Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-07-25
Work at Harrisburg.

lature NAV be gathered from the be-
low, being part of the proceedings that
took place in the House last Friday.
The Senate sent a resolution to the
House to adjourn on the oath, and the
following debate took place on that
resolution. 1t will be seen that the
districting of the State into Judicial,
Congressional and Senatorial districts,
as required by the Constitution, is as
far off as ever. This week, however,
may bring about better results. If the
requirements of the law were only OBJ
served there would be no difficulty in
making districts. All the law speaks
of is population" and districts of
Compact and contiguous territory"
But politics are forced in to the matter
and that in the main governs. Besides,
many of the members are trying to so
shape districts as to suit their own
supposed political future. All things
considered, if there are not apportion-
ment bills passed soon the people will
likely hold the members individually
responsible, as expressed by Mr.. Ster-
rett in his below remarks on the ques-
ton of adjournment
sTERRETT TAKES A HAND.
"Sterrett, of Mexican, followed. He
is one of those country lawyers who
win reputation by painstaking accuracy
in business, dress and habits. He is
recognized as one of the strong men OF
the House. He is the auther of the
House Judicial Apportionment bill,
and though he has, generally speaking,
| voted with his party, the leaders have
been unable to conceal some anxiety
concerning his future course. lie talks
| we'll, without much rhetoric, and in his
plain way hits telling blows.
He discussed the several bills and
the progress that lad been made to-
ward reaching the object for which the
session had been called, and protested
} that the subject of adjournment, before
every effort at passing the bills had
been exhausted, was simply out of the
question. He deprecated the efforts OF
each party to put upon the other the
responsibility of failure to pass bills.
Neither had fully discharged the duties
imposed on the Legislature. The
| Constitution enjoined the passage OF
bills in mandatory language, and he
asked his political associates whether
they thought it proper to pass reso-
luton that said: 'On Tuesday next
we shall abandon our duty and go
home. 1 say not; the Legislature has
not done it's duty
By this time he had attracted the atten-
ton of the whole House. Il don't
know but what this resolution emanat-
| ed from the same source that has pre-
vented judicial apportionment of the
State be continued with increasing
vehemence. Some five or six men as
sumo that there shall not be an appor-
tionment, because they are not satisfied
with the arrangement of the districts.
They talk about the responsibility OF
this party and that There is no more
irresponsible thing in this universe of
| God than political party. We can
make apportionments, if we have intel
ligence and little wisdom. We
should show evidence of good faith and
make candid effort to discharge our
| Constitutional duty. / want to wait
| until am satisfied that this has been
done before 1 vote to adjourn"
UNCLE JAKE ZIEGLER's WARNING.
This speech created a sensation. The
Democrats applauded and the Republi-
cans showed evidence of disappoint'
ment and dissatisfaction. Uncle Jake
Ziegler was recognized He referred
to the other resolution which had been
referred to the Ways and Means Com
mittee, of which he is chairman. He
said that he had determined that while
the time for adjournment had not prop
erly arrived he would not call the COM
mittee to consider it. You may refer
this resolution to that committee, but
until every parliamentary expedIent to
pass lills has been exhausted | will re-
port no resolution of adjournment. 81
say to you Republicans" he continued,
"that we will sit here till doomsday or
until the last resort of parliamentary
law has been tried. My people are in
te!ligent people and ! can't go home to
them till | can assure them that out oi
nv experience and knowledge | could
find no parliamentary process to reach
| the desired end"