The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-01-23
'psying Stoo little 6fIits prot ortloast


fpsying 100 little ofitss prop portioas asof
llthis ssfnnid hha1rrli &. "a s,
ing, There Is but one nominal Iob jec7
value, and thai Is not real llytan:U bjecs
tiOn, but 80 tfon, ,Sf ItS is
that tile receipts from the 3 mill tax
for; public schools will : be largely In
creased thereby. e We all 8 know that
our school system Is defective, that
the schools need more money, that
every community In the State which
Is resolved upon having good schools
must now leyy4an extra tax, and that
the ways and means of improving our
educational system form all engrossing
subject Of thought. The solution Of
the whole matter is to obey the con-
Of property and thereby increase the
general school fund This would per-
NIT nearly all special school taxes to
be done away with and would provide
for even the most backward commune
tics Il Sullcicncy OF public instruction.
If it should prove that the constitu-
tiOnal 3 mill tax provided under a full
assessment a larger sum for the COM
mon schools Than was required it
would b. no ditllcult matter to amend
the constitution SO as to reduce THAT
tax to mills, the former figure. But
meanwhile the legislature owes it to
its own pledge to obey the constitu-
tiOn, to the educational interests Of
the State and to equity between man
and man, county and county, to pro-
vide for the assessment OF property at
its true value. .if
The total assessments for 1902 were
1855 ,0Gl, being All increase during
the year of So ,203 ,952. Realty is re-
turned ut SLOT ,0l0,29S and personality
ut $61 ,0lS,5G0, and railroad property is
assessed ut S27 ,50S, ,203. 1t is fair to as
Spme, what the census figures will
show, that instead Of less than $780,
000,on0 Of property South Carolina has
more than $500, 100000 subject to taxa
tion. Under the present. system the
taX-dodgcrs get the benefit OF the diff
ference, leaving honest citizens, will
ing to bear their share Of the public
burdens, with the weight Of taxation
upon them.
The governor dcvotcs several pages
OF his message to a consideration of
the question Of road Improvement, and
lie advocates a property tax to furnish
the means of Systematically and per-
mancntly providing The State with
good highways. The plan at present
followed in most counties OF tinkering
on the roads involves, he rightly says,
mere waste OF money, "T'he chain
gang should be required to do pcrma-
ncnt road work, starting from the
county court houses as the geographic
cal centre and building out in each
direction permanent roads. If only I,
few miles arc built each year it will
be so much contributed to tile genera
welfare. The State convicts could not
be put TO better public service, even
if it neccssitatcd selling some of the
State farms. We can never have any
permanent road work done until We
change the present system and mako
provision TO raise money by Il property
tax. and make il manda tor, Til: { Sd ID
money shall be put on permanent roaC
Improvement, and also make it man
datory that the cbaingangs shall bt
put on the same work. This is the
system which has been adopted will
SO great success in Richland county
anu its results point tile opportunii,
and the duty OF the general assembly
The governors conclusions in this
matter arc those which The State
reached years ago and has from tim,
TO time submitted to the conSidera
tlon OF the lawlnaking body
Compulsory education is ciampionet
by Gov. NlcSwecney. He shows from
census figures that the illiteracY O.
native whites over ten years of age j:
| ISL per cent, and declares that h(
cannot see how in the face of this fact
there can be opposition to compelling
the attendance OF children on tht
public schools. ut is not ncccsSary,'
l!c proceeds, TO worry about the he
gro. lie is getting all the education
which is provided now and could gc1
nc more undert mpulsory attendance
What we should be concerned about j.
the education and the moral uplifting
OF our white boys and girls Ignorance
is q menace and a burden to civil lib
crty and the good morals Of the coun
try. In addition to this, every boy Of
girl in this country has a right to the
opportunity TO do something and to bt
something. Such law cannot inter
ierc with the rights OF parents, be-
cause no parent has the right to make
slave out OF his Offspring or to rol
his child OF the right to make a useful
citizen or TO have the opportunity tc
live Il useful and happy life. We levy
4 tax and enforce the collection Of it
Tor public education: then why not Ell.
lOrcc attendance SO that all the child
rcn may receive the benefits and have
the money put TO the best possible use
and for the greatest possible good to
the greatest numbcr?'' In this matter
also the position of the governor is
that of The State. Compulsory at
tendance on the public schools would
greatly enlarge The benefits Of the
schools to white children while not
materially increasing the already great
attendance OF negro pupils. With the
constitutional school tax levied on
property at its actual value there
would be an abundance OF money To
maintain the schools nine months i'm
the year and thus Il law to compel at
tendance would have its full and de-
sired effect.
For the improvement Of the COM
mon schools Gov. McSwccney, in ad-
dition TO the three mill constitutional
tax FOR school purposes, asks legisla-
tive appropriation cqualing the aggre-
gate appropriations for the State col
lcges. lie also says that it would be
in the interest OF economy to eXpcnd
81 900 a year in each county to insure
the proper supervision and direction
OF all the money that is now being cx-
pended IN schools" lie endorses the
plan OF the State superintendent Of
education OF home schools for girls and
farm schools for boys in tho several
counties and urges legislation permit
ling each county to vote upon itself Il
tax not exceeding two mills for such
schools. All these and other improve
mcnts, as we have intimatcd, would
result without further legislative en-
actmenl from the assessment OF prop
crty in South Carolina at its actual