Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1899 — STATE LAW MAKERS. [ARTICLE]

STATE LAW MAKERS.

In order that some remedial kgudatioa may be accomplished on county aad township expenditures. Representative Roots introduced a bill on Thursday which is less extreme in its provisions than the measures framed by the State cemmission. The bill provides for a purchasing board in each county, composed of township trustees and the county superintendent, whose duty it will be to meet once each year and pass upon all proposed expenses for the term of twelve mouths. AR expenditures not so passed upon are made illegal and uncollectable. AH warrants must be signed by the president of the board, and another officer purchasing supplies outside of the authority of the board is subject to removal. ' The promised campaign of the equal suffragists of the State took definite shape Friday in the form of resolutions introduced both in the House and the Senate asking for an amendment to the State constitution giving women the right of suffrage. The proposed amendment is to section 2 of article 2 of the organic law. The resolutions provide that there shall be no distinction as to sex in conferring the right to vote. Representative Furness of Porter County introduced a bill which provides that the State shall pay a bounty of 1 cent per pound on aU beet sugar produced in the State. A committee representing the non-State colleges began an earnest canvass of the members of the Legislature in the interest of the bill for the reorganization of the State Board of Education. Both houses adjourned to Monday. The first contest in the House came Monday afternoon over a lull that is designed to enable the executive to deal with the Roby racing people. The bill provides that in cases of repeated violation of the State statutes, places in which the violations occur may be declared a nuisance, and also that injunctions may be secured against them without giving bond. Representative Knotts of Lake County opiiosed the bill, but was beaten at all points, and it went to engrossment. While the bill is aimed directly at Roby, it is also designed to cover violations of the natural gas laws. Another temperance measure was introduced in a bill declaring that the possession of a Government license to sell liquor shall be prima faeie evidence of such sales, and where the person bidding it has not taken out local licenses his place may be declared a nuisance and abated as such. Bills for the appointment of a State boiler inspector, a State etymologist and a commission to prepare a general plan for redistricting the State for judicial pnrpiscs were introduced. Albert J. Beveridge, the nominee of the Republican caucus, was elected United States Senator on Tuesday to succeed David Turpie, Democrat, whose term will expire March 4 next. The two branches of the legislature voted separately. The vote in the Senate was as follows: Albert J. Beveridge, 28; David Turpie, 19; Alonzo G. Burkhart, Populist, 1. The House voted thus: Beveridge, 59; Turpie. 37. Two thousand persons crowded the hall of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. when the two branches of the Legislature met in joint convention to canvass the vote taken the previous day and formally announce the election of Albert J. Beveridge to be United States Senator. The 3G-year-old Senator, looking like a man of not more than 25, was brought in and was W elcomed with a demonstration lasting several minutes. He made an extended sjteech.