The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-01-16
Court House Lot.

Little towns like Anderson, Walhalla and
P,ckens no ust put their Court House on the
public square, Feeling that the temple Of
Justice Is ihe greatest and best thing IN q
small low q It must be exhibited or placed In
the most conspicuous place, even In q place
where commercial or Industrial enterprises
should flourish. Abbevilie wants a court
house. The people OF this county are tlfeo Of
the u~nsigh;ly tobacco barn and they WAN D
court house that the next generation "oqio
not tear down. Having survived the proVin-
cial period, and when our people are desiring
TO en- ter upon q new era. they must nave a
court house that our children would not de-
stroy.
The nrst thing TO be considered is an ers''
gible lot. The public square Ia not 9 suitable
s'acs for II. II We were all lawyers. judges
and other court officers we might want to
bold court down on the calaboose lot, hut we
are no / ell lawy ers, neither are we all I'LL.
gants, nor lcdgers OF the calaboose.
The court bouse, like The Iailrcsd depotf
should pot obtrude Itself on our vision. For
This reason, the Press and Banner believes
that a nice lot of The public square should be
occurred. What 10 the matter win klugne
Park? u in accessible. 1tiR cloae enough 10
The public square. II IL large enough. 1t ls
surrounded on three sides by good streets.
and other thoroughfare could be laid ont. II
has q good spring. 1t has . branch running
through II. II has a grove OF splendid shade
tire ca. It is far enough from the 'quare TO
guarantee to the court. freedom from the an
%noyance or the noise Incident to a crowded
street. ~. . \
The council char Der or town hall could be
bnilt on one of>the many vacant lots TO he
| found. It seems 10 be q pity to tear down
one house to'buiId another. especially II we
propose to build another Cheap John affair.
For instances: The lot on which the tobacco
barn sits Ia not a suitable place for the court
house OF such q town as we expect 10 be In
twenty or thirty years. If the tobacco oarn
IL sold It. would bring $40 600 10 sl2 U0. Inc
house could be altered as to serve some most
useful purpose. III is torn down II would be
almost q total loss. Even suppose that the
rubbish after paying expense oftearing down,
should be worth 81 900. And then suppose
the lot was cleaned of, we would then have
lost q most substantial building TO secure an
undesirable lot, after throwing away q $9.VN
house.
II the toba eco harm WAS properly fitted up'
II could be rented 10 the post office Tor say
81 600 a year. 1t is most admirably suited Tor
that purpose. The other part OF the building
could he occupi' d by profitable tenants,
Sell the tobacco barr-deRtroy nothing lot
| either the new court house or the conncli
| cha m and build the new houses on uplm-
proved land. Build them on lar e lols-whole
SQUARES II that can be bad. The Gary lot Oh
| Mngaztee Hi Ia a good one. The Marshall
lot In The same neighborhood Ia a good one.
| MIR. Stark could cut an admirable lot from his
homestead. Mr.. james Hill has a lot thai
might make a good council m or oper
house. About a hundred other lots could be
named.
Ifit be copte m plated 10 build a court house
for $40 coo OF $50 OC0, after throwing away the
SlO. 900 tobacco barr. then the Press and Ban
ner desires 10 register Its objection 10 The
building OF q new court house. To build a
$50, 900 court house is to build an establishment
IN worthy OF this people. The difference be-
tween q cheap new house and The tobacco
barn IL not worthy of our people. S2N,OW Ia
not n excessive price 10 pay for a Court
House at Abbeville, but rather than fall to
get a new court house we might adopt a hg-
ure slightly below this. By setting aside the
profits which we make at the dispeDsary In
selling LIQUOR to the opponents of that con
Germ, and by appropriatirg The money which
IL now going to The extingu!snmept Oh our
de BIT 10 the Sinking Fund, the additional tax
would be light. We could realizs from
sale of oil court
County profits on dispensarJ ."""...... lO,C0o
Amount heretofore paid Sinking Fund 6.WO
| mil! levy o'ooo
Amount saved Il not repairing old
court hGTt looW
W. have S42,UOO
Anx&e fist ear, and deduclirg the price
of Nd court house and the money saved
~ repairing 1t we would have annual,
6t In the court house some 500 00. Let
d then issue bonds for 5000 900. This AT / per
cent. would cost us $4,000 a year. aud which
being deducted from the total Income would
leave 81, 900 10 60 10 the txtinguishnent q
The court house debt. The own at lis rtcebt
rate OF growth will be double lis present siz'
In ten years. AS The l. WI grows and as the
debt is reduced the inter est account would be-
more easily paid. and this amount In reduc.
ton OF n would 60 TO e1tinguish the
debt.
Even II tn debt should not be entirely paid
In our life time the succeeding generation
could as easily pay the d, bt rs we have pnlh
for three shabby court houses In one genera
tion. Lel lie build 30 good that the next gel
e ration would neither be ashamed of IT nOI
went 10 tear 1t down.