Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-03-27
Madion. March "a.

parh are 10 De improved, probably ny
laying mAcauam paVemenL WLun pei
hApS a layer Oh crushed granILe OH
top; ana the state Is 10 contribute So
UUu Tor the purpose III a DIIl llavOraOly
acted upon by Lne assembly coInGnIL-
tee ON STATE AFFAIRS yesterday alter
noon becomes a law. Inc committee
had a discussion OF the capltol parh
pavement question, at which the diff
Guilty OF the people OF Madison agree
ing upon a KIND OF improvement was
recited at length and It was decided
TO amend the bill to reduce The
amount OF the states appropriation
lro1n $4,000 as proposed in the bill to
$4,000. n
The capitol park pavement contrO-
versy has dragged on Tor years and IN
the meanwhile the state caption has
been surrounded by streets exceed
ingIy undesirable and at times un-
slightly. Governor Scotield removed
the old iron fence and the stone
walks from the edge OF the park,
caused new cement walks ito be con-
StI uCL0Qs AnolU0 NJ CuO ACASC hAAO, ~
StfFtlng in practically donating to the
Madison streets a strip OF IL feet. lt
is understood that this was perhaps
going beyond the authority OF the
executive, but no complete test has
ever been made OF it. -Four years
ago the legislature passed a bill ap-
propriating $4,000 toward the i'm
provement OF these streets, but stipu-
lating that an asphalt pavement must
be laid. The Madison common coun-
Gil proceeded to let contracts for the
pavement and forthwith there devel-
oped great controversy among the
property owners across the streets
from the capitol. They objected to
asphalt ON the ground of its cost and
for other reasons. In this opposition
the street car company joined and the
result was that when the council Let
contracts for the work to the conway
company of Chicago three injunction
suits were brought which effectually
tied up the work. Professor C. S..
Slichter, through his wife, brought an
Injunction suit in the circuit court as
did also ]. H. Bowman, and the street
car system brought suit in the feder-
al court. The city chose not ito go
ahead with the law suits for various
reasons and the contractors became
apprehenSiVe. Two years ago an at
tempt was made to get a bill through
the legislature to allow the $4,000 to
be spent for any pavement and not
cOnfine it to asphalt, but it was said
that If any change was made the
whole appropriation would be knocked
out and the Madison people back of
the movement became inactive.
Recently the council and the prop
erty owners agreed that something
should he done, that a common macad-
am pavement should be laid and
that an attempt should again be made
preparation for the work or a share
OF 1t. The senate committee ON state
affairs has passed favorably on cut
ting the appropriation from $4,000 to
$4,000 and the assembly committee
proposes to allow no more than S.
600 to be appropriated. 1t seems
that the latter amount will he the
maximum. 1T is contemplated that
this sum Is sufficient ito pave the II
feet belonging to the state.
Mutual Insurance Bill.
The assembly committee on finance
banks and insurance decided to rec
ommend in favor of the passage OF
assembly bill No. 698a, which amends
the law authorizing mutual fire insur-
ance companies in cities and villages
50 that these companies may set aside
q contingent fund. The amendment
provides that the members may he
charged such premium rates as tc
provide for this contingent fund and
the amount of the fund is limited to
ten per cent. of the aggregate amount
Of insurance in force.
The committee had an extended ses
sion and then an executive session
at which several bills were consid
cred, Including those regarding mutu
al threShermen's companies and mu
tual school property insurance, hui
no final action was taken on any on
the bills other than. that authorizing
the creation of contingent fund, No
69Sa.
Voting Machine Bill.
The assembly committee on cleo
tions decided to- recommend for pas
sage bill providing that voting ma
chimes may be used at primary cleo
tons. While the bill permits the
use OF the voting machines, it does
not require their use. The committee
amended the original measure SO as
to make the use of the machines OPP
tional, until they are perfected. The
committee also decided to recommend
for passage the Cleary bill providing
that all ballots cast at elections are
to be preserved and returned to the
county eek.
Argue Park Tunnel Bill.