The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-11-12

:
, now &c means that no man except tn,
, one owning $500 worth of property ca,
vote on iacreasipp the State or count,
! jndebtedness. s-A~ a..
Mr.. McCaslan said a great man,
| property 10 their wives and the,
would Be In bad fix as neither car
, vote.
Mr.. BRYAN said there was n preat
necessity for such a proyision. wa,
, going too far TO saw that one who ha6
no interest I'm the matter should be
allowed to vote ON the matter of bonds
Mr.. Prince said that he saw no ius.
tice In compelling a man who owned
S299 worth OF propertv To snbmit tC
taxation without O voice in it.
Mr.. ID. 8: Henderson said that IL Mr..
Princes motion prevailed every cleo
tor, white or colored, could vote in
such an election and add to the, debt of
the town. Many towns In the Stete
have o colored majority, who own no
property, but NAV be- able to read and
write and who would thus he able to
saddle q large deht nm snch mnn,ci-
palities. Mr.. Prince withdrew his
amendment.
The ayes and noes were demanded
on Mr.. Jeremiah Smith's amendment.
which strikes out tn, propertv oualifi,
cationl In the section. Mr.. ID. g. Hen.
derson moved to lay on the table.
When the vote was announced there
was no quorum present and the con-
vention had to adjourn.
The pending question at the opening
Jeremiah Smith on Tuesday night.
striking out from section l3 The pro,
vision requiring electors 20 have 5000
worth of property In order to vote On
the question of issuiug bonds by coun-
| ties, cities or towns. but section q
which was passed over. was taken un'
/ Mr.. Stanyarne Wilson offered the
following as @ substitute to the section
1.-THE Gene ral Assembly shall provide
| for the establishment OF polling pre-
cincts In the several counties OF the
State, and those now existing shall AZ
continue until abolished 'S or changed hans. a.
at his own precinct, but provision shall
be made for his transfer to another
precinct upon his change Of resi-.
dence."
This was adopted, aud the section a.
q whole was adopted.
Section ii relative to registration
books were next taken up. Mr.. Brvan
offered the following amendment.
1.-THE registration officers of each
county ehall twenty days before anv
election held in the county or any city
or town in the county, make, certify
and file in the office Of the clerk Of the
copies of the registration books Of
showing separately, the Registered
voters for each polling district in said
county, and the same shall remain on
file as public records OF said office, and
open 70 public Inspection"
ment on the same subject introduced
the night previous.
Mr.. Bryan said that after ten days
the official copy must be fled with the
clerk of court for the inspection of the
public, but at the same time the books
would be kept in the official custody of
the clerk.
Senator Tillman asked wbv moi, put
the books in bhe office of the clerk
rather than copy. After the officer
had registered the voters he has no
further use for the books.
Mr.. Bryan held that he might need
them for the purpose of registering
those who may become OF age, and Il
the books were In the clerks office
they would be In the custody of the
people and not of the officer.
Mr.. JohnstOne asked whether Mr..
Bryan contended that the registration
books were his private memoranda as
long "a they were in his possession,
and that the public had no right to in.
spect them?
Mr.. Bryan held that the individual
had right at ell times to inspect the
books, but this is dealing with the
public at large who may want to
inspect the names of the voters at
large.
Mr.. Johnstone said that there could
beno higher question than that the
puolic has right at Gil times to in.
spect public records. and the gentle.
man could not confuse the issue with
bucket full Of words. He moved to
further amend by adding that the
books of the registration officer shall
always be open for the inspection of
the public"
Mr.. Fitch said the section or the
amendments did not cover the diff.
GUILTY as he saw it. He thought the
courts ought to have ample time to
correct errors, omissions, ETC., by man.
damus.
Mr.. Johnstone said that no one loved
darkness rather than light, and If we
are not to hove honest registration and
honest elections 1t were better that
this convention had never been held.
You cannot base public morals on
public fraud. The records should be
ppen AN that auapu frea man nnnld Goa