Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-04-07
DEFERRED 1HE BILL
House Suddenly Yields to De-
mand For Time to Con-
slider 1t
BOARD OF REGENTS BILL FAILS
Conservatism of the House overcame
Passions Aroused by fractional Crit
cism and Postponed the Board of
Control For Colleges Scheme For
More Mature Deliberation.
Special to Times-RepubMcan.

| Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, April 1.-THE scheme to
have board of regents for the state
educational institutions will lie over for
| two years for the action of the Thirty
| first general assembly. 1t met defeat in
| the house when it was referred to a
committee for killing and there was
| nothing left for that committee to do
but to report the bill for slaughter
/ and to recommend that a Joint COM
mittee be named to take it into consid-
| the whole subject of having one board
to handle the Immense business OF the
educa tional institutions. a committee
will be appointed to make a thorough
investigation. 1t will consider what
should be done to place the educational
institutions on business basis as to
their financial management and to eff
feet coordination of forces and work
| in educational lines. Much will depend
on the character of that committee as
| to whether or not the scheme will be
! ripe for consideration two years hence.
Speaker Clarke, of the house. is known
| to be strongly in favor of the oneboard
| plan and he will certainly appoint a ia
vorabla committee, and it is regarded
as certain the senate committee will be
| of like mind.
What killed the board of regents bill
was the fact that its consideration was
necessarily at time when there was
not the time or opportunity to give 1t
| full and fair consideration. A bin of
! that character should be given great
care. This was not possible now. The
plea to the house was that the board
was to be one of the most important
ever created in the state and the de-
tails of the law should be worked out
| TO perfection in committees and in the
| open houses. To pass the bill now would
| require that 1t be passed under suspen-
sion OF the rules and without opportun-
L ty for consideration CT the measure in
committee ard no chance io4 amend
ment Further, 1t was recognized that
to pass it now would mean that the
legislature would be kept in session
several days longer than otherwise. To
get the bill passed, enrolled, signed,
printed, the appointments made and
confirmed under the bill. would take at
least week of work the very best that
could be done. With all these things
against it the bin went down in the
house by vote of 80 to Al, though
there is not a particle of doubt in the
minds of the leaders that there were at
least sixty votes for the bill on it's mer
Its.
Bad Blood Stirred Up.
There was great deal of bad blood
stirred up in the closing discussions on
the board of regents bill. The words of
members were filled with intense earn
estness. One of the members of the
house who laid plainly before the house
the necessity for the board declared
afterwards in private that he had held
himself in restraint, that he did not feel
that he dared say all that he felt or
tell all that he knew, that out of a de-
sire not to injure any state institution
he was under constant restraint. On the
other hand, the friends of the different
state institutions feel resentful towards
1T is an attack on the state university
direct" one would say. 1T means that
the state university is to be ruined and
that deliberately and purposely.' de-
clared another. The state college is
to be dismembered." said still another.
And so the argument ran ofl--some OF
it in all sincerely and some of II for
a purpose. But 1t will go on the rec
ort7s that in the Thirtieth general as
sembly there was clear dlVision-ons
side determined upon placing the edu-
cationSl institutions under one board
for their own good and for the good
of the state, the other side equally de-
ermined upon retaining the present sys-
fem in a belief that to do otherwise
would mean terrible ruin to the educa-
tional interests of the state.
fractional Politics.
About the meanest part of the whole
situation was an attempt made the past
few days to drag it in factional politics
by a defense of the institutions under
g1ise Of an attack on the governor or
the state. 1t was deliberately planned
that the movement, as last resort.
should be shifted to a scheme for an
elective board of regents after the style
in Nebraska, and this on the theory
that to permit the board to be nomi-
mated by the present governor would ne
helping to build UP "a Cummins ma
chine The story was started that
Gov. Cummins had already picked the
men for the place, or that certain poll
ticians had picked the men for him,
that they would be named his political
henchmen," that they would be obnox-
ious to the friends of the institutions,
etc. 1t was declared that the governor
Is not the kind of man to be entrusted
with such power and he would be UNI
safe AS a matter of fact, according to
members Of the present boards who
have served with Governor Cumnins
he has manifested greater real interest
in the educational institutions than any
governor the state has ever had. that
he has demonstrated his deep interest
in every possible way. But the delib-
crate stirring up of the possible poli-
tical phases of the subject served its
purpose for a day and had Its part to
play in postponing action.
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FIRST GAME SATURDAY..
cI.A ratIaa. aud Ainhland Park VIII