OFFICERS AND OFFICES.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the bill [S. 325] concerning offices and officers, beginning at Section 329.
Mr. HEFRON moved to reduce the bond of County Clerks from $25,000 to $10,000. The former is an unnecesary amount, and imposes too great a burden on that office.
Mr. BUNDY opposed the motion. A bond of $10,000 is totally insufficient in a large County.
Mr. FOSTER proposed as a substitute $15,000; $25,000 is a bond larger than ought to be required.
Mr. COMSCOCK knew of many Counties where the sum of $25,000 is frequently in possession of the Clerk. The section should stand as it is.
Mr. BELL thought the bond ought to be large. New railroads are being built, lands condemned, and money placed in that officer's hands in various ways.
The amendment was rejected.
The substitute was also rejected.
Mr. CHAPMAN made an ineffectual motion to reduce the bond of Prosecuting Attorneys from "five" to $2,000.
On motion by Mr. MARVIN, Section 378 was amended--yeas, 20; nays, 14--by reducing the rate of interest tobe charged on moneys loaned by the Treasurer from 7 to 6 per cent.
Mr. BROWN moved to strike out the section abolishing Coroner's Juries. Nineteen-twentieths of inquests held in Indiana are not within law Still, the safety of the citizen suspected of a crime ought not to be taken away and his right to liberty left in the hands of but one man rather than a Jury of his peers.
The motion was rejected--yeas, 17; nays, 19.
Mr. GRAHAM moved to amend so that no Coroner's quest shall be held in any case where a person shall die in the presence of his family
Mr. COMSTOCK thought that should be left to the sense of propriety of the Coroner.
Mr. BROWN thought it not unfrequently the case that relatives are the cause of the death.
Mr. GRAHAM'S intention was to cut off abuses of Coroners in holding many unnecessary and useless inquests. He would not have an inquest held without consent of the family.
Mr. BROWN said almost every case of poisoning is first discovered by virtue of the Coroner's inquest; and if the amendment is passed, and relatives are the cause of death, the guilty party can never be found.
Mr. BELL knew Coroners often abuse their powers. He moved to refer the Section 371 and pending amendment to a Specal Committee of three.
The motion was agreed to.
Subsequently Mr. BELL, from a majority of the Special Committee, returned a substitute for Section 371--a minority recommending that the section stand as it is:--being the present law.
Mr. MENZIES did not join in the report, believing it a dangerous thing to remove the power from the Coroner to investigate what took place in the household concerning a death of a member of the family, though there are abuses under the present law.
The minority report was adopted by yeas, 28; nays, 11.
Mr. BELL moved to change the word "removal" in Section 408 to "suspended." He thought it wrong to remove an officer when a suit is commenced against him.
Mr. BROWN insisted the commencement of a suit does not fix the delinquency--the officer is not delinquent until after the charges have been made and the delinquency ascertained. After delinquency is found and suit commenced on the bond, of course the Commissioners should have the right to remove the delinquent.
The motion to amend was rejected.
Mr. MACARTNEY moved to strike out of Section 400, the clause prohibiting erasures and pencil entries in the County Treasurer's book.
On motion by Mr. WOOD, a substitute for the amendment was adopted, adding a fine of $10 for violation of this provision.
Mr. MENZIES opposed the plan of putting misdemeanors and crimes in a statute of this kind; he therefore moved to reject the substitute and amendments.
This motion was rejected.
On motion by Mr. HENRY, the penalty was increased from "$10," to "$50.'
Mr. BROWN believed this so absolutely ridiculous, and so full of nonsense, that any Prosecutor drawing up an indictment under it, would be drummed out of town.
The substitute as amended, was rejected.
Mr. WOOD moved to amend Section 408 by affixing a penalty of $50 for willful violation of any provision of this act. Why make a requirement and not affix a penalty for violation? There are over 100 requirements madeof the County Treasurer in this act, and there is no penalty attached whatever, in case the Treasurer refuses to comply with them. Suppose he will not comply with half of the requirement of the statute, what are you going to do abou it? There is no penalty in the bill save one exception. You enact a law for the government of County Treasurers and say to page: 78[View Page 78] him, you shall not be troubled if you disregard it. A law without a penalty is a useless thing. It is child's play to enact any law without some kind of a penalty. Let us compel respect for the law by a penalty or let us enact none.
Mr. URMSTON opposed such an amendment to this section.
The motion was rejected.
Mr. VAN VORHIS offered an amendment requiring County offices to be opened at 7:30 o'clock a. m.
Mr. BUNDY moved to amend by fixing the hour at 8.
Mr. OWEN favored a amendment that will compel these men who get anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000 a year to get up in time to wait on those who pay them these salaries.
The amendent was agreed to.
The amendment as amended was adopted.
Mr. VAN VORHIS offered an amendment looking to reduce the number of books in the Recorder's office.
Mr. BELL said the Miscellaneous Record is already too large; it required such a voluminous index.
The amendment was rejected.
Mr. RISTINE moved to reduce the bond of the Recorder from $10,000 to $5,000, inasmuch as the present law requires but a $2,000 bond.
Mr. BUNDY remembered a Recorder recorded a mortgage given for $5,000 as a $500, by which there was a loss to the mortgagee, who took a second-mortgage, of several hundred dollars. Ten thousand dollars is not too large a bond to require of this officer.
The amendment was rejected.
Mr. HEFRON of Daviess co. offered an amendment to the section requiring the index to be in the name of the original owner of the land where the deed is made by a Trustee or other official.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. TRAYLOR moved an amendment, requiring Recorder's to keep a book to be called "The Mechanic's Lien Book," in which all mechanics and material men's liens shall be recorded. The Supreme Court has decided that notice of a mechanic's lien recorded in a "Miscellaneous Record Book" is no notice.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. COMSTOCK offered an amendment, which was rejected, prohibiting Recorders from using books containing printed forms.
Pending the above proceeding--
On motion by Mr. Brown, the bill [H. R. 36] to protect sheep husbandry, requiring Trustee to register and number all dogs, was read the first time and referred to the Committee on County and Township Business.
On motion by Mr. CHAPMAN, the bill [H. R. 117] concerning witnesses subpenaed on the part of the State outside of the County in criminal cases, was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Fees and Salaries.
The Senate adjourned till to-morrow.
