The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-11
SLUR CAST ON THE SPEAKER
MIR. JENKINS MAKES A REMARK
ABLE SPEECH IN THE HOUSE.


AHirms That the Legislature Can Not
he Trusted TO Elect Judges and
Solicitors GeneraI-CaIIed Down,
He Says He Refers TO Future Leg
isIatures-HOuse Passes the Bill
Submitting the Question to a Vote
of the People.
Atlanta Ca, Dec. 10.-The people of
Georgia were voted chance to-day in the
House, to say whether or not they shall
elect the judges and solicitors. The Hop
kins bill, which provides for this, was
passed by TINS vote; ayes 143, nays IS. The
amendment of the general judiciary COM
mittee that the judges and solicitors shall
be elected by the people at large instead
of by the people of the various judicial
circuits was adopted.
MIR. Hall Of Coweta strongly opposed
this amendment, but it was successful by
a good majority.
There were numerous speeches on the
bill. Speaker Jenkins came down from
the chair and gave his opinion of the leg
islature In the discussion of the bill. In
answer to a question of Mr.. johnson of
Hall, Speaker Jenkins said: 81 do not be-
lieve the legislature can be trusted 10
elect the judges and solicitors.
It was a sensational statement to come
from the speaker of the House, and it Gre
ated a sensation.
After the storm of applause which greet
ed the declaration had subsidized, Mr. Fo-
garty of Richmond jumped to his feet
and said ''That is a remarkable thing
for you, as speaker of this House, to say.
You have maligned this legislature, and
you have maligned the people of Georgia.
The House elected you speaker If it can
not be trusted to elect the judges and So
liditors why can it be trusted to attend
to the states business"
Mr. Fogarty spoke with much feeling.
The speaker explained to him that he
would trust this legislature with anything,
but that he couldn't say about the other
legislatures. Speaker Jenkins favoring the
bill this morning was a surprise, as he
fought a similar bill vigorously last year
The speaker explained that he had chang
ed his mind on this important question.
'Wise men change, fools never do" quoted
the speaker.
The House this afternoon passed the bill
by Mr. Boifeuillet of Bib county to APP
propriate $4,000 to establish a textile
school at the state chronological school.
There was little opposition.
After the widest fight ever fought here
the House refused to concur in Senate
resolution to adjourn until Monday, and
not count Saturday and Sunday as legis-
latiVe days, so as to add two days to the
session next week. The adjournment would
have been a clear gain of two working
days. The action of the House means
death to 200 local bills from lack of time
for consideration.
The Berner bill providing for a state
bank currency not subject to the 10 per
cent. federal tax was passed by the Senate
to-day. The vote was 81 to s. Mr.. Tur
ner of the Thirty-seVenth district was the
principal opponent of the measure. He
claimed that the federal tax would not be
legally evaded. The bill was not consti-
tutiOnal, he said. Mr.. Berner and Mr.. At
kinson both made strong speeches for 1t.
One of the law reform bills introduced at
the request of the state bar association
giving the state and accused the same
number of peremptory strikes in criminal
trials was passed by the Senate yesterday.
Senator Battle, in explanation, said that
the state was often al the mercy of the
defense, and this bill contemplated putting
them on an equality. Under the present
system, the senator said it would be easy
with picked jury to set free defendant.
He charged the fault with the lax meth
DDS of the enforcement of the law. There
was no decided opposition to the bill and
1t finally passed by vote of % to 15