Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1906-01-19
THE MISSISSIPPI
LEGISLATURE
OUR CORRESPONDENTS WEEK
LIZ LETTER.
THE SOLONS' DAILY GRIND
Subjects f Legislation Recommended
and Acted Upon From Day to Day.
House and Senate Bills Passed and
Other Items of General Interest.

The following were the pricipal fea-
lures before the legislature last week /:
A resolution memorializing congress
to appropriate 100000 for suitable
monument in the Vicksburg Military
Park, commemorating the heroism of
Anglo-American soldiers.
The house voted to reconsider the
resolution providing for a committee
to act upon leave absence of mem
bers at this session and after a very
lengthy debate tabled the resolution.
The speaker was authorized to ap-
point two stnegraphers for use Of
members at salary of not more than
$500 per day.
A resolution was also introduced
calling on congress to pay the state
of Mississippi the sum of $4,000,
which was spent last year for quaran-
tine expenses.
The senate adopted a resolution
paying the code commissioners half
of their stipend. The commissioners
are allowed 81 900 each under the res
olution which was passed and sent
Immediately to the house.
Mr.. Barber of Harrison introduced
in the house a bill which is designed
to extend the powers of the railroad
! cmmisSion so as to make them prac-
tieally independent of the courts in
the matter of enforcing their orders
and decrees.
The bill provides that the railroad
commission "shall be a court Of rec
ord, and all orders, judgments an dde-
crees made by said commission shall
be final, unless there shall be an ap-
peal from the same to the supreme
court of Mississippi within 80 days
after such final order, etc., has been
rendered" It will be observed that
the commission Is given authority to
determine its cases regardless of the
circuit judges and chancellors, and
that appeals from it go direct to the
supreme court. Such appeals, how
ever, are not to operate as a superse-
IDEAS unless the commission itself ex-
pressly agree and direct that it shall
so operate.
The bill further amends the chapter
on railroad commission so as to re-
Auire the conductor of a train in case
of serious accident involving lives Of
passengers, or other employe if the
conductor be disabled, to go at once
to the nearest telegraph station and
report fully to the depot agent or
telegraph operator the details of said
accident, giving if possible, names of
killed and injured. 1t is then made
the duty of such depot agent or tel
egraph operator on the line within the
state of Mississippi, of such accident
and all details thereof, and each and
every agent is then required to post
the facts of such accident with names
of dead and injured, if possible, on
bulletin board in the passenger depot.
The proposition to sell the old state
fcapitol is growing in favor since it
has been seen that the sale of the pro-
perty will go far toward bringing the
state through without much of a new
bond issue. The property, including
the park donation on which the Con-
federate monument stands, ought to
bring on present valuation here, about
100000. Some objection to selling
the monument site has been raised by
the soldiers, but it is argued that the
state could better afford to move the
monument to the new capitol grounds
and pay the expenses of moving, ra-
ther than keep the property tied up
doing nothing while the state is need
ing revenues and has no use for the
property.
It is pointed out that the $500,00C
of bonds due next January are bearing
6 per cent interest and could easily
be refunded for or and one-hah
per cent. The sale of the capitol
property would pay all of the money
that the state had to borrow last
year.
The governor informed the house
he had signed bill appropriating mon
ey to defray expenses of special ses-
sion.
Mr.. Denton called up H. B. 81, au-
thorizing supervisors to donate money
to erect Confederate monuments te
dead, both men and women, of theil
respective counties.
An elective Judiciary amendment
introduced in both bodies is as fol
lows: