The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-12-26
gaaersoa autfiligenfer,
I. u. MURRAY, Editor.
TAURsDAY il6fNlNe. DEC'R az, Ia7s.
FROM COLUMBIA.
OUR EDIToRIAL LETTER.

and night SESSIONS ana tile afternoons were
crowded with business Of various kinds,
which prevented the preparation of orr
usual weekly letter, and therefore. We will
attempt In this letter to give brief resume
Of the past two weeks legislation, which
will practically close the work OF the ses-
sion. as VIC will finally adjourn on Tuesday
morning at four o'clock, and thus reach
our homes on that evening in time for the
Christmas holidaye, having completed the
work of the Legislature IN just four weeks,
which makes this the shortest session that
has been held since the war.
When we left of our last letter the dis
cuesion of the propriety Of abolishing
THE BoxD COURT .Nr
was just begtin, and appeared TO DO quite q
homeless task. 1t was discussed from day
10 day for about three days-M essre. Brown,
Cl,ildr. Shaw, Cooke, Moody, r. r. Hemp
hill, w. K. Bradley and Murray adyoca-
ting its abolition, and Messrs. Kennedy
hill, shand, Miles, Aldrich, Buist, Simon
ION M! Haskell opposing: Tie sI5evilrs
were warm In interest, and some Of them
quite eloquent, while some were to GER
tain extent personal. or this latter class
was the speech of Mr.. j. j. Hemphill who
WIS put up TO using certain articles from
the lNTELLiaENcER upon the coupon cases
before Judge Muckey to show that Mr..
Murray approved of the Court, and was
therefore inconsistent in now fayoring its
abolition. Mr.. Haskell furnished him the
articles, which were sent up from Charles
ton by the advocates of bondholders in that
city. Mr. Murray replied, showing that he
had read only portions of the articles,
which, when takel as whole, showed that
his position was Mt that time in favor of the
the payment of the fraudulent portion of
the debt, without committing himself to
the Court. He also argued that the failure
to get KmDton's testimony occurred after
the articles were written AID that If he had
favored the Court before, that would have
been enough to chunge his opinion. He
said that the bondholders had tried first to
break up this Court by the suits on coupons,
and that If the contract was not binding on
them it should not be on the State. He
argued that if tie Bond Court decided the
question in favor of the people, the Su-
. preme Court of the State or OF the United
states would decide IL 10 be nn unconstitu-
s;onal court. and titus the question would
return to the Legislature after all. He was
i'll favor of settling the 3ucstio: perma-
. the sume time give security 10 the bona fide
bondholders. When tho hour for voting
! arrived, Tho roll was called, and the vote
stood tity-three for abolishing the Court,
and fifty-seyen against it. Mr.. Murray
then changed his vote to the major
ity, so as 10 move Il reconsideration, but
the Bond Court men blocked this move by
moving to reconsider and to lay that mo-
ton on the table, which was warmly sup
ported by Gen. McGowan, and the question
was thus finally disposed Of. We will pub
.ish DR.. Browns speech i'll full next week
; as he has been 90 busy 10 furnish us copy
= of it up to this .ime. Although we failed
!, to abolish the Court, the discussion did O
grent deal of good by showing up the true
v character of the debt, which prevented the
o APPROPRIATION OF ANY INTEREST
!, to meet the accruing Interest on the doub:
y full del: of the State. 1t required very lit
D, tie effort TO prevent this levy of interest
and as soon as the decision upon it wa
made, Mr.. Murray offered us section l8 O
"a the appropriation bill proviso that enough
d of the money already in the treasury whicl
j was held to Fay the interest ON the doubt
= full debt, II it should be decided valid, shal
J.. be taken to pay the interest on the valit
v and honest debt of the State for next year
This was fought very hard by the Charles
) ton delegation, and Messrs. Haske;i, Blue
!, ]. J. Hemphilf and Others, but was supper
a ted by Generals Kennedy, MCGOWAN, X. X
! Ecmphill and Mr.. Murray, and was adop
q ted by vote OF n to 40. There was then
q motion mado to reconsider this vote, end
the motion was laid on the table. The
; next night Mr.. Buist moved tn strike GU:
the whole section. but his motion was ls!d
on the table by vote of 70 to ~. sen
McGowan then moved to MAKE the money
applicable to the past due coupons of 1870
: and 1877. Mr. Murray opposed this, be-
cause q law had already passed providing
for funding these coupons In State bonds,
and took tile position that It would be bad
policy to pay these coupons In money,
when the owners OF them were willing TO
o take bonds, and showed that it would raise
D the taxes to take this course, and therefore
t he moved to lay Gen. McGowan's motion
on the table, which was agreed tc by vote
of rs to l3. DIR. Brown then called the pre-.
vious question, which was sustained and
! the bill passed and was sent to the Senate
where the section was sustained by vote
: of % to O. The consequence of this was to
reduce the tax levy for next year to 2;
mills for State purposes, ::nd but for the
! decrease in the taxable property Of the
State. owing to the agreement Of the Icss=
lature to accept the County assessments fol
. the present year, and have new assess
!, ment made next year, the amount wou.1
. have been still less.
THE ia; FOE ANDERSON COUNTY
will be: for State purposes % mills. for com
mon schools, 2 mills and for County pur
poses not exceeding mills-so that the ta,
ior next year cannot be more than "a mill.
for all purposes, anG will be less If the Coun
ty Commissioners can get on with q smaIle
sum than three mills This tax is to b,
collected in two equal instaliments-one
half in May and the other in October, Will
= the privilege to the taxpayer OF paying oil
= in the last named month by paying pen
. atty OF hye per cent: on the first half. Th
also been reduced from one dollar to twenty
hve cents, and every consideration which I
proper has been extended tn the citizen.
Z An act has been passed requiring lant
owners upon the streams III Anderson
County, once in each year, to clear out tn,
s logs and brCsh which ure washed down b,
freshetS. This Is measure to assist drain
age and health, and ifproperly carried ou
Will confer great benefits upon the owner
!; OF bottom lands without seriously incom
moding any one. The fence law has beer
:. passed for Abbeville. I4aurens and Newbcr
ry. The net authorizing divorces in Soutl
Carolina has bee repealed, and 1t nov
stands as it did before the war. Cumnla
tye voting has been abolished in the towI
OF Anderson. The Office OF Master has beei
created in Anderson, Sumter and othc
Counties, and law passed to acceleyaf
partition, which will in o considerable
measure remedy the evils likely to resul
from the decision of the Supreme Cour
X IN reference to the Jurisdiction of the Pro
!. bate. Courts. The bill regulating Tria
? Justices in Anderson County has beef
changed by bill introduced by DR.. Brown
SO as to allow two at Anderson With q sala
Oh twenty dollars each, and one in eacl
Q township with salary OF fifteen dollar
!. ecch, for their State business, and the fee
heretofore allowed in civil cases. Nessrr
Piuaon, Singleton and Newton have beal
confirmed ~ the Senate for Williams.on
Brushy Geek and Garvin, and sg;ll hol,
their Offices until the Spring OF 1880. An
pointments will have to be made In th
otheT townships, and the delegation hns de
IT cided to refer the selection to the Demo
It cratic voters by
: rhIMAHv ELRCTIoH g {
70 for the different positions. The Pres,5,,,
y OF Democratic Clubs are rentitsatAl -
arrangements Immediately Inv hal "A; ~. -.