The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-02-04
BILLS OF SEN
MILLER CAUSE
Big FIGHT
No Votes Are Reached
in Effort to Abolish
State Railroad Com
mission

debate OF the session III the senate
came today over the bills Of Senator
Miller. Of Darlington. to conSoli-
date the railroad and public service
commissions and to require tcle-
phone companies to furnish inter-
urban service without additional
cost between points not more than
thirty miles distant No vote was
reached on the bill at the day ses-
sion, debate being adjourned until
the night session.
The Darlington senator offered
two amendments to his measures
today. The first was to the tele-
phone bill and limited the interur-
ban service which they would be
required to furnish under the pro-
posed law TO points not more than
thirty miles apart. This amend
ment was adopted The second
amendment was TO the railroad
commission bill and provides that
tho present. members of the COM
mission would continue as mem
bers Of the enlarged commission
until their terms Of office expire
This amendment was not voted
upon.
Considerable feeling was dis
played in the debate today. the
Darlington senator pressing his
bills with great vigor. while Sena-
! tors Crosson, of Lexington. and
Bonham. of Greenvillc. defended
the commission with much visor.
Senator Miller charged in the
course of his speech that the hand
| that wrote the decision of the
South Carolina Railroad Commits
/, sion in the rate case was the same
as the hand that wrote the decis-
J ion Of the Mississippi decision. To
! Sukstantfate his charge he read a
paragraph from the decision Of the
Mississippi commission and hand
ing Senator Duncan, Of Union, a
copy Of the South Carolina deci-
sion asked him to follow Il close
Is. When he finished he asked
the senator from Union if the
paragraphs were similar. The sen.
ator from Union, addressing the
chair, said tho .paragrap phs were
! identical.
Senator Bonham Of Greenville,
asked the Darlington senator if,
when he went to court for q de-
cree. he did not have the decree
! prepared for the judge TO sign.
That is fatal admission for
tho senator from Grecnvillc to
make" replied Senator Miller. that
the Attorney for this billion dollar
J corporation wrote tho decisions ST
| fectlns THE people Of South t-aro-
1 lima
| The senator from Darlington
charged that the attorney general
was not permitted to represent the
State Of South Carolina at the
hearing. quoting from transcript
Of the testimony to show that he
took practically. no part in the
!. hearing. He charged that the
chairman of the railroad commits
sion was hostile to the interests
Of those protesting against the
rates, quoting from the testimony
which he thought tended to sub
! stantiate the charge. He paid trib-
ute to the fight made BY Congress
man McSwain Of GreenvilIc. to pre-
vent the raise in rates, saying that
! he had to make tho fight over the
, head Of hostile commission.
Senator Crosson began his
! speech by paying tribute to Frank
". Shealy, chairman Of the rail-
road commission. whose character
he declared to be unimpHachable.
He paid tribute to the other two
members of the board and said
that he felt that the senator from
Darlington ought to apologize to
them for the dirty" attack which
he made on them in place where
they could not defend themselves.
The Lexington senator said the
railroad commission WAS board
Of arbitration to stand between the
people and the railroads, and that
the members had done their duty
as they saw it. He said that the
complainantS in the telephone case
| had appeared before the commits
sion and after losing their case
there had appeared before the
courts, and had lost there. He did
not think the senate the place to
correct the evil. The complainantS
ought to be satisfied, he thinks,
to take their medicine.
Senator Young Of Charleston
thought the general assembly
would be setting :: rerJ' dangerous
precedent if it abolished the COM
mission. The members were elect
cd by the people and arc doing
their best. They arc the reprcscn-
tatives Of the people and the cor
porations. They have ma1c an un-
popular decision. but the senator
asked if the senator's thought
they wanted to make that decision.
1t would have been much easier for
them to have shut their eyes and
decided the case differently. but
would it have been right? He
asked if an attempt should be
made to abolish the supreme
court in the event it made an un-
popular decision: