INDIANA. 



357 



tion was not before the people, and conse- 

 quently should not be acted upon until the 

 will of the people could be ascertained from 

 the result of an election based upon this issue. 

 The Republican members having, in caucus, 

 resolved to force the ratification through the 

 Legislature, the Democratic members on the 

 3d of March, in caucus, resolved to resign in a 

 body, and all did so with the exception of 

 those who were ordered by the caucus to 

 remain and care for the interests of the party. 

 Seventeen Senators and thirty-six Representa- 

 tives resigned, on the 4th of March, thus re- 

 ducing the number of both Houses below a 

 quorum, and stopped legislation. This disrup- 

 tion of the Legislature left the charitable and 

 other institutions of the State in a crippled 

 condition, as the appropriation bills had not 

 been passed. The Governor at once issued 

 writs for special elections of members of the 

 Legislature, to fill the places of those who had 

 resigned, and, on the 22d of March, issued a 

 proclamation convening the General Assem- 

 bly of the State, in special session, and sum- 

 moning the members to meet on the 8th day 

 of April. 



On the 8th the Legislature assembled in obe- 

 dience to the call of the Governor, but, before 

 taking the oaths of their offices, the Democrats 

 exacted from the majority of the Republican 

 members of the Legislature a pledge that 

 the consideration of the fifteenth amendment 

 should not be taken up until after the legisla- 

 tion necessary for the interests of the State 

 had been accomplished. 



Among the more important acts passed by 

 the Legislature were, an act providing for the 

 introduction of the German language into the 

 course of study in the public schools, and an 

 act establishing a female prison and reforma- 

 tory institution for girls and women at In- 

 dianapolis, to which all female convicts should 

 be sent instead of to the State prison. 



The location of the Agricultural College was 

 fixed in Tippecanoe County, and, in consider- 

 ation of the gift of $100,000 cash, by John 

 Purdue, of Lafayette, was called the Purdue 

 Agricultural College. 



On the 13th of May a joint resolution for 

 the ratification of the fifteenth amendment was 

 introduced in the Senate, but, as all the Demo- 

 cratic members had handed their resignations 

 to the Governor, it was claimed by the oppo- 

 sition to the resolution that there was no 

 quorum. There were, however, enough pres- 

 ent in the Senate-chamber to constitute a 

 quorum, and, though they refused to vote, and 

 claimed that they were no longer Senators, 

 the President of the Senate decided that, no noti- 

 fication of their resignations having been sent to 

 the Senate by the Governor, they were still mem- 

 ers of that body. A vote was accordingly taken, 

 and the resolution was adopted. On the 14th 

 of May the joint resolution as adopted by the 

 Senate came up in the House, but in the mean 

 time all the Democratic members, except two 



(left by order of caucus to attend to the interests 

 of the party), having resigned forty-three in 

 all there were about fifty-six members left, 

 eleven less than a quorum. The Democrats 

 claimed that there could be no legal legislation, 

 the chair ruled that there was a quorum of the 

 de facto members present. The opposition 

 appealed from the decision, in the following 

 language : 



On Friday afternoon, May the 14th, A. D. 1869, a 

 call of the House having been ordered and taken, 

 which showed that only fifty-six (56) members were 

 present, and no motion being made to send for ab- 

 sentees, and a communication from the Governor hav- 

 ing been presented and read, showing that, on the 13th 

 day of said May, forty-two members of the House had 

 resigned ; thereupon the gentleman from Putnam and 

 Hendricks (Mr. Oshorn) moved to proceed to the 

 consideration of the Senate joint resolution No. eigh- 

 teen (18), which is a joint resolution to ratify the 

 proposed fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of 

 the United States, whereupon the gentleman from 

 Huntington (Mr. Coffroth) raised the point of order 

 that it was not competent for the House to proceed to 

 the consideration of said joint resolution, because 

 there was no quorum present ; and that, for the same 

 reason, it was not in order to transact any legislative 

 business. But the chair overruled the said point of 

 order, and decided that the House could proceed to 

 the consideration of and a decision upon said resolu- 

 tion. 



Now, from said decision, we, the undersigned, ap- 

 peal. J. B. COFFEOTH, 

 Eepresentative from Huntington. 



JOHN S. DAVIS, 

 Eepresentative from Floyd. 



The appeal was laid on the table, and a vote 

 on the resolution was taken as follows : yeas 

 54, nays 0, the appellants refusing to vote. 



The Specific Appropriation Bill was passed 

 under the same circumstances, and the ques- 

 tion of its validity was brought up before the 

 Supreme Court in July. The result of the trial 

 was, to sustain the validity of the act. 



The election laws of the State were so modi- 

 fied as to have the elections held biennially in- 

 stead of annually, the first election under the 

 new law to be held the second Tuesday in 

 'October, 1870. 



After ratifying the fifteenth amendment and 

 passing the Specific Appropriation Bill, the 

 Legislature adjourned. 



During the year the Hospital for the Insane 

 was enlarged, repaired, and improved, and is 

 now said to be fully equal to any other State 

 institution of the kind in the country. The 

 question of the right of the State to tax 

 national-bank notes having been brought be- 

 fore the Supreme Court of the State, a decision 

 was rendered to the effect that, while legal- 

 tender notes are not taxable under the decision 

 of the Supreme Court of the United States, 

 this is not the case with national-bank cur- 

 rency. The opinion was given by Judge Ray, 

 who quotes the thirteenth section of the act of 

 June 30, 1865, and says : 



This, at a first glance, might seem to "bring the na- 

 tional currency within the exemption, and we. are 

 now indebted to counsel for a solution of the dif- 

 ficulty ; it, doubtless, has misled them into argument. 

 But the words in the quotation in the thirteenth sec- 



