The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-09
Senate Removes Last Obstacle to
the Illumination.
House Bill Passes Without Word
of Protest.
PART OF A BILL LOST.
First Page WOrkingmen's Com
pensatiOn Act Disappears.
Evidently Had Been Removed
Carefully by Some One.

Topeka's great white way bill
found easy sailing in the senate today
and if the provisions of the act are
conformed with there is nothing
ahead of the illuminating scheme ex-
cept to put it in operation. The bill
passed the house several weeks ago.
Following the agitation last fall for
a great white way from Fourth street
to Tenth avenue, the Commercial club
went to work, but found that special
act of the legislature was necessary in
order to make the street lighting plan
a reality. Representative Stone intro
duced the bill in the house and 1t was
passed without opposition. 1t has
been hanging on the senate calendar
for some time and today the upper
house reached the measure. There
was no fight over it's passage.
The measure provides that a Pc
tition signed by fifty per cent of the
property owners of the district to be
Illuminated, shall be presented to the
city clerk. Then the property owners
must install the system at their own
expense. 1t is then up to the city to
pay the operating expenses of the
white way. This expense shall be paid
1IOII lI1S SSnGIdl 1unO VI l1I0 CITY 4A0
bill is now ready for the governor s
signature and after its publication in
the official state paper, the lighting
plan can be put in operation.
When the second conference COM
mittee on the workmen's compenSa-
tion act met Wednesday evening, it
found that the first page of the type
written copy had disappeared. In re-
porting the bill to the senate this
morning, a carbon copy of the orig
tnal was appended to the bill with af-
f1daVits from the conferees to the af-
feet that the page had been removed
attached page was a true copy of the
original. The explanation was ac-
cepted by the senate and the confer
ence report was adopted.
In explaining the disappearance of
the page of the bill, Senator Ganse. a
member of the committee, said:
Sometime yesterday afternoon or
the previous day, the first page of the
bill was removed either by accident or
design. I don't charge anyone with
this act, yet it remains fact that this
portion of the bill has disappeared
and the committee is unable to ascer-
tain what has become Of it. In my
judgment, the page was removed by
someone and was not torn off, as there
would have been some evidence of this
act''
The pages of the bill were bound
by a wire clasp through each of the
pages Had the page been torn from
the bill, there would have still been
evidence Of its removal under the
clasps 1t is therefore believed that
the clasps were removed and the page
taken.
Senate employees have no knowl-
edge of the loss Of the page. The
bill has been locked in the desk of
George w. Wiley, docket clerk, and
neither Mr.. Wiley nor Walter Johnson,
secretary of the senate, knew anything
of the disappearance Of the paper un-
til the loss was reported by the COM
mittee.
In its report, the conference COM
mittee changed the liability Of en-
ployers to cover firms employing five
or more persons instead or nfteen, az
was amended in the senate. The liza
bility Of persons in agricultural pur-
suits was also removed from the bill
There was no opposition to the report
| in the senate and it was accepted
without opposition.
The senate killed a bill by Repre-.
sentative Buckman this morning which
permitted cities of the second-class tt
| increase the tax levy. Quincy and 9TH
ers pointed out that the levy was too
high in its present form and that tbs
4
the town property. Then the enactins
| clause was killed.
There was little sympathy in thu
senate this morning for a bill which
provided that the board Of county
| commissioners in counties having NOR
than 5000 population should meet ono
each month Under the present Law
| they hold quarterly meetings, excep
| on special calls and the senate believ
| 49, Qdnnn4fn
slaughtered the measure.
| There was considerable talk in th
senate this morning to the effect tina
Governor Stubbs proposed to veto th
new board of regents BILL No persol
! seemed to have any definite information
| in the matter and the senators watch
| ed the door for the appearance Of tn
! governors secretary, who didn't ap
pear.
| If was championed strongly by Georg
Fl. Hodges and it was largely through
his influence and efforts that the bill
passed, after having been previousl.
| defeated 1t is also believed that TIL
| chief executive will not become en-
thusiastic over any measure which tn
minority leaders worked to have pass
ed-especially when much Of hi
| strength came from the standpat ele
ment of the Republican party. On tn
first attempt, the Oil WAS killed. 70 e
q The vote on the final passage wa
% to 16. The consolidation Of board
was one of the chief points in Governo
| Stubbs' message and this would TEN
to indicate that he is in reality in ia
vor of the measure
Wire Up 81 Ton
! Pittsburg, Pa, March 9.-An
| nouncement was made here today tha
effective last Monday. prices of wir'
| mira rrOdunfS had hRan adUa ncaf