THE BREVIER LEGISLATIVE REPORTS.
VOLUME EIGHTEEN.
INDIANA LEGISLATURE.
IN SENATE.
MONDAY, March 31, 1879-- 9 o'clock a. m.On motion by Mr. VIEHE (the Lieutenant Governor not appearing on time) the senator from Jackson [Mr. Burrell] took the chair.
The reading of the minutes was dispensed with, as has been the almost uniform practice.
Mr. LANGDON offered a resolution, which was adopted, requiring the secretary, auditor and treasurer of State and the attorney general to report to the Senate of the Fifty-second General Assembly the total gross amounts of fees, salaries, compensation or income received or charged by him or his predecessor in office for each of the years 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, and for the fraction of the year up to the date of the report; to be classified together with a reference to the statute and clause thereof, by virtue of which said income was received or charged. Also the amount allowed for assistance, their number, etc. and whether full accounts have been kept of all the matters required to be reported by tills resolution. .
Mr. WINTERBOTHAM, from the finance committee, returned the concurrent resolution allowing pay fer the expenses incurred by the Benevolent Institutions Investigating Committee with a favorable report thereon, which was concurred in; and so the sums embraced therein ($451.90) were allowed.
A large number of bills were returned to the files from the several committees, and a few senators had leave to withdraw bills introduced by themselves.
On motion by Mr. VIEHE a concurrent resolution was adopted that the acts of the special and general sessions be bound in one volume with one index.
The House amendment to the Senate resolution reducing the allowance made to Marion county for coal, gas and water used during the regular and special sessions to $800 was concurred in.
Resolutions of thanks to Olney Newell, journal clerk of the regular session; and to ministers of the gospel who have opened the sessions with prayer, were offered and adopted.
Mr. REEVE offered the foiling: Resolved by the Senate, that the thanks of the Senate are extended to Lieutenant Governor Gray for his fairness, impartiality and uniform courtesy, as well as ability in presiding over the deliberations of the Senate, during the regular and special sessions of the Fifty- first General Assembly.
It was adopted by a rising vote.
Mr. FOSTER presented a majority report and Mr SMITH a minority report from the special committee to investigate the Benevolent institutions of the State--indentical with those submitted in the House of Representatives on Friday, which reports were placed on the files without reading.
Mr. WOOD offered a joint resolution requesting Indiana Congressmen to procure from the general Government appropriations to remove the barriers in the channels of the Kankakee and Calumet rivers, in order that the same may be made more efficient and useful in the interest of trade and commerce.
It was adopted without calling the yeas and nays.
Mr. SARNIGHAUSEN offered a resolution for the appointment of a special committee to wait on the governor. The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR named Messrs. Sarnighausen and Taylor, who subsequently reported that his excellency had no further communication to make to the Senate.
Mr. REEVE offered a resolution, which was adopted, that; the librarian be instructed to take possession of the stationery, books and other property furnished for the Senate remaining unused, and preserve the same for the use of the next General Assembly, and the officers of the Senate are directed to turn over to the librarian all material in their hands at the close of the session.
Mr. REEVE offered a concurrent resolution, which was adopted, allowing $35 each to the two journal clerks for finishing the copying of the Senate journals for deposit in the secretary of state's office, and making up the journal of to-day.
On motion by Mr. HARRIS the House concurrent resolution in relation to the 51 setts of revised statues voted to senators, was taken up and concurred in.
On motion by Mr. LEEPER it was--
page: 97[View Page 97]Resolved, That the thanks of the Senate are due and hereby tendered the commissioners if Marion county for their generosity in extended to the General Assembly the use of rooms in the Court House for the holding of its sessions until the new State House shall be completed.
Mr. REEVE submitted the following:
Mr. PRESIDENT--The committee on Finance, to which was referred the claim for Brevier Reports printed for the Forty-ninth General Assembly, under a custom continued by the claimant for 17 consecutive years, respectfully recommend, the passage of the following resolution :
Resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring, That the governor, auditor and secretary of state are hereby authorized to settle the claim of W.H. Drapier for Brevier Reports printed for the State under a custom sanctioned by acts of every General Assembly since 1857 in his favor for 17 years, as they may deem proper.
(Signed) J. H. WINTERBOTHAM, S. E. URMSTON, L. J. WOOLLEN, N. CADWALLADER, Members Finance Committee.
Mr. HARRIS contended that when this matter was before the Senate two years ago this claim of $1,993.60 was settled by a Senate resolution allowing the claim at $500.
Mr. REEVE replied that $500 was to pay a claim for services rendered in the Senate, allowed unanimously by the Senate committee on claims, (as was also the present claim,) and paid out of the Senate fund on a warrant drawn by the president thereof.
Mr. HARRIS and Mr. FOWLER insisted the $500 was in full satisfaction of the $1,993.60 claim.
The resolution was rejected.
On motion by Mr. FOWLER, the House concurrent resolution for an allowance of $200 each to the two principal clerks of the House for reading proof and indexing journals, with an amendment by the Senate committee on finance allowing $200 each to the two principal secretaries of the Senates for similar service, was taken up.
On motion by Mr. REEVE, (inasmuch as this work is devolved upon the printing bureau under a clause in the fee and salary bill). Under the operation of the previous question, the resolution was rejected by yeas 11, nays 23.
On motion by Mr. LANGDON the House joint resolution, authorizing the payment of the salary of the chief of the bureau of statistics to be made quarterly, was taken up and adopted by yeas 27, nays 8.
Mr. BENZ moved to take up the bill [H. R. 377] to regulate the practice of medicine.
Mr. WILSON moved to lay the motion on the table. The yeas and nays were demanded, and, being ordered and taken, resulted--yeas 14, nays 18.
No quorum voting--
Mr. STREIGHT moved that the Senate adjourn sine die, whereupon--
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR said: Senators: This General Assembly having decided to close its labors, its laws are now a part of the legislative history of the State, and I trust that time and experience will show that the wisdom of its acts will compare favorably with those of any former General Assembly.
It is possible that some things have been done which had better been left undone; that you have failed to pass some measures which the public wants demand. To some extent all legislation is an experiment. But few measures are passed by unanimous consent. There is most always a divided opinion as to the practicability or justness of the measure pending. This necessitates an interchange of views and breeds discussion. The friends of the measure, believing the public welfare demands its passage, strive by argument to perfect its provisions and secure for it the requisite majority. Its opponents, believing its enactment will be inimical to the State, strive with equal zeal to prevent its becoming a law. And thus what some cons der as time wasted in debate is but an honest endeavor to conserve the public good. This diversity of opinion and inability to see alike is one of the faults of poor human nature, and will exist as long as man is fallible. When he arrives at a state of infallibility no legislative bodies will be needed. There will be neither makers nor breakers of the law. Then all mankind will walk together in one harmonious intercourse, amenable only to Him whose laws are written on the tablets of eternal time. Then indeed will the millennium have come, and that car of natural progress, whose wheels turn not backward, will have reached its destination, which lies in the brightness of the latter day.
The labors of this General Assembly have not been light. It has apportioned the State for representation in the General Assembly and for representation in Congress. It has enacted upwards of a 100 other laws, among which are: reducing the rate of interest; on contract and judgment, exempting to the debtor from execution property to the amount of $600, exempting a portion of the wages of the laborer so necessary to the support of his family, saving from attachment and garnishee proceeding the laborer's wages in cases where the plaintiff and defendant are non-residents of the State, to farther protect the life and health of the miner in his dark and perilous employment in the mine, for the better government of the benevolent and reformatory institutions, reducing the fees and salaries of State and county officers saving to the people thereby alone upwards of a $100,000 annually. I trust its legislation will prove beneficial to the people and tend to further the prosperity and renown of the State.
Senators, I thank you for your approval of the manner in which I have discharged the duties of the chair. Not in words merely formal, but with deep sincerity do I thank you. I have discharged its duties as I saw them, and understood them. Actuated by no motive other than to preserve order and decorum, and faciltate legislation. The duties of a presiding officer are necessarily laborious, requiring patience, strict attention and prompt decision, and if at any time the manner of my rulings have seemed harsh, I assure you it was not so intended, and sincerely hope 1 have in no instance been so unfortunate as to unintentionally give offense. I can not leave without expressing the deep obligation I am under to each of you for that defference with which you have always bowed to my rulings. And for that respect and courtesy exhibited toward the chair at all times, even when political asperity and party rancor seemed to hold sway in the Chamber. I thank you to a far greater extent than I can find words to express; and in parting can truly say that I am possessed of no feeling other than that of the kindliest nature toward each and every member and employe of this body, and shall carry with me through life the most pleasing recollections of our associations, and hope that without regard to political proclivities, may count each of you my personal friend, The final adjournment of a legislative body is to me always an occasion of solemnity. Despite myself the thought will flash upon my mind that these tongues that have been so page: 98[View Page 98] animated in debate will, in a few short years, be stilled forever. Yes, senators, we will all soon have to answer the roll-call that will come from over the dark. deep, wide river to meet in that silent assembly that sits on its farther shore, where Democrat, Republican and National occupy seats side by side, free from political asperity and party hate; an assembly that never adjourns, the members of which answers the call of the roll but once. If my life shall be spared I hope to he here in January, 1881, to convene this Senate, and when I shall order the call of the roll may every senator holding over be here in health to answer to his name. I thank you all for your many acts of kindness and partiality, and wish that many years of prosperity, health and happiness may be vouchsafed to each of you. The question is on the motion of the senator from Marion, that the Senate adjourn sine die. As many as favor the motion will say "aye," those of a contrary opinion "no." It is carried.
And so the Senate was adjourned sine die.
