Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1883 — LEGISLATIVE NOTES. [ARTICLE]

LEGISLATIVE NOTES.

Thb latest bulletin issued by the Census Bureau shows the capital inveeted,the number of hands employed, amount of wages paid, and value of products for all the establishments of manufacturing industry, gas excepted, in all the States and Territories. In the whole United States there are 253,852 manufacturing establishments, having a capital of $2,790,272,606. In wages there is paid $947,943,795, pro - ducing in value of materials $3,396,832,540, and in value of product $5,359,579,191. Indiana has 11,197 establishments, with an invested capital of $65,742,962, and pays out $21,960,888 in wages. Thb Irish-born members of the next House of Representatives are twenty-one in number, While the German bom are but seven, although the German bom population of the United States considerably exceeds the Irish bora. Of the twenty Irish members four are from Missouri j New Jersey and Pennsylvania have three each ; New York and Indiana two each ; and Massachusetts, Illinois, lowa, Kansas, Nevada and California, one The seven Germans are credited one each to New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and two each to Michigan and Wisconsin. The only State, the majority of whose delegation is foreign bom is New Jersey.

Som light is thrown upon election methods in Queensland by the following incident which lately occurred: The eleotion was a close one, and the sugar planters were doing their utmost to return their candidate, who was opposed by a business man. “D —n you, sir,” cried an excited planter to a store-keeper, who was bold enough to support the antiplanter candidate, “didn,t I bring my niggers to your storey and let you charge tbam what you like for your rubbish? And now you vote against us!” “And d —n you, sir,” retorted the unabashed storekeeper, “and what if you did? Didn’t I pay you 25 per cent for doing it?” This was manifestly not the retort courteous, but it was effective.

Snake statistics are always delightful. Between 160,000 and 200,000 people, besides many domestic animals, have been destroyed by snakebites in India. From 1869 to 1870 11,416 persons died from snake-bites in over not more than onehalf the area of British India. In 1880 from this cause the general statistics showed that the mortality was 19,080. In 1881 it was 18,610, with with 2,032 cattle. In 1880 the Indian Government paid for the killing of 212,776 snakes, and in 1861 for 334,968 snakes. So with 49,292 more snakes killed, the mortality had diminished by some 460 lives. The total destruction of venomous snakes in India is a question of perseverance and expenditure of money. In India for every 10,916 snakes destroyed one human being’s life is saved.

The death, recently, of Paul Gustave Dore removes from the world of art one of its finest and strongest representatives. Dore was in his style of art what Nast is in caricature —without a peer. His school was hia own, and a glance is sufficient to unerringly single out his works from all others. Original in conception, powerful •in concentrated strength and strikingly appressive in effect, Dore’s sketches and paintings form a school of their own. His great power laid in his conception of poetic thought, which he was so able to graphically portray. His illustrations of Dante and of the Bible are and probably will never be surpassed. As an artist in oil he was equally eminent, and his ‘•Christ Leaving the Prfiotorium,” must take high rank among the best artistic productions of any age. Thebe is a man named William Salisbury living in East Rockport, a suburb of Cleveland, who insists that during a tranoe he paid a visit to Heaven. He describes it as an improved earth, divided into planes, of which he visited seven. He describes the people and the face of the land in all details. He insists that he saw John Quincy Adams on the fourth plane, George Washington, Voltaire, and Lord Bacon in the fifth, Dr. Chalmers, Marie Stuart, and Queen Elizabeth in the 'sixth, and other great men in the various planes. He denies his affinity to spiritualism, and says he passed six days and seven nights in the journey. He was in a trance of some kind during the time and his case baffled the physicians. He lived there for the last seventeen years. He is 65 years of age and our cor. further says, is of good reTme country burned in 1880, 140,637, 439 ocrds of wood for fuel. This was valued at §306,950,000, and was consumed by 82,375,074 persons. Not less than §l4, 000,000 of this fuel was used in manufaotuaing gold, silver, brick and salt, and jn running railroad locomotives. In ad-

ed in refining and the iron manufactures was $5,276,786. All this, and tb* vast amount of pine* red Wood, walnut, and other industrial lumber that is cut every year, is taken in a way that destroys the forests once for all. It is our forests that should be'protected, not the reckless lumbermen who are destroying them. The lumber attorneys in the Senate are playing a double game. They declare the pine woods to be inexhaustible in order to quiet objections to a tax that encourages their destruction, and also in order to keep down the price of the pine lands their clients desire to buy. They vote for every other swindling tax so as to get votes for theirs. Unless something is done to save our forests they will disappear like the salmon that were once found in exhaustible quantities in the Hudson river.

Thb reappearance of the Mahdi or False Prophet and his fresh victories over the Egyptians have called attention again to that mysterieus and little-known region in Central Africa, the Soudan, which is destined at no distant period to play an important part in the commercial transactions of the world. It is now the only remaining large and fertile area of the world’s surface which has not been developed. It is in one sense isolated from the rest of Africa, as it is surrounded on three sides by deserts, which Franoe is now trying to pierce with railroads from one direction so that she may gain access to its wealth. It extends over an area of territory 1,640 miles in length, with an average breadth of not lees than 660 miles, and it is estimated exceeds any of the four great Kingdoms of Europe taken together exoept Russia Seven-eighths of its population are slaves, and it is this systefh of slavery tint has materially retarded the progress of the country. It possesses great mineral wealth, vast areas of rich pasturage, a very fertile soil, and gold and ivory are among its most valuable products. Explorers, among them De Brazza and Stanley, have traversed some parts of it and have furnished glowing accounts of its wealth. The English Government has long had an eye upon it, but the Frenoh have been the most alert in trying to reach it by railroads across the Great Desert It cannot be long before this great country will be opened up to trade and commerce.

Twenty-four practicing physicians of Marion county have petitioned the Legislature to repeal the Board of Health act. Mrs. Edwin May has filed a claim for SIB,OOO, which she alleges was due her late husband, as architect of the new State House. Five House bills have reached the Senate, of which four have passed and been approved by Ihe Governor. Nine Senate bills have reached the House, of which two have passed. A Senate bill just introduced provides that applicants for teachers’ license shall pay the county superintendent fifty cents the fund thus raised to be used for defraying the expenses of county institutes After the vote of Monday it is scarcely possible that the present prohibition amendment will ever get recognized in the Senate. And it is doubtful if a new. amendment will be more favorably received.

Senator Fletcher Monday introduced a bill providing for. the proper qualification of druggists, chemists and pharmacists, their examination and registration, and for the prevention of the adulteration of drugs. Senator Benz has introduced a bill providing that townships or corporations may vote appropriations for the construction of gravel roads under certain circumstances, when such a vote is petitioned by twenty-five property owners. As a point for the location of the new insane asylum, Seymour is about ready to present her advantages. The railroads passing through that city make it accessible from every part of southern Indiana. An extensive correspondence in regard to the matter is now being carried on. Thus far Senator Foulke has introduced the largest number of bills of ani member of his branch of the Legislature, having his name attached to ten new propositions. Senators Hill, Hoover, Hostetter, Howard and Mclntosh have hot yet introduced a bill. The number of Senate bills on file up to the end of last week was 171. Representative Chittenden has introduced a bill providing for a State inspector of gas meters, to be appointed by the Governor at an annual salary of $2,500; and it shall be the duty of himself or his deputies to at least once a year inspect all the gas meters to see if they are accurate. If enacted this wil} introduce a system that has worked advdntagCously in other States. Mrs. Mary H. Hunt* of Boston, Tuesday afternoon addressed the Senate at considerable, length, urging the passage

tkm in the public an the afifeofai of alcohol on the human system. Mrs. Hunt is a forcible speaker, and her remarges were listened to with much interest by the Senate and the large audience in attendance. The amendments are dead—all of them, including the female suffrage and tenure of office propositions going down in the defeat of the prohibition amendments in the senate Monday afternoon The The majority report of the committee on judiciary, that the amendments are not pending in this legislature by reasyn of the omission of the full text from the journals of the last general assembly, was concurred in by a vote of 25 to 23. A commercial traveler has memorialized the Senate to pass a law protecting travelers from the ravages of bed bugs, and making it a penal offense for hotel and boarding houses to place visitors in bedM so affected. The memorial was introduced by Senator Brown, who, amidst laughter, moved that it be referred to the Senator from Crawford (Mr. Benz, a hotel keeper). It was so referred. Thb railroad companies are seeking to have section 8 of the present scalping law repealed. This section permits dealing in special, half-fair and excursion tickets. Under the ruling of the supreme court on the construction of the word “special,” the scalpers are satisfied with the law as it stands as they can legitimately deal in limited tickets. It is probable that nothing will be done to disturb the present law. Since the defeat of the constitutional amendments a very strong feeling has developed in both houses for a stringent high-license law, carefully guarded in its provisions, and such a measure will probably be introduced in a few days. It is understood that the House committee on temperance has such a measure under contemplation, which provides for a State license of S2OO for incorporated cities and towns, ahd a conviction for any violation of its provisions involves a forfeiture of the license. \ Senator Van Vorhis has introduced a bill to reduce the number of justices of the peace. He proposed that there shall not be more than three justices in any township, with one additional for each incorporated city situated therein. The present law allows two for each incorporated city and one for each incorporated town in a township. The bill would work like a charm n ludiaLa. olis, where almost every other man is a justice of the peace, and the ‘Squires’ Courts do not have a savory reputation. The House committee on fees and sab aries has prepared an elaborate bill on that subject, which will be introduced in a day or two. In many respects it is similar to the present law. It makes the compensation for clerks and sheriff, fees almost exclusively,while the other officers are to be paid mostly by salaries. It cuts off many of the present extortionate fees of the clerks in probate business, but otherwise, by its provisions, these officials will remain about as heretofore. The bill is said to be very ingeniously constructed, and when it is introduced a closer inquiry will be made into its provisions. Representative Akin is the introducer of a bill providing for the appointment of a fee and sslary commission, to be selected by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and State officials, to consist of one Representative of each Congressional District and one from the State at iarge, making fourteen in all, seven of whom are to be Republicans and seven Demo

crats. Tlie Commissioners are to have authority to submit a series of interrogatories to the various county officers and compel answers to their emoluments and the expenses of their offices, and then to frame a bill from the informatton thus obtained, regulating fees and salaries, which is to be reported to the General Assembly. The House ordered the bill printed. The sensation of the day, on Thursday in the Legislature, was the action taken in the Senate immediately after the noon recess in removing Vincent Kirk from his office as doorkeeper. The fight upon him has been kept up constantly by Senator Duncan, on the ground that he had too many employes. His resolution, which brought about the action, recited that he had twelve employes to do the work which had been done in other years by seven; and it also directed that the Senate proceed immediately to the election of Mr. Kirk’s successor. The resolution was passed by a vote of 24 to 20, Senators Benz, Duncan, Fleming, Hilligas, Lindley and Mclntosh voting with the Republicans for Mr. Kirk’s removal. Amidst considerable confusion the Senate proceeded to the election of O. A. Edmond s Assistant Doorkkeeper, which was done by 24 to 21. The new Doorkeeper has been sworn in and commenced the duties of his office.