Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1901 — INDIANA LAW MAKERS [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LAW MAKERS

The House by ts vote of 55 to 38 late Thursday afternoon killed the Agnew bill providing for the construction of a waterway or ship canal front Lake Michigan, at East Chicago, to the Calumet river, a distance of about three miles. The bill was defeated by a motion to strike out (ts enacting clause, on which there was a hot argument from morning until late into day. The railroad companies have been persistent in ti\pir lobby against the bill ou the grottud that the waterway would do them great injury,, There has also been opposition front residents of Chicago. The bill chnuot be resurrected. The Senate killed the valued policy bill, requiring insurance companies to pay the full value of policies iu cases of total loss, and so amended another bill on the same subject that this feature was stricken out. The Brooks express bill, which requires expTFss companies to receive parcels from all companies without discrimination, was passed by both brunches of the Legislature. The House judiciary committee agreed to report Senator Barlow’s anti-lynching bill favorably. It causes forfeiture of the office of sheriff if a prisoner is taken from that official and hanged, and makes reinstatement depend upon the sheriff’s ability to satisfy the Governor that he was not at fault. Friends of the defeated Calumet^canal, Bill prepared a substitute on Friday, but it was finally agreed not to press it for the present, A primary election bill passed. This makes primaries obligatory in Evansville and Indianapolis and optional with central committees of all counties. A petition three yards long came front one county asking for an anticigarette law. The South Bend charter bill was advanced to second reading. A majority report advocating a stringent, anti-lynching bill was adopted by the House. The manager of tbe woman's prison was heard in her own defense. She enters a substantial denial to all charges. Representative Murphy—introduced-a-iiill on Saturday which provides for the consolidation of railroads, and the features of the measure ate so nearly like those of the Joss consolidation bill, which Gov. Durbin vetoed, that it.is awakening a great deal of speculation. The following bills Were passed: Creating county boards of turnpike commissioners; regarding the sale of convict-made goods by requiring that they be labeled as such; requiring mining and manufacturing companies to pay employes once each week; regulating number of trustee districts in incorporated towns, regulating foreign investment companies and giving auditor of State power to forbid their operations in this State; prohibiting the tiling of “graveyard” insurance, The bill to provide for beautifying the site of the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of the martyred President, was passed after increasing the appropriation from S2,(XX) to $5,000. The money will be used only for improving the ten-acre tract of land on which the monument is* located, aud which will be made into a park. The congressional reapportioniueut bill passed on Monday. The Democrats claim that it is illegal and threaten to appeal on the ground that the territory forming certain districts is not contiguous. One district runs from Indianapolis to the Ohio river. The Fort Wayne charter bill passed. A resolution passed, to be referred to Cjougress. asks an amendment to the constitution of the United States to elect United States Senators by the people. The committee investigating the woman's reformatory heard Manager Miss Kecley in her own defense. She denied the charges. By a vote of 52 to 35 the lower house of the Legislature on Tuesday adopted the Neal joint resolution for a constitutional amendment providing for woman suffrage in this State. After the vote a motion to reconsider was voted dqwn.