The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-08
TO co TO A COMMISSION.
The Judges Of Three Courts TO Have
Charge Of the Registration.

Charge Of the Registration.
A Compromise Between the Citizens
Committee and the Chatham Dele
gation-The Bill as Amended to Be
Passed by the senate-The Compro-
mise Accepted by Both Sides as the
Most Practicable Solution of the
/ Vexed Question.
The fight on the county registration
/ bill has practically ended in a compro-
/ mise Instead OF the control of the regis
/ ration being placed in the hands of the
ordinary, it is TO be entrusted to a COM
mission composed of the Judge of the
/ superior court, the judge of the city
court and the judge of the ordinary,s
court, who are to appoint two registrars,
one from each of the leading parties or
| factions, to conduct the registrations.
The first news of the compromise re-
ceived in Savannah, was when Mai.
| Ryals, Capt. D. G. Purse,
and Alderman David Wells, of the
/ citizens committee, who have been in
Atlanta opposing the bill, arrived in the
city from Atlanta yesterday morning.
! They were accompanied by Representa-
tive Do0lan, who introduced the bill
! The object of the return of the commit
| tee to Savannah, accompanied by Mr.
DOOlan, was to have the compromise
which had been agreed upon in Atlanta
ratified here.
This was accomplished, and Mr.. Doolan
returned to Atlanta last night with the
| report that both sides are agreed to
| the compromise and that the bill is
to be pushed through to its pass
no l.a
There is little doubt that this will be
done, as all three of the representatives
have agreed to the compromise and
Senator Wright favOrs it.
CREATED SOME SURPRISE.
The news Of the compromise was some
what OF q surprise yesterday as from
the attitude assumed by the two factions
toward the bill it was expected that they
would fight it out on the line on which
they had begun either to a total victory
or a total defeat. The advantage had
! been with the representatives up to the
time of the compromise aud for that
reason the compromise was all the more
unexpected. The representatives, how
ever, listened to the argument brought
to bear upon them by the committee.
The committee sought to have the COM
| mission consist of the judge of the supe-
riOr court, the Judge of the city court,
and one member to be selected by the
grand jury. They urged that all three of
the members should be men whose Offices
were not elective, as is the ordinary's,
| and who could, consequently, have
no immediate personal interest in the
registration. The representatives were
unwilling to this amendment, however,
and finally their proposition to amend
the bill so s to entruSt the registration to
commission to be composed the judges of
the superior, city and ordinary's courts
was accepted, conditional upon its ratif-
cation by the two factions here. This
was done yesterday.
The fight has been long and bitter
one. The bill to change the county regis
| tratiOn law so as to take the control of
the registration out of the hands of the
! county commissioners and transfer it to
| the ordinary, was supported by the
| entire delegation. Other changes
| proposed in the old law were to make tax
| receipts of the current year prima facie
| evidence of the payment of all taxes, and
| to change the time of registration from
| the spring to the summer months. The
| bill was bitterly opposed by the friends of
| the county commissioners, who claimed
| that the present board had never had an
opportunity Of conducting a registration,
! and also by the friends of Capt. John
! h. Dillon, clerk of the board of commits
| sioners, at whom the bill was said to be
! aimed. The three representatives
! from Chatham gave the bill their
! united support, which made q very uphill
fight for the opponents of the measure.
THE BILL MODIFIED.
The bill, on being introduced into the
! Senate, was modified so that the time of
registration was left as at present
and the section making the presentation
of the current years tax receipts prima
! facie evidence of the payment of all taxes
| due the state was stricken out.
The bill was again opposed before the
/ Senate by the friends of the commission
ers, their argument against it being that
the change meant one man power in the
conduct of the registration, the very
thing that was it claimed the measure was
intended to prevent.
The committee which made the fight
before the Senate was composed of Mai
y. W. Meldrim, Mayor McDonough, Mai.
! Ryals, Capt. d. G. Purse, William
Clifton, Esq, Alderman David Wells and
/ =. b. Adams, Esq. 1t was
strong committee and the result of its
| fight has already been stated. While they
found the mem bers Of the Senate very
| much lndisposed to oppose the measure
which had the solid support of the dele
CATION from Chatham and the senator
from the district, the arguments pre-
! cented commanded attention, and several
leading members Of the Senate interested
| themselves IN bringing about compro-
mise. To their efforts, it was
said by member of the committee yes
terday, the amicable compromise arrived
at is due.
While the friends of the present board
of county commissioners cannot but dis
approve of the taking of the registration
from their hands before they have had an
opportunity of demonstrating their hon
esUy and efficiency in its conduct they
will be pleased to see it placed in the
hands of a non partisan commission.
100 WANT LICENSES so FAR.