San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-05-23
THINKS A PROPER FEE BILL
WILL BE SUFFICIENT
TO DO THE WORK.
Not Concerned In the Pressure On
LitigantS By County Officials
But Will Carefully Pro-
tect the Vaults of
Our State,

ffiAustin, May 22-Today at high
noon, legislative time and really about
1880 calendar time, the two Houses
of the 18th Legislature who had adj
journed at o'clock on Friday after
noon re-assembled in their respective
| chambers in extra session in compli-
| ance with the governors message re-
converting them, issued Immediately
upon their adjournment Friday. There
| was not quorum on hand in either
regular House. The Senate was in
session only a few minutes and ad-
journed until Monday with the under
standing that while they adjourned
| until Monday they would
| not really begin work
until Wednesday. Under the constitu-
ton with no quorum on hand the two
Houess cannot adjourn save from day
| to day awiting the arrival of a quo
| rum. The Senate therefore adjourned
until Monday with the, understanding
| that one or two Senators would stay
here and answer roll call on Monday
and Tuesday mornings and adjourn
from day to day until Wednesday
| when the business of the special ses-
sion will begin.
over in the House a similar under
standing was had and the House ad-
journed until Monday at 10 a. m. At
/ that time the few members who re-
| main here will meet and answer roll
call and adjourn until Tuesday and on
Tuesday morning a similar proceed
| ing will be had. The members who
have been here the greater part of the
past four months are anxious to go
home for a day or two and this is the
only means they have of doing so.
They feel that they will be in prime
condition by next Wednesday and hope
to be able to rush business through
so as not to consume more than the
80 days allowed them by law at best.
OF the 12S members of the House As
only were present, being the follow
ing. Representatives Ayres, Barrett,
Beard, Bean, Bird, Blair, Brewster,
Brown, Burney, Burns, Carpenter,
Childs, Curry, Dennis, Dickinson, Drew,
Fields of Grayson, Fields of Hill, Free
man, Henderson, Hensley, Hill of
Travis, Holland of Harris, Humphrey,
Jones, Lillard, Logan, Lotto.Love, Man
son, Martin, Maxwell, Mcfarland, Nc
Guaghey, McKamy, Meade, Moore of
Lamar, O'Connor, Seabury, Shellburne,
Sluder, Smith, Smyth, Thompson,
Tucker, Turner, Wolters and Wood.
over in the Senate there were II
members present as follows: Senators
Atlee, Beall, Burns, Colquitt, Darwin,
Harrison, Kerr, Lewis, Pressler, Rog-
ers, Tillett and Woods.
1t is anticipated that when the
members get to work beginning about
next Wednesday morning that they
will be flooded with bills, bearing on
the matter of the fee bill legislation.lt
is generally understood that at least
| a dozen men will hand in bills the first
day on the fee bill line and it will take
the committee on state affairs some
time to figure out the best one. Rep
resentative Wolters is among those
who will try and get in a bill and he
says that he believes that he can get
one that will meet the wishes of all
parties, one that the minority viii
support and one that the majority on
the old fight will fall head over heels
in love with. If Mr.. Wolters succeeds
in doing this he will certainly be enti-
tied to a crown as a leader.
1t has been given out that the gov
ernor wants the Legislature to pass
the fee bill the first thing so as to be
able to handle the appropriation Dill
in an intelligent manner. He is ra-
Their inclined to say that he believes
that the bill prepared by the finance
committees of the two Houses is quite
as good a bill as can be gotten togeth-
err and the only change that the House
should make in the bill in special ses-
sion is to pass a fee bill that will per-
nit elimination from the appropriation
bill of the enormous appropriations for
witness fees and the like. The gov
ernor thinks, so 1t is stated by his
friends, that this elimination would
get the bill down to its proper level and
would save the state an immense
amount of money. In other words
the governor is inclined to urge upon
the attention of the members of the
Legislature the fact that the only thing
that they can do that will help the con-
dition of the state financially is to pass
a. fee bill that will scale all the fees of |
county and district officers. He is, ii
is understood, opposed to any attempts !
at reducing the expenses of the state |
save along the lines where a cut would |
be most beneficial and he considers |
that the best way to start is to get at |
the root of the evil which he thinks a |
fee bill will do. 1t is further learned |
from some of the friends of the COVER |
nor that he says that he is for a fee |
bill that will save the state turning out |
so much money into the pockets of the !
county officers in the way of attach
ed witnesses fees and the like That
in civil cases and the like where the |
ntigant pays for the music he doesn't /