The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-11-27
BIG PROBLENSFOR
SOLONS TO SOLVE.
Much Work to Be Done at
Special Assembly Meet.
SCHOOL SYSTEM IS LARGEST
Insurance Regulation and Question
of What to Do With Canal
System In Buckeye State
Follow in Order.
o. A. DONOVAN,
Special Columbus Correspondent.
Columbus. Ohio

OOAoihDhSB Univ.
TTHE impression prevails among
the legislators that it will be
III possible to transact all the bust
ness Of the special session,
which will start about The middle Of
January, in six weeks. AS sessions al.
ways last longer than expected, it is a
pretty safe bet that it will be protract-
ed beyond this period. The solons
have some unusually important prob
| lens to work out and to enact into
law. The biggest will be the recon-
struction of the school system OF the
state. This will be no easy job. The
legislators could easily put in a
months time on this.
There is insurance regulation, which
will be Incorporated in several bills.
These measures will prohibit rate dis.
elimination and rate agreements and
are designed to bring down fire insur-
ance rates. A law is to be enacted for
the payment of miners wages either
on the run-of-the-mine basis or by a
modified screen basis. This legisla-
tion will be based on a report which a
special commission is now preparing
after an investigation of several
months, which included trips to all the
important mines of this state and
many in other states.
The question of what to do with
the canal system will also take up a
little time. There is multiplicity of
ideas regarding how this problem
should be settled and the solution will
not be easy to find. There will be
legislation for the regulation Of the
initiative and referendum, and this
will strike against fraudulent invok-
Ing of the principle. 1t will be made
a serious offense to circulate refer
endum petitions for pay.
Gov. Cox will urge compulsory vot-
ing legislation, which he has advo-
Gated frequently in his public ad-
dresses. There will be legislation for
the nomination of United States SEN
ators by direct vote of the people, for
flood prevention, for state printing
plant, and for other propositions
which will be suggested in the mes
sages which the chief executive will
send to the general assembly.
The 1914 general appropriation law
Is to be re-enacted with something
like half million dollars pruned
from it. State Budget Commissioner
w. o. Heffernan is now assiduously
going over every item in this measure
to find out just where cuts may be
made in the allowances. AS his com
pensation Is to be based on the
amount Of money he can save the
state, 1t is certainty that he will
recommend curtailment of the appro.
priation wherever this is possible. If
Gov. Cox heeds all the requests made
upon him, which is not at all likely
the special session would last as long
as regular one, because daily he is
asked to recommend this and that
legislation.
Canal System Seems Doomed.
The old canal system seems
doomed. Either there must be a tre-
mendous enlargement or complete
abandonment. This is the opinion of
the legislative canal commission
whose members will recommend an
exhaustive and detailed survey of the
canal system with view to finally
determining what is the better policy
to pursue. "The present canals, built
to accommodate lotion craft, are ut
terly impossible for modern require
ments," expresses the final opinion of
the commission. ITO be of real value
today the canals should be able to ac-
commodate big barges of 10 times the
carrying capacity of the present craft
that the small canals float" the mem
bers say. In this view all of the COM
mission members agree. The commits
sion does not finally conclude the big
question of whether it is better to in
crease the canals to an adequate size
or utterly forsake them. 1t considers
this question too vital to be answered
through the investigations it has
made, and so it will ask the general
Lassembly for a survey of the entire
canal situation. But the finding of the
commission against the adequacy of
the present canals is conceded to con-
stitute an almost fatal blow. The
cost of the enlargement which the
commission suggests would be virtu-
ally prohibitive, according to the gen.
eral opinion here. There are many
here who will oppose even the survey
suggested on the ground that enough
is now known to condemn the feasi-
bility Of any further rehabilitation
efforts. But on the other hand there
is a large contingent that will defend
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