The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-02-25

conmnn,ca,,ons must be accompanied by tne ne
real name and address Of the writer Il! oi'e- ~
receive attention
ALL OVER.
The General Assembly for
1908 has met and after forty
DAYS hard work succeeded IN get
tine back to their homes with
their baggage, and some few,
with their pay certificates. Very
few matters Of general import.
ance was enacted into law. out
the Calendars were daily crowd
ed with matters affecting local
communities, which shows the
necessity forrepealing thatclause
of the constitution which pro
hibits special legislation; it is
manifest. that some communities
need legislation which others do
not. We think, nearly seven hun
dred bills were introduced, and
out of that mass of matter the
child labor bill, and the repudla-
of an honest debt of the State
was about all that went through
which is of general interest.
There was nothing done to give
the people a better road system,
nor was there anything done
which would require the rich to
pay their just proportion Of the
taxes There was conditional
appropriation of $4,000 to build
a monument to General Wade
Hampton-the condition being
that $4,000 be raised by private
subscription, this Of course is OF
general interest, but we are not
prepared to say it meets with
general approval. Hampton de-
serves a monument, more so than
any man the State has yet pro
duced, but in our humble judg-
ment it should not be built out
of the tax money Of the people;the
money should be raised entirely
By private subscription and con-
tributed as a love offering. To
build monuments with public
funds is establishing a precedent
which our legislators may re-
gret. Suppose this State should
again be convulsed in political
revolution, like that of 1890, and
tyhe successful leader, while the
excitement is still hot should die,
what will keep down his enthu-
siastic followers from going down
deep into the public treasury to
build a costly monument to his
memory, and for all time to come,
have a standing source Of irri-
tation to a large minority of the
tax payers whose money was
thus spent without their consent,
and perhaps this minority were
forced to pay the largest share.
We favor building monument
to the great Hampton, but do
not think the plan adopted is
wise, nor do we believe the leg
islature has a legal right to ap-
propriate money for such a pur-
pose. To appropriate money
for advertising the resources OF
The State is for the expansion of
it's business interests, hence for
the public good, and this we be-
lieve it has a right to do, but We
do not consider the building of a
monument as one Of the things
contemplated as the means to ex-
pand our business interests, or
that it tends to aid in our general
welfare.
So far as our own county is
concerned the only legislation Of
public interest was the enact
ment of a bill providing for the
building of a new jail, and rails
ing the tax levy to pay for same,
and another bill to increase the
county supervisors salary about
335 per cent. Representative
Lesesne spoke on a number of
measures, Representative Ian
ham whom the newspaper men
will continue to mention as
a brother to the Governor Of
of Texas, made a talk in de-
fense of his bill to require rail
roads to carry 250 pounds of
baggage, and he was heard again
when he withdrew his "crop-
pers" bill. Representative De-
Schamps like the iron Chancel-
lor of Germany, Bismarck, was
silent and wise. Senator Davis
was steadfastly at his post, made
no speeches that we have seen
reported, introduced the jail
measure and the freeholders
amendment to the seed cotton
bill.
It is not always wisdom on the
part of a representative to make
speeches, because where one is
constantly on his feet making
speeches he becomes what is
known as a red pepper fend, who
resembles the dude that rolls the
tail of his coat over his waist,
and stalks about with his hands
rammed in the side pockets Of
his pants, hence it must not be
concluded that because our rep
resentatives were not given to