The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-01-25
OHIO LEGISLATURE
WEDNESDAY. Jan Is

L
amend section 55 of an act for the assessment
and taxation of all property in the State, and
for levying taxes according to It's true value
in money. passed April l3 1852. Referred
to committee on Finance.
Mr. Garfield introduced a bill to amend
section 46 eff the School Law of March l4th.
1853. 1t simply provides for the compensa
tion of School Examiners. giving them So SO
per diem, instead of 81 so as now, for ser
vices.
Mr. Parrish introduced a bill to preserve
the rights of women on assuming the marital
relation and to define certain martial rights
and obligations. -s-'
Mr.. Harrison. from the Judiciary commit
tee, reported back the petition of the town
council of Germantown, praying for legisla
tien to require lot owners to keep side walks
in repair, &c, with a recommendation that
the prayer be refused.
PUBLICATION OF THE LAWS IN NEWSPAPERS.
Mr.. Harrison reported back Mr.. Readyis
bill to repeal the law authorizing the pabli
cation of general laws in the newspapers, with.
out Recommendation.
Mr.. Mccall sustained the bill /; and Mr..
Jones. while be sustained the principle of the
bill, rather objected to the policy of a radical
change at short notice. He advocated the
interests of the country newspapers in this
connection. saying that it would be fair and
honest that the contemplated change SHOULD
not be made SO suddenly, because it would
affect the country press so disastrously.
! A motion was submitted by Mr.. Jones to
strike out section of Mr. Ready's bill, re
pealing the clause of the Law authorizing the
publication of General Laws in the newspa.
pers. was accidentally omitted in this morn
ing's report-Hhich amendment would make
the bill take effect Nay LIST, 1860.
Mr.. Key offered the amendment and advo
Gated the BILL holding that the law authoriz
ing the publication of the laws in the newspa
pers is a tG,O for the encouragement Of ne,cs
papers He did not believe that the newspa.
pers required such patronage.
| Mr.. Moore concGrred with Mr.. Keys, and
held that not one person in twenty reads the
laws. a
Mr. Garfield called the attention of the Sem
ate to the fact that the bill will not do what
it proposes to do. and upon examination, the
bill was referred to Mr.. Key, who made the
necessary amendment repeating the acts an
tkorizing the publication of the laws in the
newspapers. Amendment agreed to.
Mr.. Harrison opposed the amendment of
Mr. Jones, of Delaware. 'ts.
Under the law referred to, the County Au
ditor was authorized to use his discretion in
selecting snch laws as he thought necessary
for publication in his county. al
While it is wastefully extravagant to pub
lish all laws that are passed, it is eminently
proper that wise selection Of laws for publi
cation should be made.
Mr.. Monroe thought restoration of the old
law would answer the purpose desired BY
Senators, and moved the reference of the bill
to select committee of three, with view to
the examination of the old law, in order to
determine if its restoration would not be safi
cient legisla ton. ei ssltj -.#Fs 5a
Mr. Ready objected, and pressed the bill,
say ing that if it had any merit now was the
accepted time" for its passage.
Mr. Collins concurred to some extent with
the views Of Mr. Harrison.
Mr. Monroe said that if the selection of
laws for publication should be left to the dis.
erection of the County Auditors, they would
have an ever present motive in making care
full selections, in order to make good record
of economy fc1 their constituents, ana there
fore he thought the rest Grafton of the old Law
would be wise. .. s.7...--.t
Mr.. Jones rather dissented from the views
Of Mr Harrison and Mr. Monroe respecting
the wisdom of selections by County Auditors,
He was sure that if publication should be left
to the county officers they would generally
take all or nearly all. 1t scanned to him re-
fnement to say that we should publish part
and not the whole. He thought it would be
right to suspend the publication of the laws in
the papers, but he thought it would be unfair
to stop it at such short notice. because the pa
pers had been expecting it, and had made their
preparation for it. He did not think, on the
whole, that the casual reading of the laws in
the newspapers would convey much informa-
tion to the people. I,
Mr.. Garfield said the Senator from Della
ware was in favor of letting the gun go off
easy. he didn't want publication to stop
instantly, lest it may hurt somebody. He,
(Mr g } thought that if the thing was to be
done, it should be done deliberately and with
certainty. He could not favor the passage of
the bill until it was we'll considered, because
he didn't believe in egislating for an object
until the premises were we'll surveyed. He
wanted the bill to be referred so that the cub
ject might he investigated, so that if the resto.
ration of the old law should seem to be best,
such action might be had intelligently. Mr.
G.. referred to the mode of the distribution Of
laws under the current system objeeting that
the laws are now only ia the hands of the ex-
ecutive officers and not before the people. .aot
Mr. Ready replied in support of his bill. I'd
Mr. Harrison opposed the reference because
delay of the present bill would be apt to cause
the publication of all the laws of the session.
! Mr. Cox held that the Legislature ought to
take the responsibility of retrepchiug 10 this
respect Immediately. The passage of the bill
will save $4,000 at once. The simple ques
tion to decide is whether tine publication Of
the laws is worth $4,000 to the people of
the State. s.-. ...,. s.,, ,s.... q.