The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-01-10
PET MEASURES ARE
COMING TO FRONT
New Bills Pour In and
Old Ones Follow Like
the Wandering G Jew.
FEW THRILLS IN
The EARLY DAYS
Senator Wickham Wants Gov
ernor's Appointments Re
quiring Confirmation
Considered by Joint
Committee-Little
Speech-Making.
+ 8 +
Senator Wickham Wants Gov
errors Appointments Re-
BY LEWIS H. MAcHEN.

1 Tne President OF the Senate and thA
Speaker OF the House were at their
respective posts OF duty promptly az
noon yesterday. If the members OF
the two bodies emulate the promptness
OF their presiding officers 1t Is evident
that no time will be lost through tardi-
ness. The plain fact Is tina, there Will
be no time to lose IL the General As-
sembly Is to consider intelllgentiy even
portion OF the subjects which VIII
be called to their attention. II goes
without saying that such considerA-
ton should precede action upon eyety'
mattcr OF Importance. Already 900 bills
have been introduced into the two
houses. which have been In session oii!y
two days. and then for brief periods.
Should this ratio continue throughout
the session. making due allowances for
sundays and holidays, there would be
an aggregate OF something life 5000
bills. But necessarily the ratio Will
not continue.
Some Pet Measures offered.
Most OF these bills are the pet meas
ures of members. who brought then,
here In their pockets. and wish to in-i
woke the benefit OF an early start. For
no horse-race viii, ever be watched
Will 6tGdlST1e lktkclCSl tlhll fSlc ldGc O&s
some OF these bills against each other
and against time. Many OF ruese bills
were introduced last session; some are
old friends that have haunted the cal-l
endars steadily for several sessions.
while q few are old customers which,
turn up periodically. like the Wander
ing Jew Fortunately. some are dupli-
Gates. and good many are so nearly
akin that they may be consolidated.
But making every deduction. 1t is
certain that the number of bills wiz
be largely in excess of those OF last
session. which numbered 1900. of which
not one-tenth became laws,
Sessions Not ThriIlInS.
The sessions OF the two houses yes-s
terday were not especially thrilling,
The routine OF Jointly nominating aud
electing the basement officers does nor
interest the public as It does those on
GERS. In the Senate It was accompltsn-
ed with little speech-making. Tho
atmosphere OF the Senate is unfavor-
abls to the development OF nominating
oratory. In the House the audience is
larger and less coldly critical, and this
temptation to soar to fervid flights is
greater. However, the basement ofli-S
GERS got themselves very well nonli-s
mated and elected In both houses.
In the Senate Senator Wtckham pre-
seHted a reSOlGSlon to the eject that
all nominations made by the executive
which require to be confirmed By the
General Assembly should be first
considered by joint committee
OF the two houses, and another
resolution to the effect that those
nominations which require the confir-
nation OF the Senate only, by whomso-
ever made. should be first considered
by the appropriate committee OF that
body. 1t was explained by the patron
that the nominations OF the present
Governor had been satisfactory, bur
that 1t would not be good policy 20
wait until some future Governor should
make an unsatisfactory appointment.
as they might then take on personal or
partisan aspect The Joint resolution
was adopted by the Senate. and the
other went over under the rules.
In the House Delegate Read offered
a resolution to the effect that the tax
rate for State purposes should be low
cred from thirty-fiye to thirty cents
on the hundred dollars. Debate upon
the resolution was interrupted by rou-
tine matters and had not been coil-
Yjo,, Ynl-