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The Clerk proceeded to call the roll of the members and officers of the House.

Whereupon, the following members answered to their names: Messrs. Allen, Ames, Bailey, Baldwin, Becker, Billings, Bitner,Blackaby, Brown, Bryan, Buck, Buckingham, Bundy, Butterfield. Campbell, Carr, Carter. Chaffee, Chandler, Chatfield, Clark, Cloonan, Collier, Collins of Cook. Collins of Will, Cook O. S., Coultas, Cowan, Cox, Crandall, Crews, Cronkrite, Crook, Durfee, Davis, Diggins. Duffy, Dysart, English, Erwin, Gallup, Garland, Goodspeed. Gorman, Green, Harris of Fayette, Harvey, Herrington, Heryer, Hill, Holden, Keen of Wabash, Keen of Wayne, Kelly, Kroll, Linegar, Little, Lucas, Ludington, Mann, Martin of Woodford, Martin of White, McCune, McDonald, McKinley, McLeod, McMahon, Mieure, Mitchell, Mock, Morgan, Nichols, Okeson, Olwin, Otman, Paisley, Parry, Peters, Pearson of Madison; Pearson of Cook, Perrin, Peterson, Phelps, Pierson of Greene, Plotke, Pollock, Postel, Powell, Parish, Reno, Richardson of Cumberland, Richardson of Adams, Robinson, Rogers, Rumley, Sexton, Sharp, Shaw, Shumway, Smith, Stover, Stowell, Strattan of Jefferson, Stratton of Will, Struckman, Sullivan, Sumner, Tenney, Thompson, Thornton, Tontz, Underwood, Vaughey, Veile, Welsh, White of Cook, Whiteman, Wilbanks, Winter, Wood of Knox, Wood of DeKalb, Wright of DuPage, Wright of Boone, Yancey, Young, Mr. Speaker Thomas-Pres ent. 126.

The roll of elective officers being called, the following answered to their names:

John A. Reeve, Chief Clerk.

Frank W. Latimer, Second Assistant Clerk.

B. D. Dawson, Third Assistant Clerk.

J. H. Melven, Postmaster.

Miss Mollie McCabe, Assistant Postmaster.
P. W. Wilcox, Doorkeeper...

I. H. Kelly, First Assistant Doorkeeper.

W. F. Wilton, Second. Assistant Doorkeeper.
James H. Robinson, Third Assistant Postmaster.

Benj. Ives, Engrossing. and Enrolling Clerk.

Clara Patton, First. Assistant Engrossing and Enrolling Clerk. C. H. Noel, Second Assistant Engrossing and Enrolling Clerk. Mr. Mortland was granted leave of absence on account of sickness. Mr. Mitchell offered the following resolution, and moved its adoption:

Resolved,, That the Clerk of the House be directed to inform the Senate that the House is organized and ready to proceed to business.

And the resolution was adopted.

Mr. Collins of Cook offered the following resolution, and moved its adoption:

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring herein, That a joint committee of three on part of the House, and two on part of the Senate, be appointed to wait upon the Governor and inform him that the two houses are now in session, pursuant to proclamation, and are ready to receive any communication he may see fit to make.

And the question being upon the adoption of the resolution, it was adopted.

And the Speaker appointed as said committee, on the part of the House, Messrs. Collins of Cook, Garland, and Herrington.

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

Resolved, That the rules of this House for the last regular session be the rules for this House, so far as the same are applicable.

And the resolution was adopted.

Mr. Pearson of Madison offered the following resolution, and moved its adoption:

Resolved, That the committee on contingent expenses be and are hereby instructed to report to this House, at their earliest convenience, a plan for the grouping of committees, and assignment of rooms for their use; also the number of necessary Committee Clerks, Pages, Policemen, Janitors, and such other employes needed for the service of the House at this special session.

And the resolution was adopted.

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

Resolved, 1. That the standing committees of this House appointed at the last session of the General Assembly be dissolved, and that the Speaker be authorized to appoint new committees upon each item in the proclamation of the Governor, as provided in the following section:

2. The committees of this House for the present session shall be as follows:
On congressional apportionment, to consist of nineteen (19) members.
On senatorial apportionment, to consist of twenty-five (25) members.
On Illinois and Michigan canal, to consist of twenty-one (21) members.
On revision of the criminal law, to consist of twenty-seven (27) members.
On appropriations, to consist of nineteen (19) members.

On contingent expenses of the General Assembly, to consist of fifteen (15) members.
On rules, to consist of seventeen (17) members.

On enrolled and engrossed bills, to consist of fifteen (15) members.

And the resolution, under the rules, was referred to the committee on rules.

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

Resolved, That the Clerk furnish this House a list of the employés on the pay-roll. And the resolution was adopted.

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

Resolved, That there shall be added to the committee on congressional apportionment six additional members, to be appointed by the Speaker.

And the resolution was referred to the committee on rules.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Terwilliger, Assistant Secretary:

Mr. Speaker: I am directed to inform the House of Representatives that the Senate has adopted the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to inform the House of Representatives that the Senate has met, and is now ready for the transaction of business.

JAMES H. PADDOCK, Secretary of the Senate.

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

Resolved, That the membership of the committee on Senatorial apportionment be increased by appointment by the Speaker of six additional members.

And the resolution was referred to the committee on rules.

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

Resolved by the House, the Senate concurring herein, That there shall be submitted to the voters of this State, at the next election for members of the General Assembly, a proposition to so amend the separate section of article fourteen (14), entitled "Canal," of the Constitution of this State, so that the same may read as follows: "The Illinois and Michigan canal shall never be sold or leased until the specific proposition for the sale or lease thereof shall first have been submitted to a vote of the people of the State at a general election, and have been approved by a majority of all the votes polled at such election: Provided, however, that the State may transfer to, or enter into a compact with, the United States for the use or improvement of said land. The General Assembly shall never loan the credit of the State, or make appropriations from the treasury thereof, in aid of railroads or canals: Provided, that any surplus earnings of any canal may be appropriated for its enlargement or extension.

And the resolution was referred to the committee on judiciary. Mr. Collins of Cook, from the joint committee appointed to wait upon the Governor and inform him that both houses of this General Assembly had convened in obedience to proclamation, and that there was a quorum present in each house, and that they were prepared to proceed to business, and would be pleased to receive such communication as he should see proper to communicate, reported that

they had called upon the Governor, and was informed by him that he would immediately send a communication in writing to each branch of the General Assembly.

Mr. Martin of White offered the following joint resolution, and moved its adoption:

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring herein, That it will be the true policy of the State of Illinois to retain control of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and not transfer the same to the United States Government or any other power or corporation.

And the resolution was referred to the committee on canal and river improvement.

A message from the Governor, by Edward F. Leonard, Private Secretary:

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 23, 1882.

To the Honorable, the House of Representatives :

I have the honor to transmit herewith my message to the General Assembly.

S. M. CULLOM, Governor.

MESSAGE.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

You have assembled in special session on an extraordinary occasion.

APPORTIONMENT.

Our Constitution provides that the General Assembly shall apportion the State every ten years, beginning with the year 1871, into fifty-one senatorial districts, based upon the population as ascertained by the Federal census. This apportionment not having been made by you at your regular session in 1881, and the congressional apportionment of the State not having been made for the reason that Congress had not passed the act fixing the number of representatives in Congress to which the State of Illinois would be entitled under the census of 1880, I have deemed it to be my duty, under the 8th paragraph of the 5th article of the Constitution, to convene you, and have named the subjects for the consideration of which you are convened. The work of apportionment is a plain constitutional duty. That instrument is full and explicit as to the manner in which the senatorial apportionment shall be made. confident you will strictly adhere, not only to the letter, but to the spirit, of the Constitution, in the discharge of this duty. The apportionment of the State into congressional districts is required by the National Constitution and law. The recent act of Congress gives Illinois twenty congressional representatives, a gain of one over the present number.

I am

The same principles which are so clearly stated in our State Constitution, requiring the formation of districts of contiguous and com

pact territory, and containing, as nearly as possible, an equal number of inhabitants, should be observed by you in making congressional districts.

The subjects of senatorial and congressional apportionment having been before you during your last session, and doubtless having been much considered by you since your adjournment, I trust you will not be long in coming to a determination as to both, and in passing such bills in relation thereto as your wisdom may dictate.

CANALS.

I have asked you to provide for submitting to a vote of the people of the State, at the next general election, the proposition for the transfer of the Illinois and Michigan canal to the United States. I regard this as a most important matter, and one in which the people of the whole country are interested. The time has come, in my judgment, when it is clearly the part of statesmanship to make this canal, now belonging to our State, a great water-way, free to the commerce of the people of the Nation, and adequate to its requirements. It should be made wide and deep enough to contain a volume of water flowing constantly from the lakes to the Mississippi river of sufficient size to fully answer the demands of trade for years to come. In connection with this canal and the improvement of the Illinois river, the proposed canal from Hennepin, on the Illinois river, to the Mississippi river, at or near Rock Island, should be constructed of such capacity as will meet the needs of the commerce of the great West.

The work is national in character and importance, and should not be done by Illinois alone. While both canals and the river are entirely within the territorial limits of our commonwealth, yet the benefits to be derived from their construction and improvement would be coéxtensive with the Nation-North, South, East and West. There seems to be no question, then, that it should be done by the National Government. The constitutional power to perform the work, I think, will scarcely be questioned. I feel sure that the time has come when the Nation should not hesitate to undertake these great public improvements. It was estimated by the committee of the United States Senate, created in 1872 to investigate the subject of transportation routes to the seaboard, that the value of commodities moved by the railroads in the year 1872 was ten billions of dollars. The amount has doubtlesss been very largely increased from year to year ever since.

For many years past the energies and enterprise of the people have been engaged in the construction, equipment and operation of railroads, until they have spent in their construction and equipment thousands of millions of dollars, and have built in this country about one hundred thousand miles of road. The roads have been of vast benefit, and have given new life and energy to the people of every part of the land, and we could not, and would not, do without them. But with these facts admitted, experience has proven that they must be controlled in their operation. Illinois is fully committed to the policy of controlling the railroads, and the powers exercised by the Legislature have been confirmed by the courts. However much the

public welfare has been served by what has been done in this direction, experience has also proven, I think, that one of the most efficient agencies of control is competition between the railroads and the lakes, rivers and canals. Such competition, if the water-ways of the country were improved as they should be, and such canals were constructed as even the most superficial observer must admit, upon an examination of the topography of the country, should be built, would give great additional protection to all classes of business and labor. It is shown that transportation of freight by water is more than fifty per cent. cheaper than by rail, and the great saving to the producer and consumer of the grain of the States west of the Mississippi would in a brief time amount to more than the cost of the Hennepin canal, and of the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan canal.

The advocacy and adoption of such measures in the interest of the commerce of the country will bring peace, contentment, happiness and prosperity. Slavery has been abolished, the war for the integrity and perpetuation of the Union is over, and our Nation is founded on a more enduring basis than before the great struggle began. We have fifty millions of free people, and the plain duty of the statesman is to go forward, and deal with new questions as they arise-work for the present and future of the country, instead of dwelling upon the past.

I believe the most important work of the present is the improvement of our rivers, lakes and canals, and the construction of such new canals as will unite the waters, and, whenever it can reasonably be done, shorten distances for the transportation of freights.

The Government in the past has contributed many millions of dollars and millions of acres of the public domain in aid of the construction of railroads across the continent, and in different portions of the undeveloped territory of the United States. It should now direct its expenditures to utilizing the waters of the country in the interest of cheap transportation. The bulk of the cereal productions of America is in the valley of the Mississippi. The cheapest means of getting these products to the best markets and to the people needing them, should be adopted. The farmer wants good prices for what he has to sell, the laborer wants cheap food, and the interest of both is that the moving the food from the farmer to the consumer should be at the least possible cost. The larger portion of the population of America occupy the valley of the Mississippi, and its productions are more than in proportion to its relative population. Chicago, the great grain and live-stock center of the world, is advancing with unprecedented strides. There should be no tinkering policy advocated or permitted. Whatever sum of money is necessary to meet the demands of commerce for a hundred years to come, should be insisted upon by our people, and by the delegations in Congress from these great States in the West. The prosperity of this State, in the immediate future, will depend on the statesmanship in providing cheap transportation. We have the rich fields, we have the grain, the beef, the pork, the food of all kinds, and, by the aid of cheap transportation, American products will take their places and hold them in all the markets of Europe. Before the National Government will expend any money in the enlargement

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