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About Cloverdale courier. (Cloverdale, Tillamook County, Or.) 190?-19?? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1917)
REVIEW OF WORK OF OREGON LEGISLATURE No Important Measures Intro duced in Initial Week of Session. Both Houses Organize Speedily— Few Bills As Yet Have Appeared House— Senate Bills Number in 5S— W ork on “ Bone D r y ” Amendment— Consider Committees Legislation Before Introduction— Elimination o f Some Commissions Considered. Salem.—While very little of import ance was accomplished aside from organization during the first week’s session of the state legislature, yet if the celerity with which both houses organized is an indication of the man ner in which the business of the ses sion is to be conducted, it augurs well for a successful session. R. N. Stan field, of Umatilla county, was elected presiding officer of the house and Gus. C. Moser, of Multnomah county, selected to preside over the senate without opposition, desk clerks chosen and all details of organization com pleted without a bit of bickering. One of the remarkable features of the initial week was the small number of bills introduced in the house as compared with previous sessions. With four and a half days of work only 64 bills and a few routine resolu tions appeared on the calendar, while two years ago 102 bills appeared dur ing the same period. If the house keeps up this record it will have ap proximately 630 bills before it, where as during recent sessions the bills in troduced have approximated one thou sand, and should this proportion be kept up during the session, the pres ent house will have established a rec ord for having introduced fewer bills than any house in the past decade. Bills Come in Slowly. But all this seeming slowness is to the credit rather than the discredit of the house, for it is not the quan tity but the quality of legislative work that the public is interested in, and a great multitude of measures usually means feverish haste, tumult, logroll ing and riot in the closing days of the session. Speaker Stanfield has been urging members to get busy and introduce their bills, believing that if they are going to introduce bills they should get them in and out of the way before the important work of the session is taken up. In the senate no encouragement for the introduction of bills is needed, as the record is slightly greater than two years ago. There were 58 bills on the senate calendar as compared with 49 at the previous session. F irst Measure is Dry Memorial. The first measure of any kind con sidered by both houses at this session was the joint memorial, by Senator Eddy, petitioning congress to vote the District of Columbia dry. The senate put it through unanimously, but seven representatives voted no. None of the important measures that are sure to come up made their appearance during the first week. The Joint committees on alcoholic traffic, roads and highways and in- surauce have been worrving over the various relative problems confronting them under this same plan. The com mittee on alcoholic traffic expects to unify all the conflicting suggestions and proposals that have sprung up surrounding the proposed bone dry- measure. It will sit in open hearings to hear and discuss the various argu ments that may be presented for or agn ns* tile measure, either by mem bers of the legislature, or the general public. New Insurance Code Scanned. The insurance committees of house and senate lur e been scanning the in surance code prepared by Insurance Commissioner Harvey Wells, and are now ready to hold open hearings on that measure, section by section and class by class. The committees of the two houses are following a new course this year, sort of a reversal of previous prac tices, and it Is proving to be a decided improvement. The committees are considering the proposed legislation in advance of its introduction. This is true of the military committee, the insurance committee and, to a certain extent, the alcoholic traffic commit tee. It always has been the practice of the ways and means committee to discuss appropriations before the bills pro ¡ding for them have been intro duced. The advantage of this plan is that time will be saved on the floor of the two houses. When the insurance code, the military code, the prohibition bill and some of the road bills come be fore the house and senate the com mittee members will be fully informed on them and will be able to advise other members. Consolidatin'! of Commissions Likely. Every indication points to the fact that the legislature means business on the question of consolidation of commissions and the elimination ot duplicating features of the work of such boards. The question of consolidations and abolishments of departments or com missions also will enter into the cal culations of the two committees and it is probable that they will make an effort to save money in this direction, in order that more funds may be se cured for meeting institutional needs. Joint meetings of the two commit tees will begin this week and a steady- grind will be kept up until all the appropriation bills have been prepar ed and submitted. An effort will be made by the joint coinmotees to get the appropriation bills into the house at as early a date as possible in order that they will not be caught in the usual rush at the end of the session. Appropriation Bills to Be H urried No stone will be left unturned to grind out the great grist of business before it in a rapid fire manner, ac cording to a decision reached, by the joint ways and means committee Chairmen Wood and Kubli have agreed to hold a session of the joint committee each working night of the legislative session until all the busi ness of the committee is transacted and the various officials will be called before the committee to make their statements as early as possible. The present committee probably will depart from old-time custom of passing on some requests for appro priations and pruning them without giving a hearing to the persons inter ested. It is understood that all of the officials and institution heads will have ‘ their day in court” and that before any changes are made In re quests a comp o;o d< use ot su.-h re quests will be allowed. Homestead Exemption Law Proposed. A more workable home.--.tead exemp tion law than the one now in force is proposed by Senator Olson. He says that while the present law contains a $1500 exemption clause, property val ued at $ 100,000 can be claimed as a homestead and hold out on creditors in case of bankruptcy. Also that a mechanics lien for repairs can be de feated by claiming the property as a homestead. Remedies are provided for these exemptions in the Olson bill, which was introduced and passed in the house last session, but lost in the senate during the closing hours. Illegitimate Child Given Recognition. Two bills relating to the illegitimate child were introduced in the senate. Senator Olson introduced a bill pro viding for the prosecution of the fa •her of such a child ii he refused to make a settlement with the mother or provide for the child’s maintenance, while Senator Smith of Josephine in troduced a bill providing for a forced marriage of the parents of an illegiti mate child. Both bills give such a child the rame lights of inheritance if the prop erty of its father as are accorded a legitimate child. Would Make Streams Log Highways. To open the streams of Oregon as public highways for the rafting and floating of logs and other timber pro ducts, is the apparent purpose of a bill introduced in the senate by Sen ator Olson of Multnomah. The bill provides that all corpora tions organized for the purpose of driving, catching, booming or rafting of logs or other timber products ahull be under the jurisdiction of the public service commission, which shall pro vide a method for marking logs for identification and prescribe reason able rates for floating logs. Would Know About T ra ve ling Money. The house passed, under suspension of the rules, a resolution directing ev ery state official, department, board and commission, from the governor down, to furnish a “complete, detailed statement of all money expended in the payment of traveling expenses during the years 1915 and 1916, with the date of expenditure, by whom ex pended, and for what purpose.” This information is requested not later than January 18. Legislative Brevities. Sentiment in both senate and house is strongly in favor of any law that will be acceptable to the prohibition forces. The first money bill to make its ap pearance from the hands of the ways and means committee came into the house in the shape of an appropriation of $25,000 for the payment of mileage and per diem of the members of the legislature. Oregon's normal school at Mon mouth will receive an appropriation of $81,000 for the biennial period be ginning this year, according to a bill introduced by Representatives Staf- rin and Fuller, of Polk county. After a lively debate the senate adopted a resolution authorizing the emph yment of G. Walter Griffin, a prom nent Eugene business man. to serve as clerk for Senator Bingham, who is in New \ ork. an.I will not be in attendance during the session Members of the senate went on rec ord as favoring prohibition when, without argument or discussion, the joint rz ... :ia! introduce I by Sena tor Eddy, asking congress to prohibit the use of the mails for liquor adver Using purposes, and one for the sub mission of a national prohibition amendment to the states, were adopt ed unanimously. PROFESSIONAL CARDS Tillamook Abstract Compauy T h u s . U o .v r ts . P h k s ih k n t . e s k t or a b s t r a c t b o o k s OF TILLAMOOK COUNTY. »»¡tattON. com n a m TILLAMOOK CITY. OREGON. T. H. GOYNE, ATTORNEY AT LAW Conveyancing, Etc. Opp. Court House. Tillamook. Ore. Tillamook Undertaking Co. R. N. HENKEL, Proprietor. Night and Day calls promptly attended. Next Door to Jones-Knudson huruilute Store. TILLAMOOK, - - OREGON A. C. EVERSON TILLAMOOK. ORK. M o n e y to L o a n Real K stato A g e n c y Sec me for realty ilcals IIruler New M anagemen t The Todd Hotel Tillamook, Ore. L. S. HUSHEEIK, Proprietor. Dining Room run on Family Style Meals 2Ac. Rooms 50 and 75 Cents, Special Rales by the Week. Bell Rhone 5:1 J Office (¡round Floor P. (), Box 147 National Bid, With Rollie Watson Abstracts on Short Notice by the PACIFIC ABSTRACT CO. L. V. EBERHAKI). Manager. Complete Set of Abstracts of the Records (>f Tillamook Countv, Oregon. TILLAMOOK. * * OREGON F, R. BEALS REAL ESTATE Write for Literature. O TILLAMOOK. K K< M ix