The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1907-03-08
THE NORTH CAROLINA =
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ENDS
The Railroad Passenger Rate is now
2 Id Gents per Mile...Nlr.
MinStOn'S Good Service.

The following summary OF the SeS-
sion is from the Biblical Recorder,
published i'll Raleigh:
This week the general assembly will
reach an end,-altcr sixty busy days.
Ii is not our purpose now to review
the session, however, as the acts OF
this week will weigh heavily in the
final account In evidence OF the truth
oi this Statemctn is the fact that ac-
cording to the governor OF North Car
oina the general assembly comes into
this final week with only two OF its
party's seven specific platform pledges
redeemed. We believe they will fulfill
the others, for as we have said here
toiorc, there never was in Raleigh a
general assembly so free from selfish
influences, or more disposed to do the
peoples will. And we say this after
many hours attendance upon its de-
libcrations.
Last week the railroad passenger rate
bill reached concluSion,-the new
'ate being "a cents per mile on rail
loads that are more than sixty miles
Sng, the Second-claSs being abolished.
:. Df course the length oi the road is
not inc ihe-ss''e'44;al = CT e4-ess,iug factor. 1t
happens that all roads that are more
than sixty miles long report earnings
~of more than SI.5oo per mile per year.
We regard this rate as being as low
as the State could safely order; the
Il, IL, - frD,,, h.;,,,y
low is the abolition OF the sccond-class
car.
That the house and the senate were
brought together is due largely to the
lieutenant governor, MIR. Winston.
That his bold stroke in appointing a
committee on the Scnatc's part has
brought down upon him severe criti-
CiSm is our reason for here going a
little out Oi the way to render him de
served praise. He understood that the
gentlcman,--Nr. John w. Graham,-
who was i'll logical line ior that con-
ference committee, the senate having
accepted his bill,-would not yield an
iOta: and he refused therefore to ap-
point him. We regret. as every one
must, the apparent sighting oi So line
d citizen as MIR. Graham; but we APP
plaud nOrc the less Mr.. WinstOn'S
determination that the reduction oi
rQtcs should not be held up by failure
nb the house and senate to agree. Mr.
Winston has presided over two Scnatcs
now. He has made a most admirable
president and he has used his office
nobly in the public service. FirmncsS,
courtesy, honor, wisdom and the pub
lie welfare have characterized his whole
course. And for this reason he stands
before the people OF North Carolina
in larger outline than at any time in
his career. He has been tried and
found good.
Freight rates and other railroad sub
jectS will come up this week. We fear
that little will be done to increase the
safety OF travel.
We heard the debate on the cOmpul-
sory education act. 1t is in the nature
pi local option act,-that is, it pro-
vidcs machinery for compulsory cdu-
cation wherever the people may vote
for it. But it is not local option act
where the school attendance falls be-
low 35 per cent. of the enrolment
When that happens the county board
OF education can order compulsory
measures. From this feature OF the
act, however, forty counties were. we
regret to say, excepted. We like the
local option idea. That calls for local
campaigns, local opinion and local in
tercst in education. 1t might seem
feasible to set up compulsory cduca-
ton at once,-but only to the idcaliSt
We must first build up the minds and
hearts OF the people.
The reformatory bill has passed in
a most elementary form. 1t carries no
appropriation. Some ladies and gen
tlenien, most OF them about Charlotte,
: 50 we Understandable undertake
to maintain the institution. The State
gives the enterprise its in imprimatur.
and ii all goes we'll will eventually take
charge OF it. This is. not the sort oi
beginning that we hoped for; but it
is beginning, and it is we'll that be-
ginning has been made
Violent opposition was manifested
toward the State superintendent bill
to enable counties to levy special taxes
TO make the school terms four months
long,-the proposition being to utilize
half the States special 100000 appro-
priation in supplemcnting not the reg
ular fund, as is now the case, but
special taxes. Seeing that the consti-
tuition requires four months school.