I am instructed to ask the concurrence of the House of Representatives, to wit:

SENATE BILL No. 1.

A bill for "An Aet making an appropriation for the payment of claims arising from loss on account of the slaughter of animals having the foot and mouth disease."

Passed by the Senate, March 4, 1915.

A. E. EDEN, Secretary of the Senate. The foregoing Senate Bill No. 1 was taken up, read by title, ordered printed, and to a first reading.

Mr. Rentchler offered the following resolution, and moved its adoption:

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 44.

WHEREAS, By the decree of divine providence, the hand of death has been laid upon and has removed from our midst the Hon. Fred Keck, a member of the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth and Forty-eighth General Assemblies, representing the Forty-ninth Senatorial District; and,

WHEREAS, By his death our State has lost an honest and efficient public officer, the House of Represntatives an honorable and useful member, his constituents one of the best, broadest and most influential citizens and his family one whose memory they, in common with ourselves, and all who knew him feel justly proud of; therefore, be it

Resolved, by the House of Representatives, That deeply deploring his untimely death, we unite with his family, constituents and friends, in their grief, feeling his death to be a personal loss to each of us; and, be it further Resolved, That this resolution be entered upon the Journal of the House, and that a suitably engrossed copy be forwarded by the Clerk to the family of the deceased, and as a further mark of respect, that the House do now adjourn.

The resolution was unanimously adopted by a rising vote, and in accordance therewith, at the hour of 11:30 o'clock a. m., the House stood adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1915, 10:00 O'CLOCK A. M.

The House met pursuant to adjournment,

The Speaker in the chair.

Prayer by the Rev. E. S. Combs.

The Journal of Friday, March 5, was being read, when, on motion. of Mr. Weber, the further reading of the same was dispensed with, and it was ordered to stand approved.

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:

STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SPRINGFIELD, March 10, 1915.

Gentlemen of the Forty-ninth General Assembly:

I respectfully recommend the passage of a law abolishing capital punishment in the State of Illinois.

The strongest, if not the sole logical argument in favor of its retention is that it acts as a deterrent upon the criminal and is therefore a protection to society against the commission of murder. If it proved to be such a deterrent, I would not urge its abolition. Experience in the United States does not sustain the contention. Capital punishment by law has been placed upon and has remained upon the statute books of nearly all of the states of this nation since the inception of their governments. Up to the year 1913, cnly six states of the United States had abolished the death penalty. In 1913, the state of Washington abolished capital punishment.

U. S. Statistics of 1910 show that five of these states rank among the twenty states having the lowest per capita of homicides, all of these five states having a percentage of less than .08 in each 10,000 inhabitants. The other non-capital punishment state, Kansas, has the same percentage of homicides, 1.01 in 10,000, as have the states of Illinois and Maryland, in both of which capital punishment has been enforced.

The twenty-one states of the Unicn having the highest percentage of homicides, all of which have a greater percentage per capita than Illinois, Kansas and Maryland, have capital punishment in their criminal codes, and such punishment has been duly enforced.

From the foregoing statement of statistics, it will be seen that the states having a capital punishment law, rank as a rule among the states having the greatest percentage of homicides, while those which have abolished capital punishment as a rule rank among those which have the lowest percentage of homicides.

Such condign and repulsive punishment has therefore failed to have a more deterrent effect than imprisonment, in the United States.

Why, then, should capital punishment be longer retained in Illinois?

In this State of ours, 651 homicides were committed in 1910, after nearly a century's enforcement of this law, while in our neighboring state of Wisconsin, where capital punishment has been abolished, the percentage of homicides has not been much over 50 per cent per capita of those committed in Illinois.

The cold-blooded enforcement of this awful penalty under the forms of law is brutal and abhorrent and wrenches the decent sensibilities of every public official who, by any act or omission, is required by law to participate in its enforcement, including the jurymen who impose the penalty, the judge

who sentences, the Governor who refrains from pardoning, the sheriff who superintends the hanging and the miserable unknown human tool who cuts the rope.

Taking human life is only justifiable in self-defence. Under the pretence of self-defence, the People of the State of Illinois have been for years taking human life under the forms of law. As a defence of society against murder, judicial taking of human life has proved a failure. It has proved to be no defence.

Imprisonment is equally effective, with less opportunity of irrevocable mistake. "Thou shalt not kill" is the law of Christianity and should be the law of twentieth century humanity.

Let us then, in the name of humanity, replace the punishment of death with the punishment of imprisonment, following the precedent of more humane communities that have not suffered thereby.

Let us put to death, not the wretched convict, but the law which has heretofore taken his life without real advantage to society or the State. Respectfully submitted,

E. F. DUNNE, Governor.

The foregoing message from the Governor was received, and ordered placed on file.

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:

STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SPRINGFIELD, March 10, 1915.

Gentlemen of the Forty-ninth General Assembly:

The Forty-eighth General Assembly adopted a joint resolution authorizing the Governor to appoint a commission of nine members to be known as the Commission on Unemployment of the State of Illinois, said commission to have power and authority to investigate the subject of unemployment of Illinois, together with the causes leading thereto, and the effect of such idleness upon the commonwealth and its citizenship.

Unfortunately, the General Assembly made no appropriation to pay the expenses of the members of the commission.

I endeavored to secure suitable persons to act on the commission but met with little encouragement because of the fact that there was no appropriation available.

Inasmuch as the subject of unemployment is one of paramount importance in the State at this time, I respectfully suggest that the Forty-ninth General Assembly re-enact Senate Joint Resolution No. 28, which was adopted by the Forty-eighth General Assembly, and provide, further, for an appropriation of not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) to pay the expenses of the members of the commission and such other expenses as may be necessary in the carrying on of the work.

Respectfully submitted,

E. F. DUNNE, Governor.

The foregoing message from the Governor, was received, and ordered placed on file.

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:

STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SPRINGFIELD, March 10, 1915.

Gentlemen of the Forty-ninth General Assembly:

The Congress of the United States passed an Act approved by the President, May 8, 1914, to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several states receiving the

benefits of the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and the United States Department of Agriculture under which benefits available from the National Treasury are largely increased.

A wise policy of agricultural development has been adopted by the National Government, and for the purpose of extending the benefits of study and research with respect to agriculture to all parts of the Union, generous appropriations of public funds have been provided for cooperative agricultural extension work.

The Act above referred to popularly known as the Smith-Lever Act contains amongst others, the following provisions:

SEC. 2. That cooperative agricultural extension 'work shall consist of the giving of instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending or resident in said colleges in the several communities, and imparting to such persons information on said subjects through field demonstrations, publications, and otherwise; and this work shall be carried on in such manner as may be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of Agriculture and the State Agricultural College or colleges receiving the benefits of this Act.

SEC. 3. That for the purpose of paying the expenses of said cooperative agricultural extension work and the necessary printing and distributing of information in connection with the same, there is permanently appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $480,000 for each year, $10,000 of which shall be paid annually, in the manner hereinafter provided, to each state which shall by action of its legislature assent to the provisions of this Act: Provided, that payment of such installments of the appropriation hereinbefore made as shall become due to any state before the adjournment of the regular session of the legislature meeting after the passage of this Act may, in the absence of prior legislative assent be made upon the assent of the governor, thereof, duly certified to the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided, further, that there is also appropriated an additional sum of $600,000 for the fiscal year following that in which the foregoing appropriation first becomes available and for each year thereafter, for seven years, a sum exceeding by $500,000, the sum appropriated for each preceding year, and for each year thereafter there is permanently appropriated for each year the sum of $4,100,000 in addition to the sum of $480,000 hereinbefore provided: Provided, further, that before the funds herein appropriated shall become available to any college for any fiscal year, plans for the work to be carried on under this Act shall be submitted by the proper officials of each college and approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. Such additional sums shall be used only for the purposes herein before stated, and shall be allotted annually to each state by the Secretary of Agriculture and paid in the manner hereinbefore provided, in the proportion which the rural population of each state bears to the total rural population of all the states as determined by the next preceding Federal census: Provided, further, that no payment out of the additional appropriations herein provided shall be made in any year to any state until an equal sum has been appropriated for that year by the legislature of such state, or provided by state, county, college, local authority, or individual contributions from within the state, for the maintenance of the cooperative agricultural extension work provided for in this Act.

In no state of the Union is agriculture more truly the basis and foundation of general prosperity than in Illinois. Fortunately, too, Illinois is in a position to reap largely of the benefits contemplated by the Act of Congress above referred to on account of the size of the rural population.

The heaviest demand the future will make upon us is for the products of our farms. Not our own people alone but others will constantly draw upon our farm resources for sustenance and much of the comfort and wellbeing of our citizens depends upon how well we husband our farm resources. To eliminate the enormous waste and to develop the full capacity of the farm are the important tasks for the accomplishment of which we may profitably exert our energies. Increase in farm products means prosperity for the farmer and reasonable cost to the consumer, two highly desirable results.

The extension work contemplated by the Acts of Congress is of special value for this purpose. It is intended to carry education beyond the school,

into the field and the home. demonstration.

To teach farm economics popularly and by

Under the terms of the Act of 1862 there is immediately available upon the consent of the Legislature the sum of ten thousand (10,000) dollars. There is an additional sum available for the term 1915-1916 of twenty-six thousand two hundred eighty-two (26,282) dollars; for the term 1916-1917, forty-eight thousand one hundred eighty-four (48,184) dollars; and larger sums thereafter to 1923.

To avail ourselves of the benefits of this Act of Congress the State must appropriate a sum equal to the annually increased appropriation over and above ten thousand (10,000) dollars. It is therefore incumbent upon this General Assembly to adopt joint resolutions consenting to the benefits of this Act, and also to make the required appropriations to duplicate the appropriation made by Congress which for 1915-1916 is twenty-six thousand two hundred eighty-two (26,282) dollars and for 1916-1917 is forty-eight thousand one hundred eighty-four (48,184) dollars.

I therefore respectfully request the General Assembly to take action in accordance with the provisions of the Act of Congress. Respectfully submitted,

E. F. DUNNE, Governor. The foregoing message from the Governor was received, and ordered placed on file.

Mr. Shurtleff rose to a question of personal privilege, and with appropriate remarks, on behalf of the Springfield friends of the Lincoln Home, presented the Speaker, Hon. David E. Shanahan, with a gavel, as a token of their friendship and esteem.

The House proceeding upon the order of petitions, the Speaker presented a petition from the Chicago Real Estate Board, relating to deep waterways, which was referred, under the rules, to the Committee on Waterways, when appointed.

The Speaker asked and obtained unanimous consent to increase the membership of the Committee on Education to twenty-nine, and thereupon laid before the House the appointment of the following standing committees, to wit:

Agriculture-Dudgeon, Chairman; Barker, Shurtleff, Benson, Brewer, Drake, Ellis, Green, E. W., Gregory, Lantz, Moore, Rentchler, Rethmeier, Rowe, W., Stanfield, Stewart, Wilson, H., Wood, Elliott, Farrell, Felts, Graham, T. E., Hilton, Huston, Morris, Mulcahy, Quisenberry, Richardson, Smith, Strubinger, and Thomason.

Appropriations-Smejkal, Chairman; Dudgeon, Tice, Atwood, Bentley, Boyd, Boyer, Brown, W. M., Burres, Campbell, Curran, T., Curren, C., Flagg, Harvey, Kessinger, Leach, Lynch, Lyon, Meents, Murphy, Pace, Sonnemann, Tompkins, Young, Donahue, Fahy, Foster, Gorman, Griffin, Hoffman, Hubbard, Huston, Igoe, Kilans, Merritt, O'Rourke, Purdunn, Quisenberry, Richardson, Roe, A., Schuberth, Shepherd, and Wilson, R. E.

Banks, Banking and Building and Loan Associations-Shephard, Chairman; Pierson, Wilson, G. H., Brown, W. M., Curren, C., Gregory, Meents, Murphy, Roderick, Rowe, W., Foster, Groves, Hruby, Huston, Lipshulch, Mitchell, O'Connell, Purdunn, Quisenberry, Ryan, J. W., and Strubinger.

Charities and Corrections-Garesche, Chairman; Curran, T., Lyle, Gardner, Scoles, Stanfield, Tompkins, Watson, Rostenkowski, Basel, Bruce, Donlan, Hruby, Lipshulch, Mason, Weber, and Groves.

Civil Service-O'Rourke, Chairman; Provine, McCormick, Brown, W. M., Butler, Curran, T., Dahlberg, Gardner, Kessinger, McCabe, Murphy, Rothschild, Turner, Thon, Cooper, Donlan, Elliott, Igoe, Kasserman, McGloon, Mitchell, Prendergast, and Rinehart.

Congressional Apportionment-Burres, Chairman; Pierson, Wilson, G., Brown, W. M., Campbell, Curren, C., Fieldstack, Hamlin, Holaday, Lantz, Meents, Perkins, Rentchler, Tuttle, West, Wilson, H., Desmond, Epstein, Fahy, Franz, Green, C., Groves, Hubbard, Kasserman, Lipshulch, Morris, and Ryan, J. W.