The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-01-15
The Work Of the Legislatura.

MR.. STOKES. Last week I furnished yo1
testimony that the last general assembly of
South Carolina had rejected aud des Used
clear mandate Of the sovereign people ar tha
State, explicitly embodied ip that solemn oovs-
nant-the constituton-which every member
Of the assembly had sworn by the oracles Of
the living God, to protect aud defend-and there
oy the tax payers were remauded 10 arbitrar, !,
rule, and taxation without representation.
will now present to you my opinion that
that same general assembly appropriated and
ordered to be disbursed from the State Treas
! ury, money collected from the people by taxa.
ton, under the authority of the same oonstitu-
ton which contains such authority.
mean the appropriation to jefray the expenses
of the University Of the State with its branches
the Citadel Mt Charleston, and tho Clahin nj
Orangeburg. -.
My opinion is that the ono hundred md
ninety three thousand dollars, about-used as
credit of the State-upon which the University
system was established, and the interest on
which is large factor in its operation, ia a
plain violstion Of that amendment to tho con-
sutution, sanctioned and ratified by both politi.
cal parties III the State, which ordains that no
money shall be raised on the credit of tho
State, without submitting the question Of such
loan to the decision Of the people themselves.
and the sanction of the ir tfirmntive decision
except money to defray the ordinary expenses
of State government! This submission to tho
decision of the people was never made.
Again, way of construction of the constitu.
ton, so willful and so much in vcri6cation of
the old saying, "where there is will there is
way" that it might surprise and shock, both
common sense and common honesty but for the
fact, that it was inauguratcd, and is supported
by the same party which so ingenuously and
so startliugly abdicstcd their duty by rejecting
the bill to take the census in 1885. This as
founding construction behind which the party
have entrenched thcmsel YES, is of the word
| 'free," which is used in the constitution, in
this connection, as follows: 'All the public
schools, colleges and universities of this State,
supported in whole or in part. by the pubic
funds shall be free and open 10 all children and
youths of the State, without regard 10 race or
color How is it possible tlia, that con.truc-
tion can have relation TO anything except race
| or color, in tn use of the word free.
If this University had an agricul tural base.
| were incidental merely, and If there was any
United States government Ian j scrip, or funds
| derived from the sale thereof, then, to the cx-
tent of such provision, and its privileges and
i'm IN unities, there might be plausibility in such
CO instruction. a large amount Of United States
land script was put at the disposal of
the minions of the United States government
| who then bad our PROSTATE state under their
feet, and who ri fled it of every dollar Of money
and convertible credit, which they appropriated
| and EN- bezzlcl, and thus went tho land scrip
aud its proceeds. Where, then, is the authority
or the obligation, in the constitution or else
whcrc in our general Assembly to make nppre-
priuton s for free tuition i'll the so-called Uni
| vcrsity?
| There is another provision in this consitu-
ton, which says there shall be no privileged
| class among our citizens. Here the distin.
guished lobbyist who, in the absence Of the for
mer one-who, on two previous annual like oc-
casions, was brought here from another State to
confound and bewilder the judgment and imagi.
nation of unstable members Of the geueral as.
sembly, by his grand cocutiou and the sublime
| tints and touches of his almost superhuman
powers, fou nd n trouble in Ii $ way which he
could not overcome, and insisted that tuition
should be free to all, and thereby all nvidious
distinctions between the rich anil poor be re-
move d. And thus comforting a distinguished
equality upon each and every student of tho
University aud n dislin guished privilege over
every student of any other institution in the
Stute-a distinction renounced in repeated re-
iteration, by the radical constitution-jus-
tihcation for viii ch was Hereunder claim for il.
The doctrine, thus coming from the lobby,
was taken up few days after, aud endorsed
by the veteran chairman of the judiciary COM.
mittee Of the House, who declared il to be
chrystalizel in the constitution, aud imperativ<
upon the House, and back ed ii with m ap/
in behalf Of the poor studenis--one hunI/ ~
whom would have TO p ack up and t/ 'eu
retrograde march home. if this free Ao VIC
preparation was not allowed. 'a''o" "l
sympathetic young lawyer, froy/ -Nnu '"0'n'
clared, in the gushing cbulit;/ l' ''0"' '
that he could not survive .nob ~. ,,s .ee.'ns %
exodus And thus, ~ "ueh me'"neho
melo nchey responses - '""' we" :"
lawyers, followed VI s'"'' "'ar't
,ron Tho the votes of these raide
mule, and as.ersi and forty dollars and
II eventcen hundred dollar oversee
..t. o.,, ID to every spirited young laddi
coup to the feast there spread Fl
II. be closed by the Intoxicating Germa
will here explain that Mt the last session
tho Leg islature, Oh the passage of the app,
priation bill, sevent cen hundred dollars was a.
70 ded thereto, for th annual pay of an assista
Professor of Agriculture i. was said