The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-10-25


go. Mr.. Conner certainly would not
Inconvenience the general public By
building the Park off the street car
lines. We take it he has no such pre-
JUDGE as that against the Traction
Company.
But aside from that, these gentle
men to whom Mr.. Conner refers, 50
far as we have been able to judge
since our short sojourn in Hatties-
burg, have shown themselves quite as
active in other movements as in this.
We are not their special defenders,
but we think the attack is unjust.
From the little observation we have
been able to make, we believe these
gentlemen ere as public spirited and
give as literally of their time and
money, unfortunately to everything
that is asked or presented for the gen.
eral good of Hattiesburg, as any other
body of men in the city. And now.
just because this particular PROPOSE
ton may happen to inure to their
benefit more than to the personal
benefit of others. is that to initiate
against the proposition itself, and are
| they to be singled out as designing
and selfish? If 1t is a good thing
what difference does it make who it
helps?
Mr.. Conner raises another question,
not entirely german to this discus
sion, but a very important one. He
! claims there are certain men and COR
porations, without naming them) who
have not given their property in for
taxation upon a fair basis. We con-
fess we know nothing about that. If
| it be true, their assessments SHOULD
| be raised. Their names should be
handed in to the assessment board for
correction. In taxation as in all
things, we believe in equal and exact
justice to all, special favors to none"
| If Mr.. Conner has been correctly in
| formed, and if there are those who
are not being properly assessed or
taxed. we agree with Mr.. Conner that
they should be. But, we submit, that
has nothing to do with the Park ques-
ton, or the argument made against
the ordinance seeking to appropriate
one mill for Park purposes. Let us
discuss other matters separately. Lets
not confuse the issue the people are
to vote upon by bringing in Interior
matter. The fight is being made
against the tax ordinance almost SOLE
ly because of the Park feature. For
one we are willing to meet the issue
fairly and squarely upon that point.
Our contention is that Hattiesburg
needs a Park. 1t needs and needs
badly, an all-purpose public place
The little children need it, The
young people of both sexes need it. |
They not only want it but they need !
it. The town itself needs it, that the |
stranger in our midst may have some !
place for recreation and pleasure and |
be induced to stay day longer, and |
then carry away with him a plea ant |
impression of Hattiesborg. That is |
why we favor it.
Then we do net agree with Mr. Con-
ner that the amount is excessive. We
think it extremely conservative. If
Hattiesburg is to have Park, have a
good one; make it pretty and comfort
able; do it right or not at ALL And !
last but not least, we do not think
$1,000 added to the budget of a city
the size of Hattiesburg, will make the
burden felt appreciably at all. 1t is
small amount; it meets a present
demand it makes good what has al.
ready been spent, and we hope the
people will vote It,