Amador ledger., 1903-01-30
LETTER FROM SACRAMENTO.

SACRAMENTO, Jan. The past week
and this week SO far have been busy
weeks in the two houses of the legis-
lature. Possibly what has been ac-
complished has not been so great in
the number of bills passed, but the
committees have been very busy and
that is the work that tells. Because
the journal or newspapers say that
the assembly or senate adjourned at
noon after half an hour session,
that does not mean that the balance
of the time was spent in amusements
or playing cards. On the contrary,
the time the average member of.
legislative body spends in the
regular sessions is the easiest
part of his days work. 1t is the
committee work that takes time,
and it is wearing and tiresome. You
can ask some one what this or that
bill means on the floor, but in COM
mittee you must examine each de-
tail yourself, each word in fact, and
that is very tiresome. Many of the
committees sit for hours, and long
into the night, because the assembly
especially, is getting through with
its daily work very rapidly, and
thanks to speaker Fiske, who holds
every one down strictly to the laws
and rules of the house, committees
have to be alive to keep the calendar
or file filled.
Another innovation this year has
been made by the committee on ways
and means which formerly kept all
the appropriation bills to the end of
the session, and then rushed them
through in block, thus giving very
little time fordebate. Dunlap, how
ever, is reporting them from time to
time as other bills are reported
from other committees, and thus
they are coming up daily on the file.
The scheme is a good one, and there
is no reason why it could not have
been done long ago. In fact the Sc
lection of Fiske for speaker and
Dunlap for chairman of the ways and
means has turned out splendidly,
much better than if their positions
were reversed, although Fiske in the
last session made very good chair
man of the ways and means COM
mittee. But he is much quicker
than Dunlap, and Dunlap is just
suited by temperament for the chair
manship of committee like that of
the ways and means committee,
where there are many details to be
attended to.
The mining bill, providing for an
inspector of mines, is again with the
committee, but it will soon be before
the assembly again. 1t will un-
doubtedly pass the lower house, but
there is very strong opposition to
it in the senate, and it will take a
very strong effort on the part of the
miners to get it through. 1t is
understood that it will be opposed
by senator Belshaw as the leader of
the opposition, with senator Ralston
to help him out.
Senator Ralston, by the way, has
been unfortunate enough to get
mixed up with bill that was given
him to introduce by the secretary of
| the Petroleum Miners Association,
but which no doubt was concocted
and prepared by the Standard Oil
Company. 1t proposes to raise the
test on oil for boiler purposes so
high that not over ten per cent of
the oil of the state would be avail
able for fuel. The senator himself
says that the bill is decidedly
buggy" " and that it must be amend
ed so much that little of it as it was
originally framed will be left. Loco
motives were to be exempt from the
provisions of the bill, which in itself
shows that it was a dangerous
measure, and there are other peculiar
features about it. The senator has
called meeting of the oil men Mon
day to discuss the matter.
Assemblyman McKenney went
south last Friday to visit the Whit
tier reform school. He was accom-
panied by his wife and child, and en-
loyed the trip immensely, although
it was very brief. He speaks in the
most enthusiastic terms of the Whit
tier school, and says they have the
finest entertainment hall he ever
saw in state institution anywhere.
He hopes to be able to help the
Preston school improve its buildings
so that it will be like the southern
establishment.
While the senatorial and assembly
committees have not decided when
they will go to lone, it is very prob
able that the visit will be Maid next