Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1911-02-10
WEEKLY LETTER

Last week was rather a quiet
one in the two Houses of Legis-
lature. If it had not been for
the discussion over the initiative
and referendum in the Senate and
the discussion over the Orr in
vestigatiOn resolution in the
House, the week would have been
Smgularly uneventful. However.
both Houses managed to grind
out a great deal of work of a min
or character.
During the past week the Sen
ate, In committee of the whole.
spent a whole day in going over
the initiative and referendum res
OlutiOn, attaching twenty eight
amendments, not counting almost
as many more that were propOs-
ed and defeated, and finally rec
ommended it for passage. 1t was
never considered that the initia-
tive and referendum would have
easy sailing in the Senate. so
that last weeks events in CON
nectiOn with it are not to be re-
garded as unfavOrable.
While the administration mita-
tive and referendum resolution
was liberally amended and cOnsid.
erably changed, the principal fea-
lures of the original remain. The
action Of the committee of the
whole resulted i'm a lot of detail.
which some considered unneceS-
sary, being added so that the res
OlutlOn, never a short one. is
nOw-cOnSiderably longer and con-
talnS minute details concerning
It's operation.
The supreme test on the ini-
tatlve and referendum reSolu
ton came when Senator j. Y.
Reed moved to strike out the en-
acting clause, which motion fail
ed by a vote of % to II. How
ever, fourteen votes against the
resolution on final passage would
be sufficient to kill it, as two
thirds vote of the Senate is re-
qured for its passage. Conse-
qulently. the initiative and referen
dum'will need twenty,seven vOt,s
IN the Senate. AS one senator.
u. Il. Chapman, Of Great Bend. is
absent on account of sickness,
thirteen votes in opposition will
be enough to kill the resOlu-
ton. However, it is believed
that after the bill is worked over
some more and irOned out that
soma OF the senator's who voted
the other day to kill it will vote
to pass it and give the people of
the state an opportunity to reg
lister their verdict as to whether
Or not they want the initiative
and referendum, at least as sub
mltted. The roll call necessary
ON the final passage will also
help the bill.
Only a few bills passed the SEN
ate during the past week, the
most !! important being the bill de-
timing the crime of burglary with
a penalty of ten to thirty wears
imprisonment for the purpose of
checking the wave of bank rob-
bmg
While little has been done in
the Senate, as Judged by bills ac-
tually passed, a lot of work has
been done in committee. where
some OF the big bills of the ses-
sion have been threShed out. Fri
day the subcommittee on rail-
roads, composed of Senators
Stavely, Brewster, Hodges andl
quincy, completed the work of
drafting a committee utilities
bNl. Some Of the features of the
administration public utili-
ties bill have been greatly chang
EN- IN the subcommittee bill. but a
number of the administration SEN
atOrS, as well as some of the anti
administration senators. have ex-
ammed the subcommittee bill and
have declared it an excellent one.
Besides the utilities bill. the
Senate railroads committee has
listened to long arguments from
both sides on the head light and
full crew bills. The headlight bill
has been modified some from the
way it was when introduced.
while the decision of the commit
tee Is pending on the full crew
bill and probably will not be
reported until after the commit
zee acts upon the utilities bill.
The labor committee has been
working overtime with its several
employers liability bills and