Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-01-16
ent. of tax OF market value, in 1890


by extending the investigation over a
period of several consecutive years. l
believe, however, that no substantial va
| ration in result will be obtained by any
different method of investigation which
may be adopted. The disclosures here
made are positively startling, and unless
these tables are shown to be radically
wrong, they present situation calling
for prompt action on the part or the
law making power of the state. This
action should discriminate neither IN Ia
| vor nor against any class or interest,
but each Individual and every corpora
| ton transac citing business within the state,
except such fraternal and other assoc1a-
| tons as are now expressly exempt from
| taxation by law, should be required to
| pay q justly prOpOrtiOnate share OF the
| taxes
A Primary Election Law.
| commissioned by the suffrages Of the
citizens of this state to represent them,
| you will have neither in the session be-
fore you nor in any official responsible
| ity which you may assume a more impor-
| tant duty than that of perfectlng ana
writing upon the statute books of Wis
consin q primary election law. 1t is q
| fundamental principle of this republic
that each citizen shall have equal voice
in government. This is recognized and
| guaranteed to him through the ballot.
| In representative democracy, where
citizen cannot act for himself for any
reason, he must delegate his authority to
| the public official who acts for him.
| Since government, with us, is conducted
by the representatives of some political
party the citizens voice in making and
administering the laws is expressed
through his party ballot. Hence, to pre-
serve his sovereign right to an equal
share IN government, he must be as
sured of an equal voice in making his
party ballot.
For many years the evils of the eau
| Gus and convention system have multi
piled and baffled all attempts at legis-
| lative control or correction. The reason
| for this is elementary. The evils come not
from without but from within. The sys-
| tenn in all it's details is inherently bad.
| 1t not only favOrS, but logically and IN
evitably produces manipulation, schem-
| ing, trickery, fraud and corruption. the
| delegate elected in caucus is nominally
| the agent of the voter to act for him IN
| convention. Too frequently he has his own
| interests alone at heart, and, for this
reason has secured his election as a
| delegate.
The demand of the voter to-day is
/ clear and explicit He asks that there be
directly for the party nominee OF MS
choice. He asserts that denial OF this
right or doubt of his ability to exercise
| it, is an impeachment of the principle
upon which state and national govern
ment is based. There is 10 valid OBJ
lection which can be interposed to this
| reasonable demand upon the part of the
citizen, and [ submit that the legislature
should primarily address itself to the
business Of framing ,; a law that s sh &C
| ereign power of the ballot. The plan Of
such legislation viii not be found diff
cult of practical application. The de-
tails should be plain and simple. The
specific provisions of such legislation are
to be determined by the legislature, not
ctsl tn
government. The legislation should be so
framed as to insure an equal voice in
| the selection of the candidates OF MS
party without let or hindrance on the
part of any man; accompanying this
| should be such provisions as will insure
an accurate registration and determine
| ton OF the will Of the people as expressed
in such primary election. Care should be
| taken that sufficient time be given the
voter carefully, to consider the character
and merits of each candidate seeking
| nomination at the hands of the people.
| When this has been done, and not till
then, the mandate of the people, eX-
| pressed at the polls last November, Will
have been obeyed
Education.
PLAINLY our educational system is get
| ting out of balance and requires read
| the State Teachers association is under
| instructions to ask from the legislature
| encouragement for. county training
| schools to better qualify teachers for dis
| trict schools and for the extension Of
the existing system of state aid to high
| schools, in order to reach and Improve
| and establish others where they are so
much needed. I believe that legislative
| action to meet this emergency in the life
| Of district schools cannot be too strongly
| recommended"
| University of Wisconsin.
Under the head of immediate and spe-
| cial needs which will call for extra appro-
priations, the university AUTHORITIES make
a in q
| college of agriculture, suitable equip
ment for the new building of the col
lege of engineering, and provision for the
| school OF commerce. | have no hest
! fancy in commencing each of these pro
| posed Improvements as worthy your ap-
prevail, but confess some doubt as to
| whether you will be able to honor all
| the worthy demands upon the taxing
| power without imposing an onerous bur
den upon the tax paying power of the
state. For reasons somewhat similar to
| those which prompt recommendations of
| state aid to country schools, [ am in
] clined especially to favor every practical
| lege of agriculture without delay.
State Normal Schools.
"By the report of the board of regents
| of normal schools am led to the conclu-
sion that this importa9nt branch rams of edu-
and that the several schools under the
management of this board are in gen
| orally satisfactory condition with re-
$4,000 appropriated by the last legisla-
| ture for additions and repairs to build
ings and equipment, only $4,000 has be-
come available, owing to the insufticiency
| of the general fund of the state to pro-
vide for all legislative appropriations:
| Considerable loss to the sta tie normal school
fund and the income fund has resulted
from a loan made nearly ten years ago
and inadequately secured against default
| in payment. The regents made a seem
ingly reasonable request that the educa-
| tiOnal trust funds should be protected
| by legislative action against loss by such
loans made by the state.
State Institutions.
For many years the people of Wiscon-
sin have had reason for just pride in the
enlightened care which the state has
| given to the afflicted classes of it's citi-
| zens, who are properly state charge.
| While faulty details Of management in
some cases and individual official failures
in some instances have been revealed,
the conduct Of Wisconsin's charitable,
penal and reformatOry institutions as a
| whole has attracted widespread atten-
ton. and commentator throughout the
country, and has furnished models for
many states. Occasional abuses as dis
covered and exposed have served to point
the way to correction and Improvement,
and rarely brought reproach upon the