Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-01-15
LITTLE TO SHOW
WITH 10 DAYS OF
ASSEMBLY GONE
Senate Receives 80 Bills and
House 47-Pass One to Pay
Cost of Session.
PLAN 8 MORE JUNKETS'

|
| second General Assembly passed and
with the members in their homes for
| their second early session weekend va
| cation, a review Of the activities Of the
! legislators reveals little accomplished.
! The situation Ia about this:
Thirty three bills have been intro
duced IN the Senate and forty seven
| in the House.
One bill, the appropriation bill TO
| pay the expenses Of the Assembly has
been passed. but no other bills have
even reached second reading.
A fight over the repeal of fthe pri-
! mary has developed to such an ex-
| tent in the Senate that the power Of
the administration to control at least
the upper house has become doubtful.
| The assembly has accepted four
invitations for "junkets" and has
! made one trip.
The appropriation bill carrying the I'M
precedented total Of S7,722, 1913 prob
ably will be introduced in the House
early next week, possibly Monday, ana
! will be gone over in detail by the Ways
and Means Committee. This total is
1856. 237.41 more than the total appro~
| priations Of the 1919 regular and 1920
! special sessions. It undoubtedly will
! bring about considerable opposition
( time for prOmiscuous spending.
ADMINISTRATION HAS
! HARDLY GOTTEN STARTED.
Only a few things have been accom-
| ulished and not many have been started.
/ The administration has hardly started to
function, having got into the Assembly
J only In the case of the primary bill
which was probably forced by the in
/ PRODUCTION Of a bill which was almost
! hot Uo
McCray is anticipating. The next week
| or two probably will see the Introduction
/ OF administration bills for a budget syS-
! TEN, for a permanent registration, for
| tax law revision and for the taking over
| of the State board Of agriculture
! The "crime wave" is being reelected in
| the Assembly with the introduction of
| bills fixing more severe penalties for
common forms OF crime. One bill makes
vehicle-ta taking punishable by imprison-
ment Of three to five years Instead Of
/ six months to five years. Another makes
assault and battery with intent to rob
punishable by Imprisonment Of from ten
to twenty years. Thus far, however, no
| steps have been taken to limit the posi-
! bilities Of executive clemency, despite the
report of former Governor Goodrich that
/ during his administration relief" was
granted 1915 persons.
! The fact that judges are being under
paid is being recognized by some of the
members Of the Assembly. A bill has
| been introduced in the Senate authorizing
/ an increase of $1,000 in the salaries Of
Marion County judges on the petition
of 100 freeholders. Another bill has been
introduced seeking to increase the salar-
les Of Supreme and Appellate Court
judges from $4,000 TO $4,000
| The only tax bill which has thus far
been introduced in the upper house is
one providing for a tax of one-fourth OF
a cent per gallSn for gasoline sold for
use in engines. 1t is estimated this tax
| would net the State more than $500, 900
a year. The bill provides that the pro-
ceeds shall go for the purchase of State
parks.
No real test Of the administrations
power in the House has yet been brought
about. excepting the selection of the
Speaker, who was favored by the Gov
ernor, and for whom the administration
worked. Very little chance is held out
for any successful ''bucking' Of the ad-
ministration in the House, however.
! One reason why 1t is thought that the
administration will have the upper hand
in the lower branch of the Assembly, is
| because the chairmen Of the most of the
]
/ leader OF the majority also is an admin
istration favorite and is chairman of the
Waws and Means Committee, one of the
most important in the lower branch
The members of the House took at
least one definite step when they adopted
the resolution offered by Representative
Phillips of Fayette and Franklin Coun-
ties, barring all lobbyists and visitors
from the floor of the House during ses-
sion hours. The unusually large num-
Der of lobbyists, the largest of any ses-
sion for years, made this action neces-
sary, Representative Phillips declared
SOLDIER BONUS
BILL OFFERED.
Among the most important of the bills
offered in the House are the soldier bo-
nus bill, providing for the payment q
a bonus OF SO for each month to Hoo
siers who were in the service, or for the
payment of expenses Of completion of
education which was presented by Rep
resentative Newman of Marion County,
and the bill defining general libel, and
making libel an Offense punishable by
fine Of $1,000 and Imprisonment of six
months, offered by Representative
Abrams of Marion County.
The first clash among members of the
majority party occurred when the Com
mittee on Rules made It's report Action
on the report. following a heated dis
cussion over adoption, was postponed
until Friday, and then again was post
poned and made a special order of BUSH
ness for Monday at o'clock.
House members apparently are more
anxious to enjoy their weekend vaca-
tions than are the members of the Sen
ate. The lower branch adjourned Fri
day morning until Monday afternoon at
> o'clock, while the Senators must report
at 10 o'clock Monday.
Real work is expected to be done next
week, since many of the bills introduced
Wednesday and Friday will be advanced
to second reading and passage next week,
in order 20 keep the way cleared for
heavy legislation that Is expected 70
make its appearance.