Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-22
Yorkville, S. c., Oct. 18th, 1912.
Mr.. John G. Anderson,
Rock Hill. s C.

Mr.. John G. Anderson,
Rock Hill, S. c.
Dear SIR
have received no letter from you,
but notice your open letter" in both
The Yorkville Enquirer and the Rock
Hill Record. I assume that it appeared
in the other county papers.
wish to say at the very outset that
! regret very much that any mistake
should have been made in your taxes,
but the committee has but one way of
ascertaining the taxes paid by any in
dividual and that is his sworn return
as made to the auditor and copied into
his books From these books 1t ap-
pears that you are assessed in Cataw-
ba township for total Of $1,2S0.00,
made up as follows: Lots, $450.00.
Personal Property, $4,000 One-half
mill on this sum is sixty-four cents.
If it had been possible, 1t would have
still been an almost endless task to
have taken the tax books and picked
the registered voters therefrom, so that
the registration books were used in
stead, and the taxes Of each register
ed voter ascertained in the township in
which he lived as those taxes appear
ed on the auditors books. We did not
attempt to follow the voter through
each Of the nine townships, for the
cases are SO rare III WHICH d NOlCI
owns property in more than one town.
ship that the additional work was not
warranted by the few errors that might
occur by it's omission. The auditors
books show that you return, in addi-
tion to your Catawba township proper
~, S250.00 IN EbeneZer township. You
will therefore, have to add thirteen
cents to your sixty-four cents, making
a total increase for you, as appears by
the auditors books, Of seventy-seven
cents.
do not know what taxes you pay l.
directly, nor have l any means Of
impossible task to take a taxpayers
name, trace 1t through every corpora
tion making returns in York county 10
ascertain the amount Of taxes paid in
directly by a 'stockholder. I don't think
that any fair minded or reasonable
person would ask this, even If 1t were
possible to ascertain such taxes.
I have entered very fully into the
manner in which these assessments
were obtained, for the res~~q k
feel sure that the above 81
will convince any person II
the desire of the commit Il
out the circular letter to g. the u,.-
payer the amount of the Incl ease in his
taxes as fairly as reasonable methods
and reasonable care would enable us to
do.
1 do not wish to enter into any con-
troversy, but one paragraph Of your
letter i quote:
IF the town of Yorkville wants a
magnificent building to which 1t can
point with pride it should go down in
its own pocket and pay the bill"
We think, Mr. Anderson, that you
oiphf of fhn iCcua This iS nor
question of whether Yorkville wants a
court house, but the question is, Does
York cunty need a court house? We
believe that any person who has ex-
amined the present court house will
readily admit that this last and real
question, should be answered in the
affirmative.
You say, further in your letter, that
you will contribute five thousand dol
lars toward the erection Of the court
house in Rock Hill, and that other citi-
zens will contribute the balance. Even
should Rock Hill build a court house
free of charge and present it to the
county, conditioned that it be located
at Rock Hill, it would still be bad
bargain for the majority Of the people
of the county, for the additional eX-
pense and hardship that would be i'm
posed upon this majority in attending
court in Rock Hill (located in one cor
ner Of the county, and in attending
court in Yorkville practically in its
center), would far outweigh any in
crease in their taxes for the erection of
a new building in the center of the
county, or any taxes that might be
saved by the citizens of Rock Hill
erecting a court house in that city
without cost to the taxpayers.
And now, in conclusion, Mr.. Ander-
son, don't let Yorkville and Rock Hill
have any quarrel about this matter. 1t
Is a county affair, and we are all citi-
zens of York county and should have
that pride in our county which would
make us willing to erect a court house
such as is needed, in keeping with that
of other counties and commensurate
with the wealth of the county. Let
that public spirit which has made Rock
Hill known as "A Good Town" from
one end of the state to the other evil
dence itself in this court house propo-
sition, and extend the public spirit OF
your people to the limits of the coun-
ty.
And just a semi-personal word and
a confession. The people Of northern,
central, southern and western York
expected, and still expect, that you,
the man who originated the express
sion: "A little higher in price, but"
and who pushed the Rock Hill Plan"
with so much energy and success,
would stand for progress, not only in
his city, but throughout the county
and state, and would not advocate a |
court house for his county other than
an adequate and proper one. not a
cheap, patched-up makeshift Finally,
vote for the court house. 1t is badly
needed and when the new one is erect
ed, you and every citizen of York
county will be so proud of 1t that the
insignificant increase in your taxes
will be forgotten in the comfort and
convenience afforded, not only to the
county officers, but to practically each
and every individual in the county.
Very reSpectfully,