Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-02-24

adopted Richard Slater OF Kansas City.
assistant chief clerk of the house, notified
tho correspondents-cfh the reversal
of the speakers ruling. and they filed into
the chamber in q body, the same as they
had gone out. The members cheered as the
boys marched in. There were erie; of,
You win your fight Good for the boys, "
where's ward?" etc. Speaker Ward was
not in the chair. He had been called home
by a telegram to the sick bed OF his
brother.
Having patched up its troubles with. the
press. the house next took up the hght on
the clerks. Speaker Pro Tenn Goltrane- de-
cided that Delzelrs resolution was In or
der. ruling against the point raised Ey
kneis.ey. Monday. that the house had set
tied the clerical matter when Boharts res
clution was defeated and it would take
two-thirds vote to bring It rp again. The
Deizeil resolution provides for the dis-
missal of sixty-nine employees, Including the
speakers stenographer.
Ellis, OF Bates. offered an amendment
making the number to be discharged fifty
two and discharging the speakers page
instead OF his stenographer. After this was
debated for a while, DelZeli accepted IT,
DR.. Tubbs raised the. point of order that
after an amendment had been debated II
became the property OF the house and. couin
be disposed of only by the house. Coltrane
refused 10 reply 10 Tubbs' point OF ORDER
but chose rather to ignore Tubbs. But the
doctor is not the man to be ignored, and
the noise of the violent hammeripg with
the speakers gavel was not sufficient to
drown the doctors voice. Coltrane re-
peatedly demanded that Tubbs take MS
seat but Tubbs refused to do SO until tre
speaker had ruled upon his point OF order:
Coltrane got very much ratified ana
completely lost his head for a few minutes.
When he recovered he had to admit that
DR.. Tubbs' point of order was well taken
Confusion on the Floor.
Great confusion ensued. Motion after mo-
ton was made, and Coltrane was never ex-
tricated from the parliamentary tangle. He
finally had to clear away the debris OF
motions and begin with a clear slate. The
noise was SO deafening that many OF the
motions could not be heard, and 1t was
lust as well, perhaps, that the motions were
Ignored.
Kneisiey, of Carroll, pleaded to have the
whole matter referred to the committee on
clerical force. He promised that the com
mittee would do better next time. -.
Pope of Cole. took a few shots at the
committee. "we referred this matter
pnce," he said, ''and we all know the result.
When the committee made its report L
knew It was not concurrent and everybody
who knows anything about the business or
the house knows that it was incorrect. we
ali know that our clerical force is large
beyond all reason. Now let's act like men
and reduce it. Let's be honest with the
state, honest with the people and honest
with ourselves.
member of the committee, signed the ma
jority report two weeks ago, justifying the
extent of the force, made a speech for re-
duction, in which he roasted" Speaker
Ward. 1T is well known all over the
state" he said, that We have force
here three times larger than we need. II
is useless to try to conceal 1t. The people
are we'll informed of our disgraceful pro-
reedings. The whole trouble began with
the election of the speaker. The admipts-
tration and the corporations had to make
deals in order to elect their man. Mem>
bers bought clerkships by agreeing to sup
port the successful candidate for speaker.
The fulfillment of these pledges caused this
enormous clerical force. @.-..>.. -.
THE cut made by this resolution is too
small. We ought to discharge half fef our
clerks" -.ssf :
AT this point Hall. of Grundy. interrupted
with q question.
Are you ready for the cut to begin at
Lee: Il am. 1 have a daughter on the
= force, but am ready for her to CO."
Whitecottop. Of Monroe. was the next
: man TO score the administration.
-, From the very beginning the majority
In this house has done things which 1t
ought not to have done. ne said.
Il regret this. But It has been given out
by the administration that we, minority
part of the minority party. as We are some
times called. have hindered the reduction
of expenditures. l brand this charge as
false.
4 want to say that If half the energy
put forth by the administration in trying
10 punish some of the members Of this
house hads been expended in reducing ex-
penditures. the reduction would have been
made long ago.
We have faced an awful condition of af-
fairs and We should hold parties response
bic who are responsible. Committee chair
manships were sold on the floor of this
house. Chairmanships were offered pro-
vfded that the speaker were allowed to
name the clerks. There were debts to pay
ana ah they We're paid That is one reason for
another reason. and l want to say that
the members who have their families down
mere Guarterso on the state ought to forget
al about their personal considerations.
They ought to repudate their actions in
coming here and going UP to their elbows
into the public treasury"
Davis. Of Pike. who has a son and a
nephew on the payroll. bobbed up every
little while during Whitecotton's speech
had to tell Davis to Keep his seat. ''' '''''
fepned to Whitecotton. "A fortnight ago,
ne said his imperial majesty. the grand
ty shoes and offered a resolution to allow
every member a clerk. But We understand
his change of heart. Marion county got no
clerks. and Whitecotton wants the support
. OF Marian county when he runs for the
senate. ns A man jumps when he is hurt.
Ihese clerks were brought here by the
democratic party. and now the party does
not seem 10 have manhood enough to stand
= by IL. L know the force is too large bu,
by them. know the force is too large blI;
you voted to bring 'em here. I voted no,
10 bring EN- here. but. now we've got 'eln,
let's stand. by en- = - :. '''
DeizeN Appeals to Members.
There was more noise when KneisIey
got through and half the members of the
mouse were on their feet at once clamorinc
TO be heard. Delzell said that 1t made nc
SiHhf eiice what the governor wanted done
e. lie appealed TO the members to step feI
once "a their lives into mems shoes and tc
with speech in which he said:
The people are interested In the number
Sf Sfs6i our clerical ;eseriea, forge, but they are more
legislature is doing. Our record shows thai
the house has been a failure. We have
been in session for fifty DAYS and IL We
M nave te done one solitary thing thing for the benefit
IS. We have wasted thousands of dollar.
In wrangling over this clerical force. l be
heve We have too large a force, and / ep
peal to the members of this house. Let u:
nnal!y. to-day. and get down TO business"
Davis. OF Pike. put his foot in it agar
with silly run 10 let every one dismis:
his appointees that wishes to do so. Thi:
offered ny Davis of Pike
BY this time things were getting pretty