The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1902-10-15

Why the Foik >nuuid remalu part
and parcel Of Lexington, to wit:
lst. We are all ope people, con-
nected by the strong ties Of kinship,
by blood or marriage, and Knowing
each others needs and necessities
are better able to help each other.
End. Because, under section 5, OF
Article VII of the Constitution, the
snnexatioDists cannot come within s
miles of the court house, thus leaving
a considerable strip of the Fork in
Lexington, ard making Richland an
undesirable and unwieldly shape, so
that that portion of the Fork which
goes, if any goes at all, will not re-
ceive the full benefit of the wealth OF
Columbis. as it would otherwise do
under different conditions.
3rd. Because the heavy expense In
having land deeds. mortgages, and
ctber instruments in writing will not
be balanced by the benefits to be
gotten by such change, and furth-
ermore the estates of widows and
orphans now under the conttol of
the Probate Judge will suffer as q
consequence of the proposed change,
By reason of the additional expense
levied upon their resources.
4sh. Because if the schools Of the
Fork were run the full term of nine
months they would be of no practical
beneftssto the children of a large ma
jority of the people Of that section,
from the fact that the pursuits of the
people are largely agricultural, and
during the busy season the services
Of the children are needed on the
farm to help mske and gather the
crops. As negro labor is daily be-
coming more and more unreliable,
the necessity for home help on the
farm becomes more and more abso-
lutte. At the close of the last
scholastic yesr, June 80, there re-
NAMED in the treasury of this county
the sum of "a, ,016 45 to the credit of
the schools, with executions in the
hands Of the Sheriff still outstanding,
and some of this money belongs to
school districts in the Fork. With
money in hand to extend the school
term, the trustees found it impractic-
able to do so without the teacher
facing empty benches, because the
children were compelled by necessity:
which knows no law, to 60 upon the
farm.
5sh. Because the assessment OF
property in Lexington is lower than
in either Richland or Newberry, as
reference to the annual report of the
Comptroller General will clearly
show. The average valuation of
real estate in Lexington is 50 So per
scre; in Richland. 81 SO; not quite
double, and in Newberry, S5.58, over
double what it is in this county.
While, perhaps, it is true that the
tax levy of Richland is III mills
against IL mills in this county, yet
the assessment of Ricbland is 30
much higher han in this county that
the difference in favor of Lexington
is so great that comparison with
the levy is alarming and that too
without enhancing the selling value
of the property one cent or ircress-
ing the produetiveness of the farm
by one ear of corn, or one grain OF
wheat, or ope sweet pota'oe.
6th. Because Richland county
is in debt, the amount of which
no man knowth, no not even
the fiscal officers Of that county
themselves. If We remember CO.
rrectly, even Supervisor Ovens
himself was forced by his opponents
to acknowledge this much during the
last campaign, but gave as an excuse
that funds of the county were locked
up in the estate of it's dead trees
urer. But the Comptroller Generals
reports informs US that in 1900,