Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-09-22
nil y saskA mn pksE D.
Hon. E. Il. Werner Reviews the Pre-.
s0ntment OF That August Itody.

sf'iiE slskA Nh u lGE
HONE. Il. yerner Reviews the Pre-.
sontment OF That August Body. II
n,,dss oE6AsD s. ;s Sept aits sss,nv 1sss
and refreshing theso dull days, after the
election, % read that volnminous article
which appeared last week in tho county
papers, purporting TO BIO tho present.
ment Of the grand jury, but which
rather sounds like tho whimper and spite
Of o defeated and soured politician, and
if tho Hon. Wm. J; Stribling. did not
down on my knees to tho grand jury,
and, If no did writo 1t, tho grand jury
ought to mako Almonds to tho tax-payors
of tho county FOR permitting suoh
thing to appear In print. You know
mon can bo dofeated and disappointed IN
politics and yot not bo candidates at. all.
Such, ! think, is tho case with Messrs.
former would have tho peoplo believe ell
of tho county debts arc duo to the ''dlg-
GRACEFUL conduct of tho members of tho
last Legislature. The latter would stand
by and say "that's right" When, as a
matter of fact, tho momboIs of the last
Legislature had no moro to do with got
ting this county in debt than the blind
nation of tho Empress of Austria. Why,
oven tho school ohildron know that tho
fault of all this trouble with our county
finances Is the result of tho present
county government law, enacted by tho
Legislatnro of which Mr.. Earle was q
momber and Mr.. Stribling great abet-
tor, and most people know If we had
worry two mon would have been tho first
to cry high taxes and extravaganza.
And so our county officials work for
"small pay" and, since we can afford to
pay them, and our county officials "Can-
not mako brick without straw" small or
big pay, 1t takos about 800 bales of cot
ton to pay thom and they get just about
twice as much for tho Same seryicos as
| county officers got just across tho river
in Georgia. 1t is simply insulting for q
man to writo such piece and talk about
raising our tax levy whom tho people arc
now solling cotton at less than five cents
por pound and will hardly DO ablo to got
thoir accounts paid, to say nothing of
buying their wintor clothes.
If our county officials were called upon
to tako ono half of what they expect to
got, or to got out on thoir own resources,
you would SEQ tho last one of them re-
main right whore they are, and it scoms
to mo that the proper thug to do now,
| instead Of making our taxes higher,
would bo to cut down tho salaries Of all
Ofli' ials in this State from Governor to
| Auditor, especially when it takes so
much moro produce to pay them and
! when thoy can buy SO much moro with n
| dollar now than formerly.
And again. You would havo "his
honor" to have copy of this great papor
served upon us. Why certainly Judge
Klugh knows bettor than to mcddle with
things that do not concern him. Indood,
he is no fool at all. Really I voted to
mako him Judge, and do not always
past vote for-well, | will not say who.
Now, how arc wo to got out of dobt
without raising tho loyy? Why by doing
like other counties thai wcro in debt
fow " rs ago. It was said that this law
that wo arc now working under put
Greenvillo county in debt $40 600 in ono
year, and it is claimed that by going
back to nearly tho exact old law and by
managing tho affairs of the county with
in that county in one year to pay off the
debt. Tho last Legislature passed q bill
to put this county under q similar law to
that of Greenville and it was to 90 into
effect last April. The Governor hold UP
| the bill and it will not 60 into effect until
next year. After that wo should soon be
in II better state.
an 1lic Vciy lndil WHO icluSCu 10
sign for larger levy than wo gave to
tho county. This was mentioned timo
and again this summon during the county
canvass, and tho result of tho election
shows that tho people rather prefer q
low levy. Furthermore, if Mr.. Stribling
is right in placing this fault, and if this
is "disgracc enough" why it looks as if
those who voted for my reelection havo
disgraced themselves somo, too; how
w icn pnn ri D01n
selves with tho reflection that we arc in
a very pretty majority
Now, would like to criticiso these
two papers roforrcd to above, or rather
this ono paper, for as said above think
it is all tho work of ono man. Don't you
think it rathor an indiscriminato and in
dofinite and generally poorly gotten up
thing, with an occasional slice of malice
and spite, especially to come from the
pen of college graduate q man who
boasts shcopskin; but then you know
a great many mon who have shecpskins
also have shoop heads, and this may bo
case of that kind.
Tho public will remombor that Messrs
Strlbling and Earle woro once great Re
formers, who wanted taxes reduced and
salaries cut down. Now Stribling jumps
cause did not mako our taxes highor
and Earle stands by with his paper and
says, "Sick- him"
Besides, did tho grand jury ask Strib.
hing to criticisc the conduct of officials
or to find out about tho condition of our
county finances ? l don't SEQ that he
was called on to talk about thinga being
disgraceful enough.
Now, | should like to volunteer Iittlo
piece of advice to the gentlomen who
seem to think SO much of the paper re-
viewed above, and am sure this advice
will be as pertinent as that which was
recently givon to Judge Klugh:
Gentlemen, go to your bathrooms next
Saturday night, scrub yourselves thor
oughly from tho crowns of your heads
to tho nethcrmOst atom of your heels,
put on clean, fresh linen, say that prayer
in full that your mothers used to teach
you, which begins, "Now lay mo down
to slcop," and if the good Lord should
carry you over until another day, why
then go to church and honestly beg God
to forgive you your sins, for [ verify be-
liov' that you both are in tho gall of bit
te less and in the bonds of $iniquity.
Mcssrs. Editors, permit mo in conclud-
ing this hastily written paper to thank
that flftcon hundred and odd voters for
their support in the recent primaries and
to assure them that if they will keep an
oyo on me in the future they will dis
cover that shall try to find moro solid
way of expressing my gratofulness to
them than by tho simple writing of q
noto of thanks. Il. l.. WERNER.