The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-03-10

How It Happened Here is play-by- play account of exactly how the income tax bill met death:
 When the Senate met at LAS o'clock and after it had disposed of bill which was being consid- cred at the time of recess, Senator Coffey moved as follows:
 That Senate Bill No. 10 be taken out of it's regular order on the calendar, the first reading be deemed the second reading, it be ieemed' engrossed, it be read the third time and placed on final passage"
 Senator Walker, arguing against the motion, said he had before him several pages of amendments by Senator Brownell of Anchorage and about Is pages of amendments by himself that he would like to sub nit in second reading, saying he believed these amendments would remove some of the objections of opponents of the bill.
 On roll call on Coffey's motion, with only Brownell having voted no Walker, who is near the end of the roll call order, voted "yes." " President Roden voted mo-" and Walker, having voted with the pre- vailing side, gave notice of moving to reconsider his vote.
 Almost Went Over
 Roden ruled the motion for re- consideration would come up Mon- day as provided by the rules and that everything would be held in abeyance until then" This ruling was questioned by Senators Coffey and Cochran, who, however, did not appeal from the ruling when asked by Roden if they wished to do SO
 Coffey then moved the rules be suspended, so that notice of re- consideration could be. considered immediately The vote was five for Coffeys motion to three against, and Roden declared the motion was lost for lack of two-thirds vote. Those voting against were Brown ell, Walker and Roden.
 Coffey again questioned tn e Presidents ruling, contending only a majority vote was required, but he was convinced by Roden and other members of the Senate that the rules had to be suspended for such motion and that sufficient strength had not been mustered to suspend the rules.
 Rules Quoted
 Senator Sullivan then read from Roberts Rules of Order, which he described as after all the final authority, that member cannot reconsider on a motion to suspend the rules on the order of business. At first Roden rejected this con- tention, but on point of order raised by Sullivan, changed his original ruling in view of the fact the vote in question was not a final vote, as referred to in the Senate rules, and therefore the motion to reconsider at the time was in order.
 From this ruling of the chair Walker appealed, but the only mem- Der on roll call to vote against the chairs ruling was Walker himself, though Roden jocularly declared as last man on the roll call, T vote with Senator Walker
 Asking if the motion was debat- able and being assured it was, Walker then observed the oppon- ents of this bill feel they certainly have the strength to defeat it., and they're not even willing to consider amendments, which would correct the bill and remove some of the objections to it.
 Called "DiscourteOus"
 This is entirely a motoin to de- stroy the real effect such a bill might have. The opponents of the bill have not even the courage to say this bill can even be fixed up. It is certainly something which has never happened before in the 12 years I have served in the Sem ate. The motion of Senator Coffey is certainly discourteous motion" {"
 Walker then declared Senator Coffeys motion is for the sole purpose of defeating the bill be- cause he knows he has the strength to defeat it. challenge him to say there is any other purpose he could have"
 Coffey then said he wished to point out to Walker that the ac- tion was not unprecedented. Two years ago, he said, this Senate vot- ed on the Ickes eight percent gold tax without Senators even having copy of the bill before them.
 To this, Walker said Coffey was in error and that he (Walker) at least had the bill before him. Ro- den said that he had one before him at the time also.
 Shame, Says BrOwnell Brownell, prefacing his remarks by saying there probably wasn't much to be said under the circum-