The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-01-21

- IuOu UT OtuST uulbWtul dS5omDldR6
pc ersons, aud who has suffered bodil
for the maintenance of civil actio
! for damages against the county ]
, cases OF lynching when death ensuei
J and further for an action by tn
county for the damages against tn
parties engaged In the lynching.
1t Is matter OF qualification to tn
people OF the State that the constitu
tional convention, in no uncertai
terms, reprobated and condemned thi
pernicious practice. There have oc
Cured during the past year four case
OF lynching within the State, and no
one has been for the crime general,
regarded as justifying such action
.h1s should convince any mind that
lynching is to be condoned and tacitl,
encouraged for any crime, like loath
some disease, 1t will spread over tn,
entire category of crime when q doze,
or more frsnzied persons feel tina
justice has miscarried, until anarchy
prevails and our republican form o
! government Is destroyed. The failure
to punish this class of offenders is no
the fault of the Executive. In eacf
and every case have exhausted every
means in my power to apprehcnd the
guilty parties, and have employed
| oPCSt"h oopOSolNSo w loEGcU ouU Ullt
crime, but in vain. The citizens in the
neighborhood invariably condemn the
offenders. but never inform or assist
the officers of the law in Furnishing
them. 1t is to be hoped that such leg.
islation will be enacted by you as will
prevent in future the repetition of such
barbarious practices. fear, however,
Aothiug short of the loss OF the official
heads of the officers permitting lynch
| ing will ever put an end to 1t.
There Ia provision In the constitu-
tion that all laws inconsistent with it
shall cease after. Its adoption, except
that all laws which are inconsistent
with such provisions as require legis-
lation to enforce them shalt remain In
force until such legislation is had. 1t
will be necessary, therefore, for the
General Assembly to repeal ell laws
inconsistent with the provisions of the
constitution, or to so alter those now
In force as to make them conform to
the constitution. It will be impossible
for me to direct attention to aid such
laws, and have no doubt members of
your honorable body will bring all
such to your attention by bill or other
wise.
COUNTY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
You are given the power to form
new counties under very many restric-
tions, and you should provide Tor the
holding aud conduct of elections, the
appointment and payment Of the va
rious officers for conducting the same,
and other matters in reference to the
formation OF new counties which I
deem unnecessary to point cut TO you,
as the article is almost complete with
in itself without legislation except
such as l have suggested. No propo-
sition for the formation Of new coun-
ties, at this session, can be considered
by you, as the provisions can not be
complied with.
1t Is necessary to provide for the
assessment of property in the new
county of Saluda for the present fiscal
year and for the collection of taxes
when assessed.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS AND PO-
LICE REGULATIONS.
Hereafter the General Assembly can
only create municipalities under gen.
eral laws. The power OF each class
should be defined so that no such cor
poration shall have any powers or be
subject to any restrictions other than
all corporations of the same class
There are upon the statute books
two Acts relating to this subject, one
for the incorporation of towns of less
than one thousand inhabitants and one
for the Incorporation of those of more
than ono thousand Inhabitants.
These Acts cover all that Is necessary,
and with the changes as to bonding
elections before Organization the
qualifications Of suffrage and 10 in
hibition as to liquor licenses as pre-
be complete. I would suggest that they
make 1t the duty OF the Secretary OF
State to issue all such charters and
empower him to order the election
required by the constition before the
organization can be had, as 1t Is de-
sirable that all matters connected with
charters should issue from his office.
CORPORATIONS.
The term corporation as included in
this Article of the constitution in
cludes all associations Of joint stock
companies having powors and privi-
leges not possessed by ihdiyiduals or
partnerships, and excludes municipal
corporations already treated of. You
are required to paes u general law for
the incorporation OF railroads, tele-
graph and otbor transporting and
transm itting companies. The SIM
picst plan, iii my Judgment, would be
TO leave the requirements now existing
as TO obtaining q charter from the
General Assembly and make them
applicable to the Secretary OF State,
and require the petitions setting forth
the route with map to be filled with
the Secretary OF State, and empower
him to issue such charters upon the
further condition that certain
amount of work must be performed,
and road built and equipped within
two years after O charter Ia gained,
otherwise the same to be null and
void and forfeited. All industrial
charters (other than railroad chsrters)
are now Issued by the Secretary OF
State, and IL my suggestions meet
with your approval he will be required
to issue municipal, railroad and all
other charters.
1t will, therefore, be advisable for
you to fix scale OF fees to be charged, i,
graduated according to the amount OF
capital stock involved In the indus
trial charter or to the Importance and
magnitude Of the municipality char
tered. At present the Secretary Of
State charges q uniform fee OF only elk
| dollars for all industrial charters, q
charter where the capital stock Is q
| half million dollars costing no more
than one whore the capital stock Ia
only one hundred dollars. This fee ie
imposed to cover only the actual cost
OF recording, filing and indexing first
the declaration and subsequently the
return, and writing, recording, index
ing and issuing first the commission
and subsequently the charter, neces
sarily done in each case whore char