The Indianapolis journal., 1901-01-17
HOUSES BUSY SESSION.
Controversy Over Employment OF Ste
nOgraphers-Other Business.


nographers-Other Business.
The young woman stenographer. she OF
the shirt-waist and fetching manners. oc-
cupied the attention of the House OF Repre-
scntatives for a considerable time yester-
day morning. The argument which be-
came quite emphatic at times, arose over
the judiciary committees report on Mr..
Bonham's bill providing for the employ
rnent of an assistant postmaster. an extra
page for the benefit of the speaker and
chief clerk and for stenographer to do
the official work of the House.
The members of the House convened at
o'clock and the session was opened with
prayer by Representative Airhart. AS usual
the reading of the journal was dispensed
with. Representative Whitcomb introduced
q resolution thanking Mr.. McReynolds, of
Evansville. for the gavel made from the
tree under which the first constitutional
convention of Indiana was held. Mr..
Whitcomb also presented resolution pro-
viding that the Legislature should not
grant the of the House chamber and
capitol grounds to any organization or
society. The resolution was defeated by
vote of the House. Mr.. Trout, of Clay
county, introduced a resolution providing
for a committee to investigate the charge
that boys who are not exempt from the
compulsory school laws are employed as
pages in the House. On motion of Mr..
Roberts, of Jefferson county, the resolu-
tion was tabled.
JUDICIARY REPORT.
The next order of business was the re-
port of the judiciary committee which had
considered the Bonham bill providing for
stenographers, pages, etc. The committee
considered the bill Tuesday afternoon. The
committee reported the bill back to the
House with amendment providing that
two stenographers instead of one ho en-
ployed. 1t developed that this kind of
report was made over the objection of Mr..
Statesman, who spoke on the measure.
Prior to his remarks, however, Mr.. Bon
ham offered a resolution TO the effect that
the assistant postmaster of the House be
selected from the Marion Soldiers Home.
This resolution was tabled. Mr.. Statesman
then offered an amendment suggesting
that the pay of the assistant postmaster
be fixed at 50 a day instead of 81 and his
amendment further provided that all of the
bill be stricken out after Section /. This
would have made the measure provide for
an assistant postmaster only. Mr.. Stutes-
man desired TO be heard on the matter.
He intimated that the action of the COM
mittee in recommending that two stem
ographers be employed was a concession to
the minority, the committees amend
ment provided that one stenographer be
employed to do the work of the speaker
and the majority and the other to be
known as the stenographer for the mi
norIty.
why this concession is made to the
minority" said Mr.. Statesman, "the gen.
tlemen who favor this bill can probably
explain" Mr. Statesman said he did not
wait to be misunderstood In the matter
He went on. to point out that one of these
stenographers would be at the beck and
call of sixty-one members and the other
would have only thirty-one members to
work for. One, he suggested, would be
fairly inundated with work the first
twenty-four hours. He thought this would
be an unfair distribution of work Be-
sides. the gentleman from Miami held, il
would be too much of an expense to en-
ploy two Of these women at a salary of S.
a day. His plan was to allow two women
the privilege of doing work in the House
ut a price to be agreed on, each member
paying for his own work. Mr.. Statesman
additional page, contending that there are
a sufficient number of pages now en-
ployed. Mr.. Statesman asserted that he
had no objection TO making concessions to
political complexion, but because the ac-
tion was unusual and unnecessary Mr..
Davis, of Greene county, member of the
minority. said he was in favor of~economy,
mans position was proper one. Mr.
Marshall, of Tippecanoe county, facetious-
ly offered resolution providing that Sec
tions and of the bill be amended by
striking out the words ''the speaker of the
House." and inserting therein "the of
ficial plunder committee. consisting of
Joseph b. Kealing. George F. Mccullough
and James p. Goodrich" The bill as re-
ported by the committee passed the House
by a vote of 73 10 IS. 1t was passed under
a suspension of the rules. Two young
women, Mrs. Daisy D. Jordan and Miss
Florence Pugh, have type-writing ma
chimes in room adjoining the House and
have been doing the work for members
Il is understood that the speaker IS to ap-
point the two special stenographers. The
minority will ask that Miss Zoe Quain-
tance. OF Logansport, be appointed to do
the work for the minority.
A BUSY MORNING.
The House spent a busy morning. The
roll of counties was again called for the
introduction of bills and number of meas
ures Were introduced. Representative Nc
Carty introduced his bill TO purify the
election ballot this being a Democratic
measure. Several bills providing that the
official acts of several towns be legalized
were introduced and passed under a sus-
pension OF the rules. Among the towns
were English. Crawford county. and Gen.
tTNNlile. CptUttf toNnte. n Dill regulating
the taking of fish from the waters of the
state was introduced by MIR. Trout 1t was
suggested that Trout was an appropri-
ate name TO be connected with a fish law.
Representative Kirkman introduced a
measure affecting the game laws of the
State. The bill is designed for the protec-
| ton and preservation of game. Under
| its provisions the 'closed season. would
be from Jan. l 10 nov. / each year. II
| forbids the sale OF quail, forbids the trans
| portation OF game by common carrier and
places the closed squirrel season from
! Jan. 1 to June and from Oct. TO Nov TO-
| The bill provides that the closed season
| for wild fowl shall be from April Is to
Sept. and from Oct. to Nov. no. 1t also
| forbids the taking OF wild fowl by night.