The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-10-06
OUR MADISON LETTER
The College Year Begins with
High Prices.
A TAX LEVY MAY BE FORCED.

Ex-senator Villas Proofs from Dakota
Case-Judge Bum May Retire on So, 900
aYear When He PIeases-Kncws All of
Shakespeare-Teachin Agriculture to
Children in the Schools-Prof. Henry's
Book on Feeding a Wedge for a Library.
Madison, Oct. 3.-Winter is starting
In early with us. The furnaces were
fired three weeks ahead of schedule
time, and with coal at topnotch prices,
it makes people vince.
Not only coal, but other things are
up. The landladies who are housing
and feeding the 1000 college popula-
ton are afraid they will lose money
this year. With sugar at cents. a
pound Gnstead of twenty-one pounds
for dollar as one department store
advertises): with butter up and eggs
soon to be squeezed, prosperity proves
a boomerang for people who give their
time to consumption rather than pro-
duction.
Standing before a handsome resi-
dence the other day, the owner, lum-
Der man, remarked, THE lumber i'll
that building is worth 40 per cent.
more than when it was built" which
was some three years back.
Work for Everybody.
Yet Madison is revealing in good
times, if by that is meant work for
all. There is hot demand for men,
and employers are sending far and
wide. A merchant tailor reports that
NV hn
needed hands and could use ten more.
The few large manufacturing indus
tries cannot begin to get the skilled
help they need, nor even the raw
hands. Rents are again scarce in
Madison. Last year and year before
building was overdone. Houses and
flats stood vacant to some extent and
landlords trimmed their prices. But
with the student influx about all avail
able accommodations are taken, and u
choice room for a student at less than
50 is prize. Of course many get
rooms for less, but gilt-edged location
and all the comforts of home COM
mand the former price.
Table board continues reasonable III
Madison. There are no places apart
from the hotels that charge more than
$3.50. This is an anomaly, for in most
college towns there are Sc and 81 ia
bles for those who can afford to pay.
Adams Warns Youth of Pitfalls.
The university began with speech
to the enthusiastic students by Pres
ident Adams, which was full of good
advice. He is back from a summer in
Charlevoix, Mich, with Mrs. Adams,
whose health is better. 1t is likely
she will be able to resume in part at
least her social companies, a pleasing
feature of life in university circles and
in which this gracious lady shines.
There is said to be an increase in at
tendance on the university, though the
wild interest on the. part Of the state
to have this so is without reason. The
success of a university is not meas
ured by attendance. Arnold of Rugby
used to say he cared not whether he
had 800 or 500 boys, provided only
they were Christian gentlemen. In
times Of prosperity like these it is said
that more young men go into business
and fewer take the time for education.
It is disputed point, but most of us
have known the disposition when
nothing of business is in sight to i'm
prove the time at books.
What's New in State Affairs.
The topic in matters of state is the
tax levy to meet the big apprOpria-
tons which Governor Scofeld "held-
up" because there were no available
funds to pay them. Whether the Sec
rotary of state can be forced to levy
the tax, or in other words, whether the
statute used for thirty years is consti-
tutional, is the question. Secretary of
State Froelich takes the reasonable
ground that with such excellent au-
thOrity against the statute, he is not
warranted in going ahead.
Ex-senator Villas, who, as a regent
of the university, is awake to it's in
terests, feels very sure the secretary
of state may and must raise the
money the legislature has appropriate
ed. The issue has been supposed to
rest in whether the practice of that
official in so doing is a legislative or
a mere ministerial function. Senator
Villas is said to take the ground that
even it it be a legislative function it
may be delegated, and to have up his
sleeve his brief in the famous Bis
marck- Yankton capitol case, where a
commission was authorized to locate
gain for bonuses and do things that
would seem purely the province of the
legislature of the people. But we
shall soon know the outcome, if it is
to be tried at all for within a few
weeks the tax levy is apportioned to
the counties. We have a supreme
court which is credited with a good
deal of the peoples interest at heart
and the dear people, if polled, would
likely want their legislature to spend
their money with all possible checks
to minimize the amount, and would
probably be willing for the institutions
to wait awhile.
However, it is a bald, matter-Of-fact
principle of law and as such will be
decided.
Great Judges Career.
District Judge Romanso Bum, who
turned 70 years of age on Sept. "A, is
one of the few men who work when
there is no necessity for it. Having