The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-10-11
4 Strong Plea for Law and Order-A
Timely Paper.
Editor The TINES:

Editor HE TINES:
\ correspondent in your issue O
Sept. 18th, made some pertinent re-
marks as to reducing taxation
calling special attention to one source
of revenue viz. The seed cotton Ii,
cense law which appeared to be
grossly and wilfully violated. After
referring to several ways by which
the law was currently reported to be
evaded and violated, he concluded
thus-"There appears to be some.
thing wrong somehow, somewhere. "
Again in your local columns OF the
4th, inst. read as follows. ''Super,
visor Owens is about to haul in his
drag net, and when he does, there
will be several big fish in it to answe,
in the court for buying seed cotton
without license, which declaration
corroborates in part, at least, the sur,
misses and suspicious of your CORES.
pondent.
Any law, in order to be respected
and to accomplish that for which ii
was enacted, must be enforced. Now
when law is once violated no one,
not even court house officials, OF
Granddaughter have any right to ex-
cuse, mitigate, or pardon the offence
except through the proper legal chan
nels. In consequence of the violation
the forfeit or penalty must be paid, OF
the courts must decide as to whether
the violator should or should not be
excused. All corporations lay great
stress upon the collection of fines and
penalties for the non compliance with
certain laws, inasmuch as they are
frequently more valuable than direct
taxation: but in county affairs tue
opposite seems to be the rule. For
instance, when a seed cotton license
is issued out of season the violator is
thereby, excused from paying tie
penalty. Apparently he is paid a
premium for violating the law, in as
much as he not only did not pay the
penalty, but had use of the couDty's
money for the whole season; further
more, if the license was not issued
until December, he was granted the
additional privilege of buying seed
cotton for the next ensuing season, as
the license is claimed to be good for
one year from date. 10 SUM up-no
penalty is paid for violating the law
the use of the county's money is al
lowed without interest and the eillegal
license in the hands of the violator
grants him the further privilege OF
buying the next season without pay
ing the required fee. How different
with the one who respected the law;
and got his license at the opening OF
the season. He paid $25 and got no
rebate, the next season $25 more,
paying $50 for what the violator of
the law paid s25 only.
Something wrong" Mr.. Editor,
somehow, somewhere" Had our
grand-juries kept themselves posted
by examining the license book these
fraudulent proceedings would long
since have been detected, and many
dollars saved to the county.
If men are not honorable enough
to do right because it is right, then
the right should be forced upon them.
Law must be respected or chaos
will soon reign supreme.
But says some one "no steps can
be taken until somebody prefers
charges and produces sufficient evil
dence to convict. Indeed! How about
officials OF other corporations, rail
roads, for instance. Do conductors
sit quietly, and wait for passengers
to come to them to present their tick
cts OF pay their fare? If one is sus-
pected of not having paid the requir-
ed fare, does the conductor wait for
some one to report him, bring
charges, and produce evidence sufii-
cent to prove it, before he attempts
to obtain the fare or enforce the law?
No, such conductor would be fired
at the next station. Methinks hear
some officer say, "my Office depends
on pleasing the voters, and as con-
siderable number of my constituents
are law violators, ard "big fish," I
can't press these matters or I will be
left out at the next election; while
the conductors Office depends on
pleasing only few "Bosses." All!
yes, there's the rub. 1 confess there
is some difference in the mode of OBJ
tanning the Offices; but there is no
difference when It comes to the dis
charge Of honest duty and sacred
trust.
\ public Office being public trust,
the holders thereof should diligently
apply themselves to carry out the
various demands honestly without
fear or favor. Now I insist that if
those in authority were anxious to
have the law rindicated and not
eyaded, sufficient evidence could be
obtained, without waiting for others
to perfer charges. Confession under
certain circumstances is sufficient
evidence on which to base conviction.
The law says that before any one can
buy seed cotton he must pay s25 for
a license. The season for buying
seed cotton with a license is be-
tween August Is and December
Is of each year. No license is re-