The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-02-26
COLI MBIA LETTER.
What Our Law Makers arc Doing nj
the State Capitol.
From OUp OWR ('O}rcSpontIcnt.


on Saturday afternoon. The Sc sion
has not been sensational nor co,spic-
uous in any respect, but good deal
OF good work has been done, and some
good measures, perhaps killed. This
was the second session of this General
Assembly and the members who want
to come hack-cXc"pt, OF course, the
hOld-Ovcr ScnatOrs--must face their
beloved constituents on the stump this
summer and defend whatsOevcrrec0rsls
they may have. The House is COM
posed largely of young men, new to
rally ambitious, and no doubt most Of
the members will be candidates for re-
election.
VT TIE LAST.
AT the last moment almost the anti
trust bill got safely through, though
somewhat disligurcd by the plgnn-
cious Senate. This is the measure in
t.oduccd by Mr.. W. j. johnson and il,
the only one of several measures Of its
character which came in sight of sue
cess. 1t passed the House late, and on
Thursday was taken up in the Senate
without having been referred t0a COM
mittec-a very unusual thing. Scna-
tor Robert Aldrich, of Barnwell, made
the principal fight against it, deliver
ing carefully prepared speech of sew
cral hours duration in which he openly
defended trusts and corporations rs
beneficial and worthy of encourage
mcnt, citing New Jersey as m example
for South Carolina to follow. 1t is
coincidence that Senator Aldrich should
take this stand and that tho most
prominent advocate of legislation and
prosecution in regard to the trusts is
Attorney General G. Duncan Bcllin-
ger, also Of Barnwcll, for between tie
two there is political antagonism
dating back to before the days of Till
manism.
Senator Barnwell, Of Charleston, at
torney for the Southern Railway, also
fought the bill, but the Senate by
vote of 81 to II on Thursday night Mt
eleven o'clock refused to kill it and
then several amendments were adopt
ell. The two most important Of these
arc one to exempt insurance companies
and another to strike out the rather
drastic provision on requiring every
corporation through some official to
make affidavit annually as to its COM
plinnce with the law. An amendment
to exempt farmers organizations was
voted down.
The author of the bill and it's advo-
Gates preferred to have the House
agree to the Senate amendments rather
than run the risk of having it killed or
further amended in conference, and so
the amendments were accepted by the
House. The bill was originally close
copy Of the celebrated "Hogg law" of
Texas, famous in the annals of anti
trust legislation. AS it stands it for
bids all sorts of combinations of cor
porations or individuals in restraint of
trade and competition, or for the pur-
pose of controlling prices and the out
put OF products, and provides heavy
penalties for violations. individuals
or corporations responsible for viola
tions are liable to a forfeit of not less
than 5000 nor more than $4,000 for
every offence and for every day of such
offence, while corporations violating
the Act shall have their charters re-
voked and be forbidden to do business
in this State.
The one other important measure re-
garding corporations which has passed
is the bill giving the Attorney General
authority to demand evidence neces-
sary for inquiring into the affairs of
corporations and trusts preparatory to
prosecution. This legislation was ask
cd for by Mr. Bellinger But the bill
to revoke the charter Of the Virginia
Carolina Chemical Company was de-
feated
The hostility toward corporations so
apparent ten years ago does not now
exist in this State. There seems to be
real friendlincss to railroads, espe-
cially-perhaps because the railroads
are now conciliatory and suave in their
methods where they used to be rather
dictatorial. For instance, the bill to
allow the Southern Railway to consoli-
date certain lines-thc old South Caro-
lima and Georgia and its tributaries
was easily passed, the communities in
tcrestcd favOring the measure.
THE ROAD LAW.
Another matter which did not get
through until the last day, and then
only by conference agreement, was the
road law. This is Il bill framed by n
special committee TO supersedo the
present statute which is held to be I'M
constitutional because it contains spe-
cial provisions for each county. As
finally agreed upon the bill fixes thc
ages of citizenship liable to road duty
at from Is to 60; the number of days is
eight or more, and the communication
tax for all counties is one dollar. The