The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1913-07-09

Hno Dc thOoCh lOI lnC OlnCtp
with the result as above indicated"
ssr
WEIGHING ALL SIDES.
The Advertiser is carrying today,
on page 3, letter addressed to the
people in the area of the proposed
county of Enoree, written by COM
mittee of Woodruff citizens. The let
ter is intended as a reply to the COM
municatlon by Col. T. j. Moore, of
Moores, which was published in this
paper several weeks ago.
While the Advertiser does not at
tempt to comment on this letter at this
time, it would advise against too great
a reliance being placed on sta
tistics where full information as
to the success or failure of an
enterprise are not at hand. 1t
does not necessarily follow that since
some new and smaller counties have
a low rate of taxation that all new and
small counties Will. 1t is possible
that the very things which are alb
sent to make one county's taxation
Flower might be present in another and
it is quite possible that Enoree might
be handicapped in way that no other
new county has been. 1t has been
STATED that within the proposed
rev county area is an unusual
ly large number of bridges as compar-
oh fN nt hat 20,
that the roads are more hilly and con-
sequently more expensive to keep up,
that it has a river traversing large
part Of 1t, necessitating large eNpen-
ditures for bridges and roads leading
to and across it and possibly other OBJ
jections have been raised which are
of less Importance. Whether or not
| Enoree county would be able to take
care Of all OF these objections and
build even better roads and schools
as she promises to do, cannot be told
by a comparison with other counties
every tub must stand on it's own bot
tom"
Whether Enoree county would
| be better and cheaper governed than
Spartanburg or Laurers depends only
upon the conditions that surround
those counties and this cannot be
reckoned from the experience of 9TH
er new counties. Here is the pfopo-
sition and the only proposition aS it
applies to the Spartanburg side of
the area: Will it be cheaper and
easier to conduct the government
OF Enroee county with 400 square
miles area and $3,7500OO assess
able property or OF Spartanburg
county with twice the area but five
times the amount of assessible prop
erty? Spartanburg has about $4,000
worth of taxable property per square
mile, where Enoree county would have
but about $4,000. 1t Is to be supposed
that in the richer county the govern
ment would be cheaper or the benefits
| greater OF course, herein enters the
question whether or not this "bellig-
erent' area is getting her full share Of
attention in Spartanburg county;
whether or not, as is charged in ev-
cry county, the county-seat is being
favored in the disposition of the tax
money. OF course the first cry that
goes up, when some enterprising town
starts out for county seat, is that
| the people in the other part of the
county are being favored in the dis
tribution OF the funds. Our observa-
ton Of new county fights has been
that this cry goes up on every occa-
sion, no matter where the proposed
county seat Is to be located. When
Clinton was working for a new coun-
ty some months ago, she claimed that
the upper part Of the county was get
ting most OF the road money. When
Fountain Inn started It's agitation for
new county, it claimed that the low
er portion of the county was getting
most OF the road money. Woodruff
people will tell us now that Laurens
Is getting most OF the road money.
and so 1t goes. The plain facts in
the case are that the roads most trav-
eled are the most looked after and the
roads least travelled are the most neg
lected and this Is the way it ought to
be, for the funds OF the county should
Da aYnandnd oo 10 hoooak ~ 49,