Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-02-28
SOME QUEER LAWS.
MEASURES BEFORE VARIOUS
STATE LEGISLATURES.
Foot Ball an Object of Attack in Sew
eral State Legislatures The Whip
ping Post Popular for Wife Beaters-
Tipping Made Punishable Offense.

ping Post Popular for Wife Beaters-
Tipping Made Punishable Offense.
Special correspondence:
Football players. wife beaters, di-
yorcees. bachelors, college hazers, race
followers. corn shreGders, users of rail
way passes and tippers VI hotel and res
taurant servants are riiadet the objects
of attack this year by legislators of va
rious States. Statesmen OF New Eng
land, the wooIly West and Dixie are
wing wi;n sse5 ether in the originality
of their proposals.
Senator Lightner of South Dakota de
sires to put football on a par with pugi-
lism as outlawry, and would make VIOLA
tons of the law misdemeanors, punish
able by fines varying in amount from
$40 to 500 iu the discretion of the court.
Coaches and professors ara made parti-
eeps criminis with the player. One Sec
ton of the bill reads as follows:
Any player in any football game in
South Dakota, whether playing for prac-
tlce or in match game, who shall in
Jure another player, either Intentionally
or by accident, shall instantly be sus-
pended from playing that game, and
shall not again play football for the pc
ROD OF ten days from the date of in
ficting such injury upon another player.
and any player who shall violate the
provisions of this section shall be deem
ed guilty of misdemeanor, and upon
conviction thereof shall be fined in a
sum not exceeding 500 nor less than so
and the costs of the proceedings
In the Nebraska Legislature Repre-
sentative Cunningham of Hamilton
county offered bill which proposes to
make the playing of football felony
ON the second offense and punishable by
fine ranging from $50 to 500 for the
first offense or Imprisonment in the coun-
ty Jail from 30 to 30 days. The bill in
eludes the actual players and those who
aid or abet them in The game by which
is meant the umpire and referee and
linesmen. 1t is made mandatory on sher-
IFS, constables and other officers of the
peace to file complaints against persons
participating in the game.
The Wife Beatcrs.
President Roosevelt's pronouncement
on the question of wife beating is bear
ing fruit here and there Representative
Wing of Michigan offers bill making it
obligatory on the sheriffs of the counties
to WELD the CATO nine-tails on the bare
backs of wife beaters when they shall
have been convicted of a second offense.
Two days later conservative, ethical,
cultured Boston made bid for fame
when Senator L. b. Calender of that
city introduced bill ia the upper House
making wife heaters amenable to the
lash. In addition to the clause permit
ting the use of the lash the bill reads
that ANY male person who beats, bruises
or mutilates his wife or other female,
unless by accident or i'll self-defense,
shall be fined $40" There is considera
bic sentiment among the members in
favor of the proposed law.
College hazers, through the Kingdom
Gould and other fragrant cases, brought
themselves into disfavor of lawmakers,
and punitive measures enacted by the
Legislatures of the States are declared
to be the only means of putting stop
to practices which endanger or cause loss
of life or make men cripples or unsightly
creatures the rest of their days.
Representative Wing of Michigan has
sent in a bill providing for a fine in
harmless hazing cases and making the
punishment equal to that for mayhem
when bodily injury results to the person
hazed
Hazing Made Crime.
In the Pennsylvania Legislature is a
bill making hazing a crime punishable
by Imprisonment of six months and fine
of $500. 1t is significant that the anti
hazing sentiment is not confined to the
legislators who hail from the rural dis
tricts. Neither bill may become law, but
they will not be scoffed out of court
Wisconsin has grudge against the
corn shredder because of the great num-
Der of fingers, arms and legs it has
Topped off in the last year or two. Rep
resentative Lyon, who is leading the anti
shredder forces, has gathered statistics
showing that 800 men were badly maim-
ed last season in Wisconsin alone and
that two men lost their lives while op-
Grating shredders. His bill requires great
safeguards for users of these machines
Missouri, always to be reckoned with
when novelties of craftsmanship are in
order, may become famous for the be-
ginning of the end of tipping" DIR.
Alon7O Tubbs of Gasconade county has
introduced in the House a bill which
makes it a misdemeanor punishable by
a fine of not more than $500 to tip a
waiter, chef or steward at any hotel, cafe
or restaurant" In each case the emf
ployer of the man tipped" must pay the
fine, and he must also tack up in his
place of business the notice: NO Tip
ping Allowed"
Would Tax Bachelors.
Illinois. Indiana, Tennessee, South Da-
kota and Kansas legislators have adj
vanced ideas on the subject of marriage
and divorce. Tennessee, with Represent
tative Rawls as spokesman. believes a
healthy man of manageable age should
be compelled to pay dearly for his sin
gle blessedness. Mr.. Rawls proposes a
law to tax bachelors ranging in age from
% TO 80 years, the scale of fine running
from $50 or the men between % and
80 to $3.50 for those between the ages of
H. and 80. 1t is figured that the man
who remains bachelor until he is 80
years old will. if the bill should become
law, have to pay total of $3.50
A Kansas State Senator believes in
the limited term-say 10 years for mar
riages. and he has introduced bill en-
powering probate judges to issue licenses
for marriage contracts which shall run
for that length of time, with the option
of renewal if the relation prove mutually
agreeable The Senator thinks Il man
ought to learn to love-a womali, or vice
versa. in a decade il that blissful state
Is ever to be reached.