Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1889 — LEGISLATIVE NOTES. [ARTICLE]

LEGISLATIVE NOTES.

A bill providing for the appointment of a Board of Railroad Commissioners for this State will probably be intro duced in the Senate during the present term. It is generally believed that the report of the Senate committc-e on elections recommending that) Senator Bichowski be unseated will be indefinitely postponed when iLis submitted. The governor has issne'd a writ for a snecial election to be held Tuesday, Feb. 12. in the counties of .Decatur and Shelby, to fill the vacancy in the Senate for that iii.atewr*rocasionHd by the unleaSngof S. J. Carpenter. The House committee on ways and means will be ready to report back the general appropriation bill this week. 3he section allowing the Auditor money ; paid to Lieutenant-gpvernor Robertson ! has been stricken ont. The bill wil . cause a disturbance before it becomes a j law. ' „' The House has indefinitely postponed the bill of Representative Applegate appropriating $3,000 for the construction of a monument over the grave of Jonathan Jennings, Indiana’s first Governor. 1 Senator Francis has introduced a similar bill, but the action of the House indicates that if wiil not became a law. Among the bills which have passed the House the following are of the' ; greatest importance: Appropriating SIOO,OOO for the erection of the State Normal school at Terre Haute by a vote of 71 to 16; providing that the teachers shall be paid for attending the township institutes, and reducing the interest on school fund loans from BJp 6 per cent Among the new bills introduced in the House Wednesday was one by Mr. Reynolds, providing that the German language shall not be taught in the public schools of the State. It is short, < in requiring that all instruction shall be given in the English language, and no other. It is made a pensdty to violate any provisions of the bill, the offender being subject to a fine of $25, and dismissal as a teacher. Mr. Reynolds says he has ascertained there is a general demand for such a law and he will urge its passage. The legislative committee which visited Richmond and Fort Wayne to ascertain the needs of the hospital for Feebleminded Children, returned Monday. They were not as favorably impressed with the Hospital for the Insane at Richmond, in which the children are temporarily quartered, as they were with the prospect of their permanent abiding place at Fort Wayne. Several of the committee joined m condemning the buildings at Richmond as being imperfectly constructed, and as already showing their weakness in foundation, finish and covering. They would not vote for their acceptance. , j

• ts-V; ■> ...„ * . ■ .yl - , . Bruce Carr Friday filed bis oath oi office as Btstie Auditor for the next- two years, together with a bond of $lO,000, signed by ffm. H. Schmidts, T. P. Haughey and A. R. Shroyer. John W. Coons also tiled oath as the appointed Deputy-Auditor, and R. B. Jessup as Surgeon General of the Indiana Military forces.' - v •* - Senator Cox introduced a bill, Monday, which provides for the establishment of „b -highways- The Senator says there is‘a demaqrf'for such a law coming from land owners all over the State, iiju every county,” said he, ‘ there are tracts of land‘remote from any public highway, and owners can not reach these farms without crossing land owned hy other people. Frequently the owners of surrounding land refuse to allow the possessor oitlie inside traijt tcTcrosß their farms, aDd 1 know of of several farmers in my own county who are threatened with suit for trespass every time they goto their land with a wagon. I also been informed that in Cfay county there are several coal mines that cannot be reached without tresspassing on land owned by other mine owners, and the result is these inside mines ard unworked.” The bill provides that any man who owns land he cannot reach without tresspassing, shall, by going before the commissioners of his county, and making oath as to the facts, secure from them a by-highwav. The road so , established is not to be used except by persons whti desjre to reach the land to which it is opened. The commissioners, in opening the highway*pre authorized to assess the damages sustained bv the person or persons bp whose lands it crosses. A large delegation was in Indianapolis Monday, from Terre Haute to urge the passage of a bill appropriating $10.0,000 to rebuild the State Normal School. It will be remembered that school building burned last April and that the pity of Terre Haute immediately voted $50,0c0 to repair the walls and put up a new roof. It will require $50,0i 0 more to place the building in good condition and $50,000 more will be required to furnish it and supply the school with a, library and apparatus and heating fixtures. The old building caught fire through the heatiDg apparatus and it is proposed to place the boiler at a safe distance from the school building *lt will require at lrast $16,010 to accomplish this. The Terre Haute people says that the impression prevailing that part of the SIOO,-)0ois to reimburse the city of Terre Haute is erroneous. Every dollar asked from the State i? required and will be expended, Beside. the city of Terre H ut. proposes to add $8,00;) or $10,('00 leoie. in the first place the city of Terre Haute gave* the .Siale the plat of ground upon which the State normal school is built and $50,000 in cash at the time the rc' .-io] was located with the s'so,ooodonated last spring to repair the building. Toe people of Terre.Haute thirik that they have a right to ask the State to do its share. Nearly every county is represented in the school and the iteacbers turned out of that school are in great demand. The Andrews election reform bill, reported favorably from committee in the Senate, is a Very long bill, covering about twenty-five pages of type writer copv. It will probably become a law. Sections 1 to 15 relate to the establish-, merit' of precincts by county commie--sioners, the creation'of election board etc. These provisions make no mn% terial change in the present law, that it provides that no preoinct shall contain more than 250 voters; The bill on y applies to district, State and National elections. Alter defining the preliminary arrangements for an election, it provides (1) tnat each precinct is to be provided with two ballot boxes, one red and one white, and each box is to have two locks; (2) that the sheriff of each county shall appoint two special deputies for each precinct, one from each of the political parties casting the highest number of votes at the previous election. It is made the duty of these demtiesto enjfe force the election law, and to resfs on the demand of a n||j®fermthe board, or on an afhd Secretary of State and two opsins appointed by him shall core's! ute board of ekctionMmrfnifsioners. They shall preparettfiodistribute ballots, stamps, etc , to all the electors o f the State. The county tlerk and two persons appointed by him are to constitute a county board. . They shall print tickets for any party on petition of a small number of electors. Ail candidates are required to file with the Secretary of State a certificate of nomination, and the county clerk is required to publish a list of candidates in a newspaper. All names of candidates shall be printed on one ballot. Ten tickets for each voter shall be delivered to the inspectors three days before the election. At the opening of the polls, and in the presence of the elgqtion board, the inspector shall open thepackages of tickets, and delivef to the p6ll-elerk of the opposite political party from his own, twenty five each of the State and local ballots, and to the poll-cleik the stamps for ppaking the ballot. The poll-clerk to whom the ballots are delivered shall at once proceed to write his initials, rel ink, on the lower left hand corners the back of each of said ballots, inrim ordinary handwriting, and without any distinguishing mark of aDy kind.. As each successive elector calls for a ballot, the poll-clerk shall deliver to him the first signed of the J art ntyfive nallots of each kind; and the jn-r spector 6hall immediately deliver to the poll-clerk another ballot of each kind, which the poll-clerk shall at once countersign, sb that it shall be delivered for voting after all those theretofore countersigned. When a“ voter shall have been passed by the challengers, he shall be admitted to the election Toom. On entering the room the voter shall announce his name to the poll-clerks who shall register it. The clerk holding the tickets thiall deliver to him one State and one local ticket, and the other clerk, shall. thereupon deliver him a stamp, and both pollclerks, on request, shall give explanation of the manner of voting; if deemed necessary, by unanimous consent of the board, an interpreter may be called. Tie voter shall then, and without leaving the room, go alone into one of the booths which may be unoccupied and indicate the candidates Tor whom he desires to vote by- stamping the square immediately preceding their names. U pon closing the polls all unvoted ballots shall be destroyed. All election days shall be legal holidays and corporations are required to close their business for fonr hours on such days. These are .the salient features of the bilL