The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1897-03-17
HARRISBURG LETTER.
HARR1snuRa. PA. March 2

from first reading tofinal passage. Inc
House calendar now embraces upward of
two hundred bills reported from COM
mittees, most of which are on second
reading and will nearly all be reached in
the coming fortnight. This does not in
clude the two hundred and upward ap-
preparation bills in committee and which
will be brought out i'm heap some of
these days. When l state the number
OF appropriation bills il does not necessa-
rily imply that all will be passed for
many of them will ego by the board, -
all will be scaled down very materially
and very few get through that are not
strictly necessary, for the urgency for
retrenchment and economy is apparent
to all this year.
new scalp bounty bill went through
on second reading this week, and iudg-
ing from the temper of the House when
it was under consideration will have
little trouble on final passage, and thus
our old friend Anthony Walters, who
blamed the writer for "vetoing' the law
two years ago, (when the courts decided
it unconstitutional) will be appeased.
on wild cats, Sl.O0 on foxes, so cents on
minks and 25 cents on large weasels,
hawks and owls.
An act authorizing the purchase by
the commonwealth of unseated lands for
the non-paymeut of taxes for the pur-
pose of creating a State forest reserva-
tion" passed the house finally on Tues
I,a To- 81,
attitude as an individual as to the pur-
chase of these lands when sold by the
county, but it is not permissible TO bid
more than the taxes and costs, and only
on such lands as are valueless for any
thing but the re-foresting of the section.
After such purchase the land is the ex-
elusive property of the State and shall be
used only in the rearing and cultivation
of forest, the design being to ultimately
reclaim the denuded hills and valleys
and bring about a state of woodland
growth such as existed thirty to forty
years ago in our section of country.
consummation devoutly to be wished
1t will take years to accomplish this, but
start must be made some time, and fu-
in which past generations once revelled
The House did a good act the other
day in killing bill "to establish legis.
lative commission" the design of which
was to create board of supervisors, Sc
to speak, which should pass upon anC
consent to all proposed legislation before
it could be enacted into law. Three law.
tp ha inf al hxr hn
ernor who were to enjoy this extraordi
nary privilege, their terms of office t.
extend for ten years and the pay of eacl
to be $500 per month while on duty. Ii
other words, the legislature elected 10y
the people was asked to say that it wa.
no longer competent to Judge of wha
measures should or should not be enacted
into law, and therefore must call on three
outsiders to give the proper instructions
Sometimes we think this wouldn't b,
such bad idea but as a rule it woulC
hardly be the proper thing for the legis
lature to appoint for itself q set of guar
dians.
The Stewart fish bill was called up OIL
Thursday afternoon and although th
House was rather thinly populated ther
were enough present to raise the usna
row over legislation of this nature, and
quite merry time was had, resulting i'm
hurried adjournment in order to save tn
life of the incongruous proposition. Tn
bill has few good features but it is S,
fearfully tout OF joint in most respect
as TO make it practically worthless. If i
becomes law in its present form tn
gentleman who takes brook trout les
than sir inches in length pays ten dollar
for his sport or goes TO Jail one day 10
each dollar of penalty imposed He VIII
catches salmon of less weight thai
three pounds must either throw him, he
orr back into the stream instanter o
suffer like indignity as the unsports
man like trouter. Other nonsensical re
quirements might be pointed out, bu
this will suffice to show what FOOLS
propositions will creep into the legisla
ture and occasionally become laws. 1t
scarcely possible for the bill to pass final
ly unless in greatly modified form.
Prof Hamilton appeared before a com
mittee OF the House and Senate Wednes
day evening and talked on what is no,
known as the Hamilton road bill. Hi
lecture was similar to that given befor
the farmers institute year ago in Tic
nesta. His road bill is very good on
in many respects, but has some feature
which will bring radical changes I
many counties in the State and const
quently will make rural members some
what charIy its support The featur
which requires so per cent of the roa
tax TO be paid in cash is strouly oppose
by the farming element, who are alread
sorely hampered in getting enough cas-
together TO meet those taxes which mu
be paid in money. The bill further pre-
vides that road-masters shall be appoiI
ted by the road supervisors, lthe supe
visors being about the same as the roa
commissioners under the Forest count
law. The roadmasters are TO have di
tricts comprising not more than 20 mil,
of road over which they shall have supe
vision, and it shall be the duty of sue
roadmaster TO ''work upon the road hin
self during at least seven months of ea'
year. The supervisors "from time
time shall fix the wages to be paid p
day 10 roadmasters and laborers." Al
fawabIa NAV pripr IN tho 18th of Y-fI