Newspapers / Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, … / March 31, 1903, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
a majority of the vote* east, the argument is that Ills unfair to the opponents of removal, be ***** the bill was not so framed that H permitted these oppo nents to take advantage of the Stay-at-home vote, so that this tin* voters, who take bo io hnkjs the matter (and then ate quite a number of then im every election) cootd be counted ywh rsnjovsI.*The!Conatitu t*oo provides in some peculiar cMMforo election to be car nedby the quaUjsd voter, be Knpc certain oKtiiuti can be Ic ■ml, bat where the Constitution dow Bot prohibit it. k is not ex pcctod. So k seeias that the real "•*» of Mr. Hodman’s oWec tl*n k that tbs opponents o7re tnovul do not have this uniair And agmu it to objected that the expense of the coanty build - *«" not provided for in the act for removal, add the peo ple not allowed to vote oa this Jfhto to another case where la Mr. Htteu Is right, the law and the Constitution nre wrong, for it to provided by tow. and not prohibited by the Constitution, that the Commis mooere shall make provision for aUMrs^but expects and requires them to do ao, and this would have to be so, for . contingencies might arise Which would require their im mediate erection. sad the peo ple oi the coanty might be in » tmd predicament if they bad to wait lor aa etoctkm to be car ried by a majority of the quah .wire before they won provided kc. Than ha tugnes *hei by trying to remove the county sent we are doing indi rectly what we oaaaot do direct ly, by creating the neccaahv for coanty buildings, Which docs not exist, and in 1 this way de pnving the people of the power of controlling the iasne of their temte. We have already pointed out that the erection of coanty btxfldiags to considered by the law to be a necessary expense, mid the right to raise sufficient fund* for the purpose is vested la the county commissioners, sad we are unable to gather freia Mr. Hoffman's argument whether be denies this to be the tow, or whether be argues the tow to wrong, but if any one doubts that this is the tow, we icier him to the case of Vaughn ” Cf^torioners, of Forsyth. ****** Itoyr1 «* P«ge 429, «^we refer him also to any reputable disinterested lawyer. Then if this be the law, should gbsa^^siate trodneing and favoring au act •Mowing.the Board of County Commissioners to issue bonds to irss ass wnaovetbe coontv seat to Gas tonia, without an electioa, no oao will contend that an election would, or ought to be held, to provide for the county buildings “ c**e it was necessary to erect tbem at the present coanty seat. In other words, these hoods can not be issued unless the election carries for the removal, then the •*■>< means could, and ought to he used to erect them at Gas tonia, as would be need for their being built at Dallas. Then wa contend it does not require an •lection to provide the foods for meeting die necessary county hnildiags in case the county seat to removed, therefore the pro ririon far the bonds ought not to be ia the act providing for an election o« the removal ques tion. « w tatonaed that U has costly trimming*, marble floors, and every convenience and If the commissioner* should ace at to hayfc ooe built as expensive as the Iredell court house this would leave a balance'of $14,500 for a she and jail, as amount we contend mom than sufficient dor this purpose. And in answer to the suggestion than an|addition end repairs could be made to l the present court house at Dal les, we venture the opinion that U would be impracticable and unwise to undertake an addition to that court house, sufficient to supply even the temporary necessities, lor it seems that in other counties in the State when court Itouse facilities arc needed they arc honored by erecting a aaw building, but if such ad dition* were practicable at 1-10 oi the amount that it would cost to remove the county seat, which Ur. Hoffman says would be sufficient for such addition* and repairs, and this 1-10should be es timated at $5000 and the present court house st Dallas should be valued at $SOOO{ (and we believe we have put these figures too high (we would then have a court house costing $10,000 which be says would be a capital one for the county. So when he wishes to argue the supplying of the courthouse at niii«« he ptus the coat at $10,000., but to pro vide courthouse, jail and rite at Gastooia $39,000is not sufficient. Mr. Hoc man also fli« attention to the fact that . "Sometime ago there was a meeting of the most prominent citizens of the county end the almost unanimous voice was that good.roads weru.a cry ing necessity, and asking a bond mans to meet that necessity." And we wish to say here by way of parenthesis that Mr. Hoffman who is asking to be followed In this county seat contest, is the only man who kept this voice for good roads from being unani mous, hr he raised his bitterly Sfaiust it. He argues in this circular which we are comment ing upon that good roads are nmee secretary than the removal of the cobnty seat, and asks why didn’t these sharp manipu lators devise a scheme and submit thatiqueztlon to the decision,©! • men majority of those voting fostead of' reuniting a majority of all qualified voters?” We do not understand any argument in this question for or against re moval, but if Mr. Hoffman was desirous of learning the reasons for tha provisions of the road act it might have occurred to him that this information could be ob tained from the members of the Legislature from this couuty who introduced and had this food bill passed and though be styles them -sharp manipulator*” they will hardly, dqem it necessary to "devise a scheme" to misrepre sent the true reasons foe such provisions.' . But for the enlight enment of Mr. Hoffman on the ■utter, wa asked Mr.' W. T. Voids cast were in favor of re moval $ bat the bill being ao framed that those not voting and taking no port ia the election wera counted against removal, U was defeated. Two yrars ago whan the jail was bu rued a movement was started lor the purpose of askiug the Legisla tor* to pass an act again allowing a vote on the question, ana •boat 2800 cidsens, which w« suppose was more than two thirds of all the voters in the county, petitioned the Legisla ture lor an act allowing a vote on the question of removal, and asked that the result in such 'a bill or act be made to depend up on the majority of the votes cast but Mr. O. P. Mason of Dallas, who was the only member of the Legislature from this county and whose approval ofl any bill on the question was necessary before the Legislature would pass it, opposed any steps being taken asking for any legislation on the subject, and after he was overwhelmed with petitions ask ing lor the bill, be finally and reluctantly consented Cb intro duce a bill requiring a majority of tbe qualified voters, and aaaqmed the authority and prerogative, otherwise invested by law iu the county com missioners, to insert in the act that not leas than (50,000 should be expended in the erection of county buildings in case of removal. Those representing these petitioners foe the bill realised that there was an enormous registration caused from the Amendment campaign, and asked Mr. Mason to at least allow them a new registration, bat ha refused even thia, and so after carefully coasidering the matter, and feeling that the minium amount fixed in the bill to be expended for county build ings was extravagant, and realising that it would be im possible to cany thia or any measure where a majority of the qualified voters of tbe county were required to vote in favor of it before it could be canted, and such majority of the qualified voters was based upon tbe enormous registration caused from tbe Amendment campaign, they thought best to abandon such election. Now will any reasonable fair minded man say that Mr. Mason's will was responsive to all these peti tioners. We asked for bread but got a stone, and becanse we did not undertake to hold the elec tion in the face of acch obstacles and objections, thia is now at tempted to be need against us in this campaign, and while Mr. Hoffman states in the cam paign circular that at the elec tion of 1097 the question was mote favorable for removal, and anrucs that at this election of 1097 and the (me ordered for 1901 twit were more reasons foe removing the county scat, we recall that there is no difference in the degree of his opposition, but this opposition was as vigor ous and bitter at those times as it is now. If this statement of the circumstances attending the 1901 act should seem by anyone cncalfed for at this time, such statement was made necessary by the attempt to now use these things against us. Besides we fail to see any argument for his side in adversely criticising ns for not holding an election which be urged ought not to have been ordered or permitted by the Legislature. I But he argues that the court Dallas is anfident, and old Mecklenburg court aa example, if Mr. is not misinformed or aa to the aise of the old house, and arris to us that because did aot pro court house, we it seems that not sufficient a new building what we con to build that county 0« Booty arioataf books, wtktea by boo wbo kaow, tall yooallaboot Potash arhaOsains to (at tba aaoat out ItoaaAw. >a<i—l»t M ^b^umuu trays ^ during the trial of criminal ac tions In this connty, and often in the trial of civil actions, the jury are forced to deliberate in arriving at their verdicts in barn yards, old fields, or any other outdoor place they can find, which renders that secrecy and privacy which the law expects in such cases almost impossible, and any one who attends court can see that the seating capacity of our court house is entirely in adequate, and n >twith'<caii'Hng at the last term nf onr court Jndge Shaw announced that wit nesses and parties must he pres ent when called, whenever he would require those standing in the court house to be seated it would often necessitate souk of these very witnesses and parties leaving the building, Again Mr. • Hof! in an endeavors "to throw a scare” into the ranks of the voters by saying in substance that if the "Gastonians” win the cry will be for up to date build ings, doubtless meaning by this to make the impression upon you that a much larger sum will be asked for and expended for county buildings in cose the election carries for removal than the available assets for this pur pose. The standing and char acter of the present Board of Connty Commissioners ought to make this intimation and sus picion of bad faith ou their part of no efiect, for the rankest ad vocate of removal could not ex pend the amount provided nor any greater amount without the approval ol the Board of Connty Commissioners. 'Besides the $30,000 of bonds provided for out of which the expenses are to came for this pnrpose is the on ly amount for which the people can be taxed, and there could be no further bond isane unless authorized by another Legisla ture, and as the act provides for the completion of the buildings in case of removal by the first day of November, 1904, we don’t totnk lor these reasons this scare ought to work. But these sus picions aod intimations have called forth the following signed statement from the members o^ the Board of County Com missioners, which speaks for itself, and if this is not a com plete answer to this allegation of Mr. Hoffman, then the word and pledge of these men is worth nothing: 8TATBMXNT OK COUNTY COH - MISSIONKR8. To the People of Gaston County: In yiew of certain re port* current in the county, by circular and otherwise, which seem to reflect upon the dispo sition of the present Board of Coirity Commissioners of Gas ton c inn ty to guard wisely and econ tiically the interestsof the peopir vhom they serve, in case it should become necessary to re-eat-ihlish the county seat, we deem it but simple justice to onnelves and the public to make the following statement In regard to the matter: It Is our pur pose and intention, and we hereby pledge onnelves to the people of the county, to erect and complete suitable buildings, and to limit our expenditures strictly to the assets placed nt onr disposal at the time when th e election shall be carried, to-wit; The thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) in funds au thorised by the recent act of the Legislature, the $5,000 donated by Gastonia, and the property now belonging to the county at Dallas. 'Vtffntd Jno. ] j J. O. Holland. R. A. Whits. Jno. M. Gaston. And he points to Gastonia u m example of high taxes, and •ays . these came leader* once before nndereeMl anted the ex prosed of s pablle improvemeot. W# refer to their Electric M*b*s and Long Creek water. We better* they had to iutte a large eecond Installment of bond*. If tba finance of Oaa tonla waa ia a deplorable con ditto*, and Gastonia waa a conn ty instead of a loam this might be considered aa argament for kb. bat evea if this (a the case we fait^aoraay argument in foe hie argameut that more money will a* apeat for eonoty baBSoga Mia dew* for the reason that It eaaoot be done (cowminmi) ox Sac raox.) SPRING OPENING at THOMSON CO. APRIL 2nd AND 3rd. During these days ail the new fads of the sea* son will be shown. Our Millinery force has-been for several weeks getting ready for this event. We will expect every body In this and sur rounding coontryjto come and Inspect this grand display of Millinery and Dress Goods. Our whole force Is lust as busy as bees get ting everything In ship shape. While we only have but a veryifew min utes each day to arrange for the opening as custo mers. areScomlng In from alii sides of the county which keeps us busy most fofgthe time, how ever we will be In trim shape ln^ plenty of time, so don*t fall to give us a call. All arc welcome. Our Curtain and Car pet department Is now at Its best. We have some swell things in this department. If you are Interested In Lace Curtains, Tapes-' try Curtains, Carpets, Mattings, Rugs, Lino leum, Shades, Poles, or fixtures of any kind we can supply your wants. Clothing and Gent’s Furnishings. $ $ $) We are headquarters —there Is not a better selection in this part of the State. We can fit you in Suits or Pants. Just drop in and see, and mind you, this means at the prioe you want to pay. Our big stores are ready as never before with all that Is beautiful and artistic for the season fair ly beaming from basement to roof with creations of the world's foremost fashion authorities. Milli nery, Ready-to-wear Garments, Shoes, Gloves, J.a ces, Dry Goods, Clothing, Gent's Furnishings, Car pets, Trunks, and most everything you may want. Stroll through our big stores at your leisure and enjoy tbe pleasant surprises that will greet yon from every counter. THE PEOPLE’S STORE, Thomson Company.' THE WELL MESSED NAN 1# cartful of tfttjr detail, •ad when h« ekem kii Robinson Bros. »*■*■< (Hi FEATHEtS WASHED. To tho Rica FanUlaa at Baste ala and Comaemtty. Wc wish to announce that THB KURBKA FBATHBR WASHING CO. is now located in Gastonia, This enterpris ing firm is eonipped with the best and latest improved machin ery for cleaning and disinfecting feather beds. pillowa and bolsters. They also make a specialty_of the Celebrated Fold lag Feather Mattress which baa been conceded to give the beat ganetal satisfaction for wearing qualities and the moat comforts “* bedL!B,veot*d in modem «*■••• Their prices arc very reeaoaabhi, 5c per pound for feathers or one seventh pay, ami for making SHu****- including best new ticking five dollars. Tkey also pay Wgbest market prices for 2l feathers. Respect rolly soliciting the patronage of SXeEtkJS! *mbMc °manat" The Baraks Feather Washing Co., Gastonia, N. C. Sf as f^vs?aaLiW«
Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 31, 1903, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75