Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-18
Ehrntttg Ul1at

First and last there are probably
between 1900 and 600 bills before the
present Legislature. The lists show
nlgher figures but as a bill passes
| from one branch to another 1t is given
new number so that while the House
nst may show as high as 1900 bills
there are probably not more than L.
zoo strictly House bills. The Senate
propaply has something between 400
| ana 300 original bills. In the num-
Der are hundreds of appropriation bills
| Whlch Tor various reasons are pre-
| sented separately instead of all hos
pitals and charities being Jumped as
mas been suggested. Probably 200 bills
IN hand are important, not including
appropriations. number of the
measures are curative, but the quantity
| of bills of strictly local interest is
| larger than known for many months
| In fact, there has not been a session
In years in which so many bills of
purely local Importance have appeared
/ and the committees are sending them
to subcommittees for study. Just as
| an illustration 1t may be stated that
| the other day there appeared bills for
additional State road routes in two or
three counties. for two changes in
the. school code to suit just two mu-
inequalities and for one or two alter
ations to the borough code which
would affect only few places. A bill
came in to repeal an old act of 1928
relative to the borough of West Mid
dletown in Washington county ana
Allegheny county has sent in at least
a dozen bills to wipe obsolete laws off
the books. All this is in addition to
the general repealers which are dis
posing of something like $1,005 old
laws. The other day seven bills to
permit people to sue the State passed
in a bunch and bill came in to re-
imburse a township for money paid
out for a road improvement, which it
is claimed should be met by the State.
Probably one of the oldest bills to
appear called for repayment to q
Lycomtng county man of $25 which
he claims he enormously paid the
State. 1t will cost over S25 of public
money to print the bills to enable the
man to get his money. The State will
probably be out of pocket $35 to $40
by the time it pays the man the $25.
One of the old militia pension bills
turned up in the, House on Monday
: night. Years ago the State used to
grant pensions to members of the Ma
tional Guard who were injured while
at camp or on duty. There was no
compensation law in those days and
5 the practice was stopped when it was
3 found that the business was costing
the State a great deal of money. There
> are probably score of State pension
| ers. In this case an Erie man was
) awarded $500 and an annuity of $96
! for injuries received while serving
, lin the Seventeenth Regiment. lie
: wants the annuity increased.
Representative Richard Powell, of
, Luzerne county, who is one of the
/ active men in the big Brother" move
ment in his part of the State. tells a
pathetic story of how he never saw
n boy to whom he had promised to
! be a caretaker. This boy had been
confined in one of the State institu-
tions and when his time came for dis
: charge it was arranged that the Ed
= wardsville man would keep an eye on
him. 1t happened that Mr.. Powell
was away from home on the day that
, the lad returned to his home town
, and for the first two or three days
the legislator sort of kept an eye on
him by proxy. Thee he found that
, the boy had gotten a job in one of the
, mines and he arranged when he went
back to his home from the legisla-
tive sessions last week to look him up.
: He had been receiving good reports
and expected to make something out
of the lad, When he got home Mrs.
Powell told him that the boy was
dead. He had been electrocuted while
trying to show some younger boys
3 how he could climb pole and balance
himself on the wires.
Representative George W. Williams
2 was undisputed monarch in the House
: yesterday. He was presiding during
the long debate on the capital punish
ment bill and 1t happened that all Of
: the clerks, who had been on the alert
l for three or four hours during the
suffrage debate were taking their ease.
The speaker rEo tenn. occupied the
S rostrum with ar of the desks vacant.
There was no one within twenty feet
of him. And during part of TIE time
a member who had a cold insisted on
making his speech to a stenographer
with full complement of gestures
l About all the Speaker got was a view
of the gestures. IN could not hear
a word.
r Return of mild weabher has caused
the benches in Capitol 2ark to be very
popular, and there wee few vacant
seats to be found about the park last
evening. It seemed as ts.ough every
ono was so glad to welcoiIe the COM
ing of spring that they ran the risk
/ of colds.