IN SENATE.
THURSDAY, November 23, 1865.The Senate met at 2 o'clock P. M.
On motion by Mr. OYLER, the reading of the Secretary's Journal of yesterday was dispensed with.
MICHIGAN CITY HARBOR.
The following message was received from the Acting Governor by the hand of Chas. P. Jacobs, his Private Secretary:
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I beg leave respectively to call your attention to the propriety of passing a joint resolution asking Congress to make a "donation of lands to the Company incorporated under the laws of this State to construct a harbor a Michigan City.
Some forty years ago there was cut off from the Territory of Michigan of a strip of land ten miles in width, which was added to the State of Indiana, for the purpose of affording her a Lake Harbor. For the purpose of constructing a harbor at Michigan City, the Government made appropriations extending through a series of years, amounting in the aggregate to about $135,000, but these were given in such small sums, and at intervals so distant from each other, as to render them comparatively ineffectual.
Yet, with all these drawbacks, a harbor was made which, for some years, gave to our State quite an amount of shipping. On the completion of the Michigan Central Railroad, the harbor at Michigan City was abandoned by the Government, and for want of repairs, and being exposed to the storms of the Lake, the upper works which had been erected were gradually loosened and fell, and the sand drifting across the cribs, finally choked up the mouth of the creek, and the harbor became inaccessible to any but small fishing vessels. Citizens of Indiana, convinced that the State should have a port on our great inland seas, as well as Ohio and Illinois, formed a Company under the laws of the State, for the purpose of rebuilding this harbor. To this Company Congress ceded all the Government work that remained, and gave permission for the work to be prosecuted, as had already been successfully done by a Company at Milwaukee, under a like cession by the Government. The Michigan City Harbor Company are thoroughly organized and already stock has been subscribed to the enterprise, amounting to $135,000, and assurances have been received by the Company that the L. N. A. & C. R. R. Co. will take stock to the amount of $100,000, so soon as it is ascertained that the balance necessary to complete the work can be procured.
Competent engineers, employed to examine the work, have estimated that the entire amount required to complete and secure to our State a permanent Lake Harbor, will not exceed $300,000.
On the benefits to be derived by our State from the establishment of a Port of Entry and Departure, on its Northern borders, it is difficult to place too high an estimate. In the transportation of wheat from points north of the Wabash, fifteen cents per bushel will be saved to the producer, that being the difference between Railroad and Lake transportation.Salt from Saginaw, which is so extensively used by our packers, with this harbor completed, could be delivered at Michigan City as cheaply as at Chicago, thereby resulting in an immense saving to the people of Indiana who reside north of the "Wabash.
The iron mines of Lake Superior too would be opened to our State. And in view of our coal beds, and the vast quantities of bog ore which is so valuable when mixed with the Lake Superior iron, the proprietors of mines on Lake Superior would erect blast furnaces and rolling mills in Indiana, shipping their crude ore to this State for that purpose, and thereby furnish a market for the coal and iron deposits of our State. There would also be a saving of some
page: 90[View Page 90]forty per cent, on pine lumber, as it could be delivered at Michigan City at the same rates as at Chicago.
The limits of this communication would not permit an enumeration of all the advantages to result to the State from the construction of a harbor on its northern borders, a few of them only have been alluded to. In asking Congress togrant to the Company a donation of lands, toaid in the construction of the harbor, the General Assembly would only be soliciting that numerous precedents furnished by land appropriations in aid of other public works should be followed. I respectfully recommend the passage of a joint resolution requesting Congress to make a donation of lands to aid in the completion of the work.
CONRAD BAKER, Acting Governor.
On motion of Mr. OYLER, the message was referred to a special committee of three.
COURT SESSIONS.
Mr. VAX BUSKIRK, by leave, introduced a bill [S. No. 242,] for An Act changing the time for holding Common Pleas Court.
Also, a bill [S. No. 243,] for A.n Act changing the times for holding the Circuit Courts in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
Which were read the first time.
FEES AND SALARIES.
The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the special order for this hour, being the bill S. 126 to amend An Act regulating fees and salaries, approved March 2, 1855.
Mr. BENNETT said this was a people's bill, and explained why the advance in each particular fee is made. Where the bill refers to Prosecuting Attorney's fees, they are doubled. Constable's fees, in most of the particulars, named, are increased one-half; and so are the fees of Justice's of the Peace. Juror's and and witnesses' fees are increased about one-third, and the Coroners are allowed five cents for mileage.
Mr. MOORE moved to strike out all that refers to raising the per diem of County Commissioners.
Mr. NILES remarked that he opposed the bill for a general increase of fees and salaries which was pending at the last session; but the office of County Commissioner is a very important one and we need the best men we have among us to fill it. He did not think we ought to ask men competent for such an office to give their time to the public for less than five dollars a day.
Mr. ALLISON. The Commissioner is one of the most important, if not the most important office in the county, and unless you pay enough to command the attention of good men the result will be a bad management of county affairs.
On motion by Mr. BENNETT - yeas, 32; nays 11 - the amendment was laid on the table.
Mr. MASON moved to strike out "five" and insert "four" where it refers to the per diem of the County Commissioner.
On motion of Mr. BENNETT this amendment was laid on the table by yeas 22; nays 29.
Mr. COBB moved to strike out the fee allowed to prosecuting attorneys for appearing in divorce cases, where thev are not successful. If successful he was willing they should be paid for the defensethe present law makes it their duty to defend all such cases.
Mr. OYLER was favorable to the idea of giving the prosecuting attorney ten dollars if successful, and no fee if not successful.
Mr. BENNETT. There are no kind of cases in this State in which we are so much imposed on as these divorce cases, and we ought to have them attended to by the prosecuting attorney.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. WILLIAMS moved to strike out all that refers to prosecuting attorneys. He thought the fees already provided are ample.
Mr. OYLER hoped the amendment was not to be adopted.
Mr. McCLURG confessed, as a necessary order of things, in consequence of the meagre pay of prosecuting attorneys, that the office is filled with a third or fourth rate class of legal talent. This should be remedied; and he was, therefore, in favor of raising the fees of prosecuting attorneys in every possible way.
Mr. NILES believed an increase of fees were really due to prosecuting attorneys; that it would be productive of great public benefit if they were better paid.
The amendment was rejected upon a division - affirmative 16, negative 20.
Mr. BROWN, of Wells, moved to amend so that prosecuting attorneys shall receive a fee of $10 in all cases for Divorce. The law provides that the prosecuting attorney shall only appear where there is no attorney employed for the defense; and that only occurs in fraudulent divorce cases. This amendment would add another check to this class of cases.
On motion by Mr. OYLER the amendment was laid on the table.
Mr. BENNETT moved to amend by allowing the Prosecuting Attorney ten dollars if successful. This fee will come off of persons seeking divorces, and they are the ones who should pay and are generally willing to pay well.
Mr. NILES and Mr. MASON favored the amendment.
Mr. COBB doubted its propriety.
Mr. THOMPSON was anxious to see the divorce law of the State remodeled; but thought wrong to speak of parties who may apply for divorces as persons committing a crime. The avenues to justice on this point should be as open and as fair as in any other, and he opposed the blocking up of the way with any unnecessary fees.
The amendment was agreed to upon a division - Affirmative 20; negative 19.
Mr. DYKES moved to amend by increasing the jurors' fee from $1 50 to $2 00 per day.
Mr. BENNETT. There ought to be a difference between the fee of jurors who live in town and those who live in the country, and the proper way will be to add mileage to the fee.
Mr. ALLISON suggested the difficulty where a juror lives only a mile or two from town; in which case the mileage would amount to nothing, and yet the juror would have to board in town. He preferred $2 a day for them all, and then add mileage if Senators see fit.
The amendment was agreed to, by yeas 31, nays 12.
The bill was then ordered engrossed for the third reading.
page: 91[View Page 91]OFFICES FOR STATE OFFICERS.
Pending the consideration of the bill just ordered to the engrossment, the Executive Messenger reported the following message from the Acting Governor:
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I herewith respectfully transmit a communication from the Treasurer, Auditor and Secretary of State, and the Clerk of the Supreme Court, in relation to the exposed condition of the public records, archives and papers of the State, especially as pertaining to the offices of the Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State. In consideration of the inevitable burdens in the shape of taxation, which must be borne by the public for some years to come, I would gladly avoid, if a sense of duty would permit, any suggestion, the effect of which might be to increase the levy for State purposes. But when the extreme clanger of destruction to which the public records are now exposed, and the fact that the rents now paid for rooms and offices would in a few years procure safe depositories, and the additional fact that the value of these records oan not be estimated in dollars and cents are all considered, sound economy as well as duty to the public would seem to require that some action should speedily be taken to avert so great a calamity as the destruction of the archives of the State would be. It will be seen by the communication before referred to and herewith transmitted, that the State officers suggest two distinct plans for providing offices, without expressing a preference for either. One of these plans is to purchase the Banking House at the intersection of Illinois street and Kentucky avenue, the other to build new offices on the grounds owned by the State, immediately north of the State House. I have given the subject some consideration, and, in my judgment, safety, economy, and good policy would dictate the purchase of the building before mentioned, if it can be procured on reasonable terms. The consideration in its favor are that without any addition thereto, it is believed the building could be made to accommodate the Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State on the first floor, and furnish a room for each of the Judges of the Supreme Court and an audience room for their consultations and for the hearing of oral arguments, on the second floor. It also contains two superior vaults, in which the more valuable of the public records could be kept.
It is isolated and comparatively free from exposure to fire, and possessing a metallic roof in view of its position might almost be considered as fire proof.
By its purchase the public records could at once be removed to a place of security, the payment of rents for rooms and offices would at once cease, and the General Assembly would at the outset know the whole amount necessary to be expended to accomplish the object.
Besides all this if the lot and building should be purchased at a fair price and the State should hereafter not need the same, there is not even a remote probability that the property could not at any future time be sold for its original cost. If, however, on the other hand, the plan of building offices should be adopted, the building would not probably be completed short of a year from this time, during which rents would continue to be paid, and the public records would continue to be exposed to destruction. The expenditure also would doubtless be much greater than would be required to purchase the building before alluded to, and whatever the estimates might be, the ultimate actual cost of the building would be a matter of conjecture, and would never be ascertained until the work was completed. At my request a diagram has been prepared, showing the number and situation of the rooms and vaults of the Bank building before mentioned, and also the size and shape of the lot upon which it is situated, which diagram is herewith respectfully submitted. In view of the whole subject, I earnestly recommend that a Joint Committee of both Houses be at once appointed to visit and inspect the offices of the Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State, and their surroundings, to inquire into the amount of rents paid by these officers, and by the judges of the Supreme Court for their Chambers, and to consider the suggestions of the State officers contained in the communication herewith submitted, with instructions to the Committee to report at an early day in favor of such action as all the circumstances and the public interest may require.
CONRAD BAKER,Lieutenant Governor, Acting as Governor.
On motion by Mr. NILES, the message was referred to a Joint Committee of three Senators and five Representatives.
THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
The PRESIDENT pro tem, laid before the Senate a communication from the Grand Camp of the Host of Templars, enclosing the draft of a bill they pray may be enacted as a Liquor Law, which was referred to the Committee on Temperance.
DISQUALIFYING VOTERS.
Mr. VAN BUSKIRK presented a petition from citizens of Decatur county praying for the passage of a law disfranchising person who deserted the country during the late war; which was read and referred to the Judiciary Committee.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Mr. OYLER, from the Committee on Organizations of Courts of Justice, returned Mr. Bonham's resolution (printed on page 69) with an adverse report, and recommending the passage of -
Senate Bill No. 244 for An Act to amend An Act for the election of Justices of the Peace, approved June 9, 1852, which was passed to the second reading.
[The bill gives one justice to each township one additional for each Incorporated town or city, and one additional for each township where the population exceeds ten thousand.]
SEWERS IN TOWNS.
Mr. BROWN, of Wells, from the Committee on Rights and Privileges of the Inhabitants of this State, returned the bill [S. No. 208] to provide for the construction of sewers in incorporated towns; recommending its passage with amendments.
The report was concurred in, and the bill read the second time.
On motion by Mr. THOMPSON, the bill was recommitted to the Committee on Corporations.
page: 92[View Page 92]TURNPIKES.
Mr. OYLER, from the Committee on Roads, returned the bill [S. 217] to amend An Act allowing County Boards to organize turnpike companies, etc., recommending its passage with amendments.
The report was concurred in.
Mr. CULLEN explained the importance of the early passage of the bill, and moved that it be considered as engrossed and read the third time now.
Mr. VAN BUSKIRK knew of a hardship or two that would be brought about by the passage of this bill, to which he would like to call the attention of the Committee; and therefore he would like to have the bill recommitted.
Mr. OYLER could see 110 good that would grow out of the delay; although he would not make any serious objection to the motion to recommit.
Mr. VAN BUSKIRK mentioned a case or two where this bill would operate unjustly. Persons living near a town or near where these roads converge - their property is liable to be taxed twice or thrice over without receiving a corresponding benefit. Then it would be well to have at least two grades of taxation; let the property within a half mile of the road be taxed a certain rate, and property between a half and a mile from the road, a lesser rate.
Mr. CULLEN. Efforts to make a graduated tax in such cases have so far failed - you cannot make a law that would be general and just on this subject, because the price of construction of roads differ in different localities. He would gladly co-operate with the Senator in an amendment that would obviate the difficulty mentioned.
After further remarks by Messrs. VAN BUSKIRK, CULLEN and MASON -
Mr. VAN BUSKIRK withdrew his expressed desire for a recommitment.
The motion to consider the bill engrossed being agreed to, it was read the third time and finally passed the Senate by yeas 40, nays 1.
SESSION HOURS.
On motion of Mr. BENNETT it was -
Ordered, That when the Senate adjourn it adjou ns till 9 o'clock to-morrow morning.
NEW JUDICIAL TRIALS.
Mr. MASON introduced a bill [S. No. 245] for An Act in relation to the admission of testimony of jurors in gran ting new trials,which was read the first time.
And then the Senate adjourned.
