Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-02-19

the Dill to protect FUR bearing AMI
mails caused a tangle In the house, be-
it contained in it's provisions the
muskrat. Severa of the members from
the Sioux and Jim river valleys were
"agin the mush-rat," and. after sew
eral attempts to amend, the bill went
back to committee to be doctored be
fore 1t is again brought out.
The principal new bill Saturday was
the new military code. which las
been prepared by members of the
national guard.
The house was easily the center or
attraction Wednesday, afternoon. when
the electric headlight bill was UP for
action. A vote was not secured until
6 o'clock, a small and active minority
opposed to the bill putting up q con-
test in which amendments more or less
pertinent were presented, and motions
to adjourn helped to kill time. The
bill was championed by Morris, Bar
tine, Larson of Minnehaha, and Larson
Of Union, with Fowler, Englesby and
Warner, the floor managers of the Op-
position.
Morris, in his remarks against post
ponelment of the action, said that the
members of the senate who had voted
for the bill had been lobbying against
it on the floor of the house, and that
those who opposed the bill We're in
several cases working under coercion,
and that all the demand for delay
amounted to was a desire to club
members into submission. The debate
warmed up before it was finished and
was shut off by the previous question,
! when the bill passed by q vote Of 80
to IS.
The senate Wednesday passed the
house resolution for submitting to the
people an amendment to the consti-
tuition allowing state lands to be leas-
ed for agricultural urposes This
measure called out a debate on the
best interest of the state. being OPP
posed by Lockhart and Byrne and
supported by Bates. That body passed
several other minor bills without any
furry.
Among the house bills introduced
was one by Morris r~e-enacting the
primary election law, to cut out two
primaries in presidential years, and
such other amendments as may be
deemed best.
The house passed the bill to make
it a misdemeanor to drink intoXicat-
ing liquors or be drunk on a passen-
ge~ train, and giving justices general
jurisdiction to deal with such cases;
| and postponed the bill for insurance
of bank deposits until Wednesday of
next week. the bill being opposed in
its present shape by Speaker CLANCY,
who left the chair to take a part in
the discussion.
The proposed new supreme court
districts have been practically agreed
upon by the subcommittee. and the
bill creating two new districts will
likely be reported by the committees
of both houses. The lines of the pro-
posed districts E.ave been changed
slightly from those in the original bill.
but materially follow the original lines.
In the house Whiting is posing as
the watchdog Of the treasury. and
Tuesday went after every appropria-
ton bill which showed up, making a
fight against several printing bills.
His resolution calling upon the treas
urer for Il statement Of the condition
of the treasury was adopted after be-
ing amended by Taylor to ask for a
showing of the assets as we'll as the
debts of the state.
In passing a state depository bill
through the house Tuesday without
debate. and with no opposing votes,
| was a decided change from past SEES
sions. in which such bills have always
met defeat.
Mcdonnell started another railroad
bill Tuesday afternoon, in which he re-
Quires all roads to maintain scales at
division points snd weigh all cars of
grain, 1--we stock or merchandise, and
furnish a certificate of weight to the
party to whom shipment has been
, made. He also asks for the creation
of the counties of Todd, Nash and
Sherard out of a portion of the Rose
bud and Pine Ridge reservations.
Whiting introduced a bill which has
for it's urpos the cutting off of the
publication of insurance statements
which, i, enacted, will take away a
large amount of political patronage
which has been used on the country
press of the state for years.
bout the only bill which created a
ripple in the house Tuesday vas one
defining a partition fence and the
manner in which it shall be paid for.
This called out the farmer voice. and
after a number of attempts to change
it provisions were voted down it
passed as introduced.
The North Carolina bond bill had
it's last inning in the senate Friday
afternoon and Senator Dillon again
went down to defeat on his pet meas
ure. He had secured an amended bill
through the judiciary committee, in
which he attempted to avoid the ap-
preparation feature by annulling the
acts of the state in securing this fund.
1t is now up to the members to dis
pose of his fund in some n as
they nave refused to accept a propo-
SitiOn to return 1t.
Stokes in the senate presented a bill
to amend the legislative apportion-
ment act to allow the counties of Per-
kin and Harding each a house mem
Der, and adding them to the senatorial
district of Meade and Butte.
Byrne started a bill to r~e-organize
the state insurance department, and
specifically fix the duties Of such Of
ficer and his employees.
sation in the house Friday by a reso-
luton charging certain state officers.
with putting in their time lobbying
against certain measures while the
people. were paying them for their
services as public officials, and asking
for a committee to investigate his.
charges. His resolution was tabled,
and later all matters in relation to it
were expunged from the records.
Whiting made another losing fight
for economy Friday afternoon when he
attempted to secure an amendment to
the senate bill increasing the mem
bers of the board of charities and cor