0
Vol. 1.
DALLAS, N. C, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1903.
No. 1.
, i
How The Court House
Controversy Ap
pears to Justice.
Vlt. Editor: During the last
few Weeks we have read with in
terest the various newspaper ar
ticles for and against the propos
ed change of the county seat of
Gaston county.
AN UNSELFISH AND UNBI
ASED VIEW OF THE
DISCUSSION.
We have tried to look at this
question from an unselfish, unbi
ased point of view; and we are
constrained to say that the great
force of arguments, both from a
business and a moral standpoint
is plainly on the side of Dallas.
We are confident since the pro
position has been fully discussed
pro and con, that if the question
of removal should be left to the
voters outside of Dallas and Gas
tonia the verdict would be over
whelmingly in ' favor of Dallas.
We believe this outside majority
will more than offset the remov
alists strength in Gastonia. .
THE OPPONENTS OF REMOV
AL HAVE THE ARGUMENT.
The most conservative, sober
and solid arguments have surely
been presented by the opponents
of removal. The circular letter
of Mr. Hoffman, the communica
tions of Prof. Hall, Mr. Payseur
and others, practically remain
unanswered. The "ooh, booh,
booh-hooh," the . belittling and
ridiculing-directed against Dallas
and the opponents of removal are
all without any force of argu
ment. Such efforts to win, in se
rious matters are held in disgust
by honest, fair minded men eve
rywhere. The praise, encomi
ums and compliments showered
upon Gastonia by Gaston ians
smack, moreover, of too much
pride, greed and selfishness, not
to say bigotry.
SCRIPTURE MISAPPLIED
BY REMOVALISTS.
In an effort to reply to argu
ments against removal the Ga
zette even resorts to a perversion
ot Holy Writ. The Editor says
In reply to Mr. Payseur: "Do not
the scriptures enjoin us to covet
the best gifts?" Again the Ga
zette says: "Unto every one that
hath shall be given and he shall
have abundance; but from him
that hath not shall betaken away
even that which he hath." Now,
who ever heard of either of the
above passages of scripture hav
ing a sordid, wordly application.
Their meaning is purely spiritu
al ; and while the cause for re
moval is born in pride and self
ishness, we have to use a power
ful telescope and strain our eyes
to see even one spark of religion
on the side of the remoyalists.
The Lord God knew hat( self
ishness and covetousness were
the most prevalent sins among
men, and so he directed Moses to
write, not one, but two command
ments against the sin of covet
ousness. THE DECALOGUE NOT OB
SERVED. Does not Gastonia covet the
county seat of Gaston ? Do not
the most ardent removalists covet
the advantages the court house
now gives to Dallas ? Are not
the removalists violating a great
moral and religious principle ?
Can any fair-minded man see any
justice or equity in removal
when the facts and circum
stances are applied to the prin
ciples of common law ?
In fact when you extract the
ridicnle, abuse, pyrotechnics and
poetry from the efforts of the re
moval agitators, the residue con
tains no argument and amounts
to nothing. IUSTICE.
A Contemptible False
Hood. The Cartoon in the last issue
of the Gastonia Gazette is but an
other evidence of the many dis
gusting attempts to carry remov
al by misrepresentations.
A Jury of our county holding
their session in a cow stable!
Every citizen of our county
well knows that any such asser
tion is an infamous falsehood.
e presume the genius who de
vised the Cartoon was some fel
low just about big enough to lie
around the barn on Sunday an
sketch pictures of pigs and
chickens when he ought to have
been at Sunday school, where
he surely would have been
taught that it is wicked to use
his gifts, if he has any, to
create anv impression which he
knows to be absolutely false.
And worse still, The great and
truth loving Editor of the Ga
zette uid'nt have room or did not
care to publish "An able article
from F. P. Hall against Remov
al," yet it affords him great pleas
ure to defame his county by giv
ing space to that which he well
knows conveys a contemptible
falsehood.
Truth loving, honest, fair mind
ed citizens of Gaston county can
you sanction such conduct by
voting for removal, or will you
not set the seal of your disappro
bation on it by voting against re
moval ?
Dallas is as good a place to live
in. even for our county officers, as
any town in the county; her citi
zens are honest and patriotic; her
ministers faithful and devoted;
her girls charming and pretty;
and her schools inferior to none
Material for the Morowebb cot
ton mill is coming in and every
thing moving on finely, so says
E. L. Wilson, local manager.
Xhe Removal of Couiy
. ty Seat as Fairplay
Views' It
Mr. Editor: A few weeks
ago the editor of the Castonia
Gazette asserted that the argu
ments against the court house
removal were as scarce as hen's
teeth. If his assertion is true, it
seems to us a great waste of time
and labor, not to say fol
ly, to write and print in the Ga -zette,
within one week more than
twenty columns in tavor of re
moval, and against "scarce as
hen's teeth" arguments against
removal. v ' " ' ''
If a lawyer, in court, appears
for a man, accused of a high
crime, and the evidence is strong
ly against his client, he tries hard
to be as eloquent as Clay as logi
cal as Webster, as long winded as
Tillman and as tireless and per
sistent as the editor of the
Gazette, in presenting his weak
case td the court and jury.
On the other hand, if an attor
ney has a client charged with a
crime and the law and evidence
are in his client's favor, but few
words and little time will be need
ed to present his case to the jury
In fact, the lawyer knows his
case would be reasonably safe in
the hands of the court and jury
without any argument, on his
part, at all.
In the case of Dallas against
Gastonia, the preponderance of
evidence and justice seems to be
on the side of the former, and we
believe the btvdv, honest citi
zens of Gasto T ill rally to the
support of Dal.Jiin this str iggle.
PROP ERTY d! PRECIATION.
The Gazette! argument that
property in Dallas has already
depreciated surely does not mean
that real estate in Dallas should
be further depreciated by mov
ing the court house and making
Gastonia the county seat.
Doubtless the greater part of
the decline in real estate in Dal
las has been caused by the con
tinual agitation kept up by the
removalists. How then can a
man in Gastonia have the gall to
tantalize Dallas on property de
preciation? If you see a gentleman falling
will you try to restore his equi
librium, or will you kick him
headlong into the ditch? If such
a one should be your enemy, and
your heart were ,filled with mal
ice towards him you might be
tempted to give the fellow a fin
ishing kick, cut, it the tailing
man is an inoffensive person who
has simply stumbled over an ob
struction put in his way by de
signing, self nteres ed agitators,
you will, like a gen .leman and a
christian, reach out your strong
arm to protect him from falling.
Do you see the aj plication? If
so, then vote with tae people of
Dallas against removal. Dallas
has already been ii jured by re
moval agita;ors.
A FEW GOOD REASONS.
Under tha caption; "some re
marks on r;moval " the Gazette
says: "Nobody, absolutely nobody
up to the present time, has given
one solitary reason why the court
house should not be moved .
Gastdnia-"
Let us see. Dallas was locaU,
by $ur forefathers who it is
posed knew their business. Tt
town is beautifully situated in
near the center of the couv '
The citizens of Dallas has
bobgnt property, built haav
and settled there chiefly bec?.u
it was the county seat. If ; t
moval is effected their prope;
will be greatly depreciated; the .
trade will be seriously injure,
their hotels will be ruined; an.i
their schools will be sadly criL
pled. Gaston county has recent
ly rebuilt the jail at Dallas at it
cost to the people of thousands of
dollars. A large part of this is
still unpaid. The court house is
in the center of a beautiful
square and can be enlarged and
made up-to-date with less than
one fifth the cost to the tax pay
ers of a sufficient court house at
Gastonia. The people of Dallas
solidly oppose removals and we
are confident that three-fourths
of the voters outside of Dallas
and Gastonia are against remov
al. We think we have here men
tioned a few reasons against re
moval, and if the editor of the
Gazette lived, with his earthly
effects, in Dallas instead of in
Gastonia, he could easily more
than double the reasons we have
given above. Respectfully,
FAIR PLAY.
Seven Falsehoods.
1. Judge Shaw condemned the
courthouse last term.
2. The people will make an ef- i
fort to have the court house con
demned next May term.
3. Dallas Township has six
miles of macadam road.
4. The court house in Dallas is
the worst m the State. fi
5. The man paid 50c to get his
cow down.
6. The county paid the clcajj
ing up.
7. Vote for removal and we
will give you a mar. .:;m road by
your door.
Up-To-Date Style.
In order to keep up with the
Gastonia program of expense and
extravagance, it will be necessa
ry for our jurors from the farms
and workshops to attend court in
up to-date wearing apparel-stove
pipe hat, Prince Albert coat and
creased pants.
Mr. A. L. Ifulwinkle's note in
the Gastonia News in regard to
Judge Shaw's statement does not
say a single word about indicting
the county commissioners, yet,
why does the News make the
comment it does. Condemning
Court houses, and Indicting coun
ty commissioners do not necessa
rily follow each other, nor do
they mean one and the same
thing.
Who was it that said "we have
money enough raised to buy eve
ry opponent of removal in Gasto
nia township?" Gentleman, we
are not for sale.