Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-02-19
TWO MILLIONS TO RUN STATE.
General Assembly Contemplates Adj
journing on February 22d.


the Legislature is drawing to a close.
We expect to adjourn next Friday
night. Many bills have been intro
duced in both Houses, but not many
of Statewide interest have yet
been enacted into law. Most of the
bills that have received the signature
OF the Governor are of local ma
ture.
There have been over six hun
dred bills introduced in the House,
and we will adjourn without having
disposed Of many because the calen-
dar is so congested. The bills that
have neither been passed no. killed
this session will be carried over un-
til the next session for consideration
| 1t is doubtful whether or not we will
get to consider the "two-cent rate
BILL" "the one-mill additional tax
! for school purposes" or 1.-The bill pro-
posing to change the primary election
| law 1t was hoped by most of the
members that these bills would be
considered at this session, but it is
like the civil docket of the Court of
| Common Pleas for Oconee-it is COO
| crowded.
1t seems very evident that the Leg
| islature will revise and change the
| primary election system, and will SO
fix the law that every voter will have
| to be registered before voting in the
primary. The bill does not require
one to have his poll tax receipt and
registration certificate, as in the gen.
eral election, but simply requires, one
to be registered at one precinct and
have registration certificate show
ing that he is qualified to vote.
The bill proposed by State Super
intendent Of Education J. e. Swear
ingen was introduced in the House
by Representative e. P. McCravy, Of
P1ckens providing for "a law giving
a township or county the right to
vote on compulsory education law,
provided one-third of the qualified
electors petition for such election"
This bill passed the House by a vote
OF 81 to 19. This. bill, if enacted into
| law, will merely give a school dis
trict the right to say whether or not
they shall have compulsory attend
ance at school. 1t provides tbat7one
must go to school at least three
months in each year, If the parents
are able to permit him to go and If
they live within three miles of a
school house; otherwise the law will
not apply to thep. 1t provides pun
lshment by fine Or imprisonment for
any one violating the terms of the
law. In my opinion, this bill, If it
becomes law, will only be "a rope
or sand,' so to speak. 1t contains
so many loop holes that any one can
get around the provisions of the act.
If the people want compulsory e..u-,
cation, / don't think this bill is what
they desire. Consequently | voted
against the bill, but it passed the
House and is now in the Senate, and
they say will pass that body On the
other hand, | doubt the wisdom Of
compulsory education, since l have
been studying the subject. The sta
tlstics show that the States that have
a complete compulsory education law
have been unable to get the children
to attend any better than those
States that do not have it. South
Carolina stands 21 in the average
out OF the 48 States in the Union in
| regard to attendance in schools.
| North Carolina has a compulsory ed
ucation law just like the one propos-
ed by Mr.. McCravy, and yet their av-
erage attendance in the schools Is
less than that of South Carolina. The
figures show that the average per
centum OF attendance of children of
school age in this State is II. In
| Oconee county only about 10 per cent
of the white children are out Of
school. Our county stands fourth in
number of attendance of white chill
drtn In our public schools throughout
the State. The time might come
when we need compulsory education,
but as long as these facts continue
In our State, and as long as we neg
| lect to provide better accOmmoda-
tlons for our schools, we had better
stop talking compulsory education.
L state these facts to sustain my rea-
son for voting against the bill.
The county and State supply bills
passed the House and are now in the
Senate for their action. When the
supply bill was under consideration
| introduced an amendment cutting out
two items that aggregated $1,000.
one of the items called for $4,000
FOR driveway around the State
House, and the other carried $4,000
for A. w. Todd, architect, for prepar-
Ing model for the extension of the
State House building. The Legisla-
ture last year refused to pay Mr..
Todd anything on the ground that
the contract for this work was not
authorized, nor was the State legally
or equitably bound to pay 1t. For
this reason / introduced an amend
ment to disallow the claim this year.
which the Houes agreed to by large
vote.
The State supply bill calls for over
Two million dollars for running the
State for the year 1913.
M. r. Mcdonald.