Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1925-03-19
AFTER THE [XTY-THREE DAYS
LEGISLATIVE GRIND, SoLONS REST

SeS~NA1 y
most always are. Scarcely one Of the
169 men and one woman who had
been here for sixty three days fight
ing, struggling, worrying and argu-
ing on the floors of the two cham
bers but felt an odd Tightening in the
throat when the gavels in the two
houses fell at precisely the same
moment and the General Assembly
of 1925 was declared adjourned sine
die at eleven thirty on Tuesday eve
ming March 10. The two halls of the
Assembly are exactly opposite with
the rotunda of the building interven-
ing. The two doors were thrown
wide open, the President of the SEN
ate and the Speaker of the House,
stood, gavels in hand, ready for the
final drop" The reading clerks call
ed the rolls, slowly and solemnly, the
answers of the members lined along
each side of the aisles in two long
lines extending from the presiding
officers desks to the doors were faint
ly echoed in both chambers. Stimuli
taneously with the response to the
last name called the two gavels fell
with a thud, the members walked up
told one another good bye and it
was all over for another two years,
unless an emergency shall arise
which necessitates another special
session.
The calendars of both houses were
cleared of all important bills and
the members went home with full
assurance that they had completed
the job. Bills were put through with
surprising rapidity during the clos
ing days of the session and state
officialdom is busy trying to ascer-
tain exactly what has been done to
them. Some of those holding major
and others minor positions, are dis
figured slightly but still in the ring.
.Ihe State and Insurance Depart
ments no longer exercise the privi-
lege of collecting revenues, other
wise their activities will be unham-
pered by any act of the General AS
sembly, barring the transfer of the
of the Blue Sky Laws,
from the Insurance Department to
the Corporation Commission. This
was recommended by Commissioner
Wade early in the session and he is
shedding no tears over the passing
from his hands of an agency which
has bred trouble from the very be-
ginning of it's operations in the
StsLc.
Differences between the Senate and
the House of Representatives over the
Revenue act were adjusted late Tues
day afternoon when the House prac-
tically capitulated to the upper
branch of the Assembly. The two
branches also, finally found them
selves in agreement touching the pro
visions of the bill carrying appropria-
tions to the various state charitable
penal and educational institutions,
but the Nettles bill providing for
increases in the pension fund for
the ex-Confederate soldiers and Wi
dows met it's Waterloo in the Sem
ate through preliminary tactics that
were started by Burgwyn Of North
ampton, who proposed a tax OF one
cent of the hundred dollars worth
of property in lieu Of the tax Of one
cent on theatre tickets provided in
the Nettles bill. "Class legislation"
was the cry Of the opposition to the
House bill and survivors of the "days
which tried mems souls" will have
to struggle along on the small pit
tances which have been doled out
to them during the last biennial per-
iod. And there is a reason. The line
is rapidly thinning, and the influ-
ence in politics is no longer a fac
tor to be reckoned with. The Legis-
lators say fine things bout his daring
and deeds of valor, but vote addi-
tional appropriations to institutions
the very existence of which is due
to the courageous stand of these men
in their early manhood and through
the years that have followed the his
torical event at Appomatox.
Repeated attempts to put through
a bill permitting State Treasurer B.
R. Lacy to retire on half pay were
defeated in the House strictly on &C
count of the precedent it would set
up, and further because this General
Assembl ymade up it's mind early in
the session to cut out non-essentials
The time-honored custom of paying
janitors, firemen, watchmen and la
borers connected with the state de-
partments for extra service during
sessions of the previous general as
semblies was not observed this time