The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-02-29

and two-thirds of each branch of the General
Assembly shall after such an election and before
another ratify the same, shall become part of
the constitution.
SECTION 2. That at the next general election
in this State those who desire to vote in favor
] of the said proposed amendment shall deposit
in the ball0t-box ticket on which shall be
written or printed Constitutional amendment
cumulative voting-yes ;" and those who de-
sire to vote in opposition to the said amend
ment shall deposit in the ballot-box a ticket on
which shall be written or printed Constitution
al mendment-cumulatiy voting-no."
The proposed article to the constitution is as
follows:-
ARTICLE XVI. To the end that the electors
of South Carolina may exercise the rights of
suffrage freely and without undue constraint,
and may obtain from themselves complete rep
resentation in the government of their affairs,
the plan of free or cumulative voting shall be
lawful, and is hereby authorized in all cases
where more persons than one are to be chosen
or elected to the same Office for the same time
or term of service, each voter duly qualified
shall be entitled to as many votes as the num-
Der of persons to be chosen, and may poll them
for one or more Of said persons in such ratio
as he may deem proper.
This was the only business of any general
interest transacted by the Senate the rest OF
the brief session being occupied by the consid-
Grafton of the few and unimportant matters OF
the calendar. 80"
In the House this morning the committee on
ways and means reported fayorably upon the
bill to provide for general license law, lately
introduced by Hunter, and fully synopsized at
the time in this correspondence, but recom-
mended a number of important amendments.
The principal amendment recommended seeks
to make the license fees payable in quarterly
instalments on the first day of April, July and
October, 1872, and January, 1878, instead of
being paid in one payment on the first OF
March, 1872, as proposed by the original bill.
The other amendments are as follows: The
license fees for billiard tables and bowling al
leys are reduced from $50 to S25 and for baga-
telle tables from $50 to $40. The license fees
for banks railroad companies, merchants, &C.,
are not amended, except in the case Of mer:
chants whose annual sales are less than 81 800,
their fees being reduced from $40 to So. A
uniform fee of $500 is prescribed for phosphate
companies instead of the sliding scale, with
$500 as the minimum, before proposed. A Ii
cense fee of S25 is prescribed for all persons
engaged in the business of selling by sample or
soliciting orders for goods. 49,.
The Governor, this morning, sent to the two
branches of the General Assembly another
. special message transmitting an interesting re-
port, by DR.. Otto A. Moses, on the phosphates
) of the seaboard, and indulging thereupon in
rose-colored speculation that these deposits, if
properly worked and protected, would yield the
State revenue almost sufficient to supercede
the levying of any other taxes whatever
These documents were received as information,
and may have an important influence upon
the fate of Smalls' bill, now pending in the
Senate, to provide for an inspector of phos-
pilates.
COLUMBIA, S. c., February %.
The main event of to-day's legislation has
been the passage through the Senate ION ,the
cash principle) of the Blue Ridge Swindle.
The credit system, or G. o. D. principle, was
tried in the Senate when the former bill was
pending, but didn't work. Senators were
ayerse to bribery, of course, on general princi7
piles, but they were particularly and emphati-
cally averse to contingent subornation, and so
when they were told that if the Blue Ridge
bill should become q law they would each re-
ceive 81 900 cash, they persistently refused to
see it. In fact, they disrespectfnlly attached
their thumbs'to their noses and playfully wag-
gled their fingers, and in divers ingenious ways
disclosed to the B. r. Ring that the scheme was
"too thin" and couldn't work. The Ring then
refused to offer any better terms, and the con-
sequence was they were beaten, as of course
they deserve to be- But though routed they
were not conquered. The Ring have shrewI
and able lobbyists in their number, and one of
these is the president of the road-"honest
John" Patterson. Atthis crisis ashrewd and able
lobbyist suggested a new device, and one which,
in Assembly slang, would be called good
scheme and as such deserves description. The
original proposition was to pay each member
!, of the Assembly who should vote for the swim
die 81, 900 cash as soon as the bill became
law. This is known as the G. O. D. principle,
and this is the scheme that did not work; The
new and ingenious proposition was that as
many thousand dollars as there were members
of both houses-viz, l54-should be set aside
to secure the passage Of the bill, that every
member who voted for the swindle should re-
ceve his thousand dollars as originally pro
posed, and that the remainder of the S124, 900
!, to be spent in the House and the $780, 900 to be
spent in the Senate should be divided pro rata
among the members of each house respectively
who should so vote for the swindle. These
sums moreover were to be paid as soon as the
vote was taken in each house, and without wait
ing, as was before proposed, for the concurrence
of the other house or the approval OF the Gov
ernor. This was at once recognized by the IN.
telliqeuce and virtue of both houses as o good
scheme, u and the digital gyrations were prompt
. ly suspended, the sarcastic thumbs were re-
moved from the senatorial noses, and the little
device went through the Assembly like par
ticularly lively streak of wel-greased lightning.
The votes upon the swindle were as follows: /:
In the House, 80 to 19; in the Senate, q to g..
A very simple calculation will show that every
member of the House who voted for the swim
die should have got 81 $780, and every complai-:
SAINT member of the Senate 81 1868. This is,
, doubtless just what they made. Not that your
correspondent means to accuse any individual
member of the Assembly of accepting a bribe
far from it. As individuals they are doubt
less men of honor, and incapable of any such
transactions, but as o lot they are curious
study for ethnologist or naturalist. Now, hav-
ing explained the secret springs OF the show,
. it is time to raise the curtain and relate how