Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-04-12

tACy Wdutcu. IL 10 CcItdluly uO lOUScI
true; the danger may be that the
pendulum will swing too far.
Anti-Saloon Legislation.
On Wednesday of this week also &C.
ours the vote in the senate on the
Thayer bill, which is replica of the
Nicholson law in Indiana under which
the residents of ward or a part of a
ward can by petition shut out saloons
in their residence district. There was
a mass meeting Sunday night in the
opera-house, largely attended by legis-
lators, presided over by Senator Hud-
nall Of Superior. Hudnall is an at
future. He is wholesome, CHEEKY
sort of man with good nerve and
while an administra ton man, pos
sessed of sufficient ability to stand on
his own merits. Nothing for years
has so worried the brewers as this
Thayer bill and the ease with which
so drastic a measure went to a ma
jority on third reading (49 to 49,
shows that Wisconsin sentiment is be-
coming holder on the subject of the
saloon and that hencef0rth it must
prepare for ceaseless attack. But this
measure proposes nething but ''home
rule" the allowing of citizens to say
whether or not they wish saloons near
their homes and there is nothing to
be said in response to it except to talk
Of "confiscation" of saloon property
where it is petitioned out.
The county option bill has aggres-
sive friendS-it is favorite law in the
southern states where it is imperative
to keep the negro sober-but It's pas
sage at this session is unlikely. The
300 foot bill-forbidding saloons thus
near a school house-has been so
undermined by amendments that Mr..
Hare, the anti-saloon league agent,
questions its efficacy. The five-year
clause, giving old properties that term
in which to get ready to move, takes
the life out of the law largely. The
Gothenburg plan has the approval of
President Hughes of Ripon college,
though radical temperance men dis
approve of public ownership of the
drink traffic, saying the revenue
soothes the public conscience and
makes reform effort difficult.
Busy Political Bees.
There is good deal of politics in
this legislature and there are some
amusing exhibitions of personal am
bition. One can readily enough name
half dozen senators who evidently
have the ''bee in their bonnet and
now and then the sparks fly even be-
tween men in the same faction. Only
close observers can note what the sig
nificance is.
If Senator Stout has any ambition
he does not betray it. The regard in
which he is held is shown by the re-
vival of his bill to make a Wisconsin
exhibit at the Portland fair. The Me-
nominee man did not lift a hand
when the measure was voted down,
but the fact that he wanted it for the
business interest of the state was self
evident and it will become a law.
Senator Stout can be diverted from
the most exciting scenes Of legisla-
ton by discussion of world topics.
The other day in side room he grew
to unconscious elOquence in talking of
Burbank, the California, wizard, who
has dethOrned the cactus and done
other wonders with the vegetable and
floral world. The arrival of the first
Atlantic steamer to make the trip
with turbine engines was awaited by
him with all the enthusiasm that men
Of other hobbies wait the turn of a
card or the result of a foot ball scrim-
mage
No Adjournment in Sight.
When one thinks of the important
measures that have not been threshed
out it is difficult to seee how this legis-
lature can get home certainly before
May 10, and that would be doing very
we'll. Civil service has not been
touched in the sense of lining up a
vote on the floor. The heads of the
state institutions are generally against
it so far as it limits their authority
and, on the other hand, if those who
are tout" in politics think that such
law will cement in the state service
those who are Gin" they will oppose
it. A state civil service is good
thing for the public and the passage
Of wise law should be the wish of
every good citizen.
New Capitol Plans.
AS for new capitol, no one can yet
speak authoritatively. There is some
stalking out of the park to see how
new wings" would lie and it is prob
able that the idea of merely patching
up the old building is losing ground.
Governor LaFollette gave it to be
understood that Madison is the only