River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-02-24
THE CONSTITUTION.

| While the Constitution of Wiscon-
sin may be an object of especial VEN
Grafton by It's trainers and their i'm
mediate descendants, and during the
earlier history of our commonwealth
as State may have answered the
purpose for which it was designed,
later years have developed its made
quacy for the wants of the present
day. Within the past fifteen years
this instrument has been seven times
amended, two more propositions to
amend have once passed the legisla-
tnre and a number of others have been
made during the present session of the
Legislature. The wisdom of the
amendments already made seems to
be quite generally cone eded, and we
regard the adoption of some of the
propositions now pending as necessary
for the better government of the peo-
pie and the greater protection of our
Magma Charta.
Among these is the proposition offer
ed by Assemblymen L. F. ellison, of Mil
waukee for the amendment of Article
III by the addition thereto of another
section which shall authorize the leg
islature to provide for the registration
of voters in certain cases and to en-
act laws which shall guard against
frauds at elections and protect the pu
City of the ballot box. This PROPOSE
ton was prompted by a decision of
the Supreme Court-Dells VS.. Kennedy
and others, Vol. 40 Wisconsin Reports
that chapter 235, laws of 1879, a
registry law for cities of over $4,000
inhabitants, was unconstitutional, be-
cause tin certain cases denied the right
of suffrage guaranteed by the constitu-
ton. If the Supreme Court cannot
sustain the constitutionality of
stringent registry law enacted for the
prevention of election frauds, it is
about time the constitution should be
amended as to confer upon the legis-
lature the power to afford ample pro-
lection to the ballot-box.
Another proposition is, to so amend
section of Article VIII, that the rule
of taxation shall be uniform, and that
taxes shall be levied upon all property
in the State, except that owned ex-
clusively by the United States, by this
State, or any county. town, city, viii
lage or school district, and places set
apart and in actual use for the burial
of the dead. The Constitution now
provides for uniform rule of taxa
ton, but this provision has been dis
regarded by the legislature. 1t ap-
pears to us that compliance with
the Constitutional requirement in this
matter would remove one of the great
est stumbling blocks now in the way
of just and equitable mode of taxa
ton. We can see no tenable reason
why the property of certain individu-
ais or corporations should be exempted
from taxation, or taxed, if taxed at
all, by rule which permits evasion
of the payment of large proportion
of just tax, while the property of
the toiIing masses is taxed, and that
too by an intlexible rule which admits
of no evasion except by the perjury
of sworn officials.
Referring TO the disregard of the
constitutional rule of uniform taxa
ton prompts the suggestion of another
fragrant violation of the fundamental
law in the matter of the public debt.
The Constitution limits the amount to
which the State may become indebted,
to one hundred thousand dollars, yet
the people are annually taxed directly
to pay the interest on a State indebt-
edness of over two millions of dollars
The question of convention for the
framing of new Constitution is
being discussed, and as seon as the
masses of the people shall awaken to
to the necessity of organizing and
noting to protect their own interests
and resist the encroachmentS of the
money power it will be well to form a
new constitution which shall embrace
all needed innovations and exclude
those provisions that have heretofore
proven dead letter..