The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1897-02-13
at MIR. JEFFAREs WOULD DO.
High Taxes, State Institutions and the
School Tax.
(. Z

school lax.
Mr. Editor: There has been some
complaint about high taxes and pee!
ple's inability to pay the obligations
the State and county has imposed upon
them for the support Of our govern
ment. Perhaps it would not be anl;ss
to take into consideration some OF the
reasons why our lakes are so high
Becruse we are keeping mp too many
State institutions at the expense Of our
taxpayers. We are supporting tive
State colleges. the South Carolina Col
lcge, Clemson College, Clafin Univsr-
sity, for the benefit Of the colorea peo-
ple, the Citadel, at Charleston, and
Winthrop Collegc, at Rock Hill, for
the education of our girls, 1t neceS-
sarily follows that The people have
been taxed to establish and maintain
these colleges, which have been almost
beyond Their ability 10 pay. There are
presidents and a large corps of pro-
fessors at these institutions drawing
salaries ranging from sl.2G0 to $4,000.
There are other expenses in the way
of appropriations for improvements
which render it impossible to keep
them up without high taxes. L hive
not got the data to show the exact
amount of expenses at the five State
colleges, but / hazard little in saying,
that we are keeping up more State
institutions, al a greater expense, IN
propo. ton to our wealth and popula-
ton than any other State il the Union
| believe there ought to be two COL
leges kept up by the State, one for the
girls and one for the boys.
If we keep Clemson College, let
US abolish the South Carolina COL
lege, Clafin Universit! and the Cl'a-
del. 1 believe the Legislature ought
to pass a resolution and submit the
matter to the people and let them
decide by a popular vote whether or
not they will keep five colleges or two
And let them decide by vote which
they will keep, Clemson or the South
Carolina College. If they retain
Clemson, let the Board of Trustees
establish a chair of Latin and Greek,
and make it mechanical, agricultural
and literary college, where the pupils
can get as thorough a course or IN
struction as they get at the University
of Virginia, or Harvard, or Yale Co..
leges. :,
There are a great many people al
over our State who contribute, by way
of taxation for the support Of these
colleges, who are rot able to patron
ize Them, and then there are others
who contribute largely who would
perhaps prefer sending to eenomina-
tional colleges. I do not believe IN
taxing the people extortionately for
public purposes. Some may say, Oh!
we can stand that amount, and perhaps
thew have never calculated to see how
much we would pay out in an interval
of twenty-five or fifty years. In Fair:
field County we pay in some tow nshlps
about TWELVE and one fourth mills; 10
Township No. we are paying about
fourteen and one-fourth mills: A, levy
Of fourteen and one-fourth mills for
period of fifty years would amount to
3 complete confscation Of property.
1t necessarily follows that after any
Young man becomes twenty-ore years
old, if by diligent application to busi-
ness for the first ten years he succee IS
in sccunulating one thousand dollars
worth of property, under the present
hieh system of taxation he would pay
out another thousand dollars in taxes
by the time he gets to be eighty years
old. If man at tWenty-one years 2f
sge IiiGdsffl iHh;fSfilt7 2ranerty 1fses to b,
seventy years old, he will have p'id
out an amount in taxation equaE'to the
total value of bis property.
Abraham Lincoln said, '4ou c:n
fool all the people awhile you can fool
some people all the time, but yon car.
not fool all the people all the time"
That expression is very applicable to
Our system of taxation. You canno;
tax all the property owners of this
State unnecessarily high for an lnde1l.
nite period of tine for the support Of
our State colleges when some are &c
ceiving no benefit and therefore nave
no pecuniary interest in their main
tainance. Unnecessary taxation Is |
unjust exactions from the fruit OF
human labor. Any levy should be
economically administered, and The
nower of taxation should be most Gu
tiously and prudently exercised lest Il
be used excessively and to the detrl-
ment Of the taxpayers. 1t has been
well said that every dollar taken from
the citizen unnecessarily, tor the sup
port Of our government, is that rAuch
taken from him uniustly, which viii
invariably bear most iniquitous results
In Township Mol we are paying nve
mills for school purposes, three mills
under the new constitution and two
mills additional, which was voted by
the citizens of the community. Pre-
vlous to the adoption Of our late cor
sti(ution, 7 advocated the plan of levy
ing tax on the property Of the while
people of the State for the .educl!i"n
of the While children, and make It
optional with the negroes and 1T them
decide whether 0: not they would iray
a tax on their property for the cduca-
ton of their children. In other words,
I believe in levyilg tax on the pE"P--
erty Of each race, for the educat'oH o1