The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-10-26
stroke one of the mainsprings o:

stroke one of the mainsprings o:
our government as embodied il
that document which they pro
vided for US, is it nct well to con
slider carefully and know wha'
we are doing? South Carolina
ever since it first had constitu
ton, has had annual sessions 0:
the Legislature, and nothing
short of constitutional conven
ton and the framing of a new
document which will be sym
metrical in all of its pro
portions will. be satisfactory
in it's workings. The present
proposed amendment, substitu.
ting biennial for annual sessions
of the General Assembly, will,
in my opinion, simply disarrange
the whole scheme Of our State
government, and unless the othel
half dozen or more amendments
which are necessary to make the
constitution harmonic wit b
itself, are also made, the docu-
ment will then conflict with itself
and we may look for many en-,
tanglements, numerous extra
sessions of the legislature, many
laws declared unconstitutional,
and finally another convention
to frame a new constitution en-
tire.
Now in the approaching cleo
ton there will be two other
amendments to be voted upon,
one a local matter pertaining
only to Greenville city, and
another allowing special legisla-
tion in counties relative to roads
and bridges, which should pass.
But the biennial sessions amend
ment is the main one. Ignoring
all the argument which could be
adduced in the light of our ex-
perience the past few years from
having the jury law and the
road laws declared unconstitu-
tional, let US measure this pro-
posed amendment with the Con-
stitution itself. In Article Ill,
Section 9, it is provided that
the General Assembly shall meet
annually" and it is proposed
tostrike out the word annually"
and insert in lieu thereof the
word :cbienniaIly,' without re-
gard to what the result or effects
will be. This little change of
only one word is apparently a
very simple one and harmless,
but what does it mean? Article
III, Section Z, says: "No, tax,
subsidy, charge, impost tax or
duties shall be established, fixed,
laid or levied, under any pretext
whatsoever, without the consent
of the people or their represen-
tatives, lawfully assembled. !"
Article x, Section 2, says: "The
General Assembly shall provide
for an annual tax sufficient to de-
frav the estimated expenses OF
the State for each year." and
Article x, Section 8, says: "No
tax shall be levied exceptin pur-
suance of law which shall dis,
tinctly state the object of the
same, to which object the tax
must be applied" Now it seems
to me that from the provisions,
four things are positive: That
no tax can be levied except by
the people through their repre-
sentatives, and thatthe tax-levy-
inc body representing the peo-
ple is the legislature; that no tax
can be levied except by a law,
stating what the tax is to be
levid for, and that this tax shall
be levied ANNUALLY" The legls-
lature has been passing an an
nual law assessing taxes to de-
fray the expenses of the govern
ment. if it does not meet out
once in two years, how can it
levy taxes annually? How will
money be provided to run the
expenses of government, to pay
the State officers, judges, soiici-
tors, run the colleges, etc?
And again, Article V, Section
II says: That "all vacancies IN
the supreme court Or inferior
tribunals shall be filed by cleo
tions herein prescribed (by the
Legislature). Provided, That if
the unexpired term does not ex-
ceed one year such vacancy may
be filed by executive appoint
ment." Thus it is seen that no
supreme court or circuit Judge
can be appointed by the COVER
nor when the unexpired term
exceeds a year. If a vacancy
should occur on the supreme or
circuit bench, and the unexpired
term be for more than a year,
and biennial sessions are IN
vogue, it might be necessary to