The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-02-12
CAPITAL CORRESPONDENTS

CAPITAL CORRESPONDENCE
The general assembly is now
on the homeward stretch, and
up to date, there have been but
few general laws enacted; to
some, this may appear as if
nothing has been accomplished,
but to my mind, when the legls
lature withholds from the statute
book new laws it is doing excel
lent. the laws now on the books
are so confusing that it keeps
the supreme court busy constru
ing them, and the ordinary lay
man cannot keep up with them,
therefore, it is best for the peo-
pie to learn the laws already
made before they are forced to
contend with new ones, and. it
is nv belief, when a legislator
puts the axe to the many bills
that are introduced he is doing
good service for his constituen.
cy.
The general bills offered are
usually, either in the interests
of corporations Or to harass
them, neither should be passed
into law without a thorough
knowledge of their effect upon
the public welfare, and this can
not be had with superficial
knowledge which is obtained
from casual reading of the
bills, and the arguments of their
advocates.
One OF the general bills which
took up considerable time in
speech making was Mr.. Rem.
bert's Inheritance Tax and leg
acy bill, fortunately it was Kill
j ed in the House before it reach
ed the Senate. There may have
been merit in this measure, but
the average legislator could not.
if he sat up every night during
the entire session study out the
principles of it so he could go
home and give to his constit-
uents an Intelligent reason for
his position, hence the House
put a crimp upon it. The bill
provided for a graduated tax
upon inheritance with certain
exemptions, but its most dan
gerous feature was the provision
for paying the Solicitor who
was to be the attorney for the
probate court a fee amounting to
about one half of the tax COL
lected, and too, the bill gave to
the probate court the power to
fix valuations which would create
more litigation, in that those
who were not satisfied with the
valuations of this court would
have to employ a lawyer to make
an appeal to the circuit court,
all of this costs money, and to
my mind such Legislation would
have the effect of chilling indus
try, and too, the practice in some
States where they have a law OF
this kind is to remove the prop
erty to another State. and there
by the State where 1t naturally
belongs loses its proper taxa
ton. The bill should have been
entitled one to give the lawyers
a cinch.
There are a great number
of bills affecting to corpora.
tions of this State, railroads,
cotton mills and others which
if they should become law will
not accomplish the purpose Of
their advocates, and only work
an unnecessary expense upon
those they affect. The publicity
Of the affairs of the corporations
who would care to know the
earnings of a cotton mill or a
saw mill or a wagon factory, a
plow manufacturing establish
ment, other than those who own
the stock of these corporations,
these can now get such informa-
tion from the secretaries of the
concerns without a legislative
Act, so far as I can see none
other have any business with it.
To require the publicity as pro
vided in the bills now pending
would entail an enormous ex-
pense upon the concerns, with
out doing anybody any good.
These measures are usually the
result of campaign speeches in
the primary, a fellow goes out
on the slump in the counties
where there are many factories,
and be works himself up into a
fury about the oppression of
these concerns, and tells his
people If they will elect him be
has a panacea for all of their ills,
he will have the general assem-.
bly, to enact laws that will bring
these great corporations to their
knees, they will be only too
glad before he gets through with
them to take ali of their en-
ployees into copartnership with
them, and share their profits,
but when ne gets to the legisla
ture, and he introduces these
harassing measures: he comes
into contact with another ele
ment who do not agree with him
in his ultra views, but who have
an appreciation of the fact that