Woodruff County news., 1903-03-26
WEDNESDAY. MARCH le.

WEDNESDAY,. MARCH 1s.
 Representative Hale's bill seeking to abolish the railroad commission was de- feated in the house by a vote of 21 to g after a debate which occupied almost the entire day.
 The senate passed MT Campbell's bill appropriating $20,000 for the purpose of redigesting the statutes of Arkansas and giving the supreme court power to appoint the digester.
 In the senate the Keel antitrust bill was taken from the table and placed upon the calendar.
 The Senate.
 The first business taken up was H. B. No Campbell of PulaskD, which pro vides for the appointment by the su- preme court of redigester of the sta tutes and appropriating S20,000 for the printing of the same.
 motion to postpone was lost and the bill was placed on third reading.
 Senator Covington spoke in opposi- tion to the bill. He said that there seemed to him to be a movement on foot on the part of certain members of the senate as well as of the house to take away from the governors office every Yestige of the appointive power.
 Senator Sengel spoke in favor of the bill and said he hoped the senate would place the appointing power in the hands of the supreme court.
 Senator Wood favored the bill. He said that in his opinion the appointing of the digester should be taken out of politics. He said the supreme court was the proper tribunal in which to invest the power.
 Senator Wilson urged the passage of the bill
 Senator's Hardy and Caldwell spoke in opposition to the measure
 On roll call the vote stood: Ayes IA; noes g.
 Senator Caldwell called the chairs at tention to the fact that it required a two-th;ris vote to pass the bill
 Senator w lson contended that under the constitution it requires only ma- jority vote to appropriate money for such purpos QuC ting the pr me courts ciSion Cn t: e stlte hcusa mt ter.
 The chair ruled that t'e bill failed t0 pas not rec iv.ng a two-t irds ma jority.
 Senator Wood moved to appeal from the decision of the ar. which appeal was sustained by vote of 13 to II.
 The prt sident then announced that the bill hal pass1d.
 Senator Wilson moved to take the Keel anti-tr st bill from the table, and tn, motion WIS carried, and the bill plac on the. cal9ndar subject to call.
 s. B. 152. prohibiting the removal of surveyors landmarks, was taken up and passed.
 The House.
 II. B. 401 (Hale), abolshing the rail- road commission, occupied almost the entire days session.
 MT. Kerwin of Jefferson occupied over two hours with an argument in oppoSi- tion to the bill.
 He said that the railroad commits sion was of benefit to a great number of people. and that the passage of this bill would be a step backward of at least ten years in the commerce of the state. He said the railroads were the only ones who suffered because of the existence of the commission.
 The speaker stated that he had a let ter in his pocket from one concern that had saved enough money by the reduced rates to pay the entire expense of the commission for four years.
 MT. Toney spoke in favor of the bill. He said that in his opinion only the big shippers got the benefit from the com mission and the people who paid most of the taxes received no benefit. He said the commission was a detriment to the small shippers.
 MT. Butler urged the passage of the bill. He said he did not believe taa commission had ever benefited poor peo- pie and his people. who were farmers wanted it abolished
 MT Perry favored the bill and re- ferred to a plank in the democratic state platform favoring enlarging the powers of the commission. According to statements of railroad people. the had cut rates on an ever age of 20 per cent
 Mir McGuigan believed in enlarging the powers of the commission. MT Holland argued that the commis- sion was useless expense
 MT. Thompson was not in favor of taking away protection from the peo- ple aid that was what the commission had gwen them.