JOURNAL OF THE STATE SENATE OF INDIANA. THURSDAY MORNING. January 7, 1915. The Senators holding over and the Senators-elect of the Sixth-ninth General Assembly of the State of Indiana met in the Senate chamber in the State Capitol on January 7, 1915, at 10 o'clock a. m., this being the time fixed by the Constitution of the State of Indiana for the convening of the same, viz.: "Commencing on the Thursday next after the first Monday of January of every second year after the adoption of the Constitution in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three." Lieutenant-Governor William P. O'Neill, President of the Senate, called the Senate to order. Prayer was offered by the Very Reverend Father Scheideler, of Indianapolis. Lieutenant-Governor O'Neill addressed the Senate as follows: Gentlemen of the Senate-I know too well the membership of this body to feel that there is any necessity for me to say anything on this occasion to impress upon you the dignity of your position, or the importance of the duty that lays before you. One-half of the membership served with 3) 287490 men in that Senate of 1913 which had the honor, in part, of placing on the statute books more important legislation, fundamental in character, than it has been the privilege of any General Assembly to write since the Constitution of 1851 was adopted. It has been my pleasure to meet from time to time, since their election, the new members of the Senate, and knowing full well whereof I speak, I felicitate you, heartily and sincerely, on the spirit of service in which you all come to the trying labors of the sixty-one days during which we will be associated. Those labors performed in a spirit of service by men ambitious for the advancement of the interests of their State will not always be pleasant, will not always receive the recognition they merit even from those who are benefited thereby, but their lasting reward will come in the sweet consciousness of duty done. It is no part of the duties of the president of this body to advocate or shape legislation, except on such subjects as may properly be considered in committee of the whole. His duties are administrative in character and have to do with supervising and facilitating the transaction of the business of the Senate. There is often room for wide difference of opinion on matters of legislation, but among right thinking men there can be no difference, and, I am very certain, in this body there will be no difference of opinion as to the manner in which the business of the Senate should be transacted. To conduct it with economy and efficiency is the ambition of the presiding officer-an ambition possible of attainment only by the co-operation of the officers and committees to whose immediate supervision much of the detail work must necessarily be intrusted. With officers and employes selected because of their efficiency and careful attention to committee work, I know the Senate of 1915 will measure up to the high expectations of the people of our State. Therefore, with no ambition but the ambition to serve, no fear but the fear of God in our hearts, let us proceed to the performance of our labors, The following named Senators, elected in 1912 for the constitutional term of four years, appeared and answered to their names: Senators Adams, Baber, Ballou, Clarke, Cleveland, Elsner, Engel, Faulknor, Fleming of Adams and Allen, Gelts, Grube, Harlan, Harmon, Kattman, Kolsem, Krau, McCormick, Neal, Parks, Van Auken, Van Nuys, Wood, Yarling, Zearing. Senator Clarke offered the following motion: MR. PRESIDENT: I move that the President of the Senate appoint a committee of Senators to call upon Senator Levi P. Harlan to extend to him the sympathy of this body with him in his continued illness and to express its appreciation of his long, important and efficient service to the State in this body, and further that he be granted an indefinite leave of absence. The President of the Senate then appointed the following as such committee: Senators Clarke, Grube, and Yarling. Senators elected in 1914 answered as follows: Senators Armstrong, Bird, Chambers, Culbertson, Eikman, Fleming of Jay and Randolph, Gemmill, Hazen, Hemphill, Hirsch, Humphreys, Jackson, Kinder, Lanz, McConaha, Maston, Mercer, Norman, Porter, Reidelbach, Reser, Rinear, Robinson, Summers, Thornton, White. The Senators-elect appeared before the bar of the Senate, presented their certificates of election and were sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Indiana, and to faithfully perform their duties as Senators in the General Assembly to the best of their ability, by Appellate Judge Shea. |