Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-16
THE DECKS ARE CLEARED
Length of the sion Reduced by Refusal to
 Permi \ > n'ation of New Counties.
oW .GS WILL MOVE swIMMINGLY
c the Most Important Ordinances hlch Will Probably Pass-Senator Tillman Has Had Little to Say.
 The Coming Week.

Columbia, s. C., Sept. 15.-'The end of
 the first week of the constitutional con-
 vention has come Five days work have
 been done in complete harmony and with
 absolute freedom from utterances of a | political savory. It is indeed remarkable that 160 South Carolina political leaders 1 should get together in the same hall
 for whole week, discussing all kinds of
 political matters without letting politics 1 come into the proceedings in any way. l If this alone be all that was accom- | plished by the convention in this diree- | tion it will be more than anyone has reason to expect. judging things from | the light of events of the past five or l six years.
 | The first week has been a pretty busy l one and a good deal has been accom- | plished in the way of shaping out the | work. Enough ordinances and resolu- | tions have been presented to permit one | fourth of them to be incorporated in the i constitution and even then have the | document beat a perfect book The | most important single matter that the | convention has thus far acted upon | was the refusal to permit the formation of any more new counties This means that there will be great saving of time of the convention. The length of the session will thereby be greatly reduced while there can be no doubt that d gen. era ordinance providing for the forma- tion of new counties will pass, making the maximum area not over 300 miles, which ordinance will give the legisla- ture all the power it needs, and will re- suit in the formation of many new coun- ties at the coming session of the gem eral assembly.
 The printing matter is also out of the way now and the body is thoroughly or- ganized and in working shape. The en-. crossing department will be ready for work tomorrow and this week things will move along swimmingly. | The work of the first week just c1osed,N to one on the floor, seems to indicate | that the following matters in one shape | or another are pretty certain to be eon- tained in the new constitution: | |. An ordinance providing for gem eral reduction of the area of counties with a maximum of scarcely more than 800 square miles and a maximum popu- lation. <- q g. An ordinance providing for biennial sessions of the legislature.
 B. An ordinance providing for the elec- ton of all state and county officers eV- cry fourth instead of every second year. f. An ordinance in one shape or another providing for the establs:-=lca: ol coun- ty courts presided over by county 1udRes. 5. An ordinance regulating the pay ment of the school tax so that the tax payer shall have the right to designate to which of the public schools 1t snail be applied and providing for separate schools for the races.
 Such a regulation of the liquor traf- fc and manufactures as has been pro- posed by MT. Efird, which allows the state to license and regulate under us police power.
 2. A general provision TOT the chai- tering of corporations
 8. A provision for the estab1shmenI of a state board of pardons O. That all judges of state and county courts be elected by the people. To- The establishment of a state pu- reau of labor statistics and state la bor commissioner. There are some other thlngs apout the' first weeks results which impress an on- locker. The convention has been apso- lutelv unable to start out upon the eco nomicaI basis upon which 1t was thought that it could be run. It has been a, strange condition of affairs so Tar, put it is true nevertheless that nearly aii the debate that has been indulged Tn mas
 been between the conSerVatlVe nehhoeiS
 of the convention.
 MT. Johnstone and Ex-Governor Shep-
 bard have done more talking than any
 other four men in the convention. .,
 Most of the new resolutions and ordi-
 nances have come from unexpected quaT.
 pNNA' -
 but little in the presentation of ideas TOT
 the formation of the new constitution.
 Senator Tillman has had but little to
 say so far, though several times he mas
 displayed his stump speaking ability.
 His brother, Ex-Congressman Tillman,
 has been pretty much alive to things for
 the past two days. His speech on Sat
 urday was by long odds the greatest
 speech of the session. It was eloquent
 and it had all the more force, for one
 could not but realize that the snowy
 locked sage of Edgefield was speaking
 straight from the heart. His voice had a
 ring of sincerity in it that was really re-
 freshing.
 Woman's suffrage has not made any
 further advance than the introduction
 of a bill providing for it in municipal
 elections.
 The suffrage plank that Senator Till-
 man has frequently outlined has not yet
 made its appearance except in shape
 where it is designed to disfranchise the negro. No end of homestead exemption ordinances have been introduced, they being very similar, differing only as to the amounts.
 Among the curious that have made their appearance is MT. Stokes scheme of abolishing the state supreme court,
 MT. McCown's plan to engraft the dis pensary law in the constitution and the resolution affecting the right of the press to publish reports of certain trials.
 Representative Talbert in talking about
 the situation tonight and the weeks work and the outlook, stated that there. was really very little that could be said
 yet as to the work of the convention. He withdrew from the race for president to insure harmony, and he Is gratified, he says that the sessions of the body have. been perfectly harmonious so far. From the composition of the body he sees no reason why they should not remains so to the end The work will. in his opiH- ion, get rapidly into shape for action from tomorrow onward. He thinks an early adjournment can be reached, for 1t is the general disposition of the members to get through as soon as they can without ~--~--~-->->.:--~--,--s