Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-04-15
A REVIEW OF THE WORK DONE
BY THE 34TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
List of Important Bills Passed and Important Bills
That Failed to Pass; Senatorial Balloting
the Feature of the Session.

Importance. This Is not intended 70
mean that all these should have passed,
however. They are:
Bill revising the road laws and com
bining them into a single statute.
Bill providing for a special primary
election to fill the senatorial vacancy,
Bill providing for an adoption IN
Iowa Of the Oregon primary law.
Bill providing for the closing OF ga
looms at o'clock each evening.
Bill providing for state aid for good
roads and the creation Of the once OF
state highway engineer.
Resolution providing for woman's
suffrage.
Resolution providing for constitu.
tional prohibition.
Bill providing for the taxation OF
railroad properties on the basis Of the
entire mileage within the state instead
of on the basis of the mainline mileage
terminal taxation BILL"
Bill creating permanent tax COM
mission.
Bill providing for the secret ballot
system, instead Of the petition. for the
giving Of consent for the operation OF
saloons.
Bill providing for the nomination Of
judicial candidates at the June primary
elections.
Bill providing for the initiative and
referendum for state legislation.
Bill providing for public utilities
commission.
School Legislation Passed.
About $2,00O,0O0 In round figures.
will cover the total amount OF appro.
priations for the session. This practF
1xy kv>{Iy Thn <pkH0
men Of the appropriations committees,
| house and Representative q. r.. Moore
dams of the publics money, and their
efforts to hold the appropriations down
have been fairly successful.
OF interest to educational circles are
three bills which have managed to
squeeze through during the session.
One Of these is by Frank Shane, the
new member from Wapello county.
and provides for the attendance OF ac-
credited high schools by rural pupils
living In districts without such schools.
The districts pays such pupils tuition.
Senator Lamont Cowles' bill, which
gives teachers life certificates after
they have obtained reasonable expert.
ence, Is another important measure, as
is Senator H. L. Adams measure al
lowing an appropriation of $500 for ono
normal training course In each Iowa
county.
'lt Might Have Been WORSE"
AS matter of course, the woman's
suffrage and the prohibition measures
went down to defeat. As was the case
last session, the senate was the exc
cutioner in each case. This years sem
ate was decidedly a non-reform body.
The house was dry" by big majority.
but that fact didn't count any more
against the upper body than the demo
cratic majority in the national house
will affect the view OF the republican
senate.
| All in all. the legislature that ends
today has achieved little in the way
Of useful legislation, but there is the
comforting thought that 1t has killed
some measures that needed killing
and has been too busy with the sena-
torial deadlock to consider others that
would have been inimical to the states
welfare mad they become laws. And
perhaps the charitable thing, after all,
Is to say, without prejudice, that it
might have been worse.