The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-04-09

Of sale. To avoid a petition Of these
hardships, the senate has passed a bill
providing that no tax deed be issued
until personal notice of sale has been
served on the property owner Atpresent
notice by publication Is all that is re-
Quired.
One of the most spirited contests Of
the session. that with reference to the
bills advocated by the state fish COM
mission, has been settled, the commits
sion and commercial fishermen agreeing
upon a compromise measure. BY the
terms of this bill the size OF The mesh Is
to be increased to two and one-half
inches as used in the water. instead Of
that size before tarring. which shrinks
1t one-half. No whitefish Weighing less
than two pounds in the round are to be
taken, and the month CT November is
to be a close season.
The License Fee
The license fee is to be $50 for steam
tugs, $40 for pound nets, IS for seines
and SIS for sailboats used in the bust
ness. In order to give commercial fish
ermen a chance to readjust their nets.
etc. without serious loss it is provided
that the law shall not take effect until
April 1, 1900.
A vicious custom. which has come to
be extensively followed in the legisla-
ture Of this state, is that which enables
a member to secure the passage Of a
so-called local bill on his assurance that
it is all right. A great majority Of these
local bills are given no adequate Consid-
Grafton. When they are reached on the
calendar the member representing the
territory or constituency affected by the
measure simply assures his colleagues
that the bill is purely local and of no
interest outside of his district. He,
therefore, moves that the reading Of the
bill be dispensed with, the rules suspend
ed, and the bill placed upon it's immedi-
ate passage. No one asks a question
about the bill, and no one save the in
PRODUCER, knows anything about it. 1t
Is not infrequently the case that the bill
contains provisions suspending, so far
as that municipality is concerned, the
operation of important provisions of
general laws. In other cases city and
village charters are thus rushed through
before the citizens who have been gov
erned by them have any knowledge of
their provisions or, in fact, that any
such bills have even been introduced. 1t
was only month or so ago that charter
for the city of Grand Rapids was rail-
roaded through the lower house in this
manner. 1t proved to he a worthless
and vicious measure which was subse-
quently dsowned even by the person
who prepared it. A new charter was
prepared and, after one of the most per-
sistent fights OF the session, the latter
became law.
An Interesting Parsonage.
The reformer in the legislature is an
interesting parsonage. He is here in
quite liberal proportions this year. and,
although he is always energetic, he does
not always care to be informed I have
in mind a case where a committee was
recently disposed to cut a $1,000 appro-
priation for one Of the most important
departments of state government Some
of the members of the committee who
were thus inclined, could not be induced
to even inspect the needs of the depart
ment which the proposed reduction
would seriously cripple, although it was
within q stones throw of the door Of the
committee room. One Of the gentlemen
frankly admitted that as he was not gifted
as a speechmaker, his only chance of
making reputation was in the commit
tee, and he proposed to do it by cutting
every appropriation bill that came into
his hands This would be all right if his
investigation showed that such cut
would be judicious, but his idea was to
refuse to investigate for fear he
would be convinced that it would be in
judicious.
A few weeks ago 1 was in the house
when the agricultural college appropria-
ton bill was under consideration. All
went well until the item of $4,000 for stu
dent labor was reached. At this juno
ture a man who is serving his second
term in that body, arose and in thun-
derous tones demanded that some friend
Of the bill inform the house what that
meant. I'D like to know" he shouted
'if the time has come when we have to
pay students for attending our coll
leges."
Contest in Oratory.