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

Ol UuI puoIiC uuHuS1hA dAo'io. Wv
comparison relative to this legisla
ton will suffice. For four year:
previous to the passage Of this Acl
the General Assembly appropriated
as near as can be ascertained, (aftel
deducting the amounts due member!
and attaches from the amount ap
propriated) two hundred thousand
dollars for incidental expenses
whilst the expenses incurred by the
officers of the two houses, and fol-
which State paper was issued
amounted to nine hundred thousand
dollars, or seven hundred thousand
dollars in excess Of the amount ap'
propriated, a large proportion Of
which was paid. After the passage
of this Act appropriations for Incl
dental expenses, made by the Repub-
lican administration which followed,
for two years amounted in the aggre-
gate to about twenty-five thousand
dollars. Now, I challenge any one
to produce any paper issued or con.
tracts made in excess of the amount
so appropriated. 1t is true County
Commissioners in some Counties
overlooked or disregarded the plain
provisions of the law, but they were
promptly tried, convicted and sent
to the Penitentiary.
Before this Bill was considered by
the Senate, and being apprehensive
that it might not pass, 1 introduced
the following amendments to the
Appropriation and Supply Bills.
House Journal 1894, pages 1874
and 425. Hence, if the Bill had
failed to pass, these amendments to
the Appropriation and Supply Bills,
as adopted, would have. in some
measure, alleviated and remedied
the evils complained of.
AMENDMENT TO APPROPRIATION
BILL.
"On motion of Mr.. Cochran. the Bill was
amended by adding the following as Sec
tiOn 8:
"SEcr1oS s. The money appropriated in Sec.
tion 2 of this Act shall not be paid out except
for expenses incurred during tn the fiscal year
October 81, 1874; and it is hereby made felony
for any officer to pay out any portion OF the
samc. otherwise than herein provided tor, anu
upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by
fine and Imprisonment, at the discretion OF the
Court, not to exceed FIVE thousand dollars
fine, nor exceed two years Imprisonment
AMENDMENT TO SUPPLY BILL.
"Mr. Cochran moved to amend Section 8 by
striking out the word thereof and inserting
and it is horeby made the duty OF the GGountsy NY
levy made in this Section separate and apart
from oil other funds. and they are hereby for
hidden to pay out any portion of the same ex-
cept for County expenses incurred during the
fiscal year for which it is levied and collected,
OF for some subsequent fiscal year; and the
County Commissioners are hereby forbidden to
draw any warrant contrary to the provisions
the tho Il" levy herein made Adopted"
Governor Chamberlain referred to
the improved condition of the Coun-
ties under the operation Of this Act
as follows:
II am glad to express the belief that the
financial condition of many of the Counties OF
the past year. In general, think the former former
hnbits Of extravagance and fraud IN county
affairs have been corrected"
PUBLIC PRINTING.
AS Chairman of the Joint Com
mittee for the Investigation Of
Frauds, &C., I have in the mostpar-
ticular and emphatic manner ex-
posed and held up for condemnation
the wicked and nefarious frauds
committed under the head of pub
lie printing; but as that report may
not have been seen and read by a
large portion of the people Of the
County, I propose here to advert to
some few Of the leading and salient
features of this opt ,eous fraud,
styled the RepubI Printing Com.
pany, and to recap p5.dlate some of the
means and bold articles by which
the people of this State were for
years Systematically robbed and
plundered, and the efforts [ made in
the General Assembly to correct
and forever prevent a repetition of
such abuses. I think I can truth.
fully affirm that in every manner
possible within my capacity, as a
member Of the General Assembly, I
did oppose, and at last succeeded,
with the aid Of others, in breaking
down and destroying this unscrupu-
lous, though powerful, combination.
By referring to House Journal, ses-
sion Of 1928, page liz, when it
was proposed by joint resolution, at
one fell swoop, to appropriate $780,
900 for public printing, my vote,
with the votes of twenty.four others,
will be found recorded against such
appropriation. But, as subsequently
proven, the sum of $41, 1863 was
paid to various members for their
votes. All opposition was futile and
the appropriation was made. Again,
during the special session of 1878,
this printing ring presented another
Bill appropriating 1921 900 for pub
lie printing, which I also opposed;
and by examination of the House
Journal from pages 142 to l44 my
vote will be found in the negative
in every stage of its passage. Those
of us who voted against its passage
felt some confidence in defeating