Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-03-01

stituticnal Conyention-yeas IL, nays s.
after debate which consumed the morn
ing session. The appropriation bill was
also discussed.
The Assembly considered the revenue
bill; also the bill granting lands TO the PEN
sacola Railroad.
Both Houses passed number of unim-
portant bills, each holding three sessions
during the day.
TALLAHAssEE. February 27-The joint COM
mittee to examine the offices of the Comptrol
Ter and Treasurer last week wound up their
labors with huge conaagration. The large
f1re-places roared and cracked with bonds,
coupons and warrants. once worth hundreds
! of thousands Of dollars.
Papers which would once have made any
| body a millionaire were in q few moments re-
duced to mass of heecy ashes, The report as
TO the condition and management of the two
offices mentioned was highly commendatory.
bill has been introduced to provide large
and substantial safe for the Comptroller.
The committee to examine the books in the
Lands and immigration Office report that dur
ing the last year there were sold nearly ninety
i've thousand acres swamp land, being nearly
1879. F'' 71'' '1N00'' O'0' '"0 'Ai0' iH'00 :"
During 1880 there were granted E6S permits
TO cut timber upon the public lands lying in
| thirty counties. Fro m this source there was
derived the sum of Sl0,9.4 So, less expenses of
| $6,Uol 63, leaving as the income fro;ti 161 460
acres, the insignificant net amount of 81, ,S93 20.
me committee very properly say: In the
opinion OF your committee, the stumpage sys..
tenn works badly, rendering about worthless
large portion Of the public lands for a net
proht or but little over three cents per acre.
In which view of the case most people will
very heartily coincide.
A bill has passed the Senate to check what
seems to be the wasteful destruction of our
forests, the last section OF which reads as fol-
! lows: Nothing in this act or in the ect to
which this is an amendment, shall be so con-
strued as to authorize the sale of timber grow
| ing upon the public lands Of the State. but to
| restrain the Board of Trustees from selling the
| timber from such lands"
The Senate bill requiring an educational
quallhcation for electors to entitle them to be-
| come registered voters has been indefinitely
postponed
A bill has been passed prohibiting railroads
within this State from charging more than five
cents per mile for the carriage OF travellers.
All OF the railroad charters granted during the
present session contain proviso to the same
effect.
In the Senate there have been introduced
two hundred and forty bills, an average Of
nearly eight for each member of that body.
Two hundred and ninety-fve were brought
forth in the Assembly, an average of four for
each member therefor.
In the way of memorials to Congress some
| reams OF excellent paper were wildly wasted.
Hosts OF these papers, carefully drawn up
and worded with all the accuracy of legal YER
hiage, will be deposited, for the ediflcation of
future antiQuarians, among the archives of the
capitol, carefully done up in brown paper, and
labeled Lost, indefinitely postponed" !"
By resolution of the Senate, suits are to be
brought against the railroads in the State. that
are in arrears 70: taxes, and the sum Of one
thousand dollars has been appropriated for the
pay Of the attorneys to be employed. who are
to receive, In addition, fifteen per cent. of the
amount recovered.
The Attorney General has been instructed bv
the Senate to institute suit against the banking
corporations in the State that have failed to
comply with the act approved March 18th,
1879. This failure has rendered them liable to
| a fine not less than one hundredsnor more
than one thousand dollars for each offenSe
It Is to be hoped that the bill which has
passed the Legislature requiring a distinctive
wrapping and labelling of the preparations OF
morphine will reduce the sad accidents that
so often occur from mlstalzing that drug for
quinine.
Col James Lafayette Cottrell, of Levy coun-
| ty. is the venerable patriarch of the Legisla-
ture. Although he has passed the age of
| three score and ten, and his hair and beard
are white, age has not dimmed his mental fac
| nltieS nor impaired his strong intel 'ect. He
has been for more than forty years engaged in
| public life, and his experience has been exten-
| Sive and varied. He is held in the utmost re-
spect and esteem by his fellow members, and
his opinions are always sought on matters of
| Importance. He is authority upon all par
liamentary laws and usages, and when called
to the chair presides with grace and dignity
Colonel Cottre1 is native of Virginia, and
| was born in that State in 1905 being now in his
seventy-third year. His grandfather was a
| sailor on a continental vessel during tn" Revo-
| utionary war; and his mother was a collateral
branch Of the Wesley family Of England
| In 1915 his father removed to Georgia, and
thence to Autauga county, Alabama. He was
admitted to the bar in that county, and COM
menced the practice. of his profession in
/ LoWndeS county.
In 1884 he entered political life. having been
| elected to the Alabama House of Representa-
| tives, and again in 1885 aud 1897. In 1898 he
| was transferred to the State Senate, where he
| served three sessions. At the session of 1910
he was elected President of the Senate He
| was nominated in 1916 to succeed William I,
| Yancey, and was elected over the half-brother
| OF that distinguished man.
AG the close of his Congressional career he
was put as PRESIDENTIAL eector upon the
| Cass ticket.
Removing to Florida in 1854 he located in
| Lafayette county, and not long after to Cedar
| Keys, where he now resides. His plantation
at Old Town, in Lafayette, was the former
| home of the famous Seminole chief Billy
| Bowegs.
1t was Colonel Cottrell's desire to avoid pub
| lie life IN Florida, but the dark and threatening
| days of 1860 forced him again into the arena
| Although acknowledging the righteousness
and justice of the cause of the South, he feared
and believed that disaster would follow seces-
sion, and to avoid such a step advocated the
policy of nominating Stephen A. Douglas for
the Presidency.
With this purpose in view, he consented to
serve as q delegate to the Democratic State
! Convention that assembled at Quincy in 1860.
| There he expressed the views as given, but
| found few supporters.
When the war commenced Cedar Keys fell
! into the hands of the enemy and Colonel Cot
trell sought refuge in Cuthbert, Georgia
At close heswas returned from two Sena-
/ torial districts, that composed of fernando
and Levy and that comprising Lafayette and
| Taylor.
He served in the sessionsof 1866 and 1867.
and retired to private life upon the reconstruc-
ton policy.
The people of Lafayette and TAYLOR sent
him back to the Senate in 1874 and again in 1877
He now represents Levy in the Assembly
| His life has been protracted honorable and
useful, and trust that its close viii be peace
| full and happy.
Tomorrow, two important bills will come
before the Senate on special order-the bill for
calling Constitutional Convention, and that
! making the Trustees of the Internal Improve
ment Fund bidders for the Florida Railroads,
when they will be sold under the decree of the
| United States Supreme Court These questions
| will give rise to considerable discussion.
| Spring has fairly opened, and the joyous song
of the mOcldrg bird fills the air with melody.
| Judge Campbell has arrived from Pensa-
cola, and the investigation Of the charges
against Judge Randall win probably be COM
menced to morrow. w. III. B.
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