Richland beacon., 1878-02-09
That Constructive Mileage.

! Il NAV be possible that, in our or
/ ticle on this subject last week, our
( language was SO construed by some
of oIir READERS as to haze caused Us TO
/ do some Of our State Senators an III
iu-ticr: and aS we have no desire l"
do any one an injustice. we will here
state that We did not mean Ia say that
none of them agreed with Mr.. Boat
ner on his bill, for even his Original
/ bill had a few strong advocates III that
! body. and the bill, with an amend
mrn,. finally passed the senate; but
majority failed to agree With hun. ana
even a. amended it met with strong
opposition in the Senate and still
stronger in the House. and had not
passed that body the last we heard OF
it: but may have passed this week.
The purpose of the original bill was
the repeal of the act allowing meth
hers 30 cents per mile and t" cut
down the S. per thirty miles to IS per
day for actual service during the
sessions of The Legislature aud the
time necessarily occupied in travelling
to aud from the Capitol, aud that 1t
take effect from aud after lis passage.
As amended the 20 cents clause Is
rcpenied ami the per diem is reduced
To Sc. hut the bill i, not 20 take elect
till 1879; is not to affect the conpen-
sation of tie presen, Legislature.
The strongest aLd most tenahlc
grouLd of opposition 10 the original
bill Was It's uncUns,l,utlonaliiv, that
Fundamental Instrument authorizing
the Legislature TO raise or reduce the
compensation of its mcmbers, but
providing that 40 change should affect
the Legislature making it-a wise
provision Of pretty general Use in
aforementioned we are inclined To
thu opinion that he position was well
taken. although Mr.. Boatner, who Is
an eminent attorney, ASSUMED the
position that the mileage. allowed by
an act Of IN, Legislature OF 1872. did
not come under this provision, aud
also that it vas unconstitutional, and
hence, its repeal could not be uncon-
stiiutional.
1t was, of course. our own fault
that we wrote our article last week in
a hurry md sent our manuscript To
press without revising il but IN doing
SO we failed To Inform our readers
that, under the existing law, each
| III lad nor
mile, in addition to the $500 per 30
miles, going to aud returning from the
sessions of the Legislature. And
these miles! As an illustration, We
will take Claiborne, with two Repre-
sentatives aud Senator from it and
an adjoining parish. which is set down
ut 100 miles-aboUt One-tbird more
han the actual misunderstanding the
. round trip 1880 miles; and ON this
basis each one of these members
receives, or is entitled TO. S752 53ss
in addition to his per diem while tie
Legislature is in session.
Thus it can be seen that Mr.. Boat
, Der's bill, without the amendment,
would have saved the State thousands
of dollars during the present session,
and will, with the amendment, save
thousands in the future. if it becomes
law, aud that it is really reform
meaeure, Olwlthsl aDding the taunts
Of those who ridiculed it as a cheap
bid for :he reputation of being u
champion of reform and retrenchnent
: Those who were not bidders for tbi.
: reputation need no, fear the pecuniary
> less to be sustained by members under
: the provisions of this act, for We
presume their constituents will not b,
in any great hurry tn call upon then
to maks the sacrifice
We congratulate Mr.. Boainer's con
s,iturnrs % their good fortune il
securing to themselves aud the Stat,
the services Of Sc worthy servan
= and so Jealous an advocate Of reform
> and reirenchment, for this is not thu
:. only measure Of public good be ba,
!. earnestly labored for by good many
But in thus noticing the worth Of Mr.
Boatner we would not be understood
Ne disparaging other worthy Senators
" Our neighbors Of Ouachila aud Cald
o we'll have Senator, Mr.. S.ubbs. u
> whom they have right to feel proud
:, while we have no reason 10 b
: ashamed of our own Senator, MI
). Wheeler; although elected by tn
: Republican party. he is worthy Of th
4 position he occupies.
Thomas j. Vaughan. Esq. of tn
= Beacon. is doing his utmost 10 bull