Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-06-27
LEGISLATION.
Work of the Last Illinois Gen
eral Assembly.
RESUME OF BUSINESS DONE.


sion as Compared with Those OF Previous
LegisIatures-BiiIsp passed.
The Thirty-eighth general assem-
bly, of Illinois which has just finished
its labors, was in session 164 days.
For the first time in over 30years the
| democratic party found itself in con
| troll OF every branch Of the state gov
eminent. The putting into effect the
policies of the party after so many
years of republican rule naturally
met a fierce and determined opposi-
ton. All the resources of parliament
tary law were exhausted to delay and
defeat the measures of the democrat
ic majority by capable and expert
enced republican leaders. As that
majority in the house was only two.
the margin was so small that . few
recalcitrants and few mishaps aid
ed the large, experienced and formid-
able republican majority in holding
of sine die adjournment several
weeks.
Measured as political session that
W y
creditable one. Besides rcapportion-
ing the state with congressional and
senatorial districts, the session just
closed repealed the Edwards school
law. and reenacted another more
liberal law in its place. 1t was the
fight on these measures and the sub
sequent delays that prevented sine
die adjournment as early a last
spring. The session was not longer
than other sessions dealing with
partisan problems. The session of
1851, in which the republicans with
majority of 10 in the house attempted
to redistrict the state was a longer
one. and an extra session held At
great additional cost to the tax pay
er>, had to he recOnvened TO 10 the
work which the democratic Thirty
eighth general assembly did in
the regular session. The leg
islature of 1888 was in >cs-
sion 167 DAYS; the legislature of
1880, III DAYS. Of 1887. 1872 days; OF
1889. lao days; of 1891. 40 days; of
1898, 1914 days At ali these sessions
except the present one, a United
States senator was elected, and in
the legislature of 1885 and 1891 the
contest was prolonged and fierce, and
involved the two great parties in a
bitter strife and controversy that
greatly DELAYED the session.
The journals show that Isl bills
were introduced in the house and
423 in the senate. total OF l,2O4.
Nearly 800 of these bills were on the
order of second reading in the house
when the legislature adjourned.
Congressional I:capportIonment
The two apportionment bills were
bitterly contested by the republicans,
who exhausted every parliamentary
tactic to delay and defeat Them.
The congressional bill as ado pted. is
based upon the one suggested by
Secretary of State Hinrichsen. diff
fering from it only in a few changes
in central Illinois. The federal con
ztitution providing for the election
OF congressman does not specify q
minimum or maximum population
for a district However. the maxi
mum population in the Illinois dis
tricts is 1871 in the Twenty-lirst
district which is democratic. and
minimum is 1915 in the Twenty
second district, known as the BLACK
belt, which Is republican. The bill
passed givcs the democrats four dis
tricts i'm Cook and Lake counties, and
the republicans two, with one in
doubt. The Eighth, Ninth Tenth.
Twelfth, Thirteenth and Twenty
second. are republican, The Elev-
enth. Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Six
teenth. Seventeenth, Eighteenth.
Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty
first are democratic. Cook countv's
demand for seven districts, which
was based on the federal census of
1890. was conceded in part. although
rather reluctantly. Lake county be-
ing added and seven districts given
to both.
Senatorial Apportionmeut
Although great care was exercised
by the democratic party leaders in
drafting the two apportionment bills
it was discovered after the passage Of
the first superintendent bill that an
error had been made in emitting the
town of Riverside, in Cook comfy.
The bill had already been passed and
signed Dv the governor when the er-
ror was discovered on June l. The
house bad already adopted the joint
resolution for sine die ad joUrnmeut
ON June rs, and it became necessary
to adopt extraordinary measures TO
pass new bill. June Senator Al
len introduced the bill which is now
a law. and on June 8 it had passed
both houses and was ready for the
governors signature.
The constitution of the state pro-
vides for the division of the state in
to 81 senatorial districts every 10
wears. The ratio for each senatorial
district this decade numbers 10, 900.