The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-12-28

cular. means that drunken man will
sneak the truth. And so last Friday
night one Of the"boys"who was taxing
his Christmas in advance spoke only
the literal truth when he said that the
term "Reform Party" as applied
to the dominant element in this state,
was a misnomer, and that they should
be dubbed the ''ruination Party"
It is a sad truth that the General
Assembly. which has just finished its
first session has certainly exhibited
most destructive tendencies, and has
not reformed worth a cent.
There is the s'saiary reduction bilp'-
gone where the woodbine'twineth, the
Whangdoodle roreath and the campaign
howler reioiees for his first born, is the
answer that echoes through the now
empty corridors of the State House.
Where is prohibition-killed ID the
house of its friends and traVesty
substituted for it, is the reply that Is
sadly heard as the tread Of departing
feet dies away in the distance. ;,
And where, oh, where is the much
talked of reduction Of taxation" 1t
comes in the shape of an increased
levy for State purposes, and our over
burdended taxpayers, many OF Whom
find it hard work to dodge the sheriff,
viii pay, for the year 1898, one mill
more to the State than they did in 1892
:sReform," as defined by the majority
Of the State Legislature, consists 10
harassing the. great corporations oy
yexatious and arbitrary legislation,
and in destroying the liquor business
in the hands of individuals and max
ing the State the vender OF !ntoxlcants
Truly the mountain has labored and
brought forth very, very small
mouse.
But .csa 5onos What is done is done
and it only remains for me to
choronlcle briefly the leading esenes OF
the closing week of the session. -,
The week opened with q battle royal on
prohibition in the Senate. The 'EVsns
dispensary binn was taken up as an
amendment to the" "Roper-Nett bill",
and in this shape was forced through a
second reading. The minority, under
the skilled leadership Of that able and
accomplished parllamentarian, Eenatoi
rSmythe, of Charleston-ably secondeo
by his colleague, Senator Bnist, and by
Senator Sloan, Of Richland, and Others
made an all night fight of it, and
attacked the bill with eloquence ano
logic that could not be answered.
But it was ALI vain. The nat hac
gone forth, and the royal command
was obeyed.
In speaking against the Evans amend.
ment Senator Smythe said be could
not see how the prohibitionlst who
bases bis opinion ON moral grounos
could vote for q bill to transfer the
traffic from one channel to another. Ii
was not right to embark the State IN
such speculation. The cry OF tins
Legis' 'ature is, Down with monopoly
Yet this is monopoly Of the worst
kind. We are all going in as partners
to sell LIQUOR. It is paternalism. Here
we are creating little army OF govern:
ment EMPLOYEES. By this bill we seno
the State of South Carolina into the
market to buy liquor on credit.
Senator Buist made a three-houl
speech discussing almost everything
under the sun. Several Senators rose
to points of order, asking that the
Senator be allowed to speak sitting
down, and inquiring if member
could be regarded as present when De
was asleep.
The amendment passed its third
reading in the Senate Friday night al
$50 O'clock and then the fight was
transferred to the House. There, as IL
the Senate, the antis made stubborn
but frIitless fight.
The speech of Mr.. Sullivan, Of Char
lesion, against the amendment was
very funny. He said that it reminded
him of the Black Code. 1t was filled
with nothing but persecution ano
punishment. Under it you had to be
. villain or an angel. Ifyou looked al
bottle unsealed you were william. Il
you buy one from the State sealed, you
are an angel. Under it liquor could
only be purchased in bottles. he hoped
the Legislature would not compel him
to carry his drink around in his pocket
Citizen Josh Ashley made char
acteristic speech against the bill. He
had come pledged for prohibition, but
if ANYBODY wonid show him any pro-
hibitiop be would eat it. The amend.
ment was .twenty-eight sections long.
Ho was no lawyer but be knew that
TIN courts would decide in ten minutes
that no such lengthy amendmet could
lM made on the spur Of the minute
Vhere was no prohibition in it. Under
ieyou could not only buy liquor, but
they compelled you to buy a whole
bottle in order to get any.
Mr.. Thomas, of Columbia, gave the
most forcible argument against the
passage of the amendment. He said
that on account Of it's great length it
was practically new bill and it had
NOS been read three times in the House
as was required of all bills by the Con-
stitution.. The bill had not been printed,
thus preventing ell opportunity to con-
slider it. The bill did not relate to but
one subject and that subject was not
expressed in the title, as required by
the Constitution.
The amendment was passed by vote
of 81 to 80, as follows:
Yeas-Barry, Breszeale, Buist, Car
penter, Cox, Covington, Dendy, J. T.
Duncan, Edwards. Estridge, Fielder,
Folk, Foster, Gary, Graham, Ham
NETT, Hardy, Harper, Hill. Jefferies,
Jordan, Johnson, Kennedy,sKnotts, ].
D. and II. J. Kinard, Lemon, Magill,
Mauldin, McWhite, Mitchell, Net
ties, Oliver, Parks, Pearman, Phillips,
Rast. Roper, Shuman, Skinner, Smith,