Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1901 — INDIANA LAWMAKERS [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LAWMAKERS

The Legislature on Thursday passed to engrossment a bill which will be of great interest to the people of northwestern Indiana. It was introduced by Senator Agnew and provides for a waterway from East Chicago on Lake Michigan to Calumet river, to be used as a ship canal. Senator Agnew says he has heard of no opposition to the bill, whihe provides that on petition of one-third of the affected property owners the circuit judge shall appoint three disinterested persons to assess benefits and damages to pay the cost of the waterway. Senator Agnew says if the measure becomes a law northwestern Indiana will have oue of the greatest of inland harbors. The Senate on Friday passed the bill providing for the infliction of the death penalty by electrocution. There were only two votes against the measure. A bill was introduced in the Senate which, if passed, will probably prevent the transportation of natural gas from Indiana territory to the city of Chicago. The present legal pressure at which natural gas may be piped is 300 pounds to the square inch. The bill provides that gas fihall not be piped either within or outside the limits of the State at a pressure to exceed 200 pounds to the square inch and that no pumps or any kind of artificial appliances shall be used to increase the flow of gas from the wells or to force it through the pipes In (lie House A. L. Cooper was seated as member from Clinton County and A. NN . Kidmore unseated. The former is a Republican, and tlie contest was decided by a strict party vote. Bills to establish a minimum wage scale of 15 cents an hour on public work, making void a contract by an employe surrendering the right to sue for damages for personal injuries, and requiring safety appliances for steam boilers were reported for passage in the House. The bill prepared by the fee and salary commission, providing salaries for State and county officers, was killed in the House, being the second measure of the commission to meet that fate. The Senate committee on the judiciary reported favorably Monday on the bill making the taking of a prisoner from the sheriff and lynching him prima facie evidence of neglect of duty and at once vacating the office. The bill was amended so that the sheriff, before he can be reinstated, must show to the satisfaction of the Governor that lie was not to blame. The same body amended the railroad subsiily bill so that no road can secure a subsidy in excess of $4,000 per mile through the township voting the hid. The bill providing for a canal from Lake Michigan to the Caluffiet river was advanced to second reading. The House passeiThy a practically unanimous vote the bill to encourage the borrowing of the school fund, so much of which is now unloaned. The bill takes all the expense of appraisement and recording mortgages from the borrower, and also provides that counties may borrow from the fund, but not for a longer period than five years. The'bill to prevent the desecration of the soldiers’ monument was also passed. In the Senate on Tuesday the Lieutenant Governor held that the resolution offered by Senator Stillwell instructing the Governor to recognize requisition for Taylor and Finley, should Gov. Beckham present one. was out of order. Senator Stillwell appealed, but the Senate sustained its presiding officer by a vote of 28 to 9.

Senator Agnew’s bill providing for the construction of a ship canal from Lake Michigan, at East Chicago, to the Calumet River, a distance of about three miles, was passed by the State Senati on Wednesday. The project which the bill authorizes will take s2,<>o<>.ooo or $3,000,090 and will provide for the entrance of large l lake freight steamers into the 1 canal, making the ground along its borders of immense value for the location of factories. The proposed waterway is to be as large as the Chicnco drainage canal, and Senator Agnew says there is a great demand in Chicago for good factory warehouse sites, and if the ennal project is carried out the result will lie that a large niimlier of factories will come into Indiana territory. The Calumet River nt Hammond will have to b: dredged. The court, under the provisions of the bill, is to appoint a commission of three disinterested persons, who shall make report to tho court us to the bene fits an I damages resulting Crom the con struction of the canal. If the damages exceed the benefits the court may dis charge the commission ami.the work will not have to be carried on. unless by petition If tho canal is constructed, the an thor of the bill says, the land along its course will be worth $5,000 an acre. At no point along the proposed waterway is the land more than seven feet above the level of the lake, which fact will make the canal easy of construction.