Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-31
HOLDING TWO OFFICES.
Governor BIease Transmits a Warm
MESSAGE on the Subject.

Message on tine Subject.
Charging that the supreme court it
self Is careless of obedience to the con-
stitution, and declaring that many
members of the legislature violate the
constitution by holding their seat and
at the same time serving as trustees
Of state institutions, Governor Blease
sent to the general assembly Saturday
afternoon a special message (Message
No. ~ suggesting appointment of
joint committee to ascertain what per-
sons, in the legislature or holding 9TH
er official positions, are also trustees
Of state institutions.
Owing to the fact that few trustees
take the trouble to take out commits
sions as such, the records in the Of
fee of the secretary of state do not
show just who are trustees of state
institutions, and so are Of little help In
determining just what persons are re-
ferred to by the governors message.
The records do show, however, that
State Land Agent D. W. McLaurin Is
also a trustee Of Winthrop. Judge
Robert Aldrich, commissioned In 1906
as a trustee Of Clemson, is still carried
on these records as a trustee, but In
fact he was succeeded on the Clemson
board by Mr.. Rawl of Batesburg. Rail-
road Commissioner John G.. Richards,
Jr., is also a trustee Of Clemson,
though not so commissioned. Another
Clemson trustee not commissioned Is
Senator Alan Johnstone of Newberry.
Still another member Of the Clemson
| board who Is without commission Is
Senator B. r. Tillman.
The text Of the message is as fol-
lows:
To the Honorable the General Assem-
bly, Of the State of South Carolina.
Gentlemen: We hear and read much
these days Of the obedience to the
constitution and laws Of our state:
also much as to the enforcement OF
the laws of our state.
II would seem to me eminently
proper that these doctrines should be
carried into effect as far as II Is pos
sible by all the officers and citizens or
our state. Beginning, however, at the
top. Il would seem to me that those
who are in power and authority should
first. themselves, be obedient and en-
deavor to carry into effect and to up
hold the constitution and the laws Of
our state in order that a proper ex-
ample may be set to the others OF our
citizens.
1t is intimated by some that our su-
preme court extends one Of Its ses-
sions, or terms, into or up to the very
day of the beginning Of the next, In
order that they may hold their decis-
ions and hand them down when 1t Is
convenient, without any interference
from a constitutional or statutory pro-
vision.
Sitting in each Of your bodies, there
are those violating not only the spirit,
but the wording Of the constitution, In
my opinion, by holding two official Of
fees at one and the same time. l can
call the names Of each, and name the
positions which they hold, but this
might be considered a personal matter,
and I leave that entirely for your In
vestigation.
Article 8. section "a, of the consti-
tuition of 1895, reads as follows:
mo person shall be eligible to seat
in the general assembly while he holds
any office or position of profit or trust
under this state, the United States or
America, or any Of them, or under any
other power, except officers in the mil
itia, and notaries public, and If any
member shall accept or exercise any Of
the said disqualifying office or posi-
Members Of the boards Of trustee Of
all our colleges, members Of the board
in control Of the state reformatory,
and members Of all other state boards,
in my opinion, are officers, and when
members are shown into your body,
who are on any Of these boards, In my
opinion, they should resign.
The position Of trustee (either life
or elected) Of Clemson college Is de-
clared by our supreme court, In the
case of Hopkins against Clemson Col
lege Trustees, II South Carolina, to be
officers and agents of the state and
gives its reasons for so holding; and
among other reasons which 1t gives
for saving that they are agents of the
state and officers, Is that under the
original act accepting the Clemson
beuuest, and creating Clemson college,
provision Is made that the trustees Of
the institution shall consist OF life
members and those elected by the leg
islature, and that they shall hold the
personal property Of the state Of South
Carolina and make annual reports to
the general assembly.
Further, in 1890. the legislature
passed an act abolishing the depart
ment Of agriculture and devolving the
duties of that department on the trus-
them officers of this state.
Furthermore, municipality was
created by the legislature in 1894, to
be known as Clemson College," and
the board of trustees Of Clemson COL
lege, and their successors In office,
should have provisional control and
direct the affairs Of said corporation.
It Is admitted in the Hopkins suit that
Clemson college Is the property of the
state of South Carolina, and that work
done, on account of which the suit was
brought. was done by said state.
Article 2, section 2, of the constitu-
ton, provides:
But no person shall hold two offices
of honor or profit at the same time;
provided, that any person holding an
other office may, at the same time, be
an officer of the militia or notary
public"
Now, gentlemen, these two sections
Of the constitution are being openly
and f1agrantly violated day by day;
and If you permit It as the direct rep
resentatives of the sovereign people,
and thereby show to the citizens OF
your state that you yourselves are not
complying with the laws Of your state,
how can you expect to keep the unin-
formed from following your example?
If the father does not want his boy to
have bad habits and go in the path of
wrong, he should not set the example
in the presence Of the boy; and, II he
does, he should not whip his boy, be-
cause it Is natural that the boy should
want to do as the father does. If the
ministers and the teachers set an i'm
proper example, and those to be taught
by them shall follow in their footsteps,
they should neither condemn nor pun
ish.
l, therefore, most earnestly beg Of
you to appoint a committee, or to have
one of your standing committees,
thoroughly investigate all of the de-
partments of your government and see
who is violating these two sections or
our constitutions; and, let those who
are violating them resign one or the
other of their positions, and not be
openly violating the law, under the
cloak Of a technicality-a technicality
like that which we so often hear con-
demned by the press and the public,
when it is used to advantage in our
courts of justice.
I feel that have done my duty in
calling this matter to your attention,
as I often hear 1t commented on by
others, and not favorably. I assure
you. If you shall do nothing, have
done nv part I have absolutely no