THE ORGANIZATION
So the House of Representatives of the Forty-sixth General Assembly of the State of Indiana began to be organized in special session, in pursuance of the proclamation of the Governor, of March 22 1869, with Representatives from the several counties of the state (excepting absentees), as follows:
- From the county of Posey - M. T Carnahan
- From the county of Vanderburg - Leroy Calvert and J F Weiborn
- From the county of Warrick - B L. Fuller.
- From the county of Gibson - Austin Hutson
- From the County of Pike - Robert Logan
- From the county of Knox - Jas D. Williams
- From the county of Davies - John Hyatt
- From the counties of Dubois and Martin - Leroy Cave
- From the county of Spencer - R F Kercheval
- From the county of Perry - J. C. Shoemaker
- From the counties of Crawford and Orange - John L. Bates.
- From the county of Washington - John C. Lawler.
- From the county of Harrison - Peter H Zenor.
- From the county of Floyd - John S. Davis.
- From the county of Clark - Charles R. McBride
- From the county of Jefferson - William Monroe
- From the counties of Jefferson, Scott and Clark - W. D. Hutchings.
- From the counties of Jefferson and Ripley - W. D. Wilson.
- From the counties of Switzerland and Ohio - S. H. Stewart.
- From the county of Dearborn - Warren Tebbs, J.
- From the county of Ripley - Thomas W. Sunman
- From the county of Franklin - C. R. Cory
- From the county of Rush - Samus Green.
- From the county of Decatur - O. P. Gilham.
- From the counties of Rush and Decatur - D. M. Stewart
- From the county of Jennings - John Overmeyer.
- From the county of Bartholomew - S. J. Barritt.
- From the counties of Bartholomew and Shelby - James M. Seeth
- From the Counties of ofBrown and Jackson - Daniel H. Long.
- From the county of Monroe - George A. Buskirk
- From the county of Lawrence - Moses F. Dunn
- From the county of Greene - Thomas Mason
- From the county of Sullivan - N. D. Miles
- From the county of Vigo - E. Hamilton and L N Pierce
- From the county of Clay - J. C. McGregor,
- From the county of Owen - Wiley E. Dittenmore
- From the county of Putnam - Willis G. Neff.
- From the county of Hamilton - Isaac Williams.
- From the counties of Hamilton and Tipton - R. Stevenson
- From the county of Clinton - T H Palmar.
- From the county of Carroll - Reuben Fairchild.
- From the county of Boone - A. E Gordon
- From the counties of Boone and Clinton - John Higgins
- From the county of Montgomery - James G. Johnson
- From the county of Parke - James F Johnson.
- From the county of Vermillion - William Skidmore.
- From the county of Fountain - D. W. Cunningham
- From the county of Warren - Celwath Hall
- From the county of Tippicanoe - Reuben Baker and Robert Breckinridge.
- From the counties of Benton and White - J. Lamborn.
- From the county of Cass - S L McFadin.
- From the county of Howard - J A Wildman.
- From the county of Miami - Jonathan D. Cox.
- From the county of Wabash - A W. Smith.
- From the counties of Miami and Wabash - Robert Miller
- From the county of Grant - John Ratliff.
- From the counties of Blackford and Jay - Samuel A Shoaff
- From the counties of Wells and Adams - J. E. Bobo.
- From the county of Huntington - J. R. Coffroth
- From the county of Allen - Allen Zollers and B. D. Miner
- From the county of Whitley - John S. Cotton.
- From the county of Kosciusko - E. S. Higbee
- From the counties of Kosciusko and Fulton - S Davidson
- From the county of Noble - Freeman Tabor.
- From the county of DeKalb - L D Benton
- From the county of Steuban - S C Dabir
- From the county of Lagrange - Timothy Field
- From the county of Elkhart - H G Davis
- From the counties of Elkhart and Noble - George W. Chapman
- From the county of Marshall - Daniel McDonald
- From the county of St. Joseph - J C. Willams.
- From the counties of St. Joseph and Marshall - Amasa Johnson
- From the county of Laporte - Simon Wile
- From the counties of Laporte and Starke - Beatty
- From the coutnies of Pulaski, Jasper and Newton - J. P. Narnett
- From the county of Porter - Gilbert A. Pierce.
- From the county of Lake - E. C. Field
- From the county of Ripley - T. W Sunman,
Mr. Ratliff submitted the following:
Resolved, That all the elective officers of the House who were elected at the Regular Session in January last are entitled to hold their respective offices during the official continuance of the present General Assembly.
Mr. RATLIFF read the following clause from the act of March 4, 1865 providing for the completion of Unfinished Business of any session of the General Assembly, by the next succeeding special session of the same General Assembly:
"The business of any regular or special session of the General Assembly, on the Calendar or Files of either House and remaining unfinished at the expiration of such session, shall at the next succeeding special session of the same General Assembly, be transferred to the Calendar of the House in which it was pending in the same order in which such business stood at the termination of such regular or special session, to be taken up, transacted and disposed of," &c.
Whereupon he reasoned that, as this is the XLVIth General Assembly, in Special session, and as the Calendar of business passes from the former to the present session, so a just and legal interpretation of this clause of the act of 1865, would require the officiary of the last session to hold during the continuance of this.
Mr. McFADIN supported the resolution as required by the statute, and sustained by precedents in the proceedings of tbe Congress of the United States.
Mr. COFFROTH showed, that, to refuse to adopt, thus resoulution would be equivalent to a declaration that the Stature of 1865 is a nullity which he deprecated because of the time saved by it in the dispatch of legislative business. He also showed by the Journal of the special session of 1865, that the resolution offered by Mr. Newcomb, which continued and passed the Speakership of the Hon John U Petit and all the officiary of the regularsession to the special session of the sme General Assembly puts a legislative construction upon the act of 1865 which requires the adoption of the resolution. He also showed that the continuance of the officiary during the official existence of the body is sustained by Cushing's Manual, and precedent in the Congress of the United States.
Mr WILDMAN indicated the previous question, but withheld the demand, for -
Mr. OSBORN, who would not have said anything but for the remarks of the gentleman from Huntington. He insisted that the fact of offering this resolution admits wrong the case of his advocates - that these officers of the former session are "entitled to act" - for if they were so entitled by law, where is the nescessity of this resolution?
Mr. COFFROTH I was simply to give a legislative construction to the act.
Mr. OSBORN The act needed no construction. I was intended to facilitate the transaction of business after the House is organized. One session of the Legislature can not control the organization of another session. The General Assembly is to be organized when assembled - each House for itself. Here he read the appropriate clause from the tenth section of the Legislative article of the Constitution of the State. He showed, also, that this is not precisely the same House that was organized here are the beginning of the year. And if the Speaker had resigned, and had been returned, like other gentlemen here to day, would he have been entitled to the Chair? When the House is assembled, the first act is to organized. And the fact that this resolution has been offered proves his proposition. Gentlemen say this is the same House that met here in January; when we have had here for four or five days, the best evidence in the world that this is not true. For four or five days we have been unable to obtain a quorum. And since the 4th day in March, we have had no General Assembly. He had no choice, and should express none, as to who should fill these offices. When he had concluded, and Mr. McFadin had replied -
Mr. ZOLLARS demanded the previous question, and there being a second to the demand, the main question was ordered. - the voted thereon - by yeas and nays resulting - yeas 62, nays 31 - as follows:
YEAS--Messrs Addison, Admire, Baker, Barritt, Bates, Beeler, Boho, Bowen, Britton, Breckinridge, Calvery, Carnahan, Cave, Coffroth, Cory, Cotton, Cox, Davidson, Davis of Elkhart, Dittmere, Fuller, Furnas, Gilham, Gooden, Higgins, Hutchings, Hyatt, Johnson of Montgomery, Lawler, Logan, Long, Mason, McDonald, McFadin, McGregor, Miles, Miner, Mitchell, Mock, Montgomery, Neff, Odell, Palmer, Ratliff, Ruddell, Sabin, Shoaff, Shoemaker, Skidmore, Sleeth, Smith, Sunman, Tebbs,
page: 40[View Page 40]Underwood, Vater, Welborn, Wile, Wildman, Williams of Knox, Zenor, Zellar - 62
NAYS - Messrs Barnet, Beatty, Buskirk, Chapman, Dunn, Fairchild, Field of Lake, Field of Lagrange, Greene, Hall, Hamilton, Higbie, Husson, Johnson of Parke, Johnson of Marshall, Jump, Kerche a Lamb of Millikan, Miller, Monroe, Osborn, Over yer, Pierce of Porter, Pierce of Vigo, Stephenson, Stewart of Ohio, Stewart of hu h, Taber, Vardeman, Williams of Hamilton, Williams of St. Joseph, Wilson - 32
So the resolution was adopted.
Mr. COFFROTH moved to reconsider the vote, and to lay the motion on the table.
The latter motion was agreed to without a division.
The SPEAKER (Mr. Stanton of Marion), then addressed the House as follows:
Gentleman of the House of Representatives:
I desire at this time to return to you my sincere thanks for the uniform kindness and courtesy which you have extended to me during our association in this body, and particularly in the relation that has existed between us since my occupation of the chair In the beginning I assured you that I could not bring to the discharge of my duties that legislative experience so so necessary to one occupying this position, and only promised you that actuated by an earnest purpose, I would faithfully endeavor to discharge the dune devolving upon me. I trust that I may flatter myself with the belief that you beat me out in the reflection that I have been true to my promise.
Believing that I can represent my constituency quite as well upon the floor as on the Chair (and perhaps better), and confessing that I have found my arduous and responsible dutites not altogether to my liking, I desire again to thank you for your many and renewed expressions of kindness and confidence before carrying out a determination some time since formed. Gentlemen, I respectfully resign my position as Speaker of this House.
When he had concluded this address, he called Mr Gordon, of Boone to the Chair.
On the motion of Mr PIERCE, of Porter, the House (by unanimous consent) proceeded to the election of a Speaker.
Mr PIERCE nominated George A Buskirk, of Monroe.
Mr. SHOEMAKER nominated James D Williams, of Knox.
Those voting for Mr Buskirk were:
Messrs. Baker, Barnett, Beauty, Beeler, Bowen, Beckinridge, Chapman, Davidson, Davis of Elkhart, Dunn, Fairchild, Field of Lake, Field of Lagrange, Furnas, Gilham, Gordon, Greene, Hall, Hamilton, Higbee, Higgins, Hutson, Johnson of Parke, Johnson of Marshall, Jump, Kercheval, Lamborn, Mason, Millikan, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Osburn, Overmeyer, Pierce of Porter, Pierce of Vigo, Radiff, Ruddell, Sabin, Skidmore, Smith, Stanton, Stephenson, Stewart of Ohio, Stewart of Rush, Taber, Underwood, Vardeman, Vater, Wildman, Williams of Hamilton, Williams on Knox, Williams of St. Joseph, Williams of Union, and Wilson -55
Those voting for Mr Williams were:
Messrs Addison, Admire, Barritt, Bates, Bobo, Bitton, Buskirk, Calvert, Carnahan, Cave, Cofforth, Cory, Cotton, Cox, Dittemore, Fuller, Hutchings, Hyatt, Johnson of Montgomery, Lawler, Logan, Long, McDonald, Mcfadin, McGregor, Miles, Miner, Mock, Montgomery, Neff, Odell, Palmer, Shoaff, Shoemaker, Sleath, Sppman, Tebbs, Welborn, Wile and Zellars - 5.
The PRESIDING OFFICER pro tem having declared Mr Buskirk to be duly selected, Mr Williams of Knox, and Mr. Stanton, were called on to conduct the Speaker of the Chair.
That service having been formally rendered -
The Speaker said:
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I return to you my sincere thanks for the distinguished honor that you have just conferred on me in selecting me to preside over your deliberations.
This mark of your confidence, I assure you is highly appreciated; and it shall be my highest ambition, by a fair, faithful and impartial discharge of my duties to continute to merit it.
It is not, however, without great diffidence that I proceed to enter upon the discharge of the duties assigned me, conscious that I do not possess the familiarity with legislative proceedings so essential to enable me to discharge the duties of the chair in a prompt and efficient manner; and, did I not feel that I could safely rely upon your indulgence and assitance, I shoud shrink from the responsibilities that I am about to assume. The time limited to us under the Constitution is short; but if propery employed, it will be sufficient to enable us to enact all the nescessary legislation; and I indulge the hope that we will not adjourn until our work shall be completed. This much is demanded of us by every consideration of duty, and fidelity to the oath that we have just taken.
THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT
Mr. PIERCE, of Porter For the purpose of settling the difficulty which has kept our Democratic friends so long out in the cold, I submit the following:
Resolved That the consideration of the ratification of the fifteenth amendment proposed to the Constitution of the United States be postponed until Tuesday, the eleventh day of May next.
Mr WILDMAN demanded the previous question, and there being a second, &c;, the order was adopted without a division.
Mr MCFADIN moved to reconsider the vote.
On motion of Mr. COFFROTH, Mr. page: 41[View Page 41]McFadin's resolution was laid on the table.
Mr. WILLIAMS, of Knox, submitted the following:
Resolved That the rules of the last session shall govern the present session.
It was adapted by consent.
Mr WILLIAMS, of Knox, submitted the following:
Resolved That each member be entitled to the same seat occupied by him at the last session.
It was adopted on a division--affirmative 71, negative not counted.
Mr. WILDMAN submitted the following order, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the Senate be notified that the House organized with the Hon. George A Buskirk, Speaker; William M Merwio, Clerk; John O. Hardesty, Assistant Clerk and T.H McCoun, Doorkeeper, and that the House is now ready to proceed to business.
Mr. RATLIFF submitted an order for the appointment of a committee of three to report on the amount of stationery to be allowed.
0n motion of Mr. GORDON it was laid on the table.
The House then adjourned till to-morrow morning at nine o'clock.
