The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-04-03


they have no inclination or desire to o,
70 such places and use them wisely. fo,
tno purpose Of real mental inn rove
ment, and, In fact, they have no desir,
or inclination to 20 to such places fu,
any purpose. The mere fact land It !.
such) that there places are patronizsd b,
small number Cf leading and intellect.
ual ladies and girls Of the town. render,
such place distastefnl and uncoDgcnial
TO that class, which the promoters Of
eft. ~ ' ""N ''l''
This cannot be doubted, AS an illus.
tratten, just take the case of a church,
society. You cannot get the poorer one.
OF the church to attend them, because
from tho character Of tho dress, conver.
sstion and tastes OF tire moro 70 rtunate
onrs who do attend they are really made
miserable In an uncongenial atmosphere.
and have the limited and needy state of
their lives sadly impressed upon them
SO too, in the Church itself, if any
largo number Of the attending congre.
CATION become wealthy, and flushed in
manner, elegant in dress, and unde NJ
staItive, In fact become all that wealth
and o 'nsequent pc wer makes men and
women (what the claS ca referred to cali
''high-falutin'o why the less fortunate
ones generally drift away to otbe,
clutches, and if they do not ION account
OF legality, their children do. and for
tho reason stated, that the social feature
u uncopgsnial and disagreeable to them
and presses their needy state ever on
their consciousness. So It would be
with the proposed library. Not one in
thousand would visit 1t after the nov.
city OF tho nice new public building had
worn OF and not ono In five thousand
would attend it for intellectual pleasure
or Self-impr )vement at any time.
mean, of course of the class to which I
have referred. Now, IL tho library will
not improve or benefit the young men of
the town, and will only benefit land that
Ia wholly unnecessary way} tue ladies.
young and old, Of tho town. by giving
them ane library to feel proud of and
and TO talk about, and whero they can
como together and talk matters 1T dan,t
signify what matters, jlst 80 its talk
over and seem important kiod of bust.
ness convention, you know, and that
too, when 30 many Of thcm have their
elegant and delightful homes, where
thoy could meet with their friends and
discuss these very many important mat
eers with which their ardent minds are
nearly always burJiened, and when they
have already central and most desira-
bly, situated library 1.-THE noble aud gem
erous donation Of Cspt A. FL. Foster)
where they can and do meet and trans
act business most constantly, satisfao-
torily, and possibly pesceably; il all this
u true, Is 1t not unwise to squander the
public money for this unnecessary and
almost useless purpose, when in the near
future we will need 1t for some public
Improvement which will be essential and
Of great public benefit? The credit of
the tow -ited. We will soon ex-
haust 1t II we vote for such useless
things, and every time one has an axe to
grind gets some ono to pass law allow
Ing tho people to vote for this or that
thing, and wo help tho scheme along by
voting money for 1t just for the fun of
tho thing. 1t Is time for the people tn
call q halt, and know that every pro-
posed public improvement, 50 called, is
In fact, q public improvement and for
the great good, II not the essential good
OF tho whole town and people, before
they vote public money for it. This
largo amount OF money represents the
income on $25, 900 annually, practically
to b expended by committee of senti-
mental library ladies for strained idea
and to mako 10 tn for some fayori.e
all to DO expended for q purpose which
will bring no substantial or practical
good to the oommanity, only in 30 far az
having good looking building In the
town may accomplish that end. Then
again, what Is public library? 1t Is
ore to the constant use of which all cit,.
zens both white and black are entitled.
II public money Is voted for this library
1t will be the first step towards giving
the negro chance to be troublesome and
to become discontented In this town.
Who wants library In this town, pro-
cured at enormous expense of public
money, to which when wife, sister.
mother or sweetheart goes she may likely
meet on even terms any black stroller of
tho town. And I think, if a public
library Is established, the colored people
Will patronize 1t more than the whites.
and Is consequence it will become
practically negro public library. The
ladies have already over 81, 600 sub
scribod, and 1t only needs ab,ut 500 to
procure q donation Of $40, 600 from Mr..
Carnegie, and thus secure a fiftef n
thousand dollar library, private. Let
the mon who have subscribed to this
fund increase their subscriptions II will
if the others do) and get this private
library, which Is large enough for this
town II 1t Is Of so much importance. and
In this form 1t will do the most good and
give the most Pleasure. The ladies
manage to run the library now without
any public money and In an entire salts
factory manner, and really accomplish
oil that any library could accomplish in
this town, however much it might cost
either Of public or private money. But
for sooth, not satisfied with the real GOOD