The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-02-08
REVIEW N FORECAST.
What the General Assembly has done
and has Yet 20 do.
News and Courier

Columbia, February Especial The House
of Representatives is peEging Away at Its
work and has done very well In its work.
There has not yet been al ? evidence OF rad.
icalism In legislation; nothing extraordina-
r. nas been done; no partisan spirit has been
manifested. and the dispoSit.nn thus far has
been towards con versatisn an ! to XIII what
might be regarded as extreme legislation.
Quite a number OF impcrtant measures yet
remain unsettled. but Tins far there can be
no question as TO Inc III rral spirit, the lack
tion to consider pT>l ions upon meri-
There has been somr H. understanding 1t.
some matters, but VIII, &C., the true linton
has been fully understood majority ofthe
members have in all ipstabreS this far done
the right thing. and the Indications are that
such will be continued throughout the ses-
sion. As a matter OF fact, with a better un-
de%rsianding OF legislation, better results are
always to be expected. and members soon
find that the people at home have the most
intense regard for that which IL thought 10
be right and proper, and that no m Is
censnred for doing that which he believes to
be right, whether his constituents fully agree
with him or not.
The House has not yet taken hold OF the
dispensary proposition except in the form OF
the Investigating resolution, and most pno
pie have already given up all idea that this
commission Will result In anything, Ihe
expectation Of many has been disappointed
10 the make up Of the commission from the
Senate side. While there IL nothing In the
world against any of those who have been
appointed from the Senate, some comment Is
made upon the fact hat two of the Senate
members of the coiEmittee are from the same
counties as member OF the board of control.
Not that there Ia criticism ofthose appointed,
but some think that II would have been bel,
ter and more satisfying had the other side OF
the situation been re presented on the Senate
committee, say, by such men as Senator
Brlce or Senator Mars hal, or Senator Manning
or Senator Mauldin, or Senator Raysor,
chairman Of the Senate committee on the
| dyona ~ o N ~ ~ ar n ~, a ~ NToIunr Ar tho nnm.
mittee of the Senate is made up 1t contains
two members from the same counties AS
member OF the board az control. and the
third a new member of the Senate. II Sen
ator Brice bad been placed on the com mis-
sion or some of. those named, and nothing
had been found in the evidence, az is firmly
predicted, the report OF the commission
would have been satisfying 10 the most
ardent opponents of the dispensary. But
this is not said In criticism Of any one or OF
what will be done II Is TO suggest what is
being said. =
The House now has seven dlspensary bills
on the Calender, all made special orders for
next Tuesday. This does not include the
ManniDg-Raysor bill, which has passed the
Senate. bers who voted for the Senate
bill realize that no bill can be made copper
tight, ii there is the desire to do wrong. and
may insist hat the whole system or pur
chasing is wrong and that a radical change
ought 10 be made, and that this piddllpg
with buying by plumbers and all that sort oi
thing is simply child's play, If the desire IL
do wrong exists. The publicity amendment
1t Is thought, will result in much good. and
by the broadcast publicity as to prices, guam
titles and the firm from which purchases are
made, much good. II is argued, will result.
The House will In all LIKELIHOOD adopt one
of these dilatory dispensary bills-that ls, one
which 1t is thought will put of the evil day,
and then let things rock along for another
year or two. and do some more mendiDg &c
satisfy the public protests. D.,
MIR. Morgan has not yet pressed his plan o
leaving the problem 10 each county for :,
own settlement, and In time his measure WIZ
prevail. n the prohibition sentiment in ths
meanwhile Toes not sweep the State.
FINANCIAL LEGISLATION. Q
The general impression is that no general
scheme of augmepting the income Of the
State will be proposed. Whatever sugges'
tons are made will come from individual
sources and will not be from committees
commissions or other aggregated sources
The idea is 10 give ihe franchise lax law q
full show and see'whRt that will do for The
finances OF the State, together With other
existing means.
There bav been several Individual sugges.
lions made. MIR. Herbert wants 10 tax be-
quests and estates. This proposition was
suggested a year or two ago by the commits
sion, but failed.
MIR. Herbert thinks that better results
cou'd be had by having the Slate board OIL
equalization assess banks instead OF having
these assessments made by the county boards
as is now done.
MIR. Labun Mauldin wanIs the ipco me tax
returns open 10 the public and in addition he
wants the liability to begin with incomes,
gross, OF $1,000. This proposition has been
unfavorably reported. 1t is TO be ment1oned
that the support 10 these income tax measures
come from counties where nc such things a.
incomes are reported for taxation and where
the county auditors are not worried with
Income tax returns, although there may be
plenty of folks liable. Possibly they could
begin on what material they now ha ve+
certainly Orangeburg and some other coun
ties ought 10 have residents liable unde the
present Income tax laws.