Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-03-26
Our Jackson Letter.
JACKSON, March "a. '04

JAChouN. MdICu 81 VI
Editor of the Beacon
We virtually adjourned Saturday
night, for 1t was understood that while
the speaker and lieutenant-governor
and a few Of the members would ,tay
until the final adj )urnment on Tuesday
to be in session to receive the bills signed
by the governor, the most Of the mem
bers left for their homes, and lsgisla
ton for this session was at an end. ]
told the speaker that | would stay until
Tuesday il he wished it. or thought 1t
necessary. and he said mo- that ! had
been in my seat all the time and that he
would excuse me. for there would be
no quorum, and the local members
would be enough to meet and receive
the bills signed DO the governor and ad-
journ the house on Tuesday. This last
week we have had a trough house all
the tims-almost impossible to keep or.
| der. Every member Is anxious to get
his pet bill tn, ough. and 1t was hard to
get any legislation enacted.
On last day we got a motion through
the house allowing us to take Senate
bills (that is bills that had passed the
s%enate) that would likely be nnobjsc.
| tionable to the house. and we passed
sixteen at once. We got the bill
amending the act in regard 10 the mayor
of a town practicing law in this lot
This was the bill that oar good friend
Jarnagin Barnes had asked us to try and
have enacted.
We also passed the bill forbidding
the sale Of fertilizers below a certain
standardg and | hope it passed the sen
ate. | asked our senator and others of
my friends oyer there to look after it.
Hon. Walter Hubbard had asked us to
try and get this act passed as he thought
it would be very beneficial to all the
farmers who had to buy fertilizers, as
they were imposed upon by the sale OF
inferior goods.
There has been a contr ouersy pending
for about two years between the states
of Mississippi and Louisiana yer their
boundary line on the coast that effects
the oyster men Of our state very mate
rally. Mississippi brought suit before
the supreme court Of the United States
to settle this question during the time
that Hon. Monroe McClurg was attor.
ney general Of the State. He com
mencsd the suit aad then resigned his
| position and was retained by Governor
Longino to defend this suit and had also
engaged Hon. Hannis Taylor of Wash.
| ington to assist him. The fee Of these
gentlemen was to be fixed by this legis.
lature. These gentlemen fixed their fee
at $40. 900, half to be paid at once and
the other half at the end of suit; $4,000
for expenses, and SIS. 900 to be paid by
the oyster commission if they VOL the
suit. They had letters from eminent
attorneys testifying that this was o mod
crate fee. You never saw All attorney
| who would not swear the fee OF his
brother attorney was a moderate
one. So the senate finally passed the
| bill and it came to the House. Morri.
son of Grenada, led the fight against it,
and we were engaged on this for several
days. Brooks of NoIubee offered an
amendment, paying $4,000 in cash and
a contingent fee of $50. 900 if they won
the suit. The friends Of the bill were
strong enough to vote down all amend
ments but could not pass the bill. for as
IL carried an appropria.;., Il ~.,cnired
the constitutional majority-67, and
they could not get this. Morrison
charged that MoClurg had resigned just
to take this position and now had ap.
pointed Longino as commissioner and all
| WcTc III lOT u Slaltb uiu ho'
know about the graft business, but
| thought the fee excessive and voted
against the bill. We finally agreed tc
allow 50. 900 for expenses and let the
next legislature settle the fee and pay
what they had earned. They declined
this and we finally killed the bill and
| the governor can appoint attorneys to
take the case, pay expenses out Of the
contingent fund and the legislature two
years from now can pay what they
think they have earned. The attorneys
on our side claimed that we had no
show to win and this was the reason that
these gentle men would not take a con-
tingent fee, however large we might
make it.
The senate refused to pass our pension
tbill and we had to appoint conference
committee and they finally agreed on a
WH"