The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-01-29
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Friday lISrlaifiaaae lISrlifia ]: yahagTY S5. is76.


what boss saSs q. z i I. .sI,.sr slsnI1yr
We heard a Senator. q year ago.
make speeoh in the South Carolina
Senate. the object OF which, as be
saids was to show how to ''get round"
the provision or obvious Intention OF
4he Constitution OF the State as re-
gsrds, tho pay of members OF the
General Assembly. That Constitution
plainly contemplates that the pay shall
De a per diem pay. Having declared
in Section 23 of Article 2. that each
member OF the hrst General Assembly
under this Oonstitution shall receive
96 per diem while in, eesaion and mile.
ege. after which they shsll receive
auch, compensation as shall be fixed
by Law, and that no General Assc mbly
shall have the power to increase :he
compensation,of Of it's own members, it
adds: s'And when, convened in extra
session, they! stall receive the same
mileage and per diem oompeps alton as
are fxSdt BY, lay for the regular ees-
sion, aud oneiother." Which means.
it it means anything. chat when, fixed
by Law. it muah be a per diem compen-
aation. To got round thar, by enact
ing that each member, shall receive
a,er. diem am6pnting 70 not more than
$500, ,uor something Of that sort. was
= considerable feat Of legislative and
-spoliatiye slegerdeEaaih. But this pre-
sent tssesfon has witnessed an advance
beyond these tactics into the domain
of verbal analysis and construction.
We had, Q few days ago. q report sub
'nitted from tho Committee on the
Judiciary Of the House, through Mr.
o. p. Leslie, of Barnwell, which un..
" dertekes.to declare the true intent and
e meaning OF the Act of the General
Assembly OF March l3. 1872. This Act
declares ''tha6 each member Yf the
next, General Assembly shall receive
'an annual salary of $500 and twenty
cents for every mile" SO. The
report turds upon the exact purport Of
&he word ':next,s" IT is something un-
-common 90 . stretch of pathological
aoupaen and ipSeoisiop. Next is usually
held TO tnean the siehress in time, order
or place. The words neat General As
eembly, 10. q Legislative Act, would or
'dinsrily be andeEatood to designate the
.one 10 be convened sitter tho one which
enacfs, and to refer to- il as O whole,
and not to one part, as the beginning
or ending, aays to tho exolusion OF an
other, and could not be applicable to
Legislatures which might subsequently
DE held. Bus the modern imported
genius which chimes in our Legislative
halls knovs how to wiring it's tribu to
srom language as from everything else.
Patterson said that our poor old State,
dry as it was, would bear great deal
more squeezing. Bot the member
from BarnWell has brought his squeez-
dng or distorting powers to bear upon
our venerable mother tongue itself.
Ae matter which may interest soho-
lars and statesmen. and which the
hard pressed and poor people who pay
their hard.earned money into the State
Treasury to sopport the Government.
may revolve in the intervals of their
coils, if they can find any, we
give |, the. reasoning which under.
takee to establish the conclusion
chat .'next" means "fature." Ac.
cording to it. the Act was meant to
limit the time when an Act should
begin, but uot when it should end.
When We say next week, therefore, We
may beanderatood to mean all weeks
to follbw hereafter. After the Legisla-
tare has axed& the next tax levy, il it
be very high and there be.any legiula-
Give advantage in it. it may be oon-
strued to signify ten or twenty, or any
other number OF years continuously.
The report is long as we'll as curious
and tecondise. Z We can give only a
tonoh of its quality.
THE issne," it says, turns nnon
the legel construction given IA th.