AFTERNOON SESSION.
The SPEAKER resumed at 2 o'clock, and announced the following Special Committees:
ON RULES
Messrs Osborn, Stanton, Coffroth, Williams of Knox and Pierce of Vigo.
ON EMPLOYES
Messrs Osborn, Hamilton, Johnson of Marshall, McFadin and Odell.
ON STATIONERY, STAMPS and NEWSPAPERS
Messrs Long, Pierce of Porter, Ruddell, Coffroth, and Johnson of Parke.
EMPLOYEES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. WILSON submitted the following:
WHEREAS, Nathan W Fitzgerald, Assistant Doorkeeper of this House, has honestly, faithfully and efficiently discharged his [?] as such, therefore
Resolved, That it is the sense of this House that be retained as such Assistant Doordeeper for the present session.
Mr COTTON proposed to amend by way of substitute, as follows:
WHEREAS, This House, by a resolution, have continued all the elective officers of the House in the positions they occupied at the late regular session: and,
WHEREAS We have also by resolution, reinstated the Reading Clerk for the House at this session, therefore,
Resolved, That the several Assistant Clerks, and Assistant Doorkeepers and the Pages of teh regular session be continued in the several [positions?] during this session at the same per diem they received for similar services at the regular session.
On motion of Mr. HIGGINS, the substitute was laid on the table, and then Mr. Wilson's resolution was adopted
Mr MONROE submitted the following:
WHEREAS, By resolution of this House the reading clerk the regular session is retained as reading clerk this session. And
WHEREAS, For reasons unknown to this body the principle clerk is unwilling to employ him; therefore,
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to inquire into the cause of the unwillingness, and report as early as practicable.
page: 47[View Page 47]On motion of Mr. DITTEMORE, it was laid on the table - affirmative, 31; negative, 21.
THE CALENDAR
On motion of Mr. WILDMAN, the House proceded to the consideration of bills of the House in the calendar on the second reading.
Mr Shoemaker's Real Estate Taxation bill [H. R. 136]; and his bill [H R 152] limiting the time for commencing [?] for the recovery of land sold for taxes were taken up, read and ordered to be engrossed
Mr Barrett's joint resolution [H. R. 5] for Congressional instructions against the resumptions of specis payments was taken up, and, on motion of Mr STEWART, of Rush, it was laid on the table - yeas 49 nays 37, as follows:
YEAS - Messrs, Baker, Barnett, Beatty, Bowen, Breckenridge, Calvert, Chapman, Davidson, Dunn, Fairchild, Field of Lake, Field of Lagrange, Furnas, Hilham, Gordon, Johnson of Parke, Johnson of Marsh, Jump, Kercheval, Lambern Masen, [?], Monroe Osborn, Pierce of Vigo, Ratliff, Ruddell, Sabin, Ski[?], Smith, Stanton, Stephenson, Stewart, Ohio, Sterart of Rush, Tabet, Underwood, V[?], Wildman, Williams of Hamilton, Williams of St Joseph, Williams of Union, Wilson, and Mr. Speaker - 49
NAYS - Messrs Addison, Admire, Barritt, Bates, Beeter, [?] Briton, Carnaban, Dave Cotton Cunningham, Davis of Elkhart, Ditremore, Fuller, Hutchings, Hyatt, Johnson, of Montgomery, Login, Long McDonald, McFadin, McGregor, Miller, Miles, [?] of Montgomery, Odell, Palmer, Shoaff, Sleeh Suoman, Vater, [?]born, Wile, Williams of Knox, Zenor, and Zollar - 37
THE LPECIFIC APPROPRIATION BILL.
Mr. WILLIAMS, of Know moved to take up the Specific Appropriation bill [H. R. No. 311] stating that, under rule 68, bills of this class have precedence.
Mr. RUDDELL moved to lay the motion on the table
Mr. OSBORN thought it better to take it up, and [?] again to the Committee on Ways and Means for revision.
Mr RUDDELL withdrew his motion.
Mr SABIN and Mr RATLIFF said there were matters still in the hands of the Committee on Claims that should be incorporated in the bill. The bill having been taken up -
Mr. WILLIAMS said it was his motion to consider the bill at once.
Mr STEWART, of Rush, moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
Mr MILES made an ineffectual motion to lay Mr Stewart's motion on the table - yeas 33 nay 45
And then the bill was referred.
THE CALENDAR.
Mr STEWARTS, of Rush's, bill [H. R. 176] to provide for the establishment of a Reformatory Institution for Girls and Women was then taken up, and read the second time
It is complete in forty sections, propsing to establish an institution within five miles of Indianapolis to consist of two departments, one reformatory and the other [?] to be officered by females, and proposing an appropriation of $50,000 to carry on its provisions.
On motion of Mr. STEWART, of Rush, was amended so as to take off on the first of May, instead of the first of March
And it was ordered to the engrossment.
ORDERS.
On the motion of Mr RUDDELL, General Carrington was invited to privilege within the bar
On motion of Mr McFADIN, it was ordered that the Librarian furnish the Speaker with a copy of Cashing's Manual of Parliamentary Law.
On motion of Mr WILLIAMS, of KOOZ, it was
Resolved, That joint rules for the government of the two Houses of the General Assembly, at the last session, shall govern the present session till legally changed.
THE CALENDAR
Mr. FURNAS' Agricultural and Horticultutral Reports bill [H. R. 67] were ordered to be engrossed
Mr KERCHEVAL'S Sheriffs' and Clerks' Allowance bill [H R 66] were ordered to be engrossed
Mr BAKER'S bill [H. R 228] proposing to make 70 rounds of corn in the cob (instead of 68) a bushel; 40 pounds of onions, instead of 57; 80 pounds of onions, instead of 57; 80 pounds of mineral coal, instead of 70; and adding to the Statue - "Rve. 56 pounds; oats 33 pounds; flaxseed, 56 pounds; barley, 48 pounds; corn meal, 50 pounds to a bushel, and 2000 pounds of hay shall be taken for a ton," which was taken up.
Mr. CARNAHAN and others stated their opposition to its provisions
On motion of Mr. NEFF, it was laid on the table.
Mr Highee's County Railroad Tax bill [R. R. 154] proposing to authorize said tax on petition of three-fifths of the voters - not exceeding three per cent in any one year, and not exceeding six per cent on each $100 worth of taxable property for said purpose, was taken up.
A pending Committee's amendment proposes to reduce the annual tax to two per cent.; and pending debate thereon, in which was evinced much earnest opposition, the House took a recess to prepare for the joint convention to hear the Governor's message.
page: 48[View Page 48]IN JOINT CONVENTION
On motion of Mr. STANTON, a Committee, consisting of Messrs Stanton, Belamy and Pierce (of Porter), was appointed to wait on His Excellency and inform him that the two Houses were in joint session under his appointment to deliver a message.
The Governor responded with the committee in person.
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: We have met in joint convention, in compliance with a resolution of the two Houses, to [hear the message of the?] Governor. And I have learned that a resolution has been passed appointing a committee to procure the services of a minister of the Gospel to open the session with prayer. The committee inform me that they have procured the services of the Rev. Mr Sims, of this city, who is also before us. The convention will rise whilst he will address the Throne of Grace.
Mr SIMS prays
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR The Convention is now ready to hear the message of the Governor.
page: 49[View Page 49]GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
No one more sincerely than myself regrets the necessity which existed for convening Special Session of the General Assembly at this time. The duty Of calling you together at the earliest practicable period after the termination of the late regular session was so obvious that I do not intend to occupy a moment of your time in justification or explanation of the proclamation in pursuance of which you are now assembled. By the resignation seventeen Senators and thirty-five Representatives, two days prior to to the last legislative day of the late regular session, the General Assembly was practicably discovered, the quorm being, by said resignations, destroyed in both Houses. When this happened, no appropriations had been made to meet the ordinary expenditures o the State Government for the years 1869 and 1870, or for the support of the benevolent and other public institutions of the State during the same period.
The fact that the General Assembly has, on three different occasionss within the last twelve years, been disbanded by the action of a minority of its members before the appropriations necessary to carry on the State government and meet the current expenses of the benevolent institutions had been passed, seems to imperatively demand that these absolutely necessary appropriations should be so provided for by a permanent and continuing law that they shall be placed beyond and above the demands and vicissitudes of mere party organizations. To this end, I respectfully recommend the passage of an act providing that, whenever the General Assembly, at its regular biennial session, shall fail to pass laws making appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the State government and for the support of its benevolent and other public institutions, then it shall be competent for the State officers to direct the Auditor of State to draw his warrant on the State Treasury for the amounts necessary for the purposes, not exceeding, however, the amounts appropriated for the same purposes for the last year for which appropriations shall have been made. It would be no difficult matter to frame a law of this kind so as to securely guard the treasury against improper drafts being made upon it, and at the same time protect the public interests [against?] the consequences of a failure or the part of the General Assembly to make these necessary appropriations. In the absence of such a law, whenever the General Assembly fails to pass the necessary appropriation bills, the State government must either cease to perform its functions, and the inmates of th benevolent institutions be disbanded, or loans must be contracted without the authority of law to enable these functions to be carried on and these institutions to be supported. I think no candid man will dispute the correctness of the proposition that when one branch of the State government fails or refuses to perform a clear duty which it alone is competent to perform, another branch of the same government should not by such failure be left in a position in which it can not perform its own duties without assuming powers not conferred by the Constitution and laws. The provision I am asking you to make for all these ordinary and necessary expenditures has long since been adopted in relation to the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb.
By the law governing that Institution, ample provision is made for drawing money from the Treasury for its ordinary expenses in the even that the Legislature should fail to make the regular biennial appropriation.
At your late session, in passing the general revenue law, you wisely made the tax a continuous one until changed by the law. This was, doubtless, done to meet the contingency of a failure to pass a revenue law. I ask that the same principle be adopted respecting such approprations as are absolutely necessary for the continuance of the State government and the support of public institutions of the State.
I trust, now that you are again in session, that you will, without distinction of party, feel that your first and paramount duty is to make the appropriations which the exigencies of the public service so manifestly demand
The Constitution of State in terms declares that "it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law for the support of institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind, and also for the treatment of the insane." Every member of this General Assembly, in common with myself has taken an oath to support the Constitution of which the section quoted is a part. Here then is a plain duty, binding upon every member, regardless of his party affiliations or relationships. Now, shall a plan duty like this, concerning which honest, intelligent minds cannot differ, be subordinated to or made dependent upon any other question of party politics upon which here may be an [?] stand an earnest difference of opinion? I trust not. I hope you will, with the least practicable delay, make the uncessary appropriations, and especially those required to meet the liabilities already contracted by the Trustees of the State Normal School, the Commissioners of the
page: 50[View Page 50]House of Refuge, and the Trustees of the Soldiers' Home. The managers of these Institutions have been greatly embarrassed by reason of the fact that provision has not been made for the payment of these debts, and the gentlemen who have made advances for these Institution have been put to in convenience by reason of the non-payment of these advances
Having, at the opening of the last regular session, given to you such information touching the condition of the State as was thought necessary, and having recommended such measures as were judged to be expedient, I deem it only necessary now to refer you to the message then communicated instead of restating the same information and reiterating the same recommendations. I beg, however, before closing to submit for your consideration a supplemental report of the Trustees of the Soldiers' Home, setting forth the necessity which exists for such an institution, and demonstrating that it should receive from the State a more liberal support than was proposed to be given by the General Appropriation bill which passed the House at the last session.
By the Revenue bills passed at the late session, the State Debt Sinking Fund tax was reduced one-half,or from twenty cents to ten cents on each one hundred dollars in property, and the State debt tax proper was reduced one-fourth, or from twenty cents to fifteen cents. This is certainly a satisfactory reduction, and if local taxation could be reduced in a corresponding ratios, there would be little cause of complaint of the burthess of taxation With this large reduction, the State will still be in a condition to make all the appropriations contemplated at the regular session and increase the allowance to the Soldiers' Home to the extent asked for by the Trustees of that institution. I believe that duty to our disabled soldiers, and to the orphan children of those who have passed away, requires this at our hands A careful study of the facts stated in the supplemental report of the Trustees will convince any unprejudiced mind of the necessity of such an institution, and of increased liberally in your appropriations for its enlargement and support
I herewith also respectfully submit for your consideration a supplemental report of the Directors of the State Prison South showing that, for reasons therein set forth, the finances of said prison are not in so favorable a condition as was represented in the late annual report of the Directors. This discrepancy grows out of the fact, as the supplemental report alleges, that the late Warden had contracted debts on account of the prison no account of which was contained on the books, and no report of which was made to the Directors. This supplemental report also asks an appropriation for repairs; and shows that the number of prisoners is decreasing, and that Marion county should be re-annexed to the Southern Prison District.
Since the close of the late regular session, I have been informed by M P Ghee, Esq, one of the Directors of said Prison, that he has accepted an appointment under the General Government (viz: that of Guager of Distilled Spirit) and [?] qualified, thereby Vacating his office of Director of the Prison. I herewith submit a copy of his letter announcing the fact, to the end that you may take such steps to fill the vacancy as to you may seem proper.
I trust you will have a pleasant and harmonious session, and that your deliberations will result in the passage of such measures as will be promotive of the welfare of teh State and the happiness of the people.
CONRAD BAKER
Mr. McFADIN moved a vote of thanks to the authors of the message and the prayer, which was taken by consent: and then -
The Convention adjourned without day.
And when the SPEAKER resumed the Chair -
The House adjourned.
