Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-10-13
SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER l3, 1881


a oity or town that has not suffered from
tho abuse Of trust funds. Where is tho
courthouse, or the city hall, or tho Jail, or
the postoflicc, or tho hospital that in the
building of it has not had political jot 2
Long before the new court house in New
York city wos completed it cost over Sl2,-
100000. Five million six hundred and
sixty three thousand dollars for furniture!
For plastering aud repairs, S2,370,000.
For plumbing aud ens work, Sl,23l, ,817.
For awnings, 1913 ,553. The bills for thrco
months coming to the nice little SUN OF
$l3,l5l, 1913 80. There was not an honest
brick, or stone, or lath, or nail, or foot of
plumbing, or inch of plastcrng, or ink
stand, or door knob in tho whole establish
ment. Such u set of thieves as that
discouraged all tho other cities aspiring to
great knaverics. Brooklyn sat modest and
overshodowcd; but We arc coming up at
last. During the last few days it has been
found out that our city is to take stand
J IN tho front rank of speculation. More
| than $500, 900 intended for The education
of tho children Of the city divergcd into
private pockets. About the outrage there
can be no doubt; but solemnly charge
/ you, hnlt in your condemnation of iudiyid-
uus until the high tribunal Of the city shall
have explored this whole matter. 1t is on
awful thing to fly ut innocent people, aud
then find afterwards they are innocent, and
too late to correct the wrong. There uro
times when there is conjunction of cir
cumstunces, and it seems as if the man
must be guilty. but utter all the Lord dc
livers him. If it is good rule for tho
world, it ought certainly to be a good rulo
for the church: take every man us innocent
until you have proved him guilty. Now.
declare that will not believe my of these
men guilty until the witnesses have given
their sworn testimony, and the judge has
given his charge, aud the jury have render.
ed their verdict. But there is not q mon
in pulpit who can afford to let the crime
itscll puss without arroignmcnt and anath-
ema. There orc two or three things cspc.
claliy aggravating about this outrage. Ono
is that it takes the taxes Of the people. In
tho struggle of life there arc exhausted
men aud there arc invalid women to whom
the tax bill is a torture. All tho year long
they have to make close calculation for
that crisis, but it is ply or be sold out, pay
or you lose your bone, pay or you sacrifice
all you have gained. 1t seems very easy
thing while you are standing 10 tho colcc-
tors oth:e to sec tho taxes pass through the
business window and see the receipts re-
turned; but God only knows what anxiety,
what tug, what toll, what sweat, what
pang may have made that payment possible.
There Is blood money in those 100000 Of
puroncd funds But another aggrayalion
is 10 the fact that the teachers of our pub
lie schools have been pushed and crowded
in their livelihood by this fraud. Eaough
moneys have been voted for caucational
purposes, but instead of going to the sup-
port of the men and women who are put
ting brain az nerve and life in the cduca.
tlon of young, much of tho money has
gone into the hands of scoundrely
Teachers salaries lowered and lowered aud
lowered to the point of starvation simply
because tho public treasury was in the
hands Of pundercrs. 1t will never be
known in the world what suffcrings there
have been in some households bccpuse of
tho necessitatcd ccoho,ny in the fixing of
teachers salaries. There is many young
woman in this city by teaching supporting
Invalid parents on poor stipend, and when
that stipend is cut short it simply means
domestic tragedy. If one half, if one
fourth Of the moneys have been swindIod or
stolen had gono for the support of tho
teachers, there would have been better
work done in the schoulroo,D, there would
have been less suffering in many houcs.
and there would be less injustice to au-
wcr for when uud brings US into the rcok~
oning.
Now, this great outrage leads INC to two or
three remarks One is, thcro must be
awfully wrong in management
where hundreds Of thousands can be stolon,
and the process go OH year by year, and
the discovery of it come SO late. There
must be group somewhere interested in
this. There must be a considerable num-
Der of hands. While I hopo the officers of
the law will arrest tho guilty, want to
say here, there ought to be better style OF
business introduced into many public
places, aud there ought to be less opportu-
nifty for enlbezzlemcnt. Lest man shall
take fivo cent piece that does not be-
long to him, the conductor on the city
horse Car must sound his boil ut cvery
pavement, aud We are very cautious about
small ofenscs, but give plenty of opportu,
nifty for sinners on a large sonIo to escape.
For boy who steals loaf bread to keep
his mother from starving to death, II prison;
but for defrauders who ubsooud with half
a million Of dollars, u castle OH the Rhine,
Or waiting until tho oifonse is forgotten,
then castle on the Hudson! Another
needs to bo made, and that, that
people ought not to go into places, ipto
busncss, or into positions where the temp