HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
TUESDAY, December 12, 1865.The CLERK called the House to order at 9 o'clock A. M.
On the motion of Mr. MILLER, Mr. Henricks was requested to occupy the chair in the temporary absence of the Speaker.
COMMON PLEAS.
Mr. MILLER, from the Committee on Organization of; Courts, returned Mr. Upson's Kosciusko Common Pleas bill, No. 259, with, a recommendation that the same do pass.
NORTHERN PRISON.
Mr. GRIFFITH, from the Committee on the Northern Prison, submitted a report on the reports of the Board of Control, and the Superintendent of Construction of said prison, which had been referred to them, asking for an appropriation of $597,744 for the completion of works already commenced on said prison - the Committee recommending items of appropriation for said works, amounting to $62,800, and recommending an order that no further contract be made by the Board of Control to divert any part of said appropriation from its specific object, viz: the completion of works already commenced, - and submitting considerations governing the action of the Committee.
Mr. GRIFFITH moved that the report be concurred in, and that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, with instructions (if they deem it expedient and proper) to incorporate the appropriation recommended into the Specific Appropriation bill. When he came here, at the beginning of the session, he hardly expected any appropriation for this prison. But he found that, having this institution on our hands, and to save what we have already appropriated, and make the prison efficient, it was best to complete the works already commenced. Therefore the committee had unanimously agreed to the amount recommended. The committee had heretofore reported a bill for adding: another tier of counties to the Northern prison District, and that was a decisive consideration in favor of completing these works. The Board of Control had asked for $97,000, whilst the committee, economizing in the light of the best information they could obtain, had agreed to recommend an appropriation of only $62,800.
Mr. BRANHAM thought we were going extravagantly into the expenditures for the prison, and expenses were increasing. He wanted to know where we were going to stop. We made an appropriation for offices and a cell house, and the Board of Control had proceeded, as it would seem, to the completion of the entire prison structure. They might have made the cell house smaller, and their work not liable to decay. He prefered that the House should determine this mutter, and leave nothing to the discretion of the Committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. BURWELL said: As a member of the Committee on the Northern Prison, he could not sustain the report; because he was with out information upon which to make up his mind as to how much should be appropriated in this direction; nor did he believe that determination could be reached intelligently without, visiting the prison.
Mr. RHOADS. Inasmuch as we have already appropriated about $200,000 towards this prison, unless we carry it on to completion, much of this money will be thrown away. He said this, regretting that the Prison had been commenced.
Mr. BRANHAM said they wanted $30,000 for a kitchen. Would the gentleman go to work and complete the Prison on that scale?
Mr. RHOADS. No. He wanted a cell-house, outhouses and auppurtenances.
Mr. HIGGINS. Either we must abandon this institution, or make appropriations to keep it up. New York had three prisons, at an expense of about eight millions of dollars; and the States of Ohio and Illinois, each had more expensive prisons than we. He recited the history, origin and progress of this Northern Prison; and especially the reasons for increasing the expenses of the offices above the appropriations for that purpose. He rnude statements also with reference to the expenses of the wall, the towers, the cell-house and guardhouse. Our prisons were fast filling up. The page: 187[View Page 187] Southern prison, he was told, was about full. Crime was on the increase, and we must increase our prison-room. He did not think money had been squandered, and trusted that the report would be concurred in.
Mr. COWGILL did not like the manner of expending money on this prison. The very first contract thereon was not authorized by law; and yet appropriations were subsequently made to save parties to that and other unauthorized contracts. Now the gentleman from Laporte [Mr. Higgins] had told us that the last appropriations have not been applied to the objects intended by them to bo accomplished. He supposed the prison itself was necessary, but opposed the manner in which money was extorted from the Legislature in its construction.
Mr. CHURCH. If gentlemen do not like the the plan of the report, why not propose a better?
Mr. HOWARD wanted specific information, apart from the statements of the officers of the institution. But since we have not been permitted to visit the prison, and see for ourselves, we must avail ourselves of the best information we have, and that comes from the officers of the prison. He knew now no better way thrin to appropriate for what is needed for this prison. He supported the motion to refer to the committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. McVEY. The proposed amount would not be sufficient to complete the work. It was going to cost largely above the original estimates. The people of Indiana were not so numerous as the people of New York, and he trusted they were even more honest than New Yorkers - and we need not imitate the prodigality of the State of New York in this direction. He would retrench as to prison expenses, and admonish the people to respect and obey the laws. He hoped the appropriation would not be made.
Mr. SHOAFF of Jay. This was a matter of mere business. It became necessary to have another prison. Its necessity had been admitted by the Legislature and the work had been entered upon. It had not been shown that money had been squandered, though something had been lost for want of money. The Committee had reduced the amount of the appropriation as low as they could. He had concurred in the report, and would support it. The remarks of gentlemen here indicated that they had little confidence either in the Board of Control or the Committee.
Mr. SHUEY understood that this proposed appropriation was to carry out contracts of the Board of Control. He deprecated unauthorized contracts; and showed that the Board's contract for bricklaying was to pay one-third more than the sanie work could bo obtained by any business man. He was weary of sanctioning unauthorized contracts.
Mr. HIGGINS replied to the objections of Mr. Cowgill, and recited the acts and plans of the original Board of Control, and alleged that the State had adopted them so far as the plans were concerned in the building of the cell-house and guard-house. He also replied to Mr. MeVey; That gentleman should be the last man to object to prisons, considering the number of convicts being sentenced and conveyed to them from the city of Indianapolis. He also referred to the fact that convicts were now confined and guarded in the shops, because there was no cell-house.
Mr. GRIFFITH. We had this elephant on our hands, and the question was what shall we do with it? He described the insecure condition of the prison as he saw it. He was not prepared to decide on the contracts for ex-eavations, stone masonry and brick in the wall. But the supposition is that these officers would not make these contracts and publish them at very exhorbitant rates.
Mr. HIGGINS answered the objections of Mr. Shuey as to cost of stone and masonry.
Mr, GROVES demanded the previous question, and under its operation, Mr. Griffith's motion was agreed to - yeas 44, nays 37.
Mr. BRANHAM called up the special order, viz: the consideration of the Joint Committee's State Debt Sinking Fund bill, No. 285; the question being on the third reading.
After debate thereon which will appear in the BREVIER APPENDIX -
Mr. BRANHAM demanded the previous question, and under the pressure thereof, the vote was taken on its final passage, with the following result - yeas 52, nays 36 - to wit:
YEAS - Messrs. Atkinsonn.Bonner, Boyd, Branham, Burnes, Caldwell, Church, Cowgill, Cox, Crook, Davidson, Ferris, Foulke, Gleason, Goodman, Gregory of Montgomery, Gregory of Warren, Griffith, Grove, Hamrick, Henricks, Hershey, Higgins, Hogate, Hoover, James, Lane, Lockhart, Major, Miller, Montgomery, McVey, Newcomb, Oleman, Prather, Reese, Rhoads, Riford, Sabin, Shuey, Sim, Stewart, Stringer, Sullivan of P. $ V., Trusler, Upson, Welch, Woodruff, Wright, Woods, Zeigler, Mr Speaker - 52.
NAYS - Messrs. Abbett, Bird, Brown, Furton. Burwell, Buskirk, Croan, Dunham, Glazebrook, Gregg, Hargrove, Harrison, Howard, Humphries, Hunt, Lasselle, Lee, Lemon, Lopp, Milroy, Osborn, Patterson, Perigo, Pinney, Richards, Richardson, Roach, Shoaff of Allen, Shoaff of Jay, Spencer Stenger, Stuckey, Sullivan of Scott, Thacher, Weikel, White - 36
So the bill passed the House of Representatives.
On motion of Mr. GROVES, the House took a recess till 2 o'clock P. M.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
On the motion of Mr. WOODS, Mr. Hamrick was called to the Chair.
CALUMET DITCH.
Mr. WOODS asked the House to take up his Calumet Ditch bill. No. 86, for a ditch from the Little to the Grand Calumet in Lake county, and authorizing a defense at law of that right.
It was recommended by the Judiciary Cornmittee with an amendment directing the Attorney General to appear in behalf of the Company, if the State of Illinois complain, which has been adopted.
Mr. NEWCOMB explained that this ditch would reclaim about 20,000 acres of land now overflowed by the Illinois dam, which that State had refused to abate.
The bill was passed the final reading in the House - yeas 78, nays 1.
Mr. GREGORY of Montgomery (by leave) introduced a bill [H. R, 319] for an act to amend the fourteenth section of the Township Business act of February 19,1859 - [Township Trustees compensation $2 50 per day.];
It was passed to the second reading.
Mr. BUSKIRK called for the special order, viz: the consideration of his Agricultural College page: 188[View Page 188] bill [H. R. No. 6] locating the State Agricultural College at Bloomington, Monroe county.
The SPEAKER held that this special order having been set for 10 o'clock this morning, it was lost by the intervening business.
On motion by Mr. BROWN, (by unanimous consent,) his locomotive engineers' bill [H. R. 301] was taken up, and made the special order for to-morrow at 11 o'clock A. M.
COMMON SCHOOL FUND.
Mr. MILLER moved a suspension of the orders to enable him to move to take up the Senate's amendment to Mr. Neweomb's school fund bill [H. R. 47] to increase the powers of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners, and to authorize said Board to loan any moneys belonging to said Fund in Indiana State bond or stocks, and providing for the cancelling of said bonds or stocks, and the re-issusing of new non-negotiable bonds or stocks payable to said Fund.
The Senate amendments [see Senate proceedings of last week] were severaly concurred in.
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
Mr. BUSKIRK (by unanimous consent) now called up the consideration of his Agricultural College bill [H. R. No. 6] the question being on concurrence in the amendment by way of substitute reported by a majority of the Select Committee on the Agricultural College. [The substitute accepts the donation from Monroe county of the Geological and Mineralogical Cabinet of the late Dr. Owen and the farm near Bloomington, and locates the College thereon, etc.]
Mr. MILROY, from the minority of the Select Committee on the Agricultural College, obtained unanimous consent to report their dissent from the majority report, and their opinion, that it would better advance the interests of the State that said College be located in Tippecanoe county, upon the acceptance and occupation of the lands, buildings, and $10,000 proposed to be donated to said College by the people of said county of Tippecanoe.
Mr. SIMS moved to amend the amendment by striking out "Bloomington" wherever it occurs, and insert "Richmond," in lieu. After debate thereon, which will appear in the BREVIER APPENDIX, the bill was postponed, and made the special order for to-morrow morning 10 o'clock.
On the motion of Mr. BUSKIRK, it was ordered that when the House adjourns, it shall be till 7 o'clock, P. M. Yeas 51, nays 34.
REPORT OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL.
Mr. BRANHAM offered the following, which was adopted:
Resolved, That there be a Committee of three on the part of the House, to act with a like Committee on the part or the Senate in relation to the printingr of the Adjunant General's Report, under the resolution of the House adopted on the 4th of March, 1865, and that they report to the House the number of volumes and the cost of the same, and such other information as may be necessary for the action of this Legislature in reference thereto.
Subsequently the SPEAKER nominated said Committee, viz: Messrs. Branham, Henricks and Cowgill.
RETRENCHMENT.
Mr. WOODS submitted the following, which was adopted:
WHEREAS, For the purpose of reducing the expenses of the State, and decreasing as much as possible th burdens of the people, it is necessary that the State shall be put in a peace footing; therefore -
Resolved, That the Committee on Ways and Means be requested to inquire into the propriety of discontinuing all or some of the offices created and necessary in time of war; and for the purpose of obtaining the proper information they are requested to confer with the Governor and State officers, and if, on exammation they shall see that the expenses of such officer or officers can be deminished, they shall report a bill or otherwise, such plan as to them may seem advisable.
THE SINKING FUND.
Mr. COWGILL submitted the following:
Resolved, That the President of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, is requested to report to this House what amounit of the Sinking Fund is not invested in the bonds of the State under the laws thereof, authorizing such investment nor distributed to the counties - according to the provision of the act approved March 1st, 1859, authorizing such distribution.
How long such portion of said fund, if any there be, has remained in the hands of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, or any number thereof drawing no interest and earning not in for the State, nor in any way increasing said sinking Fund?
Report whether any portion of said fund is distributed amongst the members of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners; and if so, how much and to whom?
What have been the earnings of such portion or portions of said fund as are not invented in bonds as authorized by law, nor distributed to the countiesand to whose benefit has the same inured?
It was adopted.
And then, on motion by Mr. HAMRICK, the House (at 5:20 P. M.) took a recess till 7 P.M.
NIGHT SESSION.
When a quorum was determined by a call of the House -
On motion by Mr. BUSKIRK, the House suspended the pending orders and took up the consideration of bills of the House in the calendar on the second reading.
Mr. Thacher's widows' dower bill. No. 157, [allows the widow $300 out of the real estate if there is not that much of personal property] was advanced to the engrossment.
Mr. Cox's Railroad bill, No. 217, was advanced to the engrossment.
Mr. Lasselle's census bill, No. 251, coming up with the Committee amendments heretofore reported, the amendments were concurred in, and then the bill was advanced to the engrossment.
Mr. Trusler's Hydraulic Company's bill, No. 256, was advanced to the engrossment.
On motion by Mr. LEMON Mr. Bonner's Road bill, No. 271, was taken from the table and placed in the Calendar.
Mr. Upson's Kosciusko's Common Pleas bill, No. 259, was advanced to the engrossment.
Mr. Cook's prison bill, No. 262. was advanced to the engrossment.
Mr. LANE moved to reconsider the vote by which Mr. Trusler's hydraulic bill, No. 256, was advanced to the third reading. He desired to offer an amendment excepting from its provisions the Wabash and Erie Canal, for fear it might involve the State in some difficulty with the State's creditors.
It was reconsidered - the SPEAKER holding that the reconsideration does not bring the bill before the House.
Mr. Shoaff of Allen's divorce bill, No. 264, coming up with the Judiciary Committee's page: 189[View Page 189] amendments heretofore reported, (striking out the 7th clause, which gives discretion to the Court to grant divorce.)
After debate by Messrs. Buskirk, Newcomb, Upson, Brown,Griffith and Rhoads, the amendments were adopted, and so the bill was ordered to the engrossment and third reading.
Mr. LANE (upon a suspension of the orders) called up Mr. Trusler's hydraulic bill, No. 256, and moved to amend by adding a section excepting from its provisions the Wabash & Erie Canal.
It was adopted.
Mr. BUSKIRK proposed further to amend by inserting this: "nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent or deny the right of the writ of ad quod damnum - [for the assessment of damages.]
It was agreed to.
Mr. OSBORN moved ineffectually to lay the bill on the table.And then it was ordered to the engrossment and third reading.
Mr. Lemon's bill. No. 273, for enforcement of Article XIII of the State Constitution, coming up on the second reading -
Mr. NEWCOMB said this bill reminded him of the reply of a darkey barber hereto another darkey, alleging a case of crim. con. of his knowledge: said he, "That Constitutional Convention here has decided that no negro shall ever come into this State, so that thing can't be did." [Laughter.]
Mr. HIGGINS moved ineffectually that the bill be indefinitely postponed - yeas 83, nays 34.
Mr. BURWELL moved ineffectually to insert an amendment properly punishing the Governor for default in executing the bill.
And then, under the force of the previous question, the House refused to order the engrossment - yeas 22, nays 50:
Mr. BUSWELL voting "no" with an explanation.
Mr. GRIFFITH'S Northern Prison bill, No. 282, introduced November 30th,(and there described in these reports) coming up, with a favorable recommendation from the Prison Committee,
Mr. GROVES moved to amend, by striking out the provision which adds another tier of counties to the Northern Prison District.
Mr. GRIFFITH said convict-labor was needed in the construction of the Northern Prison.
Mr. HIGGINS said that convict labor was worth more at the Northern than it was at the Southern Prison.
Mr. McVEY was in favor of the amendment.
The amendment was rejected - affirmative 30, negative 37.
The bill was then ordered to the engrossment.
Mr. LASSELLE moved to call up his bill [H. R. No. 309] authorizing the County Commissioners, under certain restrictions upon petition of the people to make appropriations in aid of the construction of manufacturing and machine shops.
The committee's amendment "upon petition of one-fourth of the people of the county," was agreed to.
Mr. SULLIVAN of Vanderburgh and Posey, moved ineffectually to amend by providing that of those petitioners none shall be United States bondholders.
The bill was then ordered to the engrossment?
On motion by Mr. NEWCOMB, Mr. Stringer's Clerk's bill, No. 181, with the pending amendment was taken up - the question being on the amendment.
It was laid on the table.
Mr. Wood's joint resolution No. 3 for amendment of the State Constitution in article VIII in regard to taxation for schools,was advanced to the engrossment.
Mr. Whiteside's notice bill No. 18, coming up with the pending amendment, it was agreed to.
The Judiciary Committee's amendments to the County Auditor's bill, No. 190, with the committee amendments [increasing his fees to 15 cents per hundred words.]
Mr. STIVER proposed to amend the amendment by excepting the fees for filing assessors' blanks.
It was adopted: and then the amendment as amended was adopted.
So the bill was ordered to the engrossment.
On motion by Mr. MILROY, the House (at 9:30 P.M.) adjourned.
