The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-04-13
S 100000
letter Of Hon. +. Is. Gary,

had hoped that would be relieved or the
unpleasant duty of taking part IN a newSpa-
per controversy. for To me, nothing Is more
distaSlcfu'. But proper regard for myself
demands. that certain In$inuaions recently
published shall not go uncnalienged. Mr. w
| Z. MCGOWAN, Of Ahbcvilie, In replying TO Mr.
Graham's letter concerning the tax levy for
| the year lS!U-'9l, rcitrrats his charges that
"knOwing the levy was too low il waS an un-
"pardunaDip act OF deceit (on the part Of the
"Abbevlle delegation) To make that appear
las true which was not true Now, this Is a
pretty bold conclusion 10 arrive ut.
Mr.. MCGOWAN in his ZeaI To discover some
| thing crooked with this delegation (for what
purpose leave IL 10 the pubic to say0 seems
| to have but casually inspected those records
which he tnrokcS 10 prove his assertions. A
closer nnd liner inspection will inform Mr..
McGowan of his errors, and establish the
good TtltiI at the delegation.
The iIrnized estimate OF current expenses
| for the fiscal year l&lU-9l, which was furnish
| ed the delegation as a basis OF The levy, asked
Tor levy 10 false IN round numbers $24 0OU. OO
To meet which the delegation then
thought and still think that a levy
of three mills S21 709 o.
with fines and orfeilnrcs............... l,5OOOO
Supplemented By u surplus which
| from official Information, would be logo 90
Total: .ss24, 10000
| would be amply sufficient.
But Mr.. McGowan In his zeal to find some
thing wrong with this delegation has over
! looked another material point. Out OF his
mouth propose TO convict him. He SAYS, 'it
might happen that because of unforeseen
Hoods and the consequent washing away of
"the bridges, that the levy as recommended
I"by The County Commissioners proved too
low. I'm this event no one could or would
blaine The County Commissioners or the de-
legation. But such Is not the case here"
Let us see II this Is the case here. If Mr.
McGowan will look q little more dispassion-
ately into the estimates made by the County
commissioners and furnished 10 the delegn-
| tion. he Will find that they estimated trIat
| they would need for bridges s 3 GOOD 90
But owing 10 the unforeseen floods
they actually spent Tor bridges - Con 90
An excess I.OUOUO
the cost OF tile IIOWlIdeSy!lle bridge 9 400 90
Which leaves net excess of....."".... l,GJO.UO
SO you see Mr.. Edilor that hut for
the very contingency which Mr.. Nc
Gowan says would excuse all parties
there would have been Il surplus Of. 3 30NO 90
In plain Of n deficiency Of. I,sUU.OU
Now u deficiency Is no new thing In The
management OF county affairs and heretofore
| no delegation has ever been arraignrd for
what, MS IN this case. could not be foreseen.
Inlnk nave SHOWN TO any fair minded
| man the utter fal!acy OF Mr.. McGowan's pre-.
mlses, and 1t must follow that II his premises
are false his conclusion is inevitably false.
III uuc season | VIII give an account OF my
lstewardshship. but in doing so. shall not fol-
low the example oi Mr. McGowan. VINO gives
the frst exhibition of mud-Slinging and then
decrleS u muu-slinging controversy. Nor
should take any M tice Of Mr. McGOwans
IIraluituouS inSinuatioDS, but for the quasi
personal reficcti"nS which he has seen lit lo
make aud for the reason that longer silence
might be uisconstrued into an admission of
the truth Of his charges.
Frank B. Gary,
One of the Delegation.