The state herald., 1907-03-08
LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND GOSSIP

act OF House bill lSS, by ColiinS, WHICH
passed the House on second reading
yesterday, when 1t becomes law. The-
bill Is a re-enactment of the present
law with the following addition: "Or
who shall buy, accept or use. or have
In his or her possession any cigar, ci-
garette or tobacco In any form, or
opium, or cocaine. or any other mar.
cotic in fny form" This makes 1t a
crime for any youth under eighteen
years OF age to smoke or have In his
possession cigarettes. cigars or to-
bacco. The Collins bill. providing for
punishment Of persons guilty OF con.
tributing to juvenile delinquency.
known as House bill 1856. was passed
on second reading. The penalty is
fixed at IA maximum OF a $1,000 fine,
or Imprisonment OF one year in jail.
When the House went into COMMITTEES
Of the whole Monday. a debate came
up over the proper local option bill to
be given consideration. The bill at
The head OF the calepdar was H. b.
50, Watson. The author stated that
his bill was almost identical with 8. d.
40, Drake, and he moved the substitu.
ton of the latter. Mr.. Kelly moved
an amendment that II. B. 157. his To-
cal option measure be substituted for
the Watson bill. Mr.. Mckenzie fav.
cIed the substitution of the Senate
I'LL, as he feared any other action
might induce the Senate to take out
its spleen on House bills. Mr. Redd
spoke in favor OF carrying out all OF
the demands OF the Republican plat
form. The quickest way to act on the
local option matter was to take up M
Lii already passed by the Senate. Any
ether action might put off the consid-
Grafton until so late in the session
that 1t might not be possible to enact
any law at all. The matter was dis
posed OF for time by voting down
mfr. Kelly's motion. and by agreeing
to substitute the Drake bill for the
Watson bill.
Shortly before o'clock the com.
mittee arose. leaving consideration OF
the Drake bill unfinished. When tho
report OF the committee was made to
the House. Kelly moved to amend by
substituting his bill for the Drake
measure. This precipitated a parlia.
mentary sparring match lasting more
than an hour. The final vote by which
the Kelly bill took the place OF the
Drake measure. stood as follows: For
the report Of the committee OF tho
whole as amended: Beck. Bellesheld,
Blainey, Bryan, Cohen. Dillingham;,
Dilts, Dray. Dulin, Fall. Fetzer. Frank.
Garcia, Grisham, HARRISON, Healy, Hol.
lenbeck. KEEL. Kelly. KEN, Laton. Law.
renee. Mackenzie. Morrell, Napier,
Paddock. Parker. Parrish, Schmidt,
Smith, Stewart, Tannenbaum, Turner,
Valdez, Walker. Wilder. Winters. To
tai. thirty-seyen. Against the report:
Adams. Bawden. Blatchford. Bolsinger.
Bunney. Cannon. Collins. Dodge. Dolph.
Farr. Gradcn. Hickman. Hoyt. Hurd.
Lehrritter, Lines. McLachlan, O'Con.
nell. Redd. Rubin, Werner. vincen,a
watson. Wolaver. Young, Brecken.
ridge. Total, twenty.six. Absentees,
Ebbert, Hudgins.
The subject Of local option was up
for discussion In the House last
Wednesday. though much OF the time
was given over to personal eyplana.
tions on the part Of members, charges
OF misconduct and the cracking of
Jokes. The Drake bill came up with
an amendment by Laton TO strike out
counties, which was adopted. 80 to 20.
Then followed other amendments by
the score. Among the first to bs
adopted was that which raised the IL
quirement on petitions creating anti.
saloon territory from twenty 10 forty
per cent. There was practically no op-
position to this. After few majority
amendemnts had been adopted, each
calculated TO weaken the bill, the Dem.
ocrats took n hand In nm effort "a
strengthen the measure. KEN called
attention TO the fact that, under the
provisions OF the bill. druggists had
free rein and that there was nothing
to prevent saloon man from securing
n druggists license. engaging n regis.
tered pharmacist and setting up n LID.
uor business under that pretext. This
is the greatest fraud that have ever
encountered In the way OF purported
liquor legislation" said KEN, in speak.
Ing OF this particular section. Bawden
OF San Juan. Democrat. moved to strike
out the Objectionable section, but the
majority was not so inclined. The ma.
jority also voted down an amendment
desired by the Federation OF woman's
clubs, introduced by Chairman Adams
OF tho House temperance committee.
Wednesdays sessions In the Senate
were spent In working on the railroad
bill, which Is the committees subsu.
tu,e for the Mccarthy bill. Senator
snpp condemned the bill strongly. he
said the bill was mo good" because.
first, II gave the commission no power
TO fix rates when they were found to
be unfair md unjust Ho Is q master
OF sarcasm and the most cutting lnycc.
tive. md for nm hour he held tho ma.
jority. while he escoriatcd the bill and
the steering committee which had pro.
sonted II. showing the entiro dissimi.
lnrity between tho Roosevelt measure
and that proposed by tho steering com!
mittec after Its hearing with tho repre-.
scntn,ivcr Of the railways. Ho said
the long gnnd'short. haul clause had
been omitted TO please eight members
of tho Senate. lie wanted TO know why
tho committee had failed to mako the
PROPOSED bill conform TO tho provis.
Ions Of tho constitution. and charged
'hnt their failure 10 do no was no over.