The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-02-21
SENATE ADOPTS
HAHN AMENDMENT
Majority Of Both Houses Fav0rs
AbOlishing Wheels.
COMPULSORY PILOT BILL
Defeated 10 House by Vote Of IS 10 10
DefsIeatlon Of 1900 la State Land
Office During Term Of q.
W. Davis.
(speelal to The Astorlan.)


SALEM, Feb. 2O.--After a splendidly
organized fight and by strong speech
delivered from the floor. President
Fulton succeeded In Incorporating the
Hahn amendment into the Hume sub
stitute fish bin at the afternoon ses-
sion OF the senate. with the provision
inat the section as to wheels and traps
shall not be effective until after the
close Of the fishing season Of 1901.
The scheme Of the opponents Of The
Iamendmenis as developed by their tao
ties was to avoid a direct vote on the
amendment and have ths bill and all
proposed amendments referred 10 the
senate By the fish committee. where 1t
was evidently believed by them the
bin could be held until too late for its
return 10 the house. The game did not
work. however It is true the bill was
/ finally referred. but II was not until the
senate had agreed 10 the amendments
and had also annexed the condition TO
the reference that the bill should be re-
ported back to the senate some time
! tomorrow.
! This does not imply by any means
that the amended bill will become n
law. but ii RECEIVERS nearly all the adj
vantage lost by the wheel knockers
through Colvigs tactics in the house
yesterday 1t shows also that a ma
jority Of the senate as in the house
favors the adjustment Of the wheels
land that that measure will undoubted-
IIy pass. both branches OF the legisla-
,ure. provided it can be placed before
them on its merits. This Of course,
is the exact thing the wheels advo-
Gates do not favor and will make ey-
cry effort to avoid.
Fulton win doubtless see the COM
mittee gives up the bill tomorrow and
he viii likely succeed in retaining the
amendments in the bill, but what
change may come over the views of
some Of those who stood for the
amendments today before it is put on
its fnal passage is a matter which to-
morrow viii disclose,
Another element OF uncertainty is the
question whether the amended bill can
be returned within the time required
by the rules and whether, if so re-
turned, an opportunity will occur for a
vote OF concurrence.
The next most important action of
either house today was the defeat Of the
compulsory pilot bill. which went down
in the house by a vote of 10 to 13'
McCraken, of Multnomah. led the fight
against the bill and made brilliant
speech. Eddy also made mastery ar
gumeEt opposing the principle involved
in the kind OF legislation proposed by
the bill
The special committee appointed TO
examine the books of the state land
office has reported that defalcatlon of
$4,000 was discovered in the depart
merit. the shortage having occurred in
1854 and when Geo. W. Davis handled
the school funds. 1t appears that the
records were falsified by credit being
taken for payments to the state treas
urer greater in amount than were ac-
tually made In some cases this was
accomplished by taking credit twice
for one payment while in other cases
the first entries were changed so as
J to increase the amounts.
The first changes appear under date
of August l, 1894, and the last on jan
uary Il. 1895 An inspection of the
books shows that the alterations We're
very crude the erasures being rough
and u sone cases a different shade of
ink being used. Davis went out Of
office July l, 1895. His official bond was
only $1,000, with Geo. G. Bingham and
E. p. Mccormack, as surety Davis is
we'll known in Salem and stands high
in social. fraternai and political cir
Giles. What the next step in the pro-
ceedings will be is not now known.