Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1906-07-25
NC, July 25th, 1906.
A NEW JAIL.


emit one. The faults. as we under
stand them, with the present ar
rangement are: The fue of the
heating apparatus has become un.
jointed, hence a new jail must be
had; the building is medieval,
hence the Commissioners, being
accustomed to modern dwellings
right up-to-the.second, cannot
bear the sight of a medieval struc-
ture, especially whom it stands on
a pretty lot owned by the county;
the building has more or less
wood about it, and by some unac-
countable means it has just lately
been discovered that wood will
burn, and that if a rabbit or a
negro confined therein should be
prevented from escaping, iii case
the medieval structure caught
fire the fire company would at
once begin dilly-dallying. the wa
ter pumps would refuse to work,
aud the creature would be obliged
to submit to the singeingssof his
wool, aid the great morality of
the Commissioners would force
them to pay for the smuggling of
said wool--ah! touch the indi-
vidual's pocketbook and he will
put a burden like a mill stone
around the neck of every man, wo-
man and child in the country to
prevent lt-hence a new Jail is the
only salvation; and, finally, the
lot is too valuable and too pretty
for a Jail, or. rather, the county
has no business with valuable or
pretty property. These are the
points generally set forth as the
reasons for the great expense
which the Commissioners intend
to put the county to, notwith-
standing the fact that a large ma.
jority of the county's citizens are
honestly opposed to the sale of
the property and the erection of
new Jail, which will greatly in
crease the debt of the county.
This fact vas so plain prior to the
primaries that the matter was tenn
porarlly dropped because some of
the Commissioners stood for ~reelec-
ton and they feared defeat. Sew
eral Of them were defeated, and
now they claim that their souls
are their own and they will do as
they please. In this particular
attention is called to the fact that
they are now as much the servants
of the people as before the prima-
rles, and, one of the meanest
things a public official can do is
to take advantage Of his position
to thrust a town or a county into
debt, knowing that he will not
remain in office to see the work
completed and bills met, thus
forcing the next board to lose by
undoing or waste by continuing
such a piece of spite work. We
say ''spite work" because it is
about the most charitable view
that such miscellaneous proceedings
can be looked upon. The reasons
set forth are worthless and trivial,
and the need of a new jail is not
at all present. The present struc-
ture is substantial, conveniently
located aud susceptible, at a mod
crate cost, of sustaining such re-
modelling as would make it a mod
ern jail. However these things
may be, it is probably needless to
make one CT q thousand points in
favor of letting we'll enough alone
when men who have the power
have determined to disregard their
obligations to the people in Or
der to appease the spendthrift pro-
pensities of themselves or politl-
cal bosses. The boss and a few
spectators seem to be the real
movers in this game. Just watch
and ascertain who offers that lot
to the government for a building