The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1909-02-05
SOUTH DAKOTA LEGISLATURE
REVIEW OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK OF THE
STATE FOR THE WEEK.


In the senate Wednesday Dillon
started three bills which II enacted
will make the placing Of friends in
clerkships by legislative members a
hing of the past. He wants to cut of
he %sinecures from the pay roll OF both
houses and get down to a business
basis. and incidentally say the state
about half the pay roll expense for
employees each session. He fixes the
number of officers Of each house at
one clerk, one first assistant, one Sec
ond assistant, n bill clerk, a SER
geant at arms, postmaster, two pages
and a messenger, who shall assist the
sergeant and postmaster when he is
On the waiting "list;" one chaplain
and M chief of the engrossing force,
who must be an expert typewriter.
The secretary Of state to employ five
committee clerks, the list to be in
creased as the needs Of the session
grow. All these clerks to be expert
stenographers and typewriters. with
a salary of S. a day each. That the
selections shall be on examination,
and regardless Of politics. The sec
rotary Of state to employ and have
control of the necessary janitor force
to look after the building. Another
bill provides that all e~ngrossing Of
bills shall be done on typewriting ma
chimes. The third bill cuts off the per-
q~uisite of writing up the journals of
the two houses by the clerks after the
session. Making the printed journal
the officials record, and allowing the
clerk of each house 800 for indexing
the same.
Other senate bills were: Amsden,
making it unlawful for architects and
superintendent of construction to re-
ceive commissions from dealers in ma
terials and supplies; Amsden, to pre-
vent discrimination in furnishing care
to shippers; Nyquist, making civil
townships assessors districts in coun-
ties where there are such organiza-
lions, and creating the Tenth judicial
; circuit west Of the Missouri river;
Jordan, limiting time within which tax
deeds may be taken; Hare, making
open season for deer, elk and noun
tain sheep from Oct. l to Dec. I: pro-
viding for q bounty Of 50 on black
wolves and mountain lions; appro-
priating $4,000 for repairs at the
school OF mines.
Senator Stokes finally got his Butts
Perkins-Harding county bill back
from the governor, and will attempt
to patch 1t up so that the patches will
not show to get 1t into shape for a
law such as they really want.
The first round on good roads came
when Senate Bill No. los, which at
tempts to abolish the Office of road
overseer, and requires all road work
to be done by contract. The question
of proper compensation for road work
was discussed, and after some talk the
bill was put owe to the Sd of Febru-
airy, as a special order to allow it to
ripen before the final vote was to be
secured.
The Dillon bill to abolish the right
of senators and representatives to
give free scholarships in various state
institutions was passed by the senate,
another assault on legislative preroga-
tives.
The house members did not appear
to be as ready to get down to business
after the reces as did the senate, only
abouttwo thirds answering roll call.
All they attempted being the introduce
ton of a few new bills. These not
senate duplicates were: Cable, Great
ing office of state building Inspector,
to look after the safety of public
buildings; increasing the penalty for
procuring; making the minimum
speed for stock trains fifteen miles
an hour. Englesby. appropriation of
1915 to pay court costs in case of
State VS.. Margaret Mellette; Norris,
allowing fee for surety bonds in cases
of administrators and executors. and
joint resolution by Bentley, memorial.
izing congress for 64o-acre home
steads in certain cases.
Both houses showed their intention
of early closing up Of business by fix.
ing Feb. Is as the last date for pen.
eral introduction Of bills, after which
date none will be accepted except
committee bills, or individual bills bv
unanimous consent.
The senate had little business
Thursday, and started several bills,
one Of which provides for a state bee
inspector. The house passed bills
amending the manner Of redemption
Of property sold on mortgage fore.
closure. providing method Of gettins
roads to isolate tracts OF lands. and
prohibiting the s Of profane and
abusive language. and Joint resolu.
tons calling upon congress to call q
constitutional convention for amend.
ing tn enational constitution on the
subject of election of United States
senators and polygamy, and memo.
rializing congress 10 make Fort Meade
a brigade post. A long list of house
bills was started, principal among
them being bills authorizing cities to
create park commissions. prov;dino