The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-02-16
WORK DONE AT
EXTRA SESSION
Little General Law Max
ing; Many Local Laws.
A CHANGE OF ARENA.
Promise That the Fight Shall be Fin
ished on1the Hastings.
MANY MEMBERS GONE HOME.
Hardly a Quorum Of Either Branch
Will Be Present. ut To-Day's ses-
sions The Governor Has
Signed Nearly All the
Bills sPusscd-Gifts
10 Officials.

TO Officials.
To-day will he the last of the extra
session of the General Assembly-the
shortest, with one exception, in the his
tory Of the Commonwealth.
The session began on the 2Sd of jan
uary. The 18th of February finds all its
work done, and adjournment the next
thing in order. Every member receives
$3.50 for his attendance upon the extra
session. Ui-paid officials are said to- be
the rule in republics, but it is not eX-
pected that the members will very gen
orally protest that eight dollars day
is too little for the services of the aver
age lawmakers. Members receive $3.50 for
service at an etXra session, whether the
session last one day, or full term.
The extra session passed q bin 70 ar
range for a convention to revise the Con-
stitution. 1t enacted very few other laws
of general nature. Many companies
were incorporated; many charters were
amended; many counties and towns were
authorized to issue bonds: many county
treasurerS were given more time IN which
to collect taxes; hogs We're prevented
from running at large in many counties;
IOdO ld"S were eudClcu anu <iilSlldSN'
erroneous assessments We're corrected,
and various other topics, which suggested
themselves to the minds of lawmakers
anxious to oblige their constituents, were
seized upon and put into the titles of
laws of the Commonwealth. There has
been little or no legislation of a nature
affecting the people generally. Nearly
two hundred bills became laws.
Nf bo +,,+i
bill was the great work of the General AS
senibly. It consumed more of the atten-
ton of the body by ten times than any
other measure proposed or passed.
l. WIS "a fact remarked upon during the
session that the House Of DELEGATES did
not go Very deeply into questions suggest
ed by the bill Ito provide ;for the Conyen-
ttion. They We're all very. fully discussed
in the Senate-several times over It can
never be said that the measure finally en-
acted was railro:lded Through. It received
the fullest possible discussion.
Whether the bill finally passed will be
satisfactory to the peGple remains to be
seen. The leaders of the fight for a bill
like the one finally agreed upon are uu-
questionnbly in the minority as regards
their views as to the powers Of a Con-
vention to revise the organic law. 1t is
almost the universal belief that such u
Convention is supreme-thc people. MIR.
Flood and many OF those who voted with
him hold that the Convention is not SUI
preme; that the law-making body, charged
with the duty of arranging for its sitting,
may limit its powers in various directions.
The whole question hinges upon the view
oil such Convention, whether the framing
of q now Constitution is a. revolutionary
proceeding, or whether it lisa proceeding
in the regular course OF law. 1t is not de-
med that where force of arms is needed
to establish Il Constitution when pro-
claimed, the Convention procLain,ing it is
revolutionary: where the bayonet is not
needed to establish the declared organic
law. there is question. Senator Flood
holds that the powers Of the Convention
may tbc limited by the legislative body to
almost amy extent, and quotes both Cooley
and Jameson to support his contentloM
Senator NIcIlwaine yesterday, in one of
the ablest speeches heard in the General
Assembly in long period, was superb in
his picturfng OF the contempt which the
Convention may justly express for the
slncklcs which "a pygmy legislature has
sought TO put upon it.
But after NIL. whether the Convention
may be legally bound or not, it will doubt
less feel morally bound to carry out the
wishes OIL the eSIGneIal taSStIllDlS SA-
pressed in the bill.
The theatre of contest appears to have
been changed now from the floor of the
General Assembly to the huStings. This
was made evident yesterday by the. .aery
challenge Senator Glass hurled ex-senator
Flood to meet him on the stump in Ap-
pomattox and Campbell and discuss the
subject, and by Mr.. Floods prompt ac-
ceptance. Those who wanted the Legisla-
ture to leave the convention unhampered
entirely, and especially all those who op-
pose the conventions submitting the
amended Constitution to other than the
white people of the State, Will oppose
having delegates to the convention IN
structed to submit to all persons now
entitled to vote.
Members of the Legislature who are
still in the city are freely discussing the
resolution offered by Mr.. Barclay on yes
terday to elect all the members of tie
convention on the same ticket from tile
State at large It is regarded by many
as one of the most remarkable PROPOSE
tions ever offered in a Virginia Legisla-
ture, and has been criticised by some of
the leaders. Others, however, warmly
endorsed it, The debate on the resolution
was one of the hottest of the extra ses-
sion. and many of the speakers called a
spade a. spade.
The information asked by Mr. Gravely
in his resolution concerning traffic ar
rangements between the r.. +. d p
r. and the S. A. L., which was COM
municated to the House in letter from
Major Myers yesterday, came too late
to have any bearing on legislation in
that line The bills repeating the legls-
ton passed at the last session on this
subject were passed on the same day
the resolution Of Mr.. Gravely was in
troduced. The member from Henry is
not only game fighter, but he is an
anti-corporationist from way back, and
he has long conceived the idea that
a consolidation between the roads is
brewing. and that the States interest
In the r., F. & P should be sold at once.
Hon. E. G. Madison, of Newport News
and Hon. John Whitehead, Of Norfolk
who are known as the bill introducsrs
=