Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1881 — INDIANA LEGISLATURE. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LEGISLATURE.

Saturday, Feb. 26.— Senate.— The Senate spent the morning in a coll of the counties and committees for the introduction of new bills and report*. Between eighteen and twenty uew bills were presented, going over pretty uracil the same ground that has already been traversed tithe and again. Ih. thfe afternoon tho now Tax bill was considered, but the body f.djourned before putting it upon its passage. House. —Tho rfdiise completed the consideration of the Criminal Code and passed the bill, rhere are 335 sections in the act, one of them taking the punishment to which criminals may be sentenced out of the hands of the jury and putting it in the hands of the Judge, except in capital cases. Under the new Criminal Code executions also will be private, shutting out the press, all spectators, aud all perrons except the officers appointed by the Sheriff, the jury and the relatives of the condemned. Monday, Feb. 28.— Senate.— The Senate completed reading the civil code. During the afternoon bills were passed amt nding ihe law providing for the inspection of mines, changing the time of holding mnuicipal elections in Indianapolis from May until October, and providing for a State Commissioner of Fisheries. The Coal Oil bill and the bill increasing the compensation of the Speaker of the House to $lO per day failed to pass. The Governor submitted for confirmation the name of George I. Reed, editor of the Peru Republican , as Trustee of the State Normal School at Terre Haute, to.succeed Alexander O. Hopkins, and that of Barnabas C. Hobbs, of Parke county, to succeed Mr. Nicholson, of Wayne county* who declined reappointment. ihe terms of the new Trustees will begin Dec. 21, 1881. The Seymour Reform Club petitioned for permission to establish a gift concert on the lottery plan, in order to raise $30,000 for a concert hall. House. —At the opening of the House session, Gregory, of Benton, introduced a Local Option Temperance 1 i'l, and attempted to secure its reference to a special committee named by himself. The bill increasing the pay of jurors to $2 per day was engrossed. Several hours were exhausted in considering tho Codification bill on public offenses, and the provision was stricken out making reporters of the press amenable if they knew of an impending prize fight for failure to acquaint the authorities therewith. A joint resolution passed asking Congress to establish a port of entry at New Albany. The bill making keepers of houses of ill-fame subject to prosecutions for felony Was indefinitely postponed by a standing vote. Resolutions in inemoriam of the late W. D> Lindsay, of Lawredceburg, were adopted, The deceased was a brother of Judge Lindsay, of Kokomo, and at the time of his death one of the assistant doorkeepers of the House.

Tuesday, March I.— Senate. —The work of the Senate to-day was marked by a spirited discussion of the Local Option Temperance bill, and its final defeat by a vote of 25 to 23. The voluminous bill relating to officers and offices, coming from the Codification and Revision Committee, was introduced. Among the bills passed was one providing for the purchase of toll-roads by County Boards, appropriating $6,000 to remove a sandbar ih the Calumet river, and giving guardians power to mortgage their wards’ property under certain contingencies. The Coal-Oil bill was revived and referred to a committee. The Drainage bill, as prepared by the Codification Committee, was passed, together with bills legalizing the acts of the Trustees of Monroeville, Allen county, authorizing the issue of military stores to colleges, and concerning procedure in civil cases as compiled by the Codification Committee. The Civil Code bill passed with but five negative votes, and there was practically no opposition to the measure relieving endowment funds of universities from taxation. The act regulating the working of coal mines was amended so as to exempt mines with a working force of not over ten men from inspection, and 1 eqniring tho Inspector to be a practical miner, The bill authorizing cities to guarantee part payment of bridge bonds also passed. House.—The House during the morning session passed Senate bills relative to free gravel roads, and for the relief of Madison county from the result of the burning of the Court House ; also, providing against loss by destruction of records. Considerable time was wasted in forcing the consideration in committee of the whole of the General Appropiation bill, and tiie afternoon caihe and went wilhout material progress. The State University appropriation was increased to $25,000 and tho Purdue University to $20,000, and a determined effort was made'to reduce tho salary of the Governor’s private secretary to sßco from $2,000, but without success. An amendment was introduced to the State-House bill creating a tax of 2 cents on each SIOO for building purposes, and forbidding the borrowing of money on the credit of State for the erection of the new buildings. Under its provisions $831,000 is ! urnished with which to float the board until the next meeting of the General Assembly. The bill was introduced and advanced to a third reading repealing the December, 1872, enactment and providing for the payment of the old bonds issued prior to 1841. Bills were introduced making stockholders individually liable in specific cases and permitting railways to enter on and appropriate land. Wednesday, March 2.— Senate. —The Senate passed the bill amending the Election law by providing that in towns of 3,000 population and less the voting shall be done at one precinct. The bill also passed protecting the literary property of public libraries from mutilation and defacement, and making the offense in this direction a misdemeanor punishable by fine and imprisonment. During the afternoon the Drainage bill, being a codification of ail the laws on that subject, was passed, and so was the bill increasing the per diem of the Speaker and Lieutenant Governor to $lO. The Committee on Education reported on the condition and needs of the State educational institutions. Objectionable features having been found in the bill repealing tho whistling act of 1879, the vote by which it passed was reconsidered, after which reference was had to a committee.

House. —The House favorably considered a recommendation from the Ways and Means Committee appropriating $4,000 annually to the State Board of Agriculture for the payment of interest and debt, and authorizing the board to make a new loan in relief of the present $60,000 mortgage. The Tipton county swamp-land claimants were ordered paid their total claim, aggregating $5,185.92. The Temperance Committee made a favorable report upon a License bill, which was made the special order for to-morrow. The minority report favoring more stringent legislation was indefinitely postponed by a test vote of 48- to 42. The House then took up the General Appropriation bill, and ordered it engrossed. It cuts down the salary of the Governor’s Private Secretary to $1,500, and that of Deputy Attorney General fron#sl,2oo to S6OO. Some progress was made in'considering the bill defining public offenses. A bill was introduced exempting private libraries from taxation to the amount of S2OO. Thursday, March 3.—Senate. —Bills were passed: Regulating the practice of medicine by requiring practitioners to secure a certificate from the board of examiners prior to pursuing the practice; enabling manufacturing and mining companies of other States to purchase and hold real estate within Indiana to be used in manufacturing and mining ; what is known as the Coal-Oil bill; appropriating real estate for school piss poses ; authorizing succeeding Judges to sign court records which the preceding Judge, from death or other causes, has left unsigned; Two or three judicial circuits were modified and the usual number of legalizing bills passed. Among the half-dozou new bills introduced, the only important one provides that County Auditors shall be paid $1,200 annually for their services in counties having a population of 15,000, and $125 for each 1,000 between 15,000 and 20,000, SIOO for each 1,000 between 20,000 and 36,000. $25 for each 1,000 over 35,000. The Auditor is allowed 6100 for making reports. The bill making township Trustees Supervisors of highways failed to pass after a lengthy discussion, owing to want of a constitutional majority. The House Tax bill was made the special order for to-morrow, and the House Appropriation bill was ordered printed. A resolution was adopted asking the House to return the bill appropriating $6,000 for removing the Calumet river sand-bars.

HouSi—ln the House, bill* I fete pawed: Fixing certain fees and salaries, and amending the law of descents and county prisoners ; the bill authorizing the people of Floyd county to contribute toward another Ohio river bridge passed unanimously, and the bill permitting cities to guarantee bridge or roau construction bonds reached the third reading. A bill was introduced to forfeit the charter of gravel roads neglecting repairs. The committee appointed to investigate the House of Refuge reported that it was not advisable to proceed with the inquiry because nothing but anonvmous charges had been made. The House'passed the General Appropriation bill by a vote of 64 to 27 ; also, the bill increasing jury feds til $3 per day. A political contest developed In calling Up the bill creating a Superior Court In Yigo county. By a strict party vote the bill passed—s 2to 87. Consideration of the bill reported by the Tcmpei ance Committee auiending tho LiqUof License act occupied the remainder of the day, Ihe principal change upon the present law is anincrease to $125 per year for license and removing tho right to * change of venue from the county on an appeal from the County Commissioner to the Circuit Court; Friday, March 4.— Senate. —The Senate began passing House bills this morning under a dispensation of the constitutional roles, disposing of those relating to the duties of Justices of the Peace ; preventing cruelty to animals ; vacating cemeteries in corporate limits of towns and cities ; admitting George Manser, tho soldier whose arms were blown off by the accidental discharge of a cannon in the last political campaign, to the Soldiers’ and Sailors' Orphans’ Home at Knightstown; allowing property to bo appropriated for schoolhouse purposes ; remodeling the act for the inspection of oil; legalizing the eloction and acts of the Trustees of incorporated towns; concerning fees and salaries, aud ameudiug the act concerning free gravel roads. The greater part of the afternoon session was wasted in wrangling over the House Tax bill, which finally went over until to-morrow. A joint resolution passed directing the purchase, for use of the State of- the collection of books known as the “Daniel Hough library,” at a cost not exceeding SI,OOO. A bill passed establishing a Superior Court and abolishing the Criminal Court, in Vanderburg county ; so, also, tho one concerning fees and salaries, and for the appointment of a Fish Commissioner. House.— Bills were passed: Relieving William J. Richie as Trustee of a to mis hip in Scott county; providing for the publication of the Revised Statutes of 1881; repealing the act for the payment of Wabash and Erie canal internal improvement bonds ; regulating the sale of iron, brass, and scrap metal; authorizing appeals in will eases within one year to the Supreme Court; protecting quails and pheasants for the next two years ; legalizing the incorporation of Merom 'Christian College j concerning inclosures and trespassing animals; repealing the obnoxious features of the Whistling law, and exempting all roads from penalties which did not observe the whistling nuisance; refunding to Benton county $973.70 expenses incurred in the prosecution of Johu L. McCullough for murder in 1872 ; establishing public librar.es in connection with public scuools in cities of 15,000 or more. A motion to pass the bill increasing the pay of the Speaker and Lieutenant Governor from $6 to $lO a day was rejected by a vote of 57 to 50. The Gillum Prohibition bill was ordered engrossed, and the Specific Appropriation bill in-u-odnccd. It appropriates $30,000. The total included in the General Appropriation bill is $1,148,000.