HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
SATURDAY, June 1, 1861.The House met at 9 o'clock, A. M.
The journal of yesterday was read.
CLOSING FORMALITIES.
The Senate joint resolution embracing a joint select committee on the part of that body, to wait upon His Excellency, the Governor, and inform him that the General Assembly, having concluded the business of this extra session, are now ready to adjourn sine die, was announced in form by Mr. Secretary Brown.
A Senate joint resolution to adjourn the session without day at 11 o'clock A. M., this day, was announced by Secretary Drapier.
THANKS, CLERICAL AND POLICE.
Resolutions of thanks to clerks and police of the House of Representatives were adopted by unanimous consent.
BREVIER REPORTS.
Mr. BUNDY submitted the following, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the Secretary of State procure and send to each member of the House, and to the officers and reporters thereof, two (2) copies of the Brevier Legislative Reports; also, two (2) copies of each of the House, Senate and Documentary Journals, and two (2) copies of the acis of the present session, all to aound in full sheep.
DAMAGES ON THE STATE FAIR GROUND.
Mr. FISHER submitted the following:
A concurrent resolution authorizing the Governor to settle with the State Board of Agriculture for the use of, and damage to, the State Fair Grounds, now occupied as a military encampment.
WHEREAS, The State Board of Agriculture lave purchased and fitted up, at a heavy expense, grounds upon which to hold annual paris that said Board are largely indebted for said grounds and improvements, which, from the impossibility of holding a successful fair during the present season, will be unable to meet in consequence of which the page: 254[View Page 254] grounds will be liable to be sold to satisfy a mortgage upon it.
AND WHEREAS, The State has taken possession of said ground and improvements thereon, for the accommodation of troops, appropriting certain property therein and doing much damage to the grounds and fixtures; therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, (the Senate concurring therein,) That the Governor be authorized to settle with said State Board of Agriculture for the use and occupation of said ground, and such damages as may have been done thereto, and such personal property as may have been taken for the use of the troops, and direct the Auditor to draw a warrant upon the Treasurer for the amount due said Board.
Mr. FISHER The State had been greatly accommodated by the use of these fair grounds for the Camp here, and damage, of course, had been done by the troops, in the destruction of trees, fence, and lumber, and in the use of about eighty cords of wood which belonged to the State Board of Agriculture. The Board, therefore, shou d have something for damages, and something else by way of rent. The State Board had labored without fee or reward, except the consciousness of service to a great public interest; and this was to authorize the Governor to allow them net damages as it shall appear to him they may be entitled when the troops shall have been removed.
Mr. WOODHULL. There was a most magnificent justice in this resolution. Undoubtedly the State had been accommodated very much in the use of these grounds. The stalls on the north side had furnished excellent quarters for the troops.
Mr. FISHER (interposing.) I undertake to say that the cost for quarters and barracks which the State Board have furnished could not have been less than $10,000, if the State had procured them in the ordinary way.
Mr. PARRETT. It can't pass the House. It can't pass without the yeas and nays.
Mr. WOODHULL. All it proposes is that the State shall pay actual damages, and some little compensation for the rent of the lot. If the grounds were unincumbered he supposed they would not ask one farthing. But, unfortunately, the Society was badly embarrassed.
Mr. CASON. We were indebted to the State Agricultural Society for the use of their grounds for our soldiers; and on this ground there is a heavy incumbrance which must be paid next year - he knew not exactly the amount. These grounds belonged to the farmers of the State of Indiana, and shall we quarter our troops upon their grounds and expect the farmers and mechanics of the State to bear such an unequal burden? This Legislature had done nothing for the State Agricultural Society, although it knew very well the embarrassment under which it was laboring. Having now quartered our soldiers upon them so as to deprive them of the power to hold the annual fair next fall, should we refuse to pay them damages and rent? What claim of right have we to call on the Agricultural Society to furnish soldiers' quarters, any more than we have to call upon any religions society? You might as well expect the Methodist church for a camp. This resolution does nothing more than require the State to pay the damages, lou might as well require a man to give up his farm for a camp, or distribute soldiers all over the town of Indianapolis. The Agricultural Society is an incorporated body, and I have no doubt, that they could find a legal remedy if you refuse to pass this resolution.
Mr. GRESHAM complimented the intelligence and liberality of the members of the State Board. This resolution provides damages and rents.
Mr. FISHER. For damages. He was willing to amend it and add rents.
Mr. GRESHAM. There is no doubt but that we ought to pay something for use and occupation as well as damages. The only question is, whether or not, at this particular time, the Board could not afford to hold off. But I understand that this resolution authorizes the Governor to settle a claim for damages, without limit. The State has got a number of men quartered down in Wayne county, and we will be expected to pay damages there.
Mr. NEWMAN. Wayne county will never ask it.
Mr. GRESHAM. But I am supposing what may come. The discretion in the resolution is entirely too large.
Mr. ATKISSON suggested that there was a combination to pass this resolution - to get the settlement of this claim into the hands of one man, and subject him to importunities. He would have voted to allow the claim at any proper time, but was opposed to this mode of getting at it in the last hours of the session.
Mr. DAVIS. If we do not do something for this Society, the State would lose what it has done in that direction. The resolution might not be well enough guarded, but something ought to be done to enable the Society to meet their liability on that land.
Mr. FISHER. This ground was purchased for the sum of $12,000, which the various railroad companies, centering here, agreed to pay, in annual instalments through ten years. But one of the conditions of this was, that if the State Board should fail to hold the annual fair, the railroads would be exhonorated from paying the instalment that year. Then the failure to hold the fair this year will still sink the Society deeper in debt. And if they were to hold a fair this year, they would probably lose more than the amount of the railroad instalment.
Mr. GRESHAM. I presume they would have held no fair if the ground had not been occupied. I suppose, it will be enough if we page: 255[View Page 255] simply reimburse them for the damages. I think it would not look well, at this time, for them to ask pay for the use of the ground.
Mr. FRASIER took the ground that all the people of the State were interested in the prosperity of the State Agricultural Society, and at last, this appropriation of money was only taking from one fund and paying it into another, when both belonged to the people. He thought, even at this time, we should not lose sight of the great interests of agriculture, upon which so much depends for the prosperity of every other interest. He knew, of his own observation, that a good deal of damage had been done to the Fair grounds. The soldiers had cut the fence to pieces so that it would have to be built over again; especially on the south side was this the case. To remove the objection of committing the settlement to one man, he moved that the auditing committee created by the additional general appropriation bill, act with the Governor.
Mr. ATKISSON. Did not that bill fail?
Mr. FRASIER. I saw it this morning, and it was enrolled and signed by the Governor.
Mr. STOTSENBERG. The State was indebted for the use of the Fair grounds, and ought to pay for it. But, since the gentleman from Wabash,, [Mr. Fisher] who represents the interests of the society, had not come in with the claim, until this late hour of the session, he was unwilling to give the settlement entirely into the hands of the Governor, without some further legislative guard; not that he had not confidence In the Governor, but because the Governor was burdened with too many concerns already.
Mr. FISHER. I was telegraphed for permission to occupy the Fair grounds, and I took the responsibility to give the permission.
Mr. STOTSENBERG proposed the following: Strike out all between the word "encampment," in the 8th line, and the word "and," in the 23d line, and all between the word "thereon," in line 28, and "therefore," in line 30. And insert, after the word "Governor," in line 83, "and two members on the part of the House, with one on the part of the Senate.
Mr. MOORMAN. This was not the time to set up a claim of this character. Intimations had been given out of what the Board think the damages ought to be, and what has been the advantage to the State. He supposed there was room for great difference of opinion in the matter. It should have been brought in earlier.
Mr. CASON. How could a bill be present-ed for damages when it is not known how long the troops will occupy the grounds.
Mr. MOORMAN. But the award is to be final; and I am not willing to leave the matter to any man - one, two or three - who will not be responsible to this body. If there was time to consider it, and a full house, I would not object.
Mr. BUNDY demanded the previous question, and there was a second.
Mr. LANE demanded the yeas and nays on the main question, viz.: the adoption of the amendment.
Mr. CASON. We shall see now who are for the farmers - calling for the yeas and nays, and so inevitably breaking up the bill.
[This question was laid over informally, by unanimous consent, and the concurrent resolutions of the Senate, just reported by Mr. Brown, their secretary, relative to the death of Col. Ellsworth, were taken up and concurred in.]
Mr. LANE. If this matter had been put into the Appropriation bill I would have voted for it.
The yeas and nays being now ordered and taken, disclosed no quorum voting - yeas 30, nays 16.
Whereupon -
Mr. CASON demanded a call of the House.
The Clerk reported 48 members present.
On motion of Mr. McLean, the doorkeeper was dispatched for the absentees.
AUDITING COMMITTEE.
The SPEAKER announced the Auditing Committee, on the part of the House of Representatives, created by the additional General Appropriation bill, No. 60, to consist of Messrs. Branham and Brett.
The House then took a recess till 2 o'clock, P. M.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The Doorkeeper made his return of the order of this morning, to bring in the absentees; and the report showed 54 members present in the House of Representatives.
Whereupon, it was held, unofficially, by the Chair, that there was no quorum present; and it was -
Ordered that the names of the absentees, not on leave of absence, be entered on the journals, viz:
Messrs. Brett, Brucker, Bryan, Combs, Cooprider, Epperson, Fleming, Harvey, Haworth, Hopkins, Horton, Jenkinson, Kitchen, Knowlton, Lods, Lee, Lightner, McClurg, Moss, Orr, Packard, Roberts, Smith of Miami, Trier, Thomas, Thompson, Veatch, Williams, Woodruff and Woods - 30.
CLOSING FORMALITIES.
The Senate's concurrent resolution to wait on the Governor was adopted; and Messrs. Woodhull, Underwood and Smith of Bartholomew were appointed the committee on the part of the House of Representatives.
The Senate's resolution to adjourn at 11 o'clock was laid on the table.
DAMAGES ON THE STATE FAIR GROUNDS.
The Senate's concurrent resolution authorizing the Governor to settle with the State Board of Agriculture and award damages on account of the encampment of the troops on the State Fair Grounds coming up -
page: 256[View Page 256]Mr. FISHER moved its adoption.
After debate by Mr. Fisher, Mr. Frasier, Mr. Stotsenberg, and others, in favor of the resolution, and by Messrs. Underwood, Prosser, Parrett, Atkisson and others, against it,
On motion by Mr. UNDERWOOD, it was indefinitely postponed, without a division.
SENATOR BRIGHT.
On motion by Mr. FRASIER, the Senate's concurrent resolution with reference to the position of the Hon. Jesse D. Bright, a Senator of the United States for the State of Indiana, was taken up.
Mr. SMITH of Bartholomew. Mr. Speaker, I have heard different stories about that resolution. I have been told that it was introduced into the Senate in sport. I have been told by others that it was earnest business. It is said in that resolution that Mr. Bright refuses to respond to the call made upon members of Congress to define their position. But, sir, I have been informed by good authority - the brother of Mr. Bright - that he is now engaged preparing a document, to be circulated in this State, defining his position. I think, sir, that this is a very extraordinary proceeding - now in the last hours of the session, when we have but a handful of members present - to attempt to pass upon this matter - to attempt (as another gentleman here said yesterday) to single out Mr. Bright as the Judas Iscariot of the State of Indiana. Sir, there are leading men in the North who took the same position with Mr. Bright, in the late Presidential canvass, and who are now among our leading trusted men, bearing arms in defense of the General Government; and I believe that when Mr. Bright shows his hand, it will be for the Union. The gentleman to whom I refer is Major General Butler, of Massachusetts. What was his position in the Charleston Convention, this time last year? I was there myself, and understood it well. It was well known that the honorable Benjamin Butler came into the Charleston Convention pledged to vote for Douglas; and I saw him there publicly charged with changing his point, and he could not gainsay it; and singly and alone, among Northern delegates, he voted there for Jefferson Davis all the way through. Now, sir, many of these Northern men who stood with Butler then, are marching with him in the thickest of the fight for the defense of the Government on the field of battle. Democrats are in the army from every Northern State, perhaps equal in numbers with the Republicans, and they will fight side by side with the same good faith. Why, Mr. Speaker, when we came here in April, I understood that all political antecedants were to be buried and banished from our memory. And I am willing and proud to say that the Republicans have acted upon this profession, and were very liberal in dividing the offices. They showed a disposition to bury these things, and why? Simply because they saw that Douglas men throughout the North had responded foremost to the shouldering of their arms at the call of the President of the United States. I think, therefore, that, at this hour of the session, it is hardly ingenuous, or fair, or becoming in the Legislature to undertake to stab our Senator by passing this resolution. You remember, sir, what was said by the honorable Mr. Lane, the other night, from the Bates House, defining his own position as a member of Congress. He said that he believed that all our members of Congress, including Mr. Bright, are thoroughly and truly loyal. And we believe firmly that he is a loyal man, and that he will so declare himself in the address I am told he is preparing.
Mr. WOODHULL from the joint select committee to wait on the Governor and inform him of the adjournment, reported that the committee had been informed by the Governor's Private Secretary that His Excellency, the Governor, was at the time absent from home, on important public business.
On motion by Mr. STOTSENBERG, the House (at 4 o'clock,) adjourned till to-morrow (Sunday) morning, at 9 o'clock.
