AFTERNOON SESSION.
Bills for acts were introduced, read the first time, and severally passed to the second reading, to-wit:
By Mr. BELLAMY [S. 336] authorizing the Governor of the State to remove prison directors in certain cases. [When guilty of malfeasance in office.]
By Mr. CRAVENS [S. 337] to make appropriations for certain purposes. [When there shall be a failure at any session of the Legislature to make certain appropriations the Governor may issue his warrant upon the Treasurer of State for sums not exceeding the amount appropriated by the General Assembly.
THE GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILL.
On motion of Mr. FISHER, the Senate resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole [Mr. Gray in the chair] to resume the consideration of the General Appropriation bill [H. R. 309].Section 31, appropriating $2,000 for the contingent fund of the Governor, having been read-
Mr. WOLCOTT said the Finance Committee proposed to amend by making the sum $5,000.Mr. CARSON objected to the amendment.
Mr. FISHER explained that this sum was placed at the disposal of the Governor to aid in the faithful execution of the laws, and he thought the safety and good of the State demanded such an appropriation.
Mr. BRADLEY moved to amend the amendment by requiring the Governor to report to the next session of the General Assembly the sums expended, to whom paid, and what for.
Mr. MORGAN believed there was a necessity for the Committee's amendment. Crime is on the increase, and we should have the advantage of every possible means for the detection of crime.
Mr. STEIN. Should we adopt the amendment to the amendment, we would be perpetrating an insult on a co-ordinate department of the Government. It would be, in effect, an insult upon the Governor to compel this appropriation, with a requirement that he should reveal the disposition made of it. What is there in the conduct of the present Executive to distrust that functionary? Neither the history of State nor the history of the nation furnishes any such precedent.
Mr. BRADLEY disclaimed any disposition to distrust the Governor, or reflect upon His Excellency, unfavorably, in this matter.
Mr. STEIN-In order to make this appropriation a weighty engine for the suppression of crime we must trust it to the honesty and honor of the Governor.
Mr. BRADLEY regarded it as a torturing of language to construe this section as an authorization for the Governor to use this appropriation for the detection and suppression of crime. The words of the section are "for the civil contingent fund of the Government."
Mr. GIFFORD saw no impropriety in demanding that the Governor shall report to the Legislature what disposition he may make of the fund.
The amendment to the amendment was agreed to upon a division-affirmative 23, negative 21.
page: 86[View Page 86]Mr. CRAVENS opposed the adoption of the proviso, because it inevitably casts a slur upon the Executive of the State. The fund should be left in the hands of that officer without the casting of an imputation upon the Executive of the State, and rather than do so he would prefer to see the additional appropriation fail.
Mr. GIFFORD could see no necessity for such sensitiveness upon this subject. He thought it no slur upon any one to require the keeping and presentation of vouchers for public monies expended.
Mr. TURNER saw no insult in requiring a public official to give a strict account of public monies entrusted to his hands.
On motion by Mr. CRAVENS, the amendment, as amended, was indefinitely postponed.
Mr. TERNER moved to amend the section as it stands in the bill by adding a clause that the Governor report the amount used, for what purpose expended, and to whom paid.
The amendment was agreed to upon a division-affirmative 22, negative 20.
The section, as amended, was adopted, upon a division-affirmative 23, negative 18.
Section 34, appropriating $1,000 for office rent, traveling and other expenses of the Attorney General, having been read-
Mr. STEIN offered an amendment, identical with Mr. Turner's, for a report to the Legislature of the sums expended, to whom paid, &c.
The amendment was agreed to, upon a division-affirmative 26, negative not announced.
Mr. JOHNSON, of Montgomery, moved to reduce the amount from $1,000 to $500.
Mr. WOLCOTT thought it unnecessary to defend the propriety of appropriating the amount in the section as it comes from the House. We are doing such ridiculous things here, however, he hardly knew what to expect. He gave reasons why the amount should not be cut down.
After a humorous conversational debate-
The amendment was rejected.
The section, 36, as amended, was adopted.
Section 36, appropriating $2,000 for incidental expenses of the Supreme Court, having been read-
Mr. STEIN moved to amend by requiring an itemized report to be made by the Judges and Sheriff to the General Assembly of the amount expended, to whom paid, &c.
Mr. TURNER made an ineffectual motion to strike from the amentment the word "Judges."
The amendment was agreed to.
The section, as amended, was adopted.
Section 38, making $30,000 appropriation to the Asylum for the Blind, having been read-
Mr. STEIN moved to amend by adding a requirement for an itemized statement of the expenditures to be made to the General Assembly.
The amendment was rejected.
Section 43 appropriating $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses was stricken out.
Section 44 appropriating $1,000 for incidental expenses of the Auditor of State's office, being read-
Mr. CARSON moved to reduce the amount to $500.
Mr. STEIN moved an amendment to the amendment, requiring an itemized statement to be reported to the General Assembly.
Mr. CARSON accepted the amendment
On motion of Mr. BRADLEY, the amendment, as amended, was indefinitely postponed.
Mr. STEIN renewed his amendment as an amendment to the section as it stands in the bill, and it was agreed to.
The section forty-four, as amended, was agreed to.
The Finance Committee amendment to section forty-five, increasing the appropriation for the House of Refuge from $20,000 to $40,000 for the year ending March 30, 1870, was agreed to-
Mr. TURNER desiaed to reduce the amount from $40,000 to $30,000, and he made that motion.
The amendment was rejected upon a division-affirmative 16, negative 17.
After debate-
Mr. TURNER moved to strike out $40,000 and insert in lieu $39,000.
Mr. BELLAMY raised the point of order that the Committee's amendment, having been agreed to, the amendment was not in order.
The CHAIRMAN so ruled.
Mr. BRADLEY moved to reconsider the vote last taken.
On motion of Mr. HANNA the vote adopting the Committee's amendment was reconsidered.
Mr. TURNER renewed his amendment as an amendment to the Finance Committee's amendment, to strike out $40,000 and insert $30,000.
It was agreed to.
Section 45, as amended, was adopted.
Section 47, appropriating $79,000 for the State Normal School, being read-
Mr. CARSON made an ineffectual motion to reduce the amount to $50,000.
The section was adopted upon a division affirmative 24, negative 14.
On motion, by Mr. WOLCOTT, this section was placed among the appropriations for 1869.
Mr. RICE moved to reconsider the vote cutting down the contingent or incidental page: 87[View Page 87] expenses of the Superintendent of Public Institutions, from $1,000 to $500.
The CHAIRMAN ruled the motion to reconsider out of order, though he entertained a few minutes before a similar motion, in order to get the committees out of an entanglement.
On motion, the committee rose, reported the bill, with the committee amendments, to the Senate, and asked to be discharged from its further consideration.
The report was concurred in.
Mr. BEARDSLEY offered a resolution, which was adopted, that when the Senate adjourn it adjourn to meet at 9 o'clock tomorrow.
Mr. BELLAMY gave notice of his intention to move, to-morrow, for an amendment to rule 37, by striking out all after the word "introduced," in the third line and inserting the following:
On first reading in the order in which they were reported by committees, on second reading; and in the order in which they were ordered to be engrossed on the third reading, unless in case of urgency.
Mr. BRADLEY offered a resolution requesting the return from the Governor of the bill [S. 90] that it might be correctly enrolled.
The resolution was adopted
And then the Senate Adjourned.
