The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1912-01-17

favorable to them. Time was when
the railroads had committees favor
able TO them. In one session of the
legislature. that of 1908, not a meeting
of the railroad committee in either
house ever was held during the entire
session, and not a single railroad bill
was reported.
But II is to be different this year.
In the house of the chairman of the
railroad committee is Representative
Williams, who was a conductor on the
G. & O. railroad and one of the lead
ing members of the trainmen's union
He comes to the legislature pledged
to try to establish certain reforms in
railroad laws, and will try to have en-
acted q new employers liability law
which will help those injured in rail
road accidents.
Lieut.. Gov. McDermott, presiding
officer of the senate. sprang a new one
on the senate last week that has
caused more talk than anything that
has happened during the present ses-
sion. He proposed to have the senate
adopt a rule providing for the formal
and ceremonious entrance OF the pre-
siding officer and his staff, the working
force of the senate. He suggested that
every morning the employees of the SEN
ate gather in the private Office of the
lieutenant governor, and at the hour
appointed to call the senate to order.
the procession start for the senate
chamber. The sergent at arms was to
lead the way, followed by the presid-
ing officer of the senate and with the
clerk and assistant clerks following.
The sergeant at arms was to announce
to the senate:
THE lieutenant governor of Ken
lucky, the presiding officer of the SEN
ate, is about to enter with his retinue.'
The senators then were to stand
with heads bowed while the lieutenant
governor entered and took his seat
This plan did not meet with the APP
proval of those senators to whom II
was mentioned and the proposed reso-
luton was not offered in the senate
Gov. McDermott was serious in max
ing the suggestion. but did not mean
to convey that he thought he was bet
ter than the members of the senate
He merely wanted all the decorum nee
essary carried out in the senate
The senate was all stirred up by
reason of adoption of a rule to exclude
lobbyists from the floor of the senate
The rule was so drastic that every
body was excluded. The way it ap-
piled was shown by conversation
which was had between a senator
and Finley Fogg, member of the
prison commission. The senator COM
planned that more ministers had not
attended the senate session to open
the proceedings with prayer Mr.. Fogg
said
The reason they don't attend Is
because your old rules are so strict
they can not get in"
When two of the state officials were
refused admission to the senate floor
and the clerk OF the house also was
denied admission. there was a storm
Of protest and the senators went to
work to amend the stringent rule. DR..
G. F. Crecelus, the Secretary Of State,
was denied admission when he went to
the senate with commissions of nota.
ries public, to have the appointments
by the senate. The rule
excluding lobbyists from the floor OF
the senate still prevails but the rule
has been so modified as to permit state
officials and former members of the
legislature to enter.
The adoption OF the rules in the
house was marked by the first clash |
Of the administration and anti-adminis-
tration forces, an outcropping OF the
race for the speakership. In this fight