The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-01-23
IN SENATE.


Lieutenant Goverror II ANSOS: The hour
for the special order having arrived, the
Senate will proceed to the consideration OF
bill s. 26l to provide for tue calling OF
constitutional Convention.
Mr.. FOULKE: / move that the Senate
substitute the minority for the majority re-
port ard concur In the report o. the minor
ity OF the Committee on the Judiciary. lt
wac adopted as a rule Dy the Judiciary Con.
irfse fc- the fscisitetjon o. its business
Oh 4 bs ore the details Of bill should be
considered the committee would pass upon
The question as 70 whether Ii wouid
favor the general principle or idea
nsnrsced in the measure III 1t decided
adversely the recommendation TO the Sen
ate should be that the bill lie on the table or
be indefinitely postponed without further
discussion of the bill. That was the course
which wss taken in regard to this bill. The
advissbility ss to the general provisions or
separate details of the bill were not dis
erssso; and, as far as the question OF details
j. concerned, / think there would be little
oiftculty about them, and I venture to say
they could be arranged satisfactorily to sll.
provided the principle OF the bill was sats
factory. | have DO special desire that the
bill shall be passed as 1t stands. provided the
principle be accepted. The present Consti-
tuition was adopted under the provisions of
q law OF lo41, which required that the cues
vention should be called or not must
first be submitted TO vote of the peo-
pie. That was DONE the people so
decided. and the convention was called. This
bill provides for calling the convention at
once. IL is substantially the same as the
ore introduced on this floor four years ago
by the then Senator from Jackson Jason b.
brown and the same IN terms as the one
brought into the Senate in pursuance of the
recommendation OF the present Governor of
-
way l insist that this General Assembly
snail call Constitutional Convention are in
many instances the same as his. Ia Gov
ernor Gfays message TO the General
Assembly he says: 1T is nearly thirty
years since the present Constitu ton of the
State was adopted, etc.. See Brewer Re.
ports, vol xix. page 10 This DILL provides
that the convention shall consist of 100
members. That was a provision In the bill
rs originally introduced oy the Senator
but IL amended that the number
should be but ffty-one member from each
of the Senatorial Districts OF the State. IL
this Assembly should desire that amend
ment 10 this bill, As far as the details are
concerned there will be no question:
But, sir, the time has come for q
rev Constitution, and il is upon
that principle that these committee
reports are presented to the Senate. And I
would like TO cell the attention of the Sem
preston of constitutional law. at least to
gentlemen on the other side of the House.
that we have In American hstory-to the
words of Thomas Jefferso1, in a letter to
Samuel Kerchival, dated July II, 1916 in
relation To Constitution for the State of
Virginia. Mr.. Jefferson says Reads. Now,
sir, the State of Indiana bas far outgrovn
the present Constitution, hich was estsb-
lished more than thirty years ago. During
that time the prosperity OF The State has
hoe fofh zinc oil ro0 nm fr lad p
Senator from Jackson remarked, in present
II his Constitutional Convention bill four
years ago. Reads, commencing at the top
o. age l26, VOL. XIX, Brewer Reports. i
Senator Brown at the time he presented this
bill. III which he says: The present Constitu-
ton was adopted at time when" etc See
BREWER reports, vol. xix. p 125
The provision in our Constitution in re-
gard to legislative machinery is one which
should be radically amended. We have
everv two years meeting Of the General
Assembly, and so great is the dissatisfaction
of the people that the converting of the Gen.
eral Assembly is looked upon with regret,
and its adjournment is treated as q matter of
congratulatiop. So great is the dread that
uBwholesome laws may be created at the
biennial sessions of our Legislature that the
people are glad when they see Us go home.
Ii Was that general fear that the Legislature
would unsettle the laws which led to the iu-
PRODUCTION in the present Constition of the
provision that We should meet only once in
TWO years. and shall only remain in session
but sixty days. The trainers of the Consti-
tuition were afraid to let ne sit as long as we
wished or thought il necessary, but re luired
We should go home at the cad of
sixty days whether we passed the leg.
lslation necessary or not IL
was thought the danger OF enacting
bad laws was so much greater it vas decided
We must meet but once in two years, and
then only sit sixty days. The posi- bilities
of evils by the General Assembly ought to
be granted without unnecessarily crippling
their possibilities for good. IF a court of
.ustice could not be relied upon fof equit-
able decisions. would We say it would be
proper remedy TO limit its slttings to once
every two years and provide ii shall only sit
for sixty days? Could not as much evil be
dne in sixty days. as in two years.
regulations as will enable Us to properly con.
slder the bills presented to Us, rather than
that We should djourn and go heme with
DOT properly considering the measures pre-
stBted. 1t is utterly impossible 30 secure
useful and hesl thful legislation in the time
rrescribed The judiciary Committeehas been
in session four or more evenings until mid
night, and its members know il is not posi-.
BE to foresee expenses likely to arise, or TO
provide against necessary evils of proposed
hws, Is well as to protect the evils which
demand relief from legislation. There are
bills before the Senate now, of which we do
not know whether they would be productive
of more harm than good. We vote for bills
pushed hurriedly through sometimes tenfold
worse Than the evil We hoped
TO remedy. This is q sad commentary upon
our mode of legislation. but how can it DE
other wise when hundreds of bills are ntro-
drced some of them over 100 pages long.
III " under the sun can we compare in the
si1sy days limit each one of these bills With
preceding legislation. and compare each
cl use therein with existing statutes. Un-
der the circumstances how can we pass bills
WI en- shall give satisfaction 10 tbs people at
lace? a good part of this session Will be
d-sotso to the repeal OF Laws which previous
Legislatures have passed. There ought to be
m q II. 10