The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-05-02

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z5 1888 $50 q
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In 1879 Georgia's assess
ment was In round num-
bers S235, 900, 600
In 1851. OiI,UUJ,UUU
Gain in wealth in nine
years NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 5000, 600
South Carolina on the contrary has
gained nothing, but lost. But judging
BY the way money is paid in salaries,
etc., We are by long odds the richest and
most prosperous Of the three States.
Does anybody claim that We have more
efficient or abler officials than Georgia
and North Carolina? It is urged that a
reduction Of psy would bring in set Of
sscheap" men who would inefficient.
But, Judging by the scramble over g
vacant Judgship or Solicitors place, we
think our taxpayers can safely rely on
getting just as good as they now do for
the same money paid by North Carolina
or Georgia.
Without going into figures, We take it
for granted that our Lunstc Asylum and
Penitentia,y are managed in just as ex-
travagant manner as the other depart
ments-the one proving great burden
to the taxpayers and the other yielding
no income, though it might be made to
pay at least $40, 900 year to defray the
expenses of the government.
We have shown that S45,000 can be
saved if the same basis of expenditure as
in North Carolina be adopted:
Eow TO MAINTAIN TEE COLLEGE.
The privilege tax on fertilizers
amounts to over $4,000 yearly. The
work done by it can and ought to be
done by the agricultural college. Here,
then, is SIS, 900 to build and equip the
college, without either touching Mr..
Ciemson's money or resorting to new
taxation. if, then, we leave the Uni
versity the Ss4, 500 now appropriated, snd
the tuition fees, and relieve it OF the ex-
pense of attempting to educate farmers
and mechanics in an uncongenial atmos-
phere, it can accomplish its needed work
in more efficient manner and be the
better for getting rid of these bones Of
contention; while after the Clemson
College is built, it would have the follow
ing income without looking to the tax
payers at all, it and the experimental
stations:
Landscrip Fund. .............,..S 800
Hasch Eund- lo,OOU
Privilege Tsx-ssy. sy............. $4,000
IOLal. SoV, ioV
With this sum We can keep up an ex-
ceuent agricultural school at Fort Hill,
worthy of South Carolina, worthy of
Calhoun, and last, but not least, worthy
of Mr.. Clemson. But there are also
other reforms and economies impera'
lively demanded before We can lift the
burden of taxation to any marked
degree. We have too much and too
hasty legislation, and We believe it would
be economy and wisdom to have our
Legislature meet biennially instead OF
annually, as at present, and to change
the date of its session. That the bur
dens of taxation are not equally borne Is
too evident, and those taxpayers who
are honest in their returns are grievous-
" imposed on. Governor Hagood long
since pointed out that our county gov
ernments are both inefficient and ex.
travagant, nearly as much being spent
on them now as In Radical days. We
are handicapped and cut off from any
improvement along that line by oul
Radical Constitution, while our very e1.
istence as free people is jeopardized by
the ignorant horde of voters watching
and praying for split in our ranks. We
earnestly urge the importance aid neces
sity of q constitutional convention tc
secure needed economy in county affairs
the abolition of useless offices, and tx
throw stronger safeguards around the
citadel of white supremacy before the
seeds Of discord shall sprout and grow
To accomplish all this our people mus:
arouse themselves from their lethargy
and take more intelligent and active
interest in political affairs. And here VIZ
would warn them to see to it that Sc
of greedy politicians and ofice-seeker
shall not again, as in past years, nonal
nate State ticket out-of-hand, wlthou
having canvass, or even an expression
of sentiment, on these and other i'm
portant issues. Public discussion is no
only the best means of educating tn
masses, but is also the chief safeguard O.
our liberties and the only guarantee 0
our rights. In behalf, then, of the
farmers, whom We represent, and as on
OF the best means of bringing
about these reforms, We insist OF
canvass by those whose ambition
it is to control the State governmen
during the next two years, before the,
are nominated, SO We can know just ho1
they stand. Recognizing the ability o
the presents incumbents, and IN no Wis
intending to cast any reflections upo'
them, we yet feel that if they seek re
nomination, they could spend some 0
their leisure during the summer mos
, proftably in discussing before their con
stituents these and any other question
\ .s ,,,blio ;n&aroe& Thns fhev csn sho,