Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-19
Pee;t;c4 IT.
Ps~~o4Gsa~io
BY the Ex- Committeeman

No time is to be lost in push
ing through State departmental leg
islation. The presence of Senator
Boies Penrose and the activity in
behalf of the Philadelphia charter
able of the attention of the men,
bers of the two Houses, but there is
| plenty else to do. More hearings
are scheduled for this coming week
than in any similar period and in
! view of the imminence of the time
for stopping presentation of new
bills, there will probably be rush
| of new measures. The fight against
the anti-sedition, State police and
volunteer police bills will crystalline
during the week and there will be
some debates over third class city
bills, including the nonpartisan cleo
ton repeater and the bill to stave
off all elections of councilmen until
1921.
The administration will COM
plete drafting of the Capitol park
office building, bridge and landscape,
bills and several other measures
which the Governor has outlined and
the proposed bill relative to sys-
tematization of the State printing
will likely appear. The latter meas
ure will abolish the antiquated
schedule, provide a new system, de-
fine certain classes of work and
adapt the needs of the State to the
printing capacity and insure prompt
publication and deliveries.
--COnSide BILE interest is heinC
shown in the hearing on the pro-
posed Department of Conservation
bill, scheduled for Senate commit
tee on Tuesday, and the bill is go
ing to encounter opposition. The
perennial fight between municipali-
ties and the Public Service Commits
sion will be given another airing
Tuesday. Military training will have
a hearing Tuesday, as well on the
House side.
Big calendars will confront both
branches of the Legislature when
they reconvene on Monday night
after the Easter recess, the Senate
list of second and third reading bills
being unusually large and containing
several of the administration bills,
as well as some of the game bills.
The House calendar contains over
100 bills, there being seventy-three
on second reading alone. The Brady
bills, relative to changes in primary
and registration laws, are at the top
of the second reading calendar.
Several important bills are on
the postponed third reading calen-
dar of the House, including: Fisher
mems license, Goehring osteopathic,
State Art Commission, Washington
Orphans Court, Department of Agri-
culture, reorganization and third
class city nonpartisan repeater bills
State officials are of the opinion
that no additional legislation is re-
quired for the reorganization of the
National Guard when the Keystone
Division returns from France, and
that the Reserve Militia act of 1917
provides all authority needed. Pro-
vision will be made in the appropri-
alton bill for the reorganization of
the Guard.
No one here seems to be exact
ly sure just why the Wallace bill
provides for numerous amendments
to the third class city code, was with
drawn from the Legislature for
amendment on the final day of the
session. The measure was the work
of a number of city solicitors and
others experienced in third class
municipal laws and had the general
support of members from those
cities. BY an agreement made early
in the session, no effort was made to
hitch the nonpartisan repeater to
the measure and it went through
with few amendments and on its
own merits. Much to the surprise
of every one, the bill was recalled
from the Governor. Since the bill
passed, a number of third-class city
officials have been studying the effect
of the various amendments and thus
far no adverse reports have been re-
ceived. The general opinion is that
the bill was so voluminous that
everyone wanted to be sure about
what it did and TO wait until the
Governor returned before passing II
finally.
Control of the State Library will
be vested entirely with the State IL
brarian under the terms of the Smith
bill about to pass the State Senate,
The Board of Trustees, dating from
1889, would be abolished and all ap-
pointments. which are now subject
to review, would be made with ap-
proval of the Governor. The bill
would concentrate all authority, abol-
ishing the division of public records
created in 1903 and the Free Library
created in 1899. but give increased
powers to the Library extension di-
vision, enabling aid to be given to
Libraries in the State. The librarian
would be the director, subject only
to the Governor, appointed and re-
moved at his pleasure. The salary
is raised to $4,000. The bill is in
line with the administration plan to
centralize authority and look to
chiefs for results.