The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-01-31

great earnestnsss he prayed that al
bad laws now ON the statute books might
be repealed, that all bad lesi,iation now
pending might be defeated that all good
laws might be retained and that all good
Iegi might be made law. Mr..
Peckham prayed that officials In
high places who did not regard their
oaths OF Office and failed TO enforce the
laws might be brought to realizing
sense of their error. In particular, he
prayed that the unjust law under which
poor men were cast into Jail because
they had not the money to pay their
debts, might be repealed. Mr.. Peckhau
Is an elderly man, and his vigorous utter
nnces, especially the references to the
officials In high places, were so different
from the usual style Of invocation that
memters have spent the evening talking
about the prayer. There is great curl
osity expressed rs TO who the reverend
gentleman meant by the officials In hlgh
places He referred to them as men Win
large salaries which is held to exclude
the mem bers
TO MOVE OR NOT TO MovE'
Until today great questions have been
lacking, but now a mighty issue has
arisen. Shall the Secretary Of the Senate
mover The Australian ballot, second
district politics, the insurance law ana
the law for the protection of clans all
sink into insignifcanoe beside this gues-
ton, shall the secretary mover The mat
ter has been assigned for tomorrow an tine
Senate. Thu people should understand 10
that they may follow intelligently the
fortunes of great movement From the
time of the erection of the addition to
the State House when that venerable pile
did. mot GO to Portland, the secretary OF
the Senate and the clerk OF the Houss
have occupied offices in the upper story OF
the addition. OF late, these rooms have
been used as private offices by the railroad
commissioners and the bank examiners
The official chest weight and pulling ap.
parstus of the railway board, where they
get up muscle after iauuts on the iron
roads, is In the room occupied by the desk
of the House. When the session began an
order was introduced moving the secretary
and clerk to rooms in the old portion OF
the building, little rooms made by put
ting In q second story when the building
became crowded years ago. The order
was referred to the committee on public
buildings. After this, the railway COM
missioners waived the claim them had
made and expressed Willingness to fore
go their daily exercise with the chest
weight evon at the expense OF their
athletic development. Bank Examiner
Tim erlake wants his private office, how
ever and the committee has reported In
favor of moving the secretary Of the
senate leaving the desk clerk of the
Hou SO where he lie and in this question
ARE all others lost TO sight Shall the bank
examiner ..have his luxurious apartment or
shall the secretary retain II during the
session? In behalf of the bank examiner
It Is claimed that the work of his depart
nent is hampered by the loss of the office.
On the other hand it is asked how the
examiner came to occupy room which
the legislature of the state of Maine had
set apart for the use of its secretary and
{ is urged that the work would not be
conveniently done under an arrangement
which located the secretary away from
every body elsa. The Senators will don
their togas tomorrow to settle the issue.
Meanwhile an expectant people eagerly
await their decision, trusting that the
right may prevail and that the dignity of
til state may be upheld in the decision at
which its Legislators arrive.
ACADEMIES AND HIGH SCHOOLS.
Under an order of the House, the state
superintendent of schools has prepared q
report showing the amounts Of money re-
ceived by free high schools ana academies
and giving other valuable information on
the same line. The order was presented
as Bearing on the question of the wisdom
of making grants to the academies,
course Judge McFadden of Dresden
wants to prevent by constitutional
amendment. Mr.. Stetson showed that in
1898 there were 24s free high schools re-
ceiving state aid q decrease of "a. OF
these schools 24U were supported by towns
and eight by preoinots There was an
average attendance OF II, 067 In 1898 as
against II, 1898 in 1897. The whole amount
expended was s206,779 and increase of
S20 l6.. OF this the towns and districts
raised sl66,6l6, AN increase of $40, 80,
while the state contributed 500, 446. de.
crease of s., 1911 Forty three secondary
schools and colleges. not in the common
school system, received state aid. This
list includes SO academies. the University
Of Maine and the normal schools. From
towns, the academies received annually
$l6.594 From the state 43 institutions
got s7l, go, including $4,000 for the
University of Maine and s3l 200 for the
normal schools Eighteen of the academies
were also free high schools and draw