Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1904-03-02
V|C|0RYN)2 IOWA UNIONS
Bill Making Wages Subject to
Garnishment Defeated.
FAvOR BIENNIAL ELECTIONS.
House Passes Measure Which Has A.
ready Been Passed by the Senate.
Two Bills Introduced Directed
Against Railroads.


| ness of considerable importance has
been transacted by the legislature
| during the past week. AS a general
| proposition the Thirtieth general as
| sembly promises to make good rec
| ord for work. The number of bills in
| PRODUCED is considerably less than
usual at this date in the session. and
the committees are doing their work
with neatness and dispatch. as the
| number of bills reported each day for
indefinite suspension" shows.
| There are many cases where bills
call for close discussion. but only one
bill during the past week has devel-
oped the oratorical as well as argu-
mentative powers of the members.
The bill in question was the one
| urged by a number Of the retailers
| associations, providing that 25 per
| cent of the wages of the head of the
| family should at all times be subject
| to punishment proceedings for debts
contracted for the necessaries Of life.
| This bill went to its death in the
house under the sledge hammer blows
of Temple, Kendall, Hart, Jepson and
others, and in spite of the fact that
the majority of the committee on ways
and means recommended it for pas
sage, the house by a decided vote sub
stituted the minority report of the
committee for that of the majority and
indefinitely postponed the bill. Unfor
tunately one of the supporters of the
bill admitted that it was not expected
that 25 per cent of the wages of the
head of the family would amount to
much in the way of extinguishing
debts, but that the moral effect" of
the law would be to prevent people
contracting debts unless they intend
ed to pay them. The opponents of the
measure took this admission as the
keynote and argued that it was simply
expected that the bill would become
the means of harassing the poor debt
or. The fact that the labor organiza-
tions opposed the bill cut considerable
| figure also, but it was the strong
speech of Representative Temple
which contributed most to its final
fate The hall of the house was
crowded with spectators during the
debate.
For Biennial Elections.
The resolutions for constitutional
amendments providing for biennial
elections and for fixing the member
ship of the senate at fifty and provid-
ing that each county shall have one
member of the house and those hav-
ing more population than specified
number two members, but the total
membership of the house shall not
| exceed 10S, have passed both houses
and now go to the people for ratifica-
| tion or rejection The woman suffrage
amendment seems to be quiescent, at
| least the committee has not reported
as yet
| Much work Is being done in commit
tee on the drainage bills. 1t is ex-
| pected that a committee bill will be
constructed in course of another week
that will meet the approval of those
more directly interested, and when re
ported it will probably be passed
without any difficulty. The drainage
district plan seems to be the one
which is liable to be adopted. but the
difficulty is in arranging the districts.
Iowa's Exhibit at st. Louis.
The bill which passed the senate
| providing for an additional appropria-
tion for the Louisiana Purchase expo
sition commission of $4,000 led to a
rather interesting discussion of the
showing that Iowa will make at the
st. Louis fair. Senator Lewis, chair
man of the joint committee which
went to st. Louis to report on the
work done by the commission, called
up the bill in the senate. in answer
to questions, he explained that when
the commission laid out the work
they arranged for rather more extern
sive exhibit than the original appro-
priation would warrant, and when
they got the matter well in hand they
concluded that the people of our state
would not be satisfied with any cur
tailment Of the showing they had orig
inally determined upon, and so they
asked for more money. The wants
of the various superintendent of de.
partments, etc. aggregated about
$4,000. but the committee after Civ:
ing the subject careful investigation
and going upon the ground, had con.
Guided to cut this amount down to
$4,000. He said that $4,000 OF the
original appropriation had been get
apart for agricultural exhibits and Of
the $4,000 additional which the com
mittee recommended. $4,000 was also
to be used for that purpose. II is in
tended to divide the agricultural ex-
hibit into four sections: Live stock,
horticulture. dairying and purely agri-
cultural exhibit. consisting Of grains,
seeds, etc. Senator Lewis said that
the people OF Iowa would have no rea.
| son to be ashamed of the showing the
| state would make at the big fair
The house committee on appropria-
tions has recommended an appropria.
| ton of $4,000 to build a fire-proof
hall on the state fair grounds for hor.
| ticulture and other exhibits.
The committees on suppression OF
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