New-York tribune., 1912-02-22
'BRONX BILL FARCE BASIS
Measure Forming County Re.
ported After BypIay.
SENATORS IN MAIN PARTS
Stilwell, as Hero, Downs White
and Wagner, Chief Villains
of Drama.

Albany, Feb. 2i--The screaming farce.
"Upholdng the Dignity of tho Senate.
was presented here to-day before large
and appreciative audience. with all the
verisimlitude lent by extreme realism IN
stage setting. local color In the lines ana
happy Characterization. In star parts APP
peared Senator Stilwell OF The Bronx, VINO
protected his own dignity and the claims
of The Bronx County bill 10 consideration;
Senator White, of Schenectady, who upheid
the dignity OF the Senate valiantly. though
in fact his own suffered, and Senator Wag-
ner, who was cast as the heavy william.
through whose Vaccinations the innocent
Bronx County bill, around which the plos
revolved, was being done to death.
Though the play started out as meio-
drama in the first act, 1t needed only the
second of the three to show 1t In It's true
character-rouch farce, loosely put together
and not over clever, though well staged. In
the beginning 1t must be entered on the
records that the plot violated dramatic
unitles Of time and place, as the hrst act
took place last night while the rest had TO
be played out publicly to-day.
That first act represented Senator SUI
we'll as obtaining signatures of six OF the
nine members Of the Internal Affairs COM
nittee to a petition for meeting TO re-
port his Bronx County bill. That petition
he handed TO Senator White, chairman,
who refused to call meeting, and scorn-
fully threw the petition on the floor, de-
clarIng that he didn't care about the MEM
bers of the committee. as he was chairman.
&tv,o~ han a
The second act opened with the Senate In
session. In his place rose Senator suiweii'
narrated the facts of Senator Whites
scornful defiance Of the petition ana tne
members of the Senate, and SAID tnere
hadn't been a meeting OF that committees
since January 3, when the Legislature con-
vened. There were fifty important pihs
before the committee, he said
"No matter what your feelings on this
hill" declaimed Stlwell with much Ora
matic feryor. II submit that you cannot
sustain him in such audacity. IL Is tifne
for the Senate to take action ana ror t"s
Lieutenant Governor to remove this chai'-
man, If necessary
This. which should have been the climax
of the act. proved to be misplaced. sena-
tor Burd, a member of the committee, said
there had been no place for 1t to meet ana
pleaded that there be no breach OF oeha-
torial courtesies. Senator Wagner intro
duced a spark of life into the anti-clmax
of the last part of the act by attempting
to defend the committee
Senator White then entered to defend the
dignity Of the Senate. He said the COM
mittee had had no meeting room since the
first of the year, and he had declared re-
peatedly It would be inconsistent with the
dignity of the Senate and its members Tor
the committee to meet anywhere save In
its own room. Lines declaring that ne
hadn't thrown the petition on the floor nut
that the wind had blown it there, were de-
ljvered with much feeling, bat his enuncia-
ton was very faulty and his voice too low
when he announced a meeting OF the com
mittee in the afternoon to consider the Dill
The act ended with a false climax-an
a,tereat,on between Senators Stilwen ana
wagner over "grandstand plays by the
Bronx County man.
The third act was the meeting OF une
committee in secret. Virtue proved tri-
umphant and the Bronx County bill was
reported as the curtain was rung down.