The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1907-02-22

OUR LINCOLN L
: GOssp from the State Capital, Legislative and Otherwise |:



The house has made the 2-cent rate
bill and the anti-pass bill a special
order for Tuesday afternoon, and the
action of the republicans on this mea-
sure will be fully determined by a rul-
ing before the time. That the repub-
licans have got themselves into an
embarrassing position over this 2-cent
rate bill no n denies. Each member
of the joint committee which drafted
the bill agreed to support 1t and to
fight any and all amendments to it.
When the amendment to permit the
railroads to go before the railroad
commission OF the matter was offered,
few of the majority knew it was COM
ing and hence it was lost. Now some
OF the republicans believe to carry the
amendment will be to place in jeop-
ardy all the other joint committee
bills, for the reason If n committee
bill is amended opponents Of the plat
form measures will have an excuse to
attempt to amend the other committee
bills. A big fight will be the result,
and it might termin1te in the state
wide primary bill being seriously dam
aged and 1t might hurt the terminal
taxation bill.
Professor Howard of the state uni
versity, head of the department of in
stitutional history and sociology, was
one of the speakers before the senate
committee on judiciary, in favor OF
the passage of H. r. No. 8 or S. F. No.
so, the child labor bills. Senator King
of Polk presided as chairman of the
committee. Many men and women,
some of the latter club women OF Lin
coin, were present to favor the bill.
A large number of members of the
senate and some of the house listened
to the addresses. The speech of Pro-
fessor Howard made a profound i'm
preston. He reviewed the history of
legislation in favor of children, be-
ginning in 1902, in England, to the
last bill of the kind, one that was
passed in 1903. He told of the condi-
tons that once existed, told hair-rais-
ing stories of abuse and torture, and
narrated the changes that had been
brought about by public sentiment and
laws, some of the latter having been in
force in Massachusetts,, New York and
Illinois for many years with marked
success.
Governor Sheldon's scheme for the
local taxation of mortgages, either do
nestle or foreign, scored a signal vic
tory in the house, when it was re-
ported by the committee of the whole
for third reading by a decided major
ity. The bill provides for the taxation
of all real estate mortgages in the
county where the land on which the
mortgage is held lies. At the present
time mortgages are taxed as personal
property so long as they are recorded
in Nebraska and not assigned to some
one outside the state.
Repairs on the capitol building and
grounds are to be the subject of in
quiry by the house committee on pub
lie lands and buildings. A resolution
by Dodge of Douglas condemning the
way the building is being kept up, was
passed and authority was given the
committee to ascertain the cost of
needed repairs. Mr.. Dodge said the
capitol was a disgrace to the state in
its present condition. He was not in
favor of building anew until the struc-
ture fell down, but he said he was in
favor of doing some repairing.
A movement to revive the county
option bill, killed in the senate, has
come to light and is being aided and
abetted by some senators who voted
against the measure. The plan is to
have the house amend the measure
providing for election once every four
or five years instead of every two
years and providing that the county
election shall govern the entire coun-
ty until the next election. AS the bill
was drawn it allowed cities and vii
lagos to vote no license even after the
county had gone wet.
A bill of importance to the school
districts of that section of the state in
which the revenues do not permit of
a seven months school a year was in
troduced in the house by Doran,
Henry, Hill, Metzger and Wilson. The
bill provides that the state shall come
to the financial assistance of those
school districts which, though levying
the maximum rate of taxes, cannot
maintain a seven months school, so
that every school district in the state
may have school each year for that
length of time.
A measure important to all the peo-
p1e of the state was introduced in the
house by Wilson of Custer county.
This bill provides the state board of
assessment shall use the unit system
in assessing railroad property and the
assessment hall be distributed accord.
ing to mileage without regard to main
49, H. LII