Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-09
Mangold for II, while Shelly and KoetteI
were absent when the vote was taken.
Wolf Bounty wins. Z

Wolf Bounty wins. 81 +
After a long and spirited fight between
the house and the senate 1t has been de-
cided to pay the wolf bounty claim Of S4O,-
OOO.r The decision was reached this after
noon when the senate conference, committee
receded in behalf Of the senate in cutting
out this claim and the senate adopted the
report Of the committee. This matter has
been fought out between the two houses
for three days. The house committeeman
declare that had Senator Warner not been
removed from the senate conference COM
mittee no decision would have been reached.
The majority Of the house members have
been for paying the claims since the first.
The senate cut down the claim of ex-
State Treasurer Hill from $4,000 to $4,000,
and the house had to eoncede this in order
to prevent an interminable deadlock.
Railroad Bill Fails.
The Union Pacific failed to force through
the house S. F. 202 by President Pro Tenn
Harrison of the senate, by means of which
that corporation sought to evade a portion
Of its school taxes. The bill went with
that number that were buried in the grave
yard at the final windup.
This bill sought to impose upon rural
school boards the necessity Of anticipating
at the beginning of every school year all
the expenses for that year and make out
a list Of them to be presented to the county
clerk and taken as the basis of the levy for
the maintenance Of those districts. II
this list failed to contain every cent OF ex-
pense incurred for the year it would simply
mean that the district would lose that
much. for the clerk would be powerless
to pay for anything not included IN the
list. And he would be unable to make any
levy at all where such lists were not pre-
scented. Opponents Of the lbilf pointed out
the utter folly of such a provision, holding
tina 1t would be almost impossible for any
district to anticipate to the very cent all
the expenditures 1t would make for that
year. The result would be, they declared,
the closing down Of a number of country
schools in western counties, wherein over
seventy districts the Union Pacific. was
practically the sole taxpayer. $40 .
Another provision they objected to was
that the clerk was prevented from levying
a tax greater than 20 mills. The public
school committee in the house wanted this
raised to 80 mills. Opponents feel rather
jubilant over defeating this measure which
they regarded as distinctly a railroad bill.
board Custodian of Halls.
PoNCA puEOnhbc buppiicb LOT tue
legislature and the custody of the legis-
lative halls and property have been re-
moved from the secretary of state and
vested in the board Of public lands and
buildings by the passage Of S. F. 275 and
S. F. 276 by the house today. The gov
ernor's approval is all that Is needed to
transform these bills into laws. a.,
During this session there has been a great
deal OF dissatisfaction expressed over the
law that makes the secretary of state the
purchasing agent and custodian Of legls-
lative supplies. This dissatisfaction led
to somewhat of an investigation Of certain
purchases made in recent years and the
result Of the investigation admittedly lent
substance to the determination to wrest
this function from the secretary of state.
8. F. 275 provides that the board shall
advertize for bids for supplies at least
sixty days prior to the beginning OF the
session and that the limit of stationery and
other necessary supply" purchases shall
be limited to $500 in opening the session,
S. F. 276 gives the board cuEtody Of the
house and senate halls and property. Both
measures are by Senator Cox. .