National Affairs: Bait

Once a State legislature has adjourned, all the State’s horses and all the State’s men are usually required to get together a quorum again if a special session seems necessary. Last week, Governor Small of Illinois gave a demonstration of how such a matter can be accomplished. Himself a politician whose reputation is stamped with a dollarsign, Governor Small knows money’s power. So, though the unfinished business of the Illinois Legislature comprised new transit laws and “home rule” over public utilities for Chicago, Governor Small’s special-session call dwelt upon the alluring theme of several million dollars of extra state moneys which the legislators might dispose of if they would reconvene. There were, said Governor Small, $236,855 on hand from race-track taxes, for county fair appropriations; and some $6,500,000 from a gasoline tax which had been declared illegal.