Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-03-12


culation, if not repeal, is admitted BY
many friends Of the law in both houses
Of the general assembly. The fnsurg-
ent members Of the house have their
forces more thoroughly organized on
this question than any other, and
true test of their strength will be
made, possibly this week, when the
bill by Johnston, of Lucas, to repeal
the present law and enact substitute
is called up for action. The bill is
now on the house calendar, with two
reports from the committee on roads
and Highways. The majority of the
committee, controlled by the repeal
ers, recommends the passage of the
substitute bill, while minority rec
ommends its indefinite postponement.
The Johnston bill does away with the
state highway commission and In its
place creates state highway engineer
with an office at Des Moines, provides
for his term of office, his powers and
duties, his compensation and his ap-
pointment and removal. 1t also Gre
ates and defines a system OF county
and township road, bridge and culvert
construction, prescribing the pro-
cedure and manner of carrying on
such Improvement. and providing that
the board of supervisors In each
county shall have full control and
supervision Of the roads in that colir-
ty. 1t also provides that highway
routes may be officially registered
with names, color combinations and
designs to be used in marking the
same and that these may not be duplt-
Gated.
Flaws In Mulct Repeal Law.
That foundation has been laid for
an attack in the courts on the Clark
son bill. repeating the mulct law. is
the conclusion OF those who have been
studying the statement made by
Lieutenant Governor Harding when lie
informed the senate that he had signed
the bill as president of the senate. His
remarks. which were published in the
senate journal and thus made OF Of
fetal record. called attention to ir-
regularities in the bill as enrolled and
as it went to the governor for sigma
ture. These Irregularities or errors.
as noted by the lieutenant governor.
number ten in all. and include such
mistakes as the use Of capital letter
where small letter should have ap-
peared, the wrongful use Of the words
"of the" where mention is made OF the
code supplement, and the wrongful
use in several places of the figures.
1897. Senator GARRISON. author of the
bill, declares the Irregularities noted
will not prove fatal to the measure.
and he has no fear that any court will
declare it void on that account. Other
members declare laws have been
found invalid on less glazing discrep-
ancies between the original bill as
passed by the legislature and as sent
to the governor for approval.
Few Members without Bills.
While nearly nine hundred bills and
resolutions have so far been intro
duced in both houses. an average OF
nearly six bills for each Of the 15S
members, there are ten members of
the house. and one member OF the SEN
ate who have SO far been unable to
lind anything that to their minds
needs urgent reforming or that should
have q statute written around It, The
lone senator who has made this rec
ord is Senator Robert Quigley Of Clay
ton county. serving the first session
Of his second term and whose activi-
ties so far this session have been con-
fined to the fathering of the resolution
looking to the Investigation Of the
charges of graft" made by Governor
Clarke in his inaugural address. The
ten bill-less members of the house are
Speaker Atkinson. Of Butler county:
John H. Darrah. of Franklin county:
Martin Ingwersen. Of Clinton county;
Roy w. Murray, of Buena Vista coun-
ty: Toilet c. Rome. Of Worth county;
Charles F. Sawyer. Of Lee county;
Oliver 0. Spots. Of Ida county; d. O.
Stone, of Sioux county; Lars o. Wig
dahl. of, Palo Alto county, and George
Wilson, of Cherokee county. The
house also has % members who have
yielded to the bill introducing tempta-
ton to the total of only one bill each.
The busy bees in the senate in the
matter of proposing new legislation
are Senators Francis, Kimball and
Whitmore. Senator Francis has Is
bills to his credit. Senator Kimball
raises this limit to q bills, with one
Joint resolution thrown in for good
measure, and Senator Whitmore. Of
Wapello county, leads with total Of
one Joint resolution and 30 bills. In
the house the prolific ones are:
Brady, of Dallas. with one resolution
and IL bills; Brammer, Of Polk, with
IA bills; Anderson, Of Montgomery,
with 10; Ring, Of Linn. with 13; and
Thomas, of Taylor. with one joint
resolution and II bills.
Must Employ Shot Firers.
The bill by Whitmore, of Wapello
county. providing that owners Of coal