The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-07-30

dam, they should have reached such an enor-
NOUS amount. Such an amount was by no
means necessary to ensure Mrs. Rankin against
any serious loss, for she is the owner OF nearly
or quite forty acres of bottom land, lying at
the head of said pond, which, if properly
drained, and brought into state Of cultiva-
tioin, would add to the permanent value OF her
estate as much as the mills were ever worth.
Would it require an expenditure of one thou
sand dollars, then, to drain and prepare said
bottom land for cultivation Certainly not
more, perhaps less. On what principle Of
equity, then, did they reach their high figures?
Perhaps they greatly considered the losses
pecuniary, and otherwise, which the owner OF
said property sustained, in common, with other
members of that ill-fated community, during
the last few sad years of trial. If, in this diff
fcult case, the losses on the one side came prop
" under the review of the Commissioners,
Justice would seem to have required that the
losses on the other side should have been also
considered. Eut, in our judgment, the Com
missioners had nothing to do with the consid-
Grafton of these matters at all, and should have
confined themselves to the Law, and the condi-
ton of things as they found them. Such, we
trust, was the case, and such we were inclined
to believe, until, in few hours ride, the Com
missioners transported themselves to Neals
mill, where their course of action seems to
have been entirely reversed; and mill site
worth certainly as much as Mrs Rankin's, with
q merchant and saw-mill in running order, but
not in use at the time, because of break in
the dam, which could be repaired at cost of
$500, and without any previous notice to the
owners of said property, they proceeded to
order the entire removal of said dam, and
assessed as compensation the insignificant
SUM of $500. Insignificant, I mean, in COM
parison with the parallel case. Why this great
difference? Both cannot be right, and the
probability is, that both are wrong.
Before closing this article, I will give to your
readers the probable effect Of this high assess
ment upon the landowners living above Ran
kin's dam. will not speak of previous losses,
for that has nothing to do with the case, but
will confne myself to facts bearing upon the
removal of said dam, and the drainage of said
lands. The people living in said locality have
already expended about $4,000 in cutting the
main canal or ditch for the body of creek
water running the three main prongs of Three
and-Twenty Greek. Without an actual survey,
it is supposed that the amount of bottom land
thus drained will be about four hundred acres.
Then the assessment of the Commissioners for
the sum of $4,000, will swell the amount of
cost of drainage of said lands to $3.50. Then
the cutting of side bitches. and draining out
old ones, (next winters work. it is supposed
will not fall short of $4,000 more, making an
average of about twenty dollars on the acre of
bottom land, assessed as a tax on the owners OF
said lands, in order to get rid of public nai-
sance. Verify, if this is to be the principle of
relief, the old adage is made true in th case of
the Slab Town people, "Better submit to the
ills you have than fly to others you know not
Of" But the people of Slab Town alone seem
to be under the ban of the Commissioners,
for scarcely had they cleared the limits of her
territorial boundary than they Immediately
reverse their action, and assess, in parallel
case, the small sum alluded to above. We do
not murmur that the Beaverdam people have
been let off thus lightly, but think that there
should be show of consistency, at least, in
the action of the Commissioners. "Iet justice
be done though the Heavens should fall" If
there be inequality or injustice in the assess
ments alluded to, how is the matter to be rem
the Circuit Judge. Let the matter be carried
before him on the merits of each case. The
Law is a new one and novel to the County
Commissioners, hence, it is not wonderful that
they should have made mistakes-indeed, it
might have been reasonably expected. In this
way the opinion of the Judge can be obtained
as to the general provisions of the Law, and
their application in these particular cases, and
the community be generally benefited thereby.
We trust the Commissioners will, therefore,
take this course, as there seems to be good
dead of dissatisfaction in the cases mentioned
above. This course, on the part of the Com
missioners, would relieve them of a good deal
of responsibility, and show to the community
that they are willing to be corrected ifin error.
Besides, such course would obviate all further
litigation on this vexed question.
THREE EE-AND-TWENTY.
PATRONS OF HUsBANDRY.-We give below
the number of subordinate oranges in the States
of the Union on the 1st day of June, as shown