The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-21
CUT TO $1,000.
Salary of State Printer Fixed
by House.
Shop Must Be Run on Civil Ser
vice Plan.
BIG SQUABBLE ON COAL
Given What 1t Wants
After a Fight.
May Mine Coal Under the Mis-
souri, River.

After reducing the proposed salary
of the state printer from $4,000 a year
to $4,000 a year, and lacking on a
compulsory civil service provision, the
house passed the state printery bill
Monday afternoon by a vote of IS to 0.
In committee of the whole the house
changed the name of the board which
is composed of the secretary of state,
attorney general and state printer. It
will be known as the state printing
commission, instead of the commission
on public printing. The board has
authority to decide what shall be
printed by the various departments.
The head of the department can issue
a requisition for what he wants in the
printing line, but the requisition must
have the o. K. of the board before it
can be executed by the printer.
w. Y. Morgan, ex-stase printer, was
the man who put through the civil
service amendment. The amendment
had the approval of W. B. Ham,
chairman of the house committee on
printing. and of George E. Tucker,
chairman of the senate committee on
printing. The amendment is as fol-
lows:
"An operating departments of the
state printing and binding plant shall
be under civil service rules TO this ex-
tent, viz; Employees may be dis
charged for the following reasons, and
for none other: For incompetency, for
neglect of duty, for violation of office
rules, or to decrease the force; in the
latter case seniority In service shall
govern. Upon demand reasons for dis
charge shall be given in writing.
After the amendment had been
passed an effort was made to secure a
reconsideration. ''BilI' Hackney said
that the state printer should be sole
boss of the concern, and should chop
off a Of 4 ~,<,f
suit him, politically or any other way.
Mr.. Morgan replied that the great
danger of the state printing plant
would be the development, under the
machine. He said that the proposed
amendment simply put into legal
effect the rule already in existence at
the state printing plant.
The proposal to reconsider the civil
service amendment was defeated by a
vote of "a to 26.
The motion to cut the salary from
$4,000 to $4,000 was made by W. P.
Robert Stone championed the $4,000
plan. He said the chances are that
all the salaries of state officers will be
raised to $4,000 two years from now,
and that the first state printer should
be allowed as much as his successors.
Speaker Stubs was opposed to this.
He said the state printer should not
be paid any more than any other
rails cone, let's raise ALL he said.
Haekney's amendment cutting the
salary to $4,000 was carried.
Mr.. Kirkland then moved that in
view of the reduction in pay, the state
stand the expense of the 500 900 bond
which the printer is required to give.
This proposed amendment carried.
After being favorably reported from
the committee of the whole the bill
was put on third reading and passed
a above stated.
Atchison Gets the Coal.
Atchison's effort to secure from the
state the right to mine coal under the
Kansas half of the Missouri river for
a distance of five miles on the Atchi-
son river front was nearly frustrated
by the house of representatives on
Monday afternoon
The bill finally squeezed through,
after a call of the house, by a vote of
65 to 80.
When the first roll call was finished,
the bill had only As votes, twenty less
than a constitutional majority. The
doors of the house were locked. and
by bringing in absent members, aided
by a large number of members who
changed their votes, the necessary 63
votes were at last secured.
Topeka made itself solid with Atch-
ison. Representative Bird made a
speech in favor of the bill.
Mr.. ALBANIAN of Atchison led the
fight for the bill. He proposed as an
amendment to the bill that instead of
paying 1 cent per ton royalty to the
state, the company would pay $40 per
acre for the coal rights. The rights
desired cover about 125 acres under
the river. The amendment proposed
was as follows:
THAT when said coal or any part
of it shall have been mined, the Atchi-
son Coal & Mining company and its
successors and assigns shall pay into
the state treasury a royalty of forty
dollars per acre for each and every
acre mined; provided, further, if at
any time hereafter said Atchison Coal
& Mining company shall enter into
any combination. trust or agreement