The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-07
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE
Clearly Shown That the Registration
Bill Ought Not to Pass.

Saussy and S. B. Adams, of the citizens
committee, which went up TO oppose the
new registration bill, returned from At
lanta last night.
The members of the committee who re-
turned are all in accord as to the method
and character of the proceedings before
the Senate special judiciary committee.
The members of the Chatham delega-
ton were conferred with" said Mai.
Meldrim, yesterday, "before entering the
committee room, and several amendments
to the bill were proposed. First, it was
proposed that the time of registration be
left the same as it is now, in March,
April and May, instead of June,
July and August, then that the
section making the tax receipt of the year
next preceding prima facie evidence of the
payment of all taxes, be stricken out. and
finally that the registration, instead of
being placed in the hands of
the ordinary, who was dependent
for his Office upon the pop
ular vote, be conducted by commission
of three, one TO be appointed by the Judge
of the superior court, one by the Judge of
the city court, and the third by the grand
jury, none of the appointive powers being
dependent for their Office on the popular
vote.
THE delegation agreed, - said Maj. Mel
drim, "tO the first two of these amend
ments, but rejected the third one outright,
saying they wanted to put the registra-
ton in the hands of the ordinary. This
was the way the matter stood when the
committee room was entered.
MIR. Adams and myself made argu-
ments against the measure, and Mr.. Os-
borne spoke in its favor. 1t has been
stated that Senator Wright made an
argument in favor of the bill. He was in
thorough accord with the Chatham dele
cation, but if he made any argument in
favor of the bill he did so after we left
the committee room, and had no oppor-
tunlty to say anything in reply.
"Ihe Chatham delegation. through Mr..
Osborne as their spokesman, acceded to
the demands of the citizens committee so
far as the amendments concerning the
time and tax receipts were concerned.
but Mr. Osborne refused to accept the
amendment putting the registration in the
hands of the commission spoken of, say
ing that the Chatham delegation had
made the same proposition three weeks
ago and it had been rejected So far as
that proposition was concerned, that was
the first I heard of its having been made
by the Chatham delegation. Whether it
was or not, l did not know, but we made
the statement that, if the proposition to
create such a commission was right then,
when they had suggested it, it was right
now, and asked why, if the representa-
tives considered it right, as they must
have done to have proposed it, they
did not consider it right now. Mr. Os-
borne replied to the effect that some state
ments had been made about the delega-
ton which were not liked. How some
personal pique could alter the question of
right as TO the commission Of registration
suggested we did not see, but the commit
tee seemed to think differently, and with
the other amendments, l understand, de-
cided to recommend the bill favorably"
In speaking of Mr.. Osborne's argument
against the bill, Mr.. Saussy said yester-
day that the Chatham delegation desired
the ordinary to take charge of the regis
tratiOn, because they thought he was a
better man to oft"
Mr.. Osborne admitted that it was
better for some one to have
charge of the registration who did
not hold an elective Office, but in spite of
this insisted on its being placed in the
hands of the ordinary.
1.-The charge was made that the county
commissioners had never attended to
their duty, and he was unwilling that
they be trusted because he was afraid
they would do like other boards
are said to have done, and neg
lect their business. He stated
that the commissioners met only once
month, and that they were rarely in their
Office during the day, which duty, of
course, the law does not require of them.
1.-The committee" said MIR. Saussy,
"also agreed to add an amendment for a
supplemental registration from Dec l to
Is, in order to meet the county elections
in January.
THE citizens committee stated to the
Senate committee, if they wanted, to
make the bill perfectly fair, an amend
ment should be made putting the regis
tration in the hands of a commission as
suggested. The Chatham delegation re-
fused to accept this and Senator Wright
was in full accord with them all the way
through, even on the bill as it originally
stood So far as the citizens committee is
concerned no proposition of a measure
contemplating a commission of registra-
ton was ever made as claimed by the
Chatham delegation. and if they did con-
template any such proposition, it is hard
to see why they should refuse to accede
to it when made before the
Senate committee. The propo-
sition came from the citizens committee
to them at this hearing"
Mr.. Saussy said there was no doubt
about its having been proven conclusively
by Maj. Meldrim and MIR. Adams that the
bill ought not to pass.