The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-08-05

share in maintaining that University.
Therefore, 10 not hesitate 10 say 10 you
that I will vote against any proposition
to make the ;oyalLy fifty cents too ln-
stead of rs cents ton, because ! believe
that the raising of the royalty tn fifty
cents, will raise the price of guano, and
the farmers will have 10 paY it. | am
in favor of the establishment of an Agrl.
cultural University that will teach
the principles of agriculture scientifical'
ly, and I wish to see that institution
maintained from two sources. We have
to day department of agriculture which
costs S2S,U0U year. The main duties
of that department, are the trial OF agri-
cultural experiments, tha propagation OF
fish, and some two or th.ee other similar
light kinds Of work. | think S2S,ooo Is
too much for that. l believe that We
can do that work better, and more ettec-
lively By abolishing the present agricul-
tural department, and devolving its
duties upon the Agricultural University
with that S2&, 900 to run that University.
So that without increasing the expendi'
lures of the State one dollar when you
do, these agricultural experiments which
our friends in Columbia are making,
may be performed as completely as they.
were before. Therefore l am in favor of
of an Agricultural University, the ex-
penses of which shall be betrayed as far
as that money will 90 which is now re-
ceived by the Agricultural Department.
If it is necessary to supplement that sum,
I am in favor of doing il from the direct
taxes of the State. l do not believe in
this roundabout collection of taxes.
Any one don't believe it is right to pay
taxes when they don't know what goes
with the money. How many Of you can
tel! how much we pay to the U. S. Gov.
ernment2 There is a large amount
which goes in this way, and what is the
result? The result is that you have
large surplus in the o. S. Treasury,
which several men know as the River,
Harbor and Road Committee appropri-
ate to different States to dig in little
streams that there is no hope of making
navigable, and the completion of i'm
proyements that never amount to
apything for the people of their State.
Do you mo-; believe that you should
know where that money goes? Do you
not believe that your members OF Con.
gress should rell you when you get your
tax receipt what they are doing with all
that money? Our taxes in South Caro-.
lima are little things compared to what
we pay to tho general government. We
don't know when they go. We pay to
the merchants, and the merchants to the
importers, and the importers to the Gus
tom House officials, and may be it goes
through half dozen hands before it
goes into the Treasury. You don't
recognize that you are paying such sums
to the u. s. Government. l don't
believe in any such system. I want you
to know What goes with your money, and
that is the reason can not vote for the
proposition to raise the royalty on phos'
pilates in this State.
Another thing which think should
be done to relieve the people of this
State is to have sessions of the Legisla-
ture once in two years instead of every
year. A Law which is not good enough
to stand two years ought not to stand
twelve months. l believe the result Of
such change would be to make our
Legislature more careful! and less exper'
mental. They would say before passing
law: "When we leave here we are not
going to get back for two years, and if
this thing will not work, it will be
known. and we will be held to account,
for two years is long enough to test the
merits Of any law" You would reduce
Legislative expenses about one.half by
such change. 1t would give you fewer
elections, and the interests of the State
would, believe, be subserved by such a
change as this.
I think that our county convicts-that
all prisoners sentenced to the Penitenti.
ary for less than twelve months, should
be confined in our county jails, and not
risk the expenses of carrying them to
Columbia and back again, but keep them
in your county jails, and sentence them
to work upon your public roads, in
order that these criminals may contrib
ute their share to relieve the burdens of
our country. During each of the three
times that l attended the Legislature, l
introduced bill like this. The first
time it was defeated, and the next two
times it passed the House and wes each
time defeated in the Senate. I think
that the State should make an effort to
have these county convicts put to work,
instead of allowing them to lie thirty
days in Jail without doing anything.
Upon the subject of the Lien Law
During the last session that was in the
Legislature j voted for its repeal. l be-.
lieve that the condition of our country
has demonstrated that the law was mis-
take-that it has failed 10 do that fol- the
country which it was expected to do;
and while its repeal might work few
Inconvenience to some persons at the
first, in the general run of few years [
believe that it would be advantageous to
the people of the State.
l was the only one in the House OF
Representatives who made speech
against the change from seven per cent.
usury 10 the ten per cent. law. MIR.
Scudday, of this County, moved to strike
out the enacting words of the bill, and
Mr.. Rucker and myself voted against
tho change. 1t was made. I claimed
that it would have two results in this
State. One was that it would decrease
| the value OF land that when the law
gave the right to loan money at ten per
cent, that men would rather have :: mort
gage upon land, and let another fellow
take the chances and the risk of running
it, than to have the land and run it him
self; that it would be safer business,
and that the result would be that it would
retire the money of many from the pur-
chase of the land, and to the result that
it would decease the value Of lands in
our country. The other was that it
would stop the investment of money in
manufactures, because they would rather
take ten per cent than to risk money in
manufactures and there has not been a
mandatory established in this State
since that law was changed, and the price
of land is not so high as when that law
was changed. Therefore, l believe that
the position then took was correct, and
that we ought to go back to the seven
per cent Law. know that political
economists say that money is commo.
dity, and ought to command what it is
worth; but the difference between money
and commodity is this: The difference
between the raw gold which you mine
out of the mine, and the stamped gold