Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

■ t ^ ' v ' r ’ ■ 3 '-^‘.sg I ^ ■ ;*)T ■ .?! 43 >/T . . 3 THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., NOYEMBEH 19, 1890. OBJECTIONS ARE ANSWERED SMALL COUNTIES RENDER THE LAW CHEAPER. In Georgia, Where the Counties Are About 400 Miles Square, the People Cherish Their Small Counties. It is said small counties incrcacc litigation by rendering law toocheap and easy for the people. This is a mere pretext, not urged in good faith, but simply because some excuse must be given for opposing small counties. It is natural for all men to pursue their own interest, audit is to the interest of all lawyers to be paid for conducting litigation. Therefore, if small counties Increase litigation, the members of the bar would favor rather than oppose the establish ment of small counties. Ihc idea of an attorney objecting to have busi ness made for him by a small county increasing litigation sounds as incredible as that adocter objects to increased sickness or a miller to get more grist to grind. If small counties do increase liti gation, the people in Georgia, where the counties of trie whole state aver age only four hundred and twenty three square miles each, ought to be terribly impoverished and anxious to restore large counties, but nothing of the kind exists. In other states where the counties are as small as in Georgia, or smaller, no complaint is heard of excessive litigation, and the people cherish their small coun ties in lieu of wishing to abolish them. If costly and diflicult law be ad visable, it is best to have law so ex pensive and diflicult as to place it entirely beyond the reach of the mas ses and remand them to the code of might. However, the doctrine that law sliuuld be dear and diflicult to Un people lias unfortunately been put into practice too oflen h}' legislators in South Carolina as well as elsewhere. This is the doctrine which prevents the frequent publication of the whoh body of the law in cheap, simple and systematic codes. The more law is confused and scattered through num erous volumes, the better for the bar it is a deserved reproach to South Carolina that shelias published fewei proper codes of her Jaws than nnj state in the Union. The more tin people are kept away from a court House by distance, or by any otliei means, the less opportunity the) have to learn their legal rights, duties and remedies, and so t he m >r< 111 list they pay an attorney to teael them these tilings. Admit that small counties do en courage litigation, what right have these disinterested and public spir ited members of the bur who profis- t * deprecate clients furnishing their business—what right lias the leg islature—what r'giit has any persoi or | ower to set up as the guardian o' 11 full grown man of sound mind: This is the old doctrine that the peo plo are unfit to govern themselves. If true ought not guardians to b< appointed for those who live near tin eourt houses of our present largi counties. If a party is disposed ti go to law without suflicient reason, and just for the fun of the thing, be cause he happens to dwell close to a court house, it is nobody’s business but bis own. No government is free which does not permit every man to attend to iiis own business n , Iiis owd way as long as lie do-? not intertere with ether pt-opleT business. It is almost as naiurnl foi a resident lawyer in a large count) to combat any proposal to curtail his county as it is for a land owner to resent an attempt to deprive him of a portion of his broad acres. 1 will cite a case in point which occured under my own observation in South Carolina. 1 have previously related Ihe fuel that our present county of durciidi n was iormed out of an elec tion parish of t lie judical county of Sumter in iSiw. At tlmt time three distinguished members of the Samtei bar represented her in the house of representatives. They were Messrs. Uiuiiding, Spam ami ween, ail rank ing high iii the profession and as leg- isiulois. Although there were then about fifty lawyers in the house, the three Sumter attorneys made the only speeches delivered in the house against constituting Clarendon u judicial county. Each of the three put forth an earnest, labored and ingenious effort, more as if it was his lierauuul cause lie was arguing than a uiHitcr of public legislation. Under the sumo circumstances 1 believe tlie representative attorneys of any other judicial county in the state would have acted just us the three Mumier gentlemen did, and I iulctid no disrespect to them. The iate Chief Justice Moses, who was llien tituto senator from Hu inter, fought tiio bill to create Clar endon county with as much impas sioned pertinacity as if it hud been a case of life and death, lie seemed almost desperate and struggled on even after he had ascertained that the senate was three lo one in favor of the bill. At that time he was also the leading member of tb" bumter bar. I liave no disposition to attack lawyers us a clans. God forbid that 1 should be so unjust or so foolish 'I lie bar rightly followed is Hu- highest, most useful and most intel lectual occupation of man, and I am proud of being even u retired member of it. llul all men and all profes sions have their faults as well their defects, and the bur has its full share. Candor compels me to express the belief that tho prevailing clamor against tho profession is in a great degree attributablo to tho presence of over large counties and tho ab sence of proper codes among us. In states whoso subdivisions are smal!, and whoso laws are regularly codified and published at suitable intervals, such clamor does not exist to any great extent. Although the tendency of the age, with rapidly accumulating force, is to level and equalize nil knowledt*. technical or otherwise, yet there is not the slightest danger of the profes sion of law ever being superseded, because civil law is both a science and an art, which include within their scope everything on earth, sea ami skies. Ho that with tho newest and host codes, and with the smallest judicial counties, expert lawyers will always find abundant demand for their services. It is only pettifog gers who cannot thrive in Georgia and in other states where convenient court houses and suitable editions oi the laws dilfuse a general knowledge of law among the masses. It is well known among respectable attorneys that the sort of practice which mostly supports pettifoggers is the “ little learning” necessary to ad vise on simple points about which the people are ignorant, mostly be cause of their great distance from th* county seat, or on account of having no good code to read or refer to on occasion. Therefore, if the real attorneys of South Carolina would exterminate Hie pestiferous tribe of peltifogg rs, and if they would ollace the un founded prejudice against all lawyers, let them give us small coun ties us called for, and a new “code” as soon as we can get rid of Corbin’s cumbersome and expensive consti tution. It is not the weakest argument in behalf of small counties that they impart a revivifying and fertilizing impulse to the lawyer’s mind. Ilia notorious that circuit riding mem bers of the bar have the law and its authorities and illustrations at their tongue’s end, while drowsy local practitioners have them chiefly at their fingers’ end in a facility of ref erence to books. In every respect the circuit is the most eligible school in which to prepare for “ the oc casion sudden and practice danger ous.” A second objection to small counties is, that they render jurors such partisans that an impartial jury cannot bo found in tho country to try a case in court. All free government is the result of compromise, as opposed to force, vvhelher in the legislature to make law or in the jury box to apply the law. Where jurors know each other, know the parties to a civil suit, know the defendant in a criminal case, and know tho witnesses testify ing, justice is much more apt to be meted out than when jurors, parties and witnesses are strangers to each otinr. because neighbors, relatives and friends cun make a better out at compromising than strangers can. To love one’s kinsfolk is an in stinct, and to love thy neigebor as thyself” is a scriptural injunction. “Magna Oharta,” that pole star <>f constitutional law for all English speaking people, says that the jur ors shall come from the “ vicinage” where the civil and criminal eases they are to try occur. This, of course, means that neighbors and acquaintances shall act as jurors to: ne another. No other kind ot government deserves the name of local self government, and that in the mty free government vouchsafed man. Tho individual matv v.lu wants a stranger to sit on a jury foi him ought also to want strangers t vote for him, hold office over him, make laws for him and govern him in • very way. Every one must-cencede that in any judicial county, large or small, sometimes an exciting case will uri-i in which all the jurors of tho county will take sides varmly, but as tin v.hole jury mustagee—us only one ot them, whether actuated by a sense of right, by blind partiality, or by dishonest motives, can produce a mistrial—as an imperious necessity exists for compromising on some ver dict, in order to have any self gov ernment at all—as every juror feels a consciousness that he himself may shortly have a case in court to be passed upon by his fellow citizens— all these things ordinarily make the juror vote fora just vedict. “Mistrials” bv juries and “changes of venue” to have cases tried by strangers ’n other counties were common events during the radical tyranny in South Carolina, and I be lieve more changes of venue from large to small counties were asked for than from small to largo counties. Why was this, if small counties engender more partisanship? It is to be fervently hoped by every friend of bis country that these jury mis trials and “change of venue,” which are evidences of bad organization of a corrupt society or decaying govern ment, shall be less frequent hereafter. From the very nature of the organization of a jury, the law contemplates that considerable pressure shall bo brought to hear by tho court to compel a vedict and prevent a mistrial and sach pressure ought, to bo applied now as in days of old. In tho many other states, where the counties arc so small that every man in a county generally knows every citizen in it, one would sup pose that, if jurors ate hucIi Intense partisuns m to prevent a fair administration of justice, tho people would be disgusted with stnuil counties and eager for their abolish ment ; hut it is not so in u single state. A few individuals, such as avaricious incumbents and candi dates for county offices of profit, or friends of the lobby and of mammoth corporations, may grumble at tho small counties of Georgia and other state*, but the body of tho people there arc content. A third objections to small coun- I ties is. that they do not yield suffi cient fees to secure the services of j competent and faithful sherifTs, | clerk and other administrative officers. I It is very pleasant for the incum bent of an ofliee that it shall be a lucrative one, but the fact should never be overlooked that every otlice in a free government is created ; for the'good of the people—not for tho good of the officer. To have efficient administrative officers it is not requisite that any judicial county should possess much terri tory, population and wealth as to produce litigation and criminal prosecutions enough to enable county officials to be content with the fees of their respective offices and not engage in any other business. Every fat office is a prize for which men will scramble so as to engender intrigue, dcmagoglsm, strife, demora lization and corruption in the com munity. Moreover, many fat offices always In . -t an idle set of drones, whose chief occupation is to seek or hold office, and in lime such men from habit become unfitted for any other useful occupation. Honest labor is the paramount law of man’s healthy existence, and every member of so ciety should be engaged, or capable of engaging, at all times, in produc ing something useful or beautiful, if for no other reason than to teach the rising generation by example to shun idleness. Public spirit and tho honor at tached to office alone induce many county oilicers in Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, etc., to discharge thiir official functions. The fees are alt >g -ther a secondary consideration, and where the fees are the primary object with county functionaries, they should bo made so few other calling beside for a livelihood. it is not indispensable that the county officials should actually have their residence at the court house, or keep their offices open in person or by deputy more than two days in the acek except at court tune, it conns within my observation that perhaps a majority of county officials in Georgia and a number of other slates do not reside at their several court houses, but are planting, farm ing, milling, merchandizing, etc., often six or more miles from the county seat. Now who will have the hardihood to assert that justice is not administered in the small counties of Georgia and Virginians efficiently is in the large counties of South Gurnlina? It is exceedingly rare that any county office worth so little a* if.jf it per annum in any state o f should regulate the number of bridges and ferries to bo erected and tho rates of toll to be charged. In South Carolina a huge octavo volume will not contain the charters of bridges anil ferries and their re newals established by our legislature. In Georgia an act of about ten lines charters every bridge and ferry in the state, to the effect tha) whenever and wherever an individual owns the land on both banks of a stream, he shall have the right and power to establish a bridge or ferry and charge whatever toll ho pleases, so it be uni form. If South Carolina, like Geor gia and other states, would permit free competition in bridge and ferry building, it would vastly diminish the expense of crossing water-courses to got to ft county seat, and it would also benefit the public travel im mensely. Blood Poison, Mr. Frank B. Martin, vrho is engaged In the jewelry business at 926 I’enn- sylvania Avenue, Washington City, where he is well and favorably known, was a victim of that worst form of dis ease—contagious blood poison. He realized that his life was about to be blasted, for this terrible disease has baffled the skill of the physicians for ages, and they have never yet been able to effect a cure. His mental despair can better be imagined than described. In a recent letter he says: “About four years ago I contracted a severe case of contagious blood poison, and it was not long before I was in a terri ble condition. I immediately placed myself under treatment of two of the best physicians in Washington city. Their treatment, which I took faith fully for six months, cost me just three hundred dollars, and left me worse than when I began it. My condition can m.' i be union long goes hogging for an occupant capable both of executing the ■ bice and of giving a solvent I bond for the faithful discharge of it-a duties. At t!i events while the same fee inti prevails throughout South Caro lina, I lie county offices in Lancaster M. rlnor ,, and our few oilier small j e nii t t it s, are always filled by just as j honest and intelligent incumbents a? tin , e of Edgefield, Abbeville, Uar i- w 11. an l the other large counti By some means or other, the county offices in all the states in the union are executed by somebody, and the inhabitants of each of these smal! counties adhere to their separ ate judicial organization with un yielding tenacity. The cxperimei.t of s'u iil judicial counties has been .»n t:":i! for ft long time in many of llie -Pat s, and if a small county cannot have its offices properly ad ministered, or if it is objectionable ii< other respects, would not the tx- periment have been adundom-d and lurijo counties restored a great while •go? I! is objected by some peculiarly consilutt d people that whore otic sec tion of a large county needs more public bridges than another section ought not to bo permitted to form a new county, but should bo held to assist tho other section in keeping up its bridges. How an honest man or professing Christian cun advocate such a doc trine I cannot solve, but I do know many sinners who would be ashamed toftdvance it. This sort of object ion is identical in morul& with that which made the North prevent the Hontli from seceding, which lias always prompted the North to contend for a protective tariil to levy unjust trib ute from the South. The principle involved smacks of selfishness tyranny and robbery, akin to tho magnanimous proposition of self- government which demands that u majority of all tho voters in the whole of a large county shall consent before its urea cun be reduced to form a now county. Those who dance should generally pay tho fiddler, and thooe who own tho fertile lowlands on large water courses and their tributaries are not only bettor able to pay taxes to con struct bridges over those water cours.'s, but should bo willing to build thu bridges which they them selves mostly use, and should not se k to compel strangers to do it for them. The expense or tho difficulty of crossing water-courses to reach a court-house should not bo much in any case. A cheap public flat cun he used to cross every mill pond or factory pond, on a highway, over a -'tramu that is fordable except in a fre ihot. Over water-courses that are unfordable in summer none but private bridges or ferries, at which loll h taken, should he established. But competition, and not an arbitrary monopoly charter of the legislature, Frank B. Martin. best be appreciated, when I stab* that my throat and mouth werefullof seres and my tongue was almost eaten awayj l had not taken solid food for three months. My entire body was covered with red blotches, my hands and feet were sore and my hair was falling out rapidly. I was in a truly pitiable condition. “ I felt that I was Incurable, and was In great despair, when a friend recommended 8. S. 8., stating that it would certainly cure me. I began Its use, and when I had finished the fourth bottle, I began to improve, and by the time I had finished eighteen bottles, I was thoroughly rid of the disease; of course, I was not sure that I was cured, but am now convinced, as no sign of the disease has ever returned for four years. S. 8. S. is the best blood remedy in the world, and my cure was due solely and alone to it.” Contagious blood poison is the most horrible of all diseases, and has been appropriately called the curse of man kind. It has always baffled the doc tors, and, until the discovery of S. S. S., was incurable. For fifty years S. S. 3. has been cur ing this terrible disease, even after all other treatment failed. It is guaran teed purely vegetable, and one thou sand dollars reward is offered for proof to the contrary. S. 8. 8. never fails to cure contagious blood poison, or any other disease of the blood. If you have a blood disease, take a rem edy which will not injure you. Be ware of mercury; don’t do violence to your system. Our books on blood and skin dis eases, will be mailed free to any ad dress. Hwift Specific Co., Atlanta, Ga. EUGLEBERG RICE HOLLER. Tho only machine that in one operation, will CLEAN, HULL and POLISH ILntgh Ilico—putting it in merchantable condi tion, ready for table use. SIMPLE AND EASY TO MANAGE. Write for prices and terms ALSO Corn Mills, Saw Mills, Planing Machines and all kinds of wood-working machinerv. TALBOTT and' LIDDELL En gines and Boilers on hand at FACTORY PRICES. V. C. BADHAM, ^MONDERFUL arc the cures by Hood’s Sarsaparilla, and yet they are simple and natural. Hood’s Sarsa parilla makes PURE BLOOD. >0000OOOOOO 0<XK><KK><.H> OOOCS "Webster’s ^Intersaatioma;! icraary The Cn;> Crc.it Standard Authority, 1.0 V.T:P S Don. 11 '.d. Ul>wrr, ^ ^ dilStUe . S. oilpii H.e ( our*. 1 c. VorA+l icr Specimen I’ngcs, etc. bltCCC,- ' '<!’ Of ihc {RipansIaMesl Ripar. ; Taindes arc com pounded from n prescription '.'d hy theltea medi- •d rut! orities r:id arc pre- r'. nf 1 in a form that is be- . >ming the fashion .very- * where. ,4; — i r . **•..„ ; »'• * Vualiriilgcii. ’ ’ fMamtarcl Of tt'O r Si. ,v't IV.t- Init uftirr. th" \ Sn- Lji<n>0 ( ourt. iiU tli- rSiile Supref ;• (’ouiG*. Hii-I of iienrly nil ti.o SOiOOilOulU. Li M '• ■) v«*« vmi y .lit" Si I'd ilit.'li.l. rut. cl I < i>i . Ohi-I (•.:ii".,i : I Without litU'.il i. ?DR EVERYBODY J otr.*ooc j jt lc e*«y to fkitl tl:n v.rrd wanted. it i:. :uuy to ujvrf.nn the prcnt’.r.LiaC ... *, I. Is v.y lo tJ./> prow th '.I u vtot l li 13 ktasy t > Ijjrn wl:et a v.orJ nsuni The T .'';/' ; <'t .Vcv.-s <Vr (V' CI . i ; V tv- »•• i ; v; il Jirff'ivti-(•» VHT.I fri r|y ft.r ^ .1' . . lt"l. ■ ' y. I'llt ; :l li.'ll ■: I.I'IM •:; ,1.1, ; : • i .(■ r « > ' l .iii«:,i i f Y.Vbitlrr (Hi. I*,;, rii.ut •» t • ... i 1.1 ri.:;irit it :ii> lln- a.o t V::;.. • I ••• •• •• r : l».«- «■ umlaut ;•!* ?;.l .;.iy i f 'b\. I.pl'.i' ' ! Im- |'|. , IV. ''*".1 r n & C. X'CXKUtr CO., Pnblhbcrfl, d, XTass., U. & •'!. -COOC OOO OO ■'■O-OC . , } k c a:- c. S St>rtnf.iitU -> o-»o o o-o-C z<A DR. J. F. GARRETT, Dentist, Gaffney, - - - S. C. Ofiic.* o\or.I. I*. Toileson’s new store In office from 1st to 21t!i of each month; Rinans Tubules net gently but promptly upon the liver, utomach and intestines; cure ■. v persin, habitual constipa- i . i, offensive breath and hend- ; - he. One tabulc taken at the h: t symptom of indigestion, biliousness, dizziness, distress after eating, or depression of spirits, will surely and quickly remove tho whole difficulty. Price, 50 cents a box. RipansTabulcs may be ob- lined of nearest druggist; or by mail on receipt of price. Sample vial, io cci/cs, P.IPANS CHEMICAL CO., IO Spruce Street, NEW YORK. . O is the time lo buy warm clothing and .1. X. L1RLC0MB is the man to huy it irom. I v li sell you a suit from .th.•">0 to $lo.0(). Overcoats and M; - ! ; in lushes from .f.’LAO to $15.(10. SHOES—1 have the best sio; k of Shoes in town—Men’s, Wo men’s and Children's—ai prices to suii all buyers. GB0CER1ES.—When it eom ( s io Groceries I am the “World- Beater. I have RlGO hai: - ’.. Flour on hand and in tran sit that I bought before the rise and will sell accordingly. Don ’t tail to see me lx foi • von buy if you want to save money. 1 have 10 baa- of Fiat good old Tib Colfeo on hand and a few barrels of 201 h Sugar lo sweeten it with. HARDWARE.— 1 have a complete line of Staple Hardware, such as Pocket and Table Cuth ry, Nails, Plows, Wa.*h Pots, Stoves, Guns, Pistols and Cartridges which 1 will sell as low as the lowest. Wilt give you Barbed Wire at dje. “Boy Dixie Turn Plows at $1.2d. I am selling the be.-; Jellico. Lump Coal at .f l.oO per ton. delivered. Respectfully, 'i f rpscomo P. S.—Ladies wanting a nice dri made will lind Mrs. Parker in my house who will lie glad i<> serve them. Hurrah for the New County I IS * CARROLL & CO., Lessees. Manufacturors of NG * AND * I -And Peiilers In- Coal, Shingles, Lathes and Plater Hair. Dyrr.amite, Idlasting Powder, Fuse and Dynamite Caps. xwTr.-»Si.'J DuPRE DRUG COMPANY, DiS/Vl .ICK .-3 !X Pure Drugs, Medicines, Paints, Oils, Fine Stationery, &c. Prescriptions Carefully Compounded - - Telephone No. 21 OYV!<£I«4>I^I^ <Y S«»'iWOY, Bunkers Trunstict :i Ox*uer;»l 1 (uniting; Ituitini-KH. -O- lliivln r i>prm*;l up a Savings Ix-juii lumiii in nur Imnk, la-Kliuilng July I i l-'.t.. wo wilt n i'vivc (leposiis of il.uoaml njiwiuus ami allow liiti-n si i In it oii ai I pi r ■•••lit. I»'r aimuni. payable iiunrterly when left In bunk 3 months or longer. Safely De posit Boxes for rent . Your putmnu/e siilh'ltetl. CARROLL & STACY. The Election is Over, and we got left on our presidential candidate, but our eu-tomers eontinm* to Eat the Very Best UkNKHAI, AQENT, COLUMBIA, - - just the same as if Bryan had won. Our stock is roploto with all the latest ami nici'st groceries to he found anywhere, and we will continue to sej] them at Gold Standard Prices— which is the very edienpcst. Thanksgiving is coining and W( will have many thin; - to give thanks for, and nil) i^ij want a Thanksgiving-dinner. Let us supply the good . B. C. BYARS & SPARKS-