The true northerner., 1901-01-18
The Two Houses of the Legisla-
ture Cast Ballots Sep
arateIy.
QUESTION OF EQUAL TAXATION
Important Subject Uppermost i'm the
Minds of the Members Of the
Legislature.

senator from Michigan for the term
of six years from March 4 next. This
action was taken in compliance with
the statute which provides that on the
second Tuesday after the convening
of the legislature in years when such
an election is TO occur, each house
shall vote separately for senator, each
representative and senator rising in
his place as his name is called and
announcing the person of his choice.
Today's voting was, of course, strict
ly in line with caucus action, James
Mcmillan receiving the vote of every
Republican legislator, while the one
Democratic senator and nine Demo
cratic representatives cast their votes
for Thomas Il. Barkworth of Jackson.
Early in the session it was announced
that the Democrats would east their
votes for Daniel j. Campau, chairman
of the Democratic state central COM
mittee, but the minority concluded in
| caucus that inasmuch as Mr.. Cam
pau had been honored with this COM
plimentary vote on several previous
occasions, it would be proper to pass
the honor on this year. In taking this
action the minority were careful to
resolve that no disrespect TO Mr.. Cam
pau was intended.
Election of Senator.
The election of senator Will not be
an accomplished fact until high noon
! tomorrow, for the reason that the
statute provides that on the day sue
ceeding the taking Of the vote separate
| ly in the two houses, the house and
senate shall meet in joint convention
at II o'clock, noon, and again cast
their ballots. Tomorrow, therefore,
Senator Mcmillan will have had this
distinguished honor conferred upon
! him for the third successive time.
AS might be expected, in view of
the numerous sessions Of the last leg
islature at which this important ques-
ton was considered, the subject Of
equal taxation is uppermost apparent
ly in the minds of the members Of the
present legislature. 1t is evident that
there will be no lack of ideas and
bills, several of the latter having been
already introduced, while others have
been noticed for Introduction. Sen
ator Atwood has introduced and had
| printed for the use of the committee
on taxation a bill creating n commits
sion to assess the property Of railroad
companies only for taxation on an al
valorem basis In the house. Repre-
sentative Chandler has had n similar
| course taken with n bill which is
practically a copy of the Oren bill.
excepting that ii creates separate
board Of assessors instead Of putting
that duty on the tax commission, and
\ xtvhf lpn1n1oe 40 Of IL
road. telephone. telegraph and express
companies. Senator Helme has an
other bill on this subject, as has Rep
resentative Dingley, and it is under
stood that still others are in the course
Of preparation.
Much Pruning and Trimming.
IT would be Improbable TO enter into
discussion of any of these measures
at this time. for the reason that there
will he a great deal Of pruning and
trimming before legislative sentiment
settles down sufficiently to enable one
to give with any degree of certainty
the details of the bill that Is likely to
become q law. There is every reason
to believe. however. that when the leg
iSlature finally squares itself away
and does business i'm this connection,
the expectations of the people of the
state will he fully met.
Representative Dingley Is the author
of two joint resolutions proposing inn
| pOrtant amendments TO the constitu-
ton. One Of these has for it's object
the doing away with direct taxation
| for state purposes. the idea being to
raise all money required by the state
by specific taxation. leaving all direct
| taxation to he levied by the munich
palities for their own needs. Govern
| or Bliss called attention i'm his inau-
gural message. il will he remembered,
to the desirability Of devising some
means to increase the receipts Of the
general fund Of the state, arguing that
under the present arrangement in
crea sed specific taxation bids fair to
make the primary school fund very
top-heavy. In offering this PROPOSE
| tion To amend the constitution, Repre-
sentative Dingley is carrying out the
Instructions of his constituents. the
Kalamazoo board Of supervisors. who,
at n recent meeting. adopted resou-
tlon urging that this change be made.
Salary of 81 900 n Term.
The other Dingley measure to which
reference was made proposes a con-
stitumonal amendment relative to the
| pay OF IleIlntIS Ol lllP lPElSldluIe. II
is proposed 10 substitute for the pres
ent per diem system terms salary
of 1000, with no extra compensation
for legislators from the upper penin-
sula. Years ago when railroad facili-
ties were not what they are now, up
per peninsula legislators found it nee
essaTy to remain at the seat Of gov
ernment practically from one end Of
the session 10 the other, and, because
of this extra expense which was not
entailed upon the other legislators. a
bill was passed at every session allow
ing the former an extra 50 per day.
1t has become more and more diff
cult to pass this bill Of late years. the
measure furnishing more opportunities
for vote lodging than almost any 9TH
er that comes up during the session.
A bill making this provision was in
troduced last week. and an effort was
made TO pass II under suspension OF
the rules, but an objection sent II &c
the judiciary committee, where II still
remains.
The people Of the state will doubt
less be pleased TO learn that there Is
quite a discussion on the part Of the
/ legislature 70 pconOmizp I'm various