Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1917-01-25
H. B. a. UP FOR
FINAL PASSAGE
Efforts to Amend Same Are
Unavailing.
(By the Associated Press)

|
Bismarck, Jan. 24.-The Nom
Partisan Leagues bill for new
state constitution passed uneXpect-
edly from the committee Of the
whole in the house this morning to
the calendar for third reading when
a motion presented by Rep. c. p. Pc
tcrsOn of Cass County that the bill
be recommended for passage, was
adopted without debate after the
house had spent brief period con-
sidering the amendments.
| Under the house rules when a.
bill comes up for third reading MEM
bers are limited to 80 minutes de-
bate and Speaker Wood said this
morning that the majority would
rot raise such rules to- permit Of
longer debate.
I'VE are going to pass this bill
he said, land put the matter up to
the senate. What's the use of
spending a week debating this bill
in the house?"
The sudden action of the house
as committee Of the whole came
as a complete surprise.
Rep. Divet's motion that the pro-
posed constitution as relates to edu-
cation be amended to include the
words, ''patriotism and morality"
as this is taken to mean for educa-
tional work, had been voted down
when Rep. Peterson made his mo-.
ton. The motion was put and car
ried without debate. The commit
tee dissolved a moment later and
H. B. "A now is before the house for
final passage as amended.
| Bismarck, Jan. 24.-(SpeciaD-
Yesterdays proceedings in regard to
H. B. "a included long debate,
the opposition headed by Divet and
a few others who endeavored to Sc
cure an amendment to section 172
regarding the guarantee which the
state would make in payment of
bonds in excess of the present state
debt limit. Divet insisted that
limit be placed on the amount Of
the bonds which could be issued.
several propositions increasing the
amount to one million, three, five
and ten millions, were proposed by
the minority, but all such amend
ments were voted down. Represen-
tative Cole of Fargo championed the
League measure, and declared that
he was willing to submit it to the
people, and was willing to trust the
people and warned the opposition
that the farmers of this state were
intensely in earnest and have been
clamoring for this measure for
long time without getting it.
Want Special Court.
Mr.. Divet introduced a bill, No.
80, providing for special court to
decide upon the constitutionality Of
the program as shown in house bill
"A. This special court to consist of
all the supreme judges and all the
district judges who shall set time
for public hearings on H. 3. No. A.
to determine whether it is consti-
tutional proceeding for new consti-
tuition or not. The bill was referred
to the judiciary committee.
Senate Passes Amendments.
In the senate, yesterday S. B. 81
amending the constitution to make
terms of county Offices not to exceed
four years was passed, also s.. B. 26
an amendment to the constitution
that the legislature shall be in ses-
sion 80 days instead of 60 and SEN
ate bill 27 that session of the legis-
lature shall be held but once in
four years.
S. B. 80 extending the term of
governor to four years and making
other state Offices appointive, failed
to secure majority vote, as did
s. B. 20, providing that senators
shall be elected for eight years and
representatives for four.