The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-02-22
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BILL
CHARGED WITH DYNAMITE
Measure Uniting the Amount OF AIco'
mol to Be Shipped Into State is
Radical in Provisions.
w ] Cormack in The Record.

have a WondeT1ul Legislative 1IldCAl1-1
ery in the general assembly, but their
enthusiasm for their cause seems to
have gotten the better of their judg-
ment and has caused them to pass a
bill that is loaded with so much po-
litical dynamite that the placing Of 1t
on the statute books may cause the
people of South Carolina to blow up
the whole movement at the polls next
summer and decapitate the heads Of
it's sponsors.
Senate No. 733 anl house 1889, in
troduced in the upper body by its au-
thor. Howard B. Carlisle, senator from
Spartanburg county, has passed both
branches of the general assembly anc
is now with the committee on free
conference. the senate having refused
to agree to certain amendments tack
ed on by the house.
The bill has mad remarkable ca
reer in its passage-remarkable IN
that very few of the members took
the trouble 20 read the measure. And
some of them now are regretting It,
The steam roller process was en-
ployed to crush the bill through the
legislature, particularly in the house,
where Wednesday debate on the
measure was peremptorily shut off by
proponents of the measure And 1t is
bill, think those that have since
read it. that should have had the full
est expression from all sides because
of the radical and dangerous provi-
sions hid in its ten pages of printed
matter.
To illustrate the lack Of attention
paid to the measure by the members:
While the writer was not present dur
ing the debate in the senate, he has
it On unimpeachable authority that
upon being asked by senator who
said that he had not read the meas
ure now it differed from the original
gallon a month law, the author, Sen
ator Carlisle, claimed the only ma
teriap' difference was the provision
recurring the common carrier to reg
ister with the probate judge or the
clerk of court monthly the names OF
those tnat had purchased liquor and
that allowing peace officers to exam
inc the records Of such common car
riers. Senator Carlisle reiterated the
foregoing assertions on the floor of the
senate on other occasion, stated this
same authority. In the house one
member is said to nave started read
ing the printed bill on third reading
snd, when he had finished the hrst
section, Immediately "blew up" an
other got as far as the tenth section
:an6 he "blew up" on the same read
Tag and a third openet the bill in the
middle and started to raruse it on its
final reaing and, when he reached
section 10, he "blew up 1t is said
that one of the members asked about
25 of his colleagues in that house that
had seats Immediately around him If
tney had read the bill-and not one
of them knew tie provisions. Yet the
Jill had passed.
1t is contended by the members that
supported this radical measure that,
when the people Overwhelmingly
voted in prohibition they wanted all
LIQUOR taken from the State. This at
.titude is best illustrated in Reasons
for Voting" by R. c. Lee. in the house
journal of Feb. Is:
Owing to the fact that the quail
fed electors Of the State Of South
Carolina did, at the last general elec-
ton, Overwhelmingly vote for State
wide prohibition, oppose any amend
ment or act purporting tc give the
citizens Intoxicating liquors"
The other school of thought might
be explained in, the words of H. H,
Arnold in the house journal OF the
same date:
My reasons for voting aye on the
amendment offered by Mr. Dew is
tnat the question OF prohibition was
voted on by the people of the State
under the provisions Of the gallon-a
month law and it is the opinion of
great majority of the voters with
whom l conversed that it should re-
main as it is"
Section one of the bill provides
that it snail be unlawful 10 re-
ceive or have in his, its or their pos
session more than two quarts of spir-