The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-06-15
HARD 10 SOLVE
THE PEOPLE OF ST. MATTHEWS
ARE IN A QUANDARY.

They Find the Court House and Jail
Problem q Hard One to Settle
Satisfactorily.
The letter we published on Sat
urday from Mr.. Smoak on the CAL
houn county court house and jail
matter was straight from the shoul-
der, and here is another of the same
kind from the st. Matthews corre-
spondent of The News and Courier.
In commenting on the letter of Mr.
Smoak the correspondent says:
Sensations are now following hard
upon each others heels in the court
house and Jail controversy. Mr.. A.
X. Smoak, one of the brainiest men
in the county, is out again with a
four-column article in the Calhoun
Advance this week, and he handles
the case with candor and ginger.
There is no halfway ground with
him.
He charges that there is a veiled
effort to deceive the people, and
strongly intimates that, unless some
thing is done promptly, the county
will have the court house and jail
to build.
He quotes Judge Watts as saying
that the town of st. Matthews cannot
legally be bonded for court house
and Jail, and that the best and only
safe thing is for the people of st.
Matthews to cough up the cash. =
Quite a number of the citizen of this
town guaranteed the building of
these structures by signing notes.
The form of this note is as follows:
"s100 on demand. l promise to
pay to T. A. Amaker, treasurer, CAL
huun tcl,uty organizs.: :cn, one hun
dred dollars, value received, pay
able at St. Matthews, S. c., for the
purpose of building a court house
! and Jail for the county Of Calhoun,
provided the town of st. Matthews
fails to build court house and Jail.
Should the town of st. Matthews
build court house and jail, this OBJ
legation becomes null and void"
Mr.. Smoak charges that $4,000 OF
these notes are worthless from eve"S
standpoint, and that none of them
are sound except from a moral point
of view. That he has been thus adj
yised by lawyers of the higest stand
ing. There is no doubt about the
$4,000 bond issue being as dead as
door nail, and the only question
is what is left Of the wreckage?"
Twist the matter as We will, there
Is not q ghost of chance to ge:
the $4,000 from the town three or
four years from now, and extreme
ly doubtful about getting it at all. 1t
Is high time that the whole truth
be known, and 1t Is perfectly evident
that, the only safe. way out of the
difficulty is for st. Matthews to brush
aside convenient technicalities and
cough up the cash" this fall.
Not only Judge Watts, but other
lawyers Of the highest standing,
positively affirm that town cannot
be bonded for county court house
and Jail, and it should be an easy
matter to find out whether they are
correct If so, the. farce-of waiting
several years for constitutional
amendment is self-evident. The pill
will be as bitter TO swallow then as
it is now, to every man on those
| notes.
The News and Courier correspon-
dent, hard hit with the rest, has been
in favor Of this course for some
time, as the only feasible solution
| Of the trouble. He has INDUCED in
no personalities, nor has he any de-
sire to do so. His theory is that
where the honor and population of
the town and it's people are at stake
they should lift the cloud, even at
a sacrifice. and be reimbursed by
the municipality later, if it can be
done.
He believes this should be done,
even though technicalities and loop
holes will postpone the evil day, tenn
porarily or forever. Those in author
ity can pursue this course, or not,
as they see At, but the prediction is
now made that it's wisdom will be
verified sooner or later, If not fol-
lowed.