Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1869-09-24
ron THE KEowss COURIER.
aaAir Line Railroaa,dd,, a, u'T

~ it'4y Air Line Railroad,
IN view of the interest taken by the people
Of Ooonee, Piekens, Greesyi!!e aaa Spartan
burg Counties, for tho speedy construction Of
the Air Line Railroad, and the desire to 50.
cure the full benefit from its location through
their commercial centres, I will answer few
questions that are being asked. The, follow.
lug IRE. the questions: sJ
What will be the liability Of tax, and what
will be the increase Of tax on the present as.
sessment.
TO answer these questions will take that
Of Ocopec, the, other Counties can apply the
fgurirg: II, Il. a2s .lnclgI
The County Of Ooonee subsoribes to the
capital stock Of the Air Line Railroad in the
sum Of 100000. In doing this they issue
the bonds Of the County for the s200, 900 pay.
able in twenty years. Tho interest on this
will bc $4,000 per year. The County. is
then made responsible for the. principal and
interest, and holds in lieu thereof the Same
amount in the capital stock of tho road, with
the dividends from the profits of the road to
the payment of interest. . a
Should the,road be one Of profit; paying
II per cent yearly on, its capital stock, tho
County would be the owner Of the stock with
the bonds paid of within the twenty years.
thus acquiring $500, 1000 stock in the road by
simply loaning the credit ofthe County. y
There can be no doubt but what the stock
will be source Of profit to the stock. holders,
from the fact that it will be constructed and
equipped with the economy that oharacterizes
the construction of the railroads ia the State
Of Georgia. They only give dollar promise
to pay where theygeta dollar of material fur.
nished, or work dono. The County being in.
terested as stock holder, this would be guard.
cd, the same along the entire line. The
Counties all having the same in forest, tn
material and work would be furnished at the
lowest rate, and with such promptness that
the entire line would soon Je constructcd, thus
avoiding the heavy drain on tho capital stock
to pay interest oja Si.GCproduo.iye expenditures,
With this view there would be no increase Of
tax. .t ai t !.
|, But suppose the interest and bonds were
al! to be paid without any revenue from the
road, and we have total assessment of taxable
property Of the County, $4,000, 600 inseses.
on 5000, 900 At per cent, $4,000, which
would be 40 cents tax on the @l00 Of valuation
in the County. TO retire the entire debt
would add about 18 cents more to the 800,
as the road would add S1,000,0 900 taxable
property to the County Of itself. This would
take of one quarter from the estimate, which
would leave it 48a cents tax on tho 800 on
the present valuation to pay interest and re-
tire the bonds. While the tax on the value
of the road would reduce the tax On the tax.
payers Of the County one quarter on the pres
ent assessment, as the road would pay one
quarter Of all the,tax Of the County. Hence
we may safely say that the percentage would
not exceed 80, cents on the 8l00 to purchase
and pay for 100000 worth Of stock at the
present subscription. .,d W - 81.
In this estimate there Is no account taken
Of the increase Of the value Of property nor Of
the additional capital shown to tho County, nor
of the ready market for everything that could
be raised with the increase of price that could
be obtained. There would be another largo
deduction Of per centage based upon this.
The reasoning is plain. A first GLASS Rail-
road running through the center our Coun.
~, plaeipgps as near to 4he greSt cities Of the
North as Columbia or Charleston would be.
witha direct route to the growing cities Of
the Sonth, would certainly give to us a large
in the taxable property Of the County, prov
ded we secure the road within two miles Of
tho County Court Hoaae, and running thfougl,
tho center Of our County, sustaining and
building up our mmercialoontes, and bsihg'
log every poinsof the County withinrSasona.
ble aistapeeof the road. in7ia4io1n oe'
The Large qtracssinos held BY paroles, un
| inpsooysa, wonld he divided in small farra,s
and made foyisld to the wealth of ths County
'5'Ws gsy safely conclude thassibe tax n
] snSD would mot ;exoeea 20 cents on the 600.
lpking the. xstside Of, the agaringy where,