Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-06-21
THE LEGISLATURE.
IN THE SENATE.

Dectiye citiGenS-fnOSe foreigners who have
signified their intention Of becoming cit1-
zens by taking out their first papers and
who have enjoyed the right of suffrage
heretofore-will not be deprived of that
privilege. Before becoming effective the
resolution must be adopted by the 1902
Legislature and then ratified by a vote of
the people. The Senate cOncurred in the
Assembly's amendment to the Senate
mage tax on vessels. the amendment puts
the taxation of vessel property as personal
property into effect January 1, 1906, in
stead of 1907. Senator Merton made an ex-
tended speech in favor of his substitute to
446S abolishing the taxation of credits, the
substitute declaring mortgages on real or
personal property separate class OF prop
erty for taxing purposes and providing for
the taxation of such property at the rate Of
5 units on the dollar throughout the state,
or about half Of the average rate of taxa
ton upon the taxable property of the state.
The substitute was voted down. The
original bill was then killed by a vote of IA
CURED in the Assembly bill cutting off the
fees Of the clerk Of the supreme court and
placing him upon salary of $500: Sen.
the he' vote by which 7 7s4a reating to a'O wom
an as member of the state board of con
troll was refused a third reading and the
The Senate passed the bill increasing the
license fees on gross receipts of telephone
companies IS to !. By a vote Of u to II
the Senate refused to reconsider the vote
bill requiring telephone companies to make
connection for the interchange Of messages
The Senate concurred In a pill authorizing
a dam across the OcontO river in OcOnto
county, and in the bill giving the railroad
commissioner authority to designate loca-
tons for warehouse sites outside OF cities:
Because OF constitutional questions arts
Ing from the wording of the bill relating
to franchises to build and maintain dams
across navlgable streams, the Senate on
the afternoon of the 18th refused to order
the bill to a third reading by a vote Of
20 to Z. The text book bill was ordered to
a third reading after substitute had been
was concurred in. The bill to provide for
the payment of taxes in lieu of unpaid
license fees by railroad companies was
ordered to a third reading by vote Of
% to >, but it is understood that substi-
tute will be offered before the bill is put
on its final passage. The Senate killed the
physical connection telephone bill by vote
of II to -. The bill to repeal the statute
under which monopoly is given of the die
! by vote of 10 to Z. The bill to provide
for putting the clerk of the supreme court
on a salary of $500 a year was non-con-
Cured in by Ylye yOce vote without de-
bate.
The Senate on the 14th killed the bill re-
lating to granting franchises for dam priyil-
eyes by Il vote of 20 to Z because of a cues
ton of it's constitutionality. All rules were
suspended and the bill giving state aid to
agricultural fairs making it definite and
uniform, was finally concurred in. The bin
and bases state aid upon the premiums Of
fered. each receiving 40 per cent. of the
premiums with the limitation of $4,000
upon the state fair, $4,000 upon La Crosse
and Chippewa Falls and S1700 upon county
fairs. The state fair will receive $2250
more than last year when the aid extended
to state, county and district fairs aggre-
gated $500 Senator Frear submitted an
amendment to the substitute for the Irvine
BILL prohibiting the watering of stock or
the over-issuance of bonds, his amendment
/ 90 rrvi no fpp tnr nj 10 chIca re
law in the limitation of the amount of
bonds which can be issued, which had
been omitted from the substitute. After an
hour and half in debate the Senate re-
jected the Frear amendment and by roll
call refused to adopt the substitute pre-
pared by Senators Sanborn Hudnau and
Hatten by a vote of II to 16. The COVER
nor signed the state civil service bill, which
will effect about 1900 of the state employees
The bill approprating $4,000 for tuber-
culosis sanitarium was also signed. The
bill to adopt the Dunn paStebOard pocket
ballot passed both houses finally and goes
to the governor for his approval. The As
sembly BILL 544A, was then non-concurred
in by vote Of IS to 10 and motion for
reconsideration of the inconvenience vot-
ed down, effectually killing the bill.
sharp debate took place upon 662A, a bin
to safeguard the state treasury. An amend
ment was voted down, u to 16, and then
everybody jumped on the original bill.
which was nOn-cOncurred in by a vote of
% to 3. bill was introduced by Senator
Burns by unanimous consent to pay the
chaplains Of the Senate for their services
during the session. Senator Hatten protest
ed at the indefinite wording of the bill and
considerable discussion upon the price of
prayer followed. The bill was laid over
The Senate by a rising vote unanimously
concurred in the Assembly resolutions upon
the death of Albert r. Hall and ordered the
resolutions spread upon the Senate journal.
On motion of Senator Whitehead, the rules
were suspended and the bill appropriatin
$500 for medallion portrait of A. r. Hail
to hang IL the Assembly chamber was con.
Cured in by vote of p to 3.
The Senate late on the 14th concurred in
bill introduced by AssemDlyman Brad
dock and passed by the Assembly, provid-
ing that the railroads doing business in this
state cannot recover from the state any of
the license fees paid unless such fees were
paid under protest. This bill is intended
to meet possible but not probable con.
tingency Of the railroads testing the
stitutionality of the license fee system Of
taxing railroads, as has been, intimated
since the institution of the railroad suits
now pending in the circuit court of Dane
county before Judge Stevens. The bin
creating the Office Of public examiner died
by reason of q failure of the conference
committees Of the two houses to agree. BY
unanimous vote the Senate refused to &C.
cept the Assembly substitute for the Smith
bill which did away with the publication Of
insurance statements. The substitute bill
placed the distribution of the statements
in the printing commissioners. This action
closes the attempt made to change the of
fetal state paper from Madison to Milwau-
kee
Both houses of the Legislature on the
10Th met and adjourned. A watch was
presented to I1eUt.-GOv. Davidson by the
senator's. 1t was 10 o'clock in the morn
ing when both houses of the Legislature
adjourned. All business, excepting receiv-
ing reports from enrolling committees and
messages from the governor on bills he has
vet to sign, was completed. If the Lpgis
iature adjourned sine die on the 10Th it
would have lasted 100 days. The session
of two years ago lasted $50 days and was
the longest in the history of the state up
to that time.
Gov La Toilette on the afternoon of the
10th sent the names of Prof Balthasar Fl
Meyer Halford Erickson and Nils P. Han
gen to the Senate for confirma ton as mem.
hers of the railroad commission. com.
mittee of three senators, Merton, Roehr and
Bird was named to represent the Senate at
the funeral of Mrs. A NJ Jones' wife of ex-
Senator Jones OF Waukesha. The work Of
the Legislature was confined to the passage
of one bill to authorize the transfer of a
sum of money from the general fund to the
university income fund to furnish the uni
yersity current expense money until such
time as the appropriation provided by this
Legislature to be raised by taxation be-
comes available
The Senate OH tie 17th by a vote of II
for and 16 against refused to confirm the