The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-02-17
OUR LANSING LETTER
An Important Week in the State
Legislature.
THE CMEEvER ATKINSON BILL.


gtsts-Annuai Meeting of the State As
ISOLATION of observation-disclosures for
Inspection of Coal Mines.
Lansing, Mich, Feb. 14.-This prom
tses to be an important week in the
legislature. 1t will not be at all sur
prising If the house disposes of the So
called equal taxation bills before ad-
journment is reached Friday, or even
sooner than that The consideration Of
the Cheever-Atkinson bill is the special
order for this afternoon, and while there
are plenty of other railroad tax meas
ures in the hopper the indications have
all along been that this bill would pass
the house whatever might be it's fate
in the senate. 1t is not believed that
the discussion will be very prolonged,
and if it is passed, the other bills will
remain suspended until the action OF
the senate is taken at least. There
Is considerable speculation as to the
vote the Atkinson bill will receive in
the house. Mr.. Cheever says 1t will
have not less than 20. but some Of its
other supporters do not put the figure
as high as that. 1t is safe wager.
however, that 1t will receive votes
| enough to pass it.
1t is not improbable that when the
| railroad bill is out of the way, the
house may consider some of the meas
ures designed to equal taxation sys-
tenn to other classes of property. There
| are a number of these bills in each
house and more will probably be intro
| duced before the time in which bills
| can be introduced expires next week
| Wednesday. One of the latest bills to
be offered on this subject provides for
the local taxation of all classes Of rail-
road property. 1t proposes to have the
| value of the property fixed by a state
board of equalization consisting of one
| person to be elected in each congress
| sional district. This Is an emergency
measure, however, and is supposed to
be taken up only in case everything
else fails.
Advice from Lawyer.
Fred A. Baker of Detroit, the we'll
| known constitutional lawyer, advised
| the legislature in an address made here
| few nights ago, to stick to the pres
| ent system of taxing railroads as it
has stood the test Of the courts, and
| by changing they would be in grave
/ danger of getting a worthless law. If
| the present rate does not produce the
| desired revenue, his advice was to in
| crease ii until Ii does.
The rivalry between the cities Of the
Upper Peninsula over the location OF
| the additional normal school the legis-
| lature is likely to make provision for
has come to an end. The twelve sena-
tors and representatives from above
the straits have held a caucus and de-
cided upon Marquette as the place for
the institution. This decision was not
arrived at without a fight. however,
and not little feeling still exists over
the matter, some of the localities con-
tending that Marquette already has all
she is entitled to in the branch prison
and house of correction.
If a bill introduced by Representa-
tive Heinemann of Detroit becomes
law the regents Of the university will
be empowered to receive money or
property for the ultimate use of that
institution and to lease or invest the
same and pay the income to persons
designated by the donors during the
life of such persons. Benevolent
friends of the university will not then
feel constrained to wait until death
approaches to show their appreciation
of the institution.
Under the Present Law.
Under the law as IL now stands prop
erty that is sold under mortgage, or at
forced sales is generally bid in for the
amount of the indeb edness and not in
frequently ii is sold for less than the
indebtedness and the creditor is given
judgment for the balance due, al
though the property may be actually
worth much more than the claim
amounts 10. Representative Burfoot of
Grand Rapids will introduce bill pro-
vidng that in all forced sales the cir
cult judge shall appoint appraisers to
fix the value of the property, and pro-
hibiting any sale at less than two
thirds of the appraised value.
Legislation designed to make people
good has begun to make it's appear
ance. Representative Aldrich Of De-
troit has introduced a bill which, If Il
becomes a law and Is rigidly enforced,
will effectually do away with every
form Of public entertainment and
amusement on the first day of the week.
The title of the bill is unusually COM
prehensive and indicates that the au-
thor of the measure means business.
1t mentions specifically every form of
entertainment that might be given in
a theater, concert hail. or in the open
air, base ball and all manner Of out
door sports being included in the list.
Another of this class Of bills has been
noticed by Senator Flood and will be
introduced this week.
Swallowing Hard Earned Cash.
1t prohibits the manufacture, having
possession of, sale. use or operation OF
any slot machine which Is manipulated
with a coin. The senator believes
these gambling devices are swallowing
up the hard earned cash of many a
young man who might put his money
to far better use, and he wants them
ruled out of the state
The indications are that the drug
gists will have to put up a stiff fight
IL they wish to keep further restrictive
measures off the statute books. Both
the Anti-Saloon league and the retail
saloonists are after them, and they will
probably be given a very hot race. The
first bill affecting them has been pre-
pared by Senator Flood, and II goes
right to the heart Of the proposition.
II provides that all druggists who sell