Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-01-06
Meeting Of the Legislature.

of the House would be: Speaker, c. c.
Thompson; chief clerk, Charles voorhees,;
reading clerk, j. B. Rex; journal clerk, un-
known: resident clerk, J. D. Patterson,
and of the Senate: President pro tenn, Gen.
7. P. S. Goblin; chief clerk, E. W. Smiley;
reading clerk, J. NJ. Carson; journal clerk,
in Doubt.
At the caucus of the Republican mem
bers of the House that evening Mr.. Wal
ton Withdrew, and Mr.. Thompson was nomi-
mated for Speaker by acclamation, and Mr..
vorhees go: the Chief Clerkship in some
manner.
The caucus of State Senators continued
Gen. Goblin az President pro. tenn, Z. W.
Smiley Of Franklin as Chief Clerk; Jas. L.
Brown of Philadelphia ss Journal CLERK;
Jas. II. Carson of Butler az reading Clerk;
and approved of the other appointments
made by its State Committee.
The chief topic Of conversation that
evening was the Andrews-Higby contest
Mr. Andrews was in town With Gen. Reed
er, chairman of the state committee. He
has with him certificate for the seat from
the Court of Crawford county and dupli-
cate Of said certificate has been hurried
here and filed with Mr.. Hsrrity in the Of
fee of the secre tary Of the commonwealth.
Mr. Highly is here also, having with him
a certificate from the election board, as
signing to him the seat which Mr.. Andrews
also claims.
Chairman Reeder made this statement
of the ca.e: Mr.. Andrews will present as
| his credentials to the resident clerk of the
house a certificate from the Court Of Craw-
ford county. A duplicate of this certlf-
cate, Gen. Reeder says, has been filed with
the secretary Of state. There can be no
appeal from the county court except to
the house, according to the decision of the
supreme court in the 0'Neil contested
| election case. The court in that case
waived juri sdiction on the ground the
house was the final resort, and the supreme
court being a court of fual resort could
not act in any case where there was
higher tribunal of the state.
Senator Jesse NJ. Baker, of the ballot
tame, when asked what would be done
with the voting system during the coming
session he said. 1.-THE law will not be re
pealed 1t has given general satisfaction.
and when few slight changes are made
the last reason able objection will be met.
One amendment which have will reduce
| the size of the ballot one-half 1t will pro
vide for omitting the residence of each
candidate after his nam9. The residence
can be certified to the Secretary of the
Commonwealth for purposes of identifica-
| ton. but they are unnecessary on the
ticket. am not in favor Of abolishing the
| group feature 1t requires little more
care on the part of the voter, but that is a
good requirement to have. Nearly all OF
The outcry against the new system hss
disappeared, aud / look for it to become
recognized as an excellent and permanent
| institution.
On Tuesday, the Legislature met
The Senate was soon organized and IL
| working order, and during the day nun
| Der of bills were presented, among them
one by Senator Henninger, provided thai
| the license fees for wholesalers, bottlers
aud brewers shall go to the city, borough
or township wherein the license is granted,
| and one by Senator Penrose, amending the
mercantile tax law so as to exempt from
| taxation all merchants whose sales are
under So 600 annually, the present limit
| being ST. 900.
TIE House organized by electiDg the
officers named above, the vote on Speaker
oeing: Thompson 135, Ritter SO. The roll
call was then begun, and when CLERK
Voorhees, reached Crawford county he an
nounced that he bad received certificate
from the Court Of that county which would
be read. This was objected to, an angry
discussion followed, the certificate was
read, Andrews name was placed on the
list, and at the end of the roll Call both he
and Highly were sworn into office.
Secretary Harrity then appeared and
with an emphasis that, in view OF the
action of the House, seemed to impress the
majority with a sense of deep guilt, an
uo1pced that he had the honor to present
"A certificate from the Court of Crawford
county, which had been filed in his Office,
as required by law and which is now tiled
with the Speaker, az required by law,
The Republicans bore Mr.. HarTity's implied
rebuke with calm resignation, aud an ad-
journment was had until o'clock.
When both branches met after dinner.
Private Secretary Fl. d. Tate presented
the Governors message, which was read.
There was little pretense of listening to IL,
and it oceasioned absolutely no comment
except as to lis length, one member quot
| ing Benjamin T. Buffers remark about
John A. Bingham's speech at theimpeach-
ment of President johnson, that "In order
| To make II immortal he had made 1t eter-
nal"
| As soon a. it was ended in the House,
| Mr. Whsrry started the row over the An
| drews matter by offering a resolution set
| ting forth that Wilbur P. Highly had been
given a certificate of election To the House
which had been forwarded to the Clerk,
but not read; that, in consequence thereof
| his name was not on the rolls, and thai
| the clerk be directed to place his name
| thereon and furnish him with seat.
Ex-Speaker Boyer raised point oforder
| against the presentation of the resolution.
| but by general agreement debate was per
| mitted. Mr.. Boyer argued that, upon
presentation of the courts certificate, the
| House must do as il had done and that
| Highly must now contest:
John Cessna made strong speech in
| favor of the resolution, asserting that the
| Clerk had no certificate from the court,
which he had a legal right To receive. Hig-
/ by had been a member Of the House since
| December l. His title was as good as
| Cessna's own, and when the Clerk accepted
| from any quarter any certificate except
| that sent tn the Secretary Of the Common
| wealth he had vislated the law. This was
| a question of right and justice, and he sp-
pealed the magnanimity of the majori-
| " not to violate the Constitution aud the
| law for mere trivial triumph.
Mr.. Cotton, of Allegheny, seconded Mr.
Cessnas plea. while Messrs Boyer, Walton
| and Lyle opposed them and Wherry, Skin
ner and Fow presented the Democratic ar
guments Finally the resolution was sent
10 n special Committee by a vote of
| III TO 20, Cessna, Cotton, ex-Speaker Hew-
| lit, of Blair; Ritter. of Philadelphia; JET
| frey, of Luzerne; Kennedy, of Schuylkill
and Moore, of Chester, Republicans voting
with the Democrats.
Mr.. Cessna was vigorous in his denuncia-
tion of the action of the House, while ex-
| Speaker Hewitt characterizes it as "mon-
| otrous." Several other leading Republi-
cans think that a mistake was made They
| do not object TO the seating Of Andrews
but hold that Highly should hare been seat
| ed and then on the receipt of the certiiis
| cate from the court by the Speaker, as the
act of 1874 provides, he should have beer
| at once unseated and Mr.. Andrews sworn
| in. Should Highly contest as he likely
| will, great many Republic ms will be
placed in somewhat awkward position, a
there Is scarcely county in the State in
4 b.. Il