Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-04-02
Observation-Disclosures. .5..t'.3'.3'.t..s..t.s..!.
i. LEGISLATIVE WORK. !.
Observation-Disclosures. .i..;..!..!...i.!.;..,.
(Third Article. }

Just short while before my good
road% measures were killed in the
House, at my suggestion Mr.. McDon-
aid came to my room for the purpose
! OF discussing Oconee county matters,
and in the course Of conversation the
question Of the new County Board
was mentioned, when Mr.. Mcdonald
intimatcd that he expected to be the
! clerk Of the board. then told him
! that he could not hold the office Of
clerk of the board and retain his
seat as a member Of the House at the
same time: that the constitution
,orbids it. He said that if that be
truc he could resign his place as a
member OF the House; that he would
take the clerkship If he could get it !;
that it would pay his grocery bills. "
| | learn that he has taken the place
Of clerk in the face Of the prohibition
of the constitution, which is in the
following words:
EVERY qualified elector shall be
eligible to any Office to be voted for,
unless disqualified by age, as pre-
scribed by this constitution; but no
person shall hold two Offices Of honor
or profit at the same time"
1t seems to me that, in accepting
! this new place, Mr.. Mcdonald has
vacated his place as member of the
House. which | feel is unfortunate.
The Supreme Court, in the case of
the State VS.. Coleman, sd S. -, 2S3,
has held that where person held
one Office, and while so holding ac-
cepts another, he by that act alone
vacates the first. If Mr.. Mcdonald
has accepted the office of clerk of the
county Board, regret it, because
do feel that each person should at
| least respect the constitution under
which he lives, and no amount OF
money should induce one to depart
from its mandate.
or Statewide Importance.
Now we come to the discussion Of
a matter of State wide Importance
the good roads proposition. In the
first place, it is important that all
people should understand what the
proposition is. 1t is a plan to build
roads to connect all the Court House
towns Of the State-not to build any
roads from the farms to the mar
kets. but to build roads leading from
! one Court House to another. TO do
this will take between 1000 and
5000 miles of roads. The PROPOSE
tiOn is to make all these hard surface
roaNS and ia tD LhiS viii cost some
thing !iit" SEQ, 900 tuU. r all tii&
sam is 10 be collectod on pt thy Dcu-
rlo y VIII unatn .. ilird siiN. fOr Nu
amount is one-sixth Of the assesse!
value Of the whole property Of the
State; but It is said that the United
States government will dcfray half OF
the expense. We are informed that
! it has enacted Il law agreeing to ap-
prOpriatc 100000, ,00o, to be divided
among the States. which will give to
South Carolina something like So
1 100000. But suppose the United
States government does dcfray one
half the whole cost; that will still
! leave $50, 100000 for the state OF
! south Carolina to raise. and the in
! tereSt on this sum will be annually
! $l,500,000, and to raise Il sufficient
| sum to pay the same will take Il levy
Of three and one-hal: mills on all the
property Of the State. and an addi-
tiOnal levy sufficient to create a sink
ing fund besides. With the cxpen-
diture Of such large sum. what
would our county get in return?
Likely, less than twenty miles of
road, and that from Walhalla to
Clemson. This would leave more
than twelve hundred miles Of roads
IN Oconce county to be kept up by
our people by an additional tax. The
proposed plan would tax people al
Falr Play, Madison, Long Creek and
other sections remote from the pro-
posed good road, to build this road
from Walhalla to Clemson Would
that be an equitable and fair tax?
! thlnk not. The most needed road
: work is called for from the farms to
the markets. where the farmers--the
! producers --' need it over which to
! haul their produce to market to feed
and clothc the world: and not for
! joy-ridcrS from town to town. Now,
the above is the good roads plan we
! are to discuss.