OCR Text |
Show AN UNSETTLED QUESTION. It is curious to see what ordinary and simple questions remain unsettled in even such an old and alert State as MaccachuECtts. Thus, tho State has recently re-cently received from the Federal Government Gov-ernment the sum of $1,610,000 on account of war claims, and the Legislature passed a bill to pay every surviving soldier of the war of the Rebellion who enlisted from Massachusetts and who has received no bounty, the sum of $125. It was supposed that this would about lake the money paid by the Federal Fed-eral Government, but now it is claimed that to pay the 5125 pach to the old Midlers, as proposed, will tako double the tho money received, or considerable over three million dollars. The Governor, however, vetoed the bill o distributing the money; but the Legislature pussed It over his veto, by a vote lr. tho I-Ioiiye of 151 to 47. And here cornea the unsettled question. The House comprises 2AQ members; two-thirds two-thirds of the wholt? membership would ba lfiOt and It Is clt1mtd now that, the Mas-iachuaetts conaUVtiUoK. require that tht vott Titv.-etvt.iry to ovcrrldo a veto is two -thirds of the whole membership, member-ship, though tho practice has always bseu to count the two-thirds of the membership present as being sufficient. But it ls,inirely remarkable that a question ques-tion ot this kind should not have been' settled long ago in Massachusetts. |