Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-03-24
.A NEGLECTED. Duty
The Retrenchment and Reform
Committee Somewhat Dila.
tory in Its Movements.
An Early Organization contem-
plated by the Law Which
Created 1t.
Bill Offered by Attorney General
Mullan to Regulate Certain
Land Concerns.
,pecial to Times-Republican.

/ Des Moines, March 24.-The statu
tory committee on retrenchment and re
form will do some work this week. The
| committee has at last organized Will
Senator Junkin as chairman. AT thu
meeting to organize neither ME. Iem'
pie nor Mr.. Healy We're present. Tht
ether members of the committee art
Clarke, Garst and Hughes. This com.
mittee ought, Ii the spirit of the law Il
to be complied with, to have been or
ganized early in the session that i
might have had before this time some
of it's recommendations before the leg.
! islature. The committee is provided
! for in the revised statutes and 1t was
/ planned that this committee should
every two years go thru tlV state office:
I and departments and report to the leg.
1 islature on all matters connected there
with. In accordance with the law tht
lexecutive council employed accountant:
! to go thru the books of all the state
offices for the entire period and to make
|
| the state of the accounts, but on the
methods pursued and the good or bae
things in the way the business is con.
Quoted. The report of these accountant:
| to the executive council has been ac.
cessible from the first day of the ses.
sion. The report is volu1ninous, cover
ing not only the accounts. but every.
thing connected with the offices. A
great many matters are touched upor
| that need some attention. There are
suggestions of changes in the manner
OF bookkeeping, in the manner Of doing
business and in the laws which govern
| in some cases. This report is full OF
meat for legislators Jealous for gooc
work. 1t will be looked into this week
by the proper committee. This is the
report which contained the revelations
Iregarding the looseness with which
business was formerly done In the Sec
retary of states Office. In the effort tc
make4sensations out of this the othe,
iSsyortant matters We're largely over
| Hooked. Another report that is being
scanned by the members of the COM
mittee is the published report OF the
executive council on the accounts In
state offices, report which is more elo-
quent in what it does not contain than
in anything else. This report has al
ready been made use of on the floor OF
the senate to show the need of reforms
in some matters and the committee will
find much more in 1t of interest.
Attorney General Mullan had intro
duced in both houses this morning bills
to bring under the building and loan
laws of the state certain unincorpor-
ated concerns in other states which are
Offering town lots on payment plans
practically in line with building and
loan concerns. This is to correct an
error in the present law by which it
was found impossible to shut out GER
tain Kansas City concern doing busi-
ness in Iowa.
When the house came to consider the
senate amendments to the interurban
railway bill this morning it was as
serted that the amendments which had
been added by the senate would COM
pletely destroy the bill and make 1T
impossible for fnterurban railways to
carry freight within cities unless they
have condemned right of way. 1t was
charged that the senate had been in
duced to make the amendments at the
instance of owners of electric lines in
cities. The house voted unanimously
to refuse to concur in the senate
amendments. Bills were passed legal
iZing action of waterworks trustees;
concurrence in sheriff's salary bill
amendments; to provide that the state
shall purchase supplies for oil inspec-
tors: permitting health insurance. The
senate concurred in the house amend
ments to the dover interest bill and
passed bills to provide for certifying
printing and binding expenses to heads
of departments, for examination of ac-
counts by expert accountants; to grant
authority over buildings and grounds
in Des Moines to the executive council
Both houses this afternoon passed
the bill to require that there shall be
published annually complete financial
statement of the city Office in all cit
les Of the state.
Just as the house had got around to
the position of giving the senate few
lessons on how to legislate eXpedi-
tiously, the senators went to examining
the house journals to see if the house
had done everything right, and the dis
covery was made that the house is
making haste at the expense of accu-
racy. The senators say they believe in
doing everything right even If it takes
all summer. But a perusal of the house
journal shows that the record reveals
a custom of concurring in senate
amendments to the bills by a viva voce
vote. A group of senators discussed this
matter yesterday and looked up the
authorities. They reached the conclu-
sion that roll cali is essential when
amendments are concurred in. This Is
plain from the fact that the house
treats all substitutes as amendments.
An entire bill may be substituted for
another and be passed. If a house bill
which means one thing should go to the
senate and another be substituted for
Il and 1t be sent back to the house, un-
der the present custom. the substitute
could be adopted without roll call. The
courts wouldn't stand for that kind of
legislation at all. The constitution pro-
vides that on the final passage Of a bill
the roll must be called and the yeas and,
nays be entered In the journals. But
-