Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-03-21

was rraehrd. speaker burrows called
Mr. Way To The chair and took mis-
pH., III the hndy VI tAr house,
Sl,,,Ney burrows uEtur torrthlc
speech, eNplaiuiug the prndmg meas
urr tie said III substance,
section OF the substitute ton sou.
ate hill I'LL contains essentially tho
provisions OF the bill MS it has passed
the senate. The object VI this section
is to provide Il manner III which cities
operating under Il special charter con
taiuiug ne provisions tor the creation
of nov wards, can when necessity de
maNd> create and change such Ward
boundaries aS may Ne desirable, The
general charter law provides Il method
10y which al cities that operate under
il. may from time to time create new
wards when occasion dCNandS, The
special charters under which many
cities operate usually rOutAtu Sonr
provisions for the creation of new
ward boundaries. The manner pre-.
Srrihcd in this hill as am2udCd for the
creation OF new wards III cities oprrat.
ing Under 4 special charter, Is ideu-
teal with the manner laid down in
the general charter law. our city of
Madison operates under special
charter that contaiuS no provision
whatever for the creation of new
wards or oven the changing OF ward
boundaries
"rhc tendency of legislation nj the
ppSrut time Is unQueSttNuahlN strong
in the direction of securing uniformity
of laws. This bill II PASSED will do
much towards securing uniformity Of
laws in our state relating To cities and
tend to bring into closer relations the
cities now operating under various spc-
rial charters. and the time will soon
come when all cities will operate un-
der the general charter law, cur city
council for various reasons has not
adopted the clause OF the general
charter law relating to the creating of
amendment of 1880 prohibits special
legislation ms to cities, we have been
left perfectly helpless in this respect.
our only relief lies in the passage of
this hll M amended
section of this act provides that
whenever any such city has hereto
fore been divided into two or moro
election precincts these may, IN the
manner therein prescribed. that
is by the petition OF
n majority of the voters re
siding in such precinct, he created IN
to n ward This Is the provision of
the hill which relates, ms Tar rs we can
learn from careful and painstaktnG
investigation, only to the city of Mad.
iSnn. After these precincts -four IN
numhcrl have been created into wards
In the manner prescribed then and
thereafter wards can only be created
hv n three fOurthS vote of the common
council of any city and this section
will not apply to any election precincts
that may hereafter he created.
"My impression is that politically
the common council Of our city would
he very evenly divided say five dem
ocratir ana i've republican wards,
hut put the reason why this amend
mrn in the form OF Il substitute
should he adopted on n higher piano,
nnd that is this: The Dane county
board of supervisors consists of NIFTY
members. Of which the city of Mad
iSon has only six. or considerable less
than eighth Dane county has u
popuatiou IN round numbers of sixty
Thousand. Of which Madison has lil
teen thousand. Now. ON the basis OF
population we should have one .fourlIl
of the board 50 II will hc seen that We
now do not have onr-half of III" rep
rrscntation that we are in reason AMI
fairness entitled to.
"Now. the total valuation of taxable
property In Dane county Is SIG, NOD,
OO0 the city of Madison having 81
1000, which Is one fourth Con
scaurntly on the basis of taxable
property we are entitled to double the
representation un the county board
that we now have
"Thc precincts intended by this act
to be created into wards are four III
number. This would give MS -four nj
ditiomaI supervisors, Increasing o'lI
representation on the county board t.
ten ont of total of lifty-four, max
ing our representation about onc-i NTH
which would not even then he what
we really are entitled 10.
cone objection that has been raised
apaiust this measure is that II might
possibly he unconstitutional on the
ground Of being special legislation,
am authorized To state that the SubStl
tue amendment was prepared uhd"l
the direct personal supervision of ON
able assistant attorney general, AT,
Lusc, aud further TINT oX-Attorh"S
General Estabro0k, after cnr"lul cN
animation. gives II bis unqualified
sanction and approval.
"rhc solid Dane county delegation
after a careful examination Of the
provisions Of the bill, favor the pass
age Of the same for the reason that II
Is based upon fairness, justice ana
,,ttalft,. IA tho CITY 0f Madison and tho