Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Y 9 THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY", S. C., NOVEMBER 20, 1890. 3 OBJECTIONS ARE ANSWERED HON. GEO, D. TILLMAN AT HIS BEST. He Pc ni i >e \ F ar!ous Objections to 11. . ticn oi New Coun- : : an.l At r.wers Them Dispassionately. The fdlowisj are some of the ob- jeetioti!! Li t liler counties ns ans wered by the Ifon. George D. Till man, They are good. They nre within the bounds of common sense. In fact they are common sense personified. Although written before the constitutional convention it will be seen that many of the things he advocated have already been ob tained. Head them, they will do you good. An objection urged against divid ing any county in the state is that a new county could and would avoid paying its quota of existing county debts, bucit an objection is not only childish, but proclaims the ignorance or knavery of the man who makes it. In the first place, the real public debt of the several counties in South Carolina is not near so large as us ually repte. ' nted. In the second place, the inhabitants of a newly organi/.od county cannot successfully resist the payment of their quota of the public d< bt < f the county, or counties fi-m which the new county was formed. They can be compelled to do it by 1. v. A county is not like a state in the matter of suing or be ing sued in the courts, can sue the state. Any sue the county. A sixth objection to a is increased taxes to erect its public buildings—which is magnilied into a “ raw head and bloody-bones” argu ment to frighten voters within the proposed limits of a new county to deter them from consenting toils formation. In a small judicial county the public buildings need not be as spacious as those required for a large county. In other states hav ing mostly m .il counties, the court houses, tin j.'.ib; and poor houses outside of the cities are commonly quite diminutive structures com pared with the roomy public build ings of our large counties. This is em phatically true of jails and poor houses, i Ante, without apprehend ing truthful contradiction, thatthe public edifices, in one of thoao small counties, do not, on the average, cost more than half the amount of such edifices in a large county here. A savin/ of expense in the smaller that purpose than to continue for the period of even two years longer in the largo county to which they now belong. To leave out of sight the discomfort and unpleasantness of a visit to a diet ant court house, as ! well as the deprivation of instruction and social profit. I < not being able often to resort to th > mole countv No creditor creditor can now county size of tIk building is not the only it#m of economy practiced. The court bouse is sometimes only u plank shanty until the county can conveniently, by a light tax extended throughout t period of years, collect enough funds to construct a substan tial stone or l rick building. But a wooden structure, costing only one, two or three thousand dollars, is permanently used in some poor, thinly settled counties, where the most important records and books are preserved in capacious burglar and fireproof afe or brick vaults, one or both of which can be had for a few hundred dollars. Many a wooden block house built of hewn timl .us, at an expense of one or two thorn and dollars, in Georgia, is a far more secure prison than the costly brick jail at Edgefield or Orangeburg f w inst ance, and substan tial justice can ar, well be dealt out in n plank court room as in a marble hall. Hut if the new county should want spacious, stylish and secure edifices at once, let the h'gislature authorize the county commissioners to borrow the money, on say five years’ time, to lessen the burden of the tax, as has boon done in many cases in other states. Or, if preferred, let the county commissioners apply for a good lot of penitentiary convicts to burn the brick and perform the labor of erecting the buildings. I’esidc, if th< county commissioners who shall be appointed to lay out the now county and construct its build ings should -jlect a silo fur the court hou. * when there is no town, the owner of that site would be a fool, in a pecuniary sense, if he would not freely donate forty or fifty acres of land for the county town. If, however, he will not donate it, let the commissioners buy it, and let the landthu donated or bought be cut up into eligible lots, sold to persons at auction who would settle at the new county town for business, social, educational or religious purposes, and the proceeds applied to erecting the public buildings. Most of the money for erecting the court house and jail in many small counties of other states, and in some of the largo counties of .South Carolina, was provided it. this way. Again, if the county commission ers should decide to locate the court house at a town already established —say some flourishing railroad depot —such town would be blind to its interest if it should not contract either to donate land or contribute a certain sum of money toward the public buldings, or even agree to erect one or both of them. It is thus that county buildings, and even state cup Pd e are frequently fur nished in whole or in part in other states. llut suppose the people of the new county decid* to construct substan tial, spacious and tasty ed'dices imme diately. It would bo cheaper to the whole people of the new county to submit to u suilicient tax at once for seat, the loss of time, t 1 loss l>y neglect of business by hotel bills in attending o(Iici;.| snlos—making fiduciary returns—having*deeds and mortgages recorded—consulting attorneys—inspecting records—per forming official acts at the court bouse as managers of election, school trustees, county commission ers, etc.—attending two weeks court as spectators, jurors, civil suitors, or witnesses—long mileage costs to sheriffs and constables, etc., etc., I say the money winch would be saved in two years to the people on the outskirts of a large county by their being able to avoid all those things would more than erect suita ble public buildings in a small county. Moreover, as all landed property for many miles around a new county town would most likely appreciate considerable in value, those land owners ought to bo willing to make handsome donations toward the pub lic buildings, or, at all events, sub mit cheerfully to a tax for them. The whole population of the new county should not object to the tax. because in a small new county population will migrate less and immigrate more and as an increase of wealth by having more labor, the increased wealth thus obtained would lighten taxes every year, so that although the present popula tion would have to advance the pub lic building tax, that population would much more than get it back in the end. Yet it is of but little monent as to how the public buildings of a new county shall be provided, because if a respectable majority of the voters within the limits of a proposed new county are willing to supply their own public buddings, whose busi ness is it but their own? Who should govern in the formation of the new county but themselves? Upon what principle known to free men can the people outside of the proposed new county oppose it? Its formation will cost them noth ing; on the contrary, will lessen the costs of criminal prosecutions and civil litigation by shortening terms of court, and will otherwise benefit the community left in the reduced counties. “ The consent of the governed is the central idea of liberty, and to require the assent of a majorty of all the voters in a largo county before permitting the people in a distant section of that county to frame a county of their own, is a proposition which any liberty loving man will spurn with contempt. A seventh objection closely related to the increased tuxes and public buildings fallacy is our present Radical constitution forbids the formation of a uew county with less than ()'2.‘> square miles, and as it also prohibits the reduction of and old county below that area, therefore it is idle at this time to discuss many of the proposed new county projects. There is some force in this as regards many of the worthy new county projects, but luckily it does not apply to your Calhoun county scheme, as you can get and leave the required areas, nor does it apply to several other proposed new coun ties of which I have heard. As the state has .‘M.oihj square miles of surface, and only fit) counties, of course there is room for fifty two counties, each with six hundred and twenty five square miles of territory. But supposed you did not have the prescribed area, is that any valid reason why you should not have a new county or agitate for it ? The present constitutional minimum limit for an old or new county is Radical paternalism pure and simple. It is the government usurping the function of guardian for the people, on the assumption that they cannot properly govern themselves in the matter of forming counties and therefore a Procrustean rule must be laid down for their gu'dance. Think of the useless expense and trouble of making tedious surveys, to say noth ing of the impertinonco, or tyranny of interposing an insuperable barrier to the reduction of an old ortho formation of a new county, unless each bad exactly a fixed area, which is nearly treble that of an average county in several states. No excep tions made in respect to a flourish ing city county, nor a populous, fertile, rural county, nor one inter sected by unfordable streams. What more right has the constitu tion to prescribe a minmum area for old or newly fenced agricultural fields that it lias to dictate the minimun dimensions of old or now counties? It is true the present constitution of Georgia prohibits the formation of any new county hereafter, but that was not done until a few years ago, and not until after the state had been subdived into counties of an average size of only I'Jfi square miles and not until after the whole state had become practically unanimous for the inhibition. Besides if our abominable Radical constitution does contain such a foolish mammoth minimun for counties it is not our constitution. It was manufactured for us by carpetbaggers, scalawags and negroes with bayonets, and is the handiwork of alien enemies, not of South Carolina. Reconstruction was such an anomalous parody on free govern ment that it had to commence in oacli Houthern state by calling a convention, not with “ the consent of the governed" but under military •authority, to frame what purported to bo a fundamental law. and reconstruction has not ended—can not properly end until a convention of Democrats shall have assembled to form an organic net suitable to our wants without radical deformit ies. That constitntional convention ought to be ordered at the next ses sion of the legislature, a large major- | ity of whose members were chosen j on a platform promising it, and the , Democratic member of either house who shall vote against assembling I such a convention ought to be re- i memberod to his dicredit hereafter, j South Carolina was the first state to secede and she is the last to get rid of the ill adapted, expensive and patch work fundnmetul law imposed by her conquerors. All the other ex-Confederate states have set aside their radical constitutions (so called), and have enacted subst itues adapted to home rule and local self govern ment in keeping with their condition and surroundings. Mississippi was the last to act, or rather she is act ing now by holding her first election under the new instrument which is a model worthy of imitation by us. It has many novel and unique provisions to secure good govern ment and perpetual white supremacy, notwithstanding the present and prospective overwhelming prepon derance of negro population on ac count of her bodndless fert ile alluvial lands. Senator George was the master mind in framing it. He left his seat in the United States senate last year to attend the convention and has shown himself the one great man of his state—its guide and law hour of need. It was chairman of the State executive committee inaugurated what was as the Mississippi giver in the he who, as Democratic in 1874, then known plan (shotgun plan, according to the Radicals) which threw off the carpet bag yoke, and it is he who lias just given liis great stato perhaps the best consti tution in the South to preserve white supremacy—its avowed object—yet helms kept within the requiremants of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Federal consti tution. His speech in the senate during the late session of Congress, in defence of Mississippi’s new constitution, was one of the com- pletest and profoundest pieces of argumentation on record. Every public man in South Carolina ought to road it—study it and profit by it. As Mississippi was the first state to follow South Carolina out of the Union, and as the troops ot the two States affiliated like twin brothers during the war and were almost invincible when supporting each other, it seems like a poetic fitness of things that South Carolina should now follow Mississippi’s lead in dis carding Radical state constitutional shackles for some of her own forg ing. The fates are friendly to such a consummation. A large majority North favor white South. The negro question has probably passed its zenith for evil in this country. The force bill is dead, and the Eastern stales will hence forth have their hands full in look ing after the commune their vicious legislation has created while the impoverished and mortgaged West is in revolt against the manufacturing barons and millionaire bankers of the East, and are joining (he Demo cratic party to get legislative relief by reducing (he robber tariff, levying an income tax, having free coinage of silver, abolishing national bunks and issuing more greenbacks. So let us have a constitutional convention by all means, and in building our constitution, let us trust the people a little to govern themselves us regards the size of counties, and not prescribe a Procrustean minimum area. But as the present constitution is likely to be waste paper in two or three years, except as a memento of reconstruction’s infamy, I see no impropriety in discussing the ques tion of small counties and maturing plans for their establishment. It requires time to convince a lanm o of whites at the supremacy at the body of men to get them to harmon ize on any public measure. There fore it would seem’t hetpurt of wisdom to let the new county agitation goon, and where a proposed new county has the requisite six hundred and twenty live square miles, let the matter be pressed, even at the next session of the legislature. The eighth and ‘last objection comes mostly from the monopolists residing at or near the court house of every large county, who endeavor to defeat any new county project by appealing to the fears of voters on the ground that the success of such project would enable the Radical party to control either the new county or the old one, or perhaps both. This music is in the air on all sides now. But it is only an affectation of alarm. Southern men have more than to eount a negro equal white man in elections, or in thing else requiring brains or hood. This sort of wild calculation was the rock on which the Radical party wrecked itself. Hence in the mouth of a Southern man, who is a man, it excites the suspicion of in sincerity, especially as the Radical party at the South is as dead as a door nail unless "Third party" or "sub-treasury" advocates shall suc ceed in dividing the whites and call ing in the negro to decide between them. Then, indeed, would u darker day dawn on the stato than she has ever yet beheld. But as long us the whites shall remain united at every legal election and shall determine ail | issues among themselves, by un sense to a any- man- honest primary election in the Dem ocratic party, the Radicals and ne groes may do their worst, hut it will all he in vain. Georgetown, Berke ley and Beaufort are probably the only existing counties where the ne groes may be able to give any serious trouble at elections, and not much there, nor in any other old or new county, no matter what the negro majority, if we shall adopt the quali fied suffrage, and one other feature of the new constitution of M.ssis- sippi, which is too complicated to be explained in detail here. But if this new Mississippi plan should not be adopted it would still be un easy mat ter to give nnv prooosed new county a separate court house, although it might be denied separate leg slativo representation. In other words, if, for instance, in establishing your proposed county of Calhoun, it should bo found that either your county, or old Orangeburg, or old Lexington, would have too big a negro majority, then both of the old counties should he merely judicially divided, but re main as at present for election pur poses, something like old Pendleton county was situated for about thirty years. No matter what its negro population or other surroundings, what valid objection can be urged to the judicial subdivision of any large county in the state if its political boundaries remain the same as now ? But I contend that every judicial subdivision should likewise be a legislative subdivision and take the chances of white supremacy, which is bound to prevail in the end, be cause in the defiant language of Senator George : "It will never come to pass in Mississippi, in Florida, in South Carolina, or in any other state in the South, in any state of the American Union, that the neck of the white race shall be under the foot of the negro, or tin* Mongolian, or of any created being." Winter is tlio time to buy warm clothing and .1. N. 1,11’LCOMB is the man to huv it from. I will sell you n suit from .$11.50 to $15.00. Overcoats and Mackintoshes from $.".50 to $15.00. SHOKS—I hbve the host stock of Shoes in town—Men’s, Wo men’s and Children’s—at prices to suit all buyers. GROCERIES.—When it comes to Groceries I am the 41 World- Beater.” I have 1000 barrels of Flour on hand and in tran sit that I bought before the rise and will sell accordingly. Don t fail to see me before you buy if you want to save money. I have 10 hags of that good old 71b Golfee on hand and a few barrels of 201b Sugar to sweeten it with. HARDWARE.—I have a complete Hue of Staple Hardware, such as Pocket and Table Cutlery, Nails, Plows, Wash Pots, Stoves, Guns, Pistols and Cartridges which 1 will sell as low as the lowest. Will give you Barbed Wire at 21e. “Boy Dixie” Turn Plows at $1.25. I am selling the best Jellico Lump Coal at $4.50 per ton, delivered. Respectfully, J. N. Lipscomb. B. S-—Ladies wanting a nice dress made will find Mrs. Parker in my house who will he glad to serve them. Hurrah for the New County I Nervous People often wonder why their nerves are so weak; why they get tired so easily; why they start at every slight but sudden sound; why they do not sleep naturally; why they have frequent headaches, indigestion and Palpitation of the Heart. The explanation is simple. It is found in that impure blood which is contin ually feeding the nerves upon refuse instead of the elements of strength and vigor. In such condition opiate and nerve compounds simply deaden and do not cure. Hood’s Sarsaparilla feeds the nerves pure, rich, red blood; gives natural sleep, perfect digestion, self- control, vigorous health, and is the true remedy for all nervous troublee. Hood’s Sarsaparilla Is the One True Mood Purifier. ?l; six for V-’>. Prepared only by C. I. Hood & Co.. Lowell, Mass. , , rk»n Ltwr Ills; easy tos rlOOCl S rMllS take, easy to operate. ’JSc. fuiS/vuiiKS i:s A. N. WOOD. BANKER, does a general Banking and Exchange business. Well secured with Burglar- Proof safe and Automatic Time Lock. Safety Deposit Boxes at moderate rent. Buys and sells Stocks and Bonds. Buy’s County and School Claims. Youi business solicited. Pure Drugs, Medicines Oils, Fine Stationery Prescriptions Carefully Compounded. , Paints, , &c. Telephone No. 21 -o- I KipansTabules. Ripans Tabules arc com- t pounded from a prescription widely used by the best medi cal authorities and are pre sented in a form that is be- the fashion every- coimng where. The Election is Over, Ripans Tabules act gently but promptly upon the liver, stomach and intestines; cure dyspepsia, habitual constipa tion, offensive breath and head ache. One tabule taken at the first symptom of indigestion, biliousness, dizziness, distress after eating, or depression of spirits, will surely and quickly remove the whole difficulty. Price, 50 cents a box. RipansTabules may be ob tained of nearest druggist; or by mail on receipt of price. Sample vial, lo cents. RIPANS CHEMICAL CO., lO Sprues Street, NEW YOHl'. Steam J^ittiny;s—» We now have on hand a complete assort ment of Steam Pipe, Ells, Tees, Bushings, Nipples, Unions, etc,, etc. Also all kinds of Fittings for Saw Mills and Cotton Gins, together with the tools for doing all work in this line, and will be glad to serve you at any time. Prices always reasonable.;...", ‘,] j J.jjG. GaIIoway7& Son. LIMESTONE •* SPRINGS * LIME * WORKS, CARROLL & CO., Lessees. Manufacturers of BUILDING, * PLASTERING * AND * AGRICULTURAL * LIME, And Dealers In Coal, Shingles, Lathes and Plater Hair. Dymamite, Blasting Powder, Fuse and Dynamite Caps. DuPRE DRUG COMPANY, Ac JLSitiiltors 'Trunxa.ct a. Oeucrnl ]ln.nkii>]£ HutuncHH. l>cp«irtniciit. Haying opt ned up it Savings Department In our Itank. Itcglimlng July 1st. IM6, wo will rceuivc deposits of $1.00 and upwards and allow interest thereon at 1 percent, per annum, payable ijuarterly when left in hunk a mouths or longer. Safety De posit Boxes for runt. Your patronage solicited. CARROLL & STACY. and we got left on our presidential candidate, but our customers continue to Eat the Very Best just the same as if Bryan had won. Our stock is replete with all the latest and nicest groceries to he found anywhere, and we will continue to sell them at Gold Standard Prices— which is the very cheapest. Thanksgiving is coming and we will have many things to give thanks for, and all will want a Thanksgiving dinner. Let us supply the goods. BYARS & SPARKS. '1 The Gaffney City Land and Improvement Company, Offer for Sale Building Lots in this Flourishing Town 1^I/'T£ Y OITY. Also Farms near by and in reach of the schools of Limestone .Springs and of this place in lots of from 30 to iUO acres on liberal time rates. Also Agricultural Lands to rent for farm purposes. For full particulara apply t* MOSES WOOD, Agent. N. B.—All trespassing on lands of this Company cutting and removing timber, fishing or hunting are forbidden under penalty of law. 1^1'OS-ill JVfOiltSrS of all kinds constantly on hand and delivered at short notice. We solicit your patronage, guaranteeing our Beef, 1’ork. Mutton and Saus age to ho equal to any. We also handle live hogs. OUirvr Ac ICemlridc* ’XL