The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-07
TALLAHASSEE TOPICS.
Some Of the Bills That Are Now At
tracing Attention.

The Last Weeks of the Session Of the
Legislature to Be the Busiest Ones
The Insurance Companies Still I'm
easy Because of Legislation Aimed
at Them Seeking Property That Es-
capes Taxation-The Social Side of
Florida's Capital-A Word About
Gov. Mitchell-other Matters of In
terest.
Tallahassee. Fla, May 6.-The Florida
legislature has evidently awakened to
the fact that IL has upon its hands prob
lens NOR. serious than those involved in
the strife for political supremacy. How
ever the "spoils" may be divided, no di-
vision of opinion is likely to arise among
the plain people of the state upon such
subjects as taxation and the public debt
But the grindstone has been kept
busy the political axes have nearly
al been sharpened, and with the
consequent elimination from the docket of
matters purely local, am glad to chroni-
Gle a disposition to take the bull by the
horns and make the last weeks of the ses-
sion its busiest and best.
1t need hardly be said that the fight
over the Jacksonville charter bill
has consumed time that might
have been more profitably employed.
The brand new substitute for the
only original Senate bill No. 3, introduced
by James p Taliaferro of Jackson
vile, has for several days been in the
hands of the House committee on city and
county organization, and is, with' the
original bill, to be reported on to-day by
that committee.
This jacksonville charter muddle,
which is a chronic affection to which the
state is gradually becoming accustomed,
is by no means the only controversy of the
kind with which the present legislature
has had to deal The people of Winter
Park. little town in Orange county,
largely owned by northern capitalists
and adorned by one of Mr., Plants pala-
tial hotels, have upon their hands SINH
lar white elephant. The new charter
proposed for the city modified the exist
ing lines in a manner that proved highly
Objectionable to many of the largest tax
PAYERS and some time since an unfayor-
able report upon the bill was secured
from the House committee, to which it
had been referred.
But the uncertainty of politics is pro-
NGIDldl. 1 ne opponents Ol lIlG measure
looked upon their work as completed, and
retired to the sylvan shades of Orange
county with a sense of security. They
retired too soon. Scarcely had they de
parted when the bill was dexterously eX-
tricated from the slough of despond,
into which il had fallen, and railroaded
through the House in a manner that in
dictated a master hand The bill is now
before the Senate committee on city and
. = l.
closely watched by those opposed to its
passage. its chances of life are, on the
whole, much less favorable than they were.
BY far the most important event of the
week was the report of the Joint commit
tee, appointed under Senator Myers reso-
luton. to inquire into the financial condi-
ton Of the state. 1t was made yesterday
by Mr.. Vaughn of Escambia, to whose
untiring zeal much of the committees
success is due.
Yesterday was also the day set apart
by fate for the defeat of Senator McKay's
bill exempting mail steamers from the
payment of compulsory pilotage This
was another bill which had fallen into
difficulties in the committee room, and
which was revived only TO die. No meas
ure has this session attracted more atten-
tion than this, and it may be added that
il also attracted some of the leading rep
I6bEntublktS Oh bllt DllOlS dSSOtldIlOn,
who have proved themselves as skilled in
manipulating the political wires as in
handling the tiller ropes
Senator McKay-himself an cable sea-
man and master of the Plant steamer
Olivette-is one of the most striking fig
ures in the Senate. Few men on that
floor are more popular, none more thor
oughly deserve consideration, and though
he makes no pretensions to elOquence, he
not long ago delivered upon his pet meas
IRE speech that | believe would have
carried the bill through. could il then and
there have been put upon its passage All
through the contest Senator Mckay has
received the support of Senator St Clair
Abrams, powerful debater and a man
whose resources on the floor are not easily
exhausted. Opposed to them were the
impetuous Wolfe of Escambia and Browne
of Key West, elatter of whom Yesterday
dealt the bill its death blow in one of
the most adroit and effective arguments
] have ever heard.
1t is said that the measure is to be rein
PRODUCED. ] doubt it and am only certain
that In any such event the vote against it
will be even more decisive than that of Is
TO recorded yesterday
Here, as elsewhere, however, it is not
the picturesque play of personalities
the ringing rhetoric of local statesmen
NAidb d z VI blit llISb importance IL is IN LnG
patient research, the unrewarded drudg-
cry Of the committee rooms that the real
work of legislation is done and the Joint
committee to which reference has already
been made has rendered a valuable and
interesting report upon the financial con
dition Of the state.
Too long to be given here in full, its
= more salient points may be briefly touched
upon. The inquiry made by the committee
was In two directions-trst. as to what
expenses of state may be protitably cur.
tailed /; second, in what direction may be
sought new sources of revenue.
To those who know anything of the
unhappy conditions under which Florida
has Tor some time labored, it will hardly
be necessary to say that one oil
the chief sources of waste here
Is TO be found in that pro
vision of the new constitution which
throws upon the state the cost of those
criminal prosecutions which might more
probably be betrayed by the severa
counties. The estimates for 1898 and 189.
call for no less than sos 600 a year fol
these criminal prosecutions and the PAY
Of jurors and Witnesses sum equivale len
70 ~ mills upon the assessed valuation
o. the state. The committee, as a matter
OF course, recommends the application o
the pruning knife at this point. and alst
urges the necessity of "A reduction in the
sum allowed for the feeding OF prisoners
and discOntinuanCc of the system undel
which the state paws the witnesses of in