The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-08-18


ion, so we are informed, that the bond
money should be spent in graGing and
improving these country =cscs be-
fore any work is done on she main
lines (if we may call them such.)
That is another question upon which
we would like to hear from the candi-
dates. If we may improve with the
bond money only sixty or seventy
miles of roads just which roads is it
planned will be improved?
And while asking the candidates
that question may we not ask the
people of Abbeville County whether
they would have voted for the bon
issue had they been advised tnat only
sixty or seventy miles of roads would
be improved? This paper advocated
long ago that the people ilnd out
what they were doing Lefore putting
their heads into the halter. We told
the people that the first thing which
should be done was to secure an en-
gineer to survey the roaGs anG make
an estimate en- the cost, and then
they would be able to vvse lntelli-
gently on the question o. bond is
sue. This was manifestly the business
way to go about the matter, but
some people were in favo- Of bonds
because Greenwood and Anderson
were, voting bonds, gcod reason for
some people to comm. suicide, be-
cause occasionally some other people
are foolish enough to take their own
lives. ."':
But by far the worst suggestion
we have yet heard about the bond
issue rs a proposal going the rounds
that the next legislature viii pass an
Act allowing the Road Commission
ecs to sell these bonds for much less
than par. In other words it is now
proposed that dollars worth of
bonds, which will not secure more
than thirty~fve cents worth of work,
IS 20 be sold for ninety cents, and
that for this ninety Cents iDDeville
County will pay interest Oil a dollar
all these years and then pay back
dollar. We do not believe ::lat Abbe-
Vile County should sell its dollars
for. less than a dollar each. Abbeville
County is not bankrupt, neither is
it's credit impaired. We are able to
pay a hundred cents on the dollar,
and any proposal to sell our dollars
for ninety cents, or anything less
than one hundred cents, does not ap-
peal to US. We have got TO pay back
a dollar for every dollars worth of
bonds issued and the dollars with
which we shall pay back those. now
borrowed through the bond issue will
be harder to get than the dollars we
propose to borrow.
Another thing to be considered is
that everytime we "snave" our
bonds, we build that much less road
mileage. If we sell the bonds for in,
stance at ninety-two (92) we are
selling them at discount of eight
per cent. We will, therefore, get
aight per cent. less roads, and in
ststad OF building sixty " seventy
....lc, sf reads we will be building
eight per cent. less than this mileage,
but we will be still paying, when pay
day comes, hundred per cent. In,
stead of ninety-two. !
These are serious considerations
for the people of Abb-vllle County
and the candidates for the legislature
and fcr supervisor: should talk out
in the meeting.
And while it is all going on, may
we not warn<the people again that
they have voted a grea: oonG issue
for building good roads which is
gcing TO result in the grading and
building of one or two roads across
the county, which will oeneIt, per-