Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS
Newspaper Page Text
Devoted to me Bar Interests or the Home, the 5hop and the ta Eleventh Year, No. OFFICIAL STATIC , JfAFKK. ! IE Alt.' TOPEKA, KANSAS, JANUARY i, 1899. KVKRY WEDNESDAY. JL'lUCtt FIVE CKMTB. Railroad Bill Is Passed. Creates a Court of Visitation Along New and More Extensive Lines. THE JUDGES MADE ELECTIVE. (The full text of the railroad bill Is Riven on page lit.) The railroad caucus did Its work well. It gave to the attorneys Its plan for legis lation. This was arrived at after consid erable consideration of the matter, and the attorneys went to work. As they progressed they saw what they believed to he valid objections to some of the in structions given and made such alter ations as seemed best in their judgment. Five or six days and nights of hard work were put in on the work. Every point was weighed carefully. No pos sible weak point was left. The object of all concerned was to make the bill as. strong aa it could possibly be made. When all of this work was done, the completed bill was submitted to the joint caucus, which was attended by a ma jority of the members of botn nouses. There it was read section by section and carefully considered. Printed copies of the bill had been placed in the hands of each member. Each member went into this meeting fully convinced that the question of whether the State was to have a railroad bill was to be settled be fore this caucus adjourned. They went in with a determination to get together and at the same time to get the best pos sible bill. The discussion covered a wide range of views and was earnest in every respect. Few changes were made in the bill but the members were determined to know what they were voting for. The hardest fight was over the provision to appoint the first commission next April, thereby giving Stanley power to name it Governor Lewelling made the hardest fight for this provision. He based his fight on the theory that this Legislature should give no man a title to any office which he did not have on election day. He is now a member of the railroad com mission and if the appointment was to bo made by Governor Leedy he would likely hold his place, but he preferred to do that which he 'believed to be right. His position may not have been right but his position was an honorable one. In the course of his remarks Senator Lewelling said: "Do you want the Populist party to go down in history as a party of pelf-seekers who were after office and office only? This movement is wrong. The Populist party has no right to attempt to hang on to the Jobs and legislate a fejjr men into office." The provision was left in the bill by a vote of 58 to 25. Some of the changes made in the ori ginal bill authorized the Governor to name the commission instead of giving that authority to the executive council and did not require their confirmation by the Senate. In case the complainant in an action believes that the solicitor provided for in the law favors the side of the railroads, he may procure the appointment of a special solicitor for that case. This prevents the solicitor from favoring the companies by declin ing to bring suits. - The strike section was modified somewhat, The real fight came when the bill was brought up for consideration In the House. The railroad bill which was in- 1 V Ml Bi.- I.J- VJ . Ilflrr--rh 3 - 41- ft J - WmJ- -j- ,-. srn. ... t ; C-i 1 THE DOMESTIC SCIENCE HALL OF KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. On January 6, 1809, the Kansas State Agricultural College will dedicate It Domestic Science Hall. Representative Kansans, In rinding Governor Leedy, Governor-elect Stanley, former Governor Morrill, Lewelling, St. John and Glick. Chancellor Snow, Preldnt Taylor, Superintendent Stryker, Superintendent-elect Nelson, Secretary Cohorn, State Librarian Annie L. Dlggs, Mini distinguished edu cators from adjoining States have been Invited. From a number of these, addresses and responses to toasts may be expected. Exer cises begin at 8:30 p. m. In the College chspel. At fl. p. m. a banquet will be served to Invited guests In the Domestic Science Hall. Toasts will follow. Afude will le furnished by the Musical department of the College, You are cordially Invited to he present. troduced Saturday was placed on third reading. A motion was promptly made to substitute the caucus bill for It. This was in the committee of the whole House, with Falrchild of Kingman in the chair. He promptly cleared the area around the members' seats and made the visitors keep out of range. As the read ing of the substitute was completed Seaton (Rep.) moved that the bill be re ferred to House Committee on Railroads. He made quite a speech in favor of his motion and was frequently called down by the chair for drifting around among a variety of subjects which bore no re lation to the motion. The motion was lost The first section was read and Barkley of Elk moved its adoption. Foley sec onded the Motion. It was carried. Sim ilar action Was taken with reference to other sections. After every vote the Republicans would call for a division. Finally the chair called for a division, and on a standing-vote the section passed by a vote of 69 to 33. That settled the division calls and no attention was given to them on subsequent votes. When the section providing for a so licitor was read, Fitzgerald (Rep.) moved to strike It out and transfer the duties to an assistant attorney general. His amendment was promptly voted down and with a unanimity which plainly showed to the Republicans that the fusion members did not propose to have any fooling and that the bill as reported was to be passed without any alteration or Interruption, Keefer of Leavenworth tried to include passenger business with that of freight, but his amendment did not pass. He immediately left the House and did not return until after the vote on all points affecting the bill were taken. Jackson (Rep.) of Harvey moved to adjourn as it was past noon, but his mo tion went the way of all motions made by Republicans. After a number of other sections had been adopted Larimer (Rep.) moved to report the bill back to the House with the recommendation that the enacting clause be stricken out Of course his motion was in vain. Brown (silver Rep.) of Cowley moved to strike out the anti-pass feature. This failed. Then he moved that a provision prohibiting all State, county and local officers from accepting passes be adopted. This failed. It would have had no force because it had no proper place in the bill. Along at the close Ell Williams of McPherson, who was elected as a Re publican but who accepted the Populist nomination this year, tried to amend by striking out the strike feature. His mo tion was lost At the conclusion of the reading and when each section, had been adopted, Brown of Pratt moved to amend the title so as to conform to the substituted bill. This was carried. A motion to report the bill to the House with the recom mendation that It pass was then adopt ed and the. committee rose. Speaker Street took the chair and Mr. Falrchild mads the report of the committee of the whoie and moved its adoption. His mo tion carried but a roll-call was taken. It resulted In 68 voting aye and 37 voting no. It was now after. 1 o'clock, and everyone was hungry, but the determina tion to pass the bill before adjournment had not even begun to disappear and the members stayed In their seats and kept at work, Immediately after this roll call Hack ney moved to consider the bill engrossed and read It the third timo. His motion prevailed and the final vote began. This was the only chance for Republicans to talk and they Improved it. They ex plained their votes. Barker (Rep?) was the first. He argued that the session was unconstitutional and that the legislation attempted was vicious. Brooke, Burk holder. Brown (silver Rep.) of Cowley, Finney, Grimes, Haywood, IrwJn, Jack son of Harvey, Johnson of Nemaha, Ked dle, Larimer, McKeever, Seaton, Seaver and Shouse followed. Many others sent written explanations to the clerk's desk. Larimer of Shawnee made the most vicious speech. He made no Impression though as his principal strength lies in his ability to say things which are calcu lated to make others feel disagreeable. The fusion members laughed at his tirade and when he referred to them as a repudiated band of boodlers they did not even refer to the fact that Larimer him self had been similarly treated by his home people. McKeever tried to make about the same sort of a speech but he failed signally. He talked as if he were thinking of his candidacy for Bpeaker at the regular session. Doyle (silver Rep.) said that many features of the bill were very objection able to him but he would vote for it any way. Williams of McPherson scored the Populists for their management of the bill, for rushing it through and for some of the features which were In It, but he voted aye. The roll-call gave the bill 70 votes, which is 7 more than a constitutional majority, while the Republicans, with (Continued on page 9.)