Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-01-15
The Legislative Session, Here
tofore in the Preliminary
Stages, Is Expected to Get
d Down to Work,
QUALITY OF GRlST TO
BE DETERMINED LATER
Contests Are to Find Little
Favor With the Majority
Party Rights Of the Minor
ity to Be Respected,
(By X. l.. ID. McAllister, Staff Core
spondent.)


Santa Fe. Jan. 1.-THE legislative
session, which SO far has been in the
preliminary stages, will actually get
down to work tomorrow. The first
week of any session is do-nothing
week. Time is required to perfect or
ganization. Members have to get ac-
quainted with each other before an
understanding can be reached as to
what will be done. Committees must
be appointed and organized. Then,
too, nobody is particularly anxious to
get down to real work in hurry.
1t is the history of all legislatures,
and the vice of them, that little or no
real work is done until the last two
weeks of their session. This is true
regardless of the length of time pro-
vided by law for them to sit. Procras-
tination is a characteristic weakness
of legislators, individually and col
lectively. Finally. when the time comes
that things simply must be done they
are done Ill hurry, feverishly, with
out the consideration that they should
have.
The Grind to Begin.
Be that as it may, the legislative
mill will begin its grinding process to-
morrow afternoon. The grist will come
later and the people will then have an
indefinite time to Judge of its quality.
In the senate a flood of bills may be
expected, for the standing COMMITTEES
of that body have been named and the
last three days have seen many sena-
tors busy preparing pet measures for
introduction.
The house will get slightly slower
start. Speaker Llewellyn is to name
his committees Immediately after call
ing the house to order, and while it is
possible that some bills may be in
troduced, time must be allowed for the
committees to get together, perfect
their organization and find them
selves before any work is done on such
measures as are introduced. 1t Is ex-
pected that Judge Barnes will intro
duce prohibition resolution Identical
with that of Senator Mcdonald, but
few if any other measures will be Of
fered for consideration.
Soft Pedal on Contests.
From sources that heretofore have
always been reliable the information
is given out that contests will find
little favor with the majority party in
the present legislature. Even the
Chrisman- -Barth contest Is attracting
little or no attention and the general
feeling prevails that it will be allowed
to die a-borning. For the first time In
tention is to be paid to the rights of
the minority.
This, however, is with a we'll de-
fined mental reservations large and
significant proviso. The minority
must be good. 1t must not start any
thing. 1t must not look for trouble.
1t must not place any distractions on
the track or tear up any of the road
bed. If it does, all bets are off
Two-thirds Not Needed.
All this does not mean, of course,
that the majority party has been
seized with any sudden spasm of ten
derness for the opposition or that at
heart its leaders care anything more
for the rights of the minority than
they did on that historic occasion
when Abelino Romero was handed his
hat and a railroad time card and in
formed that Aniceto Abeyta would |
thenceforth occupy the seat to which
the voters thought they had elected |
Romero.
1t simply means that there is moth
ing in sight at the present time which |
seems to require larger republican
majority than Is now on hand and
the contests that were sustained in the
last legislature did not turn out as well
for the republicans as might have been
desired. Not only is there larger
democratic membership in both
houses of the present legislature than
the last, but nearly all the men who
were thrown out two years ago were
kicked upstairs. F. NJ. Bojorquez, for
instance, is now sheriff of Sierra coun-
ty, Rafael Garcia is sheriff of Berna-
lilo county, and G. C. Smith, evicted
from the house. turned right around
and came back to the senate.
The Question of Votes.
Two years ago the salary bill was
still to be passed. Governor McDon-
aid had vetoed two salary bills and
there seemed little likelihood that the
legislature as it was then constituted