THE
BREVIER LEGISLATIVE REPORTS.
THIRTEENTH VOLUME.
INDIANA LEGISLATURE.
IN SENATE.
MONDAY, November J8, 1872.The PRESIDENT took the chair at 2 o'clock, p. m., pursuant to adjournment, and announced that a minister of the gospel being present--the Rev. HENRY DAY, of the First Baptist Church, of the city of Indianapolis--Senators would please arise while the throne of grace was being addressed.
FIRST PRAYER OF THE SESSION.
Dr. DAY prayed as follows :
In Thy presence, oh Lord God, help us always to remember our own littleness. In Thy presence help us to remember our own need of help. Graciously condescend to give us wisdom instead of ignorance, light instead of darkness, and help whenever in need. What we need Thou canst abundantly supply. Give, we pray Thee, to these Senators here assembled, wisdom. Thou knowest what great interests are depending upon them. Thou knowest, oh Lord, how much they need the guidance and wisdom that comes down from on high. Give to them this wisdom, we pray Thee, peaceful, pure, and easily to be entreated. And we ask, oh Lord God, that Thy blessing may rest upon them, not only for this day, but during the entire session, so that there may be such legislation enacted as shall be for the good of the great State. Bless Thou this State. Bless Thou all its officers. Bless Thou its Governor. Bless Thou this Legislature assembled. Bless Thou, we pray Thee, all entrusted with the administration of public affairs throughout this commonwealth, and grant that its affairs may be so wisely adjusted and conducted that all may redound to the honor and glory of God. Hear us in our prayers, and give us help according to our need, we ask Thee in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The Secretary's journal of Friday's proceedings was read, corrected, and approved.
Mr. HUBBARD, from the special committee on Rules, submitted a report.
The report was concurred in.
Mr. HUBBARD from the special committee on the claim of J. W. Cookerly reported in favor of allowing him five days' pay and mileage for his services as Doorkeeper in organizing the Senate.
On motion of Mr. DWIGGINS the report was so amended as to allow D. H. Olive, for acting as Secretary in the organizations, the same compensation and the report was concurred in.
Mr. DWIGGINS presented a claim for $25 for draping the Senate in mourning in memory of John W. Burson as per resolution.
It was referred to the Committee on Claims.
THE STATE PRINTING.
Mr. GREGG offered a resolution requesting the Committee on Printing to investigate and report by bill or otherwise--on or before the 23d inst. upon the propriety of abolishing the office of State Printer.
page: 51[View Page 51]SENATE RULES.
On motion by Mr. BROWN 200 copies of the rules and orders of the Senate were ordered printed.
On motion by Mr. DWIGGINS the Constitution of the State was included in this order.
Subsequently, on motion by Mr. WILLIAMS, a list of the standing committees of the Senate were included in the order to print the Rules and the Constitution.
NEW PROPOSITIONS.
Bills for acts were introduced, read the first time, and severally passed to the second reading, as follows :
By Mr. HUBBARD, [S. 15.] To authorize cities and towns to negotiate a sale of bonds to procure means to erect and complete school buildings, etc., and authorizing the levy and collection of an additional special school tax for the payment of such bonds, and legalizing contracts heretofore entered into.
By Mr. TAYLOR, [S. 16.] To authorize suits to be brought in the adopted name of a partnership, any judgment rendered to be for the benefit of the partnership, and all partners to be bound thereby.
By Mr. ORR, [S. 17.] To amend the act relating to justices of the peace, and providing that they have jurisdiction to try suits founded on contract or tort in which the amount involved does not exceed $100, and concurrent jurisdiction to an amount not exceeding $500.
By Mr. MILLER, [S. 18.] To repeal the act authorizing the assessment of lands for plank and macadamized road purposes and the act authorizing the construction of such roads.
By Mr. NEFF, [S. 19.] To amend the act relating to divorce, so as to make the causes of divorce adultery, impotence, cruel treatment of either party by the other, habitual drunkenness, the failure of the husband to make reasonable provisions for his family, and the conviction of either party of an infamous crime in foreign courts.
By Mr. ARMSTRONG, [S. 20.] To regulate the sale of real estate owned by husband and wife, providing that in all cases where real estate may be sold by deed of conveyance by husband and wife, and in case where lands may be conveyed or devised to them they shall be tenants in common for the purpose of selling upon execution or other final process and that the interest of the husband in such lands shall be subject to sale upon execution against the same, the sameas if he held it in common with any other person.
By Mr. GREGG, [S. 21.] To abolish the office of the State Agent and require the Secretary of State to perform the duties thereof.
By Mr. BEARDSLEY, [S. 22.] To regulate the interest on money, providing that the interest on a judgment or decree for money shall be from the date of signing until the same is satisfied at the rate per cent. agreed upon by the parties in the original contract in which the judgment is entered, not exceeding 10 per cent., and if there was no contract then at the rate of six per cent.
By Mr. BIRD, [S. 23.] To authorize County Commissioners to appropriate money not exceeding $10,000 in any one year to aid in putting or aid in keeping in repair any canal running in or along said county.
By Mr. CAVE, for An Act [S. 24] To require Supervisors of Highways, on the last Saturday of September in each year, to make a report of the names of persons liable to road duty, the amount of commutation money paid, etc.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
The PRESIDENT then announced the standing Committees of the Senate of Indiana for this Extra Session of 1872, viz:
On Elections--Messrs. Sleeth, Collett, Miller, Neff, Fuller, Hall and Dittemore.
On Finance--Messrs. Steele, Beardsley, Friedley, Wadge, Williams, Daugherty and Harney.
On the Judiciary--Messrs. Brown, Daggy, Steele, Gooding, Rosebrugh, Glessner and Dittemore.
On Education--Messrs. Scott, Taylor, Hough, Rhodes, Fuller, Boone and Armstrong.
On Corporations--Messrs. Hubbard, Brown, Gooding, Dwiggins, Armstrong, Carnahan and Bird.
On Roads--Messrs. Miller, Howard, Orr, Friedley, Cave, Bowman and Stroud.
On Benevolent Institutions--Messrs. Thompson, Chapman, Beardsley, Hough, Armstrong, Daugherty and Francisco.
On Agriculture--Messrs. Collett, Beeson, Miller, Orr, Williams, Boone and Bowman.
On Banks--Messrs. Dwiggins, O'Brien, Beardsley, Haworth, Daugherty, Winterbotham and Gregg.
On Manufacturers--Messrs. Beardsley, Howard, Wadge, Bunyan, Beggs, Ringo and Boone.
page: 52[View Page 52]On Public Printing--Messrs. O'Brien, Sleeth, Beardsley, Hough, Cave, Bird and Dittemore.
On Public Buildings--Messrs. Oliver, Daggy, Scott, Neff, Harney, Winterbotham and Francisco.
On Prisons--Messrs. Wadge, Friedley, Chapman, Hubbard, Dittemore, Bowman and Winterbotham.
On Canals and Internal Improvements--Messrs. Haworth, Sleeth, Bunyan, Howard, Beggs, Armstrong and Carnahan.
On State Library--Messrs. Hough, Chapman, Rhodes, Oliver, Slater, Beggs and Smith.
On Fees and Salaries--Messrs. Rhodes, Steele, Neff, Hubbard, Glessner, Smith and Gregg.
On Claims--Messrs. Neff, Beeson, Orr, O'Brien, Williams, Harney and Carnahan.
On Military Affairs--Messrs. Chapman, O'Brien, Sleeth, Bunyan, Gregg, Fuller and Sarnighausen.
On Phraseology and Arrangement of Bills and Enrolled Bills--Messrs. Collett, Hubbard, Thompson, Sleeth, Hall, Slater and Smith.
On Unfinished Business--Messrs. Bunyan, Howard, Beardsley, Scott, Ringo, Gregg and Stroud.
On Organization of Courts--Messrs. Daggy, Hough, O'Brien, Steele, Dittemore, Rosebrugh and Glessner.
On Expenditures--Messrs. Taylor, Beeson, Friedley, Thompson, Harney, Smith and Armstrong.
On Federal Relations--Messrs. Gooding, Dwiggins, Hubbard, O'Brien, Beggs, Boone and Slater.
On Swamp Lands--Messrs. Chapman, Oliver, Dwiggins, Howard, Winterbotham, Stroud and Carnahan.
On Temperance--Messrs. Beeson, Steele, Rhodes, Wadge, Francisco, Cave and Stroud.
On County and Township Business--Messrs. Orr, Bunyan, Miller, Howard, Beggs, Fuller and Ringo.
On the Rights and Privileges of the Inhabitants of the State--Messrs. Howard, Hough, Gooding, O'Brien, Glessner, Hall and Sarnighausen.
On Reformatory Institutions--Messrs. Beeson, Oliver, Taylor, Scott, Bird, Francisco and Daugherty.
On Emigration and Statistics--Messrs. Haworth, Collett, Neff, Miller, Hall, Cave and Sarnighausen.
On Insurance--Messrs. Daggy, Oliver, Orr, Scott, Williams, Slater and Bowman.
On Railroads--Messrs. Brown, Dwiggins, Sleeth, Gooding, Bird, Rosebrugh and Dittemore.
WABASH AND ERIE CANAL.
Mr. O'BRIEN moved that the joint resolution [H. R. 2.] agreeing to and adopting a joint resolution passed by the last General Assembly, proposing an amendment to the Constitution by adding to the ninth article a section in relation to the debt charged upon the Wabash and Erie Canal, be taken from the table and put upon its passage.
Mr. DAGGY apprehended that the action proposed now would be premature. If this resolution be passed no other reform of the kind can be proposed this session except the calling of a Convention to amend the Constitution. His impression was that this resolution had better be passed over for the time being, until it is decided what is best to do. Whether it is better to call a Constitutional Convention or propose further amendments to the Constitution in this way.
Mr. BROWN made the point that the passage of this resolution, notwithstanding it may be in the very words of the resolution passed at the last session, would not fill the requirements of the Constitution ; but the resolution itself, passed two years ago, must be brought from the Secretary of State's office and put upon its passage here. The identical resolution must pass both of these Houses, and have entered upon it the action of respective bodies, for the purpose of authenticating the fact that the identical resolution passed this General Assembly; and for the purpose of ascertaining whether he was right or not, he moved to refer this resolution to the Committee on Judiciary.
Mr. GREGG fully concurred in the opinion expressed by the Senator from Jackson [Mr. Brown] as to what the Constitution requires, and so believing he introduced a resolution the other day calling upon the Secretary of State to furnish the Senate with a certified copy of the joint resolution passed last session. He was inclined to think the original copy would be the proper thing for this General Assembly to pass. This is a matter of too much importance to work at with too much haste. There was too much haste in this matter two years ago, and he was sorry to say that the Secretary's journals are in a bad shape. He favored the motion to refer.
Mr. STEELE preferred the motion to refer, and opposed haste, inasmuch as this matter is of very great importance; perhaps of more importance than anything that will be before us this session.
Mr. BROWN said the reason he was careful about this matter is this, for some page: 53[View Page 53]strange and singular reason to him entirely unknown, one of the plainest provisions of the Constitution of the State was disregarded on the part of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Neither of these gentlemen seemed to understand that it was their duty to spread this amendment, with the yeas and nays thereon, upon the journals of each House. This, for a time, was thought to be a great misfortune to the State, but on investigation we find that part of the Constitution was merely advisory. The Supreme Court has decided that the enrolled copy lodged with the Secretary of State, having upon it the signatures of the presiding officers of both Houses, is a higher character of evidence than the journals of either or both Houses, and that sound and sensible decision saves this constitutional amendment, if the State makes no further blunders.
Mr. SLEETH asked what evidence the Senate had that this resolution ever passed the body. The journal of this House doesn't show it. There is not a word on the journal of this House in regard to this resolution.
Mr. O'BRIEN fully concurred in the opinion that the resolution should be passed, and not a substitute for it; therefore, he favored the motion to refer.
Mr. DWIGGINS, being informed that the Secretary of State, in answer to an order adopted the other day, has furnished the Senate with a certified copy of the resolution, moved that it also be referred to the committee.
The motion to refer was agreed to.
WORK FOR COMMITTEES.
The following bills were read the second time and referred to appropriate committees, except as otherwise stated :
No. 1. To repeal charter of the Kankakee Drainage Company.
To the Committee on Corporations.
No. 2. Authorizing the incorporation of banks of discount and deposit.
To the same committee.
No. 3. On the organization and perpetuity of volunteer associations.
To the Committee on the Judiciary.
No. 4. To provide for the collection of taxes on bank stock.
To the Committee on Banks.
No 5. To require railroad companies to issue stock paid for by taxation.
To the Committee on Corporations.
No. 6. To regulate freight and passenger tariffs on railroads.
Laid on the table and 200 copies ordered printed
No. 7. To repeal the act authorizing counties and townships to aid railroad companies by subscriptions to stock or donations.
To the Committee on Railroads.
No. 8. To provide for holding courts in the 25th Common Pleas District.
To the Committee on Organization of Courts.
No. 9. Fixing salaries of Judges.
To the Committee on Fees and Salaries.
No. 10. To authorize the collection of an ad valorem tax on all property subject to State and county taxation, including stock of joint companies.
To the Committee on Corporations.
No. 11. To fix time of holding Circuit Courts in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit.
To a Special Committee composed of Senators Cave, Williams and Carnahan.
No. 12. To give a right of action to any person suffering damages through the act of any intoxicated person.
To the Committee on Temperance.
No. 14. To compel mortgagers to enter satisfaction of mortgage when paid.
To the Committee on the Judiciary.
No. 15. To require railroad companies to maintain their principal office in the State, etc.
To the Committee on the Judiciary.
And then the Senate adjourned till tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.
