The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-03-12

never been convicted OF a violation OF
the liquor laws and can otherwise quail
lfy under the provisions OF law. The
sale of liquor to miners, students, ha
bitual drupkards and persons who
have been posted is prohibited. and
reduction from three to two made IN
the number of convictions of viola
ton OF the liquor law which shall
work a forfeiture of a liquor license.
II is proposed that the city, village OF
township in which the saloon is To-
Gated shall receive a larger portion
of the license money than under the
existing law, the proportion being in
creased from one-half to three-fourths.
Purchaser Liable For Penalty.
In connection with the prohibition
of the sale of liquor to students and
minors a new deterrent is proposed,
the bill providing that the student or
minor who purchases the liquor shall
be liable to the penalty prescribed. AZ
present the penalty runs against the
seller only. The common councils of
cities having population of more
than 10000 are given the right to eX-
tend the time for closing saloons for
the day from 8 o'clock p. m. to
o'clock an. Thfs';is a concession to
the larger cities of. the state, Detroit
especially desiring it.
1t is proposed to gradually limit the
number of saloons to not to exceed
one for each 500 of population, provi-
sion being made that in case a saloon
goes out of business, no new saloon
may be started in that municipality il
the ratio is greater than that men,
toned. Any police officer who shall
neglect or refuse to enforce the liquor
laws is subject to a fine OF 800 in
addition to removal from Office.
Conference over Water Power.
Several days ago the special joint
committees having in charge the in.
vestigation Of water powers and water
power companies, their operation and
franchises, had conference with At
torney General Bird with reference
to tn power of the legislature to reg
ulate the granting of franchises, rates
TO be charged. assessments of this
class of companies, etc. AS the result
OF this discussion it was decided to
have a general conference on the sub
ject tomorrow evening and to invite
representatives of water power COM
panies to participate therein.
The committee finds the proposition
a large one which involves many i'm
portant questions In his talk to the
committee last week the attorney gen |
eral suggested that if it could be es.
tablished that the matter sufficiently |
affected the rights and interests of the |
general public, the legislature would |
have power to place the matter Of |
fixing or supervising the rates to be |
charged for power in the hands of 2
commission. but he cautioned the leg |
islators to be careful not to infringe |
upon the constitutional rights Of |
boards of supervisors with reference |
to the granting of franchises in re-
turn for what they deemed to be a
reasonable compensation. Under the
tax law as it now exists the state tax
commission is empowered to review
general assessments of property only
upon the petition Of resident of the
county in which the property affected
by the disputed assessment is located
1t was suggested by the attorney gen.
eral that this law be amended so as
to authorize the state commission to
review assessments in any county in
the state when such review was by
them deemed necessary.
Power of Farmer Is Felt.
AS was intimated a fortnight ago,
the members of the legislative farm
ers club made their power felt when
the bill fixing the salary of the super
intendent of public instruction came
up for consideration in the house last
week. They cut the senate allowance
tor the superintendent from $4,000 to