The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-20
BEGINNING OF THE END
BUT TWO MORE WEEKS OF THE
STATE LEGISLATURE.
The Chief Interest Now Centers in the
Reform BiIIs-The A%pprODri-
alton Bill.

Ah0 1tSlStdluIG eHltIS the last Two WtGh5
Of the session with the chief interest in
the House. by reason Of the reform bills
pending there and the anticipation Of the
appropriation bill which will be presented
during the week, probably on Wednesday,.
1t is the desire Of the members of the
House to dispose of the reform bills before
the appropriation bill comes up for con-
sideration. but whether or not this will be
possible is an open question. The friends
of the reform measures still confidently
claim they will be passed. and place much
reliance on the special committee of the
Republicans which is charged with the
duty of so amending the bills as to secure
for them the undivided support Of the ma
jority members. This committee has not
as yet agreed upon the amendments or the
form in which the bills will come up. The
committee met for the last time on Satur-
day afternoon and adjourned until 9 o'clock
this morning. 1t is expected that the
amended measure will be reported to q
Republican caucus, to be held at 1 o'clock
this afternoon.
The opponents Of the bills claim they
cannot be passed under any circumstances.
1t is claimed that twenty-eight Republican
members voted against the bills as they
@&@D ~ III 1CAFAN0 IL III A10ARS $4,000
and that these differences cannot be so adj
justed as to secure the passage of the bills.
1t is asserted that twelve Republican MEM
bers will vote for them under no circum-
stances. There are sixty Republican mem
bers, and it will require fifty-one votes to
pass the bills. If any support is given by
the Democrats it will be small. One of
the most prominent Democratic members
said yesterday: we have had no caucus
on these bills and will have none. Every
one of the minority will be perfectly free
to vote as he pleases, but I do not antici-
pate that there will be any votes for the
bills from the minority side. In the first
place the Republicans are pledged to pass
these bills, and I am not in favor of the
Democrats helping them out. They have
enough members to pass the bills, and if
their own party will not stand by the bills
there is no reason why the Democrats
should become c~ats-paws. We are not
against reform, but are in favor Of it. We
are not bound to vote for it by any party
obligation, however. Our platform did de-
clare for reform in county and township
government, but our platform was repudi-
ated by the people of the State, and as
long as it has been repudiated we are not
bound by its declarations. We all agree
that the present system is wrong, and we
all agree that there should be a change,
but we do not favor these particular bills.
There will be many amendments offered by
the Democrats if the bills are made caucus
measures by the Republicans and their
passage is assured; but 1 have doubts of
that"
EICHHORN'S SUBSTITUTE BILL.
The minority members will probably be
inclined to support the substitutes which
are under preparation by their own MEM
bers. Mr.. Eichhorn is at work on a substi-
tute for the county bill. His idea is to have
an advisory board but to have it only four
members and nonpartisan. This will be the
idea of his bill. He will provide that a num-
Der may be nominated for this council, but
his bill will provide that the two receiving
the highest number of votes on the Repub-
lican ticket shall be declared elected from
that party, and the two receiving the high
est number of votes on the Democratic
ticket shall be declared elected from that
party. The members TO serve the first time
viii be appointed by the Circuit Court and
thereafter elected. This council shall meet
with the commissioners in March and Sep
TENDER and will have an equal vote with the
commissioners All supplies must be pur-
chased at these meetings and estimate VIII
be required from all officers at least thirty
days before the meeting. The bill will re-
AAllG lit GOullLN OlilGGI " CGlIQ LllG2G oil
mates to every house dealing in such sup
plies that he knows of or can find out about,
and the prices from those houses will be
submitted to the joint boards at these meet
ings. Mr.. Eichhorn's idea is that a trustee
will make a levy only to meet the warrants
and that If there is a check on indiscrimin-
ate purchasing, the trustees themselves will
make only such levy as to meet these eX-
penditures and that the levy will thus be
decreased by the trustees in order that
popularity will be continued. The bill will
provide that the members of the council
shall receive a per diem, and Mr.. Eichhorn's
idea is to make their pay not to exceed $50.
Mr.. Hedgecock is at work on a substitute
for the township bill which will probably
be presented to the House to-day. Mr..
Hedgecock last evening declined to make
public the provisions of his bill or to say
on what plan it is based. The bill had not
been completed and he expected to work
until a late hour on it.
Mr.. Osborn has prepared a substitute
which he has had printed but has not de-
cided, as yet, whether to introduce 1t or
not. There was some talk yesterday of ac-
cepting Mr.. Roots's bill to provide for a
county purchasing board, which is now
pending. as a compromise, but it is more
probable that a direct reform bill will be
presented to stand or fall on its merits.
The reform question now is in q most I'M
certain state.
During the week just closed, the General
Assembly passed the 1000 mark in the num-
Der of bills introduced and to date, in both
branches there have been 1,051 bills intro
duced. There was some decrease in the
number of new bills during the week, but it
- GADC0LC0 lllCy wall COAAAAlANiC ~ 0OAlAC III
almost TO the end of the session. OF this
number 4S6 have been introduced in the
Senate and 615 in the House. OF the bills
originating in the House, 165 have been
passed by that body, 1888 have been killed in
committees, 124 are yet in the hands of the
committees, rs are pending on second read
ing, 10 have been killed by striking out the
enacting clause, 4 have failed for want of a
constitutional majority, p have been de-
feated on passage. IL have been withdrawn,
16 are pending on passage and one has been
printed without recommendation. In addi-
ton to these, the House has received 112
bills from the Senate, of which 80 have been
passed, As are still in the hands of the com
mittees, is are pending on second reading,
5 have been indefinitely postponed, Z are
pending on third reading and one has been
killed by striking out the enacting clause.
This brings the total number of bills pre-
scented to the House to 727, of which 203 have
been passed, 12 are in the hands of the
committees. "a are pending on second read
ing, 1S have been killed by committees, %
are pending on third reading, and is nave
been killed by striking out the enacting
clause. The others have been disposed of as
above given.
SENATE GOSSIP