The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-08-16

dollars is large sum of money, and
if collected annually and judicious-
ly expended on the public high
ways would work a wonderful
change for the better. But the col
lection of no such sum or the half
or the quarter Of it will be necessa-
nv, as l think / can demonstrate
further on. .
This, however, is not the only
item of cost. Section 1887 of the
General Statutes provides that "Any
person who shall receive bodily in
jury or damage in his person or
property through a defect in the
repair of a highway, causeway or
bridge, may recover in an action
against the county the amount Of
damages fixed by the finding of a
jury. If such defect in any road,
bridge or causeway existed before
such injury occurred, such damages
shall not be recovered by the per-
son injured, if his load exceeded
the ordinary weight
The next section 1888 provides,
that '.If before the commencement
of an action provided for in the
foregoing section the county CON-
missioners tender to the plaintiff
the amount which he might be en-.
titled to recover, together with all
costs, and the plaintiff refuse to ac-
cept the same, and does not re-
cover upon subsequent trial sum
larger than the amount rendered,
the defendants shall recover costs
and the plaintiff be entitled to the
results of NO verdict" That is to
say, if the county will pay for the
repairs Of every vehicle broken or
injured by reason of a "defect in a
highway, causeway or bridge" or
for every personal injury or dam
age suffered from the same cause.
the party injured shall not be en-
titled to recover, otherwise he will
have that right. Suppose that pro-
vision should be put into execution,
land what is to prevent it except
the forbearance of the public) what
would be the annual cost to the
people Of this State? The fact that
the public have rarely availed
themselves of it is no proof that it
will not in the future.
1t is said corporations have no
souls, and juries appear to act up
on that principle whenever they get
an opportunity. A county is a cor
poration. 1t collects taxes for its
support from the citizens, and in
return guarantees protection to per-
son and property. The citizen is
entitled to this protection, and if
he fails to get it the State gives him
his remedy. A man commits an
assault and battery upon another;
the party assaulted has his remedy
in civil action for damages, and
besides this the State redresses the
wrong by a criminal prosecution.
One man commits devestaUI upon
the property of another by doing,
or omitting to do, something re.
quired. by law, and the party in
jured recovers damages for the
wrong. Why, should not county
be liable for an act of omission or
commission whereby one of its cit
izens suffers? The Legislature evil
IDENTIFY thought it should be, or it
would never have enacted such q
law as the foregoing.
There is still another matter Of
cost, in the form of an indirect tax,
it is true, but nevertheless a tax
and burden resulting from our
wretchedly bad roads which might
be mitigated and greatly reduced
by good roads, viz: the wear and
| tear of vehicles in common use and
the enormous expenditure of horse
power.
1t is next to impossible to ascer-
tain the vehicles of all kinds and
descriptions used on the public
highways in South Carolina, but I
have adopted the best method I can
think of to approximate the num-
ber, and have submitted this ques-
ton to a number of practical men.
What is the proportion of vehicles
to population in South Carolina?
Some have answered one to every
hundred, some one to fifty and
others one to seventy-fve. l
should have unanswered one to
every hundred, but a majori-