Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1883 — INDIANA LEGISLATURE. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LEGISLATURE.

Fora bills were Introduced in the Senate on the sth Inst, by Mr. Willard, regarding the« operations of railroads in the State, mid which are qnlte severe in their provisions They include the repeal of the ttaket-soalping law, the repeal of the act allowing townships and counties to vote appropriations to railroads, an amendment to the Taxation act so that railroad tracks shall be taxed at not less than sl*s a mile, and an act requiring railroad companies to securely fence their entire lines. Mr. Spann offered two bills to amend the act relating to the drainage and reclamation of wet lands. Tho remainder of the session was devoted to bills on second reading. In the House, the bill providing for the erection of a new asylum for .the incurable insane at Evansville was ordered engrossed. Various amendIndlanapoUs and other cities. Mr. Mook's bill meats were offered to fix Its location at Vinoennee, against ihe use of “stickers" in election was favorably reported by. the Committee on Elections and debated without action. A number of bills of minor importance were passed to a seoond reading, and several committee reports acted upon, after which the House went to work and devoted the day to the Oenesee Appropriation bill.

Mr. Hiixigass Introduced a bill In the Senate on the 6th inst. making express companies liable a# common carriers, compelling them to oount all money intrusted to them, reoeipt for the full amount, and making this receipt a prims fade evidence of their uablltty. Mr. Foulke introduced two btHs, one authorizing County Commissioners to erect separate jails for women, And another providing that whore any person or property is injured by reason at the intoxication of any one, the seller of the liquor and the owner of the building where it was sold shall be jointly and severally liable for the damage. Mr. Hoover introduced a bill for the regulation of the penitentiaries, making the good time allowed oonvicts for proper behavior much larger than by the present law, so that lu a twenty-one years’ Sentence the prisoner would only be compelled to serve thirteen years. This Is almost the same as the Ohio and Michigan laws, and Is recommended by the prison authorities. The bill to elect Prison Directors by tho Legislature for a term of four years was passed to engrossment by a party vote. Mr. Beil Introduced a bill which, it enacted, will do away with graveyard and similar insurance schemes. It makes taking or writing insurance on other people's lives a criminal offense, punishable by a heavy tine and imprisonment. In the Hoqse. the, General Appropriation bill was ordered engrossed, the most important amendmont being the one giving Purdue University $12,000 instead of $2,000 as originally provided. The special order of the day was the vote on the question whether or not the oonstitntlon&l amendments wore pending, and this was decided In the affirmative by a vote of 52 to 85, tho following Democrats voting with the Republicans in its favor: Messrs. Bryant, Davis, Glbeon, Graham, Horn, Jewett, MoCormiok, Patton, Pulse, Robertson, Hhaffer, Smith or Blackford, Thomas, Weaver and Woodling. The Honse by a unanimous vote passed a bill appropriating $62,0u0 for the completion of tho female department of the Insane Asylum.

Mb. Spank Introduced a bill in the Senate On the 7th lust., providing for a constitutional convention to consider and pass upon various proposed amendments to the State constitution. It is to be composed of .fifty delegates, elected as State Senators are, and from the same dlHtrlots, and, when these shall have agreed to any changes In the constitution, the latter shall be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection. The bill provides that the eleotlon of delegates to the convention shall take place the first Monday in April. The convention sllall meet 'the first Monday In June, and the vote on the amendments shall be taken one month later. Senator Hilllgass failed to obtain the. passage of his bill providing for the pnrohase of toll roads for conversion into free roads upon petition Instead of by a vote of the taxpayers interested. It was discussed at length, and failed for lack of a constitutional majority—yeas, 21, nays 18. Senator Fletcher’s bill authorizing gas and water companies to invest their surplus capital in city or township bonds was passed, as was also the Voyles bill consolidating the Soldiers’ Orphans' Home and the Institute for Fee-ble-Minded Children, and the pay of Trustees from S2OO to SSOO. The House devoted a large sharo of the day to the discussion of Mr. Jewett’s bIU repealing the law which places notes i>ayable in bank on the same footing as bills of exchange, and It was finally ordered engrossed by a vote of 67 to 10. It similar action is taken in the Senate the bill will serve as a protection to the farmers of the State, who have hitherto beon the victim of hayrake and wind-pump swindlers, who by false pretenses secured promissory notes from them under the existing law, as in this State such notes are collectable. The claim of Neal «fc Co., of Louisville, contractors for the iron-work on the new Insane Hospital, wns sat down on heavily in the House. A majority of the Committee on Judiciary reported, recommending that the bill providing for a judicial construction of the contract be had for the Information and gutdanoe of future Legislatures be passed. The minority report recommended indefinite postponement. By a vote of 75 to 10 the minority report wa» approved. It was stated on the floor of the House that Neal «fc Co., having contracted to do the Iron-work on the asylum at a certain prioe, lost money and want the State to make them good to the amount of $95,000.

Thebe was a call of the Counties for the introduction of bflls in both the Senate and House, on the Bth Inst., and about forty new measures were offered. Most of them hod reference to subjects as to whioh similar bills are already pending, and contained no features of special Interest. Senator Graham and Representative Howland introduced in their respective houses bills providing as to the care or abandoned and orphan children. Their intent is that when a father abandons bis child for one year the mother shall have full authority and control Of her child thereafter in the case of 8 boy until the age of 21 years, and in the case of a girl until the age of 18. Senator Williams presented a bill providing that railroad companies shall be liable for all damages sustained by their employes, even though the same may be the result of carelessness or negligence of other employes of the same company. Tha bill amending the Decedent’s Estates act was ordered engrossed by the House. The principal changes in the present law made by the pending bill are the abolition of the office of Master Commissioner; the Probate Court docket allows an administrator to pay all claims of SIOO and under; gives him the power to distribute the money among the heirs; romoves administrators and exMtttors who leave the state; leaves it to the discretion of the court to remove an administrator who has left the oonnty in which the decedent was situated and reduces the allowance of clerks to 26 cents for filing a claim. Representative McCormick lntroduoed a bill to restrict the term for which a Warden of either of the State prisons can be elected to fonr years and render the officials ineligible for re-election. He thinks that the perpetuation of a prison Warden in office is an evil and seeks to remedy it.

The bill reorganizing the management of the Plainfield House of Refuge, changing its name .to the Indiana Reform School for Boys, and electing a new Bftird of Trustees, passed the Senate on the 9th tost. The bill for the reorganization of the Northern Prison also passed. Both measures were put through by a strict party vote—27 to 2L The Senate passed the bill to amend the Decedents' Estates act, upon which a special committee has been at work for three weeks. The bill does away with the useless and expensive cash accounts, and provides for notice of partial settlements only when in the opinion of the administrator they are proper or necessary. The whole purpose of the bill is to simplify the settlement of estates and make the same less expensive. It cuts off the bad provisions of the act of 1881, and leaves the best part of the law in force. It abolishes the office of Master Commissioner, so far as it applies to the settlement of decendents’ estates, and cuts off the expenses of an examination of inventories, settlements, etc., by snch Commissioner, as required by the present law. It provides that no action shall be brought by complaint and summons against any estate, but all claims shall be Hied with the Clerk of the Court, or the executor or administrator, at the option of the person holding the same. All claims filed with the executor or administrator shall, It not allowed by him, be Hied to the Clerk's office, and go upon the docket and be tried as other cases. The claims filed In the Clerk’s office, not allowed, shall take a similar coarse. All claims not filed within a year shall be prosecuted at the cost of the claimant, and not filed thirty days before, final Settlement shall be barred. All claims filed in the Clerk's office shall be put on the claim-docket and allowed or disallowed by the administrator. All claims filed with an executor or administrator shall be reported by him to the court in his settlement. The bill requires executors to aid administrators to make settlements within one year from the date of the appointment, and final settlement within six months thereafter, unless otherwise ordered by the court on good cause shown. In the House, the Metropolitan Police bill was reported by the Committee on Cities and Towns, the majority recommending its passage with tne amendments. The minority recommended its indefinite postponement. A motion to table the minority report was at once interposed stfW to ettt off all possibility of a discussion of the principle <4 the bill, and adopted W 52 to Strict party vote—and the majority report was concurred in. The General Appropriation bill came to a third reading in the House, and it was passed by a vote of 86 to 0. The bill appropriates for the general exigences of the Btato $1,254,120, and that of 1881 appropriated the sum of $1,211,880. Representative Antrtem has introduced a bill providing that all comiadd** <tod corporations shall make settlement and payment in money to their employes at leant once to thirty days under penalty of iiOO per day for noh-o6tnpliance. The State University Endowment bill, after being amended upon the recommendation of the Committee on Education so as to make the special tax 1 cent per annum for. twelve years instead of 2 cents for six years, was engrossed and ordered *> athirfi reading.