Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-12-27
TIE CRUDE EFFORTS
OF PORTO RICAN LEGISLATORS TO
FORMULATE AND ENACT
LAWS.
VIRTUALLY NOTHING DON
MEMBERS OUTLINE laws IN LEAD
PENCIL
On Scraps of Paper and Old Envel-
opes, and They Are .Introduced.o
Woman Suffrage and Cock Fight
ing I'm the List-The Newspapers
Suggest 1t Is Time Something Was
Done.

Correspondence Associated Press.)
SAN JUAN DE PORTO RICO, De-
cember 19.-The Legislative Assembly
of Porto Rico has been in session since
December 3rd, when the house of Dele
gates was duly organized. The pre-
dicted clashes and split up of the Re
publican party have not materialized.
The House sessions are as harmonious
ly conducted as one could wish.
The House has been holding daily
four hour sessions. Over forty-five
bills have been introduced and no end
Of motions and amedments. But one
bill has been passed. BY law the AS
sembly is allowed sixty days in which
to complete each session. Fifteen
days have passed and next to moth
ing has been accomplished, and the
local papers are suggesting that it is
about time something had been done.
The House is badly in need Of a COM
petent force Of translators and clerks.
There seems to be no system. Bills
are prepared and introduced covering
most common matters and in a man
ner most unbusinesslike. Few of the
bills are proper form; many have been
filed written in pencil on a sheets
torn from a scratch pad. Most of the
bills are written during the session,
and are more in the form of sugges-
tions than OF projected laws. An in
SEPARATION may ONE to a member, he
picks up a pad or draws an envelope
or a scrap OF paper from his pockets;
juts down a lew sentences and pre-
sents the document as a bill, and it
is duly filed. Instead OF getting down
to the crying need Of Porto Rico-a re-
vision of the laws; bills to enact such
laws as these are drawn up and in
troduced:
TO establish woman suffrage and to
give preference over men in
public positions for which they are
competent"
Relating to salaries of school teach
ers.'
Relating to contracts made in pro-
visional currency"
AlAS Inc pIOlEoSlOu VI pldL-
macy
a resolution was presented to legal
ize the sport Of cock fighting" by the
same member who is the author of the
wOman's suffrage bill.
At yesterdays session the commit
tee on rules reported that bills relat-
ing to the following matters should
have preference over all other bust
ness-insular police, salaries, police
courts, loans, ~telegraphs and railroads.
On motion mortgages" vas added to
the list and the report adopted.
The council passed a bill introducing
the jury system, but it was defeated IN
the house yesterday by a vote Of Is TO
y. Several members claimed that the
bill was not properly translated from
the English original. The bill was or
dered to be translated and will be re-
considered to-day.
The executive council is daily hold
ing 'secTet' executive sessions behind
closed doors. These are for the pur-
pose Of considering franchises and Oth-
er matters over which the council has
exclusive jurisC.lt-on. The public is
not informed Of lie nature Of these dis
cussions. The oa,y bill passed by the
house TO datc = chat declaring the
Office OF delegate incompatible with 9TH
er public Offices"
At present It does not seem probable
that the lower house will be a success
as a law-making body. Probably il is
too early to Judge.
The chamber OF commerce Of Porto
Rico yesterday petitioned the house,
asking for an appropriation for a Porto
RIcan exhibit at the coming Pan-Amer-
lean exposition at Buffalo. The petit
ton was referred to a special committee
for report A representative exhibit BY
the insular government at Buffalo would
prove Of immense benefit to the island.
Capital f. needed here to develop the
islands un5Cunded resources and in no
way could Porto Rico's possibilities BE
better presented to the people.