The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1901-01-19

sentatlon. Knox has a large remaincer,
hut shows q decreas0 Of 81 pr cent in
| p pulation. II the legislature cverlooks
that decrease and awards her seven MEM
bers she VIII be still one short Of her rep
resentatlon now, but then they shy thers
was a trade ten years ago ty which Knox
got an extra representative ard Oxford
senator. Penobscot has "a remainder Of
965s, has gained 46 psr cent In pop1la-
tion and needa the seventh odd member
to keep Its present number Ct IL. Frank
lin which shows 9 gain Of 2 psr cent
has a remainder of only as Oxford
and ARGOS ,ook gain one each without
taking renainders into consider alton.
just how the committee Will look at
these things and just what the legista-
ture will do remains to be seen.
THE TAN BILLS.
IL lie understood that all ths measures
of taxation prepared under the aufpices
Of the grange will BE- presented by Tues
day CT next week. Those still TO come In
clude the bills to tax the electric roads,
the telephone companies, the wild lands
and the foreign corporations organized In
Maine. 1t is said that the telephone bill
will be the one whose provisions will
cause the greatest surprise. The state
ment was made here today that the New
England company would lie called upon
to pay q tax about double that of the
Maine Central. The statement may be
taken for what 1t is thought to be worth.
The telephone tax Will be based upon
the gross earnings Of the companies and
so will the tax upon the electric roads,
the grange committee having adopted
that system propose TO Incorporate 1t in
all theirl measures SO far as possible.
With these measures p,nding it is safs
that there Will be hearings to follow that
now In progress on the railroad bill,
which will be equally Interesting.
THE DEATH PENALTY.
The legislature has been asked to re-
store the death penalty. This morning
bill was introduced by MIR. Bennett Of
Hollis for this purpose. The act fixes the
punishment for murder when committed
with malice aforsthought. or In p1rpetart-
ing, or attempting to psrpstrate crime.
| III cupu ChcFH lhN B1hoAa ANes ~ NAs-@--
death or imprisonment for 70. II the
jury makes recommendation of mercy,
the court may commute the death penal
ty to Imprisonment for life.
SALE OF LAND FOR TAXES.
Mr.. Allan today presented the bill en-
dorsed by the Portland City Council In
relation to the sale Of land for taxes.
CUMBERLAND COURTS.
Two bills were presented today Affect
ing the courts of Cumberland county.
The first. presented by Mr.. Webb, makes
certain changes in the law governing the
municipal court of Portland. 1t does not
change the practice Of the court, but
makes the provisions of the law more ex-
plicit. The bill nrovides:
when the Judge is out of the city, or
otherwise unavoidably absent, or is In
terested, 1t shall be the duty of the Re-
corder, and he shall nave authority, to
exercise all the powers of the Judge"
The act also provides new section 16
In reference to the powers Of tAe Recor-
der, as follows:
"The Recorder shall hear complaints in
all criminal matters, and in accusations
in bastardy, draw all complaints and sign
all warrants, take bail, and make and
sign all processes of commitment. but
the same shall be heard and determined
as now provided by law; such bail may
be taken ty the Judge and such oom-
plants, accusations, warrants and pre-
cesses Of commitment drawn and signed
by the Judge Of such court shall be
equally valid
Inc second bill was that introduced by
Mr.. Chase. giving the Superior Court
concurrent jurisdiction with the supreme
Court IN divorce cases. Now the SUPERB
or Court has no authority to hear divorce
lihels.
10 IMPROVE THE LIBRARIES.
Two measures in relation to libraries
were presented today. One reduces the
fee for the use of free public library
from s. to 81 90. When the sIytem of
travelling libraries was inaugurated, 1t
was supposed that the average cost of
transportation to and from the towns us
ing them would be about s., and the fee
was fixed to just about cover the estimat-
ed cost. Now 1t Is found that ~ 30 VIII
pay the bills, hencs the change In the law.
Another bill relates TO free libraries 1t
provides that where q town has no free
library and there is one in an adjoining
town, tine town may make terms for the
use by Its citizens of the existing library.
Another provision authorizes adjoining
towns to unite in the establishment of a
library. A third section of the bill givss
towns which have representation In lib
rary associations the right to appropri-
ate as much money to aid in the support
of the libraries as they would be empow-
ersd to raise for town libraries.
HOUSE BUSINESS.
Among the new measures presented in
the House today were the following:
by MIR Weymouth Of Biddeford, an act
to repeal section 0, chap. 55,of the Public
Laws of 1891, relating to the incorpora-
tion Of churcheh BY the same gentle
....v - ant In raIatfnu IN aunnI viuey thu