The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1921-03-24

Representatives Parker and Swanson.
Speaker Berdahl was presented with
a watch by the members following the
scrap. Parker jumped to his feet and
made a motion that the eugenics bill
be reconsidered. Swanson ran towards
Parker and a big scramble resulted.
Half the members of the house we're
mixed up in the fight. After it was
discovered that the whole thing was
staged as a joke Representative Puff
fington made the speech of presenta-
ton. Speaker Berdahl also gave a
short talk.
The general attitude of the mem.
bers was to defer until 1923 session
matters which were not of immed.
necessity for the welfare Of the
Without exception, thos. things
promised by the republican party dur.
ing the campaign last fall, were adopt
ed The only hitch In this program
came when the senate, after a two
fight, killed the home building
bill. but upon reconsideration the mea-
sure was passed and sent to the gov
ernor for his signature
or the important measures to come
before the session the most prominent
were the home building and soldiers
bonus bills, the former providing a
for city dwellers OF small
means to obtain long time loans at
law interest. for The erection of homes
under the plan employed by the state
rural credits department aud the
latter providing fol the payment Of
ex-serviCe men a bopGs cf SIS a month
for each month spent IN the service.
Initiated laws for which petitions
were filed earlier in he session were
taken up H. the house The attorney
general had held there was no con.
stitutiOnal requirement that they SUBJ
nit the Richards constitutional amend
ment and they killed ii. They deferred
his moral citizenship bill till they get
more light on It's constitutionality and
passed the rest Of the referred laws
Hydro electric, Sunday repeal and abb
clifton Of the state sheriff.
The senate passed the house moth.
er's tension bill with a $40 reduction.
The house put a maximum of $50 on
pension that could be paid for care
OF first child and the senate cut ii
down to $40. This is still a raise OF
SIS from the old law and pension for
following children is raised from 81
to SO. Aid for expectant mothers
is also included in the bill which was
not in the old law.
The first bill to be enacted and
signed by Gov, McMaster, was senate
bill No. 2, relating to the issuance OF
state revenue warrants by the state
treasurer at an advanced rate of in
terest to are for the immediate needs
Of the state. This law became effec-
tive with the attachment of the ex-
ecutlve signature on January II,
eight days after the opening Of the
session.
During the early part of the session,
and a week or more after the recess,
there was an effort on foot to put
through a measure calling IA consti-
tutional convention, something South
Dakota has never had since the orig
inal constitutional convention In July,
1887. The matter, however died q
natural death after It had been
thoroughly investigated.
The senate passed the bill ~authoriz-
fng a tenth of a mill state tax for for
bNdges across the Missouri. II is
expected that this win furnish enough
funds to build a bridge about every
five years and the present proposal
is to build first to onnec the Rose
bud country with the rest of South
Dakota, second in the middle of the
state and third to the north.
Possibilities for the development OF
rich but unsettled lands In the Rose.
bud country and northwest South Da.
kuta opened when the senate adopted
house bill authorizing local bonding
for the buildingof railroads. The bill
authorizes counties, towns and town.
ships to issue bonds to build roads and
then to take stock in the roads in re-
turn for the bonds.
Aversion to gag rule and a deter.
mination To fight it out to the bitter
end, defeated hackers of the movie
| censorship in the house again when
members refused to adopt the con,
ference committees report by a vote
Of ~ for and As against. Fifty-two
votes are necessary to adopt the re-
port.
Except for the flight which de.
veloped the last week of the session
over the moving picture censorship.
Sunday movies and baseball bills, the
sixty-day period might be considered
an unusually tranquil one.
Much OF the work done during the
session was necessary to correct GER