Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1899-01-05
THURSDAY, JANUARY s, 1899
The Legislature.

very favorably. We feared that an
effort wonld be made to create a lot
of new Offices and have them filed
with peoples party men. In our
judgment this would not Re good
politics. The republicans were get
ting badly demorallzed by the greed
of Office seekers, and il the offices
had been filled with pops, the repub-
licsns would have been solldified, and
would have been hard 10 defeat in
1900. Instead of filling the Offices
the popullst legislature has passed
several laws which will be Of much
benefit to The people. An effort was
made to put several of the present
Office holders IN position for two or
three years, but the Legislature refus-
ed to do 80 and all offices, with but
few exceptions are open to the repub-
hcsns. At the present writing we
must admit that the Legislature is
doing good work. The republican
minority is getting q dose Of Tom
Reedism, q dose that should have
been applied at the regular session,
and as a consequence the populist
members are doing something.
The railroad caucus did its work
we'll. II gave to the attorneys its plan
of legislation. This was arrived at
after considerable consideration Of
the matter, and the attorneys went to
work. As they progressed they saw
what they bslievd to be valid objec-
tione to some of the instructions CIV
en- and made such alterations as seem
ed best in their judgment. Five or
six days and nights Of hard work we're
put in on the work. Every point YVES
weighed carefully, No possible weak
point was left. The object OF all con-
cerned was TO make the bill as strong
as it could possibly be made. When
ell Of this work was done the COM
pleted bill was submitted to the joint
caucus. which was attended by ma
iority Of the members of both houses
There it was read section by section,
and carefully considered. Printed
copies Of the bill had been placed in
the hands of each member. Each
member went into this meeting fully
convinced that the question whether
the state was TO have q railroad bill
was to be settled before this caucus
adjourned. They went in with de-
termination to get together and at the
same time to get the best possible bill.
The discussion covered wide range
~ views and was earnest in every
resp sCt. Few changes were made in
the bill hut the members we're deter
mined to know what they werevoting
for. The hardest fight was over the
provision to appoint the first commits
sion next April, thereby giving Stan
ley power to name 1t. Governor Lee
yelling made the hardest fight for
this provision. He based his 6ght on
the theory that this Legislature should
give no man title to any office which
he did not have on election day. DE
fs now q member Of the railroad COM
mission and if the appointment was
to be made by Governor Leedy he
would likely hold his place, but he
preferred to do that which he believed
to be right.
Some Of the changes made in the
original bill authorized the Governor
to name the commission instead OF
giving that authority to the executive
council and did not require theis con-
Srmstion by the Senate. In case the
complainant in an action believes
that the solicitor provided for In the
law favors the side OF the railroads,
he may procure tAe appointment of q
special solicitor for thai case. This
prevents the solicitor from faN'rlng
the companies by declining to bring
suits.
After being fully considered in
caucus the bill was introduced In the
house. The first section was reed,
and Barley, of Elk, moved it's adop
tio1. Foley seconded the motion. It
was carried. Similar action was tax.
On with reference to other sections.
After every vote the republicans
would call for a division. Finally
the CHAIR called for q division, and OIL
q standing vote the section passed by
vote of SO to 3S. That settled the
division calls and no attention was
given 10 them on subsequent votes.