The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-08-01

Banner:
On the 7th day of August, the
voters of this county will by their
vote say, whether or not, they are
willing to place upon all the property
in Abbeville county debt of three
hundred thousand dollars. This debt
will be upon both personal property
and real estate. In other words, the
voters will be called upon on the 7th
day of August to either vote for, or
vote against the three hundred thou
said dollar bond issue. When this
bond bill passed at the last session
of the General Assembly, I voted
against its passage, and in view of
the fact that a few of my enemies,
take delight in going around over this
this county and misrepresenting me,
I feel that / should take this means
of informing the people of Abbeville
county, why I am opposed to putting
at this time, three hundred thou
sand dollar debt upon this county.
I will say in the beginning, that
we are all in favor of good roads,
but there IS proper time for doing
everything. Our country is in the
midst of worldwide war, no one
can tell what may happen even in the
course of a few months. About fifty
of our young men have already gone
to the front to defend this country
in this war and in a very short time,
about two hundred more of our
young men will be called to arms,
and should this war last one or two
years, longer, at least seven or eight
hundred of our young men will have
to fight in Europe. Surely while
these young men are standing in the
muddy and bloody trenches, we cen
put up with what roads we now
have.
Viewed from business stand
point, this it not the proper time to
swamp this county in debt to build
roads. What does it take to build
roads? First: it takes machinery,
and anyone must admit that machin-
cry is much higher now, than during
normal times. Second: It takes Ia
Dor, and all will admit that labor is
higher now and scarcer too, than
during normal times.
Every farmer in this county knows
that he is having a hard time now to
secure enough labor to run his farm,
and he we'll knows, that should these
bonds be voted that the roads will
be built by contract, and therefore,
the labor in this county will be great
ly demoralized, and this should not
occur while our county is already in
such an unsettled condition to
the war.
And again, it will take food-stuffs
to feed the laborers and mules used
in building these roads-all will ad-
nit, that the food-stuffs of every
kind is more than double in price to
what it is during normal times
Therefore, taking all this extra ex-
pense in consideration, | submit the
three thousand dollars will not build
but very little over one hundred
miles of roads. During normal times,
it is estimated, that the three hun
dred thousand dollars will build about
one hundred and fifty miles of roads.
In the face of all these facts, and in
face of the fact that taxes are too
nigh now, can any one say that this
is the proper time to vote three hun
dred thousand dollars in bonds?
Taxes are certainly too high now,
and should the war last much longer
the people will be called upon to pay
more taxes, then why take on a debt
of three hundred thousand dollars
that we can avoid? To undertake to
build roads with the three hundred
thousand dollars now, all the three
hundred thousand dollars will be
spent so rapidly, that even the road
commissioners will wonder what be-
came of the money. Who is it that
is pushing this bond question? Why
did they have to get a man who was
born in the North to come here to
tell US what to do? Could they not
find a road man in this State? Is
this not a clean case of "bamboozle
the people," Why take crowds on
trips to visit the roads in Greenville
county? Does looking at the Green
vile roads remove the war clouds
that are lowering over our country?
Does looking at the Greenville roads
reduce the high cost of food-stuffs
of every kind? Does looking at the
Greenville roads make labor cheaper
and more plentiful?
Does looking at the Greenville