The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-02-05
PREF.

OF your criticisms upon the conduct Of
certain Of uur Representatives Il, the re.
cent session Of the General Assembly
with reference to the locsl option matter.
You deserve, and am quite sure are nc.
c,rded, the "well done" ofall the friends
of temperance, ~ well ~ those who be
licve in the right of the people To rule.
Circumlocution, and otherwise dodging
the issue, will not avail the gentlemen,
for although the mass of the people
know little Of the mazGs Of legislation,
they cannot be bambOozled in u matter
so palpabic "a this.
II is true, and admitted in some in.
stances, that the people don't know ex.
actIy what would lie best for them. 1t
is admitted that they make mistakes, and
the truth of this was never more fOrcibly
illustrated than in the election last Fall.
NoX PoruLI.
MIR EuiToK: Although / am unac-
customed to writing for the papers, or
anything Of the kind, ! can not refrain
from writing a short article in reference
to the petition sent to our last iorisla
ture, asking that the people Of thi.
County be allowed to determine for
themselves whether prohibition should
be the rule in this County or not. That
is, have the people right to petition the
Legislature To pass All Act allowing Il
majority of the people by buiLoi, to de-
trrmine whether spirituous liquors shall
in the future he manufactured or sold in
Anderson County and have such pc,
titioners a right to be heard by their i'm.
mediate Representatives and if not
heard, then have they right to insist,
if necessary, for the reasons why they
have not been heard?
If | understand the matter, this is the
question ut issue, and it seems to me, eau
be easily settled. Our Representatives
are not asked whether they arc in favor
Of prohibition or not, but were they in
favor of allowing the people to decide
this lucal question for themselves or not
and the question can be easily answered.
1t isnot necessary fling up the prom
ises which the candidates made in their
speeches to the people," and it seems
rather hard to do so, for it is no hidden
matter, that the leading object in such
promises is to secure the position. Then
again, was not "Prep" too hard about
that five dollar per day business? We
people of the country think, land wheth
er it is true or not, we firmly believe it,)
that a part of the compensation our
Representatives receive, is for ther ser.
ricrs, par. of it for their e.rpenses, and
part Of it for incidentdIs, &C., and the
latter being ~ important as either of the
former. There is an immense amount
of Expenses, incidentals, &c." that at
tnches to our Representatives, and such
things have to be paid III spot cash: and
it is certainly right that the money of
the people who send their Representatives.
away from home and from business to
Columbia should square such accounts.
What do you think of this, "Prep ?"
Were you not rather too hard in this
little financial matter? Then again, We
are not discussing the question as to the
wisdom or expediency of repeating the
local option law upon the whiskey sub
ject, or what individual persons may
think about it, even if that individual
happens to be r preventative but what
we want to know is have the people a
right to decide this whiskey business for
themselves Or not7 and if not, why ?
We are not waiting "for all the States to
enact the same statute" which some of
our Representatives seem to think a
doubtful matter, but our concern is about
the question at issue, and if Representa-
tives can not concern themselves about
ererything," nor even do anything
pertaining to the interests of their con.
stituents, then they surely ought to allow
their constituents to attend to their own
local business in theiF own way, any If
they fail to do this, then to what extent
do they represent the people?
Then again, Mr.. Editor, it is a sacri.
fice far too great, and hardship too
severe, for each one interested In this mat.
ter TO make pilgrimage from the remote
corners of the County to the City of
Anderson, through mud, sleet, snow and
rain, and endure the privations and suf
feripga of the journey, for the purpose
of hunting up our Representative and
asking him why we are not allowed to
decide this local question for ourselves.
1t is true that the people sometimes do
unreasonable things, but not so much so
as such q pilgrimage would be. We
would like to know how our Representa-
tives stand upon this matter, but we are
not quite that anxious-no, sir, not by
any means.
We expect to see such things in our
County papers, where all parties are
allowed fair hearing, aud it is simple
justice to the people that our public
servants should inform the people upon
all matters pertaining to the peoples in.
terest, and If they fail to do 70, or evade
simple, plain questions, like the one at
issue, the people, whether in favor or op.
posed to prohibition, will not be satisfied,
and if l am not mistaken, all parties will
find out sooner or later "who struck
BILLY PATTERSON"