The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-03
IN AN OMNIBUS
House Loaded Al Bills in the
Big Wagon.
Missed Lunch Today in Order
to Rush Work.


stops as possible. the 125 house mem
Ders are crowding into bulk roll calls
every possible measure. This after
noon the house adopted in a single ON
nious A bills which were neatly tied,
packed and labelled and stored in the
omnibus for a safe ride through the
legislature to a place in the statute
books The house did not adjourn for
lunch today but worked right through
the noon hour.
1t was the largest single omnibus of
the session. Many bills went into the
bulk roll call which a week ago would
have been withheld by virtue of a flood
OF objections from house members. But .
the session of a week ago and the seS- /!
sion of today are vastly different Pend
ing on the calendar are more than 200
bills. The house members realize that
the session has reached point where
legislation is a matter of compromise
and pure and simple game of give
and take. And because of the late
hour of the session many bills which
are of state wide Importance were read
a third time and given a through tick (
ct on the bulk roll call, where before /
objection was raised to any measure +
which was not strictly local in its /
nature.
For two days the members worked to
accumulate that big roll call. Forty |
four times they have lodged a separate !
roll call TO save the ten minutes that is |
each time required to call and register |
of the votes of the 125 members. In .
other words the members have crowded /
into the one roll call of ten minutes
the work that would have otherwise
occupied seven hours and twenty min
utes time-nearIy the time of an en-
tire days session. There is but one
reason for that action. The house
members are firing of the restaurant
meals-not that those meals are not
good, mind you-but because they .Gon't
taste like the kind that wiley cooks. And
again, the pay of the 165 members of
the two houses stops at, midnight
Tuesday Furthermore, 1t has been
several weeks since some of the mem
bers visited their constituents and they
want to go home and hear the opinions
of their own people concerning the work
of the session.
So. with these thoughts in view. the
bulk roll call will be regular for
nance during the remainder of the ses-
sion and the bills will be piled up to
mountainous heights and rushed
through the house in the most approved
omnibus style.
That pharmacy bill found a place in
the bulk roll call today, but not until
the house members had performed OPP
erations that left the measure weak
and worn and OF little or no benefit 70
the people who desired its passage in
something like the form in which II
was drawn.
one of the things which the authors
of the bill desired most was the clause
itinerant medicine vendors They de-
sired TO Iegislate the medicine wagons
out of business and to build additional
walls around the druggists and doctors ;
which would insure their ease and
comfort But the farmer members of
the house are old friends of the man
with the patent medicine Tan and they
fought for his rights, iherties and pur-
suits of peace and happiness as though
he were one of them. As result or
their fight the medicine vans We're at
fected not at all. Some of the joys
and comforts for the druggists and the
village physicians were removed from
the bill and while the = farmer mem
bers of the house didn't kill the bill
outright they left the bill a competent
subject for an invaid'S pension
Miles Mulroy's hotel commission bill
went into the bulk roll call in the
house today and will be come a law if
il can only find its way through the
senate The Mulroy bill not only pro-
vides for a commission to regulate the
sanitary conditions of Kansas eating
and roomiug houses, but it provides
that the keeper of a house with two
spare bedrooms cannot transact bust
ness under the name OF hotel. that
A lunch counter is not a cafe and IN
general that Kansas hOstelries must
display signs which are IN noWlSe mis- |
leading TO the travelling public
AIulroy Is the only inn keeper in
the Kansas legislature. So it was up
TO him to see that the hotel men and
the travelling public received some
needed legislation at this session. His
bill which follows the enactment of
the nine foot sheet law. the Danish
ment of the public drinking cup and
the crusade against microbes. calls for
a hotel commissioner who shall in
spect and regulate the operation of all
hotels. eating houses. cafes, restau-
rants. rooTning houses, boarding houses ;
and buildings where the public is in
1ited to eat and rest This commits
sioner shall receive $4,000 a year for
his services And the bill provides in
spection fees to be paid by the hotels.
cafes and boarding housekeeper which
will more than maintain the hotel COM
missioner's department In busy sea-
sons. the bill provides. the regularly
appointed commissioner may appoint
two assistants who shall act under his
direction and shall be paid a per diem !
and expenses
The Mulroy bill has the official O.
K. of the hotel men. the travelling pub
lie and the especial approval of the
Travelling Mems associations
After hard fight today. the house
put the Spiker dog bill in the bulk
roll call. But the Lyon county mans
pet measure didn't get through until
the house had trimmed it in a man
ner that nearly brought tears to the
eyes of its author
The thing which Spiker really
wanted was a state wide tax on dogs.
with the provision that this tax fund
might be levied on by persons whose
sheep and other animals were slaugh-
tered by vicious dogs There was no
objection to the dog tax, in fact the
Democratic members saw another
chance for new revenue and gave it
hearty endorsement When it came to
the point of dividing this fund with :