The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-04-08

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I succeeded in securing its passag
in the House, but it was defeated i
the Senate.
I also introduced "a Bill to prt
vide for the deposit aud safe-keepin
of the moneys of the State" Til
main features of this Bill threw safe
guards around the deposits of tn
States moneys. This was intro
duced in the Senate. Journal, Ses
sion 1915, page 691.] This wa
also defeated. Having endeavore'
in my capacity as member of tn
House and rs Senator to provid
against and prevent loss in this man
ner, I feel that I have fully dis
charged my duty in the premises
and am not in any way responsible
for the failure Of the measures intro
duced or the unfortunate results fol
lowing their rejection.
COUNTY TREASURES AND AUDIT
oRs.
Reference to House Journal O.
1928, page So, will show that
I introduced "a Bill to abolish The
office of County Auditor and trans
fer the duties of said Office to the
Clerks Of Courts in their respective
Counties" The Clerks, being elect
i've officers, would have in q large
degree the confidence of the people;
and being in charge Of all the land
in their Counties, they would
necessarily be conversant with the
value Of real property, and could
assess it as we'll as the personal
property with greater accuracy and
less expense than the Auditors, and
their appointment to the service
would break up or prevent the col
lusion supposed to exist in many
cases between the Auditors and
Treasurers. The Bill, however,
failed to pass the House.
During the regular session Of
1874-75 Jas shown on page 80 of
Senate Journal] I proposed "a
Bill to make the Offices of County
Treasurers and Auditors elective.
This Bill being defeated, I again, at
the session Of 1851, [Senate
Journal, page 1927 introduced "a
Bill to provide for the election of
County Treasures and Auditors. :"
This was also defeated. I tried
again [Senate Journal, session Of
1877-78, page 27,] by presenting q
Bill with the same title as the last
introduced, which passed the Sen.
ate but was not acted upon in the
House.
REDUCTION OF SALARIES.
After relating my policy and
votes in regard to retrenchment and
reform generally in the State gov
ernmens it may seem unnecessary to
further specify, and yet I think it
proper to refer to other actions Of
mine in the same direction. My
vote and voice were invariably
given in favor of a reduction of
salaries to the lowest minimum con-
sistent with the proper performance
of the duties of the several Offices.
At the session 1876 [senate
Journal, page 260,] I introduced "a
Bill to fix the salaries of certain
officers. with tabular statements in
relation thereto" Although not
passed in the form in which I offered
it, yet its provisions in the main
were reported by the Finance Com
mittee as amendments to a Bill from
the House on the same subject and
eventually became the law.
The Committee not having adopt
ed that portion of my Bill referring
to the commissions to be allowed
County Treasurers, when it was
being considered in the Senate, as
shown on page 325 of Journal,
moved to amend the amendment tc
Section 2 by striking out the
words twenty-five hundred dol
lars and inserting the word!
two thousand in reference to the
commissions of County Treasurers
so that it should read they shall no
receive more than two thousand dol
lars,' and my amendment to tn
amendment was adopted. Thi
alone saved the State annual.
nearly $4,000. During the SAM
session, when this Bill Wa
under consideration, | also Offered
to fix the amount allowed the Audi
tor of Anderson County for assess
ments at $400 instead of. $3.50
Several Democratic Senators moved
to include their Counties, whicl
operated to postpone the considera
tion of the Bill. When my amend
ment came up I produced q tele
gram from the County Commission
ers of Anderson County, also q let
ter and telegram from Mr.. I. j
Webb, then Auditor, that S40O wa
sufficient remuneration. Notwith
standing, my amendment was votet
down-13 to 10. One would natural
IL 4,