co. THE STATE SH01 SMALL FA Give Every Man a Chance to Own ants To Become The following paper waa rend hy W. Vfi Hall before the Kosmos duli of Co lumbia: Before any substantial progress in u political way c?n be mude In South Carolina, two Improvements are neces sary, one ? fthem a better election sys tem, which I shall not 'discuss to night and tho other n helter luxation rystem. Wc have In South Carolina what is known us thc uniform property tax. "All property subject to taxation shall he taxed in proportion to Hs value," reads section 6 of article 1 of tho state constitution or 18DR. Repeal of this eec thin and other amendments of the constitution by which thc wny will be cleared for a system of classified tax ation to be substituted for, the uniform property tax should precede tho adop tion o fth,o rofofms which I slmU sug gest, though I am not saying tl. thoy are Impossible without constitutional WISHED SHE And Bc Free From Her f rouble*, but finds Better Way. ?.time," this place, je relicvcpj of my buffering, from womanly trouble* 1 Could not cet up, without pulling,,m something to help me, and stayed in trna most of the time. 1 could not do my housework. The least amount of work tired me ont* My head would swim, and I would tremble for an hour or more. Finally. I took Cardui, the woman's tonic, and I ara riot bothered wi Ut pains any more, and 1 don't have to ?o to bed. In fact, 1 am cound and wclj of all my troubles." Cardui goes to ali the weak spots and helps to make them strong. It acts with nature-not against her. It is for thc tired, nervous, irritable women, who feel as. If everything were wrong, and need something to quiet their nerves and strengthen tho worn-out system. if you are a woman, suffering from any of the numerous symptoms or - womanly trouble, take Cardui. lt will help you. At all druggists. . ' ? . . \ i .. . Write ti: Chattanooga Medicino Co.. t ?dies' Xdvlcory Dod., Chattanooga. Twin., tor ??f?fM -, ? ?m?itu-tiont on your ca ia and Simpas* Doo k\ _Hofn1 Treatment tor Woman," In ptain wrappw. W.O.-tia JLD NO r T?X iRMS AND HOME His Home-Plan to Assist Ten Property Holders, Too am ( 'nd in i Tit. Amendment H ure proha \ bly necessary to lt. Our local asseooirig mel hods aro hopelessly ut fault. Under their, op eration every ward and ' township is jealous lest lt pay state taxes nt a higher rate than do contlgut us wnrda and townships and there ls ?he sume jen louey between the seven il cition and count ie;. We must ha /c. a sys tem nuder which taxable values, gener ally, shall be assessed -.ml ? qualallzed by a board or boards lepre.muting the state and not the cou ulm and small er subdivisions. Th? nc? d of this re form has long bon observed und has boen emphasized it the press of Ibo state. Ito enactment .von ld present no serious dltllcuties. Novel In This Stair. Tho uhnlttlon of the uniform prop erty tax. although lt has been accom plished, I think, In various American states, bus not been freely discussed in tbiri state. Prof. I ta per of North Carolina in his "Founders' day" ad dress before thc university, discussed boru the proposed reforms, but our people have been accustomed always to the uniform property lax and, at first, the.novelty of destroying lt may shock thom ? little. At the same time tho idea hus seeped into the minds of us ar, y r copie, and boards of assessors, quietly Ignoring the taw, sometimes put it into practice. For example, im provements on land and the land It I self are not always If usually assessed nt thc same rate here lu (Yohimbin. Whether "single taxers" or not, most of us wit agree that a tfi-atory .buttling that.coat $509.000 opgbt not to. carry KO hf.uvy, a. phare of tho tax load ns r.bould thc land it stands on . while owners of one-story buildings on tho ot li*, T side of, the street neglect to im prove their property,in a measure pro portional to the value, of the land and so grow rich.from the unearned in crement, refusing; toisell their ground . Iq thow .who would improve lt. Other Illustrations ipf tba .unfairness and un? wir dom of ..tito uniform property tax might h cited. Our income and cor* portillon taxes imply admission that tho old taxation principle that we have reted upon is unscientific and no long er adequate. This paper does not pre tend to work out a detailed., taxing plan but the centralization of assess ing and abolition o fthe uniform prop er t y tax are impressed as essential preliminary change's to tm?' plan -apply ing to Certain quantities or property If an income tax be Just-at all "nd which I rhall proceed to outline. K sf elision of the Principle, /an exemption from lt of persons hav . .?.#,*,.. ?.* ...7 I lng Incomes of $2,500 and under bc ! .'usl, lt is equally Jus ?to extend the principe of exemption to other forms of taxation. Our constitutional homestead ex emptions of real estate of the value of $1000 anil personalty of the value of $500 seem to commit the state to thc principie that tho head of a family ought lo have property of that yalue. Ought not thc converse of the proposi tion on v/hich the homestead exemp tion rests to be true-that the state I should place no obstacle lu thc way of I tin; head of a family acquiring proper ty of tl al value? In practice, the homestead exemption is unfair. The bend of a family having real estate worth $1000 and personalty worth $500 i can not lie deprived of that property , by his creditors, Were the 176,000 farmers i nthe stu: o go irito hank t rtlpiey, the 65,000 owning forms would 1 renutinund owners und the tl 1,000 ten I ants "Ottld remain tonanta, albeit the I 6?.00O o wed debts !.> or greater than : the value of their I unes leads. The j cate constitution, ' fixing un arid i ra - I ry nilnlum mot' hr I holdings for tho man who once 1 ?j them (unless he voluntarily allen*..'*s them) under takes to create a -luau occupying a higher level thr the class already landless. . Tl 'rendent. Before the <. institution of 1895 was adopted cit li and counties were nl owed to ex- 'pt certain manufactur ing concern lorin certain kinds of taxes. TI present const Hutton al lows muni' ? willies to exempt them for a term of years. The aim of thean laws was and tn to Induce, factory con td ruction and 20 years ago it served a great put pose-perhaps n good pur pose. 1 make hold to say that on grounds of expediency a similar cx cmptlrn of small industrial plants would he not leas just. Speaking from the non-Socialist point of view, all nf un will. 1 suppose, agree that the encouragement of small holdings of land is beneficial to thc state; that they are an improvement ou the plantation system when the average holding was 541.2 acres, an In 18C0. Ali of us will agree that. In the prosent social order, good citizenship is promoted by home ownership. The .more homo owners we have the more conservative and dependable body of citizens wo shall have, ag nc ii tn ral region non-resident All of us will agree, too, that in an ownership of land is Injurious to the general welfare. . The Exemption Plan. My pinn, then, briefly, is that every homo owner's property In land and (n the tools of his trade shall be exempt from all taxation for general purposes, state, county and* ntinlclpal. up to n value' fixed .by law. The exemption might bc permanent or lt might be for d?finit o periods, the exemption de creasing by gradations ns time passed, Fin thor.' the. exemptions should apply to fixed areas, a number pt acres lo thc cnui;ty and to fractions of an acre in tho towns nnd cities. Let us say that thc exemption be $2,500 for a farmer and apply to not. mo* : iheta HO acres, while for the citl :*.eu it bc 12,500 and a quarter of an acre lot. In no case would thc ex cmpcion apply unless thc man lived on the land. Manifestly, the result womit bo that the farmer would strive to de* velop bis GO acres while the cotton mill operative or other artisan would build a cottage en his lot Every tenant would try to acquire a lot or a farm. lu practice, how would thc scheme work'.' Thc total value of all property as assessed for'ttfxiitlbrf In South Caro lina is tu rbitnd nurhhers $296.000.000, according- to thc comptroller general's report Tor 1013. Tin* Assessed Property. The lotnl nsrorscd value of real es tate is $153.700.004; I To make thc latter sum 18,788.688 acres cf country land nfc assessed al $72.691.306 and the 211.863 buildings on them at $81.200,144. The average ascasmer.t per acre is $:?.86 end per bulldinc. ?8(I. The average assessment Ol 50 acrr-r- with ono building would bc $-79. Let Us suppose, however, that the average farm of 50 acres to be ex empted in now assessed at $500aod we lind ?hat the total exemption of 64,350 farm? in the state owned by farmers and on. rated hy themselves, us re ported by the r ea sus of 1910 would bo $2:M7F.000. This estimate is probably far too great, the number of acres be ing only obe-sixth of the number now assessed in thc''state, and thc estimate being a little more than one-third of the total assessment of $90,891,450. lt ls to be remembered, however, that thc 18,788,688 acres Includes ' unimproved land. The mininer of acres in farms in 1910 was 13,512.626 and of these 6, 097,999 were Improved. Twenty-nvo million dollars would probably cover thc proposed exemption, but taking the former estimate of $32.175,000, tho value of lands in the state assessed would he reduced from $90,191,450 to $58.716.450. The Large .Holding*. A farmer in Marlboro or Dillon owning a plantation of the value of $50.000 would bo entitled to his ex emption of $2,500 only! a considera tion tending to make my estimate ot the total exemption too large. Non resident land owners would have .no exemption. About 8,000,000 of the 13,000,000 acres tn farms are under the control of tenants and hone of this land w;...Id bo exempted. , There re main 5.000,000 aeres not included in ferme, much of which ls valuaba tim ber land that ought .to bear a" share of the tax burden much heavier than that |t does bear. By the census. report the total value ot farm property ls 1332,128,314 and the average value of each farm ts $2.2281 of which $1,887 ls In land and' buildings. $256 In live stock, $80 tn Implements-and machin ery. Were .the burdon now horne, by-the part ..tot be* exempted to be shifted to the unexempted part, the tax rate on that part on thc basis of larger esti mate of thc exemption would be in crcased about 33 per cent. Census figures of town and city property arc not available to mc, and thc estimates must be even more in definite as to them. By the comptrol ler's report for 11)13, the number of town and city lots ls 112.288, assessed at $22,732,731. The number, of build ings la 81,163 aressed at $4,136,023. The total of urban vea estate is $62, 808,754. T'hese sums are. I think, ex clusive of buildings owned by cotton railroads and ccrtai outlier corpora tions. .< . Dwellings ?ti South Carolina. According to the census, there are 303.842 dwoling- tn the state, so that, deducting 176.0(0 dwellings of farmers and 25,000 cotton mill cottages, them remain 97,000 urban dwellings. Of these a very large proportion are rent ed bouses, not occupied by owners. Thousands ok them arc cabins tenant ed hy negroes. Ti:^ heavy urban val ues arc mctrantllc and o'nee buildings and. the ground they stand on. I think $15,000,000 would bo an. outside cellmate ot the total exemption of ur ban assessment of South Carolina real estate of $153,000,000 would bo reduced by the exemption of $47,000,000 to $106,000.000. There would bc required to supply a deficit of revenue on $47,000,000 but his is to be subtracted from thc total assessment of $296,000,000 of property In the state. Thus an additional tax burdon, amounting to about, 20 per cent, increase would fall on -owners of property assessed at $249.000,000, but it hs within bounds to say that tho actual valne of property assesed ai this last figure is nearer $600,000.000 or $700.000.000. Various methods besides tbe proper ty tax:might be resorted to to.supply tbe deficit, among them an Inheritance tax, which to roy mind 1B the farlest of all taxes. Some of the states .raise their revenues without directly taxing property bul so long na lt ls and ahull constitute the large proportion of cur land tax necessary and rel ut Ive ly, wealth that lt docs, we shall find ? speaking desirable. Thc adoption ot other methods of taxation,. than the property tax to supply the . deficit would be merely a redistribution of the shifted burden. The exempt part of the population .would, still be exempt. The AT erogo Farm.., The average size of a-South Caro lus farm 4n 1?10 wV 7*3.? acres. Since 1860 the size of tho larra has been de creasing yearly, and its average yalpe has been increasing. In-I860 ' tho average farm waa S4U2 acres.: Between 1900 andi 1910 the total tarin'-aerea?g?6 nf the state decreased 3.4 per cent. The lumber of South Carolina; farros han nc rear ed 40 per cent, during the last 10 years, while the net increase in the im ou nt of land tn farms has been only 11.6. In other words, the. .tendency ms peen and ia for the mor? careful mttivattpn and development or the and. and the acceleration of this ten (Continued on Page 7) Taking it up one side and down the other, as well as we can gather, there is around 66 2-3 or 7 O per cent of a stand of cotton in this section. The Government report puts it 72 per cent. Some* sections of the State may have better stands than we have, and so taking it up one side and down the other, our stand as well as we can gather, is around 66 2-3 or 70 per cent of a perfect stand. While this is not ideal, still there is enough cot ton up to make a good crop of cotton if you will feed it and nurse it and pomper it. ' If you will side dress it once or twice, putting, from 150 to 200 pounds of fertilizer to th? acre, each time, you get all out of your crop that can be gotten.^ And that is all that you cariado. You can get more out of this 66 2-3 per cent of a stand by feeding it and nursing it and pom pering it than you can get out of an ordinary stand where you don't side dress it. But in side dressing this crop, you want the very best goods made for.this purpose. It is no time for experi ments, the business of this crop requireth haste, it is no time to take chances, you want a sure thing. The side dressing fertilizer made by the An derson Phosphate & Oil CompanyMs the best m??le. Remember thats ide dressing makes inore bolls and larger bolls, st ands drought better,, stands anything better, it is better fed and is stronger. Kemember,. too, that 4300 pounds of seed coitoii that has bee n side dressed, will make as herivy a bale of cotton a,s l500 pounds that has riot been side (tressed. ?? ut it takes the best fertili zer io dp this; When yo u buy sidje dressing. ; get the best, diet the best, a nd'forget the rest. It ; will -pay.you; to pomper your corn crop too this year,... ?t &]$0$r?ity rough to make a shprt cotton crojp, and/* then buy corn. It pays h?ndsom?iy. to fertilize corn, ;