Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-17
1919 Legislature
Defended By Mccain,

Continued From Page One
would meet and deliberate a dey or
two, and then adjourn till the following
Monday night. Thus the weeks slipped
by. The House lacked an appreciation
of the value of time. Besides, there
has been little or no effort to make I'm
the time lost in the early days of the
session. ...t..
The desire among members of the
House up to the present time to get
away from Harrisburg has become
acute. The magnet of getting their
local appropriation bills through failed
to hold many of them.
The spectacle presented last Thurs
day of lack of quorum, with sergeant
at arms scurrying over the state, and
telegraph wires burdened with messages
recalling absent members to their duties,
was visible elimination of the ses-
sion's carelessness and indifference. The
last five months have been distinguished
by an amount of dawdling, inexcusable
adjournment, and waste of time al
most unprecedented.
Many Financially on Thin Ice
Yet scores of members should be
charitabfy absolved for their display
Of anxiety to get away. Financially
they are skating on thin ice. Their
salaries have been spent and they are
losing money daily by remaining in
Harrisburg. I believe that a PROPOSE
tion to extend, the session a week be.
yond the date set for adjournment
would precipitate riot in the House.
There are but eight working days
left, including Saturday. A mass of
appropriation bills must be acted upon.
In the mad rush to get through it is
misjudgment to imagine that intelli.
gent consideration can be accorded each
one. The outcome is obvious to any
one familiar with Legislature pro-
cedure.
The appropriation bills will be rushed
through, the House will adjourn and
to Governor Sproul will be relegated
the work of cutting the appropriations
to fit available funds. From a purely
superficial view. I am not so sure that
the verb slaughter should now be
substituted for cutting" in reference
to these measures.
The present situation is pointed out
as an impressive argument in favor
of the pending bill to increase the
salary of members from $500 to S250O.
The cost of living in Harrisburg dur
ing session has more than doubled
N recent years. There are no passes,
as in the glorious days Of old, and
railroad fares are a big item in the
expense account of legislators who come
from remote sections of the state. Many
find it cheaper to 60 home over the
week end, even to considerable dis
tances, than to remain in Harrisburg.
] am convinced that nothing but the
fear of their constituents, as was al
ways the case in the past. has withheld
the present House from rushing the
salary increase to finish, which it still
is likely to do.
Within the next ten years the pres
ent session of the Legislature. in point
of length, will be regarded as short
sitting. On several recent occasions
Governor Sproul has assumed the garb
of prophet to declare that future
biennial meetings of the Legislature
will remain in session much longer than
at present. A most careful considera-
tiou Of the needs of the state demand
It.
There has been great increase in
the permanent population of the com
monwealth. Vast industries have
sprung up like fungi over night, and
new demands for their regulation and
control must be met with adequate
enactments carefully considered. The
day of slap dash legislation is gone
forever.
Senator Magee Worked Fast
Thirty odd years ago the late Sena-
tor Christopher L. Magee, of Pitts