Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-02-27

Is ABOVE the average anu SUSPECT mem
bers apparently lack the ability neces'
sary to make them efficient.
Mr.. Halls bill to establish a railroad
commission is meeting with opposition.
The fact is business men are atrald
II will be made up OF, politicians
While business men would ike cheap
er freight rates, which II Is claimed tine
state commission of IOWA ana othef
states force from tne railroads. busf
ness men prefer to take their cRanees
with the railroads rather than with Il
railroad commission'politicai III cDdrac-
ter. If a commission was promised
made up on supreme court lies. the
chances of Mr.. Halls bill would be
better
The plan probably has merit, for
the fixing of freight rates is complete
" In the hands of the railroad com
panies which are conducted for prohts
and not for philanthropy.
Odds aud Ends of Liquidation.
IF all the bills were enacted. what
funny state this would be to live m,
and yet many of these measures have
a flavor of good sense. Who has not
been shocked by the marriage OF
divorced person the same day that the
court gave release. Here Is a bill to
forbid such alliances within one year.
What worker in temperance reform
would not approve a law compelling
drinkers to take out license and have
their names printed in the newspapers
There is a bill to do this.
Who that knows Superior's dream Of
power wonders that that city of des-
tiny hungers to be in class by itselff
There is bill thus to distinguish SUI
perior from the common herd of 250
cities
wouldn't it be nice II children were
prohibited the firing Of spitballs from
a tube or from spring or air-gun?
The legislature has bill before 1t
that will thus hamper youth.
Not everybody would like the uni
yersity campus, the domain of the
state, dotted with the private buildings
of college boy and college girl societies.
but some one approves the plan. for
there Is a bill to that effect. Senator
O'Neill has a bill increasing the salar-
les of the members Of the legislature
from 5000 to $1,000. II would be hard
to convince those of my readers who
live close to the soil that this measure
Is not unreasonable. If members are to
nav their railroad fares home for Sun
dav; but good men like O'Neill and
twenty others that one could readily
name ought to have that compensation.
To pass the bill, however, would make
fuss all over the state.
Docking Horses Tails for Style.
Senator Mills would pro 1T cam
paign contributions Of more than 500.
II seems that on the country roads the
farmer who maintains public water
ing trough gets s. off his road taxes.
The effort TO increase this to $40 failed.
The Law TO forbid city swells from
docking" the tails of their horses that
they may look pretty at the Milwaukee
carnival or other places seems I De APP
proved by everybody who does not en-
ioy cutting a swath of that sort The
bill comes from the Wisconsin HUI
name society, In imitation of like
prohibition in other states and bears
Senator Whiteheafs name.
No. l44a is bill to protect the eagle.
IL ts said that this bird is not courage
Gus but coward. Nevertheless for
over a century he has stood for Amcri-
can patriotism and certainly any one
who has seen this splendid foul dash
across the heavens or sit tegnant on
the lightning wrecked RETAINS of
gloomy pine tree must cone EIDE that
the eagle is splendid. The bin adds the
eagle TO the list of birds which must
not he shot, including the whip-pocr
will. the robin and the bluebird.
Captain O'Neill also has bill which
revokes the license Of a saloon that
runs Sundays. but such bills never get
ANYWHERE. That mea sure to obliterate
the free lunch is dead Not for many
years have there been so many meas
ures aimed at the saloon and the tenn
per of the legislature Is right for some
progress. II is just to the LaFollette
movement to say that 1t accentuates
the home But there are no signs of
any radical eneroachment on the sa-
loon beyond the significant avalanche
Of measures directed against IL.
When a White Marriss Negro.
A strange bill is one from Mr.. Cady.
the Marshfield lawyer who sprung to
the front as a sound lawyer. 1t an
nuls marriages between black or mu-
lattoes and white persons. Such law
would make unhappiEess in the family
of the late Frederick Douglass, whose
second wife was white. His fellow
blacks never liked his choice, but the
two lived happily.
Behind bill of this sort is always a
party in inteFest-Some ones daughter
has marred n black and the parents
seek a release. Or perhaps some man
has taken colored wife and now
| wishes he had not
LayIneu on the Bench.
Every year there are measures de-
signed TO rob judges and lawyers of ex-
elusive privileges as, for instance. al
| lowing layman to be elected county
| Judge. In Massachusetts in the early
| DAYS there was a system by which a
| trained Judge sat between two citizen
| Judges. The story is that one of the
| laymen served number of Gears
| drawing a handsome salary and was
one day asked whether his duties were
onerous. He replied that he had been
| on the bench four years and had never
been consulted but once. when the mid
| die Judge. who was trained to the law,
turned TO him and said In an imperious
tone, this is a very warm day. don't
you think So. sirf"
Assemblyman Spratt's convict labor
bill will be of interest TO the labor or
limitations of the state. II prohibits
more than fifty convicts being en-
ployed in the same class of mauufact-
uring and provides that no two insti.
| tutions In the state shall have the same
| kind Of work for the convicts.
ORLANDO BURNETT.
| No PHszle TO the NJ. ID.
1