Arizona republican., 1912-06-18
DEATH TODAY OF SESSION
(Continued from Page D. |.

do duty as lawmakers. And, it was figured further, that such lightweights as did manage to be elected, would be easily controlled, so that the real 1 highbrOw statesmen, those of the class who put through the Worsley- Roberts bill the other day, would have everything their own way in shaping legislation
 And that isn't quite all It was argued, with some acumen. too, that this is the best possible time to get the bill through. It was pointed out that there is considerable feeling be- twen the upper and lower houses and l that the lower house would, in all probability, swallow the bait and vote 1 to abolish the senate when, if the plan did not miscarry, it would to all 1 intents and purposes, be abolishing it. self
 1 Of course, that argument was never used on the floor of the senate On 1 the contrary. it was carefully sup pressed. But that is the argument that was used when the bill was con l sidered privately The arguments made for publication were to the eff feet that the senate is a useless body ulluSl bIlt AlILOhd llldll OI BONeTH- ment; that It has been superseded by 1 the direct legislative plan; and that it's abolition would mean an immense 1 saving to the taxpayers.
 1 It is not quite certain that the house members know the real purport | of the bill. But if they didn't know 1 it before, they have an excellent chance of knowing it now If they ] have been observing the recent course of events, they will recall that one of the statements madew hen the bill was under discussion was the state ment that it did not matter which house was abolished, so that it was one of them. It will also be recalled | that the prime movers in the scheme l were careful to insert an amendment providing that those now in office 1 would be taken care of in the event the upper house should be chased off the map. Under all these circum- stances, it will be more interesting than ever to watch the course of l events in the house when the senate bill comes up.
 | The senate yesterday afternoon took a whirl at the canvassing board that i handled the returns of the late state election. First, memorial was intro duCed calling upon congress to pay these men, and simultaneously there was a motion to postpone indefinitely the senate bill providing that they should be paid from the state treas ury The motion to postpone indefi- nitely failed, and then there was noth- ing to do but amend it to pare down the appropriation as much as pOsSi- ble. There was speech or two about the awful work of these repub- licans in holding star chamber ses- 1 sions when the votes were counted, and then it was decided that the bills should be cut in halves. Tn that l form the measure was recommended for passage
 | Yesterday saw the finishing touches put to the school land bill. by which it was proposed to amend the consti- tuition perpetually to forbid the sale of these lands, but to permit leases up to ninety nine years. The bill had been recommended for indefinite postpone ment Saturday. but final action was not taken until yesterday afternoon, when the bill was killed.
 There was q touch of the dramatic in the senatep rOcedingsc yesterday Ievening when Senators Hughes, Wood Davis and Pace, al! democrats. sent to the clerks desk and caused to be read protest against the passage ri the senate suicide bill. They de clared such action to be unseemly;
 that they were entrusted with com
 missionsf rom the people and they did
 not feel that they were called upon to surrender them. that they believe in the system of checks and balances
 which two legislative bodies insure and finally that the scheme is un-
 American and undemocratic. The protest went on the journal of the senate
 It will thus be seen that the beau
 tiful harmony which we have been
 told actuates all the democrats in
 Arizona is honored in the breach rather than in the observance.
 After a few feeble gasps the pro-
 posed anti-lobbying bill gave up the
 ghost yesterday afternoon. It was
 killed goth in the house and in the
 senate, so that no one will make a mistake by assuming that it is dead
 It would be easier to pass the crudest | kInu Ol IIOItS lIldn u
 pass an anti-lobbying bill through
 these two houses of the legislature
 And this in the face of the fact
 that both houses profess themselves
 in favor of an anti-lobbying bill
 But the trouble is that the house doesn't want the kind the senate wants, and the senate would rather
 do without an anti lobbying bill for
 ever than pass the sort advocated by the house.
 The anti lobbying work in the two houses this term has had a funny
 history. The house passed a bill and
 sent it to the senate. The senate had
 a bill of it's own. So, it tackled the
 house number and title on it's bill and
 sent it back as the house measnre "as
 amended" The house promptly
 turned down the proposition advocated by the senate, and there was a con ference or two.
 The conference committee brought
 in a bill which was much more like
 the house than the senate measure
 The senate conferees said it was
 positively the best that could be done