IN SENATE.
MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1867.The Senate met at 2 o'clock P. M.
The Senator from Jennings and Jackson [Mr. Vawter,] appeared in his seat to-day.
The Secretary's journal of Friday's proceedings was read and approved.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. Before proceeding with the regular order of business, I will announce the standing committees of the Senate:
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ON ROADS.
Messrs. Ward, Hyatt, Armstrong, Reagan, Huey, Bowman and Humphreys.
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ON BANKS.
Messrs. Bonham, Wolcott, Cullen, Lewis, Mason, English and Turner.
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ON MANUFACTURES.
Messrs. Johnson, Milligan, Brown. Cason, Kinley, Mason, Bowman and Humphreys.
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ON PUBLIC PRINTING.
Messrs. Brown, Thompson, Cullen, Noyes, Newlin, Turner and Smith.
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ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Messrs. Houghton, Thompson, Hyatt, Noyes, Barker, Hunt and Huey.
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ON STATE PRISONS.
Messrs. Thompson, Richmond, Ward, Reynolds, Gifford, Howk and English.
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ON CANALS AND INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENTS.
Messrs. Cullen, Parrish Stein, Kinley, Smith, Newlin and Carson.
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ON STATE LIBRARY.
Messrs. Rice, Parrish, Bellamy, Oyler, Huffman, Vawter and Taggart.
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ON THE TOWN OF INDIANAPOLIS.
Messrs. Hyatt, Noyes, Brown, Lewis, Mason, Staggs and Newlin.
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ON CLAIMS.
Messrs Noyes, Reagan, Bonham, Church, Staggs, Humphreys and Huffman.
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ON MILITARY AFFAIRS.
Messrs. Parish, Kinley, Cumback, Johnson, Vawter, Lee and Barker.
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ON PHRASEOLOGY, ARRANGEMENT OF BILLS, AND
ENROLLED BILLS.
Messrs, Bellamy, Niles, Church, Reagan, Taggart, Turner and Howk.
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ON UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
Messrs. Milligan, Cravens, Richmond, Brown, Barker, Newlin and English.
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ON ORGANIZATION OF COURTS.
Messrs. Oyler, Cullen, Stein, Bellamy, Howk, Turner and Hanna.
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ON FEDERAL RELATIONS.
Messrs. Cason, Bennett, Cravens, Church, Oyler, Huey, Lee and Smith.
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ON EXPENDITURES.
Messrs. Jacquess, Houghton, Wolcott, Armstrong, Barker, Sherrod and Bowman.
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ON SWAMP LANDS.
Messrs. Terry, Hyatt, Bennett, Lewis, Hunt, Smith and Barker.
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ON TEMPERANCE.
Messrs. Reagan, Rice, Cumback, Terry, Huffman, Staggs and Taggart.
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ON COUNTY AND TOWNSHIP
BUSINESS.
Messrs. Lewis, Noyes, Ward, Richmond, Sherrod, Hunt and Lee.
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ON THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF THE
INHABITANTS OF THIS STATE.
Messrs. Church, Milligan, Niles, Terry, Hunt, Huey and Gifford.
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ON IMMIGRATION.
Messrs. Armstrong, Thompson, Rice, Johnson Newlin, Lee and Huffman.
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ON CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT.
Messrs. Bennett, Cravens, Jacquess, Reynolds Cumback, Stein, Sherrod, Hanna, Carson, Mason and Hunt.
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ON ELECTIONS.
Messrs Richmond, Bonham, Bellamy, Oyler, Gifford, Taggart and Lee.
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ON FINANCE.
Messrs. Wolcott, Houghton, Jacquess, Bonham, English, Carson and Turner.
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ON THE JUDICIARY.
Messrs. Niles, Bennett, Cason, Stein, Rico, Howk, Vawter and Mason.
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ON EDUCATION.
Messrs. Cumback, Cason, Kinley, Niles, Parrish, Vawter, Hannah and Taggart.
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ON BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS.
Messrs. Kinley, Cravens, Reynolds, Houghton, Terry, Howk and Huffman.
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ON AGRICULTURE.
Messrs. Reynolds, Milligan, Armstrong, Jacquess, Bowman, Staggs and Humphreys.
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ON CORPORATIONS.
Messrs. Cravens, Ward, Cullen, Johnson, Hanna, Sherrod and Carson.
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ON LEGISLATIVE APPORTIONMENT.
Messrs. Stein, Johnson, Parrish, Ward, Oyler, Wolcott, English, Vawter, Gifford, Hanna and Carson.
NEGROES AND THE SCHOOL FUND.
Mr. BROWN presented a petition from citizens of Hamilton county, praying for the enactment of a law granting to colored children a pro rata share of the school fund; which was read and referred to the Committee on Education.
THE HOPELESS INSANE.
Mr. MASON offered the following resolution, which was referred to the Committee on Benevolent Institutions:
WHEREAS, The General Assembly of the State of Indiana passed a bill at its called session allowing the sum of $25,000 for the erection of a suitable building for the keeping of the incurable insane of this State;
AND WHEREAS, The erection of said building is only partially completed, and the whole of said $25,000 appropriated as aforesaid has been laid out and expended in the erection of said unfinished building:
AND WHEREAS, It is highly necessary and humane that some building of the kind should be erected for the home of such as are incurably insane ; Therefore-
Be it Resolved, That the Committee on Education be requested to make inquiry as to such steps as, in Their judgment, they deem proper to complete said building, and report the same to this Senate; and the probable cost that it will take to complete the building which is partly under erection for the purposes above set forth.
THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION.
Mr. STEIN offered the following:
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring therein,) That a joint Committee, consisting of three members of the Senate and three of the House of Representatives, be appointed to inquire into the expediency of ratifying by Legislative enactment the appointment of John A. Wilstach as Commissioner for the encouragement of emigration to the State of Indiana, made on the 18th of January, 1866, by acting Governor Baker, and of providing an appropriation for the payment of the expenses incident to the duties of such appointment; said Committee to report by bill or otherwise.
Mr. STEIN. The Senate stands inform page: 31[View Page 31] ed through the message of the Governor, that on the 18th of last January, your Excellency [Lieutenant Governor Baker], then acting Governor, appointed John A. Wilstach, one of my immediate constituents, a Commissioner of Emigration, and delegating him to superintend the general interests of the State here and abroad. The appointment was made at the time with a view to have the State duly represented at the Universal Exposition to be held in Paris the coming April. It was rather in the nature ot a volunteer appointment, and his papers apprised him of the fact that he must look to future legislation to provide the means for the carrying out of the object of the mission. It is proper that something should be done in the way of a recognition of his appointment, and that an appropriation should be speedily made. He has bestowed a good deal of time in preliminary labors connected with his appointment, and in a recent conversation he informed me that he proposed to leave for Europe between the first and tenth of February; and for the purpose of dispatch, I ask that a special committee be raised to investigate and report on this matter. I am advised that bills are being prepared looking to the organization of an Immigration Bureau, and probably that committee will have its hands full in a day or two; and for that reason I ask that a special committee be appointed.
The resolution was adopted.
POSTAGE STAMPS.
Mr. BONHAM offered the following:
Resolved, That the Librarian be instructed to furnish each Senator, and elective officer of the Senate, six dollars worth of postage stamps, three dollars worth in three cent stamps, and three dollars worth in two cent stamps.
Mr. HANNA. I move to amend by inserting an appropriation of $12 worth of stamps for the President of the Senate.
Mr. BONHAM. I accept the amendment.
The resolution was adopted.
INK FOR THE SENATE.
On motion by Mr. RICHMOND it was-
Resolved, That the Librarian be instructed to give the preference to the Pacific Writing Fluid, manufactured by T. C. Witchell & Co., of Logansport, Indiana, when purchasing station for the use of the Senate: provided that said i[nk] can be purchased upon as reasonable terms as any other ink of a similar quality.
CONTESTED ELECTION.
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. Some papers pertaining to a contested election case [Robertson versus Hunt, the sitting Senator from Madison and Grant] were placed in my hands; is it the pleasure of the Senate to dispose of them?
Mr. CUMBACK I move that they be referred to the Committee on Elections.
The motion was agreed to.
THE NATIONAL DEBT AND NATIONAL CURRENCY.
On motion by Mr. WOLCOTT it was-
Resolved, That a special committee of nine members, to consist of four Senators to be appointed by the President of the Senate, and five Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House, be appointed to take into consideration the subjects of the National debt and the National currency; and that they report their opinions relative to the policy of the National Government relative to these matters.
LEAVES OF ABSENCE
were asked and obtained for Mr. Howk till Thursday; and for Mr. Taggart who was called home on account of sickness in his family.
NEW PROPOSITIONS.
The following described bills were introduced, read the first time, and severally passed to the second reading:
By Mr. BELLAMY, [S. 12] for an act for the correction of mistakes in conveyances where a married woman is a party.
By Mr. OYLER, [S. 13] for an act to authorize and ratify changes of venue in civil actions in certain cases.
By Mr. THOMPSON, [S. 14] for an act to create a Board of Immigration for the purpose of encouraging immigration to the State of Indiana from the Eastern States of the United States or from Europe.
By Mr. HANNA, [S. 15] for an act districting the State of Indiana for Senators and Representatives.
By Mr. KINLEY, [S. 16] for an act defining a legal day, and defining the number of hours of labor as a day's work. [Eight hours].
By Mr. PARRISH, [S. 17] for an act to amend the title of an act entitled An Act concerning licenses to vend foreign merchandize, to exhibit any caravan, menagerie, circus, rope and wire dancing, puppet shows and legerdemain, approved June 15, 1852.
By Mr. NOYES, [S. 18] for an act to provide in what manner property shall be sold on execution or under process of any Court in this State. [To the highest bidder.]
By Mr. WOLCOTT, [S. 19] for an act to provide for a revision and consolidation of the statutes of the State of Indiana. [Governor shall appoint the Commissioners.]
By Mr. OYLER, [S. 20] for an act to amend an act entitled An Act prohibiting Supreme, Circuit or Common Pleas Judges, County Clerks, Auditors, Treasurers, Recorders, Sheriffs and their Deputies, from practicing law in any of the Courts of this State, except as in this act permitted, and prescribing punishment for the violation thereof, approved March 6, 1865. So that it shall read:
page: 32[View Page 32]SECTION 2. It shall be unlawful for Clerks of Circuit Courts, Auditors, Recorders, Sheriffs or their Deputies, to practice law, or to give counsel or advice in relation to any business, or to receive for collection or suit any claim or litigated matter in any of the Counts of the county in which they hold such offices, or to act as an attorney at law for any party in such Courts.
Mr. CRAVENS. I desire to offer a bill, but before action is taken I would say that it is a bill which passed the Senate last session. It passed the ordeal of the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Corporations; it then went to the House and was referred to a special committee. The endorsement here upon the bill is "rules suspended, read a second time and referred to a select committee of four, December 18, 1865. Reported back and passage recommended December 20th, 1865." The bill is An Act supplemental to an Act approved March 5, 1859, authorizing the purchase of railroads, plank roads and turnpike roads under mortgage, sale, &c." The only change from the existing law is that to parties who have failed to perfect an organization of boards in the time prescribed by law, it give three months additional time. I move that the rules be suspended and it be read the first and second time by title now.
A constitutional provision requiring the yeas and nays to be recorded on such questions, they were ordered, and being taken resulted-yeas 37, nays 3.
So the motion was agreed to, and-
The bill [S. 21] for an act supplemental to An Act approved March 5, 1859, authorizing the purchase of railroads, plank roads and turnpike roads under mortgage sale or sales made according to the terms of deeds of trust, to organize as incorporated companies, and prescribing their powers and duties, extending the time provided in said act for the organization of such district corporations by real purchasers; was accordingly read the first and second times by title only.
Mr. CRAVENS. I move to read the bill the third time now.
Mr. CULLEN. I would like to know what necessity there is for rushing a bill through in this kind of style?
Mr. CRAVENS. The reason, I suppose, that originated the bill in the first place was the fact that one or two McAdamized roads having been sold to parties who failed to make an organization within the time prescribed by law, it was thought desirable to pass this bill simply giving them additional time.
Mr. CULLEN. I move that the bill be referred to the Committee on Corporations.
The motion was agreed to.
By Mr. JACQUESS, [S 22,] for an act regulating the fees of Clerks, Justices of the Peace, and Notaries in certain cases.
It provides that "no person authorized to administer such oaths shall bo allowed to charge any discharged soldier or seaman, their widow, orphan, or their legal representatives, more than fifteen cents for administering any oath, or giving any official certificate for the procuring of any pension, bounty, or back pay."
By Mr. OYLER, [T. 23] for an act to amend an act entitled An Act defining felonies, and prescribing punishment therefor, approved June 10, 1852. [Amends sections 19 and 20 by substituting "$20" for "$5," wherever these words occur. Declaring it "grand larceny" to steal $2 instead of $5 as the law now stands.]
By Mr. CHURCH, [S. 24,] for an act to legalize acknowledgments of all deeds, mortgages and other instruments required to be recorded, taken and certified by Notaries Public, who took and certified such acknowledgments after the expiration of their commissions or vacation of their appointments.
By Mr. KINLEY, [S. 25,] for an act apportioning the State into Congressional Districts.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Mr. CULLEN. I move to suspend the further order of business, and take up the Joint Resolution offered by the Senator from Fayette, [Mr. Bennett].
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. Joint Resolutions on the second reading is the next thing in order.
The Joint Resolution [S. 1], ratifying the Constitutional Amendment, was then read the second time, and referred to the Committee on Federal Relations.
WORK FOR COMMITTEES.
The following described Senate bills were read the second time and referred to appropriate committees:
Mr. Bennett's, Congressional Apportionment, [1], to the committee on that subject.
Mr. Thompson's, registry, [2],to the Committee on Elections.
Mr. Bellamy's, Prosecuting Attorney's salary, [3] and Mr. Church's, debt collection,[9], to the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Cullen's, soldiers' home, [4]: Mr. Bellamy's, master and apprentice, [6]; and Mr. Bennett's, Xlllth Article [7], to the Committee on Rights and Privileges.
Mr. Oyler's, State Librarian, [5], to the Committee on the State Library.
Mr. Cullen's, guardian for drunkards, [8], to Committee on Temperance.
Mr. Bennett's, legislative apportionment, [10], to the Committee on that subject.
Mr. Cullen's, turnpike company, [11], to the Committee on Corporations.
INKSTANDS.
Mr. RICHMOND offered a resolution, which was adopted, instructing the Librarian to procure and place on the desk of each Senator an oval glass inkstand, of medium size.
page: 33[View Page 33]NEWSPAPERS FOR SENATE OFFICERS.
Mr. BONHAM offered a resolution, which was adopted, instructing the doorkeeper to furnish the President of the Senate and each elective officer, the same number of newspapers ordered for Senators.
THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.
Mr. MILLIGAN offered a resolution, which was adopted, authorizing the President to appoint a committee of three, to indicate the appropriate committee to which the Governor's Message should be referred.
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR makes the committee to consist of Messrs. Milligan, Cravens and Rice.
And then the Senate adjourned, [till tomorrow at 2 o'clock P. M., under a standing rule of the last session.]
