Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1905-06-03
The State Legislature.
Lansing. May %, 1905.


the people, and has even performed
more than 1t promised. The legisla-
ture, composed solely of republicans,
has completed the enactment OF the
measure described two weeks ago, and
the republican governor will atiix his
signature To 1t as soon as 1t can be pre-
pared in form to he presented TO him.
The house did not spend great deal
of time upon the bill when 1t came up
as the special order Wednesday after.
noon. Two amendments were offered
to the forty per cent plurality feature,
and both were voted dOwn-one to
strike out the forty per cent failing by
sixty-tbtee to thirty FIVE, and one to
substitute twenty-five percent losing
by tifty-three TO thirty-one. Some
other amendments shared the same
fate, only some verbal ones for the
purpose Of perfecting the bill being
adopted, and the bill then passed the
house by eighty-nine to eight the
fullest vote Of the session, all but three
Of the mem beTs being present and vot-
ing. The senate concurred in those
formal amendments, Thursday. and
the act went to the printer to be put
into its final and completed form.
When it shall have been tested by tn"
experience of next spring and the fol-
lowing fall, it may bc more Intelligent
ly seen than can be the case now, in
what further direction. if any, it will
need amendment.
Following the disposal Of the pri-
mary bill, the house took up another
measure over which there had already
been some skirmish!ng, giving rise to
considerable hysterical talk in certain
quarters. That was the hi Of Senat-
or Brown, to authorize the attorney
general to examine the books of rail-
road company when deemed NJ ntcessary
for the preparation of his plcadingS in
any litigation between such company
and the state or any Of its officers on
its behalt. The bill was declared b,
the attorney general To be necessary To
the successful preparation Of state
cases, and it was passed by the empha-
tic vote of eighty-four to thirteen, as
it came from the senate, and so only
needed the approval of the governor,
which only waited for the printing Of
the act. And thus thuse Detroit
papers which have been throwing SeY-
eral kinds Of titS over the maglin pur-
pose and power Of the mach ne" to
kill that bill in the interest of the
Michigan Central, have the. TO them.
unweicome duty of reporting its
triumphant passage, which they can
not successfully minimize nor dis
CT edit.
Another measure Of much import
ance and Of wide interest in the state
which was successfully carried
through the house during the week,
was Representative Loyell's hill to
reorganize the tax commission, which
had passed the committee of the
whole the week previous, and was
here outlined last week. 1t met de
termined opposition in tee house, as ii
had in the committee, but il went
through. sixty-thre, to TWEEN Jy-three,
and was sent to the senate, where IT,
was referred. The Holmes automobile
bill passed the senate Wednesday.
with amendments reducing the speed
limit in business sections of towns to
eight miles, and enlarging it to fifteen
miles in residence sections and twenty
five miles on cTuntry roads. The bill
received every vote in the senate ex-
cept that OF Mr.. Mckay of Detroit.
and the amendments were the next
day accepted by the house in commit
tec Of the whole, ard placed upon the
order of third reading.
The senate the same afternoon
slaughtered the Heald bill to permit
the people next spring to vote upon
the holding Of II convention To revise
the constitution, sixteen to eleven, af-
ter having passed it In committee Of
the whole he day previous, and there
Is little hope now Of any revision Of
that instrument for two years to come,
though Sc ator Fyfe had the vote re-
considered and the bill tabled. Also,
on Wednesday, the senate applied the
knife to the bill sppropriating twenty
five thousand dollars for an exhibit at
the ter-centennlal celebration of the
settlement OF Jamestown, to be held
in 1901; then the following day. recon
sidered aud passed the bill, expecting
the house to smother it.
Thursday, the house passed the bill
10 limit the extorti1ns Of Detroit chat
tel mortgage sharks, introduced by
Representative Lord Of Detroit, which
makes a rate OF seven percent on chat
tel mortgage loans, with fees for