The Green Forest tribune., 1903-01-24
WAS X SENSATIONAL START
Report of the First Weeks Leg.
 is1ature Proceedings.
Special Correspondence.


 Special Correspondence.
 The first week of the Thirty fourth general assembly is over, and 1t has been a sensational one.
 The organization of both sen- ate and house was completed with rather more speed than is usual, and both bodies are now down to hard work, with Senator J. l.. Short presiding in the upper, and John Ike Moore in the lower house. J. Fletcher Harley is secretary of the senate and A. s. Hayes clerk of the house. The feature of the week was the gov ernor's message. It was deliver ed hot from the griddle, and if his statements and insinuations are to be relied upon, Arkansas is surely to be pitied. But, are they to be taken seriously? We believe it will take more than the mere sayso of Governor Davis to convince the people of this state that our secretary of state, au- ditor, attorney general and com missioner of mines, mining and agriculture, are common williams and boodlers. The general opinion among all classes in Little Rock is that the governor over- shot his mark. All sorts of in- vestigating committees will be appointed by the general as- sembly and all matters unsatis- factory to the governor and roasted in his message, will be thoroughly ventilated, and your readers will get the facts ad- duced, regardless of who it strikes.
 As to the convict farm, it is probable that the state paid all that it was worth. It is darkly hinted that there is a large sized nigger in that woodpile, but no one couples the aforementioned Ethiopian with the names of any member of the board. We are not at this time well enough in formed to make a statement of just where the nigger is from or what his name is, but by another week we hope to give both the public and the governor all the facts in regard to this sale.
 The governors roast of the superintendent of the peniten- tiary may be o. K., but Jeff is to blame for the superintendent. It was the governor who nom- mated him, and it was the gov ernor's influence which elected him. In a signed statement General Murphy states that the trouble between the governor and the superintendent was brought about because Hogins refused to appoint the governors brother in Jaw electrician at the penitentiary. As soon as the penitentiary report is published we will give the facts in the case as they appear from the record.
 Senator Sengel, of Fort Smith, took a day off Friday and went back at the governor in a way that brought him from his office in his shirt sleeves. Anyone who knows Senator Sengel knows that he thought he was right. One thing certain, the governor and legislature ssare at outs." They differ on almost everything, and it is for the public to guess at who is right.
 The governor threshed over the old straw of the Arkansas Brick & Manufacturing company's con- tract, and asks the legislature to recind that contract. Gov. Davis is the only member of the present penitentiary board who signed this contract. The courts have acted upon the matter, and it is hardly probable that the legislature will take any action. Governor Davis recommendation in regard to the Worlds Fair ap- propriation, the insane asylum and other charitable institutions meet the approval of everybody. The state capitol, however, seemed to strike the legislators in a tender spot. From what we can learn, there is a determina- ton to build upon the site select-