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V0LUME XXXIV. LAURENS, SOUTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1919.UM ER2 LtGISLTJRI'S WORK RYI[nt[D BY KO: ComuI ilIsiory Eu lcitiol, Good Itoads 1111 'iuxation Three Vitail Questions. Columbia, Feb. i.-rhe legislative sessions of 1919 has progressed suIll ciently firl to demonstrate several things. First, it has been clearly shown that there is no symptom of partisan feeling. For yegirs and years the General Assembly has been very sharply divided into factions. Year by year these lines have been growing dimmer and dimmer nntil now they are almost entirely obliterated, and about all you hear is "he used to he" of this or that faction. There has not been a single debate in which there has been any mention of partisan line. On the contrary, the effort has been to forget aand forgive. The manifest purpose of the 'General Assembly is to do some constructive work, pass the general appropriation bill, discuss the conditions of the state generally, enact ill the local legislation that Is neces mary, quit and go bome. In previous years there have been the distractIons of partisan politics, elections and trips. This year there has been no partisan polities, no elections to amount to any hing, andl no trills. There has been the fear of Influeniza., hut it has not reriotnly in te-'rferred with the Hession, and the worl5, It may he stated, is Iwell P dvalneed. Morbers have their vieN's very well formulated with reference to the pending legislation, partlieul:ari that of a serious character, and they are ready to act, and the appropria fion hill is about the only thing that is now in the way, and all of the hearings on this have been concluded. The louse has disposed of two of its mot important questions, contpul sory education, and the overshadow ing tax issue, whether or not the tax commission should or shouild not .be retained, anl after this is disposed of, then the collateral remedial legisla lion will be undertaken. This, how ever. Is the real crux of the tax situa tion in the eyes of the house, as to NIliether the tax commission shoutid or PhenId not he continied. Timines have changed very imueh in t he inatter of legisla-tion in recent ye rm. It has not been many year,, 0 m l that "iner was a .nredomintim. and overshadowing issue, and then came along with it the control of rail, roads and other corporations, includ lng the effort to get the Itwo-cent mile ego rate. Tiese important questions heve all been disnosed of to a large extent by national undertaking. In stea of.confrol of corporations it is now taxation. Insiead of heated elec tions it Is now permanent road con Struction. Tie three vital questions at this ses sion are, first, compilsory edueatlo" then road immprovement, and finally taxation vith its various angles and incidlental phases. Compulsory edulcation in a nmodifled! form seems certain. The bill, origl Just Open Counterpanes, te kins and towels, bleached and by sea island, new very latest in lac1 W. G. Wit | 'I nally presented provides fo/' the full term, and the effort Is to have a mini mum term of seven months for all the schools in -the State, and to this end the 10ciate has passed what is known as the Laney bill. The House, by -v,: of compromise, passed the State-wt ' c '"pulsory education bill but with an a.endiment that required attendance for only four monhs, and in this shape there were only five votes in the lower house against the measure. The reduction of the term was not al zogetler satisfactory to all of the ad vocates of the measure, but it was thought best to let it stand at. four months, first, to get the system start'd and then probably the Senate will in creat;e the term for which attendance is required, and if the system should work, as it Is exi)ected, subsequent legislatures can increase the term as they have increased the age limit for c'hildren or reduced the supply of liq'uor. Gov. Cooper is strongly in favor. ,if a laiW with teeth in it, and the teeth to the present measure is that each county and town is to have a truant officer who Is to be renponsible. It realy looks as if we are going to hav State-wide compulsory education in a modifled form. T11axation. 'Pw as to -the matter of taxntion. "e1eated efforts are being made and ' ave been Inmadi to remedy the present 'if tion. Various snmireslions have been made to -extend and to give mor" th oi ty to tie tax commission, to 'oVide for surveys vnd tighten Itp the Present machinery. All of these effort have been fruifless and the real fight revolves around whether or not IIthe oresent .tax commission should or should not survive. The Ihouse lu. yaar voted to kill tihe tax commission. This year it is an entirely now bod of legislaitors andi they have again voted to abolish the commission, an'' subs-i-itut in its place a hoard of equalization very much similar to that which exisfedl previous to the crea tion of the present commission. T/q yeIr the Senate saved the tax com mission, and of course, It it is sav~' iLa in. it will be through the Senate. 'The first and only test. in the Senate his been in the finance commit-tee, and the understandhig is that the Iflour bill to abolish the commission has been unfavorably reported by a ve' of ten to five. and tle reports from .the advoentes of the present commi: QIon are quite favorable. In fact, so m1uchl so. fliat the (comm1111ission ad vocates are iclineId to press some of teir views. This fax sit ut ion has been lomewhait responsible for the sentiment in favor of a constitutional convention, because of the feeling that tbe faxes are not now equalized. al tlough the tax commission has done its utmost. Good R01ndls livge. There is no question about the fact that the leneral Assembly is over whelmingly and enthusiastically in favor of better aLd permanent roads. and the only real issue is how best to aceompl ish -these results. Thie news Jpapers, leadlers -of thought, like R (loodhvyn Rheff, and ohers have dlone muchm to crystaiz',e this sentiment. I irst, thle T,egisla ture is con vinced ed.====...m Lble'damapk, nap wi e sheetings in rdwn. Fine wide hosiery, and the ies' neckwear. sont & Co. that there is utterly no use of wasting time in anything other than perma nent roads. They mtust be either of concrete, brick, asphah. bitullthic, granilte or some other hard sirface with a rock foitdatlon. The conseni sis of opiniioni Is that there is no use to bother with anything else. Second the people are willing to pay for good roads. They are -willing to pay for it either by direct taxation, hy taxation on altoiinobiles or by any pln111 that will get them t:he roads (Iuickest. F rankly the only (Linger in the sit na lion is in working out some one plan In view of the conflicting propositions that will be accepted at this time. What is known as the Rthet.t plan has Its strong advocates, and lwhether It prevalls or not, there Is no question that the effort and intelligent pre sentatlon of the matter by hin and hIs T'ilends has resuled In an appr ciation of what an ,anq(d ouight to )v done. Bills have been presented car rying out the R1hett idea; first, of hav ing the roails surveyed, the router selected and the necessary prellmi laries efrected so that when the bond issite comes out there will be some thing definite on which to act and (here (will he little delay. After (,III prelimin ry work comes, under tlhe ilhett phn hie $25,000.000 bond issul w hich under Ihe governiu menit aid ni all wo'llhi he ( olsiderably augmentedl The ihell plan has everytllng In Itf aVor, exe(p 1ha ome of tile mlem eor of the Colleral Assembily 01. 1 'st to take chalCes oni the failun of a )on issu and are iverse to de N)ay. Onl that neC1onn1i they.N su1ggestof that an immediate tax of $1 per lior po"I'rii with1i speeial roal(d tax of one 01 Iwo ills, will get somlething immine diately. (lone. In other words. the Ilgure that one mill .will raise $380,000; two mills will raise $760,000. With i dollar per hore power license tax or automobiles. suppIlmented by the fed eral aid, it is\ figured that there woul( be over $3,006,000 of funds avallabi annually wIthout delay. and if tlih mllethod be continued there 1would b an expenditure, of say, three millions and tIls wIould get what sonic argu< quicker results than to wait on a honi issue. Of course, there is going to be i great deal of content.lon1 as to wli wvork should be done. Some !egi.ta tors already open and avowedly sa that thev are not going to do anylthim to help a bond issue itn1less hiel countivs gct full slare of the ne, roads. It "is aregued tliat tI . h4 thing to do Is to have aI r<he i' t W'll onliect up all the coui ef1 s an'! to p.-ovide for a north and South andi vast and wenrt ar-tvr, throumgh every county as far as piraticable, btt tI give each ounly a eit-a in amunlit of mileage and then later on conneet up these fractions. t is agreed by all that ha phalard const ruet Ion l n Indifferent 1engineier ing shlould be abandoned, and that whatever system is to be dvetveoped shulbe mlapped out by a etIral hoard, preferably tile State Itighway ommiissoin, and that hen these links can lie connectedl upI. TP0 popiulrize thle scheme a certain amioulnt of per manent work willl have to be dione in every county, andu where t hIs Is a long a welleveloped( plan, anid a system that can be conne ctedi up I, if muihtIbe practical. As to the ('onlstittional ('otention)1. The IndIentIons niow are that the lpeople will in 1920 lie gIiveni an op portun11ity . of votinug whethlen or not1 they will wanut a consti11u1tional eon vent Ion held. The kna~fte, ,whiehi has heetfoforeC lbeen a sftumbh lng lo~Ck, ha s votedl in favor (if submniittinug the" qules lion -to thle peOple1 . The resoluion01 in favor of subilmitting tie issue to the petople 'has b)een tpassed by thle Senate and( Is no0w iunder' consid(er'atio on11 the F louse side, where it has hereto fore always prevailed. Liquor! Tt almost soundl~s like a ghost reappearing in -the legislatIve halls. (Ceneral-ly there are a score or mloreC of mieasures iudertaking to solve this problem. This year there has been no ment ion of "hone dry3" or anly. thing else along t hat line. One lit tie bill1 has b Ieen spresented undi(ertaking to change 'thle (uart--mo1nth law to one gallhon a month1I, bult wvith natIonal prnohiblitlon fast an111roa('hing thle legls lators evidently i nk there are too many oather axes to nInd to even con sier liliuor as a reCal (tuestin. There has been hiowever, preseented a dlou ble-barrei measurte which uindertak~es to prevent the sale of t on h's aitd ot her conicoit ions oni which re il drniks can be had.-August K~ohn na News and Cnnrinr. OU ca'lhloutigiosnjyu Loh el 4 9K rearks very ime you us you S. itsmokespot with Prince Albert-it hits 'I you so fair and square. It's a scuttle full of jimmy pipe and cigarette makin's sunshine and as satisfy ~ ~. mg as it is delightful every hour of the twenty-four! -~ s It's never too late to hop into the Prince Albert pleasure ? pasture!i For, P. A. is trigger-ready to give you more .1 tobacco fun than you ever had in your smokecareer. That's because it has the quality. Quick as you know Prince Albert you'll '. ite it down tat P. A. did not bite your tongue or parch your throat. And, it never will! For, our exclusive patente process cuts out bite and parch. Try it for what ails your tongue! hunido rs--and- t clever, practical pound crystal glass humidor wit sponge moistener top that keeps the tobacco in such perfect condition. ___________ R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, N. C. STO AGE BATTERI iM r We have a large stock of Storai Btteries on hand, consisting of the best-kno~wn makes, 'such as the Willard, Columbia and Permolife, to 6it any make of car. Charging OiN We also have an up-to-date Chrging Outfit, which is i Mr. John Teague's charge. Will give as prompt service as poitiie. Prices reas onable. Automobile Tir Sale We are making arrangemsnt for a second story on our Garage and will eery our line of au tomobile Tires at attractive trices, to avoid moving them. Goodrich, Go year and Fisk Tires. Get yours while the)y me. 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