Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-15
VITAL BILLS LOST
AS LEGISLATORS
ROMP HOME
Lawmakers Adjourn Sine Die
at 1:13 A. M.-Getaway Ses-
sion Given Over to Play.

The Georgia legislature adjourned
sine die at 1:13 o'clock this morning
Officially. ii adjourned exactly at mid
night, but the clock was set back. after
the manner of an old fashioned fiction,
and the hands were not permitted to
indicate the midnight hour until q few
seconds after the speakers gavel had
fallen for the last time.
When the house met there was a mass
of business on hand to be disposed of
before adjournment, The members
were more in mood to play than to
work. and throughout the nights pro-
ceedings spirit of levity and hilarity
with an occasional dash of hysteria
prevailed
The one big fight of the night session
came over a relatively inconsequential
matter-the appointment of senate
pages for the first session of the next
legislature. The biggest matter coming
to the houses attention on it's final day
b
the hand-the banking bill
The house and senate were in dis
agreement about few items, compared
with the usual situation on the closing
day. There was some difference Of
opinion with respect to the insurance
bill and several items of the appropr1a
ton bills.
Fight Over Pages in Senate.
None of these differences was partic-
ularly violent, however, and they were
quickly adjusted and the bills passed.
The 1ercest conflict of the entire
night was the fight to take the appoint
ment Of the senate pages out of the
hands of Messenger Hargett and place
them directly in the hands Of the pres
ident of the senate, just as they are
in the hands of the speaker Of the
house
Mr.. Hargett had rallied the senate
strongly to his cause-largely, 1t was
charged, through distribution of pat
ronage to relatives Of senators-an6 all
efforts to reconcile the two houses on a
nom Hargett platform were unayailfng
Finally the matter was Strengthened
out by dividing the appointments be-
tween the president OF the senate and
the messenger--a solution far from sat
isfactory to majority of the member.
ship, but apparently the best that might
be achieved at the moment
Woman Lawyer Bill Dies.
Among the bills that went 70 their
death last night were the lieutenant
: governor bill, the general banking bill
and the woman lawyer bill
The appropriation bills. properly adj
Justed were crowded through at the
last minute. and while the members
chorused The Old Time Religion" the
house adjourned.
Early in last nights session the two
houses had love feast over the gem
eral insurance bill, forced into confer
ence because of the mass of amend
ments submitted. The real fight came
over the appropriations bill
The senate was determined Ia do
nothing except squabble over the an
pointment Of its pages. Its rules com
mittee refused twice to Ak the child
labor bill as a special order and twice
the vote sustained the committees de-
cision. The child labor bill never
reached hearing, although its adher-
ents claimed to have pledged a ma ior-
tty in the upper house
The surprise of the session came late
Yesterday afternoon when the senate IN
a 30-minute executive session con-
f1rmed Hoke Smiths appointments to
the state board of education over which
subtSrranean politics has been PLAYING
the entire session
Senate Sets a Precedent.
The situation furnished by the sem
ate's action is unique in Georgia's leg
islative annals. The senators. in face
have announced with satisfaction that
they have set precedent.
The Smith appointments on the hoard
DR. Jere NJ. Pound, T. J. Woofter, J.
c. Langston and the late Judge f, G.
Lawson-Were made September s. 1911.
and have never been sent to the SEN
ate Governor Brown sent in appoint
ments this session. superseding Pound
and Langston by G. r. Glenn and Judge
A. T. Moon. Walter E. Stced had been
appointed in the spring to fill the place
made vacant by the death of Judge
Lawson.
The senate grumbled over the Brown
appointments and became involved in
legal sQuabble arising over the fact
that Smiths appointments were made
under a new act creating the present
board Of education.
Governor Brown then withdrew his
nominations