Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-24
WITHOUT PlPER'S SIGNATURE
Certificates Of Election to tho Contingent
Candidates for Supreme Bench,
NEW TURN TAKEN BY AMENDMENT MIDDLE
Secretary of state TInuy Refuses TO
OmcInIIy Attest the Governors
Signature to The Document
when Presented.

LINCOLN. Dec. 23-(Spcchl)-The state
Canvasslng board has as yet made no official
report and yet some rather sensational de-
velopmcuts wore made today in connection
with this matter. The point involved Is the
legal status Of :hc two fusion candidates
for supreme Judge, Messrs. Kirkpatrick and
Neville This afternoon Private Secretary
Maret carried the certificates Of election Of
all the state officers, including the two
judges. signed by the governor, into the
Office Of Secretary Of state Piper and re-
qucstcd his signature in attestaton MIR.
Piper signed all but those OF the judges
and asked time for consultation with the
attorney general upon the matter. Mcssrs.
Pipcr and Churchill were together nearly
all the afternoon. The governor takes the
position that the signature OF the secretary
OF state is merely an attestaton Of his own,
and is not really necessary should the sec
retary, for some reason decline to sign them.
Attorney General Churchill is of the opin
ion that the legislature can have no voice
I'm the matter Of the judges, but that the
whole decision rests with the state Canvass
ing board.
Late this afternoon, when Private Secre-
tary Maret applied to the secretary of state
a second time for his signature to the GER
tihCatos Secretary piper refused absolutely
to attest the signature OF the governor, and
said he had taken the best legal advice on
the matter Mr. Maret told him that his
signature made little difference anyway,
that it was merely a clerical duty of his
to COuntersign the certificates, that they
would be issued to Kirkpatrick ana Neville,
and that in few days there would be
secretary of state in office who would sign
them so soon as the legislature had de-
old hot l4r mot n
toned therein had been elected or not.
Private Secretary Naret then took all the
certificates back with him and they will be
Immediately sent out to the different state
officers and candidates for supreme judges.
Mr. Kirkpatrick was at the capitol this
afternoon and has already received his GER
tifCatc.
The Board Of Educational Lands ond
Funds held meeting this morning in the
governors Office There were present Gov
ernOr IiClcomb Treasurer BartlCy, Land
Commissioner Russell. Secretary of State
Piper ana the attorney general The quCs-
tion Of the Ot0a county claim OF $50 inter-
est on delayed payments FOR county bonds
was taken up and disposed Of Il wcs fuInd
that should the contention of tho county
commissioners prove true, that the state
was In fault for the delay. there would be
due the county Cnly S225. But the board de-
cded to refuse to pay anything whatever, on
the ground that the whole delay waE caused
Otoe county must suffer whatever loss had
accrued through it's own negligence.
The sgmi-annual school GppOrti0nm2nt Will
be Issued tomorrow by State Superintendent
of Public instruction II. X. Coy5ott. 1t is
for the term ending December, 1896 In to-
tails 1t shows the number Of scholars in the
state to be $4,000 The total AMOUNT agprO-
priatCd Is $231 ,95S.30 and the rate per
scholar .670Ol2. Douglas county returns
36OlS pupils, ana its Gpporticamcnt is $2i-
132.A9.
The state Board of Transportation today
confirmed the findings of the secretaries in
the Rolf Harmsen case. from Sarpy county.
Harmsen wanted the Missouri Pacific rail-
way to build an overhead bridge above n
private roadway, and the beard decided not
TO ask the company to comply with the re-
quest.
Governor Hocomb has been requested to
name twenty delegates TO the annual meet
ing of the Nebraska Beet Sugar association
at Hastings February arl g. 1897.
In his biennial report Commissioner Of
Public Lands and Buildings Russell deyotcs
some space TO n dlsquisition on the manage
mCnt of the penitentiary with especial ref
erence to its efficacy as a reiOrmatory. pro-
ceedlng on the theory that the main object
of Incarceration is reform, punishment being
minor consideration, the commissioner
recommends that the prisoners be employed
at some work for which the state will re-
ceive full pay and not contractor. He
would have the men work half day and
attend school half a day. Wardens and
Keepers should be educated, Christian gen.
tlemen, firm, patient and kind" Stripes are
Rbhorrcnt and barbarous and have been
abandoned to n great extent during the last
eighteen months The report concludes:
''The n6w cell house should be finished so
that prisoners can be graded and classified.
The number of criminal insane have so in
creased in this state that something saould
be done for their care and keeping. The
ventilation is bad in the cell house anI very
Injurious to the health of prisoners. This
should be corrected. new chapel is very
much needed. | beg to call your attention
to the fact that there has been no legislation
for the government of the penitentIary since
1871 owing to the fact | presume tha' the
penitentiary has been virtually under the
control Of the contractor. The entire law
for the government Of the state penitentilry
should be revised"
Cake walk at Falls city.
FALLS CITY Neb., Dec, 23,-(Special)-
The Womans Relief corps gave a cake walk