Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-05-17

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Henry Gransback, oldest member Of
the Legislature in point of years and
one of the oldest representatives in
point of service, will close his tenth
session of the general assembly this
week.. The grand old man of the Phil
adelphia delegation will be eighty
years old next January and although
not an active participant in the bust
ness of the House is probably one of
the best posted men on legislative pro-
cedure in that branch INK very often
apt to upset calculations by voting the
way his experience urges. Mr.. trans
back has seen a good many bills rise
and fall oftentimes his colleagues
look up in surprise at n of his votes
and then come around to his way of
thinking.
Mr.. Gransback was born in Phila-
delphia in 1886 and had a war rec
ord before most of the members of
the present House were born. He
gave up a tiourishing iron business to
enlist in one of the Pennsylvania regi-
ments, but when he came back he
~prospered more than ever n was so
respected by his n~eighbors that he
was repeatedly urged to run for of
flee. He was elected to the House for
the sessions of 1895, 1897 and
1bt't AAi'NCA ~ 5AC Vi "AAAN WV
average legislator of to-day knows lit
tie. He was elected to the Senate to
fill a vacancy in 1900 and then chosen
for a full term, sitting in the sessions
| of 1901, 1908 and 1905. In 1908 he
was asked to stand for the House
again and has been a member of the
sessions of 1909, 1911, 1913 and 1915.
The full crew bill appears to be
attracting attention all over the coun-
try and there is as much speculation
in New York as there
is in Philadelphia or
Pittsburgh over what Full Grew
may happen to it. The Attracts
hearing on the bill has Interest
been fixed for We'd
nesday afternoon in
the Governors big reception room and
1t will bring here many men active in
transportation affairs and leaders of
Lee, of the trainmen, is expected to
make an address for the men. This
hearing recalls the days in 1911 when
the present law was up. The railroad
presidents and leaders of the brother
hoods came here day after day. This
will be the second big executive hear
ing, the Philadelphia housing bill hav-
ing been the first to be aired.
"A good bit of amusement is being
manifested on Capitol Hill in the battle
over the w corporation tax report
bills sponsored by Audi
tor General A. w. Powell
PowcIFs and now humping the
Bills in bumps in the Senate.
Trouble What makes the interest
so keen is that people
have widely divergent
ideas about what the bills will do.
Some people insist that they would
tax good will and franchise as well as
capital or loans. The Auditor General
has issued statement No. 2 on the
bills in which he declares that they
are not as bad as painted and hat
corporations need have no fear of him.
On the other hand there are some
senators who take the view that the
bills would upset things more than
appears on the surface. Powell has
still two years to serve and the sug-
gestion has been made about the Sem
ate chamber that he work out the
bills more thoroughly and present
them text session when they can be-
come effective when his successor
takes office.
Some last demands for hearings
on bills are being made by people who
have been working on legislation, but
1t is unlikely that much
will be done in that
line. The legislators Members
appear to be more in Prepare
terested in getting action to Close
on their bills than in
anything else and the
backing and filling hat marks every
session will be ~subordinated to work.
The House plans to have three sessions
Tuesday and Wednesday and to wind
up work easily on Wednesday night.
AS a matter of fact, things are in bet
ter shape for the House to have an
easy finish than for a long time. The
compensation and general appropria-
ton bills, as last session, are the bust
ness of the final week, but it is not eX-
pected either will make the bother
that marked the last week of June,
1918.
Various committees of the two
houses are arranging for farewell sup
pers to be given this week. The big
dinners of the session are yer and
social matters will be passed up in the
rush to get through. Hence the sup
pers will be late at night.
Between the Legislative wind-up
and the meetings oeNthe Public Ser
vice, Board of Pardons and other
bodies things will be lively at the
Capitol this week.
Lists of the bills that died in COM
mittees last week are furnishing inter
esting reading now. Some that at
tracted attention in those newspapers
engaged in fomenting trouble do not
appear to have won much considera-
ton in the last analysis.
Bernard Egan, the new postmas-
ter of Emporium, came to see the
Legislature in action. He is a Demo-
crat and did not find the reorgani-
cation wing amounted to much this
session.