The log cabin Democrat., 1913-02-13
SENATE WINS
 THE FIRST HEAT CALDWELL & DRAKE RACE -N STATE CAPITOL CONTRACTORS AFFAIR BEING THRESHED
 OUT AGAIN.


 nary heat in the Caldwell & Drake handicap was run in the senate We'd nesday afternoon, and Senator John Ike Moore, who is also a member of the State Capitol Commission, came out victorious by the indefinite post ponement of further consideration of the bill introduced by Senator Raney to pay the Pfeifer Stone Company of Batesville a balance due of $6,975.75 for stone furnished for use in the capitol building.
 Senator Raney stated the bill had been introduced by him by request, and thought it ought to go to committee to be considered in full. Senator Moore announced this was but an opening wedge for the claim to be presented by Caldwell & Drake for an alleged balance due for work on the capitol, and if the state paid the Pfei- fer claim, it would have many other Caldwell & Drake debts to pay. He moved an indefinite postponement and Senator Covington offered as a sub stitute that the Moore motion be ta- bled.
 Senator Jacobson stated that the Caldwell & Drake claim had not been left to the board of arbitration sug- gested by Governor Donaghey during the legislative session two years ago because he desired to name the board and then require the contractors to file a bond to abide by it's decisions. He claimed that the state had held back $69,O00 of the money earned by the contractors, and had issued vouch- CTS for $19,000 which were never cashed. The senator stated he felt as though he was treading on stolen property every time he entered the capitol building. He read at inter vals from pamphlet, and when ask ed what it was, admitted it was a statement which Caldwell & Drake in- tended to place before the senate. In this is a statement that the contrac- tors had to mortgage their private property to pay claims for labor per formed on the state capitol
 The statute of limitations should run against the Pfeifer claim, was the contention of Senator CarlLee, who stated the state was in need ot protection along this line more than the individual. He stated the stone contractors claim was against Cald- well & Drake, and not against the state, and that it was not offered to the legislature two years ago. Sena- tor Moore asked if the contractors were not paid on the material every 30 days, and Senator CarlLee admit ted this was his understanding, by which question Senator Moore infer red the contractors had received pay ment for this stone, furnished six years ago.
 The author of Che bill, Senator Raney stated the Pfeifer Stone Com pany was an honest concern, dolng business in Independence county, where it had one of the finest quar- ries in the world. He stated the members of the concern were taXpay- CTS, not boodlers. and had never been run out of the state. He stated they could not sue Caldwell x Drake, be- cause that firm was inSolvent, and that he did not claim the account to be due the Pfeifer company, merely introducing the bill by request, and he was of the opinion a committee should go into it's merits, and II the bill should not be paid, he was not Tn tending to vote for 1t.
 Senator Moore closed the debate or the bill, stating the commission haS paid Caldwell & Drake more than | was entitled to, and the controversy .;hould stop some time He replied tC ,4he rulestions as te why the commls sion had never sued Caldwell X Drake upon it's bond, by stating the act ol 1909 which named Chief Justice Me Culloch, and Federal Judges Rogers of Fort Smith and Trieber of Little Rock, as the board of arbitration t' settle the Caldwell < Drake matter removed any legal way of settling th' claim in any other tribunal. Senator Moore stated this board was compos cd of the judges who must ultimately pass upon the case, no matter wheth or it was tried in state or fedora courts, but Caldwell & Drake declined to submit it's case to this board. Hf tractors, who claimed they would mol