The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-01-02

W oS SOA4SSt, uS uIF4uS So21SSeO>t AO'
his salary and travelling expenses only
so much as allowed by law.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
We are deeply impressed with the
idea that the County has not always
been represented by County Com
sioness, vho. when it came to thei
own salaries had the best interests o
the county at heart, and the mos
economical methods of transactins
business. It seems to US that the
getting of all the mileage possible
was the paramount idea Construc
tive mileage and double mileage were
charged when possible. We have ex'
amined the accounts back fer ter
years, and it is the same throughout
The account OF the board of 1883
ana lSS45 appearing so UNUSUAL,
lscge we summoned each member o4
that board before U.s. This board
charged constructive" mileage. Thai
is, for example, when they went TO s
place for inspection or other purpose
they would imagine they had return
ed home and come again, charging
for the imaginary travel. They would
then proceed on their way to anothe,
point, do what they came for, imag.
Inc again they had returned home
and come again, charging again fol
the imaginary travel. Then they
would make another inspection, and
charge this time for the real travel Of
coming and returning. The law says
plainly that but FIVE cents mile for
each mile actually travelled shall be
charged. BY this constructive mile
age board would sometimes charge
FIVE or ten dollars more on single
trip than they were entitled to. The
board for these two years above nam.
ed consisted Of Messrs. J. H. Nc
Knight, E. G. DuBose, and R. NJ,
Harvin. This board, consisting of all
of it's members, went over to Salem
in March, 1884, to receive" a bridge.
AS NJ. -DuBose's account was the
smallest of the three, we take his ex-
actly as it appeared on their account
book:
1884
Mar II. / dayon board and mileage S $50
IS. Inspection Black River
bridge and mileage 1.20
Is. Inspection Johnson's cross
ing and mileage 500
i" 49, Inspection roads, &C. 500
Sl4.0O
Read testimony of E. G. DuBose
IS to number of days served.
The following is a part Of Mr.. Du-
Bose's testimony before us, which
will serve to demonstrate construc-
tive mileage:
'On March 18th, 1884, I met the
"Board, and that night returned home,
ssa distance of sixteen miles. On
ssAarch 18th, the next day, I went to
s.Black River Bridges, near j. b. Nc
'Faddin's, which I inspected; then I
inspected public roads up to Eli Nc
"Faddin's six miles from J. Fl. Nc
'Faddin's; from there I inspected the
stroads to Mrs. Wheeler's distance
'sof four miles; from Mrs. Wheeler's
s.I went to Johnson's Crossing and in
*spected those bridges distance of
ssten miles; then I inspected one
ssbridge and the roads from Johnson's
Crossing to ". J. Gibbons's, a dis
'stance of eight miles; from W. j.
ssGibbons's I returned home, which
sswas the Doth day of March, q distance
ssof thirty-three miles. The distance
'sfrom my house to Black River is
sstwenty-four miles Including the
"day I vas on the board, the 18th, I
"wss engaged four days on this trip,
'sand travelled a total distance of nine
tsty-one miles. did not charge far
.sthe actual distance travelled, but for
s4he distance from my residence to
ssthe place I had to 80, at ten cents a
emile. I made one charge from home
'sto Black River Crossing, and anoth-
Ger from home on the same trip] to
s;Johnson's Crossing, though I did not
actually return from the Black River
Bridge inspection.
"On one occasion I signed checks
Gin blank But did ;s only once, and
refused thereafter TO sign any in
'blank- I refused in every way to
shave any thing to do with the build
ssing OF the present rotten county Jail.
g [Signedl E. G. DUBosE-'
In substance, with referencet to the
charging Of mileage, the testimony of
Messrs. Mcknight and Harviu, the
other two members, is what Dir. Du-
8ose's is.
As each member of the Board this
year used up his seventy days allow
ed by law, Of course no more days
could be granted them. Therefore on
this famous 9th March Black River
Bridge Trip" Mr.. DuBose charged
more mileage by $s45 than he should
have. Messrs. Mcknight and Har-
win charged for this trip. even more
than Mr.. DuBose. Nor is this an is
olated case. Numerous others SINH
Lar in nature can be found.