The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-02-18
d QUE IND FRIENDLY, IL not
VERY BRILLIANT, SESSION.
aarshall's Child Labor Law the
Only Labor Legislation of the
Ssssion---A Flood of Local
Bills Growth of Elec-
trical Corporations.

yelopments. No olitical fortunes have
been made or unmade; no sensational
or radical legislation has been enacted.
tt has been smooth and easy-golng
body. ,..5
laws. no general tax statutes, no gen
eral salary bills, no general criminal
law no change of the dispensary law
enacted this session. It has not been
session of vital or record making
Ieolslation. The only general law
Tins far passed, or likely to be is the
Marshall child labor bill.
There have been no real hard or
vigorous fights during the present ses-
sion Strange as it may seem, the
only real protracted fight was on
bill to prevent the shipment OF shad
outside of the State. It was an unex-
pected fight, but it was a real fight,
and there was a curious and note
worthy phase of the contest. Said one
of the persistent Spartanburg advocates
of the FISH bill: Il guess we do not
know much about this shad business,
hnt we know as much as do these low
eountry members who voted for child
labor legislation, without knowing
ANYTHING about our conditions and we
can take a flyer ourselves. !" There IS
a great deal more Of this sort or feeling
than one Woald suppose.
The passage of the mild child labor
bill at least had the effect Of stopping
all other textile legislation sfor this
session. There were three or four other
child labor bills that we're defeated or
withdrawn. Then there was ten
hour labor law, and q fellow servant
liability bill and weekly payment OF
5salarg proposition, which will &C. over
..II1ntI next session. This means that i
pressed this year they would IN all
likelihood be killed, and so they are
retained on the Calendar until next
session, simply, to die by courtesy
rasher than by violence, which GER
tainly would be the fate this session.
The talk now is decidedly very decid-
edly against any further legislation one
wav or another regarding the lndustrl-
al Interests Of the State.
Legislstionseise getting to be very
much of a local affair anyway. An
inspection Of the Calendar will show
that fully tkree-fouEths OF the lsgisia-
fion bio nosedsand enacted is local and
1nimportant: that it relates to the IS
suance,or payment Of bonds to build q
school ke1ss shere or there to give
authorifys 10 a certain county TO Dor
row. money or build Court House or
iail. change. some minor officers
salary or pay soma claim for money
due. The other day an Act was pass.
ecs providing for indezing certain re-
cords. in Anderson County, provided
s6e cost did not. exceed s75- and iG
cost the State more than the SO 20 en-
act and print that law. The county
conm issionsrs, 1t seems, cUgsE to ana
DO hssvs that authority, and yet the
appeal. soh, gentlemen, that IS
strictly local matter. I" seems to be
barrier TO all opposition, because there
will come time when the objectors
may have their own strictly local mat
ter that can effect no one else but my
county. So the story goes.
Contemporaneous with the remark
able development of the industries
Of the State and the utility
of electric power has come. the
organization of large enterprises,
which have asked for legislative
authority to utilize available water
power and, if need be, construct dams
to secure the maximum water power.
The development along this line. has
been remarkable and as the increase OF
distance over which electric power
may be transmitted increases so Will
be capital invested III giant power
plants grow.
The .aost Important matter the
Assembly m:ga4 have undertaken was
to provide ar assessment measure that
would have met present conditions, or
IF not q rem Law, a method OF making
boards q equalization and county
audi tors "a, their duty. If tie proper
anoont Of energy could be put into
the county boards and auditors there
would be no such trouble. In Columbla
recently house-to-h house survey OF
the property and an active board caused
more than a milhon-dollar increase IN
taxable property here. 1t cost money,
but it paid, and it will pay Others.
What is most needed is the enforce
lnsnt of the existing law.
AS has already beSn suggested. there
was no hostile nor amencatory dis
pensary legislation. 1t is now an ut
5terly hopeless task, but times change.
Mr.. W. Turner Logan, OF Charles
ton, had sensible measure. Ee made
strong. high-toned and vigorous
presentation OF his bill, which would
have had marked effect in Charleston,
which city it was intend to help, but
the members listened. said nothing,
and voted against the measures As yet
it is the orthodox thing to vote
against legislation affecting the dis
uensary. How long this will continue
depends upon conditions;
Perhaps the most conclusive and evi-
dent showing OF the excellent feeling
between the two houses and the absence
cf many important measures or hard
fights is the fact that within q week of
the close Of the session there has not
vet been single conference committee
asked for, and there is no likelihod OF
It is most unusual and commendable,
because it testifes that members do
not wish to fight to pile useless