The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-04-24
AlfGISLAIURE LETTER

Today the Thirty eighth General
Assembly adjourns, after just SO
days Of Legislative business that has
covered the usual scope and charac-
ter-and some other things.
1t has been the usual jam and rush
of matters to end the session the past
few days. The governorshlp inyesti-
cation BUSINESS interferred notably
with the proceedings, while 1t also
left a bad taste in the mouths OF all
concerned. In fact, the probe OF the
Rathbun pardon matter and the at
subsequent proceedings at Ida Grove
whereby the pardon was set aside
and young Rathbun sent to the pen,
after uuashing of several indictments
at the suggestion Of Attorney.-Gener-
al Havner and other legal lights en-
ployed by the state, caused one MI
| teen hour day of the house to be
wasted.
Governor Only Censured.
The result of this long drawn-out
controversy over the Ida county par
don matter came Wednesday night
at one O'Clock, after fourteen hours
continuous speaking on the question
of substituting the minority report
OF the Judiciary committee Tor the
majority report. The ma1orlty re.
port of the committee was voted out
by II of the members and recon-
mended impeachment Of the govern
or, while the minority report, signed
by | 4 MEMBERS, recommending only
censure of the governor for his lack
of care and investigation in granting
| the pardon. =
On the question of substituting
the minority for the majority report
the house went to bat at 300 O'Clock
Wednesday morning. The debate
was arranged in order, first one
| speaker supporting the minority re-
port and the next supporting the ma
jority report. In all, twenty orators
felt called upon to elucidate upon
this momentous question, and sew
eral of them took over an hour OF
time each. But one member talked
less than ten minutes. In it all there
we're some pretty plain and damag-
| ing words. The governor was ac-
cused almost directly Of taking
was as positively shown to have not
taken money. The evidence and the
report of the special counsel in the
case absolved the governor on that
charge, but the impeachment charge
was made on the ground OF malfeas-
ance in office.
The final vote was taken at one
suited 70 to "a against impeachment
by the adoption of the minority re-
port, which carried only censure
with it. \
Those voting for impeachment Of
the governor We're IS follows: Ad-
kins, Alderman, Beeman, Clark, Dur
bin, Edison, Finch, Findlay, Finley,
ton, Hauge, Hook, Justice, kepple,
Langfitt, Larson of Montgomery,
Lockin, Mantz. Messer, Moen, Neff,
Parsons, Perkins, Scott of Marshall,
Slaught, Slosson, Springer, Stone,
Weaver, Wichman, Windett.
Coakley,, Flenniken, Mayne and
Savers were absent and did not vote.
All other members voted against in
| parchment.
WhitewasheG Attorney-General.
On Thursday morning the other
phase of the pardon matter-the in
vestigation of the attorney-general's
actions in connection with the quash--
ing of indictments for the purpose OF
sending young Rathbun to prison
taken up. The debate on this mat
ter took less than an hour, but TWO
speakers being heard by agreement.
Chairman Harrington Of kossuth
county led off for the majority re-
port generating HaNner, and Repre-.
sentative Moore OF Guthrie followed
in "a twenty-mirute talk for the
minority report which severely cen
sured the a&torney-general. The
vote on this question resulted in a
tell to 51-bUt two members
changed their votes before the result
was announced, making 1t 50 to ~
! for the majority report OF the COM
nittee and clearing the attorney
! general.
! Everybody was glad when the dirty
political mess that has been brewing
! the whole session was over, and all
. Immediately settled down to work to
clear up. as much legislative business
as possible and adjourn this week
! Space forbids giving any extended
! that were passed this week to be-
come laws within the, mex: three
months, but we give a summary as
follows OF important measures pass
ed:
! Read Bill Now Il Law.
The house took but short time
Saturday in passing the new road
law for Iowa, by concurring in the
senate amendments, among which
was the amendment requiring vote
in each county before any contract
for paving or hard surfacing of the
roads can be let. The bill expressly
provides that the new law shall not
affect any contract for paving or
road work that has already been let.
counties in the state where boards
of supervisors had already arranged
! for paving several miles, notably in
Crawford, Carroll and Greene coun-
| ties where portions Of the Lincoln
! Highway were to be paved and in
Dubuque and one or two other coun-
ties where paving programs have
been mapped out. II the contract
has gone far enough in any. county
| so that it cannot be cancelled the
new law will not interfere. But if
contracts are not entered into by the
time the new law is published and
becomes operative, then elections
will have to be called for the pur-
pose of getting an affirmative vote
| on the proposition.
Primaries Remain the Same.
After attaching about forty amend
ments to the Kimball primary bill
as it came over from the senate three
weeks ago, the house on Tuesday de-
feated the whole bill by decisive
vote and then tied it down SO that it
cannot rise up again this session
This leaves the general primary law