Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-10-29
Keeping the Record Straight.

We are printing the courthouse COM
missions statement Of the cost Of the
building, etc. There is no charge and
we have not much comment, except
that those fellows certainly took care
Of their own newspapers out OF the
county funds-Yorkville Enquirer.
The Herald takes it for granted that
the above shot was aimed at The En-
quirer's York contemporary, but we
are nevertheless surprised to find it in
the columns Of that newspaper. The
statement from the courthouse COM
mission, published a few days ago in
the Herald, appeared in the same is
sue of The Enquirer in which the
above paragraph appeared; and, with
the facts before it, The Enquirer made
a statement which is not sustained by
the figures in the financial report OF
the courthouse commission. AS the
Herald published some advertising for
the courthouse commission it is in
cluded in the above blanket" state
ment by The Enquirer, although this
newspaper does not belong to the
courthouse commission or any member
of the commission. For this reason,
to keep the record straight. the Herald
herewith presents the figures, taken
from the financial statement Of the
courthouse commission as published in
The Enquirer's own columns, showing
how much money. each newspaper in
York county was paid for advertising
in connection with the building Of the
courthouse.
According to the financial statement
of the commission
The Enquirer was paid three bills,
amounting to $57.S5.
The York News two bills amounting
to s27.
The Rock Hill Record two bills
amounting to $22.75.
The Herald two bills amounting to
s17.25.
The Fort Mill Times one bill
amounting to $3.50.
Thus it appears that The Enquirer
was either given more than twice the
amount Of advertising given to any
other county newspaper, or it charged
rate for the advertising more than
twice the rate charged by any other
newspaper. AS a matter Of fact, The
Enquirer was given advertising by the
commission which did not appear in
any Of the other papers, as Is clearly
indicated in the commissions state
ment.
Now, the Herald has no quarrel with
the commission because it favored The
Enquirer in this particular, as this
newspaper accepted what was offered
by the commission and charged the
regular rate for the service; nor do
we regard the matter of sufficient
importance for much discussion at this
time; but, as stated above, the Herald
is greatly surprised to find the above
paragraph in The Enquirer and to find
that newspaper making charge which
is in no particular supported by the
20 ~. IN, onc CO
yesterday.
The Enquirer said what it said be-
cause it was true, and not with any
intention Of exciting our esteemed
contemporary, the Herald.
We have no complaint against the
commission on account Of the adver-
tising it placed in The Enquirer. and
no thanks. The commission did not
give us anything as a matter Of favor,
but only because 1t could not see its
way clear to do otherwise. We
printed the advertising that was
sent in and charged for it the rate
prescribed by statute, the same as
we charge other people for the same
service.
What we had in mind more than
anything else when we made our
statement was the fact that Mr.. Brice
and Mr.. Wilkerson, a majority Of the
commission, made use of the public
money to support their own newspaper
business.
The first advertisement printed in
The Enquirer on this account was
notice with reference to the new
courthouse in our issue Of November
90, 1912, "1.5 So. l time, $1.50." The
second advertisement was April IS,
1913, 40 So. times, $500" At the
same time we printed $50 copies of
bond prospectus with cover for which
VIC charged s16.5G.
This was before Messrs. Brice and
Wilkerson got started in the news
paper business, their first issue not
appearing until September %, 1913.
The next item in the case was on
October 10, 1918, for advertising no
tice of sale of the York county court
house and lot 10 squares times,
$25OO."
We noticed at the time that Mr.. Brice
gave this advertisement to his own
newspaper, then less than a month old.
and probably without a single sub
scriber who was not taking The En-
quirer We would have called public
attention to the matter then and there,
but we had no idea that these gen.