The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-20
LAWMAKERS GONE HOME.
WORK OF THE RECENT SESSION
BEING RAPIDLY CLOSED UP.

work II Will Have to DO-New
system of Tax Collection for the
Stnte-GeoIoeicaI Department ana
the state Lunatic Asylum 10 BE
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. signing
Bills.
Atlanta. Ga. Dec. 19.-(Special)-Presi-
dent Dodson of the Senate, Speaker Little
of the House. a half-dozen members of the
enrolling committees Of the two bodies ana
the clerk of the House and secretary Of
the Senate. are about all that is left in
Atlanta of the general assembly, which
adjourned Saturday night, just as the Sab
bath was dawning.
Those left behind viii remain on duty
mill Thursday, acting under the law
which gives five days after the close Of
the session for the perfection OF the clerl-
cal work after this is accomplished there
will be nothing more heard Of the state
solons until some time in the spring, when
some of them will return to the capitol TO
take up the work assigned to them as
members of certain special committees.
The most important of these committees
is that which will probably be known as
Bibb. who introduced the resolution IN,
der which it is created having been nam
ed as first man on the list 10y the speaker.
The resolution. however, makes the speak
er and the president of the Senate both
ex-officio members of this commission.
Viewed in the light of service rendered,
It is more than probable that Speaker
Little will be made chairman of this COM
mission, though it will be known the
Ellis tax commission. Ntr. Little has al
ready done a vast amount of work toward
the perfection of new system of tax
collecting for the state, and has embodied
this work in the bill introduced several
weeks ago. This bill will form the founda-
ton of the commissions work.
A Strong Combination.
The other members of this most i'm
portant commission from the House are
Messrs. Freeman of Coweta, chairman of
the ways and means committee; Blalock
of Fayette, Johnson of Barlow and Har-
wick of Washington. Mr.. Wright heads
the Senate part of the commission. which
is, altogether, about the strongest COM
bination that could have been worked up
Mr.. Freeman did very valuable service in
the preparation of che tax act He is one
of the deep thinkers of the lower house
and in placing him upon the tax commits
sion Speaker Little showed that he was
big enough to rise above any little jeal-
ousies or ambitions, for Mr.. Freeman had
himself prepared tax reform measure
dividing honors with that of the speaker
Mr.. Freemans study of the subject viii
therefore be combined with that of the
sneaker in bringing order orr of chaos IL,
our present tax system.
Mr.. Wright. the head of the Senate part
of the commission, Is one of the most
successful business men in the state. as
well as legislator OF wide experience.
and this business experience will. ada
greatly to the commissions usefulness.
Mr. Blalock is also a business man who
has been successful whil4 Mr. johnson is
farmer and the other members lawyers
The Geological Department.
There will be two Investigations between
now and the meeting of the next session.
The first will be that of the geological de-
partment This will probably be com
meneed within very short while. as the
appropriation to the department for the
ensuing year Is not available until after
this investigation has been made and lis
result reported to the Governor. The fight
which nearly resulted in the abolition of
the geological department, was largely di-
rected towards the head of the department
some of the leading advocates of abolition
going so far as to declare, in fact. that
they would withdraw their opposition if
given assurance that the present geologist
would be displaced.
Prof Yeates' friends. however, stuck TO
him loyalty, and they propose to stand by
him until the investigation is finished.
They say that he has done his duty fully
end should be continued In office. In do
rWarr de drrs
enemies among those who met with disap-
pointment in mineral speculation. He
ought to be only the more highly priced
by the state for making enemies in this
way, and they say Prof. Yeates is him
self confident of vindicatlon whenever
there is fun, fair and impartial lnvestiga-
ton made, and the sooner it is begun the
better pleased he will be, he says.
At the Lunatic Asylum.
The other investigation is to be made
at the state lunatic asylum. 1t came tc
the attention of the committee that visited
that institution during the session, that the
law had been violated in one instance al
least, with reference 10 selling of good.
to the institution by trustees
The case in point was that of DR.. Jo
seph Other indirect accusation wer,
made, but the committee did not hav,
time to investigate them, and thus i
came about that a special committee o
legislators will go a-probng there durins
vacation. The superintendent Of the asy
lum is required by law 10 make full month
ly reports of all transaction to the Cover
nor, and he has done this, but The forme
practice of the executive Office has beer
10 throw these reports into the documen
rooms without being opened.
Gov. Gambler spent a busy day to-da,
reading and signing bills. He has no
come to the appropriation bill yet Whe1
he does, he is pretty apt TO sign ID jus
as Il stands though there We're some ex
tremists who declared that they believe
he would not approve the school appro
pration, since ii was not made in accord
ance with his recommendation. II Their
are any vetOes from the chief executive
they will come as surprises for among a
the bills that were passed there were non
that seemed to promise opportunity 70
the exercise of this function