Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-03-05
THE CAPITOL BURNED
1t Is Thought New Building Will
Be Ordered by the Legis-
lature.
CONGRESSMAN BABCOCK WINS
Opinions Differ as to Relation to Third
Term Movement-Kind TO Birds
in Cold Weather

Madison, Wis, Feb. 29.--T'he CAPT
toll building burned Saturday morn
ing early. 1t is ruin, not as a dwell
ling house is a pile of ashes on the
ground, but a disemboweIIed frame
work of stones. The north end, to-
ward the postoffice, is sound, but that's
a small part of it, The board of con
troll, attorney general and the other
Offices are intact. Neither fire nor
water got in, but the flames and water
crept through all the rest of the huge
pile. 1t was a quiet blaze. No passion
of fire to the heavens. Indeed, few
blocks away one would scarcely note
anything out of the ordinary, except a
smoke-darkened atmosphere. | saw a
picture not long ago of the burning
capitol at Pes Moines. 1t represented
huge pillows Of smoke towering to the
stars. Not so here A million dollars
worth Of property gently smoldered
away. One in the Capitol Square could
see the flames, here, there, everywhere
but they were glimpses through the
WIuNOWS, WuOoC glass OiOhC
the heat, with tongues of fire that
crept out on the lodges high and low,
blackening much of the building,
twisting the metal roof into gnarled
strips which hang over the smoky walls
like cypress bewailing the sad fate of
an historic building. The building is
wreck to look upon, barring the north
wing. 1t is a shell. The roofs of the
senate and assembly chambers are
fallen in. Nothing is saved except
what was locked up in the vaults. The
priceless records of the secretary of
states office are saved and so are many
Of the routine records, but many of
them, books, papers, ETC., are wholly
destroyed. For instance, Mr.. Erick-
sons labor bureau has no vault. The
departments were speedily provided
quarters by the citizens and their work
will get in shape again soon; but oh!
the waste and loss.
New Building Now.
The general opinion is that a new
building will be ordered by the legisla-
ture. The north and south wings are
fairly good; the former unframed by
the flames, the latter Quilted but the
stone work standing. The old part of
the capitol, however, with it's semi
circular wing to the east SENATE cham
ber) and to the west assembly cham
berry is sad wreck. These outside
walls are not only old, but perforated
by so many wings that they are very
weak. A new building is the need and
it will be good one. The supreme
court. for whose provision the last
legislature appropriated, can be then
housed in the cathedral of state; all
can be arranged at the same time.
Will Stay in Madison.
And the capitol will stay in Madi-
son. The constitution provides that
the state university must be sat or
near the seat Of government" Even
if the Milwaukee boomers could get
an interpretatio that would allow
removal of the capitol without the six
years necessary to amend the constitu-
ton. it would be strange, if both
branches of the legislature and gov
ernor would agree on bill to do it.
The people of the state would never
indorse such an absurdity.
The Rigness of Insurance
Milwaukee gets a big revenue from
five insurance agents doing business in
the city. Rv law per cent. tax is
levied on all premiums. and as re-
suit the treasury there is enriched this
year by $1,632,029, as against $1535,-
903 in 1902 G.. II. Russell & Co.. leads
the list of agencies. with S103.023 in
premiums; Phillips & Rebhan is Sec
Ond. with 1913; r. NJ. Wells Sons &
Co., third, with $S7,223. The losses
are estimated at about S1,035,000 in
1903.
Politics in the Third.
The big things in politics is Mr.. Bah
cocks success in landing his renomina.
ton in the Third district. 1t will ever
be a surprise how Governor LaFollette
with his political shrewness got into
this political miX-up, which seemed
unnecessary The same thing hap
pened in this congressional fight that
happened in the fight in the state con.
vention two years ago. The Republi.
cans insisted on drawing their own
alignments. Many insisted it was pos.
sibe to be SpoonerLaFollette Repub-
Leans and they insist on being Bah
cock-LaFollette men, if they wish Mr..
Babcock, during his twelve years in
congress, has done a great many
pleasant turns for people in his dis.
trict. and they decline to throw him
down because the governor and his
friends desire it. Mr.. Babcock is, of
course, splendid political organizer,
he spends his money freely, and he
has a lot of it; he puts clever men at
work. Governor LaFollette made a
mistake when he tackled Babcock; or
else he should have begun the fight
earlier. People are now asking what
relation this fight has to the state
campaign. The best thought is that
while the great mass of followers in