Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1883 — INDIANA LEGISLATURE. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LEGISLATURE.

Mr. Van Vor his, Republican, offered a resolution in the Senate on the 12th Inst, directing the Judiciary Committee to report upon the record of the passage of the constitu’tional amendments In order that it might be determined whether or not tire Senate was called upon to consider them. Mr. Van Vorhis read from manuscript a carefullyprepared argument in support of his resolution, citing various authorities and decisions tending to prove that the absence of the proposed constitutional amendments from the pages of the Clerk's journal of the last General Assembly prevents action on , these amendments by tills General Assembly, except as a new proposition. Mr. Spann, Republican, strongly opposed this resolution, and Bald that a point m the road had been reached where tire Republican party and Mr. Van Vorhis separated. Mr. Brown, Democrat, advocated it, and complimented Mr. Van Vorhis on being able to rise above partisan feeling, and urged the passage of the resolution Mr. Bell, Democrat, also made an argument in its favor, and the resolution was finally. adopted. The vote showed that Marvin ’and Mclntosh, of the Democrat®, voted “no” with the Republicans, and Bischows, Van Vorhis and Touche, of the Republicans, voted “aye” with the Democrats It was very nearly a test vote. Senator Campbell, Republican, offered a resolution asking that tne Winterbotham memorial relative to the maimer of his defeat by Calkins be taken out of the hands of the committee to which it had been referred, and brought before the Senate. The resolution was laid on the table by a strict party vote In the House, Mr. Jewett presented the credentials of Hon. W. W. Tully, the newly-elected member from the county of Floyd, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry 8. Perrett, and thereupon Mr. Tully appeared at the bar of the House and received the oath of office. The most of the day was devoted to the consideration of various propositions relating to the constitutional amendments, and it was finally agreed, by a party vote, to submit the matter to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to report what amendments had been adopted last session and whether they were properly recorded. Pending an acrimonious discussion of a resolution requesting Congress not to pass a national Bankrupt law the House adjourned. A slight breeze in the proceedings was created by Mr. Huston offering a bill prohibiting railroad companies from offering public officials or the latter from accepting freepasses or reduced fare. But short sessions were held in the Senate and House on the 15th, and the proceedings in the latter were altogether uneventful The former adopted Senator Magee’s resolution requesting the Secretary of War to reconsider his refusal to make the appropriation for the improvement of the harbor at Michigan City voted by Congress in the River and Harbor bill. Senator Johnston introduced a resolution authorizing a Special committee of five to devise a plan for the abolition of the present system of hiring convict labor in the prisons, and likewise the labor of inmates of the reformatory and benevolent institutions and to draw up anact so that such labor should be entirely for the benefit pf the State. He made an earnest argument in favor of the resolution, and after it had been adopted the committee was made to consist of Senators Johnston, Foulke, Faulkner, Lindsley and Ernest Several bills were introduced making it obligatory for hotel-keepers to provide ploper fire-escapes for every room. A hill was introduced- Senator Magee, to consolidate the Statistical and Geological Bureaus of the State, the chief officer to be appointed by the Senate, and a bill was presented by Senator Johnston, to give the Legislature tne power of appointing Trustees for the Asylum for Feeble-minded Children. A resolution was adopted requesting Congress to j)roperiy pension survivors of the Mexican war, ana the Senate cabled a message of consolation to the French republic over the death of Gambetta. The consideration of the Johnson-over-streefc contest occupied both sessions of the Senate on Jan. 17. Since the original papers of contest were sent to the Secretary of State, the contestee, Mr. Johnson, has filed an additional charge of bribing voters against Overstreet, the sitting member, and it was in the disposition of this that the discussions arose. The Committee on Elections was Anally empowered to send for persons and papers to investigate all the charges equally. • The Senate passed Ernest's bill making the violation of an oral agreement actionable at law. The only important bill Introduced was bv Mr. Fletcher, making the, I.enalty for rape castration of the offender, n the House, bills were introduced providing for the appointment of A State Boiler Inspector, and for abolishing the office of City Assessor of Indianapolis. Mr. Heffren also introduced his Fee and Salary bilL The principal feature erf this measure is the grading or the salaries of all county officers according to population, making a reduction of from 25 to 40 per cent from the present salaries. All fees collected by the officers are to be placed in a common fund, and from this the salaries are to be drawn. If there is any excess it goes into the general fund of the county, hut no deficit is to be drawn from that source. A number of bills were introduced in the House, thtf most important being by Mr. Wiley, to compel Prosecuting Attorneys to institute proceedings for the removal of public officers who get intoxicated, and by Mr. Ferriter, creating the office of State Boiler Inspector. There was quite a breezy episode in the House. The Indianapolis Journal had printed an article, written by Gen. Reuben Williams, of Warsaw, charging Representative Horace Hefron with treason during the war, being a Knight of the Golden Circle and saving his life only by turning State’s evidence on his companions. Mr. Hefron arose to a question of privilege and denounced the story as a tissue of Rea He said It was true that he was arrested and confined in a Government prison for thirty-four days, hut that lie was put on trial and discharged, and that the United States Court as erward decided that the trial was illegal and void. In concluding his remarks, he said: “If occasion requires, I may go into the whole matter, but at present I have only to ask Gen. Williams, the Indianapolis Journal and the Republican party generally: ‘What are yon going to do about it!"” The speech and the occasion created considerable excitement in the House, insomuch as Hefron threatened to make disclosures that would implicate in treasonable designs those who now stand high in public esteem. Mr. Ristines’ bill to compel foreign insurance companies to report the extent of their business in the State was laid on the table in the Senate, Jan. 18. On motion of Mr. Willard, the Committee on Public Buildings was instructed to make a thorough investigation of the affairs of the new State House, although a similar inquiry is now being made by a House committee. Senator Spann Introduced two important bills, one to tax the receipts of express companies, and the other to consolidate all the State educational institutions into one, to be located at the capital. Three thousand copies of the report of the survey of the Kankakee survey were ordered printed In the House, Mr. Patton's bill to repeal the Grubbs Libel law was rejected by a decisive majority. Mr. Mock introduced a bill amending the election laws so as to prohibit the use of stickers or pasters or to print the names of candidates of different political parties on the same ticket. Mr. Hefron's Fee and Salary bill was read in the House. It contemplates a reduction of incomes of county officials from 25 to 40 per cent The salaries are rated according to the population of counties. The bill provides that County Treasurers in counties of 10,000 population and under shall receive #BOO a year; for the next 5,000 or a fraction over one-half of that number, #2OO additional; for the next 5,000 #150; for the next 5,000 #IOO, and for each 5,000 abeve 20,000 at the rate of #7O per 1,000, with 6 per cent for the collection of delinquent taxes. Auditors, Clerks and Sheriffs are to be paid #I,OOO for the first 10,000 of population or under, #3OO extra for a population of 15,000, #&*) more for the next 5,000 of population, and #l5O more for the next 5,000, thus giving a salary of #1,700 for each of these officials in counties having a population- between 22,500 and 35,000. The bill allows #looper 1,000 for population between 25,000 and 50,000, and #75 for each 5,000 of population over 50,000. Sheriffs are allowed #2 per day and actual expenses for conveying prisoners to the penitentiary and insane persons to the asylum, and also while att ending in court. All fees are to "be paid into the treasury, except those received by Recorders and the charges made by clerks for copies of records and abstracts. The - House ordered 500 copies of the bill printed

the Democratic members of the Legislature, in the evening, decided, by a vote of 45 to 23, to support Senator Brown's bill changing the manner of making appointments to positions on the boards of the State benevolent institutions. The proposed measure takas the appointing power out of the hands of the Governor ana places it in the two bouses of the Legislature in joint convention The constitutional amendments occupied the attention of both houses of the Legislature on Jan 19, In the shape of the reports of the Judiciary Committees to whom they had been referred. In the Senate the Democratic members of the committee and Mr. Tan Yorhis, Republican, rej>orted that in accordance with resolution of the Senate it has examined the journals of the last General Assembly as to proper record of the proposed constitutional amendments, and that no such record can be found and qo entry, as commanded by the constitution, by whi ' ' e committee can determine what said propositions were, or that either house referred or intended to refer any proposition to amend the constitution to this Assembly. The other Republicans, Messrs. Bundy and Graham, reported that the amendments were legally adopted last session, and that thev were now pending. The consideration of the various reports was made the special order for Wednesday, Jan, 24 In the House there were three reports from, the committee, the majority and minority, holding substantially the same as those in the Senate, being signed bv the Democrats and Republicans, and a third report, signed by Messrs. Jewett and Patton, both Democrats, political reasons declined to sign the minority report with the Rejmhlicans, although they held the same views. On a resolution to print these reports wbat is Regarded as a test voteAvas taken, and those who do not believe that the amendments are.pending were opposed to the printing. The resolution was defeated by a vote of 44 to 46, five Democrats and three Republicans being absent and two pai ed. The Democrats who voted with the Republicans were Messrs. Akin, Graham, Patton, Pulse, Thomas and Williams of Knox. In the House, a resolution was offered to investigate the affairs of the Southern prison. An amendment was ottered to investigate -what Gov. Porter had done in the pardoning of criminals, and the whole matter was tabled. A bill was introduced making railroad companies responsible for attorneys’ fees in damage suits for the killing of stock. In the Senate, an effort was made by the Republicans to get an immediate report from the committee to whom was referred' Gov. Porter’s recent appointments, and after discussion this was made the special order for the following day.