Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-21

permit railroads 70 Increase bonded In
debtedness, ca to 10.
III report Of the conference committee
on the Hoar bill In congress was adopted,
~ to Is, but the compromise resolution was
not voted on.
Redistricting the state.
There is now no prospect Of any redIs-
tricting Of the state In the matter Of con-
gressional districts, as the committees have
been unable to agree on anything. The
matter has been entirely dropped. A bill
Is pending In the senate to make a redis-
%tricting Of the senatorial districts, and this
lie being changed from week to week in the
hope that some bill may be liked up that
will meet with the approval OF a majority
Of the members. In the house a bill was
reported from the committee today to
change the representative districts. This
takes from Lee and Des Moines counties
their extra representatives each and leaves
only seven Of the counties with two, as fol-
lows: Polk, Pottawattamie, Woodbury..
Linn, Dubuque, Scott and Clinton. The fol-
lowing are the districts comprising more
than two counties: Lyon-osceola, Diekin-
son-Emmet, Clay-Palo Alto, Ida-Monona,
Humboldt Hancock and winnebago Worth.
All other counties have one representative
each. II is believed this will pass, although
It is highly Objectionable to the democrats
from the fact that It takes two representa-
tives from strong democratic counties
Iowa War CIaims,e-
II IL now asserted. that II the position
taken by the auditor of the Treasury de-
partment, who came to Des Moines some
time ago to 90 over the war claims. is &C
cepted by the treasury auditors the state Of
Iowa will get less han 500, 900 from the
United States. The question involved Is a
legal one, but the auditor commended that
under previous rulings only about the sum
named caald be considered as a debt Of the
government. II this Is true there will be
disappointment in the legislature because
It has been generally accepted that the sum
to be recovered would be much larger. There
is hoping that the auditor will be over
ruled at Washington.
Bill for shot Firers.
The committee on mines and mining has
agreed to a bill which will provide as fol-
lows in regard 20 the safety OF Iowa coal
miners, which bill is in line with what has
been asked by. the miners at their state
convention recently held: He fthe opera
tori shall keep all entries and roadways
free from accumulations of combustible
material and shall cause such entries and
roadways to be thoroughly sprlnkled as
often as may be necessary to keep them in
q damp condition. In all mines where coal
Is blasted from the solid he shall employ
| competent, capable and experienced men to
examine all shots and to IRE the same
after all persons connected with said mine,
except said shot hrers, have retired to a
safe distance from the vicinity from such
shots. Any shot having blown the tamp-
ing at the FIRST firing shall not be recharged
and fred the second time. Only sand, soil
and clay hall be used for tamping and the
shot hole shall be tamped solidly from the
powder to the mouth OF the hole"
Joint Scale Committee.
Today's session Of the joint scale COM
mlttee of miners and operators brought no
result as to the shot firing provision. The
| discussion this morning was opened by the
miners committee and a brief statement
Of the case called for lively arguments on
both sides. The operators put their feet
down against inserting any sort Of clause
relating to employment OF shot nrers unless
Il is provided that the miners shall pay the
| oxpeub0 anu oO9E nv TNoPOd0sphheyg aho
there was also objection by the operators
to paying for the powder and clay used.
Very little objection was heard as to the
firing Of shots at the noon hour as PRO-
posed.
1t 10 apparent that when the Joint COM
mittee gets right down to business on the
shot firing question both sides will be
Obliged to make concessions, or there Is
little likelihood Of an agreement before
April 1.
Miners Reach Agreement
The miners and operators late today came
to a practical agreement IN all matters re-
iatlng 70 the mine wage scale in Iowa, and
II IL now believed q strike will be averted
aad that the scale will be adopted within
I few days. io
IgnOre the Charges.
The grand Jury has ignored charges pre-
ferred against p. Stephen Harris, the Dali
las county attorney, who was connected
with the Persons advertisement proceedings
before Justice Duncan a year ago, and re-
fused 70 return an Indictment charging him
with smbeEElement- Harris was impli-
Gated In a deal last summer in which Mrs
Sarah Persons Is said to have lost $1,000,
He was arrested once on the charge of en-
bezEiinE, but dismissed. Charges were then
preferred against him n the matter taken
to the grand Jury. .. q
Hearing on Railroad Ball.
The house ways and means COMMITTEES
this afternoon commenced n hearing on the
bill, which passed the senate, to provide
for assessing the railroad property OF the
state IN a different way. The representa-
tives Of the railroad companies appeared
before the committee and presented theiI
pleas. The hearings will continue several
days. ~n
Son Of Captain Hull TO Wed.
Wedding announcements for the marriage
49, - u.tt a. AEt.a 49,,