The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-06-07
a careful consideration they reported q
,,r;tto, o1,+forro uDo,, ,pb;oh Tho 10 m :


written platform, upon which the cam
paign was to be conducted. The Gus
tomary duties of the Executive Commit
tee had been to appoint the time, place
and persons who were to address the
masses in behalf of the Democracy tt
invite speakers to assist in the campaign
both from within and from without the
State; to distribute political pamphlets
to inform the Commissioners and Mana
gers of Elections throughout the State ot
their duties; to collect money to defray
the expenses of the committee; to have
the ballots printed and distributed-in
fine, to conduct the entire campaign
But they had no right or power to change
the platform either by adding to it OF
taking from il. 1t was their compass to
guide them in the campaign. The adop-
ton of the above resolution was, there
fore, usurpation of authority not given
to them, and was the addition of an i'm
portant plank to the platform, and was
not binding upon any member of the
Democratic party except the members OF
the Executive Committee.
Under this assumed, authority, this
same Executive Committee pledged or
attempted to pledge, the Democratic
party to support an amendment to the
State constitution. This amendment
reads as follows: That section 5 of article
10 be amended as follows, to-wit: "The
boards of County Commissioners of the
several counties shall levy an ANIMAL tax
of not less than taco mills ON the dollar
of all taxable property IN their respective
counties, which levy shall not be in
| creased, unless by special enactment Of
the General Assembly, for the support OF
the public schools in their respective
counties, which tax shall be collected at
the same time and by the same officers
as the other taxes for the same year, and
shall be held in the treasures of their
respective counties, and paid out exclu.
sively for the public schools, as provided
by law. There shall be assessed on all
taxable polls in the State an annual tax
of one dollar on each poll, the proceeds
of which tax shall be applied solely to
educational purposes: Provided, That no
person shall ever. be deprived of the right
of suffrage for the non-payment Of such
tax. No, other poll or capitation tax
shall be levied in this State; nor shall
the amount assessed on each poll exceed
the limit given, in this, section. The
school tax shall be distributed among the
several school districts of the counties in
proportion to the respective number Of
pupils attending the public schools. No
religious sect or:sects shall have exclu-
sive right to or control of any part of the
school funds of the State, nor shall Sec
tartan principles be taugh in the public
schools" This amendment was passed
by, the Senate at this session of the Cen
eral Assembly. If it should become.
part Of the constitution, and the tax be
levied to pay the public debt, as ascer-
tanned under the consolidation act Of
December %, 1873, what will be its
effect upon the tax payers of this State,
7 The last election returns show that we
have over 100000 voters. In this State
the capitation tax is levied upon all per-
sons between twenty-oue and fifty years
of age. The amount of capitation tax
will be about $3.50, 900. The amount OF
taxable property for the year 1876, as
appears from the report of the Comp
troller General, is $133,132,698, Now, q
tax of two mills upon this amount will
give $3.50, ,265.27. Now, this added to the
$3.50, 1000, will give us an annual tax un-
der the constitution, of S976, ,265.N, to be
used exclusively for educational purposes.
If to this you add the proposed levy of
$4,000 to pay the interest upon the
public debt, as ascertained by the Re
publican party, and in accordance with
the resolution of the 4th of October,
I1S76, adopting the public debt of the
Republican party, it will give you the
annual tax Of $646,265.27. This tax is
proposed to be fastened upon the people
| bv the modest action of the seven gen.
tlemen of the State Democratic Execu.
| tive Committee, in utter disregard of the
wishes of 81 900 democratic voters.
But if to this amount you add the sum
| of S143, ,10O,. levied to pay the salaries of
the executive and judicial officers of the
State, also the sum of $101, 300, levied for
| the support and maintenance of the
penal, charitable and educational insti-
tutions of the State, exclusive of common
schools, and the sum of $4,000 for the
printing of the General Assembly, these
several amounts aggregating s244, 40,
which, added to the $646, ,265.27, will give
us $500, ,675.27 as the tax to be levied
under the present bill; and if to this we
add the sum of $S1 400 for the pay of the
members of the General Assembly and
the salaries of its subordinate officers
and employees, we will have the amount
of taxes proposed to be levied by the
members of this General Assembly, all
of which amounts to the enormous sum
of s972,075.27, to be levied upon tax
able property Of S133, ,1326SS. Now, be-
fore the war, the taxable property of this
State amounted to $592,530, ,552, it being
four times the present amount. The ex-
penses Of the government before the war
averaged about S450,000. The proposed
levy is more than twice the amount, ii
being in excess of the ante 6ellum ex.
penses by the sum of S522, ,O75.27, and, as
I have shown, with only one-fourth OF
the taxable property upon which TO raise
this amount, and with a financial pres.
sure that has been without precedent.
and upon people overcome and ruined
by war and prosecuted byepnjust, unlaw,
full and corrupt legislation for the lasl
ten years; and still the poisoned chalice
of corrupt taxation is to be rendered to
their lips, and that, too, by the action o
Democratic representatives. trust the
General Assembly will pause before they
consummate this great wrong upon the
honest, struggling people of this State.
Those who favor the levying a tax oi
| $27O,OOO to pay the interest on the public
debt claim that it is the pet measure o1
the administration. This is new term
as applied to the government of South
Carolina. The State officers were all
elected on the same general ticket on
which the Governor and the members o.
the General Assembly were elected, and
we owe our election to the people. It j:
different with the members of the Cabi
Lnet of the President of the United States
| He chooses his Cabinet, and they are
confirmed or rejected by the United