The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-12-23

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report of the State Superintendent OF
Education for said scholastic year, the
Comptroller General shall, for the
aforesaid three next ensuing fiscal
years, on the first day of eacn of said
years, levy such an annual tax on the
taxable property of the State as ne
may determine to be necessary to
make up such deficiency, to be col.
lected as other State taxes, and appor'
ton the same among the several coun-
ties of the State in proportion to the
respective deficiencies therein.
Section 12. All the net income to be
derived by the State for the sale or u
cense for the sale of spurious, malt,
vinous and intoxicating liquors and
beverages, not including so much
thereof as is now or may hereafter be
allowed by law to 60 to the counties
and municipal corporations of the
State, shall be applied annually in aid
of the supplementary taxes provided
for in the sixth section of this article
and if after said application there
should be surplus, it shall be devot'
ed to public school purposes, and ap-
portioned as the General Assembly
may determines: Provided, however,
That the said supplementary taxes
shall only be levied when the net in
come aforesaid from the sale or license
from the sale of alcoholic liquors or
beverages is not sufficient'to meet and
equalize the deficiencies for which the
said supplementary taxes are provi-
ded."
At your last session you passed the
following act:
Section /. That the profits of the
State from the State dispensary here
tofore accrued up to December 81,
1895, inclusive of the fifty thousand
dellars heretofore covered into the
State treasury. amounting to the sum
of $243, 1857, be paid into the State
treasury as the same is collected, and
that the same be entered upon the
general account in the State treasury
and he applied to the general current
expenses of the State government for
the fiscal year 1896.
Section 2. That the profits of the
State from the State dispensary accru.
ing since January 1, 1896, be paid in
to the State treasury as the same Is
collected, and that the same be entered
upon a special account and be held in
the State treasury under the provis-
ions of Section ~ of Article XII OF the
Constitution of the State"
1t is q question as to what this Act
means. 1t is subject to different con-
structions when construed independent
of the Constitution. The interpreta-
ton now put upon it gives the net
profits from the business of the gener-
al expense account of the State until
the amount of profits reaches the sum
of $193 ,S16. 57-the total value OF the
stock on hand on December 81, 1895,
consisting of bottles, sealing wax,
mules, wagons, Office furniture, Ii.
quors and so on. This view postpones
the income to the school fund from
the Disyensary until the net profits
amount to $685. 81. My iuforma-
ton is that there has been paid into
the State Treasury during the year as
Dispensary profits $4,000, leaving
$11S, Sl6.57 still unpaid to the general
account. At this rate it will take
about another year and half to fin
ish paying the general account. If
this is the proper construction it will
be about June 1898, before there will
be realized to the school fund any
thing from the Dispensary and that
clearly defeats the purpose of the Con-
stitution inasmuch as these profits are
''in aid of the supplementary tax pro-
vided for in the sixth section of" Ar
ticle XII of the Constitution. This
supplementary tax provided for in the
Constitution guaranteed to the people
for three years a school fund equal to
three dollars per capita on the enroll.
ment for 1895. If the regular school
fund and the profits from the Dispen-
sary to the schools do not equal three
dollars during any one of these three
years, the Comptroller General is re-
quired by the Constitution to levy a
deficiency tax, but he is not required
to levy the tax until the regular school
fund and the Dispensary profits fail
to raise the three dollars per capita.
The three years will have passed be-
fore the schools realize anything from
the Dispensary and, therefore, the
Comptroller General will never have
to levy a deficiency tax, and the three
dollars per capita for the schools,
guaranteed by the Constitution, will
be defeated to the disappointment of
the people who have put faith in the
promise.
Under the act passed at your last
session the funds on hand and those
arising since for the permanent school
fund have been invested by the State
Treasurer as follows:
In S. @. Ali per cent. cou-
pom bonds. .$21 ,O00 W
In s. @. ALP per cent. stock IA ,757 95
In 8. @. 4 IL per cent. stock,
Brown. IL ,7UO VI
In U. S. per cent. consols 1,700 0C
Total. 157 81
During the year ninety-eight school
houses have been erected, at a cost ol
$S, S,733.12. The school houses fol
whites number 2, 2,44s; valuation, $500
1868. 90; those for colored number l, ,692
valued at $l76,1 1925; making an
aggregate of 4, lao bushels, valued al
$746, ,676 As. The school furniture
and apparatus is valued at $74, 653. 33
which, added to the value of houses
rooLoe O toto1 vol,,o of school nronar