Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-11-05

the public funds among the newspa-
pers in which they were interested.
The Record, feeling the weight Of the
thrust, reproduced it with heading
suggesting personal spite" and the
Herald also recognizing the justice of
our criticism. made an attempt to
weaken the force Of 1t, and got from
us a statement Of facts which it did
not dare reproduce.
The Records TRADE Of abuse as re-
produced above, may be taken as evil
dence Of the way 1t feels about the
whole matter
With regard to what we said of the
useless waste Of the public money by
the courthouse commission we have,
at this time, nothing to add or sub
tract.
Almost anybody will give us credit
for having sense to know that II we
pursue the policy pursued by our Rock
Hill contemporaries, there are certain
people who will give us more Of their
own and other peoples money, than
they will give us in the pursuance Of
the policy we do pursue. But The En-
quirer does not want the public money
that way. We recognize that our first
duty is to the public, and We do not
want either pennies or dollars that are
to be the price Of our betrayal Of our
trust.
The Record is mistaken when it says
we do not want any other York county
paper to "earn" a dollar Of the public
money, because the fact Is that is all
we are asking.
Leaving out of consideration the
question as to whether it was neces-
sary for the courthouse commission to
be so generous with the public money,
the official figures we reproduced last
Friday showed that both Of the Rock
Hill papers charged more for an iden-
tical advertisement than did The En-
quirer. The rate to be charged for
such advertising is fixed by statute,
and the charge should be the same in
all cases-certainly not more than the
law allows. And yet both Of the Rock
Hill contemporaries have been trying
to make 1t appear that 1t Is the Enqui-
rer that is greedy.
In our issue Of February Z, 1913, in
a controversy on this same subject,
we showed from the official records
how the Record had charged $1,000 for
an advertisement that The Enquirer
had printed for $16.50. In that con-
nection we proposed that the whole
matter be submitted to the grand jury,
and If 1t should be found that either
paper had charged more than the legal
rate for any advertisement, all such
excess charges be refunded. The Rec
ord did not accept the proposition, and
1t is still open.
While the Record may be right in
the view that II we had lived several
hundred years ago, we would have
been publicly ducked, we do not believe
anything Of the kind. We might have
been shot or stabbed, however. for in
count for so much. Instead Of TAX
ing the other fellows goods by
stealth as in these days, the common
rule was to use force, and the under
standing was that the strongest fell
low was entitled to whatever he could
get away with. Had the editor under
taken to tell about him he would have
no doubt been put out Of the way.
But positively and seriously there is
very little to be gained by contending
with the Record. 1t has shown time
and again that it either does not know
or care what it says. One time some
years ago, Q906) 1t made the statement
that it had not received IS a year from
the public funds, and investigation
showed that it had received several
times that amount during a single
quarter. One day in the fall a few
years ago it announced that q certain
future day would be Lees birthday and
the Graded school would give a noli-
day. When the date went by without
a holiday, 1t criticised the superin-
tendent' for lack Of patriotism and Mr..
Cork had to inform 1t that Lees birth
day occurred In January.
1t is evident that there Is very lit
tie credit to be gained In a controversy
with the Record, and positively we do
not feel any pride or satisfaction in
bringing 1t to task. In a social, po-
litical, industrial or other matter, no
matter how abusive it might have
been, we would have felt justified in
letting it alone; but, in a matter like
this, involving waste Of the public
money. we have felt it our duty to
speak