The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-11-28

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they could for their friends among the arm!
Of expectant beggars, or by reason of their ma
tural love for debate and oratoricsl display
and after q speech or. two from some OF the
small fry the whole subject was postponed, on
Hurley's motion, until next Monday. The In
dicatlons are, however, that It will then be
taken up In earnest by those who to-day In
troduced end advocated the measure, and
that at least a very large number Of lhe loafers
who have for the past four years been in the
receipt of six dollars o day for purely imagi-
nary services will be stricken from the pay
roll. &c
The other measure of retrenchment pro-
posed to-day came up In the shape of . reso-
; luton by Samuel Greene, a colored Republi-
can member from Beaufort, providing for the
appointment Of q committee Of three to ex-
anime and report as to the number of commit
tee rooms required by the various committees
of the House, the number of rooms In the
Ststehouse available for such purposes, the
number of rooms that, will have to be hired
outside of the Capitol building for the actual
use OF committees, and the rates OF which
such rooms can be obtained consistently with
the principles of retrenchment and reform.
This might seem to be simply q formal and
routine resolution, but to any one acquainted
with the practices of the last Assembly In this
respect 1t Is evident that the proposition Is a
very significant one, aud may lead to a much
needed reformation. 1t is now notorious that
during the last session of the Legislature
many OF the members hired rooms in various
parts of the city, which they used as bed.
rooms, aud which were charged as committee
rooms and paid for under that pretext, by the
taxpayers of the State, at the rate generally
of about thirty dollars per month. Most of
these rooms were hired by the year, and were
paid for by the Slate for the whole year.
while, as committee rooms, they could only
have been needed for three or four monthe.
In some cases, whole houses were hired and
charged for at the rate Of thirty dollars q
month for each room, the rooms furnished
with elegant aud costly. furniture as ''commIt-
tee rooms,n and the house then used and occu-
pied by the year as a boarding house, q gamb-
ling hell, or a political headquarters, to The
profit and advantage Of the honest legislators
who were In the ring. The resolution offered
to-day by Representative Greene, If intro
duced In good faith and carried through.
would prevent q repetition OF this ~rascallty
during the present session, and therefore Its
Introduction may be looked upon as a crafty
Ing omen. The resolution met with no
decided opposition, and In fact 1t Is as yet al
together too early in the session to expect
any open advocacy of any glarlng rascalltles;
but thers were various csptious objections
raised, and among others Mr.. Hurley came
very near defeating the proposition altogeth-
or by. suggesting that by the rules OF the
House the resolution must lie over for twenty
four hours before 1t could be acted upon.
This would have probably postponed The mat
ter until next week, for to.morroR's session
Will certainly be fully occupied with other
aud more pressing business, and an adjourn
ment will then be taken probably until Mon
day. No rules OF practice, however, had yet
been adopted by the House, and the new.
speaker did not therefore eei'constrained to
summarily close the debate In consequence OF
the ingenious suggestion Of the member from
Charleston. The original proposition was,
however, amended, upon motion OF DR.. r. n.
Smith, of spartanburg, so as to devolve the
duties of making the necessary inquiries upon
the sergeant-at-arms, and to require that off,
Ger to report the result of his investigation to
the House at oil early day, to enable the
House 10 take such action as should prove to
be necessary.
These two propositions and the flibusteriog
provoked by them constituted, with the
formal organization Of the House, the entire
business OF the day, and there has really been
no manifestation on the part OF the majority
of the members OF any desire to r%epudIate the
fair promises made by their party during the
late campaign. Another important test of the
temper of the dominant party in the House
will be furnished in a few days by the action
of the new speaker In the appointment of the
committees. There are now twenty-three
Conservative members 10 the House, and they
are certainly entitled, If only on account Of
their numerical force, to a respectable repre-,
sertation on the various committees. Here
tofore the chalrmen Of the commit
tees have Invariably been Republicans,
aud the few Conservatives who have
been appointed as members of the committees
have been so arranged as to be In a hopeless
minority all around. Now it Is said that q
more equitable division of committee appoint
ments Is contemplated, and that In some i'm.
portant cases the chairman will be selected
with re[ereLcs to their fitness and ability for
the positions rather than on account Of party
or color. In this case the Conservative rep
re~sentatlVes, who certainly include In their,
number the best educated, the most intelli-
gent and the most practical members Of the
House, will be placed In positions where their
intelligence and ability can be made effective
for the best interests OF the State, and where
they can assist, as they certainly seem dis
posed to do, In removing the stigma of in-
competency and veuallty that has Of late years
attached to the Legislature OF SonLh Carolina.
The proceedings of the Senate at It's initial
session Of to-day have also been FULLY report
ed by telegraph. The new Senate has a white
majority of one, and appears to be rather
better than the Senate of lS70-'72. The prog.
nosticatlons from the action taken to-day are
rather favorable, inasmuch as the first action