The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-02-05
P AESSED AT LAST.
aIemb mbers Of the House Vote for the
Biennial Sessions Bill.
IT .. NOW UP mo- THRs people
7 To Say Whether they Want the
Leaislat,,ree to sIeett Every
Year or Every Two
80 Years.

Leaislature TO SIeettEvery
Year or Every Two !.
e Years.
After a hard fight the House OF
& Represen tati es passed the biennial
sessions bill on Tuesday, ] All. 26. The
4 bill passed tn. Senate at the last ses.
sion and Is most certain to become
s law. IL it does 1t means that the
people OF South Carolina will be called
pom to yote.Ln this question In the
next general e. lection, and IL a majori-
" OF the votes cast are in favor of
biennial sessions, the legislature will
il2aWiil meet every second year after 1906.
The tighten the biennial sessions
bill has come up every year since the
session of 1896. There have been in
timations that in the past the bill
was advocated for home consump-
tion,n and that the members of the
house knew that in passing the bill
they would rely upon the senate to
Kill 1T, But the action Tuesday was
brought a bout by conditions that had
to be ts ce1 squarely. The senate had
passed ihe bill last year, ana tie house
latter: Its repeated kicks ON account
OF; The lack of support on the part of
the sen lte on bills which before had
+, been kllled-waS called uoon to de-
clare Itself IL, favor Of the measure
without, any strings tied to IT, Tue
number of votes required was 83, and
the BILL received 81.
MF. F0ses, t1f Sumter, oppo,cd the
biennial session constitutional amend
ment. The people do not attend the
general elections and they do not
take any. interest or care about con.
stitutional amendments. The Legis-
lature Of South Carolina is one Of the
cheapest. Long terms lead to careless
ness and possibly eStravaf ance. He
Ghough5 1T a good idea to bring the
people together. The people have a
perfect right to have their laws
changed when they involve. hardship.
Inc people do not demand this leg
Z 1siatio9@1 He wanted the people to
vots9often'on their candidates.
ssrss-Dr. Black said he would favor the
bill on tile line of economy. Every
twosyears was enough.
! Mr.. tEeamguard wanted to put the
whole: issue sQuarely up to the people.
1t isNin the line Of economy and his
people want such legislation. He
proposed to favor the bill before his
people.
Mr.. Richards insisted that his peo-
pie knew what was going ON and were
tsfnlly. posted On. public issues. His
people wanted such bill.
Mr., Efird insisted that he has
favored THIS resolution for seven years
!. and the, resolution has passed the
!; House.. All that ought to be done is
TO pass the Senate resolution and then
take up the matter Of tenure later.
, 4 All ,t1at is asked is to let this whole
) matter go to the people.
MT. DorrOb urged that it was
routine bill. The only argument is
that the people want this law. This
ISL legislative body and ought TO con-
slder this measure on it's merits. He
Z was an economist. He regarded the
Legislature as a necessity--as much
as the grand Jury. AS to too much
legislation, II we need it we must
have it. There must be great deal
OF legislation to keep up with the
rapidly changing conditions in this
State. He I'll ought there was danger
IN leaving too much power to the
Governor. He believed it better to
pay members fixed salary and an
unlimited sess ion. South Carolina is
one of the few States that has annual
sessions and + has less statute law
than most ST; teS. There has been a
steady growt Of crime, and it is as
sensible to al que in favor Of one ses-
nf nd T
ture meets t, provide for changed
conditions.
Mr.. Haskell urged that biennial
sessions woul lead to hasty legisla-
tion. .Condit nns have not changed
since 1895, AMI the proof ought to be
offered to sho ' that there is a necessi-
ty for changing the sessions Georgia
changed back to the annual sessions
and called extra sessions nearly every
year. The Legislature may easily
save more than the cost OF session.
In Alabama, where the cooperative
power is su oreme, that corporate
power secured quadrennial sessions.
Corpora .tiOnS want tinfrequentSesS
Mr.. ls. $. N'haley said there was no
campai sning In his county. He has
previously opposed this bill. In thirty
four out Of forty four States there are
biennial sessions. LII Texas. they have
quadrennial sessions and In five States
they have annual sessions. lie had
letters from forty four States and was
now convinceC that the demaa was
for biennial sessions. He was OF the
opinion that he majority OF the peo-
pie were for biennial sess; ons. This
bill would not take effect until 1907.
Mr.. re. II. ltainsford was convinced
that the people want bienni al sessions.
There was no use to argue that ben-
NAL sessions would not save much
money. !,
Mr.. Lide, of Orangeburg, was
heartily and thoroughly Ia favor of
the State advancing itself and going
to biennial sessions. There is no
necessity for annual sessions and such
matters as are needed eau b, acted
upon for two years. A bill could 20
over for two years as we'll as for one
year. The people would get along by
waiting little.
Mr.. Holman favored annual ses-
sions OF the Legislature.
Mr.. Magill insisted that the people
did not want this BILL In response