Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-06-02

over vast acres, it was of course impracticable
to organize and support county or district
organizations Thus we see that the entire
State was, in 1884, divided into only seven
ELECTION Districts" answering to our present
counties. With the influx of population
and increase of wealth, the northern portion of
the State very soon felt the necessity of small.
er and better defined subdivisions, and in the
year 1855, the seven districts were subdivided
into "a counties, one more than the present
number in the State. This division was subse-
quently found, we suppose, to have been in
excess of the actual demand, and by 1S48 the
number of districts had been again reduced
to "a in all. From This date (184S) we will
take our data for such argument as we beg
to submit for the present necessity for fur
ther subdivision of the present counties. We
will assume first that county is merely
subdivision of the State, for the convenience
of people, for the transaction of legal busi-
ness, the assessment and collection of taxes,
the conduct of elections and basis and limit
of representation.
These points conceded, the question of the
size of such subdivisions is one to be decided
almost solely by the ability of any given
area to support such organization, without
material distress in the way of taxation, or a
necessity to exceed the constitutional or stat
utory limits of taxation for that purpose, as
it will at once be seen that the convenience of
the population is increased directly in proper
tion to the reduction Of the area of such SUBJ
divisions. Given population and wealth
sufficient to sustain county organization
within an area of one hundred square miles,
no one will deny that such county would,
for all purposes, be vastly more convenient,
compact, easily managed, andin every respect
greatly superior to an organization of the
same resources covering an area of one thou
sand square miles. We do not think this po'
sition can be successfully attacked.
We apprehend that the opposition to this
move will use the following arguments First,
the increased expense for the public buildings.
&c. the necessary increase of the number of
auditors and treasurers, of judges and solici.
tors, and generally that the demand does not
exist that the present counties have nearly
all been long established, have served the
people and the State and should not be dis
turbed. In answer to the question of the ad.
ditional expense, We suggest that the old
counties will retain their county buildings
and will not be called on to help pay for those
in the new that the increase in the value of
all property, real and personal, and the in
creased facilities, for the assessment and col
lection of taxes will more than counter.bal-
ance the additional expense for auditors and
treasurers and that the better, more certain
and speedy punishment and repression Of
crime will fully orfpensate for any increase
in the expense of the judiciary, while in an.
swer to the last, we suggest that those who use
such arguments have evidently not kept
abreast with the tide Of progress, the enor-
nous increase of the material resources of the
State, even within the memory of each mem.
ber of this committee. Just in this connection
allow us to submit the following statistics,
taken from the reports of the Comptroller
General Of the State for the years l848 and
1880 respectively. We have taken the three
counties Of Chester, York and Lancaster as
fair sample of the whole list, and more es.
pecially because they have not, since 1885,
been changed from the original outlines. We
have also confined the comparison to land
alone, because land is FIXTURE and because
personal property is not so easily kept track
of and has materially changed its relations
and status in this interval. From the reports
for the years 1S4S and 1880 we take as
follows:
No. acres, 36l ,464. No: acres. s42'4So.
Value S2l5,O99. Value 81, ,4S9.77O.
YORK COUNTY.
184s. 1880.
Nars Ne assss sesl$ slS N1 Taine Sssss 51sais. 5
LANCASTER COUNTY.
1s4s. 1880.
No. acres, 26l,s6e. No: acres, ,s2 so2ssS. ssS
It will be seen that the increase in the VAL
uation of lands alone, since l84S, in these
counties, is from 800 to more than 1000 per
cent. It is not necessary to comment upon
such facts they speak for themselves, and
will address themselves with tremendous
force to any one not irremediably married to
the dead past, or iuexorably opposed to the
living, progressive present.
We believe that you will all agree that the
present Limitations are not like the laws of
the Medes and Persians. They may, they
must they will some day be changed. The
present county organizations cannot be main
tanned forever, and the present stupid constl.
tutional limitations should not be allowed
longer to stand in the way of natural and ne.
cessary changes which from time to time will
suggest and force themselves upon the people
of various sections in the State. You will ob.
serve that any action of the Legislature, upon
your recommendation either to reduce or
abolish these limitations, will be permissive,
and not mandatory. You will allow, not
compel, the subdivision Of existing counties;
and the necessity of the people, in connection
with their ability to bear the necessary ex'
pense of such new organizations, will regulate
the extent to which they will avail them
selves of such permission. ~
Finally we submit That the reduction
of the present size of the counties in this
State will vastly enhance the value of real
estate and of all taxable property in the
State; that it will greatly facilitate the as
sessment and collection of taxes that it will
not, cannot, increase the ratio of taxation,
but will by the future increase Of the taxable
property, greatly decrease that ratio; that
the establishment of the necessary new coun-
ty sites will increase the white population of
the State, that the political and social and in
tellectua influence Of these new centres of in.
teligence, of schools, churches and society
will be a most potent factor in the great
problem, political and social, we are now en-
deavoring to solve that it will conduce to
the extension and perfection of our system of
internal improvement; will increase the de-
mand for and the carrying trade of trans
portation companies, with increased advan-
l. IL e