Wednesday] JOHNSTON-TRAER-CLARKE, of J.-PATTERSON, &C. ings of this Convention. And it is with this view that I have prepared and offered this resolution. [February 25th was divided between the first and second Secretaries. The question being taken upon filling the sion, it was not agreed to; ayes 7, noes 11. The question being then taken upon the reso- blank with the sum of six dollars, upon a divilution, it was agreed to. Compensation of Officers of the Convention. Mr. PATTERSON moved to fill the blank with the sum of five dollars. The question being taken, the motion was Mr. JOHNSTON. In order to facilitate the duties of the Committee on Accounts and Ex-agreed to. penditures, I offer the following resolution: Resolved, That the compensation of the officers of the convention shall be as follows: Thomas J. Saunders, Secretary, per diem. E. N Bates, Assistant Secretary, per diem. S. C. Trowbridge, Sergeant-at-Arms, lars per diem. Francis Thompson, Door-keeper, per diem. J. H. Merritt, First Fireman, diem. John Quaintance, Second Fireman, dollars S. C. TROWBRIDGE, Sergeant-at-Arms. The next blank was in relation to the compensation of the Sergeant-at-Arms. Mr. TODHUNTER moved to fill the blank dollars with the sum of three dollars. The question being taken, the motion was dol- agreed to. dollars FRANCIS THOMPSON, Door-keeper. The next blank was in relation to the comdollars per pensation of the Door-keeper. Mr. WARREN moved to fill the blank with dol- the sum of three dollars. The motion was agreed to. dollars dollars I offer the resolution with the various amounts in blank, to be filled by the convention, in order that the Committee on Expenditures may be enabled to make out their report in due season: THOMAS J. SAUNDERS, Secretary. Mr. JOHNSTON. I move that the first blank in relation to the compensation of our Chief Secretary, be filled with the sum of six dollars. I believe it is customary to allow the Chief Secretary of our Senate and House of Representatives double the compensation of the members. The question being taken upon the motion to fix the compensation of the principal Secretary at six dollars, it was agreed to. E. N. BATES, Assistant Secretary. The PRESIDENT stated the next question to be upon filling the blank in relation to the compensation of the Assistant Secretary. J. H. MERRITT, First Fireman. The next blank was in relation to the compensation of the First Fireman. Mr. TODHUNTER moved to fill the blank with the sum of three dollars. The question being taken, the motion was agreed to. JOHN QUAINTANCE, Second Fireman. The next blank was in relation to the compensation of the Second Fireman. Mr. CLARK, of Alamakee, moved to fill the blank with the sum of three dollars. The question being taken, the motion was agreed to. JAMES HAWKINS, First Messenger. The next blank was in relation to the compensation of the First Messenger. Mr. CLARK, of Alamakee, moved to fill the blank with the sum of two dollars and fifty cents. Mr. WARREN moved to fill the blank with the sum of two dollars. Mr. TRAER moved to fill the blank with the Mr. TRAER moved to fill the blank with six sum of one dollar and fifty cents. dollars. Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson. Is it usual in legislative bodies to give the Assistant Clerk or Secretary the same compensation that is given to the Chief Clerk or principal Secretary? If it is, I am willing to do so here. Mr. TRAER. At the last session of our legislature, the appropriation for the journal The question being taken upon the motion to fill the blank with the sum of two dollars and fifty cents, upon a division, it was agreed to; ayes 15, noes 7. GEORGE CLEARMAN, Second Messenger. The next blank was in relation to the compensation of the Second Messenger. Wednesday] MARVIN JOHNSTON-CLARKE, of H.-SOLOMON, &C. Mr. MARVIN moved to fill the blank with the sum of two dollars and fifty cents. The question being taken, the motion was agreed to. WILLIS CONARD, Third Messenger. [February 25th Compensation of the Chaplain. Mr. SOLOMON. While we are upon this subject of fixing the compensation of those who are serving us, I would suggest the propriety of providing for paying our Chaplain. Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson. I have prepared a resolution for that purpose, which I will sub The next blank was in relation to the com- mit; it is as follows: pensation of the Third Messenger. Resolved, That the Chaplain be paid the sum Mr. MARVIN moved to fill the blank with the of one hundred dollars for his services. sum of two dollars and fifty cents. The question being taken, the motion was agreed to. The resolution, as amended, was then read as follows: Resolved, That the compensation of the offi cers of the convention shall be as follows: Thomas J. Saunders, Secretary, six dollars per diem. E. N. Bates, Assistant Secretary, five dollars per diem. Mr. HALL. I move to insert after the word "hundred," the words, "and twenty-five," so as to give the Chaplain one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Mr. TODHUNTER. I move to amend the resolution so as to allow our Chaplain the sum of three dollars per day, the same as is proposed to be given to our other officers. Mr. HALL. I would prefer to decide upon some aggregate sum. The sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars will amount, within a few dollars, to the same as three dollars per day. S. C. Trowbridge, Sergeant-at-Arms, three dollars per diem. Mr. JOHNSTON. I think we should fix upon Francis Thompson, Door-keeper, three dollars some aggregate sum. I believe the sum voted per diem. by the legislature for their Chaplain was one J. H. Merritt, First Fireman, three dollars per hundred dollars. diem. Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson. I have no obJohn Quaintance, Second Fireman, three dol-jection to the amendment of the gentleman from lars per diem. James Hawkins, First Messenger, two dollars and fifty cents per diem. George Clearman, Second Messenger, two dollars and fifty cents per diem. Willis Conard, Third Messenger, two dollars and fifty cents per diem. Des Moines, [Mr. Hall.] I fixed the sum at one hundred dollars at the suggestion of several members. I believe in paying preachers pretty well, for they are generally poor men. I will accept the amendment of the gentleman from Des Moines. The resolution, as modified, proposed to give the Chaplain the sum of one hundred and twen The question being then taken upon the reso-ty-five dollars for his services. lution, as amended, it was adopted. Compensation of President of the Convention. The question was upon the amendment proposed by Mr. Todhunter, to give the Chaplain three dollars a day. Mr. SOLOMON. I prefer this amendment to Mr. JOHNSTON offered the following resolu- the resolution as it now stands, for the reason tion: Resolved, That Hon. Francis Springer shall receive the sum of three dollars per day for his services as President of this Convention, in addition to his pay and mileage as member of the Convention. Mr. CLARKE, of Henry. Is it not usual to double the mileage as well as the per diem of the presiding officers of bodies like this? Mr. JOHNSTON. I think not. that it will meet a contingency that may arise. We have resolved to adjourn on the fourth of March. Now, it is barely possible that we may be in session much longer; and as it is admitted that three dollars a day will come to about the same amount as that fixed by the resolution, I think we should adopt the amendment, so that, if we continue here in session beyond the fourth of March, the Chaplain will be paid accordingly. Mr. TODHUNTER. My conviction, at the present time, is, that we will not get through in The PRESIDENT stated that he did not de- less than ten days. If so, we will have been in sire it. Mr. JOHNSTON. I will state that this resolution is drawn up in the usual form. session something like fifty days, which, at three dollars a day, would give the chaplain one hundred and fifty dollars. It seems to me that he is one of the most important officers of this ConThe question being taken upon the resolu- vention; and to put his compensation at one tion, it was agreed to. hundred and twenty-five dollars, and thus re Wednesday] CLARKE, of J.-TODHUNTER-HALL-SKIFF-WILSON, &C. duce it below the aggregate compensation of any of our other officers, I think would be doing him injustice. We should pay him as liberally as any of the other officers of the Convention, except, perhaps, our chief secretary. We should, it seems to me, have at least that regard for his office. Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson,. I hope the gentleman from Warren, Mr. Todhunter,] will withdraw his amendment. I am satisfied that our chaplain would be well content with the amount proposed by the resolution. It has been customary to pay the chaplain an aggregate sum. And, as it will amount to about the same thing either way, for the purpose of obviating anything like contention upon such a subject as this, I hope the gentleman will withdraw his amendment. Mr. TODHUNTER. I presume the chaplain would be satisfied with one hundred dollars, or with seventy-five dollars, or with any other sum that we might designate. But would it be proper to designate a sum less than three dollars a day? This chaplain has been in attendance here as regularly as our sergeant-at-arms, doorkeeper or fireman, and they are allowed three dollars a day. And shall we curtail his compensation to a less amount than we give our fireman? I would rather raise his compensation above that amount than place it below it. It has been intimated by the gentleman from Johnson, [Mr. Clarke,] that preachers are generally poor men. Our chaplain has been in attendance here regularly during our session, and I think he should have at least three dollars a day, whether it amounts to more or less. If it amounts to more than one hundred and twentyfive dollars, let him have it. If, as gentlemen say, it will amount to about that sum, then I can see no harm in the amendment. [February 25th Mr. WILSON. I move to fill the blank in the first resolution with the words "one hundred and twenty," as the amount to be allowed Mr. Lord for superintending the publication and indexing of these debates. I would say that that amount of compensation is lower, I believe, than any I have ever before known for the same time and amount of work; but I think it will agree to that amendment, and then to the resoprove satisfactory. I hope the Convention will lution. I think our reporter is the most suitable person we could find to superintend the publication of these debates. The question being taken upon filling the blank in the first resolution with the words "one hundred and twenty," it was agreed to. The PRESIDENT stated the next question to be upon filling the blank in the second resolution, in relation to the number of copies of these debates to be furnished to each member of the Convention. Mr. TODHUNTER moved to fill the blank with the word "fifteen." Mr. WINCHESTER moved to fill it with the word "five." Mr. HALL. The only objection I have to saying that we will give our chaplain three dollars a day, is, that I do not like to put upon our records that we hired our minister by the day. I would vote to pay him an aggregate sum of Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson. I move to fill it one hundred and fifty dollars cheerfully. I have with the word "twenty." And, while I am up, known him and his family for some time, and II will say that I understand that the General know them to be worthy and estimable people. Assembly took upon themselves the responsibiliI would vote to give him one hundred and fifty ty of voting to each member a copy of these dedollars as cheerfully as I would vote for anything bates. in the course of this session. ed. The resolution, as amended, was then adopt On motion of Mr. SKIFF, Mr. WILSON. The Senate voted five copies to each of its members, and the House of Representatives one copy to each of its members. Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson. By what authority they did that I am unadvised. I apprehend that the circulation of these reports will devolve upon us; and as they are intended for circulation, I want a sufficient number to benefit my constituents. After we have taken enough for States, in return for books that we have receivthat purpose, we should send some to other ed from them. I would be in favor of a higher number than twenty to each member, and I will The Convention then took a recess until 2 therefore move to fill the blank with the words o'clock p. m. "twenty-five." Wednesday] CLARKE, of J.-TODHUNTER-PALMER-SOLOMON. The question being then taken upon the motion to fill the blank in the second resolution with the word "twenty-five," it was agreed to. Mr. CLARKE, of Johnson. I do not know but that this resolution may need another amendment. As I understand it, it would appropriate a certain number of copies of these debates to members of the Convention. I move to amend it so that our reporters and secretaries may have one or more copies. It is usual I think, to give them some evidence of their work, as well as to give members evidence of theirs. I therefore move to amend the resolution by adding to it the following: The question being taken upon the amendment, it was agreed to. [February 25th The question was stated to be upon the reconsideration of the vote by which the resolutions in relation to the distribution of the debates were adopted. Mr. CLARKE of Johnson. I hope that motion will not prevail. When I made the motion to appropriate twenty-five copies to each member of this convention, my idea was, in the first place, to supersede the action of the general assembly, by which they appropriated to themselves property which did not then belong to the state-which in fact was not then in existence. And I designed, secondly, by voting twentyfive copies to each of the members of this con"And that the reporters, secretaries, and ser-vention, to place us in a condition that we geant-at-arms be furnished with five copies might ourselves supply the members of the each." general assembly, if we should see proper to do so. And I suppose that out of those twentyfive copies each member would feel it his duty those public officers in the county who would to present one copy to the county Judge, and be benefitted by such a work. After taking this number from the amount ordered to be published, there would still be enough left for circulation among the libraries of this state, and the public state libraries of the Union. Mr. TODHUNTER moved that three copies be furnished to the Chaplain. The question being taken, the motion was agreed to. The resolutions as amended were adopted. Mr. CLARKE of Johnson. While we are upon this subject, we may as well provide for the distribution of the rest of the debates, that will be left after the members of the convention have been supplied. If it be the sense of this convention, I will offer a resolution that the remainder of the debates be deposited with the Secretary of State, to be distributed accord ing to law. We have taken those twenty-five copies to circulate among the people, not to keep for ourselves. I apprehend that every gentleman here will put down first upon his list, the officers of the county who can use the work, and to whom it would be valuable. Now if we go on and deal out these reports county by county, it seems to me we would be doing by detail what the members can do now. After distributing the number provided for by the resolution we have adopted, there will be some four hundred and fifty or five hundred copies to be deposited with the Secretary of State. Mr. PALMER. Allow me to state that if each member of the legislature is allowed five copies of these debates, and each member of the convention is allowed twenty-five copies without taking into account those appropriated to the officers of this convention-that will re- This work is more in the character of a legal quire fourteen hundred and forty of the fifteen work, to be used for the construing of the hundred copies we have ordered to be printed. constitution, than for information to mere ministerial officers. I think nothing will be gained Mr. CLARKE of Johnson. I offer the follow-by reducing the number to members of the coning resolution: "Resolved, That the remainder of the debates be deposited with the Secretary of State, for circulation as provided by law." Mr. PALMER. I do not think there will be much of a remainder. Provision is already made by the general assembly and by the convention, for the distribution of fourteen hundred and seventy-three copies. I think we ought to reduce the number a little which has been provided to be furnished to members of the convention, in order that we may retain at least sufficient to enable us to exchange with other states. We ought to send one copy to each state in the Union. There ought to be at least one copy deposited in each county in this state; though the members of the convention might perhaps attend to that. I move to reconsider the vote by which twenty-five copies were appropriated to each member of the convention, in order that that number may be reduced. vention. I suppose that every member will remember his county officers, and we can provide that each county, wherein there is a library, shall have one copy. I trust, therefore, the motion to reconsider will not prevail. Mr. SOLOMON. I have made no calculations in regard to this matter, and cannot tell whether or not I am in favor of the motion to reconsider. But I would throw out one suggestion here. This journal of our debates ought to go into the hands of the public, unquestionably; that should be the first consideration with us. Now the proposed object of the gentleman who moved to give twenty-five copies to each member of this convention, is that they may be distributed among the counties of those members. Now perhaps it has not struck the gentleman who takes that view of the matter, that such a plan will work unequally upon the members. For instance, to give one to each county of my district would require eight of Wednesday] GOWER-WILSON-WINCHESTER-TODHUNTER-TRAER. [February 25th my twenty-five copies; while Capt. Price, of posed of. That certainly will meet the requirePottawattamie, would be compelled to use up ments that gentlemen have suggested here. twenty-one copies for that purpose; the gentleman from Des Moines would have to use but one, so that it will operate altogether unequally. Now I would suggest that the better plan would be to provide that one copy should be placed in the hands of the Secretary of State, to be sent by him in the ordinary way to each county judge, or the proper officer in each county, to be kept there for the use of the public; and to be sent immediately, for we shall need these debates in each county before the people come to vote on the Constitution, at the time the discussion is going on in regard to its adoption. Such a plan would be fair and equitable, and not work unjustly upon any of the members of this Convention. Mr. WINCHESTER. If the appropriation made by the General Assembly to each of its members is left out of the question, I would vote against the reconsideration. But if it is expected that they shall receive the five copies they voted to themselves, I shall vote for the reconsideration. I am desirous that each county in the State shall be furnished with a copy of these debates by the convention, instead of by the members, and for this reason: There are some members who represent only one-half a county, while other members represent eleven organized counties. I represent eleven counties here, and would be obliged to furnished eleven copies of my quota; while the members from Lee and Des Moines counties would have forty-nine after supplying the county with a copy. copies for distribution in each of those counties, When I think that, in addition to that, some fifty or one hundred copies should be placed in the State Library, to be kept by the State as the Mr. TODHUNTER. It seems to me that genproperty of the State; perhaps twenty-five cop-tlemen forget one thing in this matter. ies would be enough. And, in addition to that, I think we ought to place in the hands of the Secretary of State, to be sent free of charge, some fifty copies to be distributed among the State libraries of this Union. After doing that we can then count up and see how many we will have, and distribute them among ourselves and our officers, as we may see proper. I merely make these suggestions as having some bearing upon the proper application of the property for which the people of this State will have to pay. Mr. GOWER. I have made a calculation as to how I shall distribute my twenty-five copies. I design to give one to each of our Senators and Representatives; two to each editor of a paper in my county; one, each, to the county judge, treasurer, county commissioner and prosecuting attorney, and one to each town clerk in my county, of which there are fourteen. In that way I shall dispose of twenty-two of the twenty-five copies appropriated to me. Mr. WILSON. I think that the better plan would be to provide for sending one copy of these debates to the county judge of each county. After that is done I think the number twentyfive is not too large for each member. I am satisfied the members of this Convention would distribute these debates with more discretion than they would be distributed if a certain number of copies were forwarded to each county for distribution. Each member of this Convention will place a copy of these debates in the hands of, say twenty-four men, who are thinking, reading men, and who would make a good use of them. Through those men this information will get to other persons, men who are in the habit of talking and giving information to those around them. I think the number proposed for each member is not too large, and after twenty-five copies to each member is thus furnished, there will be some six hundred copies left to be otherwise dis they talk about some members here represent- district. Mr. TRAER. I think the gentleman from Warren [Mr. Todhunter,] forgets one thing, thousand less inhabitants than the entire diswhen he speaks of Lee county having but two trict of the gentleman from Hardin, [Mr. Winthan his district, has an equivalent of two and a chester.] Lee county, with less inhabitants half members here, and will get some sixty copies of these debates, while the gentleman from Hardin will get but twenty-five copies. It appears to me that that makes quite a differ ence. number of deleggates that makes the difference. It is not the number of inhabitants, but the My friend from Marion, [Mr. Gibson,] and myself, represent over thirty-one thousand inhabitants, and yet we will get but fifty copies. Lee county, with less than that amount of population, will get some sixty copies. This distribution, therefore, as regards population, is not equal. I think, however, that twenty-five copies to each member are sufficient. I have made no calculation, as has the gentleman from Cedar, [Mr. Gower,] what I shall do with my |
