Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-02-19

Madison. Feb. 1S.-The last day for
the introduction of bills produced
enough measures to make the total
for the session $50 as against 1908 two
years ago; the most important was
the ad valorem railroad taxation bill,
for the enactment of which the repub-
lican party is virtually pledged by its
platform and for which the governor
argued at length in his message. The
tax commission handed ii to Chairman
Whitehead of the committee on assess
ment and collection of taxes today
and after the committee had met and
considered it briefly it was introduced.
The bill provides for a complete
change in the method of taxing the
railroads and it is estimated that I'M
der its operation this class of property
will pay about S1,000,000 more than 1T
is paying under the license fee sys-
tenn. The bill does not specify the
way in which the tax commission shall
arrive at the value of the roads but
il makes it incumbent upon the conn
mission to take into consideration
everything which will have bearing
upon the fixing of the value of the
roads, The board must net only value
all of the other property In the state
and it must fix the rate at which me
companies shall pay taxes. That rate
will be identically the same rate as
other property pays. The second
primary election bill to be introduced
in the senate during this session by
Senator Merton and the fifth to APP
pear in the two houses of the legisla-
ture, was offered. 1t is similar to the
assembly committee bill and is not
greatly unlike the former bill on the
same subject by the same senator 1t
includes all elective officers, excepting
town and school officers, and provides
for the nomination of United States
senator. The principal difference from
the previously introduced measures Is
that ii does not require the voter to
declare that he intends to support the
candidates on the ticket of the party
for which the voter casts his primary
election vote, but ii requires the
voter to declare his membership of
the party whose ticket he desires to
vote in the primary. Senator Roehr
offered bill to require the mayors of
cities to make their nominations of
persons for appointment by councils
from lists submitted to the N by the
city committees of the respective po-
litical parties from which the appoint
ments are to be made. The crusade
which "the anti-cigarette" senator, Mr.
Bird is waging upon the pernicioys
articles, took new turn when he in
troduced a bin providing that all per-
sons engaging in the sale of cigarettes
or cigarette paper in the state should
be required to pay license of $500
year. Senator Riordan offered two
bills to provide that the important APP
pointive officers of the state, those
now named by the governor, shall be
elected as are the regular state officers
at present. His bills include the SUI
perintendent of public property, dairy
and food commissioner, fish and game
warden, bank examiner and state
commissioner of labor and industrial
statistics. Other important bills pres
ented were: To limit the amount OF
Indebtedness of towns and municipal
corporations to az per cent. of all the
taxable property; compelling brew
ers to label their beer and forbidding
adulteration; taxation of requests;
dividing the state into ten factory dis
tricts with an inspector for each at
$1,000 salary and expenses; forbidding
spite fences; permitting a farmer to
hunt on his own land without Ii
cense; forbidding pools and combines;
for the exemption of tools from as
sessment; appropriating $4,000 for
experimenting in the growing and cur
ing of tobacco; tabooing spite fences;
prohibiting slow machines in any pub
ic place; fixing passenger rates at 2
cents a mile on the large roads and 2h
on the smaller; directing the railroad
commissioner to prepare a schedule of
classification Of articles carried by
railway companies and compelling the
roads to charge by such classification;
for the establishment of an institution
for adult blind artisans. and appropri-
ating 100000; authorizing the gov
ernor to appoint two additional men,
bers of the state tax commission at
$4,000 salary each, one a civil engi-
neer, the other an expert accountant;
permitting the railway commission to
fix a schedule of rates; forbidding
discrimination in phone rates; apply
ing civil service rules to state EN-
ployes; making Saturday afternoon
legal holiday; to prohibit lobbyists
legal holiday; to prohibit lobbyists
from influencing candidates for elect
i've public Offices; making treating at
elections a misdemeanor; forbidding
double-headed trains; and forbidding
federal office holders from circulating
nomination papers and otherwise be
ing active at the primaries.
Records Broken At BOSTON.