Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1879-02-13

the increase every year But for the relief
granted by the Legislature Wc would have
had to pay all assessment Of $4,000, spc.
cial mandamus taxes this coming wear.
Our next assessment would have been much
larger, and if we had gone OH we would, iii
u few years, had to pay seven per cent. of
all our taxable values in taxation. No
people could stand this. No legitimate
business eau pay 6 per ccut. taxes aud hold
up under it. Besides, our delinquent tax
list is very large and was constantly ncrcas
ing Year after year we have seen the
accumulation of hundred OF thousands of
uncollectcd taxes, aud the prompt tax. payer.
trom year to year, WAS reassessed aud had
to pay donble, because his ncighbor failed
to pay: and VIC had one case in which there
had already been four lcvics of mandamua
writs trom the United States Courts, and
only few days since fifth writ was or
ordered, making five, to collect one debt
and then, in tho face Of tho fact that tho
uncollected lcves now amount to S4l6,OOO
and the debt only S125,00O Yet SO i'm
perfect is our system for the collection of
taxes that the prompt taxpayer had again
to pay for the delinquent. And again tho
merchants stock could be levied on and
sold, and he had to pay or eavc town, and
SO VIC were crippled and hampercd on all
sides
Strange as il might seem, our home orcd
| itors have been more rapacious and rclent
less than any other. These home. made
harplcs and cormorants had pounced upon
the city daily, and had been dc1ourng us.
What cared they if the property Of our city
was destroyed, if commerce was driven to
other and more favorable localities, if our
| manufactures, our warehouses and our
muchiuc shops were forced to close and
thousands of men aud women driven to
starvation's door?
Besides all this, ond ia addition to all
this, we have been afflicted and scourged as
fow people in this world huvo over been.
Within period Of five years our city has
twice been visited by the most terrible and
fatal plague ever known iu the world.
| Thousands of citizens have been forced 10
| tice from their homes and seek safety in all
portions OF the country, leaving our be-
loved city one immense charnel house, its
commerce dead, the sound of the anvil and
tho busy hum OF business hushed, silence
relgning IN our streets, unbrokcn save by
the rumblc Of the death-cart. the wall of
the mourners for the dead, or the cry of
orphaned children. The death roll of our
citizens from the plaguc Of 1878 numbered
over five thousand, thus reducing our popu.
ation one tenth. Aud yet, this is not all.
| In addition to the immense loss to the bus.
mess interests of our city, over S3, 900 600
| were lost to US ty those who fled from tho
| fever, in actual expenses for travelling and
board. We had to appeal to the Christian
charity OF the world to help US bur. our
dead, aud the one thing that relieves the
awful desolation was the constant stream of
| substantial sympathy that poured in upon
us from our Northern brethren, from Can
ada, from the South, tho Fast, the West,
and from the old world
We want to bury cur own dead We
| want to clean up our streets. Wo want to
build our sewers and pave our streets. So
far as human sympathy and assistance could
afford relief, We experienced it in tho mu--
niiiccncc ben factions that poured in upon
US, but our generous friends abroad, after
the horrors Of the pcstlcncc had subsidized,
took occasion, as we'll they might, to ad--
monish US of our duty to protect ourselves
| against recurrence Of the awful scourge
bg proper sanitary measures, foremost
amongst which is our expensive system Of
sewerage. We represented the urgent pc
cesities OF our situation to our creditors and
lmplore,. them to suspend the cnactons of
their demands for little while and afford
US on opportunity TO devote our shattered
resources to tho protection and preservation
of our city and tho lives of our people, but
they seemed insensible to pity and turned
deaf car to our eptrcaties Had we enjoyed
the rights and privileges of an individual
or private corporation, even, we could,
under tho humane and just provisions of
the law, have gone into bankruptcy or made
an assignment of our assets and obtained
relief in this way. But, beng public or
municipal corporation, we would do neither
nad could only look for assistance to tho
legislative department. Of tho government,
TO which pertains tho power to create and
to destroy these political subdivisions Of tho
State. In our despair, then, we turnod to
the Legislature and invoked its nterposi.
tion to rescue from impending ruin the
commercial metropolis of the State.
Memphis Appeal.
Myers u Snccd yesterday filed bill in
the chauccry court of this county and in tho
United States District Court PRAYING tho
appointment of a receiver for the city of
Memphis. This step is taken at the in
stance of many resident and non resident
creditors Of the city, aud is based upon an
oct of the fortified general assembly, entitled
San act to enable municipal corporations to
settle their Indebtedness" which was ap.
proved March %, 1877.