The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-04-10

arose as to which bill should be
passed. Senator Kimball was accus-
ed of playing lone hand in draft
! ing his bill, while. a subcommittee
had worked on the other bill. Inc
kimball bill came out first and was
nearly two hours long by the auth
or. A motion was then made to
substitute the other bill, and finally
this was amended to send both bills
to strictly neutral committee-the
! judiciary committee Of lawyers and
both bills and present them for adop..
ton. This motion prevailed and if
any new motor vehicle law gets
through this session it will be this
Joint committee bill, to be presented
! next Tuesday--and If none is passed
cause to impeach every member G.
the legislature, for the present laws
are absolete and unavoidable and I'M +.
enforced. ;,
The new bill will provide that all
auto licenses will be secured at the
office of the county treasurer, where
| the fees will be naid, and : the :
county's share of the money retain |
| ed the balance being sent to the
state treasurer. 1t seems that near
| ly all mem bers favor this plan. The
new law will doubtless also raise the
auto license fees materially-doub-
ling them in tact All anrn money SO SO
the roads under the new road law
that will be adopted, and be used
with the federal aid money for paw
ing and crawling the main road !!
systems.
Iowa got rid OF one secretary oI
state and aeeepted bon neW f time this
week. Secretary of State w. S. AL
| len resigned Wednesday afternoon,
| the senate accepted the resignation
in less than fifteen minutes ana on
Thursday morning Governor HARD
| ing had appointed w: Z: h aiI
vacancy and Mr.. Ramsey accepted.
| The new secretary will take the OF
fee July list. Thus there are ways
| of choosing new officers and getting
rid of old ones without the aid or
consent of any pohtlcal cons senn;un
on his fourth term as secretary Or
state, having overthrown all repub-
lican precedent in this state last
year by standing as candidate TOR
a fourth term-and winning out IN
the primaries in spite of the Oppose
But his utter incompetence and falr
IRE to efficiently msnage the affairs
Of the Office was developed by the in
Vestigations by the committee on de-
partmental affairs and on their ad-
vice he resigned to save dragging IN
to public gaze some OF the lnner
Workings Of the secretary,s office
and methods. Secretary Allen is to
be pitied; it is not charged by any
one that he is personally dlshonese
or that he has intentionally, beaten
the state out of anything, put II IS
said that his incompetence ana lack
of management have cost the state
| $500 day for the past two years
=! and that is the statement of one who
helped in the Investigation.
Now another investigation is IN
progress in the fish and game de-
partment, it is sad. without charges
preferred or expectation of discover
Ing anything bad in the manage
ment Of the department, but Tor the
purpose of recommending changes in
the law and difference. methods OF
licensing and applying the money to
| the states conservation program.
Nearing End Pardon Probe.
Witnesses galore have been sub
tpoenaed and examined in the Rath-
bun pardon investigation during the
past week, and the end of the evil
dence is said to be due now. Very
little if anything new in the way OF
development of crime or Interior
motives III LHS Gas lloo coALS CoI -
all this hearing since the first Two
DAYS. What the result will be is
merely matter of opinion at this
time, and the opinion may be quite
preiudiced by the viewpoint. Even
those who at first thought the stigma
of bribery might possibly develop as
against the governor now state that
there is nothing in that part Of it.
The same parties will tell you that
there is nothing in the evidence to
show that Attorney Havner
did anything wrong in his part in
the Ida county grand jury proceed
inss. since he testified in hours or
examination that all he was after
was to send young Rathbun to, the,
penitentiary and if possible have
The pardon revoked. From today to.
the end of the matter it will be a
question for the judiciary, commit
tee of the house to declde--and 1t
is the belief that some bitter feeling
! will develop among the members be
fore they agree upon report. lhlS
report may be censure Of either
1 the governor or Havner. or both.
Some believe that strong recon-
/ mendation for impeachment of one
or both high officers will be propos-
ed, 1t is certain that disbarment
proceedings against Clark, the Ida
Grove lawyer in the case, Will grow
out of it all. G. L. Caswell.
HOW'S YOUR BLOOD