Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-02-20

| q basket or drives fOur-nOfse GS
| MIR. Ralph Vernon. who was treasur,
agent for term Of years, as the heat
of this department is styled, tens m'
that the rapid settling OF the state u
lessening the number of peddlers, Oh
minishing the revenue, and that then
area Of operation is now mainly in the
| northern counties. The present law
compels a one-horse rig to pay state
| license Of $40 and the Evans htll al
| lows the community whirL he ytsits
| TO nut local tax or tcJ of this moi
to exceed $50 per day. 1t seems thai
peddlers representing large stores iI
| the cities go through the country doing
| large retail trade. to some extend on
the installment plan even, and OF
course the local merchants, who pay
taxes and support their towns, do not
ike it.
Legislation Affecting Capital City.
Apart from the university appropria.
ton bills, there liz plan of lighting
the state institutions at Madison by a
state plant. This is an old proposal,
but the local lighting company has al
ways teen able to defeat it by show
ing the economy of private lighting.
This year the plan takes in Mendoza
hospital, the electric current to be
driven by wire some four miles. 1t Is
understood that Governor LaFollette
insists that renewed contracts with
the lighting company must be for
short terms that prompt transition
to public lighting system may be pos
sible.
Among minor university measures
is one by Senator Mills of Superior
abolishing all tuition at the university
normal schools, and day deaf schools.
At the present time these charges are
on very low basis. 1t is also ru-
mored that bill il coming designed
to discourage the fraternity system at
the university and one by Mr.. Saurau
of Oshkosh to give a gold medal for
the best physical development and for
bid degrees to students who cannot
pass a medical examination. Things
of this sort are not to be taken too Sc
riously.
Fresh Political Divisions.
Really. the most important matters
before the legislature are apportion-
ment. the primary election, railroad
and insurance taxation. There is ii
committee of twenty assemblymen and
ten senator's. three from each con-
gressional district. at work on cary
ing ont new districts, to equalize the
1900 census. One can readily see how
no plan can lie drawn to suit every
body. Apart from the fear of present
lawmakers that their districts will be
put in such shape that they cannot be
controlled politically. is the alarm
raised by many lest new political
forces be set at work in old districts,
Hearings on the primary election
are now on. The opponents of the
| measure have been content to criti-
else 1t as a whole, without suggesting
any improvements on the present sys-
TEN, Which the friends of the meas
IRE consider a sign of its strength
and of the bad faith of the opposition.
Some want TIE measure ferred TO
the people before being adopted, but
an answer IL made to this that the
unanimous approval by the Republican
party ut the Milwaukee convention has
met this demand. Governor LaFol.
lette's political opponents are doing
what they can to discourage the meas
ure in Que way or another, although a
number are on record in at least p1r-
tial approval.
How Many Signsrs Necessary
The Madison State Journal recent
ly figured ON the last election returns
to show how many signatures a can.
didate for office would require to get
his name on the ballot at the pri-
| mary election. In the First ward
Of Madison Republican F7ould have
to secure six signatures, hree II a
Democrat This to be listeu as can
didate for alderman. Coming to may
or. Republican would need fifty ON
his petition; a Democrat forty-two. To
be a candidate for county office, say
sheriff of Dane county. the Renub-
lican candidate must have 1873 signers:
the Democrat 1923 The same for a
candidate for state senate II n man
wished to file paper for the nomina-
ton as Madison assemblyman. he
would need siSty-nine signers for a
Republican and fifty-one for a Demo
GRAFT Roughly speaking, to become a
candidate for state office one would
need $500 signatures, well distributed
over the state, for a Republican and
200 fer Democrat.
Mr.. Il. Ray Stevens. whose name
the primary election bill bears, in ad-
vocatng 1t, lays stress on the fact
that the primaries and the counting of
the ballots are in the HANDS of non
partisan public officers. thu anne as
manage general elections.
Taxation of Insurance Companies
There are only rumbles of the com
ing fight over the attempt to repeal
the Orton bill which imposes a tax
of nearly S250,O00 year ON the North
western Mutual Life. That company
has issued considerable literature up.
holding It's claim of injustice and no
doubt the brains 4 Milwaukee VIII be
enlisted In the luhh~. When the time
comes Judge Ofton 's willing to make
some concession He says he Will not
protest the repeal Of the clause caus-
ing the payment by outside companies
of taxes in tails state. The effect of
this has been to- force the Northwest
ern company to pay some $4,000 to
other states which have retaliated un-
der this clause The income 10 Wis
consin from this source is only about
SO. 00o.
He says IF this change is re-
quested in the law I shall not OPP
pose II. but ask the substitution of an
amendment permitting the enforce
ment In this state of retaliatory taxes
against companies IN states which tax
Wisconsin companies. This was the
law in regard to outside companies
prior to the adoption of the present
measure"
A M n