Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1905 — THE FOURTH WEEK [ARTICLE]

THE FOURTH WEEK

Excellent Progress Has Been Made In the Work of the General Assembly. THOUGHTFUL CONSIDERATION Has Been Given to the M-ore Important Measures Before the Legislature, Some of Which Are Now Well Advanced—Lawmakers Are Proceeding Carefully—The Session’s Work to Date. fSpecial Correspondence.! - Indianapolis, Jan. 31.—With the general assembly closing the fourth week of its session, there is a disposition in some quarters to express astonishment because the output of finished legislation up to this time is no larger. It would, however, be a reflection upon the legislature, rather than an evidence of its good Intentions, if many measures of general application and large importance had as yet found their way to the governor’s table. The real work of the session up to this time has necessarily been done in the committees. Speaker Reed called the various committees of the national house of representatives “little legislatures," and the term is to a degree applicable to the committees of the general assembly, although it Is true that a report on a bill has more weight in congress than in a state legislature. A great deal of vicious and ill-consid-ered legislation as a matter of fact, however, meets an inglorious end In committee. The value of a general assembly is to be judged as much by what It refuses to do as by what it really accomplishes in the matter of new legislation. Bills have been going into "the hopper by scores ever since the opening day of the general assembly, and if all of the legislative propositions advanced were to be accepted by the general assembly, the acts of 1905 would certainly be fearfully and wonderfully made. So far as the more important measures, of which there are a number pending, are concerned, they have already been made the subject of serious study in committee, and from now on reports upon them will be reaching the general assembly. Session’s Work to Date.

In the senate, at the beginning of the first session of the present week, 204 bills had been introduced In the senate and 235 in the house, a total of 439 in both branches of the general assembly. Lieutenant Governor Miller says that the number of bills introduced so far would indicate a total of 750 for the session, which would be much lower than the number introduced in any preceding session. This is in part to be attributed to the fact that the bills presented by the codification commission cover so wide a scope that many measures are being held back pending t?e action of the general assembly upon them. The suggestion has been made that the report of the codification commission, which constitutes what may perhaps be considered the most important work of the session, be laid over until the next general assembly, allowing the intervening time for discussion. The suggestion has met with little favor. It is probably true that two years’ discussion would tend to cloud rather than to clear the situation. An illustration of this is found in the criticism offered to one of the bills proposed in the commission’s report by one of the leading lawyers of Indianapolis, who says itsieffect would be to make Indiana Instead of New Jersey th© haven of trusts. Judge M. A. Chipman, a. member of the commission and a lawyer of great ability, denies that this is the purpose or that it would be the effect of the bill in question. Lieutenant Governor Pleased.

Both branches of the general assembly are especially fortunate in the manner of men chosen to preside over them. Clean and capable, both Lieutenant Governor Miller and Speaker Cantwell enjoy the confidence of all those having to do with legislative affairs and of the people of Indiana generally. Both of them are In harmony with the policies of the administration and are keeping the reigns of the legislative team well in hand. Lieutenant Governor Miller Is well pleased with the progress so far made by the general assembly. “The senate," he says, "seems ambitious to do things. The members are working hard. The committees are also desirous to get through with the work allotted to them as soon as possible consistently with what they ought to do. There has been some talk about the bills of the codification commission, but there has not been a fair chance on them yet. "Eighteen hundred of the two thousand copies of the codification bills ordered printed, have been distributed In the different counties of the state, and the members are beginning to hear from tbalr constituents, and then It will not be difficult for them to de clde what they wish to do. There has been talk of dumping all the codification bills until the next session of th general assembly, but the senators, a a rule, feel tnat they ought to dispose of It now, and I look for some good work with those bills. The work of the two houses at this session makes a good showing as compared with previous general assemblies.” State of Legislation. The house has passed about twenty bills up to this time. Neither branch

has passed, any bills pi-iginatlng in the other branch, with the exception of the two bills passed very early in the session—one appropriating money for the expenses of the general assembly and the other repealing the law of 1903 for the printing of engrossed and , enrolled bills in patented' type. The two bills are the only ones thus far that have reacned the governor. Some of the bills passed in one branch have reached engrossment in the other branch. Of the codification bills, that on eminent domain has advanced farthest. It was ready for second reading in the house, but was referred back : to the committee for amendments. Of the other codification commission bills that on criminal laws seems most likely to receive early favorable action. The bill on. cities and towns is still being argued before the joint - committees of the house and senate. Bills to regulate private banks are still in the' senate committee on banks. The Guirl bill in the house and the Moore bill in the senate, to make remonstrances against liquor licenses good for two years, are making rapid progress. A legislative apportionment bill has practically been agreed upon, out has not yet been introduced. The republicans will probably hold a caucus on the measure before or shortly after it is introduced The Spirit of Service. One thing forces itself upon the attention of the most careless observer, and that is that no general assembly in many years has gone about its work with so evident an intention to serve faithfully and well the people of the state. The new era in national politics, with its stricter standard of virtue which it has set up for the public service, has had its effect in the legislative halls of Indiana. Either because of the changed conditions manifesting themselves, or because of the warning sounded by retiring Governor Durbin and incoming Governor Hanly, the professional lobby that has been so much in evidence in years gone by, is either absent or playing a timid part during the present general assembly. This is the more remarkable because no legislature in recent years has had pending before it so many measures calculated to ferlpg guch a lobby to the front. ‘ To say that conditions are better In this respect than ever before Is not to imply that comparatively speaking they have been bad in recenj years s | Fresh from the enjoyment of the hospitality of the Indiana general assembly, Mr. Bryan declared in Connecticut the other evening that Indiana is “the most corrupt state in the Union." This is a slander utterly without justification. On the contrary it is doubtful if any state has in recent years conducted its public affairs on a higher plane or in a more wholesome atmosphere than has Indiana. It is doubtful if any one of the many state legislatures now in session is so free from the suspicion of corruption as is that now assembled at Indianapolis. A Sense of Responsibility.

The overwhelming majority of republicans in the legislature, considered in connection with the enormous popular majority at the polls at the last election, instead of being interpreted as a license to raid the treasury in behalf of this or that pet project, or to carry partisan politics into the making of laws, as some very good and some very intelligent persons feared when the reports first began to come in, seem to have had the opposite effect. This overwhelming majority is accepted as emphasising the thought or responsibility, and while neither the policy of the administration nor that of the lawmaking body will be characterized by an inclination to cheeseparing, which in the end always proves to be false economy, yet there will be no onslaught on the treasury in any way suggested or prompted by the remarkable vote at the polls. On the whole progressive conservatism seems to be the animating principle, and this most of the Democrats seem to be willing to concede. In fairness to most of them it should be said that the disposition seems to be to fall in And become a part of the gen-eral-movement in this direction. Conceding Institutional Needs. There will be occasion neither for surprise nor for censure if the appropriations of the present general assembly are in the aggregate larger than those of the legislature of 1903. The demands upon the several penal, benevolent, charitable and educational Institutions of the state have been increasing during the past few years with astonishing rapidity. Despite the fact that these institutions have been conducted on a basis so economical that the per capita cost of maintenance has been greatly decreased under that of a decade ago, the growth in actual population is making necessary not only larger maintenance appropriations, but the erection of new buildings and the enlarging of the old ones. The present general assembly must provide for the new institution for the deaf and dumb to take the place of the old one, the grounds of which have recently been sold at great advantage. It must make adequate provision for the new Industrial school for girls, to carry out a long cherished purpose on the part of the state to give these unfortunate young women a better opportunity for reform than Is afforded under the present system of association with an institution for criminals. Additional provision must of necessity be made for the Insane, either by an Increase in the size of tho three smaller hospitals, or by the erection of a new one: the latter plan seems the more likely of adoption at this time. This In itself will necessitate an expenditure of more than a half million dollars. q

’ Paring the Estimates. The increasing demands upon the Institutions now existing is reflected tn the recommendations of the legislative committee for specific appropriations aggregating more than a million dollars more. These proposed appropriations represent not the wishes of the institutions, but what seem, to be actual necessities, which it would be false economy not to recognize. The legislative committee has more than cut in two the-estimates furnished by the institutions themselves. Meeting Extraordinary Demands. In part the increasing demands of the state’s institutional system upon the state treasury are met by the annual increase in the tax duplicate. But conditions present and prospective demand still further accessions to the general fund. Fortunately the debt of the state has been so far reduced that the state debt sinking fund will during the present year meet every dollar of indebtedness due before 1915, or payable before 1910, and leave in the state treasury something tike fifty thousand dollars. It has been suggested that without an increase In the aggregate tax levy, the new demands may be provided for by the abolition of the state debt sinking fund in whole or in part, and the substitution therefore of a temporary institutional levy oi two or three cents on the hundred dollars. Some plan of this kind will doubtless be adopted. A member of the general assembly the other day Introduced a bill providing for the borrowing by the state of a million dollars to meet these demands. It is hardly necessary to state that this member sits on the democratic side. His resolution was entirely in line with democratic tradition and precedent in Indiana. During the decade ending with the year 1891 Indiana Democratic leadership nearly doubled the state debt by the issuing of interest bearing bonds as a substitute for direct taxation. Since 1860 democratic experiments along this line have cost the people of the State in interest payments millions t>f dollars. Representative Scifres’ action tn this regard is indicative of what might have been expected if the people of the state had placed Indiana democratic leadership in control of state fiscal and legislative affairs last year. Strengthening the Nicholson Law. There is an evident determination on the part .of the geftdral assembly to strengthen the Nicholson law, —not by adding any new features pf impop tance to it, but by making tiife remofi strance provision more effective. In rural communities persons opposing the granting of liquor licenses have been put to endless annoyance because of the necessity of filing a remonstrance every time a new applicant appears before the county commissioners. Sometimes this perform ance is gone through with once a month, the purpose of the applicants being apparently to wear out the opposition. This is contrary to the spirit of the law and to good public policy, and Governor Hanly, in his inaugural

address, took the reasonable position that the people of a ward or township should be free to eliminate the saloon as an institution if they desired to da so, long enough to permit themselves at least a good breathing spell preparatory to another struggle. Institution for Epileptics. Governor Hanly has voiced a demand for an institution for epileptics which in all probability will be heeded by the present general assembly. Concerning the New Governor. When Governor Hanly was inaugurated on Jan. 9 he sounded a keynote for his whole administration, and there is manifest in the governor’s attitude toward all questions of public policy the same spirit of devotion to the public weal and to high ideals in public service which were expressed tn his inaugural address. Governor Hanly has a distinct policy, *nd the impress of his Influence evlll be upon the work of the present general assembly when it has been concluded. Governor Hanly’s program includes the strengthening of the remonstrance section of the Nlcholsofi law, the enactment of a railroad commission law and a system of public accountability for what are now known as private banks. There is little doubt but that something will be done upon each one of these propositions. The Governor and the Editors. The annual meeting of the Republican State Editorial association held here last week was one of the most successful in years. A notable feature of the sessions was the disposition to discuss methods of elevating the standards of a profession, rather than means of making mere money out of a business. At the annual banquet on Thursday evening notable speeches were made by Governor Hanly, Lieutenant Governor Miller, John L. Griffiths, and others. Governor Hanly spoke with feeling of the splendid work done by the iiepublfcan country press of Indiana during the last campaign, and said that it was entitled to a large share of the credit for an unprecedented victory. He appealed to the editors present for their support in behalf of tne tnore Important measures proposed by the administration, and brought from his hearers a response significantly enthusiastic. The resolutions adopted by the editorial association pledged tne sunnort of the organization to the recommendations of President Roosevelt and Governor Hanly. There is perhaps no state in the Union where the support of the Republican local press mdWns so much. In the absence of n state Republican paper, the responsibility of advocating party policies fills nnon what Is known as the country press, which is probably stronger n . more influential in Indiana than in any other state.