The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-04-30
LETTER FROM LANSING
Legislative News Gathered by Our
Correspondent.
THE PINGREE RAILWAY BILLS.

Week and Two Passed, but Not Until
Amended So rs To lie Mutually Satisfac-
tory ichigan's New Deputy Attorney
General-Move for Uniform Game Laws
Legislative Inconsistency.
Lansing, Mich, April 20.-The pre-
diction made last week that there was
little, If any, show for the passage or
the so-called railroad bills has been
more than verified by the proceedings
of the past few days. During last week
three of these railroad bills were con-
sidered and two were passed, but not
until they had been amended so as TO
be mutually satisfactory. One or these
bills. which was given immediate effect,
requires that bicycles be carried free as
baggage, but it limits the company
liability to damages resulting from act
ual carelessness, the company being eX-
empt in all cases where hooks or other
proper devices for holding the wheels
en- route are supplied. The second bill
passed originally sought to make 1t OBJ
ligatory upon all railroad companies to
maintain a warning bell at all crossings.
both in and out of municipalities This
would have entailed an expense of sew
eral million dollars Before being passed
the bill was amended so that the bell
system must be petitioned for by twen-
ty-fiye taxpayers, and then need be put
In and maintained only in case the rail-
road commissioner decides that the
crossing is a dangerous one and so or
ders.
Bill Made Quite Harmless.
The anti-railroaders showed their
hand most effectively when the Atkin-
son anti discrimination bill came up.
This bill provides that there should be
no discrimination in either freight and
passenger rates. Inasmuch as discrim-
nation in freight rates is already pro-
hibited by law, this feature Of the bill
was not antagonized. The other pro-
vision rendered 1t unlawful for the COM
pany to give to one person a rate be-
tween two points that 1t would not give
all other persons. The effect of such
law would be to do away with the sale
Of mileage books and also excursion
rates, and it was argued that, instead
of lowering the passenger fares, the bill
would do away with special rates and
make a fiat Scent fare The result OF
the discussion was that the passenger
fare provision was stricken out by
vote of AZ to "a, thus making the bill
quite harmless from a railroad point OF
view. In this discussion the members.
went over the fiat 2-cent fare question,
and the vote above noted quite conclu-
sively seals the fate of the 2-cent fare
bill when 1t is reached on the calendar.
There still remain nine railroad bills to
be considered. They will be taken up
on the 2Sth inst, to which time the spe-
cial order has been postponed. This
bill has not come up for final passage.
Vote On Constitutional Amendments.
The result of. the vote on the two con-
stitutional amendments. which were
submitted to the people this spring,
very effectually disposes Of the PROPOSE
ton to amend the constitution so as to
provide for the initiative and referen-
dunn. One Of the amendments voted on
this spring was purely local measure
for Kent county, permitting that county
to have a board of county auditors. It
could not possibly have the slightest eff
feet on any other section of the state,
yet county after county rolled up big
majority against it and it was buried
out Of sight. It is safe to say that not
one person in fifty who voted against
the proposition had the slightest reason
for doing 80, The result demonstrated
conclusively that the people cannot be
depended upon to inform themselves as
to the merits Of these propositions, and
for this reason whatever hope their was
for the submission of the referendum
scheme has gone glimmering.
The manner In which the people IN
sisted on voting no on the Kent county
amendment brings to mind the case Of
the two members of the legislature Of
1883 who religiously voted no on every
bill in which they detected anything
savoring OF q dollar mark, so intent
were they on establishing a reputation
for economy.
Demonstrated Their Sincerity.
It will be remembered that the year
previous there had been a special ses-
sion of the legislature for the purpose
OF making an appropriation for the fire
sufferers up in the Huron and Sanilac
county region. IT happened that after
the relief committee concluded its Ia
bors there was still balance I'm this
fund, and the money having been ap-
propriated for special purpose. It could
never be used until covered back into
the general fund of the state. Accord
ingly a bill was introduced making the
transfer, but the two gentlemen men
toned above demonstrated their SINGER
ity of purpose by voting against it,
Since last Friday Michigan has had
new Official. This is 4 Deputy attorney
general, the bill creating this office with
salary of $1,000 per annum having
been approved by Governor Pingreo on
the day named. Heretofore the legis-
Iature has allowed the attorney general
$1,000 per year out of which he was
obliged to pay his assistant and the sew
eral clerks needed for the proper trans
action of the business Of the office. The
law did not recognize any such officer
as assistant or deputy attorney general,
but the new statute does. Attorney
General Maynard has appointed Henry
e. Chase Of Van Buren, county his dep
uty. Mr.. Chase has been his able as
sistant for the past two years.
Farmers Finally Triumph.
A bill which the farmers of the state
have been bravely battling for for the
past six or eight years has finally be-
come law. In their efforts to secure
this enactment the farmers have always