Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-02-21
rnr nnoa HoUsE PRorERrY.


AZ tbe last session Of Court the Poor Di-
rsctors recommended the sale Of the present
Poor House property and the Graud jury
approved Of the Recommendation. The
matter viii be brought before the Court for
approval at March Term. If the people
have anything TO say either for or against
the sale. ii mast be done promptly Il u .
question Of importance to the taxpayers OF
the county. a new Poor House must be
built, the present one il q disgrace to the
county in its present condition. and il can
not be improved. The question therefore
arises whether the present property should
be sold and a new one purchased on
which 70 erect buildings or new house
built on the old property This is two
sided question and one which we have not
heretofors been able to determine satisiaelo-
rily to ourselves. Themere sale Of the pres
ent property and the purchase OF another
may be made the means of corruption and
partisan favor at the expense OF the county,
and if the transaction of this part q the
eountry's business is not more carefully con-
Quoted than some things not long past
there is no telling what it may cost Bnt
the erection Of buildings at an expense Of
s25, 10000 or S30,ooo00 greatly increases
all theseeyils. Butaside from this, aud taking
1t for granted that under charge Of present
officers everything viii DC done just exactly
right, the question arises, viii is be good
policy and true economy to sell the present
property and buy another several miles 10
the country. The general impression seems 1
to be that il Will2 In favor of this view the
eases Of other counties having farms are
cited as well as the pforerbial prof'q5leaess
offarms, as generally represented BY their
owners. tits also alleged that BY having
the property removed some distance from
the town and off the public highways
large amount Of expense win be avoided,
that is now incurred by keeping the way
faring paupers
This latter reason may be satisfactory
enough to those who live outside Of towns
and of the public highways. But Poor
Houses are erected f0rthe purpose ofequali-
zing the burden Of keeping the Door, while
this plan would not ouly lay a burden of
taxation, equal to that of their country
friends, on those living on public roads aud
in villages, but add TO It the additional
expense Of keeping the way faring poor,
which is now quite heavy item of
expense, because the County Poor House
would be moved away out Of the
reach of this class OF unfortunates This
might be fun for the boys but death to the
frogs. Another item Of expense that it is
alleged would be avoided is that ofa free
boarding house during Court weeks Not
being posted on this subject we refrain from
It's discussion. Again it is urged that the
mill has been a continual expense and
source Of party favoritism and special jobs
at the expense of the County. But this is
only charge Of mismanagement and no
good reason why, what every body believes
could be made paying property in the
hands of private parties should not be the
same in the hands of the public, if honestly
and iudiciously managed The arguments
Ia favor Of building on the present property
are that with proper management It can be
made quite as profitable, if not more 50,
than a farm alone,-that the expense Of
visiting Poor House several miles in the
Country, By the Grand Jury every court,
would be greatly increased and that, for the
same reason Of distance, the physician 5
salary would be greatly increased-that
there are not able bodied paupers sufficient
to cultivate the present property and that
there is therefore no need of more land.
These are few Of the arguments pro and
con as presented by various parties. We
incline to the opinion that after all it is
question Of management. A farm well
managed we believe might be made to sus-
tam the paapers without any taxation. The
present property we believe. with proper
management, can be made 0 do the same.
No property mismanlged ls our present
Poor House affairs have been for some years
past can be expected to be otherwise than
expensive. Let the people speak and act
promptly in the matter of "a change if they
intend to act at ALL But let them renem-
Der that the most important question after
all is the selection of the right kind Of men
to manage this as wen a. all other public
business