Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1914 — GENERAL AND STATE NEWS Telegraphic Reports From Many Parts of the Country. [ARTICLE]

GENERAL AND STATE NEWS Telegraphic Reports From Many Parts of the Country.

SHORT BITS OF THE UNUSUAL Happenings in Distant and Nearby Cities and Towns.—Matters of Minor Mention From Many Places. LEGISLATURE MEETS JAN. 7. Will Receive Recommendations of Six Commissions on Needed Legislation. The General Assembly convening Jan. 7 will give consideration to the reporrs of six commissions which have been making a study of six different subjects upon which legislation is being urged. The reporting of these several commissions promises to be one of the interesting features of the legislative session. This will be the first time that as many as six commissions have made recommendations to the legislature. The obtaining of the legislation through commissions became especially popular in the 1913 session, when the vocational educational and penal farm bills were passed, in both instances the legislature acted upon recommendations of commissions. The commissions which are to report to the 1915 legislature are as follows: Workman’s compensation, of which Harry W. Bullock is chairman; state highway, of which Addison C. Harris is chairman; drainage, of which Senators Kattman and McCormick are members; woman’s labor, of which Melville Mix of Mishawaka, is chairman; “blue sky,” of which Hugh Dougherty is chairman, and state flood, of which E. Shirk of Peru, is chairman.

The Worqgn’s Labor, the Highway and the Flood Prevention Commishave (held numerous meetings over the state in obtaining the views of the people on the various subjects. Mr. Bullock has worked practically alone in studying the question of workman’s compensation, the act under which the commission was established having beep declared void because of a defect in its title. The Drainage Commission, it is expected, will depend largely upon an exhaustive survey of Indiana drainage laws which has been completed by Charles Kettleborough of the Legislative Reference Bureau. Mr. Kettleborough has made a report giving the history of all drainage legislation in detail, and he has submitted recommendations. The “Blue Sky” Commission was appointed by Governor Ralston upon his own initiative after he had vetoed a “blue sky” measure passed by the 1913 General Assembly. The bill passed in 1913 was unsatisfactory because it was considered to be incongruous, mistakes having been made when it was drafted in a conference between the House and Senate committees, and it was with reluctance that the governor vetoed it. In appointing a commission to prepare a new bill the governor asked'that it make its report last July, but if this commission has held_ meetings and prepared a report the fact is not known.