The Meeker herald., 1899-03-04
WHAT THE COLORADO
LEGISLATURE Is DOING.


| of DIR. Thombs, superintendent OF ihe /
insane asylum. in Il speech which oc-
c'nied one whole day,
Another disgraccful encounter took
place II, th,. Senate Monday. Senators
Stewart and rhilp Were the partici- 1
| pants. Rui for the intervention ot
| friends it i- believed they would have
come To blows.
4 large ana enthusiastic meeting
was held in Representative hall Mon
day night. when leading citizens OF
Denver appeared before the temper
ance committee in behalf Of the local
option bill Although the opposition
| had been invited 10 be on hand. none
OF them appeared. It has been long
time since the church and moral rlc-
mem in the community have been so
united on a political measure.
The Joint meetings of nnancc AMI ap.
| propriafiOus committees of House anu
Senate have nearly reached the sought
for end-revenue measures that will en-
| able the state TO meet its obligations for
the ensuing two years. The commit
| tees have evolved revenue measures
| that will the members think. bring IN
| 81, 100000 OF revenue for the two years
coming. This is S.OOOoO more than
was at first thought possible. close
canvass Of the bills carrying appropria-
tions introduced in both branches
| places the sum at S1,32O.Uu.
The residents of Rio Grande county
| favor the passage OF Senator TaylOrs
bill, No. 235. for the bonding of Judg-
ments against counties. Senator Roe
| is In receipt of n letter from his constit
uents, represented by Chairman w. j.
l -. NaRttF rtG
sioners. in which he is urged to lend
| his aid in support Of the Taylor bill.
| Under itB terms. the writer states, the
county of Rio Grande would be en-
abled to pay Off its judgment indebted
ness within fifteen years. for the rate
Of interest payable would he reduced
from eight TO five per cent
| Governor Thomas has signed II. B.
No. 100. to pay the expenses of the
executive and judicial departments for
the first four months of the fiscal year
| and n portion of the Legislative eNpen-
ses for the first three months. There
is Il section added to the bill recreating
| the old auditing board and providing
! that ii shall handle the contingent eX-
pense accounts of all state officers. AS
| there is no part of the title that pro-
vldcs for the board, it will have as IL
| legal an existence as during the past
two years Instead of apporlion
| ing contingent funds to the different
departments one fund of $4,000 Is
given to the auditing board. which Is
supposed to divide IL properly. The
state auditor is to place in his biennial
report an itemiZed statement OF how
the contingent fund has been ex-
pended.
Representative He'll is not satisfied
with the refusal OF the Supreme Court
to pass upon his anti-truck system bill,
but believes the action of that body Is
decidedly in favor Of the bills fulfill
ing all constitutional requirements.
My bill is. think" he said. far
more of n public question than is Sen
ator Thomas district consolidation
bill Workers in mines all over the
state are vitality Interested in II. The
Supreme Court has already twice
passed upon truck system bills. Two
years ago n reason given for not giving
specific answer was that no question
was asked on n specific point. To Gov
er that objection I detailed forty-one
points in questions and asked them to
decide. Not all the questions We're
necessary. but | asked them all so thar
all the points might be covered. do
not think the court has done as it
should. But the court did not declare
the bill unconstitutional. and evidently
evaded point that might come he
fore 1t ut some later time. That leads
me to believe the hill is all right"
Sportsmen of all classes and from
all parts Of the state are to he seen
about the legislative halls these days
bent on similar missions. nll relntin"
to the alteration of the existing game
/ law. Their interest seems to center in
. the Senate. In which body three meas
ures for the relief of the huntsmen
have been introduced. The one which
has met with the greatest favor is that
fnthered by Senator Taylor. 1t is sim
pie in its provisions. but strikes the
point that has been aimed Mt since the
passage of the law of 1897. 1t cx-
tends the open season on deer 10 No
vember 1st instead of October 10th.
thus giving the residents of the west
ern slope at least three weeks of hunt
| ing. while ii arrnnges for II sixteen
day open season on elk. from October
25th to November 9th. But one fanlt
hns been found with this bill 1t does
not remedy the defect In the old law
which enabled the FL Paso County
Court to declare 1t unconstitutional,
namely. the title. Fish. Forestry and
Game" the constitution requiring that
the title of one law shall relate to only
kindred subjects. However. it Is
promised that this defect shall he re-
moved by amendment.
Governor Thomas has affixed his sig
nature to measure which many
members of the assembly believe to BIZ
among the most important likely to be
| passed this session The bill is s. r.
No. IL. and provides for submission to
the qualified electors Of the state Of
amendments to the constitution. The
amendment to be submitted provides
that any amendment or amendments
may be proposed in either the House
or Senate. and II the same shall be
voted for by two-thirds of all the MEM