The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-10-11

Qulred AFTER Lee. ia, ana until the
18th, of the following August. Now
if a license is bought in November or
December after the cotton is all pick
ed out and after it is rumo2el that
the grand jury is on the war path or
the Supervisor is ont with his "drag
net" is it not self-evident that the
law has been violated. Too late now
for license, nothing but the penalty
can relieve the situation. To grant
license or fail to present such cases
under such circumstances wauld be
conniving at violation of law.
Is it not amazing that men, in this
enlightened age, in their wild and
furious rush for gain will sometimes
forget to be honorable and honest.
Big fish hauled in the Supervisors
drag net for fraudulently buying seed
cotton, just to save the paltry sum
of s25. Sure s25 standing alone is
not much, not enough to make little
fish, to say nothing of big ones, give
up their integrity; but when the
county is in debt which no one will
deny, several s25 licenses would re-
lieve the pressure materially.
1t has been suggested that some of
the gins through the county buy seed
cotton without a license. evading the
law by pretending to buy lint only.
The cotton is ginned in the giuners
head-1-3 lint, and paid for accord
ingly; but the baggipg of seed cotton
is tambled in the stall just the same.
By so doing the county is defrauded
out of $25, the poor taxpayer groans,
submits to additional taxation and
pays the S25 for the ginner, which
wide-awake officers could and should
have prevented.
Why not collect back license fees
and penalties as we'll as back taxes
If so our treasury would soon have
a surplus.
trust the Supervisor will throw
his drag net back to the beginning of
the law, and haul in the big and little
sharks who have been defrauding the
taxpayers out Of the benefit ofits rev.
enues. Their excuses, no doubt
would be "no one called on me for
the fees which T was ready and will
ling to paw" No doubt, Mr.. Editor,
something is wrong, and if as much
wrong eau be seen in the little seed
cotton license business, how about
other larger and more complicated
sources of revenue. If there is SO
much wrong, there must be remedy
somehow, somewhere for the wrong.
Whose duty is it to see that the
wrong is made right? If it is the
duty of our officers who draw their
salaries from revenues obtained from
license fees, taxation etc, and who
have solemnly sworn to discharge
their duties honestly, without fear or
favor, then unless they see that the
wrong is correoted,and the wrongdoer
punished, they become conniverS at
wrong doing AMI are particeps Grim
iris in the injury done to each tax
payer in particular and the county
in general. If our grand jurors stand
ing at the very threshold OF the tenn
pie of justice, fail to thoroughly in
vestisate all cases where plausible
suspicion has been aroused, they too
become recreant to their trusts and
yiolators of solemn obligations.
Threats will not sufice-positive, en-
ergetic action must be taken. These
wrong, which are being so hagrantIy
perpetrated can and must be correct
ed or inevitable ruin stares the al
ready burdened taxpayer in the face.
This age of reckless rivalry and un-
blushing rascality needs no miserable
sycophant at the head of its affairs.
What is wanted are men with moral
backbone and undaunted courage
men who knowing what is right dare
maintain that right be the conse-
quence what they may. if big fish are
honest, little fish will be afraid to be
otherwise. But when high officials
are afraid to cast the first stone at
violators of law, who can blame pri-
vate citizens from shrinking from the
unpleasant duty OF trying to right
those heinous wrongs which are
crushing out the very existence not
only of Clarendon county but also of
our land and country. Continue, Mr..
Editor, to fight for the right, the
county's right, the taxpayers right
and the right OF all. To fail in the
battle for right is better than to win
in the scufle for wrong. Fiat Justi-
tia ruat c1lum.
Yours
ENor Trr,, Down