The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1907-01-11

these many Gears, are taken away and
| placed in the hands of the civil serv-
| ice commission. The relatives and
friends Of the members who have come
UP to Madison confident of landing
comfortable berths find the idea of
taking competitive examinations with
total strangers, many of whom have no
pull, utterly repugnant and the mem
bers themselves are disposed to rebel
and test the Soundness of the ATTORNEY
generals ruling. In the meantime the
commission is going ahead with exam
nations and what the upshot will be
it is difficult to foresee.
Length of the Session.
The impression seems to prevail
that the legislative session will be
shorter than those of recent previous
years. Senator Sanborn says: From
all indications organization will be eff
fected without any of the fractional
jockeying for advantage which has
marked some of the former sessions.
| am inclined to believe that the ses-
sion will be short and that the plat
form pledges of the Republican party
will be carried out without very much
delay or opposition" If such strong
men as Senator Sanborn unite to dis
courage fractional dissipation of time
and energy and to promote disinter-
ested public service the prospects for
a curtailed session should be vastly
improved. Certainly no legislature Of
Wisconsin ever before approached it's
work in hand in such a state of pre-
paredness as the present body. For
weeks the skilled hands of DR.. Charles
H. Mccarthy, legislative statistician,
and his assistant former Assembly
man NJ. S. Dudgeon, have been busy
preparing bills at the request of mem
bers. A flood of measures more care
fully and accurately drawn than usual
will be ready to dump into the hop
pers of the two houses at the start.
Then an Investigating com mittee has
been laboriously at work all summer
going to the bottom of the insurance
situation in the state. THIS should
be great saving of time, as insur-
ance will cut big figure in the con-
sideration of the two houses at this
session.
Results More Satisfactory.
There is likely to be less cropping in
the dark, fewer mistakes made for the
courts to correct and altogether more
satisfactory results obtained than I'M
der the old haphaZard system when
each member drew UP his own bills
in his own Individual op6 nftop fnar-
full and wonderful way. Wisconsin's
system Of having an expert to prepare
bills and in other ways assist legisla-
tors in an intelligent effort at effective
lawmaking is a distinct forward step
which other states are beginning to APP
preciate and to copy. 1t may be re-
marked here that DR. Mccarthy has
had many calls this winter to come
to other states and assist in the estab-
fishing of legislative reference libraries
and departments such as Wisconsin
boasts.
A glance at the roll will naturally
disclose quite change in the person
mel of the two houses, and particu-
larly in the assembly. The more
permanent body of the senate will dis
cover but a dozen new faces among
it's thirty three members, but the as
sembly will be largely a new set. The
elections of last fall had some rather
unusual results. For instance, M1lWau-
kee county sends an entirely new dele
cation, save for three Social Democrats
who are returned. while Dane, the -:
entirely new delegation OF three.
The Missing Ones.
Among the missing ones in the as
sembly will be a number who played
large parts in the last session and were
particularly conspicuous on the floor.
Their number includes Speaker Len
root and Wallace Andrew Of the SUI
perior district; Ernest n. Warner of
Dane, author of the new civil service
law: John s. Donald of Dane: Roy c.
Smoker, the ready young member OF
Iowa county; Henry Johnson of Oc-
onto. prominent for his work in legis-
lation affecting the charitable and
penal institutions, and A. FL. Dahl OF
Vernon county, who retires after long
and conspicuous service to become
state treasurer.
In spite of the going Of these
worthless, however, the assembly will
not be without its orators. Among
those returned are a number equally
conspicuous with the outgoing ones
mentioned Captain Pliny Norcross Of
GAINESVILLE. a ready parlimentarian,
comes back, as does Duncan McGregor
of Platteville, the veteran educator,
whose words carry great weight. Then
there are E. w. Leroy of Marinette
and TT. l.. Ekern of Whitehall. rival
candidates for speaker, and f. J. Car
penter of Waupaca. whose voice was
often heard at the last session.
Senate WiH BE Strong.
The senate will be an unusually
strong body this winter. The changes
have been fewer than often before,