42 of the public acts of 1891, and all other acts and parts of acts contravening the provisions of this act," so as to prevent persons not properly qualified as such from serving as jurors in courts of record in said county; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration and have directed me to request of the House that the bill be printed for the use of the committee. Reported accepted and committee discharged. A. C. COOK, Acting Chairman. The request was granted and the bill ordered printed for the use of the committee. By the committee on Village Corporations: The committee on Village Corporations to whom was referred House bill No. 81, entitled A bill to incorporate the village of Elkton, in Huron county, Mich.; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration and have directed me to report the same back to the House, without amendment, and recommend that it do pass, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. Report accepted and committee discharged. E. B. TAYLOR, Chairman. The rules were suspended, two-thirds of all the members present voting therefor, and the bill was put upon its immediate passage. The bill was then read a third time and passed, a majority of all the members elect voting therefor, by yeas and nays, as follows: On motion of Mr. Madill, By a vote of two-thirds of all the members elect, the bill was ordered to take immediate effect. By the committee on Village Corporations: The committee on Village Corporations, to whom was referred House bill No. 96, entitled A bill to incorporate the village of Caseville; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed me to report the same back to the House without amendment, and recommend that it do pass, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject; Report accepted and committee discharged. E. B. TAYLOR, Chairman. The bill was ordered printed, referred to the committee of the whole, and placed on the general order. By the committee on Apportionment: The committee on Apportionment to whom was referred House bill No. 25, entitled A bill to apportion anew the Representatives among the several counties and districts of this State; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed me to request of the House that the bill be printed for the use of the committee. GEO. W. PARTRIDGE, Report accepted and committee discharged. On motion of Mr. Cook, Acting Chairman. The request was granted, and the bill ordered printed for the use of the committee. By the committee on Apportionment: The committee on Apportionment, to whom was referred House bill No. 26, entitled A bill for the apportionment of Senators in the State Legislature; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed me to request of the House that the bill be printed for the use of the committee. GEO. W. PARTRIDGE, Acting Chairman. Report accepted and committee discharged. On motion Mr. Cook, The request was granted and the bill ordered printed for the use of the committee. By the committee on Apportionment; The committee on Apportionment, to whom was referred House bill No. 27, entitled A bill to divide the State of Michigan into 12 congressional districts; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed me to request of the House that the bill be printed for the use of the committee. GEO. W. PARTRIDGE, The request was granted, and the bill ordered printed for the use of the committee. By the committee on State Affairs: The committee on State Affairs, to whom was referred House bill No. 32, entitled A bill to establish a normal school in central Michigan; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration. and have directed me to request of the House that the bill be printed for the use of the committee. E. L. KINGSLAND, Chairman. Report accepted and committee discharged. On motion of Mr. Kingsland, The request was granted and the bill ordered printed for the use of the committee. On motion of Mr. Chamberlain, The House took a recess until 1:30 o'clock this afternoon. AFTERNOON SESSION. 1:30 o'clock p. m. The House met and was called to order by the Speaker. Roll called: quorum present. The House resumed the regular order. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES. By the committee on Military Affairs: The committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred A bill to make an appropriation for marking by monuments the places Occupied by the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, Twenty-first and Twenty-second Regiments of Michigan Infantry, the Second and Fourth Regiments of Cavalry, the First Regiment Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, and Batteries A and D, first Michigan Artillery, who participated in the campaigns and battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, within the National Military Park of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and providing for the erection of the same; Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed me to report the same back to the House without amendment, and recommend that it do pass, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. The bill under consideration is one of more than usual importance to the State of Michigan, and it deserves more than a brief statement. The origin and development of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Park project; A visit of a number of Union soldiers to the Chickamauga battlefield in June, 1888, led to the publication of a series of letters in the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette, in which the suggestion was made that the field should be secured and preserved and all the lines of battle be permanently marked. In September following, the secretary of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, by a resolution, brought the subject before the society at its meeting in Chicago. A committee was appointed, which met in Washington the following February, and a conference secured with prominent Confederate veterans, who were in Washington with a view of forming a joint Memorial Battlefield Association, and a plan for preserving and marking the field was approved. After much preliminary work, in which the entire country became interested, a bill was introduced in the United States Senate in June, 1890, entitled "An act to establish a National Military Park at the Battlefild of Chickamauga. The bill provided for the purchase outright of the thirteen square miles of territory which embrace the battlefield, and the cession of thirty-eight miles of roads outside of this tract, which include those along Missionary Ridge and over the north point of Lookout Mountain. Over this territory and along these approaches Congress was to assume full jurisdiction and establish them as a National Military Park under the direct care of the Secretary of War. All the leading influences of the House and Senate quickly manifested their interest, and, though the bill carried a large appropriation, it was taken up out of its order, by unanimous consent, and passed without a dissenting vote in either body. The bill under title, Public Act No. 234," was approved August 19, 1890. 46 Under authority of this act, the Sceretary of War appointed a commission under whose supervision work was at once commenced. Titles to the lands were secured, and a large force of men began the construction of roads and the removal of underbrush in the forests, and other improvements were made. As the result of this Commission work, the fighting lines of all divisions have been ascertained, and historical tablets have been placed and seventeen monuments to general officers and regular organizations erected in the park by the United States. During the past two years the United States, through its commissions, have called upon all the states having troops in the campaigns and battles of Chickamauga and Chatanooga to provide state commissions to co-operate with them, and all the states have done so. At this time, the positions of nearly all the troops of both Union and Confederate armies have been marked, and some of the states have erected their monuments, and nearly all the states have made appropriations for monuments to be erected the coming season. The State of Ohio has completed the erection of fifty-six monuments at a cost of $95,000; Minnesota has five at a cost of $15,000; New York has appropriated $81,000 for sixteen monuments, which will soon be completed; and other states of the Union are taking an equally active interest. By an act of Congress, the 19th and 20th days of September, 1895, have been designated as the dates of the dedication, and the President of the United States instructed to extend invitations to the Governors of all the states to participate, and it is expected that all the states having troops in the battles will have their monuments in place for state dedication at the same time. The State of Michigan had eleven organizations in these battles, each one bearing most honorable part, and the sum appropriated by this bill is, in proportion to numbers engaged, very small as compared with other states. The act of Congress leaves it to the states to erect monuments to regiments and batteries, and to larger organizations of the army, such as corps, divisions and brigades, to erect their own. One such is now being erected to the memory of the Widler Brigade by its commander, at a cost of $40,000. The sites, designs and inscriptions for all monuments must, under the law, receive the approval of the Secretary of War, before they can be erected. The park, when completed, will be the most comprehensive and extended military object lesson in the world. The central drive, now completed, from the southern limits of the Chickamauga field to the north end of Missionary Ridge, twenty-two miles in length, passes through and overlooks heavy fighting grounds, and with the other highways completed and under construction to the six battlefields, Chicamauga, Wauhatchie, Brown's Ferry, Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, over every mile of territory made sacred by the valor of Michigan's sons, of which the space of this report will not permit only to say that at Chickamauga alone Michigan's loss aggregated seven hundred and thirty-three men. Add to these the casualties of Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge and other engagements, those who yielded up their lives to privation and disease, and Michigan's loss will fall little short of fifteen hundred men. The Commission appointed by His Excellency, the Governor of this State, two years ago, having faithfully performed their duties, and to enable them to complete their duties in time for the National dedication, there should be no delay in the passage of this bill, as recommended by His Excellency, the Governor of the State. ARTHUR L. HOLMES, Report accepted and committee discharged. Chairman. The bill was ordered printed, referred to the committee of the whole, and placed on the general order. MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR. The Speaker announced the following: To the House of Representatives: EXECUTIVE OFFICE, MICHIGAN, I have this day approved, signed, and deposited in the office of the Secretary of State House bill No. 77, being An act to authorize the board of supervisors of the county of Bay, to transfer money from the contingent fund of said county, to the poor fund thereof. Also, House bill No. 8 (file No. 1), being An act to amend sections 4 and 6 of an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to provide a charter for the city of Detroit, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts in conflict therewith,' approved June 7, 1883, by adding a new chapter thereto," approved March 18, 1893. Very respectfully, The message was laid on the table. JOHN T. RICH, |