Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-04-05
Both Houses of Legislature
Rushing Business.
MONEY is DoLED OUT
Bulky Appropriation Bills Pass House
"A Compromise on Five Mile Limit
Question-Prize Fighting Bill
Passes the House.

Des Moines, April Especial Corre-
spondence. Both houses of the legis-
lature made good progress yesterday,
closing up the work OF the session.
The house completed consideration of
all the appropriation bills, but the ON
nibus bill, which will come in tomor-
row, the last day of the session. The
two bulky appropriation bills passed
the house. They are the ones carrying
$3.50, ,174.93 for the state board of con
troll, and $441,sOO for the state educa-
tional institutions. The other special
appropriations put thru the house as
agreed upon by the conference COM
mittee, the majority of which have
gone thru the senate, are as follows:
Ten thousand dollars for Benedict
home, Des Moines; $4,000 for COM
$4,000 for fish and game; $4,000 for
monument to Sergeant Charles Floyd;
So. 100 for furnishing the board of con-
troll rooms, and $1,000 each for the
Rescue home at Dubuque, and
the Woman's and Baby's home
at Sioux City. Several smaller
sums We're appropriated, including ST.
O04.34 to reimburse James j. Dunn for
expenses incurred in defending his acts
as oil inspector, and $271.a5 for his
deputy, Martin Healy; $500 to reim-
burse Judge John T. Oliver for serv-
ices for the state in a legal capacity
in a case involving a bequest to the
Soldiers Orphans home at Davenport;
also the bill increasing the per capita
support fund at Mitchelville from $40
to $12 per month, and appropriating
$500 for chaplain services there.
Five Mile Limit Compromise.
The result of the tiye-mile limit agi-
tation is that yesterday afternoon the
house passed a measure which is look
ed upon as a compromise. II provides
the same regulations as the Byers
amendment to the fve-mile limit bill,
defeated the day before, a penalty Of
$500 for the selling Or giving Of liquors
to students of the state educational in
stitutions. This seems to be accepted
by the temperance people, who were
advocating the ive-mile limit bill as a
good compromise. In addition to this
the house also adopted concurrent
resolution requesting the trustees OF
the educational institutions to make
rules to prohibit drinking among stu
dents and report the result of their
action to the next assembly.
Equal Suffrage Killed.
The equal suffrage bill was killed by
the senate yesterday afternoon. 1t was
taken up. and voted on without discus
sion, and its friends had little hope
that it would pass before the vote was
taken. The measure was defeated in
the house several weeks ago. The vote
in the senate was "a yeas and 81 nays,
lacking two of a constitutional ma
jority.
Marking the Ballot.
| Yesterday afternoon the senate pass
ed the bill by Penrose, which provides
that voter may mark his ballot both
in the circle at the head of the ticket
and the square opposite candidates
name. This restores the old law in
effect before it was repealed several
years ago and the present law passed, /,
by which the marking in a square af-
ter marking the circle at the head in
validates the ballot.
Regiment Question Settled.
The question OF reimbursing Iowa
regiments yesterday was decided by
the house action in defeating the
measure proposing to pay the Forty
ninth, Fiftieth and Fifty-second regi-
ments, their transportation from the
front home, respectively. The bill to
reimburse the bankers of the state
and the governor, who advanced the
$4,000 necessary to pay the transpor-
tation of the Fifty-first from San Fran
cisco to Council Bluffs. had already
passed both houses. When it original
| ly came up in the house week or more
ago, there was an effort to reimburse
all the Iowa regiments in the same
way, which ended in the recommitment
of the bill with a lot of amendments
lattached. When it came back it was
shorn of amendments, and the latter
made into bills by themselves, which
bills were defeated yesterday. There
was a feeling among some of the
members that the appropriation for the
Fifty-frst was discrimination, but the
majority of members had pledged the
money in advance and felt under obli-
SdSOHS 10 vote lOI tuc HedsuiS.
Talk on Tax Dodgers.
Yesterday the senate spent large
portion of the day discussing the bill
relating to the duties of tax ferrets
The debate arose over the proposition
made in substitute committee bill to
limit The pay of the persons who dc
this sort of work to 10 per cent of the
property discovered for taxation. There
was decided difference OF opinion as
Ito the effect of such a limitation. The
friends of the measure argued that ii
would result in removing the tenlpta.
tion to Wholesale robbery for the sake
OF big commission which is at present
allowed these persons, there often be.
ing as high as a so per cent bonus al
lowed by boards of supervisors. The
opponents insisted that ii would only
increase the tax-dodging in the state
1 BY taking away any incentive TO dis
cover hidden property. There was :