The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-12-15
ACUTE SENSITIVBNBSS.'
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRATIC
WASTE AND RADICAL EXTRAvAGANCE.

The State and County Officers Discuss
ed.--An Instance of the HnsperiouS-
ness of the School System NeHtia-
tcd...A Column which is Full Of
the Most Vigorous English and the
Most Entertaining Reading, with
Plenty of Rich Food for the Re-
Elective and Discriminating Mind.
l5ditor Press and Banner:
throughout the entire State there seems 10
be an euidemic. strange Infection, "a plague
that walketh in darkness; for there appears
to he no limit TO its far-srreading, yet SubtIe
influence. This wirrd affection attacks the
high and the low, the famous ana thoSe OF
no importance whatever. to speak OF. Its
queer freaks bring to mind the ConrulSioh-
aries of France and the Dancing Mania OF the
Seventeenth Century in Germany, When me
the whole populations of towns would ne
seized with this ludicrOnS mania. ana con-
unuc dancing in wild dclirium, till they ieil
in extreme exhaustion, and groancd as IN me
agnnieS of death; some actually oasDeu out
their brains against walls, The mania spread
over many towns. The country I. c. Ger
many was generally in a miserable eonnl-
,tion. High taxes. corruption Of morals, lnSt-
curl V of property, low StateSplanShlp, are
given as the CAUSES of the wretchcd people
thus seeking reliet in The intoNication OF nrt-
tcial dairum. The SrcviouS malady that Is
now afflict,ng our State has however touched
with lis pal>ying, yet electric current only
one class of our people, and that class Is our
Otfice-hOlaerS.
The endemic first showed its appearance
in the Office of the Commissioner of Agrlcu!-
tpre. He and his clerk had it badly eSpcclal-
" while one DIR. Moses TiIman was presrrih-
20 ling for them. Then il spread to the nominees
for the State officers. The same physician
IMllman} gave them some S"oi medicine
but they, like tite commissioner OF AEricn'-
ture, only developed more symptoms Oi tic
complaint. At The present writing the couh-
1y officers and the public school teachers have
developed this mania in a surprising degree.
We'll now, anybody with one eye olen can
guess what This dreadful epidemic is. IL Is
simply ScnsitivcncSs, acute and abiding SEN
sitivrnesS to anything approaching dlcuSs; on
or investigation. They seem to forget That Il
public office is public trust; they lose their
iemperS and call the investigators ugly
names and dispute facts and try TO prove ny
figures that there is some mighty difference
between tweedcdam AMI tweedletlcr, ana
that any way you fix It, there's long ways
more proprirty in Democrats wasting than
in Radicals stealing.
Mhea the people are fairly groaning un-
der the burdens Of taxation when 1t has been
proved beyond Il doubt that our state AMI
County taxes and expenditures actually ana
1"uly exceed those of the Radical plunde'erS.
it is, to say the least. startling 70 read para
graph like The following: 1--WE believe that
our State officers should be men of undonbtrd
Culture and refinement, and we also believe
that they should he paid such salary as
would put them above and beyond tempta-
tion."
!
men of undoubcd honesty and ability. and
know that they should be paid II living saia-
ry; but this talk about "cnlShur' is out or
date Canada is full of American citizens OF
nndo;,bted "cullure and refinement" aid ;;l-
though their salaries in most INSTANCES were
higher than those of our State officials, ii
seems that this did not placce then above nrS
sion is brpfal Of dark significance, cnmlns
as it does from paper owned and ehiisd by
q State oil :ia "Above temptation Shone.
(E.,tl, II lt..l ASE o.
lon lest the daughters @i the PniilStlncS re-
joice over u.s. All! the shades OF Sheol arc
dense with tue spirits OF men OF "undorhttd
culture and refinement" whom. if barriers
as high as the eternal SHOWS of The liilna-
laya's highest peak had interposed would
yet have yielded ia temptation.
When read such sentiment coming from
such source wonder if there is the fainteSt
Scmb ance OF pure patriotism within our bnr-
GerS The almighty dollar seems to he thH
most potent influence In political life; AseN.
d ,Sure after exposure succeeds development
alter development, feel as If | could cXcl'in
with the tTage liam "0h Heavens, my bleed
ing country yet remains! w cell, ,ro ,r ord
give further light on the county oilc"S III
detail; particularly rrgar ding the fee system.
To cleanse these AI2can stables Will DOUBT
less be IN Herculcan task; but task mat
when accomplished will win you the thanks
tI thousands.
re give an instance of the fee system. CBut
previous to saying more, l had better go
SlTrc Notary Public and take oath
That I do not mean anything pcrSonaD.
On Sale Day in N0vCmlGefa citizen bought
smtll tract OF land for five hundred dollars.
aud the papers drawn up by an officer OF lie
Ctcurt and County cost the buyer eight. dol
iars and a half Query: # the purchase,
heen S42 80? If so, is not this an cNorbitant
fee? if IL is not So does this make the oihGr
fee Is 5D any less pioportiooat,ly?
Another instance: An isdividual WAS COM
peeled, by the cruel eXigency of circumstance.
e. cotton f,ctor) 10 release a dower--the OH
Ger who witnessed for the Signer charged zee
Of $50 for simply writing his name In his
office. lie did dot see the siSner. That per.
sOu WAS miles away.
L"gniiZed eNtOriion, wasn't 1t"
have often heard an old gentleman, VINO
held a county office before the war. say that
he never char gcd hut half fees in settling up
estates, "For,' said hc, the fees were 50 tib-
erul that always felt fully compensated III
charging bu, half of the fec allowed by law.
\ lady who was eXecutriN of IN estate
amounting To scventy-tive thousand dollars
also told me that this officer would never
Ihargc his full fee.
IL j. said that official fees have bern stenGily
increased siucr antc-bcllum days, till n"w II
casts one hundred dollars to close forty dol
lar mortgages.
Yes, there is patriotism, pure and plentiful
Sn South Carolina. If this were not the case
would our government stand firm ass rock to.
tlay. IT was Just such taxes and fees, and fees
and taxes h,.apcu high on Il long suffering p"n-
pie that eliminated in The French R"yniuil"n
which was, as that grand moraiiSt Thnn!ns
CARLYLE, termed ii, "a truth clad in hell lire
That there is patriotism IN south Carolina
SIS purc as that which animated the bosunS of
our Revolutionary SircS, is cvincci by the incl
tnat our people have been unShrinking, true,
and untlinch ngly faithful to the Democratic
Marty even though that party has given them
for bread Il stone: has in len years, III one
branch of the county government. As III were,
spent fifteen thousand four hundred and ScT-
cnty dollars more than our Radical p!under-
ers in the same length of time. Oh. tell IT not
in Muiuc publish it not in Boston, lest the
daughters Of ''culshur' laugh at us ana re-
joice over u.s. , .
As Isaid above: this strange nlalady thatln
its festive ecccntricitieS and electric vn%ari'S
resembles so amu$ingly the ConrulSionaricS
of France, (whom by ;hc way Eoltlire hcIp'd
~ Kill by his terrific satire and the Dancing
Mania in Germany which spread over the
length ami brc;t'iLh of the Kingdom. had at
tackled our county officers and publ ic school
teachers; will proceed 10 give the latter my
attention, by first solcmniy laying my hand
over Iny heart and affirming by all the gods
of Greece and Rome that do not mean any
tliug personal. This disclaimer ought to
please those that "teach the young idea how
to shoot very much. it is very classical
you know.
his notice that the schools should open III No
.en1cr which notice was according To law,
which had, very properly, fallen INT" innncu-
ous desuctudr said law being revived solely
because the Sceptrc was about to depart rom
Israel or under the principle tina! "bcsSin3s
Uhat is. power in oflicc,) brighten as they take
their flight" The patrons OF me puhlc
school in our nci.hhorhoUd conferred one
with another, and it was very generally ana
emphatically declared that 1t was mad dviSatlc
Il open the school n November. being i'll
1errsied lin the capacity of elder brother!
drew up protest TO our nearest trustee anu
obtained the signatures of Il majority of the
patrons to the paper The protest al'uden "a
WAS non-partiSan, gcntielnanly and generous,