Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1901 — INDIANA LAW MAKEES [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LAW MAKEES

The two houses of the Indiana General Assembly devoted much time on Tuesday to eulogies of Abraham Lincoln. Neither house adjourned in honor of the anniversary of his birth. The Senate passed the bill to enable railroads to consolidate, but the bill was so amended as to exclude parallel and competing lines from its provisions. The amendment waa offered to prevent the Wabash from consolidating with the‘Eel River line, which it once leased, but which the Supreme Court de* dared contrary to public policy because the Eel River was a competing line and subsidized by the people to be a competitor of the Wabash. The bill for a reorganization of the State militia carrying an appropriation of $75,000 was also passed. The bill redistricting the State for congressional purposes was engrossed. The House spent the day on second reading. Among the bills advanced was one compelling railroad companies -to sell 500mile books for sl# the same good for use by any member of the purchaser’s family. The Senate on Wednesday killed the bill of Senator Layman prohibiting the voting of subsidies to railroads by townships or counties and passed the bill appropriating $120,000 to pay the claim of the Vincennes University against the State lands of the university sold by the State many years ago. In the House the report of the committee recommending a sentence of from ten to thirty-one years was adopted. The bill of Senator Agnew providing for the construction of a ship canal from Lake Michigan at East Chicago to the Calumet river is attracting a great deal of notice at this time. The railroads are -up in arms against the measure, and have some of their best attorneys here to defeat it. The bill pas passed the Senate, where it met no opposition. The House on Thursday killed Mr. Slack’s anti-trust bill and the Senate bill to limit subsidies in aid of railroads. The lower house of the General Assembly on Friday killed the $50,000 appropriation for the pan-American exposition. A favorable report had been made to the House by the committee. The House also passed a bill compelling all railroads to issue mileage books containing 500 miles of transportation for $lO. Any member of the purchaser’s family may use the book.