The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-01-24
INTERESTING LETTER FROM
REPRESENTATIVE POSITION

Dear EQltOr:--AS i promised some
of my newspaper friends to write an
occasional letter during the session Of
the Legislature, ] will now make this
beginning. We arrived here safely,
in time for the opening session of the
Assembly and are domicied at 107
East Miller. Wife and daughter are
well satisfied with our quarters and
our only worry is climbing the hills of
the city. Of course, we are used to the
hills of old st. Francois county but
they don't compare with the hills here.
The Assembly was duly organized
with Hon. S. +. O'Fallen of Holt coun-
ty as Speaker Of the House. Senator
Goodson of Gundy county as Speaker
pro tenn of the Senate. Some anus
ing incidents have occurred in the or
ganizing Of the House. that is, to the
Democrats they were amusing. The
reports say that at the Republican
caucus, the st. Louis delegation walk
ed out for some reason. At any rate
when the House met on Thursday
morning for permanent organization,
the st. Louis members boted and left
the Republican majority without suf-
ficient votes to control the organiza-
ton and they Immediately took a re-
cess. The Democrats might have TAX
en- advantage Of the situation and
elected cur Speaker but we sat quietly
enjoying the fun, watching the Repub-
licans coax the voters back to the
reservation. 1t took an hour or two
to drive them back into the fold. By
and by the House was organized and
the Legislative mill was started, but
it started off very slowly indeed,
We have plenty of janitors and at
tendants to look after our needs in
the cloak rooms and other places. Fiji
teen or 20 eolored gentlemen from st.
Louis came up to look after these po-
sitions and | don't think we will suf-
fer for want of attention.
On last Thursday, the Assembly
ratified the dry amendment by an ov-
erwhelming majority of both Houses.
One of the surprises to the House
was the declaration of Representative
Farris of Phelps county that he would
support and vote for the ratification.
1t was generally thought that he
would be opposed to it and when he
declared himself in favor of the rati
fication, he received warm congratu-
lations from the dry forces. He fur
ther declared that he would give of his
time and ability to enact such a law
as would make Missouri "bone dry"
State. There was a strong disposition
on the part of members to dispose of
this question early and get it out of
the way for other and important bus
mess. No great amount of oratory
was expended in preliminaries.
Governor Gardner delivered an ad-
dress to Joint Assembly of the ses-
sion and it was enthusiastically re-
ceived. Several times he was inter
rupted by applause on the floor and the
galleries, particularly when he rec
commended equal suffrage for women,
proper recognition of Missouri's gal
liant sons in the World War, work
mans compensations and other pro-
gressive measures. The Government
has mapped out very large and pro-
gressive program, while if enacted in
to laws, will be very beneficial to the
people of our great State.
I cannot close without a word about
our splendid beautiful new Capitol. To
properly enjoy its artistic beauty, one
must see til can't describe it. A
gentleman from North Carolina was
here one day last week looking
through it and admiring it's beauty.
He made this statement: / have been
in 32 capitols in the United States and
this one is the most beautiful, magni-
ficent and commodious I have yet
seem" 1t is certainly magnificent
structure and great monument to
our State; the people may justly be
proud of it.
The Speaker has not yet announced
the various Committees of the House,
but it is understood that he will do so
today. No bills have been introduced
yet but the members are busy at work
drafting them and as soon as the
Committees are named no doubt the
bills will be introduced.
We acknowledge visit from Judge
Swink of Pennington, Prof. Melcher
of Bonnie Terre and Prof. Hunt of Ell
wins. We very much appreciated their
caIl and hope they will call again.
j. D. POSITION.