The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-14
FLORIDA'S LEGISLATURE.
Some Comments on the Railroad
Commission Bill.


ton Present-The Relative Merits
of Working Legislators ana Talking
Legislators.
Tallahassee, May 13.-The long agony
is over, the tempest in a teapot has at
last blown itself out and, so far as the
Senate is concerned the railroad commits
sion bill may now curl itself up for
another two years sleep. No more shall
the persuasive tones Of the picturesque
St Clair-Abrams thrill through the hall,
calling upon his fellow senators to slay
the remorseless corporate dragon. No
more shall we lend ear to the deep delib-
erative voice Of Williamson, rambling
leisurely through the arid wastes Of cor
porate oppression, and rehabilitating
arguments that had lost the bloom of
youth ere he was born.
These gentlemen-and those who acted,
or perhaps I should say talked, with them,
must now seek new worlds to conquer, or
in which to be conquered. From present
indications the latter is the more prOba-
bic contingency.
Those who like excitement will regret
the termination of the commission con
test. Those who like moderation in men.
as in measures, viii regret the bitterness
with which certain actors in this little
senatorial comedy permitted the con-
sciOusncSs ofdefeat to betray itself. These
gentlemen ascribe the disaster that has
hefallen their pet measure 10 every cause
but the true one. The bill was not killed
lit died-died of general debility, super
induced by an uncOng6nial environment
and its own extraordinary elective clause.
But the fight was one sufficiently
picturesque while it lasted-and it was
certainly with Us long enough; and it was
never more so than AT It's last moment
when stung by defeat, one Of the bills
stanchest supporters waved his hand
high in the manner OF hero of romance
and declared that the issue should be
taken directly before the people and in
1ccted fOrcibly into the next campaign. 1t
IS, however possible that this gentle en-
tlusiast will be in the next campaign
only in the sense in which he was in this
that OF an aSplrant struggling for his
own salvation, and scanning the political
horizonfor votes rather than for abstract
theories.
The intelligence of Florida wants no
repetition of a costly experiment that
has in your state banluupted the corpora
tiOns and with US taxed the people. If
the ignorance of Florida still labors under
the decisions that form the stock in trade
telligence to dispel rather than foster
any such erTor-a fact which may safely
be commended to certain statesmen in
this Senate, who have openly aVoWed
their intention of watching" those who
saw fit 10 differ with them upon the issue
in question. But watching is game at
which two can play. and il is among the
more obvious phenomena Of life that those
on top should, in their point of view find
a certain consolation denied the under
dog.
The calendar of the House is, however.
still onamented with another suspicious
supertiuity, which is said to be practically
identical with the Senate commission
bill. 1t was introduced early in the ses-
sion and will, without doubt, die late, but
easily and without the contentious that
drew to the Senate chamber a curious
throng. This bill has been ordered
printed and will thus fulfill its proud
function Of making work for the printer
and debt for the state
With the session already more than
half gone, and a terrible accumulation
OF undigested material yet to be
shoVeled away into oblivion, the pr0s-
poets of any valuable result from
the operations of this legislature-well,
they are less hattering than they might
be. Few states, however. stand more in
need OF relief n certain directions than
Florida, and some of the best bits of
work yet placed in the legislative cOllec-
ton have been the bills carrying out the
suggestions made by the Joint committee
to inquire into the financial condition of
the state. Promptly introduced into the
House by that tireless worker and scanty
speaker, Vaughn of Escam bia, these bills
have been rapidly pushed and have nearly
all passed their third reading
Talking of work reminds me of a re-
mark let fall yesterday in the lobby by a
young lady who had just left the House,
struggling politely to sup press a yawn
supeHnduced by the escaping elOquence
within.
THAT is all very well, " said she to the
member who accompanied her THAT is
where you do your talk, but where do
you do your work? No-wherel"
The young lady was fair. but this was
not. 1t was, however, perfectly natural,
and if perfection and natmalness ever
appear to better advantage than upon a
background of golden locks and artlcss
young eyes, the fact has not yet been so
well established as it might be Like his
heart, the young members reply was lost.
If it resembled, lin the committee rooms
mostly" II was as correct as the set OF
his white tie.
But how many Of those who come to OBJ
serVeth artleSS gam bols of the legislative
lion in his native wilds ever see
the inside of a committee room?
Not maryland mot muchv is
the phrase that may most safely be ap-
piled to what they would see should they
dive thus deep into the troubled waters OF
legislation A small room in a boarding
house, with almost as many beds as chairs
a cool sequestered grot deep down in the
basement of the capitol, or perhaps
dingy, deserted office, or the
corner of a vine-clad veranda-it is annie
some such surroundings as these that The
curious observer here may at almost any
hour of the day or night come casually
upon little knot of men, negotiating OF
medltating, as the case might be- smokine
the pipe Of peace, or exhausting the vo
cabulary of disputation. some with thei1
feet on accessible mountain tops Of fur
nlture, others with their heads down ove1
documents whose mere appearance is ap
palling. Such is the outward appearance,
OF committee, and regret to say tina
Their labOrs are, in nine cases out of ten
much greater than their reward Blu
they are Indispensable and suppose Their
tate Is equally so. This is a cruel worlC
anyhow
Before such gatherings come all sorts
ana conditions Of men-thOse with claims
ana those without them, people with eyi
uence and people with only an orienta
imagination and a fatal fiuency. Once in
Whlle you may catch upon the wing il
Of these liTfla commit zoo ,...r-.,-