IN SENATE.
SATURDAY, March 5, 1881--10 a. m.The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR commanded attention while Rev. Oscar C. McCullough invoked the Divine blessing.
Mr. LANGDON offered the following:
Resolved, That a special Committee of Five be appointed by the President to examine the constitutional power of the General Assembly to pass bills after Friday, March 4, and said Committee are directed to report to-day, and at the earlist moment.
The resolution was adopted.
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR made said Committee to consist of Messrs. Langdon, Viehe, Grubbs, Brown and Chapman.
Subsequently this Committee submitted the following:
MR. PRESIDENT--The Select Committee to whom was referred the resolution of the Senate on the subject of the constitutional power of the General Assembly to present bills to the Governor on Saturday next preceeding the final adjournment of a regular session, beg leave to report that thew have had the same under consideration, and find that the uniform practice of all other General Assemblies holding regular sessions of sixty-one days, under the present Constitution, has been to pass bills on the last Saturday of the regular session, and further find that this long line of unbroken precedents should resolve any doubts in favor of the power to legislate on that day.
SHIPMENT OF WILD GAME.
On motion by Mr. POINDEXTER, the bill [H. R. 19] to repeal Section 12 of the act for the protection of wild game, was read the first and second time by title only, under a dispensation of the constitutional restriction.
Mr. LOCKRIDGE stated that men came into the northern part of the State to kill game for the purpose of making money in that way. The law as it now stands cuts off a class of men referred to when the bill for the protection of fish was under consideration, who use explosive substances for the purpose of killing fish in lakes and rivers.
Mr. BELL would not make any factious opposition to a fair game law, but this provision seems to be in the interest of pot hunters. We ought not only to preserve our game for the sake of having game, but for the sake of sportsmen also.
Mr. WOOD objected to the clause in the present law, which prohibits a sportsman of another State from taking home with him a brace of ducks or geese or half a dozen quails.
The bill was rejected--yeas, 15; nays, 19.
COMMON SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
On motion by Mr. FOSTER, the House amendments to his school library bill [S. 7--see page 124 of these Reports and yesterday's House proceedings] were concurred in.
FEEBLE MINDED ASYLUM.
Mr. BUNDY, from the Joint Special Committee to investigate the condition and management of the Asylum for Feeble Minded Children and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, reported that the Trustees have drawn salaries of $200 a year as Trustees of the Asylum, according to law, and also $120 a year as Trustees of the Home, givin as a reason for this that they had been advised by counsel that they had a right so to do. The books of the Institution are in a bad condition. The funds for the Asylum and the Home have been drawn upon and used indiscriminately. It is difficult to obtain from the books any accurate idea of the receipts and expenditures. The Trustees did not always examine the bills. Purchases have been made for which the Committee could see no reason, such as "extract of rose geranium," "razor straps," "rose-bud toilet soaps." The books show an expenditure of $17,404.40 on account of building and improvement, $16,927.72 of this amount being taken from the appropriation of $30,000 for the benefit of the Soldiers' 0rphans' Home, and expended mainly in the erection of an addition to the building for the inmates of the Feeble Minded Asylum. The Trustees say this was done under the advice of the late Governor Williams. The Treasurer of the Board drew during the months of April and May, 1879, the sum of $2,000, being the entire appropriation for the year. Only $400 of this was expended until December 1 of that year. The Treasurer states the money remained in bank during the interval. The dormitories in the orphans' department are poorly ventilated and exceedingly dirty. The beds are of straw and the bedding filthy. The boilers in the cellar of the building are unsafe, yet in a "division room" just above them, forty children from two page: 271[View Page 271] to six years of age, are kept during the day and evening in charge of an attendant. There is not sufficient room for the health of the children cared for. There is evidence of want of harmony between the Superintendent and subordina e teachers, and their efficiency is thereby impaired. The Home school under Miss Bonfay is well conducted. The Feeble Minded Asylum is in much better condition than the Home, and there is much to be commended in the management. The Committee thinks the Home and the Asylum ought not to have been located in the same building, and can not thrive in that condition. The Superintendent has been unnecessarily partial to the feeble-minded department. The food for the children in the orphans' department is not sufficient and the purchase of more cows to supply milk for them is advised. The officers should eat in the same room with the children. Tea cups should be substituted for tin cups. It is wrong that the offices of Stewart and Superintendent should be held by the same person. The Committee believes the interests of the Institution require a change in the Superintendency.
One hundred and fifty copies of the report were ordered printed.
ASSESSMENT FOR TAXATION.
On motion by Mr. MENZIES, the bill [H. R. 204] concerning taxation, being a codification of all existing laws on that subject, and an addition of twenty-five sections of new matter, was read by title only for the second reading, under a dispensation of the constitutional restriction requiring all bills to be read by sections on three several days.
Mr. KRAMER moved to amend by striking out all that relates to personal property in Section 4.
Mr. WOOD moved to insert after the word "implements" the words "belonging thereto and used therein," by way of amending the amendment.
Mr. BROWN insisted the word "implements" should be eliminated from the section. He favored the amendment, and opposed the amendment to the amendment.
The amendment to the amendment was rejected and the amendment was agreed to.
Mr. URMSTON moved to amend Section 4 by adding a proviso that "buildings situate on real estate owned by a party other than the owner of the land whereon situated, shall not be included within the term 'real property' or 'real estate.'"
Mr. KRAMER feared the amendment would allow of double assessment, inasmuch as buildings are carried on the duplicate as improvements on the land.
Mr. CHAPMAN resisted the adoption of the amendment as possibly opening a door to fraud. The natural relationship of the structure is to the realty--prima facia the structure is part of the realty.
Mr. BROWN thought the amendment would produce confusion as to what are fixtures and what are not. The law presumes that the building is part of the land. Under such a clause the State will lose some property that ought to be taxed.
Mr. BELL failed to see how the amendment could prevent any just taxation.
Mr. VOYLES moved to amend the amendment by providing "that where the owner of lands shall have to pay any taxes on account of any improvements (standing or being on his lands) owned by some other person, he may have his remedy therefor against such other person and shall have a lien on such improvement until he shall be paid, and such improvements shall be appraised separately from other improvements standing or being on such land."
Mr. TRAYLOR presented objections to both amendments. They put it in the power of Assessors to decide legal questions.
Mr. URMSTON opposed the amendment to his amendment.
The amendment to the amendment was rejected by yeas, 10; nays, 25--and the amendment also rejected by yeas, 5; nays, 33.
Then came the recess till 2 o'clock.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
On motion by Mr. CHAPMAN, the Senate refused to concur in the House amendment to Mr. Henry's bill [S. 241] increasing per diem of Presiding Officers of the two Houses from $6 to $8, and a Committee of Conference on the part of the Senate was requested.
The LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR appointed as said Committee on the part of the Senate, Messrs. Chapman and Benz.
ASSESSMENT FOR TAXATION.
Mr. BELL moved to amend the sixth subdivision of Section 8 exempting property "used" for educational purposes, by striking out the words "or by any individual or individuals."
The amendment was rejected.
Mr. BELL moved to further amend the seventh subdivision by reducing the number of acres on which Church building are situate from ten to two acres. He thought that would be a sufficient number of acres to exempt from taxation.
Mr. LOCKRIDGE moved to amend the amendment by restricting the number of acres exempt from taxation to five.
Mr. SPANN considered two acres as sufficient, inasmuch as the bill exempts also parsonages and parsonage property.
Mr. OWEN regarded the bill as being in the interest of stingy people who desire to give the preacher ten acres of land and let him grub his living out of it. He favored the two-acre amendment.
Mr. GRAHAM insisted there should be no reduction in the number of acres exempted in the original bill. As a general thing this kind of property is not very valuable.
Mr. HENRY favored the amendment of the Senator from Allen and Whitley (Mr. Bell). Two acres are ample and sufficient for Church buildings. Parsonages anci parsonage grounds and cemeteries are provided for in another part of the section.
Mr. WILSON moved as a substitute for the seventh subdivision, a clause exempting all cemeteries not owned and sold out in parcels for the sake of profit by those who own the same.
Mr. BROWN hoped the section would be adopted as it appears in the bill. The Church edifice and the grounds surrounding and such school buildings erected proximate to the Church, used for benevolent purposes, should be exempt from taxation. It is niggardly in the State to tax Church property.
Mr. MENZIES said the State has by a long line of precedents held out to these Churches the idea that they can have exempt a certain amount of land from taxation connected with Churches. Many have invested money in this class of property with that understanding, and for that reason if for no other he should oppose the amendments.
Mr. WOOLLEN should oppose the taxation of Church property. He did not think ten acres is too much to exempt.
Mr. BELL disclaimed any intention to tax Churches; but when you talk of first principles he was satisfied Church property should be exempted only up to a certain amount. He deprecated the custom of building Church palaces for paupers sometimes, to worship in. Let the line be drawn now where it is proposed to be drawn in the amendment. If 320 acres are necessary for a Church exempt it, but let the line be drawn where it falls by necessity.
Mr. KEISER was glad to find so many Senator so familiar with the Churches and the wants of Churches. It has been said by implication that Churches own land they do not use for Church purposes, but that they own land which they use for purposes of gain. He ventured to say there page: 272[View Page 272] were very few, if any, using property for any other than Church or educational purposee. You give to State Institutions thirty or forty acres exempt from taxation, and besides that a large appropriation every year, While these Church Institutions are hard put too, many of them, and sorely in need of help. Many men like to see and like to worship in a beautiful building. The Senator himself would rather go into one of this kind than go into the little Church around the corner, or into a school house that has not been swept for a week. Such a pride is a commendable pride. He thought it unnecessary to change this subdivision, from the fact that the proposition is simply to exempt such land whereon the building is situate. The parsonage in ninety-nine out of one hundred cases is situate on the lot with the Church. Under the substitute there are very few burying grounds that would escape taxation. Some in the country, kept in a manner that is a disgrace to civilization, would escape taxation, but those beautified as we love to see beautified the last resting place of our dear ones, would not escape. He liked to see taken away, as much as possible, all the sombre and dark surroundings of death. He believed the best plan would be to let the law stand as it has stood for many years.
Mr. Henry moved to amend by way of substitute, so as to exempt "so much of" any building or so much of ten acres "as is necessary to the use thereof."
Mr. COMSTOCK moved to reject all the amendments.
Mr. CHAPMAN contended that ten acres was too much to exempt--it is unfair and unjust. There ought to be a reasonable limit. The two-acre proposition is eminently just and fair, as that is all that is needed.
Mr. HEFRON said there is not one Church in a hundred which occupies one acre of ground, but if there be one in 100 which has use for ten acres, the ten acres should be exempt from taxation. Then the parcels of land set apart as a place where the body shall rest till it becomes a part of the soil should be exempt from taxation.
Mr. COMSTOCK submitted that if any real estate should be exempt, it should be the amount the Church proposing to use its shall determine. If one denomination, the exercises of which is largely carried on out of doors, requires more ground than another, the ground required for its use should be exempt. He was not pleading the inability of any denomination to discharge any tax that may be imposed on it by the State. Acting upon the idea that this property would be free from taxation, many persons have invested their means in Church property, and now, would it be in good faith to impose a tax upon such property? He hoped the motion to reject would be adopted.
Mr. HENRY spoke in favor of his amendment, proposing to exempt so much of ten acres as is necessary for the uses referred to in the section. He insisted no Church organization should have the right to hold property not necessary for the use of the Church. No sufficient objection can be urged against changing the section as his amendment proposes.
Mr. CHAPMAN--There is a sentimental side in favor of exempting ten acres,and the side of justice and right is in favor of not so large an exemption. It Can not be gainsaid but that two acres of ground will accommodate any congregation in the State, or that may come into the State in the next fifty years. When you apply this provision to a city, two acres is more than an abundance.
Mr. GRAHAM thought the exemption of ten acres as proposed in the bill is just what it should be, and he could see no reason why the number of acres should be reduced.
Mr. HEFRON'S opposition to these amendments was as much in the interest of one denomination as another.
On motion by Mr. GRUBBS, it was ordered that debate cease.
The motion to reject all the amendments was agreed to by the casting vote of the Lieutenant Governor, the Senate being a tie-yeas, 19; nays, 19. The vote in detail was as follows:
Those who voted "aye" were--Messrs. Benz, Brown, Coffey, Compton, Comstock, Davis, Graham, Hefron, Howard, Keiser, Leeper, Marvin, Menzies, Poindexter, Traylor, Viehe, Woods, Woollen, Yancy and Mr. President--20.
Those who voted "no" were--Messrs. Bell, Bischowsky, Chapman, Davidson, Grubbs, Henry, Hostetter, Langdon, Lockridge, Macartney, Owen, Ristine, Sayre, Smith, Spann, Urmston, Voyles, White and Wilson--19.
So the amendments and the substitute were laid on the table by the casting vote of the Lieutenant Governor.
Mr. YANCY entered a motion to reconsider this vote.
Mr. SPANN moved to strike out of this subdivision the words "parsonage and parsonage property." This is a class of property in addition to what has been customary to exempt, and the debate has indicated a feeling that there is too much Church property in this State ($13,000,000) already exempt. In the last five years this class has increased nearly 35 per cent., and now it is proposed to further extend the exemption another class embracing $4,000,000 or $5,000,000 more.
Mr. URMSTON moved to amend by adding to the section these words, "not to exceed one acre."
Mr. VIEHE opposed the amendment. An acre for a parsonage in a city is too much, but in the country not sufficient.
The substitute was rejected, and the amendment was agreed to by yeas, 21; nays, 14.
Then came a recess till 7:30 p. m.
NIGHT SESSION.
Several messages were announced from the House of Representatives, several reports submitted from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, and the Lieutenant Governor announced that he had signed several bills for acts.
Then came an adjournment till Monday morning at 10:30 o'clock, under an order adopted in the afternoon session.
