FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1847

The journal of yesterday was read and corrected.

Mr. Gale presented the petition of William D. Chapin and seventy-two others, praying that the name of Columbus be granted to the state of Wisconsin, which was referred to the committee on miscellaneous provisions.

Resolutions were introduced and read as follows, to wit:

By Mr. Lovell: "Resolved, That the committee on revision and arrangement consist of five members."

By Mr. O'Connor: "Resolved, That the committee on arrangement and revision be instructed to inquire into the expediency of incorporating a clause in the constitution providing for its amendment at the time and manner following: Every tenth year after the year 1850 it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit to the people at the next annual election the question whether they are in favor of calling a convention to amend and revise the constitution or not; and if a majority of the qualified electors of the state shall have voted in favor of a convention, the legislature shall at its next session provide by law for holding a convention, to be holden within six months thereafter; and such convention shall consist of a number of members not less than that of the house of representatives nor more than that of both houses of the legislature."

Resolution No. 1, introduced by Mr. Fenton yesterday, was then taken up, when Mr. Beall moved to amend the same by adding "that the resolution be referred to a committee of three with instructions to receive proposals for the printing of the journal and report the result at the earliest practical period." Mr. Judd moved to postpone the further consideration of said resolution until the twenty-second day of January next, which was disagreed to. And the ayes and noes having been called for and ordered, those who voted in the affirmative were [affirmative 17, negative 44; for the vote see Appendix I, roll call 33].

Mr. Gale moved to amend by substituting the following, to wit: "Resolved, That the printers to the convention be directed to print for the use of the convention 500 copies of the journal together with a sketch of the debates, and that they be allowed therefor forty cents per thousand ems for composition, forty cents per token for press work, twenty dollars for arranging and preparing the index thereto, and no other compensation whatever, except cost of paper; and that a committee of three be appointed to superintend and direct such publication." And the question having been put upon the adoption of the same, it was decided in the negative. And the ayes and noes having been called for and ordered, those who voted in the affirmative were [affirmative 17, negative 47; for the vote see Appendix I, roll call 34].

Mr. Whiton proceeded to argue at length in opposition to the resolution. He said that at the opening of the session proposals had been received for letting the incidental printing to the lowest bidder. Under these proposals various bids had been made, and the work was awarded to the lowest. With that he was satisfied. He looked no further and did not trouble himself to inquire whether the suc

cessful bidder would or would not save himself pecuniarily in taking it. It was the principle of having work done in this manner that he was desirous of sustaining. Here, however, was a proposition started in the midst of the session to have the journal done at the usual rates. To this he was opposed, as he thought it should be done in the same manner as the incidental. He appealed to members if their own sense of consistency did not dictate that this resolution should not prevail. The printing of the daily slips had been ordered in opposition to his wishes. He did not believe that it was contemplated by those who had taken the work that this was to be done. But still as they had engaged to do all that was ordered by the convention, no good reason existed for having any relief extended to them. It was work which might or might not be demanded, and it was for the contractors to look out and provide in advance for such contingencies. He had heard no complaints made by them on this subject. The work had been done and done to his entire satisfaction, and he believed to that of every member. But as the work had been taken so low, he thought this part of it ought to be dispensed with, so as not to take an undue advantage of those who, from motives into which he had no right to inquire, had taken it to execute for nothing.

Mr. Kilbourn hoped the motion of the gentleman from Fond du Lac (Mr. Beall) would not prevail. While he had advocated and should continue to advocate the principle of letting out such work, he regarded it as but a mere act of justice to the contractors in the present case to receive a just remuneration for extra work ordered by the convention. The printing of the daily slips had not been ordered by the last convention; and the contractors in making their bid could not have anticipated that any such work would be required of them. It was not necessary work-although convenient— and might well have been dispensed with. By printing the journal with the types thus set for work which was not properly incidental and allowing a fair compensation for it the convention were merely doing themselves and the public a favor, and rendering justice to those who were doing that which they could never have anticipated would be required of them. He submitted to the members if the object contemplated by the resolution was not exceedingly desirable. A vote would be taken upon the constitution doubtless at a very early day after the adjournment, and their constituents as well as themselves wanted the journal to refer to. If it was ever necessary

it would be then. He appealed, therefore, in all confidence to members to sustain the resolution.

Mr. Whiton said the gentleman (Mr. Kilbourn) grounded his position upon the fact that the daily slips were extra incidental. But was that really so? Proposals had been made to the several offices, and bids invited. The present contractors had taken it in a lump. If they had taken it by the piece they would have got their pay. It was not unfair, therefore, for the convention to order all that they desired. They had a perfect right to do so, however hard it might bear upon the printer. For himself, he was sorry that the slips had been ordered. It was imposing a large extra expense upon the printer, which he did not think ought to be done. But as the work had been bid off in the shape it was, there was no just ground for complaint.

Mr. Judd said that the decision of the convention against his motion just submitted for a postponement of this question he did not understand as a decision on the merits of the question, but simply an indication of the wish of a majority of the members to discuss and finally dispose of this exciting question now. Upon this understanding he should proceed to state his objections to the resolution and the principal reasons upon which they were founded.

At an early day of the session the question of printing for the convention had been fully and he thought satisfactorily debated and gravely settled by a very decided majority. That decision was that all the incidental printing required and ordered by the convention should be let by contract to the lowest bidder. Bids had been received, and the lowest one accepted. This at the time he considered a perfect disposal of the whole subject, and had most ardently hoped it would not have been again agitated at a manifest waste of time. But it seemed that in this reasonable expectation he was mistaken. The convention would do him the justice, no doubt, to acknowledge that he was not responsible for its appearance here at this time, nor ought they to hold him accountable for the waste of time which its introduction might occasion. He was opposed to the resolution but should vote for the amendment offered by the gentleman from Fond du Lac (Mr. Beall) because that amendment proposed to require a "committee to receive proposals or bids from any or all the printing offices in this village for printing these journals, and to report to the convention at the earliest practicable day." He would support this motion for a reference, because it proposed to pro

cure this work to be done in the same manner as the incidental printing had been ordered and was founded upon the same principles and based upon the same broad ground, viz., equal, open, and free competition for all persons. This was the declared motive of all those who supported the motion for procuring the incidental printing; such was his understanding, and such he presumed was the universal understanding of all who heard that discussion or understood the decision to which the convention came upon that question.

He, together with a decided majority of the convention, had supported the proposition to let the incidental printing to the lowest bidder for the purpose of getting rid of this vexed and exciting question and for the purpose of establishing a very salutary principlea reform which he believed the people were anxious for and would hail as the harbinger of more quiet, peace, and harmony than any other vote which had yet been adopted by the convention. Having, therefore, supported that proposition, how could it be expected of him that he should now vary his practice from what he then supported as founded in principles as wise in theory as they were just and equitable in their operations? He could not act such an inconsistent part. If it was proper and right to procure the incidental printing by contract as the convention had done by the lowest bidder, surely the same reasons, the same principles, the same motives, and the same causes should lead to the same results in reference to printing the journal.

Mr. Judd said if he was correct in the premises and in the conclusions to which he had come he could not believe that any member of the convention who had recorded his vote in favor of letting the printing of the convention to the lowest bidder would now, just afterwards, and while yet in the same session, change his vote on a similar proposition for printing the journal. Such a change would clearly be a change of front, or in other words subject them to the charge of inconsistency.

In order to show that such would be the natural construction upon such a change in the vote of the convention Mr. Judd read from the Racine Advocate of the twenty-ninth instant an extract taken from the Milwaukee Sentinel, in which it is intimated that the convention had not acted in good faith, and the editor of the Advocate declared himself in these words: "We will not believe there is real honesty in the affair in any event." Thus it seems,

Mr. Judd continued, that these editors some time since and upon first understanding the determination of the convention in this particular gravely advanced the opinion that such a result as is now attempted would follow and that there was "no honesty" in the action of the convention on this exciting and ever troublesome matter. The vote on this question will answer the query whether the majority of the convention did honestly intend that the printing should be done under contract by the lowest bidder. He would not consent to be placed in such a position; he did not believe a majority of the convention would place themselves in such a category-nay, he did not believe that anyone who had voted for that proposition would now vote for printing the journal, as is proposed by this resolution and in violation of the other proposition to let it by contract to the lowest bidder. Here Mr. Judd qualified the above remark by saying that he was compelled to make an exception to his last proposition, as the gentleman from Milwaukee (Mr. Kilbourn) had already declared his intention to vote for giving this printing directly to the Argus office without first receiving proposals or making any contract upon the subject. It is true, Mr. President, that that gentleman voted for letting the incidental printing by contract to the lowest bidder and did, when that question was under discussion, declare that he would support an article providing for and making it the duty of the legislature to procure all printing required by the state to be done under contract and let to the lowest bidderand it is no less true than strange or strange than true that that gentleman has here declared, today, that he shall give this resolution his support! How singular! What reason can be assigned? What explanation can be given? Mr. Judd said he could find none which would justify him in changing his vote; he could imagine none which would in his judgment justify others in changing theirs and he sincerely hoped none such would be found.

There were, he knew, various causes which might operate on the human mind to produce conviction, among which he would mention fear. How much of this agent had been brought into requisition in this case he did not know. A threat from the conductor of a public press, he was aware, might have an influence upon some men, but he presumed no such course had been resorted to here, and if it had been, he did not believe it could accomplish anything. Another means not unfrequently employed was flattery and persuasion, by which the mind of man was very often coaxed into the support of