Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-09
ON THE PULLMAN REGIME,
South Caronas Registration Act Is Declared
 to Be Unconstitutional.
THE BALLOT BOX IS THROWN WIDE OPEN.
pensary Officials nybody Can Bring Liquor Into the State-Ques-
  tion Is: "What NextP"

Columbia, S. C., May S.-The state is in ferment tonight. The United States circuit court has come with it's strong arm and dealt the governor of the state |. of South Carolina two terrific blows. Many have looked lightly upon the is sues that have been pending in the court during the past week. but these issues have been as momentous as any that ever arose in the old Palmetto state, and it ia not within the power of prophet or the son of prophet to forecast the con sequential events which will follow in the next six months.
 At one fell stroke thS registration laws of the state have been knocked into a cooked hat, throwing open the ballot box to everybody to vote without a registra- tion certificate. sopething that is likely to cause a struggle in the election of del- egates to the constitutional convention, something that revolutionizeS the voting system of the state, for the governor de- clares that he will not call the legislature together to enact a new law; and the dispensary sytem has been practically killed, the, law being nullified in so far as the vitally important interstate com merce feature is concerned, 1t now being allowed any one to bring liquors into the state from wheresoever he pleases, and be protected in the possession thereof.
 These are the two matters that con front the present state administration, and they are grave ones. Notwithstand- ing this, Governor Evans Is declaring that he is going ahead with the seizures or liquors.
 The question of every hour now might be said to be- What next?"
 And of far greater importance than anything else is the mandate of the court in the registration cases, though, per haps, the practical nullification of the dispensary law is of more general inter- est to the people of the state itself than those outside the state.
 Governor Golf rendered the decision in the registration case The court room was packed so that standing room could not be found
 no end of liquor men, The negroes when Judge Golf ended, murmured their ap- proval and order had to be restored
 After recounting the provisions of the law and the acts bearing thereon, to- gether with the facts he traced the ne- gro's career from the time of enamel patton; gave the history of the passage of the fourteenth and fifteenth amend mentS; proceeded to show that these rights could not be abridged; held that the law in this respect was unconstitu- tional, and said the provisions of the
  incredible. "The statement that this complainant makes is appalling, the out rage stupendous, the result close on the borderland that divides outrage from crime"
 The constitutional convention act cured no defects. The state frankly ad- mitted that the object was to disfran- chise as many negroes as possible.
 He held that the laws were unconsti- , tutional in toto; that the court had 1u- risdiction, etc. He held that certificates of registration could not be demanded; that no official of any state was above the law. He was very severe on the po- sition of the state in regarding the court as affecting Jurisdiction. This position was as strange and wonderful to him as the story he had just heard in this case. He passed an order prayed for, restrain ing and enjoining the supervisor of reg istration, as an official and individually, from the performance of any Of the acts mentioned and complained of. The in junction is perpetual.
 Governor Evans declares that he will not call an extra session of the lesisla- ture.- He says the fight will have to come on a free ballot 1nd regards the situation as a grave crisis. Tonight he said: You can say that I am wrought up with indignation and that we will take the decree and read 1t care fully and present our reflections to the people of the state in due season. It is the gravest question that ever con fronted us and the people may rest as- sured that we will take no action with out mature deliberation. The time has come now to act, and at the proper time I will act in a manner that no true South Carolinian can fail to uphold. But they may rest assured that white su- premacy in South Carolina will be main tained"
 The Dispensary Decision
 Judge Simonton rendered the decision In the dispensary case, which created q profound sensation. It was in the case from Charleston. After reviewing the case and holding that the court had Jurisdiction he said:
 'The dispensary law nowhere declares that the use and consumption of alco- holic liquors in themselves are injurious to the morals, good health and safety of the state or of her people. On the contrary the dispensary law makes the most ample provision for the procure ment of alcoholic liquors in this state and elsewhere, for their distribution in convenient packages within the reach of nearly every person throughout all the state, for the use and consumption of the people of the state, and in every way it encourages such use and com sumption Even in localities in which the majority of the inhabitants refuse