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IA VOL. XLV,I. NO. 35 NEWBERRY. S. C., TUESDAY FE13RUARYT 7, 1905. TWICE A'WE.$.0AYA PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SENATE PASSES RAYSOR DISPENSARY BILL. Ten-Circuit Bill Has Passed the House-Matters of Gen eral Interest. Special to The Herald and News. Columbia, February 6.-Neither branch of the general assembly is in session today, both houses having adjourned on Saturday until tomor row at noon in order to permit the members to spend February salesday at home. The main interest in the legislative proceedings during the past several days centres in the passage by the house of the ten-circuit bill and in the passage by the senate of the Ray sor-Manning dispensary bill, with various amendments which were adopted. The ten-circuit bill as pava ed by the house has been sent to the senate and has already received a favorable report from the senate ju diciary committee. It seems prob able at this writing that the bill will pass the senate, giving the state two more judicial circuits, but it is a hard matter to predict legislation and, of course, nothing, definite ', known as to the fate of the bill in e senate. The Dispensary Bill. The main features of the Raysor Manning dispensary bill, as it pass ed the senate, have been referred to from time to time in The Herald and News. The first bill was offered by Mr. Raysor and the Manning bill was proposed as a substitute. The two bills were identical as to the appoint ment of a board of directors by the goyernor, at a salary of $i,500 per .year, to meet weekly. This provi sion was adopted, but does not go in to effect until the expiration of .the terms of the present members of the board. DIrectors Appointed by Governor. It is provided that the members of the board of directors "shall be men of good moral character, not addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and shall be appointed by the governor. Each member of said board shall receive for his services an annual salary of fifteen hundred dol lars, payable in monthly instalments, and shall give bond in the veual form for the faithful discharge of his du ties, in the sum of ten thousand dol lars, with sureties, to be approved in the same manner as the bonds o~ oth er state officers: The said boar shall devise such a system of book-k$eping and accounting as it may deem ad-I visable. The said board shall pre scribe all rules and regulations not inconsistent with law, for the govern ment of the state dispensary and the county dispensaries; Provided, That no membe of this board of directors, while holding this office, shall be a candidate for any other office: Pro vided, further, That the present mem bers of said board shall continue in office until the expiration of the terms to which they have oeen elect ed by the general assembly." Sec tion 2 of the bill provides that t?ie board of directors of the dispensar y once a week in their office in Columi .bia, and remain in session so long as may be necessary for the transaction of their business. The Purchase of Liquors. With regard to the purchase of li f quors the bill provides that "the board of directors of the dinspensary shall within thirty days after the nirst day of M\arch. 1905, and thereafter qu~arterly. advertise in two or more daily newspapers of this state, and one or more daily newspapers pub lished without the state, for bids to be made by parties desiring to furnish liquor co the dispensary for said quarter. Said bids shall be placed in a box as directed, and only one him shall be made by any one person or corporation, which shall state the quality, price and chemical analysis thereof, and accompanying the said bids there shall be a sample of each kind of liquor offered for sale, con taining not less than one pint, en closed in The same box with the bid, in a bottle the shape of which shall be suggested or prescribed by the board of directors, together with a uniform cork and cap, to be prescrib ed by them, and there shall be no la bel or distinguishing mark of any de scription or kind on either box or the bottle to show from whom or whence it came. Bids Sent to Treasurer. "The box containing the bid and sample shall be sent by express to the state treasurer, at Columbia, South Carolina. On receipt of such boxes, containing samples and bids the treasurer shall open same and number the sample bottle and bid with a corresponding number, file the bid in his office and deliver the sam ple bottle so numbered, and a state ment the price of the liquors there in contained, and without any other distinguishing mark to show from whom or whence it came, to the di rec7cors of the dispensary at a meet ing of said board, who shall then and there open said bids in public and re :ord all said bids. numbered as afore said, in a book kept for that purpose. The state board of directors shall examine the liquors contained in said sample bottle and have same anaiyz ed by the state chemist, and award the purchase to the bid numbered in accordance with the sample bottle, which is best according to test, analy. sis and price, and report the numbei of the bid to which the award is made to the state treasurer, who shall thereupon declare to whom the con tract is awarded. The state treasur er shall not disclose who are the bid ders for the several numbers placed by him on the bid and sample bottles before such award is made by the state board of directors. The com missioner shall have exclusive power to order goods shipped for the dis pensary under said contract, and all goods so ordered by himshallbesub ject to rejection by him if not in ac cordance with the samples and analy sis filed as hereinbefore directed. Case or bottled liquors shall only be contracted for when of a high grade and standard reputation. All other goods shall be purchased in bulk and bottled at the d'ispensary." Bids Must Be Kept Secret. "The state treasurer shall keep se cret the names and identity 01 bid 4ps filing bids with him, as perscrib ed' in Section 557, until after the award theron shall have been made by the board of directors, and should said state treasurer, or any persons whomsoever, disclose such names and identity prior to such awaraY be ing made, he shall be guilty of a mis demeanor and fined in the sum of not less than one hundred nor more than two thousand dollars, and be impras oned not less than one month nor more than one year." The bill rur ther provides penalties for violation of the s'tatute by county. dispensers. Can Close Any Dispensary. An amendment was proposed by Senator Raysor and adopted, giving the board power to close any local dis pensary whenever it appears that it is for the good of the community to do so. Senator Johnson. of Fairfield. of feredi an amendment. which was also adpe.providing that no purchases shall be made from a firm which snall ship to the dispensaries a greater quantity than invoiced to the coml missioner. An amendment was also adopted prnviding -that the appoint ment of county boards shall remain as at present. When the bill came up for third reading on Friday a further amendment by Senator Manning was adopted requiring the board of di rectors to purchase at the qua- terly meetings the full amount of any par ticular brand ofliquors needed for the quarter. The bill was strongly fought throughout by Senator Blease. He said its passage would be equivalent to saying the present board was guilty of wrong doing. There was a great deal of discussion when the bill was up for second reading and on Friday, after it passed third reading, Senator Blease secured a reconsideration of the vote, and made an argument against 'the bill, saying the provision devolving upon the governor the duty of appointing the board and put ting it in the power of the board to close any dispensary it saw fit, would mean prohibition if a governor op posed to the dispensary were put in office, for the governor could appoint two of the directors who were op posed to the law and they could close every dispensary in the state. In orther words, said Senator Blease, even if the legislature should be strongly in favor of the dispensary, it would be within the power of the governor, under thu provisions of the bill, to practically kill the dispensary and substitute prohibition. The governor would really be the law-making power so far as the dispensary law was con cerned. Other arguments were made, and Senator Blease moved to strike out the amendment. The motion was lost by a vote of ig to 18, as follows: Yeas-Bivens, Blake, Blease, Blease, Carpencer, Davis, Dennis, Douglass, Efird, Hardin, Hay, John son, McGowan, McIver, Stackhouse, Walker, Warren, Webb. Nays-Black, Brice, Brooks, Brown, Christensen, Earle, Hood, Holliday, Hudson, Hydrick, John son, Manning, Marshall, Mauldin, McLeod, Raysor, Talbert, Von Kol nitz, Williams. Bill Goes to House. Senator Blease then moved to post pone the bill to the next session, but this was lost by a vote of 21 to 6. The bill then passed its third reading and went to the house. There has been a good deal of discussion as to the probable fate of the measure in the house, but what the house will do with it remains to be seen. The Ten-Circuit Bill. It had been thought that the ten circuit bill would pass the house, but so large a majority in its favor had hardly been expected even by the most ardent advocates of the meas ure. On the motion to strike out the enacting words the vote stood, yeas 4!, nays 67. Mr. Earhardt voted to kill the bill and Mr. Higgins for the bill. Mr. Taylo'r's vo'te was not re corded. The bill as it passed the house and wvent to the senate, being reported favorably there by the judi ciary committee, is as follows: Text of the BilL. Section 1. That 'the state be, and is hereby, divided into ten judicial cir cuits, composed as follows: The 1st circuit shall be composed of the counties of Charleston. Colle ton, and Beaufort. The 2d circuit shall be composed 01 the counCes of Berkeley, George town, Dorchester and Orangeburg. The 3d circuit shall be composed of the counties of Hampton. Aiken, Bamberg, Barnwell and Edgefield. The 4th circuit shall be composed (of the counties of Clarendon. Flor ce. Lee. Sumter and WVilliams The ::th circuit shall be composed of the counties of Chesteriieid, Dar lJngton. H-orry. Marion and Marl boro. The 6th circuit shall be composed of the counties of Kershaw, Lexing !n. Richland and Saluda. The 7th circuit shall be composed of the counties of Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster and York. The 8th circuit shall be composed of the counties of Cherokee, Spartan burg and Union. The 9th circuit shall be composed of the counties of Abbeville. Ureen wood, Laurens and Newberry. The roth circuit shall be composed of the counties of Anderson, Green ville, Pickens and Oconee. Section 2. That in no case shall any special courts be held, but the governor may commission some one learned in the law to hold a regular term of court when a circuit judge is disabled by sickness. Section 3. That all acts inconsis tent herewith are hereby repealed. No Compulsory Education. After considerable discussion the house killed Mr. Herbert's compul sory education bill. The measure was very mild and some strong ar guments were made in its favor, but the house seemed disposed to kill any measure looking towards com pulsory education. By a vote of 62 to 47 the enacting words were strick en out, Messrs. Earhardt and Hig gins voting to kill the bill and Mr. Taylor voting for the bill. The Richards school house bill, the full text of which was published in the last issue of The Herald and. News, has passed its third reading in the house and has been sent ro the senate. Killed Many Bills. At its night %ession on last Thurs day night the house devoted most of its time to killing bills. Among those killed was the measure to amend the law as to the time for killing birds, and th. bill to establish experimentar stations in every county. One, Two, Three Order. At this session of the house three bills, championed respectively by the three members of the Newberry dele gation were killed in one, two, three order, in little more than as many minutes. The bills, in the order in which they were killed, were as fol lows: Mr. Higgins called up the senate bill, looking to the appointment ot a commission, with a view to the cor rection of the difficulties of the pres ent school laws, 'the idea being to un ify and simplify the school system. After some little discussion the bill was killed. The next bill was Mr. Earhardt's measure to provide for indexing iarm labor contracts. After some little discussion, participated in by Messrs. Earhardt and Taylor, the bill was killed. The house then took up and killed Mr. Taylor's bill to extend the fellow servant bill 'to cotton mills. Calhoun County Dead. Last week the question of the crea tion of the new county of Calhoun was argued before committees of the two houses. The new county was strongly opposed by representatives of Edgefield and Abbeville counties, from which counties it was proposed to take territory for Calhoun. The merits of the new county were as strongly urged by its c.hampions. The main question seemed to be as 'to the constitutional area. The committees of the two houses reported untavora bly on the new county' bill, thus de feating the new county of Calhodn. Parr Shoals Water Company. The bill to ratif'y and confirm the charter of the Parr Shoals Power co mpan y. which hadl already passed the senate. has now passed the nouse. There was s.ome opposition in the house. bmt it was urged that the bill was not of local importance merely, and that the condemnation of certain ting the development of the power, meant the development of a great in (ustrial enterprise, benefiting a large section of South Carolina. Mr. Hig gins said that the proposition was to spend a million and a half dollars for the development of the power alone. This taxable property was to be for the benefit of the whole people. All that was desired was to fully develop the power. The bill finally passed the house by a very large majority. Ten-Hour Labor Law. In the hou:, on Friday morning Mr. Toole presented petitions asking for *en-hour labor legislation. The petitions were pasted together 'and when unrolled reached from the speaker's desk half-way down the main aisle. The text of the petition reads as follows: To the honorable members of the house of represenatives of the State of South Carolina-Gentlemen: We, the undersigned citizens, voters and taxpayers of South Carolina, respect fully ask and pray that your honor able body pass the ten-hour bill now before you, fixing the hours of labor in cotton and woollen mills in this state at ten hours per day. We will say here that it is utterly impossible for us who are vitally interested in this matter to come and stand around your honorable body and lobby in the interest of this bill. Indeed, we do not think it is at all proper for any one to do so. And further, we believe that it is the duty ofeveryrepresenta tive to first look ou' for the werfare of those who are not able to heip themselves and are handicapped in the rac-oflife. The.laboring people demand this legislation of you, though. they, may be afraRf o say much about it. Therefoii n you vote on this question for God's sake think of tfe thousands of women and little child ren of South Carolina who come and go from their work'in the night time. We further believe that aumA" rights should be placed ahead of Ie dollar. We will pray, etc. School Trustees' Repr, The Richards bill to require schOel trustees to make annual reports io patrons of the public schools was glv eu its second reading in the bouse without opposition. The house has also given second reading to a bill prohibiting cock fighting anywhere in the state. The house has also passed the bill with reference to the steps to be cak en for the formation of new counties, looking towards settling the prensxi naries as to area, population and tax value before the matter reaches the legislature. An amendment was ad opted providing for the appointment of one surveyor, from each of the old counties opposing a new county, if there be opposition. Auto Speed B13L The senate has passed and seni is the house a bill providing that the speed of automobiles shall not be more than fifteen miles, violators ba ing subject to a fine of not less than $1o nor more than $i00. Traction engines were also included in the pre visions of the bill. The Clemson Bill. The senate committee having ia charge the house b;ill to cut down the appropriation to Clemson college and to dlivert a part of the income frorm the fertilizer inspection tax to Win throp college has spilt even, six and six, and has submitted two reports on the question. The senate has killed Senator Hood's bill to change the law in ref eren1ce to drawing juries. Newberry Union Depot Bill. On the recommendation of the committee having the bill in charge, (Continuerd on Fifth Pae.)