Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-12-31
NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL
Des Moines. Dec. 2e, 1908.

mIES FROM THE CAPITAL
Des Moines, Dec. 20, 1908.
The farmers of the state are up In
arms and are preparing to ask re.
dress at the hands of the legislature.
Their grievance Is the attitude Of
the railways, relative to the erection
of grain elevators within reach Of
the railways. A bill is reported +,
be in process of preparation which
will remedy the evil. The bill Is to
be patterned after the Minnesota law.
II will provide that when any person
or corporation desires site for an
elevator, the same shall be granted
by the railway from whom 1t is
asked. The elevator shall be located
between the outside switches Of the
yards, unless some other location Is
mutually agreed upon. In case the
party asking and railroad cannot
agree on a site, the board of railroad
commissioners may be appealed to.
They are Immediately to inform the
railway that they will, on certain
date, visit the locality and deter
mine upon site. In case the rail-
road and the applicant can agree up
on a site but not upon compensation
the sheriff of the county will be en-
powered to appoint appraisers and
tx upon compensation. An appeal
can be taken to the district court by
either party. The bill will also pro-
vide that the railway corporation
must put in a side track to the eleva'
tor and operate the same. In case
for any reason the elevator shall be
vacated, the site shall revert to the
railway.
On recommendation of the county
attorney, a Communication Of the sem
tence Of Ada Hazelwood. who will b.
remembered as the states star wis
ness at the Walker murder trial In
Des Moines. has been signed by the
governor. The change in her sentence
will release the woman after eight
months time has been served, and
her good conduct time" will reduce
this further.
Inaugural plans may be consider
ably altered because of the failure of
the inaugural committee to secure the
Auditorium, where the ceremonies
arc accustomed to be held. Indica-
tons are the Auditorium cannot be
secured, and in that event the eXer-
cises will again be held in the hall
Of the lower house at the capitol. This
will probably mean a considerable alb
sence of the usual parade and cere-
mony which it was thought would be
a,1c of tho In inn ne
errors of Iowa hereafter.
The published list of the insurance
companies in which Hubinger Bros.
Co, of Keokuk, had policies on their
100000 starch plant. recently DAM
aged s250,000 by fire. has caused an
uprising among Iowa fire insurance
men. They are clamoring for some
thing in the way of legislation to pre-
vent unauthorized insurance business
In Iowa. Upon the authority Of the
auditor Of state, out of the thirty-five
companies in which Hubinger Bros.
appear to have held insurance, only
ten were authorized to do business in
Iowa. Auditor Carroll states that it
does not follow that companies not au-
dlC hOL oOlfChI, DuI III lllC
list of companies he noticed several
well known wildcat" companies. The
authorized concerns carried $16,5 of
the loss; the unauthorized companies
carried $27,250. The situation has
awakened the auditor to the fact that
unauthorized companies are undoubt-
eddy still doing business in Iowa. The
auditor has recommended legislation
In regard to unauthorized companies,
and the situation at Keokuk has
caused him to lend his approval to the
bill introduced in the national con-
gress by Senator Dryden, to refuse the
use of the mails to companies not au-
thoriZed by the state in which they
are doing business. The exposure as
TO the Keokuk fire Is likely to add
zest to the war on wildcat" COM
pans which Is now on in full force.
"jge G. s. Robinson, of the state
l. I'd Of control, is standing by his
attitude regarding indeterminate SEN
fences as expressed in a paper at a
recent conference of state institu.
tons, and is ready to reply to the ad.
verse criticism made in number of
Iowa papers. The latter are unfair,
Gays Judge Robinson, for they draw
their differences from the result of the
indeterminate sentence law in Illinois,
where 1t has been prostituted to poll
tics and state pardon boards have
been too much political in their make
up. In Illinois the claim is made that
the man with plenty Of money or with
q strong political pull can readily get
out Of prison under the indeterminate
law. Judge Robinson cites his critics,
however, to the result of the statute
as tried In Indiana, Massachusetts,,
New York, Colorado and other states
where it has been conspicuous sue
cess He says the criminals them
selves are unanimous In saying they
would prefer to have a specific term
Of years before them rather than the
uncertainty of the indeterminate law
He claims that the indeterminate
sentences In these states have aver
aged longer than the term where the
rule of a specific number of years OBJ.
tain. He says the law is based upon
the assumption that a pardon board
win be selected to consist of strong
men, without regard to political afili-
ation-men far above politics or cor
rupt influences, and that there is no
reason to suppose there would be any
difficulty In finding such c board In
Iowa.
II wonder II there's been a funeral
In that house?" "Why?" 1.-TWO wo-
men just came out crying" "Oh, Il
must be wedding"
The meanest Of all things to think
Of is that our crosses may be a means
of education.