The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-07-13
A Plea for Candidates.

! "'SA youa pSENlSSlOn, u
bring to the attention of your man,
readers, two subjects. In one of these
the candidates are particularly interest.
ed, and in the other all of US are o,
should be deeply concerned. For sev.
eral years the candidates have been sub.
jected to an annoyance, to say the least
Of it: which in our humble eopinion,
should be stopped, either by the candi-
dates themselves, or the people At large
or both combined. I allude to calling
upon the candidates to assist in all con-
ccivable enterprises, and in what is con-
sldered by any one charitable object.
Now generally, the most of those Of.
tering for the Legislature, are men pos-
sessing ut least moderate share of this
worlds goods. and it may not be heavy
upon them to contribute Of their :mcans
to an occasional call, bat for those who
are running for any of the minor Offices,
1t IS not short Of oppression. Could it
DO known positively, prior to the prima-
ry, who were to be the favored ones.
there would be some sort of proprietv
in those being approached and asked for
aid. but these petitions, these subscrip-
ton lists, are presented when all is un-
certain, and all must alike be called up-
on and expected to shell out. The
whole thing is crying evil-a nuisance
which should be abatcd. One of the
candidates. several years ago, told this
writer that he was almost afraid to 20
anywhere. for fear Of being asked to
give some of his hard earned money
which he could i'll afford to do. to build
or repair churches, school .houses &c..
IN other sections Of the county, when
there were more Of just such calls in
his own, than he could in Justice to
himself and family respond to. As .
failure to respond, might lose him a
good many votes, for ono, am in favor
Of all the candidates uniting and posi-
hEeiy refusing to. give one cent, At
least TIL after the primary. After that
those who feel able to do go,
might, if disposed, give according to
their means, and the others give accord.
ing as their future prospects warrant
them in doing.
The next subject in which wo desire
our would-be Legislators to take live.
~ interest. is in regard to the Town
ship School Trustees. It is hard mat
ter, in some of the Townships, to get
any one to serve. In this Township
two years ago, quite a number were
called upon, and urged to act before the
board was full. 1t may seem to the
but a small matter, but to
those who have tried it it assumes
much greater proportions. Several
years since, the school trustees were
exempt from road and jury duty and
the payment of q poll tax, which was
some sort Of compensation. Now all
Of these are denied, ..and the trustees
must neglect their business and thereby
IN many instances, incur considerable
loss. The Office Of school trustee ia
the only one in the county, except that
'f road supervisor, in which the paw ia
I'll honor and no profit. The school
trustee has to spend at least one d.v
more than the number Of months that
he school fund lasts in attending to
nis duties. It has been urged BY some
hat to excuse the trustees from serving
IS jurors too many good men are ex-
'mpt from that very important duty. ,
There are sixteen townships in this
county, and three trustees to each town. |
'hip aggregate forty-eight men. In a
'oting population Of several thousand.
'ood men must be alarmingly few in
'ygmber, If taking therefrom forty-eictt
would seriously impair the jury system. |
The trustees have the disbursinr of |
ixteen or seventeen thousand dollars
ave the burden upon them of properly |
distributing that sum, and .'doing the I
'reatest good to the greatest number"
+ good and true men are not needed in
uch place, ] know not whore thew
re. Even the advantages enumerated
beve, are far from being an adeouste
enumeration to the trustees for. tim.
ost and labor done. Philanthropy And
atriotism are we'll enough in their v.v
are very commendable at times, but
hese hard times it is not very encour-
sing to have to work for ,.h