Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-01-24
iowa LEGISLATURE
ENDS SECOND WEEK
Continued from first page.)

general assembly, and that the gov
ernor will be consulted on most i'm
portant legislation, is certain.
Speaker Pitt, IN announcing his
committees last Tuesday, stated that
the house is organized to support
the administration program. Durins
the last week the governor has been
consulted on practically every move
taken in the general assembly.
Filing Began Tuesday.
The filing OF bills in the house be-
gan last Tuesday when the commit
tees We're announced. There we're
many disappointments in the com.
mittee assignments, and it is sail
that some of the antihighway COM
mission crowd are now ready to Iolr
an insurgent movement.
Many Of the most able men of the
house We're ignored or given min3r
committee assignments. This leaves
them free of any obligation, and they
are in a position to render the h.gn
est service in keeping a close watch
on legislation and checking any
measures which may injure the
state.
The antihighway commission fac
ton has held few informal con.
ferences, but the bill which will BE
filed has not yet been drafted \
big conference will be held by the
Johnston crowd in order to get I
OF the ideas on road legislation be.
fore polishing up the bill which IS 10
be filed. The hackers of the m,asure
also want to be sure they have
enough votes to pass the bill before
launching it,
There are SO many different ideas
on road legislation in the house that
it is believed the road advocates will
get into tangle before any road bill
is passed.
Senator Balkema, chairman of the
senate road committee has prepared
a bill repeating many sections OF the
road law so as to make it more work.
able. The removal of some of these
measures, it is believed, will remove
the objection to the highway laws
now held by many mem bers OF the
general assembly.
Commission to Remain.
The anticomm!ssion crowd does
not expect TO file a bill in the senate
for the discontinuance CT the high
way commission. If any bill of this
kind gets before the upper house, il
will be the measure reported by tho
house, it is said.
There has been much discussion
over the bone cry" bills now be-
fore the senate committee on sup.
preston of intemperance. Many Of
the members of the general assem-
bly, say they will not support the bill
taking away the right to ship liquor
for personal use, on the ground that
1t would endanger the safety of the
prohibitory amendment. This serti-
ment appears to be growing.
The equal suffrage amendment
may be filed in the general assem-.
bly, next week. The leaders Of tho
movement have rot been announced.
Probably one of the most impor-
tant things to the state was the in.
vestigation OF the coal situation or.
dered in the state. A joint commit.
tee from the house and senate will
make the probe-to determine
whether the Iowa coal operators
have been operating in violation OF
the antitrust laws. The probe was
asked by Representative Epps OF
Ottumwa, owing to the greatly in
creased prices of coal demanded BY
operators during the cold weather.
The committee is composed of Rep
resentative Epps of Ottumwa, Star
Finger OF Des Moines, Griffin ri
Sioux City, and Senator'S Price Of
Abba, Haskell OF Cedar Rapids, and
Caswell of DenisOn
The appointment of a joint COM
mittee of the house and senate to in
vestigate and report on land titles,
was announced today.
There are hundreds of bills now
being drafted in the house and sen.
ate. An effort is being maze in the
house to limit the mum Der of bills IN
troduced to two per number after
FEB. l. This would cause a tremen-
dous rush the last week OF this
month.
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