Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-11
CHAPTER vi.
OF THE MAKING OF LAWS.

OF THE MAKING OF LAWS.
The session, the shortest in the
history of the state, and thus far the
least eventful, was nearing its close;
and the alarmists who had prophesied
evil and evil only of the last political
victory were fast losing credit with
the men of their own camp and with
the country at large.
After the orthodox strife over the
speakership of the house, and the
equally orthodox wrangle over contest
ed seats, the state assembly had set
tied down to routine business, de-
spatching it with such unheard-of
celebrity as to win columns of approval
from the state press as whole;
though there were not wanting few
radical editors to raise the ante
election cry Of reform, and to ask
pointedly when it was tn begin.
Notwithstanding the lack Of alarms,
however, the six weeks had been a
period of unceasing vigilance on the
part of interests which were supposed
10 be in jeopardy. Every alien cor
poration owning property and doing
business in the state had its full
quota of watchful defenders on the
ground; men who came and went, in
the lobbies Of the capitol, in the Visi-
tors galleries, at the receptions; men
who said little, but who saw and heard
all things down to the small talk of
the corridors and the clubs. and the
gossip of the hotel rotundas.
David Kent was of this silent army
of observation, doing watchdog duty
for the Western Pacific; thankful
enough, If the truth be told, to have
thing to do which kept him from
dwelling overmuch upon the wreck
of his hopes. But in the closing. days
of the session, when a despatchful as
sembly, anxious to be quit Of its task,
had gone into night sittings, the ano-
dyne drug of work began to lose its
effect.
The Brentwoods had taken furnished
apartments In TETON avenue, TWO
squares from the capitol, and Kent
had called no ofteuer than good breed
ing prescribed. Yet their accessibility,
and his unconquerable desire to scar
his wound in the flame that caused It.,
were constant temptations, and he
was battling with them for the hun
dredth time on the Friday night when
he sal in the house gallery listening
TO a perfunctory debate which con-
cerned itself with a bill touching state
waterways.
Heavens! This thing is getting to
be little short OF deadly" fumed
Crenshawe. his right-hand neigh6or.
who was also a member Of the corps
Of observation. I'm going to the cluo
for a game of pool. Won't you come
along?"
Kent nodded and left his seat with
! the bored one. But in the great ro-
tunda he changed his mind.
You'll find plenty of better players
! than am at the club" ne said in ex'
tenuation. 81 think I'll smoke Whit
or two here and go back. They can't
hold ON much longer for tonight" "
Five minutes later, when he had
! lighted cigar and was glancing over
the evening paper, two other members
of the corporation committee Of safety
came down from the senate gallery
and stopped opposite Kent's pillar to
struggle into their overcoats.
It's precisely as wrote our people
two weeks ago-a timidity scare. pure
and simple" one of them was saying.
1--WE a mind to start home tomorrow.
There is nothing doing here, or 60
ing to be done"
I No" said the other. 'Tf II wasn't
for House Bill Twenty-nine, Id go to-
night. They will adjourn tomorrow
Or Monday"
House Bill Twenty-Five Is much
too dead to bury" was the reassurinf
rejoinder. 1.-The committee is ours
and the bill will not be heard OF again
at this session. II that Is all you are
holding on for"
They passed out Of earshot. and
Kent folded his newspaper absently
House Bill Twenty-Five had beer
the one measure touching the sensi-
tive vested interests; the one meas
ure for the suppression Of which the
corporations lobby had felt called or
to take steps, 1t was an omnibus bill
put forth as a substitute for the ex-
isting law defining the status OF for
eign corporations. 1t had originated
in the governors office-a fact which
Kent had ferreted out within "a hours
of it's first reading-and for that rea'
son he had procured printed copy