Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-04-09
tBy George Gallarno)


night. The past week has been one
Of accomplishment in both houses and
q large number of measures have
been acted on. There remain, how
ever, for final disposal number OF
the most important bills before the
assembly as we'll as more than four
hundred bills of q slight additional or
corrective feature to the laws.
The most important OF the bills
upon which final action Is awaited, are
the ten or more prohibitory enforce
ment acts which have passed the SEN
ate All Of these are on the calendar
in the house with report for favor
able action from the sitting commit
tee to which they had been referred.
It seems a foregone conclusion that
these measures will all get through
the house with little or no amend
ment. and the likelihood is that they
will have been signed by the governor
by the end of the present week.
Parole Board in Danger.
BY an Overwhelming vote the house
has passed the bill seeking to abolish
the board of parole. and transferring
the duties of that board to the board
of control which now has charge of
all the state charitable and penal In
situations. On roll call SO members
voted to do away with the parole
board while but II favored its reten-
ton. The indeterminate sentence fea-
ture Of the law was saved. 1t was
argued that the board Of parole con-
sisting OF three members was USE
less extravaganza and that by trans
ferring the secretary of the board to
the board of control economy would
be secured and the work carried on
as we'll il not better than under the
present system. The friends Of the
parole board have faith that the SEN
ate will refuse to follow the lead Of
the house in this matter.
Good Roads Squabble.
The house and senate are at log
gerheads on the matter of amending
or correcting the highway commission
Nv enacted BY the 35th general as
sembly. BY . safe majority the house
passed the Johnston bill. abolishing
the state highway commission and
placing the construction Of roads and
bridges under practical control Of To-
cal boards of supervisors. with state
engineer, at Des Moines, as adviser.
The senate after q warm fight refused
to substitute the Johnston bill for q
committee measure presented to that
~ thA
troversy it appears will be what was
predicted in these letters several
weeks ago: that is the retention Of
the present law with few corrective
amendments.
More Than Q Million Spent.
In response to resolution pre-
scented to the senate by Senator Chase.
and adopted by that body. calling
for financial statement of capitol ex-
tension expenditures, the executive
council submitted to the senate q
statement in detail showing the total
cost Of the extension purchase to date
to have been $1,O11,725.2S. OF this
amount 1901, 69O.55 has been paid out
for lands. while there is still due on
unsettled contracts. portion rum
ming to next August. the sum OF $780,
1850. The balance of the total given
has been paid out for labor. material,
moving of houses on contract. legal
work, recording deeds. water rentals.
insurance and sundry items. In its re-
port as an Offset to the above expendi
lures the council claims assets Of
$1,O20.59S.32, or . showing that the
property is today worth more than
$1,000 more than was paid for 1t and
all the incidental expenditures con-
nected with the purchase. A number
Of homes which were located on the
purchased tract have been, moved to
Governors square and rebuilt. These
are for sale and the council estimates
the value Of the same at 100000.
Other items shown are receipts from
rentals from property since pur-
chased by the state. $27.113.4S and re-
ceipts from miscellaneous sales
amounting to $11.7O6.73.
Document Editor Favored.
The long squabble over the 90
called printer and binder graft has
resulted in the exoneration of the
present printer and binder from the
charge Of using their office for any
illegal gain, and in the adoption Of a
bill providing that the governor shall
on or before July 1. 1916, appoint q
state document editor, to have charge
of the editing and publication of the
reports Of all the departments of
state. The retrenchnent and reform
committee, which introduced the doc
ument editor bill, through its advo-
cacy in the two houses claimed It
would save the state from $4,000 to
$780, 900 each two years on its printing
bill. To aid in this saving it Is under
stood the committee will present sew
eral additional bills looking to cor
recting the laws relative to prices