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On motion of Mr. Hubbard, the report of the Committee on Credentials was adopted, and the members named in the foregoing list were declared entitled to seats on the floor of the House.

Mr. Turnbaugh, from the Committee on Credentials, submitted the following supplementary report:

In the matter of the determination of the result of the election for Member of the House of Representatives, in the State of Illinois, for the Thirty-fourth Senatorial District of Illinois.

Be it resolved, That the Speaker of the House, be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to appoint a committee of five members of the House to proceed, without delay, to recount all legal ballots proper to be counted, so cast in said election in said district, and have full power to subpoena witnesses, books and papers, employ clerks, stenographers and messengers, and do any and all things necessary in and about counting said ballots, and that said committee certify the returns of said recount to the House of Representatives of the Forty-ninth General Assembly.

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The question being on the adoption of the supplementary report of the Committee on Credentials, it was decided in the affirmative, by a unanimous vote.

Mr. Smejkal offered the following resolution and moved its adoption:

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 16.

Resolved, That the House now proceed to the election of a Speaker and Clerk.

And the resolution was adopted.

The Temporary Speaker called Mr. Shurtleff to the chair, who announced the order of business to be the election of a Speaker, and directed the Clerk to call the roll, which resulted as follows:

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Mr. Shanahan, having received the necessary constitutional majority, was declared elected Speaker.

Mr. Smejkal moved to reconsider the vote by which Mr. Shanahan was elected Speaker.

Mr. Charles Curren moved to lay that motion on the table.

And the question being on the motion to table, it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. McCormick offered the following resolution and moved its adoption :

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 17.

Resolved, That a committee of six members be appointed to escort the Speaker elect to the Chair.

And the resolution was adopted.

The Chair thereupon appointed as such committee Messrs. McCormick, Igoe, W. J. Graham, Farrell, Dudgeon and Gorman.

Whereupon the committee conducted the Speaker, the Hon. David E. Shanahan, to the chair, who, after taking the oath of office, administered by the Secretary of State, and briefly addressing the House, announced the next order of business to be the election of a clerk, whereupon a call of the roll was had, resulting as follows:

Number of votes cast

For Mr. McCann

.147

147 votes

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Mr. McCann, having received the necessary constitutional majority, was declared elected Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Scanlan offered the following resolution and moved its adoption:

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 18.

Resolved, That the Clerk notify the Senate that the House is organized by the election of a Speaker and Clerk, and is now ready to proceed with the business of the session.

And the resolution was adopted.

Mr. Farrell offered the following resolution and moved its adoption:

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 19.

Resolved, That a committee of seven members be appointed by the Speaker, to wait upon the Governor and notify him that the House is organized by the election of a Speaker and Clerk, and is now ready to receive any communication which he may have to present.

And the resolution was adopted.

The Speaker thereupon appointed as such committee Messrs. Farrell, Graham, W. J., Holaday, Festerling, Richardson, Santry and Hamlin.

Mr. Shurtleff offered the following resolution and moved its adoption:

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 20.

Resolved, That the Speaker be authorized to appoint a Committee on Rules, consisting of seventeen members, of which he shall be chairman. Mr. Lee O'Neil Browne offered the following as a substitute and moved its adoption:

Resolved, That the rules adopted by the last General Assembly be adopted by this House, as the rules of the House.

The question being upon the adoption of the substitute, a division of the House was had, resulting as follows: Yeas, 20; nays, 77, And the substitute was lost.

The question recurring on the adoption of the original resolution, offered by Mr. Shurtleff, it was decided in the affirmative.

And in accordance therewith the Speaker appointed as such committee Messrs. Shanahan, Shurtleff, McCormick, Lyon, Thomas Curran, Frankhauser, Dudgeon, Tice, Rothschild, Rentchler, Lee O'Neil Browne, Igoe, Arthur Roe, Gorman, Devine, Hubbard and Garesche.

Mr. Farrell, from the committee heretofore appointed to wait on the Governor, reported that they had notified the Governor of the organization of the House, and he stated that he would communicate with the House through his private secretary.

A message from the Governor, by William L. Sullivan, Secretary to the Governor:

Mr. Speaker-I am directed by the Governor to lay before the House of Representatives the following communication:

SPRINGFIELD, ILL.. February 17, 1915.

To the Members of the Forty-ninth General Assembly:

In compliance with the constitutional provision, requiring the Governor, at the commencement of each session, to give to the General Assembly information, by message, of the condition of the State and to recommend such measures as he may deem expedient, I submit the following matters for your consideration:

WATERWAYS.

For many years past there has been in this State an emphatic demand for a waterway between Chicago and the Gulf of Mexico. The practicability of such a waterway was noted by Pere Marquette when he first discovered the portage between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River centuries ago. Its practicability was further noted by the early pioneers of this State, and the boundary lines of the State were fixed upon its admission to the Union of States so as to provide for this waterway.

The Congress of the United States deeded lands of immense value to the State of Illinois for the purpose of creating this waterway. In the early history of the State, a cut was made and a canal constructed, connecting the south branch of the Chicago River with the Illinois River, which was for many years successfully used in commerce. As the years rolled by, however, it became apparent that the canal then constructed was totally inadequate to meet the demands of advanced, modern transportation. The age of steam and gasoline has rendered obsolete the boats, locks and waterways of the early part of the nineteenth century, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal has rapidly fallen into disuse. As the result, in recent years, the demand for an adequate waterway between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River has become insistent.

On November 3, 1908, the people of the State by popular vote amended the Constitution so as to permit the issuance of not to exceed $20,000,000.00 worth of bonds to be used in the construction of an adequate waterway, and in the erection, equipment, and maintenance of power plants, locks, bridges, dams and appliances.

Divers plans for the development of a waterway between Lockport and Utica have been formulated and discussed before the public, but the different Legislatures of the State have never succeeded as yet in formulating a law for that purpose, and placing it upon the statute books.

In my judgment, the time has arrived for prompt action. The Panama Canal has been opened to the commerce of the world. As the results thereof, the cost of transportation between the eastern and the western seaboard has fallen much below the rates heretofore charged by the railroads. As a result, freight traffic is now being attracted from as far east as the States of Ohio and Indiana to the eastern seaboard by railroad and thence by waterway transportation to the western coast of the United States. Where such competition exists, railroad rates will probably be

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