Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-02-20
into fhe hall Of the house Then he

They felt, however, that he was deceiv-
ing himself, and so when the news OF
his death came they were not greatly
surprised. TIE funeral was held from
his home in Cedar Rapids, Sunday and
in honor Of the deceased a committee OF
the house consisting of Messrs. Smith.
Davis, Bowen, Lambert Grote and
Nietert was appointed to attend the
funeral.
DR.. McClelland's desk in the house il
covered with the flag for which he
fought, draped in black, with the typi.
cal evergreen and lily at the top, and
his memory will be cherished by all who
met him during his brief membership
of the house so untimely ended by death.
The visit of the pioneer lawmakers
who celebrated their ninth biennial ses.
sion in the city last week was pleasant
interruption to the routine of proceed.
ings. Speeches were made by the old
time members and answered by the
members of the present day, congratu.
lations were exchanged and good wishes
galore. Hon. John A. Kasson, Colonel
Moore, Hon. l.. l.. Ainsworth, Colonel
Scott, Judge Noble and others spoke for
the visitors, and the present members
were represented by Lieutenant Cover
nor PARROT, Senators Blanchard and
Eaton and Representatives Temple and
others in the house.
Age of Consent Measure.
The senate consumed much time last
week discussing the age of consent bill.
The strife was on the adoption Of the
report of the majority or minority of
the committee to which it was referred
The majority report made the crime
committed when the female was of the
age of ID or under, rape, and punishable
with Imprisonment in the repitentiary
for life or any term Of years. If the girl
is between IA and l6 the punishment to
be at the discretion of the court, term
in the penitentiary not to exceed five
years or Jail sentence not to exceed
one year and fine not to exceed 81 ,000
The minority report raised the age when
the crime is rape to 16 and the time for
the graded punishment to IS years.
Senator Rowen supported the minor
ity report in a strong speech. Sem
ator Ellis championed the majority re-
port in an address which was an equally
strong presentation of that side of the
question. The question reached vote
on Friday and the minority report was
at first substituted, then the vote wa
reconsidered and it was again substi-
tuted by tie vote which was broken by
the lieutenant governor voting in the
affirmative. Several amendments were
then offered and withdrawn, and finally
the bill was referred back to the COM
mittee. 1t is believed probable that
when the measure finally passes both
houses it will provide for raising the age
of consent to 10 or is years.
Committees Working on the Code.
The work on code revision is making
fair progress in the committees of the
senate. The assessment question has
been botheriHg them considerably, es.
pecially in regard to placing private
banks under state supervision in order
that a correct understanding Of their
condition can be had, that they may be
properly assessed and taxed. There
have been number of the bankers of
the state before the committees arguing
against state control and they claim
that as they ask nothing of the state in
the way of charter or other favors, the
state has no more right to exercise super
vision over them than 1t has over any
legitimate line Of business. The matter
of building and loan legislation has re.
ceived some attention from the CON-
mittee, not, however, with reference TO
any special bill, but in an informal man
ner and the committee has expressed it
self as favOring legislation to require
the foreign institutions of that char
acter doing business i'll this state to put
up guaranty fund which shall be proof
against fraud. State institutions who
do business in more than one county are
to be required to make stated reports
and be examined by the auditor. Local
county in which they are organized are
amined except on petition of the stock
holders.
The senate committee has been con-
sidering the feasibility of cutting out
the provision granting the right to ex-
empt debts from moneys and credits
when listing the latter for taxation. No
decision has been reached ON this point,
however.
In the house the part of the code re-
vision, which refers to the conduct of
the Office of justice of the peace, has
been considered in committee of the
whole and a good part of it adopted.
The revision as prepared by the commits
sion has been amended in many partic-
ulars, so that the new law is nearly like
the present statute. One change is that
the new law as passed by the, house pro-
vides that a transcript to the district
court can be taken when the amount
in controversy is as low as So The pro-
posed revision provided that in drawing
jury in a justice court the plaintiff
could call six men, the defendant six,
the justice six, and out of these the jury
was to be selected. This provision has
been stricken out.
The committees ON constitutional
amendments in both houses have, by a
majority vote, decided to report the con.
stitutional amendment permitting
women to vote to both houses for pas
sage. In the senate Senators Harper
| and Ranck the Democratic members IF