the majority report described the proposal as "undesirable" and "inexpedient," and was presented by Mr. Benoni S. Fuller. [Senate Journal, Forty-seventh Session, 603.] A majority of your select committee, to whom was referred sundry petitions and resolutions relating to the submission of the question of female suffrage to the voters of the State, with a view of so amending the Constitution of the State as to permit women. to vote, have duly considered the same, and a majority of said. committee respectfully report that they regard the submission of said question as undesirable by the people and inexpedient at this time. 265. Minority Senate Committee Report on (February 14, 1871). Woman Suffrage The minority of. the committee, consisting of Mr. Othniel Beeson and Mr. Robert Dwiggins, brought in a favorable report and a joint resolution, which provided for the submission of the proposition to the electors of the State and not to the women themselves. [Senate Journal, Forty-seventh Session, 603.] The undersigned, a minority of the select committee on woman's rights, in compliance with the terms of Senate resolution No. 38, passed January 20, 1871, beg leave to submit the following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State: OTHNIEL BEESON, A joint resolution, proposing an amendment to the Constitution, by adding to the second article, a section conferring on women of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, the right to vote. Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the following amendment be, and is hereby proposed to the Constitution of this State, and that the same be and is hereby agreed to and submitted to the electors of the State for their ratification or rejection: Provided, The same shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members composing each house of the next regular General Assembly of this State, said amendment to consist of the addition of the following sections to the second article of the Constitution, in the language following, viz.: In all elections provided for by this Constitution, every female citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who shall have resided in the State during the six months immediately preceding said election; and every female of foreign birth, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who shall have resided in the United States one year, and shall have resided in this State during the six months immediately preceding such election, and shall have declared her intention to become a citizen of the United States, conformably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization, shall be entitled to vote in the township or precinct where she may reside. On February 15, the resolution was under consideration as a special order. By a vote of 25-22, the word “white” was inserted immediately preceding the word "female" wherever it occurs. The minority report, in favor of the proposed amendment, was then rejected by a vote of 20-27, and the majority report was rejected by a vote of 20-28. 266. Calling a Constitutional Convention (January 18, 1871). On January 18, Mr. Calkins of Porter, a Republican, introduced a bill in the House providing for calling a constitutional convention. The bill was referred to the Committee on Rights and Privileges. On January 23, the House determined to resolve itself into a committee of the whole on January 25 to consider this bill. On February 7, the bill was indefinitely postponed. [House Journal, Forty-seventh Session, 219.] House bill No. 103. A bill to provide for taking the sense of the qualified voters of this State on the calling of a convention to alter, amend or revise the Constitution of this State, and providing for notice thereof. 267. Republican Platform of 1872-Wabash and Erie Canal (February 22, 1872). The Republican Party, assembled in convention in Indianapolis on February 22, 1872, adopted the following resolution relative to the pending amendment concerning the bonds of the Wabash and Erie Canal. (See Document No. 258.) [Indianapolis Journal, February 23, 1872.] That the joint resolution passed by the last General Assembly proposing to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit the legislature from ever assuming or paying the canal debt which was charged exclusively upon the Wabash and Erie Canal under the legislation of 1846 and 1847, commonly called the Butler Bill, ought to be adopted by the next General Assembly, and submitted to the people, to the end that it may be ratified and become a part of the Constitution. THE SPECIAL SESSION OF 1872 (November 13 to December 22). The General Assembly which convened in special session on November 31, 1872, consisted of 26 Republicans and 24 Democrats and Liberal Republicans in the Senate, and 54 Republicans and 46 Democrats and Liberal Republicans in the House. The convention of the General Assembly was necessitated by the fact that there was a large amount of unfinished business left over from the preceding session. The last three sessions had in fact been "prematurely and abruptly terminated by the resignation of members, and by reason thereof much important and necessary legislation failed to be enacted . . ." At the last session, on February 23, thirty-four members of the House had resigned, thus abridging the session by more than a week. In his message of November 14, Governor Baker indirectly condemned the constitutional limitation on legislative sessions as follows: "The growth of the State in population and wealth and the consequent increased diversity and importance of the subjects and interests requiring legislative supervision and protection, render it impracticable for the General Assembly to transact all the business demanding its attention during its regular biennial sessions (limited as these are by the Constitution to the term of sixty-one days each), even when nothing extraordinary occurs to impede and prevent legislation." The General Assembly which convened in special session in 1872 was a different body from that which met in 1871 and hence was competent to act on the Wabash and Erie Canal amendment which had been adopted at the last regular session. Two other propositions were also taken up, providing for calling a constitutional convention and changing the time of holding general election. The only measure adopted was the Wabash and Erie Canal amendment. 268. Wabash and Erie Canal Amendment-Legal Adoption (November 14, 1872). Some doubt had arisen as to whether the proposed Wabash and Erie Canal amendment had been legally adopted. On this subject, the Governor in his message on November 14, expressed the conviction that the amendment was not vitiated by the "omission to spread the amendment at large on the journals [Senate Journal, Special Session, 1872, 17.] The fact was brought to my notice some time since that the printed journals of the Senate and House of Representatives of the last General Assembly do not show that the proposed amendment, with the yeas and nays thereon, was entered on the journal of either House, and consequently, doubt has been expressed as to the validity of the proceedings connected with its adoption. The Constitution provides that amendments may be proposed in either branch of the General Assembly, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendment or amendments, shall, with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered on their journals and referred to the General Assembly to be chosen at the next general election, and if in the General Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the electors, etc. An inspection of the printed journals will show that the yeas and nays were called and recorded on the passage of the joint resolution in both Houses; that it passed the Senate by a vote of forty-five yeas to one nay; that it passed the House by a unanimous vote, ninety-three members voting for, and none against it. The joint resolution was duly enrolled, signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and is deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and was printed and published with the laws passed at the same session. Under these circumstances, I am clear in the opinion that the omission to spread the amendment at large on the journals does not vitiate it. The provision which says that the amendment shall be entered on the journals, if indeed it means that it shall be copied at full length, is, at the most, only directory and not mandatory, and consequently the amendment, if passed by the present General Assembly and ratified by the people, will be valid as a part of the Constitution. In this connection, I desire to call attention to the fact that the original manuscript journals of the Senate and House of Representatives are not preserved, but are sent to the public printer and used as copy from which to print and then destroyed. The journals are printed after the adjournment of the General Assembly under the supervision of the secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House respectively, and as the original manuscript is destroyed after the proof is read, there is no possible means of detecting or correcting any omission or mistake which might be made in the printed volume. I respectfully suggest that this practice ought to be discontinued and that the original manuscript journals should be bound in permanent form and preserved in the office of the Secretary of State and copies thereof furnished to the printer. 269. Governor Baker Recommends Adoption of Wabash and Erie Canal Amendment (November 14, 1872). Assuming then, that the proposed amendment had been legally adopted by the regular Assembly of 1871, the Governor in his message on November 7-5055a 14, recommended the completion of the process by which the amendment might be submitted to the people. [Senate Journal, Special Session, 1872, 17.] I earnestly recommend that the amendment, the substance of which I have just stated, be promptly agreed to and adopted by the present General Assembly at this session, and that the provision be made by law for its speedy submission to the people for ratification. Having heretofore so fully discussed the questions involved in the proposed amendment, I do not deem it expedient or necessary now to reiterate my opinions or the arguments urged in support of them, but content myself by saying, that the views expressed in my last regular message on the subject of the canal debt, and the necessity and propriety of such an amendment to the Constitution, remain unchanged. To the end that these views may be conveniently accessible to all of you, I will cause a pamphlet copy of the message alluded to, to be addressed and delivered to every member of this General Assembly. 270. The Wabash and Erie Canal Amendment (January 28, 1873). The joint resolution embodying the proposed canal amendment was introduced in the House on November 14, by Mr. Nathan Kimball, a Republican, and was put upon its passage at once and adopted by a vote of 97-0. [House Journal, Special Session, 1872, 52.] Joint resolution No. 2. A joint resolution agreeing to and adopting an amendment proposed to the Constitution, by the last General Assembly, by adding to the tenth article, a section in relation to the debt charged upon the Wabash and Erie Canal. WHEREAS, The last General Assembly at the regular session thereof, passed, adopted and agreed to the following joint resolution, to wit: "A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution, by adding to the tenth article, a section in relation to the debt charged upon the Wabash and Erie Canal." Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the following amendment be, and is hereby proposed to the Constitution of this State, and that the same be, and is hereby agreed to and submitted to the electors of the State, for their ratification or rejection: Provided, The same shall be agreed to |