The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-21
FLoRIDA'S LAW MAKERS.
WHAT Is BEING DONE FOR THE
PEOPLE AT TALLAHASSEE.

kilied-Ihe Bits That Are just
Now Attracting AttentiOn-An
Interesting Review of the work of
the Peoples Representatives.
Tallahassee, Fla, April 20.-Nothing sue
ceeds like success, and the Hon. John +.
Hartridge, the Jacksonville lawyer and
successful aspirant for senatorial honors
from "the Eighteenth is consequently
just now the hero Of the hour. 1t is not
every man who knows how 10 bear success
so that it shall become him, but il would
be difficult to find in the man Who has
just come out on top OF the delightfully."-
disorderly Duval heap any undue signs Of
eXultation. John Hartridge is a man OF
the world-he has sufficient ssvoir-faire
and if he has erred at all IN this long and
heated contest, it was before the victory
was won, and ere the Senate had rendered
its decision on the resolution that de-
clared him duly elected.
If the truth must be told, the speech
with which he closed the interminabe de-
bate Thursday on the aforesaid resolution.
was much less temperate in tonc-much
less in accordance with that eternal fit-
ness Of things we call good taste-than the
manly and dignihed protest with which
Duncan L. Fletcher. his contestant, APP
preached the subject. Mr.. Hartridge at
times became somewhat acrimonious; Mr..
Fletcher was never So and it was observed
that, while the latter asked only for jus
tice, the former appealed to the Senate for
support. But we are all human and some
thing must be set down TO the excitement
of what was beyond doubt the only spec
tacular performance thus far Of the legis-
lative season.
The most striking figure in the Senate
chamber Thursday was not that of either
of the parties to the contest. 1t was that
of the Hon. Charles II. Dougherty, ex-
Georgian, ex-congressman. and now SEN
ator from Volusia. Tall. almost, but not
quite portly. with full, pallid face. and
massive head upon which badness has
made but the slightest encroachment, it
was Mr.. Dougherty who, when Mayor
Fletcher began to speak at the clerks
broad table. came forward and seated
himself in the gangway, while with pen
Gil he thoughtfully tapped what Mr. VIII
nam Nye would call his thinker" In
-spired by this exercise Senator Dougherty
whose manner is all suavity and who is
always as grave as Roman In his toga--
questions:
Did you, sir, at any time know that this
matter had been before the committee
To which Mr.. Fletcher, standing behind
the long row of law books spread along the
table, made reply:
Vhat the question had gone before the
came up
HAS the gentleman ever intimated his
desire 70 submit any further testimony"
Whereupon Senator Dougherty once
more relapsed into the dignitied silence
for which he has talent. 1t is not at all
difficult to see what object Mr.. Dougherty
mad IN view in putting these two questions
10 contestant whose appearance before
the committee on privileges and cleo
lions had been delayed until after its
report was made. Equally easy is II for
those on the spot 10 see in him the leader
OF the Senate; No man In either house
speaks so forcibly as Dougherty-no other
gives so complete an impression of entire
sincerity and candor. His mind is sim
gularly direet-his delivery singularly eff
tecuVe, and many are the Illusions that
have, been forever shattered by the solid
chunks of wisdom he scatters broadcast
Dougherty is 9 power in Tallahassee.
All through This senatorial cOntest-all
through the Broward business-weeks of
washington, the lone and solitary popu-
list OF the Senate has sat silent in his seat
cold smile playing around his Thin lips
Ihat smile seemed to say: Hold to it,
When rOgues fall out. honest men may
come by their own? The other day, dur
ing the debate on Brownies valued policy
bill?'' one of those in opposition declared
that its passage meant higher premiums
for the people, etc. This was enough for
Weeks, who in that wiry strident voice
of his, which can be heard a mile rasped
out with sublime scorn that the gentleman
need give himself no uneasiness, and that
a state that could stand frost billiards
and the Democratic party, could stand the
insurance agents.
Everybody here looks forward with hone
TO the close of the Duval county convul-
sion. 1t will in all human probability be
at an end next Tuesday, when the Senate
goes into executive session again. Friends
of the administration feel-Or affect TO
feel-that Fletcher's defeat will clip some
thing from Mr.. Broward's chances.
Strange to say they tell nobody why this
should be so. Fletcher's fate was fore
gone conclusion. Nobody expected him to
be seated: and there is no reason on
earth why the inevitable outcome OF the
one case should in anywise affect the re-
suit in another, and by no means a paral-
lei case. Broward has been here through
out the entire session; he has made friends
political and personal, on every hand; and
viii give the Mitchell men the hardest
of nuts to crack. Most genial and unaf-
fected of men, IL success has never spoiled
him. failure will certainly never sour himi
Senate bill No. 199-the committees sub
stitute for the mess of new election laws
handed in-has just been printed; and the
the printer The former is substantially
the law of 1889, with the eight box features
eliminated, ana few new
touches added. 1t provides for
declares that the inspectors shall not all
he drawn from one party. 1t has been
made a SDGcldl OTutl LOT W tuneSQdN UlOEl~
ing and while the debate will no doubt
prove highly interesting to experts, there
is very little chance that the bill will be-
come a law. The House bill, which is
said to be based in part upon the Aus
tralian system. will hardly fare better at
the hands of those who see in the eight
box feature the sheet anchor of party and
the hope of perpetual political pap. Be
tween the two houses deadlock and a
conference committee on this subject is
more than probable; and If delays are
fatal. compromises are certainly unsat-
isfying.
The Jockey club bill will probably soon
be In evidence again in the House. A sim
alar bill has run the gauntlet of the third
reading in the Senate, and its final pas
sage as amended, seems certain. The de-
feat of this bill in the lower house has
been made the occasion of some criticism
Of a character entirely gratuitous. Mr..
Healy. of Volusia, has in particular been
singled out for these attacks and all
sorts of motives have been imputed TO
a gentleman who has clearly been actu-
ated only by a sense of his duty
to the public. In its original
form this bill was so drawn as to permit
the club to carry on its operations for
fhrty years under existing laws" and
II could establish agencies in any sec.
ton of the state. In other words nc
change in public sentiment. duly expressed
Hot Was ~ ha