The Elk Mountain pilot., 1899-02-28
WHAT THE COLORADO
LEGISLATURE is DOING.


to be used only for construction pur-
poses, Park county to furnish all sites
| without cost to the state. Damages for
the breaking of any reservoir are TO be
paid by Park county. The state en-
gineer, chairman of the board of com
, missioners and the surveyor of Park
county will constitute the board.
Senator Barela's bill for the appoint
ment of board of commissioners to
have charge of a Colorado exhibit at
the Paris Exposition is very similar to
the act of 1897. The chief commission
er must be a mining engineer convers-
ant with English, French, German,
| Italian and Russian. Salary is fixed AT
SO, 900 per annum. The other members,
five in number, will receive n remuner-
alton of 50 per diem. To defray the eX-
pense of collecting and transporting TO
| Paris n suitable mineral exhibit an APP
preparation of $4,000 is arranged.
Favorable reports have been made
on the following: Taxing live stocn i'm
ported into the state for pasturage;
taxing gross receipts OF express, tele-
phone and telegraph companies; 10 reg
ulate telegraph rates; TO regulate rates
for electric lights; to regulate telephone
and telegraph companies; to provide for
| local improvements in cities and towns
!
mitting the use of wire fences on right
of way on public roads; to require
cities of the second class to advertise
for bids for street lighting and to
award the contract to the. lowest bid
der.
A woman on the board of lunacy
commissioners is n provision of the
bill introduced by Representative Bal
linger. The measure provides for
state board of lunacy to have charge
of the asylum, no two of the members
to come from one judicial district, and
one to be a woman. No pay is to go
to the members, but they are to be re
imbursed for all expenses of attending
! meetings. The term of office is two
years, one member to retire every two
years. The superintendent to be
chosen for the asylum must reside in
the place and be a physician. He will
be allowed $4,000 year.
An opinion of the attorney general
| furnished Senator Taylor, chairman of
the judiciary committee of the Senate.
advises the death of Senator Parks
bill legalizing less than a unanimous
opinion of a jury in civil cases. The
bill provides for ten members of a
| jury of twelve and five members of a
jury of six to constitute a legal num-
DeE W II NeTulct. lie dtlOTuty
general, through Assistant Reed, says
that the constitutionallty of the bill
| depends for its determination upon n
proper construction of that part of the
| Colorado constitution known as the
"Bill of Rights" He holds It would
be unconstitutional, but admits that
| large number of able attorneys of the
state differ from him.
F., A determined effort will be made by
! the Legislature, says the Denver Re-
publican, to devise means to meet the
=; deficit in revenue which is staring the
/ state in the face. The finance commit
| tees of both houses think that some
, thing must be done to meet the expect
ed deficit of about 100000, for the fis-
cal year 1S99-1900, as well AZ to raise
funds necessary to carry on the depart
ments of the state government. The
| first step was taken when the finance
committees of both houses met with
State Auditor Temple, Attorney Gen
eral Campbell and Assistant Attorney
General Reed. The object of the meet
ing was to learn, approximately at
least, the condition of the finances of
| the state and devise some method
whereby needed funds might be raised
so that the machinery of the State
could run along unhampered. Assist
ant Attorney General Reed went at
length into the question and quoted
| figures to show that some action was
| imperative If the state institutions
were not to suffer for proper support
He suggested two methods for relief.
One is a graded system of taxationrun-
der which counties shall be assessed
upon a full cash valuation, and by
which counties now paying taxes on a
fractional valuation shall be compelled
to share the general burden. 1t was
pointed out that while the tax levy in
Arapahoe county for county purposes
is about eight mills, at least one county
in the state is taxed AZ mills. The
second plan suggested provides for the
election or appointment of n state
board of assessors armed with powers
to levy taxes in all the counties of the
state on a uniform basis.
A meeting of sportsmen was held in
Denver the other day, and a game law
agreed upon that will be drawn up in
| the form of n bill and introduced in the
Legislature. The general open shoot
ing is fixed like this: Deer and ante
| lope, August 18th to October 31st; elk
and mountain sheep, October 18th to
! October 31st; quail, November 18th to
| December 18th; turkeys, grouse, wild
chickens, prairie chickens and sage
hens, September LIST to October 31st;
ducks; September list to April 18th;
doves, July 18th TO September Both.
Trout can be caught from May Doth to
October 31st. 1t limits the killing of
ducks to fifty a day and forbids anyone
! having in his possession more that 100
at one time. The extension of the trout
| fishing season takes in Decoration Day,
May Both, which was considered by the
committee as an advantage to every
body in the state, particularly the work
ing man, who has that day for his out
ing. The bill also limits the sports
man, aside from fifty ducks and one
animal, to twenty quail and thirty