Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-02-02
Absence of Leaders Causes
Legislators to Middle and
tumble Through Afternoon
of Hard Labor.
MINORITY ASSUMES
CONTROL OF SITUATION
Session Generally Devoid of
Interest; Senate Adjourns
Until Monday in Respect to
Late Senator Burns,
tBy r.. l.. ID. McAllister, Staff Cor.
respondent.)

rcSpOtittHt.b
Santa Fe, Feb. 1.-The outstanding
feature of today's session was the
demonstration given by the house OF
the extent to which a green lesisa-
ture can make itself ridiculous.
The house of representatives of the
third state legislature is above the
average in intelligence and character
but is woefully lacking in experience
With the exception of a fair handful
of members, its ignorance of parlia-
mentary law is colossal. When those
members are absent it drifts about
like cork on a wave. And today
most of them were absent.
At the morning session, consider
alton of two bills regarding irriga>
ton laws was postponed until the
afternoon, and it was decided that at
that time they should be taken up in
committee of the whole. The attempt
to put through this program resulted
in one of the most absurd muddles
that any legislative body has ever
experienced.
All Up in the Air.
Mr.. Lucero of Santa Fe was called
to the chair when the house went
Speaker Llewellyn left the hall. Mr..
Barnes of Bernalillo county, the ma
jority floor leader, was compelled to
be absent from the afternoon session
ON account OF personal business. Mr..
I,ucero did his best as a presiding Of
ficer, and probably did better THAI
most of the other members would
have done; int Mr. Lucero iS cutting
I. Il. r,ctD
not able to take the reins and drive
the team the way it should have
gone
Very soon the unusual spectacle
was presented OF the minority leader
taking charge of things and telling
the house what to do. Mr.. Pardue
is himself serving his first term in
any legislature, but he has made up
for lack of experience by the hardes,
kind of study of all questions affect
ing legislation, since he was chosen
by his party as its leader in the
house. Mr.. Pardue does know par
liamentary law, and if it had not been
for him, and for some occasional as
sstance rendered him by Mr. Con
Zales of Dona Ana, there is no say
ing what the house might have done.
Ignorance OF Rules.
The ignorance displayed by the
members, not only of the rules of the
house, but of the most elementary
principles of parliamentary law, was
nothing short of astounding. 1t was
plain to be seen that most of them
had not the slightest conception of
the functions of the committee of the
whole-didn't know what it meant,
and couldn't understand what it was
all about. Few of them knew
whether they were coming or going,
or where they would be at the end
of the journey.
There were times when the house
bore a strong resemblance to lot OF
school boys trying to play a game
that none of them understood, and it
was necessary for Mr.. Gonzales or
Mr. Pardue to remind the members
that they were supposed to be attend
ing to the business of the state and to
appeal to them to give that business
their serious attention.
To give an account in detail of all
that took place during that dizzy two
hours, would be next to impossible.
Suffice it that eventually the commit
tee of the whole arose and reported
progress, that its report as to one of
the bills under consideration was laid
on the table, leaving the bill in the
same condition as when it's delibera-
tions began, and that as to the other
the report was adopted and the bill
recommitted to the judiciary commit
tee.
Uninteresting Session.
So far as legislation is concerned
nf n
house. A number of unimportant bills
were passed, and considerable
amount of routine business transacted.
The session was peaceful-also dull.
The senate adjourned until Mon
day at O'Clock in honor of the mem-
ory of the late Thomas ID. Burns.
The result of this is to further post
pone action on the substitute senate
resolution for a statewide prohibition
to the constitution, which
had been made special order for to-
morrow afternoon at o'clock. I'm
der the rules the resolution holds the
position given 1t by the special order
and will come up Monday afternoon.
In the Senate.
The committee on public land re-
ported substitute for Senator Bry-
ants resolution calling upon all the
state institutions for information re-
garding the expenditure of their per-
manent funds, and the substitute was
passed unanimously under suspen-
sion of the rules. S. b. 4, to provide
for giving bonds by county clerks: S.
b. AZ, relating to the unauthorized
taking for temporary use of automo-
biles and other vehicles, and S. B. A.
defining the duties and authority OF
the attorney general, were reported by
the judiciary committee with amend
ments.
s. b. rs, declaring the road from |
Silver City to Mogollon a state high |
way; s. J. r. IA, calling on the loan