Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1895 — INDIANA LEGISLATURE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INDIANA LEGISLATURE.

Bills on second reading were the order in the Senate, pkib. ?6. Stuart’s election offenses bill was passed. Bill to empower grand lodges to hold and transfer shares of stock was passed ur.der suspension of rules, A number of other bills were passed, the most important being: By Senator Barnes—Providing a fine of from SIOO to S2OO for the sale of pernicious literature; By Senator Seller—Providing that county commissioners shall take control of gravel roads bnit by private enterBy Senator McLean—Regulating the assess meets for sewer i mprovemen ts in cities having a population of from 30,iXJO to 35,030. The Nicholson bill was received from th-e House at 5 o’clock and was refeiredito committee on temperance. The House was opened with prayer by Rev. Mr. Buchtel, Feb. 26, Speaker Adams being absent on account of sickness, Mr. Moore, of Putnam, occupied the ehair. Mr. Nicholson moved that his temperance bill be considered as engrossed and placed before the House for discussion. Nlr. Robinson moved the bi 1 be put upon its passage under suspension of the rules. Mr. Vanardel seconded the motion. Chair declared the motion out of order. After a parliamentary discussion Mr. Robinson renewed his motion and demanded the previous question. The House seconded the demand —SI to 9. Mr. Bobilya sought to amend tlie bill, which was on second reading. He was at first ruled out of order, and Nlr. Leedy dem and - question again upon Mr. Robinson’s amendment,Mr. Bobilya claimed theflodr. Undeclared that he had been properly recogn izod. but the Speaker refused to continue the recognition and put the previous question to a vote. The House seconded the call and in tlie tumult Mr. Holloway’s voice was heard protesting. The Speaker then ordered the bill read a second time. Nlr. Leedy called attention to an error in ruling of the Chair and the ruling was retracted. Chair recognized Mr. Howe, who wanted information about the status of affairs. Mr. Bobilya continued his obstructive tactics, and Mr. Harrison demanded that the ayes and noes be called on the demand for the previous question. Chair insisted that the bill ought now be read a third time by sections as a way out of the trouble, and Mr. Leedy appealed from the iecisjon of the Chair, but did not press the appeal or oppose the clerk beginning to read the bill for the third time. Again ;he previous question was demanded, the House seconded the appeal, and the vote by division was 54 to 30. Mr. Bobilya ' Asked unanimous consent to offer an unendment, but was refused. Mr. Merritt rose to a point of order and read from ;he Reed rules to show that it was proper » amend tho bill and that Mr. Bobilya’s tmendment was in order. Chair sustained" ihe point and the motion was read. It provided tliatall after the enacting clause ihould be stricken out and that Bill 46, Moore’s, should be substituted for It. Nlr. Leedy did some reading from rules himself it this point, not Reed rules, but the rules M the House itself, showing that the tmendment was not in order, and he. too, was sustained by tho Chair. Mr. Bobilya contended that his amendment was pendng in time to forestall the effect of this tmendment, hut the tangle tyas smoothed away by tlie order to the clerk to proceed I k> read tlie bill for the third ana last time. Following the last reading of the bill Mr. Nicholson and other members spoke in explanation of their votes, The bill was passed—7s to 20—as follows: Yeas—Adams of Parke, Allen, Allison, Barber, Beeker, Billingsley, Binkley, Blakely, Blue. Bohannon, Booher, Card-will,-Coates, Crozier, Dalman, Dinwiddle, Duncan. Floyd, Fowler, Gaither, Garriot, Gregg,Griffin, Grimes, Hamrick, Hanna. HarrisDarrison of Shelby, Harrison of Elkhart and Kosciusko, Hesler, Higbee, Howe, Hundley, Hunter. Jackson. Kell, Kelly, Leedy. Longwell. Loring, Mcßeth, McCaskey, McGeath, Mclntosh, McCrea, Melendy. Merritt, Miller. Moore, Newlouse. Nicholson, Pettit, Poindexter, Por,er, Remy, Reynolds, Robinson, Ross, Simmons. Smith of Huntington, Smith of Tipton, Spitler, Stakebake, Stewart, Steter. Stutesman. Swope, Terhune. Thomas, Van Arsdel. Welch, White, YYilliams, Willis, Woodruff; Nays—Bobilya, Colbert. Davis, Farrbll, Foist, Finkbinder, Gibson, Holloway. Hunt, Kamp, Laidlow, Lambert. MeIregor, O’Brien, Remington, Spaulding, Stotsenburg, Vonnegut, Willoughby, Willon. In the Senate, Fob. 27, the special order vas Senator Eliison’s drainage bill. It was ami nded and ordered engrossed. A u mber of bills on third reading were called. 11. B. 587 to abolish Soldiers’ Monument Commission and appoint a board of regents was passed. The Wish-ird-Newhouso bill to repeal present legislative apportoinment was called. Lieut.Gov. Nye ruled the bill out pf order. Mr Wishard appealed from Chair’s decision. Appeal was sustained by a party vote—2o to 19. A vote was reached on the bill repealing present apportionment and it passed—3o to 20. The legislative reapportionment bill was taken up. The Cnair ruled the bill unconstitutional and out of irder Senator Wishard again appealed and the appeal was sustained. Many lengthy speeches for and against the measure were made. The bill was placed in its passage. The vote was strictly partisan—yeas, 30; nays, 19. The House, Feb. 27, heard the report of ipecial committee which investigated alteration in the fee and salary law of 1391. The committee could not determine who ■vas guilty of changing the law, but sav there is no doubt that the law as it appears in the statutes is entirely different from the form in which it was passed. Tlie committee recommended that a bill pc passed correcting tho enrollment. The committee submitted with tli<? report two bills in accordance with the suggestions of •he report, and recommended their immel.iate passage. On motion of Rep. Robinson the rules wore suspended for passage )f the corrective bill—yeas 74. nays 4. The bill was then passed—yeas. 90; nays. ). Tlie second bill, fixing a penalty for changing bills, was referred to tlie comiiittee on judiciary. Affairs ofltidianap>l is were a special order. Several bills were passed, tho most important being >nc to compel the street railway rone panics to pay to tho city 5 per cent, of theirgrossearnings for park purposes. The Senate, Feb. 28, was opened with •prayer by Rev. Mary Dennis. The draintgo bill was passed without amendment. The military bill was passed after a warm iebate, Shiveley’s bill amending school laws so that A Horney General can not collect 12 ver cent, on unexpended balances )f school funds was passed. Tlie committee on the affairs of Indianapolis recomnended tho passage of the bill providing 'of the Australian ballot system in the flection of school commissioners. The House bill fixing the salary of Judge Mc'ray of the Criminal Court at $3,250 was ilso recommended for passage. House bill '3O was reported favorably by a majority 3f Hie committee on education, and a minority asked that It lie postponed. It wns srst made a special order and afterward taken up again and tho majority report adopted. By resolution it was agreed that the journal clerks be retained after the close of the session at their present salary and tho President was authorized to drawpvarrants for their payment. Another resolution adopted increased the pay of tho three colored men employed in the Senate from $3 to $4 per jav during the remainder of tlie session. Tn the House, Feb. 28, the fee and salary bill as agreed upon by the Republican caucus was Introduced. On tho motion to uispend tho rules, Messrs. Mcßeth, Dinviddie. McCrea. Woodriiff, • Hunt and Booher voted with the Democrats In the iegative. The vote was 71 to 20. Mr. Dinwlddie arose and startled the House )y saying that he opposed the bill because t had raised tho salary of the officers in tis county $3,400. No one knew whf thia

I had beeh <ioip:j>.li4 In; did ;iol know now It had been done. He knew that ther® I had been a raise of $1,700 in the salariea of the officers of Lake county and tho night before the caucus had voluntarily raised these salaries another $1,700. H® could not face his constituents with this and would vote against the MH. Mr. Mcßeth at first refused to vote, bntaftervoted for th« bill. The bill passed the House by M a vote of 74 to 15. The general appropriation, bill was considered |n committee of the whole. Th® appropriation allowed the Central Hospital for tlie Insane was first considered. Mr. Duncan proposed to increase "the (HX). Speaker Adams favored this and thought the committee had made a mistake in reducing the appropriation to the State benevolent institutions 10 per cent No change was made, however. A large number of other items were considered. About $14,000 wasadded to the bill. LEGISLATIVE NOTES. 2 Rep. Hamrick has introduced a bill to place the statues of William Henry Har-ri-on and Oliver P. Morton in statuary hall at the National capitol as representatives of Indiana in that famous assemblagci of effigies. The Senate has adopted the committee’s report Recommending the passage of the bill to give tlie Indiana department G. A. R. rooms for headquarters in the State House. — ; : — — ——-- The House, Monday, passed a resolution—driving—lobbyists from tho floor. From the beginning of tho session they have been running riot among members and Interfering with legislation. .Mr. Wi 11 oughby introduced the resolution. The bill for the appointment of commissioners to investigate tho practicability of constructing a strip canal from Lake Michigan to the head of navigation of the Wabash river was engrossed, Monday,.amended so as to give the commissioners $6 Instead of $4 per diem. Senator Stuart’s < 1 iction offenses bill which passed the Senate Feb, 26. provides severe penalties for offenses against the election laws.graded according tothegravity of the crime, penalties ranging from a fine to imprisonment for five years. Tlie bill Is a copy of the New York law with a few.changes. The expected opposition to the bill developed, and a bare constitu-. tional majority was mustered in its favor. Senator Duncan showed that if he were a candidate and acceded to the demand of a tramp for a nickel to buy a glass of beer or a sandwich that lie could be prosecuted and sent to tlie penitentiary. The vote was yeas, 26; n a vs, 19. The Democrats who voted for the Nicholson bill were: Messss. Billingsly, Blue, Dalman, Dunqan. Harrison of Shelby, Higbee, Kell. Kelley, McGeath, Swope, White and Williams—l 2. Mr. Cooley was absent and did not vote. Tlie bill Increasing the salary of Judge McCray, of the Marion county criminal court, is in a tamgle. The bill has passed both Houses, but the original Senate bill was thought to have been stolen. It was intimated th at a prominent Marion county member knew more about the matter than he was willing to tell. In the meantime the bill turned up in Tffe~printer’s hands about the time the amended bill had passed the Senate. The House, not willing to rest under the imputation that the bill had- been stolen by a member, voted to reconsider former action. Judge McCray at this writing does not exactly know “where he is at.” The bill making it unlawful to clip horses in winter has been killed in tho Hojise. Speaker Adams took the floor and showed that clipping horses was a benefit to the animal at any time, as It prevented dampness from settling in tho hair. A delegation of Fort Wayne citizens was before the Senate temperance committee, Thursday, asking tho passage of the Nicholson bill. Governor Matthews has signed the bill creating a Superior Court in Madison county, and also the concurrent resolution relative to the authenticity of the Stato seal, and appointing Reading Clerk Hatcher to investigate tlie subject.

President Cleveland, Thursday, sent to the Senate the name of William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, to be PostmasterGeneral, tosncceed W. S. Bissell, resigned. Nlr. Wilson is better known as “Chairman” Wilson, of the way# and means committee, and isTamous as the author of the Wilson bill. He is very popular In Congress. Mr. Wilson is regarded as an apostle of tariff reform, and was defeated last November for re-election to Congress because of tlie figlit made against him on this account-

POSTMASTER-GENERAL WILSON.