The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-03-03

P. Broadway and c. B. Geiger
Tor services rendered.
\ bill making it a misdemeanor
TO solicit OF receive orders for in
toxicating liquors and beverages
in this State.
\ bill to create a commission to
dispose Of the stock of goods on
hand in the Clarendon and Laur-
ems dispensaries.
A bill to empower the county
commissioners to control the
working of the chain gang; and
to require all contracts and claims
to be assented to by the board.
4 bill amending an Act to pro
vide for the fees Of the Clarendon
Probate Judge to be the same as
that OF Sumter and adjoining
counties.
The bill relating to whishey
drummers as passed. is not as |
introduced it. The original pro
viled for a license Of $4,000,
which was intended to be prohib-
tive. because under the inter
state commerce law / have al.
ways been under the impression
that the legislature had no right
to prohibit their plying their bus.
mess so long as they made no
actua! sale by receiving the
money, but the legislature had
the right to require a license
tax. The measure was fought in
tile Senate last year, but / Won
out, and after it got over to the
House there was some mysterl-
Gus influence which kept it from
coming up for consideration,
Notwithstanding | had promises
from a lumber OF House mem
oers to force it forward. The
bill died upon the calendar: and
the liquor drummers were hap
py. I re-intcoduced it this year,
and Immediately there came sev
eral representatives of we'll
know whiskey houses. together
with some local attorneys to
plead against this drastic bill,
urging it could only result in
long and expensive legislation.
That these pleaders had friends
is no mistake and when they
found they could not kill the bill
outright they emasculated it IS
far as they could: and by the
shrewdly specious argument that
the Prohibition;sts voting for
the bill committed themselves to
a high license system, had the
effect Of Eliminating the license
feature, and cut it down to what
I very much fear will be, if test
ed, decided unconstitutional leg
islation. I hope, however, the
bill will hold good, and if it does,
there will be no more visits from
liquor drummecs in this State,
then the next move should be
to get the postal authorities to
Eliminate liquor literature and
advertisements. circular letters.
etc. from the mails.
One of the Acts Of general IN.
terest was the repeal of the
lien law. [ cannot see anything
of value in this proposition, if
the purpose is to prevent the
hooking" of crops, it is inefec-
tive. because it does not make
invalid the mortgage of crops
before they become in existence.
AS it stands, crop can be mort
gagged before it is planted, and
that is why I contend that the
repeal Of the lien law is a myth,
and not what was demanded by
the resolutions Of the farmers
associations. I made q fight for
the repeal of all Statutes which
recognized the mortgaglng Of
crops not in existence, and sue
ceeded in getting this amend
ment adopted one night, but the
next day the clamorers for the
repeal Of the lien law got to-
gether and had it reconsidered,
and struck out, which proved
conclusively to my mind that
the demand for repeal was more
political than earnest. The leg
islature ::stood pat" on radical
railroad legislation by refusing
to comply with the demands Of 4
class.
Had it not been for the com
plications brought about by the
election for Associate Justice, |
am satisfied there would not
have been a prolonged session,
no deadlock, and no necessity
for waste Of valuable time.
The common free schools were
given aid to increase the length
Of the school term. which makes
it possible for those districts not
able to secure the necessary
funds to get in position to get
help from the State. This: in my
opinion, will be gradually in
creased from year to year, until
all of the poorer districts will
have ample funds to better their
educational facilities.
Among the claims for overpald
taxes. from this county, were
those of Mrs. E. n. Briggs and
Mr. J. A. Richboucg. These claims
did not come to me. and with
which the Comptroller General
alone had influence. The Briggs