The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-03-10
THE COURT HOUSE.

Inc TOllce jury at Its session o.
last Tuesday, the proceedings O
which appear elsewhere in to
;. days issue, decided to build
: court house at once, and for thi
purpose appropriated the sum o
S115 900, ten thousand dollar
OF the surplus left in the treasury
OF the parish Of st. Mary from thu
revenues of 1905, and the remain.
der taken from the revenues Of tn,
years 1916 up to and including
1913. The Police Jury selected
MT. j. 3. Hull a. builder and au-
thorized the president, Mr.. James
"A. Peterman, to appoint a build
ing and finance committee. which
. IN conjunction with M. Hull, will
nave the entire control and charge
OF the building of the new court
house.
The Police Jury in thus provid-
ing for the building of new
curt house has done that which
the people Of the parish expected
1t to 90. The present court house
is old, Anticipated and delapidated.
1t has been condemned as danger
Gus and unsafe by experts ap-
pointed by the Jury to examine
into its condition; grand Jury after
grand jury, taken from the body
Of the whole people, have de-
manded that the Police Jury give
st. Mary parish a court house
commensurate with her needs and
her position, and the people of the
parish have been practically a unit
in this demand. The Police Jury
of the parish of ST. Mary is to be
congratulated in that it has de-
termined to build splendid court
house, and at the same time has
determined to build it in splen-
did way, and by a splendid man.
The plan adopted by the Jury
takes from the surplus funds of the
parish ten thousand dollars per
year for series of five years, and
then eleven thousand dollars a
year for series of five years
more, and set this surplus aside
under an act of the legislature au-
thorizing it SO to do. This Gre
ates court house fund, which
enables the jury to build a court
house without a cent of increase
IN taxation; to pay for it gradually
without causing any hardship
either upon the taxpayers of the
parish, or the needs of the par
sh.
The plan of selecting an hon.
'rable, upright builder, and pay
ng him for his services. is in our
opinion, the best plan to get re-
'ults. Here there can be jobbery, |!
10 trickery, no graft. The parish
will get one hundred cents for
very dollar that it gives, and
Whilst there was for a while a dif-
erence of opinion as to whether a !,
curt house should be built or not,
'et once that question was decided, I
was a magnificent tribute to the
onesty and the standing and the
integrity of Mr.. F. B. Hull that he I
,as unanim ously elected as the (
uilder OF the court house, show.
ng that all parties realized that E
18th him in charge of the building ;
yer interest Of the parish will he q
afe-guarded. Therefore, we are !,
} have a new court house, we are 3;
have ten years in which to pay 2
Or it; it will be built and COM D
leted within year. and no mans ;,
lxes will be raised a cent, and ~
e will pay for it and not know n
ow it was done. Some little op- r,
osition was manifested to the al
Of The court house, for n,
Re reason that some of our citi- 6.
ms seemed to think that the pub a,
'hools and public roads would be N
eglected. We wish merely to $,
Ill the attention OF the people of ~
le parish to the condition of these
70 great public questions.
AS far as the public road situa-
on is concerned, it appears to US dc
at the Police Jury has done A
within its power, look it.
g towards the betterment of our ST
lblic roads system. 1t has set .
ide and budgeted S15, 900 for this Tn
lrpose. 1t has employed a road 81 81
pert and given him a liberal u u
larry. There is not a parish in ia
ouisiana to-day that is doing as tn
UGH looking to the good of the
lblic roads as is the parish of
!. Mary. IT'S true our roads are RI
bad condition now. This con- -
ton was brought about by
ng spell of rainy weather, when %
work the roads was an impos-
oility. With the money which ST.
e Police Jury has appropriated
T this purpose, and the charac- \
of the man who has been placed tn tn