Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-10-04
OUR MADISON LETTER.
The College Year Begins with
High Prices.
a TAX LEVY NAY BE FORCED.

"a IAN ALfs MAJ Tx AOAILHe
Ex-senator Villas Proofs from Dakota
Case-Ju dg Bum May Retire on $4,000
a Year When He PIeases-Knows All of
Shakespeare-Teachins Agriculture 10
chiidFcn in the schoois-prof. Henry's
Cook ON Feeding Wedge for a Library.
Madison, Oct. 3.-Winter is starting
In early Wifi as. TIE furnaces were
fired three weeks AHEAD of schedule
time, and with coal 1T topnotch prices,
1t makes people vince.
Not anl.s coal, hut other things are
up. The Iandladies who are housing
and feeding the 1000 college popula.
lion are afraid they viii lose money
this year. With sugar at I cents Ii
pound (instead OF twenty-one pounds
for n dollar as one department store
advertisesl: with butter up and eggs
0 to be squeezed, prosperitw proves
q boomerang for people who glva their
time to consumption rather then. pro-
duction.
Standing before a handsome resi-.
dence the other day, the owner, n ams
Der man, remarked, The lumber ir
that building is worth 40 per ccnf.
more than when it was built" which
was some three ears back.
Work for Everybody.
Yet Madison is revelling in good
times, if by that is meant work for
all. There is a hot demand for men,
and employers are sending far ana
wide. A merchant tailor reports that
by diligence he has captured seven
needed hands and could use ten more.
The few large manufacturing indus
tries cannot begin to get h skilled
help they need, nor even the raw
hands. Rents are again scarce ir
Madison. Last year and year before
building was %Gverdone. Houses ana
flats stood vacant to some extent an9
landlords trimmed their prices. But
with the student influx about all avail
able accommodations are taken, and 4;
choice room for a student at less chan
81 is n 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 In
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 $6 and 81 ta-
bles for those who can afford 10 pay
Adams Warns Youth of Pitfalls,
The university began with n 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 10 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 he 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 n university Is not meas
urcd by attendance. Arnold of Rugby
used to say lie cared not whether he
had 800 or 100 boys, provided only
they were Christian gentlemen. In
times of prosperity like these it is said
that more young men 60 into business
and fewer take the time for education.
1t is Il disputed point, but most Of MS
have known the disposition wheli
nothing of business is in sight to int
prove the time at books.
What's New in State Affairs,
The topic III matters of state is the
tax levy to meet the big appropria-
tiouS which Governor Scofield held
up because there We're no available
funds to pay them. Whether the sec
rotary of state can he forced to levy
the tax, OF 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 n regent
OF the university. is awake to its III
t%erests, feels very sure the secretary
of state may and must raise the
money the legislature has %appropriat
ed. The issue has peel supposed I,
rest in whether the practice of tina
official in so dojlg is a legislative o.
Il mere ministerial function. Senator
Villas Is said TO take the e. ound tina
even il it be a legislative function i
may be delegated, and to have up hi
sleeve his brief in the famous Bis
marck-Y ankton capitol case. where +;
commission was authorized to locat,
the capital. to sell the old one, to bar
gain for bonuses and do things tina
would seem purely the province of TIN
legislature of the people. But w
shall soon know the outcome, if it i
to be tried at all for within a few
weeks the tax levy is apportioned t,
the counties. We have a supreml
court which is credited with a goo,
deal of the peoples interest at hear
and the dear people, if polled, woulC
likely want their legislature to spen'
their money with ali possible check
TO minimize the amount, and woul'
probably be willing for the institution
TO wait awhile.
However. it is q bald, matter-of-fac
principle of law and as such will b
decided.
Great Judges Career.
District Judge Romanso Bum, VIII
turned 20 years of age on Sept. "a, i
one Of the few men who work whel
there is 10 necessity for it. Havin,
been more than ten years on the fed
eral bench and reached the age of q
he is at liberty now TO retire any tim
and enjoy till the end of life the So
600 a year which has been the salar
Of his position since President Haye
appointed him in 1877. He succeeds
Judge Hopkins. and before that tim
for some eleven years Judge Bum ha'
been Il state circuit judge, durin
Miiltl tllAlt IL iNNFi III Afti0l IL
was born in New York state, and bot
there, when lie used to walk eight
miles each summer to the Genese
Valley wheat harvest and in Tren
pealean county. where with n helpe
he built n house in one day to live il
the incidents of his early life are n
suggestive reading as Lincoln's hard
ships and %self-efort.
There are about 100 Of these fedora
district Judges in the nation, and tn
Madison Ia syers say Judge Bum
INTEL etual equipment ranks with til
best.
Judge Bunn's literary achievement
are most remarkable. He began t
read the Elizabethan writer's and ear
Ter poets when a boy of 16, and ii i
impossible today to quote a line fron
Shakespeare that he cannot place
Chaucer, beaumont, Keats, Tennysor
the English bible-0f these he ha
made Il life study.
1t is related that in a period of relax
alton from court duties in Chicago
few years ago he was Invited to rea'
n lElDer on one of the plaVS-"HenP