Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1907-07-06
LEGISLATION
REVIEWED
Features of the 1907 SEES
sion Briefly Outlined.
Fifteen Hundred Bills Were Passed
In One Hundred and Five Days.
Few Important Measures.

The work of the legislature, or
rather the sessions recently ended, oc-
cuWed los days and a total of 1000
bills were introduced. The flood of
bills to amend charters was a feature
OF the things done and the list OF them
is interesting.
Detroit and Grand Rapids between
them had about % charter amendment
bills passed. This is not one-half the
number the members for the two cit
les introduced. The 81 other munich
palities that had charters or charter
amendment bills passed are:
Jackson, Marquette, Flint, Alma, Mt.
Pleasant, Pontiac, Bay City, Croswell,
Rochester, Tower, Allegan, Gaylord,
Mason, Chelsea, Dowagiac, Kalamazoo,
Cheboygan, Ypsilanti, Saline, Albion,
Portland, Perry, Petoskey, Negaunee,
Caro-, Nashville, Big Rapids, Grand
Ledge, Caledonia, Niles, st. Joseph,
Paw Paw, Ford City, Holly, Ironwood,
Lake Odessa, Coldwater, Battle Creek,
North Branch, Menominee, Eau Claire,
Wyandotte, Alpena, Port Huron, Hud-
son, Ionia, Harrietta, Cadillac, Jerome,
Stanton, Crystal Falls, Howell, Olivet,
Edmore, Saginaw, Muskegon, Belding,
Mayville, Sault Ste. Marie Three Riv-
ers, Benton Harbor, Holland. Beaver
ton, iceland, Ann Arbor, Hastings,
Cass City, Charlevoix, Scottville. Mel
vim, BEDFORD, East Lansing, Brown
City, Baroda, Whittemore, Buckley
McBain, Posen, Freeport, Stanwood,
Crosse Pointe Park. Mikado, Lincoln,
PellstOn and RarrytOn
Just about per cent Of all of the
bills passed were to allow municipali-
ties and townships to issue bonds.
Practically all of such bills had a
referendum clause. They amount In
substance to a permit for the taxpay-
ers of a given locality to say whether
or not they want themselves taxed by
bonding for a given purpose. Another
class of bills consuming the time Of
the legislature that suggests an argu-
ment for home rule. Here are the
bombing bills that passed.
Permitting Cooper township, Kala-
mazoo county, to bond for bridge;
Bay City for a park; Midland for a
bridge; st. Clair for a school house;
Springwells for paving; Seneca town
ship, Lenawee county, for a school;
Crosswell for paving; Houghton to
meet outstanding warrants and for
new school; Plainfield, Kent county,
for a bridge; Ionia county for county
poor farm buildings; Lexington town
ship, Sanilac county, for bridge;
Jackson for sewers; Sturgis for a
lighting plant; Grand Rapids, 100000
for flood protection dykes, and 100000
for sewers; Onaway for a city hall;
OF ~
for sewers and paving; Wheatland
Mecosta county, for a park; Gladstone
for school, Benton Harbor to meet
outstanding debts; st. Joe for a
bridge; South Haven for docks and
hSrbor improvements, and to pay out
standing debts; Stannard township
Iron county, for a town house and to
pay old debts; LAnse for a lighting
plant; Grand Haven for sewers; Che
boygan to pay old debts; Reese for a
town hall; Bessemer for school
house; Pennington for sewers; Evart
for public improvements; Petoskey
for a park; Paw Paw to pay old
debts; Essex township, Clinton county,
to enlarge cemetery; Eaton Rapids to
pave street intersections; Big Rapids
for a park; Norway township, Dick
inson county, to improve a cemetery;
Climax, Kalamazoo county, to enlarge
a cemetery; Buel township, Sanilac
county, for roads; Mckinley township,
Emmett county, for school; Hudson
for paving; West Branch for water
works; Jerome, Hillsdale county, for
a school; Weldon. Benze county, for
public improvements; Muskegon for
a bridge: Morenci for waterworks;
Crystal Lake, Benzio county, for
school. White Cloud for village hall
Marion township Osceola county, for
a school; No. 10 fractional school
district, Crosse Pointe and Gratiot.
for a school, Ecorse for a school. for
sewers, and to improve the river road;
Highland Park for the extension of
the waterworks, for a school, and for
public improvements; Wyandotte TO
pave street intersections, for school
and for filtration-p plant and lighting
plant extension.
In addition to these, Alger county
had to have bill passed to legaliZe
a 100000 good roads bond issue; Bril-
ley, Montmorency county, one to le-
galize a $4,000 bond issue; Three Riv-
ers to legalize a 30-years' gas fran
chise: Charlevoix to legalize certain
proceedings, and Reed City to legalize
; some bonds.
Michigan has a pretty comprehen-
sfve code Of fishing laws. yet some 80
bills were passed this session. With
but a few exceptions they are intend
ed to relax or tighten the state laws
A fair portion of them apply to lakes
wholly in one or two townships, or to
sections of river in one or so town
ships.
Daniel c. Smith, aged 81, and Miss
Henrietta Hill, aged 36, school