Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1901 — Many Legislatures Meet [ARTICLE]

Many Legislatures Meet

The Legislatures of thirty-one of the forty-five States of the Union will be in session during the present month. The meetings will bring together a total of 3,810 statesmen. The largest number in any one State is the 421 members of the New Hampshire Legislature, while the smallest is the forty-eight of Nevada. The proportion of Representatives to the population varies in the same way. In New Hampshire, for instance, there is one Representative to every 1,140 men, women and children iin the State, while in New York State there is one to 46,000. The Legislatures of all the States meet every two years, except those of Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and South Carolina, which come together every year. All but sixteen of the States limit by law the duration of a legislative session, the time fixed ranging from forty to seventy-five days.

The salaries of members of the State Legislatures vary widely. Kansas and several other States pay their legislators $3 a d'ay while the Legislature is in session. Nevada pays 810 a day, New York and Pennsylvania pay $1,500 a year, and Illinois SI,OOO a session. Thrifty Maine, on the other hand, makes its members get along with $l5O a year. In all th> States but Delaware, lowa, Maryland and New Jersey the members of the Legislature are allowed in addition to their salaries a fixed sum for each mile traveled in comgig to and going from the State capital. Most of the members of the State Legislatures ride on railroad passes, so that this mileage allowance goes into their own pockets. In order that members may be at no expense for postage, stationery, etc., while the Legislature is in .session' most States make a still further grant of a fixed amount to each member to cover necessary charges of this kind. For salaries alone the meetings of the State Legislatures will cost in the aggregate an enormous sum. In Illinois, for instance, the bare salaries of the members will amount to considerably over $200,000, which is but a beginning on the total expenses of the session. The terms for which members of the lower house and of the Senate are Elected vary greatly with the different States. In many cases the State Senators are elected for terms twice as long as those of the Representatives. The shortest term for a member of either house is one year, which is the rule in Rhode Island, alone among the States, for both Senators and Representatives, while the longest is four years, the term of a State Senator in Illinois and in a majority of the States. The most important business before most of the State Legislatures will be the election of a United States Senator. In Delaware, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska there are two Senators each to be elected.. Altogether about one-third of the membership of the United States Senate is to be chosen by the Legislatures which meet this month. A striking thing about the senatorial contests iii many of the States is the fact that a number of the candidates are men comparatively new to public life, at least in a national sense. In Nebraska the three leading candidates are Georg:D. Meiklejohn, Assistant Secretary 'of War, who is one of the best known men in the State; Edward Rosewater of Omaha, and D. E. Thompson, a banker of Lincoln, Mr. Bryan’s home town, and one of the richest men in the State. Mr. Thompson is, in addition, a most unique character. He was born on a farm near Coldwater, Mich., and began as a brakeman. He worked up to be division superintendent, and then started into business for himself. He is now interested in twenty different and profitable enterprises. He does things in a unique way. When the State hesitated about bringing the First Nebraska regiment home from San Francisco Thompson did it himself. The regiment traveled in Pullman cars, and it cost Thompson $20,000. When the Omaha exposition was running Thompson invited all the children in. Lincoln between the ages of 8 and 16 to spend a day at the exposition with him.

In Montana it seems to be taken for granted that W. E. Clark will get himself elected again to one of the senatorial chairs which the State has to fill, while F. Augustus Heinze is said to be in the lead for the other. Heinze is one of the most striking characters in the West. He is not yet |35 years old, and is already at the head of several important mining enterprises.' Twelve years ago he appeared in Montana at the age of 21. He was fresh from graduating as a chemist and mining engineer. He found work in one of the great smelters. Within a few years he had smelters of his own, and even Clark himself was forced to recognize him as a factor to be reckoned with. He has been active in State politics, was a candidate for Governor, and is said to control a sufficient number of votes in the present Legislature to force Clark to come to terms with him. In Utah George Q. Cannon, head of the Mormon Church, his own son, and his nephew, together with a few outside the family, are making a lively fight for the place. In Delaware J. Edward Addicks is again a candidate, and is said to control enough votes to get one of the two togas at the present command of the State. In Colorado C. S. Thomas, who has just completed his term as Governor, and T. M. Patterson of Denver are apparently in the lead. In Minnesota R. G. Evans of Minneapolis is looked upon as the leader for the place in the Senate left vacant by the death of Senator Davis. In North Carolina, which is now represented in the Senate by a Republican and ff Populist, it seems that F. M. Simmons, Nvho, as chairman of the Democratic ‘State committee, is given credit for bringing the State back again into the Democratic column, has the best chances of succeeding Marion Butler, the present Populist Senator. The political makeup of the several Legislatures is an interesting study. Florida, for instance, proudly boasts the possession of a Legislature which is solidly Democratic./ Of its 109 members every one is a tried and trusted member of the Democratic party. The Legislature of Mississippi is made up in the same way, with the exception of twe .Populists, who have broken into the lower house. In North Carolina, which is not now represented in the Senate by a Democrat, the Democrats have a majority iu the Legislature on joi:i( ballot of 110.