The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-03-11

The county government bill has been
laid away. 1t is in the deep shadoW
and seems to be resting easily 1t IS
buried in the page set apart for eIorts
that have failed; it is the companion
of biighted hopes, misty, mellowed'
once-loved memories; it lags at the
very bottom of THE boneyard where
turks the skeletons of things that at
one time were supposed to be very
much alive-the unfinished business
file''
And the prospects are that it will re-
main there, long after the thirty-third
session of the California Legislature,
with all its good and all it's bad, has
passed into history. But the fall OF the
mighty bill, while probably fatal, was
an easy one. There We're no struggles,
no cries, no groans, no tears. 1t went
down in all it's grandeur of 21O pages,
and while many knew it was going, no
hand was reached out to save. Many
evidently thought there was nothing in
1t worth saving, and others did not re-
alize that it was tottering to its fall
On Thursday morning it was at the
very top of the Senate general file 1t
topped all the other cans on the dump.
It was No. l. Yesterday morning it
had dropped to No. 4Sl, and nothing
followed it except a nmitless void. 1t
was not only at the foot Of the file; 1t
was at the foot OF the particular Tile Ia
beled unfinished business"
On Thursday morning the county
government occupied the place of honor
as a special order; but the sun reached
meridian, the shadows heightened and
the electric sparks cleaned and flick
cred. and the special order was not
taken up. The last oratorical wall
died away and the Presidents gavel fell
with a thump, and with that thump the
county government fell from the place
of honor into the file Of forgetfulness
where the wicked cease from troub-
ling and the weary are at rest
A motion would have saved it,. but
there was none who cared to move, and
as result it went down by default.
But it is understood that there was
method In the failure to make the mo-
ton. 1t is said that the grange and
other organizations of Santa Clara
and Alameda Counties arose against
the measure, and that the Senators
from those counties opened their ears.
1t is also said that San Francisco did
not desire to see the present laws for
the government of counties changed,
and that the Senators from the metrop-
oils heafkened. Morehouse was prac-
tically the parent of the bill. 1t grew
under his eyes and in his committee,
and was reported back to the Senate
by him. And he let it go by the board.
Morehouse has "a wonderfully retentive
memory. He never forgets. Even had
he been inclined to forgetfulness he
would have been reminded that a mo-
ton to continue the special order was
necessary every time he glanced at his
file But Morehouse did not see; no
more did the other thirty-eight Sena-
tors, and as a result the special order
went by default.
Before being laid away by the Sen
ate. that body had wrestled with about
forty of the two hundred-odd pages of
the bill, and nearly all of the amend
ments proposed, up to that point, were
cast out with more or less violence.
AS matters now stand, and unless
+tos~o T.. -
resurrect the bill from the shadows,
counties will be obliged to struggle on
Tor another two years under the same