Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-27
Afternoon Session.
Special telegram to the BEE.

OptClul btltREalli W IL Ihhs
LINCOLN, February 26.-At the afternoon
session Boss Stout's bill, II. r. 235, to enable
him to construct two new pe~nitentiaries and
provide for leasing the convict labor, was dis
cussed at length.
Before the debate began a resolution was
passed. restricting the members to five minute
speeches on all subjects during the remainder
ing the bill, and Riley proceeded to speak,
after five minutes, the resolution passed an
hour before, was set aside, and all members
speaking in the present debate were allowed
as long as they wished.
Riley quoted statistics and read letters
from several persons, all showing that the
states mentioned had been bei Gifted by leas.
ing their convict labor to contractors. AS the
bill stood, he objected to it, but would sup
port it If amended as his labor friends had
suggested. He accused Turtle of suppressing
the petition from the labor union of Omaha,
and to the Douglas delegation, and after and
hours speech, finished by urging the men,
bers to support the bill.
Winspear followed with his statistics, and
contradicted all Riley had said of the states.
Riley had quoted that he never made any
contracts. Convicts in New York cost the
state twelve and a half cents a day, while
Stout's ~convicts cost the state fotty-ive. He
opposed the bill and objected to having Ne
braska made n convict settlement.
Harlan followed and in an animated speech
condemned the bill and characterized it as a
gigantic piece of jObdery. He wondered at
any man having the astounding cheek to pre-
sent q bill of this kind to the house.
Holmes supported the bill, saying that
| Stout would build the two reformatories at
his own expense. He urged the leasing of
the c%onvicts, saying that formerly under the
state management each convict cost q dollar
and q half q day, against forty-ive CENTS at
present.
Stevenson faid that if Stout wantedto build
the prisons at his own expense he needed no act
to go and build whenever he felt inclined.
He spoke of the bill as n gigantic tyranica
outrage.
Burlington aud Haley both supported the
bill as did Russell, who advised more mod
Grafton in the discussion in the house. With
out proceeding further the committee rose
asking leave to sit again. In the house
long and disorderly scene occurred.
Nettleton first moved the report of the com
mittee be rejected and the bill indefinitely
postponed. After considerable w~ranglinl
this was c~arried-49 to 45.
A motion to reconsider this was now pro
posed, followed by a motion to table, which
was carried, and the housed ad journed unit
tomorrow.
The following members voted for an in
definite postponement of Stout's convict labo
contract bill: Aiken, Bassett, Blaine, Booth
Callahan, Casper, Cole, Cornelius, Corr
Crawford, Crook, Emerson, Everett, Gill
Holt, Howard, Hut, Jendra, Kehoe, Kilmer
Kropey, Lee of Merrick, Liebold, Marble
Martin, Miller, Mulvahill, Mum, Nettleton
Neumeyer, Paynter, Robertson, Root, SEQ
vile, Stevenson, Sutherland, Thomas Of Col
fax, Turner, Turtle, Whitmore, Williams
Winspear and Wobach.
Those voting for the bill were: Adams
Bailey, Buckley, Blaze, Bradt, Drummer, But
iugton, Burnham, Conger, Cope, Cox, Demp
ster, Glenn, Hazen, Henry. Holdsworth, Ir
win, Johnston, Haley, Lee OF Furnas, Livels
feldt, Luce, McArdle, Neigh, Newcomer
Nichol, Olmstead, Osgood, JEFFERSON. Riley
Robinson, Russell, Smith, Staver, Taggart
Warner, Watt, Wright and the speaker.
The following did not vote: Barney, Eber
man, HocknelL King, Miles, Rice, SterlinI
and White.