Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-01-27
MANY NEW BILLS.
Opening Week of the Legisla-
ture a Busy One.
Assemblyma1 Halls Anti-Pass Measure
Launched.

MdIlSOE. w IS. Jan. Zo.-IHc HIST
eek of real work on the part of the
Wisconsin Legislature was marked by
the introduction of a large number Of
important bills, and by the beginning OF
the great fight which Assemblyman Hal!
OF Dunn county will make to secure the
passage Of anti-pass legislation, If it can
be done Mr. Hall did not secure much
of a victory in the first round, but no
one who knows him will believe that he
will be deferred 1T all by the setback he
got He viii no doubt bob up serenely
later IN the session, armed with no END
Of petitions and force the Legislature TO
take some sort of q stand III the matter.
Already there have been two propo-
SitionS 70 amend the cOnStitutlon-one
to compel q foreigner to be 1uI cltl-
zen before he can vote. and one TO give
the people the Initiative referendum
and imperative mandate, demanded by
the PopuliSts. There have also been
number Of bills to repeal laws passed at
the last session. including enc to wipe
out the deep waterways commissioner,
another to repeal the steamboat taxation
law. and five TO kill the famous Aeeley
law.
Bills were introduced to regulate the
practice of medicine, to tax express com
DanieS 10 legalize the acts Of villages
whose charters have been inyalldated by
Supreme court decisions, to compei the
taxation OF mortgages, to provide Tor the
labelling Of goods made III foreign prisons
and shipped TO this state for sale, amend
ing the road laws, the laws relating 10
jurors, the banking laws, and great
many other laws.
Acknowledgement Mylrea has earned
such a reputation as Il smasher Of trusts
that they are now accusing him OF
threatenin in advance to break UP
trusts if they are formed He has re-
ceiyed q copy of the Wood Pulp News,
published in New York, in which
writer takes several columns TO score
him for having threatened TO break up
the p2per-makers' trust II one was
formed. The paper says that he wrote
TO one Of the Wisconsin manufacturers,
who was going into the trust: II you
attempt to join that trust, l VIII bust
your charter within twenty-four hours
Mr. Mylrea says that he never wrote
such a letter. but that there IS no doubt
that the charter in question could have
been inyalidated if the company had
Joined the trust.
Some of the members Of this Legisla
ture are working q scheme which Is CIV
inc the hotels and boarding houses black
ewes. They are forming little clubs Of
three or four and renting houses III
which they keep bachelors hall. There
have been a number of houses rented By
such parties and more are contemplating
the same move. In some instances they
employ a cook and in others they take
their meals at the hotels or restaurants.
The state was saved Il pretty printing
bill by motions in each house rot to
print the report submitted by the com
lnittee on the revision of the laws. The
report made coo printed pages. and Lad
il been printed as part Of the proceed
ingS it would have cost the state several
thousand dollars.
1t will not be long before the expected
anti-express company legislation viii be
started, TO give the express lobby
chance 10 earn its money This year As
sembIyInan J. o. Davidson will be the
moving spirit in the matter. At the last
session Assemblyman O'Neil introduced
= bill to tax the express companies and
Iathered it, but Mr.. Davidson had 4
hand in getting it through the Assembly.
II was Killed III the Senate and that is
where the lobby will probably be able to
stop the bill which Mr.. Davidson will in
rroduce Mr. Davidson's bill, it is like
~. will differ materially from the one in
PRODUCED by Mr.. O'Neil. lie has been
studying the Iowa law and will probably
model his bill after it. There the com
panies are taxed by the number of miles
of read used within the state ana 1t IS
said that the state derives q very nice IT,
come from the tax. Mr.. Davidson will
have his bill ready in q few days.
Senator Putnam does not like the press
comment on the pardon board bill to the
erect that it is only 4 halfway measure.
lie says that it is only intended to be Il
temporary expedient to relieve the gov
ernor until the constitution can be
amended and a regular board can be
appointed. He calls attention TO the fact
that two years ago he moved for an
amendment to the constitution 70 make
the appointment of such Il board posi-
bile and says that If nobody anticipates
him he viii introduce another resolution
for the same purpose. But to get an
amendment through and have Il board
established viii require four years, and
meanwhile. in his opinion, there is TO
reason why the governor should not be
relieved of q large part of the work
that is now entailed upon him by the
petitions for pardons. The advisory
board which his bill contemplates, would
20 through the evidence and make It's
recommendation, upon which the gov
ernor could act as safely as though he
had taken the time to go through the
evidence himself Michigan, Mr.. Put
nam says, has the same constitutional
provision as Wisconsin in the matter of
plT1CIS, anu IL law siller WHICH lie HAS
modelled his is working to the satisfac-
ton Of everybody.
II AsSemblyman Merriman's proposed
amendment to the constitution should be-
come an accomplished fact it would car
ry CONSERVATION to 4 very large class
of Wisconsin voters. He wants to strike
out the provision which enables Il for
eigneZ to vote in this state when he has
declared his intention of becoming Il citi-
zen, which would make it necessary for
him to be a full citizen in order to have
the right of suffrage That would mean
that he would have to reside in the
country five years before he could vote.
and would disfranchise many thousands
Of voters in the state. 1t will be a
matter that will go home to n good many
Of the members who reside in districts
where the foreign-born population is
large. and they may hesitate to support
it. Then if it goes through the Legisla-
ture it will have to so before the pee
pie, aud that will be 4 still severer trial for
it. 1t would take four years to go into
effect and in that time most of the for
eignerS now here could become full citi-