The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-05-03
The House.

The House.
House net with the speaker and quorum
present. Prayer By the chaplain.
The business pending from yesterday
was resumed, being the substitute Of NJ.
Baird, Of Brown, for house bill No. %,
pro7id!ng for the reception OF the new
capitol.
Tn= bill makes the governor ana the
other STATE officers board. with fUl! power
, act and receive the new state cap .tol,
aft having before them written reports
from the capitol commits toners a. y the
condition Of said building, and whether
any part OF the same Is completed and in
condition 20 be tarned over By the eO1-
tractor . the state etc.
The board may receive the portion of
the building completed. and in case the
board i satisfied that the building l. con
=r1c:ed. 30 far g. com p!e:ed, in strict
conformity TO said con rae. they are
hereby authorized to accept and receive
said new state capitol building in its en-
tirety: provided tina: the contractor gives
immediate possession of said building to
the state of Texas and executes good
and sufficient bond for sum equal to
five times the estimated value of the cost
that will be required to complete SAID
builiiug, payable to the state OF Texas,
conditioned that he will finish and COM
plete said building according to the
terms Of the contract within ninety days
from the date Of the passage of the
bill. The emergency clause is added for
the bill to take immediate effect.
After discussion by Me5srs. Baird,
Browning and Smith, Of Travis, Mr..
Strong moved to postpone the pending
substitute to take up House bill No 43,
the bill Of Mr.. Johnson, making the gov
ernor, com ptroller and state treasurer a
board for the inspection and acceptance
OF the new capitol building. The bill
makes no provision for the use Of any
part of the building till the building has
been constructed according to law and
contract, but provides that the land pat.
ents to the contractor shall not be
signed By the governor till the
building shall be accepted. 1t
simply supplied an omission in the capitol
contract to provide specifically as to how
and by whom the building shall be &C
cepted.
Mr.. Browning argued that the con-
tractor would not and could not reason
ably be expected to allow the use of any
part of the building under the John
son substitute, without some pro-
lection on the part of the state,
IN account Of the damage which
may result from the great crowds,
if the building is thrown open to the pub
lie. So, If We want to use the bui ding, or
any part Of If, we should frame a bill that
will guarantee protection to the con-
tractor, while protecting the state. Other
wise, we can't get the use of it till the
contractors are ready, even for year, if
they refuse. He thought the Baird bill
met the case.
Mr.. johnson withdrew his substitute,
and the Baird substitute was adopted for
consideration; whereupon Mr.. johnson
offered his bill with an amendment. which
he added, authorizing acceptance of the
building, in whole or In part, as may be
constructed according to contract, but
with proviso that the last land Install
ment shall not be issued to the contractor
till the building is fully completed.
Considerable discussion followed, par
ticipated in by Messrs. johnson, Brown
ing, Moore, of Travis, Bell, of Cooke, |
Payne and Groce.
lhs johnson substitute was lost-Ayes,
81; nays, 60.
The question recurring on the engross-
ment of the Baird subst tute, Mr.. Moore
offered an amendment which was adopted, |
giving the board power to examine
parties alleging any defects in the build
ing.
Amendments suggested by Mr.. Booth
and Others were adopted, striking out the
speaker of the house, the lieutenant gov
rnor an1 the attorney general as mem
bers of the bolrd. This was done at the
request of these officers. As to the attor-
ney general, Mr., Johnson explained that
General Hogg did not care to act in q
matter which he might have to pass upon
afterwards as the law officer of the state
Amendment by Mr.. Browning was
adopted that nothing 10 this act shall be
construed to change or affect the manner
already provided in the original contract.
as to issuing the land certificates TO the
Amendment by Mr.. Moore, that the re-
port of the capitol commissioners be
made under oath, was adopted.
On motion of Mr.. Baird the emergencv
clause was properly amended, and, on fur
her motion, the bill was ordered en-
yrossed-ayes, 81; nays, 81.
Mr.. Mills introduced bill reouirino
worn statements from bankers of MONEYS
IN deposit in their banks.
House bill No. l, to reduce taxation.
vas taken up as the regular order, when
nr'Booth offered a substitute for the pend
Ing substitute (Mr. Fuler's), aud changing
ne general revenue tax to 10 cents, and
c caoo tax to Il cents, both for the year
8SS ouly. He spoke in support of biz
ubstitute, which, however, was defeated
Is was also the Fuller substitute. TIL.
brought the house back to the Paaa
as the main question, Which
vas adopted after substitutes offered Nv
Alexander and Garwood had been lost.
The Page amendment provides Co.