The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-15
Governor Hoch's Message to
Legislature Is Brief.
Will Probably Be Read About
4:3O p. NJ.
FEW PRELIMINARIES.
Members Will Get Down to
Business at Once.
NO New Officers OF Committees
to Be Named.

Governor HOch's message was re-
| ce1Ved from the state printer today,
| and is ready now to be placed in the
| hands Of the members of the legislature
when they are prepared to receive it.
1t is expected that the governors S
| message will be read at about 4:30
Thursday afternoon. The senate may
get around to it a little ahead of the
house. At the regular session of the
| legislature, when the gavel falls at
noon, it usually takes several hours to
complete the preliminaries. and it is
about o'clock in the afternoon when
the reading of the message begins This
session, however, is different
| The special session will begin at 4
p. m. There will be no members to
swear in. There will be no speakers or
other officers to elect. There will be
no drawing for seats. The first thing
will be the adoption of the rules of the
| last session, resolution notifying the
senate that the house is ready for busi-
ness, and vice versa and a resolution
| informing the governor that the house
and senate are ready to receive COM
munications from him.
The governor will at once respond by
sending his private secretary up to the
senate and house with a copy of his
| message. At the moment the MESA ge
arrives the pages will distribute to the
members the printed copies of the
message.
Governor Hocl's message this year is
not nearly as long as his message to
the regular session. The present mes
sage consists of about dozen or fifteen
printed pages of the pamphlet.
After the reading of the message,
the introduction of bills will begin II
Is likely that both branches Will adopt
a resolution limiting the time for In
Producing bills to the present week.
Everybody who has any bills will prob
ably have them all ready to present on
the first day. Some of the members
are preparing to introduce big grlst
of bills One member called on the
secretary of state the other day and
secured a complete list of all the bills
which he introduced and which fa1led
to pass. He proposes to introduce all
these defeated bills at the present ses-
sion.
1t is not likely, however. that these
bills will ever get much further than
the committee to which they are TO DC
referred. There will only be few
committees which really do anything.
Most of the bills will simply be pigeon
holed The sergeants-at-arms or the
two houses have been at work for sew
eral days getting the desks and chaIrs
arranged and making provision for
committee rooms. Since the last ses-
III.
of the creation Of new offices, to use all
the old legislative committee rooms for
regular state offices. The result is that
nearly all of the state officers have
been required. to give up possession OIL
one or more rooms during the session
TO accommodate the committees OF the
house and senate. Even by doubling
ND and eliminating down to the last
notch. it is necessary to have about
fifteen or twenty committee rooms for
Of 1aOlS1afuTe-
The house may be few minutes
later in getting down to business be-
cause of the fact that it Will nave to
elect a new chief clerk. D. 4 wilson
| has moved out of the state, ana the
nroba bility is that c. H. Br1lhart. as
sistant chief clerk in the regular ses-
sion will be given the place. Br1lhart
understands the duties, and is about
the only man who could step IN ana
do the work on short notice.
There has been some talk ABOUT
electing a new speaker because Speaker
Simmons has moved from Lane county
| to Reno county since his election. But
the chances are that Simmons Will not
| be molested. There has been no in
dication of any fight on him thus far
Senator Samuel Porter of Mont
gomery county, one of the members
of the state senate lodge whose con-
version to the direct primary PROPOSE
tion had been announced, arrived in
Topeka today and denies that he is In
favor of direct primary, though he
admits that in his opinion the legis-
lature will enact a law of that kind.
"I am still opposed to anything like
that Stubbs bill," said Mr.. Porter.
"In fact the people down in my coun-
tv- don't want a primary of any kind.
/ suppose, though, that we will have
to have a primary law. We might as
we'll satisfy this clamor by giving the
people a law. 1t will, in my judg-
ment, not last more than 10 years,
and then we VIII go back to the con-
vention system.
st think the special session will
probably enact a guaranty deposit
law. on very much the same ground
that they will enact primary law
because there is popular clan1or for
it. But there is no demand for it
among the people in my part of the
state. The bankers don't want it. and
we have two towns which are right on
the boundary, and ought to be terribly
scared about Oklahoma. l suppose.
But they are not scared, and they
don't want this law. However, the
guaranteeing of deposits is something
which I suppose will eventually have
to come. I have just returned from
Europe, and over there, the govern
ment has charge Of all the banking
business, you might say As COM
munities grow older, the tendency to-
ward government Intervention in fin
ancial affairs becomes stronger"
Senator Porter spent the summer
in Europe, securing funds for a new
railroad project which he is backing
He says he has promises of ample
funds. the money to be furnished by
Paris bankers.
There is a rumor about the Cope
land and the state house that Clyde
Miller may be candidate for the
iob of Republican National commit
teernan from Kansas to succeed Da-