Omaha daily bee., 1915-08-30
Nebraska
SPECIAL SESSION
TO FIX DEM ERRORS
Governor May Be Obliged to Call
One to Correct Matters
Left Undone.
BAD MESS OF STATE AFFAIRS
tFrom a staff Correspondentl

Nf TOIn StNlt correspondent
LINCOLN, Aug. .9-(specisl.)--A spc-
cial session Of the legislature is being
proposed in order to fix up some OF the
things the last session left undone and to
approx riate money so certain departments
will not have to shut down.
Democrats are discussing what II viii
cost. They have not learned the lesson
that cost lie not the whole thing in the
successful management OF the state.
The last session. which tried To put
forth an economy plan Of cutting ex-
penses. made a miserable Job OF II and
Il II now becoming apparent that about
the only tning leit Is a special session.
Had II not been for the senate, the state
would be now faSng a much moro seri-
Gus proposition than 1t has on its hands
at the present time.
Tno creauon OF a supreme court COM
mission with one stcnographer and no
bailiff. was one Of the ways the house
tried to economize How three commits
sioners can get along with only one
stenographer and not even a bailiff, with
no funds voted to even pay the commits
sioners, or the stenographer, or hire ad-
ditionHl assistance II needed, is a ques-
ton which will have to he met by the
state some time and IL may require n
special session to settle that thing and
other things Of more Importance.
The worst muddle, however, confronts
the pure food commission. Here Is n
commission. one of the most important
in the state. bringing into tho state treas
ury thousands of dollars every year
above its expenses and saving the people
thousands more because dishonest people
cannot DISPOSE of their adulterated and
spoiled food to the public, unable to exist
because of ruling OF the state treasurer
that as the legislature failed to appro-
pirate the fees of the department for the
use of the department, warrants cannot
be drawn for the support OF the depart
ment.
1t may be that the supreme court might
settle the difficulty, but state officers are
afraid that II II is put up to the courts
from ap urely legal standpoint the edict
I of the state treasurer might stand and
then the state would be up against the
proposition of a special session anyway.
It ia estimated that the fees coming
into the pure food department alone for
the biennlum would pay the expenses of
q special session and that from the stand
point OF financial benefits. the special
session should be called.
What may stand in the way OF calling
/ of the special session Is whether the
members of the legis allure who were
unable to handle the state finances sue
cessfully last winter, will be any likely
! to do better job at a special session
this fall. In case they have not gath
cred sense with the lesson before them.
the expense OF the special session might
be for naught
| II a special session was called 1t could
easily meet and transact the business
required in q very few days az no busl-
ness could be transacted except that
( specified in the call, the constitution
specifying THE governor may, on ex-
traordlnary occasions, convene the legis-
lature by proclamation. stating therein
the purpose for which they are convened.
and the legislature shall enter upon no
business except that for which 1t IL
called together"
! Under the constitution the governor
must specify the business to be trans
acted and while he might not go very
| far, there Is every indication that II
would take a long proclamation to cover
all the things which a special sess on
might do to correct Irregularities and
failures of the last session.