The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1901-03-22

Is niggardly, and while that proposed
Is not much better. 1t will enable the
state TO avail itself Of the services Of 6
better class of legislators. The secont
proposition to be submitted is t.
amend the constitution so that a valiC
law may be enacted to permit the in
determinate sentencing of convicts
thus leaving the prison officials to be
the judges Of how long they shall bC
fncarcerated A law of this kind
which was enacted several years age
was declared unconstitutional by the
supreme court.
The other measure which will doubt
less be submitted to the people is III
amendment doing away with the fifty
day limit for introducing bills in the
Legislature leaving the legislators free
to Introduce bills whenever the spirit
moved up to the day of final al
journment. The limit now observed
Is but little short of q nuisance. and
II results in practically nothing being
done during the first fifty days of the
session other than the introduction OF
bills.
Colby Comes Up smiling.
Representative Colby has come UT
smiling after the defeat of his pet
measure abollshing all political con.
ventions in Wayne county and provid.
ing for the nomination Of all candi.
dates and the election Of all delegates
by direct vote, under the Australian
ballot system, and has induced the
house committee on elections to make
a unanimous and favorably report OH
a bill of the same nature which ap
plies to the entire state. When tbs
Wayne county bill was so ruthlessl =
slaughtered in the senate some Of the
senator's who opposed it, gave as n
reason for so doing the fact that
Wayne county should not be treated
differently from the balance of the
state in this respect. and broadly init
mated that they would support n gen
eral bill Of this nature. Although
doubling their sincerity somewhat Mr..
Colby proposes TO give them an oppor-
tunity TO show their cOlors. Ii is
hardly probable that the bill will pass
the senate.
House Passes the Wade Bill.
The house has passed the Wade bill
amending tho law creating the state
live stock sanitary commission so as to
provide that at least one of the three
members shall he veterinarian. In
speaking i'm support of the bill Repre-
sentative Wade said that the present
commissioners are all farmers, and
charged that they cannot diagnose dis
seases of animals, thus rendering the
commission useless Notwithstanding
the great EXPENSE Of maintaining il.
The house appears TO have over
reached itself in amending the bill eX-
empting the property of Grand Army
posts from taxation. The amendment
eXempts the property of all secret and
fraternal orders. This is considered
altogether too sweeping an exemption
in the senate, and that body will either
restrict the exemption of Grand Army
property or kill the bill altogether.
Ambitious politicians throughout the
state will be pleased to know that n
start has been made toward disposing
of the obnoxious law which requires
candidates 70 file sworn statements of
their election expenses Of every name
and nature. 1t is perhaps just rs well
to repeal this law for the reason that
only n small per cent Of the total
number Of candidates ever paid the
slightest Htt"nticn to ii, while not a
few of those who did warped their
consciences by the statements they
made under oath. In fact the intro
ducer Of the bill frankly stated that
all the law had accomplished was TO
manufacture n few perimers.
VIII Hold Appropriations Down.
Chairman Dlngley and his colleagues
on the ways and means committee
have entered upon their announced
policy Of keeping down the appropria-
tionS. They commenced on the bin
$4,000 for the expenses
of the Northern Normal school nj Mar
quette for the last half Of the cur
rent fiscal year. AS amended by the
the bill appropriateS only
81 900. The committee does not pro-
pose TO cripple any institution, but
does propose TO hold the appropriations
down to actual needs, leaving the
frills to be provided for by some fu-
ture legislature. 1t Is only natural
for the management Of state insttu-
tion to take much pride In extending
II and making II an ideal, and also for
the legislative committee In charge of
such institution to look upon 1t as de-
serving of just little better treat
ment than any other institution OH the
list. This explains why appropria-
tion bills ms drawn are generally
trife extravagant in their provisions,
and why the budget 'as finally passed
!s always number Of hundred thou
sand dollcrs less than asked for.
II rdy Bili attracting Attention.
The HARDY bill. which makes II
crime for n hvnotist to make person
commit IN ofrerse while under hyp-
motto Influence, Is attracting consider
able attention. Most of the legislature
tock very lite stock in the measure
until few DAYS ago, believing that
hypotism was simply fake. How
ever. n pretty young girl happened
alGag and gave some fifty Of the legis-
lat0ra = demonstration Of what can 10