The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1886-01-08
PEARL COUNTY.
Its Resurrection Resisted.


AS the Legislature OF this STATE
will soon convene wien a strong
effort will be made to re-eStablisl
Pearl county, it behoOves the PEG
pie Of this county as we'll as Mali
on to lock after the interests OF the
masses. Not "a few designing per
sons are saying, as does one old
gentleman when he sOlicits signerS
to their petitions: ave want the
court house, aud we want TO build
up our little town." Let us see il
the building up OF sour little town.
by cutting off IA poor neck of the
woods and calling it a county will
not bring burdens grievous TO be
borne by the masses.
In 1872 Pearl county was estab-
lished by a Republican Legislature,
which made Hancock county Who'll.
ly Republican, and it vas SO ar.
ranged that Pearl was represented
by her. Pearl lay in this awful
chasm until 1878, when she was re-
lieved OF her deplOrable condition
by a Democratic Legislature. VIZ
hope, therefore, that the coming
Legislature will, IN ITS wisdom, 70
frain from plugging US back into
that condition which proved q
curse, not only to Pearl, but to Ma.
lion and Hancock also, for they
paid the debt of the poor, defnmct
Pearl. A resurrection of the body
of the poor thing would not only
bring %grievous burdens in the shape
of taxes in her borders, but it
would increase taxes in the mother
counties, Marion and Hancock.
The taxes, as now paid in the ter
ritory of the defunct Pearl, would
be equivalent to that much indebt.
edneSs to the mother counties, be-
sides making probably two Repnb
lican counties where there is not
one at present.
There are two factions working
together, at present, to re.estab-
lish another county ; one is Il Dem
Ocratic element who want 10 build
mp our little town at the expense of
the masses for the benefit of u few,
who, it IL reas0na 40 suppose,
would oppose any sSch county were
it not that our little town istO have
the courthouse. The other is the
Republican element which is ever
ready, like 10 hungry vulture, to
stick It's corrupt aud perniciOuS
beak Into the Democratic ranks,
aud is now DESTROYS of throwing
Hancock county back into the old
channel of corruption, aud virtual
~ making her public officers legal
robbers. The rate OF taxation in
Hancock county at present is 123
mills OH the dollar, including State
taxes. Our assessment now is
about u million dollars. 1t is an
easy matter to see that were it two
million instead, the rate would only
be halt what it is, or five mills
county, school and special, but if
our assessment was only half a
million it is as easy to see that the
rate would be 30 mills on the dol
lar, county, school aud special, to
gather tue same amount of money,
which is about as little as any coun-
ty government can be run with
twelve months without gong in
debt. son. says one, "we are so
far from the courthouse we can't
get justicc-we must go forty or
fifty miles to court" Let us ven
tu:e to Say that Il never gets
much further from justice than
when in a county where there is
not sufficient taxable property from
which to gather taxes to pay conn
ty expenditures accruing from the
administration or execution of the
OF justice without making the
same burdensOme TO the masses.
1t is not the laws alone, o the
lumber of co%urthOuses that pre-
vents crime, but it is the execution
Of the laws. This done in the
would be Pearl would prove a nec-
essary burden, unnecessarily
brought on the people. Crime is
1ften perpetrated in the courthouse
yard. HANCOCK w, N. o.,