The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-02-03
What the General Assembly
Has Ahead of It.

CUaUCc OI IucllUElS W luilOuuC obS
and all kinds of bills into the general
assembly After tomorrow no more
bills can be introduced into the sen
ate save through chairman of the
several committees, and alter Friday
no more new bills can be introduced
in the house with the same exception
The time has come for the two bodies
to get down to the real work of the
session, and henceforth all will be
pretty smooth sailing, inasmuch as
all the elections save those for col
lege trustees have been held
To morrow, when the house meets,
MIR. Rainsford's concurrent resolution
fixing the day of final adjournment
will be taken up, unless the author
proposes to do something else with
it. 1t is special order for to-mor-
row Immediately after third reading
bills The resolution reads a, fol-
lows:
Be it resolved by the house Of rep
resentatives, the senate occurring,
that Saturday, the 18th of February,
1897, at II o'clock m be and the
same is hereby fixed as the day on
which the general assembly Shall ad
journ sine die
From all that can be heard there
seems to be no reason why the gen
eral assembly shall not adjourn on
that day The senate has practically
disposed Of all senate bills upon sec
ond reading and has only house mat
ters to consider The house has a
pretty full calendar, but it is made up
largely of claims aud special bills
that will require but little debate and
good many of the matters on the
calapdar carry unfavcrabe reports,
which if custom prevails should end
their existence in short order Up
to the present time there seems to be
only comparatively few general bills
on either calendar or in the hands of
committees which should cause Sc
much debate that the business Of the
legislature cannot be completed in 10
days time with night sessions. And
night sessions are to begin in the
house to morrow: continuing to the
end of the session. following work in
the forenoon from 10 o'clock to 2
p m
The matters most likely to cause
debates of some legth are the Patton
redstricting bill, which since Its IN
PRODUCTION and the favorable report of
the committee, seems to be meeting
with more favor than at first the
Childs prohibition bill, full synopsis
of which has been presented in the
State the question of the appropria
tions to State educational ;nstitu
tions ; the proposed amendments to
the present State dispensary law, in.
tended to make it conform to the de
cision of the United States supreme
court and at the same time be effect
i've the Kibier labor commissioner
bill those bills bearing upon the
matter of the privilege tax on ferti
lizers Mr.. Rainsford's insurance de-
posit bill and several others
Up to the present time the general
assembly has not done a great deal
The sessions continue TO be perfectly
harmonious in every way Senator
Ear!e's unanimous election, for it may
be so termed, and the other elections
indicated that each member is think
ing for himself. Only q few bills have
been finally disposed of Some of
them have been killed and the others
have been passed to final reading
But none of item which so far ap-
pear to be destined to iud places on
the statute books are of very general
Importance. A great deaf of time
has been consumed in the house in
discussing special bills of very little
concern to the public, affecting only
few citizens in the several counties
The principal work of the session is
vet to be done So far as the dis
pensary system is concerned, it is
safe to say that there is not going to
be any radical change to result from
this session.
Several small bills bearing upon
the dispensary law have come in up
to date. One that is likely to pass is
Nh. J. P. Thomas, Jr s bill to per
nit the sale of native wines in the
county dispensaries Another is the
bill. proposed by Mr. Miller to let
each county board purchase its own
liquors Then there is the Childs
measure. This week the amend
ments that will be proposed by the
administration will come in, it is
said, in the shape Of an amendatory
bill. The clauses of the present act
bearing upon the interstate COM