The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-07-10
The County Question.

The Greenwood Journal thus remarks OF
an article which recently appeared in tn
Press and Banner:
the Constitution Should Have" appeared II
the editorial columns of the Press and Ban
ner yesterday morning.:
"a provision establishing the dispensary
forever forbidding municipalities from il
censing the sale of whlskey in this State
"The registration law should be firmly
fixed.
1.-The homestead should be re-enacted.
"No new county should be organized, ex
cept on consent, by popular vote OF major
ity of the people living In the different coun
ties from which 1t is proposed 10 take terri
tory. Whithout the consent OF majority o.
| the people voting in each of the counties nc
new counties should be organized anywhere.
The Journal has nothing 10 say, at thls
time. about the first three measures suggest.
ed. The one In regard to the formation OF
upon this morning. The position that no
counties should be formed "except by ma.
jority popular vote Of the different counties
| from which II is proposed to take territory,
have no voice In the management OF their
own local affairs. In our own case, Is II Just
that 1000 people OF AbbevilIe county, VINO
want 10 go INTO the proposed Greenwood
county, and who know that 1t would be great
ly to their Interest TO do 30, should be prohib-
tied by the 2,2O0 remaining In Abbevllle coun-
ty, who are not materially affected one way
or the other by the division OF the county?
Is 1t right and just That 6)O people of Edge
field county. now twenty-siX To twenty-eight
miles from their court house. who desire to
go into new county and get court mouse
within eight miles of their doors, should be
prohibited from so doing by 3,OW people re-
naming In the old county, simply because
they have the numerical strength? We don't
think so, and we don't believe the editor OF
the Press and Banner thinks so.
oil tod iYht ~.
ated and simpifled by changing II so as TO
say that mo new county shall ever hereafter,
under any circumstan nces, be formed In south
Carolina" that's what 1t practically amounts
TO.
TO which the Press and Banner would say
Shall SIX hundred people be allowed to mu-
tllute and destroy the symmetery OF Edge
field County, while three thousand are op-
posed TO the measure?
Shall eleven hundred men change the boun-
dairy lines of Abbevile County against the
will Of twenty-five hundred?
Shall few Court House builders have more
weight and influence in the government Of
the county than the great mass of the peo-
pie?
The proposition OF our neighbor Is contrary
to the generally accepted theory of this Gov
the tyranny Of the minority is for the public
good.
Why should this county be cut to pieces
when the great majority of the people are op-
posed to It?
Why should Edgefield be mutilated at the
request OF six hundred as long as three thous
and oppose the measure?
BY what method of reasoning can the WISH
es OF the six hundred claim the right to dis
regard and override the will OF three thous-
and in disfgufing county In which all are
interested?
According to the admission of our neighbor
the majority of the people in the counties al
fected are opposed to the new county. Has 1t
come to this that the will of the majority
must count as nothing?
The Constitution of the United States has
adopted just and equitable plan for the
formation OF new States. The same equity
would apply IN the formation of new coun-
ties.
Law for Formation OF Proposed Law for New
New States. Counties.
No new State shall No new county shall
be formed or erected be formed or erected
within the jursd ction within the Jurisdiction
OF any other State, nor OF any county, norany
any State be formed by county be formed by
the junction OF two or the junction of two or
more States. or parts more counties, or parts
of States, without theof Counties, without
consent of the Legisla- the consent Of the Leg
ture concerned as well isature OF this State
as of the Congress- as we'll as Of major
Sec. 3, Art. Nv. ity ofthe voters in each
and every county from
which II IL proposed to
include territory In the
formation of said pro-
posed new county.